In Love With A Vampire

by M. J. Stevens

  What in the world was that noise? She was so startled that she almost knocked her head onto the wall, and she felt as though the ground beneath her was slightly trembling, as if a tremor had spread though the entire house.

  Her heart burning with curiosity and eager to get to the bottom of this, she turned off the shower knob and the flowing water immediately ceased. She could hear a loud pounding sound, like something being bulldozed, coming from downstairs.

  Jesse quickly grabbed a towel and dried herself up, ready to investigate. The loud, earth-shattering pounding had stopped, replaced by a sickening scream which ripped through the air.

  Something wrong was happening downstairs. Without any time to spare, Jesse quickly wrapped herself up in the towel and dashed downstairs at vampire speed. Once she reached the foot of the stairs, her jaw dropped when she spotted the all-too-familiar face which stirred the toxic combination of both anger and fear within her chest.

  Standing near the entrance with a furious look on his face, Catan flicked a glance at Jesse, staring at her without a single word as though he were in a trance. Jesse let out a panicked cry when she saw Maggie’s body lying on the floor, as she whimpered in pain. Her body was smudged with some blood stains, and Maggie’s face was etched with pain. Jesse guessed that Catan must have broken into the house and was engaged in a fight with Maggie, hurling her across the living room with his supernatural strength before Maggie had the chance to use her powers on him.

  “Maggie!” Jesse cried, and rushed over to her side. “Are you OK?”

  “I’m fine …” Maggie said weakly, even though her face indicated otherwise.

  Jesse swiveled her head to Catan, her face fixed in a rictus of rage. “What are you doing here? How did you find us?”

  Catan was silent for a brief moment before he responded, “I have no idea. I felt so strange, like I was drawn to this place for some strange reason. I couldn’t control my actions, my thoughts … it was as though I had been possessed. Your face kept popping into my mind, glued to my thoughts …” Catan trailed off, his face twisted in sheer agony, staring at Jesse with an expression that seemed to beg for help. His shoulders sagged, and all the evil traces of his face had vanished. For the first time in Jesse’s life, Catan looked somewhat pathetic to her, and he didn’t seem to be as evil as he’d always seemed whenever she encountered him. Instead, he looked defeated, as if he didn’t know what to do, or what was happening to him.

  “I have no idea what is happening to me,” Catan continued, still rooted to the spot, as though his feet had been magically glued to the floor, immobilizing him. “Moments on, I was about to feed on a victim miles and miles away from here. All of a sudden, this explicable, overwhelming sensation surged through my body, as though some foreign entity had taken over my body. I couldn’t control my actions and my thoughts. Out of nowhere, images of your face … yes, Jesse … your face … swirled into my mind like poison, and I couldn’t push them away no matter how hard I tried … it was as though I didn’t have any control of my mind … and before I knew it, I was speeding miles and miles down the long stretch of highway, propelled by some force which I had no control over. And it led all the way to this house, where you are … I really am losing my mind now … I don’t know what have you guys done to me … it feels as though I’m under some kind of spell. I want to exit this house right now, but my body refuses for some strange reason, and the more I resist, the more pain I feel coursing through my body. I have no control over my body anymore. Something strange is happening to me!”

  Jesse gaped at Catan, the words stuck in her throat. Even though she didn’t know what was exactly going on with Catan, she had a gut feeling that she knew what had actually triggered this madness in Catan. She chose to remain in denial, believing that Catan was here by freak fate, triggered by something else which she had no involvement. But deep in her heart, she knew that she was part of this … part of what was happening to Catan.

  “Jesse,” Maggie whimpered, slowly getting back up to her feet.

  Before Maggie could continue, Jesse quickly draped a shoulder around Maggie, and tried to ease Maggie’s movement with some support. Then, she asked in a concerned voice, “What happened to you, Maggie? Why are you hurt?”

  Jesse flicked a furious glance at Catan, vengeance and fury burning in her eyes. She knew that Catan was responsible for Maggie’s injuries, and she was so consumed with anger that she wanted to inflict threefold the injuries that Maggie had sustained.

