The Undead Heart

by Tate Jackson

  “We didn’t ask you hunter!” Jonathon spat. Beck didn’t care for Jonathon’s tone. “You need to either shut your mouth or get the hell out of my house!”

  “I did not mean to offend you,” Jonathon apologized.

  “Who were you trying to offend then? My brother?” Jonathon asked coldly, “Oh, so today he is your brother?”

  “He was my brother long before today, and I want you out of my house, now.”

  Her family was watching the argument like a tennis match. “Don’t you talk to my husband like that,” Gabryel yelled. “I wasn’t talking to you, bitch,” Beck snapped. “Why don’t you get up and follow his ass out the door?”

  Jonathon stood up. “You apologize to my wife immediately!”

  Potter stepped in front of her and took a defensive stance.

  “Are you going to kill me hunter?” Jonathon snarled. “Only if you take one more step towards Beck,” Potter said calmly, but she could feel the rage pouring out of him.

  Jonathon asked, “Do you think a room full of vampyres are going to allow you to kill one of their own kind?”

  “Do you see any of us jumping up to help your dumb ass?” Harley smiled.

  “The only reason we’re sitting here is because Potter doesn’t need any help from us,” Bruce added.

  “Beck, either,” Jenny assured him. Jonathon was shocked. “You would allow him to kill me?”

  “You started it, dear,” Rita said kindly, but her eyes were as cold as ice.

  “I did not come here to be spoken to like this by Richard’s whore!” Jonathon roared.

  Everyone had surged to their feet when she heard a crash from behind her. When she spun around, Richard was standing where her front door use to be, and her door was lying broken on the floor. Well, shit!

  “What did you just call my wife?!” Richard growled.

  All of the vampyres who had stood to her defense, sat back down. Potter pulled her to the side, so that there was no one between Jonathon and Richard.

  “She called my wife a bitch. I simply demanded an apology, and her hunter threatened to kill me,” Jonathon explained, backing up. Beck laughed and looked up at Potter. “Are you my hunter?”

  “I reckon so,” Potter smiled.

  His rage was gone, and she could feel that he was enjoying himself now. Richard considered Jonathon’s explanation for a moment, and then asked, “Why would Beck call your wife a bitch?”

  “Because my wife asked her not to speak to me the manner she was,” Jonathon stated carefully, taking another step back as Richard stepped into the room.

  Heidi spoke up helpfully. “No. She yelled it at Beck when Beck told Jonathon to get out of her house. That’s when Beck called her a bitch and told her to get out with him.”

  Gabryel shot Heidi a dirty look.

  “Just wanted him to get the facts straight,” Heidi said, shrugging. Richard nodded and walked further into the room.

  “And yet, here you both still stand. Just out of curiosity, why was Beck throwing you out of her house?”

  “Because I offended her hunter,” Jonathon said quietly.

  “So, you offended her brother, in her house, and she told you to leave?”

  “Yes,” was all Jonathon said. “Now that I know what happened, why don’t you answer my original question? What did you call my wife?” Richard asked, but Jonathon said nothing.

  It was Harley that decided to be helpful this time. “He called her a whore.”

  “Yes, that’s what I thought he said,” Richard said, and lunged at Jonathon.

  He was so fast that he was just a streak as he shot in front of her. He snatched Jonathon up, cracked him backward across his knee, and threw him through the empty door frame. When he jumped out of the house after him, everyone rushed outside.

  Richard was pounding on him like he’d done Potter, only much worse. The hunters must have heard Jonathon’s screams, because they all emerged from around the house. Saphira and Jenny were holding onto a screaming Gabryel.

  “Stop! Please stop!” Jonathon screamed in pain, but Richard ignored him. The hunters all stood watching, looking only mildly curious. When she looked up at Potter, he had a big grin on his face.

  “What are you smiling about?!”

  “It’s not me this time,” he said happily. She watched as Richard broke Jonathon’s arms, legs, back, ribs, collarbones, hands, and face over and over again.

  “Is he going to kill him?” she whispered nervously to Potter.

  “No, but I bet right about now, Jonathon wishes he would,” he laughed.

  Harley called from down the row of people, “I think Richard is a little pissed off.”

  When she leaned out to look at Harley, she saw that he and Bruce were doubled over, laughing. It seemed to go on forever, but it was probably only five or six minutes.

  When it was over, Richard stood over Jonathon and asked, “Do you still want to stay?”

  “Yes,” Jonathon answered quietly.

  “Then you should know that if you ever so much as speak to my wife again, I will tear off your fucking head. If I’m not here to do it, then her brother will do it for me. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes.”

  Richard nodded and walked over to Beck and Potter. He reached out, put his hand on Potter’s shoulder, and nodded at him. Potter nodded back. She knew it was an apology, and a thank you, and Potter had acknowledged both. Richard turned to her, put his arm around her, and walked back into the house.

  Potter picked up the groceries from where he had set them inside the door, headed for the kitchen with them, and asked, “You’re still going to make the lasagna, right?”

  “Yes, I’m still going to make lasagna.” She turned to Richard. “You do know that if you turn a door knob that the door will open, don’t you?”

