Nina's POV
"Why does it always have to be this cold here?" I complained as I rubbed my forearms. Believe it or not, just because I've been at Anubis for two years now, I still can't bring myself to let go of my Miami ways. I looked over at Patricia who was walking with me, and laughed at her expression of utter disgust. Oh, it was good to be back at Anubis with all my friends. I mean, they were practically my family. We walked towards the clearly as slowly as possible, tired yet still managing to smile.
It was our Welcome Back Sibuna Meeting and I was extremely excited. I mean, it would be nice to talk with no restrictions on what I say. Our walk was uneventful and Patricia and I walked in companionable silence for a while. Normally she would have made a snide comment but managed to stay under control today. As I pondered these thoughts, I didn't notice the man that nearly materialized in front of us. He looked as if he were from the early 1900s, but he looked ethereal and young, almost as if he hadn't aged a day.
"Oh, hello, would you care to help me find my way out of these woods, I'm terribly lost." Even his language sounded funny to me. He slowly walked up to us and I immediately felt myself stiffen. Something was… off. I didn't know how to describe it. Under the pale moonlight, I could see why. His eyes were blood red and filled with an animal like hunger that immediately set me on high guard. "Uh… Nina, let's get out of here." Patricia whispered into my ear but I couldn't move. It was like I was trapped under his gaze.
"But I still need to know how to get out of here, and I really hoped that you would help." His hand reached out to brush my cheek and I flinched, muffling the whimper that was trying to wrestle its way out of my throat. His skin was deathly pale and as cold as ice. "Bugger off, we have somewhere we need to be. Come on Nina." Forcefully grabbing my hand, she pulled on it hard making me stumble a bit. "Not so fast," he commanded in a voice that sounded unearthly, in a voice that left goosebumps trailing up my neck. The voice belonged to that of a monster, a voice that you only hear of in faiy tales.
In what seemed like a blur he sped up to me and pressed his cold lips to my neck, and bit down hard. It felt like fire was spreading through the marks. What was happening? My mouth let out an earsplitting scream. The pain was unbearable, ripping through me like a wild fire. My vision blurred with tears as I stared at Patricia who was screaming as well. My screams turned into wails as I managed to pull a hand up to my neck. My fingers returned a covered in a sickening shade of crimson. I coughed and tasted the metallic blood in my mouth. This has to be a nightmare, I chanted in my mind repeatedly. "T-this… h-has…" My chest heaved uncontrollably as I saw him approaching me.
"Chosen one," he whispered in a manic voice," You are strong. Don't expect that you will be the last ones." I did my best to look up at him, to try and look him in the eyes, but I couldn't, there was too much pain. "No…" I squeaked, watching him walk away. The pain lasted for what seemed like hours as I lay on the forest floor. I thought of Gran and how much I would miss her, I thought of Fabian and Amber, I thought of Patricia, suffering here with me, her screams fading into sobs. I thought of all my other friends… I thought of Trudy and how much a mother she had been to me, but it was all slipping away from me now. The last strands of my life fading, my eyelids fell heavy but I felt strangely weightless, as if I were a feather.
All at once, my pain turned into relief. Was this death? The constant feeling of weightlessness? No, I wasn't dead… But something was different. I felt as if I could sense everything around me, the single hoot of an owl in the tree, the rustling of the leaves, Patricia's whimpers, Patricia! I crawled over to her and saw her in the fetal position, shaking fervently. Lifting her like she weighed nothing, I lay her on my lap and saw the life slip out of her, her eyes slowing closing. "No, Patricia! Wake up! Please!" Her body was ice cold, as if her blood had stopped all together. "Patricia…" I tried to cry but the tears wouldn't come. "N-nina?" She croaked barely loud enough for me to hear.
"Patricia!" I hugged her causing her to flinch. I didn't care though. "What just happened?" I looked around relieved to see he wasn't around us. "I… I don't know. Come on, we should catch up with the others." Pulling her up, I was ready to run until Patricia asked," Do we tell them?" "Tell them about this? I… We should tell them about him but not about the…" Patricia seemed to understand and dropped the topic as we started to run. I didn't know about her, but I couldn't bear to be in the forest while I knew he was lurking around, stalking us. It only seemed like seconds until we made it to the clearing and saw the other Sibunas.
