Your Guardian Angel (The Guardian Angel Series Book 1) (2 page)

He was turning me.

Out of shear panic I tried to fight it him off but I couldn't the pain was too much and I was paralysed; I couldn't move.

My entire body became overwhelmed by pain as if I was doused with gasoline and set alight but beneath it all; a weird tingling sensation started in my toes and began working its way up my body, coming to a stop at my heart.

My thoughts became non-existent; there was too much going on within my body, mind and soul. Hank pulled away from my neck and my head fell, my chin touching my chest. I started passing in and out of consciousness as fire gushed through my insides and a beam of light exploded from my chest, throwing Hank and I to opposite sides of the room.

Pain shot through my body as I hit my head on the bricks surrounding the fireplace and darkness swallowed me.

I was fourteen when we discovered that I had inherited the goddess magic. One morning, Mum and I were having an argument at breakfast. When I look back, it was a minuscule fight but one that changed my life forever. I wanted to go to the local carnival that rode through town once a year and of course, she said no.

“It's a school night,” she protested.

Like any other hard done by teenager, I got angry.

“You never let me do anything!” I shouted, throwing my arms up in exasperation. The jug of water that sat upon the table flew onto the floor, shattering and sending glass and water in all directions.

A few weeks later, Mum uprooted us from Salter City and we moved to Lake Thanton. She claimed it would be safer and that vampires strolled through there less frequently than the busy city of Salter. For the few vampires that visited Lake Thanton, Mum assured me she could handle them. A few months later, she met Hank. He was so good for her, he made her happy; so happy that just after my fifteenth birthday, they got married and Hank became my step-dad. Sadly, just after my seventeenth birthday, he had become a vampire. He killed my mother and technically killed me.

“Are you even listening?” Camilla asked me, shaking me from my memory.

Camilla has been my best friend since kindergarten, and as luck would have it, she was also my cousin, at least on paper. Aunt Jen was adopted into the family when my mother was young. Regardless of the un-blooded relation, they were always close and I always have (and always will) class them as family. Family ties run deeper than blood.

“Yes, I am,” I lied, glancing uneasily at my watch and pushing the dark tangle of hair out of my face.

“Then what did I say?”

Busted. Staring at her with a blank expression was the only answer I could provide.

“Typical.”

I rolled my eyes at her.

“I was talking about your party tomorrow.”

Camilla pulled her long blonde hair into a stylishly messy strawberry blonde bun and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as she bent over in search of something in her make up bag. My long dark hair was looking a little messy. I grasped the hairbrush that Camilla left on the table and after a few frantic strokes through my hair, I gave up and tied it into a ponytail.

“What about it?” I asked, checking my watch again.

I was ready to leave for school half an hour ago, but Camilla was taking her time doing her hair and make-up. She has her own room with a functioning bathroom and mirror; I could not begin to understand why she was doing it in my room.

“Don't you have your own room?” I asked.

“Please, don't get mad, but I changed the plans
…
I invited the entire senior class,” She said, ignoring my question.

“What? Why?”

I can't say I’m too surprised. Camilla has always changed plans at the last minute. Just last week we were supposed to see a movie but at the last second she cancelled because she decided to go to a late night dance class.

“Don't stress, it’s only for a few hours. Besides, in a few short weeks you won't see them again. School will be over.”

I sighed.

It's not that I have a problem with my school mates; we generally got on well. I just prefer to keep school and home life separate. The last thing I need are snoopy teens asking questions about my family.

“Don't worry, your party will still be bad ass,” she said, noticing my worried expression.

“Yeah, because that's what I’m worried about,” I scoffed.

“I know you don't get on with everyone, but it’s not hard to pretend for one night.”

"Is this party yours? Or mine?”

Camilla rolled her eyes.

“Of course it’s your party, but I'm hosting it.” She laughed, putting her mascara back into her make-up bag.

I exhaled in relief, it was about time she finished.

We found Aunt Jen downstairs; she was busy setting up some decorations for my party.

“Bye, Mum,” Camilla called, walking past Jen and exiting out the door.

“Bye!” Jen called back.

“Thank you for doing all this,” I said, gesturing to all the colourful decorations that hung from the ceiling and ran across the white walls.

“You’re more than welcome; you deserve it after everything.”

She pulled me into a hug. I subtly held my breath as the smell of her blood, mixed with her sweat, filled my nose. I swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the excess saliva that now filled my mouth.

“It’s my first birthday without her; it’s going to be hard,” I mumbled. I tried to push down the lump that formed in my throat.

Jen didn't say anything, she didn’t have to. I had lost my mother and Aunt Jen had lost her sister.

“You’re doing great, despite your loss and…” she paused, releasing me from her embrace. “…changes.”

Aunt Jen and Camilla knew what Hank had done to me. She was aware that his bite had left me in somewhat of a vampiric state.

I say 'somewhat' because the night Hank bit me, something happened, something I can't exactly explain.

When his razor sharp teeth pierced into my skin, pain tore through my entire body, but then something else happened. It began at my core, a burning sensation rising up my body, getting hotter and hotter until suddenly a beam of light threw Hank and I to opposite sides of the room, causing my head to hit the bricks that surrounded the fireplace. Whatever happened that night, whatever occurred inside me, made me different from Hank and any other vampire that I know of. I could go out during the day and still have my normal appearance, except for the two bottomless, cold black eyes, which were easily passed off as contacts. I was weaker than other vampires, a lot weaker. If I ever fight another vampire, it would be like sending a toddler to fight a lion.

