Vamp Camp

As I drifted into conciousness, I could hear the boys talking in the background. "What the hell is your problem, Alexander!?" There was a frightening growl to Christopher's voice. I had the urge to shiver, but I couldn't move any part of my body.

"I didn't do anything." Alexander grumbled back, "It's not my fault she overreacted-"

"It isn't called overreacting when she's been traumatized." The harsh growl that had escaped Mathew's mouth took me off guard. When did he start caring?

"Ha! Tramatized..." He barked out a laugh, that sent a sharp icy sensation down my spine. I finally shivered, and that's when I realized that I was lying against someone. Their skin was firm and frigid, yet their touch was soft and gentle. It also seemed as though their frigid skin was seeping through my clothing sending chills down my body.

A violent shiver rolled through me, and a whimper escaped my mouth. "Get a blanket." I took me a moment to realize that his voice was above me. He must be the one holding me. I let loose a whimpery sigh, as I had to remind myself to breathe. A mere second later, I felt a soft fleece blanket wrap around my shoulders. "Can you hear me?" His voice was gentle. A melodic hum that made my heart flutter...

I wanted to speak, to open my eyes and look into his jade-hazel eyes. I couldn't make my lips form words, nor could I force my eyelids to flitter open. Another shiver rolled through my body as Alexander spoke again, "So sad..." There was a deep, throaty, menacing growl, at which my eyes finally popped open.

I looked up into Christopher's surprised face. As my eyes traveled around the area, I did my best to take in my surroundings. It was the room that I was in the briefest of moments after Alexander had bitten me. All around me were the faces of my soon-to-be roommates. Mathew's silvery blue eyes were hard as he let some of his sandy blonde hair fall into his face. Demitri's blue-hazel eyes were apologetic has he ran his hand through his medium-long, jet black hair.

Then Alexander... His crimson gaze that now held mine send cold shudders through me. His lips were stretched into a smirk that could have been a mile long. What the hell is wrong with me... He was only one person... But he was the one person that I have ever had any reason to fear...

"Are you alright?" Christopher's voice yanked my focus from Alexander and back onto him. As I looked back into his eyes, I could hear my heart rate soar and my stomach fill with butterflies. It took me a moment to realize that I was in his arms. When the realization hit, I could feel my cheeks begin to burn.

I slightly panicked. In one swift move, I was out of his arms and sitting five feet away from him. "Y-yeah..." I nearly choked on that word alone, but at least I got it out. "S-s-s..." I stopped myself. I wasn't going to get anything else out. Not with four pairs of eyes boring into me...

"I-I g-gotta-" I couldn't utter another sentence before I flung myself out the door and closed it behind me as Christopher began to protest. I had to stop and remember how to breathe. I sighed and began rushing down the hallway as the door opened behind me.

I didn't know why I was suddenly running. I had been through something much worse than this, hadn't I? "Wait!" I didn't stop, even though I recognised the voice. I couldn't stop... Not now... Not after I made such a fool of myself fainting like that... No. "Amorette wait!" His voice was getting closer, but I still did my best to ignore it.

"Come on, Amorette... Wait!" I then felt a large, cool hand wrap around mine as he spun me around. I was now face to face with Christopher.

"Wait..." His cool, sweet breath flowed downward. "Just hear me out, okay?" He sighed as I tried to pull away. I drew in a shakey breath and nodded for him to continue. "I know we should have found out some way to warn you, but please don't leave. I know Alexander is a prick, but I assure you that you have nothing to fear from the rest of us. I promise..."

I sighed and looked down as my stomach began to knot. "I'm sorry..." My whispery sigh was tiny, yet I'm sure he still heard it.

"Well you shouldn't be." He said surely. "Why don't we try this again?" I looked up at him timidly, my stomach churning and my heart beat accelerating. "This time, if Alexander says something, we'll throw something at him..." At this, I couldn't help but crack a smile.

He lead me back down the hall, his hand on my upper back. When he opened the door, I took in a deep breath. Alexander was no longer in the room. I didn't even want to know where he had gone. My eyes met Mathew's, which were obviously irritated.

"We don't know, he left." Mathew answered an unspoken question. Questions swirled through my head as I stared at him, a puzzled look surely in my eyes. "I don't trust him either..." His voice was low, but there was no mistaking what he had said. What was going on here!? Why the hell did he keep talking as though he were being spoken to. Once again, this moment brought back up the suspicion that he was some sort of psychic.

