Before
Have you ever faced your fear? I am facing it right now. Well, sort of. If there was anything I was ever afraid of, it was dying a slow and painful death. It sounds selfish, I know, but that is how it is. The only difference between my fear and what was happening now is that I am not dying.
I was becoming a vampire.
I had always been quite fond of vampires since one of my favorite authors had been Anne Rice. How ironic.
For the first time in my remaining life I was wishing for death so that I could not feel anything anymore.
I could hear the screams of my friends in the background, going through what I was. Ah, the irony again . We would always say, "Your pain is our pain." to anyone of us who was emotionally hurt and now it is physical pain that is ours.
Again I wished for death, or at least unconsciousness. The same thing for my friends, I believe. They are such selfless people when it comes to our group. I never really understood why they insist on keeping me as there friend. I could only hope that they would forgive me for allowing this to happen, for not being strong enough to protect them from this bastard vampire that would have fled by now. Coward. He bit us all and ran away.
An intense pain just entered my heart. I had forgotten all about the pain.
After a few more minutes of immeasurable pain once more did I wished for unconsciousness. Only once more because my wish, a mercy, has been fulfilled. I could not feel a thing. And nor could my friends. I could not hear them.
Now
Chapter 1 Phone Call
It has been only 5 weeks since we were all changed and that is excluding the three days that it took to change us. All we did these days was talk and hunt. We only hunted animals because our families were people and so were we, so in a warped way we would be feeding on ourselves. We talked about our special abilities also. Apparently the vampire that had created us had left us a note that that explained what we were, how we became it, the special abilities that we have a possibility of getting, what to and what not to do outside of our house that was actually his. The only thing he did not explain was why he left the note to tell us how to survive while holding on to our humanity. Or what was left of it at least.
We can all read minds but we can not read each others because when we were human we were sensitive to peoples thoughts. We gave each other our privacy so that may be why we can not read each others minds.
The unusual thing is that we each have two abilities. We have our theories of how we got them.
My extra ability is that I can manipulate the four elements. I got that because I was an extreme nature lover. Despite that fact that I now feed on it.
Wesley's ability is telekinesis. He maybe got that by the fact that when he was human he had exceptional balance. He could carry a mountain of things without even shaking them at the least.
Amber can make you see things. When she was human she could convince almost anyone to change their minds about something by seeing the situation from her point of view. Even though she can be a total idiot at times she can be really dangerous. It's an unusual twist but it makes sense. She can not make the extremely stubborn or arrogant people or vampires to listen to her.
Elliot can manipulate any thing dealing with technology because he was a computer genius as a human.
"Mell!" called a very familiar voice. It was Amber. She handed me the phone. " It's Erik." Elliot and Wesley materialized at that moment.
That was unexpected. Erik was the vampire that had created us. The last time we met was the last of our human life.
"Hello?" I asked.
" Hi Mellosa, Ho-"
"Mell." I corrected him. I haven't been called Mellosa ever since my parents died when I was 7. I haven't cried ever since, and now I can't cry at all.
"Yes, sorry, Mell. How are you?" He asked.
"I'm fine. You?" We all had forgiven him for changing us, though he had not given us a reason to.
"I fine as well, thank you. How are the others, did you get my note?" he asked in a wary tone.
This is really weird. Why is he calling us now. I mean it has been 5 weeks since we changed. What kept him so long?
"Everyone else is fine and yes we did get your note. None of us ever fed on a human. We didn't even feed on anyone or anything when we first woke up. We were really good at resisting temptation when we were human."
"That is really good. Tell me everything that has happened to you guys ever since I left." He sounded very excited.
Why do I suddenly fell like a science experiment? I already know why we were bitten, but the tone of his voice is a little disturbing.
"Um…well, when we all woke up we found your note in Wesley's hand and we read it. After that we went hunting for some deer and we have not hunted since. Do not worry. None of us are hungry, our eyes are still topaz but it is a little darker. We were never that fond of eating and it took all of a really long time to get hungry when we were human so we think that it will take 3 more weeks for us to feel the hunger kick in. After we got back from our hunting trip we were wondering about the special abilities you mentioned and we were trying some things out…"
I told him about the fact that we have 2 abilities each, what they were, and our theories of how we got them.
I couldn't hear Erik breathing on the other line.
"Hello?" Did he hang up?
"Huh? Oh, sorry I was just absorbing what you just said. How can you each have 2 abilities?"