“It isn’t too late to cancel the party, if you’re not feeling up to it.”

“I'm fine,” I assured her, forcing a fake smile.

I really wasn’t in the mood for a party. It was, after all, Camilla’s idea.

Her expression made it obvious she didn’t believe me when I said I was fine, but thankfully, she didn’t elaborate on anything.

Camilla’s incessant honking pierced through the house, forcing me out of it. There isn’t a day that goes by she doesn’t honk that bloody horn. I walked out the door, stepping into the morning sun. Although I couldn't feel its warmth pierce my ice cold skin, it was nice knowing I was the only vampire that could appreciate it, despite its irritation to my eyes. I approached Cam's pink Barina in the driveway.

Oh god. I could feel my face cringing like it always did before I climbed in.

“Do you want your breakfast?” Camilla asked, pulling a bag of A-negative blood from her purse that was sandwiched between two ice packs. The red liquid gushed around as she handed it to me.

I stared at the bag. Any other teenager would be sitting down to a nice big bowl of cereal, not me. I want to be normal, like other teenagers, but no matter how much I beg and cry, I'll always be a bloodthirsty monster.

Donated blood was a personal choice and the only way I could lessen the burden on my shoulders. I don't drink human blood directly from the source; I did previously, but stopped. I guess you could say that not taking blood unwillingly from a human was my way of protesting against what I have become. There was nothing I could do about my previous mistakes, they have already been done, but still, it made me feel more human. I guess I was lucky; Aunt Jen was a nurse at Bridgewater Hospital and knew a guy who would provide her with free blood without it being recorded on the system. Unfortunately for her, in return, she had to see a movie (with said guy) on the first Friday of every month. Aunt Jen didn’t mind; she figured seeing one movie a month was better than me slaughtering her and Camilla in their sleep.

I squeezed my eyes shut and bared my fangs. They slid through the plastic with such ease. I glanced sideways at Cam; she was staring at me wide eyed like she always did when she saw me eat.

“I’ve been watching you do this for a while now and I still find it creepy.” She shuddered.

I threw the empty bag into the glove box.

“It could be worse,” I said, contracting my fangs and concealing them with my upper lip. “You could watch me munching on humans whilst they scream a couple of times a day.”

Camilla shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Shit. I probably shouldn't talk about munching on humans in front of a human.

“That was a joke.”

“What does being bitten feel like?” she blurted out.

My mouth dropped a little and my stomach followed suit. So did my heart. I didn’t have to think about how it felt to be bitten. I haven’t forgotten what it feels like. Instantly, I was taken back to the night it all happened. Hank’s face, so white and translucent. His eyes were so piercing and cold. I remember him staring into my eyes with such hate before he bared his fangs and sunk them deep into my neck. When I thought about it, excruciating was such a weak word to use when it came to describing the pain of his teeth sinking deeper and deeper into my flesh.

“Ruby?” urged Camilla, her voice pulling me from reliving my nightmare.

I felt her warm hand tightly grip my forearm. I reached for a tissue out of the glove box as a single tear pushed itself out of my eye. I would have left it if it was a normal tear, but it wasn't; vampires cry blood.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean
…
”

“It’s okay,” I said, interrupting her apology. “Let’s just get to school.”

I wasn't mad at Camilla, it wasn't her fault. I was caught off guard; the question came out of nowhere. No one has ever asked me anything about that horrible night. I forced a fake smile at Camilla. I was so used to being depressed that the fake smiles came easily. Camilla’s pink Barina roared to life and she drove us to school, neither of us uttering another word.

We arrived at school in the nick of time. The bell hadn't rung yet, thank god, and students were still making their way around campus.

Cutting across the quadrangle was the quickest route to the science room, where my first class was, and I wasn't in any mood for hanging around.

“Hey Ruby, you’re looking fine this morning.”

I threw a sharp glance to my left; no surprise there, it was Darren Jolter.

Darren is your typical jock who thinks he’s god’s gift to, well, everything. Darren, especially, took a shine to me when I enrolled at Bridgewater High. His hooded brown eyes were always watching me, evaluating everything I did. It wasn’t just Darren that unnerved me regularly at school. Day in and day out, boys slung obscene sexual comments at me, hit on me and stared at me. Not one single boy at this or any other school has interested me romantically or physically, ever, ultimately keeping me a virgin. Don't get me wrong, I have wanted to have sex, a lot, it's just the boys I'm surrounded by are destroying any sex drive I'm trying to develop. I thought being a vampire increased your libido, but I guess the boys I know cancel that perk out, or maybe I’m just one pathetic excuse for a vampire— which wouldn’t be a surprise.

“Ruby, wait!” a puffed voice called.

I exhaled in frustration but didn’t turn around.

“Ruby!” the voice shouted again.

I spun around abruptly, to silence the annoying name shouting. It was Kyle, the only boy in this school I could tolerate, even though he was crushing on me, evident by the way he followed me around. Unlike the others, he hadn’t hit on me. He didn't have the confidence, which I was thankful for. I was also thankful because Kyle was a larger guy and not my type. I’d hate to hurt his feelings.

Finally he caught up to me.

“Do you want to walk to science together?”

I glanced around awkwardly, if I said no, we would have to walk together anyway, we have the same class, which means we’re going to the same place.

“We’re—” I stopped; I wasn't in the mood to pick out the floor in his logic. “Sure.”

Kyle was taller than me and a lot wider. He had dark blonde hair and freckly skin. It matched his shy personality and all around goofiness perfectly.