I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

When I woke the next afternoon, I could tell that the guys hadn’t gone hunting again last night. Pete had probably told them everything. It was almost embarrassing that I couldn’t take care of myself; that I had to rely on Pete to save me from death.

I slowly dressed, not in any rush to discuss the happenings of the past couple of nights. When I got to the bathroom, I found a hair straightener lying on the vanity cabinet. I knew immediately who it must have belonged to. Pete’s hair was always perfectly straight, I’d just never really thought about it before. I don’t know why, I guess just because I could, I flicked on the switch and used it. I’d never straightened my hair before. I’d never had the purpose or means or even will to do so. It was strange. When I was done, I looked different. My hair isn’t naturally curly or anything, but I could definitely see the difference. I liked it. I looked more normal, more like most teenagers these days.

Fuelled by an odd impulse, barely recognizing what I was doing, I reached into the drawer and picked up a black pair of scissors. I combed some of my hair to the front, not even sure of what I was doing, and began to cut some of it off. Caramel and blonde locks tumbled to the floor, but I was concentrating entirely on the mirror in front of me. I ended up with bangs straight across my forehead, each end slightly longer than the rest of the fringe. I examined it in the mirror from a few angles, impressed, but slightly frustrated at how neat it looked. It didn’t reflect enough of me; I wasn’t neat and perfect. Anything but. The bruises on my face were tribute enough to that. I winced a little as I prodded one of the contusions on my collarbone.

After covering up all the marks with the magic of make-up and completing my eyes with eyeliner, I had to face them. Tip-toeing out into the living area, four heads turned to look my way. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out my breath before opening them and finding three of the four only a meter away from me.

“Elle! Oh my god, are you okay?”

“I can’t believe he let you go out on your own!”

“Thank… wait, did you do something with your hair?”

I laughed in spite of myself.

“Thanks for noticing, Andy.”

I made my way over to the couch and sat down tiredly, even though I just woke up. The boys were flitting around me, even Pete seemed a little fidgety, and sweet as it was I kind of wished they’d just chill out a bit.

“Guys, I’m fine. I’m sure you already know that Pete managed to play hero again and saved me before too much could happen.”

“If it weren’t for the medicine you’d have a concussion,” Joe argued.

“Well thank god I had the medicine then.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Patrick fretted.

“I’ll be fine if you guys just let it go. Seriously.”

Silence washed over us, and we all knew what was coming, but I refused to be the one to start it. Luckily, Pete stepped in.

“We need to talk about your brother.”

“Yeah, we do,” I looked up into his dark eyes, questions flying through my head, the main one being ‘You knew?’

He averted his eyes from mine and jerked his head in a nod. “Yeah. I knew.”

Surprisingly, I wasn’t angry. I just felt kind of blank.

“Why didn’t you tell me? What happened?”

“Long story short,” Patrick cut in. “We saved your brother when Pete went to save you. As soon as we got out of the mansion, we quickly explained ourselves and told him that Pete was going to make sure you were okay. He got angry and insisted that he didn’t want or need our help. He made a run for it; we had no idea where he went. Pete brought you back to us because you were unconscious and needed to be cared for. When he went to get your stuff from your apartment he was going to explain to your brother that we had you and arrange to bring you back to him.”

“You make me sound like a possession,” I mumbled.

“Do you want to hear this or not?” Pete asked irritably.

“Sorry.”

“When Pete got there, your brother was gone. Your things were scattered all around the apartment, and at first he thought that the Dandies had found out where you lived and kidnapped him again, but after further investigation he realized that the majority of your brother’s stuff was missing too. Naturally, we assumed that he ran for it. We didn’t want to tell you because… well… we thought you’d be upset. I’m sure he didn’t mean to abandon you. He probably thought you were dead.”

My face matched my emotions; completely blank.

“Why would he think I was dead when you personally told him that Pete was saving me?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“But that’s not what confuses me the most,” I continued, a frown etching itself into place. “If he was making a run for it, why would he leave your book? He guarded that thing with his life.”

“We thought about that too,” Andy answered. “The book wasn’t exactly in a perfect position when we found it. We think he probably dropped it without realizing.”

