*
This morning was kind of rough. Although, Dominick went to bed around ten o’clock, he did not want to wake up this morning. This was the first morning I needed to arouse him. While trying to do so gently, I had flashbacks to Maddie moving slowly up the stairs last year to wake Dominick for lacrosse camp. After I finally awoke the big oaf, he and I had a long conversation about him eating breakfast, which Olivia started to make when she first heard me try to wake the sleeping grizzly. My side of the argument was that he needed breakfast to have a good start to his day. His response was that he was not a morning eater. I found that hard to believe, from what I could remember, he never had a problem eating breakfast in years past. To what seems to be a steady trend, he got his way and he went without breakfast. Since he was meeting with the head coach of the lacrosse team before school, I told him to go ahead and take my car and I would “walk to school”. He started to disagree with me on that too, but I assured him that I would be at school on time and he and I could ride home together after school. With Lisa’s help, I was able to see our class schedules before school started, and I made the appropriate changes so Dominick and I would not have all of the same classes. Besides lunch, he and I will only see each other in the halls during passing time. It sounds strange, but he and I are living together and our relationship is different from other human teenagers. I do not want him to feel tied down to me. I think it would become too much to wake up and see me in the morning, then go to school and see me in ninety percent of his classes, only to turn around and be back at the house with me.
Taking the round-about way to the school, I do not want any of the humans to see me moving at such a fast pace. I begin to slow my speed as I exit the shrubs and come to the back entrance of the school. Thankfully, most of the kids use this doorway to sneak a smoke during the lunch period, and there is no one out here now. The door, as I expected, is unlocked. Pulling the door open, I walk in and am greeted by a massive dose of scented warm human bodies. I fed last night once Dominick went to sleep. Today will be rough. My mouth aches as I move seamlessly past all the warm bodies. Not making eye contact with most of the kids—I tend to keep to myself—I head for my homeroom. Dominick’s homeroom is on the other side of the building, unless he gets lost, there is no chance that he and I will run into each other until lunch time. I hope he is able to quickly make friends here. Unlike me, he is too much of a social creature not to have friends outside of my family. Walking into my homeroom, I spot the girl I had as a lab partner last year. Maria smiles and waves me over. There is an open seat next to her.
Perhaps I should go sit there. “Good morning, Maria. How was your summer?”
“Hey, Amber, it was good. How was yours? I didn’t see you at all around town this year.”
She is a sweet little girl. Maria is actually a year younger than most of the kids in this grade. I believe she skipped a grade a few years back. Sitting down in my seat, I notice Maria has slimmed down a little from the last time I saw her. Her jet black hair that was once long is now cut into a neat bob and her eyebrows appear to be arched. Is that the new style with kids? My fingers instinctively rub my eyebrows. Hmm. “My summer was nice, it seemed to go by quickly, though.”
Smiling, she bobs her head in agreement. “I know what you mean, but at least this will be our last year in high school. I’m so excited.”
As she finishes speaking, Mr. Lacey, the homeroom teacher, enters the room with our class schedules.
I know what my school day will look like already, but I politely smile and take the piece of paper before getting up to head off to my next class. Homeroom only lasts for fifteen minutes and since it is the first day of school, most homeroom teachers will allow us to leave a little early. First period, I have English and Dominick will have Math—in two different parts of the school. Once he has settled himself to the school, he and I will see more of each other in the halls. For now, I will take advantage of knowing my way around so we will have less of a chance of running into each other. Walking into my English class, I search for an empty desk in the back of the room. I glade over to the last row and last seat possible, and hang my book bag on the back of my chair and settle in for a long fifty minute class.
My fellow classmates file into the room, and I enjoy seeing how times have changed since I was a human child. All children attended the same schoolhouse. Age did not matter. We all fit into the one room building. Every morning, Miss. Toddle would greet us at the door, and as we settled in our seats, she would start to write out the lesson plan for the day. I was always amazed that my classmates ranged from all different ages. The first few years of schooling, I was able to attend class with my older brother, until he matured. When my younger brother became of age, I was able to attend class with him as well. In order to handle the vast levels in the one classroom, Miss. Toddle would have us sit according to years. Even though I was in the same room with my siblings every day, I tended to sit with Robert and a few others who happen to be our age.
