Liam snatched her up by her hair from behind allowing me time to get my feet under me.
The bus door opened as he placed her under one arm and proceeded to jog onto our vessel. Both Darby and Logan helped me to my feet and my date with one pissed off vampire.
Stepping onto the bus, I was greeted with Chloe sitting in Liam's lap in the back of the bus, mouth covered as he held her still.
Approaching the two cautiously as the bus departed from the school, I contemplated what do next. Without Veronica to hold us together, this situation was capable of becoming more than two individuals having a disagreement. Ultimately, I was afraid it could become a blood bath, but if I continued to allow Chloe to push me around, then the group could possibly lose any new found respect that I had earned.
"Let her go," I said.
Liam turned her loose before the words were completely from my mouth.
The low ceiling of the bus kept her in check as she half leapt and half ran at me. Chloe was fully turned. Her eyes were a soulless black, fang filled mouth agape with her nails ripping through the tops of the seat as she neared.
Two seconds were all I had to determine how to react. Steadying myself with my back against the edge of the seat corner, I waited. When she was on top of me I turned giving her a smaller target. Chloe's calculations had been based on me not moving, but when I did at the last second, she flew past, clawing at my face as she did.
Using her momentum as my ally, I pushed her airborne legs hard enough sending her somersaulting into both sides of the bus. Her legs became trapped on one side as her torso was a row forward on the other side.
The whole group watched for movement. Turning to the others for help, I checked their reactions to see what my next move should be.
Logan motioned and mouthed, "Go check on her."
He was right. Sliding forward, I peered over the row where her upper body had been wedged when she had suddenly stopped. Tentatively, I inched close enough to determine she was still alive. Her face was awash in blood from a couple of parallel, horizontal cuts that started at her eye and finished near her mouth. From the appearance of the wound and the flesh under her nails, she must have accidentally clawed herself. Chloe looked to be in a peaceful slumber. I wasn't sure if we could be knocked fully unconscious, but Chloe seemed to be out.
Taking off my shirt, I reached down, to wipe away the blood on her face just in time to hear Darby cry, "Don't!"
Chloe sprang from her fraudulent sleep swinging wildly.
The tips of her nails, long as a knife blade and just as sharp, barely skimmed the surface of my bare chest. The move opened three long, tightly aligned cuts that refused to bleed until I started to move. The wounds spread open as I flipped back over the seat behind to get away from her wrath.
She crawled over the seat as I righted myself in the aisle. Chloe was smiling as she feasted upon her own blood that was running down her face and into her open mouth. No matter how long I will be a vampire, I will never get use to that.
Backing up, I knew I had to end this game before I got really hurt.
Taking to the aisle with me, Chloe cleaned my blood from her nails. Reveling in the taste, she seemed crazed as she taunted me with her provocative licking of the sharp extensions. Cutting her own tongue accidentally only seemed to make her more incensed.
Darby begged Chloe, "Stop it Chloe. Why are you so mad at Ethan?! Please stop before one of you gets hurts!"
Finishing with her taunting, she paused and returned to her human appearance. "Darby shut it! He put us in jeopardy. He put our chance to be outside the fence at risk and for that he must pay. I will not be a captive to the base because Ethan wants to do the right thing or worse gets a hard-on for some random girl. Don't worry Darby, I am only going to hurt him a little. There will plenty of him left for you to play with when I am through."
Darby crossed her arms, made a sour face then plopped down hard on the seat.
Logan worked his way toward her from behind.
Chloe whirled on him. "If you want to play too then come on, but this is not about you. This is about him learning how things work in our world and why it is so important that he doesn't screw things up."
Logan stopped. I think in his heart he knew she was possibly correct.
Running out of space as I neared Liam, who had been silent the whole time, I knew it was time to go on the offensive. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed Liam with his hands behind his head, feet in the seat across the aisle. He was enjoying the spectacle. I was sure he even thought it was funny.
Focusing, I watched her approach again. She neared quickly, reverting to her other form to fight.
I felt myself phase as she drew within reach. It was an automatic process that was nearly painless. Ready as I was ever going to be I swung with force and a speed I did not know was capable. I missed which allowed her to connect with a couple nails, driving one deep into my shoulder as she pivoted then rolled across my back to dodge the punch.
There was a burning sensation and the smell of fresh blood, but I did not slow. Collapsing into the seat where I had landed, as did she into her own seat, we faced each other.
Without giving away her moment of attack, Chloe lashed out. She was on me before I could prepare myself. Quick thinking was my saving grace as I caught her squarely with a kick to the chin which drove her hard into the bus wall, denting the side.
She tried in vain to shake out the cobwebs that must have been flooding her head. Chloe started wobbling then fell into the floor.
Leaning over in agony as my shoulder began to throb, I dragged her from the wedged position between the seat and the rear of the other seat and into the aisle.
