Darby was still trying to tell me something. Even screaming with the furrowed brow, fangs and the darkened eyes Darby was less than menacing. She was getting frustrated. The young vampire who couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen needed help for her friend.
Glancing over my shoulder at the mixed crowd of humans and monsters, Veronica was enveloped. The collective was tightening around her.
The noise in my ears was no longer deafening just annoying. The roar of the falls had dissipated to the sound of a dull lulling brook during a drought. My hearing was improved and over the flowing could be heard the shouting of Darby, Veronica and the others. Everything was jumbled and distorted. Whatever was wrong was a big deal?
Though she had attacked me, Veronica had saved my ass twice removed. She had to have had a reason to want me out of the way. I was about to help see if I could return the favor or die trying.
With as much force as I could muster, I flipped over onto my back driving the slice of wood deeper into my flesh. The embedded wood pushed through my side at an angle which allowed a shredded, mangled tip to burst through my skin. The pain was agonizing. I tossed and turned trying to deal with the pain.
Darby flung the dangling aluminum framed door open as she rushed to my side, sending shredded glass airborne.
The crowd had forgotten about us or either the group did not care as evidenced by the lack of focus in our general direction.
I clutched at the wood then jerked the broken splinter free only to find the shard had split leaving it inside of me.
"Oh god!" I screamed through clenched teeth as the pain resonated throughout my broken body.
Darby bent down and held my hand. "Be quiet. They are preoccupied trying to figure out how to deal with you. Veronica is trying to reason with them and make them give you a chance to live with us. The more you remind them that you are here and badly hurt, the more incentive you give them to take care of the problem quickly while you are an easy kill."
I nodded my understanding through the pain. I really didn't. This world was bizarre, a nightmare. Why did they want me dead?
Anger began to dig at my mind as I dealt with the pain. Veronica was standing up for me and I didn't know her but a few hours.
Pushing my hand deep inside the wound, I wrapped my left hand around the wood inside of me, getting a firm grip. An uncontrolled loud grunt escaped in a fit of rage as I grabbed the chunk in my side and discarded it, flinging it haphazardly. The item hurled toward Darby, who dodged at the precise second it should have hit her.
My hands covered the wound as red clay colored ooze flooded out. Soon I was covered in the blood. I looked down for a millisecond before the hunger and the pain from all of my injuries took hold. My vision was blurring. It wouldn't be long before the cloudiness gave way to complete darkness.
I kicked my feet, fighting the burning filling my body. "Fuck it hurts!"
My head was heavy. Veronica's name slipped quietly from my lips.
Darby slipped her hand behind my head and cradled it, positioning herself so my head would be in her lap. Reaching out, she found a large section of broken glass with her right hand. Through my fog covered eyes, I saw her turn her left palm up. In a single movement she cut diagonally through the tissue of her hand from her thumb to her little finger. Dark, maroon tinted blood flowed freely. Several drops spilled onto my forehead. Cupping her hand tightly, Darby squeezed the gash, pressing her fingers hard into her palm. Her hand and upper wrist was covered in fresh blood as she allowed a few teasing drops to fall into my mouth.
I readily accepted the life she was offering. The taste wasn't the salty blood I expected. The blood was warm and sweet with a flavor similar to a lemony peach hybrid. The taste was subtle and not overpowering; it was delicious. I wanted more. Seeing how I took to the blood, Darby lowered her hand to my lips. At first she let me lap at the wound, my tongue licking at the crevice.
Darby let a soft whimper escape as I pulled her hand to my mouth, sucking in the flowing blood. I was going delirious as the sweet nectar drained down my throat. My body needed more, wanted more. Slowly my fangs extended, sinking into her soft flesh.
She shuddered and gasped, "Oh. Oh. Oh! Oh!! Oh, shit!!"
A throaty moan escaped past her lips before she could say another word.
The taste of her blood was intoxicating. I felt drunk as the world dissolved into a swirl of melted colors and sounds. Lost in a delirium, I did not notice when Darby tried to break from our ecstatic bond.
Darby wasn't tethered in as deeply as I. She remembered Veronica needed us, needed me. She struggled to break our bond.
I needed more blood to satiate my hunger so I sank my fangs deeper as she struggled to force me to turn loose.
"Let go. Damn it let go!” She cried.
Taking hold of my hair with her free hand, Darby yanked as hard as she could. The action tore out a small clump. "You have to stop! Please stop, you are killing me!"
The feeding ended abruptly as her words hit me hard, bringing me from my enchantment.
The connection broken, I snapped back to the harshness of my injuries and the growing turmoil less than fifty feet away. Wiping away the blood covering my face, I suddenly was straightened by a rush of adrenaline pouring through my system.
I stared at Darby hoping for her guidance, but she was too distracted by the escalating ordeal beside us to notice. My head began to pound then red and blue splotches danced before my eyes.
To get her attention, I touched her face. Darby looked down at me and smiled.
A loud feminine scream was heard nearby as the world went black.
Chapter 13
I awoke to find myself sitting in a chair in a semi-circle facing a solitary red leather chair surrounded by other 'people'. On either side of me was Darby and Veronica; Veronica was no worse for wear.
