"Yeah, it is.” I crawled out of bed and as my feet hit the floor, a horrible thought occurred to me. “Mom! Wait! I forgot to ask you something."
She came back into my room. “Yes?"
"Umm ... when will I need ... blood?” God, did those words really come out of my mouth? I mean, what a ridiculous thing to ask your own mother. Talk about a freakish nightmare.
"You won't need it for a while, yet. Don't worry. Your dad and I will discuss the symptoms with you. You still have plenty of time before that happens. It'll take some time before your body makes the change and needs to supplement. But, trust me, your body will let you know when the time is right.” She placed her hands on my shoulders and gave me her most serious look. “When that happens, you need to let me or your dad know right away. If you wait too long, you could go into a
bloodlust
. And let's just say it's not pretty ... and can be dangerous—for you as well as those around you. I'll show you where we keep the supply when I get home from work in case we're not around when you need it."
"Okay. I think.” I just prayed it wouldn't happen in front of a bunch of people I knew.
"Cheyenne! It's about time you got here,” yelled Mandy, my best friend and fellow gymnast.
"Hey. Yeah, I kind of ran late. Didn't exactly wanna get up this morning."
That's the understatement of the year.
"We're just about to get on the bus. You're lucky we didn't leave without you."
"Oh, yeah, I'm lucky all right.” If she only knew. I wondered what she'd think if I told her I'm a real life vampire. She'd probably freak. Sooner or later, I'd have to tell her. We don't exactly keep secrets from each other. Besides, she always seems to know when something is going on with me.
"Come on! Let's get one of the back seats. We can make faces at the people behind us."
"And how old are you?” I asked.
"Ah, ya know ya wanna.” She boarded the bus and I followed right behind her.
It would only take about twenty minutes max to reach the cave. Since it's right by our gym, I knew how much time it would take to get there.
I've been to the cave so many times in my life I could probably recite the tour speech word for word. Stalactites hang ‘tight’ to the ceiling. Stalagmites ‘might’ reach the ceiling. And let's not forget about cave popcorn, cave ice, flowstone, cave coral, cave drapery—also known as cave bacon—and the occasional bat. Yep, I've seen and heard it all. And lucky me, I get to see and hear it again.
The strange thing is that even though I'm claustrophobic, I've never had a problem going into the cave—probably because most of the cave is open and airy. It might be a different story if I had to squeeze through one of those dark crawl spaces.
"Gee, you look real thrilled to be here, Cheyenne.” Mandy laughed and made her goofy face that always guaranteed a good chuckle from me. “Don't you think it's cool we get to go into a cave on Halloween?"
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. She kept on doing that stupid face of hers until I had no choice but to laugh.
Mandy wiped the humor from her face and cocked an eyebrow. “Okay, what's the deal, pickle? And don't even bother telling me nothing."
"I've just had a rough morning, and my head really hurts. No biggie.” Well, the part about the headache was true. And I really did have a crappy morning. It's what I didn't tell her that was the problem. The girl's a pit bull when it comes to pulling out information. Once she senses blood, she'll grab hold and not let go. Oh, sheesh, like I had to bring blood into it.
She curled one side of her lip. “Whatever. Sooner or later you'll spill it."
"There's nothing to spill.” That sounded so gay. I didn't even believe it.
"Did you bring your new camera?” she asked.
I patted my purse. “Yep, got it right here.” Before my ‘initiation,’ Mom and Dad had surprised me with the camera. I'd been saving up for it for a few months, so I was quite excited to receive it as a gift. It's one of those small Canons with a big screen that takes really great pictures. The only one nuttier than me about taking pictures happens to be Mandy.
"Cool.” She stretched her neck and looked out the window. “We're almost there."
I let my head flop back against the seat. “I can hardly wait."
The bus pulled into the parking lot, and I sat up, looking around to see how many cars occupied the area. I wasn't in the mood for crowds. We unloaded and clunked across the wooden ramp leading to the door of the building.
As soon as we passed through the entrance, a strange tingle started at my spine and worked its way up my back, settling into a slight vibration at the base of my neck. Talk about freaky. I rubbed the back of my neck with one hand and glanced around the room.
