Sempiternal

This dream was like all the others: terror, running, hiding, growling. Although, what separated this dream from the other familiar nightmares I’ve recently had was the creatures had faces to them. When the hands reached around the bark of the tree to grab me, they growled in my ears, clawing at my clothes, the hands spun me around and I met their eyes.

Jonathan’s eyes glowed above me and his teeth were drawn back ferociously. Cameron gave me his kind smile, but his eyes read something else, something sinister. Trevor tilted his head at me, dribble spilling from his fangs and hunger in his eyes. Simultaneously, they lowered down, ready to bite me and drain all the life blood from my body.

Before I could feel the sharp puncture of their teeth I woke up, breathing heavily and sweat dripping down my face. I slowed down my breathing and slicked my damp curly hair behind my ears. I groaned in my hands and rolled over in my bed, putting my face directly in my pillows. Angel was still asleep in her bed, thankfully I didn’t wake her up again by screaming after one of my nightmares.

I sat up, swinging my legs over the bed, and sitting up facing Angel’s sleeping body. I sighed, when I got back last night Angel was already asleep, I was thankful she wasn’t bombarding me with questions right before bed. However, that meant that today she wouldn’t let me leave for school until I told her everything. What would I tell her though? Hey, the new kid is a vampire and his friends cornered me in the woods to tell me that there’s a war against supernatural beings and I have to lead it. Oh, did I mention that those nightmares I’ve been having for weeks now are of them trying to kill me.

Yeah, that conversation would go so well. No matter how much stress I was internalizing I knew that I couldn’t tell my best friend, as much as I wanted to. I couldn’t get her involved in this, not until I knew the whole story about it. I also didn’t want to get her hurt, what if they were dangerous and are just luring me out, fattening me up, so that they’re able to drain all the blood from me in some type of creepy blood sucking orgy. Goodness I needed to stop watching so many vampire shows.

I force myself to get up and head to the bathroom to shower before Angel woke and began swarming me with questions. Before I answered anything I needed a long hot shower and a little time to think. I started the shower up and stepped in, letting the hot water run over my skin, making my medium toned complexion turn red.

Okay, Trevor and his friends were vampires, that I knew was true. I couldn’t have been dreaming last night, the fear I felt was real, the pain I felt this morning in my muscles from running and screaming told me that part wasn’t false. There were things in this world I had absolutely no idea about: vampires, werewolves, witches. Better yet, Trevor was some type of vampire king or whatever they wanted to call it.

Secondly, they believed that I was apart of some type of prophecy to help this upcoming war with all these supernatural beings. They thought I was some special chosen girl, I couldn’t lead a war, I could barely lead the group art project between Rachel, Trevor, and I. I wasn’t sure how much of this prophecy and me being the chosen one was true.

All I knew was that this time I really had to stay away from Trevor and his friends. If there really was some type of prophecy I could deny it. They could find some other person to fulfill their war hero needs. Better yet, they could do it on their own, what could I do that they couldn’t? I was a human, I could easily get hurt, easily die, and I knew nothing about their kind. They were eternal, they could do far more than I could. For all I knew they were dangerous and lying about the fact that they didn’t want to hurt me. Either way I knew I was going to get hurt, or die.

I could feel a headache beginning to form due to all this added stress, and to think all I thought that would stress me out this year was college and high school drama. I stepped out the shower and put the towel that hung on the back of the door around my body under my arms. When I opened the door Angel was standing in the doorway with her arms folded, she blocked the walkway so I was unable to get around her.

“Ugh, really Angel? I’ve got to get ready for school. So do you,” I tried to push passed her with my body, but she stayed firm. I noticed she already had her school uniform on and her hair and makeup already done.

Angel shook her head, “I’m already ready, now tell me what happened last night or you’re not going to even make it to classes today.” I groaned and finally got passed Angel when she leaned against the door frame. Really, what would I tell her? I couldn’t tell her the truth, it would freak her out too much and she wouldn’t even believe me. Hell, I hardly believed it.

I didn’t want to lie to my best friend, but I knew I had to in order to protect her. “Trevor and I went to this diner yesterday,” I yelled to her as I got ready behind my closet door. I knew she would be able to tell when I was lying, so I kept to the partial truth of what I could tell her. “Nothing happened really, we met up with some of his friends, we talked and hung out.”

“You guys talked and hung out till that late?” I didn’t remember how late it was last night, I knew it was passed midnight judging from how tired I still was. I nodded to her when I stepped in front of my closet door. “Nothing happened, Trevor didn’t try anything? There was no forcing himself on you? No kissing? They didn’t try to like gang rape you or anything right?” I shook my head with each question, not trusting myself to verbally answer.

