Page 27 of Beasts

“Not to you, it's not.”

“It absolutely is!” I'm starting to get annoyed at his insinuation.

“Amelia, I'm still gonna give you an out here. I'm happy to quit the drama club. I'm pretty sure the last person you wanna be kissing is someone that killed somebody.” He was being genuine the whole time. I understand where he's coming from and I can see why he thinks that I would want to turn away or to run away from this whole situation. But the truth is, without him, something bad would have happened to me, and the fact that somebody died because of it wasn't necessarily his fault. He's told me many times before that he is a demon and that demons kill. He didn’t intend to kill anybody. He was just trying to protect me. I take a deep breath and close the space between us, grabbing on to his face and kissing him on the lips. They’re softer and warmer than I imagined, for some reason I assumed that vampires would be cold. I'm surprised when he grabs the back of my neck and pulls me into it closer. As the kiss begins to deepen, he uses his tongue to request access and I relent, giving it to him. His taste is utterly addictive. As my hands go up the back of his neck and into his hair, he pushes into me further. His free hands go down my back and I feel a moan escape me, one I didn't mean to let out. Same instance, he pulls back away from me and takes a few steps back. He seems to be really struggling with this one. His eyes are closed and he’s rubbing the back of his head as much as he can. I don't know what he's thinking about, and I need to come up with something fast.

“Ketchup was once sold as a medicine.” I blurt out.

“What?” He questions,

“I don’t know. I got it out of a random fact fortune cookie.”

“Fortune cookies apparently originate in Japan.” I laugh although I'm not sure why, but I can’t seem to be able to stop. He ends up joining me in an awkward laughing session.

“By the way, I’m pretty sure there's no tongue in Snow White.”

“You didn't exactly deny me.”

“I was caught in the moment.”

“Yeah, me too, I think. Sorry about that.”

“You don't have to be sorry. How are you holding up?”

“Surprisingly, okay. But we can't have that kind of repeat in front of the drama club.”

“Right, of course. So just keep it clean. Keep it simple, right?”

“Right. Do you wanna help me work on the song for a little bit? I'm sorry I don't think I can try the other thing again too quickly.”

“I understand. And sure, I'd love to help.” He nods and goes towards the piano. I follow suit, but I don't want to overstep my bounds and sit too close to him. I'm surprised when he moves over on the seat and suggests that I do. I accept the position next to him, but I still sit right at the edge of the seat. I want to make sure that I don't touch him and put him in an unusual state.

“After kissing, I don't think you sitting next to me is going to bother me that much.”

“Oh. Sorry, I just don't know how it works.”

“It's a bit new for me too.”

“Is this the same effect with other vampires?”

“No, vampire blood isn't attractive to each other. It kinda smells a bit like a rotting corpse.”

“That's kind of disgusting.”

“Yeah, but I suppose that's why there are so many vampire kids compared to human and vampire kids. It's very hard to be with a human. That being said, not impossible. My mother was half human-vampire, don’t get me wrong there my father hates humans and I wasn’t exactly meant to happen.” I'm a little surprised to hear that. “In most myths, vampires are immortal, ageless creatures. But that's actually not the case. Most of us have too much human blood in us, which means that just like humans, we grow old and we eventually die. The only benefit to being a vampire really is that we have strength and speed on our side, and we have a remarkable ability to heal ourselves. The only thing that can really kill us is old age.”

“What about a stake to the heart?”

“I'm not likely to test that theory anytime soon.” I chuckle as he brings forward some papers that he has been scribbling on. “So Mr. Fasoli said that the duet at the end has to be not only romantic but a little bit pop, since it's a modern age take. So I figure if I can get the lyrics down with a bass melody then I could work on the rest of it easier.”

“How are the lyrics so far?”

“They're okay, but they're missing something.”

“Do you mind if I take a look?” He nods and hands the sheets over to me so I can glance over them. The lyrics certainly stood out, but they weren't complete. He seems to be missing the big bridge that comes right before the final chorus. “How about you start playing the melody and I'll see where we can fix this?”

Chapter seventeen

Jelly Blood

---