In Love With A Vampire

by M. J. Stevens

  “You can hurt me as many times as you want, but we both know that I can heal,” Catan said mockingly. “You can’t kill me.”

  Jesse’s eyes bulged with bursting anger that made her feel as though her head was going to explode. “Oh yes I can! I can put a stake to your heart right now!” Then, as if she had said something she hadn’t even thought of in the first place, a look of realization dawned upon her face. She punched her fist into the air, crying, “That’s it. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? I could kill you with a stake, and that would end all the killings that have been happening at Wartwick.” Jesse scoffed as if she couldn’t believe how easy it was to kill Catan … he was like a dead duck, waiting to be tortured and killed.

  “Give me a stake!” Jesse demanded, glancing around frantically for anything that was made of wood.

  Jesse’s hysterical desperation to finish Catan off startled Maggie, and for a moment, Maggie wasn’t sure what to think, or whether she should follow Jesse’s order. Jesse just didn’t seem like she was in the right frame of mind.

  “Jesse,” Maggie coaxed, trying to reason with Jesse, who looked like she was on the verge of insanity. “Calm down now. I know you want to kill Catan, but don’t you think we should wait and think a little further? Haste is not always the answer …”

  “I just want to kill him!” Jesse went on in her reckless rampage, circling the living room with heavy footsteps, her head flicking anxiously around as she tried to look for something that was wooden and sharp. Frustrated that she couldn’t find anything that could pass as a stake, Jesse grabbed the nearest stool to her and snapped the leg off with such ferocity that it sent tiny splinters flying off like darts.

  Jesse clutched the broken leg and eyed the sharp end of it. That would be enough to be used as a stake to finish Catan once and for all.

  Driven by reckless rage which shattered every shred of rationality in her mind, Jesse zoomed toward Catan and stabbed the stake deep into Catan’s chest, causing the loud sickening sound of something fleshy being pierced, drawing high-pitched screams of extreme pain from Catan.

  Maggie had to shield her ears with her hands from the deafening screams which pierced the air, but Jesse stood boldly in front of Catan, still gripping the stake in her hand, and watched as Catan suffered in her hands. Then, she yanked the stake out of Catan’s heart in a sudden motion, causing another round of screams from Catan.

  Jesse flung the blood-stained stake away, and stared at the gruesome image in front of her. Catan was still howling like a mad man, his body sagging in pain. Catan was still in his standing position, his body twitching frantically as veins popped out on his skin, and blood drenched his torso like a blue blanket. Due to the spell, Catan wasn’t able to move, so he had to suffer the intense pain while standing, looking like he was nailed to the spot like a martyr.

  Hot tears rushed out of Jesse’s eyes as she watched the so-called crucifixion, and her heart bled at the sight. It had a huge emotional impact on her, causing her insides to churn and making her feel nauseous.

  Jesse shut her eyes tight, trying to push the gruesome image from her mind, trying to forget everything she had just seen. But her mind was enveloped in swirls of royal blue, haunting her mind and torturing her conscience. What had she done? What did she just do to Catan? This wasn’t supposed to happen at all. Deep down inside, Jesse knew that she wasn’t so cruel and heartless to the point of committing something as heinous as what she had just done. No, this wasn’t her. She had just killed someone, carrying his blood in her hands. She had acted as a vigilante, taking the law into her own hands and acting on her emotions. She was racked with overwhelming guilt, which shook her conscience with the magnitude of an earthquake and shaking her to her senses, making her realize that she had committed an unforgivable deed, something Ken would disapprove. If Ken knew that she had acted rash like this, he would probably be disappointed in her. Jesse should have thought twice before giving in to her rage. But it was too late. What had been done was done, and there was no way to turn back the clock and fix this.

  The screaming had finally stopped. Did Catan finally die for good? Jesse knew that vampires could only meet the real death by stake. There was no escaping that awful fact. Yes, she’d killed Catan. The deed was done. There was all there was to it.

