Chapter 1 - Craveing

James slowly walked down the stairs, July following him, and although others thought it annoying James thought it was nice. She was now five and James was ten. “ Dad!?!” he called. “ We’re ready to go to school!” he called. His father looked up from his work in the other room and smiled.
“ Good job” he praised. July smiled at him, she had actually picked out her own cloths this morning. No small feet since she didn’t like making decisions, but it was a start. “ Lets go to Day care,” her father said getting up. He said the same thing every time they went to the school.
It was the only way she understood. She quickly walked to the door and put on her shoes. In seconds they were already out the door. They said goodbye to their father and entered the building holding hands. “ Good morning July.” The teacher said.
“ Good morning “ she replied. “ I will meet you after school” James told her. They said and did the same thing so many times it was almost automatic. James left the building and crossed the street to meet up with a group of kids his own age.
He always trailed behind them until Steven showed up.
Steven is his best friend. They met at a summer camp when he was eight. The other kids had all made fun of James for the letter he wrought home. He had simply been feeling homesick. The kids didn’t leave him alone though.
To them it was fun to pick on him. Then out of the Blue Steven stood up for him and they soon became friends. James wasn’t very self-confidant and had grown shy over the years. In fact Steven was his only friend. Steven liked starring at the moon and was usually hyper whenever he was outside.
He had a hard time sleeping like James did and loved to run. They had lots of fun and for a time it seemed that they had been joined at the hip. At the end of the summer their teacher had instructed them to weave bracelets and give them to their best friends. Both were still wearing theirs. They made fun of James but Steven always stood up for him.
He had a temper. Once the two met up they headed to class. “ So July is starting hear tomorrow?” he asked. James nodded. “ That’s great!” they were both ecstatic.
Steven started to bounce excitedly and James couldn’t help but Join in. no one was sure that July would even be able to go to school so it was very exciting. The two looked pretty funny. “ Wow, what a bunch of girls” Tyler laughed. “ Kiss my boot!” James pointing at his shoes said kicking in his direction.
His foot stopped about for inches from Tyler face. “ Boy’s calm down. Whatever it is save it for recess.” Their teacher replied. “ Yes sir” the two boys said in unison before separating. Like Steven, Tyler had brown hair and was Caucasian. But like James Steven wore his in a short ponytail. Tyler had earned the title class bully.
It was because he had always been one to point out someone’s flaws; which was why James and Steven were his main target. Steven wore glasses and was hyper at times. James was shy. Whenever he was with Steven he never cared about what people thought of him but when he was alone he was very self-conscious.
While he was in class James wondered how July would handle her first day in school. She never liked crowds of loud people and the schools special Ed’ program wasn’t as high strong as the day care. She screamed whenever someone touched her shoulders and couldn’t form long sentences. As far as James new she didn’t like being touched on her shoulders because that was were his mother would grab her when she didn’t listen.
She hid whenever she was upset and fire drills would only scare her. She also tended to disappear at times. She didn’t share a lot either. July knew what the word danger meant but she didn’t always understand danger itself, this was why someone always had to be holding her hand when they left for walks. July wouldn’t read out loud either, so school would be tough.
Right now however school was boring, and James continued to stair into space, wondering if his sisters new classmates would accept her. The day was long; so long so that both boys nearly jumped nearly jumped out of their seats when the bell rang Steven almost sprinted to the cafeteria. “That was boring.” Steven said grinning. “ I almost fell asleep.” James said. The two headed for the lunch line. Today was garlic bread, corn, and some sort of random meat that resembled meatballs. James didn’t like Garlic, he had never touched the stuff but he didn’t need to. It smelled horrible and made his senses act up. Sadly it was part of the main dish and he wouldn’t get outside without eating it first. James scrunched his nose worriedly.
“ Don’t worry it wont kill you.” Steven teased. James knew that but he was more worried about how his stomach would react. They silently walked over to the last table available. Regrettably Tyler was sitting there with his friends. “ You cant sit hear.” Tyler said getting up.
“ Nobody wants you go away.” “ Bite me.” Steven said dropping his plate on the table. James sat down he knew a fight was coming. Tyler Glared and Steven glared harder with an Icy emotionless face. The two starred, refusing to back down. James hurriedly ate his food while the two faced each other.
After about five minutes of the tension James spoke up. “ Maybe we should leave. This table is packed,” he said. “ There’s no were else to sit, besides he cant boss us around.” Steven was right; no one had left for recess yet. “ And why not?” Tyler mused. “ Because we don’t work for you, we don’t owe you anything, and both of us are stronger then you are.” He replied stubbornly.
“ Oh really?” Tyler said. “ Don’t cause trouble, you already got yelled at, once is enough.” James said. “ The coward’s right.” Tyler said. “ I want talking to Steve.” He mumbled before he could stop himself. “ What was that?” he asked.
Uh-oh. “I was talking to you.” James said louder. Crap. “ Well you heard him, step off.” Steven said.
“ You cant boss me around and neither can James. Move.”
