Dark Matter: SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE

by Jessica Loft

  “Any lost boys up for some hunting?” He asked. Though he wasn’t Peter Pan, he was the leader of this misfit group that he had brought to Oregon. Like himself, their makers had left them alone vulnerable after being turned. They had all been scared at first, but they’d been together for decades now, and he considered them his own little gang of lost boys.

  Brie, the only woman in gang, shot down from her rock and raced up to him, her eyes wide and ready for adventure. She had made her love for him known long ago, but he had never reciprocated it. To him, she was nothing more than a sister. She too had short black hair and pale white skin, and thanks to their vampiric condition, they all shared silver eyes. Alive, Brie and Adam could have looked completely different from one another. But as vampires, they could pass for siblings.

  “What do you want to hunt?” She asked eagerly.

  Behind her, the rest of the lost boys slowly jumped down from their rocks. They nodded their heads in unison, ready to do anything that didn’t involve being still or hiding from the humans that ventured into the forest during the day.

  “Well, I was thinking about maybe going fishing?” Adam offered, wrapping one of his muscular arms around Brie’s neck, and the other around Samson, the youngest looking vampire, who’d been made when he was barely ten. It had been a flaw in the maker’s plan. He had wanted an eternal child, but the problem with making vampires so young was that their brains could never develop past the age of when they were turned.

  Samson, like any other ten year old boy, was quiet, and liked to play with toys. He had fair blonde hair with the signature silver eyes. But inside the innocent looking body of his, he was a vicious, thirsty killer who couldn’t get past the main craving to feed. He had left a wave of destruction in his path, and his maker had been summoned to kill him. He couldn’t do it though, and had let poor Samson alone to fend for himself in the streets of 1944 Germany.

  “Fishing?” He whined. “There’s not much blood in fish.”

  “True,” Adam agreed, “but there’s plenty of blood in sharks.”

  Brie giggled and clapped her hands as Samson’s frown turned upside down.

  CHAPTER 2

  Adam watched the giant waves above roll and boil over the surface of the dark ocean. Hues of blue, green, and gray barely illuminated the dark ocean floor, but he didn’t mind. The group was more comfortable that way. Less than a mile away, all five of them were hunting the Great White that had mistakenly taken Samson as a tasty morsel. Now, through the leagues of water he could hear the gnashing of not shark’s teeth, but vampire’s. He had hoped to give in to the chase with them, but he just didn’t feel like it.

  Keeping his eyes on the surface, he looked for any sign of sunlight breaking through the clouds that were even further away than the waves. When he found none, he casually pushed himself off of the ocean floor and glided up until his head broke the surface of the water. He didn’t gasp of course, because he didn’t need to. Instead, he just looked around, and pushed his hair away from his eyes as he scanned the shoreline of Depoe Bay. Everything looked normal. Despite the dark clouds, people in the town seemed utterly happy to be living there, and on the dock he could see many fishermen milling about, getting ready to either go out to sea or unload their nets.

  Though they were all nearly a mile away, he could see them all as if they were only a few feet away. Another perk of being a vampire, he supposed. As his eyes wondered over the sea of men in thick yellow rubber rain jackets and boots, he caught sight of someone different; someone new. She was wearing a long purple skirt, and a slate gray fisherman’s sweater that seemed to swallow her tiny figure. Her hair, wild and springy, with highlights of natural blonde streaking through the brown, was tied haphazardly half way up. Springs of curls flew all around her face as she laughed with two of the fishermen who were helping her put four live lobsters into her basket. If her hair wasn’t enough to catch his attention, her eyes certainly were. In all his two centuries, he’d never seen anyone with eyes so green. They were positively vivid, and he was certain they could glow in the dark. By all accounts, she was stunning.

