pixie1234
March 29th, 2010, 01:49 PM
heyy guys, please tell me what you think, i am working on this and it is my best peice yet, any name suggestions or constructive critasism is more than welcome, thank you and be warned its long :) xx
Preface:
It was a cold night and misty fog clung to the chilly air. The wind howled and the icy chill whipped at my face as I navigated my way through the deserted cemetery. Grave stones littered my path and trees were dotted randomly between every other stone, their gnarled branches reaching out in the mist. In the far corner there was a large building made from old stone, as I inhaled a damp mossy smell hit me and the air was like ice in my lungs.
As I approached an old, chipped marble angel a lump grew in the back of my throat, but not out of thirst. Out of pain, for here lay my parents long deceased and I could taste the regret on my tongue. So many opportunities to tell them, so many chances wasted. A tear dribbled down my cheek as I succumbed into the anguish I had been fighting off for so long. Through watery eyes I looked for the tarnished plaque that read
Here Lies
Alexander Edward Mason-1308-1348
Isabella-Marie Mason-1307-1348
Loving Parents Of Victoria Elizabeth Mason
And William Alexander Mason
Lie In Never-ending Peace
I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up gratefully into the emerald green eyes above me.
1 – Voices:
Oh great another term of hell! Just as I have gotten over the last one...
It’s the same thing every time. They should try going to school for a grand total of six hundred and seventy seven years, then they’ll have something to complain about. It’s hard enough trying to fit in as it is, with the burning lump in the throat from the thirst, but the voices make it even harder to look normal. Most of our kind can’t hear people’s thoughts. In fact I think I am the only one in all of existence but it’s the luck of the draw I guess.
Sighing I got out of the car and waved my aunt goodbye, it was hard at school. At home I didn’t need to keep up the constant facade, walking slowly; being sure I was answering people’s spoken dialogue instead of their thoughts, making sure I touched everything as if it were so delicate it would break. It all makes the day seem to pass by slower than it already does.
I trudged my way to the block to the right of the parking lot, the school consisted of thirteen grubby, concrete buildings clumped together. I had science first thing in building three, as I stepped in a chill struck down my spine. There was no heating in this block and one of the windows had been kicked in, causing a chilly breeze. The room was layed out with desks in rows, two to a table, and a collection of cupboards at the back storing all the equipment. Trying to block out the voices with difficulty I slumped over to my desk and shoved my stuff underneath. Thankfully I had my own desk in every lesson, the smell of human blood becomes overpowering after an hour and I haven’t fed in over three weeks. My eyes are a strange black colour but it doesn’t particularly matter as no one ever really approaches me to notice them.
Everybody else is now settling in their seats apart from a few at the back, congregating in the corner packed closed together for warmth. I breathe in deeply. I don’t need the air but I like it, in the air I can taste my surroundings and I rely on my sense of smell the most when out hunting. It also helps to keep up with the pretence. The door swings open just as I inhale another deep breath and Mr. Launder walks past the broken window, the breeze pushes his heavenly scent over in my direction and in that one second I stop breathing. I know all too well what will happen if I don’t. Eventually he settles the class down and before long the bell rings.
Swiftly I get up, grab my stuff and head to building five for English. Of course as usual I’m the first there, outside the building before anyone had left the classroom. Being the fastest in the school saves a lot of time when the rush for the next period starts. I twisted the handle on the door to enter the warm room on the other side when I froze. Someone else was already there. Sniffing the air I grimace when I identify them as human. I peeked through the window and saw this gorgeous boy sat in the space next to where I sit. He was tall and pale, his straight black hair sweeping over his right eye. Deciding I wanted to make an entrance I waited behind the building until I hear Mrs Wilson greeting the class and shushing them down.
“Sorry I’m late miss” I say as I kick open the door “I was held up talking to sir about something.” Feeling thirty pairs of eyes on me I walked slowly to my desk. It was a general rule of thumb I wasn’t late to any lesson. As I approached the unsteady table the boy’s heart rate increased, this was not unusual as we are attractive towards our intended prey, a good way to lure them to us. I turned to him and gave a warm cheery smile, I breathed in to steady myself from the curiosity in his thoughts,
Who is she? I wonder what she’s doing here in this shabby place...
This was a big mistake. The scent of his blood was more powerful than everyone else’s in this room mixed together, it was better than the scent of the sweetest rose and I immediately wanted it.
