Born Dark

by H G Lynch

  “Reid, come on, man. It’s not my fault! I needed to tell her and I wasn’t going to stop her running from me if she wanted to! That would’ve only scared her more! I’m sorry Ember got upset, but what did you expect me to do? Hold Sherry hostage till she calmed down? It took her four hours before she came back to talk to me again after I told her!” Ricky was still whispering, not wanting their private argument to be overheard by students now returning from the dance. His aqua eyes were bright with defensive anger. Unfortunately for him, Reid was far angrier, and Ricky wouldn’t stand up to him in a real fight.

  “Ricky, I think you should leave right now. Before I really hurt you. You know I can, and I will. I’ll see you at the meeting,” Reid growled. Ricky, with his jaw set but his eyes calm, just nodded sharply and walked away. He knew when an argument against Reid was pointless; he’d learned when not to push the older boy. Smart kid.

  Reid watched Ricky stalk off down the hall and turn the corner, probably headed to wherever he’d stashed Sherry for the time being. Who’d known how much strain a relationship could put on a friendship?

  There Are More Things In Heaven And Hell…

  Once again, the basement of the old, abandoned farmhouse was alight with candles and flames and full of swirling dust motes… and raised voices. Brandon had been lecturing both Reid and Ricky for nearly an hour, despite already having lectured Reid before. Apparently, he felt the need to reiterate himself seeing as Ricky had re-opened the issue and now Ember wasn’t here to defend herself. Fortunately, Brandon didn’t aim any hits specifically at Ember - Reid would’ve ripped his head off for it if he had. All the blame was pointed at the blond boy himself and Kee, but Reid had long since learned to tune out Brandon’s raving. Ricky on the other hand, looked angry and upset at the same time. He didn’t get yelled at a lot, and it hurt him when he did. And, by God, this was some verbal thrashing Brandon was giving tonight.

  Watching the flickering orange flames and the dancing black shadows on the floor, Reid let Brandon’s voice fade to a buzzing in the background, instead hearing the crackle of the fire and the hum of his own thoughts. His own thoughts, though, soon dissolved to just a stream of empty consciousness. He was just staring blankly at the floor when Brandon threw the book at him. Literally.

  “OW! Hey, what was that for?” Reid yelled, rubbing his arm and glaring from the offending leather-bound book to the Golden Boy who’d thrown it.

  “For falling asleep while I’m trying to explain to you why what you did was stupid!” Brandon almost yelled but he seemed to be yelled-out.

  “You already gave me that lecture and Ember handed your ass to you in that argument! Ricky’s the one who needed the lashing. Especially after how his little girlfriend reacted to the news!” Reid sent Kee a glare, and Ricky flinched at the hostility in Reid’s voice. Brandon looked taken off-guard, his expression becoming wary and puzzled.

  “What happened?” he asked, anxious curiosity in his voice. Reid kept his glare on Ricky,

  “Oh, so you haven’t told him yet? Well, after he let Sherry in on the secret, she went straight to Ember to bitch her out because Kee here let it slip that Ember already knew.” Reid smirked darkly, feeling a vindictive satisfaction at the guilt in Ricky’s eyes, adding a feral curl to his lip like a tiger baring its teeth.

  “So? What’s the big deal? So Sherry got pissed at Ember for not telling her. You were the one who convinced her not to tell and I wasn’t going keep lying to my girlfriend!” Ricky shot back, flinging his arms out in an exasperated, defensive gesture. Reid snarled, and Brandon came and put a hand on his chest warningly. It was so, so hard not to break Brandon’s hand.

  “Reid, just chill out. I understand you’re upset that Ember’s hurt but it isn’t Ricky’s fault. And this is girl business; they’ll figure it out on their own soon enough. All we can- all you can do, is comfort Ember. And all Ricky can do is let Sherry ease into the whole new perspective. Fighting isn’t going to help anything,” Brandon spoke calmly, in that logical tone that irritated Reid because when Brandon spoke like that, he was usually right. Slowly, Reid backed out of his attack stance and Ricky lowered his hands, both of them retracting their fangs.

  “Fine. Is this meeting over? I need to feed.” Reid didn’t wait for an answer. He stalked up the dusty, echoing stairs and out into the chilly autumn night.