  But before Jesse could give in to her anger and spring a vengeful attack on Catan, Maggie interrupted the storm of thoughts brewing inside Jesse’s mind by saying, “Earlier on, I was in the kitchen cooking you a meal. I heard a loud pounding on the door, as if someone was desperate to get into the house. So I went to answer the door, steeling for whatever that might come through the door. I had my hands raised, in case I needed to use my powers to deflect any incoming threat … but as soon as the door was open, Catan pounded on me with such speed that I didn’t even had the time to aim my hands and use my powers on him. Catan flung me across the living room with all his might, and I crashed against one of the walls, hurting myself so badly that pain stabbed through me with such intensity that I felt like all my bones had been fractured by the impact. Catan would have inflicted more harm on me if you hadn’t sped downstairs just in the nick of time. And now you’re here, I’m not sure what Catan is going to do next … but you better be prepared to put on your highest offensive mode.”

  Jesse gulped as Maggie finished the last sentence. She kept her eyes trained on Catan, ready to retaliate anytime if Catan decided to launch an attack on her, or on Maggie, or both of them.

  Questions whirled inside Jesse’s head, and she kept asking herself what in the world was Catan doing here?

  Catan was still standing a few feet away from them, cautiously eyeing them as if he was considering whether to attack them or not. But why was he hesitating? Being the vampire whom Jesse knew he was, Catan wouldn’t even think twice about attacking them, without sparing any mercy. But he just stood frozen there, looking at Jesse as if he were in a trance, immobilized by some sort of force … like a magic spell. Catan did mention earlier that he kept having thoughts about her in his mind, and it was unintentional.

  Catan did look like he was in a deep thought, his forehead creasing with the pressure of the thoughts that were deluging his mind. Was he thinking about Jesse at that moment? Did Jesse’s face appeared ceaselessly in his head, overwhelming him and making him so distressed that he couldn’t move?

  Her gut feeling told her the ugly truth which she refused to believe. How could this even be possible? No, it couldn’t be.

  As if confirming Jesse’s worst fears, Maggie said, “I think the spell worked, Jesse … but I just don’t understand … how could the person standing before us be Catan … instead of Ken? What went wrong here?”

  Jesse’s stomach churned so hard that she almost puked all the contents of the food she’d eaten earlier this morning. It seemed like the spell had worked, but it didn’t bring the person she’d thought would appear at her door. No, it brought an entirely different person, someone whom she despised to the core of her heart. Maybe the spell didn’t work at all. Jesse was positively sure that she’d done everything right. She had focused on Ken with all her heart and soul. No, this couldn’t be part of the spell. Catan had probably appeared at Maggie’s house by chance. Yes, that was the only logical explanation to what was happening at that moment.

  “You guys did a spell to bring me here?” Catan asked incredulously, his body rigid as statue, as if there was some kind of an inexplicable force immobilizing him from taking a further step from harming Jesse. Both anger and frustration were etched on his face, drawing veins on his forehead as if the emotional turmoil he was enduring cast immense pressure on him.

  Jesse didn’t know whether to reply or not, as she analyzed the situation, trying to figure out what was going on. She refused to believe that the
spell actually brought Catan here, and it had to be some kind of mistake. Ken was going to be here at any second, and she’d wait no matter how long it would take.

  Maggie shattered the brief silence when she unexpectedly said, “Yes, we did a spell. We did a spell to bring someone else back, but it wasn’t supposed to be you. But for some strange reason, it seemed to bring you to us, and I’m completely clueless as to how this could have happened.”

  “What kind of spell is this?” Catan fumed, grunting hard as he tried to move, but his attempt seemed futile. “I can’t even move … and the only think I want to do now is attack you, Jesse …” He turned his gaze to Maggie and said, “And also you too. Wait till I get my hands of both of you!”

  Jesse glanced at Maggie, and asked, “How could this have happened, Maggie? Why did it bring Catan here instead of Ken?”