"Let's go check out the souvenirs.” Mandy grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the main souvenir section filled with rubber bats, explorer helmets with lights, plastic toys, pencils, jewelry, and all kinds of gemstones.
I grumbled under my breath. She could be such a dork at times, but she's never boring. That's for sure.
Rocks and gems organized into a rotating type structure nestled in dividers. I picked up a tiger's eye looking stone and rolled it around in my hand. The cool, smooth surface felt good on my palm. I dropped it back into its bin and reached for a pink quartz crystal. It was somewhat rough to the touch, but beautiful. Maybe I'd get one after we returned from the tour.
Mandy snatched a rubber bat from the display and dangled it from the elastic cord. She bounced the creature in front of my face and made goofy eerie sounds.
"Take a picture, Cheyenne.” She held the bat in front of her face and smiled.
"You are seriously warped,” I said as I snapped the picture. If she only knew how close she came to discovering my secret. Out of all the crap she could have picked up, she chose the bat. Ironic, huh? That's my life—one irony after another.
"That's why you love me.” She dropped the bat back where it belonged and proceeded to pick up every little trinket, making some silly gesture with each one. She put on a green explorer hat and struck a pose, expecting me to take another picture.
"Yep, that must be it.” I had to laugh. She's such a goof. And, of course, I took the picture. Oh, okay, I took one of myself in a pink hat, too. What can I say? Some things are just too hard to resist.
I strolled to the other side of the building near the entrance, Mandy following on my heels. Several novelty machines that predict your future and tell what kind of lover you are by squeezing a handle stood against both walls nearest the door.
"Oh cool. I love these games. I wanna try the loooove tester. Got any quarters?” Mandy grinned and presented her upturned palm.
I dug in my purse and pulled out a few quarters. She snagged two out of my hand and took off toward the love tester against the wall perpendicular to the entrance.
I picked a love meter, too. I slid a quarter in the slot and grabbed the handle, then squeezed. Red lights flashed in a rotating motion, lighting up each level.
Please don't land on ‘blah.'
I'd never live it down, especially since Mandy had just yelled she was ‘burning.'
The lights quit flashing and only one remained lit—'harmless.’ Great. Harmless. Just what I wanna be. My hands stay cold, that's all it was. Not accepting the ‘harmless’ label, I plugged in another quarter.
A whiff of vanilla or maybe almonds wafted by my nose. It smelled a lot like some lotion Mandy had received for her birthday a few months ago. I didn't remember smelling it on her earlier though. And I sat right next to her on the bus. Weird. And then came a faint whiff of cinnamon mixed with the almonds, creating a comforting aroma.
I grabbed the handle again and squeezed. The lights started rotating, my glance following the mesmerizing pattern.
An arm snaked around from behind me and a warm masculine hand wrapped around mine. I swallowed a squeal, my heart slamming against my ribs. A static pop crackled in the air. I would've jerked my hand back from the force of the zap, but he it held hostage. Electric currents raced through my body. My skin heated and tingled. Warm, moist breath caressed my neck where my hair had separated and fallen forward. I gasped from the chill moving up my spine—goose bumps popping up over every inch of my skin.
The lights surged and grew brighter, dancing with my own pulse—hypnotizing me. Never had I felt anything so powerful or so intimate. The flashing stopped and the only remaining light prominently displayed ‘uncontrollable.'
Unsure of what to do next, I slowly turned my head. My belly flip-flopped, and my heart beat a crazy rhythm to some unknown melody.
Full lips spread into a smile as a stranger gazed into my eyes, rendering me speechless. “Now, that's what I call chemistry,” he said.
He was the hottest guy I had ever laid eyes on—tall, dark, and oh so gorgeous. He had clear blue eyes you could literally drown in—so inviting and beautiful. And there I stood like some lust struck idiot with drool dripping down my chin. Yep, I was a class act all right.
He released my hand and stepped back. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Sparkie.” He winked, then spun around, leaving as quickly as he had appeared.
When some semblance of my senses returned, I glanced around the building, looking for Mr. Hunkola. I had to point him out to Mandy. She would so not believe me.
Mandy had her back turned to me, now playing the palm reader game. I raced to where she stood.
