Blood Brothers

(Note: This story began from a prompt in a book. The prompt is in bold – the rest of it is mine.)

What are you supposed to think when your best friend tells you he’s a vampire? 

At first, of course, I laughed and thought it was a joke. But I wasn’t laughing when Connor showed up on my doorstep that night looking like he was on drugs. 

I was the only one awake, so I opened the door and beckoned him inside. Connor hesitated at the threshold. 

“Come on in,” I said, and went to make some coffee. “So what’s going on -” I turned to Connor to see him about to tackle me. I screamed and fell down the nearby basement stairs, landing with a painful thud at the bottom. 

I quickly rolled over only to see Connor almost on top of me. What was he doing? I pulled my feet back and kicked him across the room. My mind blank with confusion, I scrambled up the stairs, not waiting to see if he got up. I shut the door as fast as humanly possible and locked it tight. Seconds later, there was a thump. And another, and another. I was pretty sure that the thick door would hold. 

Thump.

Thump.

Icy sweat ran down my back as I tried to sort out what had just happened. Thump. Bang.

The attack. Crash.

Connor’s pale face as he stood on my doorstep. Thump.

The warning he had given me that morning. In a completely insane way, it made sense.

Thump.

* * * *

I stayed by the door all night. Gran usually slept late, but I didn’t want to have to explain to her if she woke up why my best friend was locked in the basement. There was also the possibility that Connor would finish off Gran a lot faster than he could finish off me. 

So morning found me with drooping eyelids, still sitting against the door. The pounding had stopped at dawn. Was Connor asleep?

I slowly stretched my stiff muscles and stood. What I was about to do was stupid.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened the door.

Nothing happened. 

Listening very hard, I opened it all the way and peered down to the bottom of the stairs.

Light glinted off of two red eyes.

“C-Connor?” 

I shouldn’t have been shaking like this. Man up! I told myself. You’re fifteen, for goodness’ sake. But I couldn’t keep my heart from pounding as I reached for the light switch.

As my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, I saw Connor, covering his eyes to shield them from the light. He was still wearing the dark jacket he had shown up in last night. At that moment the only thing that I could think was vampire. 

But then he looked at me, and I saw his familiar blue eyes, no red at all.

“Rick?”

Connor sounded confused. “Why am I at your house?”

What?

“That’s what I should be asking you!” I shouted angrily. “You’re the one who attacked me in the middle of the night!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about – oh, ow. Why do I feel bruised all over?” 

“That’s from when I kicked you across the room. But,” I added quickly, “you tackled me down the stairs first.” 

“You did – I did what? Never mind. Just come down here.”

I hesitated. 

“Promise you won’t attack me?” 

Connor just gave me a bewildered look.

Ok, I thought. We’re friends. We’re friends. 

By the time I got to the bottom of the stairs, I was reassured. We’re friends.

“So tell me what happened last night.”

I looked at Connor disbelievingly. If this was a joke he was an incredible liar.

“You mean you don’t remember?”

Connor shook his head.  

I sighed and proceeded to tell him everything. When I was finished Connor looked thoughtful. 

“I guess I was right,” he said, more to himself than to me. “I wonder why I don’t remember any of it.” He paused. “There’s another thing that I don’t understand. The way I acted last night was almost… animal-like. But in all the vampire legends, the vampires are sophisticated and intelligent. Why am I different?”

“I have no idea. But man, you should be freaking out right now.”

“There’s no point in freaking out,” Connor responded. “We have to approach this logically.” 

         I rolled my eyes. 

“Logic. I should have thought of that.”