  Maggie was quiet for a moment, her eyes burning with questions which she herself couldn’t figure out. Then, she asked in a low voice, “Did you really put your entire focus on Ken? In order for the spell to work, you have to put your whole heart and soul into it. If your focus had swayed a little even for a few seconds, the spell could backfire …”

  “But I did put all my heart and soul on Ken!” Jesse insisted, anger fueling in her at the thought that she could make such a tiny mistake which led to the appearance of Catan.

  “The Return Spell brings back the person whom you desire most in your heart, someone whom you loved with all your heart and soul …” Maggie trailed off, as if she were afraid of venturing into something which would offend Jesse. But she said it anyway, “Do you really love him? I mean … Ken.”

  Jesse scoffed as if Maggie had asked her the most ridiculous thing in the world. “Of course I do! What kind of stupid question is that? Are you questioning my love for my own husband? My love for Ken?”

  “I’m not trying to provoke you by assuming that you do not have any love for Ken. I’m just trying to figure out what went wrong with the spell. The Return Spell is triggered by strong emotions of love, the desire of wanting someone so much that it transcends all other emotions. The spells works on the basis of love … and you need to have true love in your heart for it to work. I forgot to tell you that love is the key ingredient in this spell. I guess it was my mistake to have left that part out because I assume you’d love Ken with all your heart. The spell brings back the person whom you truly loved … there’s no way to fool the spell.”

  “I do love Ken!” Jesse raged, looking like she was on the verge of punching someone, especially Catan, as she shot dagger looks at him. How dare Maggie doubt her love for the person who mattered the most to Jesse? How dare Maggie assume that she didn’t love her own husband at all?

  Jesse couldn’t possibly love Catan, but it seemed like the spell indicated otherwise. Why did the spell bring Catan here instead of Ken? Was it because the spell somehow detected that it was Catan whom she loved instead of her own husband? If that was the case, then the spell was a huge failure. She despised Catan so much that she was positively sure there wasn’t a shred of love in her heart for her at all. No, she didn’t love Catan at all. It was the complete opposite, like night and day. She’d rather die than love Catan, and the thought that the spell worked in favor of Catan instead of Ken made Jesse snort in disbelief.

  “Maybe the spell didn’t work!” Jesse protested, close to tears. “May-maybe Ken is still out there … and he’s coming for me. Maybe I have to wait just a little longer …” Jesse shut her eyes tight momentarily, trying to picture Ken in her mind. How could she love anyone else but him? He was her other half, her lifetime partner. All of a sudden, Lipton’s face flashed across her mind, and her heart thumped with such ferocity that she almost keeled. What was Lipton doing in her thoughts? A sudden emotional change came over Jesse, and she felt as though she had been completely transformed. Her heart rate increased, and she felt an inexplicable warmth deep within her heart which she’d never felt before. It was as though her heart was smiling, and it oozed with warmness which involuntarily made her smile.

  When Jesse realized that she was smiling in spite of herself, she immediately returned to her grim look, feeling so insecure and unsure of herself all of a sudden. Why didn’t she experience such warmth in her heart when she thought about Ken? But when Lipton popped in the thoughts, she seemed to feel completely different, as if she was wrapped in a blanket of warmth and tenderness which she admittedly … liked? Why did Lipton have such a hold on her? Why did he suddenly appear in her mind?

  Jesse heaved a heavy sigh, trying to push Lipton out of her mind, but he seemed glued to every part of her brain, permeating into her deepest thoughts. No, she mustn’t think of another man when she was in such a critical condition of trying to get Ken to return to her.

  “What kind of spell did you do to me?” Catan fumed, still immobilized, looking like a statue that was about to crack. “I can’t even move like … like I’m not even supposed to hurt any one of you. What the hell is going on?”

  “We did the Return Spell,” Maggie started to explain, much to Jesse’s astonishment. Why was Maggie even entertaining such a vile person such as Catan? Maggie should’ve just ignored him. But it seemed as though Maggie was trying to get to the bottom of all this … even she herself was mystified by the result of the spell she’d cast. It had backfired completely, and Maggie had that defeated look on her face, confusion etching lines on her forehead.

