by David Weaver
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Bristol sat in her room all night thinking about the “gifts” that she had been cursed with for over 200 years. Her strength was phenomenal; she could lift the entire front end of a car off of the ground by exerting just a little effort.
Her sight was virtually microscopic. The longer she stared at things, the deeper her vision zoomed. If she stared into the kitchen sink for 3 minutes, she could detect things moving around that even the strongest microscope could never pick up.
In basketball, she could hit a shot from the next city over with her eyes closed. She could hit a full court shot with her back turned by looking at the rim in the mirror. A shot like the one her new neighbor was practicing earlier was way too easy.
My new neighbor, she thought as she glanced out of the window. She looked through his window and could see that he was asleep. After focusing for 6 more seconds, she noticed that he was tossing and turning. Then she saw a thin layer of sweat on his skin.
She decided to gaze deeper. She focused in on his presence, zoomed in on his aura, and saw that he was having a nightmare. She had the ability to read thoughts, but she had to be within 10 feet of him for it to work, so she finally closed her eyes to break the deep visual zoom.
When she met him earlier that night, she had read his thoughts, and what she discovered had embarrassed her. She discovered that Marvin, her new neighbor; had thought that she was drop dead gorgeous.
She discovered that he was intimidated by her beauty and genuinely liked her. Never in her life had she met a man who liked her without any traces of lust contaminating his thoughts. Even Garciss Noviux was oozing with lust, and he was trying hard to camouflage it.
Bristol knew that Marvin was a rare soul, so she would tread with caution when she dealt with him again. To her surprise, she realized that she genuinely liked him too. She thought that he looked pretty good for a fragile little human.
She chuckled briefly until she thought about her curse. If her parents had known that she had even thought about her neighbor, they would kill him and his mother. Thankfully, with Aslaric Vampires, one vampire couldn’t read another vampire’s thoughts.
That was good, but the bad news was that she was still a vampire. She lay back and did what she always did when she needed to get her focus back on track. She thought about Lord Aslar. The power that he had embedded into her and her family was amazing.
And the awesome thing was that it was soon to grow even stronger in 5 years when she would be able to have sisters and brothers. She knew that she had to be committed to Lord Aslar when he returned, so she found herself wondering answers to her frequently asked questions.
Will you give me a child? Will I have to leave earth? Do we ever die? Where do we go after we die? One day could you please turn me back into a human and let my family continue to remain immortal?
She thought about Lord Aslar’s long black hair and sharp, statuesque features and wondered if she could ever love him after not being allowed to love for over 200 years. She thought about her parents and wondered if it was indeed love she had for them, or if it was hatred.
She knew that love and hatred were from the same family because they both came from the heart.
CHAPTER 4
Bristol wore a pair of tight black business pants that fit her body like spandex, along with a soft powder blue blouse. Her fingernails were painted white and they were clutched around a Louis Vuitton purse that looked much too expensive for a high school student, and extremely too much for someone who lived in the Benson Brown neighborhood.
It was 7:10 A.M., and she was walking to the bus stop after having been awake all night. The first day of school wasn’t going to be any different for her than countless others, especially since she had been a senior for the last 30 years of her life.
She loved the life of a high school senior, and she didn’t think that it would be any different in Cedar Hills, GA. Marvin was at the bus stop when she approached.
“Hey. You look refreshed… You must have gone straight to sleep like I advised you to do last night?” Marvin said as he stared at Bristol’s outfit.
“. Actually I stayed up all night staring into the darkness! Haha, I’m joking Marvin. I’m well refreshed after a good night’s sleep.”
Marvin looked at her from head to toe and knew that she was going to have all of the most popular guys at Cedar Hills in a frenzy over who would try to get with her first. Her beauty was undeniable.
Her eyes competed with the sun and shone with an intensity that seemed strong enough to see through him. Bristol caught Marvin staring at her and he immediately looked away.
“Are you nervous?” Marvin asked, trying to avoid the awkward silence.
“No… I’m not nervous… Are the girls at the school mean?”
Marvin considered her question for a moment. “No, they’re actually not mean people; however, for a woman as beautiful as you, they may step outside of their characters and hate on you. I don’t think Cedar Hills has ever witnessed a girl with your level of beauty.”
Bristol smiled at Marvin and he blushed. He instantly felt like a fool for complimenting a woman that he could never have. He got silent, wishing that he could vanish off the face of the earth. Finally the bus came, and he found his voice.
“There’s our limo.”
Bristol smiled at him and he looked away again.
Marvin got on the bus first, and Bristol followed him. He went to the last seat and sat down. After he sat down in the seat, he looked up and saw Bristol standing right beside him.
“Can I sit with you?”
Marvin looked around and saw his peers staring at him with questioning looks. Jessica was scowling at him with a look of disgust. Funny, he thought. He knew Jessica had never even looked in his direction, and they had been going to school together since the 1st grade.
