Candy

Candy

Immortal Fire Series

Eighteen Summers

Mini-Prequel

Copyright
©
K.M.Liss. 2014.

XSEX books

Smashwords Edition

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Disclaimer

This novel is
a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in
it, while at times based on real figures, are purely the work of
the author’s imagination.

Thanks

My love
and thanks to my family and friends, for believing in me and
encouraging me to write my little heart out.

I poke my arm
out of the duvet quickly, strike at the snooze button, and then
snuggle back down for the third time.

Lazily, I open
my eyes and look out of my low bedroom window.

The blinds are
raised. I like it that way.

There are
fields and trees outside, and it's a nice view from my bed.

I can see the
trees waving around in the wind.

It was a
rotten summer, now it's an even worse autumn. Wet, blustery and
damn cold. It's only the middle of October and it was a measly five
degrees yesterday. The coldest October for fifty three years or
something.

I really don't
want to, but I force my protesting body out of bed and drag my
comfy, black boy-shorts and skinny jeans on.

I sit on the
bed yawning and shivering with the cold. Goosebumps are breaking
out all over me.

Is there any worse experience than getting out of a lovely,
warm, comfortable bed on a cold morning?

If there is I
haven't found it yet.

I'm not a
morning girl.

Never have
been.

But lately
it's been a nightmare getting up. I feel dreadful, so sluggish and
sickly. And my head throbs every morning, like I've been on the
booze all night.

I seem be
turning into a nocturnal creature, because I'm at my best of an
evening and night. I can't get to sleep until two or three
sometimes. And that's very inconvenient as I have to be up at seven
thirty to get to class. I'm so knackered by four I nod off when I
get home in the afternoons.

I huff out a
sigh of annoyance as I sort through my undies drawer and can't find
my black bra. Then I remember it's in the wash basket. I go out to
the landing and retrieve it. One more day ain't gonna matter.

I get my dark
red T-shirt out, and, after spraying myself liberally with Linx for
girls, I get dressed. I don't know why I bother smelling nice
really, no one's gonna get that close enough to me to appreciate it
today. Or any day, in fact. I'm billy-no-mates. No friends and even
worse, no boyfriends.

It's not
because I'm bad looking and I don't ever smell bad. I'm kinda
fastidiously clean.

And I know
I've got a nice face, a decent figure and a good sized pair of
tits.

Yeah, I'm
pretty sure I'm attractive to the opposite sex in that sense. I've
seem them looking. A lot. Even the extra hot ones have given me the
real once over. And I'd love to have a boyfriend, in truth. There's
one I'd particularly like to have.

But I
can't.

So I make sure
I'm unappealing in other ways, to put guys off; by being
standoffish, rude, unapproachable. I'm not to be fucked with.
Literally.

Sadly, I can't
let closeness happen, just in case.

My body is as
pure as the driven snow, untouched by man. Well, maybe not that
pure and untouched. I have my own private moments. But at eighteen,
I'm a virgin, in the true sense of the word.

It's so not
fair, I'm probably the only one in my class! I guess I could die
one, unless things change.

The reason I
don't and can't get close, is because I want more than they are
offering.

I don't want
to fool around and end up in someone's bed.

Because I know
I'll want their blood.

The air is
full of it. Human blood. Like a blood fog invading my nose and
lungs.

I can just
about hold things together sometimes.

My distraction
techniques are all I have to fight it. Strong mints, gum, pinching
myself, things like that.

And I avoid
the cafeteria and the library, all the melting pots, the gathering
places for people.

The only place
I can't avoid is the classroom itself.

Lately it's
been so hard I just can't concentrate on the lessons any more.

My head and
nostrils are ringing with blood noise. Like tinnitus of the
nose.

I can block it
out for small periods of time, and if there's only one or two
people around it's fine if they're at arms length. But masses of
people around me are becoming unbearable.

And close
contact is a big no.

It's so sad,
but I can't hug my mum and dad anymore...or anyone. My rising
reaction warns me not to.

I pull on my
socks and my converse trainers, grab my books and messenger bag and
head down the stairs.

“
Ah Candy love... I've made you your toast,” My mum says
pushing a plate towards me.

“
Thanks,” I reply, picking it up and taking a tiny nibble to
show willing.

She does this
every day and I take it out the door with me and throw it in the
waste bin down the road on the way to class.

It saves
having to think up a good reason why I'm not eating it yet
again.

Thirst
overwhelms me and I run a long glass of water and drink it down in
a few long gulps.

I'm
practically living on the stuff. The water diet. For the last two
days I've barely eaten a thing.

