The Awakening (6 page)

I read in a mixture of horror and interest. It appeared that Gavin and Alice has been telling me the truth and vampires were now integrated into human society and posed no threat but the thought of the vampires from the 16
^th
and early 17
^th
century haunted me. I pictured the screaming children and women and could imagine the fear that gripped rural villages and towns. After a couple of hours Gavin appeared at the door and smiled “Ok?” he asked, I looked up and smiled and put the book I had been reading down.

“You lot have had a colourful past.” I tried to joke, but felt myself begin to cry. Gavin hugged me and stroked my hair.

“I know it’s not easy, my ancestors were not always nice people.” I looked up at him, tried to imagine him with fangs, and felt my eyes begin to well up again.

“Gavin, I need to see you as you really are,” I stared into his face. “I need to see you in your vampire state.” he sadly shook his head and frowned.

“I had a feeling this was coming, are you sure? It might upset you.” Gavin replied.

“I’m sure. I need to know what you look like, if we are going to make this work I just need to know.” Gavin held my arms, stared at me for a moment, and then looked down at the floor. I felt a strange energy and my head throbbed and shortly I felt dizzy. When I focused on Gavin, I could see his face had altered. His eyes were much darker, his skin slightly lighter, but he still looked like himself, and it wasn’t as scary as I’d imagined. He smiled, and I saw two white fangs appear. I reached up and touched his cheek and my heart and head both throbbed.

“Lauren sit down you look really pale, are you ok?” “I feel a bit weird my head is banging.”

“It’s probably still your Wiccan side warning you off,” Gavin explained. I looked at him and he had returned to normal.

“How long can you stay in your vampire state?” I asked suddenly, feeling full of new questions.

“As long as I want or need, now a days it’s not very often although obviously centuries ago my ancestors would of appeared like that all of the time.”

“Can you still kill someone?” I asked in a faint voice.

“Um….probably yes, but I have never fed from a human and never will. I wasn’t raised like that and neither were my parents or grandparents,” he replied. “I suppose it’s like being raised a vegetarian your entire life you would never want a beef burger. I would never want to kill a person it’s not in my nature or any of my families. We are just as human as you really, just with some added strength and the ability to live a bit longer that’s all.” he continued. “You do believe me don’t you.” I felt momentarily confused by all the information I had absorbed over the last couple of days; but I knew in my heart I did believe Gavin and I felt in no danger and did not fear Gavin in any way. I looked up at him, kissed him gently on the lips, and smiled.

“Yes I do believe you, there’s so much more I need to know and understand, but I definitely believe you.” I kissed him once more, feeling happy about our relationship for the first time in days. As we left the room, I again glanced at the paintings on the wall, wondered how many of the men hanging there had caused human deaths, and felt myself go pale. Again, the smaller painting caught my eye and I stopped “Who is this?” I said pointing at the small portrait.

“I’m not sure our family is pretty big and I don’t know all the great uncles and grandfathers. He looks similar to my dad’s cousin Daniel though so he’s probably one of his relatives,” Gavin replied, walking towards the picture and rubbing a small plaque at the bottom that I hadn’t noticed. “No name but has the date 1892.” he said. “I could ask my mum if you are interested.” Gavin continued and took my hand.

“No it’s ok, I just wondered. 1892 he would be a non-killing vampire then.” I said with a smile.

“Yes he’s one of my nicer relatives.” Gavin smiled and closed the door behind us.

By the time I had finished reading and Gavin I had talked a little, it was getting late. I felt exhausted and went to my room to sleep. For the first time in months and despite all the horrendous things I had read about I slept soundly and happily. I think the realisation I wasn’t being haunted or going mad made my mind and body relax and I trusted Gavin again and felt safe. Although I had many unanswered questions and problems I felt sure Gavin would make sure nothing horrible happened to me and would help me sort it all out. I woke later and wandered down to the kitchen suddenly starving. Alice was there chatting on the phone to someone and waved me into the room. I sat at the table and listened to her chatting away, it struck me she seemed very similar to my own mother, and she looked younger and was extremely well groomed but had a kind face and warm nature. She finished her call and turned to me “Right I’m not having no for an answer you must be hungry, what would you like?” I smiled at her for the first time and said a sandwich would be fine. She busied herself making it and quickly put a plate in front of me. “Gavin tells me you found some of the information interesting. I’m sure some of it must have been distressing, but I want to 100% state that we have never killed someone and neither did my own parents or grandparents. We would never dare to harm someone and everyone is totally safe around us,” she smiled and continued. “Lauren we really are a different race now and have been for a long time and I’m sure once everything has calmed down you and Gavin can lead a totally normal life and be very happy.” For the first time I felt relaxed with Alice and she asked me a little about my own family and work. Day turned to night, Marcus returned from work, the family busied themselves making dinner and chatting, and it felt like another normal family home. Every now and then I would forgot what had happened and join in with the discussions but then reality would hit and I’d feel confused and trapped again.

