Kenny Count Aka Maturing Vampire

10-Cassandra

  Kenny glanced nervously at Garret from his desk. He could tell something was wrong. The larger boy had been wearing a worried expression ever since they had left the showers. Even now, in Ms.Vale's, class worry was etched into his face. Kenny wondered if Garret was beating himself up over the attack he had overcome. The small vampire knew that his boyfriend took almost nothing more seriously than his attacks. He knew that nothing scared Garret more than the idea of him being alone during an attack. Kenny also knew Garret, he knew that his boyfriend wasn't very emotional outwardly, at least not with negative emotions. The only time the vampire remembered seeing Garret sad, was a month prior when he had promised he would never hurt him again. He had been on the verge of tears. Brought to the present by Ms.Vale slamming his suffer sheet on his desk. The ancient witch and small vampire glared at each other before she moved on. Kenny again looked toward Garret. The werewolf wasn't looking at his own sheet, he was looking straight ahead, the same worried expression on his face. Mind anchored on what Garret might be thinking, Kenny didn't even look at his evaluation. The small vampire didn't need to, he knew that it said passed.
  The small theater, which by all means was nothing more than an ordinary classroom with a small stage, was abnormally quiet. The teacher Mr.Drake, who normally waltzed around the small stage giving examples of how a human would act in a situation, was absent. The demon had, of course, hired a substitute teacher. That however was the problem. The grad-cap clad demon had never before done so, it was well known that he had a passion for drama. Furthermore he would never trust another to teach his students how to act in human situations. The final issue was the substitute, the young adult monsters would expect an older monster to replace their millennium old teacher. Not a 21 year old who looked like a goth biker. Eric himself had been forced to take the one day job. The warlock however, had a large amount of experience with the outside world, and was ordered into the ordeal by Crysta. Eric sighed after several more seconds of awkward confusion." All right guys, I'm gonna be straight with you. I've got experience outside in the real world, I can answer most questions if you got em." The warlock moved himself to a sitting position on the stage," if you've got any question ask", he stated uninterestedly. A few more moments of  silence passed before Alex broke the silence," wh-where is the best place to go?" Eric looked her over for a moment, scanning the somewhat transparent girl's face for a sign of her reason. He knew that when someone asked a question, they usually had a different question in mind. To any of the young monsters in the classroom, Alex included, he only looked in the direction of her voice. Allowing a few seconds to pass before he answered, the white haired biker pretended to think about the question. Again he sighed," don't go to Florida, that place is crawling with monster hunters. I recommend someplace in the mountains, Maybe around Cherokee." A gray-skinned girl in the back raised her hand," why are they all in Florida?" Eric not bothering to read her body language, shrugged," a lot of monsters go to Florida for some reason. The hunters stick around." Eric knew the answer wasn't favorable, but he wasn't going to lie." You guys have learned how to hide the real you right, ya know file down your claws, learn a spell to hide your scales?" The younger monsters nodded. Eric snapped and gave them an encouraging small smile,"most hunters can't see past those tricks, but there are a few that can see past em. If they come after you, you can always run for your life to a police officer. They'll think the hunter is crazy, and you get away. Cassandra, who up till now had been ignoring most of the conversation, spoke up," what if the cop is a hunter", she challenged? The warlock snapped and pointed to her casually," hunters don't take that kinda job, too much publicity." Annoyed at his quick reply the mummy rolled her eyes. Several minutes of question and answer passed, finally Tobias raised his hand. " Where is Mr.Drake?" The class looked to Eric expectantly, the warlock shrugged,"no idea, I was forced into this."

  The room's growing atmosphere of excitement seemed to seep into everyone, it failed however, to reach the blue-green haired vampire.  Garret's troubled face still tugged at Kenny's concern. No matter how much Kenny tried to convince himself he couldn't lock on to what was bothering his boyfriend. The most obvious idea was that Garret was beating himself up about last night. At the same time, The small vampire had seen Garret upset about his attacks before. However he had never seen the werewolf this kind of upset. He spends all of his time with me, Kenny thought to himself, why haven't I seen him like that before. The small vampire ravaged his memory for a instance similar to now, but the closest he could come was the day Garret made the promise to him. He scanned through all of the time they had spent together. It might as well have been one long memory. The vampire realized finding a memory of Garret this upset was just as hard as finding a memory of being away from the werewolf. Kenny had never thought about how long the two years had actually been. Two years of living in the camper together. For two whole years Garret had helped him again and again, and in the back of his mind a simple thought came to be. Two years I took from him, worrying him every second of every day. The thought pierced the small vampire like a thorny stake. N-no it's not like that, Kenny assured himself. Garret asked to help me he knew what might have happened. The thought twisted deeper into Kenny's mind speaking in a ridiculing voice, no no he didn't expect a long term deal, he didn't expect a burden. Kenny shook his head," no, no I'm not a burden to him, he, Garret cares about me", he said quietly to reassure himself. Care, no he feels sorry for you, especially after that incident with Cassandra, gloated the voice. Suddenly aware of his scars, the small vampire rubbed above his left side unconsciously. Kenny spoke quietly emotion seeping into his voice,"no.... I'm not his burden." The voice changed now, softer, but with no kindness. Yes, yes you are, the voice sounded familiar now. Kenny shook his head slowly, eyes and voice being overcome with emotion," I'm not...he wouldn't think." The voice cut him off, you can't deny it,    we can't deny it. The voice mixed itself with the denial and emotion overwhelming Kenny. Stop denying it, don't you get it? Kenny recognized the voice now, he recognized his own voice." I'm, he doesn't think I'm a burden, does he?" The small vampire answered himself simply,"do you feel that?" At first Kenny didn't understand,"our scars, they hurt." Kenny lowered his gaze to his left side, his hand still held against it. Like waking from a daze the small vampire slowly began to realize his side was warm. The warmth wasn't natural, Kenny felt a twinge of fear. This was the same warmth from last night. The warmth spread from his side to his stomach. Kenny grimaced as a dull ache started there. The small vampire held a hand to his stomach warily. The fear grew slightly, and the small vampire squeezed his hand over his stomach. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Without warning the warmth on the scars escalated to heat and the ache in his stomach became a sharp pain. Breathing more rapidly Kenny turned to the door, he needed to get out of the room. He was able to take only a few steps before the pain in his stomach suddenly shot like thorns. Unable to hold it back, a small cry escaped him as he fell to his knees. The heat escalated to painful and another, quieter cry, escaped him. The small vampire felt the eyes of the room on him. Kenny held his side and tried to stand to leave the room. The pain and heat again increased, sending him falling in his side. Breathing raggedy, he held back tears as he looked up at his concerned classmates. They see us, they know. His voice shrieked in his head. Curling into the fetal position and griping his burning scars fiercely, the small vampire felt it building, he felt his mind slipping. Starring into the group he met gazes with one of his classmates. Their eyes seemed to burn yellow.Vision blurred by tears, Kenny couldn't tell who he was looking at, the yellow spheres captured the vampire. Rather than help the pain however, they only seemed to intensify it. Kenny wasn't able to tear his eyes from the yellow ones. Panic fueled by fear and pain swelled in his chest. Shadows danced in the vampire's eyes, the pain on his side dragged across the scars. Kenny clamped his eyes shut in response. Upon opening them he had a moment of clear vision, and in that moment he could see the owner of those yellow eyes. In the midst of the pain, Kenny managed a small glare,"Cassandra."