Vampires of the Sun (11 page)

              Taking a minute to think about what he said, she agreed and waved goodbye before stumbling outside. Pushing hard on the door, it banged open on accident and she giggled at her own strength. Zip-zagging along the sidewalk until she got to the alley, Norah leaned against the wall and thought she might hyperventilate but she had to remind herself she didn’t even have a need to breathe anymore. She still leaned over with her hand gripping the wall to keep her steady while she got her emotions under control.

              “Hey, are you alright?” A male voice came out of the darkness from the direction she’d just come from. There was a rugged, older-looking man with a beard and a trucker’s hat to match his checkered shirt staring at her with a strange expression. He kept moving towards her, despite her staring back at him. He must have mistaken her predatory glare for a look of helplessness. She thought she might need to work on that too. His hands reached up and pushed her flush against the wall and to Norah’s surprise, she wasn’t afraid of him. Reminding herself of her practice earlier with bringing her fangs in and out, they easily slid out discreetly.  Steeling her nerves tight, Norah moved her head to his neck much faster than she’d anticipated and bit down hard. It was harder than she’d intended and the man cried out and flailed but she found it easy to keep him steady despite his size while she sucked at his blood.

              While Norah could hear the blood seep out of his neck and into her mouth, she could also hear footsteps coming up from behind them. Norah wasn’t sure how but she recognized the echo of a gait which belonged to Jack. “Take it easy Norah. Don’t drain him of his blood completely.” Thinking that she might kill him, immediately Norah stopped chowing down. The man fell limply to the ground. “Puncture a hole in your own finger and rub some of the blood on the bite marks. They will heal with no one the wiser to what happened.” Following his guidance, Norah brought her hand up to her still-fanged mouth and bit down with a wince. It hurt to use her fangs on herself. “You’ll get better at doing it soon enough and it won’t hurt anyone.” Jack said, trying to comfort her.

              Norah took her finger, blossoming with a red bead, and rubbed it on the bite marks she had made on the man’s neck. As she watched, his skin slowly sewed itself shut and the irritable redness on his skin slowly disappeared. She was full and satiated and even a little sleepy as if she needed a nap.

              “That was a fairly solid job. I’m envious of the blood you received from your parents. It must be very old and very strong.” But while Jack said that, he didn’t look envious. He just looked around, satisfied that his work wouldn’t be quite so difficult.

              Leaving the man in the alleyway, Jack and Norah took a stroll around town. They talked and Jack explained what he knew about how to use the special abilities like fire, mind control, and mind reading. It wasn’t much to go off of and when Norah tried to do any of them, she failed at finding which one she excelled at. She could only do the bare minimum of each. Jack just scratched his head and figured they would learn which it was later after she had more practice.

              “What about me then? You could read my mind?” Norah asked, thinking Jack must have known what she was thinking the entire time she met with them.

              “I try not to read the minds of any human companion but even though it trickles in sometimes, one who has had a little vampire blood, or a marker as I explained before, cannot be controlled or read. So no, I couldn’t and even if I could have, I wouldn’t have.”

              Norah wanted to jest that it was good he couldn’t read her mind because then he would know she thought he was cute but she was worried he might take it in the wrong way and things would get awkward. Jack was cute. Norah had thought he was cute before she was turned and it hadn’t changed with the turning. She loved the way his hair trickled down his neck in waves of dark curls and she liked the way he was protective of her but didn’t think she couldn’t handle herself if need be. He was her kindred spirit and at this place in time, she didn’t think she minded if she had to spend eternity with him.

              Turning away from Jack and looking out over the city, Norah found the neon and fluorescent lights to be blinding. She liked it because it was like glitter twinkling in her eyes. They stayed on the pedestrian bridge they were stopped on for a few hours, just staring out over the city before either one of them broke the silence.

              “Is this what eternity is like? Standing in one place while you watch everything move around you?” Norah questioned.

              “I don’t know. I haven’t lived even one full life time. I wouldn’t even be 30 yet if I hadn’t turned. Shall we head back? It’ll be dawn in a couple of hours.”

