by Rachel Lenna
Tyson knows what he is doing. His aura is calm and relaxed. He holds his hands out and gestures for us not to move. Savannah stands there a moment before she looks me right in the eyes. “Okay Tyson,” She says to him, eyes locked to mine. “I’m ready.” I wonder what she’s thinking?
“Good.” Tyson says, nodding. “Dominic take it away.” He says falling into a sofa behind him. Sam sits too.
“Dominic?” She asks frowning. “I thought you were going to teach me?”
“We all will.” Tyson replies. She looks like she wants to protest but he holds her gaze. “Trust me Savannah.”
“Fine,” She sighs and gives me her undivided attention. Waving at me like I should start. With one word she has made me feel so bad. She is so angry at me! Please forgive me Savannah! I wander over to where the boys have both purposely plonked themselves down on the sofa.
“The most important thing to remember is you’re a lot stronger now. Eventually you will be a thousand times stronger then what you were as a human.” I lift a sofa with Tyson and Sam sitting on it with one hand. She stares at me, wide eyed, before picking up the other couch. She struggles slightly at first but does it easily enough a moment later.
“Oh my god.” She gasps, throwing it away from her like its possessed. The couch lands with a loud thud and savannah covers her ears at the loud banging and clanging. “This isn’t possible.”
“Very possible.” Tyson says getting up. “Your strength is the most important to master first. You can do a lot of damage.”
“Okay.” She says quietly, stepping backwards. A small twig snaps under her weight and she freaks out.
“What the hell?” She murmurs, her eyes going round with shock, looking under her feet. “That sounded like it was right next to my ear.” She puts her fingers in her ears and steps on it again. She gasps in shock.
“Your hearing is the same too.” Tyson inputs, and she nods, hearing him clearly enough, even with her fingers in her ears. “Again it will gradually increase.”
“Increase?!” She squawks. “It’s already so loud it almost hurt my head!”
“You learn to adjust.” Tyson says patiently.
“What else?” Savannah demands.
“You can see in the dark like its dusk – all the time.”
“What?” She gasps in disbelief.
“We are in the dark now honey.” Sam pipes in. He carefully flicks a torch light on, making sure he isn’t pointing it at her. A new vampire’s eye sight is highly sensitive too and bright light before they can become accustomed to it can send them crazy.
“Oh my god.” She sighs, sinking down into the couch between Sam and Tyson. “What’s happened to me?”
“You are a vampire now.” I say, gently reminding her.
“No I’m not.” She shakes her head, total disbelief apparent on her face. “That can’t be. This is a dream. Not real. Wait. That man that I saw the other day in class? He…” She trails off as more memories surface.
“His name is Zeke.” I say sharing a look with Tyson and Sam. They both put a gentle arm around her.
“I know what his name is!” She hisses at me.
“Sorry!”
“That Zeke,” She says with a pointed look at me and hatred in her voice. “He made me this didn’t he?” She waves her hands around and almost takes of Sam’s head in the process.
“You have super speed Savannah.” Sam says gently, jumping out of her way. “Flinging your arms around like that can take a humans head off.”
“I don’t care!” Savannah looks angry. I don’t blame her. “Answer my question.”
“Yes.” I answer. “Yes, Zeke was the one who did this to you.”
Dominic
“Zeke is going to die.” Savannah says it so deathly calm and full of conviction I almost feel sorry for Zeke.
“I totally agree with you.” I say and Tyson and Sam both nod. “But first you really do have to learn to control… yourself otherwise you may unwillingly hurt a human or get yourself killed before you can.”
“Aren’t vampires immortal?” She demands, standing again with hands on hips.
“Not for the first 24 hours. Your own blood needs to be expelled so you need to feed constantly. The first 24 hours are crucial. You also need to practice walking and talking and generally moving before you go out into the public world. You’re vulnerable at the moment so we need to be careful.”
“Vampires are immortal creatures, how on earth can I be vulnerable now?”
“A vampires first 24 hours are all about the hunt and learning to be one. Sometimes though, rarely, a vampire might take on more than he or she can chew and pay the consequences. By that I mean a human who has strong will, or great strength who can fight back enough to land a good couple of blows to your head. Because your main focus is all about the blood it’s our job to help you do that safely.”