“Ahhh, of course you can sit with me… I just thought…”
“You thought what?” She asked in a sultry voice as she sat on the inside of the seat against the window.
“I thought that maybe you’d want to sit in one of those empty seats up front, that’s all. You know… maybe thought you’d want a little space.”
Bristol knew that sitting in the empty seat was exactly what she should have done. She knew that the longer she stayed in Marvin’s presence, the more flattered she was going to become at the thoughts that he was thinking. Sitting 7 inches away from him, she could feel Marvin’s heart beating frantically against his rib cage.
She could smell his virgin blood through his skin and could feel the attraction and admiration that he had for her.
Marvin really likes me, she thought as she giggled to herself silently. Then she sensed something that she had not sensed in a long time; jealousy. She scoured the bus, looking for the source of jealousy and her eyes locked directly into Jessica’s.
Jessica was staring at Bristol and Marvin with obvious disapproval. Quickly, Bristol tuned in to read her thoughts.
I just know he ain’t went and got him a white girl. I just know better. Who she think she is? Moving into my city and taking our men! And she think she’s cute. Bitch you ain’t all that!
Bristol’s gaze was powerful, and she stared until Jessica started feeling uncomfortable and turned away. But even when Jessica turned away, Bristol wouldn’t stop staring. She looked into Jessica’s memory banks and found no traces of Jessica ever being involved with Marvin.
So why was she acting like that?
Marvin had caught her staring at the back of Jessica’s head. “Hey… don’t worry about her. She’s one of the mean girls.”
“I thought you told me that the girls weren’t mean Marvin.”
“No, actually they aren’t mean at all. She’s probably the only mean girl at the school… and she isn’t really that mean… I don’t know why she was staring at you like that.�
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Bristol sighed. “So you don’t think I’ll have any problems do you?”
“At school? Of course not!”
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Marvin couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as Jessica made it to school, she sparked and spread the rumor that Marvin was dating “the new white girl.” It was 2nd period when Marvin first heard it.
“Marv, I heard you were going with that new girl man!”
“What? Jimbo, what are you talking about?” He whispered, trying to avoid getting caught talking in class. Miss Keno would make both of them sit out in the hall if she caught them talking in her English class. And Marvin knew he couldn’t afford to not hear her explain how to do the homework.
If he failed, he wouldn’t be able to get that college scholarship that he had been working towards.
“I heard Jessica tell Monica that you and that new girl came on the bus this morning smiling at each other and holding hands.”
“What? That’s not true Jimbo and you know it! Why is Jessica lying?”
“Is she really lying man? You can keep it real with me Marvin. Have you already pulled the new girl?”
“What? No!” A couple of his classmates were staring at him, so he coughed to try to avert the attention away from him. They let a few minutes pass before they continued their conversation.
“Well, if it’s not true; then why is the new girl saying it then?”
“Saying what?” Marvin was getting angrier by the second.
“Marvin, I heard Jessica ask the new girl-”
“Bristol.”
“What?”
“Bristol. Her name is Bristol, quit calling her ‘the new girl’ Jimbo.”
“O.k… I heard Jessica ask Bristol in the hallway if she and you were already dating, and Bristol said ‘yep,’ just like that.”
“What?!” Marvin was irate, but apparently too loud.
“Marvin! Jimbo! Step outside so that I can have a word with you two.”
Ms. Keno walked outside and the two students followed her with a dread written on both of their faces. As soon as she closed the door, the class immediately erupted in chatter.
“What seems to be the problem you guys? I tried to ignore you two, but you just wouldn’t stop talking. Now is there an issue?”
Marvin spoke up first. “No ma’am, there is no problem. We promise not to say another word. That’s a promise.”
Jimbo nodded his head in agreement. He knew he couldn’t afford to have bad grades in Ms. Keno’s class either, because he was a football player. If his coach found out about him messing up in class, he was sure to have an extra difficult practice. He stared sweating while thinking about what the consequences would be.
“Well, you guys get in there and behave yourselves.”
Marvin exhaled. One bullet had been dodged that day, but he had a bad feeling that more drama was to come throughout the rest of the day. He went and sat back in his seat and thought about what Jimbo had told him.
It wasn’t a bad thing that Bristol was saying that they were dating; it was just that it was a lie. The way he looked at it, he would never be able to get a girlfriend if he had a girl claiming that she was his girl and really wasn’t. He knew he would have to straighten out that issue and clear the air as soon as possible.
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“Bristol!” He caught her at her locker in the senior hall right after 2nd period.
“Yes?” She smiled at him. A knowing smile that he couldn’t even be angry at. It seemed to have a relaxing quality to it.
“I… uhm… did you tell someone that we were already dating?”
Bristol grabbed Marvin’s hand and he jumped. It was so soft that it confused him. It startled him that a human being’s hand could be so delicate. It almost felt… unreal.
