“Sorry for calling you at such short notice, but there’s something I wanna tell you.”
“Yes? What is it about?”
Two figures could be seen at the school backyard, and judging by the uniform, they were obviously a girl and a boy.
“I…I have a crush on you…Can we be together?”
The boy stared at her determined face for a while, then blushed and said, “Actually…I have a crush on you too! I’d love to be your boyfriend!”
Lavender Greenleaf felt so happy and elated. Her courage hadn’t gone to waste. They both were actually interested in each other! Lavender was so happy that she couldn’t control herself. She squealed, “Great! Then…this means we’re a couple, aren’t we? Would you walk me home from school later?”
“Calm down,” Kenneth said, blushing. “We’ve plenty ahead of us.”
Lavender didn’t think that they would actually be interested in each other. She had always considered herself to be a normal, five-by-five kind of girl. But ever since she went into Senior High after studying in a girl’s Junior High and met Kenneth Killjoy, it was love at first sight. She was so happy about her fortune that she laid a little too backwards and was in the verge of falling into the school pond. She felt her body falling and falling, too late for her to regain balance…
“Lavender, be careful!”
She felt her hand being grabbed and her body lunging forward. She blushed terribly when she realized that she was in Kenneth’s embrace. Her heart pumped harder and harder as she felt Kenneth’s heartbeat close to hers. A feeling of bliss crossed her heart and a sudden urge came to her protruding fangs.
That’s what worried her. When she felt herself being hugged like that, she had a sudden urge to suck his blood. The urge was so overwhelming that she found herself baring her fangs and getting closer and closer to Kenneth’s jugular. She was unable to suppress it. She opened her mouth wide and was ready to bite…
“Oh! I’m so sorry, Lavender! I should stop hugging you now!”
Lavender was struck back to her senses when Kenneth tore himself away from her. He widened his eyes when he saw that Lavender was actually drooling, her blood-hunger pangs rudely interrupted.
“Are…Are you hungry or something?” Kenneth asked, curious.
“No, no, no! Not at all, really!” Lavender denied immediately and tried to change the topic. She felt so lucky that she didn’t bite him or things would be even worse.
Needless to say, when she told this to her mother, her mother was furious.
“You actually bit your boyfriend’s neck??”
“Well, no. Just an urge to do so…” Lavender replied awkwardly.
“That’s exactly the problem!” Mrs. Greenleaf growled, making Lavender wince. “If the people ever were to find out that we are vampires, it would be a terrible, terrible thing to happen!”
Yup, the Greenleaf family is a family of vampires. But they are not your average vampires. They are evolved ones, which mean that through time, they are the batch of vampires able to conduct an almost human life. They could eat normal food just like everyone else, hang around with people without that deathly look that screams “I’m a vampire” type of face (even if they do have a bite of that person, they won’t really notice that they’re sucking their blood), and they are not afraid of either the sun or the cross. The only thing is that they have to drink blood from the blood bag once a day. Convenient, isn’t it?
“Be more careful next time, will you?” Mrs. Greenleaf said.
“I…I will, mother,” Lavender promised. “But why do I suddenly have the urge to suck his blood? Why is the urge so strong?”
“I guess you’ll find out sooner or later anyway,” Mrs. Greenleaf replied. “We vampire do have the urge to suck the blood of the person we love, but if you were to suck his blood and in order to do that he has to know your true identity, will he, a normal human be able to stand being with you?”
Lavender was speechless at first. She didn’t know what to think.
“It may be a little cruel for you to take it, but this is reality. We do wish for your happiness, but if this really happens, the only thing we fear is that you would be hurt by this…”
Her mother was right. What if Kenneth does find out about her identity? Normal people would freak out if they find out that their spouse is actually a vampire. What would be his reaction if he were to find out that she was a blood-sucking vampire? He would most likely to call her a freak and reject her straight away! She didn’t wan that to happen! She loved Kenneth too much to let him go now! She had to e careful in the future from now on.
The next morning, as she caught sight of him and greeted him good morning, she was able to forget about the disturbing thought in her mind. All she could think of right now was that they were officially a pair and that she and he were going to spend the rest of their days together. She thought that as long as she doesn’t go sucking his blood, her secret would not be found. ‘That’s not so hard to do. I have will power, right? I can hang on. I…’
Unfortunately, when she caught sight of Kenneth’s jugular and the blood that pumped through the vein in his neck, she began to drool again. Her mind kept having the thought of how Kenneth’s blood would taste like. She was so engrossed with her blood-hunger that she was oblivious to the staring eyes around her. Only when the strict warning of her mother came into her mind was she able to knock herself out of her senses. She then realized that she wasn’t strong-willed as she thought she was and that people were actually whispering and giving her those stares.
