Bitten

Chapter 8

   Kade coughed “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. If you need any help…” He trailed of, obviously uncomfortable. I gave him a reassuring smile because I felt bad.

   “Thanks Kade” I finished, before traipsing into mine and Violet’s room.

   As expected, she was sitting there on the four poster bed, a relieved look on her face

   “Evangeline! thank heavans, I thought I was going to have to clear up your mangled remains. Are you OK? Was Larissa mean?” She said frantically, waving her arms about me. I laughed slightly at her use of the word mean. 'Mean' didn't describe it. 'Shit scary' was a lot closer.

   “Yup, I’m fine! Great in fact!” I added, thinking of Damen. Oh god no. What had I gotten myself into…This was wrong on so many levels.

   Violet waved her hand in front of my dazed eyes “Why do you look so glowy?”

   “Hmm?” even my voice sounded dreamy.

   “You look glowy. Explain.” She said, waiting, arms crossed.

   I laughed nervously “I think I know why all the girls like Damen now! He is actually kind of hot…” I said, only meaning it as an offhand remark. But it seemed to make Violet freeze, her dark blue eyes wide.

   She laughed the same nervous laugh "Umm…yeah. But that’s it, right?”

   I hesitated.

   “Oh no. This is bad. This is very bad. Your falling for him, aren’t you?”

   “What?!? No!” I protested, completely honest. At least, I thought so.

   “Yes, you are, It's in your eyes. Its different when others talk about him. But when you talk about him…your eyes…They change” She grasped my shoulders, looking me dead in my frightened eyes “You can't do this. You need to pull yourself out. It's not too late”

   I held up my hands at the crazy woman “Whoa, whoa. What?”

   “Every 200 years, a day of unity comes. Anyone who is not already paired up, will be paired. You will be paired with another vampire of the opposite sex and live the rest of your life together, whether you like it or not. It’s our way of reproducing”

   I cringed at the word “But don’t we at least get a choice?”

   Violet shook her head vigorously. “No, of course not! Lord phoenix choose’s them. Or rather, the angels as he says. But you will not get a choice, You hear me? you do not get to choose.”

   I gulped. “ But wont phoenix die eventually? And then we can choose!”

   Violet was shaking her head before id even finished. “ No. he lives forever. Chosen by the angels, he says.” She stared into my eyes again “But you cannot, under any circumstances fall in love with anyone at the minute. You will get your heartbroken when they’re with someone else”

   “Jeez, how did we even get onto this subject? I don’t love him” I protested.

   “Whatever.” Violet said, climbing into bed and rolling over.

   Great. Now how would I get to sleep? I had all these things buzzing around in my head like wasps. Jesus, did I really love Damen? No. Of course not. I just thought he was good looking, right? Well, I really hoped so…

   The next morning I decided I would actually get up early—5.00!--take a shower and get to class early. Geeky much? Anyway, it wasn’t long after I had got changed, and was totally ready for a long day of stuffy classrooms and creepy teachers, when I found out via violet that the underworld really was like school. We didn’t actually go on Saturdays.

   Of course, she made me look totally stupid and when I got back into bed, I found I couldn’t ‘sleep’.

   Violet was snoring deeply, even though she insisted vampires didn’t sleep. Clearly she wasn’t up for entertaining me, so I decided to explore a little.

   I slowly shut the door as to not wake up violet when I left, and turned my head to look left and right. I wasn’t really sure where to start.

   I finally decided go left after a round of eenie meanie miney mo, and gazing around at the paintings. I was pretty sure I’d passed The Scream as I made my way down the silent hallway.

   I carried on walking, and stopped abruptly when a blue door caught my eye. Seemed kind of strange in the red scheme that the school had stuck too.

   Naturally, I opened it and looked upon the sea of books that lined the mahogany shelves. It was a library!

   I smiled to myself a little. I had always loved books as a kid. They made me happy, like I was in another world, and for just a few hours I could be someone else and have someone else’s problems. Fantasy was my favourite; the Narnia chronicles being one of them.

   The place was almost deserted, except for a girl who sat at the desk, a book in her lap and straight brunette hair. She lifted her head as she heard me approach, and I recognised the bright green eyes. It was the girl who had helped me earlier…Ami, I think it was.

   “How can I help-“ She stopped “Oh! Evangeline! How are you?”

   I shrugged “OK I guess.” I said “Thanks for helping me with Annabelle. Is she always such a bitch, or did she save that for me?”

   Ami pulled a face “Nope, she’s like that pretty much all the time. Has this crazy idea that she’s going to end up with Damen” Ami sighed “As if! He’s one out of 285 boys, so its unlikely she’ll get him. And in the words of phoenix ‘The Angels decide our fates , we must accept their decision!’.”

   I nod. I really hope Annabelle doesn’t end up with him. Not because I like Damen, but because I would love to see her face. She seemed pretty hell bent on the idea of them together.

   “Anyway, did you need something?” She finished.

   I shook my head “No. I just sort of wandered in here.” I thought for a minute “Actually, no. Do you know where there’s any books on vampire hunters? I'm going ‘up top’ tomorrow, and I really need to revise or something. That’s what you do right”

   Ami nodded “Yeah, you need to be prepared. People die quite frequently, so I'm surprised Damen’s even taking you ‘up top’

   “Guess I'm special then…” I mumble. Inside I'm doubting myself. Am I really ready for this? I mean, I haven’t exactly had much practise. But Damen was going to be there, and I trusted him to protect me.

   “I guess.” Said Ami, Before putting a pair of geeky black glasses on her face and turning around to search through the millions of books. One by one she piled them high on to my chest.

   Why was I doing this again?