I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up, I was in Damian's bed. I sat up quickly, scrambling with the covers. A chuckle came from beside me.
"What's the rush?" Damian asked, putting down the book he had in his hands.
"Is he okay?" I inquired, my hand shaking. Please, please let him be all right.
Damian smiled mysteriously. "I do believe it was a success."
"Thank god," I sighed, relief washing over me. It was a pleasant feeling.
I jumped on Damian and kissed him on the lips hard. He returned the kiss, tangling his hand in my hair and deepening it. After a few moments I pulled away.
"Thank you, Damian," I said, leaning against his chest. "I love you."
Damian chuckled and I felt it reverberate in his chest. "I love you too, Maddie. Would you like to go see Dustin?"
I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah."
"Go right ahead."
"Where is he?"
"Living room, with Callie."
I nodded and started towards the living room. I stretched my hand out in front of me. I was a vampire now, but I didn't feel any different. I didn't even look any paler than I was before. But then again, I was never really pale to begin with. I sighed. There went my hopes of ever getting a tan.
I rounded the corner into the living and was shocked at the scene before me. There was Dustin and Callie, making out on a couch. I knocked on the wall to get their attention. Dustin's head snapped towards me and he grinned sheepishly.
"So, uh, when did this happen?" I questioned, cocking an eyebrow. "I thought you hated vampires."
"Well you see, now that I, albeit forcibly, am a vampire now, I don't see why I can't have a vampire girlfriend," Dustin responded, shrugging. "And as I said when she first moved in, she's hot."
I rolled my eyes. Same old Dustin. Here I was, worried for nothing. "So I take it you're better now?"
Dustin nodded, flexing his muscles. "I feel pretty much the same. Stronger, though, but that's a good thing I guess."
"What about your job as a vampire hunter?"
Dustin shrugged. "I've never received any requests, but I suppose I still have the job. I guess I'll be the only vampire vampire hunter."
He laughed and so did I.
"Haha, I can imagine it. 'Hey mom! I'm a..." I trailed off, forgetting the joke I was about to crack.
"Maddie?"
"Will! Oh my god! What am I going to say? He's going to notice I stopped aging! Oh no," I groaned, rubbing my hands over my forehead.
"Oh hey, calm down. I've got this one figured out!"
"Hm?"
"We'll since we only have one more year of high school, we could just go to a college a state over, you know," Dustin explained with a shrug. "It's easier than like, say, having to fake our own deaths."
"I rather not fake my own death," I responded, shaking my head. "But the college idea sounds good. I didn't know you were so smart."
Dustin snorted. "I'm smart. I just don't apply myself."
I laughed and shook my head. "Okay, whatever."
"Maddie," a new voice started and I turned to see Damian, "you're brother just pulled into your driveway. Do you think you should go home before he notices you aren't there?"
"Oh crap," I started, groaning. "I totally forgot. The house is a mess! I should go."
"Let's go," Damian started, offering out a hand.
As soon as our hands touched, my feet flew out from under me and I fell right on my face. I heard Dustin burst out laughing and I scowled.
"I'm so sorry, Maddy," Damian apologized, helping me back to my feet. "I forgot your not used to running."
"I didn't know we were running," I responded, rolling my eyes when I saw he was trying to hold in laughter. "Never mind though. Let's go."
I took his hand this time and started running. To my surprise I went faster than I could even imagine. The shock of it nearly sent me to the ground again. When we got to the door I stopped and walked down the steps of the porch. Damian chuckled.
"Too afraid to run down them?"
"You know it," I responded, with a wink. "Race you!"
We took off together towards my house and made it in record time. It hadn't even been a thirty seconds since we left the living room. I stealthily went around to the back of the house and with a little help from Damian, got into my room from the window. Just as my feet touched the ground I heard Will call upstairs.
"Maddie?"
"Coming!" I responded, shooing Damian. "See you later."
He nodded and pecked me on the cheek and disappeared from my view. I exited my room and into the hall. My eyes widened at how messy it was. The rug was rolled up at the wall and little objects that decorated the shelves and walls were on the floor. As I went down the hallway I hurriedly cleared the mess as best as I could. This continued all the way into the kitchen, where Will was, putting groceries on the counter.
"Is there any more?" I asked, surveying the kitchen. Everything in here looked normal.
"A few more bags," Will responded, heading back outside.
I followed him back to his temporary car and grabbed a few bags out of the trunk. They felt like nothing in my hand. Will cocked an eyebrow at me but said nothing as he grabbed the rest of the bags. We went back in together and I set my bags on the counter will a loud bang.
I debated whether I wanted to ask him about colleges. It'd be best to apply to them sooner rather than later, but I didn't know how to bring up the question. I gnawed on my bottom lip
"So Maddie, I was wondering... what are your plans for college?" Will started, leaning on the counter towards me.
