Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal ❯ Chapter 3

Crystal, Chapter 3:

 

 

Johnny was waiting for me in my bedroom when I got home. As glad as I was to see him, I took one look at his face and snapped, “You idiot! I told you to get some rest!”

 

He turned to look out the window. “That's him?”

 

Paul's car was backing down the driveway. I hadn't invited him in.

 

“One of them, yeah,” I replied. “Paul. He picked me up from school.”

 

“I know. I went there but you were already gone,” Johnny said.

 

“No wonder you're all sunburned!” I exploded. The truth was, I was feeling extremely guilty about Paul's kiss and I was picking a fight with Johnny to make myself feel better. “Did you sleep at all?” I asked more quietly. I took Johnny's hand and led him to the edge of my bed. If he had been any other boy, my mother would have had a fit. She trusted Johnny. And she was right. It was me she should have been worried about.

 

I pushed Johnny's shoulders down onto my pillow, as if I wanted him to take a nap and make up for his lost sleep, and I did, I really did. But that wasn't why I made him lie down. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest. It should have been Johnny who kissed me today, not Paul. I wanted to erase all memory of Paul's touch. “I missed you,” I mumbled without lifting my head.

 

Slowly, Johnny's arms came up and encircled me, and for just a minute or two we lay there in each other's arms, and the rest of the world went away.

 

But then Johnny's hand came up to stroke my hair and gently lift my chin so he could see me. His eyes remained warm brown if just a little wary. “Are you all right?” he asked me, shifting around so we were more or less facing each other, no longer touching. “Did he do something to you?”

 

I felt my cheeks redden. “He wanted to know if I knew the `family secret.' He asked me about you.”

 

Johnny stiffened, and I saw his eyes change. “And?” he asked. Just that.

 

“He said it was a test, that if I had said I didn't know anything about vampires, then he would know we were all lying. I passed.” I ran my fingers across Johnny's face, wincing when the burnt skin peeled at just my slightest touch. “He thinks you're dead. He thinks Kenny killed you back when I was still a little kid.”

 

“I know,” Johnny replied softly. He let his hand trace my cheeks, the color now fading, and continued on to gently brush my lips, my eyes. “I went to see Uncle Robert last night.”

 

I sat straight up. Of all the foolish things. . . .

 

“Johnny! You said you would stay away!”

 

“I said I wouldn't be seen,” Johnny reminded me. “I had to talk to Robert Brown, find out exactly what he had told his sons.”

 

“And did you?”

 

“They think Jonathan Price is dead,” Johnny said grimly. “The uncle has kept his word and not mentioned anything more about me—or you—to his relatives in Scotland. So I let them all live, for the time being.”

 

He would have killed the Brown brothers, and even Uncle Robert if he thought he was protecting himself. I'm not sure Johnny had limits, or if he once had them, he'd lost them in the years he was alone and hunted. It made me mad that Paul and Michael Brown had come to Lockwood, ruining the fragile bonds Johnny had begun to build with the family.

 

“What happens if they find out you're still alive?”

 

Johnny grinned suddenly, showing sharp teeth. His intense black eyes reminded me of my picture. “I hope they do,” he said. “I will be the last thing they see. The uncle too. If we have to leave this place afterward, then we will. But they will die, all of them.”

 

I shivered, although I was glad to hear Johnny say `we.' He intended to take me with him if he had to leave Lockwood. It shouldn't have to come to that. Johnny deserved to live in a place where people cared about him. With his family. Johnny didn't deserve to be hunted.

 

I reconsidered my earlier decision to tell Johnny about my vision. All this talk of killing made me sad, and it also fueled my craving for blood. Paul's blood in particular, since he was one of the causes of our current problem, but any blood would do.

 

“Come on.” I pulled Johnny up. “Take me out to hunt.” He came to his feet, reluctantly. “Please?” I asked. Johnny thought I wasn't ready to drink blood yet, but lately my cravings had been growing stronger. Maybe it was a sign that my body was nearly ready for the final change.

 

I thought we would sneak out my window and run through the woods. The rare times Johnny let me accompany him while he hunted for blood, and the even rarer times when he let me partake, that was what we had done. Not this time. “Crystal and I are going out,” he told my mother. “We'll be back before midnight.”

 

Kenny looked up, ready to argue, but my mother spoke first. “She has school tomorrow.”

 

“Right.” Johnny smiled, then grabbed my arm and towed me towards the kitchen and the back entrance. He took his keys off the hook by the door. So we were going by car wherever we were going.

 

“Can I drive?” I asked, hopeful. Johnny tossed me the keys. I wasn't supposed to drive at night, but technically it was still dusk. A little sliver of sun reddened the horizon. I saw Johnny slouch into his seat, tucking his chin into his neck. The sun still bothered him. We could both do with a little fresh blood. “Where are we going?”

