When Colour Became Grey

by A Lorenzen

  Kim drove us home and helped us up into our apartment. I was surprised to see how quickly we had recovered. We were just exhausted now.

  Ben and I made our way across the entrance and fell into our bed and fell asleep within minutes.

  I raised myself up into a sitting position and realized I was still wearing my clothes from the previous night. I tried to remember the sequence of events. A moment came back to me that I couldn’t explain. For a few minutes, the poison of the vampire bite had lessened. In the back of my mind I recalled the taste of blood in my mouth. I also remembered the vampire had stabbed me with the same blade I had stabbed him in between his ribs. His blood had entered my liver…

  Had it been the vampire blood countering the poison?

  No, it couldn’t be. Otherwise every ghost would be using it.

  Groggy and tired, I walked to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. The movement helped to stretch my muscles back to life. Ben was sitting on the couch, looking out over the balcony. I joined him and we sat quietly next to each other for a while.

  ‘How did you know where I was?’ Ben finally asked me.

  I took a sip from the coffee that tasted like hot water. ‘Your phone shares your location with mine. I knew you would go out alone again.’

  Ben’s eyes looked dark and sunken from lack of sleep and his voice was strained. His hands were folded, resting in his lap. He was leaning forward and supported his upper body with his elbows on his legs.

  ‘You shouldn’t have come.’

  ‘If I hadn’t, that vampire would have finished you off.’

  ‘And it almost took you out.’ Ben’s voice was no more than a whisper.

  ‘I thought he was dead. If he hadn’t bitten me, it would have been fine.’

  I involuntarily shuddered. I remembered all too clearly the boiling pain of the poison in my veins slowly suffocating me.

  ‘You cannot come with me again. If something had happened to you-’ He stopped and closed his eyes.

  ‘If something had happened to you, it would have ripped me apart. If you had told me from the beginning, we could have had a plan. And if you’re thinking about not taking me with you next time, I’m going to throw myself at danger.’

  Ben rolled his eyes at me.

  ‘You don’t think I’m serious? Fine. I’m going.’ I slowly got up.

  ‘No, please!’ Ben reached for me and held my hands. ‘I just don’t want to lose you.’

  ‘You won’t.’ I kissed him repeatedly.

  Ben and I spent the day together. We were both drained from the vampire hunt and we gladly used it as an excuse to spend the day in bed together.

  I texted with Kim. She had gotten home unscathed. Dominic had gone on a hunt with Blake two days earlier and they had not yet returned. She wanted to meet up with me and said she had some important news. Reluctantly, I left my love cocoon behind and dressed half-decent to meet with Kim at Santa’s.

  Once inside, I could feel the joy in the air. We were only a few months away from Christmas and no one had wasted any time in decorating the pub appropriately. There were large garlands and swags across the ceiling, twinkly lights of all colours blinking uncontrollably and capable of triggering an epileptic reaction and miniature elves on the tables. Most ghosts were wearing Christmas or party hats. Some even had festive sweaters on. Everyone was merry and celebrating, even if Christmas was still a good two months away.

  I spotted Kim behind the counter mixing herself a drink. When she saw me come in, she waved me over and reached for a second glass. She poured me the same drink and we cheered. The music blasted and people danced.

  ‘So, what’s this big news that was so urgent?’ I asked and clinked my glass with hers.

  Kim smiled cheekily and looked down at her hands. ‘I’m seeing someone.’

  ‘Ooohh, who is it? Do I know him?’

  She took a large gulp. ‘No, I’m seeing… a girl.’ Apprehension took over her face.

  It took a few seconds for me to hear the words and understand what she was telling me. All this time I had not had a clue. There had never been a shred of doubt in my mind about her sexuality. I had seen her constantly flirt with men!

  ‘Wooohh,’ was the first sound I made. My brain needed a few more seconds to process the news. ‘But… you’ve never even insinuated you were gay. Did you only find out now?’ I asked.

  ‘I have known for a long time but when I became a ghost, I realized I was surrounded by 99% men and I… I just wanted to protect myself. I didn’t know how people would react, so I pretended I was straight,’ she said whilst stirring her drink with a straw.