"Yeah, about that. We think that the mind reading was originally part of our human selves but wasn't strong enough to be noticed. You wrote that all of our human qualities get more advanced so we thought that the mind reading didn't count much. But other than that we have no idea."
"Wow. Hey, do you guys want to meet me?" This time he sounded hopeful and doubtful.
No. Wait. Where did that come from?
The others were beside me immediately. Their expressions told me to tell him yes.
"Yeah. We have a few questions for you."
"That is completely understandable. You guys will have to come to Forks, Washington. That shouldn't be to far since you guys are in Seattle. I also have a few more questions. You guys might want to bring some luggage. I was hoping you could stay for a while."
Can he get any more ironic? I guess I can just add another billion questions to the list.
Elliot just then took the phone from me.
"Please excuse Mellosa's rudeness for not answering. We'll be there by 7 in the morning. We greatly thank you for your generous offer."
"Your welcome, and thank you for accepting the offer. We shall see each other shortly. Bye."
"Bye." Elliot hung up the phone and tossed it back to Amber.
"Rude, huh? I'll show you rude." I lunged forward. Elliot moved out of the way but I caught a loose thread from his sweater and it lead a trail across his elbow up until it left a huge hole from his shoulder to his elbow.
"Come on! That was one of my favorites!" He complained.
Sometimes he has moments of where he seems more of a 7 year old rather than a 17 year old. Those moments are really rare. He has moments of losing his temper more often. We all have those but he has them most.
"Whatever. Hey, don't you guys think that it is kind of unusual that Erik would contact us after all this time?" I asked.
"Maybe he didn't know the number." Wesley said.
"Of his own house?" argued Amber.
"She has a point." said Elliot.
"It is a little to late to realize that Elliot. You already told him that we would visit him." I told him.
"That is true but how else could we get close enough to him to read his mind?" said Elliot.
"Yeah but would you do if you were him?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that if you were a 100 year old vampire that turned four 17 year olds into vampires and disappear just to call back after 5 weeks past that incident and say that you want to meet them, what would you be up to?"
"I thought you already forgave for changing us." said Elliot.
"I did but that does not mean that I trust him. He sounded very excited when you confirmed the meeting. In fact he sounded so excited that it makes me think that he is either up to something or that he is just extremely childish."
"Or gay," said Amber, "but when he attacked us he seemed really non-gay with his vicious glare. He can also be very dangerous when he gets his mood swings. He may be bipolar you know."
"Thank you for trying to help Amber, but that was very random." I told her.
"Besides Amber, you think everyone is gay." Elliot added.
"Amber has a point," said Wesley, "Well, sort of. But don't you think that if he wanted to kill us he would have. Why would he have let the venom spread? Maybe his intensions were to only change us."
"See Mell? If he wanted us dead we would be. His intensions were probably good." said Elliot in a part childish tone.
"Yes I see but intensions can always be changed." I countered, "And how is changing one into a vampire a good intension?"
"Mell you ar-" started Elliot.
"Okay, I admit that I am being unreasonable. Even I don't understand most of what I just said. I am just thinking of other things. I have been having these flashbacks of the day we were changed."
"WHAT?!" shouted Elliot.
Oops. I didn't want them to know about that. I knew very well how Amber and the others would react.
"Oh my god, Mell why didn't you tell us?!" asked Amber.
Elliot stood frozen in shock and a little bit of anger. Actually may be more than a little.
"What did you see Mell, exactly. And no editing." Wesley told me.
Yeah. Just as I thought. Might as well get this over with. It was inevitable that we would have this discussion. I just tried to delay it by not mentioning it.
I sighed. "Fine, but you will have to sit down."
Amber and Wesley sat beside each other on the big beige sofa on the far right side of the living room. They really do make a lovely couple even though they are not. At least they claim that they are not.
Elliot made no attempt to move. He was the only one that new that my flashbacks were never good memories. I used to have them as a human, but those were about the day my parents died and they never really came much. He was also the only person - or living thing, we are all loose interpretations of people - who witnessed me have a flashback.
"Elliot," I called. I new what he was thinking about. Though I can't read his mind I could read his eyes. They always had the same expression when he was thinking of my flashbacks. "Would you care to join us?" I said in a slightly teasing tone, just an attempt to lighten the mood a little.
