Eternal Changes (Mikah) (6 page)

Ashton briefly closed his eyes as he tried to slow down Lucy’s thoughts as they buzzed through his mind like a runaway freight train. He attempted to find out the human boy’s name, but her thoughts were currently focused on the track tryouts. It took Ashton several minutes before he finally heard what he was looking for: Michael.

Ashton opened his eyes to find a blonde girl smiling up at him. He tried to keep from frowning as he tried to move around her. She gracefully stepped in front of him, blocking his escape route.

“I just wanted to welcome you to Green County High School. My name’s Alexis,” she said as she extended her hand in welcome.

“Thanks, but I’m really not interested,” Ashton told her as he maneuvered around her. He wasn’t here to socialize.

Alexis clutched her books with a look of utter contempt on her face. “You can’t be serious?”

“Oh, but I am,” Ashton muttered.

Ashton sighed in relief when the annoying girl didn’t follow him. It was going to be a
very
long day.

The day slowly passed by and Ashton was relieved when the final bell rung. He watched as Lucy hurried out of the classroom. Track tryouts started in a half hour.

Ashton walked outside to the track. There were very few people in the bleachers. After the day he had, Ashton was happy to have some peace and quiet. He headed for the top of the bleachers where no one was sitting.

As he sat down and waited for the tryouts to start, he did a cursory glance over the people in the stands. Track definitely didn’t seem like a sport most students were interested in. Sam was on the bottom bleacher with her nose stuck in a book. That’s odd. Why would Sam be at the track tryouts?

Ashton shrugged it off as he looked across the field and watched the human teenagers stretch. He knew the exact moment Lucy stepped foot onto the field.  He took in Lucy’s small form and felt some warmth in his cold heart. Her golden blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and a pink headband adorned her head in a sad attempt to contain the wisps that had already tugged free. Ashton leaned forward in the bleacher seat. He could see the determination in her eyes and could feel the excitement thrumming from her. Ashton closed his eyes and started to lean forward when he felt himself slip. His eyes slid open in shock as he barely caught himself before hitting the bleacher seat below him.

He glanced up to find Lucy staring at him with a look of amusement on her face. It was obvious she’d seen his little blunder.

The whistle blew as the track coach tried to get everyone’s attention. The group of teenagers gathered in a circle to listen to what he had to say. A few minutes passed and then the boys separated from the girls. The boys headed for the white starting line on the track to line up.

Ashton watched them bend forward in anticipation. Their legs were stretched out as they waited to take off. The whistle screeched and they sprang forward like horses being released from the gates during the Kentucky Derby. Michael was at the front of the pack by mid-lap and stayed there until the end. The race was over in barely over a minute.

All of the girls automatically headed for the white line after the guys finished. Alexis was in the group of girls and she moved next to Lucy as they lined up. All of the girls, except Lucy, bent forward. Lucy’s eyes were closed. Her features softened as if she was in some kind of trance. She opened her eyes and bent forward seconds before the whistle blew. Ashton gripped the metal seat and leaned forward as Lucy easily took the lead.

Lucy stayed in front of the girls with Alexis following a few hundred feet behind her. He held his breath as Alexis sped up. Alexis’s running shoes pounded against the red and white track, eating away at the distance between her and Lucy. Alexis caught up to Lucy a quarter of the way through the lap. Alexis glanced over at Lucy with a malicious smile on her face as she stuck her foot out, tripping Lucy. Ice ran through Ashton’s veins as Lucy stumbled, her arms flying forward as she tried to regain her balance. The momentum was too great. Lucy fell onto her hands and knees before sliding onto her side.

Ashton jumped up, anger fusing through his body. He wanted to go to Lucy to make sure she was ok, but he knew that he couldn’t. Lucy rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself up off the ground. The other girls were half way done with the race and Alexis was leading the pack as Lucy stood up.

