Chapter Four
Honey B
My life was ruined and not just by the attack and the possibility of a resulting pregnancy but by the fact I found I had been living a lie all these years. My father hadn't run off or died as I had imagined, nor had he been a drunkard or already married to someone else. Instead, he hadn't even been human, I wasn't even human! No wonder my mother and grandfather had refused to allow me to go to school or the hospital if I were sick or injured. I guess a clue as to the truth should have been that I was rarely ill and any injuries I sustained, like the twisted ankle, the broken finger, numerous cuts and bruises that all healed very quickly on their own. I was fathered by a creature of the night, was it the same creature that had attacked me?
The very thought made me feel physically sick and I begged my mother to help me ensure I wouldn't carry the creature's offspring, but she just shook her head in sorrow,
"It's already too late Honey B if it's to be then it will be but don't worry, Grandpa and I will look after you."
I thought about the creature who had called me by the same name and shuddered. He must have been following me or watching for a while to pick up my nickname and that concerned me.
When I told her about that, I had forgotten in the horror of my attack, she suddenly stiffened then called Grandpa back into the room.
"He found us again, he must have if he's been watching. All these years we thought we had escaped him yet he knew."
"No, I don't think so Marie, if he had been watching us then he would have known about you becoming pregnant and Honey B here and I doubt he would have just left you both alone. It's a terrible coincidence, but we have to leave now because it's not safe any longer even if it were just a tragic coincidence."
I didn't understand, why were we running? If the creature responsible for this was the same one then he would only follow us surely, just like he had all along. Would he wait and like some sick vulture swoop down and do the same to my child if it were a girl?
"How do you know all this mom?"
"Later Honey B, we need to get away as quickly as we can. Your Grandpa is gassing up the car and we need to pack everything we want, the rest we'll leave behind, just like before."
"You ran before? Why though and is it worth it if he were able to track you down? Maybe he was watching all along, maybe you never hid well enough."
"I don't believe that I can't, it doesn't make sense, but I promise you once we get away from here Grandpa and I will explain everything.
We went south where it didn't rain so much, the sun shone down hotly most of the time, renting a small one story house in the middle of a small town.
"It's just for a little while. Until we know for sure."
"Know what? If he's going to come back? Why should he? He's had his fun so why would he come back? Or did he come back to you? Did you ever see him again mom?"
"No, we ran, just like now. Grandpa helped me, he looked after me, he was the only one who could, the only one who knew what the creature was."
"But how? Grandpa was just a high school teacher, how could he know about such creatures? That they even existed?"
"Soon, I promise you, soon."
It was three weeks later that we knew, that I was sure. I was pregnant yet how could it be happening so quickly? Mom found me sobbing in my bedroom and sat beside me wrapping an arm comfortingly around me.
"I'm so sorry, I was terrified this might happen, but at least we got away before he could find out."
I looked at her through tear-dimmed eyes,
"I'm going to have his baby mom, how can I do that? How can I carry it?"
"You will and I'll help you along with Grandpa, but I think it's time you knew everything."
She guided me through to the lounge where Grandpa sat by the computer but as I walked in he turned and smiled encouragingly at me then motioned me to take the chair next to him.
By the time he was finished talking I felt I had walked into an alternate universe where vampires walked the earth and attacked human girls. Where my Grandpa, the boring High School teacher had become a vampire researcher after
witnessing one hunting and killing a group of teenagers at a summer camp he was working at. Where he then started his research, followed up every vampire story through history and knew when his daughter came home one evening having been attacked on her way home from a friend's house with a crazy tale about black inhuman eyes and ice cold flesh that it had possibly been one of the creatures responsible.
He had no idea what to do or what might happen, should they go to the Police or would that only enrage the vampire? No one would believe them anyway, they would be called crazy and then they discovered my mom was pregnant. Now things were even more serious, what was it growing inside her? Some kind of hybrid baby? Grandpa decided they needed to move, somewhere no one knew them to avoid questions, somewhere they could think about what to do. Things moved so fast though that by the time they found somewhere new to live, hopping from town to town my mom was big with me. And then...I was born, healthy and seemingly human enough and they were able to take up new lives.
My Grandpa was to all intents and purposes the only living authority on vampires! That was how they had known what happened to me as soon as I described his ice cold touch, his strange hard body, skin I couldn't claw with my nails or bite with my teeth although I had tried hard enough.
I began to show quickly, feeling sick and faint as they insisted we move into a cabin out of town until the baby was born. As I grew huge so rapidly my mom explained that vampire babies grew inhumanly quickly and the reason I felt so ill was because the baby was feeding off my blood supply. When she came in with a covered beaker, a straw poking out of the top, I could smell a strange metallic scent and when she explained it was blood and that I needed to drink it I burst into tears and ran from the room vowing I would rather die than drink it. Within hours, I was so sick and weak I couldn't fight her when she pushed the straw into my mouth and instinct took over. By the time, I had emptied the breaker I was beginning to feel better, stronger but sick to my stomach and I felt nothing but hatred for the bastard that had reduced me to this.
Grandpa disappeared for a week and when he got back he looked tired and depressed.
"I was trying to find out if it were the same vampire, but it's impossible to track him."
"Are there many Grandpa?"
"Too many Honey B, not a lot, but too many for me to track them all, they move too often. Mind I don't recall seeing any hanging around girls or showing interest in them, not in that way anyhow."
It came as a shock to realize that all vampires didn't do this to human girls.
"Are there many who prey on girls like me?"
He shook his head scowling,
"I don't see how or the attacks would surely have been made public, after all it's not as if my research picked up on this kind of thing. In legend, vampires ravish human women sure but the women turn into vampires themselves, most of the time they just kill humans for their blood. This is something different altogether, it's sick behavior even for a creature like that. Which I guess is why we can hide so successfully.
"What if one found us, though? I'm scared Grandpa."
He shook his head gravely,
"I don't know Honey B. There are supposed to be ways of fighting them, I know them all by now but the creatures I saw, well they weren't like any I ever read about and I wouldn't like to chance our safety on garlic flowers or Holy Water. I guess for us humans there may be no way of fighting them."
I put a hand on my swollen belly wondering if I could love the baby that was growing inside me. Mom had loved me despite the way I was conceived, but she was strong, would I be as strong? And what if I wasn't? What if I felt only loathing for it when they lay it in my arms?
"Honey, don't worry too much yet, I know what you are thinking, I did the same but when I saw you I felt such love for my little daughter."
I thought about how lucky I was, at least I had her and Grandpa and his knowledge, she had been almost alone except for him and neither of them knew what would happen yet here they were determined to keep me and my baby safe whatever the cost to themselves.
