by Dima Zales
"Usually, we're exposed to only one drop at first. Then two the next time, and then three, and so forth," Cliff said.
"I've seen royals exposed to large amounts of blood before," Steve said. "It's always a strong reaction. Nothing like yours though. It must have something to do with you being the Sonnast."
"That has to be the reason," Cliff agreed. "You're going to be the most powerful vampire alive, so your transition and blood lust are going to be magnified, even beyond that of the royals."
"Can I have just a drop?" I begged. "We can just start over and do it right."
"There's no starting over now," Steve snapped.
"I want to discuss this with some more experienced vampires," Cliff told me. "I'm not sure how to handle this."
I sighed.
"One thing that I am going to do is to have Steve's parents enroll me into your school," he said. "I need to keep a close eye on you and I need to find out what Tanner knows. Nobody had any idea that another vampire was anywhere near Delphic Cove, and therefore near you."
"I like the idea of you being at school with me," I said, momentarily distracted from my body's screaming desire for blood.
The front door opened, and Steve and Brooke's parents rushed through the door. "Oh good, you're still here," Mrs. Flemings said to me.
"We're going to have you spend the night here with us," said Mr. Flemings. "We've already called your parents and told them that you'll be spending the night with Brooke."
"I need you two to enroll me in her school tomorrow," Cliff told them.
"I'll whip up some guardianship papers tonight," Mr. Flemings said.
"How are you feeling?" Mrs. Flemings asked me.
"It's excruciating. My body is screaming for that blood, Mrs. Flemings."
"Alexis, please call us Charles and Rachel," she said. "You are going through the transformation, which means you are soon to be our princess."
"That seems so weird," I told her.
"I'm sure it does," Rachel said. "I can't imagine what you've been going through. I am glad, however, that we have been able to keep an eye on you for most of these years."
"We need to figure out a plan of action," Charles said. "This event is going to speed up the transformation process in ways that we weren't planning on. I do think that it's a good idea that you enroll in her school, Clifford."
"Someone also needs to move into one of our homes near her house to keep an eye on her over there," Rachel said.
"Yes, that must happen," Charles said. "One of our homes, which is a block away from her house, is vacant right now."
"How many homes do you own?" I asked.
"Quite a few," Rachel said. "We've been buying a lot of foreclosures in this market."
"I'll move into that home," Cliff said. "She's my fiancée. I would feel a lot better keeping an eye on her house myself."
"Should we try to get a vampire to stay in her home?" Rachel asked. "I remember her parents talking about wanting a foreign exchange student several years ago. That would provide a good opening."
"Wait just a minute," I exclaimed. "I don't need a babysitter."
"It's not a babysitter," Rachel told me. "We don't know how long it's going to take to get you acclimated to blood. When something like this happens, the result is usually as bad as a turned human. Those are the vampires that have given our kind a bad reputation among humans for so many centuries."
"A vampire who thinks he's killed his victim but has actually turned them and then leaves has essentially created a monster," Steve said.
"Vampires going through the transformation process need constant guiding and training," Cliff said. "Someone who has the new desire for blood can do some serious damage without a mentor or two."
"I've seen entire villages destroyed by one new vampire," Charles said. "It's a horrible sight. You're the Sonnast. Your desires are going to be stronger, your gifts more powerful and you are going to need all of us to help you through the process."
"Especially now," Cliff said, his voice sounding far away.
The most terrifying noise I'd ever heard enveloped me. It sounded like hundreds of trucks and trains were all crashing through the house. My head started pounding, and it hurt worse than anything I had ever felt.
I grasped my head with my hands and screamed in pain as loud as my voice would go. Then everything went black.
11
I woke up in a bed in complete darkness. I had no idea where I was or how long I had been asleep. I remembered the massive headache and blacking out after screaming.
I felt around me to try to figure out where I was. I thought that I might be in Brooke's room since I'd been at her house. I was in a small twin sized bed, so I knew it wasn't Brooke's room.
I felt around for a lamp but didn't find anything except an empty nightstand next to the bed. I carefully climbed out of the bed to look for a light switch on the wall. I bumped into a few things before finally finding a light switch.
It took my eyes a minute to adjust to being in the pitch black. I looked around and didn't recognize the room that I was in. It appeared to be a guest room because it lacked any personality.
I reached for the door and found it to be locked from the outside. I twisted and turned the knob with all my might. I tried pushing the door open and pulling it.
Leaning against the door, I tried to figure out my next move. They had locked me in for a reason, so if I started pounding and screaming, which was what I felt like doing, they would probably tie me down or something.
Desperate to find a way out, I looked through the room for an idea. No ideas came…until I saw the window. Surely they hadn't locked me in from the outside of the window.
As soon as I thought about the window, I was standing right there. I pulled the lock from the position that it was in and pulled the window to open it. It was as if it was nailed into place. I pushed the lock back into its original position and pulled on the window again, and it still wouldn't budge.
