E-book sneek peak

Elliot couldn't sleep...again.

It seemed like that was the way it went these days. He always fell asleep a little before dawn, but had to get ready for school before he actually felt rested. There wasn't much he could do about it though - as soon as the sun started going down, he was wide awake and no amount of lying in bed did anything to send him off to dreamland.

He was still feeling a little weird about the whole Vampire thing, to be honest. Now that they were in Pine Hollow where there were supposedly other supernatural...people he also kind of, he'd been hoping to find someone to talk to. But Elliot hadn't met anyone 'supernatural' yet, and he wasn't sure how to go about it. You couldn't exactly just walk up to someone and ask. 

Still, it was weird being a thing when you didn't know anyone else who was that thing so you didn't know how to...be the thing properly.

He let out a long groan and tipped his head back to stare at the sky. 

He was behind his house leaning against the gate with a half-empty blood bag dangling from between his teeth - his favorite thing to do when he couldn't sleep these days.

He was kind of getting used to the whole blood thing. At the very least, he knew what the cravings were now. It was still a little weird, but what could you do? Especially when you were under doctor's orders to eat five times a day in an attempt to get you somewhat back up to a healthy weight. He'd been told they couldn't do anything about the fangs though - even if he did recover from the malnourishment.

That was annoying. He hadn't even been self-conscious about them until the doctor said they were stunted. Now he kept wondering if fang size was a...thing...

Was it something other Vampires noticed? Would they laugh at him? Ugh. Why had it taken him so long to notice?? He sighed again and straightened, planning to go inside and sulk until he hopefully fell asleep. 

But he heard something moving rapidly in the trees at the bottom of the path. Elliot froze, staring wide eyed - with that blood bag still dangling - as something finally burst out of the trees and made a beeline for another house two lots down.

The thing was...well...it was..

He had no idea. 

A dog? Thing?

It was mostly dog. And somewhat human too.

He just stared as it scrambled up the slope to the houses and stopped at the fence. It awkwardly pulled itself to standing and Elliot realized it was changing - right in front of him. It was kind of...gross and amazing, actually. And in a few seconds, where there had been a really creepy dog thing, was a boy.

A boy who was naked, panting, clutching the fence for dear life as he let out a choked groan and...who was also familiar.

Danny!?

Elliot didn't know him personally, but he was a guy from school. Popular football player. Seemed nice. Elliot had known he lived a couple of houses down, but they'd never talked.

And he was a...a werewolf!? He was a werewolf, right?

Elliot gaped at him, his mind slowly trying to catch up with what he'd seen. As his mouth went slack, the little blood bag fell from his lips. He tried to catch it silently but it flopped on the grass with a soft little thwump that definitely got Danny's attention.

Both boys stood frozen as they stared - Elliot with a look of shock, and a small dribble of blood making its way down his chin, and Danny completely naked, with a look of terror on his face. Elliot wasn't sure who moved first but suddenly Danny took off like a shot toward the forest. No word, nothing. Just...running.

"W-Wait! Hey!" Elliot called after him as loud as he dared, but Danny didn't stop. "Shoot!"

Elliot scrambled over to where Danny had gone back down to the woods, something on the ground catching his eye.

Clothes? Made sense.

He snatched them up and took off after Danny because first of all...he was a werewolf! Danny was! Someone Elliot knew! A person from school, even! It was the first other supernatural person Elliot had seen and he just...he had to talk to him! 

Second, Danny was kind of naked and, well, that was a problem.

It somewhat occurred to Elliot as he chased Danny that maybe he'd run off because Werewolves hated Vampires - but he didn't actually think it was the case. Danny had just looked...scared, really. And that transformation had looked painful.

He might have just been surprised to see someone watching him.

I hope he doesn't think I'm some sort of creepy pervert. I didn't mean to spy. How was I supposed to know he'd be naked?

Elliot did feel a little swell of envy having seen that. Danny was...built. Unlike himself. But then, Danny was a football player and Elliot was just a malnourished kid who'd always been a bit on the scrawny side anyway. In any case, at the moment, he had to focus on his steps and not falling on his face in a bed of blackberry vines. How Danny was running that fast when he didn't even have shoes was far beyond Elliot.

But, in the end, Elliot had the advantage - he was dressed. And, well, he was a Vampire. Speed was apparently something they were good at.

When he was finally close enough to actually see Danny flashing through the trees ahead, he called out again.

"Hey man! Just...wait. Look, I just want to give your clothes, okay?" 