That was one of the reasons I had not married yet. Robert and I were the same age. Young men in the community I grew up in generally did not marry until they were at least twenty-three. Because our parents were close friends, and Robert and I had grown up together, they decided that I would wait for Robert to become of age so we could marry. I am unaware of the full ramifications from our parents’ choice, but it was very uncommon for a young lady to marry a man who was her age or younger back then. Before my parents’ decision was made final, there were at least two other suitors that had come to my father to ask for my hand in marriage. I wonder what the outcome would have been if I was to have taken one of those other men as my husband.
Thinking about marriage, reminds me that I need to finalize a few more things for Christopher’s and Lisa’s wedding. It is in a few more weeks and I still have way more things to do than I planned on having by now. I am glad I was able to make those few phone calls the other day. Sometime in the next few days, I will need to take a “trip to the woods”. That is the excuse I will use. I only hope Isaac will not want to tag along. It seems as of late he has been more than happy to tag along with me when I go to grab a bite to eat. I am pretty sure he was not like this before, but then again, maybe I just did not pay that much attention to it. Or it may be the fact that recently Olivia has not wanted to go out with him for the long walks in the woods. It is worrying him. Even Christopher has not munched on as many humans as of lately—since Lisa has come around—as Olivia has. I am trying to give her privacy, but I wonder if it is because of Dominick. Including myself, we have all been caught on more than one occasion salivating over the warm body in the house. It is bad to say that I would rather have her sink her teeth into some stranger than lose control and go after Dominick. I hope that will not be the case.
Olivia is the oldest in the house and to this day, I have not seen her once lose control. She and Christopher drinking warm human blood from others has always been a personal choice. Just as much as Lisa, Isaac and I have chosen not to. As some people say you should never talk religion and politics with your friends. We have come to an understanding like that in the Harris’ house. We do not talk about other’s eating habits, and the family has also decided to not talk about the three rules that I have firmly set in place for myself. I think they are simple rules and on some points, other family members do agree with me. Take for instance, my first rule is that I will not drink blood from a human. I did it once and only once with the encouragement of Christopher. It was right after I became a vampire and after weeks of coaching from Christopher, I lured this poor boy into our home and after making sure he was comfortable, I struck. Not only did I almost suck him dry, but I went too deep and had trouble stopping the little bit of blood he had left from leaving his body. I panicked and snapped his collar bone in the process of trying to stop the blood flow. Thankfully, Olivia and Isaac came home and were able to help with the mess I caused. After that I vowed never to drink directly from the t
ap again. Isaac has his own reasons for it, but he too has always agreed with me on this rule.
My second rule is, no person will ever become a vampire through my making. I have vowed to never make a vampire, no matter what the need or situation. I understand that my family felt they were doing the right thing with me, but I do believe that death could be better than this state of living. This leads me to my third and final rule, one that I have questioned breaking a few times—more recently. Since Dominick is in my life I avoid messing with the human brain. Well, that goes to a certain extent. Take for example Christopher. He likes to remove memories from humans’ minds. My question is: What is the long-term effect of having your memory wiped or having things altered? Since my abilities are stronger than Christopher’s, I really wonder what damage I could cause, by not only removing thoughts but also giving mental commands or playing puppet master and pulling humans fragile bodies with invisible strings. Will that in the long-term have an effect on their motor skills or thinking process? Isaac also backs me up with this rule. Although his strongest ability is mind reading, he is also able to send small commands to those who are close to him. He, too, questions what the aftermath of these dealings could be.
After seeing Lance and Annie making out, I thought about setting a rule to never date a human again, but Lance and I picked back up where we left off once Annie and her family were gone. The thought had crossed my mind again after Lance’s and my final separation, but that rule would have been thrown by the wayside the moment Dominick stepped in my life. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I still hope he changes his mind and finds a human woman to settle down with. It will break my heart; still, it will be the best thing for him. Thankfully, because of Lance’s family, I was able to push some of the mourning aside to concentrate on being with them, but what will I do when Dominick becomes old? This thought, which has crossed my mind on more than one occasion, brings a sharp pain to my slow beating heart. Sighing, I bring my full attention back to the classroom. There are only two minutes and thirty-one seconds left to this class. That means I have two hours fifty-two minutes and thirty seconds until I will see Dominick at lunch.
