Short Story / Somewhere In My Memories: Chapter 1: The Party (Analysis)
Chapter 1: The Party
¯I’ll keep you my dirty little secret (dirty little secret)
Don’t tell anyone or you’ll be just another regret¯
Stupid cell phone! I thought, reaching around under my pillows madly. I didn’t think to turn on the lights or to check the clock on my bedside table; I just wanted to turn that stupid song off. I found my cell phone, flipped it open and pressed it to my ear.
“What?!” I said into the receiver in annoyance.
“Hey,” said a deep, velvety voice.
“What the heck do you want Malikai?!” I asked, flipping onto my back and using my left hand to rubbing my eyes. “It’s the middle of the night!”
He was quiet for a moment; I could hear bits of techno music in the back ground. “I was at Kumiko’s party, but it’s not that much fun without you to dance with,” he said.
“I didn’t know Kumiko was having a party,” I said excitedly, sitting up and crossing my legs Indian style.
Malikai sighed, and I knew he was shaking his head. “You really are the last person to learn anything in the town, aren’t you Day?” I could hear the smile in his voice.
I rolled my eyes. “I sure am Koji,” I said, using his always forbidden first name.
“Just hurry up and get over here Mizuki Day!” he said with malice in his voice; then he hung up.
“Well, that was rude,” I thought aloud.
Koji Malikai Yukimaura- a.k.a. Malikai or Kai- was the delinquent I had been friends with since I was six years old. He stood about six feet four inches tall and was three years my senior; we didn’t get to see each other that much. Parties with our kind were our only chance.
“I need to get my fat butt up,” I sighed, throwing the covers off of me. I walked around my dark room, pulling my night clothes off and pulling some regular clothes on. A black HIM tank(black fabric with a purple heart-a-gram) under a long sleeved fishnet shirt; fish net gloves that I pinned to my sleeves with five safety pins each. A lacey black skirt that went to my knees, black and red horizontally striped tights, and high top black converses.
I threw on my make up; face paler, dark red eye shadow, and heavy black eye liner. Then I ran a brush thought my black hair, giving myself a dramatic side part, making my hair swoop in front of my right eye.
I stood back from my floor length mirror and smirked. “I really do fit the part, don’t I?” I thought aloud. I flashed a smile and my reflection; I examined my “freaky looking” teeth, for lack of better term. My canines were set farther forward than in a normal mouth; they were also very (very) sharp. I could easily break skin with them.
I sighed, walking to my window and pulling back the heavy black drapes. I pulled the window open silently, cool October air hitting my face. I flung my legs over the windowsill and slid down three feet to the dead grass of my foster family’s lawn.
I bolted; my arms flew back behind me, my head bent to the ground. My raven hair whipped around me as I watched my feet beneath me. Left, right, left, right. Disappearing and reappearing on the ground under me.
Running took neither my energy nor my breath; That’s another wonder of my kind.
I slowed, not needing to look to tell that Kumiko’s house was near. I could smell ecstasy, beer…and blood. I jerked to a stop, sniffing the air; Human blood.
“That can’t be good,” I muttered, jogging up to the front door. Loud techno music pumped through the glass windows; the volume increased as I pulled the front door open.
The scent of blood hit me hard; so hard that I had to cover my nose. Great… I thought to myself. Nothing like a vampiric rave… I stepped into the house, pushing past the many male and female vampires inside.
The song died out and was quickly followed by another; it was something from Dance Dance Revolution, but I didn’t know the name. I felt a hand on my shoulder; my free hand wrapped around the wrist attached to that hand tightly, my grip strong enough to break it, had it been human.
“Took you long enough!” Malikai had to yell in my ear for me to hear him.
I turned and wrapped my arms around his thick neck. “You know I wouldn’t miss a chance to see the old coven again!” I shouted into his ear with sarcasm in my voice.
The vampires around us glared at me, especially the females. They hated Kai for still speaking with me, but they wouldn’t dare attempt to throw him from the coven; he was the leader, the alpha male…
And I was a stray. The unwanted mutt that had been cast out of the coven, and that the alpha female would tear apart; but I didn’t have to worry about that. Kai had no mate, and I was in no danger…unless you count all the glaring females in the room around me.