  “Reid! Wait up!” Ricky called after him as he stormed toward the darkened trees. Reid didn’t stop walking, swiftly weaving between the trees and bushes. He really didn’t want to talk to Ricky right now, not when he was so pissed off. He needed to blow off some steam first, before he snapped Kee’s neck. “Reid! Come on, Man! Stop!” Ricky grabbed his arm, trying to pull him to a stop.

  “Ricky, let the hell go before I break your hand.” Reid snarled, glaring pointedly at the hand gripping his arm. Ricky slowly uncurled his fingers and pulled his hand back while Reid made to start walking again.

  “Reid, look, I know you’re ticked, but it’s not my fault what happened with Sherry and Ember! They’ll work it out on their own, and you can’t blame me for what Sherry said. Her mouth, her words, her choice. All I did was tell her I’m a vampire. I didn’t control how she reacted!” Ricky stumbled backwards, walking in front of Reid, holding up his hands defensively while Reid kept walking.

  “Yeah, all you did was tell her you’re a vampire… and let it slip that Ember already knew! You could’ve kept that to yourself! We could’ve played it so that it looked like Ember found out the same time Sherry did. Ember could’ve acted it out and the whole thing would’ve been a giggly, girly, explore-the-world type thing for them! And Ember wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” Reid glared at the dark-haired boy. Ricky groaned in frustration.

  “Reid! I know you lo- you care about the girl, but come on! You know this isn’t my fault but you’re-” Ricky started rambling again but Reid’s sensitive ears picked up something beyond Ricky’s voice. He halted, tilting his head to listen better.

  “Shh. Shut up a minute Kee.” Reid held up a hand to silence his friend, listening to the faint grunting and lapping noises beyond the trees.

  “Reid, what’re you-” Ricky started again but Reid put a hand over his mouth roughly.

  “Kee, shut the hell up. Listen to that…” Reid jerked his head in the general direction of the noises. It certainly didn’t sound like normal animal noises; it sounded more like… a wolf, or some large predator having a snack. Nothing around here was that big. Reid glanced back to Ricky, who met his gaze with even, confused eyes.

  Reid jerked his head sharply and took his hand from Ricky’s mouth, making hand motions to direct their plan of attack silently. Ricky nodded and started creeping round one way while Reid crept round the other. They circled the source of the noises and, using the perfect synchronised moves they’d developed years ago, pounced in on the most unexpected scene.

  Before the creature could react, Reid had it pinned to the ground, knee on its lower back and holding its forepaws in the dirt, while Ricky pinned the back paws. And really, it wasn’t an animal. Being half-human and half-wolf, a werewolf was just a creature. And one of which that was fairly easily recognisable at the minute.

  “Get the hell off me!” the werewolf snarled in a thick, distorted voice through long, sharp teeth.

  “Well, well. Joseph Rian. What d’ya know? The rapist is also a werewolf.” Reid jerked the boy’s head back by the coarse brown fur on the back of his neck. It wasn’t hair anymore really, and it grew down his back, covering his lower spine and melting into the supple limbs of a wolf. Joseph snarled incomprehensibly and Reid twisted the boy’s head to the side at a painful angle, making the creature whine in agony.

  “The bitches said you’d never find out! How the hell did you figure it out?” the half-human, half-wolf creature growled. Reid was taken off-guard, unsure what the werewolf was talking about. Joseph seemed to notice Reid’s lapse in focus and took the chance to kick out, knocking Ricky off and trying to throw off Reid
, too. Unfortunately for the wolf, Reid was faster and stronger than he was, and simply pulled back against the boy’s wrists, twisting his arms back and pushing against his spine with his knee until it cracked loudly. Joseph let out another whine and snarled.

  “What are you talking about, Rian?” Reid snapped, pushing the boy into the dirt on his stomach again and twisting his arms up, holding him down by pressing his foot into the boy’s spine. Standing over Joseph, Reid glanced back at Ricky, who was brushing himself off and glaring at the writhing, snarling bastard Reid was pinning. “You OK?” Reid asked, and Ricky nodded, coming to stand in front of the helpless wolf-boy.

  “Good. Now answer the question mutt!” Reid jerked on Joseph’s arms, making him howl in pain.

  “Not a chance! They’ll kill me!” he whined.

