Shadows of the Night

After waiting forty five minutes for the laundry we took it out and began folding. “Lovely, whose are these?” I asked and held up the batman boxers.
“Mine,” Rex grumbled and snatched them from my hands. Me and Hayden laughed and I pulled another pile onto the table and began folding the shirts.
“Are you going to class after this?” I asked Hayden and he nodded. He only took night classes ever since his “accident”.
“Jack better be home when we get back,” Rex said as we walked down the street.
“Why?” I asked. “Afraid he’s with some girl? Aww you’re such a good parent,” I joked.
“Shut it Stella,” he snapped and I laughed.
We said good bye to Hayden and then walked back to the studio. When we arrived we were immediately bombarded by questions from Jack, who had returned.
“Where were you?” he asked jumping over the back of the couch.
“Doing laundry,” I said and shoved a basket into his hands.
“Oh,” he said and turned to run it upstairs. I took the opportunity to then take a seat on the couch. It was a Friday night and I usually spent the weekends here on the pull out couch or something. Rex was the only one who had class on Saturday because he was in a Fine Arts college and he had one class at 9 on Saturday.
“So what do you want to watch?” Rex asked me. Leaping over the couch and landing next to me.
“I don’t know, just not Knocked Up because that was awkward,” I said.
“It was hot,” he said.
“And that would be because you are a boy,” I pointed out and he picked up the remote and turned on the TV.
“So what are we watching?” Jack asked and climbed into a chair. He was wearing dark brown corduroys and a white thermal shirt with some skater logo on it and a baseball cap pulled down over is longish blond hair.
“I don’t know, what do you want to watch?” I asked him and he shrugged and leaned back in his chair. Rex’s green eyes flicked over to me and I sighed. “Why do I always got to pick?” I asked and both of them shrugged.
“Cause you are the only girl,” they said in unison and then both cracked up.
“Well I’m not picking this time,” I said and they both pouted.
“C’mon,” Rex said and twisted a strand of my wavy purpley black hair around his finger and I rolled my silvery blue eyes.
“Fine, we are watching the Blues Brothers,” I said and Jack stood up to go and get it off the shelf.
“Should we wait until Hayden gets here?” Rex asked and I shrugged.
“His class ends at 7,” I said.
“Hmm, let’s start,” Jack said and crouched down to put the DVD in the old DVD player. So he put it in and we began watching. Halfway through I was smooshed in the middle of Jack and Rex and towards the end we were interrupted by Hayden coming in. I looked over at him and watched him pull off his hood and then walk quietly to the kitchen. I climbed over the back of the couch and went over to him.
“Hayden?” I asked and reached out to touch his arm.
“What?” he muttered. He didn’t look very good. His eyes were blood shot and he was breathing heavily.
“What’s wrong?” I asked and wrapped my hand around his cold fingers.
“Hungry,” he said and pulled out of a pitcher of the stuff he was always eating. “And it hurts,” he said and I nodded sadly.
“I know,” I said. He finished his drink and then I dragged him over to the couch and sat him down in a chair.
“Is it the . . .?” Rex asked and I nodded. Hayden leaned his head back and shut his eyes. I sighed and went back over to Rex and sat in the crook of his arm and leaned against him and looked at Hayden.
The “accident” had happened almost two months ago but it wasn’t nice to watch him turn more and more into one of them. People could say that the “accident” was our faults and maybe it was but we needed money and it was a slight chance that we all risked. Hayden was just the unlucky one.
When we had come out here for college in the fall we had all been living in the dorms but we were all broke. I’ve known these guys since forever and it was a small coincidence that we all ended up at college out here. But well we were desperate for money so we joined the VH, vampire hunters.
Vampire’s weren’t uncommon, you saw at least one a day, but there were some that decided they were “Evil” and went around causing trouble and biting other people. The people they bit either turned into vampires or died.
The government or someone had created a blood substitute that all vampires were required to use but lets just say that a lot of them don’t follow the rules and then their gangs fight and that’s when the VH people are needed.
We got caught up in all of this. It was fast money and for the first three months it was all good but then we were ambushed when we had just finished breaking up a vampire fight and arrested two. We were almost clear of the attack but one of them got Hayden and well, if you are bitten by a girl vampire nothing would happen but if you are bitten by a male . . . you turn into one yourself and he was bitten by Mosy Kardun, a gang leader.
