The Undead Heart

by Tate Jackson

  “I didn’t intend to, it just slid down my throat.”

  “Yeah, we call the swallowing.”

  “It was worth it,” he grinned. “Richard, do you like being a vampyre?” she asked, curious if he felt the same way about it now as he had when she had met him.

  “It does not matter whether I like it or not. It is what I am.”

  “That’s not what I asked you.”

  “Until quite recently, I would have said no, but now I’m glad for it.”

  “Why?”

  “If you would have come here, and I was human when you left, I would have never seen you again. In truth, I never would have met you. My life would have been over by now. Being a vampyre means I can walk through all the years it takes to get back to you. I now think of it as a blessing.” She wondered if he’d feel that way if he found out who gave him this ‘blessing’ and why.

  “Why didn’t you like being a vampyre before I came here?”

  “I was just never comfortable with it. I drink blood to sustain the thirst, but I hate it. I do my best not to think about it, but every few days I must hunt, and drink blood to feed the thirst. I can never forget what I am,” he said sadly.

  “It can’t be all that bad.”

  “Yes, it can. If you could find a way to confine me for a couple of weeks and put a human in with me, I would feed on them. The thirst would control me, and I would be helpless to stop it.”

  “But that’s not your fault.”

  “No, it’s not, but it is what I am, and I can never change that.”She climbed onto his lap and kissed him. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

  “And I am not, not anymore. If not for that, we would not be sitting here today. I am no longer human, but I do have you. It was a fair trade,” he said, hugging her to him.

  “Would you be that hard to confine?” He sat her off his lap and stood up. He jumped from the rock to the base of a large tree about twenty yards away. The circumference of the tree had to be at least ten feet. He put his hand up against it and pushed. He jumped out of the way as the roots of the tree tore free from the ground under his feet. The tree fell to the ground with an earth-shaking crash. He leapt back onto the rock, landing beside her.

  “Where would you put me that I would not escape?”

  “Do you have a problem with trees in general, or what?” she asked, remembering the tree he kicked over on the side of the road in Clarksville. “Excuse me?”

  “Never mind, just take it easy on the trees. We kind of need them.”

  She hadn’t shown him that memory, because they had been talking about her plan to kill Elderson and his clan with her blood. She wouldn’t be sharing that memory with him while she was here, maybe not ever.

  “The only way you can confine a vampyre is with silver. We don’t have any strength against it.”

  “Would you rather be like Potter?”

  “Potter is just as susceptible to silver as a vampyre.”

  “That’s not what I meant. Would you rather be a Hunter?”

  “A hunter?! I’ve never thought about it before. The only hunters we have encountered before Potter, we killed. Until I met him, I didn’t know hunters could be so normal. I never knew they could have a sense of humor or the ability to love.”

  “I told you that you would like him.”

  “He is growing on me,” he admitted. “Think of all the years you have ahead of you to enjoy him,” she laughed. “All the years without you,” he told her sadly. “Hey, don’t think about that now.”

  “I cannot help it,” he said softly. “Do you want to hear the selfish thing about being a vampyre?”

  “Sure.”

  “If I knew my toxin wouldn’t kill you, I would bite you. I would turn you into a vampyre just to keep you with me forever.” He was ashamed of himself, she could feel it. “I don’t think I would want to be a vampyre.”

  “That’s the thing, though. I don’t care. I wouldn’t ask you. I wouldn’t need your permission. I would just do it.”

  “You wouldn’t ask me? You wouldn’t care how I felt about it?”

  “No, I wouldn’t.”

  She was glad to hear that. “Well then, I guess it’s a good thing that you know it would kill me.” she only half joked.

  “Are you mad at me for feeling that way?”

  She replied honestly, “Not even a little bit.”

  “I love you, Little One.” He ran his fingertips down her check.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Say it again.”

  “I love you, too.”

  ***

  The next month passed pleasantly, with no more unexpected surprises. On November 11th, Richard announced that he would be taking her to the opera the following evening. She hated opera, but now knew where they had been walking back from when she had been killed. All she’d known before was that they had been returning from a night in the city. It seemed a bit unfair that she had been subjected to opera and killed all in the same night.

  “You’ll like the opera. You said you missed music.”

  “I do miss music, just not opera.”

  “We don’t have to go.”

  “No! I want to go.” She had to go. If she didn’t, things would change again, and she would miss her chance to end this with Elderson. “I want you to do something for me first, though.”

  “What would you like me to do?”

  “I would like you to watch a movie with me?”

  “A what?”

  “A movie. It’s like a play with special effects.”

  “Where would you suggest we see this ‘movie’?”

  “Right here in our room.”

  “Come again?”

  “I didn’t have any friends growing up, so I watched a lot of movies. There are a lot of movies I watched so many times that I have them memorized. When I get bored, I can just watch a movie in my head.”

  “If you can do it, I would be very happy to watch it with you,” he said excitedly.

  “How about a scary movie?” He laughed at her. “I’m a vampyre, Beck. You can’t scare me.”

