Chapter Two.....Scene Two (Cont.) & Three

At this time, Eric was trying to get up and just as Luke yanked him up to his feet with Paul looking to inflict more pain, he grabbed his half empty beer bottle and smashed it against Luke’s head. Luke groaned and Eric added a knee in the gut for good measure before Paul pounced on him. The two boys fell to the floor, both trying to land as many punches as they could.

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded and everybody froze, fists in mid-air as they all looked around to find the location of the sound. The person they saw holding a shotgun was the owner of the Arena himself. His name was Mr. Dickens or Santa as most folks fondly referred to him because of the costume he used to adorn every Christmas and because he was rather chubby and seemed to be always jolly. The look on his face now was anything but as he cocked the shotgun again.

“Any of you boys feel like finishing this outside before you wreck my bar?” He asked.

Before anyone could answer, Jade rushed in followed closely much to the dismay of the boys by Bryce’s father.

“What the hell is going on here?” Ulric demanded glaring at his son.

“Dad I can explain everything, just let me talk to Jade first,” Bryce said but Jade was already pushing past him, running towards a bleeding Tristan. Anger filled Bryce again at the sight of Jade tentatively touching Tristan’s face and he advanced once more but was pulled back roughly by a strong hand on his shoulder. He looked into his father’s angry face.

Ulric felt very tempted to strike his son but felt he’d already suffered enough humiliation by his girlfriend rejecting him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He asked in a tight voice.

“Dad I….” Bryce began but was cut off by a tightening of the arm still on his shoulder.

“Don’t even try to say anything! He leaned closer and in a controlled whisper hissed, “Did you even notice that your eyes are glowing? Just get your pack of dogs out of here before you expose us all!” He shoved Bryce towards the door, and motioned for the others to follow. Luke, Paul and Calvin gathered their broken noses and battered heads and shuffled on out of the bar, knowing they were in for a rollicking with Bryce’s father.

“Is somebody gonna pay for the light I just busted?” Mr. Dickens asked, back to his jolly best.

Despite the pain in his jaw, Eric chuckled. Well you had to see the funny side. They’d broken tables and made a general mess of things but all he asked about was the light he had busted. “It’s okay Mr. Dickens; you can send us the bill.”

“I’ll certainly do that,” Mr. Dickens said and went back to his business like nothing had happened.

“I am so sorry,” Jade said. “I should have known Bryce would do something stupid. But this goes way beyond reasoning even for him.”

“Oh I’m fine,” Tristan said acting his macho self. “You should have seen the other guy.” He winced when Jade touched the cut on his forehead.

Eric scoffed. “Now I understand why they say a man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.”Tristan scowled at him, making Jade laugh.

“Come on,” she said taking his hand. “I can dress the wound better at my house.”

“It’s just a scratch,” Tristan protested although he couldn’t help feeling he’d just hit the jackpot. “I’ll take care of it when I get home.” But much to his delight, Jade was having none of it and insisted he come with her and pretending like it wasn’t what he’d wanted in the first place, Tristan finally relented.

“You can come too Eric,” Jade said.

“You just go on ahead. I don’t feel like fighting anybody else tonight. Especially with that death look my brother’s giving me right now. He wants you all to himself.”

Jade found herself blushing as Tristan glared at his brother. “Very subtle there champ,” Tristan said. “You better head home before that jaw swells to abnormal proportions.”

“Aye aye Captain,” Eric said, giving a mock salute as Tristan pulled a laughing Jade away.

 

Raven was listening to her favorite Maroon 5 CD when her mother opened the door to her bedroom. She mouthed a ‘hey, how was your day’ and Raven answered with an indifferent shrug. Her mother cocked her head to one side signaled for Raven to meet her downstairs in five minutes. Raven sighed, knowing her mother would want to hear about every little detail of her school day. She waited a full minute after the five were over then went down. Her mother was already in her favorite recliner, a tall glass of animal blood in her hand.

“Where’s Dad?” Raven asked, throwing herself next to her mother.

“He’s on call tonight. Didn’t he tell you?” Tabitha asked.

“He might have said something.”

“Well I wanna know is how your day went. You make any friends yet?”

Raven shook her head. “It was just the same as yesterday Mom, boring and really long. I felt like I was suffocating the entire time. Please don’t make me go back there.” She pouted.

“Oh come on, I’m sure it’s not that bad. You just have to be a little more social Raven. I mean it’s no wonder you’re saying it’s boring; you’ve hardly gone out since we moved here. You’re always upstairs listening to music or playing on the computer. There are plenty of kids your age out there, human and vampire alike if you’re afraid of losing control of yourself.”

“I know,” Raven said. “As always you’re right.”

“Of course I am. I’ve had centuries to perfect my psychology skills.” Tabitha said, offering Raven a sip of her animal blood.

Raven took the glass, and took a huge swallow. Ever since that morning, with Eric sitting so close to her, her thirst for blood had risen but it was not just that. Of late, animal blood had started to disgust her though she forced herself to endure it because she did not want to be tempted to do the unthinkable. Even now, she grimaced as she swallowed; wishing to hell her mother could have brought some human blood.

Her daughter’s reaction to the blood was not lost on Tabitha. She’d been noticing Raven was hungry all the time, and her eyes often glazed a deep crimson red without her noticing. “Raven honey I’ve been meaning to talk to you about your hunger. Are you having control issues?”

“A little,” Raven confessed in a small voice. “I may have mentally fed on some people since school started.”

“Oh honey,” Tabitha sighed. “It’s okay, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. You should actually be proud of yourself. You didn’t act on your instincts and that’s a sure sign that you getting it more under control.”

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Raven said. “It was even harder with Eric. He’s just so –

“Whoa, hold on there missy,” Tabitha said, quickly holding up a hand. “Who’s Eric?’

“Oh it’s just this guy I met at school. He’s actually new in town as well.”

“Is he cute?” Tabitha asked.

“Mom,” Raven protested. She’d never actually thought of Eric in that way before, always distracted by her lustful hunger for his blood. But now, as her mind contemplated her mother’s question, Raven found Eric wasn’t in the least disappointing in that department. She nodded. “Yeah, I guess you could say he is.”

“I knew it!” Tabitha exclaimed. She clapped her hands excitedly. “Tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell Mom. We only talked for a couple of minutes at the most. Besides, I think he’s the main reason behind my blood cravings of late.”

Tabitha frowned. “Wait a minute, he’s human?”

“Yes. I mean no or maybe. I don’t know.” Raven let out a frustrated sigh, running her hands through her sleek dark hair. “He looks human enough, even his blood smells human but there’s something about him. I can’t explain what it is. But what I do know is that my compulsion didn’t work on him.”

Tabitha drew in a sharp breath at the thought her daughter might be compelling people and feeding on them. “You’re using your compulsion at school?” She asked.

“It’s not what you think Mom,” Raven said. “I’m not hurting anyone. I was just using it so they would leave me alone. Then he came and sat beside me and he wasn’t affected at all.”

“Did you do it right?”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Of course I did. I looked right into his eyes and told him to leave but he just kept on chatting like nothing happened.”

“Well then he’s got to be one of them.”

“That’s what I thought and I said as much but you should have seen the look on his face Mom. Either he doesn’t know what he is or he’s a very good actor.”

“He doesn’t know what you are does he?”

“No he doesn’t but for all we know that might have been an act as well.”

“Well whatever he is, you’ll have to be careful around him. We can’t afford to make any enemies here. If anything happens, we’ll be badly outnumbered.”