I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

The next weeks passed without much disturbance. I trained for hours, if not to get closer to my goal then just for something to do. Andy and Joe taught me how to handle the weapons they used – mostly the classic wooden stakes and holy water – and practiced combat with me. Patrick lent me his books by the dozen, and I devoured them all with a thirst to know more about the only thing I can relate to in this life. He helped me understand how and why vampires did the things they did, and explained as much about the Dandy clan as he knew. I know that the guys had told me when I first met them, but I hardly remember their explanation of how Pete was turned by Beckett. Beckett intended on Pete becoming a Dandy, but Pete had more control over himself than was planned and instead holds a grudge against Beckett for stealing his life and wants revenge. I completely believe that Pete is the grudge-holding, vengeance-seeking type, although I don’t blame him really. Like I said, he and Matt would be best friends.

As far as my training went, Pete had nothing to do with it. He still wasn’t too fond of the idea of me seeing fair daylight ever again. He wasn’t too antagonistic towards me, unless I got in his way. He usually just ignored me, which I was totally fine with. Unless I was bored, then I’d stir up trouble. Can you blame me, though? Really?

It was probably a month after the last little incident that Pat, Joe and Andy all went out – during the day – for supplies. I know, time flies. I begged them to let me go with them, but no, because Mr My-life-was-taken-so-now-I’ll-just-piss-everyone-else-off-to-make-me-feel-better (aka Peter Wentz) decided to remind me of a stupid promise I made him that I wouldn’t leave the hideout again until I was able to defend myself. Remind me, why the fuck did I agree to that? Who would be the judge of my capabilities anyway?

So here I am, a billion questions about vampires clouding my mind, and Patrick’s not here to answer them, nor Joe or Andy to fight with me to get my mind off it. Only the bitchiest, most annoying, temperamental vampire who might possibly kill me. I should be so lucky.

I tried to ignore him. I still had books, right? So I sat myself down on the couch, hardback in hand, and tried to absorb myself in my own world. Keyword being tried. Pete is incredibly distracting, even without meaning to be. But I pretended I didn’t notice his existence. This became much more difficult to do when he spoke to me.

“If you’ve got so many questions, why don’t you just ask me? I am a vampire, after all.”

“But I don’t like you.” I told him with my mind.

“I don’t like you either, but I understand your cause,” he shrugged. “I’ll answer your questions.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. We didn’t like each other. We didn’t usually talk to each other, unless the others made us or one of us felt like provoking the other. Yet here we were, having a somewhat civil conversation without being forced to. Pigs will be flying soon.

“Okay then…” I trailed off, trying to grasp onto one of – any of – the questions I had raised. Now that I had the opportunity to ask them, they were almost all out of reach. “How old is Beckett?”

“Hundreds, if not thousands of years old,” he answered automatically. “Pat knows for certain that he was around in 1408 and 1110, and is almost sure he’s found evidence of Beckett’s existence from 1002.”

I nodded, processing what he was telling me. I kept asking questions, mentally taking note of everything to write down later. I didn’t want to write it down in front of Pete; he’d probably make some crack about how incapable I was or whatever. I almost didn’t ask, but I remembered something that had been intriguing me just in time.

“Who’s Lena?”

I’m pretty sure that was the name that Joe had mentioned. The name of Beckett’s ‘mate’. Pete looked a little taken aback by my question. He probably thought it wasn’t as important or related to any of my other queries. It probably wasn’t, but I was curious.

“Lena?” he repeated. “As in Beckett’s girlfriend?”

“Yeah.”

He took in a deep breath and released it. I don’t know why; it’s not like it was mandatory. For effect, I guess.

“She’s a relatively new addition to the Dandy Vamp clan. Beckett decided to try something new for a few years and enrolled himself in a local high school. He was much loved there by everyone, not only for his good looks in their eyes but also his ‘irresistible charm’ and centuries worth of knowledge. Quite the catch, wouldn’t you say?”

“No,” I grumbled, but Pete went on with his story.

“Well I was human then, and we went to the same school. He was in his ‘senior year’ when Pat, Joe, Andy and I were freshmen. Back before we knew anything of vampires. I spoke to Beckett sometimes, just a ‘hey’ in the hall or whatever since we’d been partnered up for some music thing. It was so long ago now that I can’t even recall. Lena was in her sophomore year, looking an awful lot like she does now, and she was the only girl in the whole world, let alone school, that Beckett was attracted to in a way other than thirst. They started dating. I remember it was the talk of the school. Not that she wasn’t pretty, she was beautiful even before she became a vampire, but everyone still couldn’t help but wonder why her. Why was the great William Beckett attracted to her? Anyway, after they’d been going out for around six months, some other senior had a party. It wasn’t invitational; hell, even we went. There was heaps of alcohol, all the usual party stuff. The next morning, it made the headlines. William Beckett and Lena Gibson had ‘died’ in a car crash. They faked it long enough to get the word around and then their bodies disappeared. I guess you can figure out the rest.”

