Chapter Nine
1386 Words
With a sudden hit to the senses, I wake, the sunlight a harsh reality that I’m not at home.
It wasn’t a dream.
I’m a vampire, and someone just tried to kill me.
“Wrong,” a deep voice sounds from everywhere and nowhere at once.
My head throbs.
I try to crack an eye open again, but the lack of my trusty blackout curtains has me blinded almost immediately.
I groan and turn over, only to feel dirt and grass beneath me.
I finally let the sunlight in, my eyes blinking rapidly and adjusting to my surroundings.
Sparse wildflowers surround me, dirt coating my clothes and fingers. A lone brick fireplace, ruined by weather, stands to the side. I vaguely wonder if this was once a quaint little cabin in the woods.
Cabin.
Woods.
Fireplace.
The memories come back to me, and I still can’t get over one rather complicated fact.
I’m a vampire, and someone just tried to kill me.
“I already told you… you have it wrong,” the deep voice says again, and now I have no trouble following its source.
My head whips around to the voice, only to find the other man from the parking lot. The one who held Kat.
“Where’s Kat?” I screech.
At first, he looks confused before his expression finally softens and understanding is put in its place. “She’s fine, but you’re not,” he says, gesturing down my body.
I’m standing now, my body strong and unwavering.
My insatiable hunger completely gone.
And my clothes caked with dried blood.
I ignore the man now sitting on the stone hearth of the ruined fireplace and look down at my clothes… the fabric also ruined almost beyond recognition.
I stick my finger into the hole decorating the stomach of my t-shirt—the hole made by a certain blade that still has my mind reeling. It’s not the blood caked into the fabric that has my attention, but the lack of a wound beyond the fabric that has me second-guessing everything that has happened.
“Why didn’t you kill him when you had the chance?” the dark man asks. What’s his name again? The night in the parking lot seems like ages ago. “And it’s Semion.”
My eyes snap up to meet his, and I suddenly realize he’s just like me.
A vampire.
It’s as if I can feel it deep within him, a similarity like no one I’ve ever been in contact with.
“Wrong again,” he says, making me wonder if he can read my thoughts. “Now, care to enlighten me on why you let the mage go?”
“The what?” My voice sounds squeaky, and I try to rein it in. “What’s a mage?”
“A master of magic, and his magic specifically targets us.”
“Us… us being…”
He nods. “Vampires. Humans are completely unaware that there are vampires around every corner,” he states flatly like it’s no big deal he’s talking about blood sucking demons. “Well, you used to be one of us until you let that worm get away with bringing you to life.”
I take a breath and relish the feel of my lungs filling and… my heart beating. It’s actually beating—beating for the first time in God knows how long.
“I was too late,” he says with dismay.
I have no words. I feel better than I have felt in my entire life… I finally feel a freedom I’ve never even dreamed of in the past for fear I would be let down. Yet he was too late? Too late for what?
“He brought you to life, Tesla. He made you human,” Semion explains. His words make it sound as though it’s the end of the world that I’m suddenly alive… alive and ready to take on the world.
The way he looks at me makes me second-guess my joy. Is being human a bad thing? I finally feel at peace with him around. Not hungry. Not empty. Not alone like I have been for my entire life. Just a simple peace—a peace that has overcome me from the inside out.
“You’ve lost me.” I want some sort of explanation, but he seems to like talking in riddles.
“Precisely,” he says with an empty, defeated expression and a nod as he stands and begins to walk away.
I holler in my mind for him to come back, to not leave me here alone again. Not only does he not respond, but he doesn’t even turn around or acknowledge my thoughts.
Maybe he can’t read my mind after all.
To test the theory and get some answers, I start to follow. I keep my distance but just enough to still keep him in my sights. He doesn’t seem to notice I’m there or the thoughts that are racing through my mind. If he does know I’m following, he doesn’t let on.
As I watch him weave between trees and through bushes, I wonder how he’s able to be out in the sunlight. Aren’t vampires sensitive to sunlight, or has everything I’ve been taught by movies a lie?
Before this whole ordeal, I was able to be in the sun, but my eyes would hurt and a migraine would form. It wasn’t like I couldn’t be in it, but I never really wanted to go through the discomfort of it. Maybe Semion is the same?
Before I can think of much more in regards to vampire superstitions, I watch from a distance as Semion ducks down and enters a cave.
A cave.
A for real, made from God and part of the earth cave.
I have no idea where we are exactly, but a cave out here in the middle of nowhere doesn’t make sense. Still, I hurry, following him into the darkness of the rock.
I’ve never known of anyone like him… like what I used to be… and losing him now would mean I’d lose out on knowing exactly what has happened to me and what could’ve been.
Before I call after him, before I can make my presence known, he spins around, facing me and causing me to bump into his broad chest.
His smell assaults me, takes over my senses, and I am curious if I used to smell that way too. He smells sweet… like roses.
“You can’t be here,” he warns. “Leave.”
“No.” I stand my ground, crossing my arms over my chest in defiance. He has no right to kick me out of a stupid cave.
“It’s not safe for you to pass beyond this point. Just please, go home.”
“I’m not leaving without answers,” I insist, still standing my ground and hoping he doesn’t flip any weird vampire switches on me.
“I promise, I’ll explain everything later,” he says softly, his tone changing to that of a placating mother rather than a forceful, fictional being. Grabbing my shoulders, he turns me toward the mouth of the cave, the sun in bright contrast to the darkness we’re cloaked in. I feel his breath close to my ear, my body going still at the close proximity of this intimidating man. “Go home. I’ll come by tonight.”
I turn to argue but find him gone. My head whips from side to side, straining in the darkness to see where he could have hidden his massive frame so quickly.
One second he’s whispering in my ear, the next it’s as if he’s only a figment of my imagination.
So now I’m left to find my way home.
Joy.
Considering I have no clue where I am makes finding my apartment a bit of a challenge.
Still, I’m resolute on figuring out this gigantic puzzle. The club is closed on Mondays, if that’s even what today is, so I can sit and wait for him to come by. After all, he did follow me home that one night, so he definitely knows where I live.
Now I just need to find my own way home.
I’ll get answers tonight, or die trying.
- Writer