  ‘Do you think people would treat you differently if you were honest?’

  Kim’s eyes grew big. ‘Of course! There are almost no women here and you’re surrounded by a herd of horny, strong men. I was afraid of being bullied, rejected, raped- sorry!’ She had spoken the word before she could stop herself.

  It took me a moment to regroup myself. ‘It’s ok.’ I swung my arms around her and hugged her tightly, tears rolling down my cheeks. I could feel her wet tears on my arm. I gently detached myself from her and looked her in the eyes. ‘I just wished you would have felt comfortable enough to tell me before.’

  Kim sighed. ‘I wanted to but you’re my closest friend and I was terrified!’ A new tear travelled from her eye down her cheek.

  I shook my head. ‘You have nothing to worry about, I’m so happy for you. Whether you’re straight or gay, I don’t care as long as you are with someone who makes you happy. And you and me, that’s not going to change. We are always going to be friends. So,’ I smiled at her. ‘Who is the lucky girl?’

  She brushed her index fingers under her eyes trying to wipe the tears away without destroying her make-up in the process. ‘Her name is June. Here, I have a picture.’ Kim reached into her pocket and scrolled through her phone. She showed me a picture of a woman with straight ginger hair, freckles on her face and dark blue, hypnotizing eyes.

  I pulled the phone closer. ‘She is beautiful!’

  Kim smiled sheepishly and stuck her phone back into her pocket. ‘I met her a few weeks ago when I was out on a mission in another district. We’ve tried to meet a few times since but because she’s far it’s not always easy.’

  ‘Maybe one of you can move closer?’ I added, hopefully.

  ‘I mentioned it to Dom, but he was not receptive. It’s still early so I’ll see how it goes.’

  My face hurt from grinning, and I couldn’t stop. ‘I’m very happy for you. You deserve it!’ I kissed her on the cheek.

  Kim told me everything about June, how they had met, how she had asked her out, every little detail. She was so excited to tell me about it. I barely got a word in.

  A week later I received a message from Blake. He asked me to kill some molochs. Our numbers were too low. I agreed to do my part and went out the same day. He wanted to come with me, but I didn’t want to be around him and have him criticise me at every turn.

  Ben had gone out to meet with some friends that day, which was perfect. I could get my duties done while he was away and not miss out on spending time with him.

  It was one of the usual spots close to the shooting range; a parking garage under a large office-type building. I drove my white Volvo into the middle of the structure and could see the molochs all around me. Before even getting out of the car their squeaky noises were audible.

  Two of them dared to jump on the bonnet of the car, eyeing me with their blood-red eyes. I kept the headlights on so I could see in the otherwise sombre concrete parking garage.

  The two on the bonnet climbed on the wiper blades and up onto the roof of the car. Their claws scratching and clicking on the metal.

  I checked there were no molochs immediately by the driver’s side and opened the door just wide enough to fit the handgun through. The shots echoed loudly and their creaks and yelps broke out as soon as I started shooting.

  I jumped out of the car and swung the
gun around at any creature coming my way. By the time I ran out of bullets, the rest of them had disappeared behind remote and dark corners. I reloaded and looked around. Their noises had been reduced to distant cries. I was not in the mood to try and follow them into the dark shafts, not when I was alone without any back-up. All I had to do was kill some of them. Looking around, I counted twelve down. Not enough, but a start.

  I was about to get into my car when I saw two of them on the ground in the beams of the headlights. There was blood seeping out of one of them. It had fed not long ago. The red liquid fled the shell of its body and poured out onto the dirty concrete. I walked over and crouched by the one oozing blood.

  My thoughts drifted to my accidental ingestion of vampire blood. Would moloch blood have the same effect? Though only briefly, it had slowed down the poison from suffocating me. It had probably saved my life in the end. Caleb had had those few additional minutes to get to me.

  I reached into the pool of blood and dipped two fingers into it. Then I brought the red glistening fingers to my nose. It smelled just like you would expect it to.