Both were well dressed. Veronica wore a much more restrained mix of attire than her earlier black leather and red corset. This time around she was wearing jeans and beige shoes. Her top was a loose fitting navy and white diagonal striped silk top accented by dark brown hair with auburn highlights. Veronica was strikingly lovely as she sat in a very feminine, reserved pose.
Darby was her usual perky self with an outfit that bespoke her contagious personality: a striped navy bubble dress with a corvette red belt. I looked at her hand to find it healed.
Neither acknowledged my new state of being awake as their attentions were devoted to watching the door on the far side of a small, old banquet hall. Including myself there was a total of twelve people, most appeared to be between the ages of fourteen and early twenties. Everybody was shifting and fidgeting in his or her seat. Talking did not seem to be forbidden, but no one spoke. Even Darby was silent as she sat with a wide smile upon her face.
The room had been well kept, but could have used new carpeting to replace the worn low, brown shag on the floor. The walls had been recently painted a sandy brown that bordered on yellow. Few items cluttered the room other than the people and the mixed assortment of steel and wooden chairs in which they sat. The dining room tables were part of a busted mess stacked against the back wall of the room. The few windows that had not been recently replaced with the modern self-tinting type were covered with black tar paper.
The sounds of hammering and sawing permeated through the thin walls. It was evident the room was undergoing a transformation.
Inspecting myself, I realized my clothes had been changed. I was wearing fresh jeans, hemp loafers and a light blue t-shirt. The earlier broken bones, nicks, scratches and lacerations were repaired. My body felt electric and magnificent. Nothing of the morning's episode was present. The attention toward the doorway never wavered.
Rubbing my arm, I felt the cool almost cold and soft to the touch skin to which I had transformed. The flesh was marginally paler than before. Underneath, I could feel the blood flowing, hear my own heart beating.
Veronica turned to me and winked seconds before the door to the makeshift confe
rence room was opened slowly.
Two humans in black military fatigues brandishing semi-automatic M4A1s rifles stepped into the room, positioning themselves on opposite sides of the door. I was ready for a huge reveal, but the event was anticlimactic. Anticipating another surprise had given me hope that finally my new life would be explained.
The guards still stood on alert with guns at the ready. No one followed and the other vampires ignored the entrance.
There was cautiousness about the pair though they also seemed relaxed. Both were human because the smell of the blood was different than my new kindred. The vampires in the room had blood that had an odor that was almost sickly sweet whereas the human fluid contained a coppery hint. There was an urge to feed though it was not uncontrollable.
The intrigue with the guards ended as the stoic pair maintained the same boring posture as when they first entered.
My roommates were just as lame and mind numbing. There was hardly any movement and no interaction between the vampires. The majority were in a daze with empty expressions on their face except for Darby who was staring down the darkened hallway that had been exposed to us when the humans had entered.
Straining to see what the fuss was about, I became locked in the same obsession as the others. The hall was only moderately dark when I peered into it. The blackness wasn't absolute due to a single bulb hanging above another door at the far end. Loose wiring and cracked ceiling surrounded the light source.
I was absorbed in thought as the bulb appeared so close one second and so far away another. If I concentrated hard enough, I came to reason that what I had thought was a trick of light was actually a reflexive action I was controlling with my mind. Like a kid with a new toy, I played with the gift. Occasionally, I would laugh out loud when the light bulb was altered in my perception to be a couple inches from my face. The other vampires did not concern themselves with the short, abbreviated outburst. They continued doing as they were.
My concentration was disturbed when the door opened causing the vampires to grow antsy.
A stressed man dressed in a faded blue oxford dress shirt which was in desperate need of a pressing, loose black pants and scuffed black wing tips slowly progressed down the narrow hallway, clipboard in hand. His blood was less coppery and had a higher salt percentage with a consistency of recently consumed cheap alcohol.
The guards snapped to full attention when the man crossed the threshold.
"At ease," he barked before taking at seat in the single leather chair.
"Good evening GV16s. For our new guest, I am Mr. Walter Luke. Moving us along, I hope you all are prepared to take the next step which I will be explaining in an expedient manner as possible. Questions are unnecessary because the laws dictate your acceptable conduct when dealing with humans. This is an honor and a privilege to be the first generation of your kind to have been created for the sole purpose of complete interaction. Any violation of the laws can result in death."
The disposition of the room took on a decidedly different tone as the vampires sprang to life. The thousand mile stares were gone having been replaced with directed intent listening on the edge of their seats. There was an electric buzz; an excitement. The mood was infectious.
Personally, I was perplexed, but that had been my burden since awakening in the forest in the middle of the night.
Walter continued, "Johns and Avas, I know each group has names that you go by here in the Town. You will be allowed to maintain those identities off the facility for the duration of our extended operation. We will be adding a last name to be paired with your chosen name. Listen up."
Darby was brimming with nervous energy. Her right leg bounced up and down in a blur. The smile had grown wider if possible.
