by Zara Zenia
“Very noble.” Katie nods.
“Only they refused at first, saying it didn’t work that way,” I admit.
“Then what happened?” Her brow furrows in confusion.
“Basically, he begged them to let him save me. He told them that the cancer was eating away at my body and I only had a few more weeks left to go before I was in the ground in coffin.”
“That’s when they agreed?” Katie asks for clarification.
“Kind of…” I say. “He also told them that I was like a brother to him and that he needed me.”
“That’s an incredible story,” she admits and shifts her weight in the seat. I watch as her hair cascades across her shoulder like freshly spun sunshine silk.
“Carl sacrificed his life for me. He’s the one that turned me. He was brave. He put his emotions and his life out there on the line and I’m still walking the Earth because of him.”
“What kind of catch was there?” Katie asks with cynicism. There is always a price to pay, and she along with everyone else understands that.
“He basically sacrificed his life for me and the leader of the vampire clan,” I explain. “To the one who turned him. We both have to pledge our lives to him now.”
I stare stoically at Katie. It’s just the way it is, and I try not to suffer emotionally as I glance into her horror filled eyes.
Chapter Thirteen
Katie
I understand everything that Roger is telling me, and I respect him for his honestly. There’s only one problem. What exactly do all these confessions have to do with me? There’s some kind of unstoppable connection I feel with Roger that I can’t explain. If I can just spend some extra time getting to know him, then maybe I can find out more about what is going on between us.
I glance around the cafeteria. It’s getting later now, and the classes are emptying. Students are beginning to file into the cafeteria in larger groups now. I watch Roger as his eyes dodge around the room with paranoia. He is uncomfortable with this many people around us. I know this, because I feel it too.
I take a deep breath and look at him for so long that he finally pulls his eyes back in my direction.
“What?” he asks as if he’s skeptical of me too.
“Aren’t vampires supposed to read minds?” I grin slyly.
I’m only trying to lighten the mood, but his facial expression narrows into defensive mode.
“I’m only kidding,” I whip back brazenly. “What should we do now?” I tuft my chin in the direction of the swelling crowd.
“We should act normal.” Roger’s gaze is nonchalant, and his demeanor is cool and breezy.
I know it’s only a front. He’s visibly squirming in his seat, and I’m observing it first-hand with every jerky movement he makes. The idea to meet in the cafeteria is all his though, so I guess I need to wait for him to either make the first move or give me some direction and guidance on what to do next.
“Do you want to leave?” I ask. My heart races. I’m flustering with anticipation.
Roger flicks his eyes to me and then back down to the coffee in his mug that he’s barely drinking. I don’t blame him. I know what substance will really quench his thirst and it’s not French Roast coffee beans in liquid form.
“I don’t think we should leave yet,” he instructs.
I shrug. “So, what do we do now?”
“I don’t know.” For the first time, Roger appears nervous about his surroundings as if he doesn’t even have a single idea of what we should do next or how we should react to the herd of people shuffling past us.
“You know what it means to be human.” I look him in the eyes.
His expression is steel. “Not anymore…” he trails off with a mumbling tone.
“Yes, you do,” I press him. I’m trying to convince him that he can get through this. “You said it yourself. Just look at the coffee.” I gesture down at the table. “You said before that you still have human tendencies…you know, since it hasn’t been that long since you were turned and stuff.”
I don’t know if my argument has merit or not, but something softens in his eyes. “I guess you’re right.” There is a tiny trickle of a smile twitching in the corners of his lips.
I give him a sheepish grin and lean back in the booth. “We are just talking. Nobody has any reason to doubt that we are just two people having an innocent conversation.”
“I did tell you the truth before.” Roger’s defensive edge is back.
I pause before answering. “And I appreciate that.”
I’m still muddling over the fact that I have no idea why he’s bringing me into this hairy situation. I still need a reason to pick his brain to pluck more information. I think I deserve the right to that admittance. I might have to wait for him to calm down a few notches before I press the issue.
We sit in silence for what seems like an eternity. I don’t mind the quiet. I listen to fragments and pieces of other people’s conversations drifting through the air around us.
To my surprise, Roger is the first one to break through the barrier between us. “Carl and I aren’t brothers.”
“What?” I peer across the booth at him. I’m confused again by his random outburst.
Roger shakes his head. “I mean…we are brothers. Just not technically related through genetics.”
“Okay.” I sniff and scratch my head, because I’m not really sure how else to respond.
“We are blood brothers,” Roger goes on. “We have that special bond, held together for now and all of eternity.”
I nod. I don’t know why, but suddenly I feel jealous. I love my sister. We are related by blood, but she lives across the solar system. It’s not as if I can just hop on a train and go visit her. Planning a trip to see Eva takes elaborate effort and packing. I can’t see her as often as I like, and I wish I could find someone on Earth that I could feel that special connection to.
