You Fight For All The Wrong Reasons

Cameron Payne – the very center of my attention during algebra class.

Sitting in the back corner, his jagged black bangs fall over his face, allowing a small sliver of his left eye to peek out. The other eye is clearly visible - a striking hazel, fiery and radiant. He’s talking to someone, with the cutest half smile on his face. Then he laughs, a beautiful melodic sound. He is the most gorgeous boy I have ever met.

Then, I realize that he’s talking to me.

“Oh, um, hi Cam, uh, what?” I stuttered clumsily.

Cam smiled. “Turn your hearing aid up, Audrey.” He laughed, and I felt my heart dancing around in my chest. I hoped I wasn’t blushing. I already looked stupid enough. “I was asking you if you were going to Christina’s party.”

Since when does Cam care about what I do on Friday night? Not like I’m complaining. “Yeah, it’s her Sweet Sixteen, how could I miss it?” I replied.

“Cool, I’m going too.”

I hoped I didn’t look as ecstatic as I felt. This was big news. Then, a question occurred to me. “Really? Awesome! Wait…I mean, how do you know Christina? I didn’t think you guys knew each other that well.”
He grinned. “Gym class. I accidentally hit her in the face with a tennis racquet and we’ve been friends ever since.”

We both laughed. “Proper seats!” Mr. Bolton’s voice interrupted us.

“And so the torture begins…” I said with a smile as I left the desk next to Cameron and retreated to my own seat. “See you at the party.”

“Looking forward to it.”

I was greeted at my desk by grinning Julia. “What are you so happy about?” she asked, even though she had heard every word of the conversation between Cam and I.

“Oh, nothing. Cam’s only coming to Christina’s Sweet Sixteen. No biggie.”

Julia giggled. “Cam? I don’t know any Cams. Tell me about him. Is he good looking? And charming and witty and smart? And do you have a huge crush on him?”

“You’re psychic, Julia. I have no idea how you knew all that.”

I love algebra.
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Two days later…

“Give me a shot to remember…and you can take all the pain away from me…your kiss and I will surrender…the sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead…a light to burn-“

Taking a momentary pause from homework, I stopped to answer my cell phone.

“Mitch! What’s up?”

“We need you down by that old shack on the far end of the creek. Right now.”

“Why?”

“Emergency. It has something to do with four nights ago, when we found Jenn. We found something seriously creepy.”

“Ok, I’m on my way.”
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That shack was a spooky place. Although it was in a clearing, the sky above it always seemed darker than in any other place in the woods, where trees were blocking the sun.

The clearing was dank and murky, with overgrown grasses and shrubs that were often taller than we were. They concealed the windows of the deteriorating shack. Not like I would ever want to look inside. The place was creepy enough as it was.

Mitch, Julia, Christina, and Ray were all waiting by the shack’s door. They all had very disturbed looks on their faces. Ray gently pushed the door open with one of his dark tan hands. “Come inside.”

Unwillingly, I followed Ray into the shack’s interior. What I saw made me scream.

Dozens and dozens of bodies, all piled on top of each other. Their frozen eyes stared up at us, their skin a lifeless grey. I could already feel myself backing out of the shack, but Ray stopped me. “Look at their necks.”

Good thing I had excellent eyesight. I didn’t want to be inches away from the bodies to see what Ray was talking about.

Two small gashes, parallel to each other. “And look at his arm. And her leg.”

“Vampires. On our territory,” I growled. “This has to be the work of more than one.”

Suddenly, Ray froze. “Something’s coming.” He bolted out the door. I dashed after him.

We ran past the shack and into the woods. I was glad to be away from there.

I took a misstep and tripped over a tree stump. “Ouch! Oh, great…” I had fallen and landed on a sharp stick. A river of blood flowed down my leg.

Ray had heard me fall and had stopped a few yards ahead of me. Julia and Christina had also paused.

We didn’t realize we had company.

A stunning figure emerged from the shadows behind the shack, a drained body in his hands. His black eyes scanned me. We stared at each other in shock.
“Cam?!”

We had found our vampire.