Chapter 16 - Daren's Story

We had all sat down in the living room. Aeryk, Evan, Derek, Joshua, and me. I was trying to recall Daren's life before the attack. Trying to remember our friendship, adventures, and laughs we had shared together. I began reciting Daren's story.
"Daren and I had been friends since I was eight and he was ten. We did everything together. We were always at this little creek in the woods next to the small town we had lived in. We spent hours on end playing there. We were practically inseperable. When we were together, we were happy. But when Daren went home at the end of the day, he was always the exact opposite from happy."
"Why?" Derek asked.
"Let her go on," Joshua said and nodded to me to keep going.
"Daren's parents were...not the best parents. His father was an alcoholic. His mother was always angry and violent because of her husband. Daren was tortured by the yelling and screaming and fighting from his parents each night. He would always watch them fight with eachother. He would cry but they didn't seem to notice."
"That's horrible," Aeryk said. I gave him a look that said I agreed and continued.
"I was sort of Daren's comforter. He would tell me about the night before if it had really bothered him and I would do whatever I could to make him feel better. This went on for years. By the time that I was thirteen and he was fifteen, Daren started getting very protective of me. This group of boys would sometimes tease me because my family was not the richest in the town. Their families were. Daren was strong for a fifteen-year-old. If someone bothered me, he would beat them up. Or at least try to. I must admit that Daren got a little bruised up back then." I smiled, remembering how beat up Daren used to get.
"We were always there for each other. But when Daren was sixteen, his parents broke up. They didn't do anything with him, they just...left him. Without a second thought. Daren was traumatized by this. My parents let him stay with us for a while. He would always walk around the house with his head down. Sometimes, when I went up to the second floor of the house, I could hear him crying in his room. It broke my heart. I tried to help him as much as I could. After a couple of months, he was pretty much back to himself. Our birthdays had both passed and I was now fifteen, Daren was seventeen. On the night of December 17, 1710, we were attacked by the well-known vampire, Jon Adams. I was out alone, walking, when I heard sort of, whimpering, from an alley way. I stopped and called out at the sound. The whimpering turned to growling. I asked hello and I saw a pair of red eyes suddenly appear from the dark." I saw all of the vampires in the room shift uncomfortably. Every vampire knew of Jon Adams. He was the most blood-thirsty vampire in history.
"He leaped at me. I let out a scream for help. But before I could do anything more, Jon had his fangs in my neck. It was all kind of blurry. I had heard Daren scream my name, then see him leap onto Jon. I remember the pain of the venom flowing through me. All of our screaming had gotten some people's attention. Men were yelling to their wives to get their guns and get the children. Daren was still fighting Jon when a man had shot Jon. Jon didn't die though, he just fled. After they were sure he was gone, some men looked over Daren and me. We both had been bitten. We had both lost a lot of blood. They thought that we had died. I don't remember anything after that. Just waking up in a building to find Daren killing a woman."
"So, what was he reminded of?" Derek asked.
"His parents abandoned him. Like I said, he was pretty traumatized by it. Apparently, he still is. He's still afraid of being left behind," I answered. I looked at Aeryk. He had his hands together and he looked like he was thinking.
"He heard, didn't he?" he asked. I nodded and tears started forming in the pit of my eye. Aeryk sighed and said, "We're still going."
"Going where?" Evan asked.
"We're going to New York for a year. Rayne and I." Joshua, Evan, and Derek gave me a horrified look.
"Rayne! You know the bond you and Daren share. You can't leave him here alone," Joshua said to me.
"I know," I said, trying to hold back the tears.
"Gosh, Rayne, do you have any idea how much this is hurting Daren?" Evan asked.
"Yeah, Evan and I are related, too. We literally can't live without each other. Don't go, Rayne, or your'e going to kill Daren," Derek said. I felt a tear escape from my eye.
"But, Aeryk," was all that blurted out from my mouth.
"Aeryk doesn't get a part in this. You and Daren are too close to each other," Joshua said sternly and left.
"Yeah, Rayne," Evan said. Derek walked up to me and said, "Don't kill Daren, Rayne, you'll kill yourself, too. Trust me." He left with Evan. I put my hands over my face and began sobbing. Aeryk took the seat next to me and hugged me.
"Hey, don't cry, we'll figure this out," he said comfortingly.
"I'm such a bad person," I said, more to myself than to Aeryk.
"No, your'e not. I'll talk to Daren, okay?" I didn't say anything. I didn't want to. Though I knew that Daren would probably get even angrier if Aeryk tried to convince him to let me go. As a response to my silence, Aeryk gave me a kiss on the cheek and said, "I'll go find Daren," then left. I sat there. Still crying. Patrick and Evaline came down then.

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