Unfortunately, my mother and I are no longer close. She’s spending more and more time with her new boyfriend. I feel like she doesn’t care about anything anymore, including Eva and me. It’s almost as if a huge chuck of my mother died when my father died. I wonder if part of her soul is up there in the stars, dancing and swirling through the universe with him.
Either way, she doesn’t have time for me and if I want to feel close to family, Eva is the only one left. I must appear melancholy because Roger calls me out on it.
“What’s wrong?” His voice pitches with humane concern, not something recognizable in a vampire. Perhaps he’s telling the truth after all, and he really does harbor some living tendencies.
“What do you mean?” I scoff and pretend as if everything is okay. I pick at my thumbnail and refuse to look him in the eye.
“I can tell you are sad. I see the grief written all over your face.”
I blush and chuckle nervously. “I’m fine…really.”
“Are you sure?” He still sounds alarmed.
This time I extend enough bravery to meet his gaze briefly. “Yeah.” I nod with a proud smile. I might be suffering somewhat, but I’m still not on the level where I can trust a vampire with my life problems.
“If you ever need to talk…” he trails off sheepishly.
“Really?” I raise my eyebrows with cynical surprise.
“Sure.” He shrugs with uninhibited friendliness as if it’s not something that I should even have to ask about.
I run a shaky hand through my hair. There’s something about Roger, and again my mind circles back around to an inexplicable kind of connection I feel to him even though I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly.
“You look like you are mentally dissecting me,” Roger mentions.
“Huh?” I glance up at him, not even realizing how lost in the drifts of my own thoughts I am until Roger penetrates them.
“Is there something you want to ask me?” Roger looks at me as if he already knows the answer, but he wants me to confess it out loud.
I swallo
w hard and inhale a deep breath. The hum of conversations lulling around the room are somewhat distracting.
“Why do you want me to come with you?” It’s an emotionally raw question.
Roger contemplates the best way to respond. “Because, if you do…I can explain in greater detail everything you want to know.”
I open my mouth to retort with something, but he interrupts me before I even expel the first word off my tongue.
“I promise you,” he blurts out with a quality of desperation vibrating through his voice. “All the answers you need will come in time if you are patient.”
“What do I have to do?” Tears well in my eyes. They are hot and sting as they blur my vision. The cafeteria becomes a sea of unrecognizable faces swirling around me.
Roger looks at me. Every ounce of truth pours out of the reflection of my image in his eyes. “All you have to do is come with me, and then you’ll understand why we need you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Katie
The worry isn’t pacified. It’s still lingering in the back of my mind, but for whatever reason, I trust Roger. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s his eyes. He has kind looking eyes. Perhaps it’s because he still hasn’t harmed me, just like he keeps promising.
“What do we do now?” I ask and meet his gaze with confidence. I’m either in or I’m out.
“Are you going to come with me?” Roger’s eyes perk up with hopefulness.
“I…think so…” I trail off. I know I don’t sound very convincing. “I definitely think we should get out of here.” I chuckle at my feeble attempt at making a joke.
Roger gets it and smiles. There’s a sparkle in his eyes and he has a dimple in his left cheek that is noticeable when he grins. This makes him appear human like even though he’s not. For a few seconds, I’m able to forget that monumental detail.
“Come on,” he instructs and stands up to make the first move. “Let’s get moving.”
We walk through the campus and find a little park to sit in that’s uncrowded. We sit beside each other on a black iron bench. I stare at a few doves splashing in a fountain across from us. They look like they are having an incredible time.
“It would be so much easier to be a bird,” I admit out of nowhere. I suddenly realize that I’m subconsciously shifting my thoughts to verbal testaments.
“What?” Roger looks at me with a confused expression.
“Nothing.” I chuckle and bend over to scoop up a dead leaf off the ground. I crunch it between my fingers, feeling powerful for no reason.
I suddenly have an intense flashback about being in Desergan with Eva recently. I should have told her the truth then when I had the chance. I should have told her that even then, while I was with her on a different planet, I had an ominous feeling that my life would end.
I glance over at Roger. He’s staring at the ground. “What’s it like, not sleeping?”
“What do you mean?” He peers up at me.
“I don’t know,” I shrug. “Don’t you ever get tired?”
“No.” Roger shakes his head and stares straight ahead.
I lean back against the hard iron bench. We probably could find somewhere more comfortable to sit down, but I keep that information to myself.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like to never sleep,” I mention as an afterthought.
“It’s really not so bad.” Roger glances back at me. “You don’t feel the urgency to sleep or do anything else that you once did as a human.”
“Like go to the bathroom?” I laugh.
“Yep.” Roger nods.
“Good,” I say and stretch. “That part is annoying.”
Roger inspects me as if he’s trying to figure me out. “You are braver than you think, Katie.”
I pause for a few moments before answering him. “Do you really think so?”
“I know so.” His voice rings with unmatchable wisdom.
“I lost my father at a young age,” I admit.
Roger’s eyes look sympathetically sad. “You are like Carl in that way.”
