What Adventures Await?
Chapter 6
It's been three days since Cierra died. Of course died is a relative term at this point. She's not dead, but she's not living either. She's the ever classic undead, at least she's close to finally being so. Three days. Three days since mine and Macon's fight which cost Cierra her mortal life. Having been plowed down by myself after Macon dropped kicked me like a rag doll, Cierra was sent into a violent fit of convulsions and seizures. As a result, she ended up flat lining. Desperate to save her no matter what, I injected her with my vampire venom throughout her entire body.
Ever since then it's merely been a waiting game. I was worried and fretful, but Macon managed to convince me that the best thing we could do would be to clean her up and put her into some clean clothes. At least until the transformation process was complete. So we did just that. Macon helped me bathe her in her bed with some sponges, cleaning off the blood around the bite marks and what not. We stripped her of her hospital gown and doing my best to avert my eyes, we dressed her in up comfortable with a pair of panties, a bra, some comfy, plaid pajama pants and a soft, plain colored shirt. We left her feet bare. She wasn't going anywhere, so there was no need to dress them up.
We changed the sheets and blankets to her hospital bed as well. I had gently brushed her hair, careful to get out all the knots until I could my fingers through her hair smoothly. After double and even triple checking to make sure there was nothing else that could be done to make her more comfortable, Macon offered to watch over her so that I could finally go out and hunt. Once he managed to shove me out the door and I got going, I truly realized how hungry I was. I've since finished hunting, heading quickly back for the house after having satisfied my thirst.
Needless to say, I feel much better now, my throat no longer burning, nor aching to be quenched or satisfied. Cierra should hopefully be awake anytime now and I want to be there for when she does. Despite my excitement at the thought of her waking up and being rid of that bloody awful cancer, I can't help but feel equally parts nervous as to what she'll be like once she's up and moving around. Newborns can be quite unpredictable, especially in the very early stages of their new immortal life.
Allowing myself to be lost in thought and letting my body automatically guide me home, I finally find myself at the front steps. I don't hesitate. Letting myself in, I creep in, checking to see if she's already awake and moving around. If she is, she's not in the immediate area. I decide to quietly head up the stairs, but then decide against it. If she IS already awake, her new, enhanced senses would have already alerted her to my presence. That is of course if she hasn't already gone hunting and if she has, it'll most likely be with Macon.
I find myself feeling quite a bit of jealousy at such a thought, being panged with guilt a little after, but not enough to override it. There's a little envy mixed in there as well. Macon never took me hunting when I first turned into a newborn. I was left to figure things out on my own, to do my own thing while he simply observed when he wanted. The thought of him taking Cierra out for her first hunt definitely makes me both jealous and envious. She's my big sister after all, well, adopted sister technically and taking her on her first hunt is something I feel like her and I should share, not her and Macon. If he really does like her, there's nothing stopping him from doing just that.
Renewed in my effort to see if Cierra has awakened, I use my speed to quickly make up the distance from where I am to her room. The door is open, as Macon and I had decided that there was no point in closing it whatsoever. I stop right before the threshold, peering in. I poke my head in the room and sigh in relief when I see Cierra's motionless body still lying in her hospital bed. Macon looks up and nods a greeting to me. I return it.
"No change yet?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
He shakes his head. "None. But it shouldn't be too much longer now," he answers. Ever since our fight, we made up and I can honestly say that the both of us have a much deeper, renewed and newfound respect for each other. He looks at me, seeing and understanding the look of pain on my face at seeing my sister in this state. "We've got all the time in the world being what we are and yet waiting can still be a pain in the ass, can't it boy?" He asks me lightheartedly.
I allow myself a small smile. "You got that right." He gestures for me to sit next to him on the couch that's in the room, but I politely decline, instead opting to walk over to where Cierra is peacefully resting. Over the past three days, her body has steadily transformed from the sickly, bony, ill state it was in to being full and healthy. Slowly but surely, the color in her hair returned to normal. Any and all broken bones were healed as if they had never been broken before or even in the first place. Her cheeks were no longer sunken in, now filled and full of life as ironic as that sounds. All in all, she looks as healthy as a horse and now has the strength to take on any adversary and tackle any problem she wouldn't have been able to as a human.
"She'll be alright," Macon reassures me, breaking the silence that has befallen us. I simply nod.
