Beginnings (The Trifectus Series - Book One) Page 2

  “Hey!” he said. “How have you been?”

  “Stressed!”

  “How come?”

  “My parents are fighting again. School has been tough also.”

  “Aw, I’m sorry. I’m sure it will get better though!”

  “I hope. To top it all off, this guy I like still hasn’t even asked me out yet.”

  “Oh…you’re talking to someone?”

  “Well, not even talking. I wish we were talking, but it seems like I am just another face to him. Why do you ask, though?”

  “Oh, no reason. Just trying to keep up-to-date!”

  Marcus had always been a great friend to me. I felt like I could be myself with him. I could tell him my secrets and my dreams. He is really great to me, but I don’t know if I ever see myself actually dating him. I mean, after all, he won’t even meet me or send me a picture of himself. He is just that buddy who is always there if I need him.

  Deep down, however, Marcus was hurting. He loved Juliet deeply. He wanted to show her what he looked like, but he was terrified. If she found out what he really looked like, she would never talk to him again. She was the only true friend he ever had, and he didn’t want to lose that. She brightened his day and made him feel like he was on top of the world. To him, she was the angel he had been waiting for his whole life.

  Bubble Power Pets had always been a release for me. It was as if I was able to escape to a virtual world where real world problems didn’t seem to matter. I could sit for hours on end, just basking in this fake, virtual world that had been created. I could let go and be myself. During this particular play session, however, I noticed something strange. It seemed like whenever Marcus and I would play together, strange things would happen. It seemed like every time Marcus would do something, a glitch would happen. He would get items, levels and quests done easily, with no problems at all.

  Just as I was about to ask him about it, I heard my name being called.

  “Juliet! Juliet, could you come down here?” my mother asked.

  As I walked down the stairs, I saw my parents both sitting there on the couch. They sat there as if I had done some horrible thing and they needed to scold and punish me for my behavior.

  “Juliet, honey, we need to talk,” my mother said softly.

  “Your mother and I are worried about you, sweet pea,” my father said. “What—why? Did I do something wrong?” I asked.

  “Well, no,” my father said. “But we are worried you aren’t taking your new opportunities seriously.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Take your new friends, for instance. You don’t seem to want to hang out or socialize with them outside of school. We are worried that you are too preoccupied with the computer to make real friends,” my father said.

  “Real friends? People online are real people, you know. That makes them REAL friends. I’m sorry that I’m not little miss perfect cheerleader that goes to every pep rally, but I DO socialize,” I yelled.

  After yelling at my parents, I ran upstairs. Why can’t they understand me? I’m not this super-social girl that wants to go out to parties and school functions. I just want to come home and be alone. Ever since this move I haven’t wanted much to do with anything or anyone. I have just wanted to be alone. How could they say that my online friends aren’t my real friends either? Marcus is more of a friend and family to me than they will ever be. They have no clue. I can’t wait until I can leave this place.

  I sat alone for most of the night. I couldn’t get the day out of my head. I hadn’t been as embarrassed in a long time as I was when I fell off that rope. I bet everyone thought I was the dorky new girl who couldn’t tell her right from her left. Why did James catch me anyway? He could have just let me fall and embarrass myself, but he was there. I kept wondering how he even could have caught me as fast as he did. I fell for a second or two, which was barely enough time for even me to react and comprehend what was happening.

  All I knew was that he was enchanting. He was someone I could see myself being with. A guy that would always be there to catch me, just like he did earlier. As I started drifting off to sleep, thoughts of him filled my mind. I went to sleep with a smile on my face, and I was happy.

  Chapter Two

  Tension

  The next day at school was a rare one. I couldn’t focus at all. Not on lectures, quizzes or even talking at lunch. I hated everything. I hated that I was forced to live in this oppressive city and country, with my father at the head of the worst part of it. You see, for centuries there has been conflict. We figured out long ago that we are not alone. The vampires and werewolves roamed around Europe for centuries looking for their place: their home. They have never liked each other and we only made it worse. Humans have always been afraid of the unknown. There have been countless tales and fables of vampires seducing women, werewolves killing whole herds of livestock, and the people that try to intermingle with them.

  These days are different, though. They no longer do these things because now they are hiding. They are hiding from not only our government but also every government in the world. We figured out that we could catch them. Sure, it was hard and the military lost a lot of men in the process, but they found a way to capture and exterminate these groups to make sure they couldn’t stay alive.

  The vampires mostly only get more numbers by stealing the lives of mortals. They seduce them, both men and women, and give them the bite. They play it as a cat-and-mouse game. They have high powers of persuasion, and can wrap a mortal around their fingers without breaking a sweat. There have been some others, children, born to vampire couples, however. They tell us that this is dangerous. They tell us that they don’t like to do this often. The babies have a higher thirst for blood in pregnancy than any other time in their lives. They will eat the mothers from the inside out if they have the chance. This is what the government tells us, anyway. I’m not even sure if it is true.

