Chapter 11-15

Chapter 11 - New Endings & New Beginnings

 

“Bruno!” Roxanne exclaimed, “H-How did you-”

“I followed you.” I said, walking into the living room.  I reached for the nearby small lamp table and I broke off the leg of it, approaching the vampire who I once thought was my friend.

 

“You didn’t trust me?”

I kicked Kenji’s body over and looked up at her in disbelief, “Should I have? This doesn’t look like the police station to me!” I noticed the bullets, although severely weakening him, were still beginning to push themselves out, so I aimed the gun at his chest and fired off three more for good measure.

Seeing him suffer was the best part.

I knelt down to him.  “So it was you.”

Kenji looked up at me, his face tightened in pain as his bullet wounds burned through his flesh.  “I-I’m sorry.”

I grabbed a lamp and smashed it against the nearby wall.  “You’re sorry?!” I enclosed my hand around his throat and he weakly grabbed my arm, trying to pull me off, but to no avail.  I slammed his head against the ground so hard, it cracked the floor.

“You killed my wife!  You abducted my friends!” I stood up and looked around at the various members who watched us wordlessly, even though Roxanne had taken to releasing them from their constraints.  “Where’s Eric?”

Kenji was silent and I gripped his throat tighter.  “WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!”

Roxanne rushed over and took the wooden table leg off me.  “Bruno, they said he’s upstairs.”

I backed up slowly and then vamped up the stairs.  In the master bedroom, I saw Eric laying on the bed, his eyes closed.  I hurried over to him and touched his face, my edginess lowering when I felt a pulse.  He slowly opened his eyes and looked over at me, his lips slowly drawing up in a gentle smile.

“I knew you’d come.” He said weakly.

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him.  I just came up to make sure you were still alive.” I reached for the ropes and untied them.

“I’m alive…barely; but you can’t kill him Bruno.” Eric rubbed his wrists, relaxing into the bed and taking deep breaths.  It killed me to see him in so much pain like this.

“Fuck you mean I can’t kill him?!” I turned to leave, but he used all the strength he had left to grab my arm, and as I looked back, I realized how serious he was.  “Eric, he’s the reason my wife has to suffer through this lifestyle.  He had me thinkin’ he was my bro when he had been plotting against me this whole time!”

“He was persuaded by your leaders.  He fell under pressure and is clearly suffering the consequences.  Killing him won’t advance you at all.”

I looked at my brother like he was the one who had lost his mind.  “E.”

“B.”

______________________________________________

Kenji’s flesh sizzled under the mass of silver chains that the band helped me drape him in as he laid on the couch, completely powerless.  Ryan paced back and forth, swinging his arms in front of him with his fists curled tightly.

“C’mon Rox, let me do it.”

“No.”

“I’ll shove it right in his chest, reaaaal slow.” Ryan pressed the makeshift wooden stake into Kenji’s chest slowly and the vampire began yelling out in excruciating pain until I snatched it off him.

“How do you feel?” Phil asked as he sat on the coffee table.  “I mean, I haven’t seen you since you were…breathing.”

For the first time that evening, I giggled softly.  And it was genuine too.  “It’s…different.  It isn’t as life dooming as I thought it’d be, but it’s no walk in the park either.  Bruno and I fought a lot in the beginning; but by the end of our trip, things were going a lot better.”

“I hate it.” Kenji spoke up.  “I didn’t want this, I wanted to die.  I wanted to leave everything behind.”

“You wanted to run, because you’re a coward.” I snapped angrily, although I was beginning to feel slight sympathy for the crazed vampire.  “You don’t just run from life like that, you face your shit head on.”

“Dying is so much easier.” He looked away.

“It is.  And if you want everything in life handed to you easily, then your life was worthless to begin with.  I can’t stand people like you.  I can’t sympathize with your bullshit.”

The more I spoke, the angrier I became.  “I worked my ass off for years to make it in this industry, and I got shut down left and right.  I hit so many roadblocks, I thought it would never end.  The last roadblock, I almost wanted to give up, but something kept me goin’ and right around that block was my record deal.  Don’t you think I wanted to kill myself when I realized I was the reason why one of pop music’s brightest stars was dead?! But no matter how much I was blamed, I kept fuckin’ goin.  And here I am, with the man who killed me and ‘caused hell for everyone else.  Here I am, after fighting my best friend’s demon.  Here I am, still being chased by these fuckin’ crazy ass Elitists who want me dead, and want Bruno for God knows what!”

I stood up.  “Here the fuck I am!” I hadn’t noticed I was crying until blood tears spilled down my face.  “Dead, but alive.  Having to deal with a brand new lifestyle in the middle of all this bullshit.  I could kill myself.”  I held the stake to my heart.  “I could shove this right through me and end it all…..”

The room fell silent, and Kenji carefully watched my every move as I slowly sat back down, my focus falling on a stain upon the floor that a blood teardrop soaked through. Everyone else irrelevant to me in this moment.  “But here I am.”

The next couple of moments went by in what felt like the speed of light.

I heard nothing but a clutter of movement, that startled me into consciousness, and even with my massive supernatural speed and strength, I could do nothing to avoid the explosion of blood and guts that covered the room, and myself.

I held my arms up to block myself from the projectile, and when I lowered them, I saw Ryan standing there, covered in fresh blood, a wooden stake in his hand as he breathed heavily.  I looked back to the couch to see Kenji was gone.

I heard footsteps behind me as Eric came over to the gruesome scene.  He shook his head, looking at the spot where Kenji had previously been.  Bruno stood next to him, rubbing his older brother’s back.  ”Everything happens for a reason.”

Eric sighed.  ”He could’ve had a chance…he wanted to change.”

Ryan threw down the stake and left the house, slamming the door.  I stood up, flinging the guts off me.

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Ari gagged, turning away from the mess.

Kam’s face was turned up in disgust as he shuddered. “Is that really how y’all go?”

I nodded, quietly heading over to the sink in the kitchen to somehow clean myself off.  At least Bruno accomplished his goal of not getting blood on his clothes this fantastic evening.  I, on the other hand, was drenched; as usual.

The bandmates all conversed amongst themselves, deciding to take turns using the two showers upstairs to refresh themselves, since we had no idea how long it would take to drive back home from here, and nobody was home anyway.  As I wiped my arms down in the sink, watching the diluted blood spiral around the white sink and down the drain; I heard a conversation going on outside that made me peep out the window to eavesdrop.

______________________________________________

“So you killed him.”

“Shoved it right into his chest before anyone could blink.”

I chuckled at my best friend, who seemed so proud of his valiance, yet was still fuming with anger.  ”You tryna out-thug me now, huh? You can’t get anywherenear my body count.”

“You vampires keep fuckin’ with me and find out.” He replied with a sly grin before shrugging and looking up at the sky.  ”I’ve been thinkin’ about my life lately, what my purpose is.”

“Your purpose is to be my bitch, that’s what I pay you to do.” I joked.

He shoved me before continuing, “As much as I love bein’ at your every beck and call…these past couple of nights, being tortured by that psycho made me realize how short life is…” His voice drifted off.

I noticed the pain in his tone, how he held back on showing any emotion.  It was something I was accustomed to when it came to Ryan.  I was always the one who wore my heart on my sleeve, and he was always guarded, the tough guy.  Nobody could break him, and if you’re stupid enough to try…well, just look at what happened tonight.

“What did he do to you?”

Ryan grinned, shaking his head as he recalled the past few nights in his memory.  ”He hated my fuckin’ guts because I refused to let him scare me.  I told him to kill me.  I meant it too, shit, I figured we were gonna die anyway.  Why not die like a man?”

I kissed my teeth, looking up at the navy skies myself.  I knew daybreak was a couple hours away, but for now I was good.  ”I’d rather die like a man, than live like a coward, there’s a ghetto up in Heaven and it’s ours,”

“Black power!” He finished the song lyrics with me, in a mock 2Pac voice before we broke out in laughter.  ”If Heaven is strictly for black people, we’re so fucked.” He added.

I laughed even harder.  ”You’re fucked.”

“You’re not black!”

“Yeah but everyone knows Latinos get passes.”

“Man…you better turn me then ‘cause I can’t die or else I ain’t goin to Heaven.”

“This is all according to 2Pac.” I said, laughing.  ”Are we really having a conversation about the racial preqs to getting into Heaven according to fuckin’2Pac?  What the hell, Ry.”  

“I know.” He looked over at me.  ”But for real bro.  I think I’m gonna get back into dance.”

That came as a surprise to me.  ”Word?”

Ryan nodded.  ”Yeah, I’ma see if there are any local crews I can join.  Then I guess just go from there.”

To hear that Ryan wanted to get back into one of his passions and go after something he loved, meant a lot to me.  That’s what I always wanted him to do.  I knew he couldn’t be my assistant forever.  He had my support a hundred percent in damn near anything he pursued.  After all, he was one of very few who believed in me when nobody else did.

“That’s whassup man, I’ma be seein’ you on America’s Best Dance Crew soon, huh?”

“Damn, that would be awesome.”

______________________________________________

“So…you gonna tell me how you found out it was Kenji?”

Bruno glanced over at me as he drove the long journey from Los Angeles back to Phoenix, Arizona.  I was now dressed in oversized sweats and a shirt thanks to Eric once we dropped him and the rest of the members off at their respective homes.  I wasn’t complaining though, it was better than getting sticky with dried blood.  I may enjoy drinking it, but I don’t enjoy wearing it.

I managed to give a human-like sigh, resting my feet on the dashboard as I eased my seat back.  ”I found out he killed me when I was dead.  While I was in ‘Heaven’.”

“You knew since then and you didn’t tell me?”

“I wanted to take care of it myself…I didn’t want you to keep having to save me…” I looked away, Presley’s words still ringing in my ears.