"I know. It's just…It's just that things are never going to be the same again, are they?" I look over to him as I await his answer.
He shrugs. "No, they won't, but that won't mean that there still won't be some of the old Cierra still in there when she awakens. Yes, she'll be different but at her core, she'll still be the same." I frown before turning back to Cierra and looking her once over before bending down and kissing her gently on the forehead. Her body feels warm against my lips, a sign that she's one of us now, the only thing remaining being the beating of her heart. It had begun beating rapidly after I injected her with my venom.
It beat so fast to the point that I thought it or her blood vessels in the heart were going to burst. Macon had of course assured me that that wouldn't happen and that what was happening to her happens to all people who go through the inevitable transformation. Ever since then, it's progressively and steadily slow down to only a few beats per minute. Soon, the venom would finally reach her heart and stop it altogether and she will officially and fully be one of the living dead or undead. However you prefer to view it.
"I just hope that she's not too different," I muse as I walk away from where Cierra is laying and look at Macon. "Why don't you take a break? It's my turn to watch her. You need to get something in you." He shakes his head.
"No, no. I'm fine, really. I've gone longer without feeding, trust me. I'll be fine," he protests.
"I understand that, but I'd…I'd like some alone time with her if you know what I mean. Even if you don't go hunting, I'd like you to get out for a while. I'd say go get some sun, but…" He chuckles slightly.
"I understand as well. But I should be here when she awakens. She's going to be a newborn. If she doesn't feel like listening and giving in to her natural cravings, you won't be enough to stop her," he informs me. It's my turn to chuckle.
"Who says I want to stop her? It doesn't matter if I wanted to try and do that anyways. If I couldn't stop her as a human, there's no way in hell I could stop her now that she's one of us." He gives me a look before sighing and getting up off of the couch.
"Indeed." He begins walking towards the door, presumably to leave. "I'll leave you alone with her then. But this time I'll fear for your safety and not hers." A small smile creases his lips before saying nothing more and leaving me alone with Cierra.
I give her a quick glance before sighing and plopping down on the couch myself, sprawling out before pulling out my phone and begin fiddling on it. I must've lost track of time because the next thing I know, it's that everything is quiet, too quiet. I'm not trying to be cliché or anything, but things are way too quiet. I can hear everything for miles and there's noise all around to be sure, but here it's…quiet…
I set my phone down and stare into space as I strain my ears to try and figure out sound is missing from the immediate area. My eyes are darting around in every direction before my eyes settle on Cierra. For the past three days her heartbeat has been my main focus. It's been the only sound in the house. We took away all the other hospital equipment after Macon and I had cleaned up Cierra. I listen for her heartbeat, but it's not there anymore. It's gone. It's absent, nonexistent, it's ceased to be. That can only mean…
Instead of zipping on over with vampire like speed, I cautiously get up from the couch and begin creeping over to Cierra, who's still lying on the hospital bed, the same way she has been for the past three days. Finally, I'm by her bedside. I wait a few moments, but she doesn't move. She's not doing anything. She should've awoken by now. Is something wrong? Something has to be wrong. Something's not right here, but I can't allow myself to panic until I've managed to somehow get to the bottom of this. Not knowing really what to do, I bend down, my face closing in on Cierra's.
"Cierra…" Her name barely comes out as a whisper, and even if I wasn't so close to her slumbering face, she'd be able to hear it for miles thanks to her new, enhanced hearing.
Thank God I don't need to breathe because before I know it, I find a hand on my throat, holding me in place. Needless to say the speed is phenomenal and I don't see it in time to prevent said hand from wrapping firmly around my neck. I try to move, but it's like I'm trapped in a vice. The hand begins squeezing and while I don't need to breath, it doesn't mean that I still can't experience pain. I look down and see the blazing, amazingly colored blood red eyes of my sister Cierra. It's her hand that's got a death grip around my throat and her face is currently expressionless.
"Oh good, you're awake," I say in a slightly strained voice, Cierra not letting up on the pressure she has around my neck. She could break it if she wanted to. It would be exceptionally easy for her, like breaking a toothpick. She sits up, not taking her eyes off of me the entire time. I don't bother looking away, but for some strange reason, I can't even if I wanted to. It's like my eyes are anchored to hers. I want to look away, but at the same time I don't want to.