  The werewolves were a whole different breed entirely. There are packs all over the country and especially the world. They mostly live in the outdoors. Caves, farms, woods, etc. They are shifters, meaning they can shift into their werewolf self. Think half man, half wolf, extreme attitude. People like my father can normally spot them, though. While in their human forms, they still keep many canine attributes. Higher sense of smell, strange scratching, even higher athletic ability. They can outrun and outjump any mortal on this planet, and that is just in their human forms. They don’t care about humans as much, though. They aren’t interested in mating with or even being close to us. They spirit bond. Werewolves mate and only stay with another werewolf. They mate for life and will never leave the side of their mate, even if it means they themselves die. The younger, newer generations of werewolves aren’t like their parents and grandparents. They are starting to merge themselves into society. Schools, gyms, shopping, they are all around us. They used to be secluded to the dense forests but now they have gone urban.

  I was suspicious at school that some of these people were there. I mean, look at Derek. He is the fastest guy this school has ever had, and he is only a junior. He constantly beats everybody by what seems like a mile. Even athletes at other schools can’t keep up with him. He was in Mr. Quigley’s class with me. He always seemed weird around me, especially today. He kept his eyes on me for almost the whole class, almost as if he was scared of me. People at my old school were afraid of me, because of my father. They think that just because my father is a colonel in the military that I will have them shipped away to some secret prison in Nevada if I don’t like them. These people wouldn’t know about him, though.

  I started daydreaming again in class. Why was it that I was always thinking about James? It seemed like he had some kind of power over me that made me constantly think about him. It is probably teenage hormones, though. There is no way he could have some power over me. Every girl in school was crazy about him, and for good reason. I overheard this girl in the locker room, Maggie, say that she was wal
king past his house one night when she saw him in the window. Maggie said that she saw him take off his shirt and she melted. His body was sculpted, as if the gods themselves chiseled him to be perfect.

  “Ms. LaVoe.”

  “MISS LAVOE!”

  “Oh—huh—what,” I said, embarrassed.

  “Since you love to think and daydream so much, how about you stay after school and think about why you are cleaning the classroom for everybody,” Mr. Quigley said snidely.

  “Yes sir,” I said while lowering my head.

  Great, just great. The semester has barely started and I already have one teacher that hates me. This was so typical for me. It seemed like I could never even get a break. Like everything I did or everything I tried just went horribly.

  After school I showed up at Mr. Quigley’s room to start my fun afternoon of cleaning the entire classroom. As I walked in, I could see that people left papers and food everywhere for me to pick up.

  “Ms. LaVoe,” Mr. Quigley said. “Glad you could show up.”

  “Yes sir. I’m sorry for today, it won’t happen again.”

  “I should hope not. I know your father wouldn’t be too pleased if you flunked my class.”

  “You know my father?” I asked confusedly.

  “Not personally, but everyone knows the great Colonel Arnold LaVoe,” he said enthusiastically.

  “He is going to take care of these vile creatures running around our streets. You know your father is a hero!”

  “Yeah,” I said rolling my eyes. “A real stand-up guy.”

  As I started cleaning, my phone beeped.

  “Hey, u getting on 2night?”

  It was Marcus. Normally I wouldn’t want to talk to anyone, but after today, I was glad I had a friend to turn to and vent.

  “Prob not 2night,” I said. “I got held back and have 2 clean the class.”

  “Bummer. Well have fun!”

  Have fun? Have fun?! As I turned my phone on silent and started cleaning, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. There was someone on top of the roof of the building across the street. As I squinted my eyes to try to see who it was, they vanished. Could it be James? No, it can’t be. Why would he be there? Then I started thinking, though, that maybe it was him. I thought I saw him outside my house before, and now I think I see him here. Maybe he likes me. Maybe, just maybe, he wants to be with me.

  I got done cleaning Mr. Quigley’s classroom just as it was getting dark. I was pretty scared of the dark, especially because of the types of people that come out at this time. I walked past a few soldiers stationed outside the school as I was leaving.

  “That’s weird,” I thought to myself as I passed them.

  Why were soldiers posted outside? They were just standing there, as if they were guarding something. They didn’t even acknowledge me walking by them. It was as if I didn’t even exist. I had a fifteen-minute walk back home. When I turned onto Fisher Street, I noticed some thugs harassing an old man.

  “Give me your wallet, old man.”

  “Leave me alone, you hooligans!” the old man yelled.

  Just as I was walking by, one of the thugs noticed me on the other side of the street.

  “Hey baby!” one wearing a black beanie said. “Why don’t you come over here and give daddy a kiss?”

  I tried to just look down and walk faster. Maybe if I left fast they wouldn’t harass me. As my heartbeat grew stronger, I noticed something in the reflection of a shop window: it was them. They had crossed the street and were starting to follow me.

  “Come on baby, we only want to talk!” said one, laughing.

  “Yeah!” another said. “We aren’t going to hurt ya, just talk!”

  I stupidly turned into an alley. I pass by this area every day, but this time I thought I would run through the alley and get away faster. That was a mistake. As I ran in, I went ten feet and noticed something: it was a dead end. My heart started racing as I turned around. They were there, standing at the entrance. As they started approaching me, I walked backwards. It was just then that my back hit a wall. I was standing face-to-face with four guys coming towards me.

