“Hey, can I get another coke, sweetheart?” I called out to the young flight attendant as passed by our seats. She gave an exasperated sigh but turned her attention to me nonetheless.
“Yes you may. Don’t call me sweetheart.” She said, her voice full of artificial sweetness.
“Sure thing, honey.” I winked at her, and she blushed before flipping her blond hair and walking away.
“Can’t you go two hours without hitting on someone?” Danny complained from his seat next to me.
“Guess not.” I shrugged, smiling smugly as the stewardess handed me my coke. “Thanks sugar.”
The flight attendant walked away. Danny groaned. I laughed.
Much to Danny’s dismay, we spent the rest of the plane ride playing war, while Aaron and Haven cuddled across the aisle from us. Damian had chosen to spend a couple extra days with Jared, and I wasn’t complaining. That guy was trouble and he was a little too much like myself for my liking.
By the time we finally landed, I was about ready to die of boredom and Danny was super pale, even for a vampire.
“You know, you really should get over your fear of airplanes.” I told him, but he only nodded and when it was our turn to get up he practically ran off the plane. I followed Aaron and Ryan off slowly, and when we stepped out into the cool New York air, I couldn’t help but smile. It felt good to be home.
“What do you think?” I asked Haven, observing my handy work.
“I think he hates it.” She told me. I looked at Duke, who thanks to me was sporting a party hat between his floppy ears. He did seem a little bit more whiney-looking than usual. Oh well.
“Nah, he likes it!” I lied, just as Duke let out a low puppy whine. I glared at him. “It’s New Years, Haven! Where is your holiday spirit?”
“I used it all up for Christmas, sorry Ryan.” She retorted and I laughed.
“You’re no fun. Now, where are my brothers?” She shrugged and I sighed, looks like I would have to go shopping alone. I said a quick goodbye to Haven, before heading towards the school’s parking garage. The thought of leaving Haven alone still made me a little uneasy, but we had all agreed that it was safe to now that Haven was a vampire and she had Duke. I laughed as I tried to picture the little puppy as a guard dog, but eventually he would grow to be almost as big as me.
I ran my hand over my black Hummer H3 Alpha, it had been so long since I had been able to drive it.
The school was about forty five minutes away from the city, but I made it in under thirty. I parked a little way away from the grocery store, and took my time walking to it.
“Hey, why don’t you come over here for a little while?” A girl called out, and it took me a second to realize she was talking to me. The girl, who couldn’t be older than twenty, stood on the corner across the street. I immediately recognized her as a hooker. She had a pretty face, surrounded by long curly red hair and smattered with freckles, but she wore way too much make up, and her skirt was too short, even for my liking.
I shook my head at her, and she shrugged. I quickly walked into the store. I picked up some snacks, some champagne and for good measure a couple cans of spray silly string. The line to check out was long, it seemed as if everyone had waited until the last minute to get their New Years supplies. When I finally reached the front of the line I took out my fake ID with some resentment. Being seventeen for eternity definitely had its downfalls. If you hadn’t become a vampire, you would be 167 years old right now… a voice in my head reminded me, and I tried not to shudder. I guess being seventeen forever wasn’t that bad when you looked at it that way. But still, it would be nice to be twenty one.
When I walked out of the grocery store, it was like walking into a whole new world. I had only been in the store for an hour at most, but when I walked out the street was littered with cop cars and an ambulance. How had I not heard the sirens? Their screams were deafening now. A huge crowd surrounded the scene and I pushed my way to the front to see what all the chaos was about. I almost wished I hadn’t.
As a vampire, the sight of blood does not make me sick at all. Hell, I like blood. It’s one of my favorite things. And having been a vampire for 150 years, not a lot of things surprise me. But I was not prepared for this. My stomach lurched as I took it all in. Blood was splattered everywhere, covering the city pavement. At first I couldn’t find where it had come from, but then I saw the prostitute that had tried to pick me up earlier. The poor girl had been reduced to a bloody mess on the sidewalk, and the only reason I recognized her was the red hair that was mixed with the blood.
I averted my eyes, but what I saw was almost worse. Someone, or something, had written “RYAN” on the wall in the dead girl’s blood. I back pedaled through the crowd immediately, wanting to put as much distance as possible between me and that nightmare.
The Wendigo was playing games now.
I sped back to the school, and made it in even less time than I had on the way there. When I reached the dorm, I was relieved to find Aaron, Danny and Haven there.
“We need to talk.” I said, throwing the grocery bags on the counter. They all listened quietly as I told what happened, and when I finished everyone still stayed silent.
“What do we do?” Haven finally asked after a couple of minutes. We all looked at each other, but it was clear that none of us had any ideas.
“I don’t know.” Danny said, “but whatever it is we have to do it soon.”
We all nodded solemnly.
New Years was always a weird holiday for us vampires, but it was one of my favorites anyways. It reminded me that another year had gone by, and I hadn’t changed at all, and that I never would. I watched as Haven took a drink from her glass and wondered if she was thinking the same thing. This was her first New Years as a vampire and if she survived it would be the first of many to come. I wondered how that made her feel.
We pretended everything was alright as we sipped out blood/champagne cocktails and watched the ball drop on TV, but you could practically feel the uneasiness in the room. No one wanted to say anything about the Wendigo, but it had us all looking over our shoulders. I could not believe that it had ruined one of my favorite holidays.
I could not wait to kill this Wendigo douche.
