A taste of poison
Chapter 2
I'd only been there 6 months but already I was starting to feel like part of a family, not a blood family but a family of friends. But like the saying all good things have to come to an end. I was serving the customers like I usually did when I man walked in. He had white hair and was short and chubby he reminded me of Father Christmas but shorter and rounder. I'd seen him before, I served him earlier in the day, he stood in the corner of the room eyeing up the counter until everyone else had left and it was just me and him.
"Can I help you sir?" I asked politely
He didn't reply but instead walked toward the counter and reached into his pocket and pulled out 2 items which I didn't recognise at first. At that exact moment Craig walked in and as soon as he saw the items that man was holding his face become that of horror. As I looked at the items in the man's hand I realized that he was holding a knife and a gun. He stared at me waiting for my reaction and raised the knife and the gun at the same time and pointed them at me.
"You don't want don't do this sir" I told him with a stern voice
Craig was slowly making his way towards the man but the man noticed him and pointed the gun at him with the knife still pointed at me.
"Rachel run" Craig screamed at me
But I didn't move and just held my ground
"Give me the weapons and we won't call the police"
I knew what he was going to do before he even knew it himself, being what I am has some advantages. I didn't move even though I knew that I would fall.
He drew his arm back as if he was going to put the knife away but instead he lurched forward and let go of the knife. It flew at me with incredible speed and hit me straight in the chest. It knocked me to the ground and as I hit the floor all I heard was the scream of Craig calling my name. I couldn't help but laugh even though I knew he wouldn't understand, I looked at Craig and saw tears streaming down his face and anger in his eyes.
I stood up; the man looked confused and a little frightened, which I thought he should be. I pulled the knife from my chest and laughed at the man.
Craig stood there dumbstruck just gawping at me and as I turned to look at him I heard a gunshot and realized that the man had shot me. I looked straight at the man and laughed at him.
"You shouldn't mess with a vampire"
I flew at him jumping the counter in a matter of seconds grabbed him by the neck and lifted him clear off the floor even though he was about 5 inches taller than me. I threw him to the ground with such force that even Craig shook.
I thought the terror was over but I was wrong. I heard another shot and saw Craig double over in pain and came to the conclusion that he'd been shot. The man was looking at me with fear and amusement and started laughing.
Now even though I didn't loose my temper often when I did loose it the results are usually disastrous, for someone else, because of what I am it didn't end well for the person I'm angry at.
The man was still laughing and Craig was screaming in agony and I sensed that we didn't have much time before Craig stopped breathing and so I looked at the man and when he saw the look in my eyes he stopped laughing and I saw him overcome to fear and he started shivering violently so I hit him over the head. The hit was powerful enough to knock him unconscious and even though I had been a vampire for some time the strength I had still astounded me. Craig's screaming disturbed me from my thought and in the blink of an eye I was by his side. He looked at me and tried to speak
"Rachel" His voice was weak and quite and I think if id been human I wouldn't have heard him. He tried to say something else but it came out as a moan of pain
"Don't speak Craig I'm going to help you but that may mean that I can't save your humanity" I didn't want to turn him but the truth is he was going to die and if I had his permission I would do anything to stop that from happening.
He understood what I was saying and nodded and I knew that he would say "do what you can" if he could talk. Then he moaned once more and was unconscious just like the other man.
I heard a movement from my side and shot up and took a defensive position over Craig and hissed aggressively and listened carefully as I realized it was only Dan my colleague Craig had screamed so loud and Dan had come running. When he saw me he did nothing I knew that Dan had already had experience with vampires and didn't have anything against them even if he didn't like me.
"I know you're not my biggest fan but to save Craig's life I will need help" I said to him, he said nothing but moved to Craig
"I can't let you turn him"
"If I don't he will die"
"He wouldn't want this"
"I don't want this anymore than you do but he is going to die and the only way he can be saved is by turning him." He didn't look happy and I knew if I was human he would be shouting and pushing me away but instead he knelt over Craig so that I couldn't get to him.
"I've already asked his permission…he said yes". I didn't want to use my power but I felt I had to. I focused hard and could hear everything 'but he's my friend I will loose him'.
"You won't loose him I will make sure he will stay the same I promise" I got down on my knees and put my hand on his shoulder
"You can trust me I wont let him loose himself"
He slowly moved and let me have access to Craig.
"Get me something to put his head on" he obeyed and disappeared to the back of the kitchen
I tore off Craig's blood stained shirt to get a better look at the wound. Blood poured from a small hole just below his rib cage and I knew instantly that the bullet had ruptured his lung and some major blood vessels I also realized Craig had a matter of minutes to live.
"THIS CANT WAIT I NEED TO DO THIS NOW" I shouted at Dan and he came screeching to a halt beside me with four tea towels and placed them below Craig's head.
I looked at Craig's face, he looked so peaceful and harmless soon he would either be a bloodthirsty monster or dead; either way Dan and I both knew Craig would never be the same again. But I was determined to make sure that Craig didn't loose all of his humanity.
I took a deep breathe and focused on all of Craig's pulse points and took the biggest one first.
