Short Story (Part 2)

It took two days to realize that, strangely, my nightmares were gone, although I was feeling more anxious than ever… I knew I shouldn’t, but I had to see her again, to talk to her again, touch her, feel her… I knew she was still at the hospital so I went there.

I was in such a rush that I forgot to feed…great. Now I was already at the hospital, so I had to handle it for a while, I hope. I was forwarding to her room when I captured a conversation.

– “Take the sheets to the laundry room and I’ll call someone to do the cleanup all right?” – said a nurse to a cleanup woman.

– “Okay ma’am. Do you want me to take these towels too?”

– “Yes please.” – the nurse replied – “It was a shame, she was so young, she had life in front of her…”

– “Yes, indeed. I can’t imagine how hard must be to the family, moreover in such a stupid accident.”

My brain froze in that moment, disabling me of keep listen the rest. Dead? She was…dead? No, no…it wasn’t true, it couldn’t be! Why she had to die? She hadn’t! Stupid drunk driver! I should… I couldn’t complete the sentence and my brain froze once more – “My God, what have I done!?” – I said out loud.

I started to run, furious, frustrated, looking everywhere for a clue. She died with my blood in her system…which means she would become a vampire. No! What have I done! I had to find her before she woke up, or even worse, before she turns. I stopped, trying to put my ideas in order. Being in the middle of Tower Bridge was for sure a great place to do that…since my years as human it has always been my favorite place to think… Suddenly I asked to myself how dumb I was being so far, and I left, straight to the hospital to try to find out to which mortuary they took her body.

It was quiet over here. The mortuary was already out of the working hours…anyway, there should be someone here to do the safety shifts, so I had to be careful. I must find her as soon as possible… I searched for some more information and then I went downstairs, to the lower flood, where they kept the bodies.

I walked in the room. There were a lot of boxes with bodies inside and there were a few others in stretchers covered with white sheets. I looked every box and every body on the little stretchers…nothing! No signs of her, except the fact that one of the stretchers was empty…it could be normal over here, or not… Other thing that wasn’t right was the intense smell of blood. My body began to swarm, looking for where the smell was coming from. A few more steps through the large lobby and I found it… A security, dead, with a lot of blood all over his neck and uniform. This was bad, this was really bad. Right now, I could only expect the worst… 

– “I remember you…” – I heard from somewhere in the dark room, it was her – “You were at the hospital and you made me drink your blood…” – she was saying. Then I felt her, throwing me to the ground – “What have you done to me?”

 – “I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to happen. You wouldn’t make it and I only wanted you to be fine…” – she was looking at me, confused. I’m sure she was not understanding any of what I was saying…just like happened to me, long ago.

Suddenly she came to me, furious, attacking me. The new born vampires were stronger but still needed centuries of practice to become wiser than the old ones, so it was as if they weren’t stronger at all. I took her left arm off of my neck and her other hand off of my right arm and through her away. Then I ran and grabbed her against a wall, disabling her of moving or running away.

– “Just calm down please! I’ll explain everything to you, but first I need you to CALM DOWN!” – I said to her. She was still furious, struggling, but now she was crying compulsively.

– “Who are you?” – she asked – “Why am I acting like this? I don’t know what to think, what to feel, I don’t know who I am anymore… I JUST KILLED A MAN GODDAMNED!! So don’t tell me to calm down!”

– “I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry…”

– “So, what am I?” – she was keeping asking questions and I only could stare at her, listen to her and her suffering, the doubts and agony in her voice…

– “ANSWER ME!” – she said louder.

– “You are a vampire…” – I waited, in vain, for a reaction – “It is normal your confusion. All your feelings are increased in your new condition. Your emotions, your desires, your needs. But you don’t have to be worried, you just have to learn to control it and everything is going to be fine.” – I also told her everything, since the car accident until today, when I found she was dead and started to look for her.

In that moment she was already sitting on the ground, with her arms around her knees while I was on my knees in front of her, trying to calm her down and explaining everything.

– “So, all the stories about vampires are real?” – she was perplexed – “No, can’t be… Are you also a vampire?”