              Norah nodded, thinking she’d like to sleep. Her mind was heavy with thought. The car wasn’t far from where they were and they headed back in silence save for the early morning blues leaking auditory waves from the radio. Hardly anyone was still awake at Kenneth’s. Only Kenneth and Shoshannah were still in the living room. Norah realized these early morning hours were when the whole world was practically asleep. Humans weren’t up yet and vampires were already going asleep. She liked that there was a lull in which everyone needed to reset during.

              “Did you have a good kill?” Kenneth asked, his snake-like personality coming to light.

              “She didn’t have to kill. She has amazing control. We haven’t figured out which of the gifts are suited for her yet though. Tomorrow we’ll work on that plus I’d like to get up early enough to take her shopping. One of the others from my old clan was kind enough to lend her some clothes but she really needs some that actually fit her.” Jack answered for both of them. He grabbed her hand and led them down the hallway to the stairs to the cellar and back to their shared room. In the room, they didn’t speak. Changing and cleaning up in the bathroom rather quickly, Norah was in bed and asleep faster than she’d ever been before.

              Dead asleep, Norah felt a tapping on her shoulder causing her to stir. “Time to get up Norah. The sun is going down and we need to leave now.” She heard Jack’s voice whispering to her. Still sleepy, she sat up and slowly went about getting ready. She brushed her teeth and tied back her hair. Her socks and shoes came next and all of her clothes were lastly put into a bag she could carry easily. Jack was already waiting on her with a blood bag as they went upstairs. The sky was still a swirl of purple and blue but the sun had moved below the horizon.

              As they pulled away from the house, Norah looked back and she was sure she saw Kenneth standing in the upstairs window, watching them leave.

              They headed west while Norah used Jack’s phone to try to figure out where they should go. “If push comes to shove, we can always burrow into the ground. I’d rather not but it is a last resort.” Norah didn’t want to do what Jack suggested, already fed up with being covered in dirt.

              Scouring for hotels like the one they stayed at before, Norah didn’t have much luck. She found a couple of motels with very small windows that would probably make do. Driving towards Denver, they drove as far as they could before having to find a place and hope everything ended up okay. They pulled into the first motel they saw that looked the least seedy and used some tape they found to tape the curtains completely closed. Wrapping up in covers, both Norah and Jack went to sleep exhausted.

              Norah woke first. She didn’t know the time but it felt late in the evening. Groggily getting up and heading over to the window to pull the tape and look outside, she heard Jack tell her not to open it too late to stop. He jumped off the bed and headed into the corner of the room where the light from outside wasn’t touching. Surprised, Norah expected to feel a burning sensation but the light did nothing to her skin. It streamed passed her and lit up natural highlights in her hair. She caught her reflection in the mirror before she dropped the curtain. Her eyes drew her in. Before her turning, not a single person would have said they were alluring but there was something about the light that filled them now that made Norah feel strange. “What the hell?” Jack said. Peeking outside to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, it was definitely the sunlight that was touching her skin. The sun was on its way to below the horizon but it was shining bright and deep orange through the window. Closing the curtains back up and emplacing the tape, Norah found Jack just staring at her.

              “You didn’t burn?” He questioned, as if he didn’t believe it. Norah didn’t know what to tell him. He sat down on the bed and gripped his hair in his hands and looked at the floor thinking and carefully choosing his next words. “Kenneth was on to something. I didn’t think he was because I didn’t think we could be altered but your parents found a way to do it. This is why it seems like everyone is interested in getting their hands on you. You can walk in the sun. They want to figure out how to do it themselves, be day walkers.”

              Jack went deep into thought, laying back down on the bed now that the initial scare of being burned by the light of the sun was over. He didn’t get up again until the sun was completely gone. “Let’s go feed,” He ushered. Jack wanted to go down to one of the weigh-stations and find a trucker who was turning in for the night in order for the trucker to sleep throughout the night before getting on the road again. Norah didn’t really want to but she was hungry as well.

              Disgusted once the deed was done, Norah quickly let the guy she’d had to choose and seduce lay down on his backseat bunk bed and heal. Waiting for Jack to finish, she sat in the driver’s seat of the 18-wheeler and let her feet dangle in the air. She got to thinking about earlier and how the sun had caressed her skin again.