Lavender blushed, feeling bad about herself. She almost gave herself away. She wiped off the drool from the corner of her lips, feeling utterly embarrassed. Just when she thought nothing was going to get any better, she felt Kenneth’s hand holding hers. She was shocked. What was that for? Does he know? Is he…?
“What’s wrong? Why the sudden gesture?”
“No matter what the people say, just ignore them. I’ll be around. Don’t you worry,” Kenneth replied, his sideburns and bangs blown by the autumn wind. He looked so gallant that Lavender actually forgot about her blood-hunger pang for a while there. He turned to her and said, “Besides, you’ve got attitude, and you should stay that way. That’s what I liked about you in the first place.”
Lavender couldn’t help feeling touched. She smiled sweetly and said, “Thanks. You’re a great guy.”
Though the urge was suppressed for a while, it came back fiercer than ever. She couldn’t help drooling at the thought of having the taste of his blood in her lips. How could she help it? She’s a vampire, and as her mother said, it’s a vampire’s main instincts to suck the blood of someone he or she loves.
‘No,’ she thought to herself. ‘I must hang on! I cannot let him know that I’m a vampire and lose him. I must hang on!’
Accidentally, she raised her mechanical pencil so high that it actually aimed Kenneth’s face, who was standing right behind her and was about to ask her if she would want to go to the cafeteria with him. Lavender apologized profusely and asked if she could help.
“It’s OK,” Kenneth said. “It’s perfectly OK. I’m just…”
Kenneth’s words were stopped short when he realized that the sharp tip of the mechanical pencil pierced his skin and cut his face. Lavender stared at the crimson red blood flowing down his cheek and onto the floor. Kenneth realized that she was staring at his face and quickly said, “It’s OK. Just a small cut. I’ll just go to the sick room and…”
Again, his words trailed off when Lavender was actually wrapping her arms around him and licking the trickling blood off his face. She was so ecstatic that she didn’t realize she was doing it and that Kenneth was too dumbstruck at that gesture to respond to it. When Lavender’s blood-hunger was soothed a little by that taste of blood, then she realized what a stupid thing she had done. She quickly covered up her actions by offering to take him to the sick room and disinfect the wound or something but he just went there alone without a word.
Lavender was getting worried. How would she ever explain what she had just done? She was so consumed by the urge that she forgot everything else as the blood came invitingly in front of her. As soon as she reached the sick room, she saw Kenneth a-OK and all, a gauze and plaster applied on his wounded cheek. She walked up to him sheepishly.
“Are you alright now, Ken?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s no biggie, really,” Kenneth said.
“Well, it’s getting dark and class had just ended,” Lavender said as she drew the curtains open. “Shall we walk home from school or…?”
Quite by a sudden, Kenneth rushed over and hastily pulled the curtains back to a close. Lavender was shocked at his sudden burst of anger. She called out to him but he turned around towards the sick room door voicelessly.
“Kenneth…?”
“I’m sorry, Lavender,” he replied. “I want to go home alone today.”
Lavender’s worries just doubled. ‘Why did he do that?’ she thought. ‘It must be that incident when I licked his wound…My mother was right. If I were to carry on like this, he’ll know that I’m a vampire sooner or later…then he’ll leave me…’
That’s when she had made her decision. She told her horrified mother that she would never ever drink blood again for as long as she lived. Though her mother warned her that she would die of lack of blood, but she was indignant. As long as she eats like everyone else, she could still survive. If she stopped drinking blood, she might be able to overcome the urge of blood and lose interest in blood altogether, and then she won’t be interested in Kenneth’s blood either.
The first day was pretty OK, but once she reached the 3rd day, her body became entirely weak. She couldn’t pay attention to her classes and she kept having the urge to fall over and sleep. She was getting weaker and weaker by the minute and if she doesn’t start consuming blood, she might die, just like what her mother said.