  So enraptured by her, Adam hadn’t even noticed that the tide had been bringing him closer to shore. Suddenly he felt a yank at his pant leg and he let himself be pulled down below the surface. It was Zaphir, the Indian boy he’d saved in 1858 from one of the many English invasions of his country. A vampire had turned him to save his life from the war, but before she could teach him how to live as a creature of darkness, she was brought into the sunlight by English soldiers, unknowing that she would catch fire. The boy never spoke, but with Adam he didn’t have to.

  His large brown eyes looked at Adam as they both sunk back down to the ocean floor. Adam sighed, and nodded his head. He knew he wasn’t being smart, and asked if the others had caught the shark. Zaphir nodded his head and pointed to the left. Even from where we were I could see the tiny pink particles of blood floating in the ocean water.

  “Did you get enough to eat?” Adam asked him. Zaphir shook his head, and together they waited for the others to come back. They were having some fun and excitement, which was good because it kept them from attacking too many humans. But, sunshine or no sunshine, they would all need their sleep soon, and Adam personally wanted the alone time that came with going underground. It was there that he could freely think about the girl he’d just seen, and why he’d never seen her before.

  ~

  1 Week Later

  “Here you go sugar, fried chicken, scalloped potatoes, and sweet peas. You did good today, so you eat up now,” Joy commanded, handing Emily a fork.

  “Thank you Joy,” Emily replied, accepting the plate. It was close to quitting time for Emily, and because she’d had nothing better to do she volunteered to work a twelve-hour shift. Her feet hurt, and her back was sore, but she had a hot plate of food in front of her and a pocket full of tips. Though she’d been hired as a dishwasher/busgirl, the tables often got too busy for Joy to handle alone, and even just from the small amount of tables she took from Joy, she’d made nearly a hundred bucks in tips alone. If she were able to keep this up, she would be out of the woods and living in an actual apartment in no time.

  As Emily bit into the chicken, she heard the door chime. It was unusual for anyone to come into the diner this late, so Emily curiously lifted her head from her meal to see whom it was. It was then that she came face to face with one of the sexiest men she’d ever seen. Tall, black hair, silver eyes, with a chiseled torso barely hidden beneath the tight black V-neck shirt. He was exceedingly pale, but he some how made it work for him.

  “Hi,” he said warmly, taking a seat beside her. “I’m Adam.”

  For a minute Emily deadpanned. She hadn’t expected him to talk to her at all, and here he was, introducing himself.

  “Do you have a name?” He asked, giving her a soft smile.

  “Emily,” she said quickly, moving suddenly into action.

  “Hi, yes, my name is Emily. Nice to meet you Adam.”

  “You too Emily,” Adam smiled. He wanted desperately to reach out and take her hand, but his freezing touch would be a dead giveaway. Instead, he rubbed his hands together and began a conversation.

  “So, you must be new in town. What brought you here?”

  Together they talked long into the night. Even after Joy closed down the diner, they sat outside on the pier and talked about Emily’s life, and why she had moved all the way to the other end of the country. Adam found her story exceedingly brave, and he told her so. Blushing, Emily shook her head.

  “Not really. I just had enough, you know? I couldn’t take a single day more of being there. Have you ever felt like that?”

  Adam nodded his head. But he would save his story for another time.

  “You know, I bet a lot of people from your hometown probably felt the same way you did. The difference was you weren’t afraid to do something about it, and they were. You said your family seemed miserable to be around anymore, right? Well
don’t you think that the entire reason they were miserable is because they wanted to leave but never had the courage to actually do it?”

  Emily had never thought of it like that before, and she felt a swell of pride for herself as she realized that Adam was right. Before she could switch the topic to something else, a handsome teenage boy, probably sixteen or seventeen, walked out onto the pier towards them. She watched as Adam shot up to his feet and stood protectively in front of her.

  “Hi, Jules,” he greeted the olive skinned teen. “Did you need me?”

  The teen nodded his head, and Emily caught the familiar flash of silver in his eyes. For a moment, Emily wondered if they were brothers. Before she could ask, Adam turned to her and told her that he needed to go.

  “Oh, that’s alright. I should probably go myself. I have work at eight and it’s almost one.”

