Liza...

My Dear Liza...

Come Back To Me...

"LIZA!" My eyes open suddenly, getting too lost in the recollections of my past. They were memories although so long ago still so vivid in my mind. Even in my memory Annabelle felt near, as if I am reliving life with her all over again. I snap out of my train of thought as I realize our car is at a halt, Evelyn looking to me as though she's been calling my name for hours.

"Your turn to drive air head." Without a word I open my door to switch over to the driver's seat as I'm on the road with my irritated sister. Yet I am more annoyed with her and our current circumstance. It is now 2020, making our way to our next living location. I will not tell you how many times me and my sister have moved throughout our existence, for you wouldn't believe me. This is not an option for us as we do not age. But that isn't the main issue. We rarely last long in one place, especially with Evelyn's lack of compassion for humans and not being very discreet about it. She loves to reek havoc wherever we go, her latest spectacle the true reason we are moving this time around. Evelyn did what she had become very good at. She either found herself in trouble or was the very cause of it, more often than not dragging me down with her. Yet in the end I am not blameless, not even close.

I know I am the true cause of all of this, the key to becoming these monstrosities in the first place. It was all due to that one woman. The current whereabouts of Annabelle are unknown, our paths having not crossed since the night I left her over five decades ago. Yet I've been thinking about her more than usual lately, as if it was a sign. I've come to the realization that I have always been anxiously awaiting the day when we would return to one another as she promised long ago. Apart of me dreaded it, diverting from this reality at all costs. All the while the sired part of myself craved her to be near again. Yet I cannot allow my unpredictable future with Annabelle to control my life and everything within it.

So now me and Evelyn are on our way back to start over where this all began. We have traveled all over the US, living in many places. However there is one place my sister and I will always call home, New York. It is where I was born. Evelyn spent her teenage years here and I also continued mine as I followed my dream. It is a dream my family and I had for myself before I could even play the simplest melody on a piano in England.

I remember being human, vividly in fact. For the majority of my mortal life it was just me and my parents in the heart of London, and that's all I needed. My father was an American man, a New Yorker studying global studies abroad in England. Here he met my mother, an english piano teacher, and they fell in love. My mother gave birth to me in New York when they had spent time there. A year after I was born my parents both officially stationed in London. Here my father resumed his education, later starting his work in global affairs. All the while as a piano teacher, my mother grew my own passion for the instrument when she began to teach me as a little girl. In her free time mom made sure I felt loved and taken care of while dad put food on the table. Although it was long days and long nights, he always made time for us.

My parents and I moved back to America when I was fifteen. Little did my father know that after three years of hard work in New York, his leadership experience would give him the most extraordinary opportunity of a lifetime, working for the United States government. Just before our move he found Evelyn, a thirteen year old girl left in the backstreets of London to die from her own cruel, power hungry father. He brought her into our lives and ever since that day, Evelyn became my flesh and blood. Our family was one that deeply loved each other, a bond that was rock solid. Until tragedy struck four years later. Now my mother and father's faces are ones I can only imagine, yet never see again in this life.

Maybe I also wanted to go back to New York not only where it all began for me, but to where it all began and ended with Annabelle. Maybe I wanted to feel her presence, even if it was in the littlest of things. I would go to a place that reminded me of her, the sire bond bringing back memories of both the pain and pleasure. Lately I have been longing for the intimacy of another woman, particularly to my disdain my sire. Time continues to lapse by without her. And although I could live the rest of my existence avoiding the vampire, apart of me was tired of running from what I can never truly deny. Annabelle will always be apart of me, becoming forever bonded to her the decision I will forever regret.

Although I persisted for years never to come back to New York due to our maker, I've realized that this is the best option for Evelyn and I now. I am hoping it will bring my sister a sense of grounding and for me some form of normality, a feeling of home that has been missing for a long time. Evelyn never minded the constant moving, the only true home she has ever had being by my side. She also loved the adventure of it all, the thrill of new places and people. Yet every time we had to relocate, I knew it was all nothing but new hunting ground for her in her mind. I'm sick of this never ending cycle, having to deal with my sister's disregard for human life while I've just been wandering through what's left of mine. I just want a sense of peace, with or without my humanity.