 I was silent for a minute. It sounded like some sort of twisted love story. Only in the end, they both turn out to be murderous psychopaths. Like I said; twisted.

 “Wow.”

 “Yeah.”

 “So she’s like, what, the Dandy princess?”

Pete let out a shaky laugh.

 “Something like that.”

I was quiet for a minute, the whole idea of this mysterious princess swirling in my mind, but I wanted to know more. I wasn’t done with my questioning.

“Have you met her since he turned her?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered. “She often joins him for hunts, and when they’re hunting we find them and take out as many as we can. Sometimes I wonder what the point is. He’ll just create more to replace the ones he’s lost. Maybe we’re just endangering humanity even more by creating the ‘necessity’ for him to turn more. It’s such a mess.”

I was quiet. Pete had just let me inside his thoughts. This just isn’t normal. Normal is him invading mine without permission, not volunteering his. Not that it wasn’t interesting to hear his thoughts; they were sure as hell more interesting than mine must be.

“Why did Beckett say that she wouldn’t be happy knowing about me? What did he mean by that?”

“Well, they’re mates,” Pete spoke with a bitter grimace on his face. “She’s incredibly territorial over him, just as he is with her. You’ll remember how angry he got when Joe made that sex joke about her being with another of Beckett’s vampires? That’s nothing compared to how they can get. If she knew that he was so interested in another woman, interested enough not to kill you yet, then she’d find a way to complicate things. And as much as it pains me to say this, as far as looks go he could’ve done a lot worse with his objective.”

“Thanks?” I asked.

“We shall never speak of those words again,” he muttered.

More time passed in silence, not awkward, just both of us immersed in our own thoughts. Unless, of course, Pete decided to become immersed in mine instead, but by the distant look on his face I’d say that he’d probably forgotten my existence. And I think I figured out why.

“You loved her, didn’t you?”

He looked at me, shocked, before deciding instead to avoid my eye.

“No. I never loved her.”

“But you liked her, didn’t you?”

“Everyone liked her, she was Lena Gibson,” he snapped. Now I had to get to the bottom of this.

“But you really did like her,” I crouched down on the floor where he sat on the couch, his head bowed, but I was determined to make eye contact. “You really liked her, and she was just something else that Beckett took away from you.”

“Shut up!” he yelled, finally meeting my eyes with his blazing red.

I knew what those eyes meant.

I immediately stood up and made my way to the kitchen, grabbing a glass and the vile looking pink mixture. I poured a decent amount, trying not to gag, and brought the glass out to Pete, who was now holding his head in his hands. I’d never seen him so vulnerable, yet so dangerous. He managed out a ‘thanks’ in a hoarse, raspy voice and downed the glass as quickly as he could.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” I said quietly, returning to my seat next to him, but not too close. Hey, just because we’re talking, doesn’t mean we’re all buddy-buddy.

“I never did love her,” he said again, this time looking at me directly to prove his sincerity. “I’ve never loved anyone apart from just friends. I’d just get jealous whenever I saw Bill kissing her. She was a year older than me anyway. A stupid, meaningless, high school crush.”

Bill? That’s new.

I stayed quiet. It felt like there was more. After a few more unnecessary breaths, he continued.

“And then, about six years after they were declared dead, Joe and I were twenty-one, hitting up a club, I saw them in the dimly lit corner. The two students our school had mourned for. The two students whose funeral we were all forced to attend. There they were, getting all cozy in the corner. He looked exactly the same, only with a bowler hat dipping over his eyes to try and disguise his identity from any onlookers who might recall the deaths from years ago. She, however, looked entirely different, yet at the same time so similar. She still looked sixteen, but not the same. Her skin was whiter, almost glowing against the background. Not a blemish in sight, and that may sound ideal but it wasn’t. It was unnatural, her magnified beauty. Terrifying. Her hair was the same length, her body the same shape, her eyes glowing a brighter green than they ever had before, hidden under long eyelashes. I couldn’t help but be entranced, I mean, I’d just seen someone who I remembered dying six years ago! It was shocking to say the least.”

He paused, and I waited patiently for him to go on. There was so much more to all of this than I had thought.

“Joe didn’t see a thing. He was too busy hitting on some chick. But I saw. And Beckett saw me watching them. Of course, he couldn’t risk me telling anyone about them, so…”

“He turned you,” I whispered.

“Pretty much. He expected me to be like all the others, with no one that would believe me to turn to and therefore forced to be a part of his group. He said he’d always thought I’d be a useful addition. But he was wrong. I knew that no matter what the guys would believe me. So right there and then I fled, and I did have somewhere to go. Now I want to bring Beckett down for changing mine and my best friend’s lives forever. But of course, you’ll know all about vengeance.”

