Blood Reaction A Vampire Novel (10 page)

Reaching the cord for one of the blinds, I gave it a strong tug. The vertical blinds turned quickly and the dimness gave way suddenly to extreme brightness. Sharp pains stabbed at my eyes and I clasped both hands tightly over them, my eyes squeezed shut behind the palms of my hands.

Slowly, I moved my hands and opened my eyes cautiously, adjusting to the light. I had never suffered from light sensitivity before now. My head ached at the sudden onslaught of what to me was the most brilliant light I had ever experienced.

Finally after several minutes, I was able to open the other blinds, forcing myself to endure repeated episodes of the stabbing bright light each time. I was desperate to feel like I was outside in the sunlight even if it was just an illusion.

I sat staring out the windows with my eyes squinted, wishing I had some sunglasses. I couldn’t remember where a pair was off the top of my head. My bones were aching harder now and I couldn’t convince myself to get up and look for a pair.

Did the ache in my bones and the sudden onset of sensitivity to sunlight have anything to do with the vampire? It seemed likely since I had never had a reaction like that to the sun before. I stretched out on the wicker couch thinking about everything that had happened to me. About the puncture wounds that disappeared and the fact that I was actually feeling better than I really should be after all of my blood loss. The neuro-transmitters were obviously doing their job.

Lying on the couch, my eyes fell on the crystal handle of the ceiling fan that turned above me. Ellie had picked it out at the local hardware store, laughing at the facets glimmering in the overhead lights of the store.

Catching a ray of the sun, bright light reflected suddenly into my eyes, causing me to turn my head suddenly into thick cushions on the couch while my stomach lurched at its brightness. “Great, I’m turning into a vampire,” I groaned out loud to myself.

In the span of a couple of seconds, all of the missing pieces fell into place. The biology of his saliva now made perfect sense. The point was to keep the prey alive long enough to convert them. Most of the victims would die, but occasionally one would make it through to become a new vampire. Maybe I was the one.

Vampires had once been humans according to all of the legends I knew. Was it possible that I was becoming a vampire? According to the common myth, it was the vampire’s bite that turned a human. Was that happening to me?

I had a sudden burst of hope. Not that I wanted to be a vampire because that couldn’t be less true. But if I did become like him, would I not at least stand a chance at surviving him? As a human, I had essentially no hope of standing against him.

Would I rather be a vampire than be dead? I could watch Ellie grow up, at least from a distance. Would I still think of her as my daughter? Would I look at her the same or would I be the same soulless creature Asa was?

Did he choose to be this way or did it come with the territory? Had he given up his soul to become what he was and would I do the same by choosing that life?

For surely, if what I was postulating were true, I would need to increase my exposure to him. It would be a conscious decision to become a vampire. I would have no excuse in the afterlife if the rumors of vampires and their lack of souls were fact and not fiction.

I stayed there on the couch attempting to logically think through the hundreds of questions that were turning themselves over in my mind until I noticed by the waning light that the sun was beginning to set. I slipped off of the wicker divan and moved to sit right in front of the largest window. The room had been lit by the natural light only and I made no move to turn the lights on, but continued to sit in the dark as I had the night before.

I couldn’t see the setting sun as the sunroom faced south, but I watched as the shadows grew across the yard and pastures until they weren’t just outlines of the forms in the yard but overtook the forms themselves, their previously distinct lines blending into the darkness. A few stars appeared in the sky. I didn’t know which direction Asa would come from, but I stared intently into the dark, hoping to catch a glimpse of his return to my house and my life. I needed and wanted to learn more about him.

My night vision was stronger as I could distinguish more characteristics farther out in the pasture than I had ever been able to before tonight. I did catch the movement of what looked like coyotes near the tree line and even thought I saw a rabbit hidden in the taller grass at the junction of the lawn and the pasture. But I saw no movement from Asa nor did I sense he was in the house yet.

I continued to sit looking out the window, contemplating my possible conversion to a vampire, convinced it was a scientific event. I was sure that there was nothing magic about the process and the most reasonable explanation was that this was a viral process.

As he had bit me, he had spread the virus through his saliva. The virus spread from one cell to another, that’s why it was not an immediate conversion. Possibly a retrovirus, one that incorporated itself into the human DNA, forever changing the person into essentially a different species.

Wouldn’t Asa know what was happening to me? Had he ever spent a long enough period of time with a human to allow the conversion to take place? From our previous conversations, I knew he was pretty superstitious and I suspected that viral genetics weren’t his strong point.

But obviously he had been turned so he had to know how it happened, right? But if he knew I could change, why would he be taking the chance? Wouldn’t it have been better to just kill me and move on quickly? Or was it possible he didn’t know how he was changed? And this was as new to him as it was to me.

Waiting now had a new edge. It was still fear but now with a touch of anticipation. Hoping to beat him at his own game, doubt played simultaneously with the possibility of survival on the edge of my mind.

Could I really beat him physically? Emotionally, he had the upper hand on me and even if I was turned before he killed me, he had age and experience on his side.

Information became a priority and I vowed to myself to find a way to draw it out of him, and tomorrow I would spend more time on the Internet. Surely back in the recesses I could find something to help me. Where there was fiction, there had to be fact.

The dining room clock struck seven, bringing me back to the present. He still wasn’t here and I began to get nervous. Was he not coming? What would happen if he didn’t? Maybe he had moved on. Had I been inoculated to the degree that my immune system couldn’t recover and I would still turn? I had so many questions and no answers.

