Corruption

I wasn’t sure if I was excited about tonight, or just plain scared. I should be the first one, but I just wasn’t sure. Going over to a vampire’s house in the middle of the night was not something I was use to. Candace seemed to enjoy the night. One aspect of it must be eating her up inside because every time she looked up at the moon, she cringed into my side like it was burning her skin.

It was an odd reaction to the moon in my opinion, but I didn’t ask her.

Candace didn’t knock when we arrived at the Westcotts, but went inside and invited me in herself. I led her through the house, up the stairs, and down a long hallway. Only a dim chandelier here and there made it possible to see anything. How anyone could live this way was beyond me.

An eruption of cheering sounded when we were in the right room. All I could see was eight red eyes staring at Candace, greedy smiles on their faces. Candace must have amazing abilities to see past these creatures. Their eyes followed your every move, their mouth always fixed in a mocking way.

Or maybe that was just Aiden that I saw that in. His brother really didn’t seem all that bad. His mother seemed kind enough too. It really was just Aiden that was that way.

Aiden and his family were huddled together on one side of the room, a large table on the other filled with small presents and food. The room was lit with a small over head light and a few candles on the tables that were around the room. I had come in here two days ago to help set this all up, but I really hadn’t helped much. All of the others zipped around me and did it all on their own.

I had been shown the gifts she was going to be given though and asked to give my opinion. Amy had said that I knew what she would like just as much as Aiden would so she wanted a second opinion. Yeah right. I knew Candace better than Aiden did.

“Happy birthday!” they were all yelling. I pushed Candace through the door, looking away from every set of red eyes in the room.

“Happy birthday Candace.” Trevor said. He came over, grabbed Candace’s arm reassuringly, and let it go before I could smack him.

She smiled at him. She was such a weird person. Aiden came right up to her and kissed her on the lips without even thinking twice about it. Then I was gone out of Candace’s head, no longer part of her new world. I saw the change in her eyes as she transformed into the Candace with me, and the Candace that wanted to be a vampire.

Everyone else greeted Candace, Amy even giving her a tight hug.

I scooted away from the crowd and into the back corner of the room, feeling defeated. There was no point in prolonging the inevitable. She was going to be with Aiden, and that was all there was to it. I had no chance against this boy.

“Have a good day?” Aiden asked Candace. Aiden’s strong arms wrapped around Candace’s waist, bringing her closer to him.

“I had a wonderful day.” she told him. I looked around, but not for me. She looked around to meet the eyes of everyone else there. “I think it just got better.”

After a moment, Candace’s smile faded when she spotted me over in the corner. Aiden looked over at me too. I tried to keep my face unreadable as they observed me. It didn’t work.

“He is upset.” Aiden stated.

Candace nodded. “Yes.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe because he has to leave tomorrow morning.”

I grinded my teeth together. That wasn’t it at all. I was upset about leaving, but that wasn’t my problem right now. My problem was that Candace turned on different parts of herself when she was around Aiden. It was unnerving to see.

Aiden sighed. “Alright. Shall we eat?”

Everyone went to the table holding to food and got plates. Candace got one for me and handed it to him. I didn’t meet her gaze like she wanted me to. She grunted in frustration, leaving me in the corner of the room. I didn’t mind that she was getting mad at my lack of enthusiasm. It was good for her to be mad right before I left. It would help her out tonight when I was gone.

Aiden came over to my side and leaned up against the wall. “I was just wondering if it would be possible for you to come and sit over by Candace and I. She is getting worried about you and you are ruining her good mood.”

I grunted like Candace had, pushing away from the wall. I sat down next to Candace at the table, meeting her eyes for the first time since we had arrived. She gazed at me for a moment, her eyes filled with concern.

“I’m alright Candace. Really I am.”

She nodded. “I see that.”

Amy and Aiden talked animatedly with each other. Trevor once and awhile threw out a topic that I could join in on, and I did gratefully. He seemed to sense how uncomfortable and angry I was. The talking grew louder and more exciting as the night continued.

When everyone was finished eating, they all brought over their presents. Trevor gave Candace his first. The box was small, and seemed to be fragile. She took the cover off of the red box, looking inside. A very small silver chain held a crescent moon charm. The moon almost seemed to glow in the candle light.

She stood and gave Trevor a hug. “Thank you Trevor.”

“I figured a full moon wouldn’t be appropriate. It might bring up bad memories.”

She nodded. “Good thinking.”

Clark and Ryan gave their gift to me next. It was in another small box, a black one this time. A small charm bracelet was inside, no charms on it yet. She gave Ryan and Clark a hug as she had done with Trevor.

Aiden clasped the bracelet around her wrist, twisting it around and around to look at it. “You’ll get a charm from me on special occasions. Hopefully it will be filled up in no time.” Aiden told her.