I'm forced to move with her as she swings her legs off of the bed and gets up, her fingers and hand still holding my neck hostage. She effortlessly maintains her grip as she lifts me up off of my feet, them dangling in the air freely, her arm fully outstretched. I wrap my hands around her arm, not enjoying the pain that's building up the longer she holds me like this.
"I'm glad to see you're awake, but if you could put me down, that would be great," I plead in a much more strained voice. I try prying her fingers away from my throat, but I might as well be a human trying to bend steel with my bare hands. I shitty analogy, but it's the best I can come up with on the spot. She still doesn't say a thing and we're both still effectively staring into each other's eyes.
"Am I interrupting anything important here?" Macon asks out of nowhere. I would turn to try and see him, but my eyes are locked in with Cierra's, like a cobra and a snake charmer and it's pretty clear who's who in this particular situation.
"Oh good, you're awake," Macon repeats what I said earlier as soon as my big sister had awoken. He stares her up and down, whistling as he does. "She's quite a beauty, isn't she James?"
"Hey, that's my sister you're talking about buddy," I say with a gasp as Cierra tightens her hold around my trachea even more.
"Oh I know and she's one damn fine lady. Damn good looking vampire as well." Macon doesn't seem at all concerned that she's choking the nonexistent life out of me. Even now, our gaze is still looked into place and it makes me wonder how much longer this is going to go on.
"Come on Cierra. Let go…please," I beg once more. "It's…it's me, James. Your….your brother." It's getting quite difficult to speak despite not being able to breathe, but I believe what Macon said about the old Cierra still being inside. She slowly brings me in closer until our noses are literally touching each other and all that fills my gaze is her eyes, nothing else. I'm completely mesmerized. I'm totally at her mercy and for some reason I'm okay with that.
"You thought you could just kill me and get away with it, huh little brother?" She finally speaks for the first time since before her death. There's no hint of kindness or humor in her voice, or in her eyes. No, these are the eyes of a cold blooded killer and I'm the one who's created it.
"I think you're in trouble now," Macon says with an astoundingly fake amount of concern as he just continues to stand there.
"Uh Macon, since we kind of bonded and what not over the past three days, a little help here would be nice," I suggest with a wheeze. If I could pass out right now from a lack of oxygen, I would. I can't see what he's doing since all I can see are Cierra's eyes, but I can hear him just fine.
"I'm good, actually. I think I'll be staying out of this to be honest. It's never a good idea to get too mixed up in someone's family affairs. You two will have to work this out on your own," he answers.
"Oh come on!" I protest with a mighty wheeze, feebly struggling against my big sisters superior strength in an ill-conceived and futile attempt to break free. Yeah, right. There's a big fat chance of that happening. "You're being a really BAD friend right now!" I manage to say before I'm cut off completely by Cierra squeezing against my vocal chords, effectively silencing me.
With our noses still touching and our eyes still not having left the gaze of the other, she breaks contact with our noses and gives mine a quick little peck of a kiss and dropping me like I'm a sack full of rocks and dead weight. I quickly recover, backing away plenty of paces and putting a tiny bit of distance between myself and her. It doesn't matter because she's back in front of me and instead of grabbing me again, she firmly smacks me across the face. Before when she was still human, it barely tickled, but this time it really stings.
"Owww…" Is all I manage to say before she slaps me on the other cheek. "Owww again."
"That's for killing me, asshole," she states firmly. I rub my face and move my mouth around a bit, getting the feeling back in it since it had gone numb from the smacks.
"Well I didn't exactly do it on purpose," I begin to protest, but she smacks me across the face again.
"You were still stupid though." Her voice is unwavering as she stares at me.
"Will you PLEASE stop smacking me?" I ask angrily, only to be met with another smack to the face. "Owww!"
"I'll do that when I feel like you've gotten enough for being a dumbass," she states matter of factly. Macon does his best to stifle a snicker and her head darts in his direction. "Don't worry buddy, you're next." He's not swayed by her threat. He almost seems rather impressed by it, infatuated with it even. Gross.
"I think I've gotten enough. In fact I know I have, so thank you." She raises her hand, but doesn't follow through, giving me a look that's even more menacing that any look she ever gave me when she was still human. Both before and after she got sick. I don't flinch though. "I'm sorry, okay? You were right. You were going to die either way and now that you're like this, there's no going back." I pause, rubbing my face again before continuing. "Look, I love you big sis. I really do. I'm sorry that I refused to have you changed and then what happened ended up happening. What's important is that the cancer is gone and you'll never have to worry about aging, dying or going through anything like that ever again."
