Seven

AMELIA

We were in a small meeting. Me , frat guy and some of his team. He had a map of my home in Los Angeles spread out in front of him and I tried not to flinch each time he pointed out things and hidden entrances to my home as he talked about his strategy to infiltrate my home and kill my father.

‘’So I’ll get in through the front gate inside her limo and I’ll make my way up through the back entrance to the house. And if things go as planned, I’ll be inside the control room in exactly five minutes. You’re going to have only five minutes to take your strategic positions then the cameras and all the security installations are coming on again.’’

I tried my best to memorize all he was saying, trying to figure out a way to spoil all their plans without alerting my father. I had a vague idea what my father was going to do to him if he – my father found out, and even with all he had done to me, I couldn’t lie to myself that I wanted him to get hurt.

‘’Well I just don’t think we can trust her boss.’’ A guy with shaggy red hair in dirty jeans and a ragged polo said. He sounded like he was stating an obvious thing, yet something that frat guy hadn’t figured out yet.

‘’I don’t trust her of course, that’s why she doesn’t get to know the whole plan.’’ He turned to face the entire room now. ‘’We leave when I say we leave. So everyone stay alert.’’ He turned to me and nodded slightly. ‘’That includes you Amelia. You make that call when I ask you to.’’

I waited until the entire members of his crew had all filled out before I started to leave. The truth was that I was scared, they had all shot me hateful glances when frat guy wasn’t watching and I was almost sure they were going to attack me once I stepped outside. I turned to go but stopped again when frat guy called out.

‘’Amelia!’’

My heart started pounding erratically and it felt difficult to breathe. He didn’t sound like the enemy, he sounded like a friend. I badly needed a friend right now.

He walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. ‘’I understand how you must be feeling now.’’

I tried hard to swallow my tears, it was easier talking to him when he was so disgusted by me – it was painful, I knew but easier. When he was being kind, it almost threatened to unnerve me. "Do you?. . . . . . Really understand how I feel right now?’’ I asked without turning to look at him, I knew my pink tears were going to disgust him. ‘’I was almost sure those people were going to attack me right there, in the midst of listening to your strategy –‘’

The hand that was on my shoulder squeezed gently. ‘’I know. I saw the way they all looked at you.’’

I whirled around then, no longer caring how disgusted he must feel by my tears. ‘’So what! I am the enemy, the only reason you’d care is if they killed me or maimed me before you could carry out your plan – your plan to kill my father.’’ I stepped closer to him and jabbed my fingers against his chest. ‘’ Don’t you get it? Killing my father isn’t going to change anything. Fine you end up killing the vampire king, a little stroke on your ego but what happens next huh? One of my uncles is just going to wear that crown and life would go on as before.’’ I jabbed my fingers at him again then started punching him, hurting my hand with each punch but continuing all the same, I wanted to make him suffer just as I was suffering, I wanted to make him...

He caught both of my fists in one of his hands and drew me in for an embrace and I finally stopped struggling as I buried my face in his chest and gave in to the tears that were already overflowing their banks.

He held me, through it all, murmuring words of comfort in my ear as I stained his milky coloured chashmere sweater with my pink tears.

When I was spent, he guided me over to a chair, and sitting beside me, he gently guided my head to rest on his shoulder. I swiped discreetly at my running nose and he immediately reached into his pocket for something and when he didn’t find it, he thrust the end of his sleave under my nose and I shook my head.

‘’I don’t want to ruin your sweater.’’

‘’Well consider it already ruined. Blow.’’

Slightly embarrassed, I did as I was told and blew my nose on his sleave while somewhere in my subconscious, I wondered why my pink tears hadn’t disgusted him.

We sat like that, with my head in between his chest and his hand while he used his free hand to draw comforting circles on my arm till I broke the silence. ‘’At least tell me your name.’’

PERCY

Tell me your name……..

She had said and I froze immediately. The reason I had never told the vampire chick my name was because I was trying to stay alive. Normally, I was supposed to kill her once I had killed her father, she was the only person aside of my team who knew the face of the vampire slayer and that was a problem I needed to settle if I was going to live long enough to kill another vampire.

But even as I thought about it, I knew I was never going to kill her – and I was never going to let anyone harm her either. I dragged a hand through my hair, it was so frustrating. – She deserved as much and even though I knew she kept telling herself that our plan would not work, I knew the moment she had lost all hope that we would be unsuccessful, the moment hopelessness had settled into those once expressive violet eyes, turning them lifeless. I tried to remember the dead body of my little brother and of Valarie, how I had felt when I had seen their dried out corpse with the two fangs holes in their neck but all I could think about was the frightened girl leaning against me, trying so much to be strong.

‘’My name is Percy.’’ – She deserved that much.

She pulled her self away from my arms immediately. ‘’Percy King? ……. Great, it figures.’’

‘’What, I don’t remember telling you my surname.’’ I said starting to get suspicious, she was an ancient vampire after all.

‘’No you didn’t but my roommate Clarrisa did.’’—

Clarrisa……

That was one new complication. Figured life wasn’t going to make things any easier for me.

Amelia got up now, trying to brush off the pink stains on her top and I got up too and caught her hand. ‘’You can’t go back to your dorm like this, Clarrisa is smart, she’ll ask questions –‘’

‘’You don’t have to remind me of how smart she is.’’ She snapped. ‘’ I’m her roommate remember?’’

I brushed gently at the tears on her cheeks. ‘’Yeah I know Amelia and you’re smart too, that’s why you know you can’t go back to your room like this.’’

It took a lot to persuade her but I finally got her to go back to my room with me. I had paid for a one man room and so it was just me.

She lay now, asleep wearing my old T that was oversized on her, her hair, soft and fresh from the shower fanned out on the pillows under her, I tried to remember what she was but all I could think of was how everything had just decided to go wrong in the space of a few minutes – but no, I was lying to myself, it had started going wrong from the moment I had first seen her, standing in that door way with the corridor lights behind her, illuminating her luscious curves and drawing out specks of gold from her hair.

She was a vampire and had probably had thousands of years practicing how to pretend. I was a fool to have forgotten that. I left the key by the bedside and a note and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me, it had a dead bolt. I needed to see Clarrisa.