5. Transformation
I felt cool hands on my face. My eyes were closed tightly but light was still seeping in through my eye lids.
"Alice?" I heard an angel's voice call.
Opening my eyes, I met the gaze of Daniel, apprehension apparent in his burgundy eyes. Water droplets were covering the window next to me as I turned to look out in the cool misty drizzle of a new day. I sat up rapidly, the movement making me slightly dizzy.
"What happened?" I searched for some sign of how I missed the evening.
"I'm not sure," he looked like he was suffering. "One second you're talking with me, the next thing your eyes were blank and then you fainted on the couch," he looked uneasily at me. "Are you feeling all right?"
Quickly, I shifted around doing a mental inventory. I felt okay. My stomach made a rumbling noise as it ached with hunger. A small relief filled chuckle erupted from Daniel.
"Breakfast?"
"Yes, please." I stood and wobbled slightly. Daniel grabbed my arms to steady me and brought me to a table in the kitchen area.
I watched as he prepared food for me. He had eggs, meat and bread. Where had he gotten all of this food? I watched as he lit a fire under the stove and replaced the metal piece over top of it. He brought a large wrought iron skillet and placed it over the now hot metal.
When he handed me the plate of food, I took it instantly, ravenous for something to eat. As I shoveled food into my mouth I realized what would play out next if this day was anything like my very vivid vision.
"He found us here last time," I began.
"Last time?" he interjected.
"Yes, in my vision you cooked me breakfast and we left the cabin where James was waiting outside."
He cocked his ear to the side, like he was listening for something out there. Was his hearing that good?
"I don't hear anything." He answered my internal question.
Another question was burning inside me, and at this moment in time I couldn't hold it in anymore, it burst out of me.
"How many vampires exist?" I was curious.
"More than I care to count. Many of them are vicious creatures. I have met many in my life time. There was actually one working at the asylum, but she had not been there long. I had no idea what she was doing there."
My eyes had grown wide. "Another one? What did she look like?"
His eyes tried to read my face, trying to see the fear that should be present but all he saw was my curiosity flaring inside me.
"She had long red hair…"
I gasped. Maybe this was the woman from my vision. Was this why James always found us…because of this woman with the red hair?
"What was her name?" I choked out.
"Victoria," he said through his teeth.
I didn't understand his obvious anger at this woman. Had she hurt someone at the asylum? My vision reappeared in my mind as I saw Victoria, or so I thought, hold me by my throat.
"I think I saw her in my vision last night. That is why this vampire, James, always finds us. He has help."
He stood quickly.
"What is it?" I jumped back.
"Someone's outside," he glared over my head, out the closest window.
My heart began pounding at an intense rate, my blood flowing rapidly through my veins as fear entered them. I looked to the future, to see who it was outside.
"They're here," I barely whispered.
"Yes," he answered.
If they were outside, where would we go? Was Daniel going to fight both of them? Would he win, would he lose? The questions were pouring out of my mind, every second my doom coming closer. I stole a peak out the window and saw nothing.
Daniel had begun to take a protective crouch over me. I looked wildly around but my eyes found nothing. What was I missing? I closed my eyes to try and concentrate on the future. The image that my mind was producing was cloudy at best, nothing too apparent. The only thing that was clear as glass in my mind was James being thwarted by Daniel. He was…upside down?
"You can levitate vampires, too?" I asked in a whisper.
"I've never thought of using my powers that way." He was silent as he pondered my question some more. "It's hard to concentrate on anything else when I am trying to levitate something. Did you see something that would help us?"
I concentrated once more on the future, trying with all my might to see a way past the two fierce vampires. Terror tore at my heart as I continued to see the battle rage before my eyes. Again, Victoria had me by my throat, raised partially in the air against something, a tree maybe? James and Daniel were fighting and he was too distracted to use his gift.
"I don't think you're going to save me," I cried out.
He froze, not saying a word. Another vision, flames, I couldn't see them, but I could feel them. I didn't understand this, trying to look towards something else. A blonde boy in a diner with wide beetle black eyes, pale skin, introducing himself to me. Jasper. Love flooded my body, seeped through my pores, made my heart sing.
Boom!
I opened my eyes back to reality. I felt Daniels arms swiftly knock me off my feet as we raced out of the kitchen and into another room.
"I can't hold him off for long, what did you see?"
"You have to do it now."
"Do what?" he was anxious.
"Turn me. This is when it happens. If not, we both will die." My voice cracked at the last word.
He brought me gently into his cold hard arms. He kissed me lightly on my lips, and then pulled his face away. His eyes were hungry. Fear over took me, not fear of him, fear of what was going to happen to him. Regardless if he turned me or not, he would die.
He brought his lips to my neck.
"I'm sorry," he breathed in my ear. "I can't do this." He pulled away.