Consulting his clipboard, Walter read off the vampire names with the added surnames Chadron had selected in no particular order, "Avery Archer, Veronica Stace, Noah Acworth, Logan Andrews, Liam Mansfield, Natalie Child, Chloe Garrett, Sophie Lovell, Gavin Seymour, Darby, and Brayden Lynde.
Darby blurted out as she placed her hand on my thigh, "You forgot the newest member of the GV16s sir."
Flipping back and forth through the pages in his hand, Walter stopped on a page buried deep within the stack. "Yes. Our newest guest has not had time to select a name. The protocol for such a situation dictates the first auxiliary name on the list becomes the name of any GV16 without an appropriate title. So the name we will use for our John16 is Ethan Castel.
Finally, I had a name. However, admittedly, elation was minimized by the constant standard of confusion under which I was presented by my circumstances.
Folding his hands over the clipboard in his lap, Walter crossed his legs, sucked on a tooth briefly then spoke, "Tomorrow at seven in the morning every one of you will need to be in front of your house dressed appropriately for being a high school student. Remember the instruction we have been providing to you over the past few months. That is especially true for you Veronica."
Everybody snickered a little including me. I wasn't sure about the totality of the inside joke, but if the previous evening's attire was any indication then the muffled snickering was warranted.
She never deviated from her indifferent expression.
Undeterred by the snickering, the instructions resumed. "Two buses from the base will arrive and carry you to your assignments. The trip will take approximately thirty minutes to forty minutes to get to the high schools to which you have been assigned. The twelve of you will be split into two teams. The team listings, your class schedules, and needed books are in your house along with details of your cover stories in your personal portfolios. The advance team members from each group have accumulated enough data to provide intelligence on danger areas. Those individual GV16s will be the leaders. Also the leaders should, while in route to the schools, cover the basic ins and outs of what it is like to be a high school student."
He paused to check our understanding, looked around the group then restarted. "The overview scenario is as what we have discussed during the previous instructional sessions. At all costs, except eliminating humans from your site, you are to maintain cover of being the children of the military and corporate professionals who make the base their home while insuring blood desire integrity in order to learn to become integrated with society and further our study. Any questions?"
The request for questions was about finality and not a true attempt to cover all of his bases which was demonstrated when he did not wait for anyone to ask one. He quickly rose from his chair and headed toward the exit.
Before I realized it was me speaking a statement and less of a question, I shouted out at the departing Walter. "I have never been trained and have no idea what is going on. I am sorry, but I need to know what the hell is happening."
Walter stopped dead in his tracks, huffed and spun around. "Ethan, you need to know our teams are based on six GV16s working in cohort to insure safety of their identities and the overall safety of the humans. We were short one field operative so we had an opportunity to create another one with the right rare materials, but the afterlife change takes several lengthy, complicated steps, and we were unable to get you processed in time for your life adjustment training. The plans have been in place for years. The world outside our fence and security does not know the new reality we have invented here. To merge the two has cost millions and a delay is out of the question, so unfortunately for you Ethan, you are on your own with you teams."
I was as confused now as I had been, plus I could feel the eyes of the others staring at me.
Embarrassed as I was, I made another effort to find out more. "Sir..."
He interrupted me. "Veronica, you took him from the test zone screwing up early preliminaries we're running. He is now your responsibility so if he fucks up and blows his cover then it is your head as well as his that will grace the stakes in the yellow feed pen. Be sure of it."
Veronica remained expressionless and calm. Her only reaction was to adjust the shoulde
r strap on her top.
Shaking my head at the threat from this stranger, I scanned the room to find the other GV16s looking away to avoid eye contact.
Walter, satisfied with his own answer, disappeared through the door followed cautiously by the guards who backed out, the last one shutting the door behind him.
Chapter 14
The lot of the vampires I had met so far was not especially friendly or the most talkative bunch. The group had disappeared wordlessly soon after Walter had left leaving me alone with Darby and Veronica. No acknowledgement, no hello, just cold shoulders and blank stares.
So much for making a guy feel welcomed, I lamented.
When the door shut after a rather permanently pissed off acting female GV16 named Chloe left, I turned to Darby. "Do you mind excusing us I think there are some things Veronica and I must discuss before tomorrow morning?"
She looked hurt that I asked to be alone with her friend, but she didn't hesitate to make it happen. Leaving her chair swiftly, Darby bolted through the door, slamming it hard enough to crack the surrounding wooden frame.
"Safe to say she is upset," Veronica quietly stated.
Standing, I repositioned the chair in which I was sitting to be in front of Veronica.
I spun it around so I could straddle the chair. "That could be an understatement."
Veronica uncrossed her legs. "Listen, I know your head must be spinning and there has to be ten millions questions you would love to ask. Before you ask any of those I do need to explain some of the basics which should help erase at least part of your questions."
Inside there was a longing to let the questions flow, but I bit my lower lip to keep me from opening my mouth and waited.
She seemed to sense I was ready to hear the whole truth. "No interruptions?"
"Go ahead. I will not promise there will be no interruptions, but I will try to restrain them to as few as possible." The attempt at humor was missed.
The darkly sexy vampire was comfortable in who she was, but could use some real work on her people skills.
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