“And what about vengeance for Lena? Will you avenge her too?”

He shook his head, his eyes holding some kind of hopelessness.

“Lena’s gone. She’s just as evil as Beckett is now. All of the awkwardness, the shyness, the innocence that made her who she was has disappeared. Now she’s just a heartless wench made for nothing but blood and sex. She’s no different from any other Dandy.”

“And why aren’t you like that?” I shot back. “Beckett turned you too. Why aren’t you a bloodthirsty nymphomaniac like the rest of them?”

“Who says I’m not?” he raised an eyebrow suggestively, but we both burst out laughing.

What? Pete and I. Laughing. Together?

What. The. Fuck?

“Nah,” he continued, sobering up a bit. “Andy’s theory is that it’s not about who turns you; it’s about the environment you adapt to. They all adapted to the Dandy environment. Mine stayed much the same, if not full of more emotions and habitual changes. Therefore, I am the same only with violent mood swings, but of course you’ve witnessed that.”

“I provoke that,” I admitted.

“And that’s why I hate you.”

“And that’s why I hate you too.”

Pete grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV. I guessed that our little heart-to-heart was over. We both sat there for half an hour, stupid cartoons flickering in and out of the screen, usually running from a cartoon wild animal of some sort. After a while I realized that neither of us were actually watching it, and it was just a little background music for our thoughts. I started to wonder why the guys hadn’t managed to take Beckett down yet, yet they managed to stay free from his capture. I hadn’t really gotten an opportunity to see any of them fight. I mean, it was a feat for the others, that’s for sure. They were humans and still managed to stay strong. Having Pete on their team surely must have had its advantages though. The one vampire to defy Beckett’s rule was an asset of will power in itself.

My mind began to wonder if Pete really was so much better at fighting than the other guys as they made it seem. Would I compare him to my brother’s fighting skills? No. My brother wasn’t even better than Pat, Joe and Andy. They were probably on equal terms. My brother, however, liked it known that he was a good vampire slayer. These guys stayed underground. It seemed so much more sensible. I snuck a glance over at Pete. I could tell that his legs were strong, the muscle visible in his tight jeans. His t-shirt and hoodie didn’t give away much, but I’d assume his abs were just as capable. My eyes quickly scanned over him, coming to an embarrassed stop when they landed on his smirking face.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he teased.

“Shut up,” I grumbled. “At least that way I’d get a penny out of it…”

He suddenly flicked me one of the small coins, coming from where I do not know, his cocky smirk still fixed upon his lips. He stared at me just a little more, just to rub it in that he was invading my mind and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

“Why don’t you fight me?” he said.

I turned to look at him, the idea already settling well in my mind.

“Seriously,” he said. “You want to know how I fight. I want to know the progress you’ve made. It’s a win/win situation.”

I bit my lip, not from nervousness but from excitement. Pete had never been supportive of my decision to learn how to fight, yet now he was offering to help me? I simply do not understand this guy.

“Bring it.”

We made our way to the rather empty room that we used for sparring, me leading the way and Pete closely behind me. I walked to the other end of the room and heard his footsteps stop following me as he kicked the door closed behind him. I picked two wooden stakes off the shelf on the wall and turned around to face my opponent. I can’t say that I was prepared for what I saw. He’d taken off his hoodie and shirt, the bundles of white and orange material on the floor behind him. His body was perfectly toned, tattoos stretching over his impressive biceps and down his arms, across his chest, and even the bat shape that was embossed on the cover of the clandestine book was inked into his lower abdomen. I couldn’t help but stare. And he knew it too.

“So are you just gonna stand there drooling or are we actually going to fight?” he snickered, feigning impatience.

I shot him an annoyed and sarcastic glare, not trusting myself to say anything. I took a moment to collect my breath and looked him in the eye (any lower than eye level would have only resulted in more mockery, so as difficult as it was I resisted). I clenched my fists around the stakes, thinking of everything that this cocky bastard had done to piss me off.

“Don’t go easy on me,” I growled.

The room fell silent as we circled each other, waiting for someone to make a move. This was highly unfair. He could read my thoughts. Why didn’t I just think of that earlier? Of course he’d be a better fighter if he knew what his opponents were thinking!

“Not true,” he stated suddenly.

“Excuse me?”

“I can’t read other vampire’s thoughts. Just humans.”

“Fantastic,” I said sarcastically.

“So to be fair I’ll stay out of your mind for this.”

“Okay.”

I didn’t believe him.

“Really. I’m not in your head,” he promised.

“Then how did you know I was just doubting you?”

He snorted. “Please. Elle, you’re so obvious.”

Ouch.

“Let’s just fight, okay?” I snarled.

He grinned. “Fine with me.”

