STAR BRIGHT
Scarlet had slept in the next morning, it was Sunday her day off. Stephan didn’t work much lately and since it was Sunday he was sure the garage was closed. So he continued watching her as she slept, not growing tired of her little snore or the gentle beat of her heart.
When Kayla came in she wasn’t alone, Solara was with her. She walked into her friend’s bedroom but this time he didn’t feign to be asleep. He just put his finger on his lips for her to be quiet. She walked around to the head of the bed, Kayla smiled as she watched her best friend sleep soundly snuggled up against Stephan. She hadn’t seen her friend this content in a long time, she closed the door behind her before heading to her room.
When Scarlet woke up she was still in Stephan’s arms. “Finally you’re awake, I thought we were going to spend the whole day here.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. She lifted her head from his chest and ran her fingers through her hair.
“Why didn’t you get something to eat, I bet you were hungry.”
“You asked me to hold you as you slept.” He had an amused smirk on his face. It was a better answer than I don’t need to eat. But being around regular food had made the beast inside him hungry for solid food. “Kayla is here and I think Solara is with her.”
“They make such a cute couple. And she is happy.”
“I wanted to rush home for a while.”
She walked back into the room, a toothbrush in her mouth. “What why?” her question was barely audible. Realizing how ridiculous she must have looked, she rushed back into her private bathroom to rinse out her mouth. “Why are you going I thought we could hang out here, spend the day together?”
“Don’t worry I will come back, just need to change my clothes, someone’s been drooling on it the whole night.”
Scarlet frowned.
He laughed at her expression, then he took her in his arms, “I will be back my love, where else would I go. Is that okay?”
He tucked her under his arm as they walked to the door. “I will be back in a while.”
On his way out he ran into Kayla and Solara, they stood together staring at him, an amused look on their faces.
“Hi.” He mumbled then ran out the door.
***
Stephan walked up the stairs that led to his apartment, and then paused at the door. Something wasn’t right. He looked around the garage and the street but he couldn’t see anyone or anything. When he opened the door he felt a huge weight push him from behind. Stephan spun around to see his attacker.
A man in dark leather stood at his door. His hair was black with blond streaks. Stephan arched his eyebrow he couldn’t decide what was more ridiculous, the fact he was clad in full leather, and his dirty looking hair or that he dared to attack him.
Stephan took a step towards him and tried to grab him but at that second he sped around the room, ducking all of his attempts to grab him. He was growing impatient now. He moved to the center of the room and tried to keep track of the man’s movement.
As soon as he was sure, he raised a shield in his path and he slammed into it. He then lifted another shield behind him trapping him in the middle of invisibility. Stephan raised him a few meters off the ground and turn the assailant to face him.
“Who are you?” Stephan realized he was just a boy. Or he had been a boy for a long time.
“Who are you and more importantly who sent you? Speak!” His eyes were red now, his impatience growing by the second.
“I used to be with the Conselho, I worked under you for a few decades before you defected. A few years ago I left the Conselho, I wanted my freedom…”
Impatient Stephan cut in, “I’m glad for but you’d best get to the point.” He tightened the shield around him making him squeal.
“My name is Vincent, and they want to take me back. I don’t say this very often but you are hurting me.” Stephan released him and he landed on his feet.
“I don’t want to go back, I enjoy living amongst the humans, and I don’t feed or kill them. I heard that they were looking for you, so I visited the seer and he told me of the vamp who went around asking for you. I followed his scent to the diner across the street then to the garage. I have been waiting here for a while, by the way, sorry about the shove.”
This was the last thing he needed if this kid could find him, the hunters would too. One thing he did not need is a vampire on the run, hiding out with him.
“They want us to fight with them against the beasts, and I’m not interested in that kind of life anymore.” Vincent walked around the apartment, not that there was much of it.
“You said you don’t feed off humans, how you keep your strength up, and your talent strong. Or is that annoying thing something you just do without getting juiced?” He dropped on the bed, frustrated.
“I discovered something one night, it more powerful than any human blood, doesn’t taste as good, but it is more powerful. Like a turbo boost.”
The look on Stephan’s face urged him to get to the point. “When I was escaping through the fortress gates when someone spotted me, he wasn’t about to let me go. We started fighting but he was stronger than I was, so I used my annoying talent to confuse him. Then I bit into his neck.”