17
Bulging Eyes
The bell ringing signifies the end of this boring class and it is such a relief. I thought I was going to go stir crazy. That was by far one of the longest fifty minutes in my life. It is finally time to see Dominick. Heading toward the cafeteria, it does not take me long to pick up his scent. As I enter the moderate sized room, I inhale. Not only am I blasted with Dominick’s scent, but all of the other human children that are settling down for the midday meal. I also pick up Manny’s odor. My sight shifts towards his direction and, we make eye contact as I wave. The creatures that walk this earth never cease to amaze me.
When we moved to this town, we found out that it was occupied by a pack of hellhounds. Being mystical creatures much like the vampire, hellhounds have existed the longest and are thought to be some of the first of our kind. Now-a-days they have a cure for such a thing, but before the vaccination for rabies came about, any poor soul that was bitten by a rabid hyena and did not die from the bite became a hellhound. The name suits them. In hellhound form, which is known to be a rather large size dog with black—as in burnt--or gray--as in ashes—fur, fiery reddish-orange eyes and two rows of razor sharp teeth, feed from the nearly dead to corpses. They are only able to transform from their human shape to dog form around the midnight hour. Before partaking on their meals, the hound gives a gruesome howl to let others in their pack know of the feast they found for the night. These creatures have a keen sense for death and have been known to show up and drag a body into the dark shadows as it passes the point of no return. On a few occasions, I have heard someone from the local pack wail an eardrum-bursting howl. I can only shudder and hope that it was no one from my family that caused the death.
During several of those times, however, Christopher and Olivia were on the prowl. Just like vampires, hellhounds have no use for human food and can go days without eating. Living in a small town like this one, they must endure days without eating. There are not as many dead bodies lying around outdoors as there is in more heavily populated areas. From what I have learned about the creatures, helps me keep a healthy distance from Manny. Suffice to say, he is a nice kid in his human form. We had Government class together last year, but I question how many humans, vampires and other such unnatural creatures he and his family have devoured. Most of the kids at school avoid him, yet it is more because of the smell he emits. The saying, ‘you are what you eat’ comes to mind. Well, more like you smell like what you eat, and rotting flesh has a tendency to clear a room.
Dislodging that mental image, I lock my sight on Dominick who is standing in the lunch line. He and I also disagreed about his lunch this morning. I thought it would be nice to make a meal for him to bring, so I was in the process of baking lasagna for him when he came down to grab a cup of coffee. I once again lost the argument. I really hope he sees something he likes here. As I come to a stop next to him, it does not take him long to sense my presence. Dominick glances over his shoulder and gives me a spectacular smile.
“Hey, honey. I was wondering when I was going to see you.”
“I see you’re finding your way around pretty well.”
“Oh, yeah. When I met with the coach this morning, he introduced me to a few of the other lacrosse players. They have kind of been my guides for the day. They’re sitting over there.” He points towards the north end of the cafeteria. I need not look to know who he is talking about.
“That’s wonderful! I’m so happy you’re making friends.” I am truly excited to see that he is adjusting well; however, he is staring at me with an alarming look. I hope I have not overdone it with the enthusiasm. “What?” I question, in the most innocent tone possible.
“Amber, you’re coming to sit with us, aren’t you? If you rather find another table, we can go somewhere else to sit, just the two of us.”
Shoot, I was kind of hoping he did not catch on to that. I believe I did over do it. Honestly, this is the first time I have come into the cafeteria—at least at lunch time. The staff sometimes holds functions in here which I am mandated to attend, but besides that, I tend to sit outside or write a fake pass to go study in the library. “Dominick, I don’t want to get in the way of you and your school friends. I want you to enjoy this experience and I don’t think me tagging along will help that process.” Thankfully, the line is moving and he is next to pay. Sighing, he steps forward to pay for his meal. I would offer to pay but I am about to get an earful for my last statement—why make it worse? Stuffing his change in his pocket, he turns those stormy gray eyes towards me.
“So…”
Putting my hand up, I stop him. I roll my eyes and extend my hand for him to lead the way. There is no point in arguing this with him. If he wants us to sit with his friends then fine, we will sit with his friends. “You first, I believe the table that your new friends are occupying is the one by the window.” Dominick gives me a tight grin, and then heads towards the already full jock and cheerleader table. This is going to be interesting.
