Bitten

Death used to scare me.

Terrify me even.

Now I welcome it with open arms, there is nothing more that I want.

A part of me still hoped though, that someone cared enough about me to come to my rescue. Someone that loved me enough to grip my hand before it was too late and pull me over the rails and tell me I was being stupid. Just like in the movies. But no one was here for me.

I also thought that when you are on the verge of dying that your life would flash before your eyes. I guess that only happens to people that are still alive or have a reason to fight. I have no reason to keep going. No reason to live.

The concrete ground swallows my body. The sensation is the same as when I fell off the swings as a kid, all the air is forced out of me, but there is no major injury since you land on the sand.

The concrete cracking rumbles through my ears as I stare up at the starry sky. As if looking for the constellations. Nothing shoots from my brain to my body to let it know that I am in pain. To let me know that I just did the stupidest thing possible.

There is no blood, no bruises, and nothing is broken after all this. I lay there staring at the mocking moon as I let my anger get the best of me.

"What the hell do I have to do?" I groan out submitting myself to defeat.

“Jesus Christ, Abigail,” All my energy is drained that I cannot even push myself up. My body is weak and unable to hold up my weight. I look in the direction of the voice, I know it is Wes, and I wish that he would just leave.

“Just leave me alone,” I snap there is nothing else I can do other than that. Annoyance radiates off of me since my body refuses to move out of the hole I made, literally.

Wes grips my shoulder forcefully and pulls me up into a somewhat sitting position.

“Shh! We’re are not alone in these streets, here take this,” he kneels closer. He does not seem to be aware that I do not want him near me. I try to move my head away from him but I do not have the strength.

Wes rummages through his jacket as he pulls out a dark plastic bag from inside his jacket and puts it up to his mouth.

I look at him when his teeth sink into the plastic the smell of blood hits me like a brick wall.

The smell of it is the most alluring thing that I have ever smelled in my life. A small voice in my head tells me that this is disgusting but I need to have it.

"What is it?" A warm liquid fills my mouth as I zero in on the bag.

Wes gently grips the back of my neck but it seems as if my body can sit up straighter without much effort. Wes places the bag in front of my face and I pull the bag away from him.

My lips wrap themselves around the puncture hole he made and sucks hard letting the thick liquid into my mouth and down my throat. The more that goes down the more I want, the next thing I know all the liquid is gone but it leaves me stronger and more alert than I was before.

Wes's eyes soften as he realizes that I am not fighting him on this at the moment.

“Get up!” He hisses under his breath. He pulls me up when the footsteps echo through the empty street. “Come,” he tows me towards the nearest building. Like a father pulling their whining child through a store.

Wes wraps his arms around me and I am about to pull away from him, I do not like that he is very comfortable just grabbing me.

“Don’t you dare,” he growls when I start to pull away. With his words, I freeze in his arm and he tightens his hold. "Hold on tight," but before I can do anything he jumps. The air whips around me as I close my eyes briefly and suddenly it all stops.

"What happened?" I open my eyes and to my surprise, rooftops upon rooftops fill my vision. We are on top of the building but it felt as he barely moved.

“Shh, I’m telling you it’s dangerous out here for them and us.” Wes rushes to the ledge and kneels. He peers over the ledge and I copy his movements.

A man appears under the overpass and looks around, he walks over to where my body connected with the concrete and kneels. The man looks to be in his late twenties early thirties. He is wearing all black and sunglasses.

Sunglasses this late at night?

“It ran off, you head north and I’ll head south,” he says as his fingers fiddle with something near his ear. He stands and scans the area, Wes pulls me down. We both slowly peer over just to see the man run off into the darkness.

“Was that...?” I whisper trying to find the right word.

“Yes, he’s a vampire hunter and with all the noise you were making they came looking for you.” His eyes soften as I pull away from him finally.

“You could have killed him, right?” I state. We are vampires after all. Immortal. Nothing can hurt us, I just proved that.

“Yes, and no. I can kill them but if I’m ganged up it’s hard to tell, and when your mind is somewhere else it’s easier for them to get you.”

“So fighting them right now was not a good idea?”

“No, not with you sitting immobilized a couple of feet away, that would distract me, and I would probably have gotten hurt or killed.” He would have been distracted by me being close to him.

Wait a minute!

“Were you following me?” Wes was nowhere to be found when I walked out of his place.

A small smile creeps across his face, “Yeah, I needed to know you were okay.” I look away from him.

“So you saw my little stunts,” I say looking at the bridge not wanting to look at him.

“Yeah, you hate being a vampire don’t you,” he releases me. I don’t want to speak so I nod. He breathes from his nose, “give it a chance, you never know, you might end up liking it.”

“I doubt it, I’m going home to shower and change. Do you mind pointing me in the right direction.” Wes does not look happy at all, his shoulder lower, and he bites his bottom lip as if he is trying to hide something.

“I’ll take you,” he walks to the edge of the building and climbs up the ledge. He turns a bit so I can see the side of his face, “after me,” he takes a step forward and a gasp escapes me.

“Wes!” I run to the edge and he is at the bottom looking up at me, with a toothy smile.

“Your turn,” he says in his normal tone, but my hearing has heightened. I stare at him blankly, “oh come on, if you can’t land I’ll catch you!”

“Humph, I can do this.” I push myself up onto the ledge and look down at Wes.

“Let your mind take over,” he whispers calmly.

“Okay,” I step off the ledge, falling feet first into the air, and my knees relax, and the top half of my body leans forward. My body is hectic as it wants to wave my arms around and grab a hold of anything close by, but my mind is at ease so I go with my mind. Landing with a gentle thump I straighten myself and look at him with a smug smile on my face.

“Wasn’t that fun?” It is exhilarating, nodding my head I see his eyes soften. “Come, I’ll take you home.”

“I want to go to my apartment,” he turns around. He knew that I had a life before him. I do not want to lose it all just because of his actions.

“I know,” he sticks his hand out and my hand shoots up and grabs it, I have no control over my own body. “Hold on!” With a small tug at my hand I step forward I am running alongside Wes, I feel as if I am on a motorcycle my hair whipping back the air hitting my face but I am running.

This freedom is so liberating that it is as if I had no worries in the world. It is as a sixth sense that makes me know that I will not crash into anything that allows me to be carefree.

There is nothing cramping, burning, and I am not even out of breath. I look around and everything is a blur, my eyes try to focus but it is making me dizzy. Wes stops and my body would have slammed into the building but he wraps his arms around me pulling me into a gentle stop.

“You’re here,” he whispers. I look up at the old apartment building, five stories high, and made entirely of bricks, not the nicest apartments but it is nice to my bank account.

“Are you staying back at the building?” I ask, looking down and seeing his arms still around me.

“I am trying to make it into a home for...me, but you’re welcome to stay over if you like. I have two beds and I just got some things to make the place homier,” he is looking down at me, I have not noticed how tall he is, I barely pass his shoulders.

“You broke the things in the boxes,” I remember his flash of anger.

“Yeah, sorry,” he smiles wearily at me.

“I better get inside,” he drops his head and sighs, he releases me, and steps back.

“Your keys are in your pocket,” I look down at my shorts and press my hands over my pockets and feel the bulge.

“Thanks,” I look up and he is gone.

I groan, turn around, go up the steps, and walk into my building. Lucky for the tenants it is late and I do not run into anyone. I walk up to 4A, I grab my keys and the jingle makes me jump back, I unlock my door quickly and run inside.

My small apartment or cave how I like to call it, home sweet home. It is perfect for me since I live on my own and the rent is dirt cheap, living comfortably is what crosses my mind when I walk in.

I am home, but it doesn’t feel like home anymore.