Chapter 1: Ryan

The new girl stood at the front of the room, twisting a long strand of hair between her fingers. Mrs. Brins had said her name, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was used to new kids, and one more wouldn’t make all that much more difference. Whatever. Her last name was Italian, or, at least, something like that.

I traced my pencil over the paper. The doodle was less of an actual design than trying to see just how dark I could get the paper. Okay, that is a little weird, I admit it. But then again, blood-sucking monsters aren’t exactly what you would generally consider normal. After a few minutes of doodling, I got bored again, and looked up to try to pay attention to the introduction going on at the front of the room.

“…..Avian. How many schools did you say you’ve been to?” Mrs. Brins asked politely. I could tell that she really couldn’t care less, and that she wanted to get on with torturing her seventh-period class. And that Avian girl didn’t really seem to care what the teacher thought. I was beginning to like this kid.

“Thirteen. I’ve been transferred around the country since I was ten.” She had stopped fidgeting and now stood poker-straight as if she were an actor who had forgotten her lines. Even though I sat at the very back of the room, I could see the every detail of her tiny face; her odd violet eyes were framed with black, and her black hair was drawn up in some kind of clip. I couldn’t help but stare as her brilliant purple eyes swept the room. But, when they landed on me, the curious smile changed to one of pure disbelief and anger that shocked me. The anger was intense, filled with both fear and hatred. How could she hate me? She didn’t even know my name!

The only empty desk was right behind me, and Avian started to make her way down the aisle towards me, still glaring.

She sat down, and I could feel her eyes on the back of my head, as if they were trying to burn a hole through my skull. The smell of her blood drifted up to me, blown by the fan behind her, but I willed myself to ignore it, instead opting for the fantasy that had often kept me in line. I imagined hunting later that day, imagined the taste of my prey’s blood on my tongue, instead of that of my classmates. And that, plus the smell and pounding of Avian’s heart, made my mouth water, and sent my mind on a vacation to Dreamland. Keeping from killing her was harder than it sounds.

Finally, though not soon enough, the bell rang though the school to signal the end of school. I decided to wait, stay in the room until everyone, including that annoying new girl, Avian, was gone, and then leave. If she was so angry with me (reasons for which I was still clueless), she wouldn’t want to wait around. She’d be gone before anyone else had even thought to stand up.

Wrong. I looked up from the book that I was pretending to read while waiting for the scent of human blood to dissipate. Avian stood over me, her violently violet eyes staring down at me with such hatred I had to fight the natural urge to cringe under her glare. “Yes, can I help you?” I said, keeping my voice as even as I could. I wasn’t all that great under stress, vampire or not.

If possible, her eyes became even brighter, but less with anger this time than fright. That, I was much more familiar with. Who wouldn’t be afraid of me, whether or not they knew what I really was? “You have some nerve!” She hissed, startling me. What the heck was she talking about?

“Umm….could you possibly explain what you’re talking about….?” I said, taken aback by her words. I was really confused by this point. This kid was weird.

She gave a cold laugh, throwing her head back. The scent of her blood caught me hard in the face, and I struggled to stay in my seat. The scent was really overpowering. “You have some nerve to be here!” she yelled at me. “You…monsters are always trying to get me! But to follow me here? You really must be desperate.”

Okay, absolutely nothing she said was making sense. Her mouth was moving, but only nonsense (to me) came out. Did she know what I was? “Would you mind explaining whatever you’re talking about? I honestly have no clue.”

That didn’t seem like the answer she was hoping for, but she seemed to relax, if not completely, at least a little. She sighed, and her soft, warm breath brushed against my face. I couldn’t help but sniff the intoxicating smell. Not many humans had the guts to come as close to any of my kind as she was, whether or not they knew what I really was, and I was unused to the scent of human blood so close. She gave me a small smile. “Sorry. Guess I jumped to conclusions a bit there. You just…look like someone I know.” She held out her hand, though she was tense, as though that simple gesture was taking all of her will power. I took it, and she flinched at my cold touch. “My name’s Avian Giovanni. But I guess you would have heard…”

I grinned, happy that something she was saying finally made some sense. “Ryan Jones.” I said, shaking her hand once and letting go, for two reasons. One, her hand was shaking violently. And two, her face had gone so white I was afraid of her fainting. And for some reason, I was getting a strange impression that I was the cause of those symptoms.