Blood Reaction A Vampire Novel (23 page)

Hunger. That’s what it was. I hadn’t eaten or drank anything all day and I was hungry and thirsty. Both of which had suddenly become overwhelming but I couldn’t decide which was stronger. The hunger or the thirst. They were both too powerful to ignore. I had to have something now.

Walking into the kitchen, I jerked open the refrigerator door. Grabbing the turkey and cheese only because they were the first food that my eyes fell on, I began ripping the wrappings off of both, shoving each piece into my mouth as quickly as possible.

Chewing only enough to be able to swallow, I ate every last piece of both packages. But I still wasn’t full. And the thirst was even greater. My throat felt like it had crevices from how dry it was. I drank almost half a gallon of orange juice, all that was left in the refrigerator, and I was thirstier than I had ever been.

Throwing the carton onto the floor out of anger, I pulled out a barstool and sat down, not knowing what else to do. I had to wait for Asa. Not that I could explain any of this to him, but at least maybe he would be able to distract me by his presence alone. But the more I thought about it, the more sure I was that I was wrong.

It seemed I had been listening for an eternity now as I sat there waiting for Asa to arrive. The clarity of my new hearing had been a constant reminder of my ever approaching death as I could not even escape the sounds of my life running out.  Even the oppressive silence of Asa's dead heart weighed heavy on my ears.

I had listened as the mundane world around me had morphed into something I would have never acknowledged only a week ago.  Sitting here waiting for certain death, one way or another, I struggled to keep from clamping my hands against my ears to drown out the noises of a world that in a few short hours might no longer be recognizable to me.

Despite my anger at my ever constant listening, I could not keep from straining my ears, hoping that I would catch some sound that the Detective had returned. Even during my seclusion in the saferoom, I had studied the occasional noise that made it through the thick walls, hoping for the doorbell or even police sirens. But Michael had never came or at least, I hadn't heard him. 

What had I expected? He had no real reason to return other than a gut feelings and night terrors that could not be substantiated away from Asa's terrifying presence. But still I had been sure that I had not seen the last of him.

Alone all day, I couldn't help but wish for some living companionship, to see a face that didn't want me dead. I reminded myself to be glad that he hadn't came.  I was in no condition to see him. More likely than not, I was as dangerous to him as Asa and so I forced myself to listen for  my reality and not my fantasy.

Almost on cue, I heard footsteps and I recognized them.  Asa moved almost without sound and I would’ve never heard them as a human. Still unaccustomed to my recently acquired hearing, his footsteps sounded close enough that I thought he must be in the entryway.

Standing up suddenly enough that I knocked the barstool over, I walked as lightly as possible towards the front door, expecting to see him at every turn. I felt territorial and it angered me that he was even here. This was my home, my territory, and he shouldn’t be here.

After making my way into the entryway, I realized the footsteps I had heard weren’t coming from the entryway. I had heard him coming across the yard and he was now walking in through the front door.

Instincts told me to rip him apart, piece by piece, but luckily my will was stronger than my instincts and I knew I had to hold this together until the right moment. Doubting that I was strong enough to challenge him now, I needed to buy as much time as I could so I would have as much strength as possible.

I had been feeling my strength increasing throughout the day, but not knowing when it would peak, I was afraid to attack him too soon. Urges that I couldn’t explain or even put a name to were rippling through me. I wanted to kill him now more than ever.

I had wanted him dead before but now my desire to kill him seemed to have territorial overtones. I needed his knowledge almost as much as I needed time, and so I needed to keep my emotions and instincts under control. And to do that, I needed to get out of this house.

Taking a deep breath and putting on my most placid face, I turned towards him just as he turned the corner into the room. We were facing each other now and I recognized the predator in him as well. Not that I had been immune to it before tonight, but now I recognized it in his every movement.

There was something missing though. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, however, since I had never spent a great deal of time around true predators. I took a deep breath as he walked over to me. He didn’t smell of fear. He smelled of lust. I could smell my own fear, which I’m sure had been present since his arrival so he didn’t recognize it as different or new. But he wasn’t afraid of me, which was good; it gave me an advantage over him.

“Let’s go.” I nodded towards the front door. I turned and walked out the door without waiting for his reply. I could hear his near silent footsteps behind me, but I turned around to appear that I needed to see him following me, walking backwards for a moment.

“In a hurry?” he asked, quickly closing the gap behind me.

Nodding my head slightly to indicate my agreement but not so much as to tip my hat, the words flowed freely. “I’m ready to see you for what you truly can be tonight. What I may become.”

Turning back around to not give away my significantly improved balance, I walked to the garage.

Just as I was about to punch in the code to open the overhead door, Asa grabbed a hold of my hand saying, “We are going on foot tonight. You need to see how I live.”

Smirking at him, I replied, “There’s no way I can keep up with you.” Of course I would make sure that I didn’t. Actually I felt like I could run a marathon.

“The night belongs to us and we have only one goal to accomplish. I will move slowly, just for you.” His voice held the touch of sarcasm.

Stepping together away from the light of the house out into the night, I glanced up at the night sky. It was dark but a hunter’s moon shone brightly overhead, obscuring the stars with its illumination. The dark sky was broken up by an occasional thick and heavy bunch of clouds.

Glad to get away from the lights of the house, I followed Asa as he walked off in the direction of the forests that cut across the back fields of my property. Even though the inner house lights were fairly minimal, the contrast between their brightness and the dark caused some degree of discomfort in my eyes. I wondered fleetingly if that would improve with time.

Coming up on the wooden fence separating the lawn from the pasture, Asa cleared it in one leap as easily as the deer lured in by the garden.