She lowers her hand and for a moment, no one says anything. I find myself naturally gravitating towards her captivating eyes again, but before I have a chance to connect, I give a grunt as she runs into me with her arms open, pulling me into a big hug. It's a lot better than her having her hand and fingers wrapped around my neck, but it's just as painful.
"Cierra…big sis…you have to remember that you're a lot stronger than me now. Please try not to break me," I protest with another grunt as she hugs me even tighter in protest.
"I'd be careful with him my lady. He may be a vampire, but he's still a fragile little flower," Macon jokes, not bothering to hold back his full laughter this time. Cierra lets go of me and after making sure nothing is broken, which it shouldn't be anyways, I appropriately give Macon a good, clear view of both my middle fingers in response to his rather unsavory and completely tasteless, unfunny joke.
"So what was all that for?" I ask Cierra, still finding it hard not to stare into her eyes the entire time I'm speaking to her.
"For killing me, like I said earlier, dummy," she answers.
"All of it? Even the hug?" I question as she nods in answer.
"Yes. Because even though you're my idiot adopted younger brother, I still love you no matter what. That's what the hug was for."
"Oh, well thank you big sis." If I could still blush, I would be right now out of embarrassment. "I love you," I say sheepishly.
"I love you to little bro." She allows herself a small smile to let me know that everything is going to be alright between us.
"I'm relieved to say the least. For a while there I thought I was going to die and that you were actually going to kill me," I confess to her.
She laughs. "Don't be silly. Number one, you're already technically dead, we all are and two, I'd never kill you and if anyone else tries to, they'll have to go through me." She hugs me again, her smile growing ever wider as more and more of the old Cierra begins to finally break and truly shine through.
When we break from our embrace, I find myself being drawn to her eyes once more. I've never had this problem before, but her eyes are absolutely stunning. Now that I don't have her hand around my neck, I find myself more drawn into them than before if that's even possible. Not only are they a beautiful blood red, but the red is also sparkling as if the irises of her eyes were little red rubies. They have the same kind of sparkle that our skin has when exposed to direct sunlight.
"Cierra, your eyes," I manage to mumble, completely entranced with them, feeling completely at ease. Like all my problems have just melted away and that everything is going to be okay no matter what. So long as I continue staring into her eyes of course.
"What about them?" She asks curiously, breaking eye contact with me and effectively snapping me out of my self-induced trance. She walks over to the nearest mirror and examines herself thoroughly and all over, not just her eyes.
"They're just beautiful. They sparkled like little red rubies when I stared into them," I answer, knowing I'm not crazy.
"They don't seem all that sparkly or ruby like to me," she muses as she dead stares herself. I look to her eyes in the reflection in the mirror, but I no longer see the sparkling that was there earlier. It couldn't have been my imagination, could it?
"I swear to God that your eyes were sparkly. Just like our skin when exposed to sunlight. I saw it. They were doing it when we were staring at each other. Just now and also earlier when you had my neck is a vice like death grip." I say the last part with a chuckle.
"Well I hate to break it to you baby bro, but I don't see any sparkling in these eyes," Cierra says in response.
"Macon, help me out here since you didn't earlier," I call out to him, gesturing towards Cierra with a hand. He shrugs before walking over to Cierra, who turns to look at him. Within seconds, I see Macon relax like I've never seen him do before. It's at this point that I know that I'm right. "Well?" I ask.
"It's beautiful…" Macon mutters, almost in a dreamlike daze. "She's beautiful. Those eyes; they sparkle like little precious rubies, along with the same intensity as the diamond like sparkle of our skin."
"That's literally what I just said earlier dipshit," I say, a little annoyed. I know Macon sees what I saw because I know there's no way he could be faking the way he's acting right now. "Also, mind what you're saying bub. That's my sister you're talking about."
"I don't care. She's beautiful," he repeats, still seemingly in a dream-like daze.
"Thank you," Cierra can't help but giggle. If she were still human, she'd probably be blushing right now. The sight of her giggling while Macon ogles over her is enough to make my stomach churn.
