Blood Reaction A Vampire Novel (5 page)

He smiled again and continued, “You do not give up. Still looking for some way out for your daughter.” He nodded his head in my direction as he went on, “You love her. An endearing quality.” He paused there for a few seconds, letting the words sink in. “I have killed many people. Couples, entire families, friends. Very seldom does anyone truly sacrifice himself for someone, even a family member.”

He paused again and I could still feel his eyes on my face, but I had closed my eyes, my confident smile gone. I didn’t even acknowledge that he was speaking to me at all.

“As it turns out,” he intoned, “you do have something I want. Nothing material like money or cars, mind you. Something that is much harder to give.”

This caught my attention and, opening my eyes, I allowed him to catch my gaze once more. I stared into the deep wells of his pupils, rimmed by the intense green irises. These were the words I had been dying, literally dying to hear. His eyes, so riveting, compelled me to come to him and although I didn’t move, I didn’t try to look away either. This was what I wanted, something to bargain with and I would happily lose my soul in those eyes if there was a way out for my child.

“What?” My voice was cold and hard and the word came out as a demand. His chin lifted slightly at what must have sounded like defiance to him.

“Your cooperation.” Startled by his answer, I looked at him in surprise. I’m not sure what I was expecting but that certainly wasn’t it. I had already split an artery so if that wasn’t cooperation, I didn’t know what was. Did he mean cooperation where Ellie was concerned? I felt nauseous again and my head ached harder at the thought of what he could mean. I felt my hands form into fists and didn’t even try to keep them at my sides.

“I will never willingly give her to you,” I hissed the words across the short distance separating us.

A slight smile touched his expression and he laughed out loud. “You have made yourself abundantly clear regarding your daughter and lucky for you, it is not her that I really want.”

I was starting to get more angry than scared now, which was dangerous since he could kill me as an afterthought. “Then what is it? Tell me and let’s get on with it. There’s nothing I won’t do to protect her so spit it out. What is it?”

I searched my brain trying to remember every vampire movie I had ever watched. What did they need? I could think of nothing I had other than blood that he might want. The fear for my daughter’s life and my dwindling patience combined allowed me to pull myself up onto my knees. Reaching over, I hauled myself over to him. “Tell me, you son of a whore!” I spat the words into his face.

 With lightning speed and with only a blur caught by my eye, his hands held my face and throat with a crushing force. “My mother was no whore.” His voice rang with rage. His eyes flashed with the emotion in his voice as his hands continued to crush against my bones. I was sure they would snap at any moment and my vision was starting to tunnel at the lack of oxygen.

“She was a good woman.” His voice was softer with those words, his face gentler and his hands relaxed slightly, just enough that I could breathe shallowly.

I saw in that moment a trace of humanity, the first that I had seen in him. As both a mother and a daughter, I could understand his pain. His grip loosened and I pulled myself out of his hands, falling backwards on the floor.

“It was you that I was trying to insult, not your mother.” My voice was raspy from the force of his hands. I tried not to let my voice shake too much, but I couldn’t control it completely and if he noticed it, he didn’t show it.

“Yes, I sometimes forget that semantics have changed over the years.” The rage had left his face just as suddenly.

Taking a moment to calm my voice, I went on to the main point. “How can I cooperate?”

He had me now and he knew it; the victory showed on his face. “Occasionally, I long for a short period of human company. Very short, mind you. To understand, you must know something of vampires, our cravings, and you must know something of me. Blood is my main objective. It controls my every thought. I crave it, long for it and there is nothing more important than finding it. However, I do have other desires.”

Here he held up a finger for emphasis. “Although they are all colored by the desire for blood. I am essentially a loner as all vampires are, I believe. A nomad as I said earlier, roaming night after night rarely doing anything more than skirting the human world except to feed. Occasionally, it grows mundane and I choose a human with whom to spend a few days. To reacquaint myself with humanity, it helps me understand my prey better. Keep up with the changing of times and the human race itself. It is good for our kind to be able to drop our guard from time to time and be known for what we really are. To not have to conceal our most base desires if only for a few days. I do this very seldom, but it seems that now is a good time.”

