Created (Book 1 of the Created) (23 page)

I didn't dread school. I dreaded the awkwardness of seeing
Sunnie
and Veronica.

I hadn't seen Veronica since we had parted Sunday morning
and there had been fairly intimate moments shared by the two of us during our
struggles. The moments were real enough. What if it had been the stress of the
situation driving us together? The shared heightened emotions had forged a
bond. My questions would be answered in moments. The crew stood around without
talking.

Darby waved. Chloe nodded. Both were listening to music.

Liam and Logan both issued ghost fist bumps in my direction
then resumed talking to one another.

Veronica's side walk was empty.

I didn't have time to dwell as the bus pulled down the
street toward us.

The door opened and from her seat Veronica motioned for the
group to get on.

Veronica greeted everyone as they passed, but never made eye
contact with anybody. "Liam, Logan, Chloe, Darby, Ethan."

The bus started moving before I was seated.

Settling into my seat, I joined the others in what had
become our morning routines. It was becoming predictable. Our repertoire was
limited to reading, riding, listening to music and sleeping. Then my favorite
was staring outside, though sleeping was a close second. Honestly, my second
favorite was watching the others take part in their daily activities.

The school was abuzz with school spirit week activities. Club
presidents placed signs all over the school advertising their benefits, while
coaches roamed the halls sizing up students for recruiting. The day was
uneventful until after second block when we were allowed to tour the booths of
the various organizations and clubs in the high school. While walking around, I
caught the scent of the wolves Tristan and Haley. Then there were a couple more
that I had never smelt before, but it dissipated as Veronica, Logan and I
silently gazed upon things we could never do.
   

We were separated at a booth about the various athletics on
campus. Logan went in one direction and Veronica another while I turned the
pages of a photo album of the previous school year's sports teams. Momentarily,
I got a glimpse of
Sunnie
through the glass wall of
the auditorium sitting outside reading a book sitting on a bench. I lost her as
a group of students decided to congregate in front of the bank of windows.

"So much for admiring from afar," I uttered to
myself as I pushed my way through the students until I reached the door.

The August Alabama heat was already brutal for this time of
morning. The brisk, warm breeze blowing through the courtyard did little to
help.
Sunnie
sat lazily reading her book while
sitting under the cover of the awning. She was oblivious to my presence.

Her eclectic style was evident as ever in her mix of purple
sundress and cowboy boots with a hint of a double strand of hair freshly
colored to match.
Sunnie's
perfume mixed with the
honeysuckle scent of her blood drew me in further. There was no resisting her.

"Hey
Sunnie
."
Speaking to her caused her to jump and drop her book.

She covered her face with both hands at first from
embarrassment then broke into infectious laughter.

I nervously joined her in laughter then apologized as I
picked her book up from the concrete. "I hope I didn't scare you. I just
wanted to say hi and see if you were wearing any food today."

That was so lame, I thought.

Her expression showed that my joke had been recognized, and
she was polite enough to issue a minor smile.

She moved her feet from the bench to the ground. "No
food today. I am glad you stopped by. Have a seat."

I sat down and shyly kept my eyes averted.

Sunnie
rolled her foot over a
small pebble as she looked down. "No activities for you?"

"Not really my thing. There is so much more to life
than high school stuff. I try not to get so caught up with all the drama,"
I answered.

The speech had been stolen from one I had heard a human
inside say minutes before as he espoused the multitude of reasons that all
ended in the either he was too cool or above everything involving school.

Sunnie
was impressed, or at least
that was the impression she gave.
"Yeah me too.
Been at this school long?"

I couldn’t believe that bullshit worked.

"Nah.
This is my first year
here. I went to school on the base until this year."

She continued to use the tip of her boot to mess around with
the pebble. "I am new here too."

Our conversation was strained and awkward and great.

Sunnie
was different than the
vampires. There was no plan. There was no struggle for control. No fight for my
life or the possibility of having to kill her in a maddening game of survival.
This was just two kids trying to figure the other one out.

The conversation waned as I became distracted by the scent
of her blood. I had not been given any Inhibitors today and any natural
resistance was wearing thin. The sound of her blood being pumped through her
made me want to close my eyes and listen.

I knew I had to keep talking or risk finding my fangs within
her neck as she withered in my arms. "Ah...uh...What do you do for fun? I
mean...Never mind. That is too personal I guess. Heck, I just realized I don't
even know your last name."

Sunnie
giggled and looked
flattered that I was babbling like an idiot. "My last name is Vass."

Silence ensued again. Surprisingly, we were both comfortable
in the normally uncomfortable.

She pulled her hair up into a ponytail, but did not restrain
the hair. Instead she chose to fan herself with her tattered copy of To Kill a
Mockingbird. "This Alabama heat is awful. A girl could melt out here."

Her exposed neck brought back flashes of seeing her lie in
front of me at the Tortured Rabbit. The beauty of her exposed slender neck
filled me with a craving to taste her sweetness. It was sheer agony to be
confronted with something you wanted so badly.

Sunnie
got up to move around as
she continued to fan. "Not even the damn wind here is cold."

I stuck to the shadow created by the angle of the awning and
the rear wall of the building. "The summers here are miserable. Don't
worry. In time you will get used to the heat."

She walked and fanned. "I am not so sure about that.
How could anyone get used to this? I mean it is bad enough that they have to
torment us with this rabble they call an education. They expect us to learn
with the air conditioners ramped up to max trying to fight back this
oven."