I knew it was dangerous to leave it this long without hunting, when I got home I would need to hunt immediately. Holding my breath I focused on break, it was only three quarters of an hour away now but I didn’t know if I could make it that long. I needed an escape, and fast.
A good fifteen minutes later the boy turned to me “hi my name’s Eli, Eli Turner.” His voice was that of an angel and as I looked at him properly I saw the perfection in his face. He was like one of us in his looks but he was not one of us, his powerful scent and the radiation of his body heat was proof enough of that. Realizing I had not answered him yet I quickly stuttered “Oh. Yeah, hi I’m Vicky Mason. You must be the new guy.” Sweetly I smiled at him turned my face away and sucked in a quick breath of air. “So how do you like it here so far?” I asked turning back to face him.
“Yeah it’s alright, a little odd but I can see myself getting used to it.” I suppressed a smirk. His facial expressions and his thoughts were a dead giveaway that he hated the place. “Aw come on this is the worst place ever. How can you say that it’s alright?” I chided, raking him for more spoken information. It would be good for him to have somebody to confide in about his hatred of the place, and who better than me, the one person who hated this hell hole more than anybody else.
“Ok, ok I hate it. It’s a shabby dump where it looks like rodents are infesting in.” This time I could not silence the laughter that was building up inside me. “What’s so funny?” he asked innocently. Still in fits of laughter I could not answer properly so I just shook my head, clutching my hurting sides. “So why did you come here then?” I asked curiously between chuckles.
“My mum and dad were shot about a month ago so I came to live with my uncle. I’ve only just been accepted into school, all the others in the area are full. I can see why this is the only one who had space now.” Grinning I nodded in agreement we had more in common than I thought. It looked like I would have to leave at break for hunting as his scent was burning in the back of my mind.
Finally the bell rang and I dashed out of the classroom not taking care to move at a steady speed. I ran as fast as I could till I was safely outside a large white mansion. Home. I shoved open the brown door and stopped in the large hall. “Caroline” I said softly knowing she could hear me. She flew down the stairs gracefully. “Yes Victoria?” she asked, addressing me by my full name. “What did you want?” thinking how to word this I simply said
“has anybody’s blood particularly appealed to you before?” understanding immediately what I meant Caroline said “you need to hunt don’t you.”
2- Unexpected visitors:
I arrived back at school in time for lunch. My least favourite time of day, at least today I wouldn’t need to get a tray to poke about with seeing as I could say I ate at home. As always I sat alone, bored and occasionally fidgeting. Looking around I saw that Eli was sat alone on a table as well. Well unless you counted the few girls surrounding him trying to get him to join them. For some reason when he turned them down a deep satisfaction ran through my mind. I was glad he was turning them all down.
Pushing my luck, blending in with all the other girls I walked over to him. “Mind if I join you” I asked, my voice sickly sweet from gorging on blood. He shook his head and inclined that I should sit next to him. “What’s that?” he said noticing my clear bottle filled with a deep red liquid. Seeing as I was spending all my lessons with him I would feed daily to sedate my thirst. “Oh it’s just this drink that I have needed since I turned fifteen” I said which was a bit of a lie. I was changed at the young age of eighteen. The younger we start out the better. “Like medicine” I said answering his puzzled look.
Concerned for my health he hung his head, “what are you ill or something?” his voice sounded sad, and I didn’t know what to make of that. “No, no I’m fine” I reassured him “I’m just a little weak that’s all.”
What seemed like minutes later the bell rang. “Come on then we better get going” I said, “I’ll show you to our next lesson.” Oh joy the wonders of philosophy with Mr. McDonald in building ten. CRS had to be the worst lesson ever; everyone was talking about their souls and what happens when they die. I have no soul and I can’t die. When you cross the bridge to immortality you trade your mortality and soul for beauty, immortality and the thirst. Oblivious to the world Eli tapped on my shoulder and I quickly snapped out of it as he stared at me bewildered at my cold stone skin. His eyes and thoughts burned with curiosity, but, surprisingly, not repulsion.
His hand was warm and soft and I had this long buried, aching longing to hold it in mine. But I could not afford to get close to him. I knew what the outcome would be of that. Even walking at human pace we were first to arrive, the block was deserted as we entered; the warmth was overwhelming as we stepped out of the cold outside. Exactly three minutes later everyone else started filing in and Eli and I settled into our seats, me in my original spot and Eli in the last free one, the one next to me.
