Young Writers Society

The park was desolate. The absence of people only amplified the sound of the wind rustling the leaves and the tinny clang of abandoned cans rolling across the concrete pathways.

Gabriel relaxed back against the wooden bench and gazed up at the full moon. Now that it was the beginning of October, the nights were getting longer. It had only just past 7pm and the sky was a beautiful inky black.

In the corner of his eye, Gabriel saw Becca rub her gloved hands together before wedging them between her thighs. White clouds left her mouth as she let out shuddering breaths.

“You’re cold,” stated Gabriel, and unwound his scarf. She smiled as he wrapped it around her neck.

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t need it. It was more of a fashion choice. But it looks better on you, anyway.”

She snuggled against his side and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her even closer.

“Are you sure we’re okay?” she asked, her voice muffled by the scarf.

“It’s been a month. We’ve had no other attacks on our house. Sure, me and Ezra have had some funny looks on the streets but people just seem to keep their distance now.” He squeezed her quilted arm reassuringly. “And now we’re on a nice, stable diet of animal blood, they’ve got nothing to fear.”

That wasn’t quite true. But he had kept all the grizzly stuff from Becca. She didn’t know about Ezra’s vampire friend going missing – most likely dead. She also didn’t know about the growing number of cases of human on vampire hate crimes in the more densely populated areas of the UK. Gabriel had not joined Ezra again on his meetings with Silas, but Ezra would come back with grimmer reports every week. It was not helping his mood swings but at least now he felt able to come to Gabriel when stuff was playing on his mind; even if it was just to vent.

“I’m so glad Maeve is staying with her mum for a few nights so I can actually breathe. I do feel bad for her, though. All this stuff is really getting to her. Does Ezra know you’re seeing me again?”

Gabriel’s eyes shifted to his lap. Guilt lay heavy in the pit of his stomach. No, he hadn’t told Ezra about this little meet-up. But he had been cooped up in the house for over a month. Surely, he was entitled to a reward? And what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.

The last time he left the house was to get his monthly supply of blood from the butchers. The exchange wasn’t the most pleasant of interactions. The butcher had refused to make eye contact and spoke only in angry mutterings and grumbles. It seemed to be a human condition, that when they were alone, they were mostly harmless. But get those same people in a group? They seemed to coalesce and become bodies sharing one fearless, mindless, immovable mass.

Gabriel kissed Becca on the forehead but said nothing. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder. Her hair blew across his face and he smiled at the way it tickled his nose. Underneath the smell of her vanilla shampoo was something else. It took Gabriel a second to place the familiar metallic scent but then there was no doubt about it. It was blood. Becca’s blood. Now locked onto the scent, his hearing attuned to the sound of her slow, steady pulse.

This was different. Sure, Gabriel often unwittingly sensed the melodic thumps of the beating hearts about him, but to smell it? He was pretty sure Becca had no open wounds, so why was the smell of her blood invading his senses?

He shuffled on the hard bench; brows drawn in confusion. She seemed to take his movements as a way to get her attention. She lifted her head and pressed her lips to his. It was a soft, innocent kiss but it had Gabriel fighting off the urge to unsheathe his fangs. He cupped her jaw and deepened the kiss. She mewled in delighted surprise and grabbed his jacket at his chest to pull him closer.

There, alone on the park bench in the moonlight, they were like two teenagers in love that had sneaked out of their houses to be with each other because they just simply couldn’t bear to be apart any longer.

Becca’s heartbeat quickened. Gabriel could feel her pulse against his fingers as his hand cupped the back of her neck. The kiss became even more frivolous. She gasped and writhed against him. His skull screamed at the intense pressure of his fangs against his gums.

The whistling of the wind was gone. The scuttling of night time wildlife had disappeared. The clinking and clanking of litter ceased to exist. All Gabriel could hear was blood pumping through veins. It enveloped him like a warm, intoxicating embrace. He wanted to touch it; to taste it; to bathe in it.

Gabriel jerked back, breaking the kiss. He suddenly felt light -headed, like his brain was starved of oxygen.

“What’s up?” Becca asked but her voice sounded far away.

Gabriel blinked hard and focused on her. “Nothing.” He cleared his throat. “I just thought I saw something.”

Becca pulled away from him, her hand clasping her coat and scarf closed around her throat. “Really, what?”

The noises around him came rushing back, like he’d peeled away the film they had been stuck behind. Becca’s pulse still sounded like a war drum but he was thankful she was no longer wrapped around him.

