Serum

-Twenty-Two-

Since Conner and I had agreed that we should try to practice every evening or so, we ended up just sitting and talking the evening away. Before long, we were watching the sun rise. It was a nice, peaceful morning, but I noticed we both avoided the touchy subject of our last training session’s ending. However, Conner was sitting much closer than usual. His thigh brushed mine and he nudged me with his shoulder every once in a while during our conversation when he joked with me. I kept watching him surreptitiously from the corner of my eye to see if this was going to be it. Or perhaps he was going to try to make a move of some kind. There was a strange sense of confusion within me about it. I wanted him to show me if he had feelings for me, but at the same time, the thought made me nearly sick with worry. What would that mean for vampires? For me? Worse, whenever he leaned in close and I had the urge or thought that he might just try something, like kiss me, this irrepressible drive to taste him had my teeth nearly aching. I bit my lip..

  When Conner suddenly yawned widely, teeth flashing and mumbled that he thought he’d like a good sleep, I nearly jumped. With a sigh of mixed relief and no little disappointment, I agreed tiredly, and began to stand to head towards my part of the building. Maybe it would be best to get away from him for a while, let this craziness fade. Abruptly, Conner sat up straight, wide awake.

“Oh no!” He moaned. “I completely forgot!”

“Forgot what?” I asked, a bit worried. Honestly, the thought occurred to me he might have somehow picked up on my thoughts or maybe needed to warn me about my sudden uncontrollable attraction. To his blood, if nothing else. I caught myself before I could lick my lips.

“The guys.. you remember when we went shopping and you met my friends?” Conner rubbed a hand down his face as I nodded in response.

“Well, um, I really didn’t think about it until now, but they sorta asked me if they could see me sometime. You see, I can’t really trust them enough to tell them where I live, in case someone accidentally blabs, so they kinda asked me to come out and meet them. And I just remembered I’m supposed to do that today! Everything just got in the way, and I completely forgot about it. So I suppose the real issue now is:” Conner paused theatrically.

“The real issue is…” I prompted. I was pretty sure this no longer had to do with me, and was now just waiting for him to get to the point so I could get some sleep.

“Well, I would really like you to come with me if you don’t mind.” Conner said in a rush. I blinked, surprised. He wanted me to come along? “I mean you don’t have to.. I just thought, if you didn’t have anything else to do..” He babbled quickly. I’m pretty sure he blushed too. I laughed, I just couldn’t help it. He acted like a nervous pre-teen asking out his first girl. 

“That’s all? You act as if I might kill you or something.” I teased. Conner blushed, making me feel a bit more repentant. I mean, I couldn’t be the first girl he ‘asked out’, could I? He’d seemed so smooth and in control when I was human, but now that I was a vampire.. But then Lana’s words about their population being on the decline reverberated in my head. I might very well be the very first vamp girl he’d ever ‘gone out’ with. “I would be honored to come with you.” I told him as I gently took his arm. Conner looked at me and grinned.

“Now do you have any good vampire tricks to stop yourself from being tired?” I asked through a yawn as we made our way back inside.

We grabbed our sunglasses and light jackets before returning to the doorway, and donned them before we left the building. A brisk wind was blowing down the street, cold and sharp, but not very strong.

“I smell a storm coming.” I told Conner, sniffing the air. He nodded idly, almost distractedly. I shivered, remembering my last experience with storms. Hopefully this time I wouldn’t be alone for most of it. Conner seemed to feel the change in my mood, and he turned to examine me. He gently took my hand after a moment, giving it a soft squeeze as we continued on, and I relaxed slightly. I perked up even more when we headed in a direction I had never been before.

Conner led me to an older part of the town, a part that had long since been “abandoned” by businesses and anything of interest except residents. Most of the street was filled with sad little stores, windows lined with faded writing, signs marked “Sorry, we’re closed” still in doorways. A few small store keepers still had their doors propped open, as if trying to entice people in. Old, tired people stood inside the doorways, or sat on porches watching us pass with sallow faces and bleak expressions. The sight pulled at my heart, I felt sorry for them, especially with my advanced senses, knowing just how close to death many of them were. Desperation and depression seemed to float on the air. I clenched Conner’s hand tighter, suppressing another shiver. Conner pulled me past the remaining few occupied buildings as if sensing my mood, then tugged me around the side of a building to sneak behind the rest. Abruptly, he let loose a harsh nervous laugh that gave me the giggles. I think the tension just got to us both in that weird way it does in serious situations.

Finally, we reached a tall fenced off area. Cracked concrete sidewalks gave way to what was left of the dying summer grass surrounding the fence. The fence was topped by rusting barbed wire, and broken only by a small building and what was once a concession stand. Through the fence I could see a deep impression in the concrete, and markings around the edge.

“Three feet, four feet, six feet; this was once a pool!” I exclaimed. Conner grinned.