Angel looked over at me as I smoothed out my wet hair in the mirror, checking for any bruises, cuts or scrapes on me. “Goodness, no! To all of that. Angel, really nothing happened. It was just us hanging out. Trevor’s really not that bad, hear his side out, give him a chance, he’s trying to make things right.” Which was all true, I just left out the part that Trevor and his friends could still be dangerous. I also didn’t mention the part where I planned to stay away from Trevor at all costs, I would not be cornered by three vampires again and tricked into this prophecy bull.

Angel nodded slowly, narrowing her eyes at me skeptically. She then rolled her eyes at me, “Girl, you got it bad. Come on, let’s get to class.” My mouth hung open at her, I quickly grabbed my bag from the floor and followed her out the door.

“I am not into Trevor, I can assure you that,” I told her when I caught up with her down the hall. Angel didn’t say anything as we walked to class, I wasn’t sure about anything that happened last night, but I knew for sure that I was not into Trevor. He was a monster for all I knew, he could be manipulating me for his own precious gain, he was a vampire after all. He could be using some weird supernatural mind tricks on me. She mumbled a sarcastic ‘mhmm’ before entering our first period classroom.

I sat in my usual seat next to her, “I’m not! Just because I hang out with a boy does not equal feelings for him. Damn, you should know better than anyone, I’m still not even over Brian.” I felt the heat on my face and the pain in the back of throat at the mention of him. Angel snapped her head to me, looking me in the eyes with sadness, she nodded.

The bell rung and in rushed a handful of students, the teacher immediately began her lesson. Angel opened her mouth to say something, but she didn’t have to speak, I knew she was sorry. But she didn’t know how sorry I was to have to keep lying to her. Of course I missed Brian and I wasn’t completely over him. It would be years until I was ready to date again.

The lie I couldn’t stand was that Trevor and I were friends, and that she should give him a chance. I couldn’t tell her what I wanted, to stay away from Trevor, run to the hills at all costs, do not engage. However, I knew that would cause more trouble than I wanted, so I lied.

Trevor rushed in the classroom late, he met my eyes as he walked in and took his seat. I immediately turned away, not making eye contact. Avoid at all costs, I kept reminding myself. I just had to get through the rest of the year with him, and dodge all individual contact with him. Group conversation would be easy, he couldn’t talk about vampire business with everyone listening. I just could not be alone with him, this time I made myself a silent promise.

Class felt like it went by as slow as possible. Everytime I looked up at the board to copy notes, I looked up at Trevor instead. His corner desk was shifted to get a better look at the notes, but he was never actually looking at the notes. Each time I looked up he was looking directly at me. I had to keep my head down for most of the class and look at Xavier or Angel’s notes so I could avoid eye contact at all costs.

Once the bell rang I dashed out of class, telling my friends that I had to be in my next period to meet Emma for homework help. Which they gave me odd looks for, Emma and homework help was not very likely, she barely did homework herself. All the classes I attended went by slower than usual, my nerves kept my leg shaking and getting odd looks from classmates.

It was almost the end of the day and I would only have to deal with Trevor in one class. I secretly hoped that the art teacher would have a lesson for us today, or that Rachel was being ultra talkative and I would be able to ignore Trevor’s eyes burning a hole into my skin. Emma and I walked through the halls slowly, both of us dreading to continue on with classes today. She was babbling on like usual and I shamelessly wasn’t paying attention, I looked down at my books and focused on other things.

When suddenly something she said caught my attention and brought me out of my daze, “Wow, is that another new kid? He is H O T hot,” I looked up, and for sure there was a hot guy leaning right in front of my classroom door. Only he wasn’t a new kid, his familiar curly dark hair, knee weakening smile, and glistening eyes told me something completely different.

I quickly went into panic mode, I clenched my books closer to my chest, heart rate went up, I could feel beads of sweat lining my forehead. I swallowed hard and looked at Emma who was completely lusting over this monster. We got closer to the door, and I knew I had to get the hell out of there. I spun around on my heels, ready to leave and yell back some excuse to Emma, but Jonathan gripped my arm in a way he would say was gentle.

He pulled me back and I faced his breath taking grin, “There you are kitten! I’ve been looking all over for you,” Jonathan smiled, making him look way more attractive than what I cared to admit. I groaned and pulled my arm away from him, I rubbed the burning skin and glared at him.

“What do you want Jonathan, and why are you here?” I asked, in a low angry voice. There goes my plan of keeping away from these boys at all costs. Jonathan was standing here in my halls, in my safe haven. I thought they weren’t allowed where they’re not welcomed.

