Vampire Boys Of Summer (Completed!)

Episode 80: Ryo & Angela

“Let’s get Angela,” Haru said. He led me by the hand towards my bestie as Ryo continued to hold Colin immobile against the stage floor. As we passed them, Ryo glanced up at me, nodded, and then leaned down close to his captive.

“You are the real Icarus here,” he told him. “You play too close to vampires and you suffer the same fate as most of us do.” He hauled him up enough so that Colin was on his knees. “I have had 800 years to grow accustomed to sunlight. You have been a vampire a few days. It should be interesting to see what happens when you have to look into the light of day. I doubt very seriously that the sun will kiss you as a lover.”

“No, Please. Wait, no…”Colin pleaded. “None of this was me. I was under orders of the master. I…”

“The beauty of humanity is free will. You chose to be a vampire. You welcomed it, reveled in it, took its power and used it against your friends and others. What you have done here is unacceptable. But especially to Angela. You professed to have liked her at one time and yet you chose to use her to feed this army of yours.”

Colin began to cry. “I’m sorry….So sorry….I was nobody, and then I was somebody….”

I almost felt sorry for him. After all, he was like most of us. He wanted people to look up to him. He wanted to be a part of something special. He didn’t want to be afraid of bullies. He wanted them to be afraid of him. He longed for popularity and leadership. The vampire life offered all of that. But I couldn’t bring myself to forgive him for what he’d put us all through, and especially Angela. I didn’t know if she’d ever be the same.

A stark reminder of this brought our attention to bear on her. From her throat was coming a horrible retching sound, as if she were throwing up but there was nothing on her stomach to be rid of. Her arms were still bleeding from where the vampire girls had been drinking from her.

Haru pulled his shirt off and began to tear it in strips. He handed me a strip, and we both began to bandage her tightly, trying to stop the blood flow. She coughed and began to gag. Then came worse convulsions as her body spasmed and twitched on the stage floor. Haru yelled for Ryo.

The once bad boy turned his head. When he saw what was going on, he pushed Colin away. “Run along to your master,” he snarled. “He’ll know what to do with you.”

To an outside observer, this may have seemed like a stupid thing to do, but I suppose Ryo no longer saw him as a serious threat. And well, I’d like to think he saw Angela as far more important. Either way, he left Colin and was at our side within seconds.

We had managed to cut off the bleeding, but Angela was still choking. Haru was attempting the Heimlich maneuver on her, trying to clear whatever it was that was making her lose her breath. His efforts didn’t seem to be working.

Ryo slid to his knees at her side and Haru let her go. Ryo got behind her, taking her up in his arms so her back was against his chest. He held her for a beat as if that’s what he was trying to feel or listen for. He put his open palm against her left breast. “It’s her heart,” he declared. “She’s having a heart attack.”

Angela was clearly in shock over her ordeal and her body was reacting violently. Her heart convulsed hard against Ryo’s hand as if it recognized it was him who was holding her. Then it stopped completely.

Seeing her slump over in Ryo’s arms, I cried out, “Oh no, no, no! Angela!”

Ryo spun her around so she was facing him. “Oh no you don’t,” he said. “You’re not leaving me. Not when I haven’t even kissed you yet.” He carefully laid her on her back on the floor. He pulled her shirt open, revealing bare skin and a black lace bra. He put both his hands flat on her and began to try and force her to breathe. He counted it out each time he pressed down. “One, one thousand. Two, two thousand. Three, three thousand….” He pulled her jaws open and put his mouth over hers, giving his own breath to her in five second intervals. “Don’t you dare do this to me. Act like you like me and then leave the building. I need you to chase me, damn it!” He pushed on her chest again, trying to get the heart moving, but it didn’t seem like it wanted to cooperate.

I was in tears, and Haru was trying his best to keep me calm, telling me it was going to be alright, but I was having trouble believing him. That’s what everyone said in hopeless situations.

To Ryo’s credit he really tried, but it wasn’t happening. Angela was gone. He laid his head on her chest and cried. “Come back,” he sobbed. “I dream of you, too. I dream of you, too.” After a moment, he pulled her over into his lap. He lay her cheek against his chest. “Listen to me. Hear that. It’s my heart beating. You make it come alive, now you come alive for me, ok?”

I buried my own face in Haru’s chest. I couldn’t take this. First I lost my father. Now Angela.

“I know you can hear me. Now listen to my heart. Let it lead you back. It’s the same as yours. It wants the same things. Hear it. Follow the sound back to me.”

Ryo lifted his head to the top of the cavern and screamed in anguish. Then he look back down into Angela’s face. “I have waited nearly 800 years to love again. Don’t wake my heart and then put it back to sleep! I love you, you silly boy-crazy girl…”

Angela convulsed in his arms and coughed out a breath.

Both Haru and I let out a cry of joy. Ryo sat Angela up and patted her on her back a few times to help her clear her lungs and throat. She coughed up a mixture of phlegm and blood, but he didn’t seem too worried. “That’s it,” he said. “There you go. It’s okay. Get it out of there.”

Angela’s eyes were still dazed and haunted. She was pale and sickly looking. Her badly cut, short cropped hair, turned silver by her ordeal, made her look much older than seventeen. But Ryo touched her hair as if it were the most wonderful thing ever. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered. “Please be you again. Be you for me.”

She looked up as if hearing his voice for the first time. Her eyes tried to focus on his face in the same way one tries to remember a fuzzy, fading dream. “Ryo?”

His mouth trembled and his lips answered her, pressed softly against her own.

I was so happy I kissed my own lover’s beautiful face. Haru took me in his arms, and for a moment, for this brief respite, we forgot all the madness going on around us.