Surprisingly, I wasn’t even really upset. In fact, I felt kind of free. Of course, the feeling of being abandoned by the only family I have left isn’t exactly the sweetest of flavors, but honestly, I preferred being with these guys here much more than trailing around after my arrogant brother every night.

“Okay,” I said, standing up and beginning my way over to the kitchenette.

“Really?” Andy asked in disbelief. “Okay? That’s it?”

I glanced over my shoulder in time to see Pete throw him a glare telling him not to question me about it. Of course. I should’ve known he’d be in my thoughts. All of a sudden, something hit me. I stopped in my tracks and turned back to the guys.

“Actually, there is something else.”

They all snapped their heads towards me.

“I… uh…”

Pete let out a low chuckle and I glared angrily at him. Not only does he intrude on my private thoughts, he also laughs at them. I hate him.

“I want to learn how to fight.”

Joe choked a bit on the soft drink he was downing.

“Wh-what?” he spluttered. I rolled my eyes.

“I’m sick of being the poor, defenseless damsel in distress. I want to be able to fight and defend myself.”

There was quiet in the room, and I felt my cheeks go red. What was so wrong with my request? Pete, Patrick and Joe exchanged glances, but Andy spoke up.

“Okay.”

“Really?” I grinned.

“Really?” the others all said in disbelief.

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Why not? It seems like a good idea.”

“Thanks Andy!” I ran up to him and tackled him in a hug. Everyone was surprised, including me. I can’t even remember the last time I did anything like that.

“Only on one condition,” Pete interrupted after he got over the shock of my sudden hug. Everyone looked at him. “You’re not allowed to go out on your own again until you’re able to defend yourself.”

I bit my lip, but had to admit it made sense.

“Okay.”

***

It was cold, cruel, malicious laughter. Vampire laughter. But not just any laughter. Only he could have this evil laugh. William Beckett. Only he didn’t look like Beckett. He wore normal clothes, just jeans and a blue v-neck t-shirt. Altogether, he looked like a handsome human, but of course it was the teeth that gave him away. He was looking right at me, laughing, but he was getting further away, like I was falling. Falling… falling… and then I just stopped falling, but he was still in plain view, still laughing at me. I was in some sort of cell, but it was more like a well, the only entrance and exit being the top where he was laughing. The sun shone bright behind him, but he didn’t falter at all. If anything he was stronger. I tried to scream, to stop whatever was happening from happening. Slowly, the opening forty feet above me began to close, blackness overtaking me. I tried to scream, to make some sort of noise in the hope that someone would hear me, but I couldn’t even breathe. Beckett’s ringing laughter echoed as the light above me was completely shut out with a thud. I was shaking, I was crying. I couldn’t stand this. Claustrophobia could make me go mad. It was too dark. Pitch black, I couldn’t see a thing. It was hot… far too hot. I began to sweat, I was boiling, burning up. The black around me was fire, licking at the bare flesh of my arms, my torso, slowly working its way up to my neck where it peaked…

I awoke with a start, rapid breathing and a cold sweat coating my forehead, causing my new fringe to stick to my skin. I jolted upwards so I was sitting and waited for my breathing to slow, holding my head in my hands to stop it spinning. A few minutes later when I had calmed down enough to think about it I glanced downwards at my body. When I had gone to bed, I had been wearing grey tracksuit pants and an oversized black t-shirt. Now, those articles of clothing were scattered on the floor, leaving me in nothing but my underwear and bra, which I had forgotten to take off before I collapsed after a vigorous training session with Andy. The bed sheets were twisted and tangled around my ankles, having been unconsciously thrown away. It wasn’t the first time. Whenever I have nightmares I tend to overheat, and subconsciously try to cool myself down. I guess it’s a good thing I never sleep talk or sleepwalk.

I shook my head and took a big gulp of the water beside my bed, thankful it hadn’t been knocked over in my restlessness. Settling back into the bed and returning my clothes and the covers to their places on my body, I flipped over the pillow to the cooler side and closed my eyes. It was too early to get up. I tried to get to sleep, and after about an hour I finally did. Luckily, this time it was dreamless.