Amy’s present surprised her, making her laugh. It was an apron. An apron that said ‘World’s best cook’ on the front.

Amy laughed with her. “Now you can wear that every time you cook with me.”

I looked out the now open window at the full moon. I really didn’t see why Candace hated it so much. It look ed powerful up their in the sky. It had a power over people during the night. When it wasn’t around, people feared the darkness and wanted it there; but when it was there in its full form, people shied away from it, thinking of old superstitions.

Aiden stood from the table and held his hand to Candace. “My present next.”

She took his hand and stood up with him.

“We’ll be back.” He told everyone, then gave me a smug smile.

I wanted shout that there would be no need to be smug anymore. I was leaving…tonight. Candace would be just as happy without me here, happier even. There was no need for me to stick around here with her.

Candace gave me a wary smile before she left the room with Aden. All was quiet for a long moment as all of the others listened in on Candace’s conversation with Aden. All at once, they laughed together then started to talk amongst themselves.

I left the room without another word. Since Candace was gone from my sight right now, I would go to her house and get the things I needed to go home. I checked the airport this morning for flight plans. There was one tonight in about two hours. If Candace didn’t take too long, I could make it to the airport before it took off. I didn’t want to have to wait until tomorrow to leave.

I just needed to get out of this place now. No one called me back, no one even acknowledged my presence.

I flung open the door of the Westcotts house and sprinted down the dark drive. I only had so much time to figure out what I was going to do.

I knew one thing was for sure.

Candace was going to learn the truth. I would tell her what I had wanted to say to her for so long. She would finally hear me say it to her. But could I really do it? This would either hurt her to no end, or complete excite her. The odds were leaning towards hurt…

Gloria was at the door already holding it open when I flew passed the two iron gates in front of Candace’s house. I had a moment of déjà vu, running to Candace’s house with a purpose. Gloria had been standing there in the exact same way by the door, looking worried when I had come a few month before when the savage vampire Marissa was here.

She did not move for me in the doorway, but blocked my entrance. “Mike,” she acknowledged me, nodding slightly.

“Could I possibly come inside?” I gasped, trying to be polite. My anger and guilt for what I was going to do was starting to flow over and spill from me like an over flown bathtub.

“I think you should think about what you are going to do.” She said, still not moving. “You don’t know what Candace will do after you are away.”

“Neither do you.” I accused. I pushed on the door Gloria was holding, but it didn’t move an inch.

“Do you think you could calm down for just a minute?” she asked, an annoyed looked coming across her face.

“No! Now could you please let me in?” I was yelling in her face now, but I didn’t relax.

“You’re not the only one to feel jealous about Candace.” she stated staying calm, unfazed by my hostility.

“I never claimed to be.”

“You act like it.”

“What do you know?” I asked her, trying to move past her. I noticed then that she wasn’t in her normal maid’s uniform, but in normal clothes. Her hair was tied up elegantly on the top of her head, her shirt tight around her stomach, showing her figure. She was a small girl, even smaller than Candace.

“I know more than you think I do.” She whispered, her gaze leaving my face for the first time. “You don’t know how much Candace cares for you.”

I shook my head, closing my eyes. “I just need to leave. I can’t do it anymore.” My shoulders slumped down and I lost all of my anger. I was hopeless.

“You aren’t.” she was still whispering so I strained to hear her. “Candace will be crushed. If you love her…”

I pushed past her, throwing open the door she was no longer holding onto. Before I could get too far, her fingers wrapped around my wrist. Her fingers were like ice around my skin, and I looked up at her eyes for the first time, stunned into silence.

Her bright crimson eyes bore into mine with such intensity that I could help but rip my hand away from her, backing away.

She looked away, backing away from me herself. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” She gasped, turning away from me.

Vampire. I thought, watching her retreat.

She paused as the word past through my mind. “I’m not proud of it.” She whispered. Then she was gone. I stood motionless for a moment, thinking back on how many times I had seen her, going about her business. Had I even considered the thought that there would be vampires in so many places? For all I knew, my neighbors at home were vampires.

This made my anger rise again. They were talking over the human race, slowly taking control of us all. This seemed like a silly this to say, but it sounded like it was possible. They were everywhere. Candace had been living with one of those vile creatures this whole time.

I sprinted up the stairs, cussing as loudly as I could, trying to make sure that Gloria and the other next door could hear me. They all needed to hear what I thought of them.

“Blood-sucking, no good, dead, vile demons!” I yelled at my bedroom door. That had been the nicest thing I had come up with to say at the top of my lungs. The door was slightly open so I kicked it with such force it wacked on the wall behind it and came swinging back. I used my fist to stop it, the aching from my foot traveling up to my hand.

