There were a couple of things that I could still try looking up. I typed “Night World” into the search bar, and tried not to roll my eyes at my naivety when information about a movie called “Nightworld” and a vampire book series by L.J. Smith popped up. The phrase was a popular one in pop culture and fiction, but it didn’t expand beyond that.
Which left one more topic for me at the moment and that was about Vampires. Earlier, I felt embarrassed to ask Sera or Finn about vampires, still reeling from the idea of their non-fictitious fate. I wasn’t sure if she would know, and I still didn't entirely trust Finn enough to ask him. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he had been keeping an “extra set of eyes” on me for fifteen years and this was the first I was meeting him.
I looked back at the monitor, my hands on the keyboard ready to type the word “vampire” into the search engine. Then I stopped. The internet couldn’t give me anything on the other Supernatural words that I had previously looked up beyond their definitions. What was it really going to tell me that I didn’t already know from media or books? Discouraged, I closed the internet windows and opened Microsoft Word and decided to make a list.
I started with descriptions. From the media and books, they were supposed to be pale and had fangs. From my one encounter, as far as I knew, they definitely had fangs. According to Sera and Finn, the Good ones would glow to me and the Scelesti would not. Certainly, that vampire earlier did not glow. He also smelled like "death," according to Finn. I wouldn't doubt it since he reminded me of the stinky dead mouse smell, just a hundred times worse. So, would all Scelesti smell that way to me? Or was this one rather smelly? Time would tell on that front.
From some sources, they were supposed to not have a heartbeat. Others contradicted this. Some said they were cold-skinned. My attacker didn't really touch me with his skin so I could not be sure, grabbing me by my jacket. Some sources said their eyes were strange and all the same color. I honestly couldn’t remember what color my attacker’s eyes were. I knew if I ever had to report this guy to the police, I would be screwed. I couldn’t remember much of him except what had happened. My limited list on description was coming to an end for now.
Next were their strengths. Obviously, their strength was a strength. That vampire held me up like I was nothing, paper. Speed was a strength; he came from nowhere and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Some sources said all their senses were outstanding. They could see in the dark like it was day. And they were able to smell and hear their victims from miles away. Some said their skin was difficult to penetrate, almost like steel. I didn’t know. They were the ultimate weapon, and here I was, a feeble human supposed to kill them? Or at least the evil ones. Not likely.
As for their weaknesses . . . I came up with sunlight, and even then sources were skeptical. Some said they could go out in the daylight. Garlic and Holy Water were considered weapons back in the days of Bela Lugosi but seemed impractical now.
Who would be afraid of garlic? Come on now. It’s in almost everything. And crosses? Crosses were inanimate objects, what vampire could be scared of a cross? I thought to myself.
Then there was the breaking and entering thing. Supposedly, vampires could not enter a building unless they were invited. That was a plus, perhaps. As for a stake through the heart . . . if their skin was supposedly impenetrable how could a wooden stake be shoved through the heart?
I put my head between my hands and thought, I was definitely screwed.
“Caden, what are you working on?” I heard Sera’s voice at my bedroom door and quickly hit alt + tab. I guess more time had gone on than I had realized. I hadn’t even heard Sera come home.
I turned around to see her in a tight little green cocktail dress.
“What am I working on? Who are you working on?”
She blushed. “I have a date with Daniel.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed. Not another date with Mr. Myles.
She ignored my irritation. "I know I should be here with you after everything that has been going on, but I just need this one night." Her eyes were sad as her gaze spaced out.
“No, it’s cool. I completely understand. Have fun!” I tried to sound enthusiastic, but I am pretty sure I sounded flippant.
She turned around ready to head out but stopped before taking one step.
“Can you do me one favor?” She asked just turning her head to look at me.
“What’s up?”
“Please don’t go out tonight.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Where am I going to go, Sera? I’m not really speaking to my friends right now.”
She tapped her hand on the door frame a couple of times like she was going to argue with me and then she left.
I waited until I heard footsteps going toward the front door. Then I listened to the front door close, and I walked over to my window that looked out the front. I watched as Sera's car drove away, making sure I was alone once more before I went back to my computer and hit alt + tab again, returning to my all about vampires’ page.
Then there was the blood factor. Vampires drank blood. That had to be why they had the fangs. But did they eat food as well? Some sources said yes, others said no. Did they need blood to exist? I wondered how blood fit into their lifestyle. Then there were the myths about coffins or if they needed their own earth to sleep. Some believed that they had special powers too. Like they could turn into bats or fly. Or even enthrall their victims by looking into their eyes. Who knew how much of this stuff was true? But I went ahead and saved my document. I promised myself that I would ask Sera and Finn about all of it later when we got down to the details, and I didn’t feel so insecure.
I thumped my desk, feeling suddenly bored after “finishing” my supernatural research.
Man, what was I going to do for the next couple of hours? I wondered.
I glanced at my book bag. I supposed that I could spend it doing homework since I left early to do some research.
I took out my books, placing them on my desk, and grabbed my notebooks. English was my first period class, and I just had a reading assignment that I usually did before bedtime. So, I started on Spanish and was working through Precalculus when the phone rang.
