As much as I tried, the pain wouldn't take me. It kept me alive to suffer. How did I deserve this, of all thing. Suddenly the pain receded. Back to my torso now. Leaving my legs, arms and head. The burning rose though however in my heart and lungs. Relief and worry overcame me as the pain receded more until my heart was the only thing burning. It kept rising to my astonishment. Hotter and hotter. How would Richard and Katie take my death. Bad. Good. My heart couldn't beat any faster than it was as well. As if trying to burst out and run away. This kept going for what seamed like an eternity until my hearts constant beating faltered. It faltered again twice and then. Silence. My heart stopped. Silence and the sound of nothing overwhelmed me. My senses started to come back to me. I could hear cars and the sound of a television in the background. The small drumming of the kortana fishing boat at the lake. It shocked me that I was no longer feeling dirt and roots of trees. It felt like a flat and smooth. I dared not to open my eyes. I was probably in the hospital. All my family would be there peering over me. Maybe some friends. It dawned on me at that moment. Jack and David. Dom as well. Where they alright. Had they met the same fate I have. Where they dead. Murmurs began to flow around me.
" Is he alright. When will he wake up?" A soothing voice was asking. It was a woman, sounded like late twenty's. Muted pads on the ground told me there were two in the room.
" He should be fine. These things take time. They differ according to the type of person. Alexanders took three days." What. Took three days for what.
"Maybe your right." Whoever they were. They left the room. I opened my eyes slowly. I could see perfect. Better than perfect. The image my eyes seen was Amazingly crisp and clear. I could see dust molecules in the air and still be focused on the roof. The cracks and minute color differences in the white roof above. I noticed my eyes didn't want to blink. Or more like they didn't need to. I didn't have the urge to move or fidget.
" He's coming around. George." Some girl sang. A different one from the last one. Suddenly I could make out at least four of them in the room.
" Don't make yourself look like a threat." The older, possibly wiser one said.
" Yes George and why don't we put on a clown suit. Off course we look like a threat. We are the most lethal beings in the world." He wasn't being annoying but more like telling him the truth. I sat up slowly but try as I might, my body responded in a flash and I was up sitting in ninety degree angle. The room I was in was vast. It was open plan and it was colored white. I took a deep breath . There was no craving for oxygen, more like doing something that's good but you don't need to do it. I held my breath. My lungs didn't start to burn and scream for more. They were all but silent. I didn't have to breath. I saw them all. They all looked stunning. There was a girl, about my age standing on the far right. She had shortish dark brown hair which curved to her left at her forehead. She was very small. The eyes though took me away. They were a very vibrant orange yellow. Sort of golden.
" This must be a shock to you and very confusing." It was the one called George stepping forward. Arms open In a cautious and friendly way. He had shockingly smooth light brown hair. Blond in it as well. He was of a medium build and the eyes were the same as the girls I had seen.
" My name is George Cameron and this is my family. Alexander, Alice and my wife Julia." He pointed at them individually. All of them smiling at me when he said their name. Blurred memory came back to me again of Jack, David and Dom
" L- last night," I stuttered. My voice was so different. It was like I was singing rather than speaking. At the same time as being very soft and velvet. They registered me noticing my new voice and George spoke.
" Yes there is allot of things you'll discover that have changed. It will take some getting used to." He was trying to reassure me.
" Last night. My friends." I Couldn't remember.
" Ah yes. I'm sorry. This will come as a shock to you but, Jack is in a critical state in hospital and so is David. They might not make it." What. Had they nearly died. What happened to them. What took them.
" And my family. Richard and Katie."
" Well your missing for just now." He seen my face twist and started to double back. " You have to understand that you put them in danger by seeing them now."
" What do you mean hurt them. There my family and I would never-" he put a hand up to stop my rant. He got up and walked to his family and they started muttering to each other. I looked out the massive wall height window and seen nothing but forest. The sky was still dull Grey and it was raining. I thought of last night. Struggling to get a clear picture of everything. That thing that got me. It was so strong. So fast.
" W-what was that." They turned, all looking nervous now. George kept his face calm and sat beside me again.
" That's the other thing. This will also come as a major shock to you…." He stared at me assessing my mental state.
" It was a Vampire. He was hunting and came across you."
