Chomp

Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13:

I stared out at Thorn High's football field, drumming my fingers against the rusty metal bleachers. Fall was coming in fast and everyone said it would be a cold winter. With a heavy sigh, I rested my forehead against my knees and purposely ignored the texts coming in on my phone. People really did talk way too much for my liking. Theo wanted to know where I was at, Cole wanted to know what was wrong, and Wendy wanted to know what had happened. 

Life was just too fucked up for me, and the added stress of my real world issues weren't  helping either. Midterms were rolling in, college applications were due in a few weeks, and I was trying to be a good son. The last thing I needed was some sassy vampire chick with tantilizing eyes to hound me with more resposibilities. I definitely didn't need some elf dude who was probably a background actor in the Lord of the Rings trilogy to tell me what to do. 

"Oh, look. He's crying." My head jerked, my eyes landing on a slim girl. I could tell that she was tall even from where she stood at the bottom of the bleachers. 

"I'm not crying, and so what if I was," I challenged standing to my feet just as a large broad-shouldered man stepped from behind the bleachers. 

He was bald and his skin was a dark shade of brown, a coarse beard growing on his chin. Before I knew what was happening, I was staring up at the sky, the air rushing from my lungs all at once. A guy with buzzed blond hair who looked younger than the other two towered over me from the top of the bleachers where I'd been standing. He gave me an evil grin and that's when I realized what was happening. 

"Oh shit." It was about all that I could muster once I was able to breathe again. The guy with the buzz cut had canines longer than what was humanly normal, his eyes completely black. 

They all dressed in black clothing, encircling me like the hunters they were. The largest of the three gripped the back of my neck, pulling me to my feet effortlessly before slamming me into the chain-link fence behind the bleachers. Fear had my heart beating tenfold as his hand crushed my windpipe. He wore dark shades but I was sure that his eyes were black as well. 

"I'll make this quick, grandson of Marco," he declared taking a long blade the girl handed him. My eyes grew watery as I pried at his hand, my legs flailing to no avail. 

Just as he took hold of my hair and pulled my head back to expose my throat, a gut churning scream pierced through the silence. The man was distracted just long enough for me to reach into my back pocket for my pocket knife. I brought it down on the arm connected to the hand strangling me. With a pained hiss, he released me taking a few steps back. I had torn the knife through his flesh which was mending itself as I coughed up a bit of blood. 

"Leo, run!" I looked around and concentrated on the voice. Ray delivered a combination of heavy punches and right hooks to the guy with the buzz cut. The scene would have been hilarious if my life didn't depend on it. 

I struggled to stand to my feet, but the big guy was coming at me again. This time he planned to make it hurt. I could barely move out of the way as he swung to backhand me across the face. Ray ducked under the buzz cut guy's high kick and drove her shoulder into him, knocking him off balance long enough to escape and intervene with my fight, if you could even call it that. 

"Oh no you don't!" Ray jumped onto the large man's back, her nails lengthening into deadly claws as she raked them over his face. 

He howled in pain, bucking in an effort to throw Ray off of his back. The girl who'd addressed me earlier was stalking towards them with the blade the big guy had dropped. It was slick with something glittering and I had a bad feeling about what it would mean for me or Ray. Launching from my position, I tackled the girl and put all of my weight into it. It knocked her off balance but she managed to sink the knife into Ray's upper thigh causing a piercing scream of rage to errupt from her lips.