In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Twenty-Six

Donna

When I was little, my father used to sneak into my room, tie a sun bracelet around my wrist and open the windows. I would squirm and whizz to the shadowy corners covering my tiny face with my equally tiny palms. It was a reflex, running from the sun, ensuring that one’s skin remained intact, unharmed. So even though my father repeatedly coaxed me to come into the light and feel the sun’s warmth, I would adamantly refuse and screech every time he attempted to force me into the light. My father would sigh in frustration and pat his chest asking, “Can’t you see? Daddy is in the light and she is not harmed, why do you not trust me Don?” It is strange really, to think that my father once referred to himself as “daddy” and to me as “Don”. As I grew older, these familiar terminologies withered into nothing becoming empty shells of formality. His question that day did ingrain itself in my mind, what had happened to my ability to trust at such a young age? Why could I not have faith in my own father?

“What do you want? You happen to be disturbing my evening. I was planning to retire to bed and make loud love to my wife…”

“I am willing to be that you are the loud one…”

I heard Pete lowly growl and in my head, I could clearly see him take a threatening step forward and clenching his fist. I c****d my ears and quietly stepped into the stair after the landing. I was beginning to grow irritated and my body was exuding a lot of heat. I tugged at my turtle neck suddenly missing the dress I had worn earlier in the evening. I knew I needed to feed, past experience had proven how useless I could become without having been properly fed. The thing was, I could not rush to my room and drink the contents of my last blood bag without knowing who was at the door.

And whether you can trust Pete to not let them harm you or Maria.

I wanted to bellow at my subconscious, affirm my trust for these wonderful humans who had gone out of their way to house us and help a species that is clearly at war with their kind but…was that not the problem? The fact that we were essentially from different species? If it came down to protecting Lory or Maria, would I not save Maria, and would Pete not save Lory? I moved further down, stepping into the next stair with my ears perked in the air.

“We have orders to search your premises…”

“Let me see a warrant.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. What the hell was a warrant? And orders from who? I froze in place as a chill made its way down my spine. He had figured it out. The leader of that awful group that sought to destroy us. He had sent his minions to fetch me.

“I will not repeat myself…step aside so that we can search the premises.”

This voice was different from the first one. This one was gruff, authoritative, forceful. I gulped. How many enemies were at Pete’s doorstep and did they all have the knife? The knife that could easily kill both Maria and me?

“I too will not repeat myself, let me see a f*****g warrant…”

A pregnant silence followed Pete’s statement. Clearly, the goons were getting impatient; I could hear their sighs and heavy breathing. I could hear their boots tipping back and forth creating creaking sounds on the wooden-floored porch.

I had to move.

I used my heightened speed to climb the rest of the staircase and to arrive in my room. I yanked my freezer open and retrieved the remaining blood bag. I had planned to ration it, use it at least thrice before seeking an alternative source of blood, but the thought of that knife, the substance that it carried, how that substance weakened me and made me beg for death…I had to drink every last drop of blood in that casing. Once I had sucked the blood bag dry, I crumpled the casing and tossed it against the wall. I did not bother to wipe my mouth choosing to rush to Maria’s room next. I abruptly stopped at the entrance. Lory was seated next to Maria, patting her head with what appeared to be a wet cloth. She was also humming, an act that was clearly soothing Maria. My eyes trailed to the large bloodstain on the floor. She had consumed all of it, every last drop.

“There are humans at the door. I believe they have come for us.”

Lory continued to hum, only pausing when she needed to wring her damp cloth.

“Lory, did you hear me? I need to take Maria and we need to get away…now I know that we probably cannot reach the beast realm unnoticed but staying here is no longer an option. Once we are gone you and Pete can continue leading your lives peacefully…"

I stopped. She was not listening. At least there was no indication that she was listening. Lory continued to pat Maria’s forehead while humming. It was an odd sight really. A striking woman in a stark white dress that had visible wine and blood stains seated next to a pale, quivering vampire whose mouth was stained with blood. It was horrific yet beautiful.

“Lory can you hear-"

“Yes, Donna but I think my mouth is better suited to calm this poor creature than to respond to your silly worries…”

My mouth fell open on its own accord.

“Silly? Your husband is downstairs trying to fend off these so-called vampire assassins. Harm can come to him and us at any time.

How are you so callous about this? Do you not fear for your husband’s life?”

Lory flickered her gaze at me. For the first time since my arrival here, Lory looked at me with anger and perhaps even, hatred?

“Never question the love I have for Pete. Now go downstairs and do what you can to help him. I counted six men and three women. That’s a little bit too much. Even for him.”

It was the confidence. That is what made me leave Maria’s room without posing any more questions to Lory. That is what made me slowly walk down the stairs. Still, not even Lory’s unwavering faith in her husband would have prepared me for what I saw when I entered the living room.

“What the…what…oh my…”

I stuttered as my throat and mouth went dry. My heartbeat accelerated as I stepped over the first human body. A quick glance told me his heart was missing. I winced at the ghastly appearance of a human without a heart, the shock in his face, the pool of blood he was lying in. For a moment I thought about going on my knees and scooping the human’s blood in my hands but I shoved the thought away, curiosity and utter shock winning over my natural instincts. Two more human bodies were positioned at the entrance of the living room. One was female, the other male. Both bodies lacked heads.

A loud groan tore through the night air. I immediately recognized the sound and hurriedly jumped over the two decapitated bodies. On the steps of the porch, a large, hairy beast was devouring a human’s leg.

Jimmy.

“Stop! Pete stop he is not one of them!”

The large beast paid no attention to me and began to yank Jimmy’s leg with its gnashing teeth. I charged forward, ignoring the alarms going off in my head. The impact was what I expected, rough and hard. I managed to shove the beast off Jimmy who was barely conscious. The beast quickly recovered and snarled at me. I desperately examined my surroundings for anything I could use to incapacitate the beast without actually harming them. I settled on the swinging chair on the porch. I rapidly approached it, tore it off its hinges, and broke off one of its arms. By the time I was turning to tackle the beast, it was midair ready to pounce on me. I swung the chair’s arm as hard as I could and winced when I heard the pained whimper of the beast. It landed on the wall and slid to the wooden-floored porch; I had knocked it out cold.

I stole a glance at Jimmy. I expected his eyes to be closed but they were wide open and there was raw fear in them. I wanted to comfort him, to expel his trepidation, but the werewolf’s venom in my bloodstream was rapidly spreading. Sometime during the scuffle, the large hairy beast had bitten me.