Bus Ride
Who:
fatallyxxflawed &
dantesque
When: Saturday night
Where: The Sunnydale Tarc Bus
Rating: PG for language
One of these days I have to get me a car. Adam thought to himself as he watched the bus approaching. He planned to head into the city area for the evening, hoping to cure his dreadful boredom that had sunk in due to the lack of entertainment.
With a loud hiss, the buss finally stopped in front of the vampire. He boarded, paid the small charge to ride and was heading to the back of the bus when his eyes fell upon a familiar face. Emil sat five seats from the front. Adam couldn't stop the smirk that spread across his face as he took a seat right next to the guy without saying a word.
Emil glanced up, wondering who would sit next to him on the not so crowded bus. He blinked in surprise when he saw who it was - remembering Adam from their meeting at the Bronze. "Oh... hey," he said, swallowing at the sudden dry lump in his throat. "Hello again."
"Hello" Adam replied, craning his neck to one side to get a better visual of Emil's face. "What you been up to?" Adam wasn't one for really caring about small talk, but they were stuck on a bus so it would suffice for the time being.
Emil hoped his face didn't look as flushed as he felt. "Oh... the usual," he said, trying to keep things casual instead of bringing up the proposition that Adam had made him during their last meeting. "Classes, teaching, reading..." He shifted slightly towards the window, noticing their legs were nearly touching and feeling uncomfortable with the closeness. "And you?"
Adam shrugged lazily and turned his head, looking around the bus. "Same old shit different day" He noticed that they were the only two on the bus other than the driver. That new knowledge caused him to smirk even wider.
Slowly, he turned his attention back to the blond next to him and purposely spread his legs farther apart so that their knees touched while his hands hung between his own knees, clasped together. His emerald green eyes trailed over the other's body, hunger for more things than just blood evident in them.
Emil's heart beat faster, well aware of Adam's perusal of his body and what he meant by it. He turned away to peer out the window, noticing the lack of reflection of his companion. Of course, he wasn't surprised by it exactly - but it did help to remind him why it would be a bad idea to turn back around. "Oh... hey, construction," he muttered lamely, hoping to get back to small talk. "Would you look at that? They're tearing up the sidewalk over by the Quick Mart - must be putting a new one in..." Real smooth, Emil....
Adam leaned over, his shoulder pressing into Emil's, to take a look out of the window. He nodded, made a small grunt noise in his throat, then turned his face to Emil, putting them dangerously close. "It would seem they are" Adam's voice was lower, almost a whisper.
"I.... don't want any trouble," Emil whispered back, his voice hoarse. Part of the problem was, he didn't entirely believe that himself, so he wasn't particularly convincing about it. He turned around slowly, which brought them into even closer contact. His heart felt like it might leap out of his chest, a mixture of fear and... something he wanted to think about even less than he wanted to think about the fear. "I... I'm not the kind of guy that would..." Would what? "... just do those sort of things..."
The sound of Emil's heart racing and thudding in his chest caused the vampire to allow a low, non-threatening growl to roll from his throat. A quick drag of his tongue along his lips and Adam's eyes flickered to the vein in Emil's neck, watching it pulse under the skin, screaming at him to just sink his teeth into it.
Adam's right brow quirked up and he brought his eyes back to Emil's. "What? Fuck random people you just met? Or fuck guys period?"
"Do you have to say it vulgarly like that?" Emil protested. He wanted to run away from this - to hide, to escape - but there was nowhere to go. He was pretty much trapped between the bus window and the vampire who wanted to fuck him, and he wondered absently how luck like this always seemed to find him, before returning to the bigger problem at hand. "Either, if you must know... I don't. I just... I haven't, and.. I think if I were to, I wouldn't call it 'fucking' anything." There, now he'd gone and said it too. "Fuck."
"Oh I get it" Adam said with a laugh, pulling back and sitting against the seat. "You want it to be special and with love and all the other bullshit involved, huh?"
Yes. "No!" Emil protested. "I don't expect there to be flowers and birds singing and all that - but hell, at least a little more than here's my name and I've got a pair of fangs and how about I stick them and other parts into you." He was definitely blushing now, he could feel it, and that made him even more irritable. "I mean, come on... at least a little less cliché than the dangerous stranger who wants to take you off to the parking lot and fuck you. Like that's not been done before." Not to him, granted, but he'd seen movies.
