A Day in the Life of Skyla Drake

A Day in the Life of Skyla Drake

I sighed, taking in a breath of air before crouching into an attack position. Maeve stood opposite of me, playing with her fiery red locks. To my left stood my brother Ryan and his mentor Hugh, who both had foolish grins on their faces, each holding 50 dollars in their hands. I growled, sometimes I really loathed my twin. After all, this was his idea.

Maeve sighed loudly and rolled her eyes.

“Are you going to attack me or what?” Her crisp Irish accent traveled across the room.

“That depends on what move you make.” I replied keeping my voice even.

Hugh chuckled and Ryan cat called. Devlin looked at me worriedly, I smiled at him.

“As the humans say now, get it girl.” Hugh said

I raised an eyebrow and shook my head.

“Hugh, never say that again.” Hugh shrugged in response.

“CAN WE JUST GET THIS OVER WITH!!!??” Maeve screeched

Without even thinking I bolted at her, knocking her to the floor. Maeve growled at me and with ease, threw me off. I managed to somehow somersault in the air before landing in a deep plié. Maeve launched herself at me, I dodged her easily. For a 900 something year old vampire her fighting skills really sucked. I kicked my leg out, causing her to fall to the floor. I smirked and turned. That was a big mistake; as soon as I turned my back Maeve tackled me to the floor with her fangs bared. Instinct set in, I lost control and set my Dark Fire free. Maeve screamed in pain as the Fire hit her in the face. I knew my power was destructive and the effects were devastating to watch, but they were beautiful at the same time. Maeve turned to me, half of her face consisted of first degree burns with almost all of the skin gone so you could see her bone peeking through.

I gagged at the sight. The smell was enough now to make me throw up. I hid my discomfort. Fortunately, Vampires healed quickly so her face was already in the process of repairing itself. Still, the sight was disgusting. An unearthly scream of rage came from her as she flew towards me again. I whipped my silver dipped throwing knives out and aimed for her. My knives hit their target as she dropped to the ground withering in pain as three silver knives stuck out from her stomach. She couldn’t pull them out but somehow she managed to stand again.

I quickly prepared myself for another attack. Just then I heard a noise from behind me, I turned and there was Maeve. I hadn’t heard her move, usually I can hear these things, and I guess I didn’t pay close enough attention so I didn’t hear her sneak up behind me. I screamed in surprise as she pounced on me, holding me up by the throat. I couldn’t breathe. I met her eyes, which now resembled green balls of fire.

“Now what Shadowflame?” she asked mockingly, using my old codename. I squirmed and thrashed around, trying desperately to get free. She knew that I hated my old codename and she knew it would get to me. I started to see stars from the lack of oxygen, I felt myself beginning to pass out.

“Let my sister go!” Ryan ordered showing his fangs. Maeve turned and glared at him before tossing me like a ragdoll to the ground. I gasped as fresh oxygen came flooding back into my lungs. I collapsed onto the tile floors. I felt someone gently touch my shoulder and turn me over, it was a concerned Devlin. His eyes scanned my body for any signs of damage. His eyes widened as he came to my stomach, which had a nasty bruise forming along with an abrasion.

“You need my blood now.” He said urgently, I sighed.

Devlin thought that I needed his blood for every little scrape and cut I got. It was cute in a way but also annoying. He was always scared that something was going to happen to me; although I couldn’t blame him. Ever since the war ended, everything has been chaotic. People have been turning up dead and there have been rumors circulating that there is a new Black Witch group forming to take us down.

He bit into his wrist, fresh blood dripping from him. He held it out to me and I regretfully took a drink. I was only dong this to make him feel better. As soon as his blood entered my system I felt myself begin to heal. In seconds I was completely healed.

He caressed my check, pressing his forehead to mine.

“Tá grá agam duit.” He muttered to me. In Irish Gaelic this meant “I love you.”

“Is leatsa mo chroí I gcónaíI”I whispered, holding his hand. This meant “my heart is with you always.”

Bang

We both jumped to the sound of a door being band thrown open. I turned and saw my best friend and former Hunter, Genevieve standing in the doorway.

“I heard a loud crash and a scream so I figured I would come and watch but it seems I missed the event.” She announced to us. Her gazed shifted to each of us, taking in the scene.

“Omg! Skyla are you ok?” she screeched, running towards me. She knelt down beside me giving Devlin a glance of approval, which he granted. She embraced me and started checking me over for any signs of damage. I sighed loudly; this was starting to get on my nerves. Genevieve looked up sharply and growled at Devlin.

“Why must you give her your blood for every little cut she gets?” Devlin avoided her eyes, casting them to the floor.

“You do know that she is fully capable of taking care of herself, right?”

Maeve snorted at this and flipped her hair, causing Genevieve to turn around. Her eyes narrowed in dislike, they had never gotten along. She hissed and flew at her, tackling her to the ground. Sitting on top of her, she pressed her silver knife she kept in her boot to her throat.

