by Martha Woods
The sun was going down. As much as Sara wanted to stay and watch it set, she had to get going. She wasn't going to get caught after dark again. Instead, Sara hopped off the boulder and walked through the sand into the field. She cut across as fast as she could until she reached the trail to her grandmother's house. She was standing, flanked on both sides by steep hills, walking in between them when she felt her neck thrash to the right, exposing her carotid artery and she fell flat on the ground, held down by the creature's cold, rock hard body.
It dug her head into the dirt, and slammed down into her neck, tearing away at the skin, licking up the blood spill as it positioned its jaw to begin sucking her blood in. Then it crashed backward, the momentum from the blow, flinging her free. She jerked her head up off the ground and got a glimpse of Caleb, kicking the thing. Then he reached out and stopped the fountain flowing out of her with his hand.
He tensed up to add in one a final kick to the face, but the creature used that split second of hesitation to run off, leaving them alone together. He rushed in, pulled her up by the neck and ripped his wrist open with his teeth. He slammed his wound into her mouth and his blood, so cold0 it was like liquid ice, gushed in through her lips. Her mouth was stretched open so wide, that she didn't have any other choice but to swallow a mouthful, after mouthful of the savory liquid.
She was suddenly overcome by the overwhelming sensation of wanting to rip her throat off. It started with a tingling along the edges of her torn skin. Then, all at once, a maddening itch developed as the skin began to weave itself back together. When he let her up, the tiny droplets of blood that had stained her shirt were starting to fade away into nothingness.
He pulled out of her mouth, and she watched as the skin on his wrist began to close up around the wound.
“What was that?” She tried to catch her breath as she fought to sit back up again.
He looked down at her, taken in by the theatrics of the moment. He was biting his lower lip, struggling to keep whatever was on the tip of his tongue from erupting out. Finally, his lip quivered, and his eyes, thick with sadness, went wide and he got up and started backing away from her.
“Well, what was it?” She propped herself up on her elbow.
He was cowering away and turned like he was ready to run. How could anything as powerful as he was, be so afraid?
“This thing has tried to kill me twice now, and you're not going to tell me what the fuck it was! It murdered my mother! I'm going to be wondering for the rest of my life. It's going to drive me insane. You can't see something like this and live without knowing. You owe me an explanation.” She had been using the same speech with her grandmother for the past week, and it hadn't worked. There was no reason to think that it would work now.
He stopped and crossed his arms around his shoulders. It was strange to see somebody as powerful as he was trembling, clearly afraid of her.
“You're not human.” She managed to sit up on her own.
He came to sit across from her. “No.” He shook his head.
“What are you?”
“A spirit trapped in a disease-ridden body that should have decayed a long time ago, same with him.” He motioned in the direction the creature had left in. “Some people call us vampires, though many of the things you've heard about us aren't true. I imagine that people would call us a lot of things if they knew what we were.”
“I don't even know whether or not I'm safe around you.”
“It doesn't matter. There's no way of knowing. Never trust us. We don't kill to eat. We don't even need to eat. We kill for sport.”
“Why did he kill my mother?”
“I don't know.” He sat back, mindlessly playing with the grass.
“You were human?”
“Centuries ago, yes. I and my brother were awakened by a group of tribesmen in Pennsylvania during the early eighteenth century. They were vampires like ourselves and were hoping we'd destroy the Dutch settlement there. Instead, we slaughtered everyone within a hundred miles, including the vampires who made us.”
“Jesus.” She had already a soft tone in his voice. His vowels were more rounded, and his words were softer. That was his Dutch accent. “Why did your brother kill my mother?”
“I don't know.” He shrugged. She didn't know what to say or what to think except that she was mad at him for refusing to tell her the truth before. “I've gone crazy here, trying to figure out what was going on. All this time...do you have any idea what I've been through? You don't even know why he killed my mother? He just did. I'm supposed to accept that, shut up and stick to the sidelines.”
“He will kill you. You shouldn't be out here.”
“Well, I guess I could just wait for him at home.”
“He can't come on the property. Neither can I. Go there now and stop going out at night. He can't go there.”
“Why?”
“He just can't. Look,” he sighed. “I'm sorry. I will contact you and let you know what's going on but I need you to trust me and stop going out like this because he's going to kill you.”
“Did you follow me?” He must've known she was out there.
“I have to know why he's here.” He walked over to help her up. “I knew he'd go after you. Come on.” He turned around to walk in the direction towards her house.
“Why didn't you tell me before?” She caught up with him.
“We don't tell people. “
“Why not? Are you afraid that people will kill you?”
He stopped, took her hand and turned to face him. “No earthly force can hurt us. It's impossible. We can't be fought. We can find and kill anyone we want to. Your life is in danger. He will kill you and if I'm not there to stop him there won't be anything you could do.”