  “If you don’t start talking, telling us what and who the hell you’re on about, I’ll kill you!” Reid hissed. “Have you ever had your blood drained against your will? It hurts like a bitch. Or so I’ve heard. Maybe we should test that right now?” Reid and Ricky both flashed their fangs, Reid flipping the wolf-boy so he could see the cold glint in his vampire eyes. He pressed his foot down on the wolf’s chest, crushing the sternum while Ricky grabbed and bound his furry wrists above his head, rendering him almost immobile. “Where’d you get rope?” Reid asked Ricky, baffled, and Ricky grinned in response.

  “Jacket pocket. Been carrying it for a while. Don’t ask.” Ricky shrugged. Reid shook his head, faintly amused. It made him wonder what else Ricky carried around randomly.

  “Whatever. Now talk wolf, or I break your ribs one by one until you spill the info.” Joseph growled but it ended in a whine as Reid stomped on his chest and Ricky stood on his bound paws in the dirt. They felt no guilt in hurting a supernatural rapist. How the hell he wasn’t in jail already was beyond them, but the ability of wolves to scare their way out of crap like that could be incredible.

  “The witches! They hired me to plant the dead bird in the girls’ room! They want revenge on you bloodsuckers, and they said…” Joseph trailed off, shutting up. Reid felt fury boil up inside him, and heard a sharp, meaty crack as he stomped down hard on Joseph’s shoulder.

  “Keep talking!” he snarled as the wolf let out an agonised howl.

  “They said I’d get the girl, Ember, if I helped them! They wanted to lure you two out but they hadn’t finished the plan yet!” Joseph whined, his green eyes fearful and pained under the dark, thick brows.

  “What was the rest of the plan?” Reid growled through his teeth, getting more infuriated by the second. He unnecessarily dug his heel into the wolf-boy’s third rib on the right, threatening to snap it and send it plunging into his lung.

  “I don’t know! They never told me! I sweeeear!” the boy wailed, ending it in a choked howl as Reid thumped him in the side of the face.

  “Don’t give me that bullshit! What was the plan?” Reid was seeing red and the bloodlust was welling up in him uncontrollably. He could smell Joseph’s blood, warmer and thicker and muskier than human blood. He was sure it would taste disgusting, but any blood would do.

  “Reid, calm down! We can’t get information from him if he’s dead!” Ricky warned. But Reid knew Ricky, at least partly, just didn’t want to kill the boy. His guilt reflex was too easily sprung. Reid, though, had no such compunctions. It wasn’t Ricky’s girlfriend that was going to get attacked if this monster got loose.

  “I don’t know what the rest of the plan is! I DON’T KNOOOOOOOOW!!!” Joseph shrieked, writhing in terror as Reid flashed his fangs, longer and sharper than usual in his fury-fuelled bloodlust. Reid considered for a moment and decided, through his red haze, that the wolf was telling the truth.

  “Fine. But if you ever go near Ember again, I will not only drain you of every drop of blood, I will break every bone in your body first. That’s two hundred and six bones, snapping one by one. Got it?” Reid kicked the boy across the face, and slammed his foot into the wolf’s ribs. He heard a few sickly cracks and smirked, before darting down and gripping the boy’s thick hair. Reid savagely yanked Joseph’s head back so that his throat was exposed. Viciously, he sunk his throbbing fangs into the boy’s neck, hearing Joseph’s agonised howls and screams as he thrashed. Reid held him down easily, drinking the thick, tangy red liquid that poured out of the puncture marks. He’d been right in his earlier assumption; the werewolf’s blood tasted awful, too salty and bitter.

  Eventually, Ricky pulled him off and held him steady. “Reid, that’s enough! That’s enough! Let’s go!” Ricky yelled, dragging the blonde boy away with great difficulty. They left the broken, beaten werewolf to lie in the dirt and recover, and Reid wiped the blood off his chin and mouth, retracting his fangs. He felt calmer since releasing his anger and the bloodlust was satisfied. Now it was time to relay what they’d discovered to the girls. Hopefully they’d stop fighting if he explained his newly formed theory.