“So then, tell me about your family” Eli said breaking the silence between us. A lump caught in my throat again, the pain that had nothing to do with my thirst. “Well I live with my aunt” I began. “My parents died a long time ago of a really bad contagious illness, and I moved here three years ago. I have a brother who is 20. His name is will and he is married to a cow called Cassie.”
“Does she go moo?” he asked lightly. I laughed wishing I could make her.
“What about you then? Who do you live with?” I asked curiously.
I could only read what he was thinking at this moment not every second of his life. At this particular time he was wishing I was real and he was fantasizing about us being together. I suppressed a smile and waited for his answer. He sighed and closed his eyes. “I live with my uncle Andrew and my sister Angie.” He murmured “my uncle was visiting us and he, Angie and I were the only survivors. My other brother and sister, my mother and father all died that night. Michael and Michelle were not shot like our parents but they were killed in the house fire that followed.” Then he suddenly broke down in tears. “We never got on. I never got the chance to say goodbye” the tears were now streaming relentlessly and there was nothing I could do.
Regardless of my stone cold skin I put my arm around him. “Hey it’s going to be alright, don’t worry, they’re in a safe haven now. It could be much worse at least they know you love them.”
He looked at me and blinked. How? his mind said “well” I answered” “imagine catching what your parents would die from. There was no cure and there were no recorded survivors in all existence because you had to keep shush about it, you escaped the death caused by that illness and your parents died from it. Imagine the reason for surviving that illness was a secret you could never take to your grave because you would never have one. You died but not of the illness, you could never die again because you died already but you survived. Imagine wanting to save them but not wanting to deprive them of their sou...” I cut short. I had been speaking so fast he could understand what I was saying but not slow enough for me to think it through. I had said too much. The bell then rang and I dashed out of the classroom and ran home, not bothering with geography.
Damn, why didn’t I think? I had to open my trap didn’t I!
I was in the small meadow that leads off from the back garden of my house. It was a place where only I was allowed to go. It was a place of privacy for me that Caroline had made. It was far enough from the house that I could hear no one’s thoughts. If anyone wanted me they were not allowed to enter but go to the end of the garden where they would have to think my name only once and I would know.
Victoria, Caroline had thought, I recognized her ‘voice’ easily now. Can I come in please? After all she had done for me I thought she should. “Yes” I whispered. Her ears could hear it. Immortals could hear just about anything within a certain radius. “What happened sweet?” she asked if you don’t want to talk then I understand. I will respect your privacy, just know I’m here. I nodded; she was always nice, giving me privacy that I did not deserve seeing as I never give it to anybody else. Sighing she got up seeing I didn’t want to talk. "I will be in my office okay?" she said. I looked up at her and nodded once. In that same nod I was alone again.
A few minutes later I made my way indoors. It had started raining and I never had liked the rain much. As I turned into the living room I stopped abruptly. I could hear three voices behind the door. He was back.
3 - Forgiveness is divine:
“William?” he hadn’t changed at all but I couldn’t be sure. It had been years.
“Yeah it’s really me little Vicky” he said grinning. He was the only member of my proper family left. I couldn’t bear to lose him as well. He was the person I had been the closest to so I changed him when I saw him mangled at the foot of a building. He was angry with me so he ran away; to then find me in a gutter. He had jumped off in an attempt at suicide, because he thought me dead as well as mum and dad. The last time I saw him was in 1423 when he moved away with her. Finally I turned around and saw her loitering by the door. “I see you are still with him then” I said sourly. She scowled and William gave me a stern look.
The awkward silence was suddenly broken by an outburst of waking the demon by bullet for my valentine, my favourite band. Annoyed I looked for my mobile and found it shoved down the side of the sofa, where Cassandra had hidden it no doubt. The number was unregistered so I flipped the lid curious as to who it was.
“Hello Victoria Mason who’s speaking?”
“Not like you to not know is it little Vicky” William chided.
“Not now William and stop calling me ‘little Vicky!” I screamed.
“Oh sorry is this a bad time Vicky?”
“No it’s fine, sorry about that. Urmm, who is this?”
“Oh yeah sorry it’s Eli”
“Oh hey Eli, you alright? Wait. How did you get my number?”