“I will benefit and so will you and that is why I have chosen you. You have something I want and I can give you something that you want. Please do not think it is because you are special or different from the thousands of other humans I have killed. You are not different. You are not special. You will most certainly die when our time is up. You are alone, however, and will be alone in your home for some time; so it provides a convenient opportunity. I give this opportunity to you in exchange for your daughter’s life. Do you accept the terms?”

I studied his face looking for a hint of what he was really thinking as he spoke, but it might as well have been cast in stone. I wasn’t quite sure what he was saying or maybe my mind just refused to accept what he was offering. After our previous encounters in the evening, I was fairly certain that I understood the talk of blood, but could I cooperate and be his companion? And what did that even mean? I was sure there would be more to it than I was capable of realizing in my current condition.

I started to speak but he held up his hand, placing his right pointer finger on my lips, cutting off my questions.

“Do you accept the terms? Your cooperation in exchange for your daughter’s life? It is a simple question. Yes or no? The specifics will be explained later. And by the way, I killed old lady McElhaney. Ripped her throat out and left her dying body to rot. You are totally alone.” He waited now for my answer.

My mind was on what he had said about Ms. McElhaney. I realized he must have overheard the conversation with my mom on the phone. It all came together then. The sensation of panic and terror that had chased me from the woods and then what I had felt upstairs had been him.

“Yes. Of course. Anything for her.” I nodded my head as he pulled his finger away from my mouth.

I grasped his hand as he pulled it away. “But answer me this. Why didn’t you just kill me in the woods?” I was curious. None of this made any sense. “You didn’t know I was alone until you heard me talking to my mom.” Having many more questions, I started to ask more as he pulled his finger out of my hand and placed it back over my lips.

He clearly didn’t like my questions but answered anyway. “I surveyed your house out just before dawn on my way to my resting spot for the day. I could hear only two defenseless hearts beating and one of those was a child. I wanted to take you then. To wake you with my fangs at your throat.”

He reached over with the other hand to run one cool finger down my neck while he spoke, his right index finger still on my lips. Both of his hands were on me as if we were in an embrace. “That is the best time, you know. You would have smelled so much more human after an entire night in your bed before you covered your skin and hair with all of the fragrances human women are so fond of. But I would have been pressed for time. I would have had to spend the day here and I could not take the chance that some nosy human would come poking around, despite the isolation here, while I was incapacitated.”

He casually lifted his shoulders now when he spoke further like we were talking about the weather. “So I was fairly certain that you were essentially alone. I decided to let you sit and I would come back the next day. Besides, why would I want to kill you in the cold dirt of the woods when I could defile you and kill you in the comfort of your own home?”

The bleakness of his words startled me and I knew my shock was evident on my face. He was enjoying it. I felt a pit in my stomach, cold and empty.

What had I agreed to? Giving him my blood, my body, or something more important? Would he drain my soul as well? It took only a second for me to realize I would give up anything for Ellie so it didn’t really matter; he could have it all. Pulling his hand away from my mouth, I whispered, “Defile me then.” In return, he flashed me another predatory smile.

The chiming of the clock made me jump slightly at the first strike; it chimed five in the morning. The heavy oak that housed the mechanism of the clock gave it an ominous resounding boom that echoed throughout the emptiness of the house. The clock had been in my family for at least three generations, but I had never noticed before how lonely it sounded. It now reminded me of a death knell.

This hell of a night would soon be over but I still wasn’t exactly sure how it would end and his face still held that smile. A smile that confidently said he had won.

“So let me explain the rules of our engagement,” he began. “You are mine during the dark of the day, which means you will sleep when I sleep. You will do as you are told without question. Most importantly, you will contact no one and you will not leave this house unless accompanied by me. I expect to not have to repeat myself and, remember, any disobedience will make our agreement null and void. Ending your own life intentionally will also nullify our agreement. Do you understand?” He waited now, prompting me to answer with the full weight of his eyes on me.