Again, Adam shrugged nonchalantly and rolled his eyes. "That allows people to damn close to you to do it any other way" Adam replied, bitterness thick in his voice. Yeah, to say he'd been hurt a time or two was an understatement.
"Been there," Emil said. He'd been hurt by people he'd tried to get close to all his life. "That doesn't mean I don't at least try." He looked away again, towards the window a moment, clearing his throat before looking back. "We could at least try to be friends first - or maybe, get beyond the name-and-bite scenario. We don't even know anything about each other than the extremely obvious..."
With another roll of his eyes, Adam let his head roll to the side and he stared at Emil with a very disinterested expression. "Okay, then ask me a question. What do you want to know about me?"
Emil noted the look of disinterest, and his shoulders slumped. Of course he wasn't interested - he just wanted a quick bite. Well, whatever- at least the talk would make the ride go faster. He tried to pretend that it didn't matter, and kept his tone casual. "Are you really studying anything at college?" he asked.
Shaking his head, Adam replied. "Nope. I'm enrolled in a few classes; enough to keep a dorm room. Evening classes mostly. The two I have during the day, I don't go to."
"Are the night classes anything you're interested in?" Emil asked, curious now. He'd personally enjoyed college - though this year, going through required classes for his certifications was a lot less exciting. "History? Literature?"
"Actually, Music Appreciation is the one I go to religiously. I play guitar and piano and have dabbled in the single pool a time or two with friends...when I was human of course."
"Really?" Emil asked, smiling a little, though shyly. "I have a guitar too - I play a bit, but I'm not that good at it yet. What kind of music do you play?"
"The classics mostly. I grew up in the seventies so stuff like Joplin, Zeppelin. Shit that's pretty hard to play"
"I like some classic rock," Emil offered, though he hadn't asked. "Pink Floyd, the Doors - Jimmy Hendrix..." He glanced up at the scenery a moment, and frowned, knowing he'd gone further than he was supposed to be. "....and I've missed my stop."
"You should get off at the next and walk then. Or you can just come with me. I'm heading into town to see what trouble I can get into"
Emil pondered this. He should be good, but.... "Oh, why not... I suppose it won't hurt. I'll go downtown with you for a while." They were making progress, after all. More talking and less with the uncomfortable closeness that lead to dangerous territory.
Adam gave Emil a genuine smile and nodded once. "Cool" He glanced around a moment, his eyes lingering on the driver for a second then said. "You know, I saw the Doors in concert right before Jim Morrison died?"
"You did?" Emil asked, his eyes getting wide in admiration. To have been around for that... how spectacular. "What was it like?" he asked reverently.
"It was fucking amazing" Now they were on a subject Adam enjoyed actually talking about...music. "You hear people talk about how Morrison was like a god or something? He was. He could literally hypnotize you with his voice and could make a crowd do anything. It was damn near magical." Adam sighed. "Such a shame that there's no artists like him anymore."
"Maybe a new movement will come around someday," Emil said hopefully. "Music seems to work in cycles, after all. There were so many great artists in the late sixties and early seventies... and then we had crap like disco, and the new wave moment of the eighties." He shivered slightly. "I'd say every decade or two, it changes over, right? Maybe we're right on the verge of the Next Big Thing." He thought about what it must have been like to be in the audience, listening to Morrison's mesmerizing voice, the throng of the crowd, and the music. "We should go to LA," he found himself blurting. "I hear they have a great music scene..."
Adam nodded in agreement with Emil as he spoke. Then, at the suggestion of going to LA, he laughed slightly and shrugged "It's not that long of a ride, and there's plenty of time till sunrise for me. If you're really serious, we can"
"We'd have to hop another bus heading out of town - or get someone with a car or something," Emil said, more than a little thrilled by the prospect of doing something so spontaneous. It wasn't his usual way of doing things at all. "Yes, I'm serious... we could go see a show. There's clubs all over the place - there's bound to be someone good playing."
Adam thought to himself for a moment, pressing his lips to one side, thinking of what their next plan of action should be. Then, suddenly he called out to the bus driver to stop. The bus came to a halt and Adam was standing up. "Let's catch the next bus."
For a moment, Emil thought that Adam might eat the bus driver - but he put that thought aside as the vampire merely called for a stop. "Let's go," he agreed, and got up to head off the bus they were currently on. He felt nearly giddy with anticipation. "So did you see any other famous concerts?" he asked once they were off. "Did you go to Woodstock?"
Immediately when they were off the bus, Adam lit a cigarette. He pulled it from his mouth, blowing out a cloud of smoke over his head.