              Knowing that she could walk in the sunlight should have felt monumental but Norah just felt strange. Before being turned, she was the odd one out. All of her money didn’t make her any less of a loser. She’d thought that being turned meant she might be able to join a community of vampires like herself but now once again, she’d become the strange one. Jack was trying to act normal about it but she was concerned he might be jealous and leave her stranded and alone. She didn’t want to be alone anymore. She’d been with him so long now that it felt like normal even if it was only for the past few days. It ached inside of her to know that he was going to leave her.

              Leaving Kansas, Jack and Norah crossed over into Colorado and made it to a motel in Cheyenne, Wyoming near the Colorado and Wyoming border. The next night it was Montana and then Idaho the night after that. Finally, they made it to Washington State where they planned to stop for a while. All the while, Norah tested her ability to be in the sun by staying up later than Jack and having the morning light hit her skin. Only the noon sun bothered her. Norah figured it was light sensitivity but she didn’t burn and her skin didn’t crack and turn to dust like Jack said his would if he touched the light.

              Not wanting to make Jack more jealous, Norah tried to keep her explorations to herself. They did talk a little bit about it what her ability might mean for them long term. Both agreed that Norah might not be able to use one of the other gifts because this one was meant for her. She’d kept practicing those and hadn’t seen a single result from her exertion. They both agreed that walking in the sun would help them blend into a neighborhood and not look suspicious. She would be able to do things like checking the mail box during the day and even do yard work. No one would ever suspect that a clan of vampires had moved in. She didn’t express how much she liked it that Jack was calling them a clan even if it was only the two of them but she loved it. It kept her going and hoping that Jack wouldn’t leave. Her worries would be for nothing. Norah had a growing fondness towards Jack. She wasn’t sure if it was a crush or even something more but she didn’t want to be parted from him.

              Jack’s own feelings were that of fondness for Norah but he knew it went beyond that. It had always gone beyond that although he wouldn’t admit it anytime soon. He was in love with her. He didn’t know why. She was a tiny thing, even-spirited and hardly full of fire. She was the complete opposite of the type of girl he typically liked.

              At first, Jack found that he liked the dead-pan look in her eyes when she was still human. It was off-putting to other people but he felt a connection between them. It reminded him of how he felt when he was first turned. He was so lost and hated the world until he began to understand and control his abilities. He would have given anything to read her mind and see what was going on in there. Even without his abilities, he had been pretty good at reading people but she was just deadness. He knew he wouldn’t get the chance to do any of that now but she was beginning to open up to him. He could see she had a growing attachment to him that he wasn’t opposed to and he wasn’t jealousy of her abilities. He did wish he could walk in the sun with her. He wanted to share it with her. Walking alone in darkness had never bothered him before but walking by her side in darkness, watching her take blood from other men set a fire in his stomach that wouldn’t be doused.

              The fire wouldn’t leave even after reaching a place they could both agree to stay for a while. Jack ended up breaking into a blood bank once they’d reached Seattle so that neither would have to feed directly from any one human being.

              After a night at the grungy motel he’d found for them, Jack realized he’d forgotten something very important. He called up the lawyer James used, wanting to have Norah added to the accounts so that whatever they decided on, she could be a part of the procession.

              “Mr. Vios, Ms. Banks has already been handled. In fact, Mr. Newell has created a separate account for the two of you. I believe his intentions were to allot you the opportunity to purchase a home if you so choose to do so. It contains quite a large sum of money, even by my own standards,” The lawyer, Mr. Fairchild, spoke. He was an older British man whom Jack had only ever met once at a party James had hosted a few years back. Taking down the necessary information to access the accounts, Jack was ready for their next plan of action.

              “James has prepared us so that once we have found a place to settle. We can obtain a place of our own to do with what we like. Is this where we want to stay? It doesn’t have to be for forever. We could always find somewhere else. I don’t know anything about Washington so we may not like it here.” Jack admitted.

