Remington
I’ve never met a female hybrid before, this one is absolutely fascinating. She spent all of art class talking comfortably with both Derrin and Torren. Somehow she even managed to include the two cops into the group without causing any fights.
I’ve often wondered if females of our species were territorial, but she doesn’t even glance at the other females in the classrooms. It’s almost like she’s in her own world surrounded by just us.
The more I watch her, the more interested I become. She’s like a drug, luring you in with smiles and a good time, but I’m not stupid, drugs always have side effects.I wonder what the side effects of having her in our lives will be.
The final bell of the day rings and I’m out of my seat and running down the hallways in search of my cousin. I need to catch her so I can get a lift home. The guys know my routine, but I feel bad for a moment for not letting Areyna know why I took off. I’m not sure why I feel that way.
Feelings are weird.
I finally catch up to my cousin and she grunts at me in greeting. I roll my eyes as I climb into the car. The entire drive is done in silence, I think it’s a comfortable silence but as Derrin and Torren have pointed out to me on numerous occasions, I sometimes miss social cues.
Like now for example, my cousin, Tori starts talking to me as we make our way into my house, “You shouldn’t hang out with the skank from next door. She’s a freak. I heard she….” I have no idea what else my cousin says, I ignore her and close my bedroom door in her face. She’s annoying and always has an opinion on everything. I swear my parents made a huge mistake taking her in after her parents passed away. Not that my father is my real father, he thinks he is though.
I’m just sitting down on the window seat to begin my homework when I see the two cops and Areyna pull into their driveway. I grab my notebook and begin jotting down my observations of her.
Areyna Rose, real name unknown.
Birth date unknown.
Sire unknown.
Drinks bagged blood filled with anticoagulants yet doesn’t show all the usual signs of poisoning. She does however show signs of malnutrition and I’ve observed her in the past acting dazed and confused. She appears to be suffering from minor symptoms of anticoagulant poisoning however, the symptoms are mild, ranging from lack of strength to issues with her heightened senses, as proven when I attempted to gain her attention by whispering through the window. Myself, Derrin and Torren are capable of having entire conversations from a full city block away in the dead of night, yet Areyna appears to lack the ability to even hear from a ten-foot distance.
The other night I tested my theory further by sneaking into her backyard and standing right under her window in the shadows, she appears to have poor night vision as well.
I place my notebook back inside the hollowed-out area in the floorboards beneath my bed just as I hear my mum tell Tori to let me know dinner is nearly ready. Her heavy footsteps come up the stairs, then she bursts into my room like she owns the place. “Aunt Bev says dinner is ready.”
I take one last look out my window, watching as Areyna’s shadow crosses in front of her bedroom window. I’m not sure how many times I’ve stared at that window wondering if she even notices me, but after finally meeting her face to face today, I know she notices me now.
The question is will she understand me or shun me because I’m different?
I can’t help thinking about the first time I had a crush on a girl as I make my way down stairs to the dining room. It was awful, the girl seemed so nice at the start, flirted with me, let me walk her to and from classes, even let me carry her books, but then when I finally got up the courage to ask her out, she acted like I had insulted her. I’m still not sure what I did wrong on that one, I bought her flowers, I wrote her a poem and I didn’t shy away from public affection yet she still said I was beneath her.
“Is something wrong Remmie?” My mum asks as she pointedly looks at the food I’ve been pushing around on my plate.
“Just not hungry.” I mutter as my mind goes back to thinking about that horrible girl I used to crush on. Torren and Derrin said it wasn’t me but after the way Areyna looked at me today when we both reached for her dropped notebook at the same time, I’m beginning to think Derrin and Torren were only saying it to spare my feelings.
“Mum, how do you romance a girl?”
“Aunt Bev don’t bother, if he doesn’t get it by now, he’ll never understand.” Tori laughs as my face turns a bright shade of red.
“Tori, don’t be mean to your cousin.” Mum turns her hazel eyes on me and my face heats even more.
“Forget I asked.”
“No, I think it’s admirable that you asked, more young men should be open with their parents, maybe then we’d have more gentlemen rather than the thugs you see on the news beating those poor girls up.” Mum keeps going on and on about the latest news report while I shift the food around some more on my plate waiting for her to get back to my question. “Oh, dear, sorry, I got carried away, you wanted to know how to be a gentleman.” She taps her pointed chin while Tori starts laughing again. I send a glare her way but she just laughs harder.
“Well flowers are always a good start.”
“No one wants flowers anymore Aunt Bev. It’s all about the jewellery and showing the girl that you can afford to take her to expensive places.”
“Tori! No. That’s not it at all. Remmie, please don’t ever fall for girls like that, a girl isn’t worth your time if she’s only after money. Those types of girls are shallow and….” Mum goes off on another tirade arguing with Tori while I push my plate away.I’m never going to figure this out when no one will give me a straight answer.
With one foot out the door, mum pulls me up short, “Who is the lucky girl anyway?”
“Remington’s crushing on our next-door neighbour.”