"Alright, thank you Macon," I say, but he doesn't break contact with Cierra's eyes. Nor does Cierra with him.
"I have seen many a beauty in my 5,000 years, both human and vampire alike, but never have I gazed up the likes of a creature so spellbindingly gorgeous," Macon speaks in a whisper, a stupid grin on his face.
"Oh stop it." Cierra is sent into another small fit of giggles and I'm not ashamed to admit that it's making me quite uncomfortable seeing Macon pretty much hit on my best friend. She's not making any real attempt to make him stop either and that could prove a problem later on.
"No, I mean it my lady. Truly you have no equal on this Earth." He actually gets down on both knees, never once breaking eye contact as he does. "There isn't a doubt in my mind that you're more beautiful than Aphrodite, the Olympian Goddess of Love and Beauty."
"Oh wow," Cierra is struck flabbergasted, followed by another round of giddy, girlish giggles.
"Okay, that's enough there Romeo." I've decided that this has gone far enough and mean to put a stop to it. I walk over to Macon, putting a hand on both of his shoulders and lifting him up. He's easy to move, too busy being enveloped by Cierra's piercing gaze. I know what it's like to stare into those eyes. I was the first one subjected to this when she first woke up and even now I can't help but feel myself wanting to get lost in them myself, but I don't think that such a thing would be a good idea at the moment.
I begin backing up Macon out of the door and he complies, walking backwards, but having eyes only for my sister. I glance back at her, her eyes still locked with his as well. There's something different this time though. Whereas when she was looking at me, she had the eyes of a killer, but now it seems that her paralyzing stare has softened up quite a bit. That may be due to Macon's rather unnecessary compliments earlier. I soon have Macon over the threshold of the door. After making sure he's going to stay there, I abruptly shut the door and effectively break eye contact between the two of them.
"So do you mind telling me what the hell that was all about?" I ask incredulously as I stride over to Cierra, who seems to have snapped out of a daze of her own.
"Huh, what? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I just…it was weird." She seems a little bit confused.
"I'll say. You were giggling like a giddy little school girl when Macon was paying you all those uncomfortable compliments," I mention.
"I know. That's so unlike me. I…I don't know what came over me. It's just…when I looked into his eyes, I…I felt this…connection."
"I'm sorry, a connection?" Not good.
"Yes, a connection. I'm sure of it. When I looked into his eyes, it wasn't just Macon that was hypnotized by staring into a set of eyes. I was as well when I stared into his," she answers.
I groan. "God Cierra, PLEASE don't tell me that you've fallen in love with him." I feel like face palming right now.
"I don't know if it was love or not, but it was definitely something. With the way I felt when looking into his eyes, everything just felt right. Everything felt good, like I'd never have another problem ever again. I felt like everything was going to be okay from that point on," she does her best to explain to me.
"Sweet Jesus, you've fucking imprinted on him like a fucking werewolf. Both of you fucking imprinted on each other. How the fuck is that even possible for our kind?"
"Well how the fuck am I supposed to know?" She asks, a little annoyed at my nagging.
"I don't fucking know. I'm not expecting you to. It's a rhetorical question." I begin pacing in the confines of Cierra's room. "I don't see how this is possible. Imprinting is a werewolf thing, but it couldn't have been anything else. The way you two looked at each other and the way Macon wouldn't shut up about you can only be imprinting and nothing else. He's no lover boy, that's for sure."
"Well you can't deny that he's had a thing for me even before I was a vampire. Ever since he got here at least," Cierra points out.
"You've got a fair point, but you? You actually like him Cierra? You like him enough to imprint on someone like him?" I ask.
"Excuse me little brother, someone like him?" She repeats a question, raising both eyebrows at me.
"You know what I mean," I say, waving a hand to immediately dismiss what I just said.
"I'm pretty sure I do, but nevertheless, why don't you go ahead and tell me," She requests, folding her arms as she does.
"I don't think that's such a good idea," I respond.
"I think it is. I wouldn't antagonize me little brother. I'm the strongest person in this house. So unless you want a repeat of when I woke up, you had better fess up mister." There's a small trace of humor in her voice, the faintest hint of a smile following, but in all accounts, she's serious.
"Alright, fine. When I say 'someone like him', I'm not talking about his kind or anything. We're all vampires after all," I begin to explain.