“How so?” I ask.
“He didn’t have a family either.”
“Well I’ve got one,” I say sarcastically and cross my legs. “My mother doesn’t really count though I guess. She cares more about her new boyfriend than me and my sister.”
“Your sister doesn’t live on Earth.” It’s more of a statement than a question.
“No,” I whisper softly and glance at the ground. A tiny ant scurries across the pavement and disappears into a crack.
“You miss her.” Again, Roger makes it a statement and not a question.
“I wish I could have done things differently, but I’m trying to make amends.” I don’t elaborate, and Roger doesn’t press me.
We go back to sitting side by side in silence. Roger’s knee brushes up against mine and I instantly feel warm. I don’t know why I feel so safe around him. I’m not even sure I can qualify it as a sexual chemistry, but I’m drawn to him in an alluring way that I can’t explain.
“You say you know how to make my nightmares go away?” I ask, even though I feel like I have a general idea of how that will end.
“Yes.” Roger nods stoically and continues to stare straight ahead.
“Is there anything you don’t know?” I tease, chuckling nervously.
“I’m learning as I go.” Roger doesn’t smile. His facial expression emanates seriousness for the moment.
“Right.” I glance behind me at the people going past us on the street in front of the park. We are tucked away behind a tree and somehow it makes me feel protected and cozy.
I feel like I had an opportunity to get myself out of trouble before, but at the same time, I feel like if I don’t go with Roger then something bad will happen to me anyway. It’s like being stuck in limbo and no matter what, I can’t escape my own fate, no matter how hard I try to skew the course.
“You had no choice. You had to turn.” I look at Roger.
“Either that or die,” he responds.
“What’s the difference?” I ask sullenly.
“Well, I’m not rotting in the ground right now,” he mentions.
“I guess…” I trail off and allow my thoughts to drift.
My heart races. My palms sweat. I have a nervous excited kind of energy, like the kind you get as a kid when you go to sleep on Christmas Eve and you can’t wait to see what presents Santa will drop under your tree.
Only with this kind of excitement rolling in my belly, the potential to steer in the direction of dread also fills me. I don’t necessarily want to die. The idea of living forever is interesting though. My emotions are scrambling together and tearing me apart.
“Do you really promise to keep me safe?” I eye Roger skeptically.
“At all costs.” He nods with open honesty.
I can tell that he’s being truthful by the way his eyes look. Suddenly, I have a wonderment that comes over me. I reach out and touch his hand. “Cold,” I state with a confirmation nod.
Roger grins. “What did you expect?”
“I don’t know,” I shrug, “I just got curious.”
“That’s fine,” Roger says and gives me a fond look as if he thinks I’m cute and innocent.
I may not have gone through everything he has, but I have certainly lived through my own fair share of drama.
I know I have to go with Roger. If I don’t, none of the questions that are racing through my mind will ever get answered.
“I…think I’m ready.” My voice is a little shaky, but I get the message across.
“Really?” Roger eyes me wearily.
“Yes.” I gulp. “As long as you promise to keep me safe.”
“I promise.” Roger takes my hand as we stand up together. Suddenly, I wish his grasp could be warm. I need the extra sense of solace and comfort right now.
Chapter Fifteen
Roger
It will be full night soon, and we have a long way to go. I
t’s time to get the trip underway. I glance over at Katie. Part of me still can’t believe she’s agreed to come with me. I don’t know why she trusts me, but for some reason she does, and she appears to be confident in her decision.
I have to take any opportunity I can to get her in the car with me. She’s going willingly, just as she’s supposed to and from the orders I received on how it has to be in order for the plan to work. We keep the same pace as we stride through the campus.
Dozens of other student’s pass by us with sleepy, dazed expressions as if they are drifting through a subconscious cloud. They are none the wiser to Katie and me. We could float off into oblivion and these students would never even notice. Everyone is always in their own little worlds.
Nobody ever pays attention to anything but themselves. We pass a girl on the phone, having a vibrantly animated yelling match with someone.
Katie raises her eyebrow and glances over at me. “I would hate to be on the receiving end of that conversation,” she teases.
“Yeah seriously,” I agree with a chuckle.
We pass two guys who are staring at their phones instead of engaging in conversations with each other. If only they could understand how lucky they were to be among the land of the living.
Others might argue with me. Others might say I’m lucky because I’m a vampire. I’m eternal. I can never die now, and I am free to roam the Earth. They don’t know the whole truth. I may be immortal, but I’m not indestructible.
“Where are we going now?” Katie peers up at me. Her expression is more of wonderment that apprehension or a demanding need to know.
“We have to get in a car now and travel,” I explain as I begin to walk faster.
Katie tries to keep up with me and has to practically jog because her legs are shorter than mine. I appreciate how calm she’s being through this whole process. It’s almost as if she understands more than she’s letting on, even though I remain subliminally vague about most everything I say during our conversations.