Being so preoccupied with my homework, I just picked it up without looking at the caller ID. I wouldn't usually avoid Meredith's calls, but I still wasn't happy with her, and I wanted a night of normalcy. For me, working on homework was normal.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey. Were you coming over tonight?” Meredith asked.
My stomach churned, and I paused.
“You said that you were,” she pressed. There was another pause before she tried bribing me. “My mom made dinner, and I am guessing you haven’t eaten yet.”
I sighed. A home cooked meal sounded better than leftovers. “Alright, I’ll be over. But you have a lot of explaining to do.”
“I know,” she responded. She sounded a little sad on the other end.
I hung up, not really saying "bye," but with the expectation that I would be over.
Then I remembered my conversation with Sera. Thinking about it, I didn’t exactly promise Sera that I wouldn’t go out. I just asked her where would I go. And at the time, it really wasn’t my intention to leave the house. Honestly, I was surprised she hadn’t hired a babysitter. I stopped to think that perhaps she secretly had with Meredith and Joanna Weber like she did over the previous year. But then I thought if she had called them, they would be picking me up by car.
I sat down in my computer chair to think. Was there any reason not to go out besides Sera asking me? Well, there was a possibility of evil creatures searching for me like the one that got away this morning. But then I remembered my conversation with Finn and Sera from earlier. I was issued a challenge according to Finn, so perhaps it was true that nothing could touch me until it was time. And Meredith’s house was literally down the street… at the other end of the road . . . ten minutes away.
Okay, so
maybe I had wanted to test the dark. If I was supposed to be this Venatrix Malorum, I needed to start acting like it. Not the coward that I felt inside. It was time to see how far I could push myself. And if anything came after me, it was time I learned something from them. What part of my list was accurate and what wasn't. So with those thoughts, the only reason I could think of for not going over to Meredith’s was that Sera would be upset if or when she found out.
Chapter Seventeen
I grabbed my denim jacket, locked up, and headed off. It was pretty dark out. Even for October. I looked at my watch. Six forty-five. I was freezing. The cold wind blew around me, blowing my hair into my face and giving me that eerie goose-bumpy feeling. Or it could have been the sudden feeling that someone was following me and I began to panic. I shouldn't have; especially since this was the reason, I went out. For a challenge and to learn for myself what was really out in the dark waiting for me. But I did panic.
And with my heart jumping in my throat, I ran around the corner to blend my body against an empty for-sale house. I saw my follower come into view. He was remarkably, good looking and actually a little familiar looking. I was pretty sure I had seen him before, but I couldn't remember where. Regardless, he was probably evil because what regular guy follows a girl at night? If he was preternatural or supernatural, he wasn’t glowing. Hopefully, he was an ordinary human, because I felt confident that I could defend myself against a human being after discovering everything I had.
He was taller than the average male, very similar to the build of my attacker. But taller and more muscular. His hair looked black in the night and had that "messed-up," bed-head look. His face was pale, and I could make out some features from the moonlight. I remembered that paleness was considered a vampire trait. But paleness could be anyone. Meredith could have even looked pale to some people, and she wasn’t a vampire…that I knew of.
I continued to stare at him. Hoping this time, if I were to identify an attacker, I would make a police officer proud. He had rigid cheekbones and square jawline. Nice set of lips that screamed kiss me. Yeah, I was so attracted to him already and I part of me felt like I was betraying Nate even though there was no chance with him.
I sniffed to verify my find. No smell of “death," but there was a scent of woods or wilderness and something sweet, or maybe it wasn't sweet, but rather spice-like. A sweet spice? Regardless, it was nothing that I could specifically identify. It wasn't a bad scent, but he didn't glow.
He stopped a few yards in front of me. He didn’t look at me, but he smiled a toothy grin aware that I was somewhere.
"I know where you are. I can see you. I can smell you. I can hear your breathing. The beat of your pulse. You might as well come out from the shadows," the male taunted in a soft, raspy voice accented barely with some sort of European accent. His words verified to me that he was a supernatural creature. And if he was a vampire, he definitely had quality senses.
“Who are you? Why are you following me?” I asked, but I didn’t come out of the shadows.
“I just wanted to talk to you, that's all. I am not here to hurt you,” he coaxed, still beneath the street lights. When I didn’t move, he added, “I don’t smell like some rotting corpse, do I?” So he knew who I was and how I recognized Scelesti.
“No, but you aren’t glowing to me either.”
“Eh,” he shrugged, “Just like most humans, I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
“But you’re not human.”
“No, I am not.” He smiled exposing two fangs.
I groaned to myself even though I was semi-aware of what he was already. Vampire. The first vampire I had encountered had marked me and wanted to snack on me. I wasn’t ready to go up against another. Especially if he hadn’t made up his mind.
“What are you deciding on?”
He side-stepped into the shadows next to me, and I lost sight of him altogether. I tried to listen for footsteps. Nothing. Add stealth to that list, I thought. I knew he would be coming for me, but I felt too paralyzed to move. At least I had made progress. Instead of crying and freezing, I had managed to talk to my stalker and freeze.
