Being Human (13 page)

“If you run, I will catch you and kill you.”

She didn’t move as I released her. Her voice shook as she rushed to explain. “I had an older sister; not a twin, but we were close. Then she met this guy and everything changed. She no longer had time for me and I felt abandoned, like I had lost her forever. We haven’t talked in years.”

“And you thought my brother was going to do that to me?”

She shrugged, refusing to meet my gaze. “I wanted to spare you the hurt. I wasn’t lying, I swear.”

How did I know if her words were the truth? She could be lying in an attempt to save her neck. But if she was telling the truth and I killed her, I'd be destroying the only other human I talked to. I debated for a long moment, watching Fallen stand as still as possible.

“Fine,” I finally said. “I believe you and won’t kill you.”

Fallen fell to the ground, a wavering smile on her face and her voice trembling. “I'm very glad to hear that.”

I didn’t reply, my mind drifting to my hunger. I'd be lying if I said the thought of drinking her blood hadn't excited me. The anticipation rolled through me; every part of me ready to hunt and the need was strong enough that I could argue I had to. “I want blood now.”

Fallen looked up, eyes going wide. “Oh.”

“I said I wasn't going to kill you.”

“Oh.” She quickly looked away, cheeks turning pink. “I thought maybe you'd want a sip.”

“Why would I want only a sip?”

“I dunno,” she replied and fell silent.

I shook my head. Fallen never ceased to confuse me. “I’m going now.”

She jumped to her feet, grabbed my arm and looked into my eyes, no signs of her earlier fear left in their depths. “Can we get together tomorrow night?”

“I haven't thought that far ahead.”

“I'll wait for you here,” Fallen called as I disappeared into the night.

I headed down the highway at a quick pace, heading to the nearest city, blending with the shadows as much as possible. This city was different from New York City, their Vampire Forces was more tenacious and the humans didn’t hesitate to raise the alarm when I was seen. It made the hunt more thrilling as I hid in the shadows, stalked the human and delivered the blow that knocked them out.

The streets were like the highway, quiet and deserted. A breeze blew, sending debris dancing around my feet. I felt alone, the only creature in the darkness as I searched for any signs of bad humans.

It came out of nowhere, the blow throwing me to the ground. My chin smacked the pavement, teeth slamming together with a loud snap. Pain throbbed through me as I scrambled to my feet to face my attacker.

The vampire glared at me, flashing long fangs. His eyes narrowed, a glint of light making the black depths look evil. Twitching his fingers, he moved from side to side. A slow hiss escaped his lips, his message obvious. These were his hunting grounds.

A small part of my mind told me to back away carefully; this wasn't a fight I should get into. But another part spoke louder. It urged me to not back down; this vampire wasn't older than me.
Fight!

I dropped into a defensive crouch. My lips pulled back to show my fangs, hands clenched into fists as I met the vampire's challenge. For a long moment we stared each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. My mind raced, trying to predict where he'd strike and how to counter him.

With a snarl, the vampire lunged. I threw my hands out, twisting around and knocking him down. I jumped at his exposed back, teeth clamped onto his shoulder, trying to rip flesh away. He snarled in pain, pushing back and crushing me against the wall. My grip on him loosened and he grabbed my neck, throwing me into a telephone pole. Each blow he struck sent pain racing through me. My instincts cried at me and survival kicked into over-drive.

I sprinted into motion, trying to escape, but the vampire grabbed me and threw me into another building. My vision spun around, dizziness slamming into me like a gale force wind. I slumped against the wall, watching as he came at me, fangs bared. The two needle sharp teeth raked across my face, creating a fiery path of pain. More pain laced down my neck, the vampire biting again. I felt flesh tear away, too weak to stop it.

Vaguely, through layers of pain, I heard a noise. A quick chirp. The vampire wailing on me disappeared in an instant. Red and blue lights flashed across my pain-filled vision. What an unlikely savior.

But not if I remained here.

I forced myself to move, stumbling down the street and away from the flashing lights. Voices yelled from behind, ordering me to freeze. I kept running, ignoring the pain my movements caused. I didn't stop until I was safe in my cellar. The cool floor eased the pain throbbing through me as I stretched out on it. Quickly, I drifted away, feeling closer to death than my turning three years ago.

****

It was almost surprising I woke. While resting, my mind had been blank and my body teetering on actual death. The pain had lessened to something more tolerable, a steady throb that I found relatively easy to ignore. The injuries on my cheek stung as I traced my finger along one. I had never been injured before. How much blood it would take to heal? Since I was no longer at risk of dying and my need only murmured softly, I decided I could spare a few moments to see my brother first.

The window to his room was open, causing yellow light to spill out. The sight was a relief. I hadn't wanted to find a closed and curtained window with a note for me.

Checking for humans, I stepped out of the shadows and limped across the sidewalk into the shadow of the dorm. Another quick look around confirmed still no humans in sight. My climb took a little longer, my energy and strength weakened by my injuries. Another thing blood would fix. Finally, I slid through the window, wincing in pain.

“What the hell?” My brother jumped to his feet and his face turned a few shades whiter. “What happened?”

“I got into a fight with another vampire. I was on his hunting grounds and he didn't like that.”

“But you're ripped to shreds and.” He paused and moved closer. “There's no blood,” he whispered. “You don't have any blood in you.”

“Why do you think I drink it? I need it to survive.”

His hand hovered over my injuries. “I just figured you'd have something in you. Plasma or I dunno. Does it hurt?”

“Yes, I think I almost permanently died during the day.”

His Adam's apple bobbed. “I thought I felt something today. A weird, crawling feeling and it freaked me out. I didn't think of you, I figured you were resting safely.”