"So what exactly do you mean then, hmm?" Her arms are still folded, eyebrows still raised, fully waiting and expecting me to answer until she's fully satisfied.
I wait a few moments, trying to buy a bit of time before quickly giving in. "Alright fine, I don't know what I mean," I confess, already admitting defeat.
"Don't worry James, I know exactly what you mean."
"Oh? And what would that be?" I ask curiously, the same trace of humor evident in my voice, but also genuinely curious.
"You can't stand the fact that I actually like him of all people instead of someone else. Not only that, but that he actually likes me as well. Call it fate, imprinting or whatever the hell you want. I can tell you right now that Macon and I are meant to be together," she reveals. "I was meant to become a vampire so that this could happen."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me." If I could roll my eyes any harder, they'd pop out of their sockets.
"You and I both know that I'm not kidding."
"Cierra, you don't even fucking know him that well. He's my maker and even I don't know that much about him. All we know is that he's really fucking old and good at being a vampire. That's pretty much it," I protest.
"Oh hush. Quit your fucking whining," she shoots at me.
It's my turn to raise both of my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"You fucking heard me. You shut your face about him or I'll smack you clean into next week LITTLE brother," she threatens me, a mischievous smile on her face.
"Oh for FUCKS sake, I can't believe this is happening," I say out loud, but mostly to myself.
"You don't have to believe it's happening. All you have to do is let it happen," she tells me.
"And what if I don't WANT it to happen, hmm?" I ask.
"Pfft, even if I was still a human, you couldn't stop this baby brother. Don't you get it? Don't you see? This is what I've been missing my entire life. This is what I've been waiting for." I exhale through my nose in exasperation, not really sure of what to say next when I'm reminded of something.
"Wait a minute. Where's Macon?" We both look over towards the door, but it's remained closed this entire time.
"I….think he's still waiting right outside the room." Cierra's guess is as good as mine. Glancing quickly at each other, we both make our way over to the door, opening it up normally to be greeted by a still dazed Macon. He's looking off into space, his eyes, glazed over, a small smile on his face, as if lost in a daydream.
"I think you looked at him too hard," I inform Cierra as I snap my fingers a few times in front of Macon's face, but he doesn't flinch, budge or move in any way.
"Can you really blame him? After all, I was gorgeous as human, so the only possible and entirely plausible explanation is that my natural beauty was highly enhanced, making me even more stunning than I was before turning." She flips her hair dramatically as she says all of this, temporarily adopting a posh accent as she does. I can't help but snort at her impression.
"Right, that's the reason why. You struck him dumb with your beauty." I roll my eyes once more.
"You're damn right I did," she laughs happily both of us smiling at each other and knowing that as always, everything between the two of us is great.
"Yo, Macon, snap out of it man." I snap my fingers some more in his face, waving my hand in front of his eyes, but still no response. "He's not snapping out of it. Maybe if we hit him really hard. I know you're stronger than me, but since you're in love with each other, I could do it for you," I suggest gladly. It's Cierra's turn to roll her eyes at me.
"I have a better idea." She says nothing more before leaning into Macon and planting a gentle kiss on his lips, holding it there for a good long while. This throws me for a complete loop, but I somehow miraculously manage to maintain my composure throughout the uncomfortable ordeal happening and unfolding before me. Eventually, Cierra breaks contact and within seconds, the glazed over look in Macon's eye quickly fades away and he shakes his head before speaking.
"What the hell was that? What happened? What's going on? Why're we all standing here?" He fires off a slew of questions, the confusion clearly and highly evident on his face.
"It's quite simple. You were struck by Cupid's love arrow my undead friend," I answer, setting a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, giving him a kind smile.
"What the hell are you talking about?" He growls, shrugging my hand away. "The last thing I remember was Cierra was about to break your neck and then she let you go. Shame she did. I-" He cuts himself off when he sees her standing right next to me, staring straight at him. "I….I….guh….guha…" I quickly glance back and forth between the two, confirming they've both locked eyes again.
"For fucks sake," I say to myself for the second time today. "Macon, snap out of it!" I give him a good slap across the face, forcibly breaking the eye contact between the two of them.
"Hey!" Cierra protests. "What did you do that for?"