“Hey, Lavender,” Lavender struck out of her dizzy spell to see Kenneth at her desk. “Sorry about the last time, I told you to go home alone…”
Lavender began to drool uncontrollably when she saw Kenneth’s jugular brandished right in front of her eyes. Could it be the side effects of stopping the blood consumption? She had to hang on. She can’t afford to lose Kenneth right now! Before she started making a drooling fool out of herself, she quickly stood up and said, “Then, how about today after school? Can we…?”
Her words stopped short. She felt dizzy all over and was in the verge of falling into a deep, dark pit. Before she knew it, she was already on the solid floor unconscious. Kenneth was shocked. He quickly carried her to the sick room where the doctor told him that she was experiencing a slight lack of blood spell and that she’ll be OK within a few hours of rest.
When Lavender woke up and heard bits and pieces of the doctor saying about her lack of blood, the only thing in her mind was that she had to get blood and she needed it quick. Ignoring Kenneth’s words and his smiling face, she bared her fangs and bore them deep onto his jugular. She didn’t care about anything anymore. The only thing she wanted to do was just suck his blood and satisfy her blood-hunger pang…
“Lavender! Wake up!!”
Lavender finally came back to reality. She saw Kenneth staring at her in disbelief and the two bite marks on his jugular. She was horrified. What has she done?! She wasn’t supposed to do this, and yet she just did! She sucked her boyfriend’s blood! Now he was going to know! She knew she couldn’t lie to him anymore.
“Lavender, what did you…?”
“I’m sorry, Kenneth,” Lavender finally blurted out. “Maybe you don’t believe me but…actually…I’m a vampire!! My mother said that vampires have a certain urge to suck the blood of the person he or she loves…and I was afraid that if you found out about my secret, you’ll leave me…I like you a lot and I don’t want to lose you…So…I’ve been hanging for a very, very long time now…”
Slowly, she got off the bed despite Kenneth’s protests of not moving before fully recovering. She said “Sorry” and ran out of the sick room and out of the school compound. She was sure that once Kenneth knew her secret, he’ll hate her and she’ll never be able to be with him ever again. Suddenly, she felt the dizzy spell coming back to her again. She shouldn’t have run off immediately after waking up. she was about to fall again, just like the time in class…
“You silly girl! You shouldn’t be walking immediately after waking up! Sit down now, that’s a good girl.”
Lavender didn’t expect this to happen. She didn’t think that Kenneth would actually come after her. Before she knew it, Kenneth was showing his bare jugular to her and exclaimed, “If you want my blood, you can suck it anytime you want!”
“Why? Why are you so kind to me?” Lavender asked. “I like you a lot, but it’s because I’m a vampire, I cannot be with you. You’re a human…sooner or later I’ll suck you dry…I want to be with you, but in my condition, I can’t…”
“Don’t worry. It’s a full moon tonight, so you can suck as much as you want.”
“Huh?”
“Actually, I haven’t been very honest to you,” Kenneth said, his body right under the brightly lit moon. She tried to adjust her eyes to the light and when she opened them, she saw that Kenneth’s ears have actually grown longer and higher above his head, like a pair of wolf’s ears. Kenneth said sheepishly, “To tell you the truth, I’m actually a werewolf.”
“A…A werewolf?! You gotta be kidding me!” Lavender exclaimed, playing with his ears. “Are these for real??”
“They’re as real as can be,” he replied. “Like you, I come from a family of evolved werewolves. If we’re ever under the moonlight, our ears and tail would show, and we stay sane, not like the olden days.”
Kenneth’s words were proven right. As soon as the moon hid behind the clouds, his ears shrank back to normal.
“We werewolves have a very high capacity of blood, so…if you wanna have a meal, you can call me anytime. Besides, you’re a vampire and I’m a werewolf. We’re from the same supernatural world. Don’t you think we’re a perfect couple?”
Lavender didn’t know what to say. She had never thought that Kenneth would be under the same world as she was, only evolved. She had always thought that he was human just like everybody else, but it looks like this was a small world after all. No wonder he didn’t want to walk with her home from school that day—it was because he himself was afraid to le t her see his real identity. Now that they have nothing to hide, they could be together forever. And that means she won’t need to suppress her urge any more.
“So…does that mean I can get to suck your blood until my heart’s content? You won’t dry up, will you?”
“Now you’re scaring me,” Kenneth replied.
The two lovebirds laughed heartily and, after Lavender had her fill, walked together back home under the bright full moon’s light.
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