CHAPTER FOUR
As I was walking out of school I caught up with Moriah and Trisha. They were talking about both of their day at school as they noticed me walking up to them to get in the conversation.
"Hey sweetie how was your day?" Moriah questioned.
"Well let's put it this way." I said trying to make sure I didn't get them to interested. "It was different."
"Yeah it is every year really. Humans don't really like to do the same thing everyday. I guess especially Eric McLaine." Trisha said disgusted.
"What?" I said. Oh my god what rumor was going around now? He seems to nice for anything to be wrong with him.
"Well I guess people are saying he's got a crush on some girl in his English class. I heard she's some really big loser and nobody really knows who she is. I mean everyone has to have at least one friend. Even you've got that new Kaitlin girl, right?" Trisha said joking.
"Yeah she's a good buddy." I said almost speechless. So he really did have a crush on me. Oh my god! What the hell am I supposed to do now? I guess he's an okay guy but I can't lead him on. I'll skip fifth hour on Monday and maybe he'll get the picture.
********
When I got home I started getting ready. It was Friday and today. And we would usually spend Friday and Saturday hunting. I grabbed a pair of my sweatpants and a dark black hoodie so no one would notice me in the night. We all wore something that looked along the lines of what I was wearing, each with our own little variations.
My parents, Charles and Aliyana, both had opposite sides of a broken heart with blood dripping down at the bottom. It symbolized how they were in love as humans and were both turned together.
Justus had a picture of a girl named Jane. A vampire who had betrayed him and made him think she was a human too. She killed him. It was his worst memory of why no person besides us should be trusted. Or so he thinks.
Moriah had a stage as her crest. It was a symbol of when she starred in the play Nosferatu. Turns out the other lead didn't even have to try acting like a vampire. He already was one.
Trisha had a picture of a small village built around the same time Columbus sailed the ocean to America. It was where she and James had died. They both had the same crest.
Mine was blank. Just a dark black circle on the back of my hoodie. I couldn't remember anything from my human life. I didn't know who turned me, and my name wasn't my real name as far as I knew. Aliyana had named me. Trisha, James and she had found me out in the forest hunting humans, and I still barely remember that much.
I had a huge gash in the side of my head and they told me that's probably why I couldn't remember anything.
I strayed from my memories as I grabbed a pair of tennis shoes and left through the door. I hopped into James' silver charger along with the rest of my siblings and we left.
As we weaved through the silent roads we had almost made it to the center of the forest. When we got out we did a quick search through the trees for humans. First of all if we caught a human we would definently be set for a week. Second we never killed them. We drank enough to a point where it wouldn't be dangerous for the human's blood levels. Third they never remembered. Our venom makes people disoriented and the only way to turn a person is if you drink them almost completely dry. We were very careful to not do that to others who didn't deserve it.
Vampirism is a curse. We never asked for it to happen to us and after that we can never make contact with anyone who might know us. It's to dangerous for them to realize what has happened to us. Our number one rule is to never get caught.
I rounded a large tree trunk as I saw a group of humans camping. Three of them total. It isn't completely wrong for me to be doing this. I have been doing this for years and it's never bugged me. Some say it's a blessing, to stop caring about what's wrong and what's right. To never worry about your past coming back to haunt you.
"It's the best way." I told myself slowly in a hushed voice.
"You ready?" Justus smiled. We all nodded our heads as we snuck up into the trees to watch them talk about their weeks and tell old scary stories. And as soon as they fell asleep it was time to move.
I entered the tent of the young girl who looked about my age, maybe a little younger. She was in a deep sleep. Moriah followed me and we both looked down at the girl disputing where to bite and how to split it up equal, even though we knew that we couldn't let her lose to much blood.
I slowly crept up to her and grabbed her arm as she didn't even move. I lowered my face to her as I heard a slow but steady pulse. And then I took my first bite. I saw her eyes scream with fear as most humans do as they find themselves unable to talk and soon drift off into a sleep.
Her blood slowly crept down my throat as the rush began. The feeling of completeness and being connected to the real me. It's intensity so drawing that I couldn't do anything but drink more more more! It tingled as it trickled with a warm filling sensation through my body down to the very core of what I am.
But then Moriah pulled me off of her. She was my safe net. Plus it was her turn . Anyways the only difference was she could control how much she drank just like any other vampire older than fifty or so.
Since she could actually contain herself I decided I would go back to where my parents had set up camp. I had realized I was tired as I had found them by the fire.
"How was hunting sweetie? Your back early." She said worried.
"Oh it's nothing really." I told them truthfully. "I just really need a good nights sleep. It's been a very long day today.
"Alright well then go in your tent and we'll see you in the morning" Aliyana said with a smile on her face.
I smile back and crawled into my sleeping bag. Today had definently been a long day.
********
I was in a familiar area covered with the colorful autumn trees and the smell of fresh air. It was a forest. Not where I had been tonight but still it seemed oddly familiar. As I heard someone walking through the forest I realized they were maybe a couple hundred feet away but I could barely hear them. What's wrong with me! I also realized I was a lot less steady and maybe even less strong.
Horror struck me as I quickly knew what was going on. I'm not a vampire anymore! How could this happen to me! I came close to crying as I noticed the person coming toward me was someone familiar. Someone I'd seen before. Soon I noticed it was Eric his smile as warming as the first day at school. The one I wanted to just pull myself into.
"Alexis? Is that you?" he smiled. I slowly nodded not realizing what he was saying. I was speechless the words flowed out of my mouth as if I had already been through this before.
"Beautiful as ever." He laughed. "Are you sure your ready to do this?" This time with a concerned but somewhat happy look on his face.
"I've been ready since the moment we first met" I said as I looked into his gorgeous brown eyes that blended in with the forest we were in.