I sat on the windowsill leaning against the window and wished that I had a way out of this tiny room that was imprisoning me. I knew that they were probably trying to protect me, but I wished they would have just had me sleep in a room with one of them. Any of them would have been better than waking to this.
I turned around and looked out the window. There was a tree right in front of the window that blocked any view of the outside. I sighed, imagined myself in the tree so that I could climb down. I imagined what the branches felt like and the smell of the leaves that would soon be falling off.
My eyes closed as I imagined the scene so vividly. Before I knew it, I thought that I could actually feel the branches and leaves. I thought that I could actually smell the tree and little critters chattering nearby.
I opened my eyes, and I was actually sitting in the tree. Was I really sitting in the tree or was I hallucinating? I blinked my eyes several times, and I was still sitting in the tree. I started to question my sanity, but decided that I should take advantage of being outside before they came to release me from my prison.
I climbed down the tree easily, as this small tree was much easier to navigate than that huge tree in the field. I walked across the front yard and saw that my car was parked in the driveway. Brooke must have driven it back, because I left the car at school and the keys in my backpack on the bleachers.
Who really needed a car anyway when I could run as fast as I could? I started running and decided that I would run until I figured out where I wanted to stop.
It felt great to be running, and before I knew it, I was in an area that I wasn't familiar with at all. I slowed down and stood at the base of a tree and looked around.
The area looked run down. The buildings under the street lamps were in bad shape, all needed paint jobs, and all of the store signs looked homemade. I saw cars that had been parked and looked abandoned.
"Hello there," said a male voice next to me. "What brings someone like you to this part of town?"
I sw
ung my head around to see the man who was talking to me. He looked like he'd been left out in the middle of a farm for a week.
"Just going for a run," I told him, trying not to stare at his yellow teeth.
"It's not safe for pretty little things to be out here this late at night," he informed.
"I can take care of myself."
"You never know who you might run into. Someone like me could do a lot of damage to someone like you," he said and started laughing.
My focus zoned in on him and the vein on his neck. I watched it pulse with blood, and I detected the wonderful smell of blood. It didn't smell as good as the blood from the boys at the gym. But it was intoxicating nevertheless, and I wanted it more than anything. My body began to scream for it.
"You make a habit of destroying the lives of innocent girls?" I asked him, just waiting for him to give me a reason to taste his blood.
He laughed again. "I wouldn't say that I make a habit of it."
Suddenly, I had visions of him harming girls and young women. I saw him burying some, throwing some into bodies of water, burning others. The visions were vivid and realistic, as if he had committed those acts right in front of me.
I was seeing his thoughts and memories. I felt like throwing up, but knew that my time would be better spent removing the scum sucker from the planet.
"Does it bring you some kind of sick pleasure to harm girls?" I asked, ready to pounce.
He licked his teeth and said, "It sure does, and I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy this one more than any of the others."
It was my turn to laugh. "Not a chance, bottom feeder." I could feel four of my teeth growing and becoming sharp.
He reached for me and in that exact moment, I lunged for that vein in his neck and bit it with everything in me. His skin and hair smelled like a mixture of manure and grass, and as gross as it was, it didn't stop me from going for the blood that I needed to have.
I heard the beginnings of a scream from him, which was all he got out before collapsing.
The taste in my mouth was unlike anything that I had ever tasted. I felt like I was soaring through the air, with music playing. It wasn't just the taste, which was better than anything that ever touched my taste buds. It was an entire body and mind experience.
I never wanted the feast to end, but much to my disappointment it did. I felt full when his blood was completely drained. My four teeth returned to normal.
The sun was starting to rise, so I knew I needed to get back to the house soon and I also needed to figure out what to do with the guy. I looked around and decided to put him in front of a feed store nearby, figuring that someone would find him before too long.
It was my hope that the local cops would be able to pin him to his murders and give the families some closure. I wasn't counting on it, because I doubted the cops in a town like this did much more than eat donuts and drink coffee all day.
The blood from my feast must have given me some super strength, because I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder. I looked around to make sure that nobody was watching, crossed the street and threw him on the pavement in front of the store.
It was more dignity than he'd given his victims.
I saw in his memories that he had collected personal items from each victim. If the police weren't able to figure out that he was a murderer, I had more than enough information to call in with an anonymous tip.
I started running so that I could get back to the house before anyone knew that I was gone. But I wanted to stop in a bathroom first to make sure that I didn't have blood all over my face.
I was pleased to see that I was a lot neater than vampires usually are in the movies. I quickly washed my face and was on my way again.
By the time I had started running again, it took me almost no time at all to get back to the house. I climbed up that tree and sat on a sturdy branch and visualized myself back in that prison of a bedroom. I saw the room with my mind's eye, and felt myself sitting on a bed rather than a branch.
I opened my eyes, and the first thing that I saw was Brooke and Cliff standing in front of me. Brooke had her arms crossed, and Cliff looked disappointed.
