Walk This Way

[valerie_vause]

After class Valerie had taken a shower, then spent the next twenty minutes changing her outfit over and over again. The first had been a pair of black pants and a dark hoody. The blonde had looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. “Hi Brian, I’ll be stealing your wallet tonight.” She’d changed quickly into a skirt with a low cut top to match and decided she looked more like a call girl than anything else. That got removed for a dress that stopped just above her knees, and Valerie had to remind herself that they were hanging out, not planning to attend the theater. The blonde stood with her head against the wall in dismay for a few minutes, and contemplated calling to say that she was sick. Well, it wasn’t far off, she felt nervous enough.

Eventually she had left in a pair of dark jeans that flared at the bottom. Perfect to wear with boots, which meant a slim though sturdy stake could be slid inside, point down. With it concealed out of sight she didn’t have to bother with a bag and she found a nice fitting t-shirt to slip on. Admittedly it was dark green and on the front the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stood proudly. It didn’t matter though because she grabbed a sweater to pull over it. The thick forest green fabric felt soft but light against her skin. It would keep her warm enough that she didn’t need a jacket.

Valerie made it to Tracks with five minutes to spare, and she took a moment to collect herself. Right now her hair was tied back, and although her hand went to pull it free she stopped. It was only a neck, she didn’t have to have it covered with her hair all the time. Hands checked her pants to make sure she still had her wallet before she fished out a packet of gum and took a piece. She chewed it roughly for a second or two to let out the anxiety. With a slow breath she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Even at seven the place had customers. Valerie relaxed a little and began to half browse the shelves as she made her way to the counter. It was better than actively standing out as she looked around for Brian. Maybe she’d been too presumptuous about how free he had been. Or was that optimistic? Valerie ignored the voice in her head and almost tripped over a guy looking at an Aerosmith cassette. He grumbled under his breath and she found herself mumbling an apology as she moved on quickly.

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[valerie_vause]

The strangest feeling ran through Valerie as he buried his face against her throat. The way he held her, the feel of his muscles as his arms wrapped around her small frame, the scent of his shampoo, his body wash, his skin. The blonde felt intoxicated, a little breathless, comforted. How could that be? Warm breath against her pulse made it beat faster. Even though it was his nose that ran across her flesh it caused a tingle of where it had been. The subtlest of invisible marks that could be felt but not seen by skin on skin contact. Perhaps that explained the way her fingers stretched out, gripped for a split second just to release the dark strands clutched there, then splayed out across his scalp to stroke lightly again.

Time could have stopped, sped up or even slowed down. Valerie wouldn’t have noticed. Seconds, minutes, they ceased to make sense. Maybe it was just that they no longer mattered in that moment. Entwined together in an embrace that kept her focus solely on him, on them, time no longer meant anything. Until his lips found her skin. The kiss had been delicate. Incredibly soft and not nearly long enough, and she heard a rumble that no doubt came from her. “I thought you already did?” She said, as her fingers twined in his hair to tug lightly. To make him aware of her hands and why they were there in the first place. Without words his silent question had been answered in kind. The second she’d caressed the back of his neck with curious fingers.

Another rumble made it to her ears. Louder somehow as the hairs on the back of her neck raised. Belatedly she realised she hadn’t made the sounds at all, that tingle did not come from attraction, which could only mean one thing. “Brian…” Valerie said softly, cautiously, “You have to listen to me carefully. I need you to let me go, and get inside…” Small hands withdrew from his hair with a lingering touch to the side of his jaw. When their eyes met she finished in a whisper, “We’re not alone anymore.”

[brian_campo]

Confusion dawned first. So what if a stranger walked past? He didn’t care who saw, as long as he got to kiss her. Not that he’d heard anything except the erratic pace of his breathing when she tugged on his hair, which struck him now as the only good reason to have long hair in the first place. His brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?” He searched her face.

And why tell him to get inside, unless…

He froze.

Something moved at the corner of his eye, a little way down the ramp. He knew that he did not want to look, and yet he felt his eyes cutting, taking in a hunched figure. A growl. Now that he registered it, Brian knew he’d heard it before and just blown it off, the same way he would’ve done if a train was bearing down on them. He remembered this feeling from being a kid, when he’d take a shortcut and jump a fence and come face-to-face with a snarling dog, that feral sound sawing along his nerve endings, spelling imminent pain.

Was it like the monster under the bed? Once you saw it, the monster saw you, too?

“I can’t. I can’t leave you,” he whispered, trying to keep his mouth from moving. Not a vote against her competence or any grandiose idea that he could save the day, but a genuine refusal to run inside and hide while she put up a fight for the both of them. If he’d been thinking clearer, he’d know he was a liability, another back to watch, but he couldn’t make himself go.

