Pitch Black

Xavier manged to get me to go to a Pitch Black meeting after class after two weeks of spending time with him. I myself was in disbelief as he managed to get me to visit him in his dorm room, drew with me, took me to go see plays, went to dinners. He had even gotten me to smile and laugh as well, which seemed almost like a miracle. It had been a while since I went to a Pitch Black meeting and everyone had greeted me uncertainly as they saw me walk in with him. Brandon was happy to see me of course, but he looked strangely strained, as though to over-studying. The subject, strangely enough, had risen to hemophagia in today's meeting, and Xavier was leading the conversation.

"It's an entirely normal thing," Xavier said. "If one's into that sort of thing... I mean, we all know that it relates to vampirism and such, but there are certain people in the world that simple feed on blood. Not to help them survive, but because it is a fix for them. A part of their daily life, if you will, just like every other "oddity" one comes across."

"But what would drive a person to do something such as that? No one just ups and decides they want to drink blood." Elizabeth said as a defense.

"Well, sometimes it depends on where one was from. Like food habits one has. Your family likes a certain type of food, therefore you like it as well because it's in your nature to."

"Touche." Elizabeth said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

I was sitting next to Brandon on the windowsill, listening intently to the conversation. He lent over and whispered, "have you noticed anything strange about Xavier?"

"You're just now noticing something strange about him?" I whispered back, smirking.

"I'm serious Jack. There's something very odd about him. And you two have been getting a little too buddy-buddy in my opinion. I thought you hated him."

"I did... but things change, Brandon."

"Things change indeed. I say the blokes done and put a spell on you, that's what I think."

I shrugged. "Maybe he has..." I looked at Xavier, who looked back and smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night I found myself once again with Xavier. We were in the room under the library, where he was helping me to construct a painting on the room itself. I admit, I was hesitant to come in, but somehow he managed to coax me into it. We were doing the first outlines of the room when Xavier put his pencil down and asked, "Do you think being a hemophage is odd, Jack?"

"Not at all," I said, continuing to draw. "As you said, it's only weird to people who don't understand it."

He chuckled slightly, and then put his hand over mine as I drew. "Careful of these pesky little lines right here, and the shading it can fool you..." He voice wasn't in an instructing tone. It was soft and seductive. It made me cringe and bite my lip hard. His body was touching mine now, and my body temperature rose; I felt sparks would soon ignite between us if he got any closer. My hand began to shake slightly.

"Oh, dear, what's wrong?" He said in that same, low, smooth tone. "You seem... nervous..." He put his lips on my cheek and gave me a soft kiss. I shivered, my breath caught in my chest and my heart hammered. I felt the blood starting to seep from my lip, and I felt him tense beside me. He reached over and brought my face to his.

"There's nothing more tantalizing than the scent and taste of blood," he said, kissing the corner of my mouth. "Where I'm from, if one tastes the blood of another, they have a bond thicker and deeper than any bond imaginable."

Through my suffocated state, I managed to breath out, "help yourself..."

He smirked, and got me into a laying position on the couch. His tongue found my lips, and his met mind as I felt his tongue explore my mouth and lips. "Yours tastes exceptionally good." He bit my lip slightly with surprisingly sharp teeth, and the cut in my lip gave way to more blood. He moved his body slowly along mine, slipping his hands underneath my shirt. A soft sound of pleasure escaped me, almost sounding full of sadness, despair, and longing. His fingers found my pants zipper and began to pull it down.

"You're mine now." He said, smiling against my lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up the next morning wrapped in a quilt in just my undershirt and boxers. I was glad it was nearing the summer, for if it wasn't the quilt would to little against the low underground temperature. I got up and noticed my body had a slight aching feeling to it. The painting we had been working on lay in an old canvas set in the corner. Xavier was no where to be found. My hand landed upon a note on the couch next to me that read, "Had to go tend to business. I will meet up with you soon.--X." in neat handwriting. As I put it down, I realized what I had done the previous night.

The desperation. The lust. The passion. The pleasure. None of which I had ever felt before. Xavier had me under a spell last night, I was sure of it, for I had never been romanced or handled as such.

But what did this mean? Was it a one time situation? What would this turn into? Many thoughts raced through my head as I pulled back on my school uniform that had been thrown onto the basement floor in the throws of ecstasy of last night. I exited the small room, intent on talking to Xavier about this soon.

As I walked about the halls of Huntington's, I immediately sensed that something wasn't right. Adults were running back and forth, looking worried and anxious. I saw the principal, Mr. King, talking in hushed tones to the second year history teacher. I hid behind a wall to overhear what they were saying.

"...Quite an odd thing that's happened to that Forde boy," The teacher said.

"Yes, his wounds are very grave," Mr. King responded grimly. "I'm just glad someone found him before he completely bled out. He's in critical condition though, I just wonder what could have done this to him? It's like a wild animal had gotten to him..."

Upon hearing this, I tore up to the infirmary. Luckily the doors were open, and only one bed was hidden by a curtain. I went up to it a pulled it back.

What lay before me made my jaw drop. Brandon didn't even look... alive anymore. His clothes were removed so that he was in just his underwear, and so that bandages could be wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso. There was still blood seeping in through the fresh white cloth. There seemed to be a large chunk of skin missing entirely in many places on his body where he bled out the most. His left arm was completely wrapped in a blood-stained cast. Half of his head was wrapped in bloody bandages as well. A good portion of his left ear seemed to be completely ripped off, and a chunk of his nose had been taken off as well. I looked in quiet horror at my friend, who looked as if he were on his death bed. His eyes were closed, and I worried if he really was alive.

I said his name quietly a few times until his eyes fluttered open. He looked at me sleepily. "J...Jack..." He said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Fancy seeing me like this, huh?"

"Who did this to you?" I asked him. "Or- or what did this to you-"

Brandon coughed slightly, and blood ran down the side of his mouth. "X...Xavier... did it..."

My eyes widened. He didn't give me time to react before he used his good hand to reach underneath him. It seemed like a very painful process. He finally took a red , ancient-looking book from beneath him and held it up to me.

"He was looking for this." He said in his hushed tone. "I... I hid it before they rolled me off here. I went to that old abandoned Arithmetic room that had been burned because I saw you walk in there a few weeks ago..." It looked as if talking itself was putting strain on his body. "And... and I found this and opened it... and then... he came in and saw me." His hand shook as he relived this. His voice became hoarse and his eyes widened and shined with horror. "Take it Jack! Take it from me! You will see who he really is! You will see why he is here!"

I heard the voices of the nurses nearby. I quickly took the book from him, replaced the curtains around his bed, and ran out of the infirmary.

When I was sure I had gotten far away enough, I slowed my pace to catch my breath. A thousand and one things were buzzing through my head like angry bees, stinging at the sides of my head and developing into a headache. Xavier possibly couldn't do that to Brandon. It looked as if a wolf had jumped upon him and attempted to make him its next meal. And over this book? What was so important about it?

I came to realization. This must have been the book that he had been looking for a few months ago. The one he had torn the room apart to find. I burned with anxiety and curiosity. I started for the abandoned Arithmetic room, but thought that they would have closed it off now. So, instead, I went to the room underneath the library.

Xavier still wasn't there, and a fear overtook me that maybe he would be on his way from where ever he was.

You're mine now.

I took a deep breath. I didn't know what was to become of me. But I at least needed to know what I was dealing with.

I opened the book. A wave of bluish-white light surrounded me, and found myself being sucked into the pages of the red book.