Vampire Boys Of Summer (Completed!)

Episode 46: Ryo's Offer

I sat on the edge of the bed, lost in my thoughts. If Angela wasn’t going to protect herself, it was up to me to do it. But what could I do? Anything I chose would make a bigger mess of things, but I couldn’t sit here idle, waiting for Haru and watching Angela step right into a bloodsucking trap. So I did what all girls do when they want to distract someone. Go for the eyes.
I went to the closet to pick out an outfit I thought would be most appealing to vampire boys on the prowl. I chose a black and red checkered skirt that came down to just above the knee. Some sheer black leggings from my dresser. A ‘Queen Of The Damned’ tank top, whose image of two lovers in a bathtub of blood was sure to catch any vampire’s eye. I topped it off with an open white jacket with coat tails and no buttons. Oh, and the shoes. One can’t wear Chucks around vampires. They may be comfortable, cute, and cool, but they scream ‘unsexy’ unless the Chucks are ALL you have on. So I slipped into some black boots dad had bought for me. At the time, he had joked he’d got them from a S&M shop. I giggled at the memory. I couldn’t see my dad in a place like that, but then again I couldn’t see me dressing like this to distract a boy either. This was my basic concert or clubbing attire, and I didn’t wear it to impress guys. One thing boys didn’t get was that girls don’t always dress to turn them on; most of the time they dress to show other girls up.
I stood in front of the mirror admiring the look. For once, I thought I looked kind of hot. Well, except for the hair and makeup, which I set about to fix. I applied dark eyeshadow, black lipstick lines, a dash of foundation to make me look paler than I was. For the hair, I really didn’t know what to do, so I got out my straightener and went for the Morticia Adams look, straight down my back and off the neck. I smiled. Now if only I knew what to do with all this.
When I walked outside, across the yard, and into the street, I wondered if anyone was watching. A neighbor looking out their window would have thought one of two things. Either, Halloween had come early, or there was a goth hooker convention happening close by. Still, I strutted with confidence into Mrs. Winston’s yard, hoping that somehow Ryo had seen me coming and wouldn’t hesitate to invite me in. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after that. Talk him out of Angela, offer myself to him in exchange, or some other stupid shit. All I knew is I had to try and distract him from my friend. That would make her more angry than she already was, but someone had to stop this thing from happening. Sure, the vampire life seems appealing to most, but today I had the seen one of the flip sides; the horrible state that overcomes the vamp when they haven’t fed. Haru had been close to dying. I know I downplayed it a lot in my mind, so I could get him back home, but the truth was I almost lost him. And even now, I didn’t know of his fate. I didn’t want to see Angela like that, deprived of the things that give her life and left to suffer.
Up on the porch, I raised my hand to knock. I hesitated. What the hell was I doing? I heard sounds from behind the front door. It was faint, as if the heavy wood was masking the sound. Music. Exciting and fast, it seemed to race as much as my heartbeat was. My fist met the door and the sound seemed to echo in time to the music, which seemed to be growing louder. The door opened and I was assaulted by the energetic and sexual beat of the song. It was by Miyavi, another favorite Japanese artist of mine, and it’s title, “Secret”, seemed perfect for this moment. What wasn’t perfect however, is it wasn’t Ryo who opened the door. It was my World History teacher, Miss Lazenby.
I knew she had been acting out of character in class, dressing a little more provocative, wearing dark glasses, popping pills, but nothing prepared me for seeing one of my teachers in Ryo’s doorway. My jaw must have dropped so far flies were buzzing in..
“Miss Lazenby?” I stammered.
“Nora child, you look absolutely adorable.”
“You do, too, Miss Lazenby.”
“Oh please, call me Aggie.”
I nearly laughed. “Aggie?”
“It’s short for Agatha. But I don’t like that. Sounds too old and stuffy.”
She smiled and I noticed her teeth were pearly white. Almost too white to be natural. But that wasn’t the only thing off about her. The way she was dressed was not quite screaming chaste single school teacher. She was wearing a crimson cocktail dress, low cut in the front, and high up the sides of the leg. To say it was sexy would be an understatement. She was revealing so much cleavage her breasts were barely contained by the fabric. And all this coming from a woman who I thought of as so prim and proper she would one day die a virgin. Now however, she was looking like one of those half clad girls you’d see in an old 80’s rock video. Any minute now, I expected the music would change from Miyavi to “She’s my cherry pie.”
