I didn’t have to turn around to picture the look on his face. He was angry with me. I wasn’t really sure why except that he’d once told me vampires had extremely strong emotions. His behavior confused me. For someone who had toyed with my emotions, he seemed oddly upset. I could only assume, for some reason I couldn’t fathom, he wasn’t quite ready to give up his play thing just yet. Now it was my turn to humph.
Go play with Lucy was all I could think to say in response.
I took a deep breath of air and sighed. I missed my Daniel, the one I thought loved me and would always be there for me. I desperately wished he actually existed. I tried to push my despair and anger to the side in favor of the gracefulness of the hawk but failed. Figuring hydration was always a good idea; I picked up the glass and took a large drink of water.
Finally I could take it no longer and turned around to see if Daniel was still watching me. But he was gone. Where did he go? Wasn’t he supposed to keep an eye on me? Suddenly indignant, I got up to go find him. I walked through the house looking behind doors and finally made my way back to the door after the infamous blood closet. I knocked and opened it. Daniel was there. He was sitting in a chair, his back to me, staring out a window down on the lake.
“Daniel?”
When I got closer I noticed he was hooked up to some sort of IV only to realize that the bag hanging on the hook above his head was full of blood.
“Now you get to see the real me,” he said in a defeated tone. “I have to stay full to be around you.”
“Full?” I asked, sliding down to sit on the floor with my back against the floor length window he’d been looking out.
“The emptier we get, the more the craving grows. It’s easier to control the animal if it’s kept fat and happy. This is one reason a blood hunter is so dangerous. They fast on purpose when they’re hunting a target.”
I watched in fascination as he leaned over and adjusted the needle in his arm.
“How often do you have to do that?”
“Every couple of days or so. Sometimes less depending on how much I have to interact with humans. I can go ten days if I have to, but it’s not pretty on day ten. I won’t kill anyone, but I’ll be in a really bad mood all day.”
“Okay, maybe it’s a stupid myth, but can you really poke yourself with a needle? Wouldn’t it just break if you tried?”
He chuckled. “No, that one’s true. We use special needles that Randall has custom made. They’re diamond tipped. It’s the only thing that will penetrate our skin without breaking, at least the only thing like a needle.”
“Sounds expensive.”
“They are. Which is a good reason to invest wisely.” He smiled at me in spite of himself.
I hesitated for a moment looking up at the bag of blood above his head, then curiously asked “What does it feel like?”
“Humm … It’s hard to describe to a human. There’s not much to use as a common frame of reference.” He leaned back in the chair and looked as if he was searching for words.
“I remember when I was human going out into the woods on a sunny afternoon sometimes. I would go to this field on the edge of our property that we used for hay. I’d find an especially sunny spot, take off my shirt and letting go of every care, thought or worry, I’d lie down in the tall grass on my back. Cutting a piece of grass, I’d stick it between my teeth and close my eyes, breathing the earthy smell of the field in deeply. I remember feeling the sun on my skin, pouring over me with its warm rays. It would start out as just warm, but then ever so slowly it would grow hotter and hotter until you felt like you were almost baking. But it felt so good, as if you were floating up to the sky, closer and closer to the sun,”
“Wow,” I whispered in awe.
“Well, like I said, it’s hard to describe. – How’s the shoulder feeling?”
“Better,” I said lifting my arm a little.
“You really should have it in a sling.”
“I didn’t hurt it that bad.”
The bag above his head now empty, he leaned over and disconnected the needle.
“You don’t have to spare my feelings if that’s what you’re trying to do. Thomas told me how badly I’d injured it.”
“Thomas exaggerates.”
I heard voices in the living room. The other three had returned.
“I’d better give up my spot at the table. I think one of them may want a turn.”
Looking down at me, he paused for a moment as our eyes met. For a second I saw my Daniel there, but not wanting to cry, I turned and looked out the window behind me. He stood up and headed over to the door and after opening it, waited for me to go through first. When I made to pass him, he held up his arm and stopped me.
“Sara, I don’t understand what’s wrong – what could have happened to … but you have to talk to me. I can’t go on like this.”
He opened his mouth to continue but abruptly stopped when Lucy swept past us in the doorway, presumably to fill up on pig.
Seeing my chance to escape, I quickly started down the hallway. After I heard him sigh deeply, I heard the sound of his footsteps following behind me on the wooden floorboards. Why couldn’t he have just stayed back there with her? I didn’t want to hear him lie to me or say it was over. I mean, I knew it was, but I wasn’t sure I could bear to hear the actual words come out his mouth. Let him think I wanted a life with Ben. If he believed me, at least he wouldn’t think me the liar that I knew he was.
Thomas and Lily were sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper.
“You look much better,” he said, smiling as he put the paper down at my approach.
“I feel much better. You’re a good doctor.”
“Not for many years, my dear,” Thomas laughed.
“Thomas was a doctor when he was human,” Lily added.
“Well, I still am, aren’t I?” he laughed back her way.
