Melabeth the Vampire (26 page)

Swimming Lessons

I
got up around two.

I got dressed then headed downstairs to get some food. I was warming some blood up in the microwave when Michael came into the kitchen. He was wearing black, faded sweat pants; and nothing else. I had seen him without a shirt before, but not up close.

When I went to go to training with Ezra, Lea and Michael went swimming. On my way to the basement door, I would pass by the rear door that went to the pool. Through the glass I had seen Michael in a swimming suit; and that was a sight. Up close was another thing all together.

I had to pe
el my eyes off his chest to say, "Morning."

A big smile spread across his face. "Morning, sunshine, you're up early. Sleep well?"

" Fine... You?"

"Like the dead," Michael joked.

Now that he was over the fact I was here, Michael was easier to get along with. He was still quiet and sometimes he lost his temper with me, but he has had his reasons. I couldn’t help but be difficult; it was in my blood.

"Nothing clean?" I said this, and then made myself busy by getting my blood out of the microwave.

A moment of silence passed before he said. "Why? Does this bother you?"

"No… not at all. Why should it?" I tried to act indifferent.

Michael let a little smile slip across his face that made him look… so sexy. "I don’t know. You seemed a little bothered by it… that’s all."

"Not at all,
" I replied curtly.

Michael laughed. If I would have had a pulse, my face would be red. Then I heard another person giggling from a few rooms away. It was Charlotte eavesdropping. She loved this.

I changed the subject. “Why is everyone up so early?”

Michael shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know. Want to go swimming?”

“Sure.” I had a bathing suit that I got when me and Charlotte went shopping.

I had
been too busy to go swimming. One reason is that everyone around here swam at night, and that’s when I was training with Ezra. I grabbed my cup of blood, and then said. “I'll go get my suit on, meet you at the pool.”

“Okay, take your time. I need to get some breakfast, then I will be out.” With that, Michael went into the fridge and retrieved some blood.

I left with cup in hand, and headed toward my room. I got to my room and went in; there on my bed were both Charlotte and Alice, great… what were they up to?

Alice smiled and said. “Hi, sister, how are we doing on this fine morning?”

“What are you two up to?”

Both Charlotte and Alice said in stereo. “Nothing.”

“Well could you two do nothing somewhere else?”

Alice stuck her tongue out at me. Charlotte said. “She has no manners; I think she must have been raised by werewolves.”

Alice giggled at this remark.

“I need to get dressed,” I stated.

“We’ll help,” Charlotte said, and then looked over at Alice. “I'll put up her hair. Can you get her a bathing suit?”

Alice hopped off my
bed and headed toward my closet, “Love to.”

This wasn’t the first time these two had dressed me up. At first I felt kind of strange being naked in front of them, but I got over it quickly. There was one time I was a little taken aback by Alice. I had been changing, and she was staring at my naked body; she was staring in a way that made me feel a little uncomfortable.

Later Charlotte explained why she did that. Alice was turned too young and was just starting her change into womanhood. I had seen her naked so I understood what Charlotte was talking about. I guess sometimes Alice would stop and stare at women.

Still I knew that arguing about them helping me would take more time than just allowing them to help me. Alice came out of my closet with my blue swimsuit. I was glad they weren’t trying to dress me in some string bikini. I
had bought a really nice blue one piece suit; I was not going to wear one of those modern swimsuits.

Alice helped me get dressed while Charlotte put my hair into a ponytail. Charlotte left two long strands of loose hair in the front. Then she banded my ponytail every six inches. I looked into the mirror; I was wearing a very nice one piece blue swimsuit. It covered me well; it did not show too much skin. I liked it; I put on a white robe.

“Thank you for your help.” I said to both Charlotte and Alice.

Alice smiled. “Have fun.”

Charlotte simply said. “No problem.”

I left my room and headed toward the pool. Something felt wrong, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what. Whatever it was it probably wasn’t that important. I walked out the double doors to the outside.

I froze in my tracks; there was a giant black tent over the pool. It wasn’t a cheap looking tent. On one half there were huge poles placed about every ten feet apart to hold up the base of the tent.  The other half of the tent was attached to the roof of the house. Michael had beaten me into the pool and he was already swimming around. He popped his head out and threw his arms up onto the side of the pool.

Michael smiled. “What you think? Alice and Charlotte said that Ezra was keeping you too busy to go swimming and that you really wanted to go, but I figured that you couldn’t handle the direct sun in a bathing suit. I had this put up; now we can swim anytime.”

I think I could have handled the direct sunlight, but the fact that Michael did this for me. Wow, how nice. “Thank you. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Say nothing, come swim… and enjoy.”

I dropped my bathrobe and then tossed it onto a chair. When I turned back toward Michael, he had a look on his face that I have never seen before.

He looked surprised and hungry all at the same time. Then he said with a quiet voice. “Wow… you’re… hot. I mean pretty… beautiful. You look good.”

I was stunned at his response; I have never thought of myself as beautiful. Now I don’t think I am ugly, but he made me sound stunning.

Then I looked down; I was wearing a red string bikini.

I may as well have been naked. I have seen more fabric in a hanky than the outfit I was wearing. I was stunned.

While I was still having my out of body experience, Michael said. “I like you in red; it looks good on you. I haven’t made you feel uncomfortable have I?”

“No.”

“Then come on in,
” Michael said with a grin.

It all came together… those evil hags; that’s why they wanted to help me. Alice played one of her mind tricks on me. She made me believe I was wearing my blue bathing suit. They had told Michael how much I wanted to go swimming with him; heck they even made sure they were awake for this.

