I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

“I’m coming with you this time.”

My monotone still held an underlay of finality as I walked into the main room, turning the guys’ heads. It was the first time I’d been anywhere other than my room or the training room since my fight with Pete a few days ago. It had been exactly a week since I found out about McCoy’s treachery, and although my anger hadn’t at all faded, it was under control enough for me to focus on what I should be doing.

“No you’re not,” Pete said bluntly, seeming to appear out of nowhere.

“Yes I am,” I stated, not bothering to look at him. “I’m not a child. It’s not up to you to decide what I can and can’t do. I haven’t hunted the past week because I knew I wasn’t ready to handle it, but I am now and you’re not going to stop me.”

“Just watch me.”

Pete’s upper lip curled to display his pearly white teeth, fangs elongated in a way that I suppose was meant to be threatening. But I knew he wouldn’t stop me. He couldn’t, without tearing me to shreds, and the others wouldn’t let him do that.

“Pete…” Patrick warned. “She’s right. We’re her friends and accomplices, not captors. If she wants to fight tonight, then we’re not going to stop her. I think she’s been responsible over the past week by staying back.”

“Thank you, Patrick,” I said, moving on into the kitchen and smirking just a little when I knew only Pete could see me.

I needed to hunt again. I really needed it. I needed to eliminate some vampires. The past week had thrown into sharp relief why I was doing this job. I needed to hunt now more than ever.

***

I was in luck.

Only a few streets into the city and we’d found our victims (or rather, they found us). No Dandies today, thank god, although I would have loved to wipe that pretty smile off Hayley’s face. It was a big group; I’d estimate about twenty. They were all punk and street vamps. Punk vamps are a nuisance, though. They’re quite careless with their feeding, and there’s plenty of them; most of them teenagers still dealing with mood swings.

In a weird way, I was relieved. The Dandies… well, they complicate things. They meddle with emotions, and I’m of particular significance to them. Hood vamps are just irritating, and can be very violent. Punk vamps are probably my favorite. I’m probably not supposed to have a favorite enemy, but hey. If nothing else, they have good fashion sense.

We didn’t break out into a fight straight away. It was still relatively early; about ten thirty. Oblivious people were still roaming the streets, and even facing us the punks knew not to pick a fight in front of human witnesses.

I had trained myself (okay, with a little of Joe’s help) to distinguish vampires in dim lighting. Sometimes it was obvious; their perfection giving them away. Other times it wasn’t so easy. However, I could still determine several on the street ahead of me, pretending to be casually hanging out.

I made eye contact with a vicious-looking blonde girl, probably about my age (although she was probably much more accustomed to it than I was). Her hair was very layered and choppy, held up in two pigtails; one on either side of her head. Her green eyes were narrowed and framed in a thick line of kohl, and she had two elegant beauty marks on one cheek. As usual, her skin was pale, and her teeth looked especially sinister with dark-painted lips. Her clothing was what was usually expected of a punk vamp; black tank top, pleated black and blue miniskirt, black and pink striped thigh-high socks with chunky black boots and jewelry that wore her. Normally, someone that looked like this would probably be deemed ridiculous, but she merely looked like she’d just leapt off the catwalk.

I don’t know how long we waited, just pretending to be normal. It would have been an hour at least until the back street became deserted. Well, deserted of humans, at least (excluding Patrick, Andy, Joe and I). And then, we wasted no time in kicking some nasty vampire ass.

Pete seemed to always be there. I swear to god, I probably came close to staking him a few times. He was smothering me, trying to take on any vampire that had me in their sights. It was damn annoying and just made me angrier, making me lose my focus. So technically, I blame him for the long cut down my leg. I know, right. Leg. It’s kind of like, ‘hello, my neck is up here’. But whatever. Sarcastic comment of the moment is over.

So in order to avoid getting myself killed, I had to free myself of Wentz.

I ran down the street, taunting a vampire or two as I went. The vamps must have realized what I was doing, otherwise they could have caught up to me in a flash. Instead, around five of them followed me down a side street or two, waiting to attack until we got there. As I ran, I could hear Pete and Andy yelling from behind me, fury evident in the former’s voice. Thankfully (I think?), they were too distracted to follow me.

So of course, I managed to find myself in a narrow alleyway with five vampires ready to kill me.

Great.

Although I can’t deny that it was entirely my fault, and I can’t deny that I wasn’t going to try and take them down too.

