Fan Fiction ❯ Touch the Moon ❯ Halfway Round the World ( Chapter 2 )

This is my protégé story I think, I can't stop thinking about it! I love it so…yeah, yeah I'm slightly odd I know. But I can't help it, this story won't be too long I'm afraid. Partly because I'm am useless when it comes to multi-chaptered stories and partly because this is my first yaoi and I'm edgy about it. Anyway onto the next chapter!

Thank you to Akurei, Hele and DarkSorceress by the way for the kind reviews.

Warnings: Dark, involves drugs and vampirism and contains slight yaoi. So if you are homophobic or if any of the mentioned things are against your morality, don't read. I ignore flames and don't say I didn't warn you. There is a reason I rated this story R.

Touch the Moon

'You look like crap.'

This is the first thing Yen says to me when she sees me? I catch sight of myself in the mirror. Wow, I do look like crap. Maybe I should bother to button more than half my shirt up…maybe I should learn how to put the right buttons through the right button holes. My shirt is crooked. My trousers are all crapped up too.

And think I would've looked ravishing in this yesterday, or as Yen puts it, waiting to be molested.

Well, goody for me if someone actually tried to do that I could kill him or her in seconds. And then some of my other family will probably dance over their corpse or something. Vampire families are like wolf packs, so if I get hurt and it's not due to my own stupidity, then there'll be a warpath of Chinese vampires out there somewhere.

My hair looks as it always does, like I've been dragged backwards through a duck-pond. It's not long but it falls all over the place especially over my eyes. I don't think it's safe when driving a motorbike. Maybe I should cut it? Nah, too lazy to actually drag myself to the hair dresser. Besides it doesn't look bad and I don't need to look after it much except run a comb through it when I remember to.

I rub my arm, it's colder in London. I'm too used to Hong Kong and it's constant heat, that's where we're usually based since we are Chinese. I moved there after I changed. The cold isn't unbearable in any way, it's just a bit of an annoyance. Why are we still in London again? Oh yeah, we're waiting to see if Helen will change. Will her DNA even let her change? I'm getting edgy again.

I went feeding yesterday, it's very irritating, we usually drink blood from drunk nightclubbers. It reduces the risk of being remembered but I don't like the taste of stale alcohol that remains in their bloodstream . They won't even have any side effects from our feeding unless you count a hangover from their obscene alcoholic intake.

All they have is a fading mark on their wrists to prove we even drank from them. Believe it or not we drink blood from the wrists. It's so much more subtle, it makes me wonder at mortal intelligence, would a Vampire really be so stupid as to leave great big teeth marks where it can be seen?

You only take from the neck if you are trying to change a human, or feeding off another Vampire. It's like a symbol of trust really, to let another Vampire drink from you. Or vice-versa. And the further up your neck you let someone bite the stronger the trust i.e. the further up the neck you go, the closer you get to the pulse. Of course your friend, lover, whatever would be trusted not to drain and kill you.

And if they do kill you, well then you just had a really bad choice in friends. It's all about the trust.

I've still got the teeth mark scars from when I changed, it's right on the end of one of my shoulder blades. I didn't exactly trust the guy changing me that much.

I wish Helen would hurry, I dislike London…I'm not partial to English blood. Tastes plain to me. Blood from drunken partygoers is even worse, I swear it tastes like battery acid. Or are they alkaline?

Lan says he likes Japanese blood because it's sweet. Hoi-Qhui only really likes Tibeten blood, according to her it's subtle and utterly delicious. Yen hasn't ever told me and I don't think she intends to.

I only like Chinese blood, must be because since I've changed I've only really had Chinese blood. It tastes fresh and light, Lan says it's too bubbly for him. I have no idea what he's on about, how can blood be bubbly? Lan says he'll take me to the USA one day, he says I'll like the blood, tastes like fast-food according to him.

Taking a second glance at myself I notice that I look almost feverish, if you're looking from a human point of view anyway. Vampires do look a bit unnaturally pale. Give it a few more years and evolution will probably tan us more. Instead of bothering to shower and change I just rescue some random beer from the fridge and a cigarette.

I glance around the room, we're all crashing in Lan's English apartment since none of us really have anywhere to actually live. It's enormous, it's big enough for all sixty-two of our family. You hardly see everyone in one place though, we all have jobs round the globe so houses tend to be smaller. Lan just seems to like having meetings in London so this apartment is a bit of a one-off.

We have an entire flat to ourselves out in Hong Kong, a dojo in Japan, a large bungalow in Korea…so on and so forth. We have a lot money in each bank as well, I don't even want to imagine how much there is altogether. I won't question how we have such a fortune either, most of it was probably ill-gotten.

Sprawling on the couch I absently rub the silver scar on my palm where Lan and I sealed our deal on Helen's life. Vampires have silver blood just so you know, it's why we're so pale. It isn't really a cut anymore though, more like a thin line of silver paint across my palm. It's good we're fast healers, vampires make so many deals that if we weren't fast healers we'd probably be up to our elbows in scars and cuts.