“I don't care! I want to die. I don't want to live like this, not without my mother.” She hunched over and started sobbing, unsure of what spurred her on. She didn't need anyone protecting her. She didn't want to be protected. She wanted to die so she could be with her mother again.
He lifted her up and took him into his arms, like a rock shield that blocked her face against the wind. She didn't mind it. She let him hold her, rub his hand down her back and make himself feel like he was doing the right thing by comforting her. It didn't matter anyway. She had come to her grandmother's house to die. That was the only way she was going to be happy.
When he pulled back, he took her hand and led her onto the side of a hill where he sat her down and let her head rest on his shoulders. “You can't die.” He whispered. “I know what it's like to have everyone around you die. It's happened to me several times now, and I still look back but after a few years’ things would change and I'd find a way to move on. You do get past it, Sara.
She sat up and laid down on the grass. “It feels wrong to let go.”
“I never let go. I just simply remember that my life has worth and that there's no point in living in a state of mourning.”
“It's easy for you. You've had time to practice.”
“It doesn't get any easier. Let me reassure you. I just move on, just like everyone else would and you will too. The difference between you and me is, you will have the chance to be reunited with your mother when you die.”
“Do you really believe that? Is that just an old superstition or do you think I'll see my mother?”
“You'll see her.” He stood up to help Sara up and started walking her home.
“I don't want you to protect me, Caleb. I like my space.”
“I don't care,” he scoffed. “You're not getting killed. I'll follow you across the world if I have to and I'm going to find out why he's doing this. You don't understand, Sara. We don't have to kill. If he's going around killing people, something is terribly wrong.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“No,” they were almost to her house.
“Well, why not?”
“He won't let me get close to him. That's the only reason I've been able to deter him from killing
you. He runs whenever I confront him.”
They were getting close to the edge of the property. “Thank you for being honest with me, Caleb.”
“You're welcome. I wish there were more that I could do for you. If I let you go now, are you going to leave? Promise me you won't.”
“No.”
“Promise me.”
“Why do you care?”
“Just promise me.”'
“I said, why do you care, Caleb? I'm an insignificant little girl. I'm nothing compared to you.”
“That's not true.” He brushed his finger against her chin. “You worth has nothing to do with how long you can live or how powerful you are. What matters is your ability to see beyond the flock of sheep that makes up humanity to exact some change in this world, and I believe that you are unique and extraordinary enough to be able to make things happen. You have a power of your own. It's beautiful and vibrant, and I will not let him destroy that.”
Sara wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. “Thank you.” She turned around and walked back inside, wondering if he was just talking about her personality or the power she felt awakening from within.
Chapter 12
Sara didn't know what she expected when she started looking for answers. She was a pragmatist, who had always questioned superstitions and even religious belief. She didn't believe in all-seeing old men in the sky or fairies running around the fields. Everything was as it seemed, and there was little room for fantasy. Now she was being forced to accept that a vampire killed her mother and that somehow she summoned up a blue fire to kill two security guards.
The intrigue of it was not enough to make her want to fight to live. She didn't care about whether or not Caleb's brother killed her. Caleb said that she would see her mother when she died. Trying to die was a lot more fun than hiding in her grandmother's house all day.
So Sara promised herself to stay out as much as she could. Caleb could follow her if he wanted, and probably would. That'd be part of the fun.
He was quick to catch up with her while she started down the road past the school when class got out. “You're not actually walking, are you?”
She was trampling the grass through the field. “Yes. I thought it'd be fun to go out for a walk.”
“You're trying to get yourself killed, aren't you?”
“We'll see.” She picked up her speed, hoping to leave him behind but he matched her pace quickly.
“Why are you making this so hard for me?”
“I'm not.” She started uphill, farther out into the fields, hoping to cut through the hills to get to her house without having to walk on the side of the road.
“Yes, you are.” He laughed.
“I'm helping you find your brother.” He grabbed her arm and spun her around so that she was trapped, facing him.
“I'm not talking about him. I'm talking to you. You know damn well that if you keep this up, you're going to die. Why are you making it so hard to keep you alive? Do you really want to die this badly? Because Sara I can assure you it's not an easy death. He'll take his time and drain you so that you're barely alive. Then he'll start tearing you apart. First,” his fingertips ran along the place where her shoulders met her arm. “He'll dismember you. Then,” he stroked some hair behind her ear. “He'll take what little of you is left alive, and he'll roast you slowly while you scream. Do you want that?”
“Yes.” She looked up at him.
He held his head down low. “Why?” He sounded angry.
“Because then I'll get to see my mother.”
“Without ever having lived.” His hand brushed her cheek, and his eyes crept out from behind his black bangs. “Without ever having fallen in love, you're ready to die. You don't even know anything about life or the world you live in. There's so much to see. You can see her anytime you want to. You'll only get to be here once.”
“But I don't want to be here without her.”