Ashton felt a blast of power as Lucy took off after the girls ahead of her. She became a blur to everyone but him. The power that emancipated from her hit him in strong, recurring waves. He hoped that the Haemon were far enough away to not be touched by it. Her feet barely glided across the track as she ran. Ashton eyes were glued to Lucy. The passing seconds felt like hours. A gush of breath left Ashton’s body as Lucy passed Alexis and continued to the finish line. He felt her power ebb as she crossed the white line.

The coach kept looking down at his stop watch and back up at Lucy. Ashton knew that her time had to be out of this world, especially after the fall she took. Lucy walked past the coach and headed across the field towards the school gym. Ashton scrambled down the bleachers and jogged across the field to catch up to her before Michael noticed that she was gone.

Lucy hadn’t even broken a sweat during the race. It was nothing compared to what she could do, but she should’ve been more careful. She puffed out a frustrated breath. This was supposed to be a fresh start and she pretty much blew it because of that blonde bimbo.

Lucy was lost in the millions of thoughts zipping through her head as she stormed across the field.

“Hey, Lucy,” Ashton said as he ran up beside her.

She curled her lip up in disgust. “What? Do you want a look at the freak? Go ahead and take a long look.”

Lucy refused to look at him. She didn’t need or want a pity party from him or anyone else.

“You’re not a freak, Luce. You can run faster than any girl. So, what? That’s not a bad thing,” he said as he pulled her to a stop. “I think you’re absolutely perfect and I’m happy you won that race. Alexis deserved to be beat after what she did to you.”

Lucy looked into his golden eyes. Did he really mean that?

“Thanks, that means a lot,” she whispered, near tears.

“Don’t cry, Luce,” Ashton said as he held her face in-between his hands. “I know things don’t make a whole lot of sense at times, but I swear to you, that in the end it always does. We just can’t see it while we’re going through it.”

Ashton stared at her as if he wanted to say more, but couldn’t. Lucy felt a sense of peace come over her as his hands gently held her face. She closed her eyes and leaned into him as his arms wrapped around her. She finally felt like she belonged.

Chapter 6

Ashton was glad when he finally returned to the caves. He thoroughly enjoyed every second he had to spend with Lucy, but the million questions he’d been asked by the humans was enough to make a sane Halfling go insane. Alexis had been like a little pesky fly he couldn’t shoo away. She’d attempted to talk to him after every class until Ashton finally had to compel her to stay away.

Ashton jerked as a hand touched him from behind, breaking him from his musings. He spun around to look into Jayde’s violet eyes.

“Aren’t we jumpy tonight?” Jayde asked with laughter in her voice. “It’s not like you to jump at anything, so what’s got you so tore up?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking about everything that went down today.” Ashton shrugged his shoulders. “I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings like I should’ve been. Never know what might sneak up on you here,” he said with a small smile.

Jayde was a free spirit. She was elegant, funny, and she gave beautiful a whole new meaning. She had broken away from the Haemon when Talmadge did and she was one of the oldest vampires of the Dragomir clan. It sometimes seemed like Jayde was still stuck in the century she was born by the way she dressed. She wore long, flowing skirts and never,
ever
wore pants.

“In all seriousness, how was your day with the humans?” Jayde asked as she followed Ashton down that cave’s path. “I’m sure it had to be entertaining.”

“Some of it was amusing and some of it was irritating.” Ashton thought about Alexis and shuddered. “I had to compel one girl in order for her to leave me alone.”

“Oooh, she thought you were handsome. You could’ve been her Prince Charming with fangs!” Jayde said as she bent forward, holding her sides as she laughed. “Now
that’s
classic. A Prince Charming who’d say, ‘I vant to suck your blood’ instead of, ‘I love you’.”

Ashton stopped in his tracks and looked over at Jayde. She had red tears rolling down her face as she laughed hysterically at her own joke. “I swear, you’re the corniest vampire I’ve ever met,” he said as he gently nudged her.

Jayde wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and straightened up. “I can’t help it, Ash. I’d just watched Dracula and I a picture flitted through my mind of you saying, ‘I vant to suck your blood’ when you said that.” An exaggerated sigh left Jayde’s lips. “God, I
love
vampire movies. They’re classic. I think I’m going to watch Underworld tonight.” She looked over at Ashton. “You up for watching it?”

