The Undead Heart

by Tate Jackson

  “Don’t you take that tone with us!” her father yelled and slapped her across her face.

  “Don’t you ever touch me again!” she yelled as she stormed into the kitchen and threw open the door to the breaker box.

  “Don’t you dare!” her father shouted.

  “Fuck you! Fuck both of you!” she screamed and touched the breaker switches. Everything that was on in the house fried out, and the power shut down.

  “God damn it!” her father yelled.

  She ran quickly out of the house, jumped in her car, and drove away. She hated them! She wished she had already packed her things into the car so she could leave tonight! She drove around until 1:00 in the morning before finally driving back home. When she pulled into the driveway she saw that all of her things were piled on the front porch.

  They had put her out of the house. She was so mad that she decided to go for a walk before putting her things in the car. If she didn’t walk off some of this anger, she was going to end up throwing her own stuff! She was three blocks away from the house when she heard growling. She looked out into the street and saw a huge German Sheppard stalking towards her. Her first thought was to run, but she knew if she ran that the dog would chase her down.

  She backed slowly away from the approaching dog until she bumped into the fence behind her. She looked back and saw that the fence was eight feet tall. She wouldn’t have a chance of getting over it before the dog jumped on her.

  “Damn it!” she screamed when the dog lunged at her.

  She threw up her arms to guard her face, and then caught a blur of movement from the corner of her eye. he looked through her arms and saw a pair of hands catch the dog’s head in midair and crush it. No, that couldn’t be possible. Could it? When she lowered her arms, she found ‘The Man’ standing in front of her.

  “Good evening,” he said.

  It was too much, and for the first time in her life, she passed out.

  ***

  She woke up on the porch swing just as the sun was rising. She convinced herself that ‘The Man’ and the dog had only been a dream. Things like that just didn’t happen.

  Her parents must be anxious to have her gone, because they had already gotten up and packed her things into her car. She didn’t hear them, but that wasn’t surprising, she had always been a heavy sleeper. She was just grateful that she wouldn’t have to see them again before she left. She got into the car, took one last look at the house, and backed out of the driveway.

  She screeched to a stop three blocks down when she saw the dead dog on the sidewalk. It had happened! ‘The Man’ had killed the dog, carried her home, and put her on the swing. She remembered the new tire that had been on her bike after she had crashed, and wondered again who’d really packed her things into the car. She’d assumed that her parents had done it, but it really didn’t sound like something that they would do.

  She looked in the back seat and saw that everything had been put in neatly. Surely if her parents had done it, they would have just stuffed it all in. She got out of the car and popped the trunk open. All of her things that didn’t fit in the back seat were stacked neatly in the trunk.

  They were even tied down by straps that she didn’t own, so that the stuff wouldn’t fall over. Now she knew her parents didn’t pack the car. What the hell? She knew ‘The Man’ had done this, but why? She closed the trunk, got back in the car, and headed to the interstate.

  It was possible that he lived somewhere on her street, and she just hadn’t known it. It didn’t matter now, though. She was leaving her street behind her, and since she was never going back, it was a good bet that she would never see him again.

  The idea saddened her a little as she got on the interstate and headed out of Clarksville.

  She pulled into her dorm parking lot before 4:00 that afternoon. She got out, opened the back door, and reached into the backseat to pull out her tub of clothes. It was gone! But it couldn’t be gone. She’d seen it in her rearview mirror just a little while ago. She looked around and saw ‘The Man’ standing on the other side of the car, holding the tub of clothes.

  “What the hell? What are you doing here?!” she yelled.

  “Shh, stop yelling, Beck. People are looking.”

  She glanced around and saw a couple of people looking in their direction. They were only a few people around. She had gotten here late on purpose. She didn’t want to be trying to move in when everyone else was. She didn’t really care for crowds.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked a little more quietly.

  “You’re here. Now where are we taking this?”

  “I’m not telling you my dorm room number. I don’t even know your name.”

  “My name is Richard, and your room number is 205. I was only being polite by asking,” he said, and smiled.

  “How did you know that?”

  “I heard you giving Bev your address.”

  “We were in the kitchen when I did that. Where were you, outside the window?” she asked angrily.

  “Actually, I was across the street. Can I take this to your room now?”

  “Why the hell not, you will anyway,” she said and walked off.

  “That’s the wrong way, Little One,” he said laughing.

  She turned and stalked in the other direction. When she found room 205, she slipped the key in and unlocked the door. Richard was already waiting inside the room.

  “How did you get here so fast? How did you get in here at all?”

  “I’m very fast.”

  “You’re very fast? That’s your explanation for everything. Just you’re very fast.”

  “No, that’s my explanation for how I got in here before you did. I’ll explain everything else when I get the rest of your things,” he said, and walked out the door.

