My dad and Bruce stood on the steps, looking hesitant about entering the apartment. “Guys! What are you doing? Come inside!”
“Audrey, I want you to just come with us. Right now. We need to get you home,” my dad said.
“But, I can’t really…” I faltered, not knowing what to do. If I went outside, I could possibly burn up. But my dad was obviously mad, and I didn’t want to upset him more. But I had to tell him what happened. What I was now. Whatever that was. I looked back at Kirk desperately, not knowing what to say.
“Tell them it’s urgent,” he whispered.
I turned back, thinking quickly, and said, “Please Dad, I really need you guys to trust me. Kirk is sick and he needs your help, Bruce.”
“What?” Bruce was instantly on the alert. “What’s wrong with him?” He asked, coming to the door. He looked in and saw Kirk huddled under his blanket, and headed over to see what was wrong.
I looked back at my dad and asked, “Are you coming in?”
He grudgingly came to the door, and then stepped in and began looking around at all of the books.
“Pretty cool, huh?” I asked him.
“Audrey,” he said, turning to face me, “What happened to you? How did you end up here and not back home? Did Agnes’s spell actually work? You don’t look sick anymore.”
I opened my mouth to try and answer, and then Bruce said, “I think she transferred it over to Kirk. He’s all…greenish.”
My dad’s head swiveled quickly in the direction of Bruce and Kirk, and then he turned back to me, grabbed me up beneath one arm, and stormed out of the apartment with me.
I could hear Kirk calling out to him, but he wasn’t paying attention. He stomped up the stairs at a rapid pace and then turned and called out for Bruce to come up.
Meanwhile I was squeezing my eyes shut, anticipating the searing pain of being burnt up by the sun. I hadn’t tried to struggle when my dad picked me up because I knew I wanted to try going outside anyway, but now I was totally freaked.
I waited a few seconds, while he called out to Bruce again, and then slowly opened my eyes. I felt fine! No burning, no pain…nothing.
“Dad,” I said, wanting him to put me down.
“Damn it Bruce, get your ass up here!”
“Dad!” I called out loudly.
“Audrey I don’t want to hear it. I am tired of not just going with my gut, and listening to everyone else instead.” He turned his head toward the stairwell again and said, “Bruce! Damn it what are you doing?” After no response again he said, “Screw it, we’re leaving without him. He can catch up.”
“No Dad! Just wait!” I started struggling under his arm, and then finally reached around and grabbed his hand, the one holding me, and pried it up so that I could fall from his grip.
He looked down at me, surprised, and then after a few seconds said, “Audrey, that hurt!” He looked so comical, with his mouth hanging open in shock, looking at his hand, but I didn’t let myself laugh. I wanted him to listen.
“Dad, I’ve changed.”
“What do you mean?” He asked sharply.
“Well, I think we should have Kirk help with this one. He’s sort of the one who made it happen.”
“You guys?” Bruce called out cautiously.
Before my dad could flip out on me about wanting to go back down to the apartment, he responded to Bruce with an angry, “What?”
“I think we all need to talk,” he said nervously.
We both went over to the head of the stairwell and looked down at him. He looked pretty shocked, so I figured Kirk must have told him something or he had seen something.
“I want us to leave, damn it,” my dad said.
“Dad, we really are fine around Kirk. He’s just not feeling too well, but that’s actually my fault.”
“What?” He asked, swiveling his head quickly in my direction again. “How is it your fault? Did you bite him or something?”
“Well…more like the other way around.”
“Okay this is insane.” He turned back to the door and shouted, “What in the hell did you do to my daughter, you son of a bitch!” He started storming down the stairs and I followed quickly behind him.
Chapter 10
“Well?” My dad asked again, waiting impatiently for Kirk to respond.
“Mr. Wickersham I promise you I didn’t hurt her. If you would just-”
“No. I’m not going to listen to anything else you have to say unless it’s about what you did to her!” He was hovering over him menacingly.
Kirk just looked sick and at a loss for words.
