Narrow Lines-- CH. 3

Chapter 3

Outside of the club, the sky had began to pour rain in a furious fit. I watched Kane get back on his motorcycle. Everything was swirling through my mind so fast I could hardly concentrate. My confusion got the better of me, and I let my guard down for a complete stranger.

“Kane, wait!” I shouted over the din of the rain and the motorcycle.

“What?” he asked.

“Can we talk?” I asked. He nodded at me, and then tossed me the extra helmet.

“Get on.” he said. I got on the bike and put my arms around his waist, holding as tight as I could. The motorcycle scared the shit out of me. I was on edge around Kane. He scared me, especially after the flame and ash display.

Thoughts continued to rush through my head, as I tried to process what the hell had just happened to me. Apparently I was becoming a vampire. How do you not notice these things happening? I couldn’t process anything. The city flashed by us like gusts of multi-colored wind. Being late at night, the traffic was low. It didn’t take long to get to wherever Kane was taking me.

He slowed to a stop at this overgrown lawn with a tall, wooden fence suffering from wood rot and heavy vines hugging it straight to the ground. He got off of the bike and took off his helmet. I just sat there, I didn’t really know quite what to do. He looked at me. He was getting soaked in the rain. He was too exposed to be warm. Maybe vampires were cold-blooded. That would explain a bit, but even after everything the Ringer had shown me, details were vague and fuzzy. I hardly knew anything, just flashes of random memories.

“What?” I asked.

“You’ve still got your helmet on,” he said, “That and you’re still on the bike, getting soaked.” I looked up at him. I wasn’t sure if that was meant in a friendly way, or just a statement.

“I know that.” I said. I took off the helmet and handed it to him. I then proceeded to try and get off of the bike, without success. He let out a great bellow of laughter. It surprised me. I hadn’t seen any emotion from him at all until then. His laugh was deep, but alluring, he had this quality that was so creepy and eerie, yet irresistibly intriguing.

He extended his hand and took my arm. “Let me help you.” he said.

“Thanks.” I said. I gave him a half smile. He just looked back at me. I couldn’t understand him. He was so unreadable. So cold. His eyes were dulled from his impenetrable mask. I wondered why he was so self-guarded.

He took the bike and rolled it into the yard, and hid it underneath the overgrowth of the vines and thick vegetation that grew up the fence. It resembled nothing like vines. He walked towards a long driveway.

“Kane?” I asked.

“What?” he stopped and turned around to look at me.

“Where are we going now?” I said, my voice was breathy, as if I had just jogged a mile, “and what is going on?”

“Things will be explained in a little while. We have to go back to that house though. We can’t talk of anything in the open.” he said. I nodded and followed him as he walked back down the driveway. I was freezing from the rain. The driveway wasn’t impossibly long, Kane just walked slowly. He took his time. He was in no hurry. Although I was really cold, I just ignored it. I ran my fingers through my wet and tangled hair. I squeezed out some of the rainwater from it.

We approached a small, boarded up shack. I looked at Kane, and cocked up and eyebrow in question. He shrugged and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He knocked again, more persistently. After a few minutes, a small, pre-teen girl opened the door. She had shaggy blonde hair that was almost silver. As she stood back from the door to let us in, I noticed under the dim light that her hair had more of a green hue to it. It was unnerving. The shack was small, and the rooms looked a little decrepit.

Kane walked in front of me and nodded his head to follow me. He led me into a small, dingy kitchen. The lighting was poor and flickering. There was a small chrome table in the middle of the room. There was a woman with short cropped hair sitting on a kitchen counter, smoking a cigarette. A small, filled ashtray was in her lap. She didn’t bother to look up and acknowledge our presence.

Kane pulled up a chair for me at the table, and then sat down in one of the other chairs. The woman continued to finish her cigarette before she got off of the counter. While we were waiting, Kane lit up his own cigarette. He held out the small carton to me, offering one. I pulled one out and stuck it between my lips. He flicked on his lighter and held it up to the end of the blunt for me. I inhaled and it lit up almost instantly. The woman put out the butt of the blunt out and set the ashtray on the counter.

She took a seat in one of the chairs and leaned back casually. Her posture almost gave her an irritated persona. She appeared to be one of those unpleasant people, the ones that don’t deal with bullshit conversations or pleasantries. As if she had no time for that.

“What the fuck Kane?” she asked. Her voice was hollow and deep for a girl’s voice, uncaring. “Why the hell are you here past midnight?”

“Well, you never sleep, so I knew you wouldn’t really care anymore than usual.” His voice was cold, emotionless.

“Fuck you,” her tone was irritated, but in a joking manner.

“I came to bring you the transformer.” He said cooly.