"Mind telling me what you've been daydreaming about? Must be quite the thought if you've been in your own head for this long." Evelyn says sneeringly as she looks outside the window. This makes me come back to the present only to respond to my sister with just as much hostility.

"What do you expect Evelyn, you and I to be having whole hearted conversation right now?" I've been refusing to talk to Evelyn this whole trip due to her last stint that has brought us to this point, heedlessly taking the lives of two humans and forcing me to end a third. What made this situation stand out in severity from others in the past was she had become too intoxicated from her night of "fun" to at the very least cover her tracks. Vampires although able to handle high contents of alcohol at a time can still get drunk if one consumes too much. While I had a few drinks that night, in Evelyn's case she had become a bare bloody drunk mess.

A police officer had found the truck that contained her and the drained bodies of her boozed male victims in the middle of the forest. When I found Evelyn, I had no other option but to snap the officer's neck as she had already brought him to the brink of death in her state of savagery. There was no time to hide the evidence, for the police were already on the scene and my sister was nothing but absent minded. She ultimately left me with the damage, including three dead humans on public display to atone for. Evelyn was lucky vampire DNA is almost impossible to identify with both the car and bodies we had to leave behind, for she would have put us both at even greater risk. My anger is flaring, turning the radio on in attempt to say nothing more to my sister. Yet what turns on makes my tension with her rise even further.

"The Homecoming Horror Story. Police are still investigating the deaths of two college students and one police officer in South Maine last Saturday night. Officials say Gordon Fletcher and Marcus Reed of BlueStone College were called in missing as they were last seen at an alleged homecoming fraternity party in the area. Both boys were found mauled and drained of blood on a nature reserve in the back of an open pickup truck registered to victim Fletcher. Portland Police Head Officer Randy Delores was also found dead at the scene. It is suspected to have been an animal attack. Yet due to the graphic nature of the crime scene including the two students being entirely stripped of clothing and the extensive quantities of alcohol and blood found in the truck, it has opened the extreme possibility that foul play could have been involved."

"Oh look. Your latest scandal is yet again making the headlines. Proud of yourself?" I scoff. Evelyn just rolls her eyes as she lets out a huff with her hands behind her head.

"Foul play. From what I remember of it the boys seemed to be rather enjoying themselves before their well deserved death." She then smirks to herself, closing her eyes as I look to her in disbelief.

"Do you even hear yourself? Three people are dead because of you." Evelyn just grunts.

"Those two boys at the party were planning to drug my drink before quote 'Raping both my sets of lips to Nirvana.' They got what was coming to them. And if I recall it's our scandal remember? Losing sight of your little sister to socialize with the bore of the sorority, how careless of you. Lest we forget I wasn't the one who ended Officer Randy's life was I?" Evelyn retorts back cooly.

My blood is boiling, my sister always trying to find a loophole in situations to make herself appear to be the innocent one out of the two of us. She knew damn well this was mainly her fault, giving me no choice in the matter to kill that man. I didn't want to hear her reasoning, for it had become all too normal for her to do things like this. We hadn't even lasted a month in our most recent location without Evelyn slipping up.

"On the brighter side of things, it's another new beginning Liza. Though I thought we'd last a little longer in Maine, I'm quite excited to go home after all these years." Evelyn says teasingly as I continue to drive. I am just about ready to stop the car and make her go the rest of the way to New York herself, not that she would have minded. It was a long drive. Me and my sister could have gotten there quicker on this rather dark cloudy afternoon, but I insisted that we drove to Evelyn's disappointment.

Our inhuman abilities of strength, speed and flight are major perks of being an immortal. The ability of flying is extremely rare for our kind, our beings dissipating to a dark smoke to the mere mortal eye. Our maker is the only other vampire I know of in existence to possess it, so it is indeed a luxury for us. Yet I try not to draw attention to myself. Evelyn however enjoys to be right in the dead center of it, which we definitely do not need right now. I however am very surprised she didn't end up traveling to New York on her own. She hates human transportation unless of course it includes an eventful meal in the back of a mortal's car. I know she came just to annoy me with her commentary that she knows is creeping under my skin. My sister eyes me with a look of smugness.

"It's such a shame, I really liked the people there." Evelyn continues. I give her a glare through my sunglasses as she winks at me.