Nodding my head yes, I vaguely realized I did have several questions, but I suppose my thoughts were racing too quickly for them to be coherent.

“Then I will see you at the setting of the sun.” His voice was low when he spoke.

He was suddenly standing before I realized his movements and reaching down, he grasped my hands and pulled me quickly to my feet. My head swam with the sudden movement, but I was locked in his grip so I didn’t falter. Leaning down, he placed one cool touch of his lips to the back of my right hand and then he was gone. A second later, I heard the back door close and I was alone.

With his leaving, I also lost control of my legs and I sank back down to the floor. I knew it had been pure adrenaline that had kept me going for the last couple of hours. But now I had nothing left and no reason left to even attempt to regain my footing so I just lay there. It hurt to think and I attempted to completely empty my mind.

It didn’t work because my every thought was of him or of Ellie. Like watching a movie, each bad moment replayed itself like poorly scripted drama scenes from a horror film.

And like many poorly made horror films that I had watched, this one couldn’t keep me awake either and I eventually fell asleep. I don’t remember drifting away and how I remained asleep is beyond me with the images of what I had experienced still playing through my mind.

They were even worse in my dreams. More distorted and slowed down even further in that eerie way that is only possible in dreams. But despite the images flashing through my mind, I slept deeply and it took the incessant chiming of the clock striking noon to rouse me.

Awareness came before the opening of my eyes and I knew it was noon because of the glare coming from the picture window in the living room. I was tempted to stay there and not move as I couldn’t see any point to getting up, but even when you know you are going to die, you still have to contend with the bladder, so move I did.

Pulling myself up to a kneeling position, I gave myself a minute to let my spinning head slow down before I stumbled into the bathroom. To my surprise, I managed to make it to the commode without passing out by using both hands to steady myself as I walked. It was still a relief to sit down even if it was only a toilet.

After several minutes of convincing myself, I got up to the bathroom sink. Luckily it wasn’t too far away. Looking into the oversized mirror, I gasped a little at my own appearance. I looked like hell and that was putting it mildly.

Reaching up to pull at the snarls in my hair, I took a second to pull one of my lower eyelids down. Paler in color than it should have been, I was surprised to find that my inner lid still held any color at all. An old school method for determining a blood count. Not terribly accurate, but at least it gave you an idea if someone was anemic or not.

Turning on the faucet, I reached both hands into the cold water, splashing it up onto my face and then running my fingers through my hair trying to tame it down a little. Looking back in the mirror, I couldn’t tell much improvement.

The vanity of the situation hit me then. Primping in front of a mirror when my killer would be returning in less than six hours hardly made sense. What did it matter if I looked like crap? Like most women, I had spent numerous hours in front of a mirror and for what? It had been wasted time. He was here for blood and not the way I looked. So deciding not to waste the few remaining hours of my life that I had left, I gave up on my hair.

My stomach was twisting with hunger and the dizziness was on the verge of becoming incapacitating so eating became a priority. I walked towards the kitchen, passing through the living room on the way, not paying attention to where I was stepping.

Feeling my left foot drag through a thick wetness, I paused with my foot in midair knowing without looking what was clinging to my foot. Looking down to confirm my suspicion, thick maroon blood clung to the entire length of my foot. My blood.

My gut reaction was to scream as the viscous liquid enveloped my skin and now dripped slowly from my sole back into the coagulated pool beneath me, but honestly I just didn’t have the energy. I waited for the expected bile to rise in my throat, but nothing happened.

Since the bloody mess didn’t discourage my appetite, I walked on into the kitchen marking the tile floor with one-sided bloody footprints all the way to the refrigerator.

Grabbing the handle, I swung open the fridge and reached in automatically for the eggs. Carrying four to the stove, I quickly cracked them onto the griddle, tossing the shells into the sink, and turned it on. They were scrambled in a matter of minutes. Spooning them onto a plate, I walked outside into the sunlight. It was still cool, but looked like it would warm up to at least 60, I thought.

