Bitten

Guilt.

Why does guilt haunt you?

Perhaps because you know you did something bad.

Something that can mess with what you have —something good.

Guilt is an emotion that clings to me. Why could it not vanish like the rest of my emotions?

Guilt means I still have some humanity in me.

My feet drag on the concrete sidewalk as I walk home.

What the hell was wrong with me? I had no control over myself.

My mind is far away but it seems as my body functions fine without it. I walk up the steps and into the apartment building.

As I make it to my apartment I can hear laughter but not just any laughter it’s Hannah’s laugh.

My hand wraps around the cold door handle and I push the door open. Mason and Hannah are sitting at the kitchen table. Mason’s hand is in the air with a fry between his fingers making airplane noises as the fry zooms towards a hysterically laughing Hannah.

Hannah’s eyes dart towards me and she starts bouncing in her seat her hands up wanting me to carry her.

“Awe Hannah I missed you!”

The words leave my lips without me realizing it. Her bottom lip pouts out. Mason turns to face me and I give him a small smile.

“Hello,” he says and turns back to Hannah, “Are you done?”

She nods and looks at me once again. Her big eyes locked on mine.

“Do you want to watch some television?” I ask Hannah.

She stands on the chair and nods at me jumping off the chair but before her feet could touch the ground Mason’s hand scoops her up midair.

“Don’t do that!” He scowls at her. “You’re going to get hurt.”

Hannah frowns at him looks at me as if waiting for my backup.

I shrug and Hannah grumpily climbs out of Mason’s embrace and walks over to the couch.

I smile at Mason and follow her, we sit down and I turn the television on. Hannah climbs into my lap and I bounce her around a bit as commercials play.

The buzzer sounds and Mason walks over to it, “Yes?”

“Hey, it’s Wes open up.”

Mason buzzes him in and a minute later he is at the door.

“Wow that was fast,” Mason comments as he opens up the door for him.

“Hey,” Wes waves at us as he walks inside and takes a seat on the other end of the couch and Hannah appreciates the space he gave us.

“Wow, dude. I wonder what you’ve been up to,” Mason says to Wes giving him a quick wink.

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

Wes looks just as confused as I am.

“Wes has been out playing,” Mason replies and then points to Wes’ back.

His shirt covers most of it but the top of his collar isn’t long enough to cover his scratch marks.

Oh crap!

“Oh,” Wes laughs and scratches the back of his head, “you know it. She had some nails on her.”

Mason high fives Wes as he comes and sits next to me and Hannah. They keep throwing jabs at each other as their male hormones take over.

“Is she hot?” Mason throws at him and Wes shrugs.

“I think so!” He smiles at him and then throws a glance at me.

I have a couple of obscene gestures I want to throw his way but with Hannah on my lap that will have to wait for later.

“Oh Abigail, there is food for you in the fridge,” Mason says glancing at me quickly and Wes and Mason start talking like they have been buddies since kindergarten.

I grab ahold of Hannah and carry her to the kitchen with me as I open up the fridge. There is a paper bag with a hamburger and fries inside.

I know that Mason worries that I do not eat enough when he is around so I make a show of heating my food.

“Hannah do you want some of my fries?” She nods.

“No don’t give her any more fries. She is going to bed soon and I don’t want her to complain about having a stomach ache.”

Mason turns back and stares at us. Hannah sticks her tongue out at him.

“Okay fine,” I put the food in the microwave and I see that he also bought me a soda.

I take the soda out of the fridge and go to the table and Hannah stares at me as she waits for me to offer her some.

“You want some?” I coo and glance at Mason, who is talking to Wes, she nods and I give her a sip.

The microwave beeps and I grab my food and go back to the table. Mason gets off the couch and walks to the kitchen.

“I’m not going to give her anything,” I scold but Mason hands Hannah a coloring book and crayons.

“She likes spending time with you,” Hannah happily takes the book and starts scribbling away on her pages.

There is a huge blob of red on the page she is on and she is enthusiastically adding more red to it.

“She does?” I love spending time with her.

“Yeah, you might not notice the light in her eyes when you are around but I do.”

I swallow and look over at him as he grins at me.

“I’m happy it was you we ran into at the park that day.” With that, he walks back to the living room with Wes.

Wes leaves just after ten and Hannah has been asleep on the couch since nine so it is just Mason and me sitting on the couch staring at the black screen of the television. It is off so we don’t wake Hannah.

“Do you want to sleep in your bed tonight?” Mason catches me by surprise.

“No, I’m comfortable on the couch. You should hit the sack we enter work earlier tomorrow.” He nods as I see his eyes start to grow heavy.

He grabs Hannah and carries her into the bedroom. I tell him that I’ll change her so he can shower and head to bed.

Thirty minutes later Mason and Hannah are fast asleep in the room and I am off.

Leaving the apartment this late at night makes me feel like a teenager trying to sneak out without her parents catching her.

Once I am out of the apartment building I run. My legs are holding nothing back I am going the fastest I have ever gone before but I am not heading to Wes’ building but instead to the outskirts of the city.

The buildings are becoming too far in between and the houses are becoming more isolated.

Ever since Wes changed me I figured out that my vampire side is bonded to him somehow. Every time I let my instincts take over somehow I end up where he is.

My body stops as if I hit an invisible wall. I am near a clearing no trees, houses, or building just a piece of grassland or so I thought.

The moon is high and bright tonight as the stars shine brightly against the dark sky.

My eyes wander scan the nearby area but there is nothing of importance until my eyes land on Wes and Vincent.

I am in the surrounding trees hiding from them. They are crouched as if ready to attack and that’s when I see the five men in front of them.

“You know this is going to be war if our suspicions are correct.”

A man in a hooded cloak tells Wes and Vincent.

“From the looks of it, it appears that it is. The Lamia Venator has made an appearance. Hand him over and you will be spared with your lives.”

“You have this all wrong,” Vincent interferes but the men hiss at him and he takes a step back.

Vincent is not comfortable with these people around and to be honest neither am I. Wes, on the other hand, stands his ground.

“How did you come across it and why are you protecting it?” The man, the leader, takes a step towards Wes.

“Because it is not what you think and I am not going to allow you to go after it without hearing me out.”

Why is he protecting this thing if it’s going to cost him his life, give it up?

“It kills vampires and I know this area is crawling with the human vampire hunters so why defend the vampire that is hunting vampires?”

“A vampire hunting other vampires?”

The words come out before I can stop them and all seven heads snap in my direction.

Oh shit!

My body is rooted to the ground as I see the leader vanish in a blink of an eye.

The pain that shoots through the side of my head sends me tumbling down to the ground.