The following morning I woke and couldn’t believe that I’d only been at Gavin’s family home for three days I felt completely out of my normal routine and felt like it had been weeks since I saw my family and friends. I logged onto the laptop that had been left in my room and loaded Facebook and updated my status again so people wouldn’t get suspicious about my sudden disappearance and had a browse through people’s status updates to keep up to date with the goings on in my normal life. I then called the doctor to get an appointment and sick note for work. They gave me an appointment for that afternoon so I called my manager to let her know. I felt terrible for lying, but what was the alternative I couldn’t explain I’ve just found out my boyfriend is a vampire and I’m a witch. I needed some time out to think about it all, they would think that either I was completely insane or telling a ridiculous lie anyway. The playing at being ill excuse was the best I could do. I had a shower and got dressed and realised I’d need to pop back to my flat for some things. The thought of going back seemed strange as I’d left in such odd circumstances and had no real recollection of my last day there. I came back to the laptop and saw my chat box was open; it was Sophie checking how I was.

Sophie: Hey you still poorly then?

Me: Yeah I think it must be migraines feel rubbish.

Sophie: One of my aunts has migraines and can be laid low for a few days; she has to avoid caffeine and cheese! You going to go to the doctors? Has the ghost stuff stopped? Maybe it’s that?

Me: Yeah the ghost stuff has stopped, no idea what that was all about, but no need to worry now and yeah got a doctor’s appointment for this afternoon.

Sophie: Hope they can sort you out and so glad the ghost stuff has stopped. I was worried about you for a while. Hope Gavin is looking after you, do you need anything?

Me: Yeah he’s keeping an eye on me; I’ll be ok thanks Sophie. I’ll let you know how I get on at the docs.

Sophie: Ok yeah definitely let me know. Once you are feeling better, we’ll meet up for lunch or go to the cinema. Right better go supposed to be working

Me: Ok speak soon. I’ll look forward to lunch. Don’t work too hard. Bye. X

As I logged off, I felt awful lying to my best friend, but I suppose is was partly true. I had been feeling rubbish but it had nothing to do with migraines and everything to do with being a new witch. I checked my phone and sent my sister Katie a text as I’d remembered we were supposed to be going to the cinema that evening. She replied straight away saying she hoped I got better soon and she’d pop round to see me at the weekend. I replied straight back saying to let me know when she was coming as I might be having a bad day and be asleep. In truth I needed to know when she was coming as I wasn’t currently living there and wasn’t sure if I’d cope seeing her face to face as I had so many lies to keep in. I suddenly thought if I have been passed the witch gene could she, we are sisters and therefore have the same ancestral line and genetics, but she’d met Gavin on a couple of occasions and never had an adverse effect but it worried me and I decided I definitely needed to ask Annalise when she came back. I wondered how I would ever be able to face my friends and family again. I felt sure one look at me and they would guess I’d turned into some sort of supernatural freak. I felt the now familiar feeling of panic and anger course through my body and the laptop screen flickered on and off. I tried to think calming thoughts and eventually the feeling passed and laptop screen returned to normal but I felt concerned that I would never again be in control of my emotions. I wondered when Annalise was going to return I was feeling impatient and wanted to know more about my witch skills and ancestors especially the fizzing electricity thing, which would definitely cause a problem when I eventually was able to return to my normal life. For now though, I needed to sort out more mundane things though; like getting to my flat and doctor’s appointment.

I went downstairs to find Alice again in the kitchen, which seemed to be the hub of the home. She looked up from a newspaper she’d been reading and asked if I wanted something to eat; she rustled up a toasted teacake and some orange juice and looked at me closely. “How are you feeling today?” she gently enquired.

“Not too bad, I’ve made a doctor’s appointment and I need to pop to the flat for some more clothes.” I answered.

“I can take you. Gavin and Marcus are at work but I’m free to drive you around.” Alice stated. I felt a bit odd accepting a lift from her but they lived outside of the town and I had no idea of bus routes or timetables so accepted the offer. Alice gathered her handbag together and we got into her car. It felt strange being in such close proximity to her given that until three days ago we’d never met and she was a vampire all be it a non-blood sucking variety. We arrived at my flat and I unlocked the door and looked about feeling like I’d been away for weeks rather than days. “We did have a quick tidy before we left so it wouldn’t seem so strange when you returned,” Alice said as she gestured around the flat. “We got rid of the perishable things in your fridge as we weren’t sure when you would be back.”

“It feels like I’ve been gone for ages and like it's someone else’s home,” I said as I slowly looked around my lovely little flat.

“Shall I leave you alone for a little while, I could come back in an hour,” Alice said I nodded and she quietly left the room.