I blanked for a moment. How perfect was that? It took me a second to gather my thought. "Well I was thinking... would it be alright if I went out of state for college?"
"Like where?"
"I don't know. Washington or something? Maine?"
Will frowned for a second and than a look of realization came on his face and he chuckled. "I don't believe it."
"Why not?" I asked, mystified. "I'm a big girl now, I can go to away colleges."
"That's not what I meant," Will responded, shaking his head.
"Then what?"
"That happened, didn't it?"
"That?" I repeated, a feeling of anxiousness arising in me. If I had a pulse, I'm sure it would be steadily growing.
"You're a vampire now, huh."
Shock ran through me, my eyes widening. How did he come to that conclusion? Did Will even believe in such things? I should probably rephrase that. Did Will even believe in me? If this had been another moment in my life, I probably would have chuckled at that. But it wasn't.
I forced out a laugh. "What? What are you talking about?"
Will chuckled. "You don't have to lie. I kind of figured it out by all the blood stains in the grass on the front lawn. And how just now you picked up two grocery bags that both had two chickens in them and didn't even look like you had the slightest trouble. I remember when you tried to pick up one and couldn't do it."
"I don't..." I struggled to find what to say. Did he know? Or was he trying to trick me?
Will laughed again. "Ayden told me everything, I'm prepared. Although it's a bit upsetting it actually happened." He frowned slightly.
"Ayden told you? What?"
Will rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, you didn't know? Ayden works at night with me. He's a detective too."
"He never told me that!" I gasped, staring at Will wide eyed.
"Apparently he didn't tell you that he explained what he was and what would probably happen to you, either," Will commented, with a shrug.
"Wait. You knew all along?"
"Yeah," Will responded, going back to putting groceries away. "I didn't believe it at first but yeah. Now it's happened."
I was still in shock. Will knew? And what was more was that he was so calm about it! Ayden had never mentioned he worked with Will. I didn't even know he had a second job after a day of teaching!
"Hm, but what will I tell mom?" Will continued, pursing his lips.
"You can not tell mom what happened!" I cried, my voice working again. "Please!"
Will laughed. "Chill, like I said before, I've known about this for quite awhile. I've already thought of everything. You think if this had been new information I'd be standing here conscious?"
I shook my head and laughed a little. "Probably not. I'm more shocked than you."
"You should have seen my reaction when Ayden first told me what he was and what was going to happen to you."
"You fainted?"
"Nah. I punched him as hard as I could in the face."
"Will!" I gasped, half amused, half shocked.
Will chuckled. "He basically said he was going to kill you."
I sighed. "Yeah. Ayden has a habit of coming off wrong sometimes."
"You can say that again."
It went silent and I awkward played with my fingers. Will continued with the groceries, but when they were all away, we both knew what we had to discuss.
"So what do you plan to do? Are you going to go to college? Where will you live?"
"Well..." I started, pursing my lips. "Since you know, it's okay if I stay here for longer right?"
"Of course!" Will responded, almost sounding offended. "Why wouldn't I want my precious little sister here?"
Hearing that, I almost wanted to cry. Will accepted me, even though I was now some sort of mythical creature. He still thought I was his little sister and still wanted me around. I shook my head. "I have no clue."
"Stay as long as you want," Will told me, reaching over the counter and taking my hand. "And come back whenever you need to."
"Come back?"
Will winked at me. "When you graduate high school, it'd be better if you went out of state anyway, right? So people won't notice you are not aging."
I hadn't even thought of that. I nodded, my eyes widening. "Good idea. Yeah, I'll do that."
"And you're going to live with them right?"
Them as in Damian and his family. I smiled and Will smiled back. He got his answer. Will gestured towards himself and I walked around the corner and into his awaiting arms.
"I love you, Maddie," Will told me, rubbing my back.
"I love you too, Will," I responded, giving him a squeezing him gently.
He let out a long whoosh of air and coughed hard, pulling himself away from me. I stared at him in surprise as he gasped for breath.
"Not so hard next time," he panted, rubbing his back. "That hurt!"
I laughed, trying to apologize to him. He scowled at me and rolled his eyes, muttering. That only made me laugh harder, and soon he joined in.
That's when I knew everything was going to be okay.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
You know, I wish I was interested in vampires again so I could write another vampire story... lately I've been thinking about this, but it's been two years since I wrote this story and editing it just isn't the same as writing something...
Besides. This story was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, you know? And Twilight-ish... but different...
Oh well. It was actually good for a fourteen year old, if I do say so myself :D
There's still one more chapter, but I'm not going to do anything to that chapter so you guys can see how bad I was at ending stories... I still probably am, but I haven't had another story to finish since this one...
I'll probably post the next/last chapter tomorrow because I'm really busy tonight. And my laptop charger broke again, so I don't even have it with me right now... blah.
Facebook page in the link~