“Yeah I’m good tahh and I got it off Lisa.”
“Ah, yeah, Lisa. Remind me never to provide my personal details with her again. You want to come over?”
“Yeah that would be great. She told me where you live as well I'm only five mins down the road I’ll see you in five”
There was a buzz as the line went dead. I immediately went into panic mode. Weird she doesn’t usually act like that, wonder who it was.
“It was Eli Caroline, he was new today. The reason I needed to hunt.” I started to move things about plumping pillows and generally tidying the place up. There was a buzz at the door and I sorted out my hair in the mirror quickly.
I swung the door open to reveal a gorgeous smiley Eli. “Hey Vick” my heart melted. Was this normal? In six hundred and eighty four years I have never felt this way, my legs are turning to jelly and my brain is all fuzzy.
“Whoa what's up with you Vicky?” Cassandra said laughing. You are in love with a human? How typically you! I bared my teeth at her, warning her that I would not be afraid to bite her head off in the literal meaning of the term. “Urmm, Eli this is my aunt Caroline, my brother Will and his eccentric girlfriend Cassie.” Cassie bared her teeth at me threateningly but I let it pass. “I thought you and Will have not spoken in years”
How much does he know? Williams’ thoughts read. I rolled my eyes to show that he knew nothing. Nothing apart from what I let slip earlier. “Well he only came back today.” I said replying to Eli. “Ah that’s why you ditched then?” he said jumping to conclusions.
“Yeah, I haven’t seen him in ages. Want to go out to the meadow for a bit?” I suggested wanting to get away from everyone for a bit. “The meadow?” he said confused. I remembered he hadn’t been here before. “Come on” I said. “I’ll show you.”
Eventually we got to the meadow at the end of the garden. Wow! Said Eli’s thoughts. “This is yours?”
“Yup” I laughed “it’s the one place I can truly be alone” he smiled. Showing all his perfect teeth, the way he smiled lit up the whole of his face, right down to his jade green eyes. I stared for a while, transfixed. “Vicky” he said, bringing me back to the earth. I blinked a few times and laughed “Oh sorry was I in space again?”
“Just a little” he said now laughing.
I wonder if she does that often. She did it earlier. I wonder what that was all about
“Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it I'm a daydreamer” I said. Then I realized. I had just answered his thoughts not his words. Why did it always have to be around him I always slipped up?
Vicky... Williams ‘voice’ said.
“Go away!” I replied.
Please let me come in
“Why should I let you?”
Forgiveness is divine
“you never forgave me!”
That was different
“Forgiveness is divine” I quoted.
Eli stared at me quizzically. Yes there would be a lot of questions. This slip up I could not hide. “What was all that about. You were answering thin air, and you just answered one of my thoughts, what the hell is going on here?”
I sighed. This was going to be difficult without him knowing the truth. “I’ll be back in one second just stay here please.” I needed to ask Caroline if he could know the truth. I needed him to know.
4 - Vicky’s secret:
Well done on your slip up batman! Cassandra greeted me. I ignored this and ran straight to Caroline.
“He needs to know.” I gasped. “He knows there is something wrong with me and he needs to know what. I need to tell him.”
"There is nothing wrong with you sweetie; you are just a little different to the rest of them."
“Yeah exactly and he’s noticed! Please I can’t lose him. Don’t make me lose him.” I was torn, stressed out. I suddenly needed him like a human needed air; he became the focal point of my world.
"Okay you can tell him. If one day you intend to change him." Said Caroline
“If he wants it. Then I will give it to him... Thank you” I closed my eyes and sprinted back to meadow. I was there within seconds.
“Where did you go?” Eli asked. I breathed in. This could be the last moment I spent with Eli, after this he could run away from me forever. Me and the monster I am.
“Eli. Do you want to hear my story? It doesn’t have a happy ending.” He must know by now that I can read his thoughts as he said in his mind one word. Please.
I exhaled. “You may want to steady yourself. This will be a bit of a shock.”
“I'm alright” he said. I sucked in a breath and began my tale.
“I was eighteen when the bubonic plague struck Italy. It was 1348 and I was the sixth person to catch it in the country. I was put under quarantine as it was highly contagious and four days later the buboes appeared. Two days after that I found an escape from my isolation and Caroline found me on deaths door. An hour later I would have been dead. I will always be grateful to Caroline but I would miss my parents. The transformation was a painful experience; it felt like my veins were burning, like my heart was pumping fire round my body instead of blood.
