Snippet #2071242

(@ Guardian Angel, I couldn’t wait for your response, so I posted the post. Hope it’s alright with you.)



“Twat?” I snorted. He’d just called his brother a twat. Beside me Marcy chuckled.

“High, five, Brendan, for being stuck with a twat brother like mine,” Marcy said, smiling and raising her hand.

I gaped at her. Marce had just called me a twat. What a twat.

While my sister was in the process of giving up five fingers to her new found buddy, I took one scoping glance around the place. Everything was different with my night vision. Brighter.

Most bird kids couldn’t see this well, due to the fact that most of us didn’t have owl vision. And, in reality, while birds could see for what seemed like miles, their night vision was only about as good as a human. This meant that my enhanced left eye was a serious bonus for me.

And that’s when I saw him.

He was leaning on the opposite building, across from the store, casually looking it over, imposing and petrifying as ever. He was like a Cheetah. We were the Gazelles.

I got the impression that he hadn’t seen us on top of the roof yet.

Hopefully.

I nonchalantly scanned the area surrounding him, beginning to internally panic when I realized that I couldn’t see any of “them”. On the outside, however, I remained as relaxed as ever. Showing fear was not what bird kids were supposed to do. Showing fear was what got bird kids killed.

One thing did stand out against my eyes, causing my heart to jump into my throat, and covering me in realization. The same buff guy who’d been staring at me in front of the market when I’d been on the ceiling. He was there, on the roof of the building that our potential Vamp was leaning on, holding a bag of groceries (most of which looked to be like ramen…WTH?), and looking just about ready to leap down on our observer. He caught my glance, and punctually put a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet.

But, I wasn’t entirely concentrating on the guys face. I was concentrating on his two huge, obviously matured wings, sprawled out against the length of his back. They looked a bit bulkier than the norm for our type of wings, and I assumed his genetic makeup made him more muscular than your average bird kid. Kind of like a heavy Rottweiler, compared to a more streamlined Doberman.

A noticeable fact however, was that, due to his height, his wings were only about as long as Marcy’s, and far shorter than mine or Brendan’s.

Damn. An adult bird kid…bird man…whatever. I’d never seen one of us fully matured. Most of us were deemed failures, and “put down” before we could reach our adult age. Once again, damn.

“Guys,” I whispered, lips barely moving, at a volume so low only our advanced hearing could make out the words coming from my mouth, “Building opposite us.” I said the three words, stressing on ‘opposite’, and hoping the two would be smart enough to take a passing glance at the guy leaning against the wall.

He was familiar. That’s how I’d spotted him, and known what he was. Because he’d guarded us for weeks on end before we’d escaped.



Hearing Matthew words, I continued smiling, but allowed a glance out of my peripheral vision.

Oh god. I knew him. I knew how Matthew had spotted him.

That was Michael, one of the strangest, most terrifying, Vampires you will ever meet. He’d been put to guard us often, during our stay at the Ward, and he was no pushover. Something was kind of different about him, compared to other Vamps, which was a reason that I thought they put him in charge of the kids. Because he scared us in ways I couldn’t quite understand. There were days when, he’d seemed so calm, I wasn’t sure if he was going to hit me or not.

I doubted the idea that he would remember us. I’m sure we hadn’t been the only kids he’d babysat before. Besides, to him, we were just lunch.

“Brendan, you can fight, right?” I whispered, just as low as my brother before me.

There was no way Mike was just standing by the opposite building of ours. He’d seen us already. And damn, why hadn’t we noticed? He was obviously planning an attack, standing there indifferently as if he had all the time in the world.

About a million misgiving started going through my brain, all at once. Why hadn’t I been paying attention? What about Brendan’s brother Carter? Where had that kid gotten off to? For all we knew, the Vamps had already snatched him. Were there even more bird kids in the area than I had previously thought? I mean, what other reason would their be to ensnare us in an ambush so elaborate we couldn't see any of the other Vamps?

My wings remained plastered to my back, and in an attempt to calm down and look unaware, I push them out into a limp relaxed position.

This was different from when Brendan had been invisible. That time, we had known he was there, and he had known we were aware of him. That time, if he had been a Vampire, a fight would have been inevitable. But this time, the Vampires didn't seem to be closely surrounding us. They were definitely in the area, but not enough for us to immediately snap our wings out and start flapping. That would only alert them to the fact that we knew of their presence.

"I think we should let them make the first move," I said quietly, lips barely moving. I was trying to think up possible escape routes and fighting tactics. My brain was in overdrive, and once again, adrenaline was pumping through my blood. My muscles twitched with the fight or flight urge, and I used every humane judgement I had to fight my instincts.