He didn't say anything but he started to walk towards Amber and Wesley giving me a hard glance on the way there. I knew he wasn't mad at me because his glance, for the briefest moment, had softened into a look of sheer worry when he met my eyes.
That was a relief. If he was mad at me, then it would have taken a long time to make him believe me when I tell them that the flashback is nothing to make me depressed.
"Okay. On the flash back I saw Erik lunge forward to Amber. She got a paper cut and I think Erik was nearby the park when it happened. Amber and I thought that he was hunting and we know that having a human around while hunting can be dangerous, even if you're a vegetarian. Unless you've had at least 200 years of practice.
"Anyway. I pulled Amber out of the way and then you two ran towards us." I pointed to Wesley and Elliot. Erik apparently lost his control and bit Wesley and Amber first. Then, Elliot, you went to go stop Erik but he was to fast and fled. When you got to Wesley, Eric snuck up behind you and bit you. He started to drink but I got behind him and he probably caught my scent, so he came after me instead. When he bit me the wind started blowing and he was breathing fresh air and couldn't smell our blood. When he could not smell us for those few seconds he got control of his thoughts again and let me go. He realized what he did and he was about to suck the venom out of us but the venom had already spread to far and he could not remove the venom with out killing us. He was crying, would have been crying if he could shed tears. He started apologizing to me for some reason. I knew he was apologizing for biting us but his apology was deeper than that.
"I felt as if he knew me from long ago and I think he really did. I know I had a cousin named Erik Alexander but I can't really compare their personalities together and because my cousin was 6ft 2in but the vampire Erik was about 5ft 10in, and I know that your height and personality are the only things that remain the same when you become a vampire and there is know way that you can shrink." I sighed again and finished.
They were all speechless.
"What?" I asked. Elliot was the only one to speak.
"How did you know he realized what he was doing?" he demanded.
Well this he should understand.
I just simply answered, "I heard his thoughts."
Another weird thing was that our special abilities kicked in immediately after we were bitten. We just couldn't use the physical ones for a while.
Another thing occurred to me. "How come you guys couldn't hear his thoughts. Your special abilities kicked in immediately also."
Wesley spoke this time. "Well we were to focused on the pain that we couldn't hear him that well. We could still hear him but we couldn't understand him. Before what you just told us we thought that his voice was just another of the hundreds of thoughts that were screaming at us that we didn't even think of it."
Oh. Well that makes sense. I have always been the one needing to get at least a gash somewhere, so I was used to pain.
"Oh. Okay. I guess we should start packing. It would be nice to go outdoors again." I said. I was actually starting to look forward to it. We haven't been out of Seattle in 4 weeks. That first hunting trip lasted a week and we actually went to Oregon.
"Yeah. It would be nice to get out. Don't you think so Wes?" asked Amber.
"Yeah. It really would." answered Wesley.
Okay, now I am absolutely sure that Amber likes Wesley. The way she says his name is a dead give away. Wesley definitely likes her too. He looks at her with eyes of love. I'll have to ask Elliot if he sees it to.
"We should start packing." said Elliot.
"Lets go." I said. Amber and Wesley will take a while to get packing so I think I can ask Elliot after I am done packing. I already know what I'll take.
I filled my suit case with 2 black and 3 blue jeans, 3 khakis, one skinny, and 2 faded jeans. I also packed 3 hoodies, 2 cotton blouses, 2 long sleeved T- shirts, And 3 short sleeved T- shirts. Also sneakers and boots. And some random shirts. Then I went to Elliot's room.
Elliot was finished packing and was staring at his ceiling. His room was like mine. A bed that we don't sleep in with dark sheets, a closet, a desk with a computer, a window on the north wall- though mine is on the south wall- and some pictures of our selves and our former family when we were kids.
I sat next to him and he knew I was curious about something.
"What do you want to ask me?" he asked.
"Do you think that Amber and Wesley like each other?" I whispered, straight to the point. I didn't want the others to here us.
"You saw that too now did you?" he said in a hushed chuckle.
"Who didn't? Even as humans people still saw that. I bet even Erik would be able to tell when we see him."
"Your right. Your not going to tell them we know are you?"
"To be honest I don't think they know themselves. When Amber says his name it sounds so soft like a mother talking to her child. And sometimes Wesley absentmindedly stares at her like he was a blind man, speechless, seeing the world for the first time. It is really sweet but it is also really annoying that they don't realize it themselves."