“Sure, as long as no one bleeds you are,” Lily teased as she playfully swatted him on the arm.
“Ha-Ha-Ha,” Thomas mockingly laughed back at her with a smile that said how much he loved her. Were they a romantic couple?
They were so normal sounding in the way they talked that they instantly put me at ease, and picking up part of the paper to look over, I took a seat at the table with them.
Without a word, Daniel walked over and handed me a glass of water and a few pills to take. I took the glass and drank half of it down, but left the pills on the table for later. Taking the seat next to me, Daniel picked up the sports section and together the four of us sat around the table in silence reading.
A few minutes later I peered over the top of the paper to see Lucy walking around in the backyard. Daniel glanced up when I did. He looked back down at his paper only to get up and walk out the back door a minute later.
I took a deep breath and looked at the pills on the table. No I thought, I need to stay clear headed and quietly put them in my pocket as I drank the rest of the water. When I put the heavy glass back down on the table I saw Thomas watching me closely.
“What?” I asked, rousing Lily to put her paper down as well and look up.
“You picked up the glass with your right hand.”
I looked down. “Yes. I had the paper in the other. So what?”
He got up and walked over to take my right arm and started examining it.
While he did so, I could see Daniel and Lucy talking in the backyard over Lily’s shoulder. It was an animated discussion. Suddenly she reached out and grabbed his hand in hers. He didn’t resist her. I wished I could hear what they were saying.
I could feel Thomas roll my sleeve up and move my arm around.
Daniel reached over and kissed Lucy on the cheek. She said something to him that made him drop her hand and turn back towards the house.
“Amazing,” Thomas muttered.
“What’s amazing?” Daniel grunted, storming in the door.
“Her arm. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
&nb
sp; Daniel suddenly looked alarmed and hopping out of his chair, came around the table to stand next to him.
“What happened?” he said equally shocked.
I looked down and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I picked up the paper with my other hand and went back to reading and allowed them do what they wanted.
“It looks almost completely healed,” I heard Thomas say.
I could feel their stares move up toward my face.
“I told you it wasn’t that bad,” I said, still trying to read.
“Don’t kid a kidder, honey. It was that bad,” Thomas insisted.
“I heal fast, always have,” I muttered, still looking down at the paper.
“There’s just no way,” Thomas moved my arm around testing the joint, but I took my arm back from him.
“That does hurt a little you know.”
He reached out and took my wrist. “What’s this?”
I looked over. “A rash. Got it a while ago.”
“You still have that?” Daniel asked taking a closer look at the small reddish rash.
“Apparently so” I replied sarcastically taking my arm back for the second time.
“Humans don’t heal that fast,” Thomas said matter-of-factly as he shook his head.
I ignored him. My parents had told me from as early as I could recall, not to let people discover I was special. I needed to blend in and be like everyone else. Although, admittedly it was next to impossible to blend in this house full of vampires.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Daniel nod his head towards the living room and when he walked that way, Thomas followed him with Lily getting up and tagging along. I stayed put. I had a feeling I knew what they were talking about. I’d let a few too many things slip while I’d been around Daniel. He was a smart guy. I’m sure he was catching on to more than I would have wished.
A minute later, Lucy came in the back door. She walked over to the table and stopped. After glancing in the direction of the whispered voices in the living room, she made no attempt to follow them. Then suddenly she looked down at me.
“You’re still here?” she asked with obvious distaste in her voice.
I looked up to meet her stare. “Do I have a choice?” I answered with equal distaste in mine.
She took Thomas’ seat across from me. “There’s always a choice, honey. If I were you I’d get out of here while you can. After all, how long do you think a human can survive in a house full of vampires, even a house of good vampires?” Then she glanced over to the other three who were now walking back into the kitchen.
“Randall called,” Daniel said. “He says the blood hunter was back on campus last night. He seems to have searched most of the places you usually frequent and was in your room for a while but left. Randall thinks he’s waiting to draw you out.”
“What about Darcy?” I was suddenly terrified, realizing she might get caught in the crossfire.
“Randall didn’t say, but he didn’t see her in your room so she’s probably still alright.”
It was the still in that sentence that I didn’t like. My friends were bound to start looking for me. I needed to call them, but what was I going to say? If I said I’d left school for a while they’d see that all my things including my car were still there and know something was up. I had to think of something quick because I couldn’t trust that Lucy wasn’t right and that I was ultimately in just as much danger in this house as I was back on campus.
The rest of them retired into the living room to talk over what might be done next, but I stayed in the kitchen and stared out the windows at the last of the fading patch of green grass in the backyard. I felt as if I was sitting at the bottom of my emotional barrel, as if one more decision would break me body and spirit. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and heard words that had been spoken to me many years ago. They were saying you’re never more powerful than when you’re empty, because only you decide what will fill you up again.
