"Yes?" I answer, trying to calm my nerves.
"Are you ok?" Jacob asks through the door.
"I'm fine." I answer, forcing myself to slow my breathing.
"You were calling out." He answers awkwardly.
"I'm sorry about that." I apologised, a little embarrassed that I was shouting in my sleep.
"Don't worry about it. You sure you're ok?" I ask.
I wipe the sweat from my face, and take a deep breath to steady myself, "I'm fine. I'll be down in half an hour."
"Thalia will be glad to hear that; she has more homework for ya." I could hear him leaving.
Peeling back the covers that were wet with sweat, I swung my over the side of the bed and unwrapped my bed clothes from my skin, leaving them in a pile at the end of my bed. I stripped back the damp covers, leaving the mattress bare, and left the room without looking back again.
I had my first shower of the human town; turning the temperature down as far down as it could go, I let cold water run off my skin in an attempt to cool my body and erase the sweat. I closed my eyes under the shower head, cooling my face, but when the image of the glass building drifted into my mind again, terror and sensation of burning flesh returned, my eyes flash open again and I choke on the water pattering on my head. I lean on the side of the shower wall, spluttering up the water. I know it was a dream. Definitely a dream. I shook my head of this silly fear and resolved to myself of that fact. Just a dream.
Dressing in my spare set of clothes, I went downstairs, hoping to lose myself in the flow of human conversation and Thalia's homework.
"Hello lazy. Sleeping past mid-day, thats pretty bad even for you." Thalia greets me.
I shrug dismissively.
"Ooooh, Jacob! He brought some attitude this mornin', he just shrugged at me!"
"Thalia, anyone would start shrugging at you if they spend enough time with ya. He's doin' ya homework so give 'im some slack."
"Was is it today?" I asked, looking down at the stack of her papers. I was a lot better at reading than when I started, but I wasn't yet confident enough to read advanced English upside down.
"Well, I have some English, but I don't think you'll help there. Maths we did last night, a little bit of biology but not too much. I'm not even bothering with art, so it's your pick."
"I haven't done art before; I want to try it."
"You never did art? Thalia, he aint your homework slave, let him do it"
"If he hasn't done it before, doesn't that mean he'll be crap?" she asked doubtfully. Jacob glares at her, and she relents, "fine, its not like I care any way." She shrugs. "you're gonna need paper though."
"I should have known you came unprepared." Jacob moans as he rises from his seat.
With white paper and an array of colours sat in front of me, I realised I didn't know where to start.
"What is it?" Jacob asked.
"Nothing." I answered, then after a couple of seconds staring at the table, I answered, "I don't really how to do art."
"How to do art?" he asked, looking confused.
"Just how deprived were you as a kid?" Thalia asked. "you just use the colours to make a picture." She shrugged.
"Make a picture? Of anything?" I asked, pondering what that meant.
"Well… I do have some criteria, it's not just anything…" she adds, but I'd already put the colours to paper. I blocked out the sounds around me, and let go of all conscious thought, as my hands ran across the page with different colours.
And when the 'art' was finished, I noticed that the pair had been watching me in silence. I looked at the image myself and got a strange feeling of nostalgia and warmth.
"Erm… what is that?" she asked, squinting at page, bringing it closer and further away from her face.
"What is it?" I repeated, and she looked at me for my answer, "It's one of those hedgehogs" I replied, thinking that with the little brown spikes it should have been obvious.
She giggled, "Well, I guess we can say art isn't one of your talents!" I was a bit upset that my impression of a hedgehog wasn't up to her standards. I gave her a hurt look and she replied, "Well, it's not that bad. You should keep it!" she backtracked awkwardly.
Jacob gave me a weak smile and quickly changed the subject. "Well I'm starving, some I'm gonna cook something."
"Great!" she exclaims joyfully, "Cook something good, 'kay?"
Dinner time? The 'art' took longer than I thought. I took the 'art' and went to proceed upstairs, attempting to politely excuse myself from their mealtime.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I was just going to put this upstairs then do some more English." I answered.
"I haven't seen you eat anything all day, you should eat with us." Jacob gave an concerned look.