Her eyes and features were once again human, but her eyes were constantly shifting from one color to another. Often each eye contained a different color than the other eye. This lasted for about fifteen seconds then she blinked awake, acted startled, then attempted to slide away.
Grabbing her nearest arm, I held her in place. "Oh, no you don't. I am not giving you another chance today."
Looking up at me from the floor, her eyes focused to a golden green combination before she spoke, "You have won the right to be unencumbered with having to worry about me. I will let it drop."
She knew she was beaten, but I didn't trust her.
Slinging her down the aisle toward the now seated Logan so I could keep an eye on her, I spoke, "Damn right you will or next time you might not live to make it back to the real world."
Chloe raised the floor on her elbows, looked alarmed at my threat then settled back to the floor.
I found my shirt in the floor and used it to help clean the blood from my body. The wounds were healing slowly and most of the blood had stopped flowing.
My threat had been real, but I hoped that Chloe thought I could carry it out because I wasn't sure if I was capable of doing it.
Resting, but ever vigilant not to take my eyes from Chloe lying in the floor, my mind turned to Veronica.
Chapter 24
I knew there would be hell to pay with someone for all that transpired during the day so I made a promise to myself to take it in stride. When the bus finally stopped at our houses, I half expected an armed military detachment waiting to arrest me, but nothing, not even Veronica. I remained seated until Chloe, Darby and Logan had exited the bus.
Liam strolled to my seat, stopping to speak. "Don't forget tonight is the feeding. It is going to be epic."
Staring up at him I asked, "Which pen is ours again and what time?"
He laughed, "Dude, the doggies get fed at the pen. We are Gods among the mortals. We dine in style. You will see. Be at the Tortured Rabbit around nine."
Having not been able to venture into town much I wasn't sure what the hell he was talking about in regard to the location. "The Tortured Rabbit?"
Liam looked confused which was possible, but of course he did look confused a lot.
You could tell he was thinking about what to sa
y next.
Shit, I broke him was all I could think.
Finally Liam responded to my question. "Stay on Main Street until you get to almost the end then on your right will be an old pet store. It still has the old sign hanging up, but someone decided to paint the bunny red years ago as a joke. We just call it the Tortured Rabbit as a nickname. Get it?"
I shook my head yes and Liam moved on. I didn't want to get off the bus and might have stayed had it not been for the bus driver.
"Hey kid," he called.
I didn't bother answering.
"Hey kid. I need to get going sometime this year so if you don't mind."
I replied, "And if I do?"
"Then I might have to have my men do really unpleasant things to you until I get tired of hearing you scream."
The voice was not that of the bus driver, whom I had still not taken the time to learn his name, but another man.
Opening my eyes slowly, the scene inside the bus had changed. The driver was gone and standing in the aisle was a rather upset Walter.
Strange, he sounded different today.
Before I could answer, he began to rant harshly. "Do you know how much damn trouble you caused today? Any idea at all what could have happened if John and his unit decided to make the fight a less than human one? Can you fathom the possible carnage that could have occurred if a human had an injury that bled in the presence of any of you? All I need is just one vampire or damn wolf to get bloodlust and wipe out the whole entire school population."
I had no response. I knew he was right. It was time to take my punishment.
Continuing as he agitatedly scratched at his chin, he delivered news of John's termination from the program. "You are so lucky that you are so green or so help me God I would wash you from the program like that asshole wolf. There won't be many more chances boy."
He shifted tones. Walter seemed to be less pissed, but more calloused as he talked. "We generally don't get involved in events that are part of your world, but your elders have asked for us to come watch the run tomorrow night and at my suggestion they have graciously made the decision to include you as a teammate to Veronica."
I still didn't know what the run was, but I was sure it was bad, very, very bad.
He waved his hand and the bus was no longer surrounded by guards. "If you survive, consider yourself still in the program, but of course if you don't then...well."
Walter laughed under his breath then departed the bus.
Getting up from my seat, I knew this was a second chance and one I wasn't going to waste by dying.
Standing in the afternoon sun felt good, though my skin did harden and gray. The warmth of the sun kept the chill of being dead away. Basking in the light, I noticed a truck pulling away from down the street. I was curious about it being in the Town, but not enough to investigate further so I proceeded down the street to my house.
Chapter 25
The night seemed to come so fast. There was no homework, no television, no phone ringing and no radio. No distractions to quiet my mind. I found myself at peace with everything. I was going to make it a night to remember because in fact it could be my last one.
Redressing after an attempted sleep, I found a vintage t-shirt and jeans that fit my mood. Sitting on the edge of the bed putting on my shoes, I realized I missed Chuck. Since there were no Zs on the weekends guarding us, it would be Monday before I saw him again. It wasn't like I was fond of him. It was more or less about knowing he was there as a distraction.
Veronica yelled out, "You dressed?"
I was happy to hear her voice, but all I could think about was that I really needed better door locks. "Yeah."
She replied, "Good, now hurry up because we don't need to be late if we want the best ones."
