Vamp or Not? Read online

not?

  Hi I’m Lexxa, I say to a room full of strangers I just met in this placed called “Cliff’s”. By the way I’m a teenage runaway, I know right, you can’t get more cliché than that. I found this remote town that I’m hoping to fit in with. On my first stop I think I found the perfect location. I see a group of teenagers dressed in Goth sort of not with the rest of the crowd. I just happen to be wearing all black today so hopefully they will let me hang with them. After introducing myself to the room, I go over to the corner section in the back of this low key restaurant/bar/hang-out spot they have going on and sit down.

  One of the guys speak, “Yeah, so um are you into vampires or what?” he asks, in a very blunt sort of way. I have seen a few vampire shows and movies but I wouldn’t say I was actually into vampires. Alright I got to get my game face on.

  “Yeah, I absolutely love the undead.” I say, hoping to sound convincing.

  “Cool, you can hang with us.” The guy says in a very laid back tone. “I’m Lucien, and this is Vlad, Druisilla, and Rob.”

  I look at each of them but particularly at Rob. First of all Rob, why is he the only one with a non-vamp sounding name? All of them have on what looks like vamp attire but Rob’s is just a little less out there with his. And did I forget to mention Rob is a complete Hottie. I am so happy I picked them to hang out with.

  “Well if you missed my floor intro when I walked in, my name is Lexxa.” I say to the group. The only girl in the group smiles at me and says, “Lexxa that’s a great name, you will fit in perfectly with us.” I smile and say thank you to her they whole time thinking how I have always hated my name. My name is Alexandria and I hate it when people try to shorten my name with boy nicknames like Alex or Al, that’s why I came up with Lexxa, but they don’t have to know that.

  After getting to know each other a little bit they give me the rundown on how their group works. It seems very simple just hang out here whenever you can and talk about vampires, watch vampire stuff, and just pretend to be vampires. They don’t have a leader but the point man seems to be Lucien.

  A month has gone by so quickly and I really love my new group of friends. Druisilla has become like a mother/sister to me. She let me stay with her and helped me get a waitressing job at our hang out spot things couldn’t be going any better. The only thing not really going my way is Rob. He seems so aloof at times he never comes in to hang out with us until the sun has gone completely down. He seems to vanish sometimes and when he returns his hands are ice cold. I know you are probably wondering how I would know that.

  We decided to watch Lucien’s favorite movies the Underworld movies. I was working up the courage to accidentally graze my hand against his, since he was sitting right next to me. When I was in range he got up quick and disappeared and when he returned I managed to make contact and his hand was ice cold. It was only September when that happened, I accidentally touched him on another occasion and again ice cold. But hey no real biggie he is still super-hot to look at besides I heard somewhere cold hands mean a soft heart, right.

  Now that it is October the gang seems to be in full vampire mode. The costumes have gotten outrageous but I’m having a good time playing dress up with the gang too. We are going to do a vampire skit and perform it in front of whomever comes into “Cliff’s”. Vlad thinks of himself as amateur writer and he wrote the entire skit. It’s about a girl who is kidnapped by thugs and is rescued by a vampire. I get the impression he is crushin on Druisilla and decided to make a skit she would enjoy. I am loving this skit, not because of his stellar writing potential, but that he made me the kidnapped victim that is saved by the handsome vampire. Can you guess who is playing this handsome vampire, of course it’s Rob. Dru and Vlad play the sexy gang couple and Lucien as the leader, he really went all out on that concept didn’t he.

  Okay today is the day I’m going to go up to him and ask him to practice our part in the skit together. It’s about to be dark soon so he should be coming in any minute now. I think I will go outback and prepare what I’m going to say when I see him. “Just keep it casual, keep it light”, I repeat to myself over and over again. All of sudden I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around expecting to see Mike one of the bus boys at Cliff’s but no it’s some random loser that looks like he’s lonely.  

  “Hey cutie, getting ready for Halloween?” he asks, with an overly cheery smile, that completely creeps me out. I say, “Yeah, something like that” as I try to turn to go back inside that is when he does the number one creeper/stalker move. He places his hand on my back turning me towards him and says, “What is your rush?”

  Out of nowhere Rob appears behind the guy. He pulls the guy’s arm behind his back and ask, “Is there a problem here?” The guy lets out a squeal and says no and then walks away.

  Rob looks down at me and asks, “Are you okay?”

  I think my heart is about to stop he finally pays some attention to me. Had I known all it took was for some creepy guy to hit on me and Rob would speak to me, I would have been hanging out in dark alleys a long time ago. I am looking up into Rob’s eyes and I realized he was still waiting for an answer so I say, “I think so.” He puts his arm around me and walks me inside.

  I can feel my heart beating into my chest. His arm is around me, we are actually touching...hee hee. Rob looks at me with a confused look and ask me again, “Are you sure you are okay?” I don’t know where all this concern is coming from but I love the attention. I can’t afford to milk it too much or he might think I’m one of those girls that are super needy.

