Oh, don’t you listen to that. You don’t want to get ‘turned’ by anybody.
I tried mentally to slap myself in the face, to shake myself out of the reverie for this handsome stranger. My efforts were aided by Sasha, who grabbed me by my shoulders.
“Why don’t you just finish her right now?” she said, looking straight at me.
Title adjustment; Ms. Impatient Black Widow.
Her eyes were as cold as liquid nitrogen. I didn’t know what I had ever done to her, but it was clear she didn’t like me. I would have had to be as blind as a bat to miss the hatred in her eyes.
I’m sure there’s something else going on here, but I’m not sure exactly what.
Only now did it strike me how tall this woman really was. Much taller than me, and maybe even taller than Sue was … had been. Sasha’s short, black hair was swinging forward on both sides of her face. That hair was way too neat to be real. It had to be a wig, fake. Just like her plastic top and her plastic coat and those fake-leather leggings and boots. They were all black and fake and unreal. In contrast to the threat she represented.
Maybe it was the fact that she interrupted my thoughts about Mr. Perfect or the way she suggested Caleb should kill me this very instant, but something about her made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I really don’t like this woman.
“No, I won’t,” Caleb said. “You keep her here, I’ll be back for her.” With this he walked off, leaving me alone with Ms. Impatient Black Widow.
I wasn’t so sure this was a good idea. I wrapped my arms closer around my body to fend off another chill.
To my surprise, Sasha let go of me. She let her gaze follow Caleb, who disappeared around the corner. I glanced in the opposite direction for a second, at the empty street that ran along the school, but decided not to make a run for it. I knew Sasha would outrun me easily with those long legs of hers, and I refused to give her the satisfaction of giving me a beating.
I bet she’d outrun me even in those heels.
She didn’t say anything to me until Caleb was gone from sight. “Great, leftovers for me again tonight.” She almost spat the words out.
“You could always drink a bit of my blood,” I offered, trying to keep the situation light, hoping that her drinking my blood would make Caleb so angry he would punish her … severely … kill her even … maybe.
Jeez, did I just wish somebody dead?
Hey, she just wanted to have me killed.
Sasha looked at me as if I’d just asked her to turn herself into a goldfish.
“He said he would be back for you,” she said. “Your turn will come.”
I was surprised by her resolute answer, and my mind started fast-tracking.
Why are you so sure he will do that? Did you mean turn-turn or kill-turn? If you really don’t like ‘leftovers,’ why won’t you eat me? I wonder what spell he has on you. Would it be the same spell that he has on me? Uh oh, I hope you don’t see me as competition. This is not making me feel any better.
We continued waiting in silence until we heard the screams rising from around the corner. We listened to it for a few minutes. Then I couldn’t take it any longer.
“So,” I said, starting a new conversation with Ms. Impatient Black Widow to keep myself from freaking out by the screams. “How does it feel to kill everyone you meet?” I honestly didn’t think she was going to dignify me with a reply.
“We don’t kill everyone,” she said after a while, still staring in the direction Caleb had gone.
That took me by surprise.
“Oh, I thought you did. Aren’t you the ‘undead,’ killing everyone in your wake?” For a second I completely forgot they were infected with the V-virus which made them photo-phobic blood suckers.
She gave another derisive snort. “Of course not, we are ‘turned,’ changed into a better version. We aren’t dead. Dead people can’t walk around. That only happens in movies.” She looked down at me and made me feel like the dumbest kid in class.
I couldn’t help myself and pushed my luck to get as much info out of her as possible.
“Ayuh, that’s true. You let some people live. I’ve seen it myself. So, what makes you decide who gets to live and who dies, then?”
I made myself hold her stare. I felt my palms go sweaty at this direct question and sincerely hoped she couldn’t hear my heart pounding away in my chest.
She hesitated before she answered. It seemed she was contemplating whether to tell me or not. I gathered she decided I was going to find out, anyway. On the other hand, perhaps she was passing the time, but she began to explain it.