As much as I wanted to be mad about all this, I did want to go swimming. I would get those two back later. I guess there is no reason to be embarrassed about my outfit any longer. Michael already has had an eye full. So, with that thought; I took two steps and jumped into the air. I flew up about ten feet and then dove into the middle of the pool.

The water felt great as it wrapped itself around my body. It was a completely different experience swimming now that I was dead. For starters, I didn’t have to breathe, and as I spun in circles, it didn’t hurt when water went up my nose. It helped that I was so strong; when I kicked, I flew through the water. I almost smacked my head against the wall of the pool because I was moving so fast. I could see why Michael and Lea loved to swim so much. Charlotte had told me that all of them liked to go out to the ocean at night to swim. That would be fun, and I can't wait until we all go.

Under the water Michael joined me as we swam around each other. He made a noise under the water. I think he was saying something, but I was unable to make it out.

The sound messed with my second sight. I was confused,
and then smacked my head against the bottom of the pool.

It really didn’t hurt, but it did cause me to swim up and take my head out of the water. Michael popped out right next to me. "What were you saying?"

Michael had a concerned look on his face. He reached up and touched my head where I hit bottom. "I said, this is fun, but who cares what I said. What happened? Why did you hit your head?"

I let him feel my head where I had hit the bottom of the pool. The bruise, if there was one, would have healed by now, and he knew I wasn’t hurt. Still I didn’t mind him touching me.

I should, the voices in my head said; I told the voices to shut up.

"I am alright. I just got turned around that’s all."

"I have never seen a vampire get turned around." He said this with a smile.

I couldn’t tell him that he just showed me the weakness in my second sight. I had read somewhere that sound travels faster in water. It would make all the shapes in my head the wrong size, even the wrong shape; it was very confusing. I would have to be careful not to let those images take over while I was underwater.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Michael’s smile had fallen from his face.

I had been in thought too long. I was about to tell him that everything was alright but then thought better of it. "No; everything is not alright."

"Well what is it?"

"It's not you. Are you sure you want to hear about my problems?"

Michael swam over to the shallow end of the pool. There he sat down on an underwater seat that was built into the side of the pool. He motioned for me to join him. "I am all ears."

The next few hours I bent poor Michael’s ear off. I told him almost everything and explained to him about how dealing with Devon was stressing me. I didn’t tell him
about my second sight, or Nicks. I just made him think that all my information about Devon was coming from David.

Then I said to Michael,"
I also found out that Devon was a sorcerer, and I don’t even know what that means."

Michael had been quiet, nodding his head at the right times and saying "go on" or "I understand".

Michael said. "I can help you if you would like me to?"

"I don’t know if I want to drag you into all of this."

Michael responded. "Yes, yes you do. I am older than I look, and if you like, I will start by helping you with a plan."

I smiled at him,
"Okay."

"First you need to know what a sorcerer is. Should I tell you now?"

"Yes, if you don’t mind?" I wouldn’t mind getting a lesson from Michael.

Michael pretended to clear his throat. "Tonight’s lessons are going to be about the following: we will be discussing what it is to be a magic user.” I laughed and Michael said with fake authority. “Please no interruptions during today's lesson."

"Sorry professor," I teased back.

"Sorcerers are kin to Witches, Wizards and Warlocks. I don’t believe you have much experience with any of them, so here we go: Witches and Warlocks are the same thing, different sex. Some of us refer to them as the W's; they cast spells, make potions and magical items. When they study long enough and have enough magic, they can go to a school for magic. There are lots of schools;
most are very small. Most magic schools only have a dozen students. Studying at a magic school can take decades, and, when they’re finished, they get the title of Wizard. That’s also why you don’t meet young Wizards. It is a rank of achievement, not something that you are. Wizard goes for both girls and boys.”

“So do all W’s become Wizards?” I asked.

“No, because some will never have the power or the intelligence, but they all are magic users. Magic users in general use spells potions and magic items. Don’t ask me how this works; I have no idea. What’s the difference between a magic user and sorcerers? The best way I can explain this is: magic users have to have spells ready or potions on them. Their magic items have limits, and they can't carry one for every occasion, but a prepared magic user can do about anything. This is why you never want to face a Wizard if he knows you’re coming. Sorcerers are lazy wizards; instead of spending decades learning tons of spells and potions... and it takes long periods of time to make magic items... the sorcerer learns just a few spells and then becomes really powerful with just the spells he knows. The plus side of this is that a sorcerer can be super powerful in a short period of time. The downside of this is that, if any other wizard knows of the sorcerer’s powers, he can bring spells to counter them. So, what I have come to understand about sorcerers is, that most become masters of the elements, earth, wind, water and fire. Of course, your Devon could have mastered any specialty; it would be an advantage if we could figure out what that is."

This made me wonder about David. "How
does a Necromancer fit in?"

Michael said. "Once again I am no expert on the matter, but this is what I have come to know. Necromancers, unlike sorcerers, are born into this world, but not all Necromancers come from families of magic users. See, most magic users never become powerful enough to become wizards, and it is a choice to practice sorcery. In fact, I was told that some sorcerers get bored after awhile. Then they go back to school and become wizards. Necromancy is not a choice; and it comes with great power, and I have even heard of these terrible magic items made for Necromancers. They trap spirits; then the Necromancer can wear these items and use the power of someone’s soul. So you see all their powers are based on death, and that’s why no one trusts them."