A Vampire. That couldn't be true. But it fits so well. The speed, the strength, cold skin and then. When it bit me. No. I had thought about most myths about Vampires. If you get bit, then you become one.
" And that leads me to what we're doing here now. When he bit you, you began to change. Do you recall the burning." I hadn't wanted to remember but I had remembered it.
" that was the venom of Marcus turning you into a-" I cut in
" Vampire." I whispered.
" Yes. You musn't think however that your going to be like him. He was my friend and I made him. He turned back to feeding on humans and left us. But we had to stop him so we killed him shortly after what must have been you." He stopped deep in thought.
" When you say, went back to feeding on humans." What did he mean by that. That he didn't feed on them. That he started to feed on them like going back on the bottle.
" He didn't used to feed on humans. Like us, he only fed on animals. Until he grew tired and wanted to, cheat. So to speak."
" Can we show him." The girl, probably Alice, had almost shouted the words so quickly that I couldn't keep up. Then again, show me what.
" We mustn't rush these things Alice. He's only three days old."
" Its fine George. Just show him. He will probably like it anyway." It was Alexander that spoke.
" Show me what." I asked. Unsure of what they meant.
" I'll get the mirror" Alice sang and vanished in an instant. They saw my jaw drop at the speed of Alice.
" One of the many things your going to have to get used of." Alexander said, Smiling to himself. Maybe he was going to be the one to teach me all of this stuff. It hadn't dawned on me that I wasn't really shocked that my friends were in hospital. I should be going down there.
Alice darted back in with a roof height mirror and held it in front of me. I stared at the beautiful person in front of me. The bright crimson red eyes and the very pale skin stunned me. The hair was soft and vibrant and stuck solid in the stunning way it is now. I pushed myself to say my face. It was different, like it had been molded to fit my new voice by angles. My muscles were all a lot more toned and visible.
I stared in aw at my reflection.
" He likes it." Alice said. She made a face. " But then, everybody likes how we look."
" Perhaps we should allow Alexander to take him hunting." George said.
" A yes. The burning must be painful." I hadn't thought about it until he mentioned it. It was like I hadn't drank in weeks.
" I think I'll take him Alex. You know I'm the better hunter. And he has to learn the right way." Alice was so small compared to Alexander. Yet she seamed so much more sure and commanding than him. Alexander smiled and winked at her.
" If you wish then."
" Come on then." She said pulling me towards the massive wall height window.
" The window." I said sheepishly.
" oh yea, you don't know. Its very easy. I'll go first, now watch and take note. Just hop out like you would a normal jump and land as if it was nothing but a small wall. Watch." She stepped out and fell towards the ground. Her feet landing in perfect symphony and she was on the ground.
" Now you try." It was quite a drop. I realized the house was three stories high and that the ground was uneven and full of protruding rocks. She notice my hesitance.
" Would you like me to show you again." She was so soft and reassuring yet a little impatient.
" no its uh fine." I heard the sniggering coming from behind me. Sounded like Alexander. I stepped out.
I began to fall but my mind was so fast that it seamed like I was falling in slow motion. I had tons of time to place my feet correctly. But a second later, I landed smoothly on the grass. I looked up at Alice who was smiling ecstatically. I replied with my own gleaming smile. Looking back up at the window, I realized that it was higher than it was from up there.
" Come on then." She urged. " Then next parts the best." She tugged at me and then darted of to the edge of the forest. I hadn't noticed where we were. We were in the middle of a forest and there was only a small road that lead of, winding round the descending bends. The house itself was beautiful. Modern and sleek. The whole middle section was wood and the bottom and top was stone. It was covered in windows that looked like they were specifically placed to give the illusion of not many.
" Are you rooted to the ground." Alice called. I dragged myself into the now. I tried to jog to her side but what happened was insane. I darted faster than she had and I was off. My mind and eyes kept up with the speed but when I stopped myself, I had over shot her by what seamed like half a kilometer. She was at my side then.
" Bit much but you'll get used to it. you'll have to if you want to be amongst humans again."
" How fast are vampires? I mean, I only tried to jog and look where I ended up." She eyed me and a smile pulled across her face.
" we move so fast," she said as she started towards me. The grin still on her face. " That we become a blur to humans. Faster than cars, than trains. To give you an example of the speed. I could run from here to say Florida in twenty minutes." I stared at her. Twenty minutes.
