Bloodbound (w/WillowVX)

James shook his head. "Don't be sorry. It was really great and I'd like to do it again sometime. Just not now." He smiled as he leaned against the nearest locker. "We're going to be so late for class aren't we?" He put up his hands and continued before she could comment. "That's okay though. You're much better company than the teacher."

Belle still felt a little embarrassed. Rejected, even. She couldn't believe she'd kissed him. She hadn't even known him a full week. That wasn't like her at all. Maybe it was a good idea to keep more of a distance. She didn't want to fall too hard. Belle watched James as he leaned lithely against the lockers next to her and gave her a smile that made her heart race. She almost forgot to breathe. She blinked a few times to snap out of it.

"I don't know. Mr. Blackman's lectures are pretty simulating." Belle blushed. She smiled back and elbowed him playfully in the side. "He probably won't even notice we aren't there. I mean, we sit in the back. It's not like we exactly make our presence known." Belle laughed. They stood at the lockers looking at each other for a moment, it made Belle a bit uneasy when he stared at her and didn't say anything. She coughed a bit to clear her throat before speaking again. "So. You said that you wanted to open up to me, right? Tell me something else about you. It doesn't have to be a big secret. Just... anything." She scratched the back of her head. "And I'll tell you anything you want to know about me."

"I guess you really don't know all that much about me. Or I about you. It's hard to think of it that way, though. I feel so close to you... like I've known you for so much longer than... sorry, that got a bit creepy. I'll try not to be creepy. Something about me... well I've already told you a bit about my parents. And from what I've told you about their careers, confessing that my family is embarrassingly rich wouldn't be that much of a shocker. I've told you I like to cook and, what else..." What else indeed? James wanted to give her a kernel of truth. In fact, as much as possible he found he would like to avoid lying to Belle. It was more fun, coming ever closer to giving himself away without quite revealing it.

"I lived in France for a while." For almost a hundred years, in fact; it had been his birthplace. "Long enough to learn the language. So yeah, I speak French... pretty well." That was probably an accurate assessment; after all, the language had had centuries to evolve since he had last needed to speak it.

Belle listened attentively as James explained about himself.

"No. That's not.. You're not creepy. It's okay. I feel the exact same way about you. You are practically a stranger but it feels like I've known you forever." Belle agreed.

James continued to speak. Embarrassingly rich. She had to stifle a chuckle when he said that. He said it so nonchalantly, like, 'I'm just rich, no big deal.' It was obvious by the tone of his voice that being rich didn't really matter to him. It didn't matter to Belle, either. So, she knew about his family. She knew he was a good cook. Actually, he was a great cook. The food he made was excellent. When Belle thought of this, her stomach started growling.

"France?" She asked, dumbfounded. "Are you serious? I've never even been out of California." She thought about this for a second. "I'd like to go to France. And Ireland. And everywhere. I wish I could just pack up and go. Travel. See the world, you know? There must be so much of the world to see." Belle had stars in her eyes and her gaze seemed far away and she fantasized about the idea. "So many people. Food. Culture. Music. Art. Beauty." She shrugged, coming out of it and giving James a small smile. "But I'll never see it in this lifetime. There's just too much to see, not enough time. Plus, I'm stuck here." Belle shrugged and laughed bitterly.

Not enough time? Oh, I can help you with that, Belle. But you'll have to do something for me in return. In fact it will cost you everything... "Stuck here? Why? Well, I guess it's not that easy to travel but... you're smart, Belle. Maybe it'll have to wait until college, but I think you can definitely study abroad if you want to. There are usually scholarship programs for that, so it doesn't cost anything. Well, not anything that you weren't already spending on college anyway. Or is there another reason? I mean if you don't want to tell me that's cool. It's just... you're this brilliant, beautiful girl, I kind of think that if you really want to travel, you can find a way."