“ No.”
“ I said move.”
“And I refused” Steven then planted himself next to James. “ You’ll have to pick me up and throw me.” He said stubbornly. Tyler Glared at him. He wanted to grab him but he had a better idea. “ Teacher! James and Steve wont eat!” he shouted.
Their teacher got up from the staff table and walked over. “ Is this true?” he asked. “ No, I haven’t gotten a chance to eat because we were arguing.” Steven said. “ Not they weren’t” one of Tyler’s friends piped up. “ Boy’s you need to eat or you’ll get sick.” He said.
“ And Tyler, you shouldn’t talk when your eating until both parties have finished.” He said sitting down. “Now go back to your seat.” Tyler scowled at having his plan backfire and took his seat. The teacher didn’t leave so James was forced to eat the Garlic bread. It itched his touched and anything it touched, and he felt nauseous wile his head was stuffed up. “ Maybe your allergic to it.” Steven said. By now his mouth and hands were almost scratched raw and swollen like a bug bite. He had given up on breathing through his nose and just settled for facing the wall and letting it run wile lying on the ground. “ Crap, you look horrible” Tyler snickered. “ Shut up. This is your fault!” Steven shouted. “ My fault?” “ Yeah! If you hadn’t tried to get us in trouble he wouldn’t have been forced to eat it!” Steven said.
“ Hey, I didn’t know he was allergic, if I did I would have left it alone! If anything it’s your fault, you wouldn’t leave so I had to force you to.”
“ My fault!?! Could you be anymore of a jerk!”
“ You’re the jerk who got your friend sick!”
“ At least I’m not a bully!”
“ I’m no bully! I just don’t like you! ‘Cause you’re a jerk!”
“ So basically your just a loser with lots of time!”
“ You’re the loser!”
“ And you’re the jerk!”
“ AND I’M THE UNICORN!” James shouted Exasperated. Both boys froze. It was extremely rare for James to shout they had never heard him yell before. James lay back down. He was getting dangerously close to throwing up.
“ Maybe you should get him to the nurse. This could get serious.” Although Tyler was a bully he knew were the line was.
“ He’s right” one of the nearby girl said. “Can you get up?” Steven asked. James whimpered and gripped the wall. The second he was standing he violently vomited all of his stomach contents onto the ground. The girl Screamed and Tyler said, “Cool!” as Steven Grabbed James and helped in inside.
“ I think you started a chain Reaction.” Steven said looking back. James was sent to the hospital and he couldn’t eat for two hours. He hated the hospital: the smell of, blood, sickness, and death were everywhere. The air was making his through dry, he slept wile they tested him. Yup, he was allergic to garlic.
The fact that no one had spotted his condition when he had gotten outside made his mother furious. She would have sewed the school if she could have but luckily James had thrown up everything at the school so there was not sever damage and his stomach didn’t need to be pumped. Staying in the hospitable was hard on him because he couldn’t move around. “ Miss?” one of the doctors said pulling Jane aside. “Your son has an extremely low iron count.” He said.
“ You did a blood test?” Jane asked. “ We found his sudden fatigue a little odd, and allergy like this takes awhile to wear a person down.” “ But that’s Impossible, We had spinach yesterday for supper.” She replied. “ We also found a few oddities.” He said. “ How many tests did you do?” Jane asked.
“Only the blood. His white count it high which could mean an infection, however, his Red count is low so I believe it could be something more.” He explained. “ Do you know if the school uses any unorthodox products?” “ No. Is His condition serious?” She asked. “ Not yet, he doesn’t have any symptoms of serious infection and he doesn’t have and cuts or scratches either, so I’m not sure what’s going on, Id like to send an investigator to the school and run some more tests on James.” He said. Once she singed the paper work they did more tests including a D.N.A. test.
If it were genetic they would need his birth parents medical history. They decided to keep him overnight, which had July concerned, but luckily she didn’t put up a fuss. She mostly sat around and drew until it was time to leave. Meanwhile the D.N.A test finished. James didn’t have a match.
When the other tests were reviled what the doctor saw was astonishing. His white cells were feeding off of his red cells in order to heal him. It was as if the red were a food source. This couldn’t be a coincidence. He immediately called Jane and said he needed another day of tests.
He blamed it on a nurse’s mistake. He didn’t know what the regulations meant but it said if he found anything like this he was to keep it secret and destroy the evidence. It was the government’s orders. The next day was spent doing Brain and stress tests. There was nothing new with his brain but his strength matched an adult on steroids.
“ My God! This boy could be evolving past regular human rates!” However he kept his suspicions to himself. He had been informed not to ask questions on this subject and that this information on James would be hidden in a top-secret file. His medical records described his pink eyes and the times when they disappeared and reappeared and James was submitted to a full eye examination. His night vision was very sharp but not above normal. His eyes were perfectly healthy, too healthy.
The doctor tried multiple things to get them to cause a reaction but they never changed color. “ S-so I’m different?” James asked. The Doctor diced it would be best to be honest with him. No need to make the poor boy paranoid or nervous. Beside legally he had the right to know what was going on.