  She sat on the edge of the bed and waited. If he wanted to lug all of her stuff in here, let him. When he finished, she wanted some answers. It took him fifteen minutes to carry in everything that would have taken anyone else forty-five minutes to do. When he brought in the last load, he kicked the door closed behind him.

  “The room is bigger than I thought it would be,” he said, sitting the last of the boxes on the floor.

  “Why are you thinking about my dorm room at all?”

  “I think about everything that has anything to do with you, Beck.”

  “Why? You don’t even really know me.”

  “I know you very well, and I’ve known you for a very long time.”

  He reached out for her hand and she jumped off the bed.

  “You’re not a stalker are you?” she asked quickly, backing away from him.

  She didn’t feel as if he was dangerous, but she had been catastrophically wrong before.

  “No, I’m not a stalker, Beck. I would never hurt you. I know you can feel that.”

  “You seem to know a lot about me, and I want to know why.”

  “I can explain some things, but not until we feed you.”

  “What, you even know when I’m hungry?”

  “I can hear your stomach growling, Little One. Let’s go get you some food. When we get back, I have some questions for you, as well. And I want the truth,” he said the last part almost as a demand.

  “I thought you knew everything about me,” she said crossly.

  “So did I, but it appears that part of your story has been left out. I intend to find out what it is,” he said as he led her out of the dorm.

  They ended up at Burger King. He ordered food for her, but nothing for himself. He didn’t say much, he just sat across from her and stared at her while she ate.

  “Are you sure you’re not dangerous?” she asked, taking a drink of her Coke.

  “Not to you, Little One, never to you. You are the only reason that I have struggled to keep existing,” he said softly.

  “Well, of course I am, because that makes total sense,” she said sourly.

  “It will make sense later, I promise.”

 
She should be freaked out by the way he talked about her, but she wasn’t. She knew she should be running away from him right now, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to know who he really was and why he had helped her so many times. She was ready to go, but he wouldn’t let them leave until she had finished all her food. When she was finished, they walked back to the dorm in silence.

  “Okay, now are you going to answer my questions?” she said.

  “I’ll answer yours if you promise to answer mine.”

  “Deal.”

  “Alright. What do you want to know?”

  “Most of the time, when I was in real danger, you were there to help me. How?”

  “Most of the time?” he asked, his eyebrows raising in curiosity.

  “Just answer the question. How did you know when I was going to be in danger? Are you psychic?”

  “Hardly. I only knew where to be because you told me.”

  “That’s not true,” she said in disbelief.

  “I know it’s hard to believe, but it is true.”

  “I don’t know you. I didn’t tell you anything,” she said.

  “You’re right, you didn’t, but you will.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I’m not ready to answer that yet. What’s your next question?”

  She wanted him to explain, but let it go…for now.

  “How did you crush that dogs head last night?”

  “I’m very strong.”

  “Look, you’re going to have to do better than that. I want the whole truth. You’re not lying, but you are being intentionally evasive.”

  “I know I am,” he admitted. “I just don’t want to scare you away.”

  “I don’t scare very easily. I want to know how you’re so strong, how you’re so fast, how you haven’t aged a day in at least ten years, and I want to know right now,” she demanded.

  He was quiet for a long time before he finally spoke. “I’m a vampyre, Beck.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked. “What did you just say?”

  There was no way he’d just said what she thought he’d said.

  “I’m a vampyre.”

  Yeah, that was exactly what she thought he’d said.

  “Really? You’re a vampyre? That’s what you’re going with?” she asked angrily.

  “Believe me, it wouldn’t have been my first choice either, but it is true.”

  “Vampyres don’t really exist.”

  He took her head gently and laid it on his chest. “What do you hear?”

  She heard nothing. No heartbeat, no stirring of breath in his lungs, nothing.

  “This is some kind of trick, right?”

  “No, Little One. It’s no trick.”

  “I’m going to need more proof than that.”

  He moved across the room so fast that if she had blinked she might have missed it. He picked up a thick silver vase out of one of her boxes and crushed it one hand like it was made of clay.

  “Do you believe me now?” he asked.

  “Yes. I believe you.”

  ***

  He was a vampyre. As impossible as it seemed, it was true. She let it run through her mind for a moment, and then busted out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked in confusion.

  “Last night you said ‘Good Evening’, like in the old vampyre movies,” she said, still laughing.

  “Sorry. I couldn’t help myself,” he said with a grin.

  “Wait,” he said, the grin falling from his face. “You’re not scared?”

  “No, I’m not scared of you. If it was your intent to eat me, you would have done it by now. Why haven’t you eaten me? Do I smell bad or something?” she asked, sniffing her armpits.

  “You sound offended that I haven’t munched on you,” he said laughing. “No, Beck you don’t smell bad. Actually you smell like Fruit Loops, but no vampyre would ever bite you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Whatever gives you the abilities that you have; seeing ghosts, and your ‘electrical problem’, it runs in your blood. It’s a poison to us. If a vampyre drank your blood, it would kill them.”