"But are you going to tell them?" he said in an accusing tone.
"No, I wont say anything. I'll let them do all the confessing."
"Maybe we could drop little hints and see if they can figure out the puzzle."
"After how ever many centuries that takes. They have forever at least"
He started laughing in a not so hushed way. I started laughing as well because I realized that Amber and Wesley were perfect for each other. They are so dense that they really might take centuries to realize how they feel for each other.
"What are you two laughing at?" said a curious masculine voice.
Elliot and I turned to see Amber and Wesley standing next to each other at the door of Elliot's room.
I stopped laughing before Elliot so I spoke. "You two."
"Why are you laughing at us?" asked Amber.
"Would you like the truth?" I asked. Elliot stopped laughing and glared at me.
"Yes, we would like the truth." answered Wesley. Amber and Wesley's eyes grew wider just a tiny bit at the word 'we'.
"Don't interfere with there lives." Elliot warned me. His voice so low that only I could hear him.
"As if I ever would." I whispered back to him.
"Well earlier we saw a rat sneaking around outside and Elliot reminded of a few months ago when you and Amber heard a mouse squeak." They looked at me with an expression that clearly showed that they were lost. Elliot actually remembered and was shaking and pursing his lips with a grin. "Okay how about I just tell you exactly what happened. You and Amber were in the kitchen getting something to eat while Elliot and I were watching the movie. You both were about to come back when you heard a loud squeak and froze. The mouse came out and started running around you two and ran out of kitchen to behind the couch. You two were running and screaming towards the same couch and landed on top of each other." (Me: This part is actually true except it was only my sister who had done the running and screaming.)
"Hey! That mouse was huge! You would have had the exact same reaction if it were you." Amber said.
"Well of course we would have!" I said sarcastically. "Remember what happened after that?" I asked. They remembered this one and Elliot's grin got wider. "I told you that the mouse was behind that couch and it led to another round of screams and scrambles."
Wesley was obviously embarrassed and so was Amber. She was trying hide her face from us and she was smiling a little. It was the same smile she had whenever she would blush. Then Wesley left and Amber followed and went back to her room.
I turned back to Elliot and told him about the part I hid from the couple in love. "You know I got the second round of screams on tape." I said laughing. (Me: You should have been there! I wish I got my sister on tape. She went into the kitchen exactly 4 seconds after I put the camera down. I completely forgot about getting her on tape during the second round because I was busy with trying to breathe while laughing.)
"Really?" he asked laughing as well. "I would like to see that again. We are eventually going to forget about it." That part left me thinking of something I didn't want to deal with yet so I just changed the subject.
"I am sorry if I made you think I was really going to tell them." I really was. His reaction was a little humorous actually.
"No, it's okay. I was thinking that it's a little sad that they can be with each other but they are to stupid to see there own feelings." he said in a voice that was a little sad.
"I can see where your getting at. I mean. If you were to fall in love with someone you would want to be with them. Especially if they love you back."
For a second Elliot looked a little depressed, though I couldn't understand why he would.
And then it hit me.
"Elliot." I said.
"What?"
"Did you fall for some girl?"
"What?! No! Of course not! What on earth would make you say that?!" he exclaimed, his face flustered.
"Well first of all you looked depressed when I was talking of all that love talk. And you reacted like a 13 year old girl who had her mother find out about her secret crush when I asked if you fell for someone." I explained.
"Damn." he said under his breath. "Fine I'll tell you but if you tell anyone I will bite your head off." he threatened. He was serious. There was no arguing with the expression he had made.
"Go on. Who is she?" I asked in a slightly interested tone. I honestly didn't care if he fell for anyone. I just wanted to know if it was Amber or some other girl.
"I will not tell you her name but she went to our school and she was very sweet before she graduated from middle school. She was a little bitter but she went back to her usual self after a couple of months. I realized I was in love with her when she was crying about her family and I was comforting her. She said that she just wanted me to hold her and I did. I started to hold her tighter because I had an urge to hold her and never let her go. Then after a few months she had an accident and she forgot all about that time and I realized that she just saw me as her friend because if there was a chance that she would love me then she would remember that time at the least."
He didn't say anything anymore.
"Then why didn't you tell her?" I asked after a few moments of silence.
"Tell her what? That I love her? I was planning to but then we ran into Erik and… well…you know. It would stress her to have someone to fall in love with her that is a vampire. It would also be too dangerous."