  “Look, fellas,” one said. “Looks like we got ourselves a cute little angel.”

  “Yeah,” another said, chuckling. “You should go give her a kiss, Tommy.”

  I started crying. Was this how my life was going to end up? Ending up dead in some seedy alley at the hands of some losers? As I closed my eyes and prayed, I heard a voice.

  “I wouldn’t do that.”

  It was him. It was James.

  “Dude, get lost, she’s ours,” said one of the thugs.

  “Are you sure about that?” James said.

  “Yeah, maybe you can have her after we’re done,” said one, chuckling.

  Just as that happened I saw something I had never seen before. It was his eyes. James’s eyes turned bright red. His eyes were as red as fresh blood dripping from an open wound. That was the last I saw. I closed my eyes for two seconds and they were gone. When I opened my eyes, it was just James: he was walking towards me.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “The guys decided that you were a sweet girl and they left,” James said, smiling.

  James then proceeded to help me up, his hand touching my shaking hand.

  “Can you walk?” he asked.

  “Kind of, not really,” I whispered.

  The truth is, I could walk just fine. I was shaken up, but him just being there helped ease my fear. He picked me up in his arms and started walking. His body was cold, but I felt so warm being in his arms. My heart skipped a beat as I rested my head against his strong chest, my fears drifting away.

  “Thank you,” I softly whispered.

  “I will always protect you,” he whispered back.

  It was at that moment I fell in love with him. He was perfect. He was beautiful, charming, intelligent and fearless. He protected me: he made me whole. He carried me the entire way home, never letting go. I knew he would protect me and never hurt me. I knew our love would blossom like a field of wild daisies.

  When we reached my front steps, he set me down.

  “Thank you for helping me,” I said.

  “I will never stop protecting you,” he said as he looked into my eyes.

  At this moment I died. This was too good to be true. Why would someone as perfect and gorgeous as James want someone like me? I mean, I’m not ugly, but I am not as pretty as someone like Brittany or Ashley. It didn’t matter, though. He was here with me, and that was all that mattered.

  I started walking up the stairs, wishing I could stay in his strong arms forever. As I walked in the door, I turned around to see his face one last time. As I turned around, he was gone. He was mysterious: he was different.

  I walked in to my father watching the news.

  “Honey, come look at this,” my father said while motioning me to come.

  “This is Terry Kerrington live at the scene. Approximately twenty minutes ago, there was a vampire attack downtown. Here with an eyewitness account is one of the victims, Tommy Martinez,” the reporter said.

  “Dude, it was crazy. We weren’t doing nothing and then all of a sudden this guy came. His eyes turned red and he tried to kill us! We tried running when he hit us from behind and tried to bite us. We were able to escape only because of someone walking down the street,” Tommy said.

  It was at this moment I stopped dead in my tracks. Could it be? Could James be a vampire? No, it couldn’t be, could it? He was just a normal guy, I was sure.

  “You are not to go out at night anymore!” my father exclaimed furiously.

  “These vile creatures must be stopped. We cannot have them terrorizing the streets, and I won’t let them hurt my little girl,” he said with anger.

  As he walked away angry, I sat on the couch in shock. It all made sense now. His pale, cold to the touch skin. His charm and my undeniable lust for him. Even wh
en he showed up in the alley, his eyes turned red and then the thugs were gone. How else could you explain that? For some reason, though, I didn’t care. He was my soul: my everything. He was protecting me, not going out looking to feed or hurt someone. He cared about me, and I cared about him.

  Later that night as I lay awake in bed all I could think about was his face. All I had heard about vampires was bad. They can make you powerless, make you obsessed, and make you theirs. All of this didn’t seem to matter, though. I knew he was what I wanted and that nobody would stand in the way of my love for him. I had to keep my love for him a secret, which killed me. If my friends, or worse yet, my father, found out about him, he would be dead. I couldn’t take that risk. James risked himself to protect me, and now, I had to do the same for him.

  That next morning I woke feeling on top of the world. I was in love, and nothing could bring me down. Those feelings were short-lived. As I went downstairs, I heard my parents talking.

  “Oh good, honey, you’re up,” my father said.

  “We have arranged for guards to take you and pick you up from school,” he said. “You will go from home to school, and school to home. You are not to go anywhere else until further notice,” he said sternly.

  “What? Why!” I exclaimed.

  “Oh, because of the vampires, dear,” my mother said with her typical dainty voice.

  “We couldn’t live with ourselves if something happened to you,” my father said. “You know the attack last night wasn’t too far from your school.”

  I was furious. How could they do this to me? It wasn’t some random attack: he was saving me. He was saving me from those creepy thugs and now he is treated as if he is some war criminal. I wanted to just blurt out “no.” I wanted to yell that he loves me and he was doing it to save me, but I couldn’t. If I told someone, especially somebody like my father, his identity, then he would be captured and killed. The government doesn’t take these attacks lightly and giving them any information would only make things worse.

  “You should also know that there is a citywide curfew now. Also, more of my men will be on street corners and at major gatherings of people. We can’t take these freaks hurting any more of us,” he said with emotion.