My heart dropped, and I felt bad for sneaking out. "Oh. Hi guys."
"Did you have fun?" Brooke asked, glaring at me.
I sighed. "I wasn't looking to have fun. I woke up locked in a strange room. I felt like a caged animal, and I had to get out. I didn't even know that I could go through walls, so you can't blame me for that. I mostly only discover new talents when I feel some extreme emotion—like desperation."
"Don't you trust us?" Brooke asked, looking hurt. "Look at everything that I've done for you. Cliff has waited all of these years for you without ever even glancing at another girl. My parents have spent years watching over you while you grew up in a family of humans. You should trust us."
"Don't be so hard on her," Cliff said. "She's been through a lot more than we have in a much shorter period."
"It's no excuse, Cliff," she told him.
"Brooke, you grew up knowing that you were a vampire," he said. "She just found out a couple of days ago. She's going through a more difficult transition that even I went through because she's the Sonnast. She wasn't exposed to blood one drop at a time like we were, she was exposed to a huge mess of it without any warning."
Her face softened. "It's not like we're strangers, Alexis. You've known my family since you were little. We used to be like sisters, and my parents were like second parents to you. You may not know it yet, but Cliff has nothing but the best of intentions for you. He would give his life for you in a second."
Suddenly, I felt like crying. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to say."
"Say that you'll trust us from here on out," she said.
"Don't lock me up again like a common criminal."
She sighed. "The future of our kingdom is beginning to look bleak."
My lips quivered. "I'm sorry."
"Brooke, you can't judge her future reign based on how she acts during her transition," Cliff said. "You know how crazy I went during mine and I am doing very well now."
She tightened her already crossed arms. "You have a point, Cliff. I do remember what I went through too. It was bad enough that we had to move because she started to remember things. I couldn't control myself very well during my transition either."
"She didn't go out there because she's ungrateful for anything that you've done," Cliff said. "Just remember that."
"I'm going to go make some breakfast," Brooke said. "I'm sure I'll feel better after some cooking."
I jumped as she slammed the door.
"I really am sorry," I told Cliff.
He walked over and put his hand on mine. "I know you are."
"I really didn't know that I was going to go through that wall until after I did it," I said. "I had all kinds of pent up energy, so I went for a run."
He looked at my face and said, "A run? Is that all?"
I looked down and didn't want to answer him.
"You seem extremely calm, especially given all your exposure to all of that blood," he said. "I would think that you would still be going insane for blood."
I couldn't look at him, and I didn't want to tell him what I'd done, even though I had ridden the world of a murderous pig, who preyed on defenseless girls and young women.
He wiped underneath my chin with his hand and said, "It looks like you missed a spot." He showed me a little red spot on his finger.
Without thinking, I licked the blood off his finger. "I ran into a man in some run down area who wanted to hurt me. I saw his thoughts, and he had murdered at least six or seven other girls. I rid the world of a piece of garbage."
"At least you didn't go after an innocent person," he said. "We are here to help humanity, after all."
"I didn't go after that man. He was going to kill me just like the other girls. I just gave him what he deserved. Actually, I gave him better than what he deserved because I didn't make
him suffer. It was quick and nearly painless for him."
"Are you sure it was just one person?" he asked.
"Of course I am. Why don't you believe me?"
"It's just that with all of the blood that you were exposed to your first time, it would take a lot to fill your craving," he said. "I've never seen anyone's eyes get that red before. It seems like it would take several villages to satisfy that kind of craving."
"He was fat," I retorted. "I'm sure that he had a lot of blood going through that body of his."
"We're going to have to work hard to make sure that you lose this craving," he said. "One of the benefits of slow exposure to blood is that the cravings are minimized greatly. You're going to end up craving that much blood again before too long. It would have been a lot easier to expose you drop by drop rather than to have you exposed like this. Now that you have actually fulfilled the desire, we're going to have to wean you, which is always harder than exposing."
"Why do we need to minimize my cravings?" I asked. "Maybe I don't want them reduced. I'm a vampire; it's natural to crave blood."
"We can't have you going on any killing sprees to get your fix," he told me. "Blood lust is a downfall, not a gift."
"Give me some credit," I said. "I'm not going to go on a killing spree. I wouldn't mind ridding the world of more people like that guy."
"It really is best that we don't go around killing people to get our blood fix," he said. "Those who do are the vampires who have given us a bad reputation."
"Well then where exactly do you get your blood fix?"
"Sometimes from blood banks," he said. "We also use human volunteers or even wildlife in a pinch."
"Human volunteers?"
"I'm sure that it sounds strange, but it does happen," he said. "Usually when a human discovers our secret and threatens to expose us, we give them two options, and volunteering blood is the more appealing choice. There are volunteers for a great many reasons, but that's the most common."
"How often do you need the blood?" I asked.
"For those of us who have our desire under control, it's not needed very often at all," he said.