“What did you do!?” she exclaimed pressing the knife harder against her skin. Maeve could only moan with pain as the silver burned her skin. I was about to stand when my brother Ryan walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Its’ ok love let it go.” He whispered to her. Genevieve loosened the grip on the knife and stood up. Ryan gave her a hug and kissed her forehead. I stood up having enough of the bickering for one day. Even though we were all part of the same coven and the rebellion, we didn’t always get along.

I began to exit the training room when Maeve called “you are going shopping with me now, right?”

I turned a raised an eyebrow. Then, I remembered the bet they placed. I face palmed myself and groaned, after all this was the whole reason we agreed to fight was because of Ryan and Hugh’s stupid bet.

Ryan had the idea that if Maeve beat me at a fight I had to do whatever Maeve wanted to do that night and if I won then I would give Maeve a dance class or bring her to an I See Stars concert. Of course Maeve immediately agreed to the idea while I hesitantly agreed. I never liked fighting when it was unnecessary. Although I did secretly want to see Maeve in a mosh pit and freak out while being surrounded by sweaty screaming teenagers; I also desperately wanted to see Maeve attempt a ballet class. Unfortunately for me this dream would probably never come true.

“Go get ready, we leave in twenty minutes.” Maeve commanded strutting out of the room. This was going to be a long night. I turned and gave my brother the finger, I wasn’t happy at all about going shopping with Maeve. He simply shrugged and brushed by me, causally putting his arm around Genevieve’s shoulders. I turned to Devlin kissing his cheek, he smiled.

“Good luck, text me updates will you? I would like to see what she dresses you up in.” He said holding my waist.

“I’m going to look like a hooker when she’s done with me!” he laughed and walked away.

“It’s not funny!” I called after him. The door closed and I was left alone to my thoughts; shaking my head I walked towards the door thinking of ways I could get my revenge.

Twenty minutes later I stood in front of Maeve wearing my favorite leopard jeggings with a light blue angel wing shirt with a pair of ankle high sparkly studded combat boots. My hair was up in my usual messy bun and I had put on a touch of mascara and black eyeliner. The perfect combination between girly and edgy. Nevertheless, I could never compare myself to Maeve; she always looked killer (no pun intended). Her outfit consisted of a three quarter length black dress with an open back and a plunging neckline along with bright red heels. Her locks cascaded down her back into what seemed like ribbons of fire. She was the perfect image of what a vampire should look like, powerful yet beautiful. Compared to this I looked like- well a human.

Maeve raised an eyebrow at my outfit and shook her head.

“Another lame attempt of trying to impress me with your horrible fashion taste.”

“Well at least I don’t look like I’m a harlot.” She narrowed her eyes in annoyance to this comeback.

“Do you know how much this dress cost me?” “A lot”

“Will the both of you just shut up!” we turned and found Ryan standing in the doorway. He was holding a jacket that I presumed was for me. He appeared next to me, holding it out. I looked at it and realized it was my favorite All Time Low hoodie. I smiled and gave him a big hug. He gave me his usual smirk and walked off.

“Behave you two.” He called as he left. I raised my eyebrow at this comment; he usually doesn’t care how we treat each other. I knew immediately that something was up.

Ignoring his comment, Maeve dragged me out to the garage where she kept her red Porsche. I got into the passenger seat reluctantly. Not even having anytime to buckle my seatbelt, Maeve pressed on the accelerator and we speed off towards downtown.

“So, which store are we heading to first?” I asked pretending to care.

“Well, since we are going to the biggest mall in Boston I thought that we would hit them all, are there any stores in particular that you would like to go?”

I pondered for a minute, she was actually asking for my opinion on something!

“I would love to go to Express……and Hot Topic.” I said choosing my words carefully.

Maeve growled and rolled her eyed at my response.

“The first option was acceptable, the other one is a definite no, there is no way in Hell I will ever set foot in the awful excuse for a store!”

As the parking garage neared our sights I realized that there would be no reasoning with her, I would just have to play Barbie doll and let her do what she wanted with me. I sighed; I was totally in for it today.

Maeve wasted no time in entering the mall and navigating down the halls of the massive mall. I could barely keep up with all the bags I was holding. She first wanted to go to Express, then to Ulta, then to Victoria’s Secret for God knows why and all of these other brand named stores that I had no idea what the Hell they were. Bags began to multiply in my arms every second we left the store, at one point we had to go to the car and load the trunk up so I could have hand space again. I mean honestly, why do I have to carry the bags everywhere? Everything moved so fast that I don’t even remember what half of the stuff she bought me looked like. For it all looked the same to me; bold colors and lots of sequins and glitter and a ton of short dresses and skirts. All I wanted to do was go to a Hot Topic and buy the new I See Stars merchandise that came with the record that they released last week.

Finally, I could bear it no longer; I threw my bags on the floor and yelled: “MAEVE…..I need food!!!!!” She turned with an exasperated look on her face and paused to think about it before nodding in approval. We quickly found the food court where I headed straight for the healthy foods section, grabbing a spinach salad and a bottle of water. We found some seats and sat down as I gobbled my food.