As soon as the words left his lips I lunged at him with one stake above my head and the other out in front of me, aiming for his chest. He blocked me effortlessly, winding me at the same time as his arm smacked into my stomach. I tried not to show it as I stood up and glared at his proud face. The process was repeated a few times with slight variations. I thought I had him when I did this spinning technique that Andy had shown me, but as I tried to stake his shoulder he just reached behind him and grabbed my wrist, throwing me over said shoulder and onto the ground in front of him. At least he wasn’t chuckling anymore. In fact, he appeared to be concentrating.

“So are you just going to defend yourself or are you actually going to try and hurt me?” I taunted, trying not to let on that in his defense he had already hurt me several times.

He didn’t say anything, just narrowed his eyes at me.

Oh. Right. He’s a vampire. I forgot that resisting my fast-pumping blood right now must be difficult. Even with this in mind, I tilted my head to one side until I heard my neck crack and then straightened up to see Pete's fists clenched.

I'm so tactful. Not.

The fighting kept up, getting more skillful and fast-paced as we went. His hands lunged for my throat a few times, but his eyes were their usual dark brown shade so I knew that he was in control of himself. He just wanted to teach me a lesson. I began to break a sweat, my breathing became labored, but his composure remained exactly the same. Bloody vampire. However, he must have lost his focus for a second long enough for me to tackle him to the floor, one stake thrown away and the other aimed directly at his heart but careful not to touch him with it. I chose two particularly blunt stakes, but still. My body was pressed against his in an attempt to prevent his movement, but I knew that his strength would overrule mine any day. I looked him in the eye, ready to whisper.

“Check.”

He smirked, and before I knew what was happening he had grabbed my hips and flipped the both of us over, his legs straddling mine. Now I was the one with my back on the hard floor, trapped between the floorboards and the vampire, but it didn’t stop me struggling. Unfortunately my struggling got me nowhere. One of his hands was holding my arm with the stake above my head so that I couldn’t use it and his other hand was still pressing down on my waist, preventing movement. His head bent down so that his mouth was near my throat, and I heard him breathe in the smell and gulp. Boy was I glad that I gave him that mixture not long ago. He chuckled slightly, sending his cool breath onto the skin of my throat provoking chills through my whole body.

“Mate.”

He moved his mouth to my ear to whisper the word before pulling his face away to look in my eyes. I couldn’t read his eyes the way he could read mine. They were too dark, I was almost scared to try and read them, but I held eye contact anyway. Both of our breathing was heavy now, and I could feel my heart racing from the adrenaline that was now fading away. Slowly, I twisted my wrist holding the stake, and sensing that I wasn’t going to do anything Pete loosened his grip. Very slowly, never moving my eyes, I brought the stake back and held it between both of our chests, the end that was supposed to be sharp pointing towards him.

Now we were even. We were both vulnerable.

All he needed to do was lean down and bite my neck and I was history. All I needed to do was drive that stake upwards and he was gone. We hated each other… I think. But neither of us had any desire to hurt the other. That’s all that his eyes would tell me. But I felt like something was going to happen… I just couldn’t put my finger on it…

“What the hell is going on here?!”

We both snapped our heads to the side to see Joe, who had just burst through the door and was staring at us with his eyes practically jumping out of their sockets. I glanced back at Pete quickly and realized how bad this must look. He was shirtless, pinning me to the floor, flushed faces, messed up hair and heavy breathing. I’d probably only come to one conclusion too. Pete must’ve realized this too, as he rolled off me as quickly as he could and jumped to his feet as I immediately leapt to mine. My mind was spinning, and for some reason I found myself wishing that Joe hadn’t just interrupted our ‘fight’.

“We’ve just been sparring,” I said as if it were nothing, holding up the stake for proof.

Pete hurriedly tossed his t-shirt back on and ran his fingers through his hair. I retrieved the other stake and placed them both back on the shelf where I had gotten them from, refusing to look at either of the other men. I started running my fingers through my hair too, in some sort of attempt to clear up the knots that had appeared during the fight. My face was hot, and I knew that it would look incredibly red, so I tried not to turn around. I knew that Joe was looking suspiciously between me and Pete. Eventually after what seemed like hours, even though it only would’ve been seconds, I turned around. We were in some sort of a triangle; Joe at the door and Pete and I on opposite sides of the room. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes as Pete and I just stared at the ground and Joe continued to look between the two of us. The tension was so thick, I couldn’t bear it.

“Okay,” I started awkwardly. “Uh, thanks for that Pete.”

'Yeah, because that so doesn’t sound suss to Joe.'

“S’okay,” he mumbled. We both refused to look t each other right now, and I can’t even explain why.

“See you later Joe Troh,” I mumbled as I squeezed past him and out the door.

I made my way to my room as fast as I could and shut the door behind me as soon as I got there. I leaned my head back against the door as I tried to slow my heart.

'What the hell just happened?'