  Jesse jerked her eyes open, her vision blurred by the tears that had flowed down her cheeks. Catan stood in a motionless state, his head bowed slightly to the front, eyes closed. He was completely frozen, and there was not even a sign of life from him. Smudges of blue blood stained his torso like the sea patches on a globe, but they had dried by now. Yes, Catan was completely lifeless, standing there like a statue. The pool of blood at his feet had also dried up, and the veins of his flesh seemed to have vanish. Jesse could see a gaping hole inside Catan’s chest, the part where she’d staked Catan.

  This was it. She had finally killed the most wanted vampire serial killer for good. The whole world would be grateful for her act. But deep in her conscience, Jesse knew that what she had done was against everything she’d believed in. She was overwhelmed by guilt, which ate into the core of her heart and made her feel like she was the worst vampire in the world. Catan’s death sentence wasn’t for her to decide. No, she wasn’t supposed to determine his fate, but bring Catan to the Vampire Courts of Justice for them to mete out the sentence accordingly.

  Her head throbbed with feverish intensity, as though tons of brick were slammed against her skull, sending her into an abyss of darkness which felt like a deja vu to her. The last time she had descended to such a low point in her life was when she was first turned to a vampire. She had went on a reckless spree, feeding on innocent human beings and killing them. Initially, she didn’t feel a hint of guilt at all, for her newborn vampirish thirst for blood clouded her judgment, driving her to peaks on feeding madness. As time passed, Jesse was able to control her lust for blood much better due to the help of some of her vampire mates, and she was soon able to resist the temptation of feeding on human blood. When Jesse became ‘sober’, learning to feed on animal blood or turning to blood bags instead of feeding directly from humans, the heinous deed of her past returned to haunt her, slicing her with so much guilt that it practically tore her insides apart. To atone for her past, Jesse started to involve herself in charitable works, being an advocate for campaigns that served to protect humans from vicious vampires and working around the clock to capture such vampires from threatening humans or feeding on them. No matter how much good Jesse had done since she decided to turn over a new leaf, she could never forget the shrilling cries of her victims as she fed on their blood. Jesse had vowed never to use violent means in the name of justice.

  But here she was, going back to her violent ways again. Killing Catan had conjured up the gruesome and painful memories of the past, and she didn’t want to go through that feeling of dread and guilt again … the lethal combination of those feelings literally killed her insides and made her wish the ground would open up and swallow her.

  “Jesse …” Jesse heard her name being called, and she shot a sideway glance at Maggie, who looked at her with a wary expression, as if she wasn’t sure what to do at that moment.

  Maggie hadn’t expected that Jesse would turn wild and reckless and resort to such a despicable act. Sure, killing Catan seemed like the main agenda that both she and Jesse had pursued all along, but Jesse had handled the whole thing in an ungraceful and shameless way, spilling blue blood on the marble floor of her living room. She hadn’t expected such a thing from Jesse, who never struck Maggie as someone who could killed someone so heartlessly. But on some degree, she couldn’t blame Jesse. After all, Catan had provoked Jesse at her lowest point, and he triggered this dormant anger within her which had exploded and driven her to murder. Maggie tried to give Jesse the benefit of the doubt, even though she deeply disapproved of what Jesse had done.

  “I-I …” Jesse began, her body trembling as the burden of emotions weighed against her, and sh
e almost felt like bursting into tears.

  Maggie padded over to Jesse, taking slow steps as she winced in pain from the injuries she had sustained from the physical assault by Catan. She placed a hand on Jesse’s shoulder, trying to calm her down as Jesse looked like she was on the verge of tears.

  “What have I done?” Jesse cried, sobbing into the small space on Maggie’s shoulder. She couldn’t bear to look at Catan, who was standing dead in his position, looking more like a zombie than a vampire.

  “It’s OK, Jesse,” Maggie managed weakly, even though she knew that it was far from fine. “It’s going to be alright.”

  For that moment, Jesse’s cries filled the living room, adding more sadness to the tragedy that had transpired in the living room earlier. Dark clouds of gloom hovered over Jesse’s head, and Jesse felt like taking the stake from the floor and piercing it into her own heart. Hysterical thoughts consumed her brain, making her sob uncontrollably.

