I'm Fine in the Fire, Don't Try and Fix Me

"So, is it just me, or is everyone avoiding you?" Vladimir asked. He had stuck by my side through the classes we had together, the very few that we did. I was some-what happy about that. I'm not even going to lie about it. The company was different. It was nice. The thought in the back of my head that maybe I could talk to someone other than my family was a pleasant thought. I've never had that before. I've never realized I could want it.

I shot a questioning glance over his way. "You haven't heard yet?" I asked.

He shook his head, obviously confused. I learned when he was confused he subconsciously wrinkled his nose in that cute way he seemed to do. Wait, no, not cute. He wasn't cute. He was an attractive young dom. That much was obvious, but he was also someone I had just met, a boy I didn't know. I could practically hear my parents voices in my head. What do you think you're doing? Talking to a boy you don't know? He could be a rapist, a killer! They would cry out. None of those things were true, though. A dom would never hurt a fertile, something inside them stopped it from happening. My mother was always a paranoid creature, but my father even got protective over petty things like boys.

"Heard what?" He asked. He leaned against the locker next to mine. Something about him just made me shudder, a strange feeling running down my spine, festering in my gut. It wasn't something I was used to. Feelings weren't something I knew very well. When your emotions controlled your powers, you tended to stay away from them.

"I'm Liam Sykes." I stated shortly.

He smiled slightly, but otherwise the little wrinkles on the top of his nose were still there. "I know that," he said. "You told me already. Remember? You said 'I'm Liam Sykes' and then I said 'I'm Vladimir Wentz"

"No, Vlad," I said, not noticing I called him something besides the name he introduced himself with. "I'm Liam Sykes, son of Oliver Sykes and Linda Doyle."

Something donned on him. His eyes widened, his adorable habit disappearing from his face. There was a quick change in him, too quick for most people to notice, but I noticed. I always notice. This was the point where they leave. They leave because they are afraid of something they don't understand. I wasn't a bad person. You believe me, don't you? Of course you do, so why don't they?

"Liam-" He started.

"Save it," I interrupted. "I have witchy things to attend to that I'm sure you don't want to know about."

I was tired of this, so fucking tired of this! That was all I could think about when I started to walk away. There was something that I would never get used to, never. I wished it wasn't like this. I wished that even if it was like this forever, I could get that magical wall of steel characters in the joyous books have. The ones where they don't feel anything. But, it wasn't like that! I wasn't that person! I had feelings. I had emotions. And, I wished more than anything that I didn't.

Sighing, I leaned against my car. There was nothing to complain about. I knew how this was going to end, and I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. A nice, cute dom wanted to talk to me. Me! That never happens. It will never happen.

Stop it, Liam! You aren't some love sick fertile. You are the son of the strongest fertile to ever walk the earth. You have magic so strong it matches your mothers with the potential to pass hers. Why didn't that make me feel better? Maybe, it was the fact that I knew nothing about the witches from my line. Maybe, it was because I knew my mother was an outcast most of her life, even now.

You know what? I don't care. I don't. There was nothing wrong with me. I was just different. These people were just too superficial to see that. They weren't what I needed, and the day this school is over, I'm never seeing these people again. It doesn't matter. These shallow thinking people don't matter. Vladimir with his soft to the touch hair, his perfect, toned muscles, and his skin that I could touch all day didn't matter. You believe me, don't you? No? Neither do I.

"What got you upset?" Blake asked.

I looked up at. He had a concerned look on his face, but I chose to ignore it. "What? Oh, nothing." I said, snapping out of it.

"You sure?" He asked.

I nodded my head. "Of course."

"Good," he said. "Do you mind if a new friend of mine comes along with us? Mom already told me it was okay, since his dad just started working at Dad's company. His entire family is coming over for dinner later."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It isn't okay. I guess you two are just going to have to walk the nine miles home. Ah well, at least it's a nice day."

He gave me a look that told me he was not amused with my sarcasm. "Really?" He asked, his tone matching his face.

"Fine, fine. Sorry. Where is this friend of yours?" I asked.

Blake looked around before finally spotting his apparent new friend. He waved him over. The new boy was small for a dom, most likely hasn't hit his growth spurt just yet. There was a totally of two inches in between him and Blake, and there was four inches between me and Blake. So, he was a tad short. He was pale, skinny, like a little kid. I'm sure he would grow into his dom ferociousness. His hair was sandy brown, flopping over his dark eyes. They reminded me very much of Vladimir's eyes. Interesting.

"Liam, this is Drake. Drake this is my older brother, Liam." Blake introduced. Ha, Drake and Blake, cute.

He warily shook my hand, but I couldn't tell why that was. Maybe my reputation, maybe the fact that he was the new kid meeting his friend's older brother. If it was the first one, well, you know how I feel about that. But, if it was the second one, it was kind of adorable. People assume doms are all mean all the time, and to humans, that was mostly true. But, to other vampires, some doms could be fucking teddy bears, the little ones especially. It was honestly adorable.

"Nice to meet you, Drake." I said before we all climbed into my car and driving off home.

They started to chat away about torture and all things mini doms chat about. It went from the scummy humans in the school to the best way to scare them off. They also started to talk about the cute fertiles in their grade, and I couldn't help but smile. These two were adorable, even though they wouldn't want me to tell them that.

"Mrs. Burke seems like a total hard ass." Drake sighed.

Blake nodded. "Yeah, man, she totally is. She gave me a fifty on a paper for lack of effort, but she hates me. So, I kind of saw it coming."

"Is she going to be like that the rest of the year?" He asked.

"Yep, best get used to it." Blake responded.

"Wait," I said. "Are you a new student here, Drake?" I asked, looking at him through the rear view mirror.

He nodded. "Yeah, I just moved with my parents and my big brother last week. My brother is in your grade. You might of had a class with him. Does Vladimir Wentz ring a bell?"