  “I’m fine.” I say, thankful he hasn’t let go of me yet. He looks at me again as if he is unsure of something. “Your heart is beating really fast.” he says, and looks away. Okay, that was a little weird but I don’t want him to stop looking at me. “I’m fine Rob, really.”

  We sit down at a table and unfortunately he removes his arm. I ask him about practicing the skit together. He is back to being completely indifferent to his surroundings. I let him know I’m new to this town and don’t want to look like a complete fool in front of everyone so he gives in and decides we can practice at closing. This guy keeps getting weirder and weirder but yeah whatever I’m so into him.

  I have begun to look forward to closing time at Cliff’s every night. Rob has actually been, I don’t know, more relaxed or something. Today we are going to work on the ending and he is supposed to suck my blood, I can’t wait. I am wearing a super sexy Goth dress that I borrowed from Dru and a sterling silver cross necklace she gave me too, I am so ready.

  We start to practice and Rob seems to be doing that whole aloof thing again, seriously what is his deal. He doesn’t seem to want to come close to me or anything today. I’m not backing down we have to do this it’s nearing the end of October now. “Rob is something the matter you seem different today?” I ask hoping he will let me know so we can do the ending.

  “Nothing is wrong.” He says with absolutely no emotion. Then he surprises me by asking me where did I get my necklace. Excited for a little conversation I answer him. He gets quiet for a moment and then ask me to take off the necklace. “Why?” I ask.

  “Wearing a cross doesn’t match the vampire theme. Would a real vampire drink from your neck while you are wearing that thing?” He says, with an irritated tone. Wow he is unbelievable, okay I didn’t think of that, this necklace looks good with this outfit and it was a gift from Dru does he have to be so mean. After a month of fitting in at a new place with new people. I thought all of my sadness and bad times were behind me but this guy….

  Crap I can feel my eyes starting to burn. I better get out of here before I burst into tears in front of him. I race towards the exit. I miss the set of props Dru and Vlad set up for the skit. I trip over some debris and a wood
beam is about to fall on top of me, as I fall backwards, I see this heavy beam about to crush me and I can’t help but let out a terrified scream.

  The next thing I know I feel a strong arm is beneath me holding me up; while another arm is lifting a heavy beam away from me. I look into the eyes of my rescuer and it’s Rob. He shoves the heavy beam aside as if it is as light as a feather. My emotions are all over the place the tears I was trying so hard to hold back just came gushing out.

  “Lexxa, are you hurt?” Rob says, with a frantic look on his face. I can’t help but cry even harder when he asks me that. It’s the first time he has actually called me by my name and for some reason it intensifies my feeling of fear of almost being bludgeoned to death. I grab hold of his neck and just hold onto him as if my life depends on it. I can’t help but cry all over his shirt.

  I can feel him carrying me somewhere but I can’t seem to focus on anything as the tears just keep falling down my cheeks. I loosen my grip from around his neck and open my eyes and what I see completely catches me off guard. There are burn marks on Rob’s chest and neck. I examine them closer and notice they are the same print as the necklace I am wearing. I reach out to touch the burn and he grabs my hand. He says just one word as he turns away from me “Don’t”.

  I think back to all those odd occurrences and start to wonder if he really a vampire? That would explain his weird behavior and the constant distance he puts out to everyone, not just me. As I look up at his face there are two things that I discover. One, I have been sitting in his lap this whole time and didn’t realize it. Two, he’s afraid. I realize I don’t know anything about him. I am so selfish and self-centered the only thing I was thinking about was his looks. I want to establish a connection with him, a true connection, even if it’s just as friends. I have to ask him the question I know he doesn’t want me to ask.

  I look into his eyes and asks, “Are you a vampire?”

  He looks back at me and with a firm sure expression he replies, “No.”

  He is still hiding something. Is he lying? Would he do that?

  “So you are human then?” I ask.

  He is quiet for a long time just staring back at me as if he is hoping I will back down or take it back or something. Finally he answers, “Not quite.” I grab his hand but this time it’s warm, extremely warm. Now I am completely confused.

  “Are you a vamp or not?” I asks a little too harshly I realize.

  He places me on the floor and stands up. He looks down at me and responds harshly, “I told you once before I am not a vampire. So let’s just drop all this right now.” He turns away as if he is ready to bolt. I quickly grab his arm and force him to look at me.

  “What are you?” I ask, in a very small voice.

  He sighs with a deflated expression on his face as if he knew this was coming.

  “For a while, I figured hanging out with the gang would be a great place for me to fit in inconspicuously.” he says, in a melancholy tone. He smiles as if he just recalled something funny and says, “Wow, all those times I would race to the freezer to bring down my body temperature, hoping no one would notice.” After one last silent look directly at me he responds.

  “I am what you would call a werewolf.” He says, then he turns and walks out the door.