Ch. 1 In the beginning there was Fox
Thursday, the day before Friday, the day that rouses a sigh from most. Not nearly as exciting as it’s neighboring day but it wasn’t bad a bad day, just not as exciting. At least not until today.
I’m floating in these clouds, just hanging out when the nice, soft, plushy clouds turn to dark, mean, cold clouds that are the begging of a terrible storm. I start to fall from the clouds.
Falling and falling until I’m just about to hit the ground. On that ground is and ugly creature. It has the face, hands of what could be paws and the body of a wolf, but its hind legs are more like… lion’s and it has the tail of a dragon. It is standing under me like it is about to catch me, but I’m scared and don’t want it near me. It can see the fear in my eyes and puts its hands down to its sides, raises its head, and lets out a bone chilling howl. The sound is filled with so much pain and anguish that I cover my ears and forget about the up coming ground.
I turn to see it, the ground, and realize that I have stopped falling and am now in a dark alley. I spin around to see a figure, it looks human, but I can’t tell. It starts walking towards me, slowly at first then it closes the gap between us with a few long strides. I still can’t see its face but I can see its mouth. There is what looks to be a small smile playing on its mouth. When the full smile erupts, I gasp. Fangs, long, delicate, sharp fangs that take place of the human canines. It grabs my arms and starts inclining its head to my neck and I scream.
Bolting out from my sleep, I look at the clock, and it reads 2:34. That was the eighth time since my accident that I have had that dream, and I woke up at the same time. It was starting to take its toll on me. I sat up in my bed, grabbed my knees, and brought them to my chest, setting my chin on them. Looking
around the room I started to close my eyes again. Flashes of the accident shot past my eyes. Fire, trees, crushed bones, a smashed new bike, those terrible silver eyes and long delicate looking fangs.
My eyes flew open and I knew there was going to be no more sleeping tonight. I sighed, dragged my tired body out of my comfortable bed, and sat at my desk. I grabbed my drawing book and flipped through it. When I had had enough of drawing and killing time I finally decided to try to sleep again so I crawled back under the covers and closed my eyes. The flashes only happened once more then stopped and I drifted into an uneasy sleep.
I woke up a couple minutes before my alarm and groaned. I rolled, literally, out of bed and into a nice warm shower. After I decided the hot water was a bit to hot, I got dressed and trotted down stairs to my mom and brother. I smacked my little brother in the head lovingly and grabbed a bowl and some cereal. Looking at my watch again, I knew it was about time for the bus to get there. I grabbed my school bag and ran out to the curb just as the bus pulled up. As I was walking up the stairs, my mom ran out side and called my name.
“Nora! Nora honey, you forgot your lunch!” she caught me and handed me the brown paper bag with my lunch. I smiled, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and walked up the stairs to the bus.
Looking around the bus, I flashed a bright, warm, smile. I saw my best friend behind by boyfriend and started walking to them.
My boyfriend, Seth was “a very attractive young man” (emphasis on the very and attractive)… in other words my mom loved him and so did I. His dark brown shaggy hair and deep green eyes just made me melt, but what really got me was his smile and voice. His smile was bright, warm and flashed a set of perfect white, straight teeth. His smiled came equipped with double dimples as well. They get me every freaking time! I swear he smiles on purpose sometimes.
To go along with his beautiful smile (or really to go along with the rest of his beauty) was his voice. It was like… like… dang. I can’t even begin to describe it. What I can say is this; it is almost more smexy then him, which is saying a lot.
My friend was leaning over the back of his seat, smiling as she talked to him. When she saw me her smile widened even more. We hadn’t known each other for that long but we were inseparable.
Seth shimmied over and let me sit next to him. When I was situated, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and smiled at me.
“Hey beautiful. Long time no see,” he teased. I chuckled and leaned into him.
“Get a room love birds! You’re making us all jealous!” Rae teased.
