Chapter 6: Companion

The Spanish Influenza sent hundreds, thousands of people to the hospitals. Many died. At the hospital I was working in Chicago, I came across an unfortunate family, the Masens. During my night shift, I tended all three, the father, mother, and son. The father died one day, not on my watch. I was sure the son, Edward, was next. He was so weak. His mother, Elizabeth, still retained her strength. I thought she would make it. I had hoped for this dark-red haired, green-eyed woman.

But I came in one day to find that she was hemorrhaging. Her lungs were filling with blood. I could smell it each time she took a ragged breath. Her fever was raging out of control. She was dying. I tended her as best as I could. There was not much I could do for her. I could hear her heart fluttering in her chest and a bubbling in her lungs. But as she lay, dying, she glared up at me with clear, coherent eyes.

"Save him!" she ordered me. Her voice was hoarse.

"I'll do everything in my power," I promised her. I took her hand. It was like touching an open flame. Her fever was literally cooking her, from the inside out. I doubted she could tell that my own hand was much too cold.

"You must," she persisted. "You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward."

Elizabeth's words frightened me and shocked me. Did she know? How could she know? And then, had she told anyone? I felt certain that she knew the truth, but as I was about to question her, she succumbed to the fever and slipped into unconsciousness. An hour later, she died. Elizabeth Masen never regained consciousness.

I did not have time to mourn Elizabeth. No doctor ever has time to mourn a patient. But I had made this one a promise. The boy, Edward, lay in the next bed over, seventeen, with only a few hours left. I had promised his mother on her deathbed that I would do everything I could to save him. I was going to keep my promise. Edward did not have anyone left. Elizabeth had told me so. Nobody would miss him.

So with the boy unconscious, I laid both of them on gurneys and covered them with clothes for the morgue. Nobody questioned me. These covered gurneys were so common in the hospital. As I rolled first Elizabeth, then Edward, down the halls toward the morgue, I wondered how to change Edward. He was dying, so I could not wait too long. I had to act soon.

I left Elizabeth's body in the morgue with the proper paperwork. Edward I picked up and, cradling the fading boy in my arms, carried him out the back door, over the rooftops of Chicago, and away from the hospital. I did not think I could change him there. I needed a private place. In the darkness, I took him back to the secluded house I had bought when I moved. It was on the outskirts of Chicago, removed from human contact. It was far away and took a while to drive to and from the hospital. But that was the price I paid for being cautious. I could drop the human charade at home.

I laid Edward on the couch in the living room (I did not sleep so I did not have a bed). The boy had not woken up, even during transportation. Blood was beginning to flow from his ears. I could not wait too long. It was now or never.

I decided to recreate the wounds I had suffered. Leaning in, I bit into his arms and chest and neck. Again and again and again. Bloodlust filled me each time. It was torturous to pull myself away from the red blood that tasted so sweet, only to have to bite again and cause more to flow. I was like a shark. Once I tasted the blood, it was nearly impossible to pull away.

Somehow I did. After the last bite, I threw myself back, biting down hard on my own hand. It hurt, but there was no blood. The boy had woken up by then as the venom, my venom, rushed through his veins, fixing every flaw. Within minutes, I no longer smelled the flu about him. He writhed in pain, shouts escaping his lips. I watched over him day and night, alternating between regret and anticipation. Regret in putting the boy though this kind of pain, and anticipation for when his transformation would be complete.

He writhed for two days and nights before finally settling. I could hear his heart as it beat harder, stronger, faster, against the retreating venom. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Faster and faster until there was no noise at all. Edward's heart stopped.

The boy's eyes flashed open, not the bright green they had been before, like his mother's, but the bright red I remembered from my first few months. He had been handsome as a human boy, but he was stunning now. He would have a harder time with feminine attention then I had every time I moved to a new hospital. Edward leapt up, looking around disoriented. Briefly, I thought back to my first night as a vampire.

"That's what you are?" Edward said. His voice was melodic, flowing. But I did not understand what he was saying. What did he think I was?

"I'm right here," he said, seemingly annoyed. He scowled at me, answering my unasked question. My unspoken question. Edward was gifted! He was reading my thoughts!

Edward looked puzzled for a moment, and then his expression relaxed. "I guess I am reading your thoughts. And the human walking by on the street is worried about walking alone, at this time of night." His voice trailed off as he inhaled.

I realized what was happening. Edward was a newborn. He was incredibly strong, and uncontrollably thirsty. Already, the boy was stalking the human, crouched over like a cougar, stalking deer.

Edward you must not! I thought deliberately. Do not be a monster!

Edward paused and looked back at me. "I am thirsty!" He growled, deep in his throat.

"Let me show you the right way!" I pleaded, desperately trying to draw his attention away from the unsuspecting pedestrian outside. "There is an alternative. You hear their thoughts. Could you really kill that human? Could you end their life?"

Edward glanced back and forth between me and the door. I could tell he understood my intentions. He could read my mind, and know I had only his best interests at heart, and thought for the innocent's life.

Edward dashed out the door but I was hot on his trail. The front door didn't even close before I was out on the street right behind the newborn vampire. Edward was incredibly fast even for a newborn, but I had been anticipating this. All the vampires I'd spoken to about newborns had told me the bloodlust always won out. I had been an anomaly, able to control myself so early. I hypothesized that it was because I had been so repulsed by what I was.

Edward seemed to have no such limitations though. The human whose thoughts he'd heard was just down the street. I had to stop him before he got too close. I didn't want to have to move just yet.

I took a flying leapt and tackled Edward to the ground. We rolled off the sidewalk, into the trees that lined the road. The human had no idea of the fight that was taking place not 200 feet from them. Edward fought to break away, but I held on tight. I had to. That unfortunate human's life was at stake, not to mention our secrecy.

Edward snarled, trying to gain purchase on my arm, head, leg, anything he could contact. I was careful to keep them out of his reach. I didn't need him ripping an extremity off. He was strong, but I was more experienced. I ripped a patch off the bottom of my shirt and clamped it to his face, smothering him. With any other person, this would have meant death, but vampires don't need air. This just made Edward uncomfortable and caused him to loose the human's scent.

I stayed clamped to Edward's back with my hand over his face until the human was far enough away I couldn't smell them. Only then, did I let Edward stand. He growled at me, but didn't attack.