"Let me guess. You didn't want to change her because you also think that vampires are soulless creatures who deserve to got to hell."
"You think that to?" he said with a half-smile.
"Just about every vegetarian vampire thinks that." I explained.
All of a sudden his expression became wary and he was about to say something.
I cut him off by raising my hand. "I know what your thinking and I wont tell anybody. Not even Amber or Wesley. You tell them when your ready. And I wont ask who she is." I promised. I just remembered that Amber and Wesley was still in the house. I was listening for any conversation in the house that was about Elliot's love life and was relieved when there was none other than me and him. They really are to oblivious about almost everything to be vampires.
He released a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." I said. "I wouldn't want anyone to know if it were me."
Then I just remembered something.
"Isn't Forks a really rainy and cold place?" I asked.
"Oh," he saw where I was getting at. "Your right. We should pack our winter coats as well. Tell Amber and Wes to pack theirs." he told me.
"On it." I called over my shoulder.
"Amber. Wes." I called them in a voice that would be most likely used if they were right in front of me. They would be able to hear me.
"What?" they asked together, peering out of there doors.
"Make sure to pack your winter jackets and some sweaters." I said.
"Why?" Wesley asked.
"It rains a lot in Forks and it is quite cold for the humans." I explained.
"Oh. Thanks." said Amber. They went back to packing. They are pretty slow for vampires. Mentally and physically.
I went to my room and found a light silver, a dark red, and an ivory turtle-neck. I also found 2 black sweaters, 1 tan, 1 beige, and 1 yellow. Also I found 3 thick winter coats and 2 thin. Four jeans. Two black, one faded, and one skinny. I also packed sneakers and boots.
I went to lay down on my bed. I've been trying not to think of Elliot and that girl he was talking about but I just couldn't drive the thought out of my mind. I just feel so sympathetic towards him right now. All this time he has been existing with the pain of a one-sided-love and none of us even saw it. I wonder what the girl would have done if Elliot told her he loved her while he was a vampire. I guess she would think he was playing a prank on her. I didn't want to think how much that would hurt him and his ego.
If a vampire were to fall in love with me as a human I probably wouldn't have freaked. But I probably wouldn't be able to return their feelings since wouldn't know them.
I was very different as a human in good and bad ways. First the good things were that I was good at the piano and violin. Well all of us actually. We all could play the piano and violin. Then we had our individual instruments. Well sort of. Amber and I play flutes while the guys play cello.
The bad things were that I would have flashbacks of my past. I would have blurry ones of things I forgot after I hit my head against a file cabinet. I would have times of loosing my temper. The others did to. Elliot's comes most often. Mine come the least. The bad thing about it is that when I loose my temper it gets very physical and I tend to get into fights with my friends. It was a good thing that Elliot and I are skilled at sword fighting. I would release my anger on those matches with him. It takes a while to get my control back and to just fight for fun.
The worst thing was that I would go through vampirism. That was extremely ironic. I would be tempted by blood but I reined the urge at age eight. With my friends help sometimes. I started to only drink my own blood when I would bleed. I am still sickened by that, even as a vampire. (This part is kind of true because I was tempted by blood but not anymore.)
I got bored so I started reading. I am a reading addict. I would read anything that was non-fiction. I love most of the books but there are only a little that I don't like.
I found my Fruits Basket series. I started with the first volume. The whole series was about an orphan girl, Tohru, who decided to take care of her own self. She was going back to high school after the summer break. She was actually on the property of Shigure Sohma. She runs into Shigure when she sees his zodiac ornaments. Shigure starts to flirt but then his 16 year old cousin, Yuki, deliberately drops his bag on top of his head. At school he is known as "Prince Yuki" because of his good looks. They end up going to school together and the "Prince Yuki" fan club get to Tohru and start to interrogate her on why she came to school with Yuki but then…
Then someone knocked on my door.
"Come in." I said.
"Hey Mell. Lets go." said Amber.
"Wait a minute," I called. "What do you mean 'lets go'?"
"I mean that you get your stuff and your ass out of the door to go to Forks." she said in a tired tone.
"I thought we would get there by 7 in the morning."
"Well, it is 6:40 a.m. and we have twenty minutes to get there." she said impatiently.
"Fine. I'm coming." I put on a jacket. I don't think people would think it to be normal if 4 teens show up in warm weather clothes. I grabbed my bags and darted out the room.