“Ah,” she said. “This it?” She nodded her head towards me.

“Yes.” Kane replied. She looked at me and studied my face.

“Open your mouth.” She said.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“Open your goddamn mouth.” She reiterated in a pissed off voice. I opened my mouth. She studied it for a while. “Yeah, she’s further along that I’d sensed.” Kane looked at me. “And you can close your mouth.” She added. I closed my mouth as my face flushed hot red.

“The Ringer spent over an hour with her.” Kane said.

“Shit, he never takes more than half an hour with anybody.” She looked at me again.

“He was eerie.” I said. The woman let out a laugh.

“Of course the Ringer is eerie. Why do you think he’s so fucking revered? Everybody’s scared shitless of him.” Her voice became pissed off again. I shrugged.

“Uri, don’t blow up at her tonight,” Kane snapped at her. “She’s new. You can’t scare the crap out of her before you teach her anything.” I looked at Kane, and my stomach began to feel queasy. He looked me in the eye and slightly nodded.

“Alright, alright!” She exclaimed animatedly. “I won’t scare the crap out of her until she’s fully done.”

“Okay.” Kane said. The woman, Uri, as Kane called her, ignored the remark. She focused her attention on me again.

“You’re not going to transform tonight. You’re not trained enough. We’ll start that in a few days. I’m not in the state to train yet.” She said.

“Why’s that?” Kane asked.

“Because I’ve been having a feud with Gam again.” She stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Who’s Gam?” I asked.

“Nobody you want to know.” She said. Kane looked at me.

“He’s her werewolf boyfriend.” He explained.

“Ah. The Ringer made them sound like they’re pretty evil.” I stated.

“Damn right they are,” fumed Uri. “Conniving, manipulative demons.” I didn’t think she could be affected by anything.

“You don’t seem like the type of person to give a damn about anything or anyone.” I said. She looked at me.

“I don’t,” she said. “Gam just knows how to get under my skin.” she shivered. Her face was frozen in a grimace.

“Anyhow,” Kane stated. “We’re gonna go. She’s gotta get back home.”

Uri shrugged and stood up from her chair, and walked out of the room through a back door.

“She seems pleasant.” I said sarcastically.

“Yeah, she’s a real bitch.” Kane replied. He walked back into the foyer. I followed him out.

The young girl was sitting on the balustrade of the wooden staircase. She was tossing a small, clear glass ball up and down with her hands. Except she wasn’t catching the ball, merely moving her hands a little. The ball seemed to float in the air, as light as a feather. I looked at Kane.

“What is she doing?” I whispered. The girl set her silver eyes upon me

“It’s called levitating genius.” She said sarcastically. “Yeah, I’ve got aerial ears.” It was unnerving to see a child speak like an adult. Kane pulled my hand and opened the door, dragging me outside. He let go of me and headed back up the driveway.

“Kane?” I asked. He stopped and turned around to look at me. I stood there. The wind began to pick up, and my arms became pricked like gooseflesh. I was getting cold.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“How did I walk through a door if I’m a vampire? And how old is that girl really?” I asked. His eyes lit up. He walked much closer to me. I could feel his warm breath on my forehead.

“I’ll explain those kinds of details soon. You just have to trust me,” he leaned back a little, looking into my eyes. “Do you?” I nodded.

“Yes, I do.”

“Good,” he turned back abruptly and continued walking up the driveway. “Now let’s go.”

The rain was pouring harder than ever. I crossed my arms in an attempt to gain some warmth. When we got to his bike and we were sitting on it ready to leave, he hesitated.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Do you want me to take you home?” he asked. He turned back a little to see my face.

“Actually,” I said, “as much as I hate to admit it, I really ought to get home. I’m frozen.” My voice faded off. It sounded small, scared. It sounded far away, even to myself. He nodded and kicked the bike to life. I could feel the vibrations underneath me. I squeezed Kane tightly around his waist.

“Where do you live?” he asked.

“Near the city library.” I said. He nodded and began driving in the direction of my apartment.

He continued driving a bit of a ways away. We went through the dead empty heart of the city. It was spooky at that late time of night. Almost the peak of the morning. We soon arrived in front of the enormous apartment building. I checked my cell phone, it was almost two in the morning.

“This it?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. I paused and took a breath. “Do you want to come up and dry off? Everyone will be asleep, so it wouldn’t be a problem.” I wasn’t sure why I was rambling about nonsense and unimportant details to him. He probably wouldn’t say yes anyhow. I just felt bad for taking up his time. He looked at me for a while.

“Where can I put my bike?” he asked. I pointed him towards the underground driveway.