Next thing I knew he was running through a trap door in the floor, me tightly in his arms. We were flying past brown dirt, as the earth covered us in a small tunnel. I hadn't predicted this. The way wasn't lighted, and soon the light from the entrance faded and there was nothing but darkness, the silence vibrating off the earth. I tried to look into the future, but there was nothing, it was all dark.
I felt Daniels shoulder being jerked back as I fell to the ground with a thunderous thud.
"What?" I gasped, but all I heard was growling and roots in the earth cracking around us.
Suddenly there was light coming in through a perfectly round hole above us. Daniel jumped up through the hole as I heard a loud keening noise, another growl and the sound of something cracking, like wood. Large branches came down into the hole with a loud crash, leaves fluttering around.
I backed away as quick as I could, considering I was still on my butt. I could still hear the fighting above me and got to my feet, backing away even more, not able to bring myself to see who was winning. Turning to face the darkness, I placed my hands in front of me to feel my way through the tunnel. My view was obliterated by the darkness that was consuming me. I picked up my pace as I began walking faster, trying to not trip over the roots and rocks that were protruding from the dirt. My breathing became harsh and ragged with each step I took.
As if I were flying I felt my feet leave the ground and the air stir around my face much faster.
"Daniel?" I questioned, bringing my hands to his face to feel his features.
"Yes, it's me," his tone was upset.
Our pace quickened even more as the frigid earth flew past us. The icy air made me shudder and I tried to curl into his grip, realizing he was just as cold as the earth we were under. He could feel my shaking as the chill took me over.
Then, grey pearly morning burst in my eyes. He had broken our way free of the tunnel, and the warmer weather brought heat back to my cold body. In his haste, he didn't lose stride when ripping through the earth. Now there were trees filing past us so quickly there was nothing but a streaky blur obvious.
The future was no longer clear, nothing but cloudy wisps of smoke would enter my mind when I tried to probe my way through the near future. Then, I saw it. A bloody foot print, smears of blood on some sort of stone, a pile of bodies. I was weeping under the stress of this vision, not understanding what it all meant. Neither Daniel nor I were present, only a small dark haired girl and a bronze haired boy. This insight disappeared as soon as it entered my thoughts.
I tried to push this vision from my mind. It wasn't something I could think about now, as my heart was already full of the sickness that accompanied my fear. I looked up to see Daniel's face which was contorted in anger and indecision.
He ran in silence, the wind whipping at his hair, sending it flying up in the air.
"I have to do it, don't I?" He looked down at my expression.
The future came rushing to me - James and Victoria pulling Daniel apart, my body lying limp in the back ground. I could still see the slight raising of my chest. So – I was still alive in this vision.
"You spoiled her!" James yelled in frustration at Daniel.
"I saved her," Daniel's voice wasn't scared or worried, he was triumphant.
The vision swirled around until I could see it no more. I looked back up to Daniel.
"Well?" he insisted.
"Yes, but…"
He cut me off, "That's all I needed to know."
We didn't go much farther before he slowed to a walking pace. We entered a small clearing where he sat me on my feet. His face continued to show the indecision that I saw earlier. He caught me staring at him and tired to change his expressions to show a smile in my direction. He didn't fool me; I knew there was a war being raged in his mind.
I watched him pace back and forth for several minutes, every once in a while he would stop, turn to me, and then continue his pacing. Each step he took turned his expression into deep lines of despair. Slowly, he was wearing a path in the ground. I waited patiently, my eyes going back and forth, watching each step he took.
Finally, he stopped, turned and moved closer to me. I stepped back once, an automatic response. I saw pain deep in his eyes as he saw my obvious step.
"It will hurt," he informed me.
"I can take it," I countered.
"I might kill you," he continued.
"Better than the life I have now," I stated simply.
He turned away to continue his pacing. I could almost see the wheels turning in his brain.
"Do it," I commanded.
He froze.
"Just do it now, save me from this…existence," I pleaded.
His head slightly lowered before turning towards me.
"I…" he stuttered.
I waited for him to continue. He stepped closer to me. This time I didn't move away, I actually stepped forward. He embraced me, bringing his lips to mine. I could tell in his eagerness that he loved me, that transforming me brought pain to him. My heart fluttered wildly as my hands greedily found his face, bringing him closer to me. If he were to kill me, this would be my last and only true kiss. His lips left mine, but they continued to move down my jaw and to my neck. He kissed the hollow below my ear, sending shivers of pleasure down my spine.
"I want to save you, even if this brings death to me," he whispered softly in my ear.
I became melted butter in his hands, I sank down, but he caught me in his grasp, bending my body with his as his lips found my neck. He kissed lightly before I felt my skin tearing under his teeth. A small cry escaped my lips as I felt the blood rushing up my neck and out of my body. He moaned as he drank me. I didn't fight him. I was feeble in his strong arms. He grasped me harder as I heard some of my ribs break.
I felt a searing pain ripple through my body. Flames. They were licking up and down my body, slowing entering each vein. The pain of the broken ribs had become second to the burning. I could hear my strangled scream of pain before I lost consciousness, my mind going black.
