Status: Slowly Active.

I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

Chapter Eleven

I didn’t want to talk about it. Not yet. I’d give them time to build up their excuses while I slept.

As soon as we got back to the warehouse I headed for my room. I felt the four pairs of eyes on my back, but ignored it. I felt Pete in my thoughts, but ignored it. I didn’t want to talk. I was tired and stressed. I needed to sleep. And that’s exactly what I did.

***

I woke up early in the afternoon, around three thirty. No one else was up, and I was kind of thankful. We hadn’t spoken yet, and everything was tense. I could tell that the guys were expecting me to get angry or something. I won’t deny that I’ve been a little moody since I came here, but I’m pushing it away now. I’m usually quite good at hiding my feelings. Years of dealing with my brother will do that to you. If they’re so curious about how I’m feeling, why doesn’t Pete just tell them? He probably has.

Trying to shake the complications from my head, I stood out of bed and dressed, shivering in the cold air. As much as I love Chicago, the wind gets pretty chilly. In dark skinny jeans and a grey tank top, I silently made my way through the warehouse. I had no intention of running away; I just wanted to go for a walk. It would still be safe for a couple of hours. I forgot, however, that the guys wouldn’t take it that way.

“Don’t you dare leave.”

I swear I heard Pete’s voice. I jumped and spun around, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. It must have been my imagination. I turned back and walked once again towards the door, but the same voice rang through my head.

“Elle, don’t make me force you back.”

I stopped again, processing what was happening. I guess it made some sort of twisted sense. If he could read other people’s minds, it wasn’t that much of a stretch to believe that he could put his thoughts in selected ones.

“I’m just going for a walk.” I told him with my thoughts. I knew he was listening. “The sun is up so it’s safe for now and I need to get away. I promise I’ll be back.”

I could almost feel him searching for the truth in my words. I suppose he must have found it, but didn’t want to give in. I sighed in annoyance.

“Pete, if you’re really that obsessed with treating me like a child, you can come after me if I’m not back by six.”

“Fine. But I want you to know that I’m not happy about this.”


I rolled my eyes. “Since when are you ever happy about anything involving me?”

“Good point, but the others will never forgive me if I let anything happen to you.”


I didn’t even think of a reply to that as I walked out the door and into the downtown city streets of Chicago. The sun was breaking a little through the clouds, shining down on the graffiti-covered walls. I walked for a while, finding a main street and following it so that I wouldn’t get lost. I found myself eventually in a small park, only consisting of a set of swings and a faded red plastic slide. My feet padded on the dry-but-still-green grass as I made my way over to the swings and sat down. My hands, covered in long black fingerless gloves that went all the way to my elbow, wrapped around the thick chains as I gently swung back and forth, my feet never leaving the floor. I watched young elementary school kids running, smiling, as their parents walked them back from school. The little cherub faces jumped and laughed, some of them even coming into the park. They didn’t really notice me, a quiet teenager just sitting staring at the world, but I noticed them. I noticed the happiness, the carefree faces. I couldn’t even remember a time when I was like that, although I know that I once was. Once, I had those parents, that house, that life. A lot can happen over four years.

I just sat there thinking. Thinking, and watching, about nothing in particular. It felt good to be alone. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been alone, without having to worry about everyone else around me. Matt, Joe, Patrick and Andyand Pete had one thing in common; they didn’t like to leave me alone. Quite annoying how being alone is one of the only things that make me feel good.

The hours slipped by. I didn’t even notice when the sun began to disappear, but eventually I noticed that the sky had faded into a darker purple and the people around me had retreated to their homes. I felt a small pang when I realized that I was too different, that I’d never have a home like that. I always told myself that I’d never be the type who was envious of picket fences, but things have changed.

I only became aware of the dangerous nature of my position when I heard the sound of a stick snap under the pressure of someone’s foot behind me. I immediately jumped up and jerked my head around, looking for the source of the noise, but there was no one around me. Unease immediately crept over me, my fingers strangling the chain of the swing I’d previously been sitting on.

You know when you can just sense that something’s not right? Or that there’s some other bodily presence nearby? Well in my case it was both.

“Hey there, sweetie.”

I spun back around to see a guy standing in front of me. He had buzz-cut hair with a red and black bandana tied around his head, skin the same brown colour as Travie’s, several necklaces and chains adorning his neck, a tight white shirt on his chest exposing impressive muscles, and the loosest, baggiest khaki pants ever invented sitting way too low on his hips. He would easily have fit the ‘gangster’ stereotype, but the sick smile on his face exposed two particularly pointy teeth and I knew there was more to it. I swear I must be some sort of vampire magnet. No normal person could encounter vampires as much as I do if the majority of the world is still convinced that they’re merely myth.

