I don’t get the chance to say anything else as the teacher walks in, starting the class with a shouted, “Shut up and pay attention!”
Nineteen
Torren
Derrin, Remmie and I meet up after school beside my car. Remmie usually gets a ride with his cousin Tori but today he’s here with us. I’m curious if he’s here for the same reason Derrin is but I’m not about to call him out on it.
“What did you want to meet about?” I ask cutting to the chase. Derrin leans against my car, his brows drawn down. “She’s definitely a hybrid vampire and human. A starved one at that.” She’s not like Derrin, he’s a wolf shifter crossed with a vampire, the rarest of us all because wolves and vamps have been warring for so long that even the human’s believe they’re mortal enemies.
I’m nothing more than a human/vamp myself.
Remmie however is more complicated, we’re not sure what his other half is, he has all the signs of being a vampire; the thirst, the enhanced senses but he also has heightened emotions, not that you’d know it by the way he acts. He’s so cold and clinical most of the time if you didn’t know him, you’d think he was emotionless. It’s understandable though, empaths like him have always been good at keeping their emotions in check.
That’s why we can’t figure out what he is though, as far as we’ve been able to find out, empaths and vampires never get along. The problem is there’s no other creatures that have both empathic powers and a thirst for blood. We think he’s a vamp/empath but we can’t be sure.
“Can we convince her to join us? She’s light on her feet, can probably do so much more than we can too.” I look at Derrin in absolute shock, he’s never wanted to have anyone else join us. It was even a battle to get him to accept Remmie.
“Are you making excuses to see her again?” Remmie asks without any hint of emotion. I swear he’s a blank slate. Even his mouth stays flat as he speaks.
“What? No.” He’s far too quick to answer. So I put the poor guy out of his misery, “She goes to our school, we’ll be seeing her again anyway.”
“I like her, even if she does think I’m weird.” Remmie’s face is perfectly straight, both Derrin and I stare at him, completely confused.
“When did she call you weird?” Derrin’s growl raises all the hairs on my body.
“Last night when I was at her house.”
“Wait, back up for a moment.” In typical Remmie fashion, he literally backs up a couple of steps before asking why.
“Rem, I meant rewind the conversation.” He still looks confused so I add, “Why were you at her house and why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“A dog knocked over her trash cans and I helped pick the rubbish up. It was around three in the morning. We were talking as we worked.”
“And she called you weird?”
“Yes.”
“Explain the events in detail.”
“I asked her if she needed a hand cleaning up the mess, she said I scared her, I apologised, she asked why I can't sleep, asked if it was because of bad dreams. I told her I don't dream. She said everyone dreams, some people just don't remember. I said I would remember if I did. She said I was odd.”
“What was the exact wording she used?”
“You’re really odd, you know that.”
“Rem, was she smiling when she said it?” I’m pretty sure she was flirting with him and he completely missed the point. My chest heaves as I try to hold my laugh in.
“I’m not sure, her eyes were sparkling in the moonlight and I was a bit distracted.”
I can’t hold it in any longer, I burst out laughing while saying, “I’m pretty sure you just blew your chances, Rem.”
“Chances of what?”
I’m laughing so hard now I don’t think I’d be able to explain it to him, so with great effort, I splutter out, “Derrin, you explain. I can’t.” Tears run down my face as I struggle to gain control of my laughter. The most beautiful girl we’ve ever met was flirting with him and he completely misunderstood. I know I shouldn’t laugh but it’s just too funny. For someone so smart, he really is clueless sometimes.
After Remmie is schooled on the way girls flirt by Derrin, we get back to discussing what to do with her.
“She can’t go on the way she has been. If we leave her be, we’ll all be exposed.”