“Hey, there you are, Nick. I was just about to go looking for you. Here come have a seat next to me.”
Hmm, Nick. I believe Maddie would call him that from time to time. I will have to ask him later what he prefers.
“Everybody, if you haven’t already met him, this is, Dominick, Nick Grayson.”
Walking over to the side of the table where Garret Lambert is seated, I do not believe the others have noticed me yet. It helps that I am a lot smaller than Dominick, since his huge frame is practically hiding me from their view.
“Hey everyone. Thanks Gar. Darla, right?” The brunette two seats over from Garret, glances up from her lunch, and blushes. I wonder if it is because she is shocked that Dominick remembers her name or the fact that she has a gorgeous man gazing at her with such gentle eyes.
“Yes,” sh
e says as she blushes harder.
I need not be jealous. Giving her a kind smile, Dominick sets down his tray and says, “Could you scoot down a chair so Amber can sit too?”
I need to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. The poor girl wass not expecting to hear him say that. The expression on her face has changed from being shy, to being stunned and confused. Perhaps it is time to make my presence known. Stepping slightly to Dominick’s side, I give a small smile before saying, “Hi.” The whole table goes quiet. I believe the students at the few surrounding tables have too. Being the new kid, all eyes have probably been on Dominick all day. I guess most were overlooking me, until now. Sensing the awkwardness, Dominick snorts before putting an arm around me and pulling me closer.
“You all know my girlfriend, Amber, right? She’s the reason I moved here.”
Well, that just put everything out in the open. I did not expect him to be so blunt about it. I smile harder and meet the gazes of twenty-two pairs of bulging eyes. I am contemplating dropping my wall to see what everyone is thinking, but I would rather not have a rush of thoughts running through my head.
Kyle Marsh recovers first and says, “Yeah, Amber and I had gym last year together. How’s it going, Amber?”
“Good, thanks.” As I finish speaking, Darla remembers that she was supposed to be making room for me to sit. Sliding over, she gives me a kind smile. Dominick still has not removed his arm from around me, as he lowers himself into the seat. It is making it a little awkward to sit, but finally he and I are seated at the table. Thankfully, most of our fellow classmates have stopped staring and have gone back to eating their food quietly.
Popping open his can of soda, Dominick leans over and says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would be this uncomfortable. You tried to warn me. We should have found our own seats, somewhere private.”
“It’s not a problem, sweetheart. They’ll get used to it. Humans can be a little slow with adjustments. In the next few minutes, I’m sure everything will be fine.” I put my hand on his leg and give it a light pat. “Eat before your glucose drops even more.” In response, Dominick chuckles and leans over to place a warm kiss on my cheek.
Along with everyone else, Kyle has stopped eating as Dominick kisses me. I watch a playfulness shine in Kyle’s eyes before he glances sideways at Garrett. He then takes a swig of his water and sets his brown eyes on us.
“So, guys, how long have you known each other?”
Turning his attention from me to Kyle, Dominick sighs. He can see where this is going.
“I’ve known Amber practically my whole life. Our families have always been close.”
That seems to satisfy the group. They begin to pick up the conversations they were having before we joined the table.
Pulling my cell phone out of my pocket, I completely forgot that I received a text message as I entered the cafeteria. Of course, it is from Lisa. Besides her and Dominick, everyone else calls me. It still surprises me how Dark Age even Christopher can be at times. But then again, it may be because texting is something I have pushed for him to learn. And for that single reason only, he is resisting the change. Looking at the message, a smile spreads across my face. Lisa has sent me a list of things that still need to be done for the wedding. She and I just talked about this list last night after Dominick went to sleep. I guess she felt she needed to send me a reminder. Rolling my eyes, I hit the reply button and type “K”. My response is going to walk her up the wall. A little bit of Christopher has rubbed off on me. Shockingly, so far, he has said ‘yes’ to everything Lisa wants for the wedding. There were a few times I thought he was going to lose it, but after a brief stare-down, he would respond with ‘kay’. I cannot say that Lisa has completely mellowed my brother, but his outbursts are becoming fewer and farther between. Well, at least towards others. Me? Ha! All I need to do is look at him the wrong way, and he and I end up destroying things. The last fight was while Dominick and his guests were asleep. The fights upset Dominick even though he has not said anything out loud. He did share once he was worried for my safety, and after trying to assure him, I was a lot stronger than I appear, it still did not seem to diminish the anxiety from his face.