“I don’t have to save you.  I know you’re capable of saving yourself.” Bruno said.  Suddenly, he reached over for my hand and I looked over at him as he interlocked his fingers with my own.  ”But you’re my woman.  I want to save you.  I want your life to be as easy as possible, and if that means I can go kill off a crazy vampire or two, I’m down.  Without a complaint.  You don’t gotta prove nothin’ to me, or anyone else baby girl.”

I couldn’t help but to break into a smile.  ”This is the calm before the storm…you know that, right?”

He nodded.  ”I know.  It’s only a matter of time before the Elitists come knockin’ to see the new kid in town.”

I rubbed my thumb over the top of his hand.  ”Right….so…Master…”

He smirked, sinfully sexy as he gripped my hand tighter, “It’s time to break that new body of yours in.”

 

Chapter 12 - A Night To Remember

 

“So, even though I wanna ravage the fuck out you tonight, I’m thinkin’ we should-“

Boom.

Crash.

 

 

Before I could even finish my sentence, Rox had tackled me so…well…passionately, for lack of a better word…that we wound up knocking the front door off it’s reinforced hinges.

She kissed me with such fervent urgency, that I forgot about the fact that I was lying atop a mahogany and stain glass door…and I more-so felt…alive.  I felt as though my heart started beating again.  I had already known she was soulmate before but being enraptured in her physically was beyond anything words could possibly convey.

Her kisses travelled further south until she reached the collar of my wifebeater, and I sat up as she became frustrated with the material blocking her and tried to pull my shirt off.  I grasped her hands and she fought against me until she finally looked up into my eyes for a few moments before we both laughed.

She caressed my cheek, her smile just as beautiful as it had always been, even with a new, dangerously sharp set on display in front.  ”I was in a rush.”

“I can tell.” I stood up, looking down at the door.  She picked it up and carelessly laid it against the doorway, as she looked back at me as though she fixed it.  I just shook my head with a smile, and took her hand within my own, leading her upstairs to a more…suitable location.

I opened the door and made quick work of taking my own shirt off as she crawled onto the bed and fussed with the iPod dock, skipping through songs until she hit one and I stopped her.

“Wait go back.”

“To what?” She began pressing the back button until I heard a Lloyd song start up.

“Right here.”

She kissed her teeth.  ”I don’t like this song.”

I grabbed her leg, flipping her over onto her back.  ”I’ma make you like this song.” I hooked my arms under her knees, pulling her to the edge of the bed before pulling her sweatpants off.  ”And take that bigass shirt off.”

She bit her lip, smiling down at me before pulling my brother’s obnoxiously huge tshirt off and tossing it aside.  

“Good girl…” I praised, curling my index finger in the band of her underwear.  She watched my every move with such anticipation, I wanted to go even slower, just to see her squirm even more.  ”In case you still have that memory lapse,” I ripped them off, causing her to gasp.  ”You’re gonna remember this time.”

She let out a strangled moan as I traced around her pussy with my tongue, taking my time to kiss her inner thighs slowly, her hips moving around, trying to get me to lick right where she wanted.

“Ungh, Bruno…c’mon…” She growled, reaching down for my hair, but I grabbed both her  hands, keeping them pinned down on both sides of her hips.  I was in charge right now.

After several minutes of teasing her that way, I finally devoured her, my lips around her clit, licking that sweet little spot while she lost it.  I stopped suddenly, resuming my kissing, and she propped herself up on her elbows, looking down at me with irritation.

I lifted my head to smile at her, “Somethin’ wrong?” I asked, curling two fingers inside of her, pressing against her gspot roughly, causing her head to fall back and her hips to rise.  ”Talk shit now Roxy, you so badass, right?”

“Oh God I’m gonna—I’m gonna-” She lifted her hips quicker and gripped the sheets.  ”Bruno!” She squeaked.

“That’s what I thought.” I returned down to flicking my tongue against her clit quicker and quicker, her inessential short breaths matching my tempo, and just when she was on the brink, I bit her inner thigh, piercing her skin, allowing her dark blood to course freely.  Of course, it was not filling, as human blood was, but it was fuckin’ arousing as hell, even with her superspeed healing as I licked up stray droplets and her body shivered with the aftereffects of her orgasm and my continued stimulation.

___________________________________________

I had never had an orgasm like that in my entire life.  It was unexplainable.  I felt it in every part of my body, and my vision seemed to sharpen drastically.  Suddenly, my body was being taken over by some sex driven beast that wasn’t me.  No…I had stepped outside of my body and wasn’t even in this dimension anymore.

Was this what it had always felt like to him?

Was this why he would make love to me and his eyes would glaze over and darken so deeply?

“Let me.” I purred softly, sitting up and grabbing his belt buckle with my left hand, my right sliding along his leather belt, back to the pistol that resided there from earlier that evening. I stood up and backed him up slowly against the dresser, pulling the weapon out and lying it on the dresser top, never taking my eyes off him as I slid down his body to my knees.

He watched me as I undid his belt buckle.  I could already feel his hardness through the denim, and it only egged on this alternative persona of myself, driven off of pleasure…getting and giving, and when I pulled his full, thick, dick free; dropping his boxers and jeans…it was then I realized.

I have new teeth.

Fuck.

I started by stroking him while I thought of ways to get creative in this situation.  I couldn’t make these stupid teeth go anywhere because I was turned on beyond belief.

I then curled my upper lip over my fangs to cover the points as much as I could, before taking him halfway into my mouth.  I placed my hands down the other half I couldn’t cover and Jesus Christ I don’t remember him being this big and-

He placed his hand underneath my chin, tilting my head up to look at him as he gave me a look that, to me, meant trouble.  ”Retract your fangs.  Now.” 

Somehow, although I’ve always been taught otherwise, my sharp laterals retracted back into my gums and I had my normal set of human teeth.  I didn’t understand how.  ”But…?”

“I run your body now, remember? Now, you got a job to do.” Bruno twisted a handful of my hair in his hand and pushed me back onto his dick.  Surprisingly, it was a lot easier to take all of him now that I didn’t have to breathe, and I was entranced by watching him grip the edge of the dresser, his hips grinding to push himself deeper into my throat.  ”Mmm right there…” He groaned, closing his eyes as I tightened my suction, dragging my tongue back and forth and slurping and swallowing every bit of him because fuck…this was turning me on so bad; seeing him so overcome with pleasure.

I pulled back with a pop right when I began to feel a buildup in the connection between us.  ”You can’t cum yet.” I said, wiping the corner of my mouth.

“Why the fuck not?” He asked in exasperation.

“Cause we gotta have sex Bru!”

“Jesus Christ Roxanne, get the fuck on the bed.” 

“Excuse me?”
___________________________________________

I picked her up and threw her on the bed.  ”I said get the fuck on the bed.”  Without missing a step, I placed her legs on my shoulders and pushed them up to her head, entering her and immediately feeling a sense of intensified relief.  This bet had been going on longer than either one of us intended and I’ll be damned if I don’t fuck the shit out this woman tonight.

“Shit, you feel so good baby.” She moaned, her back arching as I stroked to the beat of the new song.  

I leaned down to kiss her ear as I whispered, “I release you from all bonds.“ 

I heard the click of her teeth lock back into place as she flipped us over, beginning to ride me wildly, droppin f-bombs almost every other word.  ”FuckBruno, fuck this feels so fuckin’ good right now, oh my God.”

“Keep goin’ with it then baby, it feels good over here too..shit.” I held her waist as she turned around, while she was still inside of me, and gripped my thighs, bouncing her ass up and down and fuck, I don’t know which was better…the way she looked or the way she felt.

I couldn’t stop the constant moans that left my lips as she bounced harder, switching up and grinding every now and again and I pushed myself deeper, gripping her waist and forcing her face down into the bed as I began pummeling inside of her, making her scream out into the mattress.  I pulled at her hair, “Nah, I wanna hear you.” I said through my teeth.

She turned her head to the side, looking back at me as she whimpered.  ”I think I’m gonna cum again!”

“I think you are too.”

I felt that same familiar increase in the intensity of our connection, and when she came, my senses kicked up a notch the way they always did.  She was experiencing this for the first time, so I was sure she was halfway out of her mind at this point.  Had she been human, she probably would’ve been out the race a half hour ago…

I slapped her ass and she forced herself back up on all fours, throwing the pussy back at me.  ”Thatta girl.  I’m almost there.”

“Bruno you gonna cum for me? Hmm?” She moaned softly, seductively.  I pulled out and flipped her onto her back again.

“I’m about to.”

___________________________________________

I could think of nothing more than chasing this one last orgasm I thought I could snag before he finished.  This was the longest we had ever gone, and the most intense.  I felt not only immeasurable pleasure, but an uncanny closeness to him.  I saw him as my guardian, my protector, my King.  You could not have convinced me I was not alive in that moment, and I wondered if he felt it too…the way our bodies reached out for one another, begging for attachment beyond anything we could ever physically accomplish; but that damn sure didn’t stop him from trying.

My legs were around his waist as he thrust deeper, harder, faster.  The headboard clapped against the wall so furiously, his platinum album plaque crashed to the floor.  It was beginning to hurt, but so motherfuckin good I couldn’t stop now.

“Bruno.” I moaned in his ear, my hands coming up to his shoulder blades, feeling the muscles in his back flex with each movement.  I nuzzled my nose into his neck, his scent more alluring than usual to me, and before I could realize what I was doing, I had bit him.

It was enough to make me release and scream out in unbearable pleasure as the headboard burst a hole into the wall as he pounded out his climax.  Suddenly, he grabbed me close and swiftly rolled us both off the bed onto the floor, and before I could ask what he was doing, I heard a crash as our giant wedding portrait fell onto the bed.  We both laid there, looking at the giant hole in the wall, the ripped apart sheets, marks on the floor, and crashed paintings.

He looked up at me, “Round 2?”

