Scene Immortal Read online

  "Crazy shit,” I smiled.

  "Anyway. Clearly my prince has simply not come. And I'm not pouting around until he does."

  "Oooh, you're so liberated and empowered!"

  We both laughed.

  She sat the player back on the bedside table, and then rolled back over with an ugly sigh.

  "Shit,” she said.

  "What's up?"

  "Wakey-wakey. Time for school."

  That was when the first really bad hunger pain hit.

  "Well hey,” I said. "We needed a talk like this, yeah? Plus I didn't want you spazmo-sissing the first time you saw Jackie and I all at chill in the house."

  "No 'spazmo-sissing', that I promise. Big fake smiles, not so much. Congeniality, that I can do."

  "I would ask nothing more."

  "I would ask that you take a shower before going to school, cause um, you're ripe,” she teased.

  "What the hell ever! Hot Scene legends never smell!"

  She laughed, rolled her eyes, and got up. "Just get ready, okay? We leave in an hour."

  "Oh! Actually, you're off the hook. Josh is getting me this morning. Almost forgot."

  "I love Josh more and more every day. I am going to sleep. For all of three hours. Then I have an interview."

  "Ah, much congrats!" I got out of bed, gathered a towel and some boxer briefs. Shannon was lumbering out the door. "Alright, I'm storming the bathroom. Kick ass today, Shae!"

  "I always do. You just try and stay awake!” she said, heading toward her bedroom.

  By the time I'd shut myself in the bathroom and turned on the water, I was folded in half with a cramp. Shae had caught me at a bad time, and we'd talked the remainder of the dark hours away. Now I was paying for it. I had to get something in my system before school. Or there would be big problems.

  CHAPTER 11: THERE IS THIS CRAVING

  I crouched, poised over the bathtub, as if about to vomit, waiting for the cramp to end. I sucked in a strength-sigh, stood up slowly, and stepped in the shower, turning on the hot water. When I was hungry, I found, I tended to run icy cold, and just the opposite when I was well-fed.

  When the water hit my body, some of the pain and rigid nastiness that had started to set in began to unwind and ease up on my nerve-endings. I washed fast anyway, knowing this comfort was not gonna last, no way. And I had to find a way to get dressed and semi-presentable for school and grab a quick "snack" before the doorbell rang.

  I showered in record time, fogging up the whole bathroom with the intense heat and humidity, my vampiric muscles and tissue loving the feel, blood-deprived as they were. I wrapped myself in the towel I'd grabbed, and ran full-on fast as hell to my bedroom, not believing what I saw when I burst through the door: Josh sitting on my bed. Dammit. Early.

  "Josh!" I probably sounded way more pissed than I'd meant to.

  "It's okay, I swear I'll close my eyes while you change,” he said.

  Nice time for jokes. If he only knew how hungry I was. Grr.

  "Like I give a shit. I'm just surprised you're here so damn early!"

  "Sorry, I'll try and make sure to be annoyingly late next time, and maybe we can rack up a few late-career detentions." All smiles. Maybe I should just tell him.

  I threw off the towel, zoomed to my closet, through a hot-but-simple outfit on, and waited by the door, not even realizing what I'd done, or how I'd done it.

  Josh was staring at me like he'd just seen one of his old heroes rise from the dead. I didn't get it.

  "What?"

  "Holy crap! Is that one of the benefits of being a vamp?"

  "Huh?"

  "Kyle, you just got dressed, and rather perfectly I might add, in about three seconds."

  Well duh, why hadn't I thought of this. Of course there'd be benefits, along with the hardships. Preternatural powers, I guess. Add it to the pile of things I still needed to know. How far could these powers go? Would they grow as my life went on?

  "That's so weird. It didn't feel any different to me. In fact... I mean, it just felt like getting ready. But, I'll give you this, I've never done it quite that fast. It was just like my mind knew exactly what would look good, and my body responded immediately, and with total smoothness. Yeah, that did feel different actually. Everything felt very smooth."

  "Well, it was all just a blur from here,” my astounded friend said. "But you look great, so let's go."

  I grabbed my player and my bag, and we headed for the car.

  Still no snack.