The skeptic in me ignored any of those thoughts. The optimist in me, no matter how small or insignificant it may be, wanted to think that any thing was possible.

"So..." Mathew's start was now directed at me. My heartbeat stuttered, but it when back to it's regular pounding. His silvery blue eyes held mine as he spoke again, "Are you going to stay here or request another dorm?"

Even though I should have expected his inquirey, it still took me off guard. There was a blunt curiosity to his tone, but his eyes were hard and critical. Was he honestly curious? I couldn't read Mathew. At times I found it hard to be near him or within his critical gaze.

I honestly didn't know how to answer his question. There was a part of me that wanted to just leave this school, a part of me that wanted to stay but change dorms, and then a part of me that wants to stay all together. It seemed that lately I hadn't been uniform in what I wanted. I think that the only thing that had all of me was wanting to be with, touch, or even near Christopher. To always feel the electricity that seemed to sing between us... Like it was now...

"Hello..." I saw Mathew's hand wave in front of my face, sucking me into reality. "Anyone in there...?"

"Wha—" I jumped at his voice. I blinked and shook my head in order to clear it. I looked back up at him.

"Well..." As I looked around at everyone else, they seemed as though they were waiting for an answer as well. "Are you going to request to switch dorms or are you going to stay?" I knew that there wasn't any avoiding this question. I would have been stuck in a dorm with multiple males anyway. Minus Alexander, this dorm would be tolerable or even enjoyable.

I sighed, knowing what I was most likely going to end up deciding. "I..."

"Yes..." He was now getting pushy.

I sighed irritably. I never thought that I would get annoyed at one of these boys. "No. I'll stay here." I kept my eyes low. "I'll just do my best to ignore him." The last part was low, but I knew they heard me.

"Good," Christopher walked up behind me, "I know we do." Once again, I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. No matter how much I smiled, this was still unnerving. He placed his cool hand on my shoulder and lead me to the couch near the door. "Why don't you sit. We have quite a lot to explain before anything else."

I nodded sitting on the burgundy velvet couch. It was soft and, even under my meager weight, sunk beneath me. The weight shifted when Christopher sat beside me. What did they need to explain? Was it Alexander's intention's behind his antagonism, or could it be something else?

"You think we should warn her about the others?" Demitri muttered grimly.

Curiosity bubbled in my stomach, "Others?" I heard a sigh across the room. I was sure that it was Mathew, but I didn't look to check.

"We aren't the only monsters in Arsen Academy, and I guess we should inform you before you officially say yes to sharing our dorm." Mathew answered just as grimly as Demitri before him. "There are more than just bloodsuckers here."

Bloodsuckers? Was this some sort of racial slur? And if it is, why would he refer to himself, and his friends, as "bloodsuckers?"

"There are other creatures of the night too." Christopher added, "Just so we're clear, you have noticed that we're bloo — vampires, right?" I nodded absent mindedly. There they went again... It must be an unconcious thing. I've never heard them refer to themselves out loud before.

"Vampires," The word was practically forced, "are just one of the most dominant races with in the school." Demitri's expression was still grim, almost as though this thought bothered him.

"Dominant races?" The guys glanced at each other, and Christopher shifted so that he was leaning toward me. My teeth clamped down on my lip as the electricity started to flow between us again. I held my hands firmly in my lap to break the urge to reach over and touch him.

"Were-creatures, shifters, woodland creatures like the fae — Just to name a few." Christopher seemed to shrug it off, but Mathew passed Demitri a rather dark look. Demitri grimaced deeply as his gaze settled on Christopher. What was this? Did he say something wrong?

Then one question popped into my mind. "What is the difference between a shifter and a were-creature?" It flowed off of my tongue before I could stop it. It was a completely valid question. If I'd had to hazard a guess, they would be the same thing, but obviously they aren't.

Mathew was the one to answer, and I was profoundly shocked that it wasn't condescending. "Were-creatures can't control whether or not they change into the bound animal. Shifters can change as they please, so if you see a random stray cat or dog, don't bother paying it any attention."

There seemed to be a slight air lightness in this because the corner of Mathew's lip twitched.

"Don't forget the demons..." Demitri muttered darkly. The somewhat lightened atmosphere changed abruptly. Any hint of a smile on Mathew's face was quickly replaced by a dark scowl as the rest of his body stood stiffly. Demitri glowered into the unseen distance, and even Christopher stiffened beside me.

"Demons?" The word lodged itself in my throat. There was no mention of "demons" earlier... That must have been the cause for the dark looks that Mathew and Demitri had exchanged before. Christopher must have left it out on purpose.