"Yeah, I did. Though, heh, I don't remember much of it." Adam smirked at Emil, taking a seat on the bench to wait the ten minutes or so they would need to for the next bus that would be headed to LA.
Emil laughed, and settled on the bench next to him. "Were you a hippie?" he asked, trying to picture it. He wondered how old Adam was, exactly, considering the whole vampire thing - and if it was polite to inquire about such. He watched the clouds of smoke float up into the night sky.
Adam laughed a little harder at that statement. "Hippie? No. I just did a lot of drugs. Wasn't into the whole flower power bullshit. That was for the really fucked up people"
Emil ducked his head, but was still smiling. It felt good to be sitting here like this - laughing about things, hanging out and planning a crazy road trip to hear some decent music. He wasn't used to having good times like this, but he liked it. "Would it be terribly impolite of me to ask your age?"
Adam was taking another drag off his cig when Emil asked about his age. He turned to look at him, holding in the smoke as he retorted "I'm not some woman. You can ask me my age" A low chuckle escaped the vampire, he blew out the smoke away from Emil's face and answered. "I was born in 1951. Didn't become a blood sucker till the mid seventies."
"That's a long time," Emil said, considering. "How long have you been posing as a college student? Were you ever really one?" He realized suddenly that he'd been asking a ton of questions, and slowed up, flashing an apologetic smile. "Forgive," he said. "My curiosity gets the best of me. If there's anything you want to know about me, ask and I'll answer as well..."
"It's fine, really" replied Adam with a soft laugh. "I've been posing as a college student ever since I was turned. I was enrolled at NYU when it happened and well, the life style fits really."
"Were you studying music?" Emil guessed.
"Yeah. I was majoring in Music Theory. Even had a job lined up as an intern with the New York symphony before...before I died"
Emil frowned, thinking about how traumatic that must have been. "I'm sorry," he said, reaching out to pat Adam's arm in a gesture of sympathy. He thought better of it halfway there, and tried to pass off the movement as stretching. "How did it happen?" he asked quietly.
How many times had Adam had this conversation where he was describing all that had happened to him? It grew tiresome really, but, it was the one thing people seemed the most curious about.
"I was out, drunk, woke up undead. That's pretty much it really. The guy who did it...he split after a quick five minute lecture on the dos and don'ts. Romantic ain't it?" His words dripped with sarcasm
"That's awful," Emil said. Little wonder he didn't want to get involved with people after an experience like that. He wanted to say something to make Adam feel better, but he couldn't think of a single thing that didn't sound trite. Instead, he offered his own story. "I was in South America when it happened to me," Emil said. "Working with the Peace Corps, over the summer. I thought I was going to save the world..."
Adam looked over at Emil, his own eyes filled with his personal sadness. "That's when you were bitten?"
Emil nodded solemnly. "I didn't even realize it at first. It just seemed like an especially bad bug bite- and I was very sick. They thought I had malaria." He frowned, remembering those nights of sweating in the tent and vomiting until he thought he would die. "Then I got better- thought nothing of it until I started missing time with a bit of regularity..."
"So...what exactly bit you?" Adam asked, his eye narrowing and brow knotting between them.
Emil looked down, hating this part of the explanation. Some people laughed, and some just looked at him with outright disgust. It wasn't the most illustrious of were creatures - not one that most people even thought was possible. ".... promise you won't laugh," he said, feeling self-conscious.
Adam blinked, wondering what could be funny about being bitten and infected with lycanthropy. "Uhm...sure?"
"... a cockroach," Emil said. "I'm a big wereroach." There, the secret was out. He braced himself for the reaction.
At first, Adam wasn't sure he heard Emil right. He just stared at him blankly, unblinking until it sank in. "You're shitting me, right?"
Emil turned away, his shoulders slumping. "No. For real," he said quietly. "A big, leggy, carapace-having, antennae waving wereroach."
"Wow" Adam didn't really know what to say. However, he didn't find it funny in the least...just...odd. "How did it happen exactly? I've never heard of a wereroach"
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Emil admitted. "Xavier said I should return to the area this summer and try doing some research into local legends. It may be some sort of indigenous creature..."
As Adam was about to ask another question, the bus pulled up in front of them, cutting him off. He motioned for Emil to come along and boarded, moving to the very back of the bus to sit. Several others were already sitting in seats, around five other people.
