Vampire Manifesto (19 page)

“
Security at this establishment is very lax.” He sipped his drink. “The blonde one let me in. She is very cute, very sexy.”

“
Abigail?” I managed. I wasn’t sure what to do; I wasn’t expecting him…here!

“
Yes, that’s the one. Gave me a complete police interrogation upon entering.” He placed his drink on the floor. “Nosy little bird isn’t she?”

“
What are…what are you doing here Connor?” I sat up on the bed. “What are you doing in my room?”

“
I thought we had plans for the evening?” He stated. “Apparently I was mistaken.”

He rose to leave.

“
Wait!” I got up, pushing the covers aside.

“
Why are you covered in paint?” Connor asked.

I ignored him. “How did you find out where I live?”

“
You’re kidding me right?” He picked up his drink. “I’ve had farts bigger then this town.”

“
It’s just…I wasn’t expecting you here, at my home.” I wanted to move closer to him, yet I maintained our distance.

“
Oh I see. You were planning to stand me up, for whatever reason, which I’m sure in your mind was paramount, yet in truth, irrelevant.”

“
No, that’s not…”

“
And yet here I am.” Connor motioned to himself. “Demon in human clothing. Do you wanna dance with the Devil in the pale of the Moonlight?”

“
What are you…” I began.

“
I don’t know.” Connor finished. “But I always ask that of all my prey.” He made a beeline towards the door before pausing. “I can leave or I can meet you downstairs.”

What was he doing here? In my home no less! I mean, when I saw him earlier, when I agreed to go out with him, that was one thing, having him show up in my room is something else altogether. I would be furious, I should be furious and yet I wasn’t. I wanted to see him; I wanted him here with me. I wanted us to go out tonight. I wanted
him
. Even if a large part of my subconscious warned me against it, having Connor this close…

“
Do you always talk to yourself, about yourself, when you dream or was that just for my benefit?” Asked Connor.

“
Get out of my room!” I yelled.

“
Downstairs then?”

“
Yes!”

“
See you soon.” Connor slipped out, closing the door behind him.

“
Are you freaking kidding me?” I said to myself.

“
I can still hear you.” Came Connors response from the other side of my bedroom door.

“
Downstairs! NOW!” I fired off. “Can you hear that?”

“
I dead man in China could hear that.”

“
Connor!”

“
Going downstairs now.” He announced. “And do please take a shower, you smell like Mass Public Transportation.”

I listened, trying to hear him going down the steps, but there was nothing but silence. After a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that he wasn’t standing outside my door any longer. I had forgotten all about my plans with Connor. Well, it’s not that I forgot entirely, but rather my intent was to just ignore everything completely, especially since I had never given him my phone number or address. I figured that our little outing tonight could just be glossed over. I never expected to wake and find Connor drinking alcohol in my bedroom watching me sleep.

How creepy is that?

And why the hell was he sipping strawberry daiquiris? He had one of Aiden’s Calvin and Hobbes plastic cups, which means he got the drink from here. Which means, not only did Abigail let him in, she was quenching his thirst as well. Did she cook him dinner while she was at it?

I took one of the quickest showers I’ve ever taken in my life, nothing but business between me, the soap and the water. I threw on a Pulp Fiction tee-shirt and some destroyed, Abercrombie and Fitch jeans. A little bit of makeup, just a touch here and there, some lipstick and eye shadow and I pulled my hair to the back, gelling the sides completely so they stuck close to my side of my head.

I started down the steps and I could see Connor there with Aiden in the living room, the couches pulled back so there was room for the two of them to maneuver. Abigail sat at one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter, watching the two boys go at it.

“
No, like that.” Connor said, grabbing Aiden’s palm with his hand. “If you do it this way and stick your leg out here, like this, you can flip them to the ground like so.”

Connor moved extremely quickly, twisting Aiden’s palm, flipping him to the ground softly. As painful as it looked, Aiden seemed to rebound from it quickly, getting to his feet, Connor helping him up. “That didn’t hurt did it?”

“
No, no, I’m good, I’m good.” Aiden got back into position. “Show me one more time again, show me how to do it.”

Connor repeated the move, demonstrating even slower this time, going over each step in detail, not moving on to the next until Aiden acknowledged he was ready to proceed. Abigail just watched silently, engrossed in it all, her drink almost finished. She shoved a mozzarella stick in her mouth.

“
Kick his ass baby!” She screamed. “Show him how we get down here in Palm Coast. Oh, Madison, hey you.”

I came up next to her, taking one of the fried cheese sticks from her plate on the counter. “So what’s up?”

“
Nothing but the Benjamin’s baby.” She replied.

“
So I see you’ve met Connor.”

She offered her drink and I took it, washing down the cheese stick. They really needed to be reheated again.

Abigail ate another mozzarella stick. “And I thought Ethan looked good.”

“
It’s not like I can’t hear you.” Aiden announced. “I am still in the room.”

“
Oh, you’re much cuter baby, but in a different way.” Abigail gave me one of her looks. “Now show mamma how you…”

Connor deflected Aiden’s attack, then flipped him to the ground.