My leather
jacket is on the back of the kitchen chair and I shrug it on, and
sling my bag around me, picking up my unwanted toast.

“
Bye, see you tonight, Mum,” I say, heading out the
door.

“
Oh, Candace...I'm on lates. Get the dinner done will you.
There's some beef in the fridge for a chili or spaghetti bolognese,
and if I'm not home when you eat it, save me some,
okay?”

“
Right.”

Great...

My stomach is
rebelling already. Cooking meat and onions and all that stuff makes
me heave.

I get my bike
out of the woodshed and I'm out of Hollybush Lane and down the
street to the main road in less than a minute. Stopping to deposit
my toast in the garbage, I pick my mints out of my bag and pop one
in my mouth to remove the acrid toast flavour. I'm about to
continue on to my sixth form, and class, when someone calls out to
me.

“
Candy! Wait up...”

I look over my
shoulder.

Oh no... it's
Cody. My stalker. Well, not really my stalker, more like my
shadow.

“
Hey Cody...” I offer a half wave of greeting and make to go,
but he runs up to me.

“
Haven't seen you for a while.”

“
There's a good reason for that.”

“
What's that?”

“
I've been avoiding you.”

“
Oh ha ha, I love your sense of humour.”

“
I ain't joking, sweetie-pie.”

He ignores my
blatant brush off. As usual.

“
Wanna go get a coffee,” he says with a hot grin.

“
Can't stand the stuff.” Or much else.

“
Tea, hot chocolate? I'll pay. I'm working weekends now... got
some cash...” he waves his wallet at me.

“
Oh for crying out loud! Will you please leave me
alone.”

“
So that's a yes, is it?” he laughs.

I've gotta
hand it to him, he's persistent.

I stare at him
for a minute.

Tall, dark
haired, cute nose, nice brown eyes. Kinda pretty in a boyish
way.

I suppose I
can hold my breath for ten minutes. It's not that I don't like
being around guys, quite the opposite in fact. It's just that I'm
nervous of what I might do. Real nervous. My craving can be
overwhelmingly strong.

“
Okay, I suppose I can fit you in my diary.”

I roll along
beside him and we talk about this and that; the football team; the
hockey team; his IT coursework he's struggling with.

Cody's sporty.
I'm not. I put all my physical efforts into being angsty and moody.
It completes my persona. I'm a total nut-job.

After parking
my bike and locking it, we go inside, straight through to the
cafeteria.

I grab a
bottle of water and hand it to him.

“
You sure you don't want something hot?” he asks.

“
No thanks. I'm all tea'ed out this morning,” I
lie.

I turn and
scan for a spare table, hoping to see an empty corner. Of course
the room's full, with students guzzling coffee, nursing their
Friday morning hangovers and doing their homework in a rush before
class.

He leads me
across to his friends.

Oh no... Not
Jack and Haydn.

I've had words
with Haydn. Nasty ones.

I touch Cody's
arm

“
No, not there. Somewhere else?” I suggest.

But there
isn't anywhere else, I notice.

He looks
around and shrugs and sits down at the end of their table, pulling
my arm, gesturing to sit.

They both look
at me.

“
Yeah, and?” I say bolshily, staring directly at Haydn,
unblinking. Even though I'm holding my breath hard, it's leaking
through, past the layer of menthol from my mint. The warm blood
smell of the three guys surrounding me. And I'm so hungry for it.
In reaction, I open my water and swig a long mouthful, washing down
my mint by mistake.

Haydn sniggers
at me, for no reason that I can think of other than to be nasty
somehow.

Jack just
stares at me. His green eyes unnerve and worry me.

I fancy him
like mad. He's my 'if only', my big crush. He's not your typical
handsome hunk. He's kinda too lean to be a hunk. But he's real
handsome all right. His eyes and thick lashes get me, right there,
in the lower gut. And his short, neatly-cropped, chestnut hair and
sulky lips turn me on even more.

I'm
overreacting, breathing hard. Getting very uncomfortable in his
presence.

“
How's the weirdo anyway?” Haydn asks.

“
Weirder than ever,” I reply, honestly. “Don't challenge me to
a weirdness contest.”

Cody snorts in
amusement, his eyes twinkling brightly. He seems to love my
conversation. Whatever I say.

“
How's your dad, still running the pack?” Jack asks. He used
to be in my dad's scouts pack, years ago.

“
He's fine. Still scouting for new talent,” I joke.

“
That's cool. Tell him I said hello.” Jack cocks his head and
smiles at me. It's just a tiny grin, and a flash of lovely teeth,
but it sets me off. My heart's almost pumping out of my
chest.