Vampiric: Chapter Three, Part 1

Chapter Three: A Time for Everything

“Nervous?” Conan asked. He had been walking around assigning specifics to jobs that had been kept a secret until now. No one knew all of what was happening, just his or her own part. Drei and I had been standing in the warehouse for an hour, waiting for someone to tell us it was starting…whatever it was.

Conan had just directed Drei to a group dressed in black from head to toe and practicing serious faces between jokes. I guessed that was the rest of her inner circle, and it was even more obvious how Drei stood out from them all. For starters, most of them were shorter, and though a few had some bulging muscles, their dispositions were too cheerful to be threatening—though I had no doubt they could possibly intimidate someone.

“Why do you ask?”

“You keep looking around, like you’re trapped or something,” he answered, marking something on his clipboard. I noticed for the first time his hair wasn’t brown, like I had thought, but it had an orange tinge to it. Strange how it seemed kind of important now. Maybe that was because I was hoping he would go away without forcing me to be rude.

“I like to know my surroundings,” I lied, hoping it satisfied him. “And I like to know what’s going on, but that doesn’t ever really happen.”

He laughed at that. I didn’t like his laugh; it was a harsh barking sound that better resembled a cross between yelling and howling. “C never likes people to know everything; too risky.”

“I figured as much.” I wished he’d stop talking to me.

“Well, you’re pretty much one of the only lookouts. We don’t group you all together since you need to stand off on your own anyway. So…just wait here I guess until we’re ready to go.”

I nodded, turning away from him slightly. Not taking the hint he should move onto whoever was left, Conan laid a hand on my forearm.

“It’ll be fine;” he shrugged. “We planned it out really well and nothing should go wrong.”

“That’s not what I was thinking.” I stared at his hand and wished it away; I resisted the urge to brush it off or move away from him. That would be rude and might give him the wrong idea. Not just about how I treated people, but possibly—since he wasn’t taking the hints—that I was playing “hard to get.”

“It’s on everybody’s mind. But if you need someone to talk to, I’m here; I’m told I have a good ear, too.”

I forced a strained smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He finally sauntered off to a group of blonds in the corner. I couldn’t help noticing he didn’t bother them as he had me—and they wanted him to flirt with them, too, from the way they were constantly touching his arm and adjusting their hair.

Conan didn’t know what he was talking about. I wasn’t nervous about tonight; I was worried about what would come after. I couldn’t shake the feeling something would go terribly wrong. And these feelings hadn’t been wrong before.