Oh, yeah. My best friends name is Rae Manx. She is built a little like me, which is a bit athletic looking. She does a lot of dance while I do basketball and dance. She is also taller and skinnier then me. However, we both have dark brown hair, mine is darker, and long limbs and are very much alike. I can’t explain it either, but we are. Of course, my eyes are hazel and hers are a steely blue-ish color. In addition, I have a strange serpent like birthmark on the side of my face and she doesn’t, although. That one is obvious.
The bus pulled out from the curb and we started our usual chatter; what we did that weekend, what we are doing this weekend, how school was, when they get to come over, you know, your average friend stuff.
The bus stopped at the school and I stood up, Seth handed me my bag. I started to get out of my seat and into the isle when some one bumped into me.
“Sorry,” I murmured.
“It’s fine,” a silky voice answered. It caught me off guard and I had to look up to see who belonged to the voice. I had to do a double take when I actually looked at the boy.
He had soft, shaggy black hair and ice blue eyes. His features were too beautiful to be human. Vampire, I instantly thought. Anyone observant enough could spot one in seconds. Those who looked easily spotted their unnaturally blue eyes and inhuman beauty. It sent chills down my spine and I had to look away. He had a hold of my arm as if to steady me. I snatched it back. Vampires gave me the creeps.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Fine thanks.” I said dryly.
The vampire looked amused and he smiled. It was a crooked smile but it was gorgeous. Damn those stupid, hot vampire looks. He let me go first and I heard Seth grunt with effort as he shoved himself between the vampire and me. I chuckled to myself. Seth was jealous of any guy friend I had. I hated him for it sometime, but others it was cute, like now. Seth caught up to me when we got off the bus, the vampire boy smiled at me, flashing his fangs, before walking over to his group of freaky vampire friends.
"You okay? That freak didn't hurt you did he?" Seth was freaking out. Rae just calmly walked off the bus and entwined her arm through mine. I looked over and smiled warmly at her. We would often walk through school like that, some people thought we were lesbians at first but then they learned about Seth and hung out with us and realized that we were just really good friends. More and more people followed our great friendship. It was awesome.
"Nah. I'm fine. He wouldn't be able to hurt me." I teased and gave him a soft kiss. He got the look in his eyes like he always did when I kissed him and when I pulled away he was smiling, showing off his dimples, "No. No more. Not today." I laughed. Before I could say anything else the bell for school to start rang. Rae and me looked at each other then smiled, walking to our first class.
Ch. 2
While we were in our boring first hour, Algebra II, Rae, and I passed notes about that weird vamp kid. Even though she hated to say bad things about others behind their backs, she agreed that the kid was a little off. She also commented on how adorable Seth’s jealousy over the matter was. As if I would like a vampire! Ha. Sometimes Seth could be a little ridiculous. Soon, however, it was time for us to part ways: she to French II, me to Japanese II.
In my Japanese class, there was a new student, a girl with brown hair and piercing blue eyes, like that kid on the bus… Like the vampires. Great! I had wanted to get away from them, which seemed impossible these days, and here was another one in my class. There were new ones popping up at the schools every day, it felt. Once the vamps had come out into the open, on Out Day, they had been popping up everywhere, in small towns, in department stores, everywhere! Some liked having them around, others didn’t care, most tolerated them, but then there were those that wanted to kill them all.
Personally, I didn't mind them so much, it's just their creep-out factor is wayyy higher than any human (unless it's an old man who is scantily clad. His creep-out factor would break the scale). And...Well...I kinda feel like this is all moving too fast, and that I don't have any time to get used to them, you know? And they act like they are better then everyone. It annoys the heck out of me.
I sat through second hour fuming over the fact that vampires were still around and in our school. I met up with Rae again in our third hour, Drama Lit, and vented about the vamps. She didn't seem as riled up about the subject as I was.
"Why aren't you angry?" I asked, slightly angry at her. She just shrugged.
"They're not bothering me," she said simply. I, however, was suspicious. She usually gave long, detailed reasons for her actions when asked. Suddenly, it hit me.
"YOU LIKE A VAMP!" I exclaimed, much to my Drama Lit teacher's annoyance. Rae was a terrible liar, and I knew instantly that my guess was correct. My mouth hung open and Rae closed it for me.