  “Return Spell?” Catan asked, eyes widened in deep curiosity.

  Maggie told Catan about how the Return Spell was supposed to bring Jesse’s husband back to her, but instead, it had backfired and brought Catan instead. When Maggie had finished explaining, Catan became as quiet as a ghost, as though he was contemplating hard on something.

  After a moment of silence, he said, “Did you just say that the prerequisite of this spell is love?”

  Maggie paused for a moment as if she was afraid she might say something that would make her fall into Catan’s trap, but seeing as how helpless as he was standing frozen in his pathetic state, Maggie replied, “Yes … love is the driving force of this spell. It has to come from the true feelings of love, pure and untainted.”

  Catan stared long and hard at Jesse, studying her face. Jesse felt a bit nauseated by Catan’s stare, and she howled at him, “What are you staring at me for? What are you thinking?”

  Catan started to laugh, his signature evil cackle filling the living room, sending chills down Jesse’s spine. Was Catan teasing her? If he was, Jesse wasn’t feeling magnanimous about it, and she felt like punching Catan straight in the face.

  “Don’t you get it?” Catan said mockingly, a grin starting to form on his lips, a huge contrast to the agonizing expression that was etched on his face just moments ago.

  “Get what?” Jesse demanded, her heart ricocheting in her just as though Catan was about to come up with a revelation, something that she might not want to hear.

  “For the spell to work … you need true love.” Catan chuckled again, as if the thoughts he was bearing in his mind were amusing to him. “You can’t fool the spell, right? So technically, Ken didn’t appear to you because your heart does not contain any true love for him. Of course, you may think you love him with all your heart, but you’re just fooling yourself. He isn’t your true love. Don’t deny that.”

  “That’s impossible!” Jesse cried, crossing her arms over the chest. “I do love Ken! Don’t you put words into my mouth. I don’t love anyone else … none other than Ken!” All of a sudden, Jesse felt as though her heart had shattered, and she didn’t quite know why. Catan was assuming that she didn’t love Ken with the purest form of her own love, but that wasn’t true! Catan was an evil vampire, and all the words that came out of his mouth were lies. No, Jesse wasn’t going to believe a single word that Catan said.

  Trembling with the mounting pressure within her chest, Jesse turned to glance at Maggie. “Maggie!” Jesse’s voice choked, overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions. “T
ell me that he’s lying, and that isn’t true! Maybe the spell has a glitch! No, I couldn’t possibly love th-this …” Jesse trailed off as she flicked her glance back at Catan, feeling disgusted at the mere sight of him. Jesse knew for sure that she didn’t love Catan at all, and she scoffed at the possibility of herself even giving him an ounce of like. There was no love in her heart for him … that was a fact she couldn’t deny. Yes, the spell had a glitch … that was the only explanation. Or maybe Ken just hadn’t appeared yet at the right time.

  But looking at Maggie’s face, Jesse’s heart fell, as though it could go all the way to the bottomless pit. Maggie’s eyes told Jesse that she didn’t want to believe … that the spell couldn’t have possibly backfired.

  “The Return Spell works most of the time,” Maggie confessed with a heavy look on her face. “It’s a spell that has been used for generations and generations by the magical line of my family. It’s one of the most powerful spells there ever is … to bring back loved ones. I don’t think that it could have failed …”

  “But I don’t love Catan at all!” Jesse seethed incredulously. “I don’t!” Jesse paced back and forth anxiously, her face a clear picture of torture.

  As if to put salt on her wounds, Catan added with an evil laugh, “So does that mean you really love me? I didn’t know you had love in your heart for me all this time.”

  That was it. Jesse wasn’t going to put up with Catan’s taunting anymore. She dashed up to his face, and gave him the strongest punch with her fist. Catan growled in sheer pain, the sound of fractured jawbone indicating the intensity of the damage Jesse had inflicted on his face.

  Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth, but it was only momentary. Catan’s wounds healed, leaving a grin which fueled Jesse’s anger even more.