“I think you should let him talk,” Bruce said quietly.
He turned to Bruce and responded coldly, “I will if it’s about what he did to Audrey, and only that.” He aimed his glare back at Kirk and waited.
I was becoming extremely impatient, and hungry. I hadn’t eaten since the evening before, and I was on the verge of becoming ravenous. I started to back away towards the door, afraid that I wouldn’t be able to control myself around Bruce and my dad. I was beginning to realize (slowly, I knew) that I was basically in the same situation as before. But at least in this situation, I had someone who could relate. If Kirk was right about being able to control it, I needed him to help me out now.
“Kirk,” I said loudly, making everyone turn and look at me. “Just tell them.” I gave him an urgent look, trying to convey what I was feeling.
“Okay…Mr. Wickersham,” he said; turning and facing my dad, “I helped Audrey become something else. She’s…not a zombie anymore. Or at least she’s not turning into one anymore.”
My dad looked over at me for a few seconds, studying me, and then he looked back at Kirk and said, “So what is she now?”
“Well, you see…”
“Oh my gosh. This is taking too long. Dad, he’s a vampire. He changed me last night and I think I’m a vampire now too. But I don’t really know exactly what I am yet. Maybe a hybrid? All I know is that Kirk saved me, and now…I’m hungry.” I looked up at him then, worried, and said, “So please, if you two could just leave… I really don’t want to hurt you.” I was plastered against the bookshelf near the door, struggling inwardly to remain calm, and not to just go crazy and jump on either of them. Man, I thought to myself, why did this have to happen now? I had been fine just a few minutes ago! Until I started thinking about how hungry I was.
My dad looked back and forth between Kirk and me several times, trying to fully absorb what I had just said. I could see his face getting redder and redder, until finally he faced Kirk and shouted, “I knew it!” He reached down and grabbed Kirk around the neck, and sort of hauled him out of the bed. He shook him roughly, and Kirk didn’t seem to be resisting.
“I should kill you right now,” my dad said through clenched teeth. He had pulled him right up to his face, so that he could speak to him eye to eye.
“It wouldn’t work,” Kirk said. “I’ll just come back.”
My dad made an angry barbaric noise and released Kirk violently, knocking him down on the floor. Kirk just sat there for a moment, watching my dad as he continued to seethe in anger. Then he said, “Mr. Wickersham, I was trying to help her. She would have died otherwise.”
“She’s dead now!” He looked over at me, anger and grief both battling it out on his face, and then he looked back at Kirk. “How could you do this?” He said this quietly, but I could still hear it as if he were whispering it in my ear. “We had a plan. There could have been more spells that Agnes could have prepared for us-”
“Dad we know that wouldn’t have worked. It was stupid. I know this was my only chance. He didn’t change me against my will. I knew he was a vampire.”
My dad turned to me, looking suddenly deflated, and said, “For how long, Audrey? You kept this a secret for how long?”
“I just found out! The only reason I didn’t tell you is because I knew you would go crazy on him and not let me see him! And he only let me know about it when I
started turning into a freaking zombie!”
He let out a short, abrupt laugh, and then looked at me angrily. “Would that even have mattered? You came and saw him and did all of this behind my back! Without even consulting me or Bruce.” Suddenly he looked over at Bruce and asked, “Did you know?” Before Bruce could reply he added, “And don’t you lie to me.”
“No!” Bruce said, shocked. “I wouldn’t do that Ralph. How could you think I would keep a secret like that? Kirk just told me when you ran out of here with Audrey. He was scared that she would burst into flames or something!”
“Not burst into flames, burn up-”
“Oh shut up!” My dad yelled, cutting Kirk off. “Audrey, is this true? You let me take you out there knowing you could possibly die?” He seemed to reconsider for a second and then added, “Again?”
“Well…err. Yes?” I replied nervously. He was so angry. He was shaking and obviously trying to restrain himself.
“I can’t believe you kept all of this from me. You didn’t think to include me at all?” Now a huge wave of pain seemed to wash across his face, and I felt horrible.