  “Wow!” was all she could think of to say. She didn’t know how to react to being told she was toxic, so she changed the subject.

  “At my graduation, I felt a pull to you that I never felt when I was a kid. Was that the some sort of vampyre trick?”

  “No, that would be puberty,” he said, laughing again.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Puberty. You didn’t feel that pull when you were a child, because you had yet to go through puberty. You felt it at graduation, because…well, you had become a woman,” he explained.

  “No, that can’t be right. If it was only puberty, why was I only drawn to you? Why not one of the boys at school?”

  “Because we’re mates, lovers, and your body knew that somehow,” he said.

  She stared at him in shock. He had to be insane, because there was no way that that was true.

  “You’re lying. I would never have a lover.”

  “You’re only eighteen years old, Beck. What makes you think that you would never take a lover?”

  “I have my reasons,” she said guardedly.

  “Don’t you ever plan to get married?” he asked with a ghost of a smile on his lips.

  “No, I don’t, so I know you’re lying.”

  “I’m not lying. We are lovers, and you know I’m telling the truth,” he said gently.

  If he was lying, she couldn’t feel it, but didn’t understand how it could be the truth. Even if she could except that she would ever have a lover, the fact that she had never had sex with him still remained.

  “It just can’t be true.”

  “It can’t be true, yet it is. Why would I tell you that I’m a vampyre and lie about being your lover?” he asked. “Now it’s my turn to ask you a question.”

  “What could you possibly want to ask me that you don’t already know?” she asked.

  “The boy that you were looking at, at your graduation?”

  “What boy?” she asked confused. There had been a lot of people at her graduation.

  “The name on his car registration was Alex Whitman.”

  She flinched as if he had slapped her.

  “Who is he?” he asked again.

  “Why are you asking me? You seem to already know who he is.”

  “Allow me to rephrase the question. Who is he to you?”

  “I’m not comfortable talking about this with you.”

  “Please, Little One. I need to know.”

  “I have a hard time talking about it.”

  “Can you think about it?”

  “Sometimes I can’t stop thinking about it,” she admitted.

  “I can see other people’s memories. If you will allow me to take your hand, then I can see who he is for myself.”

  “You can see people’s memories?” she asked in surprise.

  “Only if the person allows me, but yes I can.”

  She thought about that for a moment. She wasn’t totally sure that she wanted to share this with him, but he’d shared who he was with her. And it wasn’t like what Alex had done to her was a big secret. She hesitated a moment longer, and then held her hand out to him.

  “Thank you,” he said, taking her hand. His hand was cool around hers.

  “What do I do now?”

  “All you need to do is think about the memory that you want to give me. As you remember it, I’ll see it,” he explained.

  “Okay,” she said and watched him close his eyes.

  She closed her eyes as well and skimmed as lightly as she could over the memory of that night with Alex. She finished the memory and snapped her eyes open when she felt his rage. She didn’t know that rage this pure could even exist.

  “He raped you! He beat you, broke you, and left you to walk miles in pain!” he roared. “He dared to take a woman’s virginity against her will! He dared to touch my woman!”
r />   “Shh! Calm down,” she said. She didn’t need everyone in the dorm to know what had happened to her.

  “I will not calm down,” he said.

  “It’s in the past. It’s over.”

  “No, it’s not. I have to get out of here. I need to…I’m going to…I have to get out of here. I’ll be back in a few hours,” he said and walked out of the room.

  She didn’t know where he was going, or if he would really come back. She may have scared him away with that memory. She started unpacking her boxes for lack of anything better to do. When everything was put away, he still wasn’t back. She took a shower, put on her pajamas, and popped a movie into her DVD player. When the movie was over, he still had not returned. She flipped off the light and went to bed, pretending to herself that she didn’t care.

  ***

  He was running through the darkness back to Clarksville. He had a car but running was faster. He ‘d had his brother, Leso, pace him in a car once. The cars speedometer had pegged out at 120 mph, and he had left it behind. The faster he ran, the angrier he became. He kept seeing that boy smile at Beck at the graduation ceremony.

  He had been laughing at her! He had believed that he had gotten away with what he had done to her. He had been wrong! A fresh wave of rage washed over him every time he thought of that boy touching Beck. Justice had missed Alex Whitman the first time around, but it was coming at him now, and this justice was not blind.

  He reached Clarksville before midnight. There was nothing he could do to change what had happened to Beck, but he would do the one thing that the courts had refused to do. He would make her righteous. He would give her the justice that the courts had failed to deliver.

  He had known that Beck wasn’t a virgin the first time they had made love, but she had never told him about this. He wondered why she hadn’t told him, but knew he would never know. He knew where the Whitman boy lived, he had been here before. He had followed his scent there after the graduation to find out who he was. He could have waited to hear his name at the ceremony, but he had chosen to leave after Beck had taken her diploma. He had been angry that Beck had been staring at Alex, and that Alex had smiled at her.