He was suddenly in front of me, placing both hands against the wall with me in between. His entire body was big enough to cloak me from anyone’s view. His black leather trench coat was hiding us as he brushed up against my body. I closed my eyes waiting for impact, but he did nothing. His body so close to mine certainly was not cold, debunking another myth. He radiated a warmth that seemed to change the season.
I opened my eyes feeling his stare bore into mine. Oh, those eyes. Grey as slate surrounded the icy blue irises with streaks of dark blue lightning. Hypnotizing? No, but I wouldn't put it past my body to have been enthralled. Part of me was terrified, but there was another part of me that felt electrified as if struck by those eyes. I could feel it work its way down through my body. This male terrified me but excited me as well. And emotionally, I ached to discover that my heart wasn’t as dedicated to Nate as I had thought.
“I’m deciding if you’re worth being on the Good side.” He looked me up and down. His lips turned up on the one side in a smirk, a white fang peeking through which my body found sexy as hell. He inhaled loudly. “Nothing like a teenager in heat.”
I was suddenly flushed with embarrassment that he could smell my emotions and I felt my cheeks become warm.
"I have no desire to kill you." He cocked his head to the side and closed his eyes as if he were imagining sucking me dry. "Although I'm sure you would taste sweet. There's nothing like a teenage virgin. Your blood is infused with such energy and being so pure . . ." He licked his lips and grinned showing both his fangs. He suddenly opened his eyes which had become illuminated as if something inside him glowed like the sun. The glare was suddenly cold and devoid of any emotion.
I shuddered from his cold glare as if a blast of arctic air hit me.
He hadn't stopped grinning, but it had turned predatory. "But you are nothing but a child."
I felt insulted, humiliated, belittled, which was probably unusual considering that he had just described how his food would taste. How my blood would taste. How dare he judge me, even though I probably did look like a kid to him or at least ten years younger than the way he looked. I was still the Venatrix Malorum! Perhaps it was that attractiveness and inner rage that kept me out of my frozen state.
“A child?” I raged. “I am a Venatrix Malorum! You better know who you are talking to!”
His grin became wider in satisfaction. “That’s a little better. I had hoped the Venatrix wasn't a sniveling little child." He looked up thinking to himself. "Perhaps I just might choose my side after all." Then he glared at me, and the coldness was gone returning to those enchanting wild eyes. "Or maybe I'll wait to see who wins."
Anger began in my heart and pumped heatedly to the rest of my body through my veins.
“So, you’re a coward,” I snapped.
He chuckled softly and ran a hand through his dark, messy hair. "Baby, I’m a realist. And I haven’t lived this long without choosing the winning side. Which is why I am in the position I am.”
“Don't call me ‘baby,'" I snarled, drawing my chin up and earning a flash in his eyes. I couldn't tell what it was; amusement, mischief, or some emotion that I hadn't come into contact with from the opposite sex, but it brought him forward before he forced himself back.
The cold illuminated stare returned, and he punched the brick wall with his fist. Dust debris from the bricks fell on my shoulder and to the ground. Yes, strength was definite.
He inhaled my scent once more and grimaced, backing away from me further as if I repulsed him. How much lower did I feel that even a vampire was repelled by me?
“My name is Zane. And I’ll be around,” he whispered, getting as close as he could to my face to show off his fangs and that cold, predatory look. Then he pushed himself away from me and fled into the shadows where my eyes couldn’t follow.
I let out a breath I didn’t
know that I was holding and unstuck myself from the wall.
Okay, that’s enough excitement for one night, I thought, my pulse drumming through my veins, making my arms shake.
I thought about continuing to Meredith’s, but I was afraid that he might follow me there, and I didn’t want to put my friend in danger. So, I took a roundabout way home. I ran through the door and quickly shut it.
From Folklore, vampires could not come in unless they were invited in, but I didn’t want to chance it. I locked the doors and took a seat on the couch near the window in the living room with the only weapon I could find, a baseball bat. I waited for Zane to come, especially since he had told me that he would be watching.
A half hour into my vigil the phone rang and already being jumpy, images of the movie Scream materialized in my mind.
“Hello?” My voice wavered, and I had again forgotten about caller ID. It was starting to become a useless add-on feature that I wasn't using.
“Caden? Are you okay?” I sighed in relief, it was Sera. Then it had occurred to me that I hadn’t reached Meredith’s house nor had I called her to let her know I had changed my mind.
Shoot, I thought feeling guilty that I had worried so many people.
“Oh, yeah. I’m good.”
I heard her sigh of relief.
“I was worried. Meredith said that you were supposed to be over there and you never showed up.”
"I know. I forgot that you had asked me not to go anywhere. Then I remembered, and I changed my mind. I forgot to call Mere to let her know I wasn't going to go out,” I lied, not necessarily because Sera wouldn't buy the vampire encounter, but because I remembered the stress on her face and shadows under her eyes earlier and I felt guilty. She deserved a night out, even if it was with that asshat Daniel Myles. Rationalizing all of this, it still made me feel sick inside lying to her.
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