Longing to jump it as well, I climbed through it instead, opting to pretend to be human to camouflage my burgeoning strength and agility. Asa hadn’t stopped but continued on towards the woods surrounding my pastures. I followed several paces behind taking in the smells of the night. The sweet smells of the horses wafted across the slight breeze and I turned to look at them standing under an oak tree about a hundred feet away. I could see my favorite gelding watching us.

Normally he would have whinnied a greeting and started towards me in the hopes of finding some goodies in my hands, but tonight he watched me warily as I passed. He no longer recognized me. His sense of smell was probably as strong as mine and we would have to become reacquainted. At least, I hoped a horse could tolerate a vampire.

So many smells made up the night. Having never noticed them before, I marveled at their intensity and their numbers. Each tree smelled differently as did the different types of grasses starting to shoot up from the ground. I could smell the cows and the chickens, even the onions I had planted in the garden only a few short days ago. The hay in the barn had its own distinctive smell as well as several more flavors that I didn’t recognize as we got closer and closer to the woods.

Walking on through the pasture, my eyes fell on a subtle change in the outline of a small slope off to my left. I was sure it was man-made and I had never even noticed it before. I caught a waft of Asa’s scent, and then mine, coming from that direction. Is that where he had been each day? Was this his hiding place? If I survived tonight, I would have to remember to check it out better. It could come in handy in the future.

We were in the woods now and its darkness enveloped us even further. It felt good walking through the canopy. Almost like the trees provided some layer of protection. It was still cold out and an occasional snowflake fell slowly in front of my eyes. Reaching up, I caught one in my hand and stared at it intently. Interestingly, it didn’t melt right away as it normally would after landing on my bare skin.

Catching Asa’s eyes on me, I realized I had forgotten to put gloves on and quickly shoved my pale hands deep down in the pockets of my jacket, feigning cold. Not taking my eyes from his, I saw his cold smile.

“Just think, Annalice. You will never feel cold again after tonight.” Not sure of what he was hinting at, I smiled back slightly.

“I guess there’s perks to everything, Asa. I’ve never really liked being cold.” Watching another flake zigzag slowly down and land on my jacket, for the first time in my life I could see the different facets of the snowflake without the aid of a microscope.

Glorious in its complexity, I watched for a full minute before it finally melted, becoming only a tiny drop of water on the cool leather. Licking another off of my hand, I continued to follow Asa deeper into the woods, hoping I would survive to study more flakes another night.

We were on an old four-wheeler path now and it made for easy walking since it was kept pretty clear from the amount of use it got. Four-wheeling was quite popular in the area and on any given day if I had been walking in the woods, I would probably have come across a few people out riding. It was nearly eight o’clock in the evening so I didn’t think we would come across any riders this time of night. But hunters were another story.

The path was smooth and I didn’t even have to pretend it was an easy walk, which was good because I wasn’t completely sure of my acting skills. So far, he didn’t seem to have any suspicions and so far he was keeping his pace slow, true to his word. Without warning, he stopped in his position about twenty feet ahead of me and, lifting his head like a pointer dog, he took in a deep breath. He wasn’t paying attention to me and so I did the same.

I caught the smell easily enough. Humans, at least three different ones. One older and two younger gauging by the difference in the strengths of their smells. The scent wasn’t faint, but not overwhelmingly strong either. Guessing only since I had no experience at this, I estimated they were a couple of miles away. The wind was blowing slightly, carrying the scent towards us.

Testing the air again, anticipation rippled through my muscles and I was immediately disgusted at myself. The hunger and thirst that I had experienced back at the house had been pushed to the back of my thoughts for a little while. But in a split-second, a devastating thirst rose in me, tenfold stronger than I was prepared for. My mouth watered and shivers ran down my spine in response to my anticipation.

In that split-second, I was questioning my ability to retain some portion of my human self. Pushing the questions to the back of my consciousness, I reminded myself that I didn’t have any other alternative. Surely I would be less of a threat than the vampire in front of me. As he turned towards me, I dropped my head down a bit so he couldn’t tell I was testing the air like him.

“Three humans up ahead. One of them will likely suffice for tonight. I warn you now and one time only. Do not try to alert them in any way or they will all three die unnecessarily and you as well.” Turning back to the trail, he began to follow the delectable smell beckoning through the trees.

The scent was easy to follow and became stronger with each step into the woods. Closing my eyes, the aroma seemed strong enough that it should have been visible in the dark, like a ribbon intertwining through the thickly wooded forest that anyone could have seen.

No longer following the four-wheeler trail, we went as the crow flies, or as the vampire walked, I supposed. Winding through the trees and easily climbing over the occasional fallen log that blocked the most direct route to our prey; I let Asa help me over a few, being careful to keep my hands balled up in my jacket when he helped me so that he couldn’t detect the drop in my core temperature that must have occurred, given the snowflake hadn’t melted on my skin.

A few fallen trees we came across he didn’t deem worthy of his help and I grasped the trunks, pulling myself up and over like the clumsy human I was pretending to be. I felt a couple of my fingernails give away, ripping from my nail beds.

Expecting pain, I clenched my mouth shut to keep from yelling out. But none came. Looking down, I could see why. New nails had grown underneath my old nails. Soon they would have pushed my old nails off anyways. Grasping hold of the rest of my human nails, I pulled them all out as we continued to walk deeper into the woods. A couple of my fingers bled slightly as they were not quite ready to give way, but the flow stopped very quickly.

Testing my new nails in a passing tree, I found that I could scrape marks into the bark. Pulling my nail through the nearest tree, I looked at it closely. Not even a crack or chip. I was definitely going to save money on manicures. Staring at my nails so intently, I hadn’t noticed Asa stop ahead of me. He hadn’t yet turned in my direction but was still facing in the direction of the humans.