Melabeth the Vampire

by Hood, E. B.

  My neck healed itself and stopped bleeding, but I had been cut so many times I had lost a lot of blood. I felt weak and unable to stand. I had really hoped to kill the men who had done this to me, and I really am going to miss David and Carrie. I should have kissed David.

  “Oh dolly she is tougher than she looks. I think I broke her.” The little girl said in very sweet voice. “I know she needs a doctor.”

  And this girl needs one too, but not in a study of medicine but psychiatry. The girl then flipped me onto my back. She looked down at me as if trying to decide on what to do. Then she said with a little smile looking down at her old twisted looking doll. “I think she needs surgery. It’s the only way to save her.”

  With that she grabbed one of her dolly legs, and pulled. Out came a knife; it was about six inches long. The handle was the doll’s leg; the blade was curved and wicked looking. She looked down at me with an evil smile, and a look of mischief.

  I finally found my voice. “What do you want?”

  She put the edge of her knife to her lips, and said, “Shhh.” Then, in one quick movement, she tore away what was left of my dress.

  She put the tip of the knife on the bottom of my rib cage, and then began to cut. She slowly pulled the knife down my stomach; then the crazy little girl began to sing.

  Hey, like a surgeon,

  Cuttin’ for the very first time

  Like a surgeon

  Organ transplants are on my mind

  She laughed at her own joke, and then said. “Get it? You know, instead of like a virgin.”

  My stomach was already beginning to heal. I hate being toyed with, but I didn’t want to piss her off yet. I had to see if I could get out of this mess. The best way would probably be to just play along with her? So I said as nicely as I could manage. “Sorry I don’t get the reference.”

  I could feel myself again; some of my strength had returned. If I was careful, maybe I could escape this crazy girl, but, just as I was thinking that, she said to me. “You heal fast; regaining your strength already; well you’re more than what meets the eye. Like a transformer.”

  “A what?” I asked.

  She pointed her knife at my face and said. “You’re a strange little girl. What do we do with this one?”

  Who was she asking? I wondered. Then a man’s voice said. “I am not sure Alice. Does she have a name?”

  “Do you have a name, girl?” Alice parroted.

  “Melabeth.” I squeaked.

  “What is your birth name?” the strange man asked. I still could not see him without moving; and I didn’t dare with Alice holding a long knife to my face.

  “It’s Melabeth, none of your business.” I answered calmly.

  Alice drove the knife into my chest. I gasped in pain, as she giggled. She left the knife in my chest; the pain stopped soon after being stabbed.

  The knife being stuck in me didn’t really bother me after the initial stab. Alice must have known this, because right about the time the pain stopped; she grabbed the baby’s leg handle, and roughly yanked the knife out. I had to hold back a scream. That hurt worse than going in.

  Alice said in a mean voice, “Answer the questions bitch. And answer them truthfully. If you don’t we will know. What is your birth name?”

  “Melabeth the vampire.” I answered.

  Alice smiled a wicked smile. “She’s strong and tough; I should just kill her.”

  The man stepped closer, so now I could see him over Alice’s shoulder. He was tall, and thin. His arms and legs looked to be stretched; even his neck was longer than most. He had dark brown hair that fell around his face; it was shoulder length. Brown eyes with an older looking face, I would guess him around thirty. He sported a goatee and over all he was good looking, but not in the traditional way. There was kindness in his eyes.

  He looked down at me and said in a kind voice. “My name is Ezra White; this is my daughter Alice White. My birth name was Ezra Bovine. Alice’s name has always been the same; we wish to ask you questions. I will require honest answers; if I get them you may leave.”

  “When, and in what condition?” I asked.

  He laughed along with Alice. Alice said, “You get to leave in pieces.”

  Ezra bent down with his long knees, so now he was resting his elbows on his knees. Alice was still sitting next to me on the ground. He still towered above us; he was much taller than I had thought he was.