It all happened in a blur, really. It was very fast. After a few silent moments, the punks attacked and I responded almost automatically, instinctively. A beautiful Asian female was the first to start the attack, baring her teeth and hissing venomously before launching herself at me, as did another blue-haired male. The others seemed to be standing around, watching with interest, as if awaiting their turn in a roller-coaster queue. The two that charged at me came from opposite directions of the broken circle I found myself in, and I slammed my feet hard against the ground to get enough force to jump as high as I possibly could. The tall female caught my shoe, scratching a hole in the black canvas with one razor-sharp fingernail. The two vampires, concentrating on their speed rather than me, didn’t stop themselves before they ran into a head-on collision. My feet made a cracking noise against their skulls as I landed from my jump on their heads, causing the three of us to fall to the floor. I whipped a pointed wooden stake, extra long, out of my belt and plunged it into the guy’s heart, his piercing shriek of agony strangely satisfying for me. The girl lay beneath him as I killed him, and she scratched my cheek viciously before I drove the stake right through the guy, piercing her shoulder. I grabbed another smaller stake and drove it through her chest, absorbing her dying noises as I stood up.

This all happened in a grand total of about seven seconds, by the way.

The three remaining punks were looking at me, clearly surprised at my ability. Hell, I was surprised at my ability. In fact, I don’t think I should call it ‘ability’. More like superhuman survival instinct.

“Hmm,” one of them smirked.

I turned to face the one who had spoken; the blonde girl who had entertained me with a staring competition earlier.

“Pretty girl’s not as dumb as she seems.”

I narrowed my eyes. Usually, this would really only have annoyed me. You may have realized, however, that I was in a slightly less stable emotional state at that time, and so annoyance turned into pure anger. And I didn’t even care if they labeled me a PMSing bitchbecause, let’s face it, I was.

“Shut up and fight, bitch,” I snarled, but she just let out a cruel laugh.

It was the other two that came at me. Both of these ones were males, both with black hair and several piercings, dressed in ripped jeans and skull t-shirts. I really wanted to tell them to grow up, but I guess it was just a part of their scene and I didn’t really have time to anger them further if I wanted to maintain my life. They dived at me, mere milliseconds after each other, and I managed to duck out of the way. These two didn’t run into each other, and were so fast at regaining their composure that I couldn’t decide if they really lost it to begin with. The two began to circle me, trying to psych me out, I’m sure. But I wasn’t in the mood for games, and ended this one only seconds after it began. Both my hands reached for my pockets and I hurriedly pulled out two vials of holy water, pegging them both at the two vampires as they lunged for me. I once again ducked out of the way, the sound of smashing glass greeted my ears and I opened my eyes just in time to see the two crumble into nothing.

I spun around to see the blonde girl inches away from my face, a smirk upon her darkened lips, and gasped as she punched me in the gut, the wind knocked right out of me. I heard her laugh, and I pushed the pain to the back of my mind as I stood up straight, not allowing the tears of pain to cloud my vision.

“Looks like it’s just you and me now, huh Blondie?” she sneered.

Kind of weird, seeing as ‘Blondie’ was the nickname I’d subconsciously given her.

I didn’t waste time replying, and instead aimed a kick straight at her head. It was useful that she was short, and my blow hurt her right where it was directed. She screeched in pain and made to get back on her feet but it was too late; her hesitance had given me enough time to free my last stake from my belt and aim it at her chest. Before I could stake her, however, she hooked her foot around the back of my knees and pulled, bringing me tumbling to the floor, stake dropping on the floor in front of me. She was up again in a flash, standing behind me with a handful of my hair and pulling it enough to make me have to bite my lip to hold back a scream.

“So, you wanna die, girly?” she asked me, her voice smooth and elegant and not suiting her persona at all.

She seemed to like to talk.

“Or would you rather an ultimatum? Die, or become one of us. Your choice.”

My choice?

My choice was to retrieve the stake and slam it backwards into her black heart.

So guess what?

That’s what I did.

She was vanquished, and I was left alone in the alley, rubbing my scalp to soothe it from the pain of almost being ripped off. Or so I thought.

I put my hands on my legs and bent over, gasping for air as I let my winded state show. I sucked in for air and didn’t stand up again until I was breathing properly. I could still hear the sounds of the guys fighting from a few streets away, but I guessed that hey were just about done now.

Then another sound captured my attention; slow clapping from behind me.

I whirled around so fast I’m sure I was a blur, and pinned whoever it was against the wall. My small silver dagger – my only remaining weapon – was whipped out and at the figure’s throat before he could say a word in defense.

“Who are you?” I spat out, taking in what I saw before me.

Well, I couldn’t see much. The figure was tall and wore a hooded black cloak, the hood up and disguising his face in the night.

“Woah, take it easy.”

My eyes narrowed. That seems to be happening on a regular basis now.

“Tell me who you are!” I demanded.

The figure held his palms up in front of him, hesitating ever so slightly before lifting fingers to the hood and drawing it back, his chocolate eyes boring into mine. I gasped.

“You!”

“You.”

It was that guy. The guy who gave me directions.