Everyone was fascinated by new student Lex Moreaux, but no one was as fascinated as me. In just a few short weeks, he’d become the most desired by at Morrison Heights High. There was something so mysterious about him and I was destined to find out what it was. He had a thick island accent and told us all he was from Barbados but his accent didn’t sound like any of the Bajan accents I’d heard before and I’d heard many since I had family in Barbados. I think the thing that really captivated me—as well as others—was his eyes. When he looked at you; it felt like it was your first time staring into someone else’s eyes, and everything around you just stops. He made me feel a certain way that I’d never felt before, and that’s how I knew what he really was.

           “He’s not gay,” my best friend Zora told me as we ate lunch. “I think you’re picking up on friendly signals, Riley.”

           “Friendly my ass,” I said with a light laugh. “Zora, the way he looks at me…”

           “He looks at everyone like that.”

           “No, there’s something different in the way he looks at me. There’s something…else there. I can’t really explain it. It’s like he knows something about me that I also know but I’ve never told anyone about.”

           “What, that you’re a virgin?”

           “No, not that.”

           “Then what are you talking about?”

           “Nothing. It’s nothing.”

           Not a second after I finished my lunch, I pulled out one of my notebooks and wrote a letter to Lex. I didn’t care how it made me look, I had to see if my suspicions were accurate. So, I wrote him a letter telling him to come to my house that night since my mama would be working overnight at the law firm she worked for. Immediately after lunch, I stuffed the letter in his locker. I didn’t have any classes with him, so I had no idea when he’d get the letter.

                                               Me (Riley King)

           In between fourth and fifth period, I passed by him in the hall and since I’m an aspiring photographer, I raised my camera to snap a pic of him. He quickly looked at me and I could’ve sworn I heard him whisper in my ear, “no.” His mouth didn’t move but I distinctly heard him tell me, “no.” Not wanting to reveal my intentions too early, I decided to play my part and hope that he’d get my letter and come to my house that night. I could’ve been wrong, but there was truly only one way to find out.

           “Mama, I’m fine,” I told my mama over the phone. “It may be Halloween night, but it’s still a school night.”

           “I just keep worrying,” she said over the phone. “It’s only been a year since my brother was killed and…”

           “Mama, I’ve made my peace with Uncle Ricky’s death and I think it’s time for you to do the same. There’s nothing that any of us could do.”

           “I don’t think I’ll ever get over it, Riley. Ricky was my little brother and…you remind me so much of him. And the way he died, I just…”

           “His death is a mystery that will never be solved, mama. It could’ve been a freak accident for all we know. I miss him but we have to go on with life. Besides, there are far worse things than death.”

           “What?”

           “Nothing. Mama, I gotta go. I need to finish my homework and then make myself something to eat before bed.”

           “Text me before you go to sleep. You know I’ll worry if you don’t.”

           “I know, mama. Goodnight.”

           “I love you.”

           “I love you, too, mama.” I ended the call and just as I put my phone back in my pocket, I heard the sound of footsteps on the kitchen patio outside. I smiled as I made my way over to the door and opened it quickly, startling Lex.

           “How did you know I was out here?” he asked with a smile.

           “What made you come to this door and not the front?” I asked back.

           He looked me up and down for a little while before saying, “I got your letter and I’m here. Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

           “I already did in the letter.”

           “Yeah, but I like to have verbal confirmation before entering someone’s house. It’s rude not to.”

           “Lex, you can come inside.” I stepped back and let him into the kitchen. After closing the door, I turned around to see he’d already unzipped his shirt and had pulled his sweatpants and underwear down, exposing a thick dark chocolate colored uncircumcised dick. My smile grew bigger as I told him, “Wow, I’ve never seen one in person other than my own before. Nice.”

                                                  Lex Moreaux

           “So, you are a virgin?” He rubbed his hands together and said, “I like virgins. There’s nothing like fresh blood.”

           “Well, you might as well pull those pants and boxer briefs back up because I’m not giving up my virginity tonight.”

           “Then why did you want me to come over, sexy?”

           “To get payback!” I reached into a nearby drawer and pulled out a crucifix I’d placed there earlier.

           He quickly pulled his pants up and backed away, shouting, “Keep that away from me!”

           “Hmm, that’s strange. Why on earth would you be afraid of a crucifix?”

           I got closer to him and he backed into my refrigerator so hard that it made the glass of holy water I’d sat on top turn over and pour on him. That’s when he began screaming and burning. He dashed out of the kitchen and I followed, but when I made it into the living room he wasn’t in there. He hadn’t left the house because the front door was still closed and locked, and none of the windows were broken. He couldn’t leave if he wanted to. I’d hung crucifixes on the doorknobs and above each window.

