CHAPTER 7: DISCOVERY

Not trusting my voice I nodded slowly, never breaking eye contact. She leaned a little bit closer and kissed me full on the lips. I swear I could hear music playing as fireworks burst in front of my eyes. The lush softness of her lips, the scent of her hair had my world quivering beneath my feet. After what felt like an eternity but was still way too short she broke off the kiss. I felt her teeth scratch my lip. She noticed and licked the drop off blood off of my lips, looking as content as I felt.

“Does this mean you’re a… lesbian?” I asked, dreading the answer yet unable to stop myself.

“Of course it does silly, aren’t you?” she replied with worried look.

“Yes, yes of course I am. What else would I be?” I rushed to say, feeling like a complete idiot. She still saw me as a girl, as the real me. A load seemed to be lifted from my shoulders, and the world seemed a bit brighter.

We spend the rest of the evening talking, most of it cuddled up against each other. The more we found out about each other’s likes and dislikes, the stronger we felt for each other. We kept on talking till deep into the night, until I finally almost literally toppled over with sleep, cuddling her on the gigantic bed in the master bedroom.

When I woke, the sun was already high in the sky. I lay there with my eyes clothes, relishing the dream I had. If only such a girl could exist for real. Slowly I opened my eyes and noticed that I was not in my own room. I sat up straight and found out I was still dressed. In the blouse and skirt from my dream. It hadn’t been a dream! She was real! And I was hopelessly in love.

I reluctantly got out of bed, and more danced then walked through the mansion. I skimmed through my school work, unable to keep my thoughts focused. I’d kept wearing the skirt and blouse of the night before, simply cause they smelled like her, and they made me feel closer to her. Okay, so maybe I was a little obsessed with her, but I’d never had a fancy for anyone before, neither a boy nor a girl. This was all new to me.

I couldn’t wait to tell Cathy the good news. That I’d no longer had to hide in this mansion. That I’d met the girl who actually owns it, and most importantly, that I was in love. But the time she normally arrived came and went and Cathy never appeared. Maybe she was held up by dad. If my existence here was to remain a secret to him, then there would be days she wouldn’t be able to show up.

Rationalizing it like this I calmed down and looked forward to the evening when I would meet Joanne again. Kind of odd, I never found her sleeping. Being that allergic to the sunlight, she must have some place without windows to sleep. It would be safer than having someone accidentally open a curtain on you, and waking up with blisters or what have you.

As I was eating I decided that tomorrow I’d make her dinner. Or breakfast I guess, if she was only just awake. My sister taught me how to cook. Dad always said it was only for girls to cook, but since he usually only came home when it was done, he never made a fuzz about me cooking because he never found out about it.

Shortly after dusk Joanne appeared again and our evening was much like the last one. When I told her about the schoolwork I was working on she was actually enthusiastic about it. She asked me to fetch my school books, and together we went through my self-appointed homework.. It was still as much a challenge as it was doing it alone, but it was a whole lot more fun this way. Once again I fell asleep in her arms and woke up late in the morning. Actually, it would be more accurate to say it was early in the afternoon.

Again my sister didn’t show up, I was getting a little worried, but I knew what dad could be like. I also knew that Cathy was right and that he’d never hit a girl. I cringed again at the thought that he would hit me, but then he was too blind to see the truth. I walked to the kitchen to see what I could prepare for my newfound love, only to find out that there was no food at all there. Not a single grain of wheat nor a drop of liquid besides water. The fridge, though functional, was completely empty and it looked like it hadn’t been used in ages.

I’d have to do some shopping tomorrow if I wanted to continue my plan of making her a nice breakfast dinner. The food Cathy had brought me was functional, but not something romantic to prepare for my love. I had enough to last me 5 more days, but I sure hoped Cathy would be back long before that.

I sat on the porch, watching the last rays of the sun light up the flowers of the unkempt garden. Darkness fell, and the air grew silent, but for the chirping of crickets. Joanne hadn’t showed up yet, but she could appear any moment now.

Suddenly the silence of the night was broken by something that sounded halfway like a shriek. It could have been a chicken that got caught by a fox or something. For a few seconds it was totally silent. I didn’t notice what had changed to make it so silent until the silence was once again broken by the crickets that started chirping again.

The air was clear and cold and the moon, which was almost full, stood out clearly against the sky. The lack of the lights from the village gave a much clearer view of the stars. I was quite entranced in stargazing when I felt her cold lips in my neck steal a soft kiss. I smiled broadly as I turned around, wrapped my arms around her neck and kisses her deeply. She sat down next to me, leaning softly against me.

Even though I was getting pretty chilled, I didn’t want to get up. The night sky was so pretty and romantic, and the company just perfect. I looked at her, wondering what she saw in me.

“You should be more careful when you’re painting, it can be hell to wash out.” I told her.

She looked at me confused for a moment. I pointed at the red stain on her collar and she stammered, “Oh that’s not paint, it’s...” she fell silent.

It’s blood, I realized. Suddenly things started to add up. Her cold skin, no food, the blood she licked from my lips, not being awake during the day.
“Are you,” I started at the same time as she said “I’m a”. We both laughed at that and an uncomfortable silence followed.

