Vampire Boys Of Summer (Completed!)

Episode 20: Ryo

The new vampire boy wasn’t as beautiful as Haru, but a girl wouldn’t throw rocks at him either. He was tall and toned, dressed in a white lace ruffled shirt and black leather pants. I could tell how toned he was by how tight his shirt fit, his chest and abs straining against the fabric as if trying to pop buttons off the front. He had long black hair with a purple streak flowing through his bangs. His eyes were so dark I could barely see them, and when he smiled, his lips seemed to curl back instead of parting naturally. “Hello,“ he said.

I stepped back a little. “Um…hi.”

“Beautiful night, isn’t it?”

I looked back over my shoulder to see if Haru was still in the deck chair. He wasn’t. Whoever this guy was, I was on my own.

“Uh yeah, but it’s a school night and my parents are expecting me to come through the door any minute.”

He smiled, but it wasn’t a very warm one. it was the kind of gesture that said, I know you’re lying. “Of course they are,“ he replied. “If I had such a beautiful daughter I’d be keeping tabs, too.”

“Well, I have to go. Nice meeting you..um…”

“I’m Ryo.”

I froze. Haru’s cousin. The one with the tattoo. The one who had been in my room.

A look of genuine concern seemed to flash across his face. “What’s the matter? You look like you just saw a snake.”

“I think I have.” For once, I wished I had something to defend myself with, but my vampire kit was in my closet. I had nothing to ward off evil, not even a crucifix. But I couldn’t show my weakness. “You were in my room,“ I said. “Took a picture of your chest with my cell. Who knows what else you were doing?”

“Sorry about that,“ he answered, putting his hands up in feigned surrender. “I’ve been told I have too much of a dramatic flair.”

“Dramatic flair? You broke into my house. My room. You probably watched me in the shower, too.”

I could tell my temper was flaring because he backed up. I’m not saying he was scared of me; he was just surprised I wasn’t some juvenile wallflower he could toy with.

“No, I didn’t watch you there. I do have some manners. But yes, I came into your room uninvited. I couldn’t help it.”

“Why?”

“I saw you from across the street.”

“Mrs. Winston’s?”

He nodded. “I’d seen you earlier that day and I was….captivated.”

“Captivated?”

He laughed, and it was one of those chuckles that meant, can you believe this chick? “Come on, you’ve got to know it,“ he said.

“Know what?”

He looked at me with his dark eyes. Some people, when they look at you in conversation, their eyes don’t stay on you constantly. They dart here or there, momentarily breaking the connection. Ryo wasn’t like that at all. He never took his eyes away from mine, and it took everything within me to keep my eyes on his, for his gaze was intense, the kind that either makes a girl melt or uncomfortable. I wasn’t about to let him see me melt, though with his rugged frame and good looks it was hard to concentrate on resistance. If allowed, Ryo could make any girl’s thoughts descend into sexual places that I really shouldn’t discuss.

“You know you are very beautiful,” he replied, and the way the words flowed off his tongue it sounded real. Angela at this point would have probably screamed, ‘Take me!’ but I still had enough willpower to be angry rather than seduced.

“Is that why you came into my room?” I demanded. “To spy on me and my beauty?” I said the last word a little sarcastic.

“No. I came to your room to know you.” He stepped a little closer and never taking his eyes off me. “I walked around, looking at things, taking in details, so I could learn a little more about you. “

“You could have just asked and I would have told you.”

“Yes, I know. But there’s something unique and mysterious about a girl’s room. a touch of the forbidden. A glimpse at a young girl’s longing for affection.”

That was it for me. This vampire dude was a creeper. “Right now I’m longing for you to leave me alone.”

He ignored me with a condescending smile. “I’ve lived long enough to recognize loneliness and feelings of being..loveless.”

“You might be loveless, but I’m not.”

Again, his stare, but this time his eyes left me to trail down my body. For a moment, his stare locked on my legs, and despite wearing jeans I suddenly felt naked. “Is that why you cut yourself?” he asked.

I gave him a hard stare. He knew more about me than I wanted him to. Either that, or he had been spying on me more than I thought, which made me feel angry and violated. “Look…” I began, but he held up his hands again.

“I didn’t come here to fight,“ he confessed.

“Then why did you come here?”

“To tell you the truth about my cousin Haru.”

I didn’t say anything. I’d seen this kind of behavior in boys since fifth grade. Girls might like a little competition in the romance department, but guys seemed to get their thrill by trying to undercut the other guy. It usually came down to name calling, and that’s why Ryo’s opening statement threw me off.

“He likes you,“ he said. “A lot.”

“How do you…”

“But the last girl he loved, he took her life. Without thinking, without batting an eyelash.” He snapped his fingers and it made a loud pop. “Snuffed her out just like that.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to. The truth doesn’t change based on your belief.” For a moment I thought tears were going to come from his fathomless eyes, but he bit his lip so hard it drew blood. In a quick expression of what he was, he sucked the blood from his lip back into his mouth. “Someone once said to me, guard your heart wisely, for sometimes it is easily deceived and doomed to destruction.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, but I guess it wasn’t necessary because he turned to go. He took a couple steps and then stopped. He didn’t turn around, but I heard him say, “The girl who said that is dead to me now. A product of her own fate at the hands of Haru.” He hung his head, and then looked over his shoulder at me. “Be careful, little diamond. Do not shine so brightly that you attract death. He wears a pretty face.”

I watched him walk away. His gait was still haughty and confident, but his posture was wounded, as if somehow my mere presence had broken through his defenses and revealed how vulnerable he really was. If I hadn’t been bothered over how he had been the intruder in my room I probably would have cried for him. Instead, I turned to my house and went home. I cast a last look back to see him disappear in the shadows surrounding Mrs. Winston’s house. I looked over to Haru’s house. All the lights were off and there was no one to be seen.