“…
never mind baby.” Abigail finished. She turned to me. “So I hear you have a hot date tonight?”

“
Yeah and about that, you just like, what, let him in my room while I was sleeping?” I asked. “He could be a psycho.”

“
I’m so not getting the psycho vibe from him.” Abigail admitted. “Plus, its…I don’t know, very hard to say no to him when he asks a question.”

I had a flashback to when I met him at the bookstore and unloaded all my intimate feelings in one breath. “Tell me about it. How long has he been here?”

“
I’m not sure.” Abigail paused to think. “Hour and a half, two hours maybe?”

“
He’s been here that long?” I continued to watch as the boys just ignored us, wrestling back in forth in the living room, with Connor breaking it off every now and then to give instruction.

“
He just showed up at the door.” Abigail said. “Once he told me who he was, that he was THE Hip Hop Anonymous, what was I supposed to do, tell him to leave? I knew you would want to see him once you woke up, plus he did say you two had made plans.”

“
Yeah, I…we met earlier today.”

“
Was Ethan there?” She asked.

“
Yeah.”

Abigail rolled her eyes. “Pimping since Pimping been pimping.”

I disagreed. “It’s not even like that.”

Connor chimed in. “Oh, it’s exactly like that.” Aiden tried a different approach this time, trying to catch Connor unaware, thinking his attention was focused on Madison. Connor shifted suddenly and Aiden ended up on the ground again.

“
Do you see where you went wrong?” Asked Connor. “You didn’t place your foot where I showed you, so I was able to use your body’s own momentum against itself.”

“
So what’s up with the amateur UFC match going on in the living room?” I asked.

“
Boys will be boys.” Abigail shrugged. “I’m just waiting for somebody to take their shirt off.”

Aiden reached up and grabbed Connors helping hand as he rose to his feet. “Still here Abby.”

“
I’m sorry.” Connor came over towards the two of us. He hadn’t even broken a sweat. “Your brother wanted me to show him how I disarmed your attacker, how I was able to get the gun away from him. One thing led to another…”

“
It’s cool lil sis, he was just showing me some of them moves you were talking about. I thought you were over exaggerating a little bit, till Connor here showed up and started to break it down, Bourne Identity style.”

“
Well he’s just full of unwarranted surprises, isn’t he?” I responded.

“
I’m sure there’s a compliment hidden in there, somewhere.” Connor held out his arm. “I’d love to try to locate its position. Shall we?”

He was arrogant, obnoxious and utterly breathtaking. I took his arm reluctantly, our skin touching, the butterflies in my stomach flapping their wings in such a ferocious manner, a whirlwind was caught up inside my chest. I could hear that little voice inside me, the one that always spoke up when danger was pressing its lips far too close for an introduction. Yet instead of listening to her distress signal, I beckoned closer to dangers call, ready to crash my battered vessel against the shore of destruction.

“
So what’s the plan for the night?” I asked.

Connor gave such a devilish smirk, Lucifer himself would be envious. “Just a little breaking and entering with a possible accessory to homicide. The usual.”

“
Does that work on all the woman or am I supposed to be the exception?” I was trying not to fall for his tough guy bravado.

Connor gave me a quick wink. “There are no exceptions to the rules, just laws that apply to lesser individuals.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “You’re not that smooth, Connor.”

“
I’m as smooth as a hot comb on nappy ass hair.” He took a step back to look at me fully. “Now, you ready to do the damn thing or are you waiting for parental supervision?”

I could hear Aiden laughing in the background. “Knight to Queens’s rook.”

“
Checkmate.” Abigail followed up.

Connor opened the front door, his lime green Lamborghini parked sideways across the parking lot. His rims, which there were more of then tires, were jet black chrome that sparkled with a life all to themselves. I didn’t know much about vehicles but I did know that his car cost more than our house. Abigail come up from behind, her arm around my waist, chin on my shoulder as Connor made his way towards the driver side door.

“
You’re just batting a thousand in the WTF department.” She whispered so softly, I barely heard her.

“
You ain't seen nothing yet.” Connor commented over an engine hum so silent, one would be hard pressed to even know it was on.

I shot Abby a wayward glance, then made my way towards the car. Connor pressed a button on the steering wheel and the passenger side door opened up on its own, sliding upwards, suicide style.

Suicide, it’s a suicide side…

I climbed in, locking the seat belt in place, the door closing after me. Connor shifted gears, whipped the car in reverse and then blasted down the street. He had some old school rap bumping out the speakers, something I hadn’t heard of before, but rang inside my ears like premonition.

The Bridge is over, the Bridge is over…

“
How can someone your age afford a car like this?” I wondered aloud.

Connor never took his eyes off the road. “Because I’m older then you think.”

My phone rang and when I checked the caller ID, my heart sank just a little. It was Ethan. I forgot I told him to call me. I wanted to answer it, the thought of hearing his voice was overwhelming, completely overwhelming; to the point it frightened me at times. I couldn’t understand how I felt so attached to someone I had just…