Walking into the combined living space, I tried to apologize. "About today..."
I stopped speaking when I saw here outfit. Veronica was dressed in another corset. This one was pink with darker pink accents. Completing her look was tight leather pants and black boots that laced up to her knees. This was all cover by a long leather jacket of black. Even her hair matched. It was loose and black.
The outfit was over the top, and I could now understand why we had to be talked to about dressing appropriately. That kind of attire definitely won't work at school though I was sure all the boys would think she was hot as did I.
She was a vision of sexiness. Veronica was almost too beautiful to look at without staring.
I told myself that I had to find out why she dressed that way if we survived tomorrow night.
Veronica returned my stare as a sly grin was exposed. "Cat has your tongue I suppose?"
She knew why I was speechless. Damn tease.
I managed, "I feel like all I have done is apologize for screwing up since I was created."
Veronica was kind, but honest. "You did the right thing at the school. It is just, as I know the others have explained as well, there are laws of both the human world and ours we must obey. Tomorrow night we have a chance to repair the damage we have done and move forward. Fortunately, the human world is much more forgiving as long as they think we are like them, but when we attempt to cross that line, like you did today, then we run the risk of being exposed. The price we pay for exposure is extreme, and I do not really want to die anytime soon. So, stop apologizing and move on because tonight we feed."
With a turn, she proceeded to the door and into the street. Shutting off the lights, I followed obediently.
The street scene was amazing. It was my first real adventure into life in the Town. Even though I had been confined to the assigned governmental housing, what was happening before my eyes seemed strangely familiar.
There were creatures from all of the remaining generations of vampires. Not all seemed to be anything close to resembling the GV16s that were my family. The world was so new to me still and the generations, with the exception of my own and that of the GV1s, were foreign to me.
Bayne and a small cadre of the GV1s were gathered outside of the pens barely outside of the lights. The others were probably near though I couldn't determine how close. There was more noise further away from the light.
Other GVs huddled together in their own familiar groups.
There were GVs that were short with the features of their faces making each appear to resemble bats. Some were missing body parts such an arm or a leg, possibly something as small as a hand or a foot. A few had facial deformities. These had faces that were short eyes, ears, faces that sloped to a side or bones that jutted outward. A few had exposed bones or overly large hands, eyes, ears, fangs. Most of these were not scary, some were down right comical.
The scary vampires were the ones that were close to mimicking the humans, but lacked a critical detail. This critical detail was subtle with the GV15s. The GV15s had no conscience. It was not that a vampire does, but these were unique. Later, I would find out these were called upon to be assassins. The 15s could not be allowed around humans because if one was hungry enough, the vampire would feed without regard for safety or situation. The zone in which they lived was one of the few zones where the handbook had expressly said needed to be avoided because they were indiscriminate about killing anything in their immediate vicinity including vampires. Only a few were allowed into the town at any given time as a measure to keep them in line. If too many were allowed to congregate, the fear of mass murder was a possibility or civil unrest as groups would retaliate for loss of their own.
I stuck to my side of the street, close to the heels of Veronica to avoid them.
The GV13s were cunning and monstrous in size compared to the other vampires on the street. Bulging muscles and exposed veins belayed the rage within each of these killers. Devilishly friendly smiles were flashed my way as I plodded past.
The Tortured Rabbit could not come into view fast enough. Interlocking my pace with hers, we were sure to arrive in a couple of minutes.
A loud audible tone chimed in the distance fol
lowed by an abundance of street lights going dark. At the sound, the other GVs moved in unison in a common direction down a darkened side street guarded by soldiers.
"Veronica," I quietly called then I repeated. "Veronica.”
She knew what I wanted to know. "Sometimes you are better off not knowing. We are here."
Looking up, I realized she was right. She held the door open as I entered the deserted front room of a disheveled pet store. Broken aquariums and bent cages littered the floor and the shelves that remained. The odor of death was long vacant. The room was odd. It almost appeared staged with all the strewn glass and pet supplies lining the shelves in a tousled symmetric fashion. It was as though a person with OCD was told to trash the place. It was also obvious the building was much bigger than the room indicated.
Snaking through the scattered fragments, I continued trusting my guide. She paused at a rear door to allow me to catch up.
Her hand on the knob she said, "Behind this door is how we survive. I know you realize we need blood because I can smell the old refrigerated type you have consumed on your breath this long after, but vampires need fresh, live blood or we will slowly go insane. We have two choices. Choice number one is easy if you enjoy hunting and killing animals, but there is no way that is what we were created to need that kind of prey. The other can be hard if the human side of your brain rationalizes that your preferred food is human. Do not see yourself as one of their kind or you will starve. These people in here are picked to be fed upon, but we do not kill and they do not remember. Take only a little from each one then move on or risk killing the subject. Always remember, we do not drink from the dead or the abominations that we encounter here. To do so may kill us."
I swallowed hard. "Have we lost our kind to that?"
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