“We’re gonna need a new home by the end of this.”

___________________________________________

After going at it well into the night, Roxanne and I transitioned into our daytime death.  I awoke before her the next evening, deciding to catch up on some work I knew would hit me as soon as this little hiatus was over.

I went downstairs to the home studio we had built, and sat down in my chair, turning on the system and letting it warm up while I thought over the past few weeks.  So much had happened, that I hadn’t had a chance to reflect.

Of course there was Roxy being turned, which was beginning to be more of a positive change day by day.  That’s how I would treat that, as a day by day progression.  So far, the pros outweigh the cons.  I still refused to allow her to resume her career, or see her family, for the next three years, it was for the best.

Then the situation with Kenji.  Man, when my brother stuck up for him, he almost had me convinced the little shit should stay alive; but I can’t say I’m at all upset about Ry killing him off.  Just thinking about everything he put everyone through made my teeth grind with anger.  His reasoning made me even more upset.

Which brings me to my next thought, the Elitists.  They were beginning to really get on my last fuckin’ nerve, and I had it in me to just end—

Jason.

I grabbed my phone and dialed the new number that we got off of Robyn.  It rang, and rang, and rang until it reached a standard voicemail box.  This was unlike my Creator; and I started to get worried.  He asked me to stand by his side and fight if it came down to a war, and everyday the news was getting worse.  Almost the entirety of Romania was in a panic, the population severely decreasing and no witnesses.  Nobody has cried ‘vampire’.  They all stupidly believe it’s some mass disease, or terrorists committing these abductions.

“Jase, it’s Bruno…wonderin’ what’s goin’ on right now so uh—hit me up, peace.” I hung up and tossed my cell aside, massaging my temples as I pressed play on the unfinished instrumental for a new song I was working on.  The less shit I had to worry about doing, the better; and since I couldn’t kill any ancient vampires off, I could at least finish writing this damn song.

 

Chapter 13 - Breathe Me

 

“Knock knock.” I announced softly, entering the studio where Bruno was working. “Sounds good, what is this one called?”

 

 

He clicked around on the monitor before turning the volume down.  “On Fire.”

“Is it for you or another artist?”

“I’m not sure yet…it might be for someone else, I don’t think the label is gonna go for me switchin’ up my sound this much; but if I like it enough by the time I’m done, it’s worth a shot.” He shrugged, turning to face me in his chair.  “What’s up?”

I walked inside and sat across from him on the couch.  “I don’t know, it feels weird.”

“What?”

“For things to be this chill.  The repairman is coming to fix the door soon, I don’t have a million interviews and shows to do.  This was how life was before I even signed my deal.” I explained, sitting back and running my hand through my hair, tousling it off to the side.

Bruno lifted a brow, “You actually liked the drama?”

“No, I hate it.  I just got so used to being an artist and a warrior with this supernatural stuff.  I need somethin’ to occupy my time.”

“Well…” He sat back in his chair, “I would tell you to make me a sandwich but since I don’t eat…”

I threw a pillow at him and he dodged it, laughing.  “I do need to feed…where did you used to go back in LA?”

He visibly shifted in his chair, as if he were uncomfortable with the question.  “You don’t wanna go to a place like that, I’ll get you somethin’ tonight.”  And I noticed he changed the subject, but I didn’t press it any further.  “I was thinkin’…what happened to your Medium abilities?”

I threw my hands up, “I have no idea.  I haven’t been in a situation to try them since I’ve been turned.  No unwanted visions, nothin’.”

“Don’t you just have to touch somethin’ that belonged to a dead person?” He inquired.

“It’s not that easy.” I shook my head, “It has to be somethin’ real significant.  There’s something about the things that I’ve touched, it’s like they have this energy in them that draws me towards it.”

“And the energy shit that you put out to vampires?”

“Bruno, what about your teleke-whatever it’s called…what happened to that? I never even got to see what you could do—”

“Psychokinesis.” He corrected, turning his chair back to the soundboard.  “It doesn’t matter, because I’m not fuckin’ with it.”

“Babe—”

“No.” He said sharply, “I’m not fuckin’ with anything else.  I’m not tapping into anything else.  I’m not bringing out anymore demons.”

“I’m not saying all that, I’m just being realistic here…Romania is gone.  It won’t be long before they bring out their shit to the US, if they haven’t already been doing somethin’ sneaky around here.  If we have somethin’ else to make us stronger, why not put it to use?” I stood up and walked over to him, turning him back around.  He looked up at me with a pained expression; I know he was sick of talking about this, and I was sick of talking about it myself…but until all the kinks were ironed out, how was I supposed to just settle into this lifestyle thinking someone else was out to kill me?

“I don’t understand why we have to do this.  There are millions of other vampires in the world, why do we have to fight for everyone else?” He asked, taking my hands and pulling me to sit in his lap.  I obliged, leaning back against him and mindlessly measuring up my palms against his atop my thighs.

“Destiny keeps knocking at our door…eventually we gotta let her in.” I squeezed his hands tightly.

_____________________________________________

“There is no other way Amam could have been killed so suddenly.  We sat in front of him and it was as though a stake were drilled into his heart out of thin air.”

“That makes no sense Akela, someone must have targeted him somehow.”

“It very well could have been a witch, Mistress Orielle.  We are in their homelands and they are probably not pleased that we have the entire country under our rule.”

Orielle clenched her fist, her upper lip twitching in anger.  “He was our strongest member.”  She released her tension, waving her hand in the air, “Bring me Jason.  He will have to be promoted to training.”

Akela bowed in acknowledgement and left Orielle’s quarters.  As he walked down the halls of the estate, however, he suddenly heard movement behind him, causing him to whip around curiously.  There, on the floor, was a profusely bleeding trainee vampire with a stake halfway lodged into his chest.  Hurriedly, the silver haired elder rushed to the scene, kneeling down.

“What has happened to you?  Who’s done this?” He asked, as the young vampire sputtered blood, his eyes wide as he tried to shout a warning, but it was too late.

Akela was struck through the heart from the back with a wooden arrow and he projected a huge stream of blood from his mouth as he collapsed into a bubbling pile of guts.

Jason jumped down from the landing, looking around before going to the young vampire and stepping on the stake, fully lodging it in and killing him.  He took his bow and placed it back into the quiver, vamping back to his quarters.  When he arrived, he locked his door and pushed the large, elegant bed aside and pulled the carpet away as he opened a compartment in the floor, being careful of the silver netting trap he had set for any trespassers.  Once he disengaged that, he placed the bow and quiver back in it’s respective location and pulled out a tiny burlap bag that was filled with various herbs and spices.

Locking the space back up and returning the room back to it’s former state, he vamped off to Orielle’s quarters and knocked in a hurried panic.  She opened the door, “Is something wrong?” She asked.

Jason held up the sack.  “Witchcraft.  There is a witch killing us off.”

Orielle’s expression changed to that of alarm as she snatched the small sack and turned it over in her hands, the concept of witchcraft foreign to her.  “What is this!?”

“It’s a hex bag, I found it in Akela’s quarters and now he has been killed.”

She flung the bag down and barged into the hallway.  “He has been killed!? I was just speaking with him moments ago!” For the first time in thousands of years, the powerful Orielle was beginning to become frightened.

And that was just what Jason wanted.

_____________________________________________

It’s been a month of semi-normalcy.

And I say semi, because I still hadn’t heard from Jason, and Roxy convinced me to attempt to do what I had always feared doing…honing this “psychokinesis” shit.

She made it tolerable, only once a week we would go down to the basement and just battle each other, to practice our combative skills, since we weren’t fighting as regularly as we used to.  We happened to discover she could still communicate with spirits; it was when we wandered onto Navajo territory…and she found a small arrowhead cast aside on the road and picked it up.

I sat there and watched as she zoned out, and I had become accustomed to that look.

She was beginning to become better with this energy force that she could expel.  Usually it was a wild card, but during our combat, if I egged her on enough, she’d get angry enough to do it.

Myself? I hated what I could do and I hated doing it.  It took so much focus, and so much force, just to make a simple water balloon burst.  I didn’t know how this would benefit us if I couldn’t just shut it on and off.  There was no way any powerful vampires, or any vampire for that matter, was going to sit there while I zone in on them to kill them.

I would be killed first.

But I had to admit, the more we practiced, the quicker I was able to do serious damage.  The bigger the objects became, however, the more difficult it was to deal a good amount of destruction.  I had no idea how I would practice on a person, let alone kill one.

We came to a standstill in my abilities as we stood in the middle of the vast, empty desert this late night, an old junkyard car as my opponent.  “I can’t do this.” I said, crossing my arms as I squatted in front of the vehicle, my brain tired from all the forcing.  It was also making me hungry, when I had just fed two nights ago.

“Yes you can.”

“No, Rox, I really can’t do this.”

“Bruno-”

“I SAID I CAN’T FUCKIN’ DO THIS!” I shouted, punching the hood of the car; and it instantaneously combusted into violet colored flames; the force of the explosion sending us both flying until we hit the ground at least a hundred feet away.  I slowly sat up, wincing from the scrapes and cuts that were healing.

That was one thing that struck me as inconvenient about having the ability to speed heal.  You still felt the pain, it just went away quicker.  I watched as the unusually colored flames licked the skies, almost like a twisted version of a bonfire, as Rox sat beside me, watching the same scene in awe.

“That must be your control.  You build up the energy and then touch the opponent.”

I rested my arms on my knees as I rocked back and forth absentmindedly.  “This drains us, our abilities.”

“I know.” She said.

I glanced over at her.  I knew she was just trying to help, and it was working.  I just hated it, I mean I never liked working out, let alone doing training like this.  “Hey, you’ve been pretty good in public lately.”

She shrugged with a chuckle, “Haven’t killed anyone.”