The song ended, followed immediately by “When Angel’s Kiss.” I was trying to remember the artist when Malikai grabbed my hand and pulled me onto a make shift dance floor; a large living room with a hard wood floor stood, stripped of furnishings and close to empty, only a few couples along the walls, kissing and grouping.
Malikai pulled me to the center of the room and spun me around, my back pressing firmly to his strong chest.
“You think you can remember this?” he asked me, not having to shout over the soft music. His breath in his ear sent shivers down my spine.
“I can try,” I said, turning my head to smirk at him. He grinned back at me.
We danced; it was a sort of lover’s dance, with soft caresses and loving glances. As the song came closer to an end, the dance grew more slow and seductive; I watched Malikai. His movements were flowing and graceful, much better than my own. I was still awkward and human like, even after the ten years since my human death and vampiric rebirth.
The final move of our lover’s dance was an embrace. Our left arms wrapped around each other’s waists, our right arms in the air, out hands together, our finger’s laced. Kai gazed down at me longingly with crimson eyes. His gaze appraised me as he smirked. A blush leaked onto my face despite my efforts.
“You can let me go now,” I said, glaring at him darkly. He laughed at me warmly, releasing me and turned to walk out of the room.
I sighed, wrapping my arms around my self as I walked out of the room. I wasn’t cold; I felt so hollow without Kai beside me. I always felt empty whenever he, my creator, left my side.
I had been sixteen for the past ten years; I had known Kai for twenty. Kai had been nineteen years old for over a hundred years.
Kai had lived next door to me when I turned six. He lived in apartment 20B, while I lived in 21A. He would baby sit me on Friday nights when my birth parents would go out. He brought piles of college books with manga hidden in between the pages with him so he could do his home work (the manga was “for Japanese-English translation”, as he put it.)
We would sit at the kitchen table for hours working on home work and studying for entrance exams. He would often work on advanced Calculus, while I would work on addition. He would always take a break from his studies to drink a bottle of red liquid; I always thought it was super thick Kool-Aid, and one night, I asked him if I could have a sip. He laughed loudly, patted my head, and said, “Maybe when you’re older…”
A female bumped into me, then glanced at me, as if it were my fault. I knew she would have started a fight with me, but she wasn’t stupid (though her hair suggested other wise [blonde]). She knew Malikai was very protective over me, and that harming me would result in her being kicked out of the coven…or maybe killed.
I looked around the house, seeing familiar faces and new faces; they all glared at me.
“I guess when the coven grew, so did it’s distaste for me.” I muttered to myself. I wanted nothing more than to leave this house, leave Malikai, and the glares of my old covenant.
I had left my “family” (a very wrong term, but that’s what they claimed to be) after they attempted to kill a young woman. A young mother, about nineteen, very pretty with her tan skin, light brown hair, and emerald eyes.
When I first saw her, I thought that she was my mother, but then I remembered that both of my birth parents had died just before my death and rebirth. That was the whole reason Malikai changed me- Orphaned teens disappeared without a trace all the time.
A male in the coven -Damien, I think was his name- became obsessed with the young women…He and his gang within the coven began stalking her. One night, Damien went hunting for her, and I followed him. For some reason, I couldn’t let him harm her. I refused to see someone, who looked just like the mother I had lost, die.
I don’t remember much of that night- Just Damien attacking the young woman. Then he was dead, and my hands were covered with his blood. Then Malikai was holding me tightly to his chest, begging me to open my eyes. That night, I was put before the council (Malikai, Alexander, and Kristopher; the strongest vampires of the three northern covens), and charged with murder. Malikai advised me to just leave the coven; staying was a show of disrespect of the dead member, and I would be put to death by starvation…I would be locked away and given no blood, food, or water (you didn’t think that I just lived off the red stuff, did you?) until I wasted away or killed myself- which ever came first. I remember hanging my head and saying,
“I will willing leave the coven as repentance for my actions.”
Malikai stood beside me, acting as a kind of lawyer in a court case. He spoke in my defense, and preformed the Releasing Ceremony.