“Dad… I would have totally included you. I was just really scared is all! I was on the verge of attacking you the entire time we were together last. And Bruce and Agnes! I just didn’t tell you, and then Agnes caught on and I made her promise not to tell. I was so scared that I would hurt one of you, or that you would try and stop me when I tried to leave, which I knew I would have to do if things didn’t turn around. And then now…I’ve already done things that I seriously regret.” I looked down at the floor so I wouldn’t have to see anymore hurt or possibly disappointment in his eyes. “I figured this was the only way now. Kirk said the hunger would be manageable, if it even worked.”
Everyone was silent for what felt like forever. Finally Kirk turned and asked me, “How is your hunger right now, Audrey?”
I looked back up, nervously glancing at my dad and Bruce, and said, “Pretty bad.”
My dad shook his head dejectedly, not saying anything, but not looking at me now either.
I looked at him and Bruce pleadingly. “Please, you guys…I promise we can talk more about everything tonight. But right now, I have to eat. I can’t help it.”
“You have to eat a human?” He turned to Kirk. “Will she kill them?”
“No. She--and myself--do not have to kill in order to feed. We won’t really hurt anyone. But she is new, so she is trying really hard not to feed on either of you right now.”
“I promise Dad, I’ll explain everything afterwards. Just, please. I don’t want to do anything bad.”
“Fine,” my dad said angrily. “Bruce, let’s go.” He started walking towards the door, and I slid further away, over into the corner. He stopped for a moment and looked at me, seeming to be hurt by this all over again. I think he could see fear on my face though, and that helped him to understand a little more. He looked a little less angry when he opened the door.
“I really am sorry,” I said as they were leaving.
“We’ll talk later,” my dad said quietly, walking outside.
“Bye doll,” Bruce whispered, closing the door behind them.
I looked over at Kirk and couldn’t think of anything to say. I didn’t think my dad had ever been so angry or disappointed in me.
Kirk seemed dazed, and started trying to get up from the floor. He was definitely in pain. I went over to help him and once he was up, we stood staring at each other. Finally he asked, “You okay?”
I shrugged and said, “I’m just really hungry. Can we go?” I felt empty, and not just because I needed to eat.
“We have to wait a bit. The sunlight and everything…”
I sighed loudly and went and sat on his bed. “Great. This sucks.” I folded my arms over my chest and tried to ignore my hunger pangs.
“So I never really got to ask how you feel. Besides being hungry I mean.”
“I don’t know. I feel normal I guess. I mean, compared to how I felt yesterday.”
“You don’t feel any extra energy? Perceptions?”
I concentrated for a moment on my surroundings, seeing if I could pick up anything out of the ordinary that I wouldn’t have normally been able to notice before. I couldn’t tell a difference though. “Not down here in this basement at least. I can’t tell. What are your senses like?”
“Well they’re a lot sharper than when I was human. Basically like what you see in movies or read in books. You should know what I mean.”
“Yeah…I do. I just don’t feel any different. Except that I’m not turning into a zombie anymore.” I looked over at him and said, “Maybe when we go outside?”
He thought for a moment and then said, “Yeah, maybe. I don’t really know though either. I’ve never changed anyone before.”
“Do you know any other vampires to compare me with?”
“Some,” he said hesitantly, seeming to avoid looking at me now.
“Some? How many do you know? Is there like a whole community, or are they scattered?”
“Most vampires tend to be solitary, so I don’t really know that many. But the ones I do know aren’t anything like you. They’re like me.”
“Meaning they’re not totally lame with no abilities.”
He laughed, and then turned and smiled at me. “You’re not lame in any way. And we don’t know what your abilities are yet.”
“Or lack thereof,” I mumbled grumpily.
Once it got dark, we headed out to feed. I was so ravenous by this point; I could hardly care about anything else except filling myself with blood. Kirk had told me he would hypnotize (or glamour) the person, and then let me feed. First though, he needed to feed himself, to help get his strength back up.