  This meant only one thing. Dammit. I didn't want to have to do this. But it was this or.... what? Get terribly sick? Go insane? Die? I didn't know. That meant I had to feed.

  Kyle started the car and an older Alphatwyn song came to life. It was great to hear, as usual, because their music was perfection, but something new hit me when I heard this song. It was a kind of longing, like what I used to feel for Jackie. Before. Before she'd come back to me. Jackie was coming back to me, maybe. But when would Andrew and Victoria come back to me? And how would the date with Jackie go? And when the hell would I tell Shannon? And and and and and... Here it was, the panic, the feeling of creeping insanity, with the cramps and nausea.

  "JOSH!,” I shouted.

  He slammed on the brakes.

  "What the FUCK?! I thought I was about to hit something! I think I just pissed myself... Except, that would be gauche, so, I totally wouldn't do that,” he tried to joke.

  We both sat there, pulled to the side of the road, a dust cloud around us, breathing heavily.

  "I'm sorry Josh, I just can't take it anymore. I tried to take care of it before the sun rose, so I could be stealth, ya know, but Shannon came in 'cause I woke her up or I dunno what and dammit I'm going insane with hunger and you smell good and it has nothing to do with your cologne and dammit now that you're sweating from being freaked out it's even worse and—"

  He shoved his arm in my face. "Go. Do it. Just... be careful. But do it. I don't mind. I don't want you to suffer, and..."

  It was the "and" that kept me from biting into his wrist right away.

  "'And' what?"

  "Nothing."

  I was breathing crazy now, shaking, my mind turning inside out, my mouth all watery and my stomach gurgling, but I just wanted to hear him admit it, so that I'd never do this again.

  "What, Josh?!"

  "I want you to, okay?! I like it! It feels good, and... it's the closest I'll ever get to you. That way. "

  "Oh God, Josh. It's not like that. I'm freaking using you as a vending machine, it's not—"

  "I know. I know. You're hetero. I'm not delusional. But you're my best friend, and I can help you by letting you do this, and it makes me feel bonded to you. It's... it's the closest I've ever been to a guy, honestly."

  That made me feel creepy and honored all at once. Not because I'm a homophobe, but because the thought of leading on my best friend felt insanely wrong. I really don't know how else I could have felt in the situation. After a few more seconds, "creepy" didn't mean shit anyway. He was so worked up that all the chemicals in his body were oozing scents from his pores, and his eyes were full of this longing that mirrored my own bloodlust.

  I gave his wrist a small snap with my teeth, and cupped my mouth over the wound.

  Immediately I was warm, I was in another place, and I was barely aware that Josh was leaning back in his driver's seat, trying not to moan, as I drained as little blood as I could from his wrist. When I'd had just enough to right my mood, I pulled my mouth away, and spit a gob at the wound.

  Josh roused, then looked down. "Ew. Classy. Why'd you do that?"

  "Instinct,” I said, surprised at myself.

  "Huh?"

  "I dunno. I have to do that to make your wound heal fast. I just knew to do it."

  We both looked down at the same time, and there was nothing on Josh's wrist but some drying saliva.

  "Damn,” Josh said, "I should have you around when I shave."

  Then we heard the tires squeal.<
br />
  An uber-aerodynamic silver sports car sped off. It was one of the jerky jock-mobiles, heading toward Westridge High.

  Shit.

  CHAPTER 12: RESPONSE,

  AND A GREATER NEED TO KNOW

  Josh's eyes bugged out all funny. "What do you think—"

  "Drive,” I said, probably too casually for Josh's taste.

  "But what if—"

  "Screw it, just drive!"

  He shot me a goofy look, and then pulled timidly onto the road. This particular stretch of the highway was so tree-draped and leaf-dappled that, in the early morning light especially, I had to wonder what the jocks had even seen. If they had seen anything. And did it matter anyway? I could more-than-likely stealth Josh and me away from any problem, and I was damn sure I could kick anybody's ass into submission who gave us crap. But I didn't want to have to resort to any of that. And I probably wouldn't have to. I didn't even have room in my brain to consider it, honestly. I cared much more about what was going to happen this Friday with Jackie than what some dumbass might say he saw. I should've been more worried, but I couldn't bring myself to care as much as my nervous friend.