– “Yes. My name is Taylor, Taylor Williams; I was born in 1736 and turned twenty-five years after.”

– “So you have 276 years old, oh my God…” – she was listen carefully, but it was being too much information for one day only.

– “I think you…” – I was saying, starring at her, trying to figure or find out what her name was, after all I haven’t known it yet.

– “Amber…Thompson.” – she answered, noticing what I was looking for.

– “Amber…you should have some rest now. You can come with me, I have an extra room in my house, besides, you need a safe place to stay…it’s almost dawn.”

– “Please, just one more thing.” – she asked.

– “Okay, what is it?”

– “Why me?”

That surprised me in fact. I wasn’t expecting that question – “You looked like a hope to me…”

– “I don’t understand…”

I was saying too much already… – “I’ll explain to you later, now come.”

I was in a dark room gasping for help… I could see my way out, an open door on the other side of the room but I couldn’t reach it. I wanted to run but my muscles would not obey to my orders. Then I heard a voice from outside of the door, calling me… Taylor…

– “Taylor… Are you awake?” – I woke up and there she was at my door, looking at me – “Can I come in? I’m feeling alone…” – she said.

– “Yes, of course.”

Amber stepped closer, while I was snuggling under the sheets, she sits on the corner of the bed. Death didn’t take away her beauty… Her blue eyes were brighter and her light brown hair softer than ever. Now, despite of being slightly paler and have dark circles around her eyes, like I had too, her lips were still the same with its characteristic pink color, and I think all of this only helped her to become even more beautiful.

– “Hey…” – she said smiling.

– “Have you rested everything?”

– “I don’t know for sure…but I couldn’t be alone in that room anymore…”

– “Hmm I see… Step closer, we can talk if you want.”

I couldn’t take my eyes of her, as she was lying down beside me, she looked so delicate and fragile, despite of not being at all.

We were both quiet for a long time; I couldn’t say for sure how much it was. Among many other things, vampires doesn’t need to breathe (for logical reasons, we were dead) so, the silence over the room was immaculate.

– “What should I do now?” – she asked suddenly.

– “What do you mean?”
– “How my life, dead or whatever, is going to be from now on? What about my family?” – I haven’t the answer that she wanted me to and what I had to say to her she had already figured it out – “My friends? My job? …”

– “You have to forget all of it Amber… You must be dead to the world.”

– “I see…” – I saw a tear rolling down her face – “Do I have to kill to feed?”

– “NO, not at all! I’ll teach you how to do it later.”

– “Oh, thank God.”

We were both keeping our eyes looking through the ceiling, purposely avoiding, or not, look at each other.

– “Where should I go now?”

– “For now you could stay here if you want to, there’s a lot of space for both of us. In a near future I would suggest you to leave the country, find a new place to live or just travel, believe me, it will be for the best. Meanwhile, let’s not think about that, you do as you want to.”

– “That stupid drunk driver took me everything… In one hand I wish I would be dead, I mean, really dead but, in the other hand I’m glad you saved me…”

I couldn’t talk; maybe it was for the best. Amber was so wading in her thoughts, trying to absorb all the information about who she was now. Maybe she would get used to it, I’m sure she will, or maybe just not… I could think in a bunch of “maybes” and “ifs” right now but only time would tell it.

– “I’m hungry.” – Amber said suddenly.
In fact I was also getting hungry so I believe how she must be feeling, since she does not control her hunger. I got up in the next second.

– “Okay. Take something to dress and come back here. We are going to hunt.”

Suddenly, Amber went in the opposite side and stepped closer to a guy. She started to talk to him and I realized she knew him. When I was going to take her away from there it was too late already. Without I even noticed, she lost control and bit him. As much as I wanted to believe it was another nightmare I couldn’t because it wasn’t, it was real. There was blood everywhere and now, a cold body, lying in the middle of the road.

Amber was no longer here and I had to find her. She was freaking out and no one knows what she could do in such stage of madness. I had to bury the body and then go look after her sooner as possible.

To be continued...

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 Vanessa Oliveira ® All Rights Reserved