  Adam wanted to walk her home safely, but with Jules waiting for him he knew it wasn’t a possibility. He settled for giving her a gentle, cold kiss on the top of her hand.

  “Get home safe,” he told her as he and Jules walked quickly down the pier.

  They were whispering quietly about something, but Emily quite couldn’t figure out what was. As she got up to walk home, she silently hoped that it was her they were talking about.

  CHAPTER 3

  3 Weeks Later

  “You smell like her again,” Brie accused as Adam walked up to the fire pit. As usual his small gang of lost boys was sitting around a fire in the wilderness, playing marching games and capturing rabbits and squirrels. Brie however, was not playing at all. She had stopped doing so completely after he first came back from seeing Emily three weeks ago. Any time he was gone, she’d sit on a rock and just wait angrily for him to come back.

  “So what of it?” Adam asked, not intimidated by her glare. She could be angry all she wanted, it wouldn’t stop him from having feelings for Emily.

  “She’s a human,” Brie spit out, as if being so was the lowest thing the girl could do. “She’s our food, Adam. Not your play thing.”

  Adam’s eyes narrowed into slits as he approached Brie. He had saved her in the seventies from a group of rapists after her maker had made her, humped her, and dumped her. She had always been a little hard to swallow, and out of all the lost boys, she was the one that sometimes regretted taking under his wing. She was jealous, possessive, and could get downright ugly with other females, vampire and human alike.

  “She is no one’s food. Am I understood?”

  Brie pushed angrily at his chest, baring her fangs at him in a challenge.

  “You can’t tell me who I can and cannot eat, Adam! Besides, we haven’t had human blood in months. I know you think you’re sharp, taking us hunting for big game like sharks, and bears, but you know as well as we do that nothing quenches our thirst like human blood does. You’re practically starving us up here!” She screamed.

  “That’s not true,” Jules butted in, placing his body between Brie’s and Adam’s. “We’re not starving, Adam, I promise you. The only thing Brie is starving for is your attention because she’s in love with you.”

  Brie screamed again, this time lunging at Jules’ throat. The two went down to the ground in a horrendous thud, making the earth shake. Brie’s fist made contact with Jules’ jaw before he could roll her over and return the favor. Adam dragged one off of the other, but not before they got a few good shots in.

  “That’s enough,” he bellowed, throwing them each backwards. Brie’s body hit an old tree, and burst into a thousand splinters as she went through it. The other lost boys jumped to action, all of them moving quickly to catch it and lay the dying giant on the forest floor so that it wouldn’t call attention. Brie came stalking back to the fireplace, furious at being thrown. The wind had picked up, and it sent her short hair flying in all directions, making her look crazier than usual.

  “How dare you”- Brie stopped, and raised her nose to the air. She took a few short sniffs, then inhaled deeply. An insane smile spread across her face as she looked over at Adam.

  “Smells like your girlfriend is in the forest,” she said wickedly. Not waiting for Adam’s reply, she darted through the trees, heading in the direction of Emily’s camp. Panic rose in Adam’s throat as he raced after her. The other lost boys quickly joined, all running as fast as they could to get to the human scent before Brie did.

  ~

  Sighing, Emily threw another log on her fire. She had enough money finally saved up for an apartment, and next weekend she could finally move into the one above the pizza shop in town. Looking up through this thick fir trees, she knew she’d miss the view of the stars. Still, winter would be coming in a couple months, and camping would become an impossible feat. Her mind switched over to Adam. He’d come to see her again at the diner, and she was starting to really look forward to all of her visits.

  Although he hadn’t kissed her yet, she often fantasized what it would be like. To have those perfect lips of his come down on hers and take her breath away. Closing her eyes, she pictured him standing in front of her, smiling fondly and holding out his hand, as if asking her to dance. Hearing a noise, she opened her eyes and gasped, surprised to see Adam actually standing in front of her.

  “Adam!” She gasped, standing up. “What are you doing here?”