I left the sunroom and walked back into the kitchen, grabbing a couple of colas as I passed the fridge. I downed one quickly, carrying the second in my other hand. Regardless of what happened, I wouldn’t have to count calories any more. I smiled at the thought and drank the second soda just as quickly as the first.

Having nothing to do but wait, I walked aimlessly through the house. Ending up in the den, the piano caught my gaze and I had the sudden urge to play it. Sitting down, my hands flew over the keys to a few popular songs. I hadn’t played in a few days, but despite the lack of a warm up, I played with pretty good precision. Must be a side-effect of the virus.

I was half-way through a metal ballad when I experienced the familiar terror the vampire brought with his presence. The hairs on my neck and arms stood up; my sixth sense knowing that the predator was behind me. My hands stopped in midair and my breathing, as well as my heartbeat picked up, and I had to fight to bring them under control.

Letting my hands drop back onto the keys, I resumed my playing knowing that he hadn’t moved. I could feel his gaze on my back, but didn’t stop until the song was over. Slowly I turned around and found him sitting in a period piece of furniture.

The chair, which had come with the house, was an antique and most of my friends who had sat in it found it to be very uncomfortable. Asa, apart from his clothes, looked like he belonged in it. We sat looking at one another for several moments but didn’t speak.

Finally, I turned back to the piano and played one of Chopin’s Nocturnes. Night music at least seemed appropriate for him. As I played the piece, I contemplated how to become more exposed.

I was fairly certain, or at least as certain as one could be about vampire physiology, that his saliva contained the virus. No doubt his blood did as well. Probably every bodily fluid did to some degree, some fluids holding higher viral concentrations than others.

Finally, I decided the best course of action was to simply be exposed to as many bodily fluids as possible. How to seduce a vampire became the million-dollar question.

Just thinking about it made me nervous. I slowed the tempo of the nocturne to give myself more time to devise a plan. My hands were sweating and my heart was pounding. I was sure he could hear it; I could almost hear it myself.

Luckily Chopin had spared no paper on this piece and its length gave me time to get ready for what I was about to have to do.

I could still feel him behind me although my hair was at least no longer standing on end, but the sensation that his eyes were burning straight through me and my scheme remained. He would surely realize what I was doing, but it wasn’t exactly like I had anything to lose. There was only one way to find out and so playing the final chord of the piece, I turned slowly around to face him.

Sitting on the piano bench, I stretched my legs out in front of me and leaned back on the keyboard, pulling my arms up to rest beside me. I flashed what I hoped was a seductive smile at him. “You’re late so I thought maybe you had moved on.” I had a fleeting wish that I had put on something more appealing as the scrubs certainly left much to be desired in the wardrobe category.

His face held that smile of his that was both sadistic and seductive at the same time. “I had to stop and eat first.”

He smiled even more when he said it so I guess my face showed a little of the surprise I felt. So he had already fed? That had to be a really bad sign, but it almost seemed as if he was baiting me. I decided to play along.

“So I guess that means I get a night off from being the main course?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could while I turned back to the piano, trying to act disinterested. But he was beside me before I could finish turning and pressed my back up hard against the keyboard.

“Tonight you are the dessert. I am in no hurry for the next three evenings to come to an end so I really must be careful.”

“I think slow is what I have in mind as well,” I murmured, to him as I leaned in to him, lifting my face to his. Pressing my lips to the coolness of his, I kissed him gently, but made it clear what I wanted. Reminding myself mentally of my goal, I pushed him back into his chair, placing my arms on either side of his head.

Parting his lips with mine, I ran my tongue over his lips and then over the tips of his fangs. Tasting sweetness on them, I suppressed as a shudder as I realized that the sweet taste was his newest victim’s blood.

Sensing in his body language that he was about to bite me, which would cut my exposure too short, I pulled away and began to trail light kisses down the right side of his neck as he whispered into my ear.

“You must have enjoyed our time together. Can you not wait to experience that again? I must have left you wanting more,” he murmured into my ear.

“I want some more all right,” I whispered, continuing my onslaught of his throat and switching to the other side. Stopping only long enough to grasp the hem of his shirt, I pulled it off quietly laying it on the floor beside us.

Not taking my eyes off his body, I kissed along his chest, following the line between his pectorals. His skin was cool to the touch, but when I looked up, I could see the growing lust in his eyes. Feeling it in my bloodstream as well, I knew I would soon run out of time, and I would be as hungry as him.

Leveling my most sincere expression at him, I told him, “I decided if I’m going to die, I might as well have as much fun as possible. I’ve been single a while and I had forgotten what I was missing.”

Placing my lips back on his, I kissed him as languidly as I knew how. “The other night was amazing,” I whispered into the pale skin of his neck as I finally broke contact. “I’m not sure how you were able to do that. I was terrified, yet I couldn’t stop myself.”

He laughed slightly, low and throaty, at my comment. “It is my bite. It drives human women wild. And the more I want them, the more they want me. Practically begging me to kill them.”

His words repeated in my mind. He was right in a way, except it wasn’t the bite. It was the saliva again. Pheromones or sex chemicals, whatever they were, they allowed women to experience his desire and orgasm. Pretty impressive spit. I remembered that I had begged a little too the first time.

His hands were everywhere now and although he hadn’t bitten me yet, I knew that his growing excitement was leading that way and I couldn’t help but shiver slightly with the anticipation.

Reaching back up, I entwined my hands in his thick hair again and pulled his mouth back to mine. I slid my tongue quickly and harshly across his left fangs, creating a small gash that quickly oozed salty blood.

I felt the change in him almost instantaneously. The semi-control that he had commanded over himself moments before vanished as quickly as I had spilled my blood in his mouth.