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Kylie walked down the linoleum-tiled hallway to her homeroom class along with many other college students. /OK, Pete has history for homeroom.../She casually looked into the room as she passed it on her way to science. Pete sat in his desk, hood up and looking rather moody. Kylie smiled and kept on walking.
*
"Where are you going Kylie?" Kylie's dad was a middle-aged man with kind brown eyes and graying brown hair. Kylie paused, her hand on the doorknob. "You do know it's your day off?"
"I was just going to keep an eye on Ray, he could use it," Kylie hated lying, especially to her dad.
"OK, stay safe," and with that, Kylie's dad turned back to the group of people there for a meeting.
Kylie left the house before he could say anything else. She walked quickly through the almost empty streets. It was dusk, the time when normal people took shelter in their homes and vampires woke to go find dinner.
It wasn't more than a 15-minute walk to Pete's house. Kylie turned down the narrow alley and stopped in front of the door. She knocked on the door exactly how Pete told her too.
Joe opened the door, "Hi!"
Kylie laughed, "You are so loud."
Inside, Andy was drumming and it looked like Joe was playing his guitar. Patrick was watching the news, again.
"Prince Pete is still sleeping," Joes said as he picked his guitar up and continued playing.
"Well, I have limited time to stay," Kylie knew she really should go check up on Ray.
"Go ahead and wake him up, he sleeps on the third floor," Patrick said. Kylie hesitated. "Go on, he won't be mad at you. There's a light switch to your right when you open the door."
Kylie smiled, "OK." She turned and started up the staircase. At the second floor landing, she turned right and walked up to the door at the top of the third floor landing. I hope he doesn't get mad. Too bad, no one can be moody forever. Kylie smiled to her self.
She opened the door up wide and immediately turned on the lights. Pete was sleeping on top of the covers, wearing the same clothes he had at school that day. He looked up, startled.
"What the-" Pete blinked in the bright light.
"Nap times over Prince Pete," Kylie joked. She surveyed his room. The walls were plain white and clothes littered the dusty floor. "Jeez, who fired the maid?"
Pete sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Hilarious."
Kylie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "I can walk right back down those stairs and out the door if you want."
Pete glared at Kylie and stood up. "Whatever." He started towards the door.
Kylie didn't move, "Why do you always have to be so moody? Life honestly isn't that bad."
"Oh yeah, you're not the one who's a freak," Pete said it before he could stop his self. He was getting irritated with Kylie.
"Freak? What freak?" Kylie knew she was pushing the limit. Too bad, you need to grow up Pete. What's done is done. I of all people should know that. "All I see is a moody, confused kid standing in front of me."
"Don't-" Pete took a step back and a deep breath. "You have no idea what I'm going through."
Kylie glared at him. "Oh really? No idea, huh?"
Pete glared right back at her. "Yes, no idea. What's the worse thing that has happened in your life?" he was losing his temper, again. "Your idea of bad is probably something like patrolling District D!" Pete turned his back to Kylie.
That was the last straw for Kylie. She walked over to Pete and stood in front of him. "No, my idea of bad is having your mother killed by a vampire in front of your own eyes! My idea of bad is getting bitten by a vampire for your job! My idea of bad is risking your life to go under cover with the worse slime!" Kylie turned away, tears slipping down her face. "Now you know, everything's blown. I really hope I can trust you."
Pete didn't know what to do. Look what I did, I had no idea. I'm such a moron. Say something, you stupid idiot. Don't just stand here staring. Pete bit his lip. He walked over to Kylie and put his hand on her shoulder. "I am so sorry, I had no idea, I am such an-"
"Save me the pity," Kylie turned and headed for the door. Pete blocked her escape. Kylie glared at him through her tears.
Pete was at a loss for what to do now. I can't just let her go like this. Try making someone happy for once. And then he hugged Kylie. It was the most unnatural thing for Pete to do, but he had never screwed up like this before. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Kylie never ever let anyone hug her. Not since her mom's death way back when she was ten. But for some reason, she let Pete hug her. Maybe it was because she had spent all these years trying to avoid the reality of what happened, and she just needed to lean on someone for once instead of pushing them away?
"Kylie, I really am so sorry," Pete didn't know what to say. "however corny that sounds, it's true."
Kylie didn't know what to say either. I can't believe I told Pete all of that stuff. She closed her eyes against the tears. Pete leaned his cheek on her head. After a few more seconds, Kylie hesitantly pulled back. Pete looked at the ground, amazed at what he had done. Kylie wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"I guess I should tell you everything now," Kylie needed to tell someone, the secrets were killing her.
"No, you don't have to tell me anything," Pete looked back up at Kylie. Maybe she just needs someone to listen. If I just listen, I won't say anything stupid. "Or if you want to..." Pete sat down on the top of the staircase.
Kylie nodded her head and sat down next to Pete. She took a shaky breath and started, "I was ten. My dad was out meeting some people interested in joining The Agency. That was back when it had just started. Mom and I were the only people in the house. It was pretty dark out, but my mom said she needed to take out a bag of garbage real quickly. She went out the back door in the kitchen, and I sat down behind the wall dividing the kitchen and living room. The next thing I heard was someone struggling. I looked around the wall, and there was this vampire. He was holding my mom, and biting her..." Kylie closed her eyes tightly, but kept on going. "He never knew I was there. He just left. And there was nothing I could do. It was too late. My dad got home and found me crying and covered in my mom's blood." She took a deep breath, the memory was still so painful. "All I could do was sit there and cry next to my dead mom."
