Vampires Suck

Chapter 20: First Date Apprehensions

AIDEN

I didn't stay at Diana's place much longer after she'd announced her date with Luke. What was the point? I didn't want to be there to listen to her gush about how oh so excited she was to be going out with him. Or have to watch her flutter around all day trying to prepare herself for it. What really frustrated me was the fact that all of this was even bothering me in the first place. Who was I to get even a little possessive over her? She wasn't mine; she could date whoever the fuck she wanted. And I wouldn't—couldn't be getting jealous over that...

Could I?

It was these dangerous thoughts that really drove me to leave the house that morning. And I didn't plan on coming back until after Diana was already home; I didn't want to have to suffer the disgusting sight of Diana and Luke giving each other their awkward, first goodbye kiss. Blehh.

As I drove down 35, I really had no idea where I was going. There really was no place for me to go. It wasn't like I could crash at anyone else's place. Pretty much everyone was a suspect for whoever was after me. The terrible thought hit me then that I really had no true friends at the moment—save Diana. Kind of.

 Well, shit.

I don't know why I did it, but I found myself going down the familiar road I'd traveled not too long ago. The road that led to the source of all of this chaos.

The road that led home.

For the third time in just a matter of two days, I parked my car outside the premises of the area and got out of the car. I had no idea why I was here, but it seemed some part of me just couldn't stay away. Perhaps it was just old habit for me to always think of this place as somewhere I could escape to, especially when things got rough. Perhaps it just had too many memories for me to just let go of. Or perhaps, as they say, home is simply where the heart is.

I guess most of all, I just needed a place to think, away from humanity, away from Diana. The events of the past few days still confused me endlessly, and I needed to figure some things out.

Stepping over the yellow crime scene tape once again, I searched the area for somewhere I could sit, and found  a cluster of burnt, but sturdy-looking bricks that would have to make do. As soon as I sat, I turned my attention back towards my muddled thoughts.

The first, most important thing I decided I needed to focus on was the search for whoever was out to get me. As I'd said before with Diana, it could've been anyone. However, my top three likely suspects narrowed down to the same people.

Dane was the most likely suspect. It was no little-known fact that he hated me, especially after everything I'd done to him in the past few weeks. He had every reason to want to get rid of me, and I'm pretty sure he hated the fact that I'd always gotten the attention to myself. Considering how ruthless he had been with Diana that day, I didn't expect him to hesitate at all to do whatever he had to do to get what he wanted.

The next likely suspect was Celine. The main reason I'd added her to the list was because I knew how ruthless and sadistic she could be. Also, I'm pretty sure I pissed her off after getting onto her for her dangerous and risky scheme she'd called a "prank". The only thing that made me hesitate on actually accusing her of being the culprit was the fact that I also knew how she never had any interests in doing anything that could cause her to get into any sort of trouble with the Vampire law. For her, it was always her ass over everyone else's.

Finally, the last most likely suspect that I had to give serious thought to, was Luke.

I'd never trusted the guy. There was always just something off about him. Where had he come from, anyway? Nowhere, it seemed like. True, he seemed to play the "good-guy" role pretty well, almost to the point where I believed it. But then he'd show those glimpses of when he'd lose his composure, and I could see that there was a lot more to the guy than what was on the outside. Just from those glimpses, I could tell that he had some issues going on in there. The question was—what were they? And why is he trying so hard to hide them? He was definitely the most suspicious of the three I'd listed, and I suppose—unlike the other two—it's  because I know absolutely nothing about the guy.