“Is that Lisa?”
Looking up from my phone, my breath catches in my throat when I meet those stunning gray eyes. I still am not used to the way his eyes seem to swallow me whole. “Yes.”
Shaking his head, he chuckles and says, “I got one too, about an hour ago. Did you know she changed her mind again about the color of the guys’ tuxes? I think it’s like the fourth time.”
I laugh and place my phone down on my lap. “No, it’s the eighth. You missed the first few times.” I was really surprised when Christopher asked Dominick to be a part of the wedding. Not to say he was not going to attend as my guest, but to actually be a groomsman, well the best man, left me speechless.
Dominick watches me put my phone down then leans close to my ear, “I hope you don’t go all berserk when we get married.”
Winking, he turns his attention back to the current conversation of which entertainment system is better: Playstation or Xbox. I am not quite sure what to say to this. He has left me staring at his side profile. I am truly dumbfounded. Marriage? Can I really see him and me getting married? This is the first time he has ever mentioned the topic. Part of me is wondering if he is only joking, but then again, part of me seems to be slowly warming to the idea. From what I gather, vampires do not marry. Christopher and Lisa will be the first of our kind that I am aware of. Now, there are ones like the couple we met in Johnstown. They were married before becoming vampires, and stayed together.
Dominick must feel the stiffness in my body, his hand has slowly started to move up and down my arm. The warming sensation from his hand is helping to relax some of my rigid muscles. I glance back down at my phone and read the response from Lisa’s newest text message. It is three times longer than the first one she sent.
As the bell rings again to indicate the ending of our lunch period, Dominick and I stand. Grabbing my hand, I experience a tingling sensation up my arm. We head out the double doors, and I sense all of his new friends watching us.
“So, Amber, what class do you have next?”
“French, you?”
“Gym. Should I assume that if we checked our schedules, none of our classes will be in the same time slot?”
“I’m not sure. We can look.”
Glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, he gives my hand a little squeeze.
“I’m pretty sure we won’t need to look. I’m also sure there is no coincidence in any of this either. Do I want to know why you felt we couldn’t have more than lunch together?”
Once again, I am caught. I could try and act as if I have no idea what he is talking about, yet he seems to always know when I have had my hand in something. Living with him is worse than living in a house full of mind readers. At least with the mind readers, I seemed to have a little more leeway. We are approaching my next class. I do not need to worry about him getting lost once I walk into class—we seem to have an entourage following us. I speculate they will make sure Dominick makes it to class in one piece. I slow us to a stop, and I turn to face him. “Here’s my next class.” Smiling at him, I believe he is still waiting for an answer to his last question. I try not to be annoyed. He is not going to let me walk into class until I tell him my reasoning. Since his new friends are so close, I speak in a soft voice. “I didn’t want you to be overwhelmed living with me and having every class with me. I figured it may have been a little too much to take on. If you have a little space, hopefully you won’t feel too suffocated.”
“Amber, you over think things.”
His hand cups my chin, and Dominick pulls my face towards his. I can feel the blood pulsating in his thumb as he softly strokes my jaw. At the same time, he lightly nudges me back so I am pinned between the lockers, my bookbag and him.
“I can’t ha
ve you falling in front of all our classmates. We seem to have an audience.”
He is correct. Everyone in the hall is now watching us, including the teacher. If I was human, I would be blushing. Dominick brings his lips closer, and sparks leap from his lips to mine. I wait for my world to go blank, but instead, I feel the fire from a quick, yet gentle kiss, before he steps away. He grins at me and I believe, he too, is not that comfortable with everyone staring.
“I’ll see you at the car after school. Love you.” He turns to his gawking friends and waves his hand, “Ready guys? We have gym next, right?” Garrett, Kyle, Dominick and I believe the other kid’s name is Wil, short for Wilber—poor kid--turn to leave. Watching them walk down the hall, I resist the urge to put my fingers to my lips. Since Dominick stepped away, there has been a slow but steady burn spreading across my mouth. Heading into the room, I will need to try hard to stay focused on the next few classes.