The Dark Rising by Lacey Weatherford

hard.
    “I’m going to have to work on that,” he replied after a moment.  “I can tell from the memories I used to be pretty good at blocking you out.”
    “Yeah, well you used to be pretty good at a lot of things that aren’t working too great for you right now,” I said watching him. 
    An angry expression flashed over his face at me.
    I finished chugging down my water, before I went back into the kitchen and placed the glass in the sink.  I didn’t hear a sound, but I turned to find him standing right behind me.
    He moved toward me, looking at me with an intimidating stare.
    I gave him a look of boredom in return, before I stepped around him to walk back into the other room.  I couldn’t allow him to realize how weak I still was, and I also knew if I wanted to keep him here I needed to play hard to get.  It was all about the game to him.
    “Where are you going now?” he asked again, for the second time since I’d arrived that evening.
    “To bed,” I yawned, and he followed after me toward the bedroom.  “I’m exhausted.  I’ve had a rough day today, thanks to you.”  I turned to face him.  “I think the closet out there, has some extra linens to make the couch down into a bed.  Goodnight.”  I reached out and slammed the door.
    I stepped away quickly and began counting in my head.  One…two…I didn’t make it to three before the door came splintering off the hinges into the room.   Even though I had expected it, it still caused me to jump backward.
    “I will not be sleeping on the couch tonight!” he fumed and he stepped inside, coming right up next to me.
    I gave a nonchalant shrug.  “Fine.  Where are you sleeping then?”
    “Here.  In this bed.” he argued, pointing down to the mattress with his finger.  “And nothing you do is going to stop me!”
    “No need to shout.”  I lifted my hands in a surrendering gesture.  “I won’t prevent you from doing so,” I said, moving to walk past him and back out into the living room.
    “Now where are you going?” he asked his eyes wide in frustration as he turned to follow me.
    “Why to sleep on the couch, of course,” I responded, innocently, as if this was the most natural conclusion in the world to come to.  “You did say you wanted the bed, correct?”
    I heard him growl behind me, before he yanked me by the arm, pulling me back to him.
    “Ouch!” I cried out, almost falling.  I tried to remove my limb from his grasp but was unsuccessful.  “What’re you trying to do, pull my arm out of its socket?” I complained, frowning up at him.
    He was glowering angrily at me now, and I could feel the heat rising quickly within him.
    “Or maybe you were trying to rip it off,” I continued goading him, my own indignation beginning to rise toward him.  “Perhaps my blood wasn’t enough.”  I reached down to slap one of my legs.  “How would you like a thigh too, Vance?  I’m not sure if an arm will hold you all night!”
    “Why are you getting so self-righteous on me?” he yelled at me.  “You killed me too!”
    “I didn’t try to eat you!” I argued back.  “There’s a huge difference!  I was protecting someone else from your rabid thirst!  I did what I had to do, even though I didn’t want to! You made a conscious choice, twice!  First, when you attacked Babs, and second, when you attacked me!”
    He let go of me then and stomped back into the bedroom. 
    If I hadn’t been so angry, I would have laughed when the slivers of the shattered door suddenly reassembled back together and slammed onto the hinges.  He’d definitely regained control of his powers quickly.
    This was going to be exhausting.
    I went over to the closet and pulled out some bedding, carrying it over to the couch.  I made up a bed before I slid out of my jeans and crawled in, flipping out the light with a snap of my fingers.
    I’d most certainly not intended to spend my night this way.  Had it just been this afternoon when