"No, its ok, I'm not really hungry." And my stomach chose that moment to start rumbling. I'd ran out of blood yesterday and I'd planned on getting some more tonight.
"Sounds like your stomach disagrees." He argues.
"Its ok, I'm not really hungry, I ate some bad-" it was then I realised I didn't have enough knowledge of human food to make the lie.
"Stop making a fuss Shion you're pissing me off." Thalia argues
I looked between the two humans, Thalia with her bitter expression (though not much different from normal) and Jacob with his inviting smile. I just didn't know how to say no. "I don't want to intrude."
"You're not intruding, I invited you!" he replies. But watching Thalia's face twitch, I think maybe I was intruding regardless of her arguing for me to remain.
Simultaneously Thalia draws her chair back, her hands reach out and push my shoulders down, forcing me into the chair next her. "Right, now thats over. What you making?"
He studies the menu, "the usual I think." He answers.
"Jeez, you know youre going to get fat if you keep eating that crap. Why do you even bother picking up the menu if you know you're going to get the same thing?" she asked and he replied with a shrug
"Whats the usual?" I was compelled to ask.
"double cheese burger with extra pickles and mayo. Rustic thick cut sweet potato fries, and not a vegetable in sight!"
"I swear its gonna kill ya one of these days. Fine, why not? I'd rather die young anyway."
"Then I'll have that as well." I didn't really care what food I received; I knew I shouldn't eat it- I'll come up with some excuse. But I'd be lying if I said I want a little curious about it.
Jacob disappeared behind the counter into the small kitchen burrowed underneath the stairs; unable to start up another conversation, we sat in silence for a while. I felt bad that I couldn't think of a single thing to say to her; these past weeks I'd relied on others to start conversations, I didn't want to say anything weird that humans wouldn't talk about, but I knew if I was going to stay, I had to get over that. Just as I mustered up the courage to say something random the kitchen doors swing open, and Jacob returns with three plates piled high with human food. A wad of well-cooked meat (with various of different unidentifiable items), was sandwiched between two bits of fluffy bun and beside it a pile of orange sticks I presume were fries.
I was only beginning to take in all the sights and smells of this particular dish, when Jacob exclaimed "dig in!"
I'm not sure I really had the words to describe the human foods I ate; my dictionary of tastes had been limited to iron, salty, and tangy. This was neither. The taste wasn't like anything I've ever experienced before, and the texture… soft, chewy and greasy. The food required at lot more chewing than I expected; my jaw, not use to this amount of use, ached with the effort. But I was surprised to find that I liked it. We weren't meant to like the taste of human food- our taste buds don't work the same way- but maybe that was just something to stop young and curious vampires from trying out something they shouldn't (like me). I wondered what it would do to me- if anything.
I sat with the other two for the next few hours, mostly listening to their conversations with a glass of bubbling liquid left untouched, nestled between my hands. The after taste of the human food had long since turned a little sour on my taste buds, but I was dubious about the strange drink Thalia had recommended. There were tiny gas bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass that was a little more than slightly questionable. Bubbles in a drunk? Who thought that was a good idea?
The bar slowly begun to fill with people as the day drew to a close; rowdy groups of men with their loud voices and girls hanging off their arms, and the quitter groups residing at the sides of the room playing cards or the like.
At some point music started playing as well, and the atmosphere was pretty good I think, those who were a little too drunk started to sing along with their out of tune voices and grab reluctant bystanders in with their drunken dancing.
"Hey ya Jacob, how ya doing?" a man stumbled over to our table, using it to keep himself upright.
"I'm good Rufus, you?"
He ignored the question and continued. "I hadn't seen this one before, who is he?" he pointed at me rudely.
"I'm Shion." I answered.
"Shion eh? Funny name, that." He answered, his eyes blurring.
"So it seems." I answer.
"So where are ya staying? Just passing through?" he asked.
"Rufus, your wife is trying to get your attention." Jacob signalled behind him; swearing, he stumbled away and re-joined the larger group the other side of the bar.