Especially since he wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to clue in his mother on this. When it came to he children Jane was brutally honest and something like this needed to be kept as quiet as possible. James was a smart kid, James knew that if his mother needed to know he should tell her, and that was why the doctor trusted him with this. “ Yes, I believe that like your sister; you were born differently. It doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with you; just that in some areas you’re a little advanced then others. But like others who are different; you may fid challenges and obstacles that are hard to over come.” He explained. “ Like what?” James asked.
“ Your strength, It important to test you limits but if your not careful you could end up hurting someone.” He said. James already knew this. One when he was younger he had tried to hug July and she screamed. He had hugged her too tight and left bruises. Since then she had an aversion to hugging him.
“ Weather we should tell your mom is up to you but keep in mid I’m obligated by law to be as truthful as I can be.” He said. James nodded. He wanted to tell the truth, if something went wrong his mom would need to know. “ Is that why my teeth are so sharp?” he asked showing his canines. “ It could be but I’ve seen other people like that too so I don’t think its anything to worry about. Either way keep an eye one them.” The doctor said.
It was true others had extra pointed canines like that but they were really dull. Grabbing Hiss tools and putting on some gloves, the doctor inspected James’s mouth. His gums were sensitive and they seemed to leak fluid when he pressed on the canines. It was only a light touch but it caused James to slam his mouth shut. He yanked his hand out as fast as possible.
“ Oh bother,” he said to himself. He removed his glove and was about to get a Band-Aid but froze. James eyes were turning pink. “ James? Are you alright?” the boy’s hart rate had doubled on the monitor. “ I-I don’t know.” James said.
“ I don’t like blood” he said, starting to shake.
“ It’ll be alright just calm down.” “ I don’t think I can!” James bolted for the bathroom door and leaned agents it when he got inside. He slowly slipped down to the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees. He was scared. Something in him wanted it and it was close to winning.






James sat in the doctor office. His mother and sister were outside listening. The doctor had wanted to experiment more but given James’s reaction he decided agents it. His mother was furious and she threatened to sew the hospital. Not good.
Eventually the choice was left to him. “ I-I just want to go home.” He had said. And that was that. So they went home. July was stacking cups while he was lying in bed starring up at the ceiling.
His eyes were very wide. He honestly didn’t know what to do. He had felt this bizarre thirst before, but not like this. July walked over to his bed and curled up next to him. They sat like this for a while before he got up and left.
Steven was at the river sitting under the bridge bare-foot wile watching the water go by. He had also taken his hair down so it sat just above his shoulders. “ Hi!” he chirped when he saw James. “ So why weren’t you at school yesterday?” he asked. “ More tests.” James replied.
“I see. Your okay right?” Steven asked. “ … I don’t know.” He said dropping to his knees beside Steven. “ I don’t know Steve! I just don’t know!” he sobbed. Steven put a comforting hand on his friends shoulder. “ Why are your eyes pink? Was it the tests?” Steven asked.
“ I don’t want to be a cannibal!” James sobbed out. “ Eh?” This was confusing. “But the cravings wont go away! And they found out!” “ What cravings?” okay now this was getting weird. Eventually James told him everything.
He had been having cravings for blood ever since he was little. Only now they were getting stronger. “ Well I guess that would explain your teeth.” “Huh?” “ Your top canines are extra sharp.” Steven replied.
He was right. They had been that way for a while now too. “ Maybe you’re a vampire.” Steven mused. James started sobbing again. “ Aw crap! I didn’t mean it!” Steven said.
“ I’m sorry!”
“ Gah! I don’t want to eat people!”
“ Well…no one said you had to.” Steven said. This was starting to worry him.



“ Goodness this kids got the demeanor of a girl,” Melexa thought. He (or she) had been standing on the train tacks built into the bridge wobbling back and forth. He (or she) was wearing a black hat with a sharp looking feather in it. He (or she) was also wearing a long leather trench coat that went down to the knee and sort of looked like a dress. Whether this person was wearing pants or a skirt was unknown but they were wearing healed, lace up, leather boots that went up to the knee.
They were also wearing matching leather black gloves. His (or her) skin was very pail and their eyes were red. He (or she) had blond, straight, hair that went down to the small of the back. Melexa leaned agents the rusted side of the bridge. Why the Thorns wanted him in their little coven was unknown to Melexa.
James was shy, self conscious, and just a sniveling whelp. He didn’t seem to have the capacity to defend himself, let alone anyone else. “ Then again, I use to be a sniveling Girl” Melexa thought. “ B-but they’re getting really bad! I almost lost it in there! I don’t know what to do!” James sobbed. Steven hugged him. He didn’t know what else to do himself.
His eyes flashed up to Melexa who quickly jumped and disappeared before Steven got a good look at him. Melexa knew what Steven was, and if Steven knew it himself there friendship could be trouble.

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