"WHO! WHO COULD YOU POSSIBLY LIKE THAT WAS A VAMPIRE?" I whispered with such rage it was hurting my throat. Rae was used to my outburst but this one looked like it hit her hard, I groaned with that realization. “Sorry. I just don’t know how you could possibly like a Vampire! A vampire, for Pete’s sake!” I said, shaking my head. She stared at me hard and long,
"What does it matter if he's a vampire or not?" Rae asked defensively. Despite her obvious annoyance at my lack of acceptance, however, her hate of conflict won. "But it's not a big deal, it's just a crush. If you don't like it, I'm ok with that." She smiled at me, asking for forgiveness. I simply groaned and hugged her,
"I'll get it out of you sooner or later." I said and then watched the teacher until class let out. We parted our ways once again, she to orchestra and I to gym. Gym wasn’t that bad. We mostly ran a lot and being a basketball player, you get used to that. It was more the people in the class that annoyed me, but that is to be expected considering my lack of tolerance. I was sitting with my friends, chatting, gossiping and our teacher told us all to go to our spots. We moved away from each other and our teacher, Ms. K as we all called her, told us about up and coming projects and what to expect. Then the door opened.
My expression must have one sour because my good friend sitting next to me jabbed me hard in the ribs. I just grunted and softened my gaze a tad bit. My eyes were glued to the three figures in the doorway; the assistant principle and two new students. Both of which were vampires. They seemed to be following me to ever freaking class and I felt like I couldn’t escape them.
There was a girl, about five foot five, hair that was a striking red color, like fire, it was as straight as could be without being stiff looking and fell about to her mid back. She had eyes that were blue like normal vampires but with her natural red hair, it made her look exotic. Her facial features were delicate and fragile at a quick glance, but because of my glare of hatred, I could see the ferocity an Amazon aura coming from this vampire. It sent a chill down my spine.
The boy attracted more of my glare then the girl because I knew him. It was the kid from the bus. His shaggy black hair was doing a fairly good job of covering his ice blue eyes but, when your eyes are that blue. It is hard to hide them.
The kid saw me and grinned with perfect white teeth. I just continued glaring.
My friend jabbed me in the side again. I stopped glaring, but I was by no means happy. The girl ended up sitting right behind me but luckily, the boy was on the other side of the room. That lightened my mood some. The rest of Gym class went normally, aside from the class staying as far away from the vamps as possible. Ms. K would have none of it. She was over the whole stay away from the vampires- she was one of the people who didn't mind them much and thought they needed to be treated like others- she made us get in a nice big circle, the vamps in the center.
"Now. I want every one to thing of a question, it must be appropriate and not mean. You have to ask a question and you two," she pointed to the vamps, "Are going to answer them. If they make you feel uncomfortable, you may say so and ask for a different question. Jay, we will start with you." her cool steely eyes locked on the short curly brown headed kid in the back of the room. He quivered some and nodded. Every one got in the circle and sat down. The vamps in the middle.
"Before we begin I guess I should tell you there names. This is Jennifer Ivy Noel, and Gavan Michel Stormson. Now. Begin with your full name then the question." she smiled and sat in the circle as well. Jay shifted uncomfortably. I was sitting next to him. "Er, my name is Jay Love-Taylor, and... um... Iwaswonderingifit'shardtofitinatanewschool," he finished in a rush (and if you can't decipher that to save your life it says I was wondering if it's hard to fit into a new school).
Jen chuckled, "Sometimes. As you can see we get out casted quite a bit." she smiled. Gavan nodded.
"Nora! Why don't you go?" Ms. K asked. I glared at her and said nothing.
"I'm sorry, Fox! Why don't you go!" she said again. I nodded then turned to glare at the two.
"If I really have to ask a question under those rules then I would have to ask this; If you get so much grief and isolation from the world why do you still try to fit in." it was really a rhetorical question but they had to answer.
"Miss Jones! That was very ru-" she was cut off by Gavan but Jen spoke again, her eyes locked fiercely on me.
"Being 'outed' was a choice; not every vampire had to reveal him- or her- self. We chose to live this way so that future generations of vampires can live in harmony with humans," Gavan said, smiling at Fox, then around the circle. "Besides, we were tired of being secretive."