I lingered in the kitchen a few minutes longer then joined them in the living room. I stood behind the sofa listening to them discuss tactics and strategies. While the others sat, Daniel paced by the windows. He seemed to be leading the discussion yet every so often he’d look my way with an almost vacant expression. All the light had gone out of his blue eyes. Gone was any lingering emotion he might have ever harbored for me. I think I was just a problem to him now. Judging by the tension in his jaw, I had to guess my nail had hit home just as it was intended to. Strange, why did it feel like it was causing my own heart to bleed now?
Finally it all got to be too much for me.
“Do you think it would be alright if I go out back and get some fresh air for a few minutes?” I asked when their conversation lulled.
“I think that will be fine. Just stay within thirty feet of the house to be on the safe side,” Thomas said before Daniel could offer the objection I could see in his eyes.
Leaning over, I picked my jacket up off the back of a nearby chair and left them to their meaningless chatter. Like any of it really mattered anyway. When I walked into the kitchen, I grabbed Daniel’s keys off the counter and headed into the garage. I was in luck; the garage door was still open. I quietly slid into his car, and as fast as humanly possible, started it and began to race up the driveway to get as far away from them as quickly as I possibly could. I knew I didn’t have long. Daniel was too fast.
When I gained the pavement of the main road I glanced in the rearview mirror just in time to see Daniel skidding to a halt at the end of the gravel drive. He would have continued to chase after me, but a car came along right behind me and there was no way he could follow on foot without being seen. The last thing I saw before I rounded the corner heading down the mountain was him turning in a blur to run back down the driveway. I guess he was more attached to his plaything than I’d have thought. But more likely it was because I was stealing his beloved car.
I knew I had only a short time before he ran back to the house and jumped into another car to follow me. With a committed determination fueled by my fight or flight instincts, I jammed the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor. I was feverishly praying there were no police up ahead because, badge or no badge, I wasn’t stopping for anyone.
I wished I’d had more time to think through my plan, but I had to leave before the Professor returned. If he was truly reading my thoughts, I’d have no chance for a successful escape once he returned.
I raced through the streets of New Paltz to the far side of campus and parked in a satellite parking lot for commuting students. Quickly jumping out of the car, I ran full speed down to Capen Hall and up to my room. I scribbled a quick note to Darcy saying I’d decided to go home for a week or so to see my parents. That Daniel had dumped me and I needed some time alone and I’d call her in a few days. Throwing my duffle on the bed, I hastily threw a bunch of items including my laptop and whatever else I thought I would have taken home with me.
Three minutes later I was running back down the stairs and tossing the bag into the back of my car. I pulled out of the parking lot with tires squealing and sped off campus to the back of the satellite lot where I’d left Daniel’s car.
I parked my tiny hatchback behind a dumpster at the back of the lot where it was unlikely to be seen by anyone I knew. I’d thought about taking my car, but if for some reason Daniel decided to chase me, I sure wasn’t going to outrun him in my car. I pulled out the duffle and tossed it into the passenger seat as I slid down into Daniel’s car again.
I’ve never stolen a car before I thought to myself as I pealed out. Too Bad! That’s what he gets for kissing that blood sucker, was my only response as I sped out of town and headed south on the thruway.
At that point, I didn’t know if Daniel was behind me, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I’d discovered that if vampires were anything, they were unpredictable. I also didn’t know where I was going next except that I wasn’t going home. If the blood hunter was still tracking me, he’d know I’d gon
e back to my room, taken my car and abandoned it off campus. Hopefully he’d see the note I’d left and know I wasn’t planning on coming back for a while. With any luck, he’d follow me instead of sticking around where my friends would be in danger.
As for the bunch I’d left up at the house? I didn’t know. It wasn’t their fight. They had no connection to me that warranted them risking their lives. But for some reason I couldn’t understand something told me the Professor and Daniel wouldn’t let it go that easily. Besides, I didn’t like the idea of other people fighting my battles even if I were outrageously overpowered. Of course the real question was how fair a fight would it be. I’d never squared off against a vampire before. Some part of me almost looked forward to it. I shook my head. This was obviously the overly masochistic part of my psyche talking, the part of me that lacked any sense of self preservation.
Strangely as I drove along, I could have sworn I could feel the Professor. Somehow I knew he was angry at me for leaving. It was almost like I could hear his voice in my head. They were going to follow me. Even if I’d have preferred they didn’t, I guess I didn’t care if they did. I’d try to avoid them as best I could, but in the meantime, it seemed more important that I put as much distance as possible between me and the people I cared about.
Still having no idea where I was going, I raced down the highway at what seemed like the Ferrari’s top speed. When I looked up to see a sign for Interstate Eighty-four, I swerved hard to get off at the exit knowing Eighty-Four went into Connecticut. I didn’t want to go home, but I wanted to go someplace where my familiarity with the lay of the land would give me an advantage. I’d spent countless summers and weekends at relatives of my mother’s over in Rhode Island, and my familiarity with the area I thought would serve me well.
The last of our close relatives in Hopkinton had moved away a few years back. I figured it would be as safe a place as any to hide where there was no one to endanger if I were somehow followed.
The Purity of Blood: Volume I Page 38