Ice Cold Fangs

Chapter 17: Deadly nights

Author's note: Since college is coming around the corner, I'm not sure what my schedule is going to be with uploading new chapters.

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Luke woke up by Amanda jumping onto his bed.

"Oof!" Luke shifted himself up. "Amanda! Why on earth did you do that for!?!"

She huffed. "Not my fault I couldn't wake you up the normal way." She crossed her arms. "Besides," Her voice became soft. "Kevin wants to talk to us."

Luke groaned and got out of bed. He was still very tired. 

As they made their way to the living area, Luke noticed Kevin had the news on. He turned to face his younger siblings. He let out a tired sigh. "Okay, we need to come up with a new rule... no going out after night."

Luke jerked. "What!?!" He shouted; Amanda jolted back by her brother's loudness. "Kevin, do we look like we're little kids?"

Kevin pointed to the television, right now, it was paused on a breaking news segment. "These deaths are getting more and more frequent. I'm not willing to risk losing my family." Kevin said, not raising his voice one bit.

Luke turned to see the news statement. Apparently, someone by the name of Francis was murdered in his own comic bookstore.  

A place that's very close to Mario's house. 

Luke lied and said he was going to Mario's and staying there if he needed to.

"Not to mention..." Kevin broke Luke out of his own thoughts. "Fm got hurt!? Luke why didn't you tell me one of your best friends got hurt."  

Luke gulped. He didn't know what to say.

"I felt like such a fool." Kevin rubbed his temples. "Luke, I don't want to lose the last of my family." Tears were in his brother's eyes. Luke is pretty sure he hasn't seen his brother cry since their parent's funeral.

Luke looked down. An idea popped into his head. "What if I'm out with a friend? I mean, Meggy is our neighbor." 

Kevin was silent for a moment. Amanda decided to speak up. "Kev, what about you? What about your job? What about my job?" 

Kevin worked full-time at a movie theater, sometimes he would work overtime just to afford months' rent. While Amanda worked part-time at a coffee shop. Which was free coffee for the whole family, so Luke saw that as a win.

"I doubt your job would have you work so late at night." Kevin brushed his hair back with his hand. "As for me... well I guess I better get some pepper spray." He quipped, trying to lighten his sibling's mood. It didn't work.

Kevin sighed. "Please promise me you'll both be careful?"

The two of them shook their heads in agreement.

"Good." Kevin turned off the TV. "Now, I'm heading off to work, I'll see you two later for dinner." 

He left, closing the door behind him.

Amanda turned to face her brother. "So why were you up last night so late? Hmm?" She tilted her head, acting all innocent. 

Luke felt his face begin to blush. "I told you already. I went to Mario's place to finish working on a project.

Amanda had a smug look on her face. "What kind of project has you dressed up like you were going out to a fancy shmancy party?"

Luke turned away from his sister. Crap, he left his closet door opened. Amanda must've saw the outfit he wore last night.

"Film study of course. Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm going back to bed."

Amanda didn't say anything as Luke walked back to his room.

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Three couldn't sleep. His mind was still thinking about their date.

Three had showed Luke all the wonderful things the forest had to offer. To the quiet lake that seemed to glow at night, to the old hiking trail which led to a picture-perfect view of the night sky, to even where you could find an old tunnel system connected to the subway tunnels that vampires could travel around the city during the day.

But that wasn't the only thing that was on Three's mind. Luke had given him permission to drink his blood.

It was mildly sweet with a hint of bitterness; it was enough to keep Three satisfied for the rest of the night. 

'I don't think I could ever go back to drinking random animals or people's blood.' He craved it, like it was a drug. And he was addicted to it.

There was a small knock on his door.

Three sat up on the bed. "Come in."

Terrance opened the door. "How was your date?" He signed. 

"It was good. I wish you two could have met but of course, one of your co-workers just had to skip out that night." Three pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"There's always next time." Terrance smiled, not really bothered that he didn't get the chance to meet Glitchy.

Three noticed Terrance seemed to be nervous, "Terrance, is something wrong?" They've been friends for almost twelve years, they both have an understanding of each other, especially when something is up.

Terrance brought out his phone, it showed a news article on another murder in the city. 

Someone was murdered in their own store. Police had check for footage, only for them to come to the conclusion that it was tampered with, as no one appeared on camera besides the victim.

'Or, that the murders are vampires.' Three thought bitterly. 

Three looked up at Terrance. "Have you ever thought that if Zer0 finds out about you dating a human, that he'll go after them?"

Three didn't. Fuck! "N-now hold on a second, isn't there some sort of vampire law that you don't mess with another vampire's mate." Terrance shrugged. Three groaned. "Oh, who am I kidding? Even if there was, I bet Zer0 wouldn't hesitate anyway." 

Terrance put a hand of Three's shoulder, trying to comfort his best friend.

'What do I even do in a situation like this?' Three thought to himself. 'God, I wish I knew some more things about vampires... Even after twelve years, I still don't know a lot." 

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Meggy was up bright and somewhat early the next day.

Her mind was still glued on what happened last night, with those three vampires, that mysterious stranger, and Luke...

She shivered just thinking about it. 'How could he do that so willingly?'

Whatever, she had to get ready to watch Cube.

As she was getting ready to leave, she noticed the bottle the stranger had thrown her. 

Meggy grabbed the bottle, about to throw it away, when she noticed something. 

A small note was attached to the bottom of the bottle. 'Good for healing vampire bites.' The note was in print, so that way she couldn't analyze any handwriting.

"Well... that's convenient." Meggy gripped the bottle tightly. "Too convenient." 

She really needed to find out who that stranger was and maybe...

Save her friends from becoming vampire food.