"Some of us wouldn’t have minded much, if you had stayed hidden," I said outloud.
My friend jabbed me in the side again, and I could almost hear Rae yelling at me for being so bold and so rude.
Ms. K, who I usually like, said sharply, "Nora, to the dean's office now, for harassment! Dress out and go!"
I sighed and stood up walking over to the locker room.
I could hear Jen say something, "Ms. K she was just stating her opinion. There is no harm in that. When we came out, we knew the risk we were taking. She wasn't out of line in any way." there was something strange dancing in her eyes but it was gone fast and Ms. K looked up, "Nora! You may stay, but one more outburst like that and you are gone, understood?" I nodded my head and sat back down.
I sighed and stood up walking over to the locker room. I could hear Jen say something, "Ms. K she was just stating her opinion. There is no harm in that. When we came out, we knew the risk we were taking. She wasn't out of line in any way." there was something strange dancing in her eyes but it was gone fast and Ms. K looked up.
"Nora! You may stay, but one more outburst like that and you are gone, understood?" I nodded my head and sat back down.
Gavan and Jen smiled at me before answering all of the questions. By the time class was out, a few students were over talking to the vamps, and not just the blood-fetish Goths. I was grumpy.
I went over to my group of friends and fumed; some of them liked the vamps and asked me if they could go talk to them, "I don't own you. You can do what ever you want. I wont hate you for having a vamp friend." I emphasized the friend part.
Accepting Rae's crush was going to be harder than I thought.
Fourth hour was over and I walked out of the gym, tripping over my shoes. I caught myself before I did a face-plant but there were still some chuckles. I walked faster and almost made it out before being attacked by Gavan and Jen. Jen walked up and HUGGED ME! I was so stunned I couldn't move.
"Fox, I know you probably hate me," Jen said sweetly, "but I just want you to know that I don't hate you."
"Right. Whatever. I don't hate you, you just freak me out." I said, still stunned, and walked off.
My anger at the vamps was rekindled in fifth hour, art, which I had with Rae. The vamp that Rae was crushing on was in that class. I immediately noticed him, and not long after I noticed Rae
stealing quick glances at him frequently.
She was so obvious. I leaned over to her and whispered, "What is his name?"
"Zachary Sterling," she replied quietly. I was impressed. He had only been at this school a day and she already knew his name. We were both normally horrible at names so the fact that she remembered his meant that this was big.
"Does he even know you exist?" I asked. She looked sheepish.
"Well...yes, actually," Rae said. I raised my eyebrows. "This morning, I tripped down the stairs and fell into him."
"Ooooh. Well, that means he so knows about you now. I mean. It can't be that he just happened to be there and catch you. It might have been another guy." I said sarcastically.
Rae looked hurt.
"I didn't say he was there on purpose, I just said he knows I exist because I almost broke his neck. Jeez, Fox. Chill."
"Sorry. I just can't get over the fact that you like a vampire." I said, putting my head on my hands. "Has he talked to since then?" I whispered as the teacher came in.
The art teacher was a tall skinny woman with short silver hair and light gray eyes; she had a bright cheery voice as well as attitude and could always make someone’s day. Her name was Mrs. White. When she was done talking about the homework from last night she went over to the closet and pulled out a bunch of aprons with a huge grin on her face.
Rae and me looked at each other then back to Mrs. White, light smiles on both of our faces.
“What do you think she is planning?” a crisp voice said from the other side of Rae. We both jumped at the sound of it and I almost fell out of my chair. I would have actually if it hadn’t been for the person who mysteriously appeared next to me. I ended up falling into Tanner Hawthorn’s lap and when I looked up at his ice blue eyes and dirty grin I jumped back into my chair. They had scared the crap out of Rae and me and cornered us. We don’t do well in either of those conditions, let alone both.