I reached over and gently held her chin, turning her face towards me.  “So, how about I take you out tonight?”

The smile that enveloped her face, warmed my heart.  “I could sure use it.  Where are we going?”

“Somewhere nobody knows who we are.”

_____________________________________________

Little did I know, ‘somewhere nobody knows who we are’, wound up being a couple hours long drive to mystical Sedona; a place known for it’s “healing vortexes”, and psychics, and aliens, and a bunch of random ass hippie shit that made it THAT much more fun to be there.  Both of us had no idea about this kind of atmosphere, the long, unlit roads underneath the stars.  It was an adventure; but this time it was one that didn’t require us to fight, or get all worked up.

We even took the convertible, just to be able to ride with the night skies guiding us.

And, alright, when Lloyd’s “Party All Over Your Body” came on, I didn’t totally hate the song anymore…

“Ooh, pull in here!” I pointed to a run-down looking bar that seemed to be just carelessly tossed onto the road.  There were only a couple cars parked out front.  “The Nosedive.”  I read the blinking neon sign that really only read, “T e Nos dive”

“This looks like trouble…” Bruno said, as he put the car into park, and for a second I thought he was going to argue; but he looked over at me with a mischievous grin. “Let’s go.”

“Oh wait, come here.” I reached for his fedora and knocked it off.

“Hey!” He covered his messy, unstyled curls.

“We don’t wanna be recognized, right? Now you just look like some random Mexican.” I hopped out the car before he could reach me and I threw my hair up in a quick, messy bun, heading into the bar.  As soon as I entered, it was clouded with smoke in the air, and I could hear ‘Spin Spin Sugar’ by Sneakerpimps.

I felt someone pinch my ass and I turned to see Bruno behind me, scoping the place out.  “Nice pick, I feel like we should be sluggin’ back whiskeys.  Too bad we can’t.”

“I ‘reckon I got somethin’ a little close.” An old man sitting nearby said.  He was staring ahead, at nothing.  I waved my hand in front of his face and he didn’t even flinch.

“Is he blind?” I whispered to Bruno, who leaned closer and then nodded.

“Um…excuse me?” I asked politely, wondering if he was interjecting into our conversation because he knew something, or if he was just being one of those geysers who always have something to say.

He reached into his suede vest and pulled out a black flask.  I watched as he grabbed a nearby glass and poured out a beautifully vibrant crimson colored liquid.  I gave Bruno a glance and noticed that he didn’t seem to be as concerned as me.

“We don’t drink.” He finally said, snapping away from the drink.

“You don’t drink what we drink…but I know you drink somethin’.” He pushed the glass in our direction and I clutched Bruno’s arm.  To my absolute dismay, he shook my hold off and grabbed the glass.

“Fuck it, YOLO.” He said, tossing it back.

“Br—Kenny!” I didn’t want to yell his name, even though there were only about ten people in here tonight and they all appeared to be 40+ and completely unaware of popular culture.

He looked at me and snickered, “Yes, Betty?”

“Your turn miss.” The old man started pouring up another drink.

“No thanks.” I said hurriedly.  Here we were, in the middle of a weird mystical part of Arizona…we happen upon a random ass bar…and some blind man suddenly seems to know what we are and is giving us a drink of God knows what!

“It’s good, and I’m fine babe, try it.” Bruno said, spreading his arms as if that was to prove he was ‘fine’.

“What is this stuff?” I asked the man, who smiled a toothless grin, still staring ahead endlessly.  He picked up the glass and handed it to me and I took it, sniffing the liquid inside.  When I caught a whiff of it, my mouth watered.  I had no idea what it was but it was some mixture of blood, a really good grade of it too…and damn it just…it just smelled so fuckin’…

I took it to the head, and sure enough, I felt fine.  I felt more than fine, I felt great as I slammed the glass down.  

“Have y’erselves a nice night.” The man said as he slowly stood up and staggered out of the bar.

I giggled.

“Whassoo funny?” Bruno asked.

I looked at him with a frown.  “Why’re you slurring?”  He stared at me real hard, and I recognized that look…that was a look I hadn’t seen since in years.

“Are…..are you drunk….?” I could barely sputter, since the room was already beginning to tip in my own view.

Fuck.

Vampires are NOT supposed to be able to get drunk.

And NO substance is supposed to hit this fast.

“No I’m not drunks.” He pushed all of his words together and then grabbed my wrist tightly.

I went into paranoia mode and looked around frantically, feeling as though everyone was watching us right now.  “Psstttt.” Bruno whispered loudly, “Heyyyy PSSSSSTTT.”

I slapped him in the face by accident and then gasped, covering my mouth as he held his cheek.  “Ohmygod.”

“You hit…me.” He mumbled.  We stared at each other for a while before both bursting out into raucous laughter.  “Damn I’m hot.” 

“You areeeee.” I sang.  For some reason I was feeling really good, really happy.  Then, he unbuttoned his flannel and started dancing to the beat as he did it.  I gasped four times in a row and then laughed at how stupid I must have looked and…

Oh my God what the fuck is going on right now?!

“Aw shit….aaaaaawwww shiiieeeeeet girl.” He yelled, vamping to the mechanical bull at the back of the bar.  But on his way, he stumbled over a table and more-so collapsed against the side of the bull.  That was unlike him, he was never clumsy; but I started giggling real hard anyway, following after him at a normal speed.  I crossed my arms over my chest, darting to where he was clamoring all over the machine to get on top.

When he finally got on, I noticed the controls, so I thought it would be a great idea if I messed with them.  I pressed a large red button that seemed to be pulsating with the music and all of a sudden the bull jerked forward and Bruno yelped, gripping it tightly.  I found it entertaining so I moved the control stick and the bull began tilting and waving.  He was holding on like a pro, beginning to get comfortable.

“CHEEECK MEEEE OUTTT MOTHAFUCKASSS!” He shouted, his open shirt beginning to fall off his shoulders as he held the rope with one hand and waved his other hand around.  I really started jerking the controls and the bull suddenly began whirring and spinning repeatedly, bouncing and tilting and doing the works.  He fell forward and clung to the thick neck of the bull, his legs flying every where as he held on for dear life.

I squealed with laughter until I pressed another button and sent him flying off.  He landed with a thud onto the mat and groaned.  “I dunlikee thisss.”

I rushed over to him and squinted.  “Your fangs…your fangs….put ‘em awayyyyy!” I said, wondering why my voice was so sing-songy.  I waved at him frantically, trying to whisper.  “Put them away!” 

“Ayeeee girl.” He made a kissy face at me and winked.  “C’mere lemme fuck you right quick.”

If I had a pulse I would’ve blushed as I climbed into the pen and dragged him behind the bull so nobody could see.  “There was somfin inn’at drink.” He said.

“Youthink?!” I snapped sarcastically, pushing at his fangs, but I ended up puncturing my finger tips, causing my own teeth to eject into place.  “Shit.” I covered my mouth.

He didn’t look very good as he closed his eyes, laid up against the bull, his head moving side to side.  “Verrryyy superstitioussss…writinggg’s on the walll….” He sang, before snorting and laughing softly.  “Hey…hey baby…lookit…don’t I look like Steebie Wonders?” He closed his eyes and moved his head side to side again, “Verryy superstitioussss letters bout to—”

I grabbed his arm and yanked him up.  “We gotta go.” I said, but as I stood up, the room knocked me back down again and Bruno began laughing at me.

“Ya’ll need something?” A woman came over to the pen and asked.  She seemed annoyed.  I kept my hand over my mouth and Bruno did the same, his eyes wide as he tried to hold in his laughter but kept snorting instead.

I shook my head.

“You sure? Cause you two seem pretty loaded right now.” She placed her hands on her hips and looked down at us.  I had never felt so much like a scolded child in my entire life.  Bruno stumbled to his feet and helped me out of the pen.

“Scuse you Becky….dun be talkin’ to….my woman…like that mkay?” He said with as much conviction as he could manage.  I pulled at the back of his shirt and he tripped over his feet a little.

Suddenly, a giant man full of tattoos came parading over.  ”There a problem here Netta?”

He made Bruno look like a Miniature Pinscher.

Shit.

“Hey pal…fuck you awright?” Bruno said, having to tilt his head all the way back to look up at the man.

“These kids came in here with their little vampire fangs, causin’ trouble and I was just puttin’ them in check.”  Netta explained.  I pulled harder at Bruno’s shirt.  I really wanted to go.

“I am a vampire, motherfucker.” Bruno slurred to her.

“Hey, watch your mouth! This right here is a lady!” The man snapped.

Bruno grabbed his crotch. “And this right here is ma dick. So suck all on it, bitchass nigga—”

I slapped his arm and whispered, “You can’t say nigga!”

The man wound up to throw a punch, but in true vampire fashion, Bruno dodged it, causing the man to stumble forwards and become angry.  

“You maaaaad bro?” Bruno asked.

“Stopppp pleaseee.” I whined, the room still spinning as I clutched my head.  I heard screaming ensue as Bruno shoved the man, sending him flying against the wall and rendering him unconscious.

“You have littleeee personn syndromeee stoppp.” I begged as he got angrier.  He was already bad when he got drunk and angry, but as a vampire this was a giant recipe for death.  My comment must’ve worked because he looked at me and chuckled, which made me giggle.

“Little person syn…syndicamification?” He held his head, “I dun feel good.”

I noticed Netta coming for Bruno with what appeared to be something sharp and wooden, and those two words in a description meant trouble.  Out of nowhere, something in me shifted and I went into auto pilot.

All I cared about was that my Creator was in danger.

In less than two seconds, I had vamped to Netta, twisted her neck, and killed her.  She collapsed to the ground, blood leaking out of her mouth.  I looked around, and the bar was empty.

“YO.” Bruno yelled.  ”YOU ICED HER.”

