Remember to VOMMENT! Helps me in the Watty Awards, motivates me to write, and makes me SMILE. :DDD

Also, Valentine is a character from my book, Bleeding Royalty! ;)

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While Guide Dog was stunned by my whistle, I brought my foot up to round kick him in the face. Unfortunately, Hunter recovered a lot quicker than I thought he would and caught my foot easily in his big paw-like hand and held it tightly.

            "I'm onto you," I said angrily, balancing on my one foot. "Not literally, as in sex. Although, if you asked nicely and got me those chocolates with the cherries in the middle... Never mind. Do you really think that buying me that outfit would change my view on you? What game are you trying to play here?"

            "I don't play games often." Hunter flashed me a wide, cocky smile as he lifted my foot higher in the air. "But when I do, I win. Stay competitive, my friends."

            "Ow! Ow! Dude, you're going to do some permanent damage down there! And isn't that a commercial or something? Plagiarism! Plagarism! OW! My deltoid!"

            "Your deltoid? That's on your shoulder."

            "I know, you red-rover-red-rover sac of leech! I'm a freaking black belt, I know my muscles! I'm not this flexible anymore! I haven't done hot yoga in a while! I haven't even stretched! Not cool, man! Not cool!"

            "Humans are pathetic." Hunter yanked me towards him and threw me like a Frisbee into a shelve of composition journals and abandoned bottles of glass cleaner and pencils. "What'll it be, sweetheart? Eat you alive from the head down, or the feet up? I'll make it quick"

            "Buy me a drink first," I spat out sarcastically, gripping my throbbing head and standing up wobbly. "What's your deal? What do I have to do to prove that I'm not a hunter?"

            "You've already proved me that you're a hunter. That bird back in the classroom was supposed to kill you," Hunter said, starting towards me again, "and you didn't even get scratched."

            "I have fast reflexes!" I defended.

            Hunter felt the shelf behind me and picked up a few composition journals, then slammed them into my face. Hard. It took me a while to process what had just happened. "Um... OW!!??" I roared, touching my throbbing cheek.

            "Fast reflexes, my ass," Hunter said."Feeling supernatural, now? That should have killed you."

            "Physical abuse, much?! That's not even hot, Hunter! That was so uncalled for!"

            Hunter shrugged. "I'm turned on so that's all that matters."

            I scoffed. Arrogant, thy name is Hunter! "You knew that wasn't going to kill me, didn't you?" I asked, still touching my throbbing cheek.

            Hunter dramatically took off his sunglasses, his glossy eyes staring right at me. He then started to wipe at a smudge on his sunglasses and put them back on. Odd because he's blind...

            I put my hands on my hips, tapping my foot. "Well...?"

            "No, I didn't know if it would kill you or not," he said, flashing me another toxic smile. "I was actually hoping it would so I wouldn't have to hear your annoying voice, to be honest."

            Aw, look! He has dimples! He's so dang cute! Oh my god, maybe this will turn out to be one of those really hot make out sessions in the supply closet! Quick! Ask him to flash his nipples! Those piercings were H-O-T.

            "Shut up, Conscious, or whatever the hell you are! He just hit me in the face with a freaking notebook and insulted me, while looking like a freaking sex god!" I picked up a stapler and whacked him over the head with it. Hunter didn't even flinch. Just smiled and picked up his own stapler and hit me over the head with it. "MOTHERFUDGE--"

            "Now you really should be dead," Hunter interrupted, casually tossing the stapler to the side. "That would have put a dent in a car. It seems I have to kill you the way you kill a hunter, now. And that's snapping your neck."

            "Wait, wait, wait" I said. "You need to clarify again. Kill a Hunter as in yourself? Or kill a hunter as in..."

            "h-U-N-T-E-R."

            "Why are you spelling your own name?"

            "The 'H' isn't capitalized."

            "I'd hate to be a grammar-Nazi, but names are capitalized. You'd think at the dog age of 91--"

            "No! The 'H' isn't capitalized, as in I meant you when I said hunter. Not me. You are the hunter."

