The Darkness Series- Buio Amata (Beloved Darkness)

Chapter One- Unbelievable

As I glance at my reflection in the mirror, I try to focus on making myself look at least half-way human. Wiping away any traces left behind by my hunt this morning.  Blood on the lips wouldn’t help me appear human. Honestly, pretending not to be what I am was going to be hard enough.

Now for the fangs. I had to concentrate very hard on making them shrink back up into normal canines, something I didn’t usually bother with. But here in New York, I highly doubt they would take kindly to having a vampire living among them. And if I was going to try to attend school, I’d better try to be as inconspicuous as vampiricly possible.

“Alice Hadey Black! Hurry up or you’re going to be late for school!” My ‘stepmom’ (for all intents and purposes) shouted from down stairs.

“Coming!” I called back, rolling my eyes as I finished caking cover-up under my eyes to hide the dark circles.

With a sigh, I flit down the stairs with my backpack on one shoulder.

“Hey sis.” Angel murmured, her nose in a book as usual.

“Hey Ang.”

Ang was lucky. She was turned, and thus frozen at, 21. So she got away with not enrolling at high school in whatever town we stayed in that couple of months like I did. Frozen at only 16, I had to repeat high school over and over again.

My coven was small, mainly consisting of  Sergei, the leader of the coven and my ‘dad’; Lilith, the second in command, and my ‘stepmom’ (ick); Angel, my big ‘sister’; me; and Daomen (my annoying and snotty big brother). Ang was the book squint, and Daomen was the classic jock. Lilith was the so called ‘fashonista’ of the family and the reason that all my sweats somehow disappeared. Sergei was the firm EMT with a compassionate side. He worked nights often as any vampire with common sense would.

“So are you taking the bus, little sister?” Daomen asks.

He always called me ‘little sister’, I can’t remember the last time he actually used my name.

“You’re joking, right?”

“Enough. Quit antagonizing your sister Daomen, or you will be taking the bus.” Sergei said coolly.

I had to stick my fist in my mouth to keep from laughing at Daomen’s mortified expression.

“Bu-“

“Enough, Daomen. You heard me.” Sergei said before returning to his office.

I stalked over to the kitchen and pulled a packet of O negative out of the freezer. Part of the reason Sergei chose to work at the hospital was that he had access to a blood bank. Helpful when you have a family of vampires to feed. I stuck the bag in the microwave and pressed two minutes. While I waited, I hunted down my ‘haunted houses’ coffee mug.

“Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeeeep!” our ancient microwave shrieked.

I took the packet out and poured the blood into the mug, sipping at it as I rushed into the living room.

“Word to the wise, Sis, humans don’t run that fast.” Ang murmured, still reading.

 “Wuthering Heights? Again?”

She’d read that book so often it was to the point where she should’ve had it memorized word-for-word. Personally, I couldn’t stand classics. They bored me to death.

“I would suggest that you take a car. ‘T would be kind of odd to the humans if you just appeared out of nowhere!” Sergei called from his office.

”Got it!” I called back, muttering “duh.” Under my breath as a walked out of the house.

I hated how Sergei always treated me like the kid, when, in fact, I had been turned before Angel OR Daomen. But apparently since I was the youngest when turned, I guess I just kind of took that role. Not that I liked it, ‘cause I didn’t in the least. As a matter of fact, it was rather frustrating being treated like a kid when you aren’t.

I slid into the car and turned it on, speeding out of the driveway and towards the school. It was the same old routine, repeated every time Sergei decided the humans could grow suspicious. Move somewhere else, enroll in high school, stay a while, and leave again. If you can live forever, this gets slightly annoying after a while. We all hated it. Except Daomen, who liked to set records on how many different football teams he could make in a year. So to all you big sisters, imagine your little brother being Daomen the immortal annoyance. I shudder at the very thought, though of course I deal with it every day.

I wasn't really surprised at all the whispers that greeted me as I stepped out of my car. Things like "Wow, look at HER", or "Damn, dude look at HER, maybe I should ask her out" from the guys, and "Oh my god...I hope she doesn't like Darren...no guy's gonna like me more than HER..." or "God, I don't even know her and I hate her...just look at THAT." from the girls. Hopefully the whispers died down eventually. I just smiled at everyone, both the interested, envious, and of course hateful faces. Some smiled back...some glared...and even one boy winked. I rolled my eyes as I walked past him. Ha, none of the guys would want me so much if they knew what I was.

I reached the front office eventually, and opened the door boldly, walking right in as if I owned the place. The receptionist looked up, startled.

"Umm...I'm Alice."

She nodded and flipped though a stack of papers to find my class schedule. I knew when Daomen arrived because of all the whispers amongst the girls, things similar to what the guys said about me, if only a tad bit more appropriate.

That's when HE walked in. I hadn't seen this boy outside. In all my times repeating high school, all the guys blended together. This one somehow managed to take my breath away. He had curly dark brown hair, blueish-green eyes, and a mouth to DIE for.

"Hey." he said.  

"Hi. I'm Alice." I said, slightly flustered for the first time in my LIFE.

"Pretty name,” he turned to the receptionist, “Christopher ‘Chase’ Wyatt.”

"Mmm...nice name. Christopher." I secretly liked the way his name sounded on my lips.

“Just Chris.” He smiled, and my GAWD it was so HOT.

"Ahem." The receptionist cleared her throat impatiently and handed us both a lime green sheet of paper, "Your schedules?"

"Math...Science...PE...Spanish..." We both said in unison. We looked up and laughed.

"Nice." he commented with a smirk.

~Two classes later, PE~

"Hey! Alice right?"  A voice behind me asked. I turned around.

"Yeah. Yeah, hey Chris."

A dodge ball flew at my head, and without thinking, I turned around too fast and caught it just in front of my nose. Only Chris and the guy who threw the ball saw. Everything froze