Emma cleared her throat and stepped in, tip toeing closer to Jonathan, “Shay, introduce me to your friend.” She was using her flirting voice, dear God please no. Please don’t let this part of my life be completely fucked too. Jonathan smiled down at Emma, getting closer to her, so close that their bodies were almost touching.

I put a hand on Emma’s shoulder, gently pushing her away from Jonathan, “Emma this is Jonathan, Trevor’s friend. He’s probably infested with something, so you should probably get to class.” That didn’t stop her ogling though, she stayed there until the bell rang. She said goodbye to me and then to Jonathan, giving him a look over before heading into her classroom. Jonathan’s eyes followed her, probably glancing at her backside.

When Emma was out of eyesight and students were out of hearing range I backhanded Jonathan on his chest. He gave me an innocent playful look, which I returned with an annoyed one. “Don’t you ever think you have a chance with any of my friends,” I threatened and shoved my finger at him. If he even tried I’d hurt him as much I could compared to my abilities with his. “Well, what are you doing here in my school?” I urged him to answer.

He appeared amused and smiled, “First of all we are immune to diseases so you can apologize for that.” I refused and told him to answer my question through gritted teeth. Jonathan laughed, “Trevor told me to come and fetch you, matters are urgent now that you know. His father wants to meet with you.”

I choked, “Excuse me?” Jonathan put his hand on my waist, leading me out the building and towards the parking lot. I shoved his hands off my body, “I’m not going anywhere with you, you nearly killed me last night.” I whispered, if I was forced into this vampire thing it would not be with him. With Trevor it was hard to determine if he was dangerous, as he was so trusting yet still so mysterious and reserved. Cameron was sweet, from the short time I’ve met him, he was one of the three I would be able to trust the most. Jonathan was intimidating, hard, and actually really scary.

Jonathan lost all charm and playfulness on his face. “Shannon, I’m not here to hurt you. We don’t feed from live humans, we take blood donations.”

I held my books closer, almost cutting the circulation in the my fingers, “Doesn’t mean that you won’t still hurt me.” It didn’t matter if it was him, Cameron, or Trevor, if I was pushed into this I could be bitten by anyone. I could be killed by anyone or anything. Didn’t they think to be concerned about my life or death situation rather than the public discovery of the supernatural with this war thing?

Jonathan nodded, “You’re right, there are people who still drink blood from humans and are uncaring about the damage that could be done. I’m not one of those people, Shannon, you have my word on that.” I didn’t respond, I didn’t trust him, I didn’t agree, but I didn’t argue either. “Now we have to go, you don’t want to see Joseph angry.” He lead me once again to his car, which is almost as nice as Trevor’s brand new one.

I slid in and put my books and backpack on the floor of his car, well it looks like I was skipping class. I’d have to find out better excuses to come up with to tell Angel. Jonathan got in and immediately drove off. My future seemed grim no matter what direction this would go in, I’ll just accept my lingering death. If I was to help with the war or if I refused, vampires did not seem like level-headed agreeing creatures.

Whether I liked it or not it seemed like I was going to be dragging into some deep shit. I mentally groaned and looked out the window as Jonathan continued to drive along the road. We continued in silence for a few miles before I got restless, well if I was forced to ride in a car with him I might as well spark up a conversation.

“So explain this whole fractions and prophecy thing,” I said looking at Jonathan from the corner of my eye. Emma was right, he was hot, but so was Trevor and Cameron in their own ways. Jonathan was the weak in the knees bad boy type of hot, while Trevor was the everyone knows he’s attractive and there was no doubt about it. Where Cameron was the cute attractive, I could picture myself falling for each of them in some type of lifetime.

Jonathan drew me out of my thoughts when he began speaking, “Vampire fractions are different from the witches and werewolves. Werewolves have their tribes, each major area with a different leader and different rules. Same with witches and their covens. Vampires are similar in that we have different leaders for different areas with their own rules, but there’s an overseer in all vampire activity. Which is Joseph, Trevor’s father, I guess you could call him the king of all vampires. He makes sure that no one is causing outward destruction, or drawing attention to vampires in any way.”

It seemed like supernatural politics were similar to human ones, although I could imagine how it could get complicated. I would have always thought that if things like this were true our world would be corrupt and vampires would try to rule over us, even if humans outnumbered supernaturals they were stronger and better than us. Although, that could be how they got involved with this whole war mess in the first place. “That means if someone is doing something bad then he will…” I said the first thing that came to mind before drifting in my own thoughts even though I had unanswered questions the whole car ride.