For four days I endured pain and fire until finally I awoke to see Caroline by my side. Everything was so different, my sight was enhanced and I could hear anything. I could hear Caroline speaking even though her lips weren’t moving, and then we understood I could hear thoughts. I pretended to lay dead and I was found an hour later.
The thirst was unbearable but I endured it, my parents saw me for one last time before they too died three days later. I never left them once after that day, I lurked in the shadows wishing I could tell them but knowing they would be repulsed by who I now was. I wished I could save them but also afraid they would hate me. I regret leaving them now, but I’m glad that I did as I sometimes wish that I too could eventually die.” I closed my eyes and inhaled as I said “I am a vampire Eli. Forever young, never aging and eighteen forever.”
A single tear rolled down my pale cheek and before I could wipe it away Eli’s hand was there. With a single finger he trapped it and looked deep into my golden eyes. “it doesn’t matter to me what you are. You will always be Vicky.”
“It matters to me.” I said. “I'm not Vicky anymore. I traded, my soul, my mortality, everything, when I became an immortal, I'm not the same.” I started gulping viciously for air and the tears were now overflowing. Eli pulled a tissue from his pocket and dabbed at my eyes.
“it’s going to be alright” he whispered softly as he pulled me into an embrace.
That was it for my self control. I pushed him away and found myself by where a rose bush used to sit, the bush now uprooted in my hand. I darted quickly to my bottle and drank as the scent was branded into my mind. “Sorry” I mumbled quietly. “I'm still figuring out where my limitations are.” He nodded in understanding and waited patiently. Eventually I glided back to him.
“You ok?” he asked, concerned.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” I replied.
“Is that blood?” he asked “in your bottle I mean.” I nodded and then thought of something that needed to be cleared up.
“Animal blood” I said clarifying the fact that I wasn’t like most others. “Me and Caroline decided we didn’t want to hurt what we once were.”
He grinned and nodded “that seems fair enough” he said still grinning.
“You don’t seem scared” I wondered aloud.
“Should I be?” he asked, confused.
“I don’t know, id obviously rather you not but it is odd” I groaned, furrowing my eyebrows. “Everyone else seems to know to keep their distance, I'm actually waiting for you to run away screaming.” He laughed
“Well I'm sorry to disappoint you then” he said now grinning again.
We sat in silence for several minutes looking around and occasionally clearing our throats as if we were to say something. Then the silence was broken by the sound of bullet for my valentine breaking out, I dug into my pocket and blinked in confusion as I scrambled about finding it empty. I closed my eyes and concentrated on where the ringtone was coming from. I followed the vibrations over to where I uprooted the rose bush and flipped the lid up. It came up as mum.
My mother was dead and I was frozen.
Scared to move
5- The impossible; possible.
“Vicky?” Eli exclaimed, I still hadn’t moved a millimetre. “Victoria!” he shouted finally catching my attention. That was the first time he had said my full name. My mobile was still ringing, just about to close off at the chorus. I closed my eyes, inhaled and flipped the lid as I lifter the mobile to my ear.
“Mum?” I whispered.
“Victoria” said the voice over the phone and I breathed a little easier as my long dead mother’s voice flowed out of the receiver. Then I panicked.
“Mum, no offense and I mean it’s great to hear you, but you have been dead for six hundred and sixty two years. This is impossible!”
“Sweetie, I don’t know what you are on about, its 1347. Please come home. You are only seventeen.”
I stood there immobilized. This was impossible and not to mention totally weird. I pressed the end call button and picked Eli up with a look that said don’t ask any questions please. He simply nodded and allowed me to sprint to the large white stone house. As soon as we were inside I put Eli down and called a meeting in the dining room.
“Caroline, you are over three thousand years old. Is it possible to bring someone back from the dead?”
“No. And I wouldn’t advise trying it out. There could be all sorts of complications.” Caroline clarified. “Are you thinking of bringing your parents back?”
“No, no nothing like that. More like someone else has.” A tear escaped me and trickled down my cheek. “I just received a phone call from my mother. She asked me to go home. It was like I ran away all over again. She said exactly the same thing. She thought I was seventeen again, that it was 1347.”
William gasped. “Impossible!” he choked “that can’t be true. It was a dirty phone call!”