Belle thought for a moment. She discovered that she didn't want to lie to James. She couldn't very well tell him the truth, either. She decided to be as honest as possible without giving away who she really was. When James said she was brilliant and beautiful, she blushed. Belle was never impressed by shallow compliments but for some reason she felt like James meant it. She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and cleared her throat.

"Thank you." Belle smiled. "But it's complicated..." She began to explain. "I have... responsibilities, you know? And between you and me, I don't know if I'm going to college." Belle had been thinking about that for a while. High school was difficult enough with being the slayer. She didn't know if she would be able to balance college and killing vampires. A girl can only take so much. "I want to. There are things that I want to do for myself... I just - I just have other things to worry about. I'm probably never going to leave California." Belle admitted honestly. A grim thought passed through her mind - especially since the average lifespan of a slayer usually ranged to somewhere in her twenties, if she's lucky. She hated that she had to be so vague but she did it for his own good. Belle didn't think James was ready for the truth.

"That kinda sucks. But being responsible is a good thing, don't get me wrong on that. It's very mature. Although, another part of being mature is sorting out your priorities. Figuring out what's important to you, what you really want, you know? And then going for it. You have a right to do the things that make you happy. Almost a responsibility in its own right. I mean, they did put it in the Declaration of Independence." And since you're going to be surrendering life and liberty, you had best take whatever happiness you can get. "Sorry if it sounds like I'm telling you what to do. I just want you to be happy." Just for fun, he pushed another flash of her dream into her mind--the memory of her orgasm.

Belle laughed genuinely at James' words.

"You have a point." She laughed. A soft smiled played on her face. "Thank you. It really means a lot to me. And you're right. I know that you're right. It's just... that... I feel like other people's happiness is more important than my own, you know what I mean? Like, once I know that the people around me are safe and happy, then I'll feel comfortable with following my own happ..." Belle was continue continue before an image flashed through her mind. It was James. From her dream. He was drinking her blood as he caused her to orgasm hard onto him. She blinked out of it and her breathing became a bit heaver. She shook her head and tried to clear her mind. It reminded her of something.

"Sorry." Belle laughed awkwardly. "Uhm, I, I think I'm going to take advantage of the fact that we skipped class. I had some research I wanted to do in the library. I'll catch you at lunch?" Belle asked him as she turned to walk away. What she saw stopped her in her tracks.

Fred's locker was just beside them, a few lockers down. It was decorated with pictures and flowers. Belle stood there still and silent. She was breathing even heavier as she stared at the now empty locker. Belle hadn't thought about it much since last night. It hurt too much to think about. She tried to keep her mind clear. She had a job to do. She had to look up the founders of the town. Take a closer look at that car. And tonight, she would try to patrol. She was done playing this guy's game. She wanted this over with. She turned and gave James a sad look. Before anyone else gets hurt, she thought.