“They are dealt with,” Jonathan answered bluntly. He didn’t have to give me the full answer, I know what dealt with meant. For some reason vampires were starting to sound a lot more like mobs than actual blood sucking fiends, but then again I did just get introduced into this mess.

Jonathan continued driving, I recognized the area vaguely, I knew it was one of the richer neighborhoods in North Carolina. Many of the older homes had large plantation vibes to them, while the modern ones looked more like luxury cabins.

He took a few turns before speaking again, “All prophecies come true eventually, they’re pretty vague but they always manifest in some way shape or form. If a prophecy is ignored there could be disastrous foretellings, such as the end of the world as we know it today. Like we explained last night this prophecy was revealed many years ago, no one believed that a human would side with vampires, hell very few of them knew that we existed. Until a few reckless creatures began causing chaos, Joseph hired a skilled witch to look more into the prophecy. For years she’s been sending Trevor to places to search for that girl, we did a ritual and it was revealed to be you.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat as we came to a stop in front of one of the smaller houses in the lot. This seemed like a lot more responsibility than I was ready for. Basically saving the world, working side by side with vampires. It wasn’t like this is some type of volunteer work, I was chosen for this for some reason. “So, there’s no way in getting out of this?” I crossed my fingers.

Jonathan shook his head before getting out of the car, he came around to my door, leaned on the frame of the car, and held it open for me. “Either you ignore the prophecy and countless people die, or you could earn the possibility of death yourself. Either way there is the possibility of death in your future, joining us or not.” Well, damn.

Suddenly drained of energy and a cloud of dread overcome me I stepped out the car and was immediately met with plush green grass. I followed closely behind Jonathan as he took large strides to head up the stairs leading to the large house. In front of the door was a man waiting outside, when we got closer he opened the door for us and silently shut it behind us.

When I say this house was nice it would be an understatement. This house was freakin’ incredible. The size from the outside didn’t do the inside justice, other houses in the neighborhood were larger and it made me wonder what those looked like from the inside. On either side of the foyer two staircases met at the second level of the house just in the middle of the banister. Framing the middle of the room was a long small chandelier, giving the room this soft glistening glow.

From where I was standing I could see that there were many halls leading to rooms and a few closed doors. Looking at how massive the inside of the house looked I wondered how many rooms there were in here. Feeling absolutely mesmerized and not focusing on anything other than the beauty of this house Jonathan brought me back to reality. He put his hand on my lower back, pushing me toward the staircase to our right, “Come, we don’t want to keep Joseph waiting.”

Reluctantly, I followed Jonathan up the steps, listening to the rhythm of the clacking from the soles of our shoes on the hardwood flooring. Soon we came to the end of the hall and in front of a door that was larger than the others. The door knob was painted gold and there were gold embellishments carved into the dark worn out wood. Without knocking, Jonathan entered the room and pulled me in with him.

Immediately my attention went to the handsome looking man sitting behind a large long desk, he looked relatively young with his buzzed hair, however through his facial feature you could see the years of life and wisdom that passed him by. The man stood, tall and lean in a grey suit, suddenly I felt incredibly self conscious in my school uniform and jeans. He then gestured for Jonathan and I to take a seat in front of him.

That’s when I noticed Trevor and Cameron sitting on either side of us. Cameron gave me a smile, I didn't dare to turn to Trevor and look him in the eyes. After last night any connection I felt with him was severed, not only did he lie to me, but he made me feel like a fool. A fool for believing that he was actually a good caring guy, and a fool for actually putting my trust in him. I couldn’t tell what was truth and what were lies.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Shannon.” Joseph didn’t need an introduction and he knew that, he radiated confidence and power. Through his eyes you could see that he was older beyond his years, but he looked as young as Trevor. I would have to remember to ask one of the boys how young Joseph was and how Trevor got to be his son, because I was almost certain vampires couldn’t reproduce, they were technically dead after all.

Joseph brought my attention back to him, “I understand that my son has brought you up to speed?” I slowly nodded my head, feeling out of place in a room full of vampires. “Great! We don’t want to draw any attention so we can wait till your graduation to proceed. Until then the boys should catch you up on supernatural politics and everything you need to know. You’ll also need to know how to defend yourself.”

Trevor’s father went on with things that I’d have to learn, people I’d have to meet, plans for the future.Yet, all I could hear was the ringing in my ears as sudden anxiety filled my senses. Without warning my heart beat faster and my body temperature rose. The anxiety was from one question that I was avoiding from the moment I was graced with the knowledge of vampires. Being here and coming to the realization that this was all real forced me to become worried about the very thing I had to fight off.