“Yes Marvin. I told the mean girl that we were dating. Did I mess something up with you and your girlfriend?”
Marvin shook his head. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Bristol ran her hand up his arm softly. “You do now.”
She kissed him on the cheek and walked off, still smiling. Her gait was cool and confident, and she had an aura that seemed almost magnetic. He watched her walk past Jessica and saw the two girls exchange smiles. Weird, he thought as he made it to Ms. Basker’s class.
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He sat in his calculus class and daydreamed. He was sitting there imagining his popularity shooting up because of him finally having a girlfriend. He was still in another world when the bell rang signaling the end of the period. He was startled. It seemed like he had entered the classroom only a few minutes earlier.
Marvin grabbed his notebook and textbooks and entered the hallway, where he saw his friend Patrick.
“Where you been Pat? I haven’t seen you all day. You didn’t show up for 2nd period, and you know Ms. Keno’s class is the only one we have together.”
Patrick grinned. “Me and Lucy overslept man… But that’s not important at all. Do you know what is important though?”
“Surprise me…” Marvin answered, with a nonchalant attitude.
“Ha! Oh I definitely intend to do so. You know that new girl? Your new neighbor? What’s her name… Bristol?”
“How could I forget!?”
“Ha! Well, she just got finished fighting Jessica in the locker room during gym class.”
“What?!”
“I know right? She just got here and already she’s fighting. But wait… it gets better… They said in the middle of the fight, Bristol bit her on the neck hard. They said when she bit her, Jessica passed out. So immediately, all of the girls ran out of there to go get help for Jessica right?
But when the nurse and gym teacher ran into the locker room, there were no marks on Jessica’s neck and they were sitting there laughing and talking to each other as if nothing had ever happened.”
“What?” Marvin said while looking at Pat like he was crazy. “Who told you that crap? Get out of here man, that’s dumb.”
“Marvin… it’s true, the girls told me when I came out of the office. You know I had to sign in after coming to school late.”
“Man, that’s the craziest story I ever heard.”
“No it isn’t Marv! I heard one crazier. They tell me that you two are dating! Already? You sure didn’t wait long. And I don’t blame you either, she is gorgeous!”
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CHAPTER 5
Marvin was extremely happy to finally be back on the school bus so he could escape the madness. He had been hearing rumors about Bristol all day long and all he wanted to do was go home and play basketball. It had become entirely too much for him and was giving him a headache just thinking about it.
He sat in his seat patiently, awaiting Bristol to arrive so that he could talk to her. He needed to clear up a lot of the strange rumors that he’d been hearing throughout the day. He looked up and saw Jessica walking back towards his seat.
“Can I sit here with you Marvin?”
Wtf? That question blew Marvin away. Jessica had never noticed him before, and here she was now, wanting to sit with him. It seemed as if the day was getting stranger and stranger.
“Ummm…” He hesitated. “I’m really just waiting on Bristol. She’s my neighbor and I wanted to just make sure that she was o.k.”
“Oh…” Jessica said with an air of defeat and jealousy in her voice. “Well…I understand what you’re saying about being a good neighbor, but Bristol left earlier today.”
“Left? How did she leave?”
“She left with Todd Winters.”
She had been planning this moment the entire day. Jessica knew that it was going to come as a surprise to him that his new girlfriend was a slut.
“Oh…” Although he tried not to show it, Marvin was h
urt. He had known all along that it was going to happen, but he just didn’t think that it was going to happen so soon. Already, on her first day at the school; his neighbor had already hooked up with the captain of the football team.
I should have known. He thought as he stared at the leather seat in front of him.
“Sure, sure you can sit here Jessica… But why are you just now speaking to me? You’ve been knowing me all of my life. Why now?”
He glanced at Jessica’s pretty dark complexion and long dark hair as he spoke. Her eyes were so brown and textured, that it seemed as if they were bronze when he stared into them. Her dark hair was in a beautiful updo. She was classically beautiful, and he had always had a thing for her. His mouth watered as he watched her unwrap a blow pop and start sucking on it.
“I didn’t think you were interested in girls.”
This caught Marvin off guard. “Are you serious?”
“I am. All of the girls at school thought you were gay Marvin. So we respected you and left you alone.”
“Why?! Because I’m quiet?”
She chuckled to herself lightly. “Well, that’s one of the reasons…”
“One of them? There are more reasons? Tell me!” He was irate now, and the irritation was beginning to show on his face.
“O.K. well… back in 9th grade, your best friend Patrick told us all that you were gay during science class one day.”
“My friend? My friend Patrick? Oh my goodness…”
“No, I’m joking Marvin. The other reason was because Tamika said that she tried to get with you last year and you refused her.”
“I refused her because I didn’t like her.”
Jessica was silent for a moment; she seemed to be considering his statement. After a few moments, she looked at Marvin and shook her head.