The Net: "The Need For Blood": Chapter 12
"OK, can we talk now?" Walter asked when she came out of the room to wash the cup in the sink.
"Yes. What do you want to know?"
"I know the last time he ate was five days ago, but I could clearly see his bones.ྭ That shouldn't happen that quickly, should it? And then his teeth. Something was wrong with them. I didn't get a good look at them, but I could definitely tell something was wrong. And then the caper of it all, you gave him blood to drink and it woke him up! It…..it….it made him better somehow! I don't understand. What's going on with him?"
"First of all….." Angela felt woosey and light-headed suddenly as she struggled to hold on to the edge of the sink. Her grip wasn't strong enough and she collapsed on the floor.
"Are you OK?" Walter grabbed a hold of her arm to support her. "How much blood did you give him?"
"Not enough. I need to go lie down," she said as he helped her to the couch in the living room. He sat in a chair facing her. "Now, as I was saying, first of all, there's nothing wrong with Jacob's teeth. Nothing at all."
"What do you mean? I saw…I don't know what, but he's never had teeth like that before!"
"Of course. They're fangs. You've probably never seen fangs before. Especially in a human."
"WHAT!"
"Do you believe in vampires?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just answer the question."
"Well, I don't know. I'm not sure."
"You believe in Big Foot, right?"
"Um, yeah, I guess so. Why?"
"Then it shouldn't be too hard for someone like you to believe in vampires."
"Oh. I suppose…."
"Look, Jacob is a vampire."
There was a deep silence in the room. Angela looked up at the ceiling, avoiding Walter's stare. She'd spilled the truth. Now all she had to do was wait for him to think it over and make a reply. She could envision him yelling and running out of the room. She'd never see him again. She'd have to move. Take Jacob somewhere else. Find another job. Somehow, keep him safe. But keep him safe she would, somehow, someway, until the end, when she ran out of blood for him. She would do it no matter what it took.
"OK," Walter said slowly. "How? Why? He wasn't born that way, was he?"
"You wanna know how ruthless the Praetorians are? Sean made him this way. Before that he was a normal guy. But Sean kidnaped us and changed Jacob's genes to that of a vampire who requires only blood to live." A scared look quickly covered Walters face, as if he was wondering why he was there, in an apartment with a starving vampire who could easily kill him. "But it's not as simple as that," Angela continued. "Only blood will keep him alive and normal food does nothing for him. In the beginning he ate more food than I've seen all at one time and he grew as thin as he is now. It gets even worse though, and here's where you don't have to worry about your own life. He can only drink my blood. Sean had his vampire genes tuned to my blood. I guess is a good way to put it. It was Sean's way of slowly killing us both. He may be dead himself now, but we're still gonna die a lot sooner than we normally would, thanks to him. And that's why he went with me to Quantico. Why we don't part. And it's also why I 'mother' him, as you put it."
"I'm sorry about that. I didn't know. You just obviously care about him deeply. Otherwise he'd have been long gone by now. I mean, you'd have to, knowing that he's going to slowly kill you over time. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put it like that. I guess it makes some sense. I still find this a bit hard to believe. But what about those….those….teeth? He doesn't have them all the time, does he? And what about daylight? Isn't that supposed to kill vampires?"
"No. It's only when he goes hungry for a long time that his teeth grow back. Usually I use a syringe and fill a cup for him. Then, since he doesn't need the teeth they recede back into his gums."
"Oh."
"And as for the daylight, don't believe everything you see on TV and the movies. He's different than them, and I don't mean just cause he only needs my blood. Those on TV aren't real. Jacob is. If he could die from the light he could accidentally kill himself and I'd still be alive, destroying Trelawney's plans for our deaths."
✠
After everything had been explained and Walter decided to leave, to digest all this weird information back home, Angela got off the couch and went back to her bedroom, to check on Jacob. Quietly opening the door, she leaned against the doorframe and watched Jacob sleeping soundly in bed. She felt a sudden urge come out of nowhere to go wrap her arms around him, hold him safe within her arms while he slept. She remembered him telling her to get some rest, and a wave of tiredness fell over her, and filled her veins, as her body struggled to make up for the blood she had just lost to him. But Walter's comment remained in her head as well. Jacob WAS killing her slowly over time. Jacob was right, she'd have a normal full life without him killing her with his need for her blood. He was killing her. And today, he'd had his first experience sucking blood right from her body. Who knew what would happen if she did decide to sleep with him. Sometime in the night he could get hungry and she'd never wake up in the morning. But then, he was killing her anyway. She was going to die soon when she eventually ran out of her precious blood. If anything happened in the night, it would only speed up what was to come. She would put her trust in him again, trusting that she'd wake up in the morning to a hungry Jacob patiently waiting for his cup. She closed the door quietly behind her and went over to the bed, lightly climbing over him to the other side. She wrapped her arms around his bone thin body, holding him close and safe.
How could you do that to me? You scared me to death! I need you in my life, more than you think I do. After all we've been through I can't live without you. Please, don't do that ever again, please! She begged silently as more tears spilled down her cheeks. Please!