  “I’ll take that challenge.” she said, and walked to the bedroom door. “Where are you going?”

  “To pee. A movie takes about two hours to watch. While I’m gone, I’ll think of the perfect movie to scare the hell out of you,” she told him as she went out the door.

  On her walk to the woods, she ran through her list of memorized horror movies. It wasn’t until she was on her way back that the perfect movie occurred to her. She was so excited that she ran the rest of the way back to the house and up the stairs to their room.

  “I’ve got it!”

  “Got what?”

  “The perfect movie to scare the big, bad vampyre.”

  “It won’t work.”

  “We’ll see about that. Lay down.” He laid on the bed, and she settled down beside him. He moved to take her hand, but she snatched it away. “No way! You’re not crushing my hand into dust. I’ll just hold onto your wrist.”

  “You’re being silly, Beck. There’s nothing you can show me that would scare me.”

  “That’s what you think now.”

  “Fine. What is the name of the play we’ll be watching?” he asked with a sigh.

  “It’s a movie not a play. And I need you to remember that it is only a movie. It’s not a memory of anything that actually happened, though it is supposed to have been based on a true story.”

  “I do actually understand the concept of make believe, you know. Are you going to tell me the name of the play or not?”

  “Movie, and it’s called The Exorcist.”

  “Well, let’s have it, then.”

  “Alright.”

  She laid her hand on his wrist. She started the movie in her head. She’d seen this movie so many times that it came easily to her. He handled it pretty well for awhile, but when they got to the part where the girl spider-walks down the stairs, he pulled his wrist away.

&nb
sp; “Something wrong?” she inquired, innocently. “No, please continue,” he said nervously, putting his arm back down. She touched his wrist again, glad that he could not feel her joy at his rising fear. He pulled his arm back again when he saw the girl’s demon face.

  “Yes?” she asked sweetly.

  “I just thought you might like something to drink. I know it’s warm up here to you,” he said politely.

  “No, thank you, I’m fine.”

  “Just thought I would check,” he resigned himself, laying his arm back down.

  She laid her hand on his wrist again and continued the movie. He was terrified now, and she was loving it. When the girl started masturbating with a cross, she lost him. He was off the bed, with his back against the wall in less than a second.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you ever watch anything like that?” he asked in a shocked voice.

  She couldn’t help it. She had to laugh at him.

  “Look at you! I watched this movie for the first time when I was 13 years old. I watched it at night, by myself, in the dark. You are an 84 year old vampyre, and you’re trembling in a corner in broad daylight. I believe you said, ‘I’m a vampyre, Beck. You can’t scare me.’ What happened, big boy?” she asked, still laughing at him.

  “I am not scared.”

  “Ohh, you liar! Lie to someone else. I can feel how scared you are!” she cackled.

  “Fine, it scared me a little. I just didn’t expect it to look so real, to feel so real. You were right. It is definitely not a play.”

  “Do you want to see the rest of it or not?”

  “I have to finish it. I need to know how it ends.”

  “Well, then pull yourself off the wall and get back over here.”

  He managed to stay on the bed for the rest of the movie, though he did give a couple of good jumps. When it was over, she got up and walked to the door.

  “Where are you going now?!” he asked in a near panicked voice. “Now I do need something to drink. I’ll be right back.”

  “I’ll come with you,” he stated, jumping off the bed and landing by the door.

  “You’re such a wuss,” she laughed as she opened the door.

  He held her hand all the way down the steps and into the kitchen. Leso, Potter, and Jenny were sitting around the kitchen table. Potter was eating… again.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Leso asked Richard in a shocked voice. She nearly dropped the jug of tea she was holding when she doubled over laughing.

  “Beck showed me a movie,” he explained. “A what?’ Leso asked.

  Richard did his best to describe what he had seen.

  “That doesn’t sound so bad,” Potter stated.

  “You didn’t see it.”

  “I’ve never seen you scared like this before,” Leso smiled. “You don’t understand how terrifying it was,” Richard replied, sheepishly.

  “In 1973, you can take him to see it,” Beck alluded while motioning to Leso.

  “He can go see it. I think I’ll pass on seeing it again.”

  “Oh, don’t be such a baby. It was only a movie.”

  “Yes, don’t be such a baby,” Leso mimicked Beck. Richard reached over and flicked Leso’s arm, breaking it with a loud crack. Leso shook his arm and was all better. “Does it even hurt when your bones break?”

  “Yes, it feels just like it would to you if your arm was to break, but the pain only last for a second,” Leso explained.

  “Gruesome.”

  “That is exactly what that movie was. Gruesome!”

  “Come on, let’s go upstairs. We’ll find you a movie that won’t scare the crap out of you.”

  “I want to see another scary one.”

  “Sure you do.”

  “I really do. It was kind of fun.”

  “Well, go upstairs and I’ll be up in a minute. I need to talk to Potter in private real quick.”

  “I’ll wait for you here.”

  “You big baby,” she said, standing.