  "Kyle,” he finally spoke up. "How long do you think they were there? How much do you think they saw?"

  "Look, for all we know we could have just caught them peeling past us. From our perspective, it may have felt like that was the tail end of our being watched, but who knows? Besides, it's still foggy, and the light is so shadowy and weird along that stretch of road, we'll be able to play anything off if it does come up, which it won't."

  "Oh, you're sure about that, are you?"

  I smiled. "Hell no, I'm not sure. But remember my changing stunt back at the house. Let's just say I doubt you have much to worry about, even if somebody does try to talk some smack."

  He drove for a few seconds without saying anything, the music barely audible, then he said, kinda sounding confused, "So you do have, well, powers?"

  "I think I do. Remember, I'm totally living in Uncertainty Land right now. I know things have been different, or at least been changing. I don't know if I'm more than human, or super human, or part human/part vamp, but I'm definitely different, and so far it seems the privileges are matching the negatives blow for blow."

  Josh nodded. "Interesting."

  That was code for something else, that word. It had been that way with Josh since we were about twelve-ish. "Interesting" usually meant something like, "I'm hearing you and I'm taking it in, and I'm not sure whether I love it or hate it, but I'll get back to ya real soon on that,” (wink wink).

  I let it go. At that moment, I was just grateful I could face school with a full stomach.

  ~ * ~

  School was a sensory mind-melt. If my brain hadn't been upgraded along with the rest of my physical hardware, it might have driven me insane. The night had been vibrant, but the day was blazing, people's faces like beautiful billboards of their inner thoughts, humanity lit from within, the smell of teenage angst smoke-snaking up my nostrils; and the sounds, the voices booming and pinging off the bleached walls of the entranceway, the bright pastels of cell phones catching my eye, girls bodies popping my libido into hyperdrive, the beautiful paleness of Josh's skin like some alterno-statue in a progressive museum. Beautiful. All of it. Overwhelming. Everybody's perfume and cologne, combining with the undertones of their skin, and then of course at the basement of all this sensuality, the blood. The blood of my peers, my friends, my exes, my crushes, my enemies, all intoxicating, and definitely forbidden. I made that a padlocked rule, at that moment. Of course Josh was excluded, because I'd already opened that nasty toybox. And there was no way he'd say no to me saying no to him. Uh-uh.

  Every class was a distraction. Too many smells, all good, even from the nastiest of hygienically-challenged individuals that spoke to nobody. It was maddening for about five minutes, but then my will power was able to rein everything in, to pull it back, to condense it inside this little box I kept in my desire center, somewhere between my stomach and crotch. When I smelled certain people, I would literally cramp up, from my gut outward. It lasted about three seconds, but it was enough that I had to fight a noticeable response. So nobody would think I'd totally lost my shit.

  More jolting than the occasional desire cramp, though, was what happened in second period, when Analise Jeffries, pretty-pretty random scene girl number 403 or whatever, turned to me and said, "So, I hear you and Jackie are hookin' it back up again,” with a devilish smile.

  "Huh?” I said. "Well, I guess blood travels fast." Um, what? "Uh, word... ya know, damn, word gets around, huh?"

  She chuckled and winked at me. "Oh Kyle, you're so sexy-weird, no wonder Jackie can't live without you."

  "Yeeeah. Well, yeah, we're going out this weekend. So, we'll see."

  "Eh, you have nothing to worry about. Everything's gonna be perfect,” she winked.

  Did everybody around me know more about my life than I did? Well, no, I surely had a leg up on them with the vampire thing. Unless those jocks really had seen what I feared they had. Time would tell.

  And it did, forty-seven minutes later, at lunch.

  The cafeteria brought a new discovery: I still craved "regular people" food. The smells coming at me as I made my way down the line were big and tasty and just as tempting as those that came from my classmates. My mouth was watering as I paid the milfster who worked the register. I was feeling so stupidly spry and aware that I winked at her as she handed me my changed. She actually, blushed. So sweet. And I went and sat down at the "Sceney" table. The length of my section of the cafeteria was clad in black, tight close, as would be expected, and so many of the bois wore frowns more often than grins, but I was feeling too good to let other people's shit get me down today, so I sat with the purpose of lifting everybody's spirits. Probably, telling everybody that I was a vampire wouldn't be the best convo opener.