  “You are crying for me? I didn’t expect that you’d do that for me. I’m … touched.”

  That familiar sound startled Jesse so much that her heart plunged in terror and she felt as though she was reliving her worst nightmare. She jerked her head in the direction of that voice and gasped in sheer horror at the sight that greeted her.

  15. Unravel

  Catan was grinning at her, his head tilted back to its normal upright position. He stared at Jesse with a threatening look that sent cold chills down Jesse’s spine, and Jesse had to rub her eyes repeatedly to make sure that what she was seeing wasn’t a dream … or nightmare … for that matter.

  But what made Jesse so mystified was that the gaping hole at Catan’s chest had literally vanished. Yes, the hole was nowhere to be found, mysteriously replaced by flesh once more as though the chunk of Catan’s pierced chest had magically regenerated by itself. His chest looked brand new, as if it had never been staked before. However, traces of blue blood still stained his chest and his clothes, reminding Jesse that she had indeed staked Catan earlier on, and she wasn’t hallucinating.

  Jesse blinked her eyes several times, praying that in another few more blinks, the sight of Catan’s grin would vanished and she would be greeted with Catan’s state of death once more. But the more she tried to deny, the more Catan’s lips curved into a sinister grin which sent stabbing chills surging through Jesse.

  How could Catan be alive? How was that even possible? She’d killed him moments ago, and she had Maggie as her witness. What had possibly gone wrong? It seemed that many things had gone wrong today. First, the spell had backfired and sent her Catan instead of her own husband, Ken. And now, when she thought she’d finally killed Catan, it seemed that he had come back alive somehow, but Jesse wasn’t sure how he did it.

  “What in the world …” Maggie’s voice trembled as she stared at Catan with mouth agape, not quite able to form the words on her mouth due to the shock that reverberated through her whole body.

  “How could you be alive?” Jesse demanded, involuntarily shaking even though she tried hard to conceal the anxiety and fear she was experiencing. “I’ve just staked you! It’s just not possible for you to be alive!”

  Catan kept quiet for a moment, as though he was trying to build some suspense. The suspense was killing Jesse, and Jesse had enough suspense for the day. It was literally tearing her apart.

  “How could you be alive?” Maggie repeated Jesse’s question, looking utterly confused. “I saw Jesse stake you. I know what I saw, and vampires die the real death after they’re being staked. But you did not die! Instead, you were healed! I can’t even see the hole in your chest anymore!” Maggie dropped to her knees to retrieve the stake which Jesse had used to kill Catan, checking whether if it was made of wood, and when she realized that it was, she gasped in disbelief, flicking a glance back at Catan, awed at his ability to survive all of this.

  “Of course I’m alive!” Catan scoffed at Maggie, shaking his head. Although he was able to make motions with his head, he still was immobilized to the same spot, as though the spell had chained him there for some reason. “Don’t you know that I can’t be … killed?” And then, Catan let out a howl of laughter, shooting both Maggie and Jesse his threatening look.

  Jesse’s eyebrows furrowed. Catan couldn’t be killed? Was he immortal? But that was impossible! Technically, all vampires couldn’t die through natural ways, but they only met the real death by stake … and even a thousand-year-old vampire couldn’t escape from the real death if he were to be staked.

  “What do you mean that you can’t be killed?” Jesse demanded, eager to get to the bottom of this. There was more to Catan than met the eye. There were secrets about him that were yet to unravel, and Jesse needed to know what those secrets were … secrets that kept Catan immortal for years. Jesse knew that Catan was supernaturally powerful, more powerful than any other vampires she had met before, but what amazed her was that he couldn’t be killed. It was a miracle that he was still alive even after she had staked him.

  “Live with it!” Catan dared her, staring hard at Jesse, teeth clenched. “I cannot be killed. No matter how many times you stake me, I’ll still be healed and come back to life.”

  Jesse knew that trying to pry any kind of secrets from Catan would prove to be a futile attempt. Catan wasn’t going to divulge the key secret that kept him invincible, escaping the real death even by stake.

