Their tree house was so warm, so inviting, and nothing at all like the ruins I'd known since I came to. There were many wonderful smells and sounds, and it warmed what felt like a cold heart. I shuddered a little, trying to take everything in.
"Are you all right there, baby?" Cake asked me, noticing my shivers.
I only nodded. I hadn't quite found my voice still yet, but at least a name came out of my lips before when I was asked. That made me feel better.
"Can you talk?"
I shrugged, not sure of the answer myself. I hadn't been able to get much out, one or two word responses at most.
"Well, we shouldn't push it. You need to relax and heal up from those radical injuries you..."
Fionna's voice trailed off, and I watched her as she put a gentle hand on my neck. Alarmed, I made a strange sound, almost like a hiss. Not because it hurt, but because it startled me, and perhaps it was just a bit sore for some reason.
But my hissing made Fionna flinch back, making Cake come as if to protect her.
I stopped, and looked away, frightened and embarrassed.
"It's okay, Mel," Fionna said softly. "I totally understand. You're in a lot of pain, and there may be more to the thing with your neck than we thought. So I'm gonna make a quick phone call. Cake, you stay with Mel and see if there's anything we can feed her. That might help her out and make her feel better."
"We could try seeing if she eats like Marshall Lee does," Cake added, stretching her body into...what I'd wager was the kitchen.
All I could register was confusion. My hair kept getting in my face, and I noticed how pure and white it was. I hadn't been able to see what I looked like yet, and I was getting frustrated with it.
"Reflection."
Fionna hadn't quite walked off yet, so she caught what I said. "What's up?" she asked.
"Reflection," I repeated, more desperately and hoarsely.
"Oh. You wanna see what you look like. I think I might have a small mirror in my pack, so hang on..."
She reached around, pulling her backpack partially off to dig through it. "I know it's in here some... AHA! There it is!" And she held up a tiny, shiny, reflective thing. I couldn't remember totally, so I could only guess that was the mirror she talked about before. So, at my nod, she held it up to me, and my eyes grew huge with shock.
My hair was whiter than snow. My face was almost as white. My eyes were black, hollow pools. There was a black thing wrapped around my neck, soft and beautiful. Then I noticed the red underneath. When I opened my mouth, I saw two pearly, pointy things. My mind instantly registered them as fangs.
"I found something, Fionna!"
Cake pulled herself back into the room with us, holding something small, round, and red.
I snatched the red thing from her and my fangs were almost immediately in its flesh, and before I knew, it crumpled to nothing, void of its once brilliant color and now a grey mushy thing. I tossed it aside, which Cake grabbed afterwards and tossed it into something else slowly and hesitantly. And that's when I noticed I felt...better, not as hungry as I did before.
"She is like Marshall..."
"She's probably a vampire."
Vam...pire...?
Hello everyone. Apologies for the long wait for a short update. I started summer classes, and with quarantine, my motivation plummeted a bit. I'll do what I can to post longer chapters, and hopefully not take too long with updates, but if it takes me a bit to update each chapter, I'm really sorry in advance.