  Lifting my two fingers closer to my face, I bared my tongue and touched the blood. Nothing happened. I sucked the blood from both of my fingers. The blood was not exactly tasty but not bad either.

  I found myself dipping my fingers again into the blood and sucking it off my fingers. Would I be able to drink the moloch blood instead of needing Caleb’s?

  Something made me continue. Was it curiosity? Maybe it was the unusual faint taste...

  I looked around. As expected, the parking structure was completely empty. No one could see what I was doing. I continued dipping my fingers into the blood as if it was a frowned-upon sweet treat.

  A sense of ease spread gradually through my body. It made me feel good, closer to my human life. I breathed in deeply, letting the moloch blood mix in my stomach. Eagerly I dipped my fingers inside the dead moloch’s open chest and licked my fingers. Warmth invaded my body. It felt like ecstasy; it was close to the feeling I got from Caleb. All troubles disappeared. My head started spinning. The world was circling around me.

  Before it got too bad, I forced myself to crawl to the open driver’s door and lifted myself up onto the seat. Closing the door behind me, I pressed the ‘lock’ sign on the key and heard the reassuring sound of the doors locking.

  Now I could relax. All my senses were heightened. Finally, I felt like I was no longer trapped in this grey world full of darkness and terrors. I was free.

  A stiff neck pulled me out of my sleep. I forced myself to move and realized my stomach was being crushed. Opening my eyes, I saw I was lying in a car, across the driver’s and passenger’s seats. The gear stick was digging into the soft tissue of my stomach. After stretching my limbs, I sat up on the driver’s seat. I was still in the underground parking. The dead molochs were sprawled on the floor. Several pairs of glistening eyes lurked in the corners and blinked at me.

  I rolled the window down and shot three bullets. There were yelps and the eyes disappeared. It was impossible to tell the time in the darkness. When I looked at my phone it told me it was just past 7am in the morning.

  I clapped down the mirror above the driver’s seat and inspected my face. My skin was whiter than before. Probably only a little but enough for me to notice. No blood was on my face, but I remembered very clearly having gotten high from it.

  With an uneasy sense in my stomach I turned on the engine and quickly drove up the ramp and out into the open air. The sky was dark and a thick cover of clouds overhead pressed down upon the tall buildings of the city.

  As soon as I had rolled out of the parking garage, my phone beeped several times. It kept pinging until I looked at it again. I had missed calls and a lot of text messages from more or less everyone I knew. I had been out all night…

  ‘Hello?’ Ben croaked in the phone.

  ‘It’s me. What’s going on?’

  ‘What’s going on?! Where have you been all night?! I was so worried! I thought you had been killed!’

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m coming home now. I… went out to kill some molochs and passed out in the car. I’m fine.’

  ‘Fine?! You went alone without telling anyone where you were! I even called Blake!’

  ‘You what? Damn, ok, I’ll call him now. I should be home in half an hour.’ I hung up before he could say anymore.

  I had forgotten I had not informed anyone of what I was doing. Before dealing with Blake, I called Caleb. He was very angry with me but relieved nothing serious had happened. Wherever he was he couldn’t sense that I was not telling him the whole truth. But there was no way I would admit to passing out from drinking moloch blood.

  ‘When will I see you next?’ I asked him. It was partly to estimate how long I had to detox before seeing him again.

  ‘I’m in the human world and I don’t know when I’ll be back.’

  ‘Human world? Why?’ Was he looking for a new recruit? Was he replacing me?

  ‘There is some business I need to attend to, but do not trouble yourself, Meerah. I will be back as soon as I can.’ His voice lulled me.

  I closed my eyes and remained in the moment until he hung up. At least he wouldn’t uncover what I had done while he was off in the human world.

  I had tried to reach Blake, but he had not answered his phone. When I arrived home, I saw him leaning against his truck parked right next to the front door.

  ‘I see that you’ve started taking on some dangerous habits.’ He eyed me with his icy eyes.

  ‘I was in an underground parking and I passed out. Nothing happened.’ I opened the glass door and he followed me into the small elevator.

