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Chapter 5][Puppeteers with Invisible Strings Rina and Blaise led the way out of the theater, but Kat slowed her pace to allow Ted to catch up to her in the theater's lobby. "Ri, I need to use the bathroom," she called to the older vampire, who waved a hand to acknowledge that she had heard the girl. Kat walked toward the girl's room, but instead of go inside she grabbed Ted by his shirt collar and pulled him around the corner, into the deserted hallway behind the lobby. "Okay, now we can talk." Ted nodded slowly and fixed his shirt as he gathered his thoughts. "What- what are you? Some kind of-" "Vampire," Kat said, finishing the boy's question. "Yeah. How were you fighting my control so well?" Ted blinked, confused. "How did I do what?" "You were fighting me for control of your body, remember? Back in the theater?" "When you bit me?" Kat nodded and tapped her foot anxiously, afraid Rina might come looking for her any moment. "Yes, then. You fought my control. How?" "I- I don't know," Ted stuttered, his raspy voice beginning to get on Kat's nerves. He cracked his knuckles absently as he thought. "I don't remember fighting anything. I- I just couldn't move and you- you bit me." "Yeah, thanks for that," Kat said, growing more antsy with every passing second. "Listen, I need to go." "B- but I didn't get to ask any questions," Ted said quickly as Kat tried to walk around him. When she stopped and turned back to him, he took a deep breath and asked, "Did that bite turn me into a vampire?" "No," Kat said, wondering what kind of idiot she had managed to feed off. "I just took a pint, and I don't even know how to make anyone a vampire." Shaking her head, she turned and began walking briskly toward the exit, the smell of popcorn radiating from the snack stand to her nose. Ted followed the vampire as she walked away and called after her quickly moving figure, "Do you know anyone who can?" Kat froze, unsure she had heard the boy correctly, and spun around. "What?" she asked, her voice more surprise than anything else. "Uhh- do you know anyone who- who can make me a vamp-" Kat shushed the boy, glancing around quickly to make sure no one had heard him. She looked to him and then to the doors, and back again as she considered her options, and found herself torn between simply leaving him and introducing him to Rina. She knew Rina would be angry with her, but this boy could tell others, could show Kat's teeth marks and tell the world who she was. 'I don't have much of a choice,' she told herself grimly, and motioned for Ted to follow her as she walked outside. Rina saw Kat coming, and saw the boy following close behind. 'Crap,' she thought, 'Kat seduced another one.' "Hey, Ri, this is Ted," Kat said simply, showing the older vampire through her expressive blue eyes that she was unsure of her decision. Rina sighed with relief as she interpreted the younger vampire's facial expression, feeling that she might still have a chance to persuade Kat not to do anything stupid. "Hi," she said dully, sizing the teen boy up. She figured he was around Kat's age, and seemed rather nervous, yet excited. "What do you want?" "Can you- uhh-" Ted resorted to his incoherent mumbling as his embarrassment grew, and as he dropped his eyes to his feet he brought a hand up to his bite marks and rubbed them unconsciously. Rina caught sight of the bite and turned accusingly to Kat, who threw up her arms in a gesture of truce. "I can explain," she said quickly. "He was staring at me, and his face got really red, and it looked like blood, and-" She paused for a moment and sighed, dropping her hands. "I haven't had real blood in a month, and I was hungry." Rolling her eyes, Rinna turned back to Ted, expecting to have to work some magic in the department of damage control. "You can't tell anyone-" she started. "I won't," Ted answered, nodding. "- you can't show anyone your-" "I won't." "- not even your parents." "I know." Rina raised an eyebrow. "So what are you still here for?" Kat stepped forward and tapped Rina's elbow. Her face was red with embarrassment and she stumbled through her words as she said, "Well, see, Ted asked if I had turned him into a vampire and I said no, and he asked... he wanted to know who could." Rina blinked. "What?" she asked, glancing between the two young teens. "You want what?" "I want to be a vampire," Ted said confidently, despite his habitual stutter. Rina was stunned, having never known a person to be so loving of her kind. "You want to become a vampire?" Kat jumped in. "I was thinking, if you couldn't, maybe one of the older brothers or sisters could." "Like who?" Rina asked, her mind working furiously to keep up. Kat shrugged and looked down to her feet, which she gazed at fervently as she said, softly, "Maybe Cristal or Zack." Rina laughed loudly, the younger vampire's suggestion almost too absurd to be