           “Lex, you might as well come out now,” I called out as I picked up the wooden stake I’d made to kill him with. “You’re probably what, two hundred or three hundred years old? You’re a grown ass man, not a teenager.”

           “Let me out of here,” he called out from upstairs.

           I slowly began ascending the stairs as I told him, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. You see, one of your kind killed my uncle last year and he knew you were after him. He knew for years and he prepared. I don’t know how you got him, but you won’t get me.”

           “I didn’t kill your uncle. That was another…”

           “Another what? Vampire?” I laughed as I continued, “I’m here, Lex. Come and get me if you think you can beat me. Come and get this virgin blood!” I made it to the second-level of the house.

           We had four bedrooms and a bathroom at the end of the hall. I knew he wasn’t in the bathroom because of the big mirror, and demons like him hated having mirrors around. He wasn’t in my room because I’d rigged a trap for him in there. That left either one of the guest rooms or my mama’s room. I headed towards my mama’s room but just before I got to it, he burst out of one of the guest rooms and grabbed me, making me drop my wooden stake in the process. He pulled me inside and threw me to the floor.

           “You let me out of this house or I’ll kill you,” he said to me as his fangs descended.

           “Tell me something, Lex,” I said as I stood to my feet. “What is that stuff that you put all over your body so that you can walk in daylight without burning to a crisp? My uncle told me you pieces of shit have a weird scent and I figured it has to be whatever it is you put on your skin to walk during the day.”

           “Let me out of this house, now!”

           I hurried over to the guest room closet where I’d placed another wooden stake and he dashed out of the room. I was really getting tired of all the running and hiding, so I decided to kick it up a notch. I used the pocketknife I’d used to create my stakes to cut my palm so that I’d bleed. I held my hand in the air and he appeared in front of me out of thin air.

           “This is what you want, right?” I asked. “You want my virgin blood?”

           “I want out of this house!” he shouted. “I’ll spare your life if you let me leave.”

           “You’re not getting that. The only thing I can do for you is put you to rest the way your peers did my uncle last year.”

           “There are more of us. I’m not the only one. You know that. If you kill me, more will come here. And I promise you, they will be much stronger than I am.”

           “You’re already here. You said it wasn’t you who killed my uncle, so you fucks are already here!”

           “Let me out!”

           “No!”

           He grabbed me by my neck and started choking me. I dropped the stake, but I had one last trick for him. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the mini spray bottle of holy water I’d put there just in case I ended up in his grasp. I sprayed it in his eyes and he went crazy. I took advantage of the opportunity and bent down and picked up the stake. I stabbed him in the back as fast as I could, hoping to puncture his heart from the back but missed. He smacked me hard, knocking me to the floor.

           “You motherfucker!” he called out as he reached back and tried to pull the stake from his back. “I’m gonna rip your heart out!”

           “Don’t bet on it,” I said as I got back up and kicked him as hard as I could in the face. His back hit the wall, pushing the stake in even further, causing him to cough up blood.

           I picked up the other stake I’d dropped in the hall and stabbed him in the chest with it. Still, I missed his heart because I couldn’t get it in deep enough. I punched him and kicked him as hard as I could all the way back up the hall towards the stairs. I’d been training for a whole year for that moment and I wasn’t going to let him get me the way my uncle had been killed. When he lunged in and tried to bite me, I bit his neck instead and ripped a huge chunk out of his neck with my teeth. I then pushed him back and kicked him hard in the chest, pushing the stake in further. This time I got his heart.

           “No!” he called out as he fell down the stairs.

           I walked down the stairs and watched him as he deteriorated into a bloody mess on my mama’s beige carpet. I smiled as I told him, “Nice try, but you lost!” I spit on his remains before grabbing my phone and calling a twenty-four-hour cleaning service.

           Uncle Ricky told me all I needed to know about vampires and he told me that I’d be a special target since I was still a virgin. I knew now that I’d killed Lex, others would come for me. Honestly, I didn’t care. They were all in for a fight. Because I wasn’t going down easily. My uncle fought them and had the courage to face them head on. Like me, he was gay and a fighter. One day, I’d end up face to face with the vampire that killed him. I looked forward to it. Even if I died, at least I’d die fighting.

[Disclaimer]: Pictures used do not reflect the sexuality or personality of people in the pictures. They only serve as visual examples of the characters.

© D.A. Morrison 2017