“Yeah and now it’s a vampire’s playground.” He whispered. Running behind me, he raced up and over the fence, landing softly on his feet on the other side. I felt a wolfish grin crossing my face in return as he gestured to me. Relishing the challenge, I backed up, concentrated all my speed on it, and ran at the fence. Half-jumping, half-clambering over the top, I thankfully remembered to give myself an extra boost to make it past the barbed wire at the last minute. Landing gracefully right next to Conner, I couldn’t resist showing off. I pirouetted on the spot with a grin. It was just a little bit of a humble-brag. Then someone began to clap, which startled me and made me jerk.

“Lovely!” Daniel called, as he clapped. “Now if we’re done playing at fences, we have much more interesting things to do.” With that, Daniel jumped gently into the shallow area of the pool, and ran to the far end, where the water would have gotten deep. Reaching that end, he ran up the side of the wall and did a backflip over the heads of several of the other young vampires in that part of the pool. Shaking off my shock, and no small amount of awe, I noticed that all of Conner and Daniel’s friends were in or around the pool area. It looked like everyone had come out to ‘play’. 

Somebody gave a whoop when Daniel landed safely on his feet, and with that, the game began. I learned that in the vampire’s world, even the children’s game of tag became something of a struggle for survival. It was like sparring with Conner, only there were too many contestants. Bicycles, skateboards, skates and nearly anything imaginable were permitted. Leaps and jumps, turns and tumbles, tricks and things I thought were impossible were executed, and challenges were issued on who was better at them. It was a jumble that was completely wild, fun and terrifying all at the same time with a real hint of danger as fights broke out and teeth and sharp nails came in contact with other’s flesh. Conner and I took a break as skateboards were dragged out and stunts were being done with insane accuracy. We sat on the pool’s edge just watching as the other vampires continued their frenzy.

“How long has this place been here?” I asked Conner at one point.

“Well, like this? Since before I was born, but it wasn’t always abandoned. It’s just been the last 20 years or so that young vampires have been coming out here. It’s secluded, nearly everything is shut down out here. The pool is abandoned, and nearly completely closed off to the public. Human teenagers don’t usually come out here because it’s too “exposed” for their own more..lascivious purposes,” He waggled his eyebrows and bumped me with a shoulder and my face got hot. “and I guess a bit too hard for them to get in with the barbed wire and lack of windows. Some of the older people that still own those shops also started spreading stories about the types that come out here, saying we were all gang members or something and dangerous..” Conner waved a hand dismissively, but I eyed the flashing teeth and nails of the vampire youth and the shredded shirts of some of the more enthusiastic vamps. “so it wards off most of the other humans. The older humans tend to notice when the same kids come out here year after year and never seem to get older. There was a period of time where they would close up when they saw us coming, but I think they figured out that we weren’t going to harm them. After all, this place is just a way for us to let off steam. I mean, we don’t have very much else to do really.” Conner told me, and with that one of Daniel’s friends pulled me back towards the pool area for more “games”.

It was easy to get caught up in the thrill of the chase, and the instinct to evade when someone was after me. I was nowhere near the skill level of the others where their tricks were concerned, but I found out that my reflexes were fast. Scary fast. After the third time that I spun to the side and the person pursuing me flew right by me, I started to pay more attention to my instincts. Eventually, I pulled myself away again, laughing and riding an adrenaline high. I caught Conner’s eye as I pulled myself out of the empty pool, and he was watching me raptly. It seemed he had been watching me the entire time. For some reason, I had expected he had rejoined the game as well, but learning this had me blushing softly as my hair blew across my face.

When the storm finally started, a new frenzy began. The vampires slipped and slid down the pool’s slick edges, trying to run off the energy of the storm. At one point in time, with the rain pouring down my face I simply stood in one spot and turned slowly around, arms outstretched staring at the sky. Hands grabbed me from behind, lifting me just off the ground, and raced down the pool’s shallow end to the slope into the deep end while I squealed. I was dragged over onto my back, my body supported by the vamp-napper, as we sped down the decline, speeding towards the wall. We stopped abruptly right before colliding with the wall. It was like a Slip n Slide I once had as a kid, only so much faster than I ever remembered. Laughing I turned over, to look right into Conner’s face, his arm above his head, hand against the wall where he had stopped us. Somehow I knew it was going to be him. For a moment nothing moved, Conner searched my face, eyes landing on my lips to bounce back to my eyes as if testing me. Then there were suddenly two large splashes beside us and Daniel and a friend he had introduced me to by the name of Tod stopped right beside us, arms outstretched to stop themselves before hitting the pool wall.

“Me, it was me!!!” I heard Daniel say.

“I was faster, I won.” Tod shot back.

“No, it was me, I won.” Daniel argued with a laugh.

“Conner, Adrian, what do you think, you guys were here, who won?” Tod asked.

“I didn’t see.” Conner told them. He was still looking at me, and I shook my head, indicating I hadn’t either. Tod and Daniel continued to argue in the background as Conner rolled his eyes at his friends’ antics. I gently removed myself from his arms and stood up shakily. Being so close to Conner, I couldn’t deny that there was a bond growing between us, but I wasn’t sure it was one that either of us had been looking for, or even expected. However, as Conner took my hand and tugged me back towards the slope of the pool, I suddenly realized I wanted it. Badly.

“REMATCH! I DEMAND a rematch!” I heard Daniel shout behind me, bringing me out of my own head.