“Good doggie?” I asked, even hearing that back in my head, it sounded fuckin’ ridiculous.  Bruno patted my head.

“Good doggie.  Now, sit bitch.” He laughed.

I gasped.  ”Bruno…ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod…Bruno…Bruno Mars.  You’re Bruno Mars.”

“That would beee…me.” He nodded.  ”You’re Rihanna.”

“Fuck you.” I spat angrily.  I stepped over the dead body and made my way back to the empty bar.  I lazily dragged my hand across, letting glass bottles shatter to the floor.  He came over and sat at the bar, trying to look at me, but I refused.

“C’monnn babymama, you know I’m fuckin wit chuu.”

“Go fuck with…with your bitches…n shit.” I muttered, leaning against the bar across from him, playing with my fingers.

“Only bitch I’m fuckin with is chuu mami. C’mere, c’mere right quick.” He puckered up dramatically and I kissed him.  ”See…you aint mad.”

I smashed a bottle on the counter lazily, shattering it.  ”Dun fuckin’ call me Rihanna.”

“Pssshhttt. She gotta aliennn nationn foreheadddd.”

“Hey thass my friend!”

“Yeah well some friend…she tried to fuck me, k.”

I looked at him, trying to sober up from whatever this strange high was; but I couldn’t.  All I could do was feel a rush of emotion.  ”S-she…wh-wha—”

A young woman wandered into the bar.  She couldn’t have been a day over 18, and she looked to be hispanic.  Her hair was curly, black, and fell down to her waist, and she had big, round brown eyes.  She wore a pair of jeans and an University of Arizona tshirt. “Hello? Anyone in here?”

Bruno and I looked over at her.

“Oh…um…my car…broke down and…”

“Did you fuck her?” I asked Bruno, not giving a fuck about this child at the moment.

He made a face, “Fuck do you think?”

“DID YOU FUCK ROBYN.” I screamed, bloody tears in my eyes.  I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t see straight, I couldn’t do anything but cry and get angrier by the second.

“I’ll just…I’ll just go…” The girl said, backing up.

I vamped over and immediately bit into her neck.  She screeched in pain, gripping me and fighting.  I was ripped off by Bruno, and the girl collapsed to the ground.  ”Roxanne…..this is a kid!” He exclaimed in a slurred rush.

I wiped my mouth, watching the girl in his arms, gasping for breath.

She blinked several times before squinting, “Y-You’re…Bruno Mars….and….y-your Roxanne….” She said, her chest heaving as she looked at us.  ”I’m….your biggest…fan…..” She coughed with a small smile as I heard her pulse stop completely.

“Don’t…don’t…no.” I scrambled over to the poor girl, realizing what I had done.  I frantically looked up to Bruno.  ”Do something!”

He looked at me with doubt, “There’s only one thing I can do.”

“Save her.”

 

Chapter 14 - The Other Side

 

“Shorty got potential, I could be her sponsor.  Met her backstage at a summer jam concert.” I rapped along to the song that played on the iPod dock as I stood in my closet, picking out clothes to wear.

 

Amidst everything that had been going on, December kind of just popped up out of nowhere and yelled ‘BOO!’, and I suddenly was launched back into my career.  I had a lot of press, a couple shows, and a club hosting gig, all in the span of a week in Los Angeles. Then I would come home, and head right back out after Christmas to play a New Year’s Eve party.

Mind you, only a week and a half ago, I became a father…again.

Her name was Nani, and she was seventeen.  She had come by the bar that fateful evening on her way back from her college orientation, and her car broke down.  She died in my arms and although I was empathetic towards her, I had no intentions of bring her back to life until Roxanne pleaded otherwise.

I was drunk, or high, or whatever the fuck that intoxication was…so I didn’t fully think things out and I just did it.

Isn’t that original?  “I was drunk”. The cries of baby daddies with poor judgement across the country.

The comments about Robyn were never brought back up again; and I didn’t volunteer to bring them up.  I hoped, perhaps, she had been too gone to remember many details of the night.  I sure was.  When she told me I was singing Stevie Wonder with my shirt open, I looked at her like she was insane.

I never took my shirt off in public.

I looked in the full length mirror, turning around in my white blazer and scoping out how it looked on me.  I adjusted the sleeves and gave myself another look over before taking it off and hanging it up.  ”Wanna be with a baller…shot caller…” I hummed aloud, feeling like a boss as I fixed the collar of my black button down.

Yeah, I was definitely rockin’ this shit.  I looked smooth as hell.

“BRUNO.” Roxanne yelled.  She barraged into my closet and I glanced at her in the mirror.

“Yes?” I lifted a brow in question as I messed with the cuffs of my shirt.

“I need to speak to your angel, this little cunt is NOT either one of the kids from my Heaven.” She snapped.

“The whole campus is having parties in the frat houses for the Freshman Freak Week and I wanna go.” Nani stood at the door with a frown, twisting her finger around one of her bouncy curls.  ”Can I go, Bruno?”

I turned around.  ”You can’t handle this?” I asked Roxanne.  She threw her hands up in the hair and let out a sound of aggravation before leaving the closet.  I shook my head, slightly amused by her frustration.  ”You’re a newborn, you can’t go in public even with us for another month.  You have three years before I can trust you back in school without supervision.  And for the record…you’re technically my kid, and I don’t want my kid around anything called ‘Freshman Freak Week’.”

She pouted and sighed.  ”It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

I turned back to the mirror and fixed my tie.  ”Trust me, it is.”

Nani gave up and leaned against the wall, observing me.  ”I didn’t get to thank you….you know….for saving me.  I never thought my parents would ever be Bruno Mars and Roxanne.  I mean…I have a whole Tumblr about-” She stopped speaking abruptly, as though she were about to say something bad; before quickly switching subjects. “I hated my parents…well, my mami.”

“Why?” I asked.

Nani crossed her arms and shrugged, glancing down at the floor.  ”My papi was never around since I was a kid.  Mami was so dependent on him, when he left she just tried to bring in every guy she could and make him marry her, but they all ran off.  Man, some of them were bad….violent…into dealing.”

I undid my tie and started to unbutton my shirt, walking over to my folded shirts and messing through them for some of my favorites.  ”That’s a first. Most of us who are turned aren’t real happy about it.”

“Well this is a major upgrade for me.  In fact, once I can get outta this house, I’ll be the happiest I’ve ever been in a long time.  I feel like I’m reborn.” Nani said, spinning around happily with a giggle.  ”Hey…I still don’t know how to make my fangs come out?”

I bumped my head on a shelf as I tried to stand up, feeling awkward.  ”Uhh?”

Nani blinked, unaware of the weight her question held.  ”How do I make my fangs click out like you guys always do?  It looks so cool.”

“I gotta take my shower…’cause…I got an early evening flight…you know.” I scratched the back of my head awkwardly, before leaving the closet.  I walked past Rox and I grabbed her arm.  ”She wants to know how to drop fang.” I whispered.

“Tell her…?” Rox said.

“I’m not in the mood to break up a fight.”

“What do you mean?”

I glanced over my shoulder to be sure she wasn’t around before I lowered my voice even more, speaking through my teeth.  ”You know the kid has a crush on me.  I can’t talk about shit like that with her.  Be a good mother and teach your daughter how to drop fang.”

She rolled her eyes.  ”I was hoping that whole ‘I wanna fuck my Creator’ thing wasn’t engraved in stone as a rule amongst all newborns.”

“It’s the strongest the first month, then it starts to fade.  So handle that.” I vamped into the bathroom and started the shower.

_________________________________________

“Nani!”

“What did I do now?” She poked her head out of Bruno’s closet, one of his fedoras tipped messily over her curls.  I waved my hand for her to come over to me.  Perhaps I had been too hard on her, I mean, I knew what she was going through and she was handling it a lot better than I did.  Bruno and I have started training her, and she’s been feeding from blood bags without complaint.  

And she was so young and naturally gorgeous that alright…perhaps I was getting a little nostalgic of my younger days and I felt threatened at first by her adoration for my husband.  It wasn’t like she could help it, anyway, and she had the same adoration for me too.

Nani came over and hesitantly sat across the bed from me.  ”Look, I don’t have a problem with you.  I have my own issues I’m working on, and sometimes you might be on the receiving end of that.  It’s not fair to you, so when I get upset for no reason, feel free to just leave and let me breathe for a sec.  Guarantee I’ll come back with an apology.”

She smiled, lying down on her stomach.  ”You’re awesome Roxy, thanks for doing this for me.”

Alright, maybe I was starting to like this girl…

I took the fedora off her head and placed it on my own.  ”Listen up kid, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t talk to me about anything.  You can talk to Bruno too, but I know how us girls can be.  Now…” I leaned closer to her, my eyes narrowing as hers widened and she looked up at me.

“I also know how us vampires can be.  I’m gonna tell you straight up, all you’re gonna wanna do is fuck and feed.  Anything with a pulse. Bam. No questions asked, you go into auto pilot and you don’t come to until someone’s killed or you get seriously fucked up.” Her pretty smile dropped as she listened to my explanation.

I continued.  ”Here’s another vampire fun fact…the bond between you and your Creator is an unbreakable one.  It’s stronger than any other bond in the world.  You will do anything for your Creator.  To save them in danger, and see them smile.  When they hurt, you hurt.  You feel like they’re the coolest, dopest person in the Universe; and…well…you want to be close with them.  Closer than any kind of physical touch can provide, and you’ll crave it…to be close…to touch…to kiss…to lic-“

I cleared my throat, shaking my head to refocus my lecture.  ”My point is, let’s address the elephant in the room.  I know you wanna fu—erm…I know you would like to have sexual intercourse with your Creator.  It is natural.” I placed my hand atop her own and she looked away, embarrassingly.

“I-I would never…” Her voice trailed off as she toyed with the ends of her hair.