"I'm looking forward to it," James called after her as she left. With a sigh, he made his way back to class. As much fun as it was to tease her, it was also a little frustrating to hold himself back like this. He couldn't even pretend to be concentrating on the class he returned to; his mind was on Belle the entire time. Occasionally, he would turn her mind towards him--flashing an image of himself or the sound of his voice through her head.

~~~

The records from the founding of Edendale painted a bit of an odd picture. Quite a number of the founders didn't or shouldn't have had the money to play the roles they did, nor did it seem they made the sort of money they should have. There were records of businessmen making proposals and agreeing to deals that were far to altruistic. At least one writer liked to gush about the spirit of cooperation between people who were so different, but it honestly looked like the town was founded by one large, coordinated group, financed and controlled by someone whose name never appeared in the records.

There were a couple of pictures, mostly of middle-aged men with hilarious facial hair that was probably in fashion at the time. In one picture, however, there was a much younger man--possibly even a teenager--off to the side.

Belle could hardly focus throughout the school day. All she could think about was James. His smile. The intensity of his eyes. The sound of his voice. The way he kissed her back. She tried her best to shake it away. There were more important things to worry about right now. He was right. They should stay just as they are until they were able to be completely honest with each other. Belle didn't feel comfortable going any further, as much as she wanted to, until this vampire business was taken care of.

The computer in the library roared to life. Belle thought about where to start. She typed in the name of the town. She started with the wikipedia page. There wasn't much there that she hadn't already researched. She knew the basics of the town - the demographics, weather conditions, violence and crime statistics. She needed to dig deeper. She searched previous mayors and founding families. Several articles came up. She sifted through them for almost an hour. Nothing. She sighed. It was already halfway into her literature class. Skipping class wasn't new to Belle, she wasn't worried about it. She was beginning to feel like this was a dead end before one of the pictures made her look twice. It was a black and white photo, dated in 1920. Several older men were engaged in what seemed like a business deal, they were shaking hands. In the back of the photo, looking as if he was over seeing the deal, was a man significantly younger. Belle strained her eyes and peered harder. It was an old photo and it was hard to be sure. He looked like he was in his early twenties, maybe even younger. She scanned the list of names but his wasn't listed. When her eyes focused and she was able to make out most of his features, her eyes widened slightly. He looked exactly like James. A feeling of panic washed through Belle, but only briefly. She thought about the dream. The look on his face, stained with blood. Fangs. She shook her head and kicked it out of her mind. She looked at the picture again. It looked just like him. Then she remembered what James had said. His family has been around this town for a long time. This was his home. Belle almost laughed at herself. Of course, it was a great grandfather or something. It couldn't be him. This was just a prime example of why she needed to get this vampire business taken care of. It was making her paranoid.

Belle continued to search for another hour. She looked through some record books in the library but she wasn't able to find any correlation. It seemed this guy was good at covering his tracks. She sighed. She was getting very frustrated. She hadn't noticed how quickly the time went by. She looked up at the clock on the wall and it was 11:45. She had to meet James for lunch.

After a few classes, it was time for lunch. James made his way to the cafeteria, found a couple of seats and settled in. He tapped his foot impatiently; he couldn't wait to see Belle. To make sure she would come and not blow him off, he began to invade her mind once more. He didn't bother with images of himself, but focused on memories of the food he'd given her. Come on, Belle. Don't let me down. Come and get it. He drummed his fingers on the lid of the plastic container he had brought for Belle.

Belle knew that she was running late. She'd gotten so caught up in her research that she hadn't noticed the time. Lunch started at 11:30, she was already fifteen minutes late. She finished up with the book she was working on, trying to fight her mind. She started picturing the food James had brought her last time. The way it smelled. The way it tasted. It almost made her stomach growl but she pushed it away. Instead, her mind trailed to Fred's locker. A pit grew inside of her stomach and killed her appetite. As a matter of fact, the thought of food made her extremely nauseous. The thought of going into a lunchroom surrounded by it didn't sound very appealing. Never the less, she put the book away and started towards the cafeteria.

