My Vampire Companion

Chapter 1

The first impression I had of him in biology class was enough for me to know that I should stay away from him. I had seen his kind before in New Atlantis. The rude-bully type. Those who thought they were better than everyone else and expected everyone to bow before them.

“What other reason could he have to make disgusted faces at a girl who was already nervous about facing her first day at a new school?” He literally made me feel like garbage by acting as if I smelled like a pile of rotten trash. It was offensive and immature, to say the least. I had seen all kinds of people before (a large public school gave me plenty to research), but I had never encountered someone as rude and immature as him. The way he leaned against the wall as if I were a disease he might catch if he got any closer, and the way he had begged for a schedule change in front of Mrs. Smith was enough to solidify my decision.

He was a nasty person, one I made sure to keep away from.

I would be happy to never see his face again; I knew it was unlikely in a small school like The Twilight School, but I could have tried. Still, when fate gives us a chance to move on with our decisions, we must accept it.

I had left the school parking lot in my lovely, rusty Volkswagen Beetle just a few hours before.

I didn’t have a very good first day, courtesy of Bruce Crapper, but at least it was over. That was something to be happy about, right? I was making plans for the rest of the day, allocating the next few hours to some of my necessary daily tasks and a little reading and even a nap.

James didn’t insist that I cook for him, but now that I lived here and was indeed a decent cook, I planned to prepare dinner every night for him as a wordless thank you for letting me stay with him and giving me this freedom. In my last couple of years before becoming an adult. Besides, there was the fact that his eating habits were completely unhealthy and enough to make my eyes widen in shock. The least I could do for him and his decaying health and protruding belly was to cook something healthy for him… anything healthy.

I was on one of the less-used and almost empty roads when suddenly, my car stopped. A loud snap, followed by an even louder groan coming from the back of my Beetle, and then nothing, absolutely nothing.

With a disappointed expression on my face, I jumped out of the driver’s seat and cursed my luck, having nothing else to do. I didn’t know anything about the inner workings of a vehicle and also didn’t have a cell phone to call someone. I never felt the need to own one, my own stupidity that now came back to bite me. Emma offered to buy one for me when everyone in my year was getting theirs, but I shrugged it off with indifference. We didn't even have extra money to waste, nor did I have friends with whom I “needed” a cell phone to keep in constant contact.

I was practically a loner, and the home phone was enough for my two or three random calls every week or so. And when it came to being responsible, I was even more responsible than Emma and was equally punctual when it came to getting back home from school. I had never really felt the need to have a separate phone before, something that, as I mentioned, came back to bite me.

I sighed audibly. The subject of buying a cell phone had never really come up in the two days I had lived with James, and so it was unnecessary to say that I had no way of contacting him at that moment.

I had a hopeful look on my face as I gazed at the road I was stuck on, hoping that a passing car, or if luck was really on my side, a police car on patrol would see me here. The likelihood of the latter was not considerably high, but again, I wasn’t expecting everything to be in my favor.

Everyone at the station knew who I was. James had a picture of me on his desk, something that had embarrassed me a lot the first time I was there. Even if they didn’t recognize me right away, it was highly unlikely they hadn’t heard about my move here. James, in his excitement, had literally shouted from our rooftop. I’m sure now the people living in Sin City knew that Nina Marie Cooper was moving in with her dad.

I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts, but seriously waiting for a police car was probably the best option, or really at this moment I would accept any help offered.

The help I had requested arrived about fifteen minutes later. Luckily, it wasn’t raining at the moment, so I could stand next to my Beetle without fearing to get soaked in the heavy rain that was a daily occurrence in Sin City.

I hated the rain and hated all of this greenery, and yet here I was stuck in this damn rainy place. But, as they say, beggars can’t be choosers. Anything was better than compromising my life and the last two years of my teenage years living with Emma and taking care of her and Paul, now that she was married. Paul was equally careless when it came to taking care of the house or doing any kind of housework. Sure, he earned more than Emma and was financially stable, but I was not his daughter, and he was not my father. He wasn’t responsible for working towards my wants and needs. He was polite to me, but we never talked more than a few words, and it slowly began to feel weird between us. Emma was stuck mediating, and I could clearly see she was frustrated by it.

— Hey, trouble with the car? — a voice asked me as the car owner stopped where I was next to my Beetle.

I rolled my eyes, cursing my luck. This was just perfect. The only guy I had planned to avoid was now right in front of me. I didn’t want to talk to him, didn’t want to accept his help, but now it seemed like I didn’t have much choice. I needed to get home, and soon.