“Our extra spot is number one o’ eight.” he nodded and headed down the driveway. I waited for him underneath the green awning in front of the apartment entrance. My skin was as cold as ice. It seemed like forever waiting for Kane to come back out of the garage. After a time, he walked slowly up the steep garage driveway. He approached me from out in the rain. His stringy wet black hair was in his eyes. It hit me in my stomach that I was somewhat attracted to him. It was surprising, because although admittedly he was very attractive, he scared the hell out of me.

I walked through the glass doors and lead him to the elevator.

“Fancy.” he said. I shrugged and pressed the up arrow button. The door dinged open almost instantly. I walked in and propped myself up against the railing on the opposite wall. He came in and leaned against the wall as well. I looked at him for a minute. He was staring at the ground. The water from his hair slid down the bridge of his nose and slowly dripped onto the carpeted floor.

“Why are you so reserved?” I asked him. He looked at me silently for a little while.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I mean,” I took a breath of air and let it out with a sigh, “why are you so shut off emotionally from everyone around you.” he settled his unsettling violet eyes on me. His lips tensed up and his entire demeanor seemed to shift into the realm of frozen over.

“After a few centuries of being alone and feeding from other human beings that you once were, life becomes nothing but passing seconds of empty satisfaction.” he sighed. “I’ve just learned to not become attached to anyone or anything.” he shrugged.

The elevator dinged open once again, revealing the empty and long hall on my floor. I walked out of the compartment and walked down the hall towards my door. I sifted through my bag looking for my keys. He leaned against the wall, breathing slowly.

I finally found my keys, but before I opened the door I looked at him.

“Just be quiet,” I whispered. “And if you wouldn’t mind taking off your shoes, it’d really help eliminate excess noise.” he nodded and slipped off his shoes. He grabbed them in his hand and I opened the door to the apartment. I shut the door quietly once he had gotten in. I locked the door once again.

I saw him look around and inspect the place. His eyes settled on nothing, but touched everything. His expression did not change. I slipped off my own shoes and walked out of the foyer into the kitchen. I could hear Kane’s soft footsteps on the wood floors behind me. I got out two mugs from one of the cabinets.

“Tea?” I asked quietly.

“Sure.” he whispered. I got out two tea bags and began steeping the tea in the instant hot water. I opened the refrigerator and got out some milk.

“Do you take it with milk and sugar?” I asked.

“No milk, no sugar.” he said. I shrugged. He watched me pour the milk into my mug. “You really ought to not drink milk anymore.” he said.

“And why’s that?” I asked.

“Vampires are allergic to it.” he said quietly.

“What? How come?” I asked. I was a little shocked by that. I’d never heard of anything so ridiculous before.

“We can’t eat animal products.” he said.

“Are you seriously telling me that vampires are vegans?” I asked.

“In a sense, yes. We cannot have anything from animals, but on the other hand we suck blood from the living,” he paused and sighed. “Generally we do not suck blood from anything but humans, but in the beginning for vampires, those who have been converted find it hard to murder or mutilate those of their previous kind. They choose to live off of the blood of animals.” he shuddered.

“Weird.” I said. I handed him his finished tea and took my own. I led him out of the kitchen and headed towards the stairs. Before I walked up them, I turned around to look at him.

“The stairs creak in the middle. Walk on the sides.” I demonstrated. He nodded, and then did something that scared the hell out of me.

Without spilling a drop of tea, Kane leaped silently up to the second floor and did not make a sound. I stared at him with my mouth open a little. He shrugged. I walked up the stairs.

When we were both in my room I locked the door and shoved a blanket underneath the crack at the bottom of the door.

“Okay,” I said. “This room is pretty much soundproof with an enormous closet in between my room,” pointed at the wall of the door, “and their room.”

“Okay.” he said.

“Do you want to dry off?” I asked. “I’ve got some stuff that might fit you.” I said.

“Now why would you have clothes that would fit me?” he asked.

“Because I stole them from my father.” I shrugged. “He had cool old clothes.” he smiled. I got out the clothes and handed them to him. “I’m going to change in my bathroom. You can change out here.”

When I came out of the bathroom, Kane was sitting on the edge of my bed, wearing my father’s old painting jeans from when he was a teenager and a black shirt. I put something warm on. Fresh jeans and a long sleeve shirt.

“So what’s the deal with everything that’s been happening?” I asked.

“You have a nice room.” he said, ignoring my question.

“Thanks.” I said.

“Vampires are not what you’d think they are,” he said. “Besides the traditional blood-thirsty beast part.” he shrugged. I didn’t laugh.

“How come I could walk through a door? How did you set that man on fire? How did you leap so high and land so quietly? I have so many questions, and I think I deserve some answers.” I said.

“Yes,” he sighed. “You do.”