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  No, actually, it wasn't enough, but I was running out of time, and if my Jackie Bird was insane enough to want this right along with me... Then fine, Andrew.

  "Fine, Andrew,” I sneered. "Fine, you win. You both win. I get my Knowledge, I get my girlfriend, and you get your egos stroked. You get to pass down your lineage and make sure we exist in your im—"

  In seconds, Jackie was swept to Victoria's bosom, where she was then lifted, gently, and that sexy vamp rock bitch, right there in front of the moon, stars, and everybody, went to work on my girlfriend.

  At first, Jackie screamed, slightly. A weak little sound, coming from deep within her. Then she gave in, and bent to Jackie, seemed to fall into her and the act of being changed. I chanced a look at Josh, and I couldn't tell if he was repulsed, terrified, or the most jealous creature on the face of the earth. For the duration of the event, none of us moved, none of us even twitched. Apart from eyeballs making contact, nothing else on any of our bodies moved. The air was still, and no animals made a sound.

  I felt as if I was standing on a cliff, above an abyss of black and gloom and doom and... crap. I was the "Emo" kid, having the ultimate Emo experience. I was the same guy, and yet completely new and in no way the same at all. My girlfriend was having her blood sucked from her beautiful body, right smack-bang in front of me, and I was okay with it!

  I can even say, now, with some distance between where I am, and that night, that a not-so-secret part of me was enjoying it. Almost getting off. I was at once fully detached and fully present, the Zen Vampire Kid, right? And now, in this desolate place where I room and mull over what my new life has become, I wonder, "what for?"

  A breeze whispered past my cheek, and I was brought out of my zombie-like dumb-ass state. I saw that everybody was shifting, breathing heavily, looking this way and that, and I heard the sounds of nature purr back to life. The night had come alive again as Victoria held my Jackie snug to her side, both of their mouths bloodstained and in a form of smug smile.

  I was as defiant as ever, totally over the whole scene, done with all the preternatural pretensions of our two most ungracious hosts.

  I took a step toward Victoria.

  "So you've done your thing, now, you bloodlusting she-bitch. I want my girlfriend back!"

  Victoria tilted her head, her smile falling into a flat line of unimpressed boredom, and she let Jackie go.

  But she hadn't taken one step toward me when a dashing tornado of swirls and frockish clothing blocked her passage.

  "The girl goes with us!” said Andrew, snatching Jackie into his arms like a baby doll.

  "But, Andrew!" Victoria said, looking shocked and amused.

  "We fly now, Victoria, with the girl!"

  Josh ran, I ran, toward the middle of the circle, and a white-red flash of light thwacked us both to the ground. I landed on my ass, and Josh flat on his knees. I stood up, dizzily, aware of a whirring kind of trees-being-crushed inside a motor kind of sound, the earth spinning, the horizon canting one way, then the other, like I had done a whippit and hopped on a seesaw. I buried my head in my hands, rubbed, took a deep breath, and all felt... well, if not normal, at least better. I looked around.

  And all three vanished, leaving the space that had been the middle of the circle empty, except for the lingering scream of my lovely Jackie.

  Josh turned purple. He was gonna rage, and all for what? The bastards were gone.

  "You broke your promise! You broke your promise! You can't do that!!!” he screamed, the peal of his tenor shout ringing off the ugly concrete walls of the building that had housed the beginning of this whole mess.

  Josh fell to his knees, crying. And I knew it was just as much out of frustration as it was complete and utter sadness a feeling of total loss.

  Me? I felt neither. I felt only one thing: Resolve.

  To find my girl, to reclaim my girl, and to save my girl, and God help anybody who got in my way.

  Through his sniffling, his wiping at his face, and the shaking-off of his trembles, Josh read me like only a genuine psychic, or a best friend, could. He looked up at me, baleful at first, then he smiled, and shook his head.

  "Fine. But you know we're gonna have to do a hell of a lot of research and planning before we take off."

  "It doesn't matter. Nothing does, except her. I'll take care of Shannon, you take care of your parents, and let's get this done. No longer than one week from now, we leave."

  "One week!"

  "Josh...?"

  "Hey, she's my sister, it's not like I don't give a damn, but..."

  I stood, and watched his cogs turn.

  "Right... One week and we're out. And the fun starts now,” he offered sarcastically. "Somehow between here and home, I have to find a way to break it to Mom and Dad that their only daughter has been abducted, not only by a rock star, but a vampire."

  He was right. There was so much to consider, but again, it didn't matter.

  "You'll think of something, man, you're the clever one."

  "Hush, Kyle. Flattery might get you everywhere."

  There it was, the reason I loved him no matter what. He could still joke in the midst of chaos, and almost look like he wasn't miserable.

  In less than ten minutes, we had made our way through the brush and up the hill, to my sad little-but-wonderful car. Finally, I could sit. I could think. I could let some of the bad news, the worst of it, actually process.

  "So how are you gonna settle your score? I mean, part two of the score, that is..."

  "Huh?... oh CRAP. That asshole!"

  I'd been so wrapped up in thoughts of Jackie back in my arms, that I had completely forgotten that Andrew had screwed me. I didn't know anything more than when this night had begun. If my resolve at that moment could have become any stronger, it did in that instant, and I straightened up and looked at Josh. And even though I felt strong, brave, determined and revved, I must have looked like crap.

  "I'll drive, if you want,” Josh offered. He wasn't all there. How could he have been? But he was still Josh, my best bud.

  His small nicety allowed my body to catch up with my tired brain. For right now, I could let down the walls of pretense, stop for a few minutes, and just be Kyle, on a road, with my best friend.

  "Thanks man, I'd really appreciate that. I'm all fried and fuzzy in the head."

  "I think I'm worse than that, but I'm good for driving. Hand me the keys."

  I did, and he power-opened the doors, and we both landed on our respective seats at the same time.

  Josh turned the key, the car came to life, and an Alphatwyn song was in mid-blare on my sound system.

  "Please!" I begged him, "Turn that shit off!"

  "I'll do you one better,” he said, and with a gothy, flouncy flourish, he removed the CD, tossed it out the window, and revved the car into gear, and off into the night.

  Table of Contents

  SCENE IMMORTAL

  ALSO FROM CHRIS PATTON & CROSSROAD PRESS

  Buy Direct From Crossroad Press & Save

  CHAPTER ONE: NIGHT AND DAY

  CHAPTER TWO: DISCOVERY

  CHAPTER THREE: EARLY

  CHAPTER FOUR: HAPPY BIRTHDAY

  CHAPTER SIX: WELCOME

  CHAPTER SEVEN: FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

  CHAPTER EIGHT: JOSH COMES AROUND

  CHAPTER NINE: JACKIE AGAIN

  CHAPTER TEN: DREAM-LIKE

  CHAPTER 11: THERE IS THIS CRAVING

  CHAPTER 12: RESPONSE,

  AND A GREATER NEED TO KNOW

  CHAPTER 13: QUANDRY MEETS PRACTICALITY

  CHAPTER 14: WILL YOU?

  CHAPTER 15: REGROUPING AND PREPARING

  CHAPTER 16: A QUICK BRIEFING

  CHAPTER 17: ANSWERS AND DECISIONS

 

 

 
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