" Gees that's fast." I said. Her smile grew wider.
" That's not the half of it. See that tree there." She pointed to a redwood that had fallen. " watch this." She walked up to it and stood under were it had crashed into the other tree. She put her hand on it and pushed. The massive tree moved with her arm. She gave it a larger push, still looking like it was easy, and the tree moved up to full position. It wobbled and started to fall the other way. Such a large object moving so fast didn't look even possible. Alice sprang to the other side and caught it with her hand again. She dropped it to her side. Still smiling.
" That's how strong. And that wasn't even heavy for me" she said enthusiastically. I felt my jaw drop. How strong are we really.
" Right, back to hunting. Follow me" She whirled round and sped of into the distance. I braced myself and leaned forward. I took my first step in an all out sprint to catch up. The trees were moving past me so fast that a human wouldn't see them. Yet my eyes kept up with extreme ease. I felt myself going over rocks and hills and not even having to look at the ground to tell my feet where to go. I stuttered like a car and came to a stop. Half a mile in front of Alice who was by me yet again in an instant. I had ran in an all out sprint in an attempt to over take her but in my effort, I had tripled my distance from the house and over taken her.
" If you want to do this then I'm going to have to teach you properly. When you run. Because of you being so fast now, walking would seem like running at over one hundred miles an hour. Running is therefore what just happened there. Try to imagine yourself shuffling across the ground as a human. Then you'll get to the point that you can run at whatever speed without even thinking. Try it." she looked in the direction we were going. I done exactly what she said, imagined myself shuffling and began to repeat it. I moved allot slower. Not slow to a human but slow for me. I stopped after three seconds and I had only traveled from one end of the forest clearing to the other. Alice skipped to me, smiling.
" Well done. You did good." She looked around and up at the hills for a moment. " we're also in a suitable position to hunt as well. This is when it gets tricky." she said looking back at me.
" Cant be much harder than that." Shock crossed her face which turned into a smug grin.
" Oh you will see how hard it can get." We both darted into deeper forest for several minutes. Alice stopped dead and turned to me, her eyes locked on mine.
" Ok. This is how we hunt. What you do is you basically let your instincts take over. They will in a way, drag you to your prey. You do however have to keep some control because if you come into contact with a human then you wont be able to regain control until after."
We were far from any humans here. Nothing to worry about.
" Become silent and aware. Let your senses travel and take partial control." Her voice made it easier. I let my instincts take over. It was weird. Like an out of body experience, like when your on an adrenaline rush and you don't know what your doing. My senses reached further. The river slithering down the mountain, the trees all around swaying in the wind. The cars in the far of town. A husky sort of wild smell. It was like honey oak mixed with pollen and grass. I herd the sniffs and the pads of the paws on the ground. Mountain lion. My instincts flamed in my head and I was running. I didn't take me long to get there. I stopped not five meters away starring into its eyes. The lion immediately started to crouch into a pounce and hissed at me. I leaned forward into my own crouch, a vicious snarl ripping out of my chest. The lion pounced at me, claws like daggers. It hit me with its full force but I didn't feel anything. I stayed were I stood. Not budging or even wobbling. The lion tried to bite into me but to no avail. It could have been biting solid diamond for all it was doing to me. I could smell and see the coronary artery throbbing under its skin. I lifted it with my hands, which were more like claws and through it to the ground. It was like lifting feather. It weighed nothing under my ferocious strength. Bones cracked as it smacked the ground. The lion didn't deserve any more pain, so I gave the final blow. Biting the artery like soft ice cream, the blood poured out. I stayed there for several minutes not wanting to let go, but I overcame my instincts and stood up. I was a complete mess. Blood all over me. Alice, who was now watching had finished two deer which I could see.
" I made quite a mess." I said embarrassingly.
" Nonsense, you did great for your first time. You didn't even make the lion suffer for long which is a good thing I suppose. Do you think your finished." The burning thirst was still their. It did subside however but I was board of hunting. I wanted to see my family and friends.
" Yes I'm done."
" Excellent. Lets go then, and don't worry about the clothes. After about four times of hunting, you'll be great and wont need to replace them."
" That's good," I said looking at my clothes. " Race you back." Her eyes lit up.
" Your on." We burst into an all out sprint.