Kylie opened her eyes. She was done crying. It was time to get over the past and move on. And to think it's all because of an argument with Pete. She looked over at Pete. He was staring down the staircase, totally unsure of what to say.
"That's horrible," Pete knew he sounded lame. What do you say to someone who's gone through crap like that? I'm not very good with emotions, I can barely control my own.
Just then, loud clomping marked the sound of someone coming up the stairs. "What are you two doing up there?" Joe's loud voice filled the hall as he turned the corner to the third floor staircase. "Well then!" he said as he saw Kylie and Pete sitting next to each other.
Kylie laughed. "Don't worry Joe, it's strictly PG." It feels good to laugh after telling Pete all that stuff...
"Yeah, PG not G!" Joe smiled. "I might have to keep an eye on you two!"
Pete shook his head, "Lay off, it's not like that." He avoided looking at Kylie.
"Then come join the party downstairs, Patrick says the news is great today!" Joe was being overly sarcastic.
Kylie stood up, "The news is a load of crap, I could give you a more honest account than them." She started walking down the stairs. Pete reluctantly followed. Come on Pete, join society.
The three went downstairs, Joe leading, Kylie in the middle, and Pete moodily bringing up the rear. Patrick looked half-dead watching the news and Andy sat at the table staring into space.
"Isn't this so much fun?" Joe asked. Kylie rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch. Pete plopped down next to her and put his hood up. Joe sat down at the table next to Andy. The four sat in silence for a while.
"So...um...about the other stuff you were talking about..." Pete stared at the ground, not sure exactly how to ask. I really want to know how she knows this Mariano guy. And about being bitten...what if she is a vampire?
Kylie took a deep breath. "Right, it was a few years ago. We had Mariano pegged from the start. He always was a suspicious character. We needed to know more about what he was doing. You see, he was obviously finding him self some minion vampires. And it was obvious he was up to no good."
"So you went all secret agent on him?" Patrick asked. Kylie figured Pete had told all of them everything.
"Yeah, sort of...it's kind of hard to explain..." Kylie didn't know where to start. There's so much they don't know. "Well, Mariano lived down the street from me when we were little kids. And we were sort of friends, only until when I was ten and we moved."
Pete avoided looking at Kylie./ You mean after your mom was murdered.../
Kylie started again, "So I was the perfect candidate for the job when we were older and Mariano was getting suspicious. So...I...um...had to, uh, sort of be his girlfriend to get inside information." Kylie could feel herself blushing. Next to her, Pete tensed.
"Are you serious?" Joe was loud, as usual. Andy and Patrick smirked.
Kylie slowly nodded, still blushing furiously. She went on before anyone else could ask any more questions. "I found out a lot. Mariano's minions call themselves Dandies, because they do everything in style. Biting people especially..."
Pete looked up. "I wouldn't exactly call how he bite me 'with style.'"
Kylie thought on that one for a minute, "He must have been really desperate that night."
"So how much of a girlfriend were you?" Andy just had to ask.
Kylie blushed again. This isn't something I want to discuss right now. "Well, in order to stay a part of the Dandies, I had to be a vampire."
You could feel the room grow completely still. There was a tense silence. Pete looked at Kylie. This is what I've really wanted to know.
Kylie took a deep breath, "Mariano did bite me, but nothing happened. He didn't use his ecliptic fangs." The tension let up a little. "And that part doesn't make sense. Mariano is the type of guy who has to control everything. It would be easier to control me if I was a vampire."
Patrick remembered something, "Wait a minute, what if he didn't know what fangs he was using? You said some vampires never know."
Kylie nodded her head, "But Mariano knew what fangs he was using, I had asked him if he could tell before and he said yes."
"So the guy had a stroke of nice in him, no big deal, right?" Andy asked.
"Wrong, I still wasn't a vampire. The other Dandies were suspicious of what Mariano had done, and they were wary of me." Kylie paused. "So, I had to 'disappear' before things got out of control and Mariano just decided to kill me."
"Where'd you go?" asked Patrick.
"We moved to a district far away from the Dandy headquarters and where Mariano lived," Kylie was done. There really isn't too much to say.
"And the Dandies never went after you?" This whole mess confused Andy.
"They never did, but we still consider Mariano and the Dandies dangerous and to be watched," Kylie really didn't want to talk about this anymore. She looked at Pete, who had remained silent.
Pete was trying to figure what to make of all this. So she isn't a vampire, but she's socialized with the most dangerous. Are we putting ourselves in danger by being with her? And what about these Dandy freaks? And Mariano? I don't know what to think...
"That's awesome! You got to be a secret agent!" Joe was the only one this enthusiastic. Kylie had to smile, she was sick of all the drama tonight.
"I better go check on Ray like I told my dad," Kylie didn't want to go, not without knowing what Pete thought. She stood up after Pete made no indications of wanting to say something.
Patrick went to unlock the door, "I take it we should keep all of this top secret?"
"Yeah," Kylie looked at Pete one last time before turning to go. Whatever, I just can't figure him out...