  “Sorry about that, but I was defending your honor.” She smiled at him, and teased, “You should have defended my door.”

  “Hey, at least I didn’t tear up the whole house. It took me a minute to figure out how to get him outside.”

  “Is that why you were asking so many questions?” Potter asked.

  “Yes. I couldn’t have cared less why he called her a whore. I just didn’t want to destroy the house.”

  “Well, thank you for that, but you’re still buying me a new door,” Beck said.

  “I’ll go get the wood first thing in the morning.”

  “The wood?” she asked, pulling the pots and pans out from under the counter.

  “Yes. I made that door.”

  “Really?” It was such a beautifully carved door. She’d just assumed that he’d bought it.

  “He made most of this house,” Potter said. “He split the logs, made all of the doors and window frames. He even made the floors.”

  “You didn’t tell me you did all that,” she said, looking at Richard. “I told you I built the house.” With the exception of Jonathon and Gabryel, everyone had drifted back into the house. Soon, they’d all packed into the kitchen.

  “Let me help with that,” Bev said, and started chopping up the mushrooms.

  “How could you hold the weight of a car?” Bruce asked Beck. “Beck became a hunter today,” Richard answered for her. He sounded a little bitter, but not mad anymore.

  The whole room gasped.

  “But I can still smell her scent,” Charley said.

  Jeremy agreed. “So can I.”

  “She didn’t lose her scent,” Potter explained. “I also didn’t get the enhanced hearing or vision.”

  “But she got everything else,” Potter added.

  “So, you’re not human anymore?” Bev asked.

  “No, I’m not.”

  Jeremy inquired, “How did you do it?”

  “She injected my blood into her vein,” Potter said.

  Bev gasped. “Wasn’t that dangerous?”

  “Yes, it was dangerous, but it was what I wanted.”

  “You could have died, you know,” Jenny fusse
d. “I know, but I didn’t.”

  Gavin asked, “Did you do it to stay young?”

  “No, I don’t care about staying young. I did it to stay alive, to spend as much time as I can get with my family.” She flipped on the light over the stove, and blew the bulb. “Damn it!”

  “Don’t worry about it. We were prepared for you to come home. We have a whole case of light bulbs in the mud room,” Bruce said.

  Harley laughed. “Just don’t touch the big screen in the living room.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Everyone seems to have handled what I did it pretty well,” Beck told Richard later that night on the porch.

  “Yes, they’re all very happy about it.”

  “How about you? How do you feel about it?”

  “I’m good with it, I guess. I was a little mad about it at first, but only because you could have killed yourself.”

  “Come on. I know that’s not all that’s bothering you. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “It’s just, you already had more in common with Potter than with me, and now you two share this too,” he told her softly.

  “Are you jealous of Potter?”

  “A little bit,” he admitted. “Why?” she laughed. “You know how much I love you.”

  “I know. I’m not jealous in that way. It’s just that he’s always with you. He knows how to talk to you. He knows how to comfort you when you need it. It’s not enough that he’s a hunter, now he has you, too,” he said sadly.

  “He does not have me, you do. And what does him being a hunter have to do with anything?”

  “You know what I mean. He sleeps, eats, and drinks just like you do.”

  “You drink.”

  “Yes, blood. That hardly counts,” he mumbled. “I think you’re perfect the way you are,” she said, rubbing his arm. Sarcastically, he said, “Sure, who wouldn’t love someone who spends their days sucking the blood out of the local wildlife?”

  “Would you like me to send away for something more exotic for you? A giraffe, perhaps?” she smiled.

  Smiling a little, he said, “That’s not funny, and you know that’s not what I meant.”

  “Then what do you mean?”

  “That I’m a monster.”

  “You are not a monster!” she snapped.

  “Yes, I am. Hell, they write horror stories about me, Beck.”

  “What are you reading that trash for anyway? You know as well as I do that the people who wrote those stories never even met a vampyre. Everything they write about, they get from myths and legends.”

  “Maybe, but most of them have it right enough. Vampyres hunting and killing humans, drinking their blood.”

  “You’re not like that, and you damn well know it.”

  “I’ve done it, though.”

  “Damon’s right. You’re very ‘woe is me’. You have got to let this go,” she sighed.

  “Could you let it go? You chose to become a hunter today, not a vampyre.”

  “You know I couldn’t do that. Your toxin would have killed me.”

  “Exactly. I am poison to you.”

  “My blood is poison to you,” she reminded him. “Does that make me a monster?”

  “It’s not the same thing. If my toxin would not have killed you, would you have allowed me to bite you today, or would you still have chosen to be a hunter?”

  “I still would have chosen to be a hunter, but only because I would’ve had a choice. You weren’t given one. That choice was made for you. I know you would have chosen to be a hunter.”

  “I would have chosen to remain human.”

  “Well, you’re not human anymore, and you never will be again.”

  “Well, that’s comforting,” he frowned.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be comforting, just true.”

  “Don’t you think I know I’m not human? That I will never again be human? I am reminded of it with every swallow of blood.”

  “I know you know it. Now, you just need to accept it.”