  “Can you come outside for a second?” she asked Potter. “Sure thing,” he said, and followed her out the door. They walked out of earshot of the vampyres in the house. “You know you owe me, right?”

  He nodded.“I owe you everything.”

  “When I get back to the future, I’m going to ask you for something. I want you to promise that you’ll give it to me.”

  “Are you going to tell me what I’ll be giving to you?”

  “No.”

  “In that case, of course I’ll give it to you,” Potter told her, smiling. “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  “Okay, we can go back in now.”

  “Okay.” He grabbed her around the waist and leapt back across the yard.

  ***

  The next morning found them at the kitchen table again. She was still tired. She hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Richard had really gotten into seeing the movies she knew, and she had been up most of the night running movies through her head for him. He had seen The Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, and Chucky. She’d also shown him Close Encounters of the Third Kind before she had fallen asleep. “That was one of the best nights I’ve ever had,” Richard said happily. She wanted to slap him for being so perky, while she was sucking down the bitter, sorry excuse for coffee that they had here.

  “The things you get to see in your daily life are amazing.”

  “Yeah, it’s awesome,” she said, less than enthusiastically. “You’ll get to see them all too. You just have to catch up first.”

  “Yes,” he responded, the smile falling off of his face. “I’m going to the stream. I need to splash some cold water on my face to wake up, and then we really do need to talk.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  When she got to the stream and the cool water, she felt much better, “You wanna go to the lake?”

  “Yes, but wait here for a minute,” he said and was gone. He was back a couple of minutes later with a picnic basket.

  “What do you have?”

  “Muffins, bread, meat, and tea.”

  “That’s a big breakfast.”

  “Only the muffins are for you,” he told her sheepishly.

  “Well, just don’t swallow anything this time,” she smiled. “I’ll do my best.”The lake was beautiful in the morning sun. “I’m going to miss this place.”

  “I’m going to miss the sound of your lilting voice,” he stated softly.“Chew your breakfast.”

  She knew he was having a hard time accepting that she was going to be gone soon. She didn’t know how to comfort him. Hell, she didn’t even know if she would survive this day.

  “Did you tell everyone that when I’m gone they have to leave here, too?”

  “I did.”

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “Are they going to do it?”

  “Of course they’re going to do it.”

  “Are they mad about it?” she asked while picking at a muffin.

  He picked her up with one hand and sat her in his lap.

  “Beck, you came a long way to help us. They all know that. If you say run, we’ll run. They’re not thrilled about it, but they’ll do it.”

  “What if I haven’t helped? What if they all die anyway?” she worried. “What if Leso, Potter, Jenny, or God forbid, you die? It will be because of something I did, or failed to do.”

  “No, Little One, never think like that. You have done everything you can. You’ve warned us, and taught them to fight. What more could you have done?”

  She could have told him the truth. She could’ve told him everything she really knew, but she hadn’t, and wouldn’t do it now. She would tell him everything when she got home, but not before then.

  “Nothing, I guess. When I go, you need to go to Dublin, Ireland. You’ll find a vampyre there named Jeremy McMantis. He’s an animal hunter like you, and he’s a friend to you, or at least he will be.”

  “Do you know wh
ere he is in Dublin?”

  “No, not exactly, but with all of your vampyre senses, you shouldn’t have a hard time finding him.”

  “We’ll find him, don’t worry.”

  “I also have a letter for you to give to Bev,” she said, pulling the letter out of her front pocket. “Give this to her in the future after I step back in time. I’ll be in that building for 24 hours. That’s how long you’ll have to get to her from wherever she’s at and get her to Clarksville.” She handed him the letter.

  “May I?” he nodded at the letter.“Sure.”

  He read it aloud:

  Bev, You need to go with this man. His name is Richard, and he’s my husband. I’m out of the country right now without my cell phone, but I’ll talk to you when I get back. Richard’s gonna take you to a man named Leso. Leso is gonna be your husband, but you’ll understand when you see him. Believe everything they tell you, it’s all true.

  See you soon, Beck

  “She knows my handwriting. She’ll go with you. The other side is for Leso after you get Bev.”

  He flipped it over and read: Okay, NOW I say. “He’ll know what it means.” He nodded and put the letter in the picnic basket. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back to his chest. “I don’t want you to go,” he told her thickly.

  “I have to, I don’t have a choice.”

  “I know, but I don’t have to like it.”

  “We’ll be together again, and the next time, it will be for the rest of our lives,” she said, hoping that she wasn’t lying to him.

  ***

  They spent the rest of the day relaxing, making love, and talking. When the sun started to set, they walked home to get ready for their night out at the opera. Jenny loaned her a dress that would be more appropriate for the opera than anything she had.

  The only thing she really cared about was that the dress had big, loose pockets that she could put her hands in. She braided her hair down the center of her back and tied it with a ribbon. She got the hypodermic needle out of the bag and put it in the pocket of the dress.

  Richard was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs. “Ready?”

  “Almost. I need to visit the little girl’s woods first.”