I reached out and lifted her pretty face so she could see I meant no harm.  ”Some vampires allow that kind of relationship to happen.  However, I’m not that bitch.” I snapped my fingers and she laughed.  It lightened the mood.

“It is pretty bad…these…all these feelings.  It’s like all of my emotions are bouncing in my head and when one breaks through…it runs me more than my brain does.” She said, and I understood the feeling all too well.  Finally, I had someone to relate to!  Bruno hated speaking of his newborn times.

“You’ll get a handle on it, and it takes time, and discipline; but with a Creator like Bruno, you’ll get the hang of things real quick.  Now…I’m gonna tell you how to drop fang, like so-” I quickly channeled my thoughts as I was taught, and my teeth ejected into place.

“Man that is so cool!” Nani exclaimed, sitting up.  ”Alright, what do I have to do?”

Before I could explain, Bruno came parading out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, like a whole dumbass. “Babe, I can’t find my curl activator.”

Nani gasped and covered her mouth as her teeth clicked into place.  I facepalmed.  ”Hey! You taught her how to…….wait….” He looked down at himself and realized the error in his ways and slowly backed up into the bathroom, closing the door.

“Think about what turns you on and there you go.” I dropped down onto the bed, my face in the pillow.

This was gonna be one hell of a new journey.

__________________________________________________

Dawn was approaching within the next hour and a half, and as a newborn, Nani had gotten tired far earlier than myself, and Rox, being in a ‘toddler’ phase herself, was starting to yawn every now and again.  We still had to get the guest room finished up for Nani, since it was clear that she was a part of our family and would be staying with us for quite some time.  It was under redesign, so for now she had her daytime death on the giant living room couch.

I laid in the bed, watching as Rox went back and forth, stripping down for her death and humming a song to herself.  I chuckled and she looked over her shoulder at me.  ”What?”

I shook my head, “Nothin’.”

Rox crawled onto the bed, sitting next to me atop her knees as she made an attempt to braid her hair down the center.  ”Tell me.”

“C’mere.” I turned her around and took over her braid.

“Since when do you do hair?”

“Since fo’eva gurl, where you been at? Jank ass Kiki’s house to get ya’ braids did?!” I kissed my teeth loudly and rolled my neck, and we both laughed, before I spoke again, “When we were young, Pres used to sneak out late at night to go swimming.  She knew I was the only one who wouldn’t snitch on her, so she would come back, hair all frizzed and a mess after mom just did it before we went to bed.  So I learned to braid it.  Every couple of nights, she would crawl in through my window and shake me awake, begging for me to braid her hair so she wouldn’t get in trouble.  Every time she would promise it was the last time…and then she would show up again, ‘Bru! Bru!’ She’d whisper, ‘My hair is a mess’.  I would get up all groggy, tired and shit and she would sit here just like you…and I would braid her hair right down the middle.” I reminisced as I finished the tail end of the braid.  This was about all I could do concerning hair, seeing as how I couldn’t deal with managing my own head of curls outside of putting activator in it and going.  I left the bouffants for the pros.

“Did she ever get caught?”

“Yeah.  One time Tahiti was up late and wanted to read one of Pres’ books or somethin. All I know is she went in there and Pres was gone and dumbass Tahiti starts screaming like she was being axe murdered or somethin’.  Mom beat that ass that night, Pres for sneaking out, and Tahiti for screaming like an idiot.” I said, chuckling at the memory.

Rox giggled and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, pulling her into my chest and kissing her cheek.  We hadn’t had moments like this since we were human. Just enjoying each other’s presence.  ”What do you think about Nani?” She asked me.

“She’s cool.  The timing was kinda off, but she really likes what she is.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” I rocked her back and forth, my chin resting on her shoulder.  ”What about you?”

She shrugged.  ”She’s alright…”

“Babe you two were practically sisters earlier, bonding over newborn shit.”

“Alright, alright…I like her.  I just gotta get used to another female being around you and attracted to you.  Apparently I can’t trust some people who Ithought were my best friends…” She quieted and I knew what she was talking about.

Damn, so she hadn’t forgotten.

I kissed her cheek.  ”You know I didn’t do anything with her baby, right?”

“I know.” She sighed as I kissed down her neck.

“And you know I’m not interested in Nani beyond her being my progeny, right?” I spoke into the softness of her skin, taking in her unique scent of vanilla and cinnamon.

“…I know…” She replied softly.

“And you know, Mrs. Hernandez, that I made a commitment to you; because I want to spend the rest of eternity with you and just you as my wife, right?”

“Beautiful girls all over the world, huh?” She chuckled.

I groaned, hugging her closer. “Bad memories with that song.  Try again.”

“I finally came to the other side.” She said aloud, as though it were a realization to herself, a final acceptance of what she had become.

I felt her body relaxing under my touch as I softly sang and rocked her like a beloved child, “I could wait a whole lifetime; but you just gotta decide.  You know I…I’ll be waiting on the other, waiting on the other side.”

 

Chapter 15 - A Long Night

 

Bruno’s flight left early the next evening and I was left to watch over Nani and help with her transition into the undead lifestyle and it’s quirks and perks.  I personally was thrilled that he trusted me enough to be in another state without his supervision.

Then I got a knock on my door.

 

I was in the middle of doing Nani’s makeup, showing her all the ways she could accentuate her beautiful features, and the unexpected company put me on instant alert.  I knew things had been going relatively good for too long now…something had to come and fuck everything up.  Two newborns under one household? The Elitists had to have known, and were coming for us.

The doorbell rang, another knock.

“You gonna get that?” Nani looked up at me, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, stay here.” I sprinted to the basement and opened up the vampire defense weaponry that we had been building up.  I grabbed the pistol with the silver bullets and came back up to the door.

“Who is it?” I asked.

No answer.

I held the gun up.  ”Who is it?” I repeated.

Still, no answer.

I used my free hand to slowly grab the doorknob, and I swung it open, my finger on the trigger, minutes away from blasting away—

“Dre!?” I said in confusion as he quickly held his hands up in surrender.

“I’m innocent!” He exclaimed.

I dropped the gun and rolled my eyes, my hand on my hip.  ”You can’t just show up unannounced and block my peep hole like that!” However, as a thought came to me, I quickly jumped back and held the gun up again, “In fact, how do I know you’re not here to kill me? What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Bruno didn’t tell you?” He tried to edge into the house but I tightened my grip on the gun and he stopped completely.

“You’re still human, so you can die if I pull this trigger.  Bru didn’t say shit about you coming to my home, so why are you here?”

“Roxy! Roxy! Bruno’s on the phone!” Nani came bounding down the stairs but halted when she saw the scene unfolding in front of her.  I never took my eyes off of Dre.

“Rox, put the gun down….I’m not here to kill you….” He said calmly, trying to reach up for the gun but I shook his touch away, not moving.

“Tell him Dre is here and I’m about to shoot him.”

I heard Nani on the phone, “She said Dre is here and she’s about to shoot him.  She really does have a gun in his face.”

“Bruno, tell your crazy ass wife to let me in your fuckin’ house this isn’t what I signed up for!” Dre yelled.

“HEY! I GOT THE GUN HERE, SHUT THE FUCK UP.” I stepped forward and Dre stumbled backwards, his hands up again.

“He wants to talk to you.” Nani came up to me and placed the phone on my shoulder.  I tilted my head down to hold it against my ear.

“Dre is there to make sure you two stay out of danger, that’s what I sent him there for.” Bruno explained in between extreme laughter.  Glad he thought this shit was funny, ‘cause it wasn’t to me.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?”

“Cause I knew you would throw a bitch fit about being babysat.”

I dropped the gun and pursed my lips, nodding for Dre to come in.  He did and I closed the door behind him.  ”I thought you trusted me.”

“I do.  I just don’t trust the rest of the world.  Now relax and go paint Dre’s toenails, he could use it.” He fell apart again in laughter and I heard more in the background.

“Goodbye Bruno.”

“I love you.” He cooed.

“Cool.” I replied.

“I love you.” He repeated.

“Awesome.”

“I love you.”

“Great.”

“Fuck you.”

“Love you too.”

I hung up the phone.  ”Dre? Nani?” I looked around, they had disappeared.  I heard commotion in the kitchen, and I went in to see Dre looking through the cupboards and pulling out the pots and pans.

“Hey hey hey!” I said, vamping over and grabbing my stainless steel sets.  ”These were wedding gifts!”

He closed the cupboards and sighed in annoyance.  ”Who buys cooking wedding gifts for a couple that doesn’t even eat?!”

“When I married him, I could eat.  Remember?” I started putting the pots and pans back.  ”And blood can be prepared a ton of different ways.”

“I’m starving, you guys have no food.  And that’s disgusting.”

I scoffed as I carefully closed the cupboards again.  ”Scuse you, it’s delicious, you should try it sometime.” I turned around, “Where’s Nani?”

He shrugged, “That’s your kid, not mine.”

“You.  Why would Bruno send YOU of all people to watch someone? Ugh!” I vamped from the kitchen.

“HEY I DON’T WATCH, I PROTECT.  AND I’M ORDERIN’ A FUCKIN’ PIZZA.” He shouted.

I tracked Nani to the guest bathroom, which she had locked.  I knocked lightly.  ”W-who is it?” She squeaked.

“It’s Rox…let me in…”

I waited and she opened the door, peeping up at me through the crack.  ”Is that big guy with you?”

“Dre? No, why? What’s wrong hun?” I asked.  She opened the door more to let me in and quickly locked it behind her.  Then she began to pace back and forth, and she looked to be in a complete disarray.

“I can’t be here right now.” She said, gasping for air that she didn’t need; but she was still used to her human actions, so I ignored that.

“What’re you talkin’ about?”  I sat on the toilet seat.

“Now I know why Bruno told me that you guys don’t like this vampire shit-“

“Hey watch your mouth.” I corrected, hypocritically, but I didn’t want my foul mouth washing off on any of my youth.