Hayden had been hospitalized for a week and then released in me, Rex and Jack’s care and guardianship. It was a rule that all vampires were under the care of vampire hunters. But since he was now a vampire he couldn’t go to class in the day but then again he didn’t want to go at all. At least not in the beginning. In the beginning of the transformation he’s very sensitive to sunlight. After he’s fully turned into a vampire, which could take any amount of time, he’ll eventually get used to light and stuff.
But luckily Jack and Rex had the studio and he was able to move in but it was hard for him. His DNA was changing and twisting and he was constantly plagued by weird dreams and feeling sick and a thirst for blood.
“We’ll I’m going off to bed,” Jack said and yawned dramatically making Hayden whack him.
“Good night,” I said and stood up and gave him a hug. He hugged me back and then leapt over the back of the couch.
“Coming retards?” he asked Hayden and Rex.
“Sure,” Hayden said and got up.
“Yeah me too,” Rex said. “After I get my papers in order,” he said and I turned to follow Hayden.
“Hey!” I called to him and shoved my fingers through his belt loops.
“What?” he asked and turned around.
“Don’t leave with out saying good bye,” I said happily and he smiled, exposing his clean white fangs for the first time in a long time. They were beautiful in a way and I didn’t mind that.
“Good night Stella,” he said and I hugged him.
“Tomorrow we are going to go do something fun!” I called after him and he nodded. Then I went around to where the desk was and leaned against the wall and waited for Rex.
He came over to me after piling his work in a pile a pulled his glasses off. He looked much cuter with out them. Then he leaned forward and kissed me gently. His mouth was warm and I put my arm around his neck for a brief moment.
The others knew that we were “going out”. Technically I had gone out with all of them just to try it. Things would’ve probably worked with Hayden but things got complicated awhile ago and now it was too weird. But I still cared way too much about him and hated to see him suffer. Then well, me and Jack tried it for a week and yeah the whole thing was a crazy dare and in the end we just were friends. We were all friends, I just didn’t like being all touchy-feely in front of them because they made unappreciated comments.
He kissed me once more and then slid across me and went up the stairs. Aww, silly cute Rex, he was so nice. If I was lucky after I spent the day doing things with Jack and Hayden I would get some alone time with him. I doubted it but it was a possibility. Also, it was a lot better over here then the dorms because they were my friends and we were all in the VH and well, if the people at school knew about Hayden . . . I don’t know how they would react but if they reacted badly I’d get really mad and I couldn’t deal with that.
Sure I had friends at school but these were my true friends and I felt a much higher level of comfort sleeping in their studio then I did at the school dorms.
I could hear them all snoring softly up in the loft as I pulled the pull out couch out and laid a clean sheet on it. I went to the closet and pulled out my pillow and stack of blankets and then went into the bathroom to change.
Their bathroom was quite big, Rex had designed it and Jack and Hayden had built it. It was dysfunctional but in the end it turned out really nice.
There was a long counter at the back and the toilet in this little blocked off area between the shower and the counter. There the tub was on the right and it was next to a towel rack. It was also, the most lit up place in the entire place. My eyes hurt going inside because it was so bright.
After I changed into my dark purple sweatpants and white tang top and brushed my teeth I went back out into the chilly living room. I put everything back in my bag and then buried myself under a pile of blankets.
“Want the lights off?” I looked over at the stairs were Rex stood in red plaid pants and a plain white t-shirt.
“Only if you come here,” I said and he clicked off the lights, immediately swamping the room in total darkness. I could hear him move across the room and soon my eyes adjusted to the pale light coming from the curtained windows in the back and the glow of the microwave clock in the kitchen.
“It’s cold down here,” Rex whispered against my neck and I felt his arms wrap around me and I felt the cloth of his shirt pressed against my back.
“That’s why it’s better with you,” I said and I was pretty sure that made him smile.
“Gonna do things with Hayden tomorrow?” Rex asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“If I didn’t have school I’d join you,” he whispered and moved my hair to kiss my neck.
“You have to go and paint pretty pictures for me and I’ve got to go do things with Hayden because it’s fun and well, he’s my friend,” I said and giggled as he kissed my collar bone.
“I know, I know and I know that he likes going places with you, I mean you have been friends the longest,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said and then rolled over so that I was facing Rex. I ran my pointed finger from his forehead, down his nose, over his lips and then down his neck and chest. He smiled in the faint light and kissed me swiftly and gently.
“Good night Rex,” I said and pulled myself as close as possible to him and I felt his arms lock around me and it gave me a very warm and safe feeling.