My Vampire Companion

Chapter 3

Bruce narrating:

I wasn’t a monster.

I used to be a monster, but I wasn’t one anymore.

I had tried so hard, all those decades, not to be a monster. I didn't want to be a monster.

Anton and Crystal... they would be so disappointed in me. I had promised Anton when I returned to his family that I would never sink to that level again. I would never pretend to be God and take the life of an innocent again. Those were Anton's teachings. He believed we were fighting to preserve our humanity in the life and body of an inhumane being.

He would have never sunk to this level. He would have fought against everyone, including himself, for the life of that human. I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. I always wanted to be more like my father, for all intents and purposes in this new life of mine, but here I was, savoring the warm, tasty, and delicious blood of a human.

I was probably a monster...

It was all her fault, though; she was my personal demon, brought to earth to torment me and make me forget my humanity. What other reason did she have for moving to Sin City and entering the gates of The Twilight School this morning?

Okay, I was probably giving myself a bit more attention and importance than necessary, but she was my current singer... my vocalist. Her blood sang to me. What did someone really expect?

It was impossible to let your singer live. No one could do that, likely no one except Anton. Their blood was made especially for you. They were like a buffet placed in front of you after a whole day of hunger. You simply couldn’t resist yourself. It just wasn’t possible.

I had tried, though. I had tried so hard to control myself. I tried to save the life of this human... this human who would have dreams, desires, worries, qualities, and flaws.

When she walked into biology class this morning, her scent immediately filled my nostrils, stiffening me in my chair. Her scent... her thick blood was my personal mark of heroin... my favorite ambrosia. My first thought was to drain her right then and there. I could be quick. No one would be the wiser. It would be over in seconds. I just had to pull her to me, and with one bite, that delicious liquid would be in my mouth. I had licked my lips in anticipation. The best liquor ever made couldn’t compare to the sweetness and thickness of her blood. It could be mine... all mine...

The ugly monster inside me, more commonly known as my vampire instincts, nodded its ugly head in agreement and appreciation.

She was ours.

Her blood was ours.

Her nervousness and worry as she walked to the teacher's table only served to sweeten her blood and make it even more tempting. God! Did she have any idea what she was doing to me?

I looked around. The classroom was filled with annoying, self-absorbed girls and noisy, sweaty boys. They were such clueless, brainless kids. They didn’t even know what was about to happen to them. They didn’t know how much danger they were in. They didn’t even know that a bloodsucking monster was among them.

I paused for a brief second in my train of thought, rethinking my decision. So many lives would be lost. So many futures wiped out in a matter of minutes. Was it worth it? Was her blood worth it?

The monster inside me growled a loud 'yes' when not even a minute later, Nina stumbled on her short walk to the table she would share with me. She blushed in embarrassment, and instantly the blood rushing to her cheeks made my throat salivate with need and desire.

She was made for me. She would be mine. Her blood was meant to be mine. No one else's, but mine...

All those witnesses were mere casualties. I could end their existence in seconds, and then I would close my eyes and drink from the source of the hottest, tastiest, purest, thickest blood that could ever exist.

The clueless girl next to me nervously sat down in her chair and glanced at me. She was probably admiring my looks. I wasn’t narcissistic, but I was well aware that I had been a beautiful human being, and the change had only made things better for me. Add to that the vampire allure that each of us possessed to draw our victims closer to us, and I knew that she, like all the other girls and even some boys in this school, would end up falling for me.

Poor girl, though, she wouldn’t live to see the rejection.

I clenched my fists tightly in self-control. I had to plan this correctly. I couldn’t leave any witnesses alive. I couldn’t risk my family; the council would come after us, after me. I would have to be quick. I would have to snap the necks of all those unnecessary beings before I drank the blood of that goddess beside me. I didn’t want to drink the blood of all those insignificant witnesses, though. Why eat any ordinary chocolate when you can feast on a Godiva or Ferrero Rocher? It simply didn’t make sense.

I wasn’t any monster, either. It was just her blood that called to me... that made me fall to my knees and beg for a drop of it. I wouldn’t fall into the same pit I fell into once again. My past as a rebellious nomad was exactly that - my past. I wouldn’t do that to my family again. Anton would be so disappointed in me...

A part of me felt guilty for doing this, but I quickly pushed that intrusive part away. We weren’t made to resist our singer. It simply wasn’t possible. Liam, Crystal, Luke, Sophia, all had tried and failed. The only reason Rose and Anton hadn’t failed this test was that they had never met their singers. They had been lucky enough to avoid meeting the only person whose blood was irresistible to them. They would all understand what I was going through, though; they wouldn’t judge me for it. They knew I had no choice in this. Almost all of us had slipped before. It was in our nature, and as much as we fought against it, mistakes happened. Mistakes that likely cost an innocent their life, dreams, desires, and future...

Mr. Banner soon started his boring class, and the goddess with the magical blood pulled out her notebook to take notes in. She was beautiful, with her long hair and chocolate brown eyes; a part of me registered that, but her tempting blood was too much for me to pay attention to anything else.

I had just decided on my final course of action, that is, who I would go after first, when a voice spoke in my head. I groaned internally. I was exceptionally trying to avoid that voice. I didn’t have time for this.

— Bruce, no. — my sister said with a tone of sympathy in her voice.

I was the closest to Sophia’s family. The combination of our powers ensured that.

— Don’t do this. You don’t want to carry the excessive burden of taking the lives of so many innocents. It’s not worth it. Luke deals with that pain every day. It’s not easy to live with. You know that.

I grimaced, the rational human part of my mind once again taking control. Luke had taken the lives of countless innocents in his years during the southern vampire wars. He still had to live with the guilt of that. It wasn’t easy to live with guilt for all eternity. I had witnessed this in his thoughts countless times to not know it.

— But, she’s my singer.

I pleaded with a groan. I felt like a child throwing a tantrum when I didn’t get the desired toy. Her blood sang to me. It was for me. I wanted it.

— Think of Anton and Crystal. — Sophia said softly and began showing me images of the smiling couple... Anton and Crystal on their wedding day a few years ago when they renewed their vows. I was the only witness at their first wedding, a year after they met, and at Sophia's insistence, they married again in front of the entire family. She showed me the memory of Anton telling me he was proud of me after I managed to go almost five decades without slipping up, of Crystal hugging me and kissing my cheek whenever she heard me play her favorite song on the piano, of Luke telling Sophia how he wished his change and the first years of his existence had been different... of Liam’s guilt after he killed his singer and saw his children waiting for a mother who would never return.

— It’s not worth it, Bruce. — She said finally. — Let her live... please.

I sighed.

I was stuck at a crossroads. The images of my happy family were enough to make me change my mind, but her blood, on the other hand.

How could I resist that?