This is the second time in a row that Belle was supposed to meet James for lunch and was late. She walked into the crowded space and looked around. Fred wasn't at her usual table by the doors. Her chest tightened. She couldn't look over there. She slightly scanned the lunchroom for Aaron. He was nowhere to be found. His friends seemed to be missing too. Belle had a sinking feeling. She hoped that they weren't trying to come up with some kind of plan to go after James. She thought she should warn James to be careful, just in case.

James was sitting in the same place where she'd met him two days ago. She gave him a tired smile as she weaved her way through the crowd.

"Sorry." Belle said as she sat in the seat across from him. "I was caught up in something. What's up?" She sighed and folded her arms on the table. Hours of looking at a computer screen and old books with small print had made her exhausted.

"Not much. Nothing interesting seems to happen when you're not around. Or maybe it's just that you being around makes things more interesting." James smiled at her as he pushed her the container. "I was starting to worry you weren't coming... it's soup again today. Sorry, but after yesterday I wasn't sure how you would be feeling. Um, how are you feeling? You look tired."

Belle laughed and rolled her eyes at James.

"Yeah, right." She said. James pushed the container towards her. She slightly looked down and acknowledged it but looked back up a James. "Because I'm just the master of fun." She laughed. "I know. I'm sorry. When I get into something, I kind of dive all the way into it. It's easy for me to lose track of time. And that's fine, I really appreciate it." Belle smiled at James. "Thank you. I couldn't eat right now though." She pushed the container to the side. "I'm not feeling great, to be honest with you. I am tired. And..." Belle took a deep breath and sighed. "And I keep getting reminded of Fred. Everywhere. Her locker. Her lunch table. Maybe it was too soon to come back..." Belle trailed off. She stared at James. He looked concerned. She wished she could tell him everything.

James sighed. "Sorry. I pushed you to come back and... sorry. But even if you're not feeling great, you need to eat something. You need your strength, Belle." Not that it will bring you success, but if you're to survive what I have planned for you... "If you can't stand being here, being reminded, then go home, but please. Eat first. Or even just take it with you and eat later. But promise me that you will eat. You can't not take care of yourself. Fred wouldn't want that--and I know, that's a really shitty card to play, but if that's what it takes I'll play it. So please, just eat your soup okay?"

Belle bit her lip and sighed. She understood that he was concerned but it was more complicated than he knew.

"I'll save it for later." She said and put the container in her bag. She was going to comment on what he said, about having to take care of herself, and then she remembered something. "Did you have a great grandfather that was part of one of the founding families of this town?" She asked abruptly. She hadn't meant to take him by surprise but she was curious. She thought about the old picture she found with the guy who looked exactly like James.

Inwardly, James smiled. She seemed to be getting closer to the truth, but still doubting herself. That was very good. Still, he didn't let his satisfaction show on his face, and instead looked a bit surprised. "Huh? Founding families? No, nothing like that, or at least I don't think so. My family has been in this town a long time and we've done our part and everything, but I think my parents were the first generation to really make it big. Before that, the most influence any of my ancestors had was being, like, a record keeper for the first mayor--and that was before he was even mayor. By the time he got elected, great-great-grandpa or whoever didn't work for him anymore."

Of course, whether or not James (or rather Frederick, as he had called himself back then) worked for the mayor on paper was a trivial matter; in reality the mayor had worked for him while he played the part of a humble clerk. No one thought anything of his presence at the various business and civic meetings which had built and shaped the town; after all, the far more important businessmen didn't have time to go digging through their records to find the one document or contract they needed at the moment, so of course there were people like Frederick around to fetch things for them. He'd ended up in a few pictures, but the photographers had paid him so little mind his name hadn't even been recorded.

Belle's eye brows furrowed a bit. Huh. That was odd for him to be in one of the photos. I guess it makes sense, she thought. Maybe he was caught on camera by accident. She shrugged it off. There was no reason to dwell on it. She shoved away the feeling that something was wrong. She was just shaken up from everything that's been going on. It was just a coincidence. Nothing more.

"Oh. Alright. I just... I was doing research on the town. For.. my English class. And I saw a photo in an article." Belle started to laugh. "He looked just like you. It was crazy. I assumed it was one of your family members." She looked around and there was still no sign of Aaron or his two friends. She looked at James with a worried expression. "James..." She started. "Are you worried about what Aaron said earlier? You know... about finding you tonight?"

