Sam & May - Shadow of Pursuit

Enemies

Samantha Jolene White was lost in a daydream.
The maths lessons might not seem as the best time for daydreaming, but for Sam it was the only way to bear the boredom of the lessons.
She imagined riding a black dragon over the city's rooftops. Faster and faster they went, her long black hair waving in the wind. Until-
"Samantha Jolene, come to the front!"
Sam blinked and the images faded from her mind. The only dragon she could see now was her maths teacher Mrs. Grumlig who now stared at her. Or was this an insult to all dragons?, Sam thought as she went to the front to solve the calculations. Luckily, she wasn't too bad at the current topic so she could quickly return to her place next to her best friend Marian, nicknamed May.
"I really thought it was over for you this time!" May grinned and nudged her.
Sam let out a deep sigh. "It's been close."
She ignored her friend's nervous gestures and ranted on, "I wish I was in one of these fantasy worlds I always dream of. You know that vampires exist, right?"
"Everybody does, Sam, but-"
"So why out of all things do I have to be a human?" Sam dropped her head on the table. "As a vampire I could just bite all the annoying people and-"
She raised her head, only to stare right into Mrs. Grumlig's yellow eyes.
"Vampires don't bite people, just so you know," the teacher hissed and then the bell rang. Whatever else Sam would've wanted to reply to this, it was drowned by the noise of the students who jumped up and rushed outside to get to their bus stops.
Sam and May got up as well, just in time catching their bus. Sam's cousins, the twins Tancred and Lysander, had kept seats for the girls.
"How was your day?" Lysander asked, prepared for the usual boring answers.
"Got close to being killed by Mrs. Grumlig," Sam replied and Lysander frowned. "Literally?"
"You know that she hates me," Sam mumbled, glancing at the two years older boy. "And today she said something about how vampires don't bite. She said it as if she were a vampire herself, though."
"What if she is?" Tancred closed his eyes and yawned. "About 40% of the world's population are vampires, so why not that shitty maths teacher?"
"Fricking NEVER," May yelled. "I thought vampires were cool!"
Tancred shrugged.
"Anyway though," May said, turning to Sam. "I won't be able to come over today, Sam. My mother literally made an appointment at the dentist's for me because of my unnaturally big teeth-"
Her eyes widened. "Vampire teeth?"
"My dearest May." Sam gave her a faint smile. "Vampires have magic powers. From their 11th or 12th birthday on. You do not."
May sighed. "Let me dream on."
Sam just smiled. She loved May like a sister, and often enough they joked about being real siblings - they were both adopted and shared the same birthday. But as they had asked their parents they had each said there was no sibling known to the child they adopted.
"Girls, did you already check out Nick Blackoak's new single?" Tancred asked in that second.
"Obviously. Right this morning," Sam replied. Nick Blackoak - currently one of the world's most famous singers, the one to bring Heavy Metal back to the radio stations - had dropped a single this Thursday, even though he hadn't announced a new album.
"And what do you think?" Tancred asked on.
"I'm not sure," Sam slowly said. "We can't argue about the music itself, it's amazing as always. But the text- something is different than his usual texts, right?"
"Yep." Tancred got up and grabbed his backpack as the bus drove towards the station in the little village where the teens lived.
They got off and stood on the asphalt for a few seconds, just awkwardly staring at each other until Sam finally said, "See you tomorrow then."
May nodded. "I'll keep you updated about my vampire teeth. And the sleepover tomorrow works, by the way! Mum is okay with it."
"Perfect." Sam waved at the boys and her best friend, then made her way home.
***
The house of the White family was a bit outside the village, in a forest area, and Sam enjoyed walking along the shady path. Sometimes, it was a bit scary, but especially now in the hot summer days, the high trees provided cool shadows.
When she had almost reached the huge yard of her family's house, she heard a voice.
"Hey, you're Sam, right?"
Sam turned around. Who was this guy there beside the road, and why was he walking around in a leather coat when it was this hot-?
Sam narrowed her eyes. "Nick?"
"Ah, a fan." The guy, not older than 25, took off his cowboy hat and bowed down with a wide grin. "But please, don't treat me as the one  you think I am. You haven't won a meet-and-greet, so you won't see the Blackoak-side of me too much."
"What the heck are you talking about?" Sam dropped her school bag to the ground because all the books became too heavy. "Dude, you're a famous musician standing in my front yard, what's going on here?"
"Sam, I-" Nick nervously ran his hand through his shoulder-long black hair, then put the hat back on. "Please don't treat me as the famous Nick Blackoak. Please consider me Nicholas Chester Storm, a... friend."
"A friend?" Sam frowned. This had turned really weird really quickly. "Explain this or I will call the police. I don't care for who you are."
"The police?" Nick laughed and Sam had the odd feeling that she should trust him. "Sam, we need to talk. I've got lots of stuff to tell you. You and your-" He hesitated. "Best friend. Are you two home alone at some point these days?"
"Tomorrow, from 5pm on." Sam frowned again. "But Nick, whatever this is about, I can't- you know, - I don't even know you!"
"You will get to know me." Nick bit his lip. "If you want to. Just listen to what I've got to tell you and then we can discuss about knowing or not knowing each other. Sounds good?"
Sam sighed. "Do I have a choice?"
Nick laughed. "You can always decide not to open the door to me. But I don't think you can resist the temptation of the secrets I know."
"What the fuck." Sam shook her head. "I will ask May and then we will decide. Tomorrow, 5pm?"
Nick nodded. "See ya, Sam."
Sam raised her hand to greet him, then walked away. When she turned around to him again, he was gone without a trace. Or, wrong. Sam hasted back to where he had stood just a minute ago, and picked up a leather wristband. Yeah, this was Nick's.
Very confused, Sam went the last few meters to her house. She didn't call May. First of all, she was still at the dentist's, and second- how in the world should she explain what had just happened to her?