“Not at the moment you don't. You're short-sighted. But in a few months or in a few years you'll wish you'd stayed. You're staying here, and I'm making sure of it. So walk around as much as you want to. It's not going to work.” He let her go, and she turned around to keep walking through the field.
“I thought I was making it harder for you to keep me alive.”
“You are. That doesn't mean I can't do it. It just means that sometimes you have to get used to the idea of me following you around everywhere and I have to spend all my time doing it. It also means that I won't get to have a life outside of watching you.”
“You're a vampire. What kind of life could you possibly have?”
“I don't know.” He sounded kind of defensive. “Mostly we just keep ourselves company, but I wanted to go cliff diving today.”
“Cliff diving? Wait, the first night your brother attacked me, I saw something flying down off the cliff. Was that you? I saw this light.”
“It's a lantern I take when I go diving. It's waterproof. That way I can see underwater.”
“Do you cliff dive?”
“Yeah. Why?”
It was strange to think of Caleb just running and jumping off a cliff. “I can't see you doing anything like that.”
“I can take you with me.” A smile crept over his lips. “It's totally safe.”
“Do it.” She turned left, towards the beach.
“You're not even worried?”
“No. You said it was safe.” She didn't really care either way.
“It is. We're only doing safe activities.”
“Well, I trust you.”
“Are you sure? You trust me enough to jump off a cliff with me?”
“You don't want me killed. You've made that very clear.”
“You're right. Only safe activities.”
“Like jumping off a cliff with a vampire.”
He laughed at the irony. “Come on.” He snatched her up in his arms, cradled her like a baby then started running. He moved so fast that the wind, barely a soft breath before, slammed into her entire body, blowing her hair back against her face. The world flew by like she was driving through it at a thousand miles an hour. One second they were standing in the field. The next, they were on the cliff trail, winding in between the boulders until they reached the edge and he set her down on a boulder.
“What?” He was staring down at the water, then back down at her again.
“It's ju—
“What?”
He grabbed her back up again, ran to the edge and hopped off. “Don't be afraid.” His whispered was nearly lost in the pounding tide of air rushing past her.
They were racing down towards the water, hundreds of feet below. Sara thought she was going to lose her mind. Sara had never been more excited in her entire life. He was barely holding her, just around the waist so that she could spread her arms out wide and pretend like she was flying.
“WHOO!” She twisted and spun while he moved along with her. She was falling like a leaf with the wind blowing her this way and that. The water below was a boiling tide of navy blue, so dark it almost looked a solid surface and it might as well have been because the force of the impact would snap her head right off her body the second she touched it. She could die. There was no way of knowing whether or not this would work, but that just made it even more exciting.
She wasn't afraid, even when they started to get closer and the water was all that she could see. She wanted to let it break her to pieces, and smash here until there was nothing left than a red dot in the water.
She shivered, and her skin was tingling. It was getting close enough that she felt like she could almost reach out and touch it. A spray came off the waves and hit her in the face, like tiny daggers of ice piercing through her skin. She was going to die. Nothing could travel this fast, make an impact and survive.
He flipped her around so that she was facing the sky. That way he could break her fall. Then he took her in his arms as tightly as he could and held her head above the water expertly as he pound
ed against the waves and swam her out to the beach.
By the time he pulled her onto the shore, she was shivering, huddled close against his chest. He laid her down in the sand and stroked her cheek. The sun was directly at his back, illuminating him as he reared up, tore off his wet shirt then stared down at her, a smile creeping over his lips. “You're shivering.”
“I’m cold.”
“Here,” he let her rest against his shoulder and covered her with his arm to shield her from the wind. “Did you enjoy that?”
“Immensely.” She moved her finger along his white chest while she watched the sky fade from blue to indigo as the sun fell.
“Do you still want to die.”
“I just don't want to live. I want to make all of this pain go away, and that's the best way I know how.”
“Hmm.” His eyes drooped for a moment.
“Do you know what it's like to die?”
“I've never done it, but I do know about it.”
“Tell me.”
“They call it piercing the veil.”
“The what?” She sat up to look at him, and he turned his head to meet her gaze.
“The veil.” He said quietly. “It's the space between the worlds. Once you reach it, your consciousness starts to transition from a physical state to a spiritual state. To do that, it has to fall so hard it pierces through the veil and starts falling away. It's like falling off a never ending cliff. It takes months for the transition to cement, and you feel yourself falling the whole time.”
“Kind of like falling off a cliff.”
“Yep.” He nodded his head. “I died when I turned into a vampire. We all do, but our transition is cut short. Vampires are forced to maintain a consciousness that is both physical and spiritual to stay in this world.”
“You're dead.”
“More dead than you are. When we die, we disappear. There's no heaven or hell, no afterlife—just death. We trade in eternal life for a second longer on Earth.”
“That's terrible. I thought you couldn't die.”