Upon hearing Officer Roberts words Ryan felt a pang of remorse. Of course it was necessary to tell Carmine about what he was but was it necessary to keep on getting her in trouble with her brother and the school? Ryan pulled open the back door of the cruiser as the officer told them to get in, he let Carmine into the car before sitting down himself and whispering over to her. “Why is it that I feel this isn’t the first time you’ve been in the back of a cop car?” He smiled softly as he tried to lighten the mood for her, he would take all the blame though because the only reason she was out here was because of him.

“So officer, I just want to ask if you could refrain from calling Josh on your own, I’m the one to blame here. I wanted to skip school and go joy riding in my new car but Carmine talked me out of it. She’s really a good person and I’m sure you know that already…” There was a slight look of pleading in Ryan’s golden hues as he spoke through the cage that separated the front and the back. “I’ll promise to take whatever punishment that the school decides to give me with a smile on my face as long as Carmine is left out of it.”

Silence enveloped the car as Ryan watched Officer Roberts evaluate the proposition. He could tell that Roberts really didn’t want to get Carmine in trouble and since he barely knew anything about Ryan it would be easy to let him take all the blame. “Okay, I promise not to tell the school or your brother about this Adeline, but if I catch you out here again I’ll be forced to do something about it.” Ryan grinned and made a mental note to have William donate a large sum of money to the police station for new equipment as a thank you to Roberts. Sitting back into his seat he turned and looked at Carmine as the police car pulled into the long road that led both to the school and to the road that Carmine lived on. “So what do you know so far about the new student?”

The warmth of Carmines hand as she took his own was like a small spark that engulfed his entire body in a sense of fire that he had never felt before. It was different now somehow, now that she knew what he was. The weight of lying to her was off of his chest and he had never felt so free from his burden of being a vampire ever in his life before this moment. “Yeah, I guess I should get you back to the exciting life of a high school student because walking around with a vampire isn’t fun enough.”

Laughing he allowed her to tug his towards the trail that would lead down the steep hill, it was a long walk and Carmine had already stated that she was cold so Ryan decided to speed it up a little. With a movement so fast, Ryan had scooped Carmine off of her feet and held her in his arms like he were cradling a small baby. She weighed nothing to him and he was running as fast as he could down the hill as Carmine’s hair flew up due to the speed and everything around them was a blur of colors. The journey down took less than a minute and as soon as Ryan had reached the flat surface of the bottom of the hill he stopped. Helping Carmine to her feet he held onto her so if she was disoriented then he could prevent her from falling.

“Sorry for not warning you but I wanted it to be a surprise. I haven’t ever ran like that with a human before and I thought that you out of everyone would enjoy feeling the rush of what it’s like.” A small grin spread over his face and he motioned at the skateboard she was holding that belonged to her friend. “So do you prefer riding on that or on the vampire express?’

Just as he finished speaking a car pulled up next to them, Ryan turned his head slightly and noticed a red light on top of the cars roof which could only mean one thing…they had been caught by the cops skipping school. A police officer rolled down the window and looked at the two of them, Ryan could see what it would look like to someone else. Two kids who are supposed to be in school are out here at the bottom of a hill with a skateboard and Ryan with his arms around Carmine, it definitely looked like a couple of trouble makers to the cop. “Hey there Adeline, does your big brother know your out here with a boy when your supposed to be learning?” Of course the cop knew her, everyone knew everyone in this town and since Ryan was new here he decided to let Carmine handle everything with the officer.

Nodding softly at her realization that he was something else Ryan began to speak in a soft voice. “I’m a vampire, a parasite who…” His words were cut off by her closing off the distance between them and then her placing two warm hands against his cold cheeks. To say that her acceptation of what he was came as a surprise was a vast understatement, Ryan was ready to pack up and leave the second she ran away from him in horror but this was something he hadn’t been ready for even if he hoped it was what would happen.

