Next Generation Dhampirs

You're Such a Pain

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, James still held my hand, but used it to help me out. I laughed when I climbed over the seat and nearly fell on top of him, but he caught me in time, one hand still holding mine and the other wrapped around my waist.

Dimitri instantly pulled me, gently, by the shoulder away from James and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, dad, I'm fine," I replied hastily.

"You could have gotten hurt," he said simply.

"Yes. I could have," I answered, "But I didn't. It's no big deal! I'm ok!" He was just trying to get me away from James.

We got our tickets without any problems, and when we walked in, I was instantly taken aback. I had never been to a fair before. I stopped in my tracks to take in the grandiosity of it all, when James came up behind me.

"Let me guess," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder, "You've never been to a fair before?"

I shook my head, still gaping at all the rides and games. James laughed and brought me up to speed with the group.

"Jess," Declan said, almost whining, "Will you go into the Tilt O' Whirl with me? Everyone else said no."

"Yeah, sure," I replied. I had never actually been on one, but I had seen them on TV. How bad could it be?

About 10 minutes later, I found out. It was amazing and awful at the same time. By the end of it, I wanted to throw up. Declan and I leaned on each other, sending spirit into the other to relieve that feeling of sickness, amplified by the fact that we could feel each other's.

When we found everyone else, they saw how dizzy we were and everyone laughed at us.

"That," Sydney began, "Is why I said no."

James stared at us and said, "I wanna go!" but Christian wouldn't let him. I knew why. Both of them were already feeling sick, they didn't need to throw up the last of their sustenance.

"Why don't we go do bumper cars?" Sydney suggested instead. We were all cool with it, but Dimitri and Christian decided to sit it out.

I got in a car with Sydney, who, as it turns out, is very competitive. James and Declan climbed into a car together, and Sydney instantly started calling them out. "You're going down! We will crush you like the twerps you are!" It went on for a while and I was laughing uncontrollably by the time she threatened to ground Declan.

James looked almost as amused as me, but he also had a hint of fear gleaming in his eyes. Declan just looked embarrassed.

The buzzard sounded signaling that we could begin, and Sydney instantly rammed into a line of cars. She sought out Declan and James's car and constantly targeted it, but when she aimed for someone else, she never missed, swerving and dodging other cars with skill.

At one point, James and I locked eyes and laughed, but Declan turned his car around and he disappeared from view when Sydney did the same.

By the time all the cars had stopped, Sydney's hands were white, gripping the wheel as if it were a lifeline. We hopped out and walked over to the bench where Christian and Dimitri were sitting. Christian handed James a bottle of what I suspected to be sunscreen.

We walked over to the refreshments tent and sat down out of the heat. After we were cool enough, we headed back out.

"Hey, Dimitri," Christian said, "Want to hit the arcade?"

"Sure," he shrugged, "Are you guys coming?"

"I wanted to go to the hall of mirrors," James said ruefully.