Zach Sterling (Rae’s crush) and Tanner (a vampire) had somehow moved themselves next to us with out us seeing or hearing them, and had trapped us in our own seats practically. I glared at Zach first. His platinum blond hair was exaggerated greatly by his tan skin and his blue eyes were colder then most. He had a thin, chiseled face which fit his skinny body very well. He was definably muscular but you could see some on his arms, which gave him a slight jock look. I already hated him. Not only was he a vampire, but also he looked oh so arrogant.
Tanner, on the other hand, had dark brown hair, the usual blue eyes and was ripped. This guy had more muscle then a brontosaurus! Nevertheless, he was extremely attractive as well. He had been here for a while, about four months, and was well known around school; mainly for flaunting his inhuman qualities. I always figured it was him who the culprit of the fangs in my nightmare. He was always flashing them, he tried not to around me because he had an insane crush on me and he knew it scared me. He did mess with me a lot and always picking a fight with me. He could be rather mean at times as well.
I looked behind me to Rae who was getting over the sudden arrivals. She looked over to Zach and smiled nervously. He returned the smile and they started to chat lightly. She turned to me and smiled then went back to him. I just rolled my eyes.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I growled as I turned back to Tanner. My heart was thudding so loud in my chest I thought it would explode. Tanner smiled and leaned back in his chair, putting his feet on the table.
“The same thing you always think is wrong with us,” He used the term us lightly. I knew what he meant.
“You’re a freak of nature,” I said with ease. I saw his wince and knew he did it intentionally.
“Oh. I think you might have scarred me for life. I don’t think I can ever sleep at night knowing you think I’m a freak,” He teased, putting the back of his hand to his forehead.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I snapped.
“No. You did,” He smiled casually at me. This guy could really get under my skin.
“What do you want?” I hissed through clenched teeth. There wasn’t a right away answer. I could hear Zach and Rae chatting up a storm.
“I wanted my cousin over there,” he nodded in Zach’s direction, “To meet my lover.” I narrowed my eyes at him and punched him in the chest.
“Ow. Don’t be hatin. You may hate us but she doesn’t,” this time he nodded to Rae. This pissed me off some, the way he talked about her, and the way he was looking at her.
“Stay away from her,” I hissed.
“I’m not going to do anything to her. I just want to get to know her,” Zach and Rae were laughing and clearly having a good time, but I knew Tanner and if his cousin was anything like him, Rae was in trouble. Tanner was studying them, mainly her, like a juicy piece of meat just there for the taking.
“I’m not kidding. You touch her and I will find the most painful way for you to die,” I said in a low and hopefully threatening tone. Tanner had moved back into a sitting position and was now leaning over his knees.
“Ooh. Torture. It would only be painful if you were doing it to me,” he said in a seductive tone. I punched him again.
“Pervert,” I said in a pissed off tone, but I was laughing inside. As much as I hated him at times, other times he was kinda funny, no matter how perverted. He smiled at me.
“Vampire hater,” He shot back.
“Blood thirsty monster,” I retorted with a smug look on my face. That one got him and his cocky smile went away instantly.
“Don’t tempt me,” He hissed. It sent chills down my spine but I stood my ground... or sat it really, whatever.
“Uh oh. Looks like I hit a soft spot. I didn’t know you had any. Urchins usually don’t you know,” I was in the lead now. The teacher and other students had moved up to the front and were paying no attention us. Rae and Zach were absorbed in their own little world and didn’t notice the heated discussion going on behind them.
“I’m serious. I could snap in a second and then you would see the real monster,” He was leaning closer to me, his face red with anger.
“Ooh. I’m so scared,” I knew this was getting dangerous but I was on a roll and getting a lot of anger out that he had inflicted on me. His features hardened and for a split second I was a little scared.
“Damn it Fox! I’m not joking! Don’t set me off or I might actually hurt you and you know I don’t want to do that,” He looked a little stunned about the fact that he just expressed some feelings towards me. My smiled faded and I was angry now.
“So you can’t take what you dish out? Not very sportsmen like of you?” I pressed. Our faces were just inches from each other.
“Not when you call me something most of are trying to control. You don’t know how hard it is,” He was almost begging me to stop.