Alexander stood beside Kristopher before me, the entire coven behind me. Damien’s body had been taken to a secret location, where it was to be prepared for burial. His mate stood closest behind me, sobbing into the shoulder of another female in the coven. She glared at me and muttered curses under her breath in my initial direction.
“Do you acknowledge the crime that you have committed against the coven and one of your brothers?” Alexander asked, taking a step closer to me.
I nodded, fighting back tears of guilt…“I hadn’t meant to kill him, I really didn’t. I don’t remember doing it. He was going to kill her! Someone who was needed, who was loved! I couldn’t let him do that!” I thought, but held my tongue.
Kristopher took a step closer to me. “Do you acknowledge these accusations?!” he demanded.
“Yes.” I responded.
Kristopher nodded to Malikai, who turned to me and I turned to him. “Do you swear to never reveal the location of the coven stead?”
I nodded. “I swear.”
“Do you swear to never reveal the names or actions of you coven siblings?” he asked.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Malikai held his hand out and I laid mine, palm up, in his. He pulled a small dagger out of his belt and pressed it to my wrist; I balled my hand up into a fist, hoping that it would make what was to come hurt less.
“With this blade, I curse thee. I cast thee from our circle for now and for all eternity.”
He dug the blade into my wrist; I winced. Alexander took a small bowl and held it under my arm, collecting the blood falling from the fresh wound. The bowl filled in a matter of seconds, and Malikai removed the blade from my wrist and wrapped a piece of black cloth on the wound. Alexander took the bowl of my blood to Kristopher, who lit a long match and placed it into my blood. A blue flame erupted in the bowl, beginning the dance that would destroy the gathered liquid that had fallen from my wrist.
“As the flames of hell will burn our blood until we are no more, We, the coven, burn blood collected from the vampire stated before us,” Kristopher said, glancing up and Malikai.
Malikai took a deep breath and stated my full name. “Mizuki Day Junko Hoshi.”
Kristopher then looked at me, a hint of sadness in his eyes. He hated putting me though this, but he had to; he couldn’t go against the coven law. “I, Kristopher Edmund Wrintworth, here by remove you, Mizuki Day Junko Hoshi, from our coven, for now and for all eternity. You shall never again be permitted to come to the coven stead, or act as a member of this coven. Do the other members of the council agree on this punishment?”
Alexander nodded solemnly. “I, Alexander DeMount Hughes, agree.”
Malikai nodded, but added something. “I, Koji Malikai Yukimaura, agree; on the condition that Mizuki be permitted to attend any coven gatherings -other than meetings- as long as I am her escort and I am present at the event.”
Kristopher looked up at him angrily. “And why should we do this?!” he asked, the flame from the bowl of my blood casting an evil glow on his face.
“She is my fledgling.” Malikai said protectively. “You know that I am to I care for my fledglings until they reach the age of 100…It is a custom that all blooded vampires have been taught and raised with; You know very well that I just recently was released from the care of my Blooder.”
Kristopher looked toward Alexander, who nodded and spoke. “Agreed; until she reaches the age of 100, Mizuki will be permitted to attend coven functions, other than meetings, as long as you escort her, Malikai.”
“NO!” The cry came from behind me. I turned to see Damien’s mate looking up from the shoulder of her friend. “I don’t want to see her face ever again! I want her dead!!!!!”
“Do you dare speak out against the council?!” Malikai yelled at her, wrapping his arms around me protectively. I guess he thought she was going to attack me.
Damien’s mate was pulled back into the crowd by her friend, and I was turned back toward Kristopher and Alexander.
“Are we agreed?” Malikai asked them.
They nodded. “Agreed…”
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts; I bumped into a male, quickly trying to move away from him, hoping to avoid another glare. I managed to find the stairs leading to the second floor.
I’m still not sure why, but something made me go up those stairs; some magnetic force pulled my legs up the stairs- left, right, left, and then right again.
At the top of the stairs was a hallway with a pink carpet. In front of me was a wooden door painted a matching shade of pink. I grimaced. Kumiko has awful taste in décor coloring… I thought, as I took a step closer to the door in front of me.