              “We can scope it out over the next few days. We would need to find a place we like anyways and that takes some time.” After feeding, Norah and Jack sat down with a list of things they wanted in a place like flooring, rooms, a place that could be improved upon to suit Jack’s needs. Norah went out during the day time and picked up a laptop for each of them and they used them to look on the internet for places that matched their interest. From there, Norah scheduled a couple of run-throughs with lovely realtor who was more than happy to work with her when she explained she’d inherited a large sum of money and was looking to pay for a house without a need to finance. She brought along a newly purchased camera to take pictures to bring back to Jack until they found the perfect place.

              The perfect place was on Fox Island outside of Tacoma. The house was secluded and on the coast across the water from Tacoma. Jack said they would be able to use their ability to fly through the sky over the water once Norah got the hang of it. She was looking forward to it. It was the only one of the abilities she was actually semi-decent at.

              The house itself had beautiful wooden floors. She thought the inside might need a bit of renovation but she liked that idea because it gave them something to do. The water that the second story porch looked out over was beautiful and calm and the inside on both floors contained large open windows.

              Within two weeks after their decision, Jack and Norah stood inside the empty living room with matching grins. Norah had her sleep schedule completely reversed so that she could take care of everything during the days while Jack slept. They were able to watch over each other and keep each other safe 24 hours a day. It was a lot of work for Norah, taking care of everything for the house, but she did it gladly. Washington was feeling like a safe place to her. She couldn’t see her parents looking for her here. With Mr. Fairchild taking care of everything, her name wasn’t used and the trail to her was bound to be cold.

              The first day after moving in, with the only thing in the house being blood bags, a bed in one of the rooms where all the windows were blacked out, Norah woke up just before dawn to a shake on her shoulder. She shout out of bed and looked around wildly. Jack stood above her smiling. She had to calm herself down from being startled out of sleep. “Follow me,” Jack urged her. He pulled her from the bed and brought her to the empty living room.

              Norah expected to find darkness waiting for them. Instead, a magical landscape was laid before her eyes. Candles were lit and covered every surface. On the empty floor, there was a small box with a tiny cake. It was decorated with black flowers made of icing. There wasn’t room for any writing but Norah knew it was or her birthday. Placed next to the cake was a bottle of expensive looking champagne and two beautiful crystal wine glasses.

              “There are two causes or celebration today. This is our first home as a clan and it’s your birthday today! I would have gotten a bigger cake but since we can’t really eat it, it seemed to be a bit of a waste so I thought some champagne would be more fitting.” Jack explained himself, obviously a little embarrassed and unsure of himself. As he struggled to uncork the champagne, Norah unable to hold back a loud laugh at the popping sound that came when the cork went flying off, he sang Happy Birthday to her. She had to hold back the tears that threatened to well up. It had been a long time since anyone sang Happy Birthday to her or even bothered with a cake.

              Blowing out the candles on the cake, Norah was tempted to throw the cake in Jack’s face but instead, they took the cake up to the second story deck and she threw it as far as she could out onto the rocks below them. Jack handed her a glass of the champagne and she clinked it against his.

              “Here’s to hoping that we can spend many birthdays together. Here’s to a new life for both of us.”

              It was easy to finish off the bottle, barely feeling any effects of the alcohol. Norah sadly watched Jack go to the bedroom to begin sleeping as the sun was coming up. She stayed up on the balcony, watching the sun come up. With not a thought in her head, she began to clean up the left over mess, leaving most of the candles out so they could enjoy them in the evening as they began to make plans regarding the house.

              Planning every minute together, Jack and Norah spent months getting everything together. They designed a completely enclosed room to be built for Jack, painted all of the walls in different colors, replaced everything in the kitchen, bought furniture and decorations, and Norah learned to dissipate into a mist in order to fly over the bay to feed.

Dissipating was the hardest part of being a vampire for Norah. It didn’t come easily and she had a feeling it never would. Norah was beginning to suspect she must have maintained some portion of her humanity. Once she had it down though, Jack would take Norah out dancing to different clubs. They were also spending a lot of time reading different literature. Norah wanted to be able to contribute to their funds because she didn’t want to be dependent on James forever. She began reading books about trading stocks and began to take note of ones she was interested in. She even thought about taking a job but she didn’t even have her GED. In the end, Jack talked her into beginning work on it so she filed for the paperwork and study material and decided there was no time like the present.