  “I can learn to accept anything as long as you’re with me,” he said, kissing her hand.

  She smiled, “Anything?”

  “Anything.”

  “Even me being a hunter?”

  “Even that.”

  “Good. I’m going to go grab a shower before bed. Meet me upstairs in twenty minutes?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  ***

  As she stood in the spray of the shower, she thought about what he’d said. He would’ve chosen to remain human. He would’ve remained what she had so easily thrown away. She had spoken the truth. He would never be human again, nor would she.

  There was no way back to humanity for either of them. She’d expected to feel differently when she became a hunter, but she still felt human.

  Apparently, Richard did not. It must be different for vampyres, or maybe it was just him. When she walked back into the bedroom, he was undressed and waiting for her.

  “You look beautiful,” he told her. “I’m naked.” He smiled. “I noticed that. Come here.”

  She walked to where he was sitting on the foot of the bed. He put his arms around her waist and rested his head on her breast.

  “I love you, Beck,” he said softly.

  “Show me.”

  He pulled her down on the bed with him. When the lovemaking was over and he lay with his heart pounding against her chest, she slid her hand up the bed.

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Of course I trust you,” he said, his cool breath brushing against her skin. She pulled her hand out from underneath the pillow, drove a needle into his back, and pushed the plunger. “Oww! What was that? What did you do?” he asked, raising himself up on his arms.

  She watched as his eyes slid out of focus. “I love you, too,” she said right before he collapsed on top of her.

  ***

  She lay beneath him until his heartbeat and breathing had stopped. She got out of bed, dressed, pulled a chair up to the bed, and watched him. She was almost sure that this wouldn’t kill him since, technically, he was already dead. When he didn’t wake up in two hours, she became nervous. After three hours, she was worried.

  She was on the verge of panic when he took a ragged breath. He didn’t take another breath for thirty minutes. She watched him all night, until he was taking a breath about every five minutes. When the sun started to come up, she climbed into bed beside him and fell asleep.

  When she woke up at noon, he was still out. His breathing was deep and even, and his skin was warm to the touch. It had worked. He wasn’t human, but he was no longer a vampyre. She wasn’t sure that what she’d done would work on any of the other vampyres, but Richard had been different. He had still craved food and could vomit.

  None of the other vampyres wanted anything to do with food, and none of them had a gag reflex. She’d asked. She watched him for a couple of more minutes, and then went downstairs to get some lunch. he found Potter, Jenny, and Bev in the kitchen.

  “Where’s Richard?” Jenny asked. “I haven’t seen him all day.”

  “Um… he’s sleeping.” Potter was confused. “Sleeping? But he slept yesterday morning before going hunting.”

  “Well, yeah, he did, but he’s going to be sleeping a lot more now,” Beck said vaguely.

  Jenny laughed. “He can’t sleep more than that, Beck.”

  “He can now,” she said quietly. “What are you talking about?” Bev asked.

  “BECK!” Richard screamed from upstairs. She jumped, and sparks shot out of the outlet that the coffeemaker was plugged into.

  “So, what did you do now?” Bev asked calmly, looking at the fried outlet.

  Bev had seen Beck fry so many things over the years that the sparks shooting out of the outlet hadn’t fazed her at all. “BECK!” Richard bellowed again. She could hear him coming down the stairs.

  “Can’t you run really fast now?” Bev asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You should probably do
that now,” Bev said, taking another sip of her coffee.

  “Good idea,” she agreed, jumping up and shooting out of the house, glad that she didn’t have to stop to open the door.

  She had a head start, so she made it to the edge of the yard before Richard jumped over her and blocked her path to the woods. She turned to go in the other direction, but he grabbed her.

  “Why are you running from me, woman?!” he growled. “You don’t know why I’m running?” she asked, surprised. “No, I don’t.”

  “Then why were you yelling my name?”

  “Because, it’s daylight, and I don’t remember falling asleep,” he said, looking a little scared, and very confused.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?”

  “Lying in bed with you after making love. You asked me if I trusted you.”

  “What else?”

  “Nothing else. That’s the last thing I remember.”Potter landed on the grass beside them. “What’s going on?”

  He looked at Richard strangely and leaned towards him a little. She knew Potter had noticed that Richard’s scent was gone. He whipped around and looked at her.

  “Nooo…,” Potter said in a strangled whisper.

  “Yeah,” she confirmed.

  “You didn’t,” Potter whispered.

  “I did,” she admitted.

  He looked back at Richard in amazement. “What is going on?!” Richard demanded.

  “He doesn’t know?” Potter asked.

  She shook her head.

  “You didn’t ask him first?” Potter asked in shock.

  She shook her head again and Potter’s face split into a smile. “Is anybody going to tell me what’s going on?” Richard asked, letting go of her arm.

  Potter immediately grabbed her and put her behind him.

  “What are you doing that for? What’s wrong with you two?” Richard asked. “And, what is that damn humming noise?” Potter said in amusement, “I believe that humming noise is the blood running through your head.”

  “The what? What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about your blood. Have you not noticed that it’s moving? How about that you’re breathing and your heart’s beating? Have you not noticed that yet, either?”