Ashton glanced over at Jayde as he opened the door to one of the large entertainment rooms. “I can watch
one
movie. Then I need to get some sleep since I have to be up during the day tomorrow.”

“That’s right. You can’t be late for school,” Jayde said as she followed him into the room. A pensive look crossed her face. “I wonder when they’ll have school pictures. We can have some fun with that.”

Inside the room, Chloe was beating Landyn at a game of pool.
Black leather pants clung to Landyn like a wet suit and his blonde hair was sticking in every direction in a bunch of little spikes
. Landyn was leaning against the wall, a frown contorting his facial features, as Chloe took the next shot. His frown deepened and his grey eyes narrowed to tiny slits as Chloe sunk another ball into the side pocket.

“I swear you’re using your powers, which would be called something…” Landyn told Chloe as he moved away from the wall. “Oh, yeah, I remember now. Let me spell it out for you. It’s called, C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G.”

“Puh-lease. If I was using my powers, you’d be able to sense it,” Chloe retorted as she brushed a piece of her red hair out of the way and bent forward to take her next shot. “You just don’t want to admit that this little Vampette’s slaughtering you at a game of pool.”

Landyn rolled his eyes. “You need to get off of the whole Vampette thing. I can understand why the human women had feminist movements, but the whole Vampette thing is uncalled for,” Landyn said as he studied the balls on the pool table. Chloe had finally missed a shot, giving him a chance to play catch up.

“I just think it’s a cute nickname for women vampires. It sounds empowering and it has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it, Jayde.” Chloe said as she leaned against the wall to watch Landyn.

Jayde sat down on one of the red barstool chairs near the pool table. “It definitely has a pretty sweet ring to it,” Jayde agreed. “I can almost hear a crowd chanting, “Vampettes! Vampettes!”

Landyn rolled his eyes and leaned over the pool table to take his next shot. The white cue ball hit the solid red number three billiard ball causing it to glide across the green table, towards the corner pocket. The ball came to a stop mere inches from its intended target. “You’ve got to be KIDDING me!” Landyn uttered in disbelief as he tossed his pool stick down. “This whole game is ridiculous.”

Chloe sashayed her way back to the table to finish the game. She walked around the table, looking at every angle. She leaned across the table, with her pool stick in position to hit the cue ball. A loud clack echoed in the room as the cue ball struck the black eight ball. Chloe’s happy scream pierced the air as the eight ball clunked into the corner pocket. “And that’s how it’s done, my boy,” Chloe purred as she moved towards Landyn. “I can give you some lessons, if you want.”

Landyn glared at Chloe as he whizzed by her and headed out of the room.

“I’ll catch you all later,” Chloe said as she turned and followed Landyn with a twinkle in her chocolate brown eyes. Ashton and Jayde could hear Chloe tormenting Landyn as the two headed down the corridor. Their voices slowly faded away.

Ashton walked over to the plush sectional in front of the big screen TV and plopped down. Jayde climbed down off the cherry oak barstool. Her high heels clicked on the cavern floor with every step as she headed towards the couch. She took the seat next to Ashton and used her telekinesis powers to levitate the TV remote to her.

“So, you haven’t said too much about the Halfling we’re protecting. What’s she like?” Jayde asked as she turned the TV on. She turned the volume down as she flipped through the channels.

“I don’t really know how to explain what Lucy’s like,” Ashton said as he thought about Lucy. “She knows that she’s different, but she doesn’t know why. She just thinks she’s a freak and there’s no one else like her in the world.”

“Well, we’ve all been in her shoes, haven’t we?” Jayde murmured.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t know that,” Ashton said as he leaned his head back onto the couch and stared at the ceiling. “Do you have any idea why the Daroch would be interested in protecting Lucy?”

Jayde look at Ashton stunned. “How do you know the Daroch have her under their protection?”