            "No." I shook my head, my hand on my chin as I processed what he was saying. "I am definitely the Pepper. It says so on my birth certificate."

            Hunter let out a low, menacing growl. "That's it." He then unleashed a blade out of thin air and begann slowly licking it from handle to tip. " It's time to kill you once and for all,   Paprik--ow! I cut myself!" He took the knife away from his mouth, slicing me on the wrist in the process.

            "Ouch! You cut me too!"

            "Oooh!" he chirped brightly, "yummy." Hunter then lapped at my wrist like a hungry puppy.

            "Hey!" I slapped and pulled at his hair, when suddenly I realized just how soft his hair was and started to pet him like I used to pet the local kittens at an animal shelter that I knew my mother and father would never let me get, and that Salt would eat alive. "Why is my wrist burning?" I wondered, starting to feel a little light headed. "Stop feeding from me, you're getting your blood all over me! Hey, stop that!"

            Hunter wiped at his mouth, then frowned. "I probably shouldn't have done that," he growled deeply.

            "Well, you did. And now it's time to tango."

            He grabbed my hands. "I'll lead."

            "No, not that kind of tango!" I ripped my hands from his and put my fists up by my face, elbows locked down, jumping lightly on my feet like Rocky. "Let's go, hybrid-ho. Woo! Woo! Time to fight, bitch. Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy?"

            "Cute. It's time to rip your head off your neck. Any last words, girl that I hate for no specific reason except for the fact that I have a grudge against all hunters for mysterious reasons that will be revealed at a very random, very sad moment?" Hunter proceeded to crack his knuckles, and flex his huge biceps. He even started to strike a pose as if there was a cameraman in the room.

            "Ask me what my middle name is," I said, ceasing my warm-up jumps.

            Hunter took a step towards me, my image becoming larger in his mirror aviators as he edged closer. "What's your middle name?"

            "Fanta," I squeaked, hopelessly staring at his bulging muscles, then cleared my throat loudly. "My parents met for the first time by a vending machine so they thought it would be cute to make my middle name Fanta."

            Hunter stared at me, expression blank.

            "I know you want to sing it," I said. "Fanta, Fanta, don't you wanta'?!" I threw my hands up mockingly as I sung, then let them drop at my sides. "Come on, I know you.....wanta'."

            He didn't look very amused.

            "I hate humans, but I especially hate you because you annoy me and I want to eat you," Hunter admitted, a little chirp to his voice and a wolfish smile framing his pretty face.

            I gulped. "That wouldn't be very productive, and I'm not one to encourage odd habits. I have Monopoly in my closet back home--?"

            "I told you, I don't want to play your silly games. I want to tongue that artery on the side of your neck that I can hear deliciously throbbing."

            I pondered that for a moment, my hand momentarily going to my neck. "Yeah, no. If you're trying to turn me on, Pepper is totally not turning on anything after that one--"

            "I want to suck the meat out of your chewed off fingers--"

            My back hit the wall. "Ok, ok, ok, hold up, Hannibal Lector!" I threw my hand up against Hunter's chest, stopping him from coming any closer. "Enough with the sweet talk that belongs on The Walking Dead! What's up with you and Sin wanting to eat me?"

            Hunter frowned at me, then motioned to himself. "I'm a werewolf." He pointed at me. "You're a human."

            "That doesn't give you the right to eat people. I wouldn't even taste good, I barely eat any meat! I'd taste like yellow Jell-o or something -- that's the worst flavor, by the way. I eat like a rabbit. Carrots, lettuce, and...and those little red things that are white on the inside."

            "Radishes?"

            "Yeah, those things!" I stuck my thumbs up and feigned approval. "A radish a day makes Pepper ok! Love em'!"

            Hunter straightened, a dark brow arching. "You're a vegetarian...?"

            "Pretty close to one!" I lied through my teeth, recalling my dad's last barbeque before we moved to Orange Gate County. I had so many ribs in such a short amount of time that my Aunt Petunia (we all have all have one of these) said I was eating like a boy. Not to mention, she also said I was starting to look like one earlier that day. And she would also say, "You didn't hear it from me" or "no offense" afterwards. As if that honestly made a difference.

