I left my house later that night, dressed in black jeans and a black vest top, with my leather coat and boots. It was around ten thirty, so there weren't a lot of people around.
I started back at the school, inhaling deeply until I picked out David's scent among the thousands of others, it didn't take me long as I was familiar with it. Then it was simple matter for me to follow it, easy as if I was following a painted trail on the ground.
He didn't live very far from the school, only several streets away. It was a modest house, probably three bedrooms; the master bedroom was at the front, judging by the windows, which meant that his was probably around the back. I walked around the house, silently; keeping to the shadows I was almost invisible. I easily jumped the tall gate, which led to the back garden. I could hear three people breathing in the house, all downstairs in what was probably the living room. The T.V was on.
I leaped up onto the wall between the two windows on the back of the house, gripping the bricks with my fingers, and the edges of my boots. I leaned over and looked into the window on the left, the bedroom had been converted into a study, a computer stood in one corner on a desk piled with papers, and bookshelves lined the other wall. Carefully climbing along the wall I looked into the other room, this looked more helpful. The room was painted dark blue, with a navy carpet, a single bed sat in one corner with a dark wood headboard and a khaki coloured bedspread. A cluttered desk sat against one wall, with clothes draped over the back of the chair, next to a set of drawers.
I examined the window, it was firmly closed but not locked I noted with satisfaction. Pressing my hands against the glass, I pushed; putting firm pressure on the glass. With my strength I was able to easily push it up, leaving a gap wide enough for me to slip through. I carefully and silently closed the window again, and looked around. This was definitely his room, the strong scent of him was on everything.
Hesitating I decided to wait, I could go down and get him easily, it would be a simple thing for me to kill him and his family, but I didn't feel like killing, I didn't even want to kill him, if it could be avoided, so I waited, casually leaning against the wall by his bed, so he wouldn't see me the instant he entered the room. He shouldn't be long; he would have to go to bed eventually.
I was right, about ten minutes later I heard him coming up the stairs, it was definitely him. I recognized the sound of his breathing, and the way he walked.
He didn't see me as he walked into the room, I blended into the darkness well. He headed over to the opposite wall to close the curtains, before turning to switch on the light, which was right next to me. I grinned and did it for him, revealing myself. His reaction was almost comical, his eyes flew wide as he stumbled back emitting a strangled yell, he had just opened his mouth to scream when I grabbed him, stopping him from running, with my hand over his mouth to keep him silent. He struggled against me, before realizing it was pointless, and freezing. I stiffened as I heard a woman's voice shout up the stairs.
"David is everything all right, what was that noise?" this caused him to struggle again,
I hissed in his ear."Tell her everything is fine," he tried to wrench himself from my grip, succeeding only in hurting his arms. He mumbled around my hand,
"Why should I?"
I made my voice go cold. "Because if you don't, I am going to rip your head from your shoulders right now, and then I will go down there and do the same to your mother dearest." He shivered and I removed my hand from his mouth, his voice was slightly weak when he shouted
"I'm fine mum, just tripped"
"Are you ok honey?"
"Yeah fine, I'm going to bed now... night!"
She sounded reassured,"Night." I heard no sounds indicating she was coming to check, so I released David who stumbled back against the desk breathing hard.
"What- what are you doing here?" I grinned apologetically
"I heard you talking to Anna."
He paled."You better leave her alone; she doesn't believe any of this you know."
"I know, but why did you tell her?" he was slowly inching towards a draw in his desk, I pretended I didn't notice.
He answered "I thought she might believe me with all those books she reads..."
I glared at him again."See there is the problem. I don't want you telling people, especially people who might believe you." He began fumbling behind him in the drawer, coming out with a crudely made wooden stake, pointing it towards me. I admired his courage, it was only quivering slightly. I smiled, he had no chance of hurting me, and I was much stronger than him. He looked alarmed by my expression.
"You should stay back" I ignored him,
"The important question is how do you know?"
He seemed reluctant to answer, he said it almost to himself."I used to have a brother, he was older than me, I was only seven, he was 12... one night, I woke up, I had a bad dream, and I went to his room. There was a guy there, he sort of jumped back when I opened the door. He had been leaning over the bed, then he- he hissed... his teeth were long and sharp, and his eyes..."
I knew what he was remembering, vampire eyes, when we are hunting, the pupils would be long slits, like an animal, the irises silver.
He continued, "then he was gone, and Jake was dead. The doctors said there was almost no blood left in his body, they couldn't understand why... nobody believed me of course." Abruptly his eyes returned to the present, although he didn't seem to be able to stop talking now that he had started, "I didn't even believe myself, not really... and then you came. I couldn't work out what was bothering me at first... but I watched you, the way you do things, you do them differently to other people, you act different. I did some research; the thing that most sources seem to agree on is that if I shove this," he flicked his eyes down to the stake, "through your heart, you'll die." I saw the resolve settle in his face, he lunged towards me. It was simple for me to step to the side and grab the stake from his hands; I did it so fast he wouldn't have even realized exactly what I had done. He staggered back again, looking confused and wary.
I looked him in the eye. "What you didn't take into account was that it is much harder than you thought to hurt me, I am much stronger and faster than you. However, lucky for you, I don't want to hurt you." I tossed the stake into a bin under his desk, "I just want to talk to you." I strode over and sat sideways in the desk chair, he backed away from me but his shoulders relaxed slightly after a moment, he frowned.
"You want to... talk?"
"Isn't that what I just said?"
"Yes but why?"
"You know I a vampire, we need to come to a solution for that." he flinched at the word.
"I still didn't really believe it until tonight" he muttered darkly. I could try to erase his memory, but that would be tricky. Days of suspicions, hours of thinking about it, it was too dangerous. I might accidentally erase something important, or break his mind, leaving him a babbling idiot. I would have to think of a better solution,
I looked at him."What if you just don't tell anyone else?"
He looked startled "What?"
"Well if you didn't tell anyone else, the problem would be solved, nobody gets hurt."
"And why should I agree to that? People are in danger! They should be warned."
"What people?"
"You know, those people where- where your food comes from, they're not... fridges you know!"
I blinked. "I don't hurt anybody."
His face showed his disbelief. "Of course you do! When you... bite people" his nose wrinkled in disgust.
"I don't do that! I actually do have blood in the fridge, in my house, in bags, like in the hospital. I live off that."
It was his turn to blink, then his brows creased again. "But where does the blood come from?"
"I have contacts at hospitals, I buy it from them, it comes from people who donate it I suppose, I donate substantial amounts of money to the charities, I also have people doing research for me, they are trying to find a way of... cloning the blood, so I don't have to get it from people, but they haven't been able to come up with an effective way yet." Not that they know what they are really working for. I put my hands up defensively, "it's the best I can do." He seemed to hear the honesty in my voice.
"Oh" he crossed the room to sit on the edge of his bed, "this is a mess" I could sense the deep-rooted confusion in him.
My voice came out gentler then usual."Just because one vampire did something terrible, it doesn't mean that we are all like that, If a human had done it, would you hate all humans?"
He seemed reluctant to answer. "No"
I gave him a small smile."Exactly, it's not my fault what others have done."
He looked me in the eye."I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault" I had new respect for him, its not often people have the courage to admit when they are wrong. I didn't speak for a while, giving him time to digest the new information. I stood up."I should go." He looked up and met my eyes.
"I... I won't tell anyone."
"I appreciate that, thank you" the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Goodbye" I nodded to him, and walked over to the window, opening it.
"Jade" I looked back, "you do know, we have a door."
"Doors are overrated" I grinned as I jumped through the opening, and was gone before he made it to the window to look out.