“Yeah. Right. By someone who sounds exactly like mum and knows exactly what she said six hundred and sixty four years ago? No it was defiantly her!”
We sat in silence until Eli stood up.
“Can someone please tell me what is going on?” he asked.
“Mum called” I whispered.
“But you said, you told me she was gone. That there was a part of you that was glad you didn’t save them as they could now rest.” His voice was hysterical with confusion, and I could tell by his thoughts his mind was swimming and he was going to collapse. Just in time I lunged forward and caught him before his head hit the ground.
“I know.” I said “there has been some sort of paradox. A month before the plague struck, a week before my eighteenth birthday, I ran away. I just got a phone call from mum saying exactly what she screamed down the phone at me about six hundred and sixty four years ago.” I blinked, inhaled and fled from the room.
Up the stairs, to the right, there was a double white door. I pushed through it and ran to the large bed on the raised platform. Lying down I could now think properly. Looking around my beautiful room I prepared myself for goodbye. The walls were a deep purple colour with a contrasting white marble floor. At the end of the room stood two glass doors opening out to a glorious balcony view and in the middle, on the marble platform, lay the massive white fairytale bed, black net drapes hung suspended, matching the black silk bedding.
Around the room stood other pieces of furniture. Either side of the entrance doors stood huge, white bookshelves, filled from floor to ceiling with books dating as far back as the 1500’s. To the right of the balcony stood another double door, leading into a huge walk in wardrobe holding hundreds of garments. On the opposite wall stood a white dresser and chest of drawers. Dotted around the room on the walls were posters of all my favourite bands, pictures of me with people like Pablo Picasso, Michael Jackson, Princess Diana and others.
I crouched down, scrambled under my bed and pulled out a red shoulder bag. I chucked it onto the bed and ran to my wardrobe, picked out my favourite items and shoved them in. I chucked a few of my favourite books on top and closed the bag after putting tomorrows books in.
Urmm, I don’t know if you can hear me but hi...God I sound stupid! Can I come in?
I sighed. “Yep you do sound stupid and sure you can.” The door clicked and Eli walked in.
“Gee, thanks... Is this your room?” he asked in awe.
I nodded and saw his jaw drop open in envy. I suppressed the laugh that was building inside me. I was about to ask what he was doing up here when his mobile interrupted the silence.
“Hello” he said
“Where are you?” asked a worried voice.
“At Vicky’s” Eli laughed “I left you a note... hello?”
There was silence as a click ended the call. Eli looked around in confusion.
“Is something wrong?” I asked out of politeness, I already knew something was very wrong from the shouting from his head.
“Yes. He never does that. My uncle I mean, he never hangs up without a goodbye.” His voice was worried now, scared for his uncles safety.
“Do you want us to go check up on him?” I asked. He nodded.
Preface:
It was a cold night and misty fog clung to the chilly air. The wind howled and the icy chill whipped at my face as I navigated my way through the deserted cemetery. Grave stones littered my path and trees were dotted randomly between every other stone, their gnarled branches reaching out in the mist. In the far corner there was a large building made from old stone, as I inhaled a damp mossy smell hit me and the air was like ice in my lungs.
As I approached an old, chipped marble angel a lump grew in the back of my throat, but not out of thirst. Out of pain, for here lay my parents long deceased and I could taste the regret on my tongue. So many opportunities to tell them, so many chances wasted. A tear dribbled down my cheek as I succumbed into the anguish I had been fighting off for so long. Through watery eyes I looked for the tarnished plaque that read
Here Lies
Alexander Edward Mason-1308-1348
Isabella-Marie Mason-1307-1348
Loving Parents Of Victoria Elizabeth Mason
And William Alexander Mason
Lie In Never-ending Peace
I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up gratefully into the emerald green eyes above me.
1 – Voices:
Oh great another term of hell! Just as I have gotten over the last one...
It’s the same thing every time. They should try going to school for a grand total of six hundred and seventy seven years, then they’ll have something to complain about. It’s hard enough trying to fit in as it is, with the burning lump in the throat from the thirst, but the voices make it even harder to look normal. Most of our kind can’t hear people’s thoughts. In fact I think I am the only one in all of existence but it’s the luck of the draw I guess.