"There you are! I was almost going to get Alfie to march back in there himself to get you two!" I laughed half-heartedly. Even out of the forest, I could still sense danger. "Oh, sorry, we got a bit lost." I replied pulling a face that I hoped looked sheepish. For a while, we just continued talking about the mystery and little things but there was one thing I couldn't get off my mind. Blood. In my mind I remember pulling my hand back and seeing the blood on my fingertips, and now it just seemed so… enticing. "Are you ok? You look a little pale." I didn't look him up in the eyes, scared. He put his arm around my shoulders," I'm fine Fabian." After an hour we finally decided to leave, but I hung back with Patricia to talk.
"Patricia, do you feel… strange?" Patricia stopped walking and I waited there expectantly. "I thought that was just me… Nina, are you ok?" Why was she asking me if I was ok? "Um… I guess… why?" Patricia looked down and I started to expect the worst. Patricia only ever avoided eye contact when she thought something was seriously wrong. "It's… your eyes, they're… glowing…" That almost made me collapse. "What do you mean they're glowing?" Patricia shrugged. "They're… They're not red… but, they're glowing, like, all blue." That didn't sound too scary. "Patricia let me see yours." I almost laughed at how blunt I was being about this. She flicked her head up and I almost gasped. Her eyes were shining. "Patricia!" "They're glowing aren't they?" She asked in a timid voice.
"Let's go back to the house…" Patricia nodded and we walked arms linked, still shaken up from the man that attacked us. Will we ever be normal again? "Don't worry Patricia, we'll be fine." "What?" "Didn't you say something? I mean, you said,' Will we ever be normal again?'" Patricia shook her head in disbelief. What was happening? "I thought that, I didn't… I mean… I never said that out loud…" What the hell? "What?" Patricia's eye's narrowed. "You did it again!" "I'm sorry if you keep on voicing your thoughts out loud!" I yelled out-of-character. It came even as a shock to me. I never ever got angry, and the only exceptions were to Jerome and Alfie's pranks.
What's gotten into Nina? PMS much? "Did you really just go there Patricia?" Now Patricia looked at me with wide eyes. What's happening to Nina? Does it had something to do with that man? "C-come on then, we better get back to the house. Who knows what could be out there, you know?" I managed a small smile. As we started walking again, I asked," Is it weird that I… Patricia, I think there's something wrong with me, I feel like I need blood." "Do you feel light-headed?" Patricia asked, her voice filled with concern. "No," I replied meekly looking down," It feels like I want it." I flicked my gaze up meeting Patricia's. "I know… I feel it too…" We two stayed silent for a bit, not knowing what to say to each other. "Let's just… wait til tomorrow, ok?" And finally, we actually started making some progress towards the house, not daring to talk to each other. I couldn't describe the feeling. It felt like I was being drained of all my energy.
We quickly snuck into the house and left to our respective rooms, and I tiptoed into my room at quickly and as quietly as I could. I still felt like my senses were on fire. Even though I felt like my energy was slipping away from me, the thought of sleep seemed impossible now. I tangled the quilt in my hands, hoping that the meager effort would drain my energy but there was no such luck. Getting up, I walked over to the window, hoping that the beauty of the night would lull me to sleep.
~0o0o0o0~
I didn't get any sleep. When the sun rose, I was there, sitting there still looking out. It wasn't too bad. The feeling of fatigue hadn't creeped up on me like a tide, it just felt like I was a rundown car. "Morning Neens, you're up early aren't you?" I made a grunt noise hoping to say yes. Finally accepting the fact that I had school, I got up and walked to my closet, grabbing a uniform to wear as well as my toiletries for the shower. My limbs seemed to drag me down as I walked down the hall. The bathroom was empty so I walked right in, quickly stripped and let the warm water wash away my sadness.
After about twenties minutes just standing under the hot water, I decided it was finally time to get out of the shower. Getting out of the shower and looking the mirror though, I noticed something different. My body looked like it had 'matured', my hair looked a bit longer, my eyes were glowing blue, and yet my hair looked really dark. Even though it was wet I could tell it was almost black. This was gonna be a problem, I reflected, changing into my uniform. As I dried my hair quickly as I could, I wondered if Patricia was going through the same thing as well. The damp air in the bathroom suddenly felt like it was constricting me, the cool outside air from the window making it feel like ice.