I coughed and swallowed, making Joseph stop from his over planning. “Will I have to become…?” I let the question linger, I was sure he knew what I meant, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Would I become undead, would I become eternal, would I have to drink blood for the rest of my life, would I have to be a vampire?

“Oh, no,” Joseph said quickly. “The prophecy states a human will lead us. We will only result to The Change in case of extreme circumstances.” The Change, he said it so simply, like I was changing shoes instead of possibly dying and having to drink blood for the rest of eternity.

Joseph continued to speak, but I wasn’t listening. Throughout the rest of the afternoon he shoved countless bouts of information at me that I didn’t find the least bit interesting or necessary at the moment. I couldn’t bring myself to pay attention, I focused on everything except for him. I focused on my changing life based on some prophecy, I focused on trying to grasp that this was actually real. I just wanted to be a normal girl with normal high school problems.

What felt like hours later Joseph stood behind the desk with a smile, “It was a pleasure getting to know you, Shannon. We’ll speak again soon.” He held out his hand for me to shake. I shook his hand quickly before following the boys out of his office.

Outside of the office the boys talked and coordinated plans on my life around my schedule, like I wasn’t even there, like it was no longer my life to control. The world around me faded, and I became the background piece. I shoved pass the boys and went down the elegant staircase that I mesmerized before and now I loathed it and never wanted to see the masterpiece again. I hurried out the door Jonathan and I came through before, breathing heavily when the fresh air met my lungs.

In little to no time the boys were swarming around me, all talking at once. I couldn’t make out a sound, I didn’t want to listen to anything anyone was saying. This all became too much to process at once, I accepted the existence of vampires, the prophecy thing I was still on the fence about, but it all became too real and too much when they began controlling my life like I was a puppet.

I breathed hard, anxiety clouding everything around me, all I could think about was the possibility of death. If I didn’t go along, I’d die, if I did go along I still might die. There was no winning here. Then, without thinking I screamed, I screamed towards the rich houses and the plush North Carolina grass, I screamed to the night sky and the surprised boys beside me. I screamed until my throat hurt and I was too tired to scream anymore, my throat became sore and my face wet from tears I didn’t notice.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand and turned to Trevor, his mouth hanging at me in wonder. I breathed, letting my heart rate slow and the shaking of my hands to stop. “I want to go home,” I croaked. Timidly he nodded and pointed to his car parked on the side of the road, not knowing if he was following me I stepped toward the car and slid in.

Trevor came back with my books and backpack that I’d left in Jonathan’s car and forgot about until this moment. He put them in the back seat and didn’t say a word when he drove off, back towards Brighton. We drove silently for miles, I could slowly feel calmness returning to me, like an ocean wave after a storm. I knew Trevor was waiting for me to speak and explain, but with everything happening he could be the one to wait.

When I was finally ready to speak I did in the strongest voice that I could, but I imagine that it sounded more like a croaking sadness coming from my throat. “I understand this whole prophecy thing and you guys wanting it all to go well, but it does not give you the right to control my life. You guys are stringing me around like I’m some sort of puppet, when I’m the one supposed to save your ass. No one ever cared to ask what I want or how I felt, it’s my life and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can.”

Trevor stayed silent for some time, he pulled into the school’s parking lot and faced me once he was parked. “Shannon, we’re not trying to string you along, we’re trying to make you stronger. We need you to understand this world that you know nothing about, we need you to learn how to defend yourself so you don’t have to go through The Change. We’re trying to make this better for both of us.”

“I get that, but if I’m prophecy girl here I call the shots. I say when we meet up for training, I say when we have study sessions to increase my knowledge on this shit. What I say goes, understand?” I knew that I had a bad attitude but I didn’t care, I was going to take control for once in my life, even if it killed me.

Trevor nodded and exited the car without saying a word, baffled I sat there in my seat while he grabbed my books and bag from the back seat. I shook my head, fine he can be sassy and grumpy all he wanted, but even if I had to fight him for it things were going my way from now on. When I stepped out the car Trevor was in front of me, putting my backpack on my shoulder and shoving my books in my hands.

“I’m only going to ask you this once, Shannon. You can back out at anytime, you’re right, this is your choice and we’re not right to shove it into your hands and string you along. Now, are you in, or are you out?” Trevor looked impatient with his arms crossed and changing his voice to sound authoritative like his father.

This was my life, my fate, my destiny, hell it was my prophecy and I don’t recall anyone saying that it for told being bossed around like a child. I held my chin high and glared at Trevor, “I’m in.” I walked away toward the dorms with him standing there near his car, not caring about anything else he had to say to me that day.