            "Listen, Aunt Petunia," I had replied back, smiling brightly and gracefully placing my filthy hands in my lap, refusing to wipe the gunk off on my face. My father and mother waved at me from the grill and I smiled back, continuing through my teeth over Grandpa Herbert's loud snoring, "No offense. I might look like a boy at all, but at least I can get laid if wanted to by simply wearing some flimsy clothes. If you wore flimsy clothes, guys would notify the nearest food market and tell them to clean up in aisle "Petunia" because your legs look like two sticks of spoiled milk." I leaned closer to her, biting into another rib. "You didn't hear that from me."

            Clearly, we don't talk to Aunt Petunia anymore.

            "I eat meat maybe once a week?" I lied even further to Hunter. "Soy meat is a big deal in my family."

            Hunter reeled back a little. "Ugh, gross. You would taste like yellow Jell-o then."

            I put my hands up, still blocking him from coming any close to me. "That's what I'm saying, though. Radishes, man. Radishes."

            He shifted awkwardly on his feet. "Now what? I still have to kill you at some point, it's kind of my thing."

            "I know. You killed the janitors, after all."

At that, Hunter's expression grew serious. "Actually, I didn't."

            "Then who did?" I questioned, taken aback.

            "I know as much as you do about it."

            "So there could really be a killer in the school, then? Oh my god, it could be anyone! It could be one of the surviving janitors! Or maybe--maybe I did it in my sleep or something crazy like Inception!" Suddenly, I stopped freaking out and pointing at his shirt. "Wait...then why do you have...?"

            "I'm blind, I had no idea what was on my shirt until you pointed it out."

            "Didn't you ask the cashier what was on it when you bought it?"

            "No..." Hunter trailed off in an obvious tone. "I was too busy ripping her neck out and feasting on her delicious blood. I got 40% off. Not my best, but still. I got a few coupons left if you'd like some."

            Girl, oh-em-gee. That means we could buy him a t-shirt with a ding-a-ling on it and he would have no idea! L to the O to the L! April Fools, here we come, baby!

            "Well, it look nice. But honestly, you could wear two banana peels over your nipples and a hula skirt you'd still look hot." On that note, I yanked open the door to the supply closet.

            "Wait." Hunter slammed the door back closed, trapping me between the door and his lean body, his mouth inches from mine. "I want to ask you something, and I want you to be honest."

            I hope it wasn't too obvious to a werewolf-vampire hybrid that my heart was officially leaping out my chest, it was pounding so hard. Was he going to kiss me? Was he going to ask me to be his girlfriend? Marriage? Less? More?

            Why I was I noticing all these little things about Hunter now. Like the dark stubble that scattered along his jaw and upper lip, the fact that he smelled like an expensive cologne and lightly of cigarettes. How his muscles were all deliciously taut and his skin radiated heat. How he softly exhaled close to my neck and then inhaled, feathering my skin with his warm breath. And how his chest rumbled slightly in a low growl as I exposed my neck to his soft lips, where he placed a tantalizing kiss. Most importantly, why the actual F was I letting him even touch me to begin with?

            He doesn't even know my real name, I thought.

            Girl, Conscience replied. If there was ever a time for you to shut yo mouth and take your pants off, it would be right about now, honey. GOOD. LORD. His hips are all up on you! Ride em' cowboy, ride em' blind boys! I wonder if he needs a Guide Dog to actually do the dirty deed though... Talk about awkward.

            "Way to ruin the moment," I murmured.

            "What?" Hunter asked softly, moving in front of me. "I didn't even say anything?"

            "Just tell me what you wanted me to say," I said, trying to pull away from him but got reeled right back in, honing on his mouth kissing at my neck. I had already been in Orange Gate County for two weeks, and already I was letting the bad twin get down and dirty with me? No, no, NO!

            "I've been thinking. For a few minutes, that is because we've been in here for about ten minutes. But still. Maybe... maybe we really can have some sort of truce. And, uh. I...I wanted to know if you would invite me into your room tonight," he whispered throatily. "Your bedroom, that is. I would...very much like to show you something."