"Nina! Everybody else needs to use the shower as well you know." I opened the door and saw Amber outside the door. "Ooh! Did you do something to your hair! It's so adorable." I smiled. Only Amber could help make this situation less painful. "Yah, it was… an accident. New shampoo, I didn't realize it had dye in it." I really hoped my lying skills would phase her. "You look just like Fabian! Oh my God! Let me get a camera! Score one Fabina!" As she ran down the hall, I almost had to bite my tongue in order to stop the secret slipping. No, no, no! My selfishness would not jeopardize Amber's safety, it wouldn't be fair to her.
Walking back down the hall, I bumped into Mara, who was running as quickly as she could towards the showers. Oh no, I'm gonna be late for school, I almost shivered at how clearly I could hear her thoughts. To know that I held such a great, strange power in my grasp terrified me. What of Patricia though? It suddenly felt like the most important thing in the world to find her, to comfort her, to tell her that everything would be fine. Instinctively, I led myself to her shared room, and found her sitting on her window sill, almost like I had this morning.
"Couldn't sleep?" I joked, hoping to lighten the mood. One corner of her mouth pulled, hinting at her signature smirk, but eventually failed. "No," Her eyes went back to scanning the landscape outside. "I'm hungry Nina, I mean… It feels disgusting. I don't feel like Patricia anymore… I feel slimy, rotten… not human even." She thinks she's alone, I thought to myself, I feel it too. "Patricia… I'm hungry and tired, maybe we can act sick, just for today, ok? We can sort this whole thing out, together." I pulled her into a sisterly hug, hoping that it would comfort her.
My plan worked. Trudy took one look at our pale skin, as well as our good acting skills, and insisted that we stay home. The feeling of sickness was ever there as I lay in my bed, waiting for Patricia to come in so we could talk. This was so screwed up. Part of me longed for the freedom to be able to talk to Sibuna, I wanted to be able to curl up in Fabian's arms and just cry. Cry for the fact that I could no longer be the same. I wanted him to tell me, with his gentle voice that I wasn't crazy, and that he loved me.
"We look horrible." Patricia snorted as she walked in. "I know, you don't need to tell me." She settled down on Amber's bed, sitting lightly as if the pink quilt would jump up and swallow her whole. An awkward silence ensued as both of us avoided eye contact, avoided talking about our situation. "I can see the future," Patricia commented out of nowhere, no trace of humor on her pale face. And I thought I was strange and yet she was seeing the future? "I was looking outside last night and it was like I was falling asleep, but I realized that it wasn't like that at all. It was more like I was in the scene. We… I watched as we ate something… someone… I don't know, the body was too mutilated to tell." Kill? A person? I almost fainted right then and there.
I am the girl that closes my eyes when I watch horror movies, I am the girl that shrieks like a toddler when I watch Bear Grylls eat something gross on TV. The thought of me killing someone was demented! "Do you think that's gonna come true?" I asked, closing my eyes.
She let out a melancholic sigh. "Yes. Neens, if this whole blood lust thing, if we can't eat anything normal, how do you think we're gonna survive? It would've happened sooner or later regardless." So there it was. I would turn into a killer. Yay. "What does that make us? Vampires?" Did it? I'd watched vampire movies and they always seemed to have no souls, no care for killing people and animals. I didn't want to lose my humanity. "Patricia," my hands flew to my hair as I stroked it compulsively, still staring at nothing in particular," how is all this going to work here? You know, in a house filled with living, breathing, people?"
She simply shrugged in response, as if she didn't care, but I knew that she was freaking out as much as I was. I winced as I remembered the strange man's words,' Chosen One, you are strong. Don't expect that you'll be the last ones.' Would he come after Anubis? Terrorizing them one night at a time? Maybe it was like a ransom, a threat. We do something for him, and he, in return, would leave Fabian, Amber, Jerome, Alfie, Mara, Mick, and even Joy, alone. The question was what?
With newfound, well, more like, renewed fear, I knew that if we were to stop him, we would have to train, or at least, prepare ourselves. He probably thought we would do whatever he wanted us to do, because we were frail and new. I just couldn't let that happen.
"Patricia: Let's get hunting."
~0o0o0o0~
Hi guys, that was sort of just the re-write of Humans and Vampires by MindlessChix14, which I should have finished ages ago! *WIZARD ANGST*
Anyway, go check her out, and as always read and review!
Eskimo Kisses,
z3stygurl97