“I was safe,” I assured him. “I was simply closer to death than I liked.”

“Aren't you always close to death?” His lips quirked up.

“I can be closer.”

He shuddered and slumped into his chair, tapping his fingers. “Are you gonna be okay?”

“I need to hunt and heal.”

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “So you got your ass handed to you, almost died during the day and first thing you do, instead of fixing yourself, is come find me? Aren't I a temptation? I can see your fangs.”

I shrugged, ignoring the pain. “I wanted to talk to you first. I'll survive and you will too.”

“What if you were hurt bad enough? Would I still be safe?”

I shook my head. “It wouldn’t be a choice, it’d be survival.”

He gulped down a breath and weakly laughed. “Don’t ever put yourself in that position and if you do, do not come find me.”

“I'll stay far away,” I promised with a laugh.

“Don't laugh, it's freaky and double freaky because you look like you got into a fight with a razor and lost. The way the skin moves, bleh.” He shuddered again. “Don't touch it!” he added when I ran a finger along the lacerations.

I dropped my hand. “I should go.”

“Wait a sec, I have a crazy and stupid idea and I'm curious enough to try.” He darted into his tiny bathroom and back. “Hold still.” He instructed and pressed a blade against his thumb.

Our eyes met when a tiny bead of blood appeared. We both knew what he just did was dangerous and insane, but he was safe. My need and hunger remained calm within me, the tiny bead of blood not enough to tempt me – not if the blood was my brother’s. I stopped my breath, keeping the scent out of my nose as an extra precaution.

He pressed his thumb against my cheek, spreading the blood along a wound. Goosebumps covered his arms, his skin turning white, and sweat broke out on his forehead.

“No offense, but I feel like I'm going to hurl,” he muttered between tight lips.

“Why are you doing this? What are you trying to figure out?” A whiff of blood filled my nose and tingled on my tongue.

“Because I've lost my mind,” he said with a forced laugh. “I wanted to see if this would heal you.”

“I think I have to drink it.”

He pulled his hand away to inspect. “Guess so. And now that I've filled the room with the smell of my blood while my injured vampire brother sits two feet away, I'm going to get a bandage.”

I grabbed his hand, my eyes riveted on the tiny slice across his thumb. There was something else I was curious about. And even though I knew this was a crazier idea than what he just did, I drew his hand closer and opened my mouth.

He gasped as I scraped my fangs along the side of his thumb. Blood burst onto my tongue from the shallow, twin cuts. I ran my tongue across his skin and injuries along my face tingled.

“Tommy,” he whispered. “Should I be afraid?”

I released his hand as an answer. He cradled it against his chest, his heart pounding and the smell of his fear thickened the air. I dashed to the bathroom, finding a box of bandages. He resisted when I pulled his hand free to wrap a bandage around his thumb.

“I didn't mean to scare you.”

“I wasn't scared, just shocked,” he replied, pulling his hand free.

I looked at him, frowning. “Don't lie. I don't like it, especially if it's you. I can handle any truth you tell me.”

“Even if you don't like it?” he asked and I nodded. “I guess I was afraid. Terrified is more like it. You had this intense look on your face and when you actually bit... I nearly pissed my pants.”

“I didn't really bite. Made shallow scrapes; I didn't want you bleeding too much.”

He rolled his eyes and I saw relief in the action. “Whatever. Your injuries look a little better.”

“I need more to fully heal.”

“And you're going elsewhere to get it?” he asked uncertainly. I scowled at him and he threw his hands up. “Just making sure. One day you might change your mind and have me for dinner. I’m too young to be dinner.”

“You know I’d never do that to you,” I replied.

We rose together, heading towards the window. He stopped me before I climbed through. “I’m glad you stopped, it was a real learning experience.”

I rolled my eyes, repeating what he said when he thought something was crazy. “You’re insane, the humans should lock you up.”

“Get out of here.” He shoved me. “And don't get into any more fights,” he called after me.

****

I saw the questions coming, had figured out something about Fallen. She liked to ask questions. A lot.

“How often do you kill? Is it every night? Because the belief is that vampires kill every night because they are always hungry.”

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. I also figured out why sometimes my brother sounded exasperated when I asked questions. It really was annoying. “I only hunt when I need to.”

She stopped her skipping. “Need, you've used that word before. What does it mean exactly?”

“It means what it implies. When I need to feed, I hunt. When you get hungry you eat, correct? You
need
to eat. I
need
to hunt.” I replied and glanced around. “Where are you taking me?”

We were on the far side of the campus, in an area I never traveled through because of the amount of lights. They were everywhere, at each door, along the sidewalks and spaced out among the parking lot. There were few shadows for me to hide in and I felt exposed.

Fallen glanced around as if she just noticed our surroundings. “I dunno, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“That's how a vampire could get you.”

Fallen shrugged. “If one does, I can only pray it is painless or I wake back up.”

“Why would you want to wake back up? You'd be a vampire then; that's stupid.”

“
You
woke back up.”

“I never said I wanted to.”

“Maybe it was a secret wish,” Fallen replied. “You can’t deny it. You said you forgot being human so maybe deep down you wanted to be a vampire.”

“I had denial,” I retorted. My eyes snapped away from her, ears picking up the sound of fast approaching feet. “Someone's coming.” I disappeared up the side of a building before she could respond.

Two humans hurried along the path of light. Their pace quickened when they spotted Fallen. They were her two friends who I had met on the football field. I often wondered why they never came with Fallen to see me. I wanted to talk to them; I liked the idea of having more humans to interact with.