  He looked down at me and said. “As long as you’re honest, you are my guest. And when, or if I give leave to you, you will leave in the same manner you came.”

  “So you’ll get me a new dress?” I smarted off.

  Alice turned her head toward Ezra, “let me kill her?” Alice asked Ezra.

  “Yes I will get you a new dress,” Ezra answered me while staring down at me. He didn’t really acknowledge Alice’s request for my death. Then he asked me, “Your birth name?”

  Well I don’t believe this man will let me keep living unless I start talking, so against my better judgment, I said. “Melanie Elizabeth Dare, but the name is dead to me.”

  His face lightened up a little, but Alice frowned. I guess Alice was hoping I would keep resisting, so she could torture me. Then Ezra asked me. “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for my own kind.”

  “And what kind is that? I wonder?” Alice said with a look of disgust.

  “Please Alice.” Ezra said with softness in his voice. Then with a more serious tone he said to me. “You mean other vampires? And, if so, why?”

  “Yes vampires,” I said, not sure what to say, or how to say it. “Well… I need help. I don’t know how to be a vampire.”

  Alice burst into laughter; between bursts of laughing she spit out, “she is so full… of sh… it.” Ezra gave her a disapproving look, but, as soon as she stopped laughing so hard, she added. “Oh come on; just let me rip her head off. Pppplease,” she begged.

  “Alice that is enough.” A strange woman said. The voice came from above me, for I was still lying on my back. If I were to lift my head to see who this was I would have to take my eyes off of Ezra and Alice. I didn’t think it wise to stop paying attention to Alice.

  The voice sounded very authoritative as she spoke. “Go play your games elsewhere. Let me and Ezra deal with this girl. She speaks the truth so far Ezra; find out why she needs to know how to be a vampire.”

  Alice stuck her tongue out at me. “After you’re done answering questions for mom and dad, you and I have some unfinished business.” She said this while pointing the tip of her knife at me. Then she stood up and moved around to the back of Ezra.

  Ezra reached down and grabbed my neck. He lifted me up off the ground; he was now standing, and so was I. Then he released my neck as the new vampire moved around to the side of Ezra. Ezra, standing in front of me, I could now tell he stood almost seven feet tall.

  Then Ezra put his arm around the new woman and said. “This is my wife, Charlotte White. Dear, this is Melabeth. Now Melabeth, if you would like to live, please explain why you are here to me and my wife. A little warning; my wife will know if you lie.”

  I looked over at his wife; she was a beautiful woman. She looked to be in her early twenties. She looked short standing next to Ezra, but she was about my height. She was white, really white, even for a vampire. She had a round face but was really thin. She had big blonde curls that hung around her head; her hair hung just a little bit past her shoulders, but must be a lot longer if it were straight. She had a Chicago accent when she spoke. “Go ahead child; what is your business with the White clan?”

  Well I told them my story. As I told them the story, Alice made remarks; I was a little liar that needed to be spanked. Charlotte would say things to Alice like, “I know if she is lying, Alice. So far what she says, she believes. And that is what the truth is, our own personal take on things around us. Now be quiet and let her finish.”

  I wouldn't go on talking, only to be interrupted by Alice, and then Ezr
a or Charlotte would settle her down again. Alice scared me; she was out of her mind. Or she was a child, a child with a lot of power.

  At the same time, the looks they gave each other as I told my story were somehow off. They didn’t believe what I was saying, or what I was saying was incorrect somehow. I ignored this and finally I finished. “And after I sobered up, that’s when I went for a walk, and that’s when I ran into Alice.”

  “She is lying. Lying, lying, lying.” Alice whinnied as she stomped her one foot on the ground.

  “Saying it more than once does not make it true, Alice,” Charlotte calmly said.

  “You watched me fight her, didn’t you? Explain that.” Alice said in a much more serious tone.