He was pretty sure Danny slowed down just a little.

"I'm sorry I saw you! Really! I'm not going to tell anyone or anything."

Danny pulled to abrupt halt and whirled around. Elliot stopped a short distance away and trained his eyes on a nearby tree. He held out the clothes awkwardly. "Uh...here." There was a long moment he didn't think Danny was going to take the clothes, but they were finally pulled from his hand.

"Why are you following me?"

"Well, I mean. You're...you know. You left your clothes there."

He shot Danny a cautious look. He was dressing, but still glaring at Elliot warily. "Why is there blood?"

"Hah?"

"On your face."

"Oh!" Elliot hastily wiped at his mouth. "Sorry! Sorry. I was just...um...eating? I was eating. Drinking. I mean...I was....drinking. It's sort of the same thing for Vampires but, you know...anyway. The blood thing? Yeah. And then you came out of the woods and...um...are you a Werewolf?" He knew he was babbling, but he didn't know what else to do or say and it was kind of awkward because Danny was getting dressed and they were in the woods...

And Danny was also glaring at him and it was kind of terrifying.

"Vampire?"

"Ah...yeah! I am!" He opened his mouth and pointed at the fangs. The stunted fangs. 

I hope he doesn't notice...

Danny finally straightened and let out a long sigh. "And yes...I am. A...werewolf, I mean. I guess."

"You guess?"

Danny shrugged into his shirt. "It's not like I've found anyone who told me I am. But, you know, one assumes."

"Whoa...wow. I mean, I just...I haven't met anyone else like me. I mean, you're not like me...like me. But you know what I mean, right?"

"I...guess so. I haven't really met anyone else like this either. I didn't know that Vampires...existed."

"Ha ha. I didn't either. Until recently."

"You mean you..." He looked away, a strange look flickering over his face. "You also used to be human?"

"Yeah..." Elliot frowned. Also. He took a cautious step toward Danny. "Hey...are you okay? That transformation looked pretty rough."

Danny looked back him, cautiously. His entire body was still tense. But at least he wasn't glaring anymore. "I don't really have a good grasp on it yet."

"Ah. So you...I mean, you were infected pretty recently, I guess?" Elliot shoved his hands in his pockets, feeling a bit awkward. This was a strange meeting. Was it always like this when two supernatural people happened to meet up? Just awkward questions and someone being naked?

Because that would be super weird...

"Yeah..."

The look on Danny's face was...kind of heart wrenching. Elliot really didn't know what to do.

Looks like I'm not the only one to have a tough time of it...

He suddenly shot Danny a smile, hoping to at least change the subject a bit. "OH! Yeah...I didn't really introduce myself or anything. I'm Elliot. Elliot Damiani."

He extended a hand and Danny eyed for a moment before he took it. "Danny. I've seen you around."

"Ha ha, yeah. Same. Never really got a chance to say hi. But, you know...I'm glad to meet you. Really."

For the first time, Danny gave him a slight, tired smile. "Yeah. Same." The tension somewhat eased out of his body, to Elliot's relief.

They walked back home together after that. Elliot didn't ask more about how Danny was infected. Instead, he shared his own story. 

He prattled on about how he didn't know Vampires existed, how he got attacked one night, how he didn't really know what happened or realize what he'd become, how he nearly bit his step-sister, how his family moved to Pine Hollow because they'd heard there was some kind of supernatural community there - and how hard it was to find out if that was true because you couldn't just walk up to people and ask.

He mentioned the stunted fangs with a sort of resigned exasperation. That had gotten a laugh out of Danny, and he was glad. 

And when they finally parted ways, it was with a promise to hang out at school and talk some more.Elliot was pretty excited about finally having someone to talk to.  

And before he went back to his own house, Danny quietly thanked him - for chasing him, bringing his clothes back and talking to him. Of course, Elliot said that thanks weren't required. He had this strange feeling that whatever Danny was going through, he was pretty close to being swallowed up by it all. At the same time...

There was kind of a strength there that he admired - Danny's ability to laugh even when he looked so exhausted and sad. And the way Danny was the one who suggested they talk, and all that. It was just...it was a relief. 

Elliot watched him go back through his gate and inside his house wondering if it was too much to hope they'd be friends after this. Because it would be great to just not feel so alone. He really, really hoped so.

When he finally made it upstairs to his own room and fell in bed, for the first time in a long time Elliot fell asleep looking forward to tomorrow.