The time had come for colds and overcoats, for big blankets on beds and long days cuddled up with loved ones. It was shocking for autumn to actually come to Houston at a time when the calendar dictated. For the first time in Colin’s relatively short life it was actually cold in November. Thanksgiving break seemed to fly by too fast and in just a few short days he would be back in school. Things would go back to normal. Normally this was the time of year when he craved the smell of summer. But this year was different.
Colin couldn’t think of anything he would trade this for. The frigid temperatures had forced them under a blanket and his small space heater seemed to show no promise. Finally she’d had to gather herself against the only other warm object in the room, him. When it had happened she’d half thrown her body across his, if only in an effort to stave off the cold. With one leg draped over his and her curled around his bicep, she nestled in against his neck.
He tried to turn his attention back to the television but there was nothing on daytime TV that could sway his interests for long. It seemed that his eyes were destined to glide back to Ashley.
Ever since he could remember she was the most perfect person he’d ever laid eyes upon. Although he’d never mention it. They had been a pair since infancy and their families each regarded the other as part of the clan. He made sure to only stare at her from just around the delicate curve of her face, so that he could stay hidden. All the while her green eyes stayed locked on the screen.
His mind drifted to thoughts of her rich full lips opened into his. Her maroon hair brushing the side of his cheek as he kissed her neck. His short fantasy played out on the small suede couch, bathed in the pale blue glow of late night television. The little day dream caused his heart’s rhythm to increase in tempo. The beats fumbled out and sped up to the point that he feared that there might not be a valley between the thumps much longer.
The fabric of his dream was torn away and she was staring into his face.
“What’s the matter?” her lips parted slightly and he could see those two big front teeth.
“Nothing,” his voice came out shaky and quick, despite his efforts to control it, “I think I’m just cold is all.”
She pushed her head back into the nape of his neck, “Me too,” she said, “You’re not allowed to get up though because your piece of shit heater will let me freeze.”
Ashley had always been affectionate towards him, it wasn’t for the same reason that he would have wished. But this time was different, her younger sister was sleeping in a room upstairs and his twin sister had gone off with some friends. For lack of a better word, they were alone.
The show they had been watching came to a commercial break and Ashley leaned down to snatch up the remote, “Ugh, this show sucks, let’s see what else is on,” she flipped frantically through the channels.
“It’s the middle of the day, nothing is on,” Colin said.
“We’ll see about that,” she said almost as if to challenge him, “your dad has like fifty-kajillion channels, there has to be something on one.” She stopped on a channel where an old black and white movie played, “Jesus, what’s this doing on, its like, older than my parents…”
Right away Colin recognized the images, a pale man in a high collared cape pressing some early twentieth century movie vixen up against a wall and clamping his jaw around the curve of her elegant neck. Before the woman in the movie could scream he grabbed for the remote, “Can we just change it?”
“What?” she yanked back on it, “Are you offended,” she snickered with a dainty hand covering her mouth. Despite his frustration with her joke, her tan skin seemed to find a new glow.
His heart sank, “Look, you’ve been around me all my life, when the Hell have you known me to wear a cape or run around sleeping in coffins?”
She slapped him on the back playfully, “It’s just a movie,” she said, “I mean calm down, damn, you act like everything on TV is supposed to be true.”
“It’s a stupid stereotype, like saying that because you’re a girl you suck at sports or that because our Dads’ are black we’re more prone to be criminals,” Colin said.
Ashley laughed, “You are really over thinking this, huh?”
“How would you feel if every other horror movie was about a bunch of half-wits slaughtering your kind or if you had to sit through reruns of that Vampire Slayer show…” Colin turned to face her as he spoke.
She sighed, “You’re hardly even like the TV vampires,” she paused to rewind the digital recorder back, “I mean have you ever done that?”
On the screen the vampire was drinking the woman’s blood again. She put up a minimal amount of struggle and then settled in as he finished his meal. Colin stared at her with a blank expression, “No. We don’t drink Human blood anymore.”
“Duh,” Ashley said, “But you hardly even drink blood because you don’t need it anyway. So how would you know how that feels? It might be the greatest things ever for Vampires—like better than sex or something.”
“I doubt it,” he countered quickly.
“It’s a figure of speech,” Ashley said, “Not that you’d know what sex was like either.”
“And neither would you.”
“I just get the feeling that you’re being dismissive of something for no reason,” Ashley said.
Colin sighed, “You know we’re forbidden to bite anyone.”
“Oh I remember the rule,” Ashley said, “but you seem to have forgotten.”
“What?”
“You’re forbidden to bite someone without their consent,” she said. He could tell what she was thinking at by the devilish look in her eyes.
“Are you crazy?” he asked.
Ashley tossed the blanket off and stood up, “We used to take baths together when we were kids all of the time and you even kissed me that once, remember.”
He tried to look away, “Sort of, yeah.”
She laughed, “Shit Colin, you sure know how to make a girl feel special.”
“Sorry.”