Emil followed Adam to the back of the bus, and settled into the last seat. He was more comfortable with them sitting together now, so he even slid over towards the window to make room for the vampire to sit next to him. "I still can't believe we're going to LA," he said, excitement for the road trip coming to the forefront again.
Adam sat next to Emil and soon had them back on the prior subject. He was all too curious about this type of lycan now. "So, are you going back like your friend suggested?"
"I think I might," Emil said. "I'd like to learn more - it's certainly nothing we can find in the books around here. Oh.. I should explain. Xavier's my mentor - he saved my life once, in a big way." His very first disastrous evening at the Bronze. Emil chuckled. "I can never go into the Bronze without Bad Things happening, it seems."
Adam had to laugh at that. "And here I was trying to pull my devious vampire tricks on you."
Emil chuckled. "Well, at least I didn't roach out or anything. That's what happened the first time... and then the Slayer caught me and I was hurt pretty bad - but Xavier stopped her from killing me, and helped me get back to my senses. He's a good guy - his ancestors were Chumash."
"Chumash, what's that?"
"They're the native Americans that were in this area before the Spanish came to California and made a mission here," Emil explained. "A lot of their lore about the area has survived - and Xavier follows the ways of their totem warriors - his spirit guide is the Eagle." He enjoyed having someone to speak to about these things, and was glad that Adam seemed genuinely interested now. "I want to learn to follow the ways of the ancestors too - but I'm not sure that they'll accept a giant roach as an acceptable totem..."
Really, Adam didn't have too much of a clue what Emil was talking about. He did understand about the Native Americans though and got most of it thankfully. "Well, at least you got someone that supports you. More than I can say for myself" Adam gave a sad grin and shrugged as the bus lolled along its route to LA.
"Well, see... that's why you need to make friends," Emil said, though the irony of giving this bit of advice was not lost him. Hadn't Xavier been encouraging him to go out and do the same not long ago? "Friends like me."
Behind closed lips and a smile, Adam let out a one breath laugh and nodded. The guy was right. He'd closed himself off from other people for so long though, he was afraid he didn't know how to be a friend.
"So, how long is the rid to LA?" Adam asked, changing the subject, a reflex maneuver more than anything.
"Not far- about half an hour or so. We should get there in time to see a show and make it back before sunrise," Emil said. He didn't want Adam to have to worry about that whole sun thing. He leaned back in his seat, and relaxed. "Though when I get there, I should call Xavier to let him know I'm out and didn't get eaten by anything." He chuckled. "Or anybody."
Leaning over in his seat, Adam retrieved a cell phone from his back pocket and handed it out to Emil. "You can use my phone if you want to call him now"
"Thank you," Emil said, and dialed the phone. "Hello - hey, it's me. Yes - I'm fine. I just ran into a friend on the way home. No- Adam... yeah, that guy. No, it's okay - we're friends now. Yes... I ... um, yes. We're going to LA. To catch some music..." He looked vaguely embarrassed by something that Xavier was saying on the other end of the line. "No.. I.. . yes, I'll be fine. I'll be home late, but I won't stay out all night. Okay... you too." He hung up and offered the phone back over. "Thank you."
Adam listened, curious as to what the other side of the conversation was. He could only imagine what Emil had told his mentor about him. Probably wasn't good since things for them hadn't started out that well in the first place.
He took the phone and slipped it back into his pocket, muttering. "No problem. I do hope you know your way around LA though, because I've never been there. It would really suck if we got lost and had to get a hotel room for the day or something like that" Adam smirked, teasing the other to maybe get a laugh out of him.
"I know LA somewhat well," Emil said. "I've gone there for a variety of cultural events during my studies, and to some of the better libraries and museums..." Sunnydale was somewhat lacking in the culture department. He blushed faintly at the thought of getting a motel room. "Considering what tends to happen when we're alone in close proximity... I'll keep an eye on the time. Besides, I wouldn't want you to get a sun tan the hard way."
Ah, the guy was joking around too. Good. Adam didn't like someone being uncomfortable around him. "Yeah, me either." he chuckled and ran his hands along his thighs. He was dying for a cigarette right then. "So...where's the best place to go for a show?"
"There's a club called The Matchsticks - they get a lot of bands that are just starting out - but good ones," Emil said. He hadn't been much recently, but during his early college years he'd spent some considerable time there when not too busy with his studies. "Fairly small place - intimate, great acoustics. No cover, reasonably priced drinks..."
