I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

Matt still hadn’t spoken to me. Not since the whole Clandestine book thing. Honestly, I was a bit scared. Nothing like this had ever happened before. I didn’t really want to speak to him, because I didn’t want to have to deal with getting angry again and making it worse, but I hated knowing he despised me so much. Like I was just something else he had to take care of. Well, that’s probably all I was. Fuck that. I don’t want to be dragged around the city all the time being bait for vampires.

In a few months I’ll be eighteen, and when I am I’ll get my share of our parents’ inheritance and forget all about this life. I’ll live like a normal person, only a step up from being oblivious to the creatures that haunt the streets of Chicago at night. I’ll start my education again. I’ll get a job and make a living. A few months, that’s all. A few more months of luring foolish, lusting vampires to their death. A few more months of my brother’s hateful looks. A few more months of not existing. Then I’ll be free. I’ll be able to start again. Maybe change my name, if I have to. Not worrying about my death or worse coming to me every night. A few months…

Yeah. That never happened.

It was a week after the fight over the book. I swear, he must have slept with the book in his pillowcase or something because I spent every day searching while he was asleep and I never found it. Matt had been hunting twice in the week, and we were about to go out again. I was bored. And tired from the lack of sleep over the week. I was getting so sick of the whole hunting thing. Whenever we were walking and I was supposed to be on the lookout, I’d be thinking about where I’d be if I still had no idea vampires existed. Would I be at school? Would I be stressing over exams? Would I hang out at my friends’ houses on the weekend? Would I have a boyfriend? How different my life would be… Instead of living this nightmare, I could be a normal person. A normal teenager, doing things that normal teenagers do.

But I’m not normal. I know too much.

In my ‘what if?’ state of mind, I blame it on myself that we missed the group of vampires that showed up behind us. This time,we I didn’t speak to any of them. They were all business, and a fight broke out immediately. There were five of them. Pinstriped suits and bowler hats.

Guessed it yet? Yep. They were Dandies.

Matt chucked a stake at the first one, but the dandy dodged it just in time. In a blur, Matt threw two more stakes in the general direction of the group of dandies, one of them hitting its target. As one of their friends turned to dust, the others growled angrily and bared their elongated canines.

In the brief moment that they stopped to stare in shock at the remaining particles of their friend, I got a quick look at the remaining vampires. Two of them were men and two of them were women. Well, one of them was a woman. The other female looked like she couldn’t be older than ten years old. She was as small as a ten year old, with long, dead straight dark brown hair. Her skin was unnaturally pale and her dark eyes had thick black circles of eyeliner framing them, smudging slightly over her face. She wore a short black dress that’s skirt went out a little at the bottom and a blood red bow in her hair. She was a pretty little girl, but she looked terrifying.

I couldn't help but be empathetic towards her. Whenever it was that she got changed, she was so young. She didn’t have a chance to live. This is probably the only way she can remember. The other female looked about my age. She had bright orange hair, pale skin, and there were multiple rips in her dandy attire. The males were both tall and well-built with lengthy dark hair. Now that their companion was gone, they looked majorly pissed. The young girl smiled sickly at me, showing her perfect white teeth.

In a split second, the girl had lunged at me, her arms outstretched and teeth snapping ferociously. Her nails scratched my neck, and yes, it hurt like hell, but before she could do any more damage, Matt had dragged her off me. She was kicking and scratching, and waving her arms, desperate to, probably, claw my throat out and drink my blood. Lovely images, huh?

Matt raised a small vial of holy water above the girl’s head. She had stopped struggling now and was trembling slightly. For some reason, I couldn’t bear to watch my brother kill the girl. She didn’t have a choice. A ten year old wouldn’t have been able to hold her own against a group of vampires. And I highly doubt that she would have the willpower to restrain the bloodlust. I didn’t want her existence to cease, but I knew that she had no chance against Matt.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, the other female and one of the males and come up behind me and held my arms behind my back at an indescribably painful angle. I couldn’t help but unleash a gasp of pain.

“Touch her, and your sister dies,” the male that wasn’t holding me said darkly, from somewhere behind me. I could see the look of frustration and fury in my brother’s eyes.

“Aren’t you intending on killing her anyway?” Matt grumbled.

“We were...” the female spoke. Why didn’t I believe that?

“But we won’t if it means getting Alayshia back,” finished the man holding my arm.
Matt’s eyes darted around, clearly trying to find a way out of the situation that didn’t exist.

“Come on, Mr Williams,” the woman bargained. “Your sister for mine.”

Matt sighed in frustration as he pocketed the holy water and pushed the girl vampire roughly back to her sister.

“Thank you, Mr Williams,” the woman smirked. “It’s good to know that you are negotiable.”

Matt glared menacingly at her, and her smirk grew as she took her sister’s hand and ran blindingly fast away from us.

“Come, Aiden,” The male that wasn’t holding me commanded the one who was.

“I’m coming,” ‘Aiden’ replied as the other one ran after the females.

I could feel the vampire’s eyes studying me. He smirked as I shuddered uncomfortably. I swear, vampire’s smirks are as renowned as their fangs to me. He lifted a finger and slowly ran it from my left shoulder to my right, tracing the back of my neck as he did. His icy cold touch seemed to burn me, making his slow movements agonizing. When he reached my right shoulder he turned his head slightly to look at Matt. I couldn’t see what my brother looked like, but I pictured the snarl painted on his face and his fists clenched. Still looking at my brother, Cameron spoke to him. I could feel his breath on my neck.