"Mandy! Oh, my God, you won't believe what just happened to me."
"Must have been good, cause your pissy mood seems to have evaporated.” She lifted one eyebrow in question and waited for me to fill her in.
"I was over by the love tester, playing the game and—"
"You got the ‘blah’ level, right?"
"Do you want to know what happened or not?” I put one hand on my hip and glared at her.
She rolled her hand in a forward circular motion in front of her chest, indicating for me to continue.
"Well, I squeezed the handle, and this guy reached around me and grabbed my hand, causing this shock of static electricity. The machine went crazy and the light landed on ‘uncontrollable.’ I turned around to see who had zapped me, and it was this gorgeous guy. He was like BAM! I about fell over.” I scanned the building, trying to find him. “I don't see him now though."
"I guess he just disappeared?"
"Something like that. But, the best part ... he called me Sparkie and winked. He
winked
. He was tall and had these beautiful blue eyes. You would just die."
She crossed her arms over her non-existent chest. “I'd love to see the guy who made you go all gooey inside. He must be something."
While I searched around the building for my gorgeous game partner, Mandy took off toward the snack bar. She's forever eating something. I swear if she didn't do gymnastics five hours a day she'd be as big as a house.
After realizing my search was futile, I joined Mandy at the snack bar. “Whatcha buying?"
She held up a rock candy sucker and waved it around. Sheesh. That girl has always had a serious sweet tooth. Not that I didn't or anything.
"Hey!” I nudged her shoulder. “I thought you didn't have any money?"
"No, I didn't have any
quarters
. Duh."
We sat on a bench near the cable car entrance to wait for the tour to begin. My heart still thumped so hard from the strange encounter I thought it would bust straight out of my chest and keep on going right out the door. What if I never saw him again? I'd just die if I didn't.
Mandy pulled out a pink sucker from her bag and handed it to me.
"Oh, thanks. I didn't know you bought me one, too.” I grabbed it from her and stuck it in my mouth. Good thing it didn't have a wrapper.
"Yeah, I'm sneaky like that.” She smiled and bit into hers. “Not to mention unbelievably sweet."
"Whatever!” I busted out laughing. Mandy sweet? Not!
"What? Can't you see my halo?” She mimed shining her make-believe halo.
"Yeah. But, you better hide the horns that are poking through if you expect anyone to buy it."
"Five minutes until the 10:00 o'clock tour. Please make your way to the far side of the building past the souvenir area. Stan will be your tour guide,” a voice said over the loud speaker.
"That's us.” Mandy stood and extended her hand. “Come on.” She grabbed my wrist and pulled me up.
"Yeah, yeah."
We lined up at the door where we'd board the cable car that would take us deep into the cave. I took one more look around. No sign of the hot guy. Shiznit! But, I couldn't shake the feeling he lingered somewhere close. My stomach tightened and twisted at the thought.
A man climbed into the cable car and announced, “My name is Stan, and I'll be your guide for the duration of the tour. When I start the car in motion, you'll feel a jerk, then we'll make our way into the cave."
We lurched to a start, then slowly descended. The scent of fresh earth—and almonds—infiltrated my nose. Strange. I'd never noticed that smell in the cave before.
"Did you put any of that almond smelling lotion on today?” I asked Mandy.
She crinkled her nose. “Nope. Why?"
"No reason. I thought I smelled it earlier—and then again just now."
The light faded in increments as we moved farther into the cave until darkness prevailed. The brakes groaned as we shuddered to a stop, rattling my teeth and bones.
As soon as I stood, an overwhelming dizziness overtook me. I swayed and had to sit again. I've had claustrophobic attacks before, but this wasn't the same feeling. It felt more like my senses were short circuiting. A high-pitched sound pierced my eardrums. Nausea welled inside my stomach. I clutched my middle and bent over. The sickly sweet smell intensified the roiling of my guts and I moaned.
"Cheyenne? You okay?” Mandy sat back down next to me and put her hand on my shoulder.
I took a deep breath and willed the queasiness away. “Yeah. I think I just stood up too quick and got woozy. I guess I should've taken the time to eat breakfast, not just a pure sugar sucker."