Vampire Manifesto (5 page)

“
We were?” asked Aiden. “I thought you said...”

Abigail squinted her eyes fiercely at him.

“
Uh, yeah.” Aiden looked at me then Ethan. “Swimming. Word.”

Abigail stood, waiting for Aiden to follow suit.

“
Hey, were you able to get that, uh,
Green
Lantern you were going to get?” I asked.

“
Oh did I!” Laughed Abigail.

“
What?” Aiden seemed lost. “When did you buy Green Lantern comics? I wanna see! What issues did you get?”

“
Aiden, shut up and come on.” Abigail said sarcastically. She grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the ocean.

“
Watch my comics; make sure they don’t get wet!” Aiden yelled out as Abby dragged him away.

Neither of us spoke for a moment, simply staring into each other’s eyes. I’d never seen eyes like his before. Even in the sunlight, they seem to radiate somewhat, giving off a sparkle all of their own.

“
You’ll never win.” I announced.

“
Excuse me?”

“
You haven’t blinked once.” I leaned closer to him. “I never blink. It’s a skill set I possess.”

“
I didn’t know we were playing a game.”

“
You didn’t know? Life itself is a game.” I declared. “It’s a time challenge and once you’re born, you’re already down to your last man.”

Ethan came closer, yet still kept a respectable distance. “Then I've got a secret.”

“
Really?” I was intrigued. “And what would that be?”

“
I’ve got the cheat code.” Ethan announced.

“
The cheat code to what?”

“
Unlimited continues.” He divulged.

“
Well what fun would that be?” I countered. “What would be the point?”

“
To see how it all ends.” Stated Ethan.

“
Life isn’t a movie. We weren’t meant to see the end credits. Only the good parts, some of the bad and a little in-between, but never the whole thing.”

“
For you maybe.” He conceded. “But I wanna see it all.”

“
Never take life too seriously, Ethan. Nobody gets out alive anyways.”

He sat back before he spoke again. “You wanna take a walk with me, Madison Amber Rose?”

“
Why, I’d love to Ethan Blackwood.”

He stood to his feet rather quickly, faster than I could have anticipated, not from that crazy, yoga Indian style he was resting in, yet he was already on his feet, hand outstretched to help me up.

When our fingers touched, it was like electricity, a tingling sensation across my entire body. It felt as if my whole body was alive, like I was alive.

He was tall. Almost six feet and he towered over me, but in a good way. Ethan went to release my hand, but I didn’t let go, interlocking our fingers instead. He my think he has unlimited continues but the rest of us don’t. The rest of us didn't have time to wait for the world, the rest of the world needed to wait for us.

Abigail was splashing Aiden in the face with water until, from what I can tell, Aiden got pissed, picked her up over his head and dunked her. Then he started to dance like the zombies from the Michael Jacksons Thriller video.

Sigh...I can’t take them anywhere!

“
Hey!” I yelled. Neither of them noticed. “Aiden!” Is that the moonwalk he’s doing now?

“
Don’t worry, I got it.” Ethan laughed. “AIDEN!”

I jumped, slightly startled at how loud he could yell. Aiden looked over in our direction and Ethan flagged him over.

Abigail hopped on Aiden’s back as he jogged over to us while she smacked him continuously on his rear. “What’s up?” He struggled, clearly out of breath.

“
I’m gonna talk a walk with Ethan here, just wanted to let you know.”

Abigail climbed down off Aiden’s back and gave Ethan a once over, examining him from head to toe.

“
Only if that’s okay.” Ethan added in, sensing her immediate displeasure.

Abby wasn’t buying it. “Walk? Walk where?”

Ethan looked at me. I looked at him. “Uh...that way?” He said, pointing down the beach.

She gave him the once over again. “And what’s down there that isn’t up here?”

“
Ice cream?” I chimed in, trying to win her over to the idea.

“
Yes. Right.” Ethan hurriedly agreed. “Double chocolate scoop ice cream.”

“
Ooh really?” I exclaimed happily. “I didn’t know that.”

Abigail gave me the evil eye.

“
You’re not helping.” Ethan whispered.

“
Oops. My bad.”

“
Look here Mr., what’s your name again?” Abigail demanded.

“
Ethan.”

“
Uh, last name.” Abigail can be very bulletin point at times.

“
Blackwood. Ma’am.”

“
Don’t be a smart ass! I.D.? License? Let’s see it!”

“
Uh...” Ethan began patting down the pockets of his cargo shorts, checking for his wallet.

Abigail started snapping her fingers incessantly. “Come on let’s go, let’s go!”

Ethan found his wallet in one of the many side cargo pockets he had. He pulled out his license so she could see it.