We went to a local park, and he had me hide back in the shadows while he approached a couple sitting alone beside a tree. They didn’t notice him until he was in front of them.
I watched as they started to get up, surprised by his sudden presence, then they froze for a moment when Kirk began speaking, and then they slowly lowered themselves back down into their former sitting positions. Kirk glanced over at me quickly; probably to make sure I had stayed where I was supposed to, and then he sat down beside the woman, as if he were joining in on their conversation, and casually grabbed her wrist, bringing it up to his mouth. I watched him bite into it somewhat gently, and he began to feed. I started to grow impatient. I wanted to taste the woman as well.
Finally, he put her wrist back on her lap and then turned towards my hiding place in the trees, and gestured for me to come over to them. I ran quietly, but faster than I had planned, and went right past them. I stopped, confused, and then turned and walked determinedly more slowly than I had before, to where he was sitting peacefully with the couple.
“What was that?” I whispered.
“I think we just discovered one of your abilities, same as all of the other vampires.”
“Speed?” I smiled and said, “Cool!”
“Okay now get down here,” he said impatiently. “You can feed on him.” He pointed at the person I had thought was a man, but now on closer inspection I quickly realized he was around mine or Kirk’s age.
“He’s a kid!” I said, shocked.
“So are we,” Kirk said impassively, glancing at me briefly and then looking back at the boy.
“I just… I thought we would go for grown-ups.”
“Usually I do, but we were both desperate. Now take his wrist.”
He looked at me expectantly, so I sat down next to the guy, and reached over and grabbed his arm, and then looked over at Kirk, waiting for him to tell me what to do next.
“Now bite him, and drink.”
“Umm…okay.” I looked down at his wrist, and after a moment I noticed his veins throbbing. They were pulsing to the beat of his heart, which I could suddenly hear really well, just as well as I could now sense Kirk hovering closely behind me, seeming to anticipate my first taste of a human from a vampire�
��s perspective. I was becoming overwhelmed with the sensations hitting me all at once; the sounds around me, the feeling of this boy’s flesh under my fingertips, and then I heard Kirk whisper roughly in my ear, “Bite him.” I couldn’t wait any longer. I felt my fangs extend as I pulled his wrist up to my mouth, yanking him forward a little, and sunk my teeth in deeply, feeling the veins pop and the blood squirt out. As it hit my mouth, a fire burst inside of my head and I moaned loudly. I had never felt anything like this before. Not even when I had been eating that man’s brain. I was starving. I pulled him forward, unknowingly, and began sucking from his wrist as hard as I could. After a few moments I felt Kirk’s hand on my shoulder, but it didn’t fully register in my mind that he was trying to get me to stop. Instead, I bit down harder and yanked the guy’s arm violently. I felt it wrench free from his body, but I still kept drinking from it as if nothing had happened. I had sunk my teeth in so deeply, I was practically taking a chunk out of him.
Kirk suddenly yelled out my name, and began trying to pull the now detached arm away from me. I jerked away from him, turning aside, still feeding hungrily.
“Audrey!” I felt him tugging on my shoulder now, and I shoved him away forcefully.
“Damn it Audrey,” he said, shocked. “You killed him!”
Finally, I registered the urgency in his tone and slowly removed my teeth from the guy’s wrist. I had drained it now anyway. I glanced down at it, and then looked over at the poor guy slouched down now at an awkward angle, and then I suddenly threw the arm away from me in fear.
“I’m sorry,” I said, panicked. “I was really hungry…I wasn’t thinking.”
“Well that’s apparent,” Kirk said angrily. “Damn it Audrey. Look at him!”
I turned and looked at the guy, the kid, and I started to feel even worse--until I noticed the blood draining from his shoulder. I moved towards it, faster than I realized I could, and I sunk my teeth into the open wound and began drinking again. I wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled him towards me. I bit harder when I felt Kirk pulling me off of him.
Who is Audrey Wickersham? Page 14