The last statement had Stephan on his feet.
“At first the taste was repulsing, but the drop of blood that did get into my system went through me like a shock wave. It was electrifying, so I took another bite.”
“You fed off another immortal. I think I judged you too soon.” Stephan was impressed, he had never heard of vampires feeding off each other before now.
“It is a bit tricky, precision is important. If you don’t get into the vein directly you will end up chewing on his flesh. You don’t want that. It tastes and feels like chewing on rubber gravel. Trust me.” His face screwed up in disgust like he had a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Wait here, I’m going to take a shower. Don’t go anywhere or touch anything.” He saw the perplexed look on his face, vampires didn’t need to shower. “It helps me think.”
Five minutes later, Stephan was in fresh clothes and ready to leave. He thought twice about taking him to Scarlet’s place but Solara wasn’t picking up his phone. He didn’t have any other choice. He grabbed the bag on the bed and they left. “Follow me, we are going to take a ride.”
They sat in the car in Scarlet’s driveway as Stephan tried to call Solara out. After a few minutes, he gave up.
“I don’t want any tricks or games. You will not hurt anyone in this house. Speak only when spoken to. If you do anything I don’t like, I will kill you. Let’s go.”
Stephan didn’t bother knocking, and he walked right in. Solara and Kayla were on the sofa.
You are seriously going to try and say you didn’t hear me. Solara stifled a laugh. Kayla got to her feet and turned. “Hey guys, I’m going to go let Scarlet know you are back.” Once she left the room, Solara stood up.
“I was a bit preoccupied, what’s up?”
“We need to talk about something, and we can’t do it here. I need to take this problem as far away from her as possible.”
“Speaking of…”Solara looked towards the flight of stairs.
Stephan inhaled Scarlet’s scent, her strawberry rose shampoo attacking his nostrils. He turned to look at her as she paced down the stairs, her damp hair stuck to her back.
“Hey, there what took you so long?” She walked into his arms. “I missed you.”
“I was only gone for an hour.” It had been a while before anyone cared about his comings and goings.
“One and a half.” She rose on her toes and let her lips rub his chin.
He loved having her in his arms and wasn’t all too happy when Solara called him away.
“Stephan can I see you in the kitchen for a moment.” Reluctantly he let her go and followed him into the kitchen.
“You’d better make it fast, I was a bit busy.”
“Now who is the one who’s preoccupied? Who is the stray you brought with you?”
“A vampire, he was at the seer and he traced your scent back to the diner and the garage. His name is Vincent and he used to be one of the Conselho guards. He defected a decade or so after I did, and they also want him back.” Stephan gave him the run down, making sure he didn’t leave anything of importance out.
“This feud must be serious if they are calling back all the defects. So what exactly is his gift?” He was genuinely curious Vincent must be spectacular if they wanted him back. Next to Stephan, every other immortal was useless, but he was a half breed. Stephan had a Hannah Montana thing going on. The best of both worlds.
“He is talented, he can run circles around you, and he is faster than any vampire I have seen. And get this, he drinks vampire blood.” He laughed at Solara’s expression. For the first time since he met him, he was speechless. He wished he could see the thoughts that ran through his mind.
A grin replaced Solara’s shocked look. “Stephan I believe someone is making moves on your girl.”
Stephan walked into the living room annoyed, the girls had their backs at him, and he thought it would be best to give his new friends a warning. When Vincent looked up from his audience and met a pair of bloodshot red eyes. He took the warning seriously and dropped Scarlet’s hand. Vincent shifted to Kayla when Solara’s voice rang in the air as he drew Kayla to his side and wrapped his arm around her waist.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The tone in his voice had Vincent backing up.
We need a distraction something to get the girls out of here so that we can talk to him. He may help us in some way. Solara nodded.
“Hey, girls we were thinking of having a night in. Would you do us a favor get a couple of beers, and rent some movies for tonight?”
“You boys want to get rid of us so that you can talk to captain leather over here.” Kayla gave Solara a quick kiss on the lips before grabbing Scarlet’s hand and taking the keys from Stephan, she dragged her friend behind her.