“I… I love you, Hailey,” he stammered, his face sweating.
“You’re drunk, you’re crazy. I don’t love you.”
He grabbed Hailey with both hands and pushed her against a tree.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he reached in her kiss her.
Hailey attempted to get away. She squirmed enough to knock both of them over onto the cold dirt forest floor. Charlie Ray positioned himself on top of her. Just as Hailey attempted to scream for her, her pleas were drowned by a giant blast.
The boy with the fireworks had accidentally dropped many of them into the bonfire. Rockets went off in every direction. A small explosion boomed. Lights and flashes and fire flared up into the air and toward the teens.
A flash bang stunned Hailey and Charlie Ray both in the eyes. Teenagers screamed, ran out of the area, and toward the football stadium. Over on the field, the screams at the bonfire were drowned by the jeers of overtime.
The teenagers who’d been making out on the ground brushed themselves off and ran just as quickly toward the stadium. A mushroom of smoke encompassed the fiery area that made up the bonfire.
As Hailey regained her, albeit still blurry, vision and came to, she realized that Charlie Ray was still on top of her. He groaned and pinned her arms down.
Hailey screamed. She tried wiggling way. She tried knocking him off of her. But he was too strong.
“I just wanted to date you, Hailey!” Charlie Ray whined as he held her arms.
“No!” she cried.
“But you wouldn’t give me a fucking chance!” he screamed.
“Get the hell off me! Somebody help!” Hailey yelled.
And instantly – as if a miracle of intervention – her pleas were answered. All Hailey noticed was a shadowy figure lift Charlie Ray off of her.
The boy’s own high-pitched screams were drowned as he was flung from one side of the forest to the other.
Hailey’s vision focused in and out. Still lying on the forest floor, she peered at her right forearm and noticed it was scraped and bleeding – the wound was roughly the length of a pencil and spread all across her forearm.
She assumed one of the fireworks had hit her as it blasted from the bonfire. She ached and coughed, inhaling the smoke fumes around her. And then she saw it – or him – something, someone…
“Try not to move your arm,” a voice said to her.
The figure kneeled down toward her.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Immediately she had her answer as the face became clear to her. That dark-haired James Dean. The mysterious boy who’d winked at her in the hall. The same one who met her eyes during the pep rally earlier in the day. The same one she thought she momentarily saw in the parking lot before her first drink.
After kneeling he pulled her into a sitting position in his lap. His arms felt cold as he grabbed her. Still, there was something comforting about his gentle strength – in contrast to the fury exhibited by Charlie Ray, who now lay somewhere on the forest floor – not that Hailey cared what happened to him.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said to her.
“What’s your name?” Hailey said quietly.
“Percivell,” he told her. “But my friends just call me Percy.”
“Percy,” she repeated.
“Promise me you won’t be alarmed,” he told her.
She nodded. He opened his mouth. Hailey gasped as his incisor teeth lengthened into fangs. He sank his teeth into his wrist, creating two small puncture wounds. Her bruised arm was now throbbing.
“This can’t be real. What are you?” Hailey asked, lying on him.
“Open your mouth,” he told her.
Without thinking twice what this was about or why he instructed her to do this, Hailey opened her mouth. He brought his wrist up to her lips as several droplets of his blood fell into her mouth.
“That should help,” he told her.
She felt her body grow warm all over. An intense euphoria spread throughout every inch of her. And then… she drifted to sleep in his arms and everything went black.
Hailey, however, was not the only person saved by a mysterious boy that night.
***
Wanting to see at least some portion of the game, Mason decided to sit with his mom until the half time show. It consisted of cheerleaders performing various synchronized numbers and even a singer belting out the city song – some country number Mason had never heard before and wasn’t particularly keen on.
It was during the half time interval that Sebastian lured them out of the stands and into the parking lot. So Mason joined Sebastian, Alex, and Ben as they made the short trek from the stadium into the tailgate lot.
While the walk was a short one, the two environments couldn’t have been more different. There was the family friendly football gaming going on within the confines of the stadium. On the other hand, there was the raucous teen partying within the parking lot.
The boys watched as teenagers drank in excess and made out, half unclothed.
“Whoa,” Mason exclaimed, his eyes as wide as silver dollars.
“Ain’t it great,” Sebastian said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mason gawked.
They snuck around the parking lot, darting in and out between cars. On the other end of the lot, Mason was sure he had seen his sister taking a shot of liquor. Sure, he’d have loved to report her to mom for that. But such a report would immediately indict him for sneaking around and witnessing such a far-out ceremony of teenage depravity. Of course, the middle school boys were teens too. But thirteen felt a whole world and a half away from seventeen.
“Is that your sister over there!?” Alex asked Mason.
“I think it is!” Sebastian said. “Damn! She’s drinking like a fish!”
“Stop looking at her!” Mason said defensively.
“Okay, I’ll pay attention to someone else,” Sebastian whispered as the boys darted between a car and eyed a couple of teens making out in the back of a truck while another sprayed beer in their direction.
“Hey,” Alex said, pointing. “Who’s that?”
The boys looked in the direction where Alex pointed. There were a couple of tall pale boys dressed in black.