  But one thing still bothered Jesse … why was Catan here instead of Ken? If the spell worked perfectly fine like what Maggie had said, why was Catan standing here? It was a good thing that the Return Spell had a protective element to it, immobilizing Catan so he wouldn’t cause them further harm. Jesse guessed that the logic behind the protective part of the spell stemmed from the fact that the Return Spell worked through the prerequisite element of love, and the spell prevented anyone involved from hurting each other as long as it was working. That was why Catan wasn’t able to move because he had the pure intention of hurting someone, and the spell detected that and prevented him from doing so. But Jesse rationalized that Catan was able to hurt Maggie because Maggie wasn’t a direct player in the spell. It was Jesse and supposedly Ken, who were the key players shrouded by the spell. But disappointingly, it was Catan who turned up, not Ken as she had fervently hoped so.

  All of a sudden, a loud shriek ripped through Jesse’s thoughts, instantly pushing them away to the back of her mind. It startled Jesse so much that her heart almost burst through her chest as another layer of suspense was added to the tumultuous emotions that were swirling within her.

  Catan was howling again, his face twisted with such agony that his eyes bulged out in a sickening manner. Veins popped out on his forehead, and his body was straining against the hold that the spell put on him. It was obvious that Catan was experiencing pain again, but he couldn’t writhe freely in pain because the spell restricted his bodily movements.

  Jesse grew even more puzzled. Was Catan’s resurrection from the real death only temporary? Was he screaming in pain because his real death was being reinstated? Questions stormed inside Jesse’s mind, and she gaped at Catan whose body seemed to warp. His features also seemed to change … as though he was turning into someone completely different.

  What was going on here?

  Panic-stricken by the unexpected twist, Maggie clung onto Jesse’s shoulder for support as both of them watched in horror at the sight before them.

  Catan’s body twisted and bulged, ripples of abs forming on his chest, and his biceps became ripped. All of a sudden, something white and feathery protruded out from his back, drawing loud gasps of terror from both Maggie and Jesse.

  Jesse couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Catan seemed to be morphing into something, or someone else, and the newly formed features seemed all to familiar to her.

  By then, Catan’s features had drastically changed into the face of someone whom Jesse recognized, causing her heart to drum so hard against her chest that her whole body was overwhelmed with shockwaves.
r />   Catan had transformed into somebody completely different.

  “Lipton!” Jesse cried when Lipton materialized right in front of her, and Catan was nowhere to be seen. How could this be happening? Why had Catan transformed into Lipton? Was this some kind of a deception, some kind of a trick meant to stir more confusion amidst a storm of endless mysteries and doubts?

  Lipton’s face was etched with fatigue, his eyes drooping as though he hadn’t have had enough sleep. He gave Jesse a long stare, utterly silent as a ghost as though all the words were trapped within the confines of his throat.

  Jesse didn’t know what was the next course of action she should take. Should she should flee the scene and run as far as her legs could take her? She didn’t know what to make out of the situation, which seemed so complicated that she didn’t even know what to think, or what to do about it.

  Maggie was also rendered speechless, staring at Lipton with her mouth half open, as though she was trying to say something but she couldn’t seem to get the words out.

  Jesse shot a quick glance at Maggie, and demanded, “What is going on, Maggie? Why is Lipton here? Where is Catan? Why did Catan change into Lipton? Is this a repercussion of the spell you have cast?”

  Maggie took a deep gulp, still keeping her eyes trained on Lipton, confusion evident in her eyes.

  “No, this has nothing to do with my magic,” Maggie responded. “Nothing at all. If it were, I’d have known about it. This has nothing to do with any magical consequences from the spell. This is something completely … different. It’s beyond my control.”

  Jesse screamed loud inside her heart. Bricks of doubt weighed on her, making her world go upside down. Things seemed to get more complicated by the minute, and she was nowhere near to getting the answer she needed. She was completely shrouded by unanswered questions which triggered panic alarms inside her chest, making her feel like she was about to hyperventilate.