  “Get in your tent,” he demanded, his eyes wild.

  Emily shook her head, not understanding.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Emily, please, just get in your”-

  A rush of wind went past them and Emily felt the breath being knocked out of her as a heavy fist drove into her chest. As she gasped for air, she caught the sight of two heads of short black hair and two sets of silver eyes flying away from her body. Her chest felt as if it were on fire, and when she tried to move, she couldn’t. It hurt too much, and she could barely breathe.

  Wide-eyed, she watched as Adam gripped the neck of a girl who looked just like him and throw her into the ground. The earth shook and trembled beneath her and Adam wrestled with the hissing, writhing woman.

  “Let me eat her!” The woman shouted. Two long fangs had sprouted from her top gums, longer than any canines Emily had seen. Between watching the girl struggle and dealing with her own struggle to breathe, she had no idea what was going on.

  “Don’t make me kill you, Brie,” Adam snarled, his tone deadly. The woman struggling in his arms stopped immediately, her silver eyes going wide in shock.

  “You’d kill me Adam? For a human? A human you barely know?”

  She struggled again in Adam’s grip, but this time he let her go. From the ground, Emily watched silently, struggling to stay conscious; the act of breathing becoming more and more difficult.

  Around her, she saw five other people, young boys, gather round where she was minutes ago sitting peacefully by the fire.

  “Stay away from her Brie,” Adam warned again, putting his body protectively in front of Emily’s.

  “Adam,” the little blonde boy said, who was standing closest to Emily.

  “She’s dying.”

  Emily heard the words, but she didn’t believe them. She wasn’t dying, she was simply feeling sleepy. Her chest hurt, that was all. And it was hard to breathe. But that didn’t mean she was dying. Trembles began to run up her arms as she lay on the ground, and she suddenly wished she was closer to the fire. Slowly, she tried to reach her hand towards the flames. But she couldn’t. Even just the movement of her pinky finger sent a sharp stabbing pain into her chest.

  Adam’s face was directly in front of her in an instant. Worry laced his beautiful silver eyes as he looked down at her. Droplets of red were coming out of his eyes as he looked down at her, and she could faintly hear him telling her to hold on. She smiled at him, wanting him to know she’d wait for him as long it would take. Through fading vision, she watched as Adam bit into his wrist. It made an eerie ripping sound, and he quickly put it over her mouth. She tried to shake her head, but it was no use. As eve
rything faded to black, she felt something warm and delicious fill her mouth.

  CHAPTER 5

  Adam glanced furtively over at Emily, hoping she would wake soon. He hadn’t given her enough blood to turn her, but he had thought that it had been enough to at least heal her. Still, it had been a day and a half and she still hadn’t woken. After the battle, the lost boys had taken Brie back to their camp, and assured him that they wouldn’t let her leave.

  “Come on beautiful,” he whispered, taking her hand. “Open your eyes for me.”

  As if obeying a command, Emily’s eyes opened, revealing her still human vividly green eyes.

  “Adam?” She croaked.

  Adam smiled down at her, happy to see her awake. Quickly he picked up the water bottle by the sleeping bag, and held it to her lips. Emily drank from it thirstily, absolutely parched.

  “You had me worried there for a moment little one. I was afraid you weren’t coming back.”

  “What happened?” She asked. Emily tried to sit up, but didn’t make it very far. Adam gently wrapped his arms around her, and guided her into a sitting position. Looking around, she recognized the surroundings as her tent.

  “Brie cracked your breastplate and a couple of ribs. One of them punctured your lungs. It’s why you couldn’t breathe. But you’re healed now,” Adam promised.

  “And I promise you that I will never let anything like that happen to you again.”

  Slowly, the memories of the night before came back to her. The enormous strength of Adam and the girl, the horrendous blow to the chest, the blood that was poured into her mouth. It all came rushing back.

  “Adam?” Emily asked.

  “Yes Emily?” He asked, squeezing her hand.

  “I think you need to tell me what the hell is going on.”