"Sounds perfect"
Continues Here
fatallyxxflawed &
dantesque
When: Saturday night
Where: The Sunnydale Tarc Bus
Rating: PG for language
One of these days I have to get me a car. Adam thought to himself as he watched the bus approaching. He planned to head into the city area for the evening, hoping to cure his dreadful boredom that had sunk in due to the lack of entertainment.
With a loud hiss, the buss finally stopped in front of the vampire. He boarded, paid the small charge to ride and was heading to the back of the bus when his eyes fell upon a familiar face. Emil sat five seats from the front. Adam couldn't stop the smirk that spread across his face as he took a seat right next to the guy without saying a word.
Emil glanced up, wondering who would sit next to him on the not so crowded bus. He blinked in surprise when he saw who it was - remembering Adam from their meeting at the Bronze. "Oh... hey," he said, swallowing at the sudden dry lump in his throat. "Hello again."
"Hello" Adam replied, craning his neck to one side to get a better visual of Emil's face. "What you been up to?" Adam wasn't one for really caring about small talk, but they were stuck on a bus so it would suffice for the time being.
Emil hoped his face didn't look as flushed as he felt. "Oh... the usual," he said, trying to keep things casual instead of bringing up the proposition that Adam had made him during their last meeting. "Classes, teaching, reading..." He shifted slightly towards the window, noticing their legs were nearly touching and feeling uncomfortable with the closeness. "And you?"
Adam shrugged lazily and turned his head, looking around the bus. "Same old shit different day" He noticed that they were the only two on the bus other than the driver. That new knowledge caused him to smirk even wider.
Slowly, he turned his attention back to the blond next to him and purposely spread his legs farther apart so that their knees touched while his hands hung between his own knees, clasped together. His emerald green eyes trailed over the other's body, hunger for more things than just blood evident in them.
Emil's heart beat faster, well aware of Adam's perusal of his body and what he meant by it. He turned away to peer out the window, noticing the lack of reflection of his companion. Of course, he wasn't surprised by it exactly - but it did help to remind him why it would be a bad idea to turn back around. "Oh... hey, construction," he muttered lamely, hoping to get back to small talk. "Would you look at that? They're tearing up the sidewalk over by the Quick Mart - must be putting a new one in..." Real smooth, Emil....
Adam leaned over, his shoulder pressing into Emil's, to take a look out of the window. He nodded, made a small grunt noise in his throat, then turned his face to Emil, putting them dangerously close. "It would seem they are" Adam's voice was lower, almost a whisper.
"I.... don't want any trouble," Emil whispered back, his voice hoarse. Part of the problem was, he didn't entirely believe that himself, so he wasn't particularly convincing about it. He turned around slowly, which brought them into even closer contact. His heart felt like it might leap out of his chest, a mixture of fear and... something he wanted to think about even less than he wanted to think about the fear. "I... I'm not the kind of guy that would..." Would what? "... just do those sort of things..."
The sound of Emil's heart racing and thudding in his chest caused the vampire to allow a low, non-threatening growl to roll from his throat. A quick drag of his tongue along his lips and Adam's eyes flickered to the vein in Emil's neck, watching it pulse under the skin, screaming at him to just sink his teeth into it.
Adam's right brow quirked up and he brought his eyes back to Emil's. "What? Fuck random people you just met? Or fuck guys period?"
"Do you have to say it vulgarly like that?" Emil protested. He wanted to run away from this - to hide, to escape - but there was nowhere to go. He was pretty much trapped between the bus window and the vampire who wanted to fuck him, and he wondered absently how luck like this always seemed to find him, before returning to the bigger problem at hand. "Either, if you must know... I don't. I just... I haven't, and.. I think if I were to, I wouldn't call it 'fucking' anything." There, now he'd gone and said it too. "Fuck."
"Oh I get it" Adam said with a laugh, pulling back and sitting against the seat. "You want it to be special and with love and all the other bullshit involved, huh?"
Yes. "No!" Emil protested. "I don't expect there to be flowers and birds singing and all that - but hell, at least a little more than here's my name and I've got a pair of fangs and how about I stick them and other parts into you." He was definitely blushing now, he could feel it, and that made him even more irritable. "I mean, come on... at least a little less cliché than the dangerous stranger who wants to take you off to the parking lot and fuck you. Like that's not been done before." Not to him, granted, but he'd seen movies.