She sighed, “This vampire stuff.  Is it always gonna be like this around humans? It was the worst thing in the world when that guy came in.  I heard his…like his heart beating real loud when he was scared.  But it was like I wanted to tear him open and taste him.  Oh he looks like he tastes so good…and there’s so much of him….so…much….blood.” She sat on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth.

I forgot she had never been around humans!  My first incident around humans didn’t turn out well at all, so I was surprised that Nani had enough control to lock herself in the bathroom away from the temptation.

“Naniiiii.” I whined, hating that everything falls apart when I’m in charge.  ”You know what this means right?”

She looked at me with sad eyes, “What?”

“I gotta quarantine you in the saferoom.”

“You guys have a saferoom?”

I nodded, leaning forward and tucking a loose curl behind her ear.  “I have to lock you in there when I can’t supervise you.  See why we didn’t want you going back to school?”

Nani nodded, sniffling as she wiped her tears away and looked down at her hand in disgust.  “I’ve been crying blood…is this supposed to happen?”

I leaned over to the sink and wet a paper towel, taking her hand and cleaning it off.  “Yep.  My reception dress was pretty much ruined, and I almost messed up my wedding dress.  It gets pretty messy sometimes.” I took a clean part of the paper towel and wiped the dried blood trails down her cheeks.

“How was it? Your wedding…I mean.”

I paused, memories washing over me.  “It was nice.  Really nice.  There wasn’t a big hoopla over it, just close family and friends and it was on the beach in Ibiza.” I reminisced as I tossed the paper towel away.

Nani sighed happily. “I want that…to get married someday.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” I asked.

She shrugged and looked down at her hands.  “Not really…”

“Uh oh, that’s not an answer.”

“Well…there was this boy I was dating, Rico.  But he didn’t want me to leave and go to college; and I was the only one of my siblings to have a chance to go…so of course I went.”

“As you rightfully should have.” I agreed.

“Rico and I got in a big fight about it and I left; but I still love him.” Nani finally looked up at me, “Is it wrong that I would take him back in a heartbeat if I had one?”

I chuckled.  “Love makes you do some crazy shit.  I’ve been through some crazy shit for love; I gave my life up for it.  I’m not one to give you any kind of advice in that but to follow your heart.”

“I can’t see him yet though…huh?” She said, already knowing the answer to her own question.  “Man, if I can’t even control myself around Dre, how can I do it around Rico?”

“You’ll learn.  It takes time.  Even I snap out sometimes.  I feel like I’m hopeless and stupid…there was no reason for me to attack you that night.  That was my vampire instincts.  I was angry and it’s in our nature to kill when we’re angry.  But I look at Bruno and…alright maybe because I’m his progeny, I’m a little biased, but he’s so disciplined, you know? He knows everything, it seems like at least…and he can be around blood and guts and be inside of hospitals and not even flinch.  I look at someone like him and I say to myself…there is a light at the end of this long tunnel.”

Nani clasped her hands together.  “You really love him, I can tell; and you know what Roxy, you’re super nice, I don’t know why so many Hooligans hate you.” She said, standing up.

My happy demeanor went away real quick.  “Wait…what?”

She covered her mouth.  “Nothing.”

“His fan base hates me?!”

“No! Not the whole base! Just the crazies…those silly 13 year olds who think he’s meant for them.” She explained, trying to soften the blow to my ego.  “They don’t matter, ignore them.  The ones who count love you both for your music, not for your personal life.”

I stood in the mirror and smoothed out the edges of my french braid.  “You’re right but damn…I’ve been out of the internet loop for a while.”

“Stay out.  Real life is so much better.” Nani assured me, wrapping her arms around my waist from the side and hugging me tight.

_______________________________________________

“I gotta say, Los Angeles, it feels so good to be back.” I breathed into my microphone.  “You look beautiful tonight.” I smiled at the whole crowd that screamed in response.

“Beautiful...” Phil sang into the mic, imitating Pharrell’s voice in the song ‘Beautiful’. “I just want you to know.” He looked over at me and laughed.

I finished it.  “You’re my favorite girl.” Preesh quickly picked up the chords and started to play and the rest of the band caught up as Phil and I started singing through the song again.  The audience joined in.  “Beautiful, I just want you to know.  You’re my favorite girl.”

“Aw girl there’s somethin’ about ya’.” Phil said in some exaggerated falsetto and I started laughing, I couldn’t hold it together anymore.

“Yo why did you sound just like him just now though.” I finally gathered myself.  I started strumming a few quick chords to my next song, “When I’m With You”.

“Alright if you know this song, I need you to sing it with me!” I announced.  Everyone started screaming again and damn I missed being on stage.  I loved this, I couldn’t be away from it for too long.  I knew Rox loved it as much as I did, so it was gonna kill her to be on lockdown for the next few years.



“And if you don’t know this song, then you shouldn’t be here, leave.” I joked.  “One, two, three, four!” I started playing the last song with the band; and when we finished, I thanked the crowd, and Ryan tossed me a towel backstage that I wiped my face with, hanging it around my neck.

“Your first show with the Hooligans, how did you like it?” Kam asked Tim, my new guitarist.  I’m not gonna lie, it felt weird without Kenji and his little commentary and aura; but anyone could tell that those series of events had definitely brought the bandmates closer together.  We really were careful to look out for one another.

“You guys know how to put on a show, that’s for sure.” Tim said, taking his guitar off and setting it aside.

I felt a buzzing in my pocket and I took my phone out, seeing it was Jason.  “I gotta take this real quick.” I told my crew, ducking into my dressing room and closing the door.  “Jason, what’s going on?” I asked.

“Listen to me, my child, I may not be able to repeat this again.  The only way to defeat a vampire that is stronger than you are, is to use strategy over brute force.  You must weaken your opponent into ultimate vulnerability.  Once you have done so, you can kill a vampire of any age.”

I was thoroughly confused and alarmed by his explanation and hushed tone.  Usually Jason was so calm and collected, but I even felt a disturbance in our connection.  “Jason….F-Father….what’s going on?”

“Bruno, you are one of my most gifted creations, and I know you will be able to provide a happy life for you and your wife.”

“Is someone going to kill you?!”

“Do you have my new address?” He asked.

I was frustrated with his aversion to answering my questions, but I knew he was doing it for a reason.  I ran my fingers through my hair.  “Yes….Yes, Robyn gave it to us.”

“On December 13th, come to my loft at 8pm.  When I instruct you to do something, you must do it.  Do you remember when I asked you to fight alongside me?”

“Yes.”

“The time has come, my child.  And you must trust me.”

Click.

He hung up.

In a flurry of panic, I called him back, but only got his voicemail.  I put my phone away and heard a knock on the door.  “Mr. Mars?”

“Yes?”

“It’s Jake, from People Magazine, can I come in?”

I wanted to scream.  I knew I had this interview after the show but it could not have been worse timing.  I wiped my face with the towel and recomposed myself.  The last thing I needed was for the intricate details of vampire society to get out to the media. “Of course you can.”

The reporter came in, followed by a camera man.  He came over and shook my hand while the other guy set up his tripod.  “Thank you for seeing us today, you had a wonderful show.”

“No problem man, glad you enjoyed it.”

The cameraman began filming and Jake sat in front of me, his questions in his hand, the usual.  “So this is your first real one on one interview since your wedding, correct?”

“Yes it is.”

“And you had to get married in another country because of the regulations of vampire marriages in America, how do you feel about that whole issue?”

I leaned back on the couch, getting more comfortable.  “Well, I mean, it’s a new thing to the world, so when someone dies and they have death records, it’s a big deal to get that changed and rearranged; and then some people have religious issues.  I personally don’t have a real solid opinion, I’m just happy I could get married at all.”

Jake nodded.  Little did he know, it wasn’t that easy.  We weren’t legally married in America, and it took a hell of a lot of glamouring of officials to even get the names on Roxanne’s licenses and identifications changed.  But of course that was nobody’s business but our own.

“How are things with you and your wife going?”

“Great, thanks for asking.  Next question?” I said in a light-hearted manner, but I really didn’t like discussing my personal relationships with the public.  The Essence magazine interview was a huge leap for me out of my comfort zone already.

Jake chuckled, “Well you know I need to ask, how have things changed dynamically with you both being vampires?”

“Now we’re on the same sleeping schedule, that’s a plus right?” Jake laughed, “Nah man, I mean, everything’s great.  I loved her as a human and I love her now and we’re good.”

“That’s great to hear.  Now, what about this incident in Hawaii? Some people argue that the footage of the bar fight shows that you have a darker side to you, what do you have to say about that?”

Damn, they made sure they asked every heavy hitting question they could ask.  “Doesn’t everyone have a dark side? Do you love me? Do you love mine?” I quoted Kelly Clarkson.

Again. Jake laughed, and this time so did the cameraman.  “What’s so funny? I’m askin a serious question here, this is a serious interview!”

“So you’re saying you do then?” Jake asked, after composing himself.

“I’m just saying that if you’re asking me am I violent in private? Nah, absolutely not.” I said, which was partially a lie, but whatever.  “I was just caught up in trying to save a human from a vampire, and if you’ve ever gotten in a fight with a vampire, you would know that it takes a lot of force to break that up.”

“And the rumors about the woman being your former flame?”

“You know what, Jake? That situation has all been handled, I got a lovely wife back in Arizona and I’m having an amazing comeback into performing and recording my third album.  Life is really good right now.”

Another semi lie.

But it diverted the subject, which was what I wanted.

“So are there any children in the future?”

“Actually, the children are our future.  That’s what I believe.”

“Man, you really don’t like to answer questions huh?” Jake chuckled.

I smiled, “I do.  Just certain questions.  Ask away about my career, a little about who I am, and I got you.”