            Hunter's smile and wicked eyebrow arch implied he definitely wanted to show me something.

OH, HONEY! OOOOOOHH, SUGAR. THE WEDDING BELLS! THEY'RE CHIMMING, BABY! HALLEJULIA, PRAISE THE LORD! I, CONCIENCE, HEREBY PROCLAIM THIS SHIPPING AS "HEPPER." PRAISE JESUS. AMEN. NOW, JUST LET ME THROW THIS IMAGINARY HOLY WATER ONTO HUNTER JUST TO MAKE SURE THIS WHOLE WEDDING THING CAN ACTUALLY HAPPEN. GIRL, AIN'T NOTHIN' MORE EMBARASSING THAN YOUR HUSBAND LIGHTING ON FIRE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CEREMONY DUE TO UNHOLY CREATURENESS. TRUST. ME. YOU'LL BE RUBBING ALOE ALL OVER HIS BODY DURING THE HONEY MOON, AND YOU KNOW THAT'S ONLY SEXY IN THE COMMERCIALS--

            Two girls' screams pierced through my ears, breaking me out of whatever trance Hunter had put me in. I tore away from his mouth, pulled open the supply closet door, and stepped out into the hallway to see Grace, the blonde haired, nasty Queen B that I had met the first day of school, and Britney, another one of her clique friends, kneeling over a girl with bright red hair.

            "Somebody help!" Grace shrieked. "Please! Somebody help! She's not breathing! She's been staked!"

            My eyes widened as I recognized the girl on the ground. Ginger. The girl who sat to my right in Sin Trinidad's class.

            I ran towards the two of them as students poured out of their classrooms, crowding around the scene. It was Ginger alright, but her skin was graying, and bluish-purple veins stuck out from her face and the exposed skin on her arms. On her forehead was a freshly drawn, bloody smiley face. I desperately felt for her pulse, my heart in my ears and the shouts around me all muted. She was dead.

            Anxiety rolled around in my gut like a Ferris wheel injected with steroids. I stood up, and analyzed the people dawdling around me, their faces ashen and their eyes wet with tears. A pushed past a group of suited men, walking fluidly away the scene, their dark sunglasses following me as I backed away from the body.

            I couldn't get it out of my head. I couldn't rid of Ginger's face. The terrified look that had permanently been etched in her expression even in death. But most of all, I couldn't stop visualizing what was at the center of her chest. The hand-carved wooden staked, with a winking smiley face painted in gold paint at the end of it, and a little yellow post-it stuck to the top that read: Smile, bitches.

            My skin layered with sweat and my breaths came out in short puffs. I saw small patches of black. I was having a panic attack, I hadn't had one in a while. Ever since...

            I slammed my shoulder into one of the many exits in the school, gasping heavily for the outside air. I wheezed, taking large pulls of oxygen that never seemed to be enough.

            Smile, bitches.

            "Deep...breaths..." I whispered to myself.

            I was so stunned, so distracted by the thousands of thoughts ricocheting off the insides of my skull that I hadn't seen the man with the chestnut hair and cold blue eyes in my peripheral vision until his black leather-covered hands were shaking me out of my mini-coma.

            "Are you alright, sweetheart?" he wondered, his face wavering over mine. Fangs. I definitely saw fangs. "Do you have asthma?"

            "No," I said, shaking him off. "Thanks. Let me guess, vampire prince that wants to kidnap me?"

            "Well...yes, actually. The prince part, not the kidnapping. Not you at least. How did you know?"

            "The cape and Chloroform kind of gave it away."

            "Oh, shit. I guess I shouldn't wear this cape in public then. My brother thinks we look badass in them. Anyways... do you know any good coffee shops around here? A friend of mine apparently likes to drink a lot of coffee. She goes to this school, actually. Going to a club tonight then supposedly going to get coffee. I'm supposed to" -- he looked side to side-- "meet... with her."

            "There's a Starbucks every other block here. Just follow the yellow brick road, aka the nearest group of white girls taking too many Instagram photos on the sidewalk."

            He arched a brow, running a hand through his curly chestnut hair. "Really?"