Again, Adam shrugged nonchalantly and rolled his eyes. "That allows people to damn close to you to do it any other way" Adam replied, bitterness thick in his voice. Yeah, to say he'd been hurt a time or two was an understatement.
"Been there," Emil said. He'd been hurt by people he'd tried to get close to all his life. "That doesn't mean I don't at least try." He looked away again, towards the window a moment, clearing his throat before looking back. "We could at least try to be friends first - or maybe, get beyond the name-and-bite scenario. We don't even know anything about each other than the extremely obvious..."
With another roll of his eyes, Adam let his head roll to the side and he stared at Emil with a very disinterested expression. "Okay, then ask me a question. What do you want to know about me?"
Emil noted the look of disinterest, and his shoulders slumped. Of course he wasn't interested - he just wanted a quick bite. Well, whatever- at least the talk would make the ride go faster. He tried to pretend that it didn't matter, and kept his tone casual. "Are you really studying anything at college?" he asked.
Shaking his head, Adam replied. "Nope. I'm enrolled in a few classes; enough to keep a dorm room. Evening classes mostly. The two I have during the day, I don't go to."
"Are the night classes anything you're interested in?" Emil asked, curious now. He'd personally enjoyed college - though this year, going through required classes for his certifications was a lot less exciting. "History? Literature?"
"Actually, Music Appreciation is the one I go to religiously. I play guitar and piano and have dabbled in the single pool a time or two with friends...when I was human of course."
"Really?" Emil asked, smiling a little, though shyly. "I have a guitar too - I play a bit, but I'm not that good at it yet. What kind of music do you play?"
"The classics mostly. I grew up in the seventies so stuff like Joplin, Zeppelin. Shit that's pretty hard to play"
"I like some classic rock," Emil offered, though he hadn't asked. "Pink Floyd, the Doors - Jimmy Hendrix..." He glanced up at the scenery a moment, and frowned, knowing he'd gone further than he was supposed to be. "....and I've missed my stop."
"You should get off at the next and walk then. Or you can just come with me. I'm heading into town to see what trouble I can get into"
Emil pondered this. He should be good, but.... "Oh, why not... I suppose it won't hurt. I'll go downtown with you for a while." They were making progress, after all. More talking and less with the uncomfortable closeness that lead to dangerous territory.
Adam gave Emil a genuine smile and nodded once. "Cool" He glanced around a moment, his eyes lingering on the driver for a second then said. "You know, I saw the Doors in concert right before Jim Morrison died?"
"You did?" Emil asked, his eyes getting wide in admiration. To have been around for that... how spectacular. "What was it like?" he asked reverently.
"It was fucking amazing" Now they were on a subject Adam enjoyed actually talking about...music. "You hear people talk about how Morrison was like a god or something? He was. He could literally hypnotize you with his voice and could make a crowd do anything. It was damn near magical." Adam sighed. "Such a shame that there's no artists like him anymore."
"Maybe a new movement will come around someday," Emil said hopefully. "Music seems to work in cycles, after all. There were so many great artists in the late sixties and early seventies... and then we had crap like disco, and the new wave moment of the eighties." He shivered slightly. "I'd say every decade or two, it changes over, right? Maybe we're right on the verge of the Next Big Thing." He thought about what it must have been like to be in the audience, listening to Morrison's mesmerizing voice, the throng of the crowd, and the music. "We should go to LA," he found himself blurting. "I hear they have a great music scene..."
Adam nodded in agreement with Emil as he spoke. Then, at the suggestion of going to LA, he laughed slightly and shrugged "It's not that long of a ride, and there's plenty of time till sunrise for me. If you're really serious, we can"
"We'd have to hop another bus heading out of town - or get someone with a car or something," Emil said, more than a little thrilled by the prospect of doing something so spontaneous. It wasn't his usual way of doing things at all. "Yes, I'm serious... we could go see a show. There's clubs all over the place - there's bound to be someone good playing."
Adam thought to himself for a moment, pressing his lips to one side, thinking of what their next plan of action should be. Then, suddenly he called out to the bus driver to stop. The bus came to a halt and Adam was standing up. "Let's catch the next bus."
For a moment, Emil thought that Adam might eat the bus driver - but he put that thought aside as the vampire merely called for a stop. "Let's go," he agreed, and got up to head off the bus they were currently on. He felt nearly giddy with anticipation. "So did you see any other famous concerts?" he asked once they were off. "Did you go to Woodstock?"
Immediately when they were off the bus, Adam lit a cigarette. He pulled it from his mouth, blowing out a cloud of smoke over his head.