He sighed and flipped the page in his tablet, shaking his head with a grin.  “Alright, well after two hugely successful albums, there’s a lot of expectations for the third…what can we expect from this new album?”

“Ah, this one I can answer for ya.” I clasped my hands together, rubbing my palms.  “My sound is developing more into a different direction.  I’m exploring more with different types of sounds that you wouldn’t normally find in pop and rnb.  Definitely some influences from the world.  I’ve heard so much being able to tour and visit countries I could’ve only dreamed of visiting.  I’ve also grown a lot, this album will be a lot more mature.”

“Any collabs?”

“Yeah man, this time around there are a couple more.  We have four of ‘em.  Really talented artists just lending their awesomeness to the tracks.”

“Can you tell us any?”

“Well, I’m not one to name drop…but you know James Brown just recently came out as part of the undead and has been begging to get on a track with me, so I finally let him.” I joked, to which I got more laughter from my interviewer.  “It’s top secret, the collabs, but trust me, they’re good.”

“So you mentioned that you moved to Arizona.  Any reason why you picked there in particular?”

“I had been in LA for so long, wrapped up in the craze of the lifestyle out here that I already wanted to have a home somewhere else.  I didn’t know where, but Roxanne had always wanted to move to Arizona, so I figured why not?”

“That’s nice of you.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty close to LA so I can still get my business done, and it’s far enough so that I get a break.”

“Has being a vampire affected your life in any drastic ways?”

“Not any major ways.  I can only do shows and interviews at night, I have a lot more stamina, as far as being onstage, I can do a lot more moving around.”

Jake nodded, “You were full of energy tonight, had the whole place on fire.”

“What can I say Jake? I’m hot man!”

“Anything else you wanna say?”

“I just wanna thank all the Hooligans for sticking with me through everything and I do this for them.  I really love my fans, I do.  They give me so much energy and they’re so dedicated.  I’m gonna knock everyone out with this album, I promise.”

Jake cued for the cameraman to stop filming, and just like that, I was finished.

_________________________________________________

“So whassup with you lately, KDD? Gettin’ any ass in these streets? It’s hard out here for a pimp.” I slapped the back of Dre’s head as I jumped over the couch.  He jumped and almost choked on his pizza slice.

“Fuck does KDD mean?”

I waggled my brows, “King Daddy Dick.”

He narrowed his eyes, “Yeah. Don’t call me that.” He laid back on the couch.  ”It’s hard for me to do my job when I’m dealing with a guy who can now snap me in half if he wanted to.” He shrugged, “But I’m still around, hangin’ out.  What’s with the kid?”

“Bruno didn’t tell you?” Dre shook his head.  ”She’s our new ‘daughter’” I said with air quotes.

He made a face. “What’d you do, abduct her?  You could’ve at least gotten an actual child.”

“Long story short, I attacked her on impulse and her last words were ‘I’m your biggest fan’…I couldn’t let her die like that.”

Dre laughed, “Shit, what is this? The Titanic?  Whose last words are that dramatic?”

“Bruno’s last words were ‘We created music together, that is eternal.  Never stop what God has blessed you with, I love you’.” I recalled verbatim.

We looked at each other for a couple seconds before we both started laughing.  ”I’m sorry that’s really fuckin’ hilarious to picture.” He said, clutching his chest as he looked up dramatically, “We created music together….that is eternal…I love you Roxanne.” He fell back on the couch and I couldn’t stop laughing so hard I snorted.

“What the fuck? Did you just snort, piggie?” He said, making me laugh even harder.

“Dre I can’t stand you!” I punched him in the arm and he yelled out in pain.

“Ouch, damn! I’m still human!” He said.

“My fault!” I giggled, “Low key, I’m kinda glad you’re here, even if it is to babysit us.”

“You missed me, huh?”

“No I didn’t miss your mean ass.  And you ate half the pizza, that’s enough!” I shut the pizza box.  ”You’re really making me a housewife, I’m gonna have to clean all this up.”

“I’m a growing man!” He snatched the box back and scooted back away from me on the couch.  ”Continue.” 

I let it go, for now.  ”Anyway, I needed some outside interference in my life.  It’s been so quiet with Bruno and I…I mean, we always have fun but it’s…quiet.”

“This is relaxing, I could live here myself.  I like quiet.”  He stretched out on the couch and I shoved his legs down.

“No feet on the couch.” I snapped.  He put his legs up on my lap instead and I ejected my fangs on purpose and I had never seen him jump away so fast in my life.  ”I said no feet on the couch!”

“I’m gonna make you so happy to have him back.”

“I’m already counting down.  Humans are disgusting.” I made a face at the food he was devouring.  It was no longer appealing in the least and it just smelled of strong spices that made me cringe.  I retracted my teeth.

“Where’s that girl at?” Dre asked.

“I had to lock her in the saferoom, so don’t let her out at all.  She shouldn’t ask, but still.  If there’s an emergency, just come get me.” I explained.

“How come?”

“Because she’s too new to be around you, she almost attacked you earlier, but she had the decency to lock herself in the bathroom before she could.  Her name is Nani, and she’s pretty cool.”

“Is she legal? She’s cute.”

“Dre!”

“What?!”

“She is seventeen, forever!” I snatched the pizza box off of him and took it into the kitchen.

“Your phone is ringing.” He called.

“I know.” I said, leaning down in the fridge and pulling out a blood bag.  I could hear perfectly well, and I knew that ringtone that I kept hearing for the past two days.

“Aren’t you gonna answer it?”

“Nope!” I said, bumping the fridge closed with my hip and emptying the blood into a coffee mug.  I popped it in the microwave and waited for it to warm up.  Dre came into the kitchen, stretching and yawning loudly before leaning on the counter.

“So, do I gotta play Dr. Phil here and find out why you’re ignoring Robyn?”

“I don’t associate with sluts.” I said curtly, taking my meal out and sipping it.  

“Are you drinkin’ blood? That’s nasty.” He noted.

“Blow me, Drizzy Dre.” I stuck my blood covered tongue out at him and he gagged.

“Since when do you care about Robyn being a slut? She kinda always was.” He said with brutal honesty.

I shrugged, holding the mug up to my lips. “I just realized how bad it is, so she can go fuck herself…or someone else’s man…I don’t care….” I took a sip.

Dre’s eyes widened.  ”Did she fuck Bruno? Aaaw man, he should know better than to hit that.”

“No she didn’t…at least Bruno told me he didn’t, and I trust him.  But the fact is, she tried to.”

My phone rang again, but this time I recognized the ringtone as Bruno and I vamped to the living room and back into the kitchen with the phone held between my shoulder and my head as I wet a rag and began wiping down the crumb filled counter.  ”Hey baby.”

“Hey baby.” Dre mocked.  I stuck my middle finger up at him and he laughed quietly.

“Yo……” Bruno said.  There was a little bit of laughter in the background.  ”Shut up!” I heard shuffling around and it got quieter.  ”Babyyyy.”

“Um…hi.” I said, not amused.  ”What’s going on right now?”

“We got….an afterparty.” He laughed, for no reason.  ”An afterparty at Ryan’s place.”

“Are you drunk?!” I threw the rag down on the counter and put my hand on my hip.

“Nah…chill girl.” He said, starting to laugh a little bit more.

“ROXAAAAANNE!” Someone in the background started to sing The Police.  ”I always thought you were sexyyyyy.”

“Who—is that Kam?! Bruno why would you call me with this bullshit, what’s going on right now?” I demanded.

He groaned, “I can’t just call to hear my girl’s voice? Yo, check this, check this. I love you.”

I hung the phone up and tossed it aside, going back to the sink and rinsing off the rag. I went back to wiping down the counter again, this time with more force in my actions, since I was deeply annoyed at what had just occurred.  He must have gotten his hands on whatever that shit was that could make us drunk.

“What’s goin’ on?”

“He’s acting like an idiot on the phone.” My cell started to ring again and I picked up.  ”What.”

“Damn girl…you….are….a….feisty one tonight.” He snorted in an attempt to hold in his laughter.

“I’m bout to hang up and then shut my phone off.” I said.  Dre motioned for me to put him on speakerphone, so I did.

“I just wanna talk to you….hear your voice….you comfort me….so much….I just….I really love you girl….I never thought I could fall in love…..then I met you.” He said dreamily.  ”You wouldn’t fuck me for like….four months….I was like damn….this girl is different…..you’re my best friend…..I’m just thinkin’ about you…and how much I love you…..I don’t even love you…..love can’t explain…the way….I feel….when I hear your name….”

“ROOOXXXXAAANNNEEE!” Someone yelled in the background again.

Dre looked at me and lifted a brow, “He’s high.” He said knowingly, slamming his hand on the counter.  ”Have fun, I’m a human and I need sleep at night.  SMOKE ONE FOR ME BRUNO.” He yelled, leaving the kitchen.

I leaned against the sink, sliding down to the floor, the phone in my hand.  ”Why are you high?  I didn’t even know we could get high?”

“Baby…..I’m sorry but……I’m blownnnnn.  I don’t know….what this shit is….that Ari got….some white people shit…..the lights are blue….goddamn.”

“I can’t talk to you when you keep pausing in between words like that.  You sound like you’re slow, call me back later.”

“Aiight…..you good….though?”

“I wish you weren’t high.” I tilted my head back against the cupboard I was sitting against.  Maybe I just wished I was high too…

He sighed, long and hard.  ”We got some shit…..to do…..with the vampires….”

“Great.” I dug the heel of my palm into my forehead in frustration.  ”Don’t even attempt to explain this to me tonight.  I’ve got things to do.”

“I really do….love you though…”

“I love you too.” I hung the phone up.

I wished I could force my body into daytime death early, but it didn’t begin to tire until dawn peeked over the horizon.  That’s just the way it functioned.

This was gonna be a long night….