James blinked. The change of subject was genuinely surprising. "Oh, that? No, not really. Should I be? Clearly he's an asshole but he can't be that dangerous... or else he wouldn't have needed a couple of backup dancers to take on one girl, right? Anyway, if he does come after me... I'll just run. I've got nice long legs and ah, more stamina than you might think." He flashed another image through her mind--their bodies entwined, naked skin glistening with sweat. "I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm kind of more worried about you, to be honest. I mean, I don't want to make any assumptions, but you looked a little overwhelmed this morning. Do you think we should tell somebody about him? Like the principal? Or the police?"

Belle was listening intently to James until the point where he said he had stamina. Despite herself, she thought about what it would be like to test that theory. Her and James, together, naked and embraced. Her breathing picked up and she had to blink several times to keep herself concentrated.

"I.. Uhm..." She struggled. Her heartbeat was fast and she had to look away from James. She shook her head. "No. No, I can handle Aaron. I don't think it's anything you need to be worried about." Belle lied. She would kick the crap out of Aaron herself after school and make sure that he didn't lay a finger on James. She had no doubt that James could take care of himself but Aaron was big. He was strong. He was fast. And he had friends. "I just feel bad for getting you involved. I didn't want you to be worried or anything like that. He's just a bully, you know? He's mad because when I first moved here, I sort of blew him off." Belle recovered from her earlier issue and looked at James with a smile. "You don't have to worry about me."

"I can't help it. I can't! I worry. Especially when you don't eat." James pointed at the container again. "If you won't look after your most basic needs, how can I trust that you're going to be okay? Sorry, I'm getting off track and I sound like somebody's mom. Not my mom because she wouldn't have time for this nonsense, but somebody's mom. I will try not to worry, and to let you take care of yourself. So you try not worry about me either, okay? I'm sure I'll be fine."

Belle felt a hint of curiosity. She tried not to let it show but her eyes squint slightly and she looked down at the container. He was really insisting her to eat. It sounded almost like he was trying to manipulate her into it. But why would he care that much whether or not she ate the soup? If I can't look after my needs, how can he trust that I was going to be okay? She thought to herself. Her instincts were telling her that there was something condescending about the way he said it. She rubbed her eyes and decided to ignore it. She was tired, stressed, and she didn't want to take it out on James. He didn't mean anything by it. He was just trying to be a good friend.

"I guess it's not such a bad thing. Us looking out for each other." Belle said. "It's been a while, since I did the whole friend type thing. I had a group of really good friends about two years ago..." She trailed off. She didn't like to think about what happened to her old group of friends. The three of them had gotten too close. It didn't end well. She wouldn't let that happen to James, no matter what. "Anyways, I almost forgot what it's like, someone having my back." She smiled. "It's nice."

"It's important to have friends, I think. Even though, moving around as much as I have, it's hard to keep up with them, it's still important. And I'm so lucky to have made such a good one here... so yeah. I've got your back." James smiled at her. "Always. And I'm not so arrogant as to believe I'll never need help so... it's good to know you're looking out for me too." Such a sweet girl. I'll have to find a chance to use that against you. I hope you don't make it too easy, Belle...

"I know how you feel." Belle said. "I mean, I probably haven't moved around as much as you but it's hard for me to stay in one place for very long." Belle sighed. "I think I'll need to stick around here for a while though." She gave James a sad half smile. She partly meant to stay for him and she partly meant to stay because she couldn't leave the town unprotected. This was by far the center of all of the vampire activity going on in this state and she couldn't ignore that, as much as she wanted to run. They were so into their conversation that they hadn't noticed the bell ring. Belle looked around in the lunchroom and everybody had left. "Looks like we're going to be late again." She laughed. She thought a moment before speaking. "Hey, I have some stuff I have to do later tonight... but do you want to maybe, I don't know, hang out or something? After school?" Belle had never actually asked James to hang out outside of school before. He'd shown up at her house but that was about it. It wasn't until now that she realized James made her nervous.

Another unexpected turn... Really, after this morning's kiss, the invitation should not have caught James so off guard. But it did. Still, he regained his composure quickly and gave her a warm smile. "That sounds great! Should we schedule a time and a place to meet? Or... hm. You said you don't have a cell phone, but you still have a landline at home right? So if I gave you my number, you could call me when you want to hang out?"