“Most of us just feed on anyone, killing them in the process, leaving no one behind alive. They turn the strong ones, to make the pack bigger and stronger. Caleb doesn’t agree with this killing strategy. He doesn’t touch children if they’re really young, or their mothers. Like the others, he does pick out the strong ones to live as well. There’s no other choice.”
“That’s so nice of him, not killing the children,” I sort of said to myself.
“They’re a burden to the pack with the amount they sleep and feed. And we need to keep the blood supply up for the future,” Sasha said as a matter of fact.
She had a knack for making me feel very stupid and crushing my positive feelings for Caleb.
Another title addition; Ms. Impatient Black Widow, Party Pooper.
“What do you mean by ‘there’s no other choice’ picking out strong ones?” I asked.
My mind took me back to the tent site where they had devoured everyone but hadn’t touched the man that had stood up for Sue. I couldn’t help it; I had to know.
Sasha clicked her tongue and sighed, but she did answer.
“We tried to turn everybody in the beginning. That was a disaster.”
“Why?”
“For a start, we became very hungry. We need to drink a lot at first. The worst thing was that most ‘newborns’ couldn’t handle being turned. They killed themselves or tried to kill us. They just couldn’t accept being infected. You can see it in their eyes at the gatherings. That’s how we choose who gets to live and who doesn’t. We look into their eyes.”
Well, that shut me up as I had no idea how I could fake the eye thing. I had no clue what she was talking about.
Enough food for thought for the time being.
Chapter 17
Caleb finally returned from doing whatever he thought was more urgent than giving me ‘my turn.’ As he approached, our eyes met for a split second, and again there was this pang of something. My heart skipped a beat, the corners of my mouth turned up into a smile, and I got this sensation of happiness and hope.
What is this stuff? Is this love? Does he feel it too?
If he does, he certainly doesn’t show it.
I couldn’t tell if Caleb was feeling the same. The suspense was killing me, so to speak.
“You go and feed now,” he commanded Sasha. As he did, he turned his face and wiped a blood smear from the corner of his mouth.
Well, that has the same effect as having a cold shower.
I nearly forgot that Mr. Perfect here was about to turn or kill me. I pulled my knees up and tried to make myself smaller. You never knew, maybe he didn’t see me all of a sudden.
Yeah, right.
The eastern sky was turning purple when he finally faced me.
“It’s your time now,” he said in this husky voice. “You know it is, don’t you?”
I nodded. I couldn’t say anything as my voice seemed to have skipped town for the moment. He held out his hand and helped me up.
Why did I take his hand?
Caleb pulled me a few steps away. His grip was firm but not painful. Still, I surprised myself when a sound escaped from my throat. He looked at me in alarm.
Did I just see concern in his eyes? Is he worried he hurt me? Does he really care?
Do I+ really care?
“I’m okay,” I said, not sure if I’d said
this to him or to myself.
“Just turn her, Caleb,” Sasha said, interrupting, impatient, still there.
I really, really don’t like her.
Caleb looked around at her and snapped, “I thought you were hungry?” He dragged me further away from her.
Good. It seems he doesn’t like her either.
I wished I could gloat in her direction, but Caleb pushed me into a corner of the school building. As he put both his hands on the walls next to my head, he blocked my entire view. I couldn’t turn away from him. I should have felt petrified, but somehow, I wasn’t. He moved his face close to mine, our foreheads almost touching. His closeness made me feel warm and fuzzy. The heat radiating off him surprised me. Then I remembered again that the infected weren’t ‘undead.’ They were alive, just like I was, with beating hearts and blood flowing. And I, too, would continue to be alive after I was turned.
How bad can it be?
“I am going to turn you now,” he said. His voice resonated more emotion than I’d ever heard in any of my short list of past boyfriends.
“I know,” I whispered and looked up into his eyes. His pupils were almost as big as his irises, which were almost as dark as his pupils.
“I have no choice,” he said, and there was this hint of an apology.
No choice, no choice? Yes, you do. You just don’t want to make the right one. It isn’t as if somebody is holding a gun to your head, geez.
