They Claim They're Immortal

I was ready to scream. In fact, I did. Then said naked man appeared in front of me and clamped a hand over my mouth shushing me, which only made me scream louder though it was muffled slightly. Aaron burst into the room wearing a 'Kiss the Cook' apron in the colour pink soon followed by Tyler, Kyle, and—surprise, surprise—Mr. Moody himself who was covered with blood...?

Before I could blink the intruder was wrenched away from me and thrown into a nearby wall with so much force that the wall cracked on impact. Then I found myself being carried out of the room by Kyle and into the room beside Jake's. “Stay,” he commanded all authority and intimidation. Apparently he really could be scary when he wanted to. I just couldn't help but notice his nose was swollen and I grimaced knowing that I had caused that.

I opened my mouth to ask him if he was okay but he dashed out of the room and back into Jake's, closing the door behind him. I was never one to be ordered around so I got up while scowling and stomped over to the door but I froze as I heard a hell of a lot of noise coming from the room and then raised voices and then nothing. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion before squaring my shoulders and opening the door to an irritated looking Jake.

“Didn't Kyle tell you to stay?” This time my scowl was directed at him.

“Didn't your mother ever tell you it's bad to walk around with blood on your clothes?” I snapped.

“My mother's dead.”

Good going, Jessica. “I'm really sorry,” I said, my tone soft.

He shrugged and brushed past me. “She died while giving birth to me, so I didn't know her. No big deal.” He was acting like she didn't matter. And, okay, I admit it's hard to mourn—let alone miss—somebody you didn't know but a little compassion for the woman who gave birth to him wouldn't be amiss.

“So why are you covered in blood anyways?” I asked him.

“I hardly think that's any of your business,” he snapped. I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest going on the defensive. Jake was as moody as a bi-polar teenage girl. And apparently just as sensitive.

“Okay, fine, don't tell me but when the cops come a-knocking don't expect me to defend you,” I said my tone clipped and hostile. I could not understand him. Correction. I could not stand him. Honestly, what did I do to make him so mad at me all the time? It's like my whole presence just pissed him off well, fine, screw Jake then. You would just love to, wouldn't you? Hell to the no! From now on, I am going to swear off men for good.

Then he started stripping. Hellooo, libido. I shook my head when I caught myself staring at his bare muscular chest. Just making sure there aren't anymore burns, I told myself. Then I sighed. I was one hundred percent aware I was in denial but it seemed a lot better than attempting to win over Jake.

“Are you just going to stand there? I mean, you could turn around or something unless you wanna see me naked,” he said dryly.

I scowled his way and turned my back to him. Probably not the best idea considering he was one of my kidnappers but besides the never ending mood swings he seemed harmless. Kind of. “How did I heal so fast?” I asked. I needed to distract myself from my thoughts. They were starting to stray, imagining what Jake looked like without all his clothes on.

“We gave you something to drink,” he said. His voice was muffled and I pictured him pulling on a t-shirt, his muscles working, rippling under all that skin. Oh, for goodness sakes. Just a few hours ago he was just another burn victim, a patient. Now he's the man of your dreams? Um, no. That little reminder was all I needed to put myself into business mode.

Something to drink was very vague. I had never heard of a drink that would heal broken bones. Although there were herbs that could help promote healing, maybe even speed up the healing process. Such as aloe vera, calendula, marshmallow, gotu kola, chamomile, echinacea and slippery elm. Plus there were the other herbs that helped heal wounds like goldenseal, propolis and picrorhiza. They could have crushed some up and put it in a drink then forced it down my throat. Although it hasn't been proven that the herbs actually help, in some cases I've found that it does. Plus, they normally only helped wounds not broken bones or sprains.

“What 'something' was this?” I asked, suspicion creeping into my voice.

“Tyler's blood,” he answered easily. He said it so casually, like it was a normal occurrence. Like people ingested blood all the time. Did that mean that I was now a vampire? “And no, you're not going to turn into a vampire. Vampires aren't allowed to turn more than one person during their existence and it takes a lot of blood to turn a human into a vampire. Trust me, Tyler wouldn't waste his one turn on you.” I could hear the sneer in his voice.

Ouch. I rubbed my sternum feeling a sharp pain starting to bloom. That was a shot. He knew it, I knew it. Why it hurt me confused me though. Since when did I care what he thought about me? Since when did I care what anybody thought of me? Oh yeah, I don't. Just keep telling yourself that, Jessica. And I would.

“Who is that man that...appeared in front of me?” I asked ignoring his snide remark. I wasn't about to let him know that he affected me.

“You don't know?” He sounded curious. It seemed that he had assumed I'd know exactly who that nude man was. Which I didn't. “His name's Taryn.” He was expecting some sort of reaction from me. What that was, I wasn't entirely sure about.

That's what the strange man had said. He told me his name was Taryn right after I... No freaking way. Was he the voice in my head? Realization dawned upon me. I whirled around suddenly not caring if he was decently dressed or not but thankfully he was. I don't think my libido could take it if he wasn't. Although him in a black, tight t-shirt and simple dark jeans didn't help much either.

“I thought it was Tyler,” I thought aloud, mildly confused.

“Thought what was Tyler?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

I ignored him and pondered everything I had just learned. Which wasn't very much, I must say. Taryn. Something about that name... Then I remembered the letter I had found one day at my older brother's grave. “I need to go home.”

“What? No. You need to answer my questions,” he told me.