“Y-your sure? I mean your positively absolutely sure you want to do this? Are you in shock or something… I mean I am the living dead…” As soon as Carmine wrapped her arms around him though nothing else mattered. Ryan pulled her into a tight embrace and closed his eyes off to the entire world as the two of them held each other on the top of the hill overlooking the entire town. “Thank you Carmine…”

After a few minutes Ryan pulled away and reached down to grab the flower out of his pocket. He tucked it behind Carmine’s ear so that it held her hair back and he smiled down at her slightly. His golden eye’s seemed to be alive now more than ever before and without thinking he let out chuckle, the chuckle then became a laugh and Ryan soon couldn’t control himself as he began to laugh hysterically. “I’m sorry Carmine, it’s just that I find how calm your taking this funny! You amaze me Carmine, you truly amaze me.”

Taking a quick step forward to match her own slow one Ryan nodded his head and spoke in a hurried voice as if someone were about to jump out and stop him from telling her. “Exactly Carmine, I’ve pulled you into this with me and that isn’t right! I want you to have a choice on the matter…” Another breeze blew by causing both Ryan’s and Carmine hair to flutter into the wind, he didn’t stop making his way towards her as he spoke out his next words.

“I’ve done horrible things before Carmine… I have murdered people before, people I didn’t even know… people with families and mothers and fathers who lost their sons and daughters because I couldn’t control myself! Because I couldn’t control my urges, my desires! I don’t deserve to be walking this earth but I am and I am remorseful of what I have done because of my thirst but that doesn’t make it any better at all!”

His voice rose with his emotions as he reached out and took Carmine’s hand in his own, he grasped it tightly but not enough to hurt her as he pressed it against where his heart would be. “Cold touch… pale complexion… no heartbeat… you know what I am now Carmine, I am giving you the chance to leave and never have to deal with me again…” Inside of his head he knew that if she decided to reject him then he would have to leave, there was no way that he could stand being around her like this and not try to be in her life. He would accept whatever decision she made no matter what.

He heard her coming well before she actually got to the top of the hill, turning slightly he tucked the Orchid into his pocket slightly. “Don’t say that yet Carmine… not until you’ve heard everything I have to tell you…” Ryan too a step forward but still stayed a nice distance away from her just in case. He ran a hair through his wavy brown hair and brushed his bangs out of his eye’s slightly, his golden hues found her grey ones and he noticed that the sky was around the same color of her eyes.

“I’ve been debating in my mind whether or not to tell you… What the benefits of telling you the truth would bring… I have thought about this endlessly since I first saw you. The cons greatly outweigh the benefits Carmine… I won’t lie about that. Telling you this would bring you into something you might not want to be a part of but I want you to be able to clearly see all aspects of my life before forcing you to make a decision.” Ryan was pacing now slightly and he was staring at his hands as he spoke, a breeze fluttered past them and he was thankful that Carmine wasn’t interrupting him as he spoke.

“I want to be completely honest with you so I’ll start by saying that I love you Carmine… I don’t know why or in which way I love you but I do and I can’t change that. I am not what I say I am Carmine, I’ve been keeping a secret from you and I can’t let you blindly follow me in friendship or anything because I am a danger to you, a huge danger to you. I have to reveal my secret… are you sure you want to know it because once you know about me and my world there is no going back…”

It took a few seconds for Ryan to read the note but he sat there for a few minutes just reading over a few lines. I’m starting to worry on whether or not I should be around you… you’re the boy I’ve come to be friends with… what’s really stopping me from accepting you anyway?” It was a complete mix of emotions inside of Ryan, it seemed as if she were rejecting and accepting him all at the same time. Pulling out his pencil he scrawled down his response and finished just as the bell rang, tossing the note onto Carmine’s desk he grabbed his things and headed out of the door.

Carmine,

I realize that I am asking a lot from you with this but I must do it. Before we can become friends Carmine, before we can become anything at all I’ve got to tell you something… Meet me in the clearing up on the hill that overlooks to the town to the west. If you don’t show up I’ll understand but it’s important that we talk about this…

Leaving his new car in the parking lot Ryan ran with an inhuman like speed once out of the school, he headed back to the hill he sat on when he first arrived in the town and looked around. There was a small purple orchid growing a few feet ahead of where he stood, leaning down he plucked it from the ground and held it up in the air. Keeping his back to the town he sniffed the flower slightly and waited.