I could hear people inside; it was pretty obvious what they were doing, so I tiptoed to my left, past the door. The scent of ecstasy was very strong here…That was probably why they were…I shuddered, not really wanting to have impure thoughts right now…In front of me, at the very end of the hall was a glass door, opened, and leading to a small balcony. The fresh air beckoned to me, whispering promises of an escape from the sounds and scents of this house.
I reached the end of the hall relatively quick, despite my sluggish pace. The air was cooler than it was when I left my foster home, but it felt refreshing. My head cleared, even though I could still smell the human blood…I closed my eyes tightly. Hold strong…I thought. Don’t worry about the scent; just ignore it…it’s probably just from someone’s bottle and not an actual human body…calm down.
I heard a person mumble something under their breath; I turned my head to the left to see who I was sharing the balcony with. A blonde haired boy crouched in the corner formed by the balcony railing and the house exterior.
I stepped closer to him silently, not wanting to startle him. He sat shaking, clutching something to his chest; he cursed again.
I gently laid my hand on his shoulder; his skin was burning hot to my touch. “Excuse me…” I said, crouching down beside him. “Are you alright?”
I turned him toward me gently; he faced me, an appeased look on his face. He had a handsome face; his sandy hair was shaggy, hanging low in front of his eyes. His pale skin seemed to glow in the little light provided by near by street lights.
Hidden behind the curtain of his hair, his eyes were an ice blue- rare for a member of my kind (I could tell he was a vampire by his scent.) I noticed that there was blood on his lips and soaking the front of his black shirt…it was human blood.
“Are you alright?” I asked again, bringing my face closer to his; His pupils were dilated- a clear sign of feeding. The scent of human blood and beer came from his breath. He nodded at me, looking down at his chest; he clung protectively to an old Deer Park Water bottle that held the ‘blood beer’ mixture.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” he said, quietly…he looked down at his soaked shirt. “I just spilled my drink.”
“Who are you?” I asked him, sitting on my knees in front of him.
He seemed to relax a little; I saw his shoulders sag ever so slightly. He sat down Indian style in front of me and took a swig from the bottle. “Depends,” he said, wiping his mouth on his long sleeve. His shirt clung to his body tightly, showing off his lean muscles; his pants were very tight as well. I had to look away to avoid thoughts of perversion.
“Who wants to know?” he asked, giving me a sly grin. His eyes flashed mischievously as he looked me over.
“Mizuki Day Junko Hoshi,” I said, wishing that I had changed my name since being kicked out of the coven. My long name made me think back to Releasing Ceremony.
His eyes grew wide momentarily at the length of my name. “Got any nicknames, Squirt?” He asked me, never losing that sarcastic smirk.
“Day,” I said, stealing the bottle from his hands and taking a swig; the beer in it burnt my throat, but the blood was sweet and cool. I couldn’t imagine being a ‘good’ vampire who didn’t drink human blood.
“Pretty odd name for a vampire…” he said, stealing the bottle back from me and taking a drink from it for himself. “Who blooded you?”
I stopped for a moment. “You still haven’t answered my question,” I said, moving to sit beside him, leaning against the house exterior, my legs straight out in front of me.
He rolled his eyes at me with a forced sigh of fake irritation. “Triston,” he said. “Now answer my question.”
“Malikai,” I said quietly.
He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, a wide toothy smile spreading across his face. “So,” he said, stretching his lean arms up to the dark sky. “I’m sitting with the coven leader’s mate.”
My cheeks flushed red. “I am NOT Malikai’s mate!” Why dose everyone assume that since I’m Malikai’s fledgling, I’m his mate? How could any person come up with that?! Sure, there was the whole protecting me thing during my trial, but Triston didn’t know about that! For Christ‘s sake, I‘m pretty much Malikai‘s kid!!… I thought.
“So, whose mate are you?” he asked me with the un-hide able curiosity that most mate-less males had.
“No one’s,” I said sharply. “Why dose it matter to you?”
He laughed merrily, winding his arm behind my shoulders. “Because, my dear!” he said, handing me the bottle of blood beer. “It’s bad for a young man – such as myself- to share a drink with a taken member of the coven he is about to join.”
I took another drink of the blood beer. “Well, you needn’t worry…I am neither taken, nor a member of this coven. At least…not anymore…”
He gave me a strange look. “Then why are you here?” he asked.