“Emos? In Corpus?” Mason said.
“I think they’re punk actually,” Ben said.
“No, look more goth,” Alex corrected them.
“Who cares,” Sebastian said. “They’re not doing anything. Not even drinking. Why are we even watching them?”
Mason couldn’t argue. But they stood out. One with a mohawk, one with long hair, and another with short black bangs. Each wearing black leather, boots, and cape-like shawls.
They boys in black weren’t interacting with anyone, not even each other. It was more like they were assessing the teenagers. For what reason, Mason was unsure
Before he could ponder their intentions any further, the boys in black disappeared – having disbursed in various directions.
Eventually the boys saw the faint flicker of the bonfire, emanating between and through the branches, deep within the woods.
“I say we check it out,” Sebastian was the first to suggest.
They each agreed. They did, after all, spend at least an hour or more just gawking and scrambling in between cars. It was time to set off.
Before the boys headed through the woods, Mason looked around the parking lot and couldn’t find his sister anywhere in sight. She’d disappeared. Alex looked back toward the stadium and could see the football game was just beginning overtime, as told by the giant digital scoreboard.
“Alright, let’s go,” Sebastian said.
They rushed far away from the dirt parking lot and entered the woods.
“Where are we headed?” Ben asked.
“Toward the embers, just follow the light,” Alex said. “That’ll take us to the bonfire.”
“If you think the parking lot was crazy, just wait ’til we get to the bonfire,” Sebas
tian exclaimed.
But halfway there, as the burning embers came into view, a voice called out.
“Hey queers!”
The four boys ran right into Jason Richly and Harry Fletch.
“Oh god,” Alex’s voice shook. “Not you two.”
“Who else?” Jason said. “And there’s no Matthew here to save you tonight.”
Jason and Harry both pulled switchblades from their pockets. They clicked open.
“You tried to embarrass us last time,” Harry told them. “Now there’s four of you. So we’re gonna get four for the price of two.”
“RUN!” Ben yelled.
The boys took off with their bullies chasing right after them. Immediately, an enormous bang and a blast rumbled through the forest. Fireballs and fireworks and rockets were shooting in every direction, all coming from the center of the woods where the bonfire was located. Smoke and mist filled the air. Several of the boys fell to the dirt ground while others continued running.
Sebastian tripped. Jason Richly fell to the ground and grabbed him by the collar. Harry followed right after.
“Forget your little pansy ass friends,” Jason coughed through the smoke-filled air. “We’ve got you and that’ll do for now, you fuckin’ Mexican.”
Jason hopped to his feet, held Sebastian up, and placed the switchblade to the boy’s throat. Harry held Sebastian by his arms, making it impossible for him to run.
Sebastian choked up tears. “Please, let me go.”
Other kids continued running in various directions as the fire blazed in the center of the forest. While running for their lives, no one paid attention to the boy with a blade held to his neck by two guys twice his size.
“Release him,” called a quiet voice.
Jason and Harry turned around and spotted a longhaired teenager in the distance. He was thin but just as tall as they were.
“Stay outta this, gothboy,” Jason spat. “Keep movin’.”
The mysterious boy took another step toward them.
“You think you can take on two of us,” Harry said, pointing his blade in the teen’s direction. “Don’t you see we’re armed.”
But very little seemed intimidating to this dark stranger. Sebastian noticed, through tears, that the mysterious boy’s hands were in his pockets. It was as if he were taking a stroll in the park.
He took another step forward.
“Forget the Mexican,” Jason said, gesturing to his partner. “Let’s take Snape.”
They let go of Sebastian, shoved him to the floor, and ran toward the black-clad teen at the same time. They both jumped him. Punching him repeatedly. The boy was like an impenetrable fortress, completely steady and completely unshaken by their attacks.
Fortune favors the bold. Jason took his switchblade and plunged it into the teen’s shoulder. If anything was going to take him down, it was this – except it didn’t. It only angered him.
With one arm, the teen grabbed Jason and tossed him into a neighboring tree. The bully was immediately knocked unconscious.
Harry grunted as he tried to stab the teen a second time. The boy in black blocked his knife attack and slammed him to the ground.
Harry coughed in pain. The boy in black looked at his shoulder. He slowly pulled the switchblade from his flesh. He took the blade and forced it into Harry’s hand. The bully screamed and cried.
The boy in black pulled Harry to his feet. The bully was gripping his hand with a knife lodged in his palm.
“Now run along,” the boy in black told him, with the same quiet tone.
Harry cried as he ran – disappearing through the woods, likely praying he wouldn’t bleed to death.
Sebastian was shaking, wiping tears from his eyes. The boy in black approached him.
“Please… please don’t… hu-hurt me,” Sebastian stuttered.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” the mysterious teenager told him as he kneeled near Sebastian. “Are you alright?”
“I saw what you did… how did you do that? Please don’t hurt me!” Sebastian cried out.
The teen whispered to him. “I won’t repeat myself.”
“I saw him stab you! You didn’t flinch! You threw him! How! How?” Sebastian said nervously.