While Jacob started saying something, I could focus on what he was saying, I was looking past him at the bar where uncle was arguing with a tall man with his back to us. He was so tall, Uncle only just came up to his shoulder, but the old man wasn't giving up on his fight. The stranger's shoulders were broad enough for two people, but there was an elegance about him that you wouldn't expect from someone so big. His long dark greasy hair was brushed back and tucked into the top of his trench coat, but as I watched the large man patience was wearing thin. Although his voice was quiet at first, the conversation quickly became heated, the large man scruffs Uncle by his shirt, and the whole room turns silent.
"I'm looking for teenage vampire around the age of sixteen. Who would have moved in in the last few weeks. You will be rewarded for information." His voice fills the entire room. There's a moment more of silence, where I half hide behind Jacob while watching the older vampire closely. I grip the sides of the seat, sweaty palms slipping on the wood, ready to run if he recognises me. His face and tall stature were vaguely familiar to me, and after his outburst I knew that my father had finally made his move. He'd sent his vampire general to collect me from the human world. But vampires didn't rule in this place, general or not, he would not be shown respect.
Uncle's face went an unusual shade of purple, and he spat at him "GET OUT OF MY PUB, YOU FILTHY VAMPIRE!!!"
"he would have long dark hair, blue eyes, and would carry one of these." He held up a golden ring above the crowd, I didn't need to see the detail to know what it was- it was my family crest, symbolising the new era after the vampire war, created when my father won the war and assigned their leader. I did indeed have one, but I never wore it- it was too large for my fingers and would slip off if I wore it. The ring was tucked safely away in the bottom of my bag upstairs.
The vampire general continued to stare through the crowd, and for a second, I'm sure he was looking right at me. But the locals, with their slightly drunken state and reduced inhibitions, began to rise from their seats, armed with bottles and verbal curses.
"Humans, tell me what I need to know." He demanded again.
"Leave! Vampires are not welcome in my pub." Uncle growled, reaching behind the counter and pulling out a rifle. This could end up quite bloody.
"And what do you think you're going to accomplish with that thing?" he scoffed.
"I have silver bullets loaded in this gun." He warned, and I resisted the urge to face palm. Damn! Uncle, you fool! Silver bullets were a myth, they do no more than normal bullets! Please, Uncle, just put the gun down!
The general laughed, "You poor humans. Even with your limited intellectual capacity I thought you would know by now what was reality and what was not. But have it your way, I doubt a vampire would stay in this pace very long." He looks around the pub with a disgusted look. But I'm relieved, I watch him until the hostility forces him out the door, and even after the door swings shut behind him and the conversations resumed as if nothing had happened.
"Wow. For my first proper encounter with a vampire, I'm kinda disappointed." Thalia slips onto the stool next to me, appearing form nowhere.
I force my eyes away from the door to look at her. "What?" I asked, surprised.
"Well, he wasn't very scary was he? Frightened away by a shot gun and a room full of drunk men?!" she whined.
"Did you want bloodshed Thalia?" Jacob asked bitterly.
We were both taken back by his tone. "No, I didn't mean it like that." She defended.
"That vampire chose to walk away. It was probably too much effort to fight us off." He mused.
More like he'd already eaten his fill. I thought, but I left it at that. My stomach was starting to feel strange- tight and painful. Maybe I should just go to sleep- I'd had enough drama for one day.
"Hey man, are you feeling ok?" I hear Jacob say as I go to stand, and the room spins around me, and I grab onto the table to stop myself stumbling.
"Fine. Just a bit tired. I'm going to go to bed now." I lied, loosening the muscles in my hands to release the table, and concentrated on staying upright. What was up with me? Vampires aren't meant to get sick- not like this anyway. Maybe I'll be fine in the morning. I navigated my way through the swarming mass of drunken people, trying to avoid tripping on the scattered chairs and discarded bottles and dragged myself up the stairs. Leaning on the banister, the floor swaying back and forth, I gripped tightly onto the wood, but the sensations in my hands started to go numb; I knew I was holing on, but my fingertips were numb and tingling, and I felt like I was about to fall. I threw myself up each step as composed as I could, but I slouched over the banister, gripping onto it for dear life, digging my nails right into the wood. And then I was finally at the top of the stairs. I leant against the cool wall, trying to calm my head and my stomach which had started to protest with cramps.