  ‘How come you passed out? Did you get bitten? Were there vampires?’ Blake’s eyes scanned me up and down.

  ‘No, I just… I don’t know I was exhausted and I didn’t feel well. I had shot some molochs and I crawled into the car and locked the door. I was perfectly safe.’

  ‘Do you realize that a vampire can rip the door open of a car without even breaking a sweat? Vampires know that we’re killing molochs and they hunt in those places for us!’

  The elevator doors opened onto the sixth floor and I walked out towards the entrance.

  ‘I didn’t know. I will be more careful next time. And why are you telling me off? You’re the one who told me to go hunting!’ I opened the door to my apartment and Blake followed me into the kitchen.

  ‘I’m also the one who told you I wanted to go with you! I don’t like leaving my recruits to go hunting alone even when they’re approved! And look at what happened to you!’

  Ben appeared from the terrace and looked surprised at Blake. He hugged me tightly.

  ‘You scared me,’ Ben mumbled into my ear and kissed my neck. ‘Tell me where you’re going next time.’

  When I let go of Ben, I saw Blake standing with his arms crossed over his chest looking like a bull ready to charge.

  ‘You made your point, Blake. I’ll be more careful next time!’ I rolled my eyes.

  He snorted in derision. ‘You think you can get rid of me so easily? Ben was so worried he called me of all people! And now you’re telling me you were too tired and what? Fell asleep in your car? You couldn’t drive home and sleep in your bed?! What the hell did you do down there?!’ Blake’s voice had gotten louder.

  ‘Alright,’ Ben interjected, matching his voice. He was standing behind me and stroking my arms. ‘I’m sorry I called you. Maybe I overreacted. But she’s not a helpless child. Let’s just move past this.’

  ‘Move past this? I don’t think so! I want to know what you did down there! How come you passed out for hours? What did you do with those molochs?!’

  I could feel myself getting nervous. I couldn’t tell anyone what I had done! Even I was disgusted by my actions!

  ‘Blake, just calm down. I don’t really remember what happened. I killed some molochs and I felt dizzy. I wanted to wait for it to pass but I must have fallen asleep or something.
But it’s nothing to get upset about now. I felt something was happening and I locked myself in where I thought I was safe. I didn’t know that vampires hunted molochs too. Next time I’ll keep it in mind.’

  ‘And she can handle herself. She’s faced vampires before,’ Ben added.

  But the moment Ben had said it, I knew he had said too much.

  ‘What?’ Blake’s eyes now scrutinizing Ben.

  ‘It was nothing, there was a slight mishap with a vampire, but Caleb got there on time and everything was fine.’

  Ben moved away from behind me towards the fridge and took a beer out.

  Blake stared at Ben without moving. It took him several seconds before he reacted and I knew he was about to boil over.

  ‘She got bitten by a vampire?’ Blake asked in a low menacing tone.

  Ben opened the beer and took a sip. ‘Yeah, happens to all of us.’

  I stepped backwards closer to Ben and reached underneath the counter for the handgun he kept on the first shelf.

  Blake closed his eyes and breathed in. When he opened his eyes again, he was furious. The muscles in his arms were pumped and the veins in his neck showed. ‘SHE WAS BITTEN BY A VAMPIRE UNDER YOUR SUPERVISION?!’

  ‘Calm down! I tried to keep her away from it but she followed me! Luckily she did-’

  Ben didn’t get the chance to finish. Blake raised his gun and I pulled out the one from underneath the counter. I moved in front of Ben and now we had the guns pointed at each other.

  ‘GET OUT OF THE WAY!’ he barked at me, but I didn’t blink. ‘This – this is exactly why I didn’t want you around him! He will get you KILLED! I’m taking him to the council, NOW!’

  ‘Put the gun down!’ I raised my voice though it didn’t match Blake’s outcry.

  ‘Blake, calm down-’ Ben’s interjected.

  ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!!!’ Blake roared with force. ‘I leave you out of my sight for one month and he gets you BITTEN BY A VAMPIRE!