My Soul in Return for You: The Beginning of the End continuation

Love is in unexpected places; somewhere you never look. Love is with unexpected people; someone you rarely talk to. Love is on an unexpected date; someday when everything may have gone wrong. Love is like New York City, it never sleeps. Love is like Santa Claus, it’s coming to town. Love is harmful…but somehow it comes out great. 1

***2

I hit the ground with a grunt, another followed behind me.3

“Kyle! Did it work?” I called out to my older brother. “Did I do it right?”4

“Yes, of course my sister!” From the sound of his voice, I estimated he was about 50 yards away but I heard him loud and clear. In an instant, once he heard me stop running, he hurried over to my side. “Excellent,” I pronounced with a smug chuckle. I loved when I accomplish tasks like these; especially when my parents congratulate us. 5

“Jenny!” my father praises. “You’re doing so well. I’m so proud!” He hugs me tightly and kisses the top of my head. Next turns to K.C., “And you’re her coach. My son,” he says proudly. “I’m happy for both of my children.” 6

Kyle and I bump heads as mother hugs us, knocking the breath out of our chests. “You two are so grown up!”7

I laugh, “You’re not!” She snorts and lets go teasingly. 8

You see, Mom turned 18 this year, same age as daddy (for the last 200 years even), and last year… okay. You know what. Let me start over:9

My dad is a friggn vampire if you haven’t figured it out yet, and my mom is pure human. (Poor her in my opinion because it gets pretty exciting!) He had been 18 for a really long time and she was 17 when they met and fell in love. So they got married when she was still 17 and had K.C. and me (in that order by the way; two months apart). So that makes the children half-vampire which causes us to grow a lot faster than the average immortal. Because when your blood is “set on fire” by the venom of your creator than you stay that recent age forever until your creator decides to kill you. (Only your creator has that power.) But if you have a half-vampire child, the child(ren) will yes go quickly through age but once they turn the age their vampire parent was created, that is the age your half-vampire child will stay forever. So in our case, once we turn 18 we stay 18. It’s not that bad, at least we don’t have to stay 40 forever. It’s quite confusing I know but you get used to it. Anyway, that’s our story. So right now, my parents are teenagers; two years older than Kyle and I. That’s pretty sad. So when people say, “Damn! You look like you all could be siblings.” Well our answer is “We are.” I always laugh when I see the look on their faces, because you don’t usually see all four siblings in one room without not getting along. But K.C.’s favorite part is calling Mom and Dad Ashlii and Rick. Yea, I guess that’s my favorite part, too.10

The rays of the morning sun shine above us suddenly; time for a new day.11

The blood-sucking-immortal part of the family can’t come out in the completely sunny days, not necessarily because we melt. But one of our talents is to charm the severely sensitive-eyed humans. But the talent goes overboard in the sun; our sun doesn’t sparkle and glitter uncontrollably like you’ve read, but it gives off an urge to you mortals. Almost like a toxic waste from a chemical, but it’s… it’s not? Yes, don’t ask me to explain because I don’t know how. And don’t try to read it up either because I can reassure you it won’t be in the books. Or movies.12

Vampires also have other talents; some never have the same. Some have the power to read minds, or to be irresistibly seductive. But I have the power to change form. Mmmmhm, that’s right. I can change the way I look into anything I desire. Just like a werewolf can change into a dog. Or wolf… whatever. I could change into a werewolf, or a phoenix, a unicorn, or even a genuine pig if I wish. (I don’t like the feeling of being a rodent.)13

“All right you two.” Mom shrugs us to the house. “Time to get ready for school.” 14

“Yay…”15

Looking into my mirror, (Yes I can see my reflection.) I see: a 16 year old half-vampire at a young age with a large dose of self-control from the wanting of blood. She has cold skin, a touch of hard marble. Her loose curls of brunette hair with natural red lowlights falls around her shoulders and hangs just below her shoulder blades. Her bright green eyes hiding slightly behind the sided bangs.16

She is wearing a navy-striped sweater over a black lace – trimmed undershirt, tight to show her slim stomach. The “destroyed” short skirt shows her tall, pale (duh) legs fitted into her black bow-tie flats. The perfect teenage outfit to disguise the real side of this girl. 17

Walking to school is always the best part of the day for me. The fresh air of a new day always makes my long hours better, and knowing I can enjoy it for a long, long, long time forever. But today was beautiful; especially with the way my eyesight is designed. Every detail from the dew on the green grass to the 8 transparent rays that twinkle between the wet leaves of the treetops. I can hear things that are 20 miles away like they could be right beside me, but I can block what I want so I don’t receive headaches. The birds sing me a “good morning” celebration and the tree frogs greet me as they each wake up. By the cracking of the leaves I estimate that the 13 year old paperboy, Johnny, will be riding on his bike… One… Two… Three… WOOSH! Now. I wave at him like we do every day.18

“Why are always so awake in the mornings?” asks Kyle with irritated tone. “Why are always so happy?”19

“Well, for one, I’m awake because when was the last time we were able to sleep?” He gives me ‘you smart-ass’ look. “And I’m not like goody-two-shoes happy, I’m just friendly.”20

“Well, why would you be so friendly? What have they done for you?”21

“Nothing.” I try to make a point on this one. “I just like to make first impressions.” I turn to look at him now. “Do you know what I’m talking about?”22

“No.”23

“Good, ‘cause you’d laugh at me.”24

I feel his arm wound around my shoulders, “Well how stupid of you, lil’ sis. Because I’m always gonna laugh at you.” I roll my eyes at the truth as he kisses the top of my head. “No. I’m just messing with you. I’ll always be here for you, you know that right?” I look up to see if he was just messing with me. He wasn’t, he was totally serious. I nod, “Yes. I know that.” He kisses the top of my head again and with a quick “see ya at lunch” he runs over to his friends.25

I watch as he disappears with a last look at me, thinking over his words. ‘I’ll always be here for you, you know that right?’ It was almost like a goodbye… But it couldn’t be… It better not be.26

“Jenny! Come here!” Sara sat with Jessica and Isabella at our picnic table. They wave at me furiously in the air; meaning ‘come here now’ I was guessing. I jog across the soft school ground and rest myself on the table top. “What’s up you guys?”27

They all turned to me in a circle, “Jenny,” Isabella says. “Did you know Jordan has been staring at you? And I don’t mean like a stalkers kind of way, but like ‘hello gorgeous’ way!” Her eyes gazing behind me is aligned to this Jordan she’s spoken of. 28

“Jordan?” I turn my body to look over him, a muscular body leaning against a tree. Not a football or a hockey bod, but more introduced as a… a boxing bod. That’s it, boxing. Well, that’s the best I got. A 6’ fellow with deep brown hair and when I zoom into his face he has a Brad Pitt jaw, and navy blue eyes hat burned into yours. They almost seemed to look into your soul. Ha! What little soul I had anyway. “Never heard of him, is he new here?” 29

They all nod quickly, scrutinizing my expression. I’m pretty sure they were nearly irritated because I like to keep my feelings in my possessions and in my treasure only. So they didn’t get much out of my poker face. But I did smile with affection. Who couldn’t smile as someone so handsome and masculine looked at you the way he did. Like I was a prize? Hardly, I thought to myself with a silent scoff. 30

“Bless you,” they all repeated to me, not even facing my direction but now staring at the beautiful figure that had no interest what so ever for them. But for me. I know that sounded so self-obsessed but I’m sorry. I can read faces better than you can, especially when they are 10 yards away too far for their eyes. 31

The bell rings so suddenly too soon and we sigh. This was the most horrible part of my hours: school. 32