"We could have stayed longer if you would just behave yourself" I huff. In addition to this current mess I was already frustrated. I need blood since I haven't fed in the past week, putting me on the very edge. I didn't need my glasses this day due to the sunlight, but due to what lay beneath them.

"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud sister. I'm a vampire, I have needs." I see Evelyn starting to lean closer towards me. Before I could react she takes off the sunglasses that reveal my struggle. My eyes are an emerald green, a drastic shade darker than normal. I am starving, shading myself not wanting to reveal any weakness. Yet Evelyn isn't having that, rather enjoying the sight now before her. I avoid her eye contact but can tell she's looking at me without losing focus, never taking her eyes off my weakened ones.

"Speaking of needs, when was the last time you fed?" The dreaded question. I look at her, and see that her eyes have changed from her normal brown to our unnatural shade of crimson. Mine instantly turn as well, both of our hunger gaining momentum as they flicker dangerously. Any human who saw us in this state would know we are different, a threat to their very existence. If my sister even thought about blood she could blow our cover so easily, and she has. I quickly turn away and set my eyes back on the road.

"That is none of your business." I state in low warning. Evelyn snickers, noticing I am uncomfortable.

"You'll need to soon. Don't wanna get weak on me sister. Well, too late for that." I feel my eyes glow even brighter, the redness blurring my vision. My fangs descend out of anger and unquenched hunger, a low growl emerging from my throat. I put my sunglasses back on to avoid even more torturous conversation.

"Drop this Evelyn." I say through gritted teeth. My sister just smiles as she closes her eyes again. I take a deep breath, trying to compose myself. My teeth retract back to normal, yet I know this will not last long. I do need to feed soon. Usually vampires feed every few days, some like Evelyn never missing the opportunity. I could often hold it in for more than a week at a time, when I really, really wanted to torture myself. But what other option do I have? I'm not going to yet again make the wrong choice, the heavy cost of my past actions always reminding me of where I've been. Just because I wish to have complete control of my darkened desires doesn't mean I've always had it.

When I first turned, while I wanted to retain my humanity, something became much stronger. Temptation lingered in every corner, my new self always craving the sweet liquid running through human veins. Evelyn did not look back on her old life, fully giving into the lusts and luxuries of being immortal. I on the other hand tried to fight it until the temptation became unbearable. As my sire, Annabelle forced me to embrace my new nature, yet still keeping me in balance with myself. While she found pleasure in watching me as a monster, to her dismay she also knew I was stubborn as hell. But it was also revealed to me there was much more to this life than just blood. There was a power, a danger, a thrill that frightened me because I actually began to revel in it.

When I first left my sire it was very difficult to suppress my darker side for a long time. Instead I began to change the parts of myself I could, not to only conceal my old identity, but to try to forget my past. My birth name Elizabeth died the moment my human life did. When we had left Annabelle, I changed mine and Evelyn's last name to protect ourselves, dyeing my natural brunette hair to a crimson red. I covered up my American accent to try and blend in with Evelyn, to keep my dark past under lock and key as we began on our own.

Unlike me Evelyn has never hidden any part of herself to blend in, giving me a good reason to tell people she is my adopted sister. My sister fitting in however is far from my worries this moment; for as much as I fight it, no matter what I do to try and escape from it, the beast will always resurface itself. The blood lust within is a flame that will never burn out. It is a hunger that can never be sated, too great to leave unsatisfied.

"Is it so wrong? I have to do what I must to survive. Dammit, get a grip Liza!"

"Why can't we just find somewhere to feed? It's been over seven hours on the road for God's sake." Evelyn runs her mouth yet again. I desperately want to just cave in and stop. I want to feed just as much as my sister, even more due to how much I ignore my cravings. But I won't. I can't. I know I will have to give in soon, for the hunger is becoming too much holding it in for this long. But I sure as hell won't give my sister the satisfaction of being right.

"We're almost to Manhattan Evelyn. You can wait a little while longer. You're telling me you didn't bring any blood with you?" After a moment of silence passed, I felt Evelyn's eyes upon me as her lips curl into a small smirk.

"As a matter of fact I did..." In a matter of seconds she roughly grabs my arm towards her.