There was no connection between what was going on in my head and what came out of my mouth.
“Will it hurt?” I asked, surprising myself.
He moved his mouth closer to my neck, nuzzled my skin. He then pulled down the zipper of my jacket and pulled the collar away to expose more flesh.
“Only a little, at first,” he said.
I was feeling anxious now, excited by his warm closeness and fearful of what was about to happen. Unable to resist, I moved my head away from him, to give him better access to my jugular vein. He moved my hair back with his hand, his fingertips lightly stroking my neck. My eyes closed as a shiver of ecstasy went raced down my body. His touch gave me goosebumps. His lips touched my neck, and my heart began pounding like a maniac. When his lips parted, I could feel his fangs on my skin. I could barely suppress a groan; this was so intense. Deep underneath his fangs, my carotid artery beat like a drum. Boom boom, boom boom. As he widened his jaws, he gently increased the pressure with his wet fangs. My whole body stiffened from the pain when they pierced my skin.
“Caleb,” Sasha said from not too far away.
Go away, woman!
Caleb hesitated but decided to ignore Sasha. As he deepened his fangs a little more, Sasha shouted again.
“Caleb, you really need to come. Now!” Her voice was laden with urgency.
Abruptly he withdrew his fangs.
“What?” he yelled annoyed as he turned away from me.
We both looked at Sasha, and she stood there with a blank look on her face as if frozen solid. Caleb looked at the sky in the east and back at Sasha. Sunlight was already on her legs and creeping closer to Caleb by the second. He looked back at me and again toward Sasha.
“Shit,” he said and ran to grab her. His pull released her from the sun’s rays and her pre-epileptic aura, and they ran away in the opposite direction of the sunlight.
Chapter 18
I was abandoned, standing in the corner of the school building. My nostrils flared with my heavy breathing. I needed to get oxygen to my brain as it wasn’t computing. It was trying to figure out what had just happened but couldn’t get a grip. I was about to get turned by the love of my life, my soul mate. Yet I was still here, alone, and still human.
My hand went to my neck. No blood pumped out. There was just the sticky wetness of the blood oozing from the wounds where Caleb’s fangs had pierced my skin. He hadn’t gone all the way, hadn’t pierced my jugular. I pulled my hand away from the stickiness. Still trying to get my mind around the situation, I sank down in the corner. After wiping my bloody hand on my jeans, I zipped up my jacket, collar and all, covering my neck. My arms then hugged my knees. I was alive and, to my amazement, was still a normal human.
My memory went back to the moment when Caleb had looked back at me for the last time. What had been in his eyes? Was it love, pity, anger? I couldn’t say what his thoughts had been when he had left me. It made me insecure and upset. Tears threatened to roll down my cheeks and breathing was difficult. I was such an emotional mess.
Why hadn’t he said something like, ‘I’ll be back’ or even, ‘It was nice knowing you, babe? Have a nice life …’? Anything. What was I to do now? Would I ever see him again? Should I go look for him?
Surely not, that would definitely get me killed. I can’t walk up to the first vampire I can find going, ‘Say, do you perhaps know an infected called Caleb?’ Ridiculous.
I sat in the corner of the school building until the sun touched my face. The warmth of it made me smile. Again, I realized my luck of not being turned, and that I should be glad. I wiped my face, got up, and dusted off my pants. My hands and knees were in a terrible state, but I didn’t care. As I started walking, my legs felt stiff from the grazes and bruises.
Still in a daze but happy to be alive, I passed the schoolyard. There weren’t any infected there anymore, only a pile of human bodies, the remainder of the onslaught. I turned my face away, not wanting to be confronted with dead people I had known. On automatic pilot, I turned into the shadows at the back of the main building. Unconsciously, I was on my way home.
“Kate, is that you?” came an unexpected voice. It seemed to come from out of the dark.
I halted and inhaled sharply, the air cold in my lungs. No, I must have been mistaken.
That voice sounded familiar, though.