  Before I could say anything, a drowsy chorus of "Hey, Kyle" floated at me, and I just kinda looked at everybody and winked. All my beautiful friends and acquaintances, all sexy and unique in their own counter-culture ways, staring at me like I was their leader. That always made me uncomfortable, but today, I wasn't going to let it give me hint one of the creeps. I loved these people, and however they wanted to perceive me, fine. The only weird thing was that, for once, the playing field wasn't really even. I was sort of... more advanced than all of them.

  "Hey guys!” I said, directing my attention to everybody and nobody at once.

  Analise looked the most chipperiffic outta the group, and she was the first to hit me with the question I'd known was coming, but wasn't sure how to answer, "How was your weekend, like with the show and the B day and everything? And why have you never had a birthday party so we can all come and hang with your much cooler sister?” she laughed.

  "His weekend was perfection!” Josh said, joining the discussion and sitting down in the spot I'd saved for him on my right-hand side.

  "He's right, guys,” I said. "It sure as hell would take longer than lunch to tell you all about it. But it kicked so much epic ass!"

  "Eloquent,” Analise said. She took a deep breath and looked around dramatically, before letting her lips take on a knowing grin. "Sooo, I wonder where Jaqueline is."

  I shot her a "thanks a lot" look, before Josh spoke up. "Oh, Kyle, I totally forgot to tell you. Jackie found me in A Hall between 2nd and 3rd. She was feeling crappish and weak, and she bailed for the rest of the day, so she won't be joining us for lunch." This was something she had started doing within the past week-and-a-half, and everybody had taken notice. With so many eyes cast in her direction, our secret wouldn't stay secret for long, especially not after this coming Friday. Then Josh leaned into my ear and whispered, trying to maintain a shred of discretion, "She did say to tell you 'Hi', and that she'd love it if you could stop by and see her after school."

  I just looked at him and a corner of my mouth lifted into a goof-grin. Josh was pure class and cool, mixed with a li
ttle lank and dark-dorkiness, of course, which just made him all the more amazing.

  But now I was focused on Jackie and worried about her being sick. There was a little pain in the pit of my gut for her, at the thought of her even feeling the least bit of discomfort. I would always be crazy for that girl, and never forget how lucky I was to have this second chance. Well, it was her second chance, too. I had to always stay on top of that fact. She was the one who had screwed the deal by fooling around with Arthur behind my back. I wondered how that poor music nerd was coping. Probably just fine, in hog heaven at his very music-nerd friendly job, probably getting banged by chicks that he got backstage. Nice.

  "Hey faggot!” somebody yelled from across the room.

  Now, this could have been for any of the guys at my table. Razor hair, makeup, hygienic appearance, clothes that fit, this seemed to usually equate as "homosexual" in the minds of the swaggering, boring-as-hell jock fascists. And again, like with any other group, of course there were the cool ones, the guys I'd even hang out with on occasion, but it was the rotten douchebags who yelled things like "faggot" and threatened to "kick your emo ass" after school, that unfortunately tended to stick in your head. Still, I usually had a pretty calm way of dealing.

  I turned in the direction the voice came from, looking into the red face of a really nasty bastard named Jeff Hargraves, (of course he didn't sit with any of the "cool" jocks, who knew where the hell they were) and said, "Yes, sweety? I'm presuming you're addressing me, anyway."

  He made a face like he was gonna puke, then shook his head.

  "Aw God... just... Anyway, yeah you...faggot! We saw what you and your boyfriend were doing this morning, and we just thought that maybe you should keep your queer practices in the cave you crawled out of, instead of in front of the whole fuckin' world!"

  What? Uh uh... was it going to be that easy to get out of? I looked at Josh and could tell by the chomping down he was doing on his smile that we'd both figured it out in tandem. These guys totally thought I was doing gay PDA on Josh in the car. But duh, of course that's what they would think! How would it even cross their dim radar screens that I'd be doing anything vampiric?! That was a weird enough thing for an Emo kid to consider, never mind somebody who spent their lives in front of football games televised in HD.