"Alright" He spoke slowly as his fangs lowered down to my neck. I knew it would be painful but anything to be with the one I fell in love with forever would make me happy. As his fangs bit into me felt the drawing of my blood to his mouth deepen as if he couldn't stop. My pain was gone and I knew this was going to happen. Just one deep sleep before being with him forever.
But suddenly a scream of hatred and disgrace passed through my ears.
"Traitor! You've doomed us all!" His voice hissed. Soon they were all surrounding us though I couldn't see what was happening I knew it was going to end up bad.
"I love you and I promise no matter what it takes we'll be together soon." Eric's voice sounded almost desperate. "Please don't forget me."
The words drifted through me as something strong and thick hit my head. And that was it. I was unconscious.
CHAPTER FIVE
"NO!" I screamed as tears started drowning my eyes. That dream had seemed so real and now Eric was just gone. I'd become so numb and my hands were trembling so much that as my sisters woke up they weren't anything but terrified.
"Oh my god Haydence are you okay?" They demanded as freaked out as they were.
It took me a minute to get back to reality as my dream slowly faded out of my mind. "I'm okay" I said softly trying to keep my voice from shaking. "It was just a really bad dream." I interjected.
They both looked at me with disbelieving eyes even though every word out of my mouth was true. "I promise you guys it was nothing more than a bad dream. It just seemed so real and I couldn't bare that in my dream I thought I was dying." I said reluctantly.
"Okay." Trisha said smoothly. "Just promise not to scare us like that next time. I was almost ready to go all whoop ass on whatever was hurting you. Or um… at least what I thought was hurting you. Don't do that again okay." She added.
I shook my head with relief that she wasn't upset and to know that she cared so much about me that she would fight whatever would try to hurt me off. It was awkward to think that even a person of a bad nature would try to hurt me. We give off some sort of brain signals to our enemies to stay away from us so obviously I've never dealt with bullies, at least after I was changed.
"Okay well lets get some sleep." I nudged. "We have a long day tomorrow. Charles and James agreed that it would be a good idea to go on a hike tomorrow since we've all gotten more than our fill of blood since we ran into those humans." I added.
They both looked at each other with agreeing faces and laid back down. I sighed with relief as I heard them instantly fall asleep. I was glad they didn't ask me about my dream. They might have though I was crazy and sent me to a mental facility or believed something strange was going on and then questioned me about Eric.
"Hey sweetie how was your day?" Moriah questioned.
"Well let's put it this way." I said trying to make sure I didn't get them to interested. "It was different."
"Yeah it is every year really. Humans don't really like to do the same thing everyday. I guess especially Eric McLaine." Trisha said disgusted.
"What?" I said. Oh my god what rumor was going around now? He seems to nice for anything to be wrong with him.
"Well I guess people are saying he's got a crush on some girl in his English class. I heard she's some really big loser and nobody really knows who she is. I mean everyone has to have at least one friend. Even you've got that new Kaitlin girl, right?" Trisha said joking.
"Yeah she's a good buddy." I said almost speechless.
The thoughts of what they said earlier today almost made me sad that I didn't stand up for that "some really big loser with no friends" girl that I was.
I couldn't fall asleep even though I wanted to have that loving vision of Eric in my mind again. If it happened again I don't know what I would believe the difference between fake and real actually was. It had been to real to be fake and if it happened again there was no way I could stay away from Eric.
I scratched at the side of my neck with lethargy as I noticed there were bumps on my neck. And whatever it was it burned. I quickly pulled out my compact mirror and took a look at the side of my neck as I pulled my now messy hair away from it. At first all it looked like was some small rash. Maybe something the tent was made of reacted badly to my skin.
With shock I found out the mark was bigger than just a small few bumps. I tried to pull more of my hair away but as I realized what it was my hand started shaking again just like it had when I had woken up from my nightmarish dream.
It was a bite mark. Not an animals nor humans teeth had the strength to penetrate my skin like that. It could only be done by a vampire.
"It was real." I said shaking my head back and forth.
The truth was terrifying but real. Eric had bitten my neck. He was my creator and apparently my lover before I turned into a vampire. And something or someone had separated us.
I will never let that happen again.
********
"Wake up!" James yelled with a smile on his face. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. "Were going hiking in five minutes so hurry up!"
I quickly put my hair up in a pony and changed out of my outfit. My hair looked like a mop. And I wasn't happy about it either, so I quickly took my hair out of the pony and brushed it out.
As soon as I walked out of the tent Charles told me I was hiking with him and Aliyana. I was a little confused but I wasn't about to argue about something for no reason. Aliyana gave me a worried look as she picked up her hiking bag and started walking.
"Moriah told us about last night and I'm just worried about your well being. Is there anything wrong?" She said.
"Well the truth is, is that I had a bad dream last night." And that much was the truth. "It was about waking up as a vampire for the first time and not knowing anything. I guess I wasn't expecting it so it just really creeped me out."
She knew I wasn't going to give her the full story and just left it at that.
"You guys don't mind if I ask you a personal question about me do you? I said sort of nervous, know that what I was going to say could lead into a long list of questions from them that I would have to leave unanswered.
"You can tell us anything honey." Charles said
"Well I was wondering if when you guys found me in the forest if you knew where my bite mark was." I questioned.
"That's an interesting question Haydence. Why would you ask?" He asked curiously.
" I guess I've just been curious lately as to how I became what I am and why I have no recognition of it. I guess the dream didn't really help that much." I told them.
"Well at first when I found you, you we're covered in blood and it was so hard to tell where we need to stop it from coming out. But when I got most of it off of you I guess I found it coming from the right side of your neck." She said confidently.
I knew the mark was still on my neck as visible as he night before. I would see him on Monday at school and we would discuss this whole situation. I hoped it would go well. I really did.