Sighing I got out of the car and waved my aunt goodbye, it was hard at school. At home I didn’t need to keep up the constant facade, walking slowly; being sure I was answering people’s spoken dialogue instead of their thoughts, making sure I touched everything as if it were so delicate it would break. It all makes the day seem to pass by slower than it already does.
I trudged my way to the block to the right of the parking lot, the school consisted of thirteen grubby, concrete buildings clumped together. I had science first thing in building three, as I stepped in a chill struck down my spine. There was no heating in this block and one of the windows had been kicked in, causing a chilly breeze. The room was layed out with desks in rows, two to a table, and a collection of cupboards at the back storing all the equipment. Trying to block out the voices with difficulty I slumped over to my desk and shoved my stuff underneath. Thankfully I had my own desk in every lesson, the smell of human blood becomes overpowering after an hour and I haven’t fed in over three weeks. My eyes are a strange black colour but it doesn’t particularly matter as no one ever really approaches me to notice them.
Everybody else is now settling in their seats apart from a few at the back, congregating in the corner packed closed together for warmth. I breathe in deeply. I don’t need the air but I like it, in the air I can taste my surroundings and I rely on my sense of smell the most when out hunting. It also helps to keep up with the pretence. The door swings open just as I inhale another deep breath and Mr. Launder walks past the broken window, the breeze pushes his heavenly scent over in my direction and in that one second I stop breathing. I know all too well what will happen if I don’t. Eventually he settles the class down and before long the bell rings.
Swiftly I get up, grab my stuff and head to building five for English. Of course as usual I’m the first there, outside the building before anyone had left the classroom. Being the fastest in the school saves a lot of time when the rush for the next period starts. I twisted the handle on the door to enter the warm room on the other side when I froze. Someone else was already there. Sniffing the air I grimace when I identify them as human. I peeked through the window and saw this gorgeous boy sat in the space next to where I sit. He was tall and pale, his straight black hair sweeping over his right eye. Deciding I wanted to make an entrance I waited behind the building until I hear Mrs Wilson greeting the class and shushing them down.
“Sorry I’m late miss” I say as I kick open the door “I was held up talking to sir about something.” Feeling thirty pairs of eyes on me I walked slowly to my desk. It was a general rule of thumb I wasn’t late to any lesson. As I approached the unsteady table the boy’s heart rate increased, this was not unusual as we are attractive towards our intended prey, a good way to lure them to us. I turned to him and gave a warm cheery smile, I breathed in to steady myself from the curiosity in his thoughts,
Who is she? I wonder what she’s doing here in this shabby place...
This was a big mistake. The scent of his blood was more powerful than everyone else’s in this room mixed together, it was better than the scent of the sweetest rose and I immediately wanted it.
I knew it was dangerous to leave it this long without hunting, when I got home I would need to hunt immediately. Holding my breath I focused on break, it was only three quarters of an hour away now but I didn’t know if I could make it that long. I needed an escape, and fast.
A good fifteen minutes later the boy turned to me “hi my name’s Eli, Eli Turner.” His voice was that of an angel and as I looked at him properly I saw the perfection in his face. He was like one of us in his looks but he was not one of us, his powerful scent and the radiation of his body heat was proof enough of that. Realizing I had not answered him yet I quickly stuttered “Oh. Yeah, hi I’m Vicky Mason. You must be the new guy.” Sweetly I smiled at him turned my face away and sucked in a quick breath of air. “So how do you like it here so far?” I asked turning back to face him.
“Yeah it’s alright, a little odd but I can see myself getting used to it.” I suppressed a smirk. His facial expressions and his thoughts were a dead giveaway that he hated the place. “Aw come on this is the worst place ever. How can you say that it’s alright?” I chided, raking him for more spoken information. It would be good for him to have somebody to confide in about his hatred of the place, and who better than me, the one person who hated this hell hole more than anybody else.
“Ok, ok I hate it. It’s a shabby dump where it looks like rodents are infesting in.” This time I could not silence the laughter that was building up inside me. “What’s so funny?” he asked innocently. Still in fits of laughter I could not answer properly so I just shook my head, clutching my hurting sides. “So why did you come here then?” I asked curiously between chuckles.
“My mum and dad were shot about a month ago so I came to live with my uncle. I’ve only just been accepted into school, all the others in the area are full. I can see why this is the only one who had space now.” Grinning I nodded in agreement we had more in common than I thought. It looked like I would have to leave at break for hunting as his scent was burning in the back of my mind.