 

A half hour later it was full dark. Johnny had had me take the car on the highway, another first. We're just lucky we didn't get stopped. “The mall?” I asked, incredulous. “You brought me to the mall?”

 

Johnny just grinned at me and pulled me after him into the bright lights of the shopping mall. Any other time, and I would have loved it. He had one arm around my shoulder and I had one arm around his waist as we walked up and down. “Are you hungry?” he asked me.

 

I glared up at him. Yes, I was hungry. I hadn't had supper, but I didn't want regular food. I wanted—he knew exactly what I wanted! He laughed, and bought me a soda and a big pretzel from one of those carts in the middle of the mall. I ate every bite and drained the soda until Johnny couldn't stand the noise I was making and took the cup away from me. Served him right.

 

We pushed past groups of kids younger than me. Did their parents know they hung out at the mall? Probably dropped them off to get them out of their hair. Junior high kids trying to act grown-up. Smoking, swearing, practically having sex on the benches. They were everywhere except in the actual stores. Johnny pulled me down a side hallway. Some of the stores in this section were closed, and there weren't as many people around.

 

I suddenly felt myself pushed back against a wall and Johnny kissed me, really kissed me, like I had been dreaming about. He let his lips drift down to my neck and for a second I thought he was going to do it right there, take my blood. I tilted my head to the side to give him better access. But he didn't do anything except kiss, coming back up again to kiss my mouth and grind himself against me. Like the other teenyboppers. I got it.

 

I hung back, pretending to shop in a clothing store, but I kept one eye on Johnny as he struck up a conversation with a group of silly girls in ridiculous outfits that were supposed to be sexy. He culled one of them from the herd and started walking with her towards the same semi-deserted area of the mall where he had taken me. I should have been jealous, but all I felt was excited.

 

I followed them and watched as Johnny pressed himself up against the girl, leaning in to kiss her neck. I'm glad he didn't kiss her on the lips like he had done with me. Then I really would have been jealous, I think. But he went right for her blood. Her legs sagged until Johnny was the only thing holding her upright. How many times had he done this over the years? And here I had thought he only visited people in their sleep, a phantom who took their blood and little else. I was impressed.

 

I was also hungry. It was a different hunger than the one I satisfied with a pretzel and a soda. More of a want than a need, although Johnny says that will change when I change. Judging how I felt right then, it was already starting to change. I needed to taste her blood.

 

“Ooh, my head,” the girl murmured, when Johnny finally let her go. He led her to a nearby bench and went off to get her some water.

 

I sat down next to the girl. My eyes were drawn to her neck, which was red as if Johnny had given her a hickey. She'd be so proud in the morning. I'd bet none of her other friends had gotten a hickey like hers. “Are you all right?” I asked, as Johnny came back with a cup and sat on her other side. She sipped it gratefully, turning to sidle a little closer to Johnny.

 

“That's a beautiful bracelet,” Johnny said, pointing to the wrist that was closest to me. “Look, Crystal.” He bent across the girl's body to inspect the bracelet, bringing her arm up to `kiss' her wrist. Two women glanced curiously at us as they strolled by. Johnny didn't even hesitate as he bit down on her wrist quickly. The girl sucked in her breath, surprised at the sudden sharp pain, but before she could pull her hand away, Johnny sat back. He gave me a wink and his signature grin.

 

“Oh, let me see. The clasp on the bracelet must have come loose. You're bleeding.” I bent my head to the wound on her wrist and drank while pretending to adjust the clasp. I wanted this. I needed this.

 

I couldn't believe how easy it was.

 

Johnny had a solid grip on her other arm. “Enough, greedy girl,” he said to me with a laugh. “She's sleeping.”

 

And she was. Sound asleep with her head on Johnny's shoulder. I patted the arm I still held and placed it in her lap. “I'll meet you by the car.” I still had the keys. My insides were warm; I felt as if I were glowing. “She's okay, right?” I asked belatedly.

 

“She'll be fine,” Johnny assured me. His eyes followed me all the way to the end of the hallway, and, if anything, my glow intensified.

 

I waited in the passenger seat for Johnny to come out. I didn't want to push my luck by driving home in the dark. “The girl?” I asked.

 

He pointed back towards the mall entrance, and I saw our girl standing in the middle of a gaggle of her friends, waiting for their ride. There were several groups of kids outside waiting to be picked up. It must be almost closing time.

 

“Did you like it?” Johnny asked, taking his place behind the wheel.

 

For answer, I leaned over and kissed him like he had kissed me in the mall. I enjoyed taking that girl's blood, and Johnny could kiss as many necks as he wanted, but his lips were mine!