Sweet Karma [boyxboy]

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two (Adam)

No, no, no!

What's happening?

What's going on?

Julian laid on the stage, his body convulsing violently, blood foaming at the corners of his mouth and oozing down the sides of his face. His eyes were glazed over and darting around as if he saw something the rest of us couldn't.

Panic swelled so tightly in my chest that I swore my heart was going to explode. The worst part was sitting there and not knowing what to do. How could I stop this? How could I make it stop? How could I save Julian?

"Adam, you have to back off and give him air." Hunter's voice said in my ear. I blinked and jerked my head up to stare at him and he stared back, his hand on my shoulder. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay by his side and make sure he was going to be okay, but my body obeyed and I withdrew, standing up beside Hunter as Lysander knelt down beside Julian, whipping out his cell phone and calling Julian's parents. Claude had his cell phone out to call the ambulance.

Students were chattering and screaming, girls sobbing and guys trying to comfort them as teachers tried to usher them to the back of the gymnasium. But no one was as horrified as me. I didn't know what to do and the agony of it was tearing right through the wall I had just managed to rebuild.

"We have to do something." I heard myself say. I hadn't even known I said it until I turned to Hunter, whose expression was grim as he watched Julian tremble.

"There's nothing we can do," He muttered at last, "It's a seizure. Right now, the best we can hope for is that he stops soon. What we need to do is figure out what triggered it." I gave him an odd look. I didn't understand why he wanted to find out how it happened. What about making it stop? Surely there had to be something we could do while we waited for the medics to get here.

But Hunter didn't seem to care. He knelt down and took Julian's chin in his hand, tilting his head from side to side until he seemed to be interested in something on Julian's neck. He stared for the longest time, then locked eyes with Lysander, who stared back at him. It was like they had some kind of telepathic conversation before Hunter stood up.

"The ambulance will be here in two minutes." Claude informed us as he shut the cell phone, tucking it into his pocket.

"What's going on? Why is this happening?" Seth demanded at last, standing near Kipp, behind Hunter and I. I looked at Hunter, who frowned, glancing at him, then at me. I nodded, letting him know they already knew about Julian. Hunter looked away, keeping his voice low.

"Someone bit him," He informed, making everyone stare at him in disbelief, "Look at his throat. The puncture wounds are mostly healed, but the skin is still trying to hide the mark. Judging from the size, I'd say he was bit by another vampire."

"Don't look at me," Claude retorted when Hunter looked up at him, "I only bite my brother. I don't drink filthy blood." Hunter looked at Lysander, who scowled.

"This is my nephew. I wouldn't bite him. It must have been someone from Zephyra." He snapped, irritated. Hunter scanned the gymnasium as the teachers tried to gain control of the situation. I did the same, looking for someone, anyone who could be suspicious. Mostly everyone was panicking in some form or another, except Walter, who was standing nearby, staring at us. He looked surprisingly concerned, which annoyed me, but I knew he had nothing to do with this. I looked at Hunter, who narrowed his eyes.

"Where did Julian go during break?" He asked. I frowned.

"Bathroom." I answered briefly. Hunter's eyes flickered and he went straight to the bathroom. Although I wanted to stay by Julian, there was really nothing I could do until he finished seizing, so I ran after Hunter and appeared in the bathroom with him. Hunter went down the row of stalls, kicking each of them open rather violently and almost knocking a few of them off the hinges. I frowned, spotting Julian's back pack on the floor. I walked over and picked it up.