BloodRed
Friends

“Mom, I’m home,” I called.

She came downstairs. “How was the club?”

I smiled. “Kind of boring.”

She frowned. “Your eyes changed.”

Damn, she noticed. “Color contacts,” I replied.

“But I liked them when they were brown.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Brown is an ugly color.”

She sighed. “Okay. Are you hungry?”

I don’t think I can hold down human food anymore. “Nah. It’s late, I’m heading to bed.”

“Your father and I are leaving early tomorrow for our yearly trip. Will you be okay?”

I paused at the bottom of the stairs. I’m glad I won’t have to try and sneak past her for a month just to go get blood. “I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ll be at school most of the time.”

She smiled. “True.”

“Night, Mom.”

“Goodnight, Kells.”

I went to my room and put my backpack on my desk. Then flopped on the bed. Even though I kind of just woke up I was tired. I looked at my ceiling.

I could see everything even though the light was off. I guess that’s part of being a vampire. Being able to see in the dark. I can’t wait for tomorrow though. I want to talk to Mika and see if she had known her husband was going to turn me and why she married him. I closed my eyes and fell into a deep, dreamless, sleep.

In the morning, I woke up and hurried out to the bus. I sat in the back like usual. The bus dropped us off. A car pulled in and out stepped my three fellow vampires. I walked over. “Hello, Mika, Jem,” I said ignoring Robin.

Jem smiled. “Hello, Kelsey.”

“Hey, Kelsey,” Robins said.

I ignored him. “So I have a question.”

Jem sighed. “We can eat human food but it tastes disgusting.”

I nodded. “Thought so. Now what about our venom?”

“We have two. One that allows us to turn people and one that lets us heal people,” Mika said. “Some of us have gifts too.”

I smiled. “Jem has mind-reading. What do you have, Mika?”

“Fire. Rob has water.”

I nodded. So maybe she married him because he could put out the fires she accidentally sets.

Jem snorted. “That’s one of the reasons.”

I sighed. “I’ll keep at it then.” Then I frowned. “I don’t think I have a gift.”

“You probably do. It just hasn’t made an appearance yet,” Mika reassured me.

“How long does it take?”

She shrugged. “Depends. You don’t always know. Sometimes it just appears and scares the hell out of you.”

I sighed. “Okay.”

We all headed to class. “Mr. J looked up and smiled. “Hello, Miss Quill. How was your weekend?”

I stopped and Jem continued to his seat. I smiled. “Great, though that club sucked. “How was yours?”

“Amazing. I had gotten all the grading done on Friday so I was able to relax.”

“That’s good.”

“Did you get colored contacts?”

Jem had been staring at his desk but his head lifted to us at that question. I shrugged. “Yeah, I did. I didn’t like them brown.”

“So you chose blue instead?”

“Blue matches my hair better,” I said innocently.

He nodded. “I suppose it does.”

I sat in my seat. Are you okay, Jem? I thought at him.

He didn’t look at me but he nodded. I turned to the door and watched my classmates come in.

Maria and her group paused at my desk. “I have a question for you,” Maria said to me. I nodded waiting. “Are you dating Valtor?”

I blinked and saw Jem go still as he waited for my answer. “No. We’re friends” I said. Jem remained frozen.

“Does he have a girlfriend?”

It hit me then. She wanted to date him. He was frozen because he could hear her thoughts and didn’t like them. They must not be appropriate. So I made a split-second decision. “Yeah, he does.” I hope he heard my plane. I glanced at him and saw him give a slight nod. He likes the idea!

Maria frowned. “Who?”

“Someone in Australia,” I said dismissively.

“Long distance relationship?”

“Yes.” Please, go to your seat now, I pleaded silently.

“Is she pretty?”

I rolled my eyes. “To me? No. To him? Yes.”

Maria sighed. “Damn.” She went to her seat. Thank goodness. I wasn’t sure if I could come up with anything else.

I looked at Jem and saw him looking at me with a raised eyebrow. What? I thought at him.

He shook his head and looked toward the front. Class began.

The bell rang signaling it was lunchtime. “I think I know what your gift is,” Jem said as we headed to the Cafeteria.

“What?” I asked eagerly.

“I might be wrong but I think it’s called Strategy.”

“Huh?”

“You can think out ways to fix a problem. Like you just did with Maria.”

I frowned. “Would it mean I can figure complicated things out?”

“Yes.”

“Damn.”

He frowned now. “What?”

“I thought I would have a cooler gift. Not a boring one.”

“That boring one can help a lot of people,” he pointed out.

“I suppose.”

We went and sat at the table Mika and Robin were sitting at. “Strategy, huh?” Mika asked.

“You heard our conversation? I asked.

“Vampires have sensitive hearing.”

“Oh.” I sighed. “Yeah, that’s my gift.”

Mika smiled. “It’s a good one. Useful too.”

I smiled a little. “I suppose so.”

“We can use it when we get into tough spots,” Robin said.

I ignored him. “When our eyes are dark it means we need to feed, right?”

“Right,” Mika agreed.

“Oh, come one, Kelsey. You can’t ignore me forever,” Robin said.

Watch me, I thought.

Jem’s mouth twitched as he heard my thought. “Why do you ask, Kelsey?”

I shrugged. “It was just a thought I’ve been having. Mika’s eyes are dark at the moment.”

Mika smiled. “I’m going hunting tonight.”

“Hunting?”

“Those bottles are for the newbies. We go hunting when we need to feed.”

“Oh. Animals, right?”

“Yes. If we get hurt the wound heals quickly.”

“If we lose too much blood we have to feed again,” Jem added.

“We hunt all kinds of animals too,” Robin chimed in.

Again, I ignored him. “We can lose too much blood?”

“Yes,” Mika said.

“Can I ask something now?” Jem said.

“What?” I asked.

“Did you mean it when you said we were friends?”

“Oh, that.” I smiled. “Yeah, You and Mika both are.”

“What about me?” Robin demanded.

Mika sighed. “Rob, you do know why she’s ignoring you, right?”

“No,” Robin muttered.

“Think about it.”

“Please, Mika? Just tell me.”

“You turned her.”

“Oh.”

“You should have asked,” Jem said.

“Or just let her stay human,” Mika said.

“But a werewolf went after her! She wouldn’t have survived if I had left her alone. At least she’s not defenseless now,” Robin said.

“That doesn’t matter, love,” Mika murmured. She was right. It didn’t matter. I didn’t want to become a vampire.

“If I apologize will she forgive me and stop ignoring me?”

No, I thought.

“No,” Jem translated.

“What can I do then?”

I hesitated but Jem had already caught what I had been thinking.

“If you stop turning people, she’ll consider forgiving you.”

Robin sighed. “But I like changing people. It’s fun.”

“That or she ignores you for internity,” Mika said.

I gulped. I forgot I was going to live forever.

“You won’t be alone,” Jem muttered. That comforted me a little. He looked at Robin. “Well? Deal or no deal?”

“Robin groaned. “Even if I agree she still might not talk to me.”

“True. Are you willing to risk it?”

“If I agree it will make you and Mika happy too, right?”

“Right,” Jem agreed.

He groaned again. “Fine.”

Mika kissed him. “Good job, love.”

Then the bell rang and we went to class.