Broken Glass and Bleeding Hearts

The morning of my 16th birthday the first thing I did when I woke up was scream. I didn’t scream because a dream, or because of who was watching me, or a frightening way of being woken up. I scream because of what I could see. Everything looked 100% clearer the second I opened my eyes. Then I heard the muffled laugh.

My vampire sense of smell had showed up as abruptly as my change of vision and the enhanced hearing three days ago, so I didn’t know why I didn’t catch the scent earlier. My head whipped around and I saw Matt pushing open the door to my bedroom. “Were you watching me sleep?” I asked knowing that he had been watching since the door was cracked.

“No. I thought your vampire vision might come in this morning. I wanted to see your reaction. Trust me it was so much better than I’d expected.”

“You…You look well different.” I hadn’t really ever saw Matt before this.

“Different in a bad way?”

“Good way, defiantly.”

“Happy birthday.”

“Thanks. I’ll be out in a few minutes I need a shower and to get dressed.”

“Okay I’ll see you when you get out.” I knew that he wouldn’t be downstairs when I got done. He’d been over here a lot in the mornings and he knew exactly how long it would take me to get ready. He would be standing outside of my door the second I opened it. Sure enough when I opened the door he was standing there smiling. “Happy birthday.” This time he gave me a kiss before it was interrupted.

“I am standing right here.” I cussed under my breath before looking over to see Star standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Thanks for ruining the moment Star.”
“No problem. Now come! We have to get the den setup. This is your sixteenth birthday for Pete’s sake! It is important!” Star my hand and pulled me away from Matt and downstairs.

“We have all afternoon Star! I just woke up!”

“Stop complaining.” So we spent about an hour getting things set up in the den for the party which against Star’s opinion I’d kept small. So here I stood a few minutes before the party was supposed to start taking a final look in the mirror.

“What do you think?” I asked looking at Matt who had just came to my doorway. He opened the door and walked inside.

“You look beautiful, like always.”

“Star is going to kill me. I’m wear jeans and a tee shirt.”

“Maybe she’ll go easy on you.”

“Yeah right!”

“True.” Matt walked up and wrapped his arms around my stomach before resting his chin on my shoulder and kissing my cheek.

“You smell really good.” I whispered taking in the way he smelt. I could tell it was more than just the way he normally smelt.

“Do you mean what I think you mean?”

“Um I think so.”

“Well that is good to know.”

“What does it mean?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it?”

“Don’t worry about it? You know and you won’t tell me?”

“Sorry, but I can’t. Not yet.”

“It really sucks about how much I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry. But I think it’s time for you to go downstairs. Your mom sent me up here to bring you down.”
“Oh well then let’s go.” We had just walked into the den when Zacky showed up. He immediately came over to give me a hug, like he always did. Jimmy was next followed by Brian, and finally Justin. A few of my other friends came too.

That night after the party Matt and I sat on the couch in the living room watching tv like we had that afternoon when I’d ask the questions about how my blood smelt to him. My mom was in her room and I knew she trust us. “So I’ve been thinking.” I began as we watched the TV screen.

“About what?” I felt Matt’s hand gently rub my arm.

“Well about um…” I wasn’t exactly sure how to word what I’d been thinking about.

“Its me Ellie-bear, you can tell me.”

“I think you should try my blood.” I felt Matt go still and immediately wanted to take it back. Even his hand had stopped rubbing my arm.

“Ellie I don’t think that would be a great idea.”

“Why not?”

“I’m still worried I wouldn’t be able to stop.” I rolled my eyes as he began to move again.

“I know you would be able to.” I moved myself and sat up to look at him. He didn’t look convinced and I could tell he was coming up with reasons he wouldn’t do that. I needed a new plan besides this.

“No. It isn’t a good idea.”

Then it clicked in my mind. What if I turned the tables on him. “So if I wanted your blood I’d get a no?”

“You’d get a yes.”

“So why do you say no to trying mine?”

“Can we please not talk about this?” He threw his head back and closed his eyes with a sigh before covering his face. I laughed at his reaction and crawled onto his lap before wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Alright, fine. For now we won’t. What do you want to talk about then?” He put his arms around me and lifted his head to smile at me.

“Anything you want except drinking your blood.”
“You spoil my fun.” I leaned my head against his shoulder and took in the way he smelt again. I couldn’t get over how much his scent drew me towards him.

“I’m sorry.”

“No you are not. How about music. Have you wrote any new songs lately?”

“A few. One of them is called We Come Out At Night.”

“When can I hear it?”

“Soon.” I yawned and that brought on his next question. “Do you want me to leave? So you can get some sleep?”

“No! I’m fine.” I was tired, but I didn’t want him to leave. Not yet anyway. So instead of asking again he let it go. We eventually stopped talking and just sat there. This only made me grow sleepier. The last thing I remember was Matt’s chuckle and him gently kissing my lips before I fell asleep and he took me up to my bedroom before he left.

***

“Are you sure you don’t want to come in?” Matt asked two weeks later as I sat at the edge of the Ocean at the beach.

“I’m sure. I’m fine here.”

“You just don’t want to let anyone see you in your swimsuit.”

“You are 100 percent correct on that Matt!”

“Yeah I know I am.” Then his eyes locked on something, or more accurately someone. And this someone was a female around our age who was looking at him and sending him a flirty smile.

“Matt who is that?” I asked.

“No one.”

“You don’t seem to be looking at her like she is a no one.”

“I’ll tell you later okay?”

“Fine.” I looked at her again as Matt joined me and sat down. She was still watching him and I saw the signs that I’d learned well in the last week. She was a vampire. “She’s a vampire isn’t she Matt?”
“Yeah she is.”

“Do you like her or something?”

“No. It’s complicated.” I glared at him. We’d agreed that now that he could tell me everything dealing with the vampire world, since I too now was a part of it, he would. But he was hiding something.

“I really hate that word.”

“It’s getting late. I better get you home.”

“No fair! You have to tell me first!”

“How about tonight I meet you at the spot?”

“And you’ll tell me there?”

“I swear I will.” So that night I snuck out and met Matt at the spot. He looked nervous like he was about to admit something horrible. I sat down and moved closer to him.

“So what is it that you aren’t telling me? Who is she Matt?”

“I don’t like her Ellie. I swear I don’t.”

“What are you talking about now?”

“The council. They well, they want me to, uh…” Matt nervously rubbed the back of his neck and I could tell that he didn’t like whatever was going on. I didn’t like where it was going to. The council bugged me and I didn’t want to hear anything they wanted Matt to do. I wished that his parents and my mom’s votes meant more than a lot of the other members. At least then things wouldn’t be complicated.

“Just spit it out will you? Please Matt.”

“They want me to be seeing her instead of you.”

“Why?”

“Long story and I don’t even know it.” He turned to me, all the nervousness gone from his face, replaced by a look of seriousness and love. “But I love you and nothing is going to keep me away from you. Nothing.” I felt a smile form on my face.

“I love you too.” A silence then fell over us as we both stared at the night sky. “So what is her name?”
“Angelica.” Then he changed the subject. “We’ve got a gig next weekend, you’ll be there right?” He looked hopeful.

“Of course I will! Are you crazy?”

“Hey I’m just making sure.”

“I know. So what exactly are we going to do about the whole council situation?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to figure something out.”

“Well that’s good. Cause we always do.”