  Ezra spoke with a very knowing certainty, “This may be easily explained Alice. She has false memories, which could explain why Charlotte cannot see the lie. As Charlotte said just moments ago, truth is what we believe it to be. I believe the blood will tell; you can’t hide age in the blood.”

  Alice looked at him. “Yes, test her blood. It still doesn’t explain why Charlotte can’t see the lie. You can’t wipe vampire memories. The memories are in the blood, and if you could, I would know how, and I don’t know how. Therefore it is not possible.”

  “So what you’re saying is that it is me and me alone who she can trick?” Charlotte said with a smirk on her face. “I don’t think she fooled me. Once Ezra determines the blood, I don’t believe any kind of torture will result in a different story.”

  “You haven’t seen all my tortures then. I will get different results; not saying they will be any closer to the truth, but they will be different.” Alice said with a grin, and then all three of them laughed at Alice’s joke.

  I didn’t find it so funny; it was my torture they were referring to. Also I’m not even sure why they did’t believe me, or what part of my life story was a lie. Why is it, that, since I died, it always felt like I was jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

  “Give me your wrist,” Ezra ordered me.

  I thought about resisting, but that would get me beat up, and they would take what they wanted. There were three of them, not that they needed three. I couldn’t even fight their little daughter, let alone Ezra. He looked like he could fight, and I have lost a lot of blood. And I was hungry again; damn, I had just eaten. My body had repaired the damages, but I felt weak and tired, so I handed Ezra my wrist without a word.

  Ezra bit my wrist; at first it hurt, but then the feeling started to change. It felt good, really good; no I mean really good. Oh it felt, Oh my… then he stopped and pulled his mouth away. I felt a wave of dizziness as I stumbled. Ezra grabbed me and kept me from falling onto the ground.

  “She has very little blood left, and she’s weak,” Ezra announced, and then said. “I am amazed; her blood agrees with her story. She could only be a few days old, a week at most.”

  “How can she be so strong then?” Alice about yelled.

  “Let’s take her back to the house, Ezra,” Charlotte suggested.

  “Yes, we need to find out more about this one,” Ezra said with a little too much curiosity in his voice for my liking.

  “Well I don’t know if I can stay,” I said.

  Alice laughed. Then she looked at me with what appeared to be hate. “You gave me enough problems for tonight little one.” Then she stared into my eyes with her bright blue eyes. “Sleep.”

  It was the middle of the night, and I was not going to go to sleep with these three vampires in control of my body. Then Alice, still staring in my eyes; “sleep… sleep.” I am not going to…

  I woke to darkness. What now? I stood up and looked around, but couldn’t see anything but darkness. I looked at my hands, and I could see them as if I were standing outside. I was wearing a dress that I had never seen before. Why could I see myself like it was day, but the floor was as dark as night?

  I wasn’t hungry and that’s when it hit me; this was a dream. There was something not real about this. Well, just when I was thinking, what a strange empty dream, a door appeared in front of me. It was arched at the top and just stood all by itself in the darkness. It was made out of wood, really old wood. Well why not? So I walked up to the door and opened it.

  Inside the door was a room or maybe a library, there were books and scrolls everywhere. The books were all very old. The room wasn’t set up like a library the book shelves ran in all directions. There were stacks of books on the floor piled up against the walls. Tables with books in all matter of disarray, it looked as if no one ever tried to put anything back where it belonged.

  I stepped into the room, and of course, the door disappeared behind me. It was replaced by a bookshelf full of old books. In the middle of the large room was a giant square fireplace; it had huge stone work all around it.

  Then I looked up; wow, my imagination was working overtime. There was no roof; instead it was the night sky; no moon but all the stars. In fact more stars then I ever remember seeing. It was breath taking.

  As I walked deeper into the room, I came to realize that the room was much larger than I had originally thought. It was not square; the walls had openings that went into large round shaped rooms. And there were passageways that lead into smaller rooms. I didn’t see any other doors, just doorways.