“Jake,” I pleaded, “please. I really need to go home. You can come with me if you want but please, just give me this one thing,” I begged. It was the first time I'd ever begged for anything in my life. It was an odd feeling. Unwelcome too but I'd never wanted something more in my life.

“What if I got it? You could stay here-”

“Jake, I've never begged for anything in my life. I'm begging you now. I need to go home.”

His gaze was riveted on something over my shoulder. Or he just didn't want to look at me. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter. “Your stomach is growling.” I hadn't even noticed. “Aaron's downstairs cooking. One of us will take you to your home for... whatever it is you need.” One of us. Meaning it definitely wasn't going to be him. Whatever. If he wanted to be an asshole, then fine. I didn't care. I was too busy thinking of places where I'd hid that note to care.

I let out a resigned puff of air. I knew that was only half true. I was busy thinking of places where I'd hid the note I'd found when I was about eight but I still cared. About him. About what he thought of me. About the fact that he wants nothing to do with me. He brushed past me again. He was tense. No. Actually he became tense as soon as he got into touching distance of me.

It took everything in me to not yell out in frustration. Demand to know why he detested me so. Or maybe he just hated females in general. For some reason that thought just didn't seem to sit right. Guess you're just lucky, I thought letting out a bitter laugh. I turned on my heel and followed him down the stairs. He didn't once turn to spare me even a glance as I glared at the back of his head. The word 'asshole' passing through my mind continuously. And 'stupid'. Sometimes they were even put together to form 'stupid asshole' and sometimes the word 'stupid was directed to myself.

I followed him to the kitchen noting that they didn't have a single picture on the walls. I hadn't expected there to be daises and a expensive looking painting that Leonardo Da Vinci himself painted to be hanging from the wall but I expected at least one picture of a family one of them belonged to hanging there. But no. Alas, I wouldn't be able to coo over cute pictures of Kyle or Aaron or hell, even Tyler running through a field of dandelions. I refused to even picture Jake's family. Partially because it was hard to even picture Jake anything but the hard and cold asshole that I'd come to adore so much and partially because I just flat out refused.

He didn't deserve even a thought of him drifting through my mind.

When we stepped inside the kitchen I noticed that Taryn was sitting on a stool and fully clothed. There was no denying the fact that he was attractive but I just wasn't attracted to him. If I had been... I shuddered. It'd be like falling in love with your brother. I cocked my head to the side. Since when did he become that close? It was then when I realized Taryn had always been there. Lurking deep in my mind, just rarely ever making himself known.

Taryn almost jumped out of the stool he was sitting on and stalked over to me. He clasped my face in his hands and looked down at me. “Just like your grandmother,” he said, amazed. I looked up at him with wide eyes confused and scared at the same time. “Too bad you don't think like her,” he sounded disappointed. I raised an eyebrow silently asking him to elaborate. But he didn't he just pet my hair and smiled down at me. Almost like I was a child in dire need of being taught simple math equations.

“Well, you are. A child I mean.” My eyes narrowed in anger. “You're only twenty-three. You have much to learn.”

“Excuse me? I am not a child. I have a masters degree in English and medicine. I went to Harvard Medical School and worked my way through it all. I graduated from high school with a 4.0 GPA. I payed for all of my family's funerals by myself and still managed to pay for my tuition and my rent. I did my father's taxes for fifteen years.” I was shaking. I was furious! “And you want to call me a child?!” I barked out a laugh. “Cute. Really fucking cute, Taryn.”

He was grinning now. Here I was practically screaming at him, ready to rip him a new one. He placed a hand on my shoulder. “There she is,” he said, amused. “You okay there, sweetie? Your eye is twitching sporadically.” The nerve. I ground my teeth together and tried to calm myself down but it was no use. I was so ready to maim, kill, tear every motherfu- The anger drained from me instantly when I found myself being pulled into somebody's chest protectively. Restraining.

“Do you have a death wish, Taryn? You know what happens when she gets mad!” That was Aaron.

“You're really goddamn stupid, Taryn.” That sounded a lot like Jake. But if it was Jake that'd mean he'd have to holding me because that voice came from the person who currently had their arms wrapped around me. Jake hated me, why would he try to comfort me? Stupid. He's restraining you. Of course. That was the only logical reason here.

Suddenly I realized there was a black haze obscuring my vision. I mean, I could see everything around me but it was like one huge shadow covered everything. I felt warm liquid dripping from my hand and looked down to see that I was bleeding...? Oh. I must have cut my palms with my fingernails. I slowly uncurled my fists and noticed that my nails were elongated. Sharpened like claws. I also felt cold. So cold. In fact, I could see my breath. What. The. Hell.

I blinked as the black started to fade. My nails started retracting. My body temperature heightening to a normal one. I let out a soft gasp as my tongue was nicked on a tooth. I shimmied slightly in Jake's hold and he loosened it. I brought my hand up to my mouth and probed my teeth. They were- “Ow!” sharp. I pulled my hand back and looked at it. Now—along with my palm—my fingers were bleeding. What. The. Hell.

“Taryn,” I started turning to face him only to find him gone. Okay... Again, what the hell?

Jessica, Taryn's voice echoed through my mind. I snarled mentally. I know you're angry with me but you must know that I did this for your benefit. It is better to know now what happens when you get angry than to find out while in the presence of humans.

What are you talking about? I am human.

As I have said before, you've much to learn. Now please try and keep your thoughts to a minimum. I must rest.

Try to keep my thoughts- What? Taryn!

…

Ugh. Men.