I lifted my head and saw the silhouette of my sister Julie walking toward me. Was I dreaming? A group of young women followed behind her. I hardly recognized my sister as she was wearing a long overcoat, covering most of her body. For the last three years, I had only seen her wearing the shortest of shorts, and skirts for that matter, much to our parents’ annoyance. But the woman’s voice and overall posture were definitely Julie’s.
“Kate, it is you.” She was close enough for me to see her smile now.
After a moment of initial relaxation, a new wave of panic crept over me. Was she turned or not? I was confused about what to do. Flee or fight? If I had been an animal, I would have probably started preening myself. Instead, I resisted the urge to pull up my socks.
As my sister and the women approached, I saw blood smears on their faces and on the necks of some of them. They were infected.
I threw a glance back toward the sunlight that lit the ground past the building, but, due to my contemplations, my sister and her company were now too close for me to turn around and run. I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket and hitched up my shoulders in a sad attempt to protect my neck.
“Hi Jules,” I greeted my sister. “They turned you too?”
“Ayuh,” she replied. “Didn’t stand a chance, but doesn’t it feel great?”
The other girls all exclaimed positive remarks in reply.
My eyes squinted as I took the situation in. I knew I had to go with the flow if I wanted to survive. “Never felt better,” I said, copying the feeling of exultation in the group.
Suddenly Julie tried to pull my jacket collar down. My survival instinct kicked in, and I pulled away from her, pushing her arm away from me.
“Ooh, touchy, sister?” She laughed.
“Ayuh, you could say that again.”
“Don’t you worry. Once your fangs have dropped, the pain will stop.”
Phew, now that’s a convenient inconvenience.
“Right,” I said.
She didn’t persist trying to look at my neck, but her frown told me she wasn’t totally convinced yet.
“It just happened, you know,” I said, attempting to lessen her doubt.
“No
shit? Then where’s your pack?”
I had no idea what she was on about, so I just lifted my shoulders.
“Never mind. I’ve picked up a stray here and there along the way. Anyway,” and she exposed two round scars in her own neck. “You will be proud of your marks later, you know.”
“Just give me some time. I’m sure the feeling will kick in shortly.”
“That’s okay, sis. I understand. I love you, you know. I’m so glad I found you.” She stepped forward and gave me a big hug.
Those words combined with the hug suddenly overwhelmed me with emotion. I so wanted to hug her back right there and then, but I was afraid I would expose myself for the fraud that I was. Somewhere in the back of my mind, the memory of Caleb popped up, but I had no time to dwell on it. Survival was stronger than any other emotion at the moment.
Julie turned around and introduced me to the other girls. “Everybody, this is my sister Kate. Please make her feel welcome in the pack.”
The other girls smiled, said ‘hi’, and ‘nice to meet you.’ Some gave me pats on the arm, uttering more welcoming words.
I smiled back at them. “Thanks, guys.”
Girls, Kate. They’re all girls.
It seemed the girls all followed Julie as she took the lead. “Okay, ladies. Let’s go and find a place to sleep the day away.”
That just sounds weird.
There was no way I could get away from the group at this very moment, so I decided that helping them would be my best chance of survival, for the time being. As long as Julie didn’t find out I wasn’t turned, I reasoned I'd be safe.
We stood next to the back of the main school building, and my science classroom was on the second floor. I told Julie the room had blackout curtains, to aid light experiments, and that the school very likely wouldn’t be used in the foreseeable future, knowing that a gathering and feeding had just taken place in the schoolyard. Julie agreed it was a good location to make camp for the day.
There was the problem of how to get inside the building. The sun was rapidly rising, and we couldn’t go around the corner to get to the entrance without getting a bit of a suntan. I had always wanted a suntan but pushing for one right now didn’t seem like a good idea health-wise, and the danger didn’t lie in the sun’s rays. My sister had said she loved me, but I still didn’t know how much she really loved me now she was infected. As for the other girls, I didn’t know or trust them at all, and crossed my fingers they wouldn’t smell my ‘uninfected flesh.’
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