Lifting my face up to the warmth of the sun and into the light breeze, I let it it race across my face, turning my head side to side to catch the sun rays on both sides. It felt good to stand outside in the sunlight after the horrendous night. Realizing for the first time in a while how beautiful the daylight was, I looked up into the sun a moment. Closing my eyes, I reveled in the golden light that penetrated my eyelids for a few moments more.

Eating the warm breakfast, I looked out across the pastures, still brown from the winter, and focused on the horses in the pasture. I could just make out the small herd standing at the far southeast corner of the pasture closest to the border of the forest. They were sunning themselves just as I was.

Continuing to survey the property, I realized how normal everything looked. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. No one would have ever believed that I had lived out a fantasy-land nightmare.

I had stood on this same deck yesterday just hours before my assault by a mythical creature. Now in the light of day, it was easy to forget what had happened and believe that I had made the entire thing up and that I would be here to see the coming spring. My mother always said, “Everything looks better in the daylight.”

But I hadn’t made this up and I hadn’t dreamed it. The bloody footprints and my dead dog were proof enough to confirm I wasn’t losing my mind. Despite the brightness of the sun, it could no longer penetrate the haze of darkness overtaking my mind, knowing that spring was coming and I wouldn’t be here to enjoy it with Ellie.

Thinking of her brought to mind the promise I had made to the vampire last night. Was I mentally strong enough to stay here and wait for his return? Could I actually keep myself from contacting my mother? Not say goodbye to my daughter?

And that was where I knew that I had to draw the line. Yes, I was strong enough to die for her. I had the strength to leave them wondering what had happened to me. But I wasn’t strong enough to leave without some sort of goodbye. I would have to find a way to tell her how much she had and would always mean to me.

I wanted to tell her how proud she had made me and how much happiness she had brought to my life. Tell her to listen to my mother. If I had listened to her, I wouldn’t be sitting here contemplating goodbyes.

Turning on my heel, I walked back into the house to think about this some more. Absentmindedly, I reached down and rubbed my left arm, expecting to feel the self-inflicted cut, warm and swollen like a fresh wound should be, but there was only the smooth skin of my inner elbow.

Looking down, I didn’t believe my eyes at first. The laceration was gone. Not healed with a visible scar but just gone. Walking over to the window to get a better look in the bright light streaming in, I stared intently at the spot where the cut should have been, but the skin of my inner arm was completely flawless. I hadn’t imagined the cut as the blood was still on the floor. But looking down at my arm again confirmed what I had already seen. The incision was completely gone.

Hurrying to the bathroom, I looked into the mirror, but my neck was as baby smooth as my arm. No puncture wounds not even any bruising, the same as my arm. But I distinctly remembered the sensation of his fangs piercing my skin and hearing him swallow my blood. Just as I remembered watching his mouth close over the flow of blood from my arm.

Turning around, I pulled my shirt over my head and looked at my back. Dark red bruises covered me from my neck to my hips. Turning back around as I pulled my shirt back on, I jerked the sleeve up on my right arm. Deep red bruises along with fingerprints could be seen traveling up my arm, but where his lips had touched me, my skin was flawless.

Leaving the bathroom, I went back to the kitchen. It was well lit, easily the cheeriest room in the house, and the sun alone calmed my frayed nerves. I was safe as long as the sun was shining. Pulling out a bar-stool, I sat down, resting my arms and head on the cool bar.

For the first time today, a split-second thought of Ms. McElhaney flashed through my mind as I walked back to the kitchen. It became impossible to stop the flow of images through my head. I could see her lying dead on the floor with the homemade quilt lying ruined and bloodied beside her, or her body spread out across the old iron frame bed. She had no close family and it would take the  few neighbors there were out here a few days to notice her absence.

I wanted to call the police and notify them of her death. It was the ethical thing to do and I knew it. It seemed so unfair for her to be decomposing in her home. Reasoning out loud, I talked myself through the conversation with the police. It didn’t take long to realize that no matter how the call was made, the police would quickly show up here looking for information. Her house was littered with my phone numbers and pictures of Ellie as we had become close to her since we had moved here.