Abigail held out her hand as Aiden produced a small, clear plastic box shaped camera from his pocket, slamming it down in Abigail’s open palm.

“
Waterproof!” She exclaimed, before snapping a picture of Ethan’s I.D. card with the camera. “Look here, Mr. Ethan Blackwood. If anything happens to my girl, I will hunt you down and murder you in your sleep. Do you understand me?

“
Uh, yes Ma’am.”

I think he might be slightly scared of her.

“
Dude, she is freakishly strong.” Added Aiden.

“
I
am
freakishly strong and I
will
exercise that strength on your face. Comprende?”

“
Understood.” Ethan agreed hastily.

I simply shook my head. “Are you done?”

“
Yes. You may go.”

I grinned. “I love you.”

“
And I love you too. Have fun!”

I squeezed Ethan’s hand then pushed him slightly to get him going before Abigail started up again. There was a reason she was my best friend. She would never let anything happen to me if she could help it.

We walked a little bit before either one of us spoke. “Is she still staring at us?” Asked Ethan.

I shot a glance over my shoulder and started laughing. “Yes.”

“
That woman frightens me.” He admitted.

“
Shut up Ethan.” I shoved him playfully. “You have to excuse my friends. They can be a little...overzealous at times.”

“
You know, she only has your best interest at heart.” He added.

“
Yeah, I know. That’s why we’re best friends.” I liked being close to him. Not in a sexual way or anything like that, but rather, I just seemed at ease around him. Comfortable. That’s the best way I could describe it.

“
So how old are you?” He asked.

“
Seventeen. Same as my brother. He’s only older then me by a couple of minutes.”

“
Twins? Fraternal?”

I squeezed my boobs. “Well we sure aren’t identical.”

“
No, no. It’s just that, I didn’t notice. I couldn’t tell.” Corrected Ethan.

“
It’s okay. Most people can't.” I grabbed his hand again. I love the way his skin felt. Like chilled silk.

“
So tell me something about yourself.” I wanted to know everything about him. Every detail. It was something more than just his beauty that attracted me to him. Although, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as beautiful as him.

“
Oh God!” I exclaimed suddenly. “Hide me!”

I pulled him close, turning his body somewhat as I did, my arms wrapped around his waist, my face pressed up against his chest.

“
Wait a minute, what’s going on?” Ethan was more than a little dumbfounded.

It was hard to concentrate being this close to him. He smelled like honeysuckle and tangerines. His body was hard like stone, like he spent every working hour in the gym, yet he wasn’t overly muscle bound, just profoundly chiseled, like someone had breathed life into a Michelangelo statue.

“
Just hide me.” I whispered.

Ethan tentatively placed his arms around me and we faded into the crowd, just another couple in a lovers embrace.

“
Not that I’m complaining.” He began, hugging me a little tighter then I expected. “But what’s going on?”

“
Over there.” I whispered.

“
Over where?” Ethan went to turn.

“
No, no, don’t look!”

He froze where he was. “Uh...okay?”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “It’s Mr. Woodrow.”

“
Sure, I’ll bite.” He said. “Who’s Mr. Woodrow?”

“
Oh, just my Assistant Principle. Who theoretically, is supposed to be on medical leave for fracturing his foot during last week’s Pep Rally, but is actually over there…I said don’t look!”

“
Sorry.”

“
That’s him alright.” I continued. “Eating a corn dog with some girl who is sooo obviously not his wife.”

Ethan just burst out in man chuckles. “Well, he is wearing a cast.”

“
Really?” I was totally skeptic of that statement.

“
Yes, I can unmistakably see it from here.” Ethan had begun to play with the tips of my hair, twirling them between his fingers. “Someone’s drawn a ninja turtle on it.”

“
Ugh...I told you not to look!”

“
And that woman he’s with is clearly twelve years old.”

“
How can you tell that?” I peeked around his shoulder.

“
Because he’s yelling at that gentlemen for checking out his daughters butt and I quote:
She’s clearly twelve years old
!”

“
Well, that’s ungentlemanly like!”

“
Indeed.”

“
Wait...you’ve got like, Superman hearing.” I commented.

“
I can also leap tall buildings in a single bound, but I find it crass. Come on, let’s keep walking.”

I didn’t want to let him go, he felt so good in my arms, yet even when we were returned to just holding hands, it was still a small slice of the angelic.

We stopped for ice cream not that far away, yet clearly not within eyesight of my Vice Principle. I was not a fan of detention, nor of being busted out to my parents for skipping school. That was the last thing I needed right now. It was bad enough they hounded Aiden and I incessantly about collage preparations and taking an ungodly amount of AP classes. Last thing I needed was for them to find out I was cutting class and hanging out with some random boy I just met.

Although even if I were to be caught, it would have so been worth it.