Sunnie
wiped away the sweat
forming on her neck. The sticky sweetness oozing from her pores made me want to
lick the tiny droplets from her supple body. My mouth was excessively dry as I
watched her dry her moist hand on the hem of her dress. My tongue flinched
inside my mouth as the particle was wasted.

The longer she stayed in the sun the longer and more
profusely she would sweat, driving me further into a frenzy of want. Seeing her
skin glistening in the sun did nothing to abate the memories of the other
night.

She had to feel me staring at her body and think me a
pervert, but she didn't seem to mind or care that she was doing the bulk of the
talking. I was at a loss about anything other than feeling the softness of her
neck being forgiving against my fangs. The remembered sensation resonated
through my fangs tips that began to grow within my mouth.
 

"Screw fanning, I need to get back in the shade. Slide
over some,"
Sunnie
said as she bumped me further
down the bench.

Swallowing hard, I complied though said nothing in order to
hide my fangs, which at the moment had a mind of their own.

The flesh and sweat of her body brushed against mine.
Fighting back a desire to lunge at her by thinking hard about why I was
imbedded in the school to begin with and how I could jeopardize it all, I was
able to stave off the passion I was feeling. It was no longer about needing her
blood, it was becoming about needing her.

The shade was dark enough that I hoped if I did have any
features showing they were masked.

I could hear, see and smell every drop of sweat on her body
as easily as I could hear her heart beat, see the blood coursing under the skin
and smell every coppery and salty, honeysuckle infused pint.

Sunnie
leaned in close. Much
closer than I thought she should have and said, "I have a couple or three
things on my mind. Ok?"

Helplessly, I bit my lip before I said, "Go for
it."

There was a relaxed, yet frustrated look on her face.
"You don't talk much do you?"

This deserved an answer. A great answer if I wanted to see
where this could go. So far, I had been less like the suave vampire found in
the culture of the age. I searched my brain to channel the fictionalized side
of being a creature that could potentially live forever.
 

My answer wasn't slow forthcoming though she was anxious to
hear my response.

I taxed my wits trying to think of anything that wasn't
completely devoid of emotion and also not too over the top.

So I began, "
Sunnie
, you may
find this difficult to understand, so let me finish before you go running away
laughing your head off."

She didn't leave though she did inch away a small amount
most humans would never have recognized. The great thing about being a vampire
was that when everything was in the proper order inside of me, the world
outside was amazing. Even the smallest detail was perceivable. Body language
was a great gauge of whether or not a vampire had control and was becoming an
important part in my understanding of the differences between the worlds in
which I coexisted.

I continued, "I think you and I have an opportunity to
be friends. There is a possibility we could be more than friends if we both are
honest about what we want and feel. There are chances in your life sometimes
that you want to take but are afraid to take. There are chances in your life
sometimes that you take and shouldn't have. I don't want this to be a chance
that we didn't take because I will never think this is something that shouldn't
have happened."

Sunnie
thought before she spoke,
"Well, when you do speak you say a lot. I don't know where to start except
to say that I am willing to give it a shot, but there is something I need to
know before I allow myself to get any deeper into this and suffer having my
heart broken."

"Shoot," I said.

"You have a female friend that is currently giving me a
go to hell look through the glass. She has been staring at us for a while.
Where does she fit into all of this?" She casually motioned in the
direction of the door into the courtyard.

Caught up in
Sunnie
, I had failed
to notice Veronica watching us.

Time had come for a half lie. "We were assigned female
counterparts to ease the transition in the civilian school since none of the
base kids had ever been allowed to attend school outside of the confines of the
fence. The plan was to act as if we were a couple."

Perplexed,
Sunnie
harshly
retorted, "That sounds like a loud of crap. Do you expect me to by that? I
have had guys lie to me before." Her demeanor changed as she moved further
away.

I thought fast, "You know how damn good you
smell?"

Pausing, she faced the door.

I thought for a minute she was going to bolt until I
realized she was sizing up Veronica.

Sunnie
said, "I want to
believe your story. I really, really do."

She peered over her shoulder to gauge my reaction.

Veronica walked away.

"Then believe it," I said as I touched her hand.

The bell rang signifying that the class was over and lunch
period was about to begin. "Ethan, I need to get to the library to check
out a couple of books for my English class during lunch.
If
you are serious then how about a date before we devote our lives to each
other."
She smirked

We both laughed.

"What do you suggest?" I asked.

I was afraid to admit that I had no clue were to begin or
even if there was a chance that we could do more than flirt at school.

Sunnie
held out her hand then
gestured for her book back as we walked into the building. "Well, there is
this back to school bash in three weeks. I am thinking we kind of get to know
each other first then the dance can be our first official date. You know if
things work out."

We entered the school, though I held the book for ransom.
Lightly kissing her cheek, I was prepared to bid her goodbye and go to lunch
with a fair amount of dread about dealing with Veronica, but the kiss became a
hug that lingered. Any thoughts of dread melted in her arms.

There was a sudden, urgent tapping on my shoulder from
behind. I didn't have to turn around, but I knew who it was by the urgency and
the odor in the air.

"Are we going to lunch today?" Veronica questioned
impatiently.

Sunnie
and I broke the embrace.
Uncomfortable in the presence of Veronica, we parted without a word. There was
not a chance for introductions as my new friend departed.

Starting to explain myself, I was cut off by Veronica.
"I know what Liam did the other night by bringing that girl to you at The
Tortured Rabbit. The arrogant bastard thought the idea was cute. Thought you
might actually appreciate someone like her to be your first taste of human blood.
There can be nothing more than flirtations with her. We can write it up as
practice for infiltration, but that is as far as it goes. Do you
understand?!" she paused, waiting for a response.
"Well?!"