“This is for killing my best friend,”

And in a moment he had dug his nail into my shoulder and pulled my skin apart, leaving a deep, three inch long gash in my shoulder. I gasped in pain and crumpled to the floor as Aiden fled the street, probably to escape the smell of the blood spilling from my shoulder.

I hate knowing vampires’ names. It gives them an identity. Aiden, Alayshia… It’s so much easier to watch them die when you just think of them as another bloodsucker. Aiden had had a best friend. Not anymore. Because my brother killed him. Alayshia had a sister who would do anything for her, and my brother had tried to kill her and easily would have if her sister didn’t step in. This is what I don’t understand about Matt. He’s so cold and heartless towards them, even though they do have people who love them and will mourn when they’re gone. Sometimes I’m not even sure if I have that.

Matt walked over to the pile of ashes that were once Cameron’s best friend and picked up the dandy jacket. He ripped off a strip of cloth with only a little effort and wrapped it roughly around my burning, painful shoulder.

“Come on,” he mumbled gruffly. “Let’s go.”

If there is one word to describe my brother, it’s rough.

***

If you think that my brother and I were back on reasonably good terms, you’re dead set wrong. Matt was, if possible, even more hostile towards me when we got home. He just kept yelling at me, about how I always managed to get in the way, and how I ruined his chance to finish off another four dandies. When he was done lecturing me and spitting on me, he departed for his room and left me alone in the living room area.

A single tear seeped out of the corner of my eye and made a glistening track down my cheek. Matt had just confirmed everything I always suspected he thought about me. I’m sure that deep down he cared about me, but that 'deep down' was so deep I wasn’t even sure if he realized it yet. Feeling like a complete idiot, I spoke two words to myself. You know, the first sign of insanity is speaking to yourself.

“I’m sorry.”

Now usually when I talk to myself I don’t expect a reply. That’s why I jumped about a foot in the air when I got one.

“Don’t be.”

Guess who it was? The weird vampire who has a knack for finding me in my most vulnerable moments. Travis McCoy.

“What are you doing here again?” I snapped. I was really getting sick of this guy stalking me.

“Just checking up on you, like last time.”

“Why?”

“Now that I can’t tell you.”

“Of course you can’t. Then you wouldn’t be all mysterious and sinister.”

“It’s not like that, Elle.”

“Sure. Whatever.”

“Really. It’s not. But you shouldn’t blame yourself for your brother being a dick.”

“Eugh. He’s getting more and more unbearable every day. It was bad enough before he found out about you and the book…”

“You weren’t supposed to let him know you had the book. Let alone the fact that I gave it to you.”

“Gee, thanks for this advice now. It really helps,” I muttered sarcastically.

“Sorry.”

We were engulfed in a short silence before he continued.

“Is your shoulder okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. It just stings a bit and my arm feels really weak…” I eyed him suspiciously. “Why am I telling you this? Why do you care? You’re not my friend.”

“No, I’m not,” Travis sighed. “But I don’t want to be your enemy.”

“Since when?” I snorted. “Two weeks ago you would have gladly watched those street vamps finish me off.”

“Not true. I knew they stood no chance against your brother and if by some miracle they did I wouldn’t have let them hurt you.”

“Uh huh. Sure.”

“It’s true. Even if I wanted to let them I couldn’t.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing,” he backtracked. “I’ve said too much as it is.”

Another silence.

After about ten minutes of just sitting there in perfect quiet, Travis stood up and walked over to the kitchen area. I watched him as he took out a bottle of brandy and unscrewed the top. He dampened a cloth with the alcohol and brought it over to me. For some unknown reason, I didn’t struggle as he gently undid the scrap of black material that was suppressing the wound and I winced as the air met my flesh.

“This might hurt a bit,” he murmured.

He pressed the alcoholic cloth to the cut and I had to bite my lip to restrain from screaming in pain. It hurt so bad. Instead I just shivered. He dabbed at my shoulder as gently as he could, still sending waves of pain through my body. When he was done, he threw out the alcohol cloth and the black material that had once been part of the now-dead dandy’s clothing.

I wondered how he had managed to restrain from the bloodlust. I mean, the Dandies were one thing, but Travis was a hood vampire. I knew he was more skilled and quick witted that most other hoods, but I was surprised to learn he had so much control over the demon inside him. Travis lifted up the bottom of his hoodie and effortlessly tore away the bottom of the green t-shirt he wore underneath. He brought the material to my shoulder and wrapped it around the cut, tying it in a neat knot to hold it there.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, crossing the room towards the window.

“You know, you could always just use the door,” I told him. He glanced towards the door, and looked hesitant at first, but that seemed to disappear and he smiled at me.

“Thanks,” he said to me when we were at the door and I had undone the million little locks and bolt things that Matt had secured our apartment with. 'Look how much good that did.'

“That’s okay,” I told him. “But you know, just because we’ve exchanged thanks, that doesn’t make us friends.”

“I know,” he replied. “Everything would be far too complicated if we were friends. We’re just in-betweens. That okay with you?”

“Yeah,” I smiled a tiny bit. “I think I can live with that.”

He waved goodbye to me as he walked out into the corridor and I closed the door, making sure to re-lock it completely. If Matt found out about tonight, I would be dead. He was bound to ask about the new bandage in the morning anyway.

Great. I just can’t wait to be yelled at again.