Going in slow motion, Brian lowered his arms.

“Don’t worry about me.”

[valerie_vause]

Brian’s words, though soft, held a fierceness that told Valerie he wasn’t prepared to evade the danger that creeped towards them. She felt herself suppress a groan. Right then Brian was endearing, though foolish. With no time to chastise him as he dropped his arms the blonde felt herself change. The bubbly girl vanished to be replaced with someone different. Someone hardened by experience. Someone protective. Someone unafraid to kill for what she believed in.

With utter clarity Valerie slid from the metal railing while her left arm snaked across Brian’s chest to push him behind her. Small though she may be, the blonde stood her ground. Actually took a large step closer to the ramp as the vampire reached the top of it. Fangs glistened in the dying glow of the sun that had sunk behind the buildings out of sight. Dusk, now fully upon them, brought out only one kind of vampire. The starving. No other would risk bursting into flames to play with the slowly growing shadows. Which meant it was either stupid, smart, or young.

“Well isn’t that touchingly pointless.” It snarled through a grotesque grin. “You’re like a warm little juice box that walks.”

Valerie’s lip curled in distaste, it’d be a long time before she had one of those again. “Too bad I don’t come with a straw.” She murmured.

“Oh I don’t need one of those…” The vampire all but leaped forward with an unearthly growl of, “I’ll show you.”

Instinct had Valerie move closer to collide with it head on. As it grabbed for her throat with one hand she blocked with a swift forearm, delivered an uppercut with her right fist and as it’s head snapped back she leaned away to kick it solidly in the abdomen. The thing staggered back, more bewildered than hurt and she used those precious seconds wisely. Pale fingers tugged the leg of her jeans up so that they could dig inside her boot and retrieve the slender, though sturdy stake. She clutched it tightly in her right hand as she took a defensive stance. Yellow eyes blazed then narrowed as the vampire snarled, angry as if cheated out of a quick meal.

Whatever cat and mouse game it had wanted shifted to survival as it came forward. This time it didn’t reach, it struck with inhuman force. The first fist had been dodged but she hadn’t seen the second thanks to the sweeping kick she’d narrowly avoided. The side of her jaw exploded in pain and she swayed slightly with the echo of the impact only to stumble against the railings. The vampire didn’t waste the opportunity and grabbed the blonde by her upper arms, an attempt to pin them out of the way as it mocked, “You lose little girl.”

“Do I?” Valerie hissed back as she slid the stake into her front pocket with her fingertips.

It ignored her, too busy sniffing the length of her neck to care while her hands curled around the railing. Fangs were bared with the anticipation of a bite and as it let out a growl of hunger her legs wrapped around it’s torso and she back-flipped over the bars, taking it with her. They landed together, the vampire on it’s back with her straddling it but even that didn’t stop it. You couldn’t wind a demon that had no breath. It caught her with a backhand that she returned with pleasure, then another, and another, until it’s head fell back so she could grab the stake and plunge it through it’s ribcage with a sickening crunch.

The look of surprise on it’s face lasted barely a second before it literally blew away in the breeze.

[brian_campo]

What did a guy do when the girl he liked morphed into an action movie hero, shoved him aside, and started wailing on a bloodsucker with the ugliest mug he’d ever seen?

He stared in disbelief.

He flinched.

He yanked his hair to prevent himself doing the stupid thing: jumping in the fray.

When fear choked him and his stomach turned to lead, he balled up his fists and blew the glass out of every streetlight on the corner, not that he knew it. Jagged shards and microscopic flecks of it rained onto the pavement and he didn't hear it.

Valerie’s stake drove home and the air cleared.

Brian jumped the railing and stood in the sifting remnants of the vampire. He opened his palms and caught a light coating of dust on his fingers. It was real. It was real. No warning could prepare his psyche for it: a solid body, a physical thing, being staked. That sound of flesh rending, bone cracking, and then no blood, just dust and it was gone.

He swallowed a gulp of air and stared at Valerie, who sat crouched on the grass. Her cheek was pink where the fists had driven into soft, yielding flesh. She hadn’t cried out, but Brian did. When the vampire hit the blonde so hard that her teeth clacked together, he yelled.

“Jesus.” He knelt and touched her face, turning it to look at the damage. Not half as bad as he expected. Brian had walked face-first into a screen door and caused worse injury to himself. She wasn’t just strong; she didn’t break. “I thought your teeth would be gone. You aren't even bleeding.” He tipped her face the other way. He had to know she wasn't made of glass, that he wasn't going to see fissures forming until she cracked into a thousand pieces.

He laughed. "You aren't real, are you? I'm dreaming. I got scared and I dreamed up a girl who isn't scared of anything. Are you okay?"