  Images had come to him through memories in Joseph’s mind while he’d been drinking - it was easy to pry into a mind while you drank from the person. Most of the time, they sent images and messages unintentionally and you didn‘t even have to dig into their head. The werewolf boy had seen the witches morph like freaky alien chicks, right in from of him. The witches were capable of shape-shifting spells… They could take on the form of anyone, given the right ingredients. And Reid suspected that was exactly what they’d done.

  Ember

  “Ember? Ember are you OK?” A whisper came to Ember’s ears and she felt a hand touch her arm lightly. She pulled her eyes open, longing to see the blue gaze and sensual mouth of the boy she’d come to trust and adore. It was hard to believe she had once hated Reid so much, and seven weeks later, she loved spending time with him, missing him when he was gone.

  But it wasn’t glittering blue eyes that met hers as she blinked in surprise. Ember scowled at the green-eyed girl in front of her, and flinched away from the hand on her arm. Sherry looked genuinely worried and upset, and a little hurt at Ember’s reaction. “I saw you and Reid leave the party. You looked upset, and I wanted to come see you but Ricky said I should wait until Reid left.” Sherry frowned and pulled her hand back slowly. Ember very nearly broke down at the utter concern and sympathy emanating from her friend. But she quickly remembered what Sherry had said to her two days ago, and clenched her teeth to keep back the tears.

  “What happened? I mean, I saw your mum… you had an argument?” Sherry sat back and looked at Ember from the floor, while Ember pulled herself into a sitting position. Why was Sherry acting like nothing had happened? She was trying to comfort her as if she hadn’t called Ember a two-faced slut forty-eight hours ago. Ember didn’t say anything, but she could feel the puzzled, angry expression on her own face.

  “Come on Ember, talk to me. You’re obviously upset with your mum. It was about Reid, wasn’t it? And I know that the thing with the crow’s still bugging you.” Sherry’s green eyes suddenly turned from deeply sympathetic, to excited. OK? Ember was officially confused. Sherry took a deep breath, and then said, “And Ricky told me. I know you know, too. About… them being vampires. I found out on Tuesday, and I wanted to talk to you about it but you were sleeping when I got in and Reid said you’d been upset, and today I was so busy with Ricky and getting ready for the dance, and you left before I could talk to you there…” The green-eyed girl stopped rambling, sighed, and stared expectantly at Ember. Ember just gaped for a moment, baffled. Had the argument on Tuesday been a dream? Had she imagined it? Because Sherry seemed to honestly mean every word of what she was saying.

  “Uh, what do you mean?” Ember eventually choked out unable to think of a witty remark or biting comment. Sherry looked at her with confusion now, a crease forming between her brows.

  “I mean, I know you know Reid and Ricky are vampires. We so need to talk about that. But if you’d rather talk about your mum or-”

  Ember cut her off. “Wait… I already know you know. Did you hit your head or somethin
g? Do you not remember what you said- no, wait, screamed at me on Tuesday after you found out? You called me a two-faced little slut and then walked away! And now you’re acting like that never happened.” Ember wanted to throw something at her friend, but she used all her self-control to keep her hands balled in fists in her lap. Sherry looked at her with blank shock.

  “Ember, what are you talking about? I did come looking for you, I did want to yell at you, but I never found you on Tuesday! And you can’t honestly think I’d ever say something like that to you?” Sherry gasped, looked hurt by the mere suggestion. Something in the back of Ember’s mind was rattling, trying to tell her something important, but she ignored it. She was too confused, too angry to listen to it.

  “Well, unless you happen to have an exact doppelganger who knew precisely when you found out about the vampires, and knew you’d first come to me because I already knew about it…Uh, yeah. That’s honestly what I think!” Ember was slowly regaining her sarcasm but it hurt to try to use it against her best friend. She had enough to deal with without fighting with Sherry.

  “Ember, I swear to you, I did not see you after I found out on Tuesday! Not until I’d talked to Ricky again, and then you were sleeping when Reid brought you back. Ask him, I was seriously worried about you! I felt bad for wanting to yell at you, but I never actually did yell at you! Not until now!” Sherry was yelling now and Ember flinched. Her voice wasn’t hostile, just pleading and frustrated. Ember took a deep breath, making a great effort to calm down. Sherry obviously didn’t want to fight like this, but Ember always had a short temper. She would control it for the sake of her friend, no matter what they were arguing about.