"Come on, we BOTH know you did that on purpose," I say, calling her out immediately on her bullshit.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Right," I say, not in the least bit amused, turning my attention back to Macon. "So are you going to pay attention or am I going to have to smack you again?" I ask, as if talking to a child. Macon rubs his face where I hit him. I may have hit him a little harder than I had intended. Okay, it was fully intentional how hard I hit him. He grumbles about not wanting to be hit again and I nod, satisfied. "Good, now that all of that is out of the way, we need to get some work done."
"Work? What kind of work is there to be done?" Cierra asks curiously.
"Now that you're awake, you need to feed as soon as possible. I don't know about you, but after I finished turning, I was fucking parched with thirst. It's no wonder you haven't noticed your throat burning yet. Maybe it's because you're soooooo in love," I playfully mock her a little bit. She responds with the ever classic response of sticking her tongue out at me.
"You're right. Now that I'm not so distracted-"
"Distracted by your love for Macon, right?" I ask and gives me a look that warns me I should shut up. I smartly take it.
"As I was SAYING, now that I'm not so distracted, you're right. My throat is practically on fire. It feels like it's burning," she tells the both of us, putting a hand to her throat in a vain and futile attempt to quell her thirst.
"Burning with the fires and flames of love?" I ask with a smile. I'm met with a fist to the face. It knocks my head back and I'm momentarily blinded by pain.
"Are you quite finished!?" She yells, both of her fists balled up. I'm not mad at all. I find it funny that she punched me. I sure as hell deserved it, but I just couldn't help myself.
"For now," I say in a nasal like voice, rubbing and twisting it to a fro. It's not broken given that we're all hard as diamonds and pretty much indestructible, but that doesn't mean it still didn't hurt like hell. I smile through the pain, knowing it was worth it in the end. I move my mouth around, making unintentional faces to make sure everything really is okay even though I already know it is.
"Isn't she amazing?" I hear Macon asks in a dreamy voice as he stares at Cierra, who thankfully isn't staring back at him. She's too busy staring me down for my quips earlier about her and he being in love.
"Oh yes Macon. She's definitely one of a kind and I mean that to." I clap my hands together. "So big sis, are you ready for your first hurt as a vampire?" I ask rather excitedly. The first hunt after turning is always the best. You're a fresh, newborn vampire. You're not longer a human. With our kind, or rather our branch of vampire, you no longer need sleep, rest, food or anything like that. Just blood and that's it. The thirst is nearly insatiable, but it's one of the things that makes the first time one of the most special.
She smiles right back at me, her mild hostility from when she nailed me in the face already gone, as it was never there in the first place. That's just one of the many aspects of our relationship. "I thought you'd never ask."
"Alright then guys," I say, looking at both Cierra and Macon, who's since managed to stop staring at Cierra long enough to come back to reality at the mention of going hunting.
"You and I have already hunted; do both of us really have to go with her?" He asks. "I could go with her and-"
"No way in hell Macon." I knew where he was going before even he did. "Reason number one, just no. She's my sister and after what I've seen with you two, there's no way I'm letting you two go alone until I'm sure I can trust the two of you to actually BE alone around one another. Reason two, Cierra is the freshest newborn on the block. If we both take her hunting, we can make sure she doesn't get overwhelmed by her thirst and go overboard by killing to many animals, or worse, killing any humans." Both of them nod, seeing the clear logic in my reasoning that we all go on this hunt, even if Cierra will be the only one actually feeding.
"I'll have to admit that it makes sense," Macon relents.
"Of course it does. Not to mention that if you end up getting lost in her damn eyes again or decided to take a random trip to daydream land involving my sister, I'll be there to both snap you out of it AND making sure I can stop Cierra from doing something she's not supposed to," I further explain.
"No arguments here," Cierra chimes in. I can tell she's eager to get going, to feed for the first time, to try and get her thirst more under her control, to satisfy it as much as she's able to without going overboard this very first time.
"Good, then we're all in agreement." I look them both over before heading back into the bedroom. I don't remember if I mentioned earlier, but we closed off the hold that I had inadvertently put in Cierra's house with some plywood and some covering until we could get someone out here to properly repair it. "Let's not be boring and use the door. Instead, let's head out the window." I turn back to both of them, smiling. "Are you ready for you first hunt?" I ask Cierra. She nods eagerly. Macon looks ready for some fun. "Excellent. Let's get going."