“Piss off,” I grumbled, not even thinking about it until afterwards.

'Oops. Hopefully this vampire will just find me amusing…'

“What did you just say to me?” he enquired, stepping closer and narrowing his coal black eyes as I stepped back.

Guess not. Out of the shadows behind him, four almost-replicas of him emerged. Hood vamps. I really didn’t want to do this right now.

“Nothing,” I mumbled, not making eye contact. The first vampire just laughed.

“Of course you didn’t. What do you say we have a bit of fun with this one, boys?”

The others cheered and laughed in agreement. Fan-fucking-tastic. And you know what the cherry on top of this cake is? This time, no one’s going to save me. These buffoons are going to beat me or rape me or do whatever the fuck they want before killing me painfully and there’s nothing to stop them.

My brother, my guardian, has disappeared on me, and the friends I’ve made have no idea where I am. Now is the kind of time it would come in handy not to be weak and clumsy. Finding myself low on options, I opted for the obvious; make an attempt to run for it. I got about ten meters before I felt an ice cold hand on my shoulder, and guess where I found myself? Against a brick wall. Smart, Elle, really.

The vampire violently spun me around and slammed my shoulders into the wall behind me. I groaned at the pain, but compared it to the tortuous agony Beckett caused me and it didn’t seem so bad; only a minor vexation. Two of the other guys came up and held my shoulders while the vampire delivered an agonizing blow to my face. Because he so needed two guys to stop me struggling. One set of ridiculous muscles just isn’t enough to overpower just about the most vulnerable teenager in existence.

Sarcasm really is the only thing I can rely on, isn’t it?

The chunky rings on the vampire’s fingers didn’t exactly improve the punch. Another affliction came, and another after that, but I barely even felt it. I was once again thinking, as I tend to do in near-death situations, about how much I didn’t care if I died. There wasn’t much to miss, really. No matter what Pete says about the other guys, I’m pretty sure I don’t have that much of an effect on them, and it’s clear that Pete would love nothing more then my end to come if it weren’t for his friends. As for Matt… well, if he can abandon me so easily I guess he couldn’t give a shit.

I did have friends, once upon a time. There were people who cared about me. But time is everything, and I’ve seen too much of it pass.

So I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to die with my eyes open. I couldn’t feel much of my body anymore, but I think that I was being held off the ground and rammed into the wall. That’s nice. As my eyes fluttered shut and my vacillating mind danced on the line of consciousness, I heard the strangest thing. It sounded like a menacing growl and the collision of rock hard skin.

I tried to lift my eyelid to see if anything was happening or if I was just going crazy, but it was too heavy. A few seconds later, I fell to the floor as the hands holding me were torn away by some unknown force. God, I’d hate to be blind. I want to know what’s going on!

I heard more punches get thrown. Seconds ticked past before I managed to force my eyelids to drop a few kilograms. My vision was blurry; I probably had a concussion, but I could make out shapes and colours. Want to know what I saw? I saw a swiftly moving Pete-shape in Pete-colours. He’d already taken out three of the five hood vamps, and was finishing off the fourth. I couldn’t deny it, he was an excellent fighter.

Within the next minute the others were down, and he was standing over their corpses breathing heavily, looking right at me. I’m sure there’s some sort of word for the emotion displayed on his face, but I was too out of it to think. Before I knew it, he’d swooped down beside me and scooped me up in his arms. This was weird on several accounts. One; we hate each other. Two, he’s shorter than me, so him carrying me was a little strange. Three; I found myself curling into him. What. The. Fuck. And four; …is he saving me? Again?

Oh yeah, that’s right. He doesn’t want his friends to blame him.

Must’ve been past six and he’d come to find me. Good thing, I guess.

He ignored the nagging questions of the others when we entered the warehouse. He brought me straight into my room and settled me down on the bed.

“Do you have a death wish?” he murmured into my ear as he checked my head for any nasty contusions or cuts.

I didn’t answer straight away and he must’ve spoken to Patrick somehow because before I knew it he was forcing some sort of red liquid into my mouth. No, it was not blood. It was some kind of medicine.

“I’m not so sure,” I murmured back.

Once again, he seemed stunned by this reaction. You would’ve thought by now that he’d get it; I don’t value my life the way most people do. He sighed deeply, probably after reading my now-muddled thoughts.

“Night, Elle.”

“Night, Pete.”

And on that strangely respectful note, I left this world. Well… temporarily.