"Yeah, I did. Though, heh, I don't remember much of it." Adam smirked at Emil, taking a seat on the bench to wait the ten minutes or so they would need to for the next bus that would be headed to LA.
Emil laughed, and settled on the bench next to him. "Were you a hippie?" he asked, trying to picture it. He wondered how old Adam was, exactly, considering the whole vampire thing - and if it was polite to inquire about such. He watched the clouds of smoke float up into the night sky.
Adam laughed a little harder at that statement. "Hippie? No. I just did a lot of drugs. Wasn't into the whole flower power bullshit. That was for the really fucked up people"
Emil ducked his head, but was still smiling. It felt good to be sitting here like this - laughing about things, hanging out and planning a crazy road trip to hear some decent music. He wasn't used to having good times like this, but he liked it. "Would it be terribly impolite of me to ask your age?"
Adam was taking another drag off his cig when Emil asked about his age. He turned to look at him, holding in the smoke as he retorted "I'm not some woman. You can ask me my age" A low chuckle escaped the vampire, he blew out the smoke away from Emil's face and answered. "I was born in 1951. Didn't become a blood sucker till the mid seventies."
"That's a long time," Emil said, considering. "How long have you been posing as a college student? Were you ever really one?" He realized suddenly that he'd been asking a ton of questions, and slowed up, flashing an apologetic smile. "Forgive," he said. "My curiosity gets the best of me. If there's anything you want to know about me, ask and I'll answer as well..."
"It's fine, really" replied Adam with a soft laugh. "I've been posing as a college student ever since I was turned. I was enrolled at NYU when it happened and well, the life style fits really."
"Were you studying music?" Emil guessed.
"Yeah. I was majoring in Music Theory. Even had a job lined up as an intern with the New York symphony before...before I died"
Emil frowned, thinking about how traumatic that must have been. "I'm sorry," he said, reaching out to pat Adam's arm in a gesture of sympathy. He thought better of it halfway there, and tried to pass off the movement as stretching. "How did it happen?" he asked quietly.
How many times had Adam had this conversation where he was describing all that had happened to him? It grew tiresome really, but, it was the one thing people seemed the most curious about.
"I was out, drunk, woke up undead. That's pretty much it really. The guy who did it...he split after a quick five minute lecture on the dos and don'ts. Romantic ain't it?" His words dripped with sarcasm
"That's awful," Emil said. Little wonder he didn't want to get involved with people after an experience like that. He wanted to say something to make Adam feel better, but he couldn't think of a single thing that didn't sound trite. Instead, he offered his own story. "I was in South America when it happened to me," Emil said. "Working with the Peace Corps, over the summer. I thought I was going to save the world..."
Adam looked over at Emil, his own eyes filled with his personal sadness. "That's when you were bitten?"
Emil nodded solemnly. "I didn't even realize it at first. It just seemed like an especially bad bug bite- and I was very sick. They thought I had malaria." He frowned, remembering those nights of sweating in the tent and vomiting until he thought he would die. "Then I got better- thought nothing of it until I started missing time with a bit of regularity..."
"So...what exactly bit you?" Adam asked, his eye narrowing and brow knotting between them.
Emil looked down, hating this part of the explanation. Some people laughed, and some just looked at him with outright disgust. It wasn't the most illustrious of were creatures - not one that most people even thought was possible. ".... promise you won't laugh," he said, feeling self-conscious.
Adam blinked, wondering what could be funny about being bitten and infected with lycanthropy. "Uhm...sure?"
"... a cockroach," Emil said. "I'm a big wereroach." There, the secret was out. He braced himself for the reaction.
At first, Adam wasn't sure he heard Emil right. He just stared at him blankly, unblinking until it sank in. "You're shitting me, right?"
Emil turned away, his shoulders slumping. "No. For real," he said quietly. "A big, leggy, carapace-having, antennae waving wereroach."
"Wow" Adam didn't really know what to say. However, he didn't find it funny in the least...just...odd. "How did it happen exactly? I've never heard of a wereroach"
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Emil admitted. "Xavier said I should return to the area this summer and try doing some research into local legends. It may be some sort of indigenous creature..."
As Adam was about to ask another question, the bus pulled up in front of them, cutting him off. He motioned for Emil to come along and boarded, moving to the very back of the bus to sit. Several others were already sitting in seats, around five other people.