“So you’re telling me that I have to wait a full twenty four hours before I will be indestructible? Before I can rip that guy apart and make him suffer?”
“Not completely indestructible, but indestructible enough.” Tyson steps forward. “We’re more immortal then indestructible.” He looks at me with an expression that says be careful. I couldn’t agree more.
“Immortal? Doesn’t that like mean live forever?”
“Yes but doesn’t mean we can’t be hurt.”
“So you’re immortal but can be killed?” She rolls her eyes.
“Yes, but it’s not easy.”
Savannah grabs her head and lets out a low groan. She pauses for a moment, takes a deep breath and then looks at us. “So let me get this straight.” She speaks calmly, almost too calmly. “I have become a vampire. An immortal creature who can be possibly killed – but immortal enough that it is hard to kill one… I feed on human blood, have super strength, super sight – hell super everything and because of this I have to learn how to walk, talk and move around humans again otherwise I can hurt them even though we all know vampires hunt them?”
“Pretty much.” Sam says, nodding. “And then…”
“No!” She says sharply, cutting him off. “No and then. I have just been turned into a monster, against my will, having not even known they existed before hand. I had to endure the worst pain of my entire life with strangers watching on and now I am starving!” She takes a breath and pins me with a look. “I am not going to be dictated to like I am some toddler who needs discipline!”
“Umm…”
“You.” She hisses walking towards me. “I thought I heard you say you were a vampire but I wanted to be wrong. Why did you lie to me?”
“Savannah I had just met you.” I try to reason. “What did you expect me to say? Hey my name’s Dominic I reckon your awesome oh and by the way I’m a four hundred and sixty six year old mythological vampire. Don’t worry ‘bout it though I’m not gonna kill you, just suck you dry of your blood? Because that would work.”
“Yeah well I didn’t expect this!” She waves her hands in front of herself.
“I’m sorry okay.” I plead with her. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I wanted to court you properly, while you were still innocent.”
“Court me?” She scoffs. “Who the hell says court me?”
“He’s four hundred and sixty six years old Savannah. Some habits die hard.” Sam sticks up for me and that’s why he's a best friend.
“Four hundred and sixty six?” She bawks. “That’s like…”
“Yeah a long time.” I agree. I take a small step forward. “Please understand if I could take back tonight I would. In a heartbeat – if I had one. I wanted to do it right and you will never know how sorry I am it ended up this way.”
Savannah looks at me intensely. Her bright red eyes are searching for something, an answer or clue that I am genuine I guess. She finds what she is searching for as she sighs in resignation. “Gentleman, I guess what’s done is done. You three didn’t actually bite me so I guess I cannot hold you responsible. That does not mean I have forgive
n this whole thing yet but I really am starved. So let’s do this, just show me how to do this vampire thing so I can go find me some…”
“Blood.” Sam finishes for her. He pats her sympathetically on the arm. “Don’t worry. It gets easier.”
“Just the thought…” She shudders.
“You say that now, but when you smell it…” I grin at her and she frowns at me. Tyson and Sam both shoot me a look.
“D don’t.” Sam cuts me off. I shrug and Savannah just stands there waiting. She is a stunning vampire. And when she matures she will be a force to be reckoned with too.
“Okay let’s not worry about that for now.” Tyson says moving the rubble pile she created near him away with a kick. “First let’s master the art of moving your body at human speed. You’re not quite super super-fast yet but your fast enough that humans will notice. You have to actively concentrate on keeping your movements slow.” He demonstrates and she copies. “Good that’s right. Try not to make them jerky though, and you need to blink.”
“Vampires don’t blink?” She asks frowning, while concentrating hard on making her arms move the way she wants them too.
“It’s not necessary but most do.” Tyson says walking over to the door, one of the few things still intact. “Now we need to concentrate on touch. Your sense of feeling has been heightened to a crazy level. You will be able to feel every lump and bump on everything. Every fibre, every stich, every vein even. This is difficult to get used to at first, but you will. You can also crush things with your hands now, yank this door right off