Gloria was suddenly at my side, pushing me through the door. She closed it lightly and turned on me, her eyes ablaze with fury. ‘Would you keep it down!?” she wasn’t yelling, but it was close enough.

“No!” I yelled, going into my closet and trying to forget about her.

Gloria followed me, her eyes still torturing me with their gaze. “Don’t do it like this.”

“Don’t do what?” I shoved my clothes into the bags on the floor, not bothering to organize them. “Leave all of you disgusting killers here to feed off of Candace?”

“We would never do that!” Gloria said defensively.

“I don’t care what you say.”

“And I don’t care that you don’t care. I’m going to tell you anyways.”

I grunted as I lifted the first bag I had filled, leaving the room to bring it down stairs. “Just shut up.”

“No. You need to listen to me. This isn’t what is best for either of you.”

“Shut up.” I said again, jogging down the stairs. I placed the bag down by the door and went outside, turning right to go into the garage where the cars were stored. Charles’ house was also just off to the side of it.

Gloria grabbed my arm, her icy skin freezing me like it had last time. She didn’t apologize this time. “You need to think about what you are doing right now.”

“I have thought about it.”

“I know that. But you need to figure out how to tell her in a better way. You need to stop doing everything because you are angry.”

“That is who I am now.” I hadn’t meant to say that. Now that I had, I knew it was true. Once Candace left, and my mom got sick, I had turned to my anger. That was what fed me to do things.

Charles heard us outside the door, and opened it. “Yes?”

“I need a ride to the airport.” I said.

He nodded. “Okay, when?”

“As soon as possible,”

“Ah…sure.”

I turned on my heel and left, Gloria’s icy fingers letting my arm go. I shivered once I was free from her grasp. For some reason, Gloria was one of the only demons that didn’t want to make me kill them. Was it because she seemed to know everything about me? Or was it because she was so…dare I say beautiful and almost human like?

She followed me inside, and back up the stairs.

“Would you leave me alone?” I needed to leave now. I couldn’t wait for Candace anymore. I had to leave now.

“I don’t want you to do anything rash.”

“I don’t care what you want me to do.” I admitted, “I’m leaving now.” My hands were clenched into fists and I wanted to punch the wall next to me, to make some type of damage to everything I saw.

Gloria was suddenly in front of me, her face full of determination. I didn’t see her hand come up, but I certainly felt it. It was like I was hit with a brick on the side of the face. My head snapped to the side and I staggered back by the force. She hit me!

“Yes I did.”

I gazed at her, confused. I hadn’t said that out loud. Actually, I hadn’t really said anything to her tonight. I had kept a lot of it all inside, but she hadn’t answered the thoughts anyway.

“I’m not going to explain that now, so why don’t you just listen to what I have to say.” She paused to see if I was going to listen. When she was satisfied, she continued. “I can see that being here is killing you, so for you, leaving is the right choice. For now anyways. But you can’t just get up and leave. You need to tell Candace what you are planning and I really don’t care how you tell her. You could tell her that Aliens have abducted you for all I care. You just need to tell her.”

She sighed, running her fingers over her exposed collar bone. “You need to do it calmly. She will respond better to you that way. If you lose your temper, it will go wrong. You need to trust me.” She paused to look up from the piece of carpet she had been scrutinizing, to look into my eyes. “And you can’t tell her about me. You can’t let her know. I have a certain image to protect around Aiden. If he figures it out, I don’t know what will happen to me.”

Her fingers still traced her collar bone. A nervous habit probably. “Aden doesn’t like others near her, and he if he finds out I’m one. He may not let me live to explain.”

I nodded, feeling sorry for the girl. She was terrified of Aden—something I didn’t understand—but for her, it must have been terrifying. She was so small and fragile looking.

When her eyes left mine, I took a step toward her, finding myself giving in to her persuasion. “Fine, I’ll tell her before I go.”

Her face didn’t brighten as I said this, but darkened. “She’ll be here soon. I’ll get your other bags.” She disappeared into my room, and reappeared before the door had been able to fully close. Two of my bags were in her hands.

My anger hand dwindled slightly, but it was on the surface of my thoughts. Stay calm. I said to myself as I walked to Candace’s room. Gloria touched my arm lightly, making me shy away from her.

“Sorry.” Her hand was extended to me, holding Julie’s birthday card out to me. “Here, read this.”

I took it right before she appeared at the bottom of the stairs, setting my bags down on the floor. I drug my feet into Candace’s bedroom, and stared at the picture of the two of us on her bed.

“Here,” Gloria said from the doorway. I turned just in time to see my jacket flying toward me. I caught it in one hand, looking back at the door. She was gone.

I was on my own.