Ashton turned his head to look at Jayde. “The first day I started protecting her, she went for a walk through the woods. She kept looking back as if she knew someone was following her, but she never saw anything. I’d originally assumed it was me that was causing her to look back, but then I saw a flash of a golden tail from the brush beneath me.”

Jayde’s eyebrows knitted together. “Which one of the Daroch was it?”

“It was Malachi,” Ashton said as he rubbed his forehead. “I had asked him why he was following her and he pretty much told me it was none of my business. He didn’t hesitate to tell me that she’s under their protection. It just makes absolutely no sense to me why the Daroch would have one of their own leave Euphranor to protect one of our Halflings.”

“Have you told Talmadge about them?” she asked.

“Yeah. He kind of brushed it off. I feel like he knows what’s going on, but is holding it from us,” Ashton replied.

“If he’s withholding anything from us, it’s for a good reason, Ash,” Jayde said as she turned the TV to Teen Mom 2. “Let’s watch some mind numbing TV. My brain is starting to hurt from thinking too much.”

Ashton stared at the TV. “Seriously? Teen Mom 2? That’s the best mind numbing show you could pick?” He shook his head in disgust. “What happened to watching Underworld?”

“Underworld is now out. It’ll have to wait for another night. Plus, I think it’s amusing watching these young human girls.” Jayde shrugged her shoulders as she propped her feet up on the footstool. “When I was a fledgling, I’d picked my share of idiots.”

Jayde stared up at the big screen TV as the young couple blew up at each other. The girl was crying as the boy stormed out of the house. A little boy with chubby cheeks and dark brown hair waddled around, clutching onto his bottle for dear life. His face was red and splotchy as he screamed. Jayde shook her head in disgust.

“Do you think that they really believe that love’s supposed to be like that?” Ashton asked Jayde as they watched the show.

Jayde thought about it for a minute before replying. “I don’t think they know any better. When all you’ve known is a bad relationship, you think that’s how every relationship is. You don’t realize that there’s something better out there. You don’t realize how love should be. You cling on to the one you supposedly “love” and the vicious cycle continues.”

Jayde glanced over at Ashton, wondering what was going through that wonderful mind of his. One would think that after walking the Earth for so long that she’d be able to put her feelings out there, but Jayde’s heart had been stomped on one too many times.

Jayde’s thoughts shifted to all of the relationships throughout her entire existence. Vampires were supposed to have one mate for all eternity, but finding them was near impossible. She wasn’t human, but she still longed to be loved. She wanted someone to share an eternity with. Hundreds of years had passed of walking the world with the constant ache of loneliness. Jayde always put on a smile and joked with her clan, but inside she was aching.

“What are you thinking about?” Ashton asked as he touched Jayde’s leg. “You almost look sad.”

Jayde brushed off the thoughts that were bringing her down and looked at the vampire she was in love with. “It’s nothing. You should probably get a bite to eat and hit the sack. You only have a couple of hours to get some shut eye.”

 “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Ashton said as he got up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jayde pretended to watch the television as Ashton left the room. She leaned her head against the couch. Would she ever have the courage to let Ashton know how she felt?

Jayde was pulled from her revelry as she heard footsteps coming towards the entertainment room. She hoped it was someone who could get her mind off of these depressing thoughts. A smile lit up her face as she heard McKaylin’s voice float through the air.

“If it isn’t one of my favorite vampires of all time,” McKaylin said as she entered the room.

Jayde turned around and looked at McKaylin. McKaylin’s leopard print leggings clung to her legs and her black shirt was fringed with gold. Her black high heels clicked across the hard floor as she walked towards Jayde.

“Do you love the new hair?” McKaylin asked.

Jayde smiled as she looked at McKaylin. McKaylin’s long black hair had a strip of red running through it on one side and a red and black feather hung from her hair on the other side. “Did you kill a bird to get one of those?” Jayde asked as she pointed to the feather.

McKaylin’s eyes widened and her mouth popped open. “You didn’t just say that to me.”

A giggle left Jayde’s lips. “I couldn’t help it.”

“I’ll show you…” McKaylin said as she flew up and over the couch.