-1I came back from the vision with brute force. I looked and him and knew I didn't have to tell him what I saw because he saw it himself through my thoughts.
He was up suddenly, running to the kitchen. He pulled out a large safe and opened it quickly.
He ran back to me, thrusting a large stack of bills into my hands.
"Run!" He said. "Run now and never look back. I know his mind, he won't come looking for you."
I stayed where I was, confused. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the door, urging me to leave.
"What about you?" I protested.
"He will be satisfied with my death, and my death alone."
"But, can't we run?" I was sobbing tearlessly.
"I'm so sorry, Alice. I should have known this would happen." He looked sad. I still wasn't sure why we couldn't run from him. "He's a tracker, Alice. And a very good one, at that. He will never give up the search, and countless people will die for it. And if he catches us together, he will surely kill you as well. Run, my dear."
He kissed me on the cheek lightly as he pushed me out the door. I did as he said, Running so fast I was nearly invisible to the early morning commuters. It couldn't have been later than 5:30 in the morning, judging by the amount of light in the sky.
I wondered how long I would be able to run until I couldn't anymore. I also wondered how long it would be until the thirst took over again.
I heard screams and shouts behind me and the roar of a fire truck. I glanced behind be and saw wild flames licking the sky. Looking back was a mistake, I should have listened.
The sobs pushed harder at my throat as I entered the trees. I was running through the forest in my vision.
When I was far away enough that the distance drowned all sounds, I stopped running and crumpled up on the ground. I curled my small frame into a ball on the damp grass. I was deep enough in the woods that I couldn't see the sun shining in the sky.
I lay deep in the forest all day, motionless and sick. What had I become?
I knew I was alone now. That thought didn't bother me all that much. I had been alone before. But now I was free. I could go anywhere I wanted.
And money. He had given me money, more than any member of my family had seen in their lives. How did he obtain so much money working as a security guard?
Maybe he stole it? I shook that thought from my head. He was a good man. He saved me.
I took the lump of bills out of my pocket. The outermost bill was a one hundred dollar bill. The roll was at least three inches thick.
I laughed to myself. This is ridiculous. It's probably a bad dream, caused by a change in medicine. Any minute now, I will wake up in my small dark room to a tray of stale break and milk.
Hungry. The feeling was strong in my abdomen. A rumbling growl, not unlike what I had felt as a human, but stronger, more intense. My body shook with the hunger.
Slowly, I stood up as my eyes adjusted to the light. Though I could not see the sky from my hiding place, I knew the sun was setting again.
With shaky legs, I ran farther from the town that I had left behind. I knew I could never go back.
I approached a small town. I couldn't be sure of it's name at the time, but I knew it was very far from where I had come from. The streets were almost empty, only a few late travelers.
How would I know who to hunt? He could read their thoughts and knew their intentions, but what could I do? Would I be able to see what they were planning?
With that thought, I suddenly flew into an ally. I got a brief glimpse of a man stalking a woman this way. I waited in the shadows until she passed, oblivious to my presence or the mans'.
Quietly, I jumped on him, covering his screams as I pulled him back into the shadows. I held him down as the women continued innocently onto the lit street ahead.
His struggles stopped as I sank my razor sharp teeth into his fleshy throat. He was a big man and his blood was warm. The thick liquid filled my mouth with sweet, salty ecstasy.
As I drank, I heard his heart beat become faint, until it no longer pulsed inside his chest. I let his body drop to the ally floor and turned to face the lit street.
Her eyes were wide with shock, as the little girl worked up a scream in her throat, I backed down to the other end of the ally, slower than I really needed to. I could see the monster than I was in her precious eyes. I had to get out of here, no one would believe her, until they found the man, but there was no time to hide him, or else they would find me.
I broke my gaze away from her and turned to run. The opening at the other end of the ally led to a well lit street, the one that the innocent woman escaped to. I hoped that she was safe, while planning my own escape.
Running as fast as my legs would carry my, I turned right onto the street, then left on another. I ran to the edge of town in a matter of seconds.
Walk among the humans if you can stand it, but never let your true identity be known. His voice echoed in my head. Does that mean that I should have killed the little girl? It wasn't her fault that she happened to stumble upon my feeding.
Then, suddenly, I saw her in my head, she was running home to tell her mom. But her mom wouldn't believe her and send her to bed without supper for making up such stories. By morning she would believe that it was just a bad nightmare.
These visions were becoming very useful. If only he could explain more about them, maybe I wouldn't feel so lost.
I kept running until the sun started to come up. I found a motel on the edge of a little town a few states away and walked through the glass door to the desk.
"Can I help you?" I man asked, his voice sour. He hadn't looked up from his magazine.
"I would like to rent a room."
"I'm sorry, we're-" He started, but stopped short when he looked at my face. He looked me up and down with hungry eyes, and I knew that I wouldn't like to know what he was thinking.