I heard the front door click and I sat on the sofa and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was alone in my own home for the first time and I felt I could relax and gather my thoughts. I went into my room and looked at my notice board crammed with photos of friends, postcards from holidays and the odd birthday card I’d kept from my mum and dad, I looked closely a particular photo taken at the BBQ when I’d first met Gavin and thought how much had changed. Would my life ever be the same again? How could I keep this huge secret from my closest family and friends for the rest of my life? As I was starting to feel depressed and isolated, I felt a funny warm light spread across my face. I snapped my head up and looked around the room, everything appeared the same but I could feel a presence “Don’t worry you’ll be fine,” a voice whispered near my ear. I spun around but couldn’t see anything “Lauren don’t be afraid your Wiccan family won’t let any harm come to you. Gavin is a good soul and is telling the truth, you can still have a normal life together. You need to open your mind and heart to your Wiccan spirit and everything will be fine.” the voice continued. I was just about to speak out when my phone began to ring and the warmth and feeling disappeared. I looked at the screen and it was Gavin calling, I answered and told him what had happened, I could tell he was smiling as he replied.

“See everything will be ok and I’m a keeper even your witchy family think so.”

“Looks like I’m stuck with you.” I joked back feeling surprised that I was still pleased to hear from Gavin and he could still make me smile.

“Lauren I’ll see you later, hope the doctor’s appointment goes ok and don’t worry about lying it will all work out ok in the end.” Gavin replied.

I got some clothes together and was just finishing when Alice arrived, she decided to take me for lunch, and then we went to the doctors. I got to the reception desk, gave them my information, and then waited to be called. The doctor called me in about five minutes later and I entered the room “So what’s the problem?” Dr Lineham asked,

“Well I’ve been having severe headaches and dizzy spells recently and I’ve been off work. I was wondering if they were migraines and if I could have a doctor’s note.” I hastily explained. The doctor took my blood pressure, checked my eyes, ears, and temperature, and looked at my medical history commenting on my recent hospital trip when I’d required stitches,

“Do the headaches happen at particular times? And has any major changes occurred recently?” I almost laughed as the truth was a lot of major changes had happened recently, but I wasn’t going to share that information with my doctor so simply said there had been some domestic issues recently within my family and hoped the vague but half-truth would suffice. The doctor decided it was most likely to be migraines and maybe due to stress or depression, he gave me a doctor’s note for three weeks as he said they didn’t want me collapsing at work and said I needed to have some blood tests. I thanked the doctor and went to see the nurse for the required blood tests. I felt bad wasting their time but knew it was necessary as telling everyone the truth was not an option. As I entered the doctors reception, Alice was waiting and speaking to one of the receptionists. I had an uneasy feeling as I approached and then realisation dawned on me that she was a vampire too, she looked up at me as I came to a standstill and Alice gently held my arm and lead me out of the surgery. “Will I have this odd feeling every time I met a vampire now?” I asked Alice as we got into the car.

“I don’t know Lauren; hopefully Annalise will be able to tell us. She called whilst you were in the doctor’s room and is going to come to the house tonight.”

“Oh my god, really.” I felt happy and anxious about her arrival. I would finally get some answers about my newfound witch skills but it would also mean I would have more information to process and get used too. “I hope she can help. Every time I pass a vampire, I’d rather not know. I’m finding it extremely odd and unsettling. I mean I’ve been in that doctors several times and spoken to the receptionist before without any idea.” I said. Then suddenly a thought crossed my mind “Should she even work there, what about the human blood. I‘ve just had a blood test so the blood will be in the surgery and it happens all the time.” I blurted out to Alice.

“It’s ok Lauren; we aren’t going to turn into monsters at the sight of blood. We no longer have urges for human blood remember. I know Gavin explained to you but I understand it is a lot to take in and you may not trust everything you have been told. We are perfectly able to deal with the sight and smell of blood I promise. Its ok remembers everyone is totally safe around us.” Alice explained, as we drove back to their house.

I called work once we had returned to Gavin’s parents’ house to let them know that I would be off work for three weeks and logged onto my Facebook account again to update my status and catch up on my real life before Annalise was due to arrive. I entered a status update - I’m still feeling poorly but been doctors and should be on the mend in a week or two - and began browsing through my friends updates when my chat box opened and it was Vicky.

Vicky: Hey, how are you? Still poorly?

Me: Yeah doctor thinks its migraines and has signed me off work for a few weeks.

Vicky: Oh right poor you, can they sort it out?

Me: Given me painkillers and told me to try and relax.

Vicky: Oh that’s a bit rubbish then, hope you are ok soon. Everything quiet on the ghost front?

Me: Yep all seems to have gone back to normal thankfully.

Vicky: That’s good. Take it you can’t come out this weekend then?