Maybe I should call her house to see if he was lying, I thought to myself. My hand was on a wall phone a full second before I decided that was a bad idea. My number would be on her caller I.D. and I knew in my heart that he was telling the truth. Calling her house wouldn’t help her or me now.

Letting my hand fall away from the phone, I began to pace in the kitchen. My previous dizziness had been pushed to the back of my mind while I was thinking about my sweet elderly neighbor. Panic truly hit me for the first time. I had been a fool. What was I still doing here? Could I escape and shouldn’t I try?

The answer now seemed shockingly clear. He was gone, at least for the day, and I had wasted a lot of very valuable time. I should call my mom and drive as fast as I could to get to Ellie tonight. I could make it by nightfall.

My mind screamed instructions and my body obeyed. I had the house phone in my hand with mom’s number partially dialed. Terror and a near loss of reason caused my hands to shake and I was unable to finish dialing the number. It was as if I had finally used up the last of my sanity reserves and I could handle no more.

I knew that I was about to lose myself in the grip of panic and I used what small amount of mental reserves I had left to bring my rapid breathing under control. I forced myself to breathe in slowly, count to three, and then exhale just as slowly. Feeling my heart rate drop in response, I gripped the phone with all my strength and forced my hand to hang it back up, at least until I could think this through more clearly.

Sitting back down in the kitchen, I ran my hands up over my face and through my hair. The muscles in my back ached at the motions. My hair felt grimy and I suddenly felt very dirty.

Uncertainty clung to me. Logic told me to leave but my gut instinct screamed for me to stay. Nausea returned with my indecision and a thin sheen of sweat formed on my face and under my arms, adding to my unclean feeling.

Deciding to wash my face again, I walked back through the living room, my eyes landing on Samuel for the first time. I had forgotten him as I had been so focused on my own problems. Tears sprang to my eyes as they swept over him.

Kneeling down beside him on my knees, I knitted my hands into the fur around his neck. It had always been the thickest there and one of his favorite places to be scratched. Even though the faint stench of death was just beginning to become apparent, I couldn’t keep myself from dropping my head against his. The tears flowed down my face and onto his. He had been my guardian and friend for several years. He had let me cry on his shoulder numerous times during the worst moments of my life.

Now I was crying on his shoulder one last time. The tears came until there was nothing left. I cried not only for the loss of my pet, but also for the loss of my future and my life.

Lifting myself up off Samuel, I stood up, taking a second to dry my eyes on the backs of my hands, and then leaned down to pick him up as I refused to drag my beloved friend.

He was heavy and the lack of muscle tone made it even harder to carry him, but I managed to get him to the door. It took a while as I had to lay him down to open the door and then pick him up again, my back muscles burning in response.

Walking out on the deck, I struggled to get him down the steps. I nearly dropped him, but somehow managed to stay upright with him in my arms. Thankfully he had always been on the small side for a German shepherd.

Standing for several minutes deciding on the best place to bury him, I finally decided on the garden. It wasn’t like I would be using it this year and since I had broken the ground up already, it would be an easy place to dig the grave. So with the decision made, I walked to the garden and placed him gently on the grass at the edge as I couldn’t stand to get his fur dirty.

The shovel I got from the barn felt clumsy and foreign in my hands. It took about an hour to dig Samuel a shallow resting place but it was the best I could do as my strength was quickly giving out.

Wrapping him in a small but thick horse blanket I kept in the barn, I placed him in the small hole. It only took a few minutes to cover him up and I packed the dirt down as best as I could with the flat side of the shovel.

Staring down at the grave, the shovel slipped out of my hands and I waited for more tears to fall, but I found I had no more at the moment.  My beloved Samuel's interment left me dejected and I felt desperately alone. Glad that he had not suffered, I could not keep from wishing that he could have kept me company while I waited to die.

Feeling dirtier than ever, a bath became a priority. While burying Samuel, my indecision had grown and I was now even less certain of what to do. Reasoning that my mind would be clearer if I were clean, I left the garden and went straight to the bathroom. The tears that I had been unable to cry now streamed uncontrollably down my face.