“Leave Rae alone and I will leave you alone,” saved by the bell. Fifth hour was finally over and I pulled away and gathered my things. Rae and me only had one more class together, seventh hour. It was the last class of the day and my favorite, well… sort of. I loved the teacher and that it was the last class but I hated history. I said bye to Rae at the door and then started to walk to my speech class. Tanner caught me by the arm and pulled me over to the wall after I left my locker.
“Ouch! Let go, your hurting my arm,” I snapped at him. He was clearly still upset about what I called him in art.
“Promise me you wont call me that again,” He said forcefully, his grip didn’t loosen on my arm.
“Why. So you can harass me more?” My arm was really starting to hurt.
“Just please don’t. I… I get set off easily, you know, and I really don’t want to loose it with you. I,” he took a breath and I could see the agony and longing in his eyes. It then dawned on me what was happening.
“Whoa! Hold up! I already have a boyfriend and there is no way we are breaking up. If you are going where I think you are you need to stop and think no more of it,” I said. His grip released some but he still had me.
“What if something happened to Seth, then would you like me?” his eyes looked up from his thick eyelashes.
“No. Because you saying that makes me thing you would have something to do with it and I would hate you forever,” he didn’t like the sound of that and his hand dropped from my arm. I dashed off to speech and left him there, his head hung and sad eyes longing after me. I groaned to myself. I hated boy drama. Thankfully, Seth was in my Sixth hour.
I got through my sixth hour unscathed and was happy to go to seventh hour
I was relieved to see Rae happy and intact when I reached seventh hour. She gushed a bit about Zach.
I was rather frustrated with her. I told her about what happened with Tanner, and to my surprise and frustration, Rae grinned.
"Aww, he's so sweet! You can tell he really cares about you," Rae said in her loving and not understanding tone. I glared at her. Rae stuck her tongue out at me. "You're such a hater."
“I am not! I already have a boyfriend and you know how much I hate boy drama!” I complained to Rae for a while and we chuckled at it sometimes. After a while I could see her tuning out and entering her own world so I let her be. That’s when it happened. The group of vampires that had been practically following me and Rae all day waltzed into our class. They were all transferring into this class. My jaw dropped and Rae tensed next to me, her hand went instinctively to my arm, in the intent to calm me. Tanner and Seth locked gazes for a moment and Seth got ‘the look of pure anger’. Seth shrugged it off then moved his death stare to Gavan, who gave him a curious look. Gavan moved his gaze from Seth to me and he smiled, then his went back to Seth and it looked like a light bulb went off in Gavan’s head and a wicked grin played at the edge of his lips.
I groaned, boys. Always the same.
Rae looked over at me, making sure I wasn’t going to flip out. I was fine actually, extremely pissed off, but fine other then that.
“Now. I’m going to call out the names for the rooming situation. If you have nay questions after I am done, please ask me after class,” the teacher, Mrs. Thompson, was the instructor for this classes rooms and things for our yearly trip to Drygulch. It was five days long and opened for all who wanted and were able to go. Most new students got to go because the teachers wanted them to have the experience. Being a sophomore, I had gone my freshmen year, and had a blast. Each grade does different things though, each grade envious of the other. It was like your average summer camp, apart from the fact that it wasn’t in summer and we did learn stuff.
There were about five large cabins per gender. Only about half of them were filled with students, the others had teachers and parents.
I was a little less then thrilled this year because of all of the vampires, but whatever. my arms folded and my head set down on them, I prepared for the worst as Mrs. Thompson started listing.
“In cabin Alpha, we have: Jennifer, Sammy, Chessy, Valerie, Nnekia,” I shuttered. those were all vampires, and two of them were really bad news. I was begging not to be in that cabin as she continued “Tamara,” a human, “Kelly,” human. My eyes were squeezed shut and my hands were in fists. Please not me, please not me, please not me. I prayed to whatever god was up there listening, “And Rachelle,” she said the last name. Mrs. Thompson had always called Rae by her full… wait. she said Rae’s name. I jolted up and looked at Rae, who, as always, looked perfectly calm.
Thanks for askin' my questions-- just be sure to make sure the readers will know that without having to be told!