            "It's America. Duh," I said dryly, as I carefully began watching someone I recognized rushed out of the school and into the parking lot. I couldn't figure out where I knew him from though. He had hair that was so blond it was white, and stuffed something large into the trunk of his car, looking suspiciously side to side before he slammed it shut and locked his vehicle.

            "Valentine? Yeah, really buying that, buddy. I'm sure that's your real name. Sounds like something off of Omegle. Well, good luck with whatever her name is, "Valentine". And you really shouldn't carry around that bottle of Chloroform in your back pocket. Talk about obsessed, dude. This is clearly isn't the first date if you're wearing a freaking cape to the date. Get her a present or write a song or something if you really want her to like you. Actually, just stare at her and she'll probably undress. You've got one of those faces."

            Then I went after White-hair as he rounded the parking lot to enter another part of the school, realizing the boy was in fact the vampire that had prevented Grace from hitting me on the first day of school. The boy who sat in the darkest corner of Sin Trinidad's classroom, curiously watching what was going on.

            On cue, White-Hair looked over his shoulder before he entered the school, locking eyes with me.

            "Rat bastard!" I screamed, running at him at full speed. But before I could actually reach him, Gary suddenly appeared right in front of me, collapsing to the ground at my feet.

            "Pepper," he panted, his black hair pushed back out of his face with sweat. A group of band kids rushed out of the school with instruments. Out of breath, they started to play a sad tune as a girl with a long red braid came to my side and started to sing a tear-jerking song.

            "Gary!" I gasped. For a moment, I was absolutely stunned at how much gorgeous had been trapped underneath Gary's mop of long black hair. How could I have been so blind to see what had been right in front of me? At last, had I found my Satan-loving true love--?

            "Pepper, I'm fucking bleeding! Stop talking outloud!"

            "Oh, sorry!" I knelt at his side, moving his hands away from his stomach. "Oh my gosh! You're wounded!" I turned over my shoulder. "SOMEONE HELP! HELP--"

            "Pepper, listen to me," Gary said, starting to fall forward into my arms. I cradled his head in my hands, smoothing back his hair. "I--I don't think I have much time before I--"

            "Wait, hold on. This one's seriously going to bother me," I said, licking at my finger and smoothing a strand of hair on the top of his head. "Sorry. There we go. Ok, as you were saying.."

            "I saw him do it," Gary said at last, staring deeply into my eyes. "I..."

            I slapped him in the face.

            "I saw him kill G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g--"

            I slapped him in the face again.

            "Ginger," Gary sputtered in continuation. "I saw the killer. He wore a mask and a trench coat. It was a smiley....smiley..."

            His head fell to the side.

            "Gary!"

            Silence.

            "GARY!" I roared, shaking him violently. "DON'T DIE ON ME GARY, DON'T DIE ON ME OR I SWEAR ON MY LIFE I WILL PEE SO HARD ON YOUR GRAVE! DON'T LEAVE ME, GARY. STAY WITH ME, YOU SATAN WORSHIPING FRIEND, YOU."

            Gary jerked awake. "Sorry," he said, shutting his eyes tight and inhaling. "I'm a homophobic."

            I reeled back, frowning. "Isn't your brother gay?"

            Gary coughed wildly. "I mean... hemophobic..."

            "Aren't you a vampire?"

            "Yes...?"

            "Don't you worship Satan?"

            "Yeah...?"       

            "Don't you constantly draw demons killing each other with blood spurting everywhere and limbs falling off?"

            "Your point...?"

            "And you're still afraid of freaking blood?!" I yanked up Gary's shirt, exposing an impressive set of abs. There was just a scratch on him. "Gary, you idiot! I thought you were dying! You had me scared for a moment!"

            "I am!" He motioned to the scratch that was about the size of an ant. "Look at that! I'm freaking bleeding out, here!"

            I slowly shook my head at him, then eyed the door into the school that the white-haired vampire had hurried into. I had to find out what he had put in that trunk, and most importantly, I had to find out who "Smiley" was. I, Pepper Ballard, was officially marking my territory at Orange Gate County school.

            Little did I know how close Smiley actually was.

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