In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Twenty Seven

Jim



It was dark and freezing.

I pulled up my zipper and rubbed my palms together while scouting for a cab. I wondered how long it would take my father to realize that I was gone. Did he expect this? Was this why he had stopped treating me like a prisoner? I suddenly stopped and shifted my body to examine the surroundings behind me. Nothing. I let out a breath of relief and continued walking. I had been to Aunt Lory’s house once. I had gone with my mother for a visit. I recall seeing a cot and a number of toys but I had not seen a child. I jumped out of the way as a speeding vehicle rushed toward me. I cussed after it and peered into the street; no sign of a car. I groaned and pulled out my phone.

Before everything went to s**t, Nate used to drive me anywhere I wanted. There was a time I was pissed at my father because he would not let Sean go to a children’s concert. Sean had wailed all day and had finally passed out when he did not have enough strength to cry. My father had no substantial reason to back up his cruel act. I had threatened to take Sean away from him, he had told me to do so as long as I could s**t money. Nate had arrived five minutes after that colorful statement and we had gone to his house. As usual, his mother had been passed out on a battered, brown sofa with a bottle of beer dangling from her hand. There was a cigarette lodged in her mouth too. It was put out but once in a while, she would inhale deeply as if she thought she was still smoking. At the beginning of our friendship, I had found Nate’s mom to be cool. As time went by, I realized she was a terrible parent. She was hardly ever around and when she was, she was too drunk to be present, to be there for her children. To take care of themselves, both Nate and Sara had jobs. Sara’s money was used to buy food and to pay for petty bills, and Nate was used for school stuff. Both of them had gotten a scholarship into Scanton High, both of them were exceptionally brilliant at school. Nate had wanted to be a detective. I thought he could be, he was always so good with puzzles. Sara was not sure what she wanted to be but it had to involve music. A weak smile crawled on my lips when a memory of her singing “happy birthday” surfaced in my mind. It had been the same night as the argument with my father over Sean’s concert. I had been surprised that she had remembered. It was then that I had begun to see her more than Nate’s witty sister.

I blinked rapidly at the sight of approaching headlights. I brought a finger to my face to wipe away a stray tear. I then halted and waited for the car with my hand drawn out. The car was loud, blasting hip-hop music into the chilly night. I muttered a lowly cuss when I spotted Tony in the driver’s seat. I immediately withdrew my hand.

“Hiya Jim! Running away from home aren’t we?”

The car had come to a sudden stop producing a loud screeching sound. It appeared to be empty except for Tony and an extremely unattractive girl; she reminded me of a wet horse.

“Keep moving Tony.”

“Oh come on! What did daddy do now? Shall I tell on him on my daddy? You know my daddy has the power to put your daddy out of a job, permanently.”

“Your consistent use of the word daddy is disturbing.”

A high-pitched nasal sound emanated from horse girl. It took me a while to realize she was laughing.

“Shut up you ugly bitch.”

Horse girl’s laughter came to an abrupt stop. Her mouth fell open and her cheeks considerably reddened. She blinked owlishly trying to keep her tears intact.

“That is no way to speak to a lady Tony…Did daddy not teach you this?”

Tony glared at me, gave me the finger, and started his car. I swallowed my jealousy as the jungle green jeep sped off. My father had outright refused to buy me a car. To be fair I had wrecked the last two ones. I squinted my eyes as another car approached. Its headlights were brighter, its engine louder. I waved my arm and the muscle car stopped. I gritted my teeth when I saw who the driver was.

“Hey, Seth…”

“What’s up Jim! Coming from a party? Cause I just have and it was awesoooome!”

I titled my head and examined Seth’s face. His eyes were droopy, his mouth crooked; the boy was drunk. What sort of friend lets their friend drive home drunk?

“Did Tony offer to drive you home?”

“Naah…he scored tonight…Some exotic chiq who sort of looks like a horse…oops, don’t tell him I said that…shshshshsh…”

“Okay, that’s it…Out of the driver’s seat. I will drive you home but we have to make a quick stop first…”

To my surprise, Seth did not put up a fight when I opened the door to the driver’s seat and pulled him out. He allowed me to lead him to the backseat of his car without uttering a single word. Not believing my luck, I got into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition, the muscle car roared to life sending chills down my spine.

“I’m coming roof girl…”

* * *

“Can I confess something?”

“No.”

“I went to the party to see a girl…”

I glanced in the rearview mirror. Seth was lying on his stomach with one of his legs up. His eyes were closed and there was a steady supply of saliva dripping from the side of his mouth. I remained quiet and averted my attention back to the road.

“You see she is so preeetty…and sooo warm…she reminds me of autumn, must be the red hair…”

I smiled, recalling how he had defended redhead in class. Seth might have grown up to be a total prick but the guy had never intentionally defied a teacher. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my apps to find the one with a map. I knew the street where my aunt lived but I was certain I could not recall the house. I placed the phone on the car’s dashboard and took a sharp turn as instructed by the map.

“Tony said the girls would be there…he said it was the hottest party in town, the new girls would not miss it…my hot girl missed it…”

Seth was now speaking in a drawled, sad voice. I peered into the dark street and sighed in relief when I saw the familiar street sign. Since I was not certain which house Aunt Lory lived in, I drove extremely slowly, hoping to spot anything familiar.

“A girl like that could never go for a dude like me…Tony says I have to show her who is boss…ignore her, kiss other girls in front of her…”

I rolled my eyes. Tony was a d**k, period.

“But I don’t want to do any of that. I want her to boss me around…I want to kiss her, only her…have I mentioned the red hair?”

I smiled. Seth’s words were very familiar. I had felt the same things he was feeling. I knew what it was like to daydream about running your hands through a girl’s hair.

“What do you think man? Do you think she will go for a guy like me?”

A glance at the mirror told me Seth was sitting upright now. His body was unsteady, moving as the car moved.

“Yeah…just tell her all those things you just said and for fucksakes do not listen to that prick, Tony…”

“Tony hates you…he says you stole his girl…”

I furrowed my eyebrows at the statement but quickly shoved it away when I saw something familiar, a porch with a swinging chair. I killed the engine and turned to face Seth.

“I will be back. Do not move you understand?”

Seth bobbed his head before slamming himself against the backseat of his car. I opened the car door to leave but as I was exiting the car, I decided to take the keys. I hurriedly walked towards what I hoped was Aunt Lory’s house. What if she had moved? Switched houses? It was late and Scanton was known for having residents who liked guns. What if some strange man opened the door with a shotgun in his arms and blew my head off?

I was too wound up in my thoughts that I did not spot the animal that was rapidly approaching me. By the time I saw it, I could not run, I froze and let the beast pounce on me.