considered. "Maybe you'd throw Natalie and Pat in there too, right? What're you, stupid?" She shook her head. "No, that would never work. First off, Zack and Pat would never suck blood from another boy. And Cristal? When was the last time she was in a good mood?" "There's still Natalie..." "Oh, sure, go right to the top. Because she'll totally let you get off scotch-free for breaking about four rules. And me! Just bringing you to the movie was one rule broken. Blaise is another two, at least." Kat sniffled, the resurgence of human blood in her system making her overly sensitive emotionally. She looked up to Rina as tears pooled in her eyes. "I can't think of anything else, Ri! I made a mistake, and I'm dead if anyone finds out, and I'm scared, and..." Rina stood, taken aback by the younger vampire's emotional outburst, and watched in shock as Kat began to sob. Coming to her senses, she stepped forward and put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Sorry I yelled," she said softly, trying to soothe Kat. "I'm just as scared as you are." Sniffling again, Kat glanced at Ted and gave the boy a double-take as an idea formed in her head. "Ri, what's the tribe law about punishing humans that trespass on our property?" "We either make them a puppet, use them as food supplies, or turn them into... Kat, you're a genius!" Rina exclaimed, realizing what the younger vampire was hinting toward. "Can you remember who the last person to be transformed was?" Kat thought for a moment, but shook her head and sighed. "No," she said. "I know it was a boy, and he was a little older than you, but other than that..." Blaise stepped into the conversation, waving his hands to get the vampires' attention. "Whoa, hold up. What's this about punishing humans?" Rina blushed lightly, somewhat embarrassed. She had never told Blaise what would happen if he were caught. "It's really almost impossible to get caught," she said, trying to calm her boyfriend. "The only time it really happened, the kid was practically suicidal." Blaise felt his fear of vampires surge through him. "You told me that coming to you was safe." "I know, Blaise, I just-" "You told me that your tribe doesn't hurt humans like the other tribes do." Blaise's voice grew into an angry shout as he confronted Rina. Rina reached her hands out to Blaise, her eyes beginning to water. "It's true, Blaise-" "You lied to me!" Blaise yelled, knocking Rina's hands away in his fear-fueled rage. "I could have been caught! They could have killed me!" "We don't kill," she cried, pleading with all her heart. "Please, Blaise-" "All you vampires do is take advantage of humans! We're your slaves, your food source, your toys. You can do whatever you want with us!" "Blaise, I would never-" Blaise silenced Rina with a look, his anger countinuing to grow as he shouted. "Last week, when you said that all you loved about me was my taste..." He paused for a moment, glaring at Rina as she flinched back from his words. "It was true, wasn't it?" "No, Blaise, it wasn't!" "It was true! For all I know, I'm under your control half of the time we're together! For all I know, I'm a puppet just like those kids! Do you even remember what their names were before you seduced them, Rina?" Rina froze, shocked and unable to answer Blaise's question. His words hurt her, and stung even more because they were all true. "I- I don't..." "Christine and Jake," Blaise said, his voice restrained. "The two nine-year-old kids you seduced and made your slaves. Nine years old, Rina! And neither one of them has a name, or a voice, or a thought that you don't control." He shook his head solemnly. "They might as well be dead." Rina let her tears fall down her face and to the ground below, and stood quietly as Blaise ripped apart her heart. When he turned and walked away without another word, she staggered forward after him and fell, sobbing, to her knees. 'Don't go,' she wanted to say. 'I love you.' Kat knelt at Rina's side, laying a comforting hand on the older vampire's shoulder and watching her cry. She glanced over her shoulder and swore to herself, as she saw Blaise's figure disappear over the crest of a hill, that he would not get away with hurting Rina. She turned to Ted, then, and was surprised to see him standing, stoically, watching her. "You're still here after all that?" Ted nodded. "I don't care," he said simply. "If he hates vampires, why would either of you want him here?" "Because I love him," Rina said, her eyes red from crying. "No matter how much he hurts me, I love him." Kat stood and walked over to Ted. "I'll take you to my tribe, but you need to stay quiet, okay?" When the boy nodded, Kat helped Rina to her feet and led the way across the park grounds to the tribe's property. Let not my beautiful heart be torn ~ By the memories of loved ones past, ~ Or the loved ones never to be born. Comments
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