  Up ahead on the far side of the room from where I came in, there was a large arch opening. It was kind of funny looking, since the arch, had no roof on either side of it. On the other side of the arch was another room.

  This one was different; there were two large stone owls guarding the entrance. Inside this room it was a lot cleaner, or maybe a better word would be more organized. Books were put away on the shelves, and the ones out were neatly stacked. Also there were nick knacks all over the place. They were strange and had no rhyme or reason. There were strange looking glass bottles, toys, and I even spotted a small gong. At the far end of this room was another fire place; only this one was against the wall with a giant mantle. On the mantle stood a giant owl with a clock built into its chest.

  In front of the fireplace there were two seats; both facing the fireplace. They had really tall backs, so you couldn’t see if anyone was sitting there. In-between the seats' there was a coffee table with one large mug sitting on it; the mug had steam coming out the top.

  An arm reached out from the seat on the left and grabbed the mug, then took the drink behind the seat where I could not see. Then the hand returned the mug; time to find out who is in my dream.

  I entered the room and worked my way around the outside of it. There were a lot of benches and worktables placed in the middle of the room. I finally was at the wall with the fireplace; as I approached the chairs, I could see one of them was empty.

  In the other chair, Nicks sat with a large book on his lap. His head was looking down at the pages. I cleared my throat to get his attention; he snapped his head up in surprise at the noise I had made. Then his eyes met mine; our eyes stayed locked on one another, for what felt like eternity.

  He stood up letting his book hit the ground.

  “What an unexpected surprise. One would think it was my birthday. Come to me.” Nicks said this at the same time he was already heading over to where I stood.

  Something felt off about this dream; like it wasn’t a dream, just dreamlike. I was so happy to see Nicks, so I let that thought go and I walked quickly to meet him halfway. We embraced in a hug.

  I said almost weeping. “Finally; I was wondering when you might show up. Please be more than a dream.”

  Nicks pulled his head away from my shoulder so he could now look me in the eyes, but he was still holding onto me tightly. Then he said with a kind smile. “This is much more than some dream dear. This is what we call a mind connection. You have found me; you’re in my head. I am so glad you did; we have much to talk about.”

  “Yes, yes we do. I have a hundred questions or more.”

  He laughed; it was wonderful to hear him. “In that case, we better take a sea
t, not even in my mind can I stand through a hundred questions.”

  He moved me over to the empty chair. He twisted the chair so it was facing toward the other chair. After taking my seat, he adjusted his chair so now we were face to face with the coffee table between us.

  Like magic, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a large mug like the one that was already on the table. It was the same shape and size; only the mug that was already there, a green mug, and this one was a dull red. He set it down so it was close to me.

  Then he said. “In my mind the world is how I like it; and I like hot, strong, coffee. Drink, you will find it wonderful.”

  So I did drink, and I did find it wonderful. “Thank you. It is really good coffee; in fact I didn’t really know I liked coffee. So a lot of things have happened, and I may be in trouble as we speak. I need to know how to be a vampire or what I can and cannot do. Can you tell me?”

  Nicks picked up his coffee and set back into his chair. Then he said, “It’s nothing to be a father, but I wish to be your dad. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Never mind, that’s unimportant. What is important is that I understand what’s been happening with you. So first, if you don’t mind, I need to ask the questions.”

  “Ok, shoot, what do you need to know?” I answered. I didn’t mind answering his questions first; maybe it would give him the best information to help me.

  “So how long have you been out of the grave?”

  “Four nights, maybe five; I have kind of lost track; it’s been… eventful.” I couldn’t believe it has only been a few nights; it feels as if it’s been forever.

  “Wait, what year did I bury you? Was it in 1975?” Nicks asked surprised.

  “Yes.”

  “You have been in the ground for fifteen years. Wow I didn’t see that coming.” Nicks sat back in his chair and had a look of someone in deep thought.

  “What?” I said surprised. “You didn’t understand how long it would take me to change into a vampire?”