"I take it there won't be a need for clarification on the subject." Mathew grumbled. This made me start thinking that "vampires" or "bloodsuckers" or what ever you'd call them, were the least of my worries. Demons did not seem the least bit inviting, so I just shook my head."

"The most important point that I think we should make is that you should never walk that grounds alone at night." Christopher muttered, even his

tone rang with an all new bleakness. As I glanced up at him, his eye caught mine. There was a tinge of darkness in his smokey jade eyes and that undercurrent in his voice was impossible to ignore.

"If I asked you why, would you answer me?" My voice was steady, but heart was not. My heartbeat raced and my cheeks warmed at the question that I had not expected to slip between my lips.

"Just trust me." There it was again. The undercurrent worried a little too much for my liking. I sighed and decided to wave it off, or at least seem like I did. I knew that trying to brush it off was futile and it would be stuck in the back of my mind, but they didn't have to know that.

Christopher and I stared into each other's eyes. I could feel my cheeks warm again. The electricity zinged through the air. When I heard Mathew groan irritably, I adverted my eyes. I don't know what it was about the two of us that irritated him so badly. I guess I would never know.

Christopher's POV

Amorette and I gazed into each other's eyes for a moment or two. The zinging electricity that always seemed to pass between us, had began to whistle through the air. I could hear her heart begin to flutter, but I doubted she noticed. Her cheeks had slowly started to settle into a gentle scarlet. The blood rushing to her cheeks made the aroma flowing from her skin even more potent than it had been mere seconds before.

As I did my best to supress the dry ache, Mathew let out an agitated groan. I knew she heard it when she adverted her eyes.. Every part of me wanted to make her look back into my eyes again, but I knew that it would seem excessive and redundant.

Mathew's irritation was now rolling off of him in waves. I rolled my eyes and turned to glare at him. His eyes told me that it wasn't truly us that had annoyed him. It seemed to have been some vision that he'd had as a result of out moment. At times, I'd honestly wondered what the visions that he'd had as a result of us were.

"Christopher, may I speak you outside please...?" Mathew grumbled. I sighed and nodded. He practically dragged me out the door. I glanced back at Amorette, and she had a nervous look playing on her face. Her heart began to stutter, and her nerves began to rise to the surface. Even when Matt shut the door, I could still feel her anxiety seeping under it. And she was so calm even when we were explaining those things to her...

Though, the purfume cascading underneath the door wasn't helping the thirst...

"Christopher, you need to be careful." Mathew's silvery blue eyes became a slate blue as they hardened over.

I raised an eye brow skeptically. "What exactly are you worried about...?"

He rolled his eyes, "No need to be so cheeky..." His eyes were then firm again, "You can't tell me that when she blushed you didn't feel that persistant little ache in the back of your throat."

"And you don't?" I grumbled.

"That's beside the point..." I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off. "I know I can control myself."

I stared at him in disbelief and slight horror. "Is that what you saw!?" He simply stared at me. I took that as a yes, "I have a handle on my thirst. I don't need you watching me." I barked, "Besides, Amorette has nothing to fear from me."

"She had everything to fear from you!" His expression was hard. Once again, my lips parted to argue, but he cut me off. "No. She has even more to fear from you than Alexander." That thought had barely even crossed my mind when he'd spoken, but by the time he finished saying it, red stained the edges of my vision.

"Why the hell—" Once again, he stopped my question. This was really becoming irritating, but he kept his composure no matter how much irritation I allowed to flow into the atmosphere.

"Why the hell do you think, idiot?" He growled, "She trusts you; therefore, she will let you close. All it will take is the two of you in close quarters, alone, and then its over. Do you get it now?"

I glowered at him, and no matter how much I denied it, I could understand his reasoning. Now I could understand why he was now so irritated when ever she and I seemed to share a moment. He had become just as taken with her as I was. Maybe not in the same way, but the effect was all the same. Demitri didn't seem to mind, but he still seemed to lean in a protective way when the moments happened. Needless to say, they seemed to happen rather often.

"That I thought." I knew that he could hear everything that drifted through my mind, so his reaction didn't shock me. After a few moments of tense silence, I sighed. Amorette's anxiety had seemed to wane a bit, but it was still flowing from beneath the door.

"Why don't we—"

"—go in?" I glared at him and he raised an eyebrow as if daring me to say something else.

"Jack ass." I grumbled as I pulled the door open.