“It’s fine,” he finally said, more to himself than her. But just at that moment, something did catch his eye. Down by the pond not too far from them, there was a dark figure behind a cluster of trees. It lurked from trunk to trunk in a way that didn’t quite seem right. It disappeared behind a tree and Gabriel waited to see it reappear on the other side. But it didn’t, and he was sure he felt an odd shift in the breeze. The type of subtle change he was all too familiar with.

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More articles were cropping up about vampire bars and clubs being searched and closed down. Ezra was sitting at the dining table, phone on his lap as he skim-read his way through different online newspapers. There was no mention of Black Velvet, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

The back door opened and Lillian entered the kitchen, head bent down so her hair covered her face. Ezra arched an eyebrow at the curious thing she held loosely by her side.

“What’s that?” he asked.

She huffed a sad sort of laugh and looked up at him. Her face looked so drawn-out and defeated. She lifted the thing and presented it on her open palm. It was a bone, like from a t bone steak. There were even still pits of meat left on it.

“Where did that come from?”

She gestured to the garden. “It just bounced off my head.”

Ezra dropped his phone onto the table. “What?”

“There’s loads of them in the flower bed. Bits of bone. Rubbish. Styrofoam.”

Ezra looked past her through the doorway, as if he could see his neighbours over their high fence. “They threw that at you?”

She nodded. “Asked if I needed it for a devil summoning.” She made that sad laugh again. “We’re vampires, not witches. I think they’re confused.”

“Did you say anything back?”

She tossed the bone into the bin with a loud thud, then leaned against the kitchen counter. “I shouldn’t have to.”

“I’m sorry they’re being like this. Out of everyone, I thought our neighbours would at least just be civil,” Ezra sighed. “Just for the amount of banana bread you’ve baked them alone.”

Lillian crossed her arms over her chest, knuckles wrapped inside her flannel sleeves. Then Ezra saw her eyebrows lift and her eyes brighten. A silent plea that would shortly be followed by a not-so-silent one. He braced himself.

“Are you sorry enough to change your mind?” she asked, her voice soft like a lost child.

“You were just attacked putting the recycling away in your own back garden. If that’s not proof enough that we need to lay low, I don’t know what is.”

Her nostrils flared but he could see her fighting to stay calm.

“But don’t you think us hiding away is only going to make us look guilty? Like we have a reason to hide.”

“We do have a reason. Them. Gabriel was right. Nothing we do will be make them fear us and hate us any less.”

“Then we should just live our lives.” Lillian pushed herself off the counter and stood tall in the centre of the room. “I’m not ashamed of who I am and I’m sick of letting those narrow-minded dicks think that I am.” Her eyes shone at him. “Just let me see him.”

“I’m sorry.”

Her jaw jutted out and she looked away, the way Ezra did when he was irritated. Spend enough time around the same person, you start to pick up their mannerisms.

“Stop saying that when you’re not. If you were, you’d do something.”

Ezra lent back in his chair, sizing her up. “You think I’m not doing anything? What, you think this is nothing to me? I am trying to protect you. The both of you.”

“Oh yeah?” Her eyes found his. They were wide and alight with anger now. “And where is Gabriel, by the way?”

When Ezra pressed his lips into a thin line, she smirked wickedly.

“Exactly.” She let out an angry huff and stormed out of the room. “You can’t keep us to yourself forever.”

Ezra closed his eyes took a deep, calming breath. Oh, but I wish I could.

Dalia’s death, along with the carnage of the Moonlight raid had Ezra’s nerves stretched so thin he feared they’d snap and he’d unravel like an old cardigan. If having Lillian hate him was the price to keep her safe, he was willing to pay it. At least, that’s what he told himself.

When he heard Gabriel come home, he didn’t have the energy to ask where he had been. He couldn’t face being lied to right now. Instead, he just listened to him head upstairs and shut himself in his room.

Ever since Ezra had told Gabriel what was on his mind and his anger continued to boil just below the surface, he tended to stay out of Ezra’s way. They used to be like two young bucks, butting heads and locking antlers at a moment’s notice. Now, whenever a conversation began to get heated, Gabriel caved instantly. And there was this look in his eyes that read I see you; I know you and I’m here for you. The pity wasn’t exactly welcomed, but it was better than Lillian thinking that he was being difficult for the fun of it.