“Malikai,” I sighed, tracing the mouth of the bottle with my pinky. “I can only come to parties like this when he asks me to them…And when ever he wants to see me, I come, no matter what time it is or where he is…it’s pathetic…” I said, guzzling down the rest of the blood beer.
“Yeah,” he said, taking the empty bottle from me and throwing it from the balcony. “It is pathetic…”
You weren’t supposed to agree with that… I thought. “Gee, thanks.” I sighed sarcastically.
We both sat quietly then; Triston took his arm from around my shoulders and let it rest at his side. I let my arm fall onto his, not really caring what Triston thought. He took my hand in his and laced his long pale fingers though mine.
“You know,” he said, pulling our hands up to show them to me. “I can help you to not seem so pathetic.”
I looked up at his handsome face; he was looking right back at me with his beautiful icy eyes. He lowered his face to mind, placing his lips on my cheek. Fire erupted across my face, despite my greatest efforts.
Bad face! My mind yelled. Bad face!! Don’t blush! You’re not supposed to blush!!
Triston grinned at me as I fought with my face…”How cute,” he said mockingly, putting the tip of his nose to the tip of my own.
“And how, may I ask,” I said, taking some courage from some where with in myself and using it to move my face to where our lips were almost touching. “Do you plan to make me not seem pathetic?”
He grinned at me. “By doing this.” he said, and then he gently pressed his lips to mine.
After a moment, we pulled apart, Triston grinning at my rosy cheeks…If only being ‘undead’ meant not blushing, I thought.
“So,” he said, never releasing my gaze from his own. “If you’re willing, we can be mates…you’re pretty hot. Or would you rather some other title?” He was speaking sarcastically… really all I would have been to him was a…partner in bed…
He took his index finger and thumb and gently took my chin in between them. He forced me to look up at him, my golden eyes practically popping out of my head.
“Um, er…how about dating?” I asked, him, my voice shooting up an octave. I refuse to be degraded from honorable vampire to some cheep whore! I thought. Even if this guy is really hot!
“Dating?” Triston asked, clearly confused.
I looked at him strangely. Only the very, VERY old vampires don’t know what dating is. I thought.
“Um…” I started, tapping my lower lip with my right index finger. “Courtship?”
“Oh!” Triston sighed, smacking himself in the forehead. “Okay, then,” he released my hand and stood. He jumped up onto the railing, balancing on the thin metal rail on the balls of his feet as he looked back at me.
“Dating,” he laughed. “I like that idea!” He jumped up into the air, a smile plastered on his face.
“Hey!” I called after him. “Wait a second!”
And then he was gone; I sat on the balcony, confused, as the blood beer began making me drowsy (it’s a very potent drink to vampires, especially those who were not completely matured humans when they were changed; the alcohol effected me like it would any human sixteen year old.)
My head was spinning, and I could feel warmth in my cheeks. “I really shouldn’t drink…” I thought aloud. “It really messes with me…”
So, I thought. I’m dating a vampire who is A) Looking for a sex buddy; B) Who is a total stranger to me, and C) Who is about to join the coven that wants me dead…That is so the last time I talk to a strange, hot guy with eyes that make me melt…
“This is going to be interesting,” I said, placing the heel of my hand on my forehead, trying my best to stay awake. I could feel my body swaying from side to side as I slowly slipped from consciousness.
“Mizuki?”
My eye focus was failing me as I slowly turned my head to the right. A tall blurry figure was standing over me.
“Mizuki?” The figure asked me again; it sounded strangely familiar. I felt a hand on my forehead, and the figure sighed loudly. “Only you would be stupid enough to wear a tank top outside in the middle of February…”
An arm went under my knees as another went behind my back. I felt myself being lifted up off the ground by a force that I could tell was stronger than my own. I rested my head on a masculine shoulder, and breathed in the scent of men’s cologne.
“Malikai…” I murmured to the force that carried me as I slipped into unconsciousness.
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The writing was good aside from a few spelling/grammar mistakes. The style is better suited to and adolescent female audience than to myself, but I see how they could appreciate it. Unfortunately there are already a great deal of vampire romance novels, which make it hard for this type of story to be different.
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