Emil followed Adam to the back of the bus, and settled into the last seat. He was more comfortable with them sitting together now, so he even slid over towards the window to make room for the vampire to sit next to him. "I still can't believe we're going to LA," he said, excitement for the road trip coming to the forefront again.
Adam sat next to Emil and soon had them back on the prior subject. He was all too curious about this type of lycan now. "So, are you going back like your friend suggested?"
"I think I might," Emil said. "I'd like to learn more - it's certainly nothing we can find in the books around here. Oh.. I should explain. Xavier's my mentor - he saved my life once, in a big way." His very first disastrous evening at the Bronze. Emil chuckled. "I can never go into the Bronze without Bad Things happening, it seems."
Adam had to laugh at that. "And here I was trying to pull my devious vampire tricks on you."
Emil chuckled. "Well, at least I didn't roach out or anything. That's what happened the first time... and then the Slayer caught me and I was hurt pretty bad - but Xavier stopped her from killing me, and helped me get back to my senses. He's a good guy - his ancestors were Chumash."
"Chumash, what's that?"
"They're the native Americans that were in this area before the Spanish came to California and made a mission here," Emil explained. "A lot of their lore about the area has survived - and Xavier follows the ways of their totem warriors - his spirit guide is the Eagle." He enjoyed having someone to speak to about these things, and was glad that Adam seemed genuinely interested now. "I want to learn to follow the ways of the ancestors too - but I'm not sure that they'll accept a giant roach as an acceptable totem..."
Really, Adam didn't have too much of a clue what Emil was talking about. He did understand about the Native Americans though and got most of it thankfully. "Well, at least you got someone that supports you. More than I can say for myself" Adam gave a sad grin and shrugged as the bus lolled along its route to LA.
"Well, see... that's why you need to make friends," Emil said, though the irony of giving this bit of advice was not lost him. Hadn't Xavier been encouraging him to go out and do the same not long ago? "Friends like me."
Behind closed lips and a smile, Adam let out a one breath laugh and nodded. The guy was right. He'd closed himself off from other people for so long though, he was afraid he didn't know how to be a friend.
"So, how long is the rid to LA?" Adam asked, changing the subject, a reflex maneuver more than anything.
"Not far- about half an hour or so. We should get there in time to see a show and make it back before sunrise," Emil said. He didn't want Adam to have to worry about that whole sun thing. He leaned back in his seat, and relaxed. "Though when I get there, I should call Xavier to let him know I'm out and didn't get eaten by anything." He chuckled. "Or anybody."
Leaning over in his seat, Adam retrieved a cell phone from his back pocket and handed it out to Emil. "You can use my phone if you want to call him now"
"Thank you," Emil said, and dialed the phone. "Hello - hey, it's me. Yes - I'm fine. I just ran into a friend on the way home. No- Adam... yeah, that guy. No, it's okay - we're friends now. Yes... I ... um, yes. We're going to LA. To catch some music..." He looked vaguely embarrassed by something that Xavier was saying on the other end of the line. "No.. I.. . yes, I'll be fine. I'll be home late, but I won't stay out all night. Okay... you too." He hung up and offered the phone back over. "Thank you."
Adam listened, curious as to what the other side of the conversation was. He could only imagine what Emil had told his mentor about him. Probably wasn't good since things for them hadn't started out that well in the first place.
He took the phone and slipped it back into his pocket, muttering. "No problem. I do hope you know your way around LA though, because I've never been there. It would really suck if we got lost and had to get a hotel room for the day or something like that" Adam smirked, teasing the other to maybe get a laugh out of him.
"I know LA somewhat well," Emil said. "I've gone there for a variety of cultural events during my studies, and to some of the better libraries and museums..." Sunnydale was somewhat lacking in the culture department. He blushed faintly at the thought of getting a motel room. "Considering what tends to happen when we're alone in close proximity... I'll keep an eye on the time. Besides, I wouldn't want you to get a sun tan the hard way."
Ah, the guy was joking around too. Good. Adam didn't like someone being uncomfortable around him. "Yeah, me either." he chuckled and ran his hands along his thighs. He was dying for a cigarette right then. "So...where's the best place to go for a show?"
"There's a club called The Matchsticks - they get a lot of bands that are just starting out - but good ones," Emil said. He hadn't been much recently, but during his early college years he'd spent some considerable time there when not too busy with his studies. "Fairly small place - intimate, great acoustics. No cover, reasonably priced drinks..."
"Sounds perfect"
Continues Here