Legal disclaimer: all fiction, not true. Don't read if you're not old enough.
Author's note: originally an improv story from the *mprov club. My words were naked tennis, speakers, destiny, butterfly kisses and oxygen.
- Chapter 14 -
Stepping out into the fresh nightly air, Lance sighed. It had taken him forever to convince Joey and JC to let him go out on his own. Justin had already left at that time, so eager to enjoy his newfound freedom. Then Lance had stated that he also wanted some time on his own. Joey wasn't sure, saying that it was too early yet...but JC had just looked at him and said in a quiet tone that he thought Lance should get to decide for himself. A humorless smile twisted the curves of Lance's mouth upwards. JC read him as an open book. And he also knew exactly why Lance needed to go off on his own. So Joey gave in, as Lance had expected. And here he was, on his way downtown.
Not knowing exactly why he was going there...but he had developed a fondness he was sure wasn't healthy for the streets, the pulsating lights, the sheer intensity of the nightlife. And if he could do what he could do... to eliminate some of the harsher items....well, he wasn't complaining.
It was a little early yet, but the street was starting to fill with it's usual habitants. In the corners homeless children and runaways watched him with large, fearful eyes. Working girls was scattered around, looking bored or just staring at the cars passing by with empty eyes. Drunken war veterans swayed like palms back in the jungle in their heads, from winds caused by black helicopters. Studying them, Lance knew the were so far away in their own worlds that they wouldn't have noticed if the hookers started a game of naked tennis in the middle of the road. Snickering a little Lance thought that it would at least cause a serious direction in traffic.
Passing a club called "Acid Monkey" Lance could hear the music blasting from the speakers inside. The assault on his heightened senses made him wince a little. Searching the streets around him, he looked for what would be tonight's victim. He was hungry. And he wasn't in the mood to play around either.
All kinds of smells filled out the oxygen around him, making him inhale a lot of chemical no-no's. "Well," Lance thought carelessly. "Like it's going to kill me..." Wondering what his limits were, exactly, Lance thought about asking Justin, the walking vampire encyclopedia. Where had he learned all that stuff anyway? Did they have classes for newly turned vampires? Where they taught you what to do and what would get you reduced to a pile of ashes... Smiling for real this time, Lance thought about his own teacher... Then he stopped, both psysically and mentally.
"Don't," he told himself. "This is why you left the house alone. Don't think of him. He doesn't love you. He never will, not the kind of love that you want. Get over it."
All of a sudden a hand tried to sneak into his pocket and Lance smiled. Sometimes it was just too easy. He didn't even have to find them, they came to him. Easily he caught the wrist attatched to the hand and turned around. "Now, I know your mama told you that stealing is a sin." he teased the owner of the hand.
It was a young boy, most likely around his own age. His clothes was dirty and torn and his eyes cold as black ice from being molded by the street. The boy tried to pull free. "Now now," Lance admoished gently. "We can't have any of that..." He actually heard the boy's heartbeat.
"Let me go!" the boy said with a rough edge in his voice. Then he winced in pain as Lance slowly increased the pressure of his wrists. "I don't think so," Lance smiled. "You got something I want."
Dragging the boy into a dark alley Lance finished him off quickly. The sensation of letting his fangs sink into warm skin, feeling it yield like a hot knife through butter was mindblowing, and then there was the delicious flow of blood. The boy didn't put up much of a fight.
Releasing his grip on the body in front of him, Lance watched it drop to the ground. "Hmmm," he said, a crooked grin appearing on his face. "You weren't the best I've had, but I guess you'll do." Feeling satisfied and in a much better mood now, Lance returned to the streets. Turning at the entrance to the alley he turned and blew a light kiss back to the lifeless body he could bare make out anymore. "Featherlike touches and butterfly kisses... At least you're out of your misery." The smile was back. "But hey, I'm kinda starting to like this new destiny of mine!"
Roaming the streets for a while, Lance got bored. "I guess I should be thankful that things are quiet," he thought. "From what I've heard JC and Joey talk about, and that slayer guy...something bad's coming. But this is making me a very bored vampire!"
A tall figure caught his eyes and there was just an aura around the man that made Lance know instinctively. The man over there was one of his kind...the first vampire Lance had seen except for his family.
A woman was accompanying the man. She looked Asian...straight black hair, delicate features and dark eyes that sought out Lance's. A faint smile flittered across her face as a dying flame, and Lance knew she knew too. But she looked afraid, and the male vampire was pulling her along, having a firm grip on her arm.
His curiousity peeked, Lance followed them into another alley. "Geez, I think I spend half my days...I mean nights...in these places," Lance thought. The couple was a few yards in front of him and Lance made sure to keep a distance. He didn't want to be spotted, he just wanted to watch them.
In this dark corner of the alley a lot of houses met, making everything a labyrinth of odd ends and corners. The couple had vanished and Lance frowned. Why did they have to go and spoil his fun like that?
Then somebody almost fell on top of him and knocked him over. "Where the hell did you come from?" he asked, breathless. "You nearly..." His words trailed off into oblivion as a pair of big brown eyes looked back at him.
"I'm SO sorry!" the stranger said. "I don't usually let myself fall on people, but it sure was slippery up there..." "It's ok," Lance stopped him, slowly getting to his feet. The man in front of him was just under his own height, with a slender, yet muscular body. His dark hair was short and ruffled like he ran his hand through it a lot. A small goatee graced his chin in an attractive face dominated by the prettiest set of big brown eyes Lance had ever seen.
"What were you doing on the rooftop anyway?" he asked meakly, having forgotten that he really was angry. "Following somebody?" the other shrugged. "Following somebody? Lance asked. "Ok...."
A light rain started to fall, making them both seek refuge under another roof. "I hate this weather," Lance's newfound interest said. "Sometimes I actually do miss Mexico..." There was something in his voice that made Lance want to ask what had happened in Mexico, but he didn't.
"A friend of mine has a...friend that just came back from Mexico," he said casually instead. "It's ok to be back here," the darkhaired man said. "I'll admit, it just got more interesting..." He sent Lance a broad smile and Lance was caught between thinking "yes!" and "it can't be..."
"I'm Chris, by the way," the darkeyed man introduced himself, offering Lance his hand. Now Lance felt like banging his head repeatedly into the concrete wall right next to him. Of course, OF COURSE, he couldn't go out and meet a nice guy... No, he had to be a vampire and find the goddamn slayer himself. And fall for him like a skydiver who had left his parachute in the plane. And he felt like he was that parachuter, falling through the air, just realising that what was attatched to his back wasn't a parachute after all...
Putting a smile on his face Lance took Chris' hand. "Hi, I'm Lance," he answered. "Nice to meet you."