In the midst of stuffing my face I couldn’t help but wonder why Maeve was so fascinated with me to begin with, first she was really bitchy to me, then she becomes nice and now it’s like she’s bipolar to me or something. She is constantly forcing her presence upon me and begging to do stuff with me.

“Why me?” I asked slowing down to let my food settle. Maeve gave me a queer look before answering my question.

“If you mean why I chose you shopping with me it’s because you fashion-

“That’s not what I meant” I cut her off sharply. “What I meant is why do you always insist on taking me everywhere you go and always forcing yourself upon me?”

She looked quite taken aback at my comment and I could have sworn I saw blood tears forming in her eyes.

“My entire human and vampire existence has been shelter and lonely. Girls my age never wanted to be around me because of my status and my mother would always keep me busy with my studies and would always keep my isolated from the rest of the court. I had no one to talk to or spend time with that was my own age, for I was either by myself or surrounded by adults. My brother never liked me and neither did the servants, so I guess you could say I was lonely. When I became a vampire, others began to fear me because of my temper, I tried being friendly and nice to people but because of how I was raised and what my human life was like it was always in vain. You see Skyla, you are the first person that hasn’t shunned me and you were willing to talk to me, so I thought if I pressed my presence that you would grow to like me and we would become friends and do stuff together. You know, like what teenager girls in this century do for fun.”

Her response left me shocked, I had never realized what kind of life she lived before all of this and had never really gotten to know her that well. I tolerated her presence but nothing more than that. After the explanation she gave me, I began to feel sorry for her and angry at myself for judging her so harshly. I smiled and looked at the bags on the floor.

“You know if you could try to be less commanding and ask for forgiveness more than people would like you. I also think that if you would think before you spoke that would help your situation too. Your shy and insecure, I completely understand that but it’s something that you have to get over and work on if you want people to like you and to have friends. I’m willing to try and work out a friendship with you if you are, so what do you say, friends?”

I stuck my hand out which she shook gently.

“Friends” she responded grinning. With that settled I quickly eyed the Hot Topic to my left, bolted from my chair quickly grabbing Maeve and disappeared into it.

A couple of minutes later I emerged from there with the new I See Stars record and shirt while Maeve came out with some lace gloves. The both of us giggled and whispered about the cashier that was hopelessly trying to flirt with us, it was almost as if we were normal teenager girls.

2 Months Later

“Skyla, I demand to know where you are taking me!”

I laughed as I pressed on the accelerator as we headed toward the venue.

“Nope I want to see your face when you freak out.” Maeve gave me a questioning look as we approached the venue.

“Is this revenge for our shopping adventure we had, I thought you enjoyed it?”

“I did, but what are friends for?” I replied letting the question hang in the air.

Devlin, Hugh, Ryan, and Genevieve were already standing there with tickets in their hands. I flitted over to Devlin, giving him a quick kiss and taking my ticket. Genevieve looked as if she would pee her pants any minutes from excitement. I rolled my eyes as we entered the venue to the sound of screaming teenagers chanting “ I See Stars!”

Ryan glanced at his ticket and glared at Devlin.

“You do realize that we were supposed to have front row access and the meet and greet pass? Seriously people, I’m the fucking Vampire prince here, I don’t settle-

“Ryan shut the fuck up!” Hugh yelled in his ear, hitting on the head. Ryan growled in annoyance, he hated being told what to do.

“Well Ryan, I do believe that since you are a vampire you can hypnotize people into doing what you want, just a thought.” I said with sarcasm. Ryan shifted his weight and looked at the floor. Sometimes I really wondered what prompted Donovan to pronounce him heir to the throne, yes he was an exceptional fighter and diplomat but he really wasn’t that smart sometimes.

Hugh strode over to the bouncer who was standing next to the front row entrance with us in pursuit.

“Kid, you and your friends-

“Have the pit tickets and backstage passes, let your friends know that so we can meet I See Stars after the show.” Hugh said hypnotizing the bouncer with his usual smirk. The bouncers nodded stupidly and let us pass. A couple of minutes later I See Stars took the stage, much to everyone’s excitement, well accept Maeve’s. She stood frozen in the middle of the mosh pit as people were being thrown around with a look on her face that resembled shock and anger. I laughed, it was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen. Genevieve started to fan girl as Zach Johnston, the unclean vocalist came near us and held her hand as he screamed the intro to the latest single; Filth Friends Unite. Personally I almost fainted when Andrew Oliver, the drummer looked my way and winked at me before he began drumming.
“You all know the fucking score, everybody on the floor!” he screamed and that’s when all Hell broke loose, with Maeve caught right in the middle of it. I screamed the lyrics with the rest of my friends and jumped along, each of us taking turns laughing at Maeve’s awkwardness. This was probably the best revenge plan ever.