Again we spoke up at the same time, again we both stopped. I mentioned to her to continue first. “I’ve a confession to make, and I’ll understand if you don’t love me after I tell you. You see, I’m a vampire.”

“I came to that same conclusion just now. No, that’s not quite right. I think I’ve known all along on some level.” I told her before kissing her softly. “Call me odd, but I don’t care what you are. I love you.”

CHAPTER 8: THE OFFER

“I just don’t have it in me to kill people. I know I’m the hunter now, I know my instincts tell me that humans are food, but I simply cannot get myself to kill a human being. So I survive on chickens, and other creatures that live here in the woods. It doesn’t taste nearly as good as human blood does, but at least I can live with myself afterwards.”

Joanne had been explaining the rules of being a vampire, and how she survived out here. Crosses did nothing, nor did true faith. Garlic, tasted good but smelled bad, so besides being annoying wasn’t anything that kept vampires at bay. Neither running water nor being invited inside mattered anything, but a stake through the heart was really deadly.

Not that it mattered what material it was. Iron and stone were just as effective as silver or wood. Once a stake was in the heart, the vampire couldn’t regenerate anymore, and normal aging would catch up. For a young vampire there would still be a corpse, but the really old vampires truly did turn to dust.

Another thing that the legends were right about was sun light. The older the vampire became, the faster it killed the vampire. A very young vampire would get severe blisters first, the burns rapidly expanding over the body, which would get deeper and deeper until the vampire was burned to dust. An ancient vampire on the other hand would erupt in flame and before his body hit the ground he’d be nothing but ashes.

When I asked her how she knew this she grew silent. After about a minute she began to speak in a very soft voice, “A week or two after I was turned, vampire hunters came and killed my family. I wasn’t used yet to hiding from the daylight and had forgotten the time. I was playing in the attic at the time. I tried to sleep up there, out of the reach of where the sun would shine through the windows, but I couldn’t seem to fall asleep.”

“I heard noise from downstairs, and I couldn’t figure out who it could be.
Everyone should be asleep in their coffins by now, even me if I’d had any sense before. I looked out of the window, making sure that the sunlight never made direct contact with my skin, and saw a bunch of people carry out the coffins of my brethren. I saw them breaking open the coffins and…” She faltered and I wrapped an arm around her to give my support.

“I can still hear their screams in my dreams sometimes. And still I don’t know why the hunters came for them. Like me, they fed on animals, they were harmless… Why did they have to kill them all?”

I held her pressed against me as she cried softly, red tears streaked her porcelain white face. We just sat there, holding each other, no need for words. After a little while she slowly began the rest of her explanation.

“We can’t turn into a wolf or bat, that is actually the domain of another supernatural species, the shifters.” I looked up as she mentioned this.
“My sister is a shifter.” I said softly.

“And you are not? That usually runs true for all girls in the family. Must have had some unlucky genes I guess.”

“You have no idea,” I answered, not yet willing to give up my secret just yet. I’d have to tell her eventually, but I was still figuring out how to do it. I’d find the right time and place to tell her. And with luck she’d even still love me after I told her.

The next few nights were mostly bliss. I’d switched almost completely to her night rhythm and even watched her dine on a chicken once, in morbid fascination. We were together almost every moment of the night, and on the fourth day I even slept in her coffin with her. We were both pretty small still, and the coffin was adult sized. I joked with Joanne about getting a double coffin to be a bit more comfy, which got a chuckle out of her.

The only thing spoiling my mood was that it had been 5 days now since Cathy had last been by. I was really starting to get worried about here. As a result food was running out as well, and I’d have to go into town tomorrow to buy some new food. The food was the least of my worries though, and I spoke with extendedly with Joanne about it.

“What if dad did anything to Cathy? What if he’s hurt her and she can’t come? What if…” my voice faltered.

“I’ll go look for her tomorrow love, during the night. I can remain pretty much unseen, I’m silent as the night, and a lot stronger then I look. I won’t have to be afraid of your father.” She looked at me, obviously pondering something.

“Would you…,” she paused for a moment. “Would you like to join me? To become a vampire as well so we could be together forever? To never have to fear your father again?”

My heart skipped a beat. She wanted to be together forever, to have me on her side for all of eternity. Never be alone again, my soul-mate at my side until the end of times. My heart soared, but then came crashing down. What was I thinking, she didn’t know my secret yet. Would she still want me when she knew? And what would be worse, I’d be stuck with this boy body until the end of time.

My stomach turned at that thought and my face got green. Joanne saw my reaction and completely misinterpreted it.

“Is that what you think of me? Am I that gross to you? I thought you loved me!” she looked at me in despair.

I tried to speak up, I tried to tell her that I did love her, that I did indeed want to spend eternity with her. I even wanted to tell her my big secret right then, but the moment I tried to open my mouth my lunch was trying to find its way out.

I closed it again desperately fighting my nausea down, but she got up and started walking away. I reached out for her, trying to grab her and stop her, but I missed. I got up and started to chase her when my lunch really did make its way out and I was too busy emptying my stomach to do anything else.

“This was the last time you’ve had to put up with me! You won’t be seeing me again!” was the last thing I heard between two mouthfuls of yuck.

-thanks go to darkice for some help in readability, this is unfortunatly unedited though, through my own fault.