"Please, sir. I need a room." I begged. He became serious, and I detected a little fear, when he heard the pleading in my voice. Or maybe he had seen my eyes.
"Two-hundred a night." He laughed.
"No problem." I replied, pulling two bills off the roll inside my pocket and handing it over to him. He gawked at the bills and quietly handed me a key.
"Second floor. To the right." He said, still shocked. As I walked away, I saw him stuff one of the hundreds in his pocket and put the other in the register.
The room was small and dark, I didn't mind nearly as much as I should have. I walked over to the small window and pulled the curtain closed, bringing the room into total darkness.
I stripped my clothes and walked into the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I let out an audible shreak. My body was white as stone and perfect. I had never been overweight, but it seemed like all my little imperfections had disappeared. My skin was smooth and hard. My muscles, though small, were visible under the layer of marble that covered my body. My face was smooth and clear, my eyes a shade of red that would never be considered normal. My hair was extremely short and I wondered if it would ever grow out again. I missed my long hair, but I knew that I could get used to this.
I turned on the shower as hot as it would go and continued to gawk at my body. When I stepped into the steamy water, I could barely tell that it was hot. This would burn a human, I thought. I used the little bottle of shampoo and the soap provided by the hotel.
When I finished cleaning and felt satisfied with myself, I climbed out of the shower and put on the clothes that I had worn before. The tee-shirt seemed too big for me and the pants were always a little bulky. I didn't have any time to grab anything from my room before we left, no that there was much there for me to get.
Tonight I will have to go shopping. I made a mental reminder. Turning off the bathroom light, I headed to the bed.
I knew he said that I couldn't sleep, but it looked so comfortable and inviting. I laid down and closed my eyes. Sure enough, sleep never came, but I found that I could clear my mind completely.
That's when I saw him. Not my savior, but another man, another vampire. He was running from something, but I couldn't tell what. Maybe he was trying to escape himself. Yes, that seemed to be right. I saw him running, he was somewhere in the south. Then I saw him enter a diner. I couldn't see anything after that, but I knew that I had to go there and get him.
I didn't know who he was or why I felt so drawn to him, but I know that I wouldn't have seen him if I wasn't meant to find him.
After laying on the bed for a few more hours, I stiffly stood up and went to the window. The sky was steadily getting darker and I knew that it would be safe for me to travel now.
I walked to the young woman at the front desk. She didn't seem surprised to see me, apparently the man from this morning had told her about me.
She smile pleasantly. "How was your stay?"
"Great. Thank you." I smile back. She quickly tried to recover a little gasp, making me smile even wider. I handed her the key and waved as I walked back out the door.
I fought the hunger building inside of me as I made my way through the town. This was no the place to feed, enough people had seen my face here.
I traveled farther away and found a drunk homeless man wondering through the back roads between towns. He smelled as though he had not had a shower in a very long time. Poor man. I thought. I'll take him out of his misery.
He never even heard me coming up behind him. I finished him quickly, unsatisfied by the taste of his blood.
Wondering into a city, I found several clothing stores. For the first time in my life, I could buy anything I wanted. I walked into the first store I saw and immediately was stopped by a store clerk.
"I'm sorry, miss. We don't give out charities." Her sour tone took me back and I smirked at her.
"Well then, Ma'am." I said, almost sarcastic. "I guess I will take my business elsewhere." I smile and showed her the cash as I walked out the door. I could feel her shocked gaze on my back. Throughout all my sadness in the past few days, this made me surprisingly happy.
I walked a few blocks down, to another fancy clothing store and this time, no one stopped me. I walked with confidence to the woman's department and started to sift through the clothes. Now it was more than just picking out clothes, I was going to be meeting a new vampire and I wanted to look…well…nice.
A woman about my age walked up to me questioningly. She looked into my eyes and changed what she was about to say. "Can I help you, miss?"
"Actually, yes." I smiled. She was polite. I held up a beautiful blue dress, holding it to my body. "I would like to try this on, please."
Smiling, she led me through the store to a row of small rooms in the back. She unlocked the door for me and I stepped inside. Putting on the dress, I fell in love instantly. It was short and slick, a beautiful blue silk that shimmered in the artificial light.
I walked out of the dressing room to show the young woman. She smiled as she looked me over, obvious jealousy on her face. "You really like it?" I asked. I still wasn't totally comfortable with my body.
"It's beautiful." She gasped. "Do you need shoes?"
After picking out a beautiful pair of silver shoes, I gave the young woman three hundred dollars.
Her eyes went wide. "This is too much, miss." She called as I walked out the door. "Wouldn't you like your change?"
"Keep it." I called back. I could feel her smile on my back.
Making my way to the diner that I had seen in my vision, I could feel stares on me from everyone who passed by.
I went into the diner and sat down at the counter. The woman behind the counter smiled at me and asked if I wanted anything to eat. I politely turned her down, explaining that I was only waiting for someone. She smiled back and walked away to help someone else.
I was left to my thoughts and my visions until the new vampire showed up.