The boy in black reached his hand out. Sebastian flinched. His pale thin fingers were cold to the touch. Yet remarkably soothing. He slowly ran his fingers through Sebastian’s hair. Everything weary went soft.
Sebastian’s body transitioned from tense to relaxed. The mysterious teenager patted him upon the head. As if somehow knowing he would ask it, Sebastian told him, “My name’s Sebastian. But my friends call me Seb.”
The boy in black placed a cold hand against the nape of Sebastian’s neck. He closed his head in and lowered his face to the younger boy. He shut his eyes, inhaled deeply – taking in the full aroma of the boy, and slowly exhaled through his mouth.
Sebastian could feel the teen’s breath brush against his neck, forcing every fine hair on his body to stand up straight. Finally – an eternity later, the boy in black raised his head.
“I am Gregorious Velstall. But my friends simply call me Gregory.”
Sebastian stared him in his eyes. Neither of them blinked. Gregory continued talking.
“You are a true specimen of human, Sebastian. And I am truly pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Gregory stood to his feet. With one hand he helped Sebastian up.
“Who are you?” Sebastian asked in awe.
“I do not repeat myself.”
“I mean… what are you.”
“I must go now,” he said as softly as ever. “I very much wish it that we shall meet again, young Sebastian.”
Before Sebastian could ask him any further questions, he heard someone yell his name.
“SEBASTIAN!” someone called out worriedly. He turned around and recognized the voice as belonging to Mason. “Sebastian are you okay!”
“I’m fine!” Sebastian yelled back.
When he turned around Gregory was gone.
***
Hailey awoke on the porch of her house. She was drifting in and out of consciousness as the boy she remembered named Percivell – or Percy, carried her to her front door, rang her doorbell, laid her in the rocking chair near the door, bid her goodnight, and disappeared.
The next thing she recalled was her mother, Mel, opening the front door, thanking God she was alright, hugging her as she sat half-conscious in the rocking chair – still in a state of euphoria – and passing back out.
Chapter 4
Hailey awoke the next morning – but not with a headache as would be expected for a teenager’s first time drinking in excess. She awoke in the comfort of her bed – feeling, not dizzy or confused, but entirely clear with a perfect recollection of each event that occurred at last night’s football-fest.
“What a night,” Hailey said to herself.
I remember it all – the tailgating, the drinking, going off into the woods, Charlie Ray, the fireworks, the injury, and most of all, the boy. Percy. He said his name was Percy.
That’s when she stopped remembering. After he… had me swallow droplets of blood from his wrist.
She remembered the immense pain she felt in her forearm. She remembered how the same pain vanished instantly after she drank from Percy. What she didn’t remember was how Percy got her home. Everything up until the blood was clear. Everything after that – a lost mystery.
Then she remembered the most striking, alluring, and revolting aspect of Percy that made him far different than a normal human being. She remembered alright. She remembered gasping. Being afraid but trusting all at once after he had tossed Charlie Ray through the forest. Like a filthy discarded washrag.
She remembered… the fangs.
If she had any reservations about what Percy was, the fangs surely gave her a direct answer that couldn’t have been wrong.
Percy, she thought for the first time, is a vampire.
Hailey never
thought she’d say something so ridiculous. But there was no denying what occurred. Even if her eyes had deceived her, there was no discounting that instant healing of her forearm.
“What else could it be?” she asked herself, sitting up in bed. She was wearing a t-shirt and pajama pants, recalling blurred moments of her mother helping her change before she passed out in bed.
“He’s a vampire,” she repeated to herself, this time aloud.
A thousand and one thoughts swam through her head. All were interrupted at once – like a school of fish scattering from a shark – when she heard a stream of thuds at her door.
“Hailey!” she heard Mason’s voice as he knocked.
“What!” she yelled back.
“Open up!” Mason shouted from the other side of the door.
“I said, what do you want!” Hailey yelled.
She grunted, hopped out of her bed, and answered the door. Mason’s fists were in the air, preparing to knock again when the door swung open.
“I said what do you want?” Hailey said with severe annoyance.
“We need to talk,” Mason said, almost trying to sound adult-like.
“Talk?”
“About last night, Hailey.”
Hailey ushered him directly into her room and spoke at a whisper.
“What do you know about last night?” Hailey demanded.
“A lot,” Mason answered.
Oh no, Hailey thought to herself. Wondering how Mason saw her making a connection with a vampire – a stone cold creature of the night.
“You saw it happen?” Hailey asked nervously.
“Yeah,” Mason answered. “I saw you drinking.”
“What?” Hailey scoffed in surprise. This was not what she was expecting.
“You heard me. I saw you getting totally wasted in the parking lot,” Mason shot back.
“Wait, what? You saw me drinking? Is that all?” Hailey asked.
Her trepidation wavered. At least he hadn’t seen the worst of it.
“What do you mean ‘is that all?’” Mason retorted. “Isn’t getting drunk bad enough?”
“I mean… yeah. But you shouldn’t have been snooping on me,” Hailey snapped, her nose in the air.
“Yeah, that’s kinda the thing. So, some friends and I snuck out the game to watch the high school kids. And as much as I’d love to tell mom… I’d be in trouble just for sticking around as a witness, sis.”
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