“Want to come in?” she asked, stepping aside in the doorway.
“Um, yes. Is Ryo here?”
“I think he’s a little busy at the moment, but I’m sure he’d take the time to see the likes of you.”
She looked me up and down, and her gaze was so lingering it was uncomfortable. Despite this, I accepted her invitation and stepped over the threshold. “Is Haru still here, too?” I asked.
She hesitated, and I got the impression she was weighing in her head whether to say anything or not. “I’m not sure,” she replied after a moment. “I just got up.”
Got up? Did she live here, too? It was then I noticed what topped off her sultry ensemble; a silk scarf loosely tied around her neck. No wonder she’d been acting strange in class lately. Ryo had turned her and it hadn’t quite taken hold yet. I guess the strange boy I’d seen in the driveway when they first moved in was a turn of his also. If that was the case, then Mrs. Winston, transformed from old and feeble to working out in the yard, was yet another of Ryo’s growing conquests. But why? That’s three people he had turned already. The diverse group was no way to start an army. My mind returned to why I’d come over. For whatever reason, Angela seemed to be next.
The music was overbearing in the background. It was almost too loud to speak over, as if it were designed to hypnotize the listener, or otherwise make them forget why they were here. Just as I was about to say something about the volume, the song stopped.
“Well, well, what have we here? Nora Williams?”
I turned to the voice. Coming down the staircase was Ryo. His movements were sleek and calculated, like a jungle cat sizing up its prey. He looked me over, his eyes trailing up and down the height of my body, and I felt like I was wearing clear cellophane instead of clothes.
“What do I owe the…pleasure?” He asked in a teasing tone.
“I..I wanted to talk to you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Talk? Whatever would you want to talk to me about?”
His ignorance was an act. His eyes told me he knew why I was here. “Angela,” I replied.
He smiled, and it reminded me of an animated character from Disney’s Jungle Book movie: Kaa, the snake. “Ah, Angela. Yes,“ he said. “I think I may have been mistaken about her. First impressions aren’t always best, but perhaps I was too much in thrall of you at the time to notice. But, she is…delightful.”
“I’ve come to ask you to leave her alone.”
“Leave her alone? What is it you think I’m going to do to her?”
“You know very well what you plan to do.”
He grinned. “Yes, but a gentleman doesn’t discuss those kind of things with a girl who is not his partner.”
“Please, Ryo. Don’t. Just do me this one favor.”
Again, he looked me over, his eyes lingering long on my tank top, though I do not believe he was admiring the two vampires on the front. “Favor? You already owe me a favor. A pretty big one at that.”
“What for?”
“I saved your boyfriend’s life. I’d say that counts as a favor owed.”
“What do you want?”
“Ah, now we come to the crux of the matter. After all the times I’ve tried to get your attention, now you come over here dressed to distract. That itself is going to cost you.” He paced back and forth in front of me, glancing every now and then at the quiet Miss Lazenby. “I was prepared to, let us say, indulge myself this evening with the graceful shape of history.” He looked at my teacher and smiled, then shook his head in mock disappointment. “But I suppose I could put that off for a night, if perhaps you would like to spend the evening with me instead.”
I looked at Lazenby. Her face was immobile, as if he hadn’t just said, ‘hey, your teacher is hot, but I’d take you over her any day.’
“Spend the evening?” I asked.
He shrugged. “You know, stay the night.”
I looked at him like he was out of his mind. But maybe it was me who was out of mind. After all, I had gotten all dressed up and come over here thinking the sight of me alone would make him change his mind. I was getting to be just like Amanda Trump, walking around thinking I was God’s gift to everybody.
“Stay the night?” I asked.
He sighed in exasperation. “Do you always have to answer me with a question? You know what I mean.”
“No,” I replied.
“No, you won’t stay the night, or no, you don’t know what I mean?”
“No, I wont stay the night with you.”
“Well then. I guess Angela and I will have a great time together after all.”