I rub my eyes, I was wearing brown contacts last night to hide my eyes and make me look properly Asian. We all do, it makes us easier to pass as humans. You can tell how old a vampire is by his eyes, you see the more blood he or she has consumed, the more deep your eyes get. Yen and Hoi-Qhui's eyes are going a dark burgundy and Lan's been a vampire for so long his eyes are taking on a purple shade.

I was sprawled out on the couch, watching TV, drinking, smoking and being a 'lazy-testosterone driven male' when Hoi-Qhu walked in. I shoot up out of my seat, upsetting my beer and tilting the ashtray and cigarette off my lap and onto the floor. Oops, I'll clean it later.

'Well!?', Hoi-Qhui looks at me oddly for my outburst, I'm usually very lazy and passive and don't like to move. 'Well what?' Now I'm just annoyed. 'Helen!', Hoi-Qhui shrugs, 'I haven't asked her yet.'

Wha? She was supposed to offering the deal of Vampirism to Helen! What's taking her so long? Hmph, and they say I'm lazy?

I could burst into tears at this. I really could. Alright so I would never actually do that but still. She made me panic for nothing? I list off a long line of Chinese profanities and promptly get slapped in the back of the head by Lan as he walks into the room. He's too polite for his own good. Why must he slap so hard? My head is ringing, I'll be seeing stars in a moment.

Lan is in an edgy mood. He's going to have to fake his death again soon and he has a ton of paperwork to get through. Must be odd planning your own funeral. He's getting cremated this time, last time I heard he was buried. It's useless really, it's just another empty coffin under the ground or another empty urn on the shelf and no one to mourn it.

The phone rings.

Lan growls, vampires are very scary when that happens. Although our fangs aren't particularly big or impressive we can still look menacing when we snarl. Our muscles must be more flexible or something I guess because we can pull them back enough to expose our canines properly.

I eye Lan and the phone. I think he might destroy it. Hoi-Qhui meets my eye and we nod to each other, it's a bet. I think Lan will break the phone, Hoi-Qhui thinks he'll answer it. Yeah, yeah, vampires are so close to each other we sort of synchronise sometimes. Not always, we still argue enough to make us a regular family.

Lan breathes and picks up the phone in a civil manner. Damn. I dig out my wallet and fork over £20 over to Hoi-Qhui. Lan doesn't look happy. Must be another witness or a Slayer. Whatever it is, he slams the phone down and leaves his funeral papers. Instead he opens one of his filing cabinets and digs up yet more papers. How does he sort them all? I never see the difference.

'There's some rampant Slayer in Hong Kong.' He explains.

That can't be all, we have rampant Slayers all the time,

'And the Chi family have invited us for a family gathering.'

Oh. Them. They're another Vampire family, we don't get along though. They have two hundred or so family members. Lan says it's because they change every person they see and that they're lazy asses who wouldn't know what 'selection' was if it smacked them in the face.

Lan's picky, that's why we have so few family members. I mean sixty-two compared to two hundred is pretty meagre. Yen asks the question that's plaguing us all, 'Why would they invite us? We don't get along.', oh yeah, our families also have a reputation of trying to get into fights every time we see each other. Lan snorts, 'they say it's to settle feuds, it's probably for their own safety. If that Slayer is around they'll want us hust instead of them.'

'Are we going?' Hoi-Qhui asks.

'Of course not! You and Yen have some things to do for me. Aki is though.'

'What?!'

Yes I am shocked as you can tell. Screw shocked, I'm about to have a heart attack. Why am I going? This isn't fair! I don't want to go! I sound like a three year-old, I know it. But that's what I feel like.

'Why do I have to go?'

'Because you are going to get rid of that Slayer.'

'I don't do the hunting, I just create 'mysterious disappearances'!'

'It'll take your mind of Helen, there's more chance that you'll find a partner there and it'll keep you out of my hair for a bit. You hate London anyway so you're the perfect choice. As many of the other family members will be there as well just in case they start a fight so it's not like you're unprotected.'

I don't even get a say in this. Yen is biting her lip to stop herself from cracking up and Hoi-Qhui is snickering into a cushion. Lan just hands me a file with information and a plane ticket to Hong Kong and then shoves me out the door. Injustice! I don't want to go! I want to see if Helen changes!

I want to throw a tantrum! It's a shame the floor is so icky out here. Instead I land a sound kick on the door then scamper before Lan comes out. Hoping onto my motorbike I hear a shout and look up to the fifteenth floor balcony, Yen and Hoi-Qhui are waving to me.

'Don't worry! We'll take care of Helen for you!'

I just nod and wave. Then I take off on my bike with no helmet, crooked shirt, crapped up trousers, uncombed hair and all.

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