Finally the bell rang and I dashed out of the classroom not taking care to move at a steady speed. I ran as fast as I could till I was safely outside a large white mansion. Home. I shoved open the brown door and stopped in the large hall. “Caroline” I said softly knowing she could hear me. She flew down the stairs gracefully. “Yes Victoria?” she asked, addressing me by my full name. “What did you want?” thinking how to word this I simply said
“has anybody’s blood particularly appealed to you before?” understanding immediately what I meant Caroline said “you need to hunt don’t you.”
2- Unexpected visitors:
I arrived back at school in time for lunch. My least favourite time of day, at least today I wouldn’t need to get a tray to poke about with seeing as I could say I ate at home. As always I sat alone, bored and occasionally fidgeting. Looking around I saw that Eli was sat alone on a table as well. Well unless you counted the few girls surrounding him trying to get him to join them. For some reason when he turned them down a deep satisfaction ran through my mind. I was glad he was turning them all down.
Pushing my luck, blending in with all the other girls I walked over to him. “Mind if I join you” I asked, my voice sickly sweet from gorging on blood. He shook his head and inclined that I should sit next to him. “What’s that?” he said noticing my clear bottle filled with a deep red liquid. Seeing as I was spending all my lessons with him I would feed daily to sedate my thirst. “Oh it’s just this drink that I have needed since I turned fifteen” I said which was a bit of a lie. I was changed at the young age of eighteen. The younger we start out the better. “Like medicine” I said answering his puzzled look.
Concerned for my health he hung his head, “what are you ill or something?” his voice sounded sad, and I didn’t know what to make of that. “No, no I’m fine” I reassured him “I’m just a little weak that’s all.”
What seemed like minutes later the bell rang. “Come on then we better get going” I said, “I’ll show you to our next lesson.” Oh joy the wonders of philosophy with Mr. McDonald in building ten. CRS had to be the worst lesson ever; everyone was talking about their souls and what happens when they die. I have no soul and I can’t die. When you cross the bridge to immortality you trade your mortality and soul for beauty, immortality and the thirst. Oblivious to the world Eli tapped on my shoulder and I quickly snapped out of it as he stared at me bewildered at my cold stone skin. His eyes and thoughts burned with curiosity, but, surprisingly, not repulsion.
His hand was warm and soft and I had this long buried, aching longing to hold it in mine. But I could not afford to get close to him. I knew what the outcome would be of that. Even walking at human pace we were first to arrive, the block was deserted as we entered; the warmth was overwhelming as we stepped out of the cold outside. Exactly three minutes later everyone else started filing in and Eli and I settled into our seats, me in my original spot and Eli in the last free one, the one next to me.
“So then, tell me about your family” Eli said breaking the silence between us. A lump caught in my throat again, the pain that had nothing to do with my thirst. “Well I live with my aunt” I began. “My parents died a long time ago of a really bad contagious illness, and I moved here three years ago. I have a brother who is 20. His name is will and he is married to a cow called Cassie.”
“Does she go moo?” he asked lightly. I laughed wishing I could make her.
“What about you then? Who do you live with?” I asked curiously.
I could only read what he was thinking at this moment not every second of his life. At this particular time he was wishing I was real and he was fantasizing about us being together. I suppressed a smile and waited for his answer. He sighed and closed his eyes. “I live with my uncle Andrew and my sister Angie.” He murmured “my uncle was visiting us and he, Angie and I were the only survivors. My other brother and sister, my mother and father all died that night. Michael and Michelle were not shot like our parents but they were killed in the house fire that followed.” Then he suddenly broke down in tears. “We never got on. I never got the chance to say goodbye” the tears were now streaming relentlessly and there was nothing I could do.
Regardless of my stone cold skin I put my arm around him. “Hey it’s going to be alright, don’t worry, they’re in a safe haven now. It could be much worse at least they know you love them.”
He looked at me and blinked. How? his mind said “well” I answered” “imagine catching what your parents would die from. There was no cure and there were no recorded survivors in all existence because you had to keep shush about it, you escaped the death caused by that illness and your parents died from it. Imagine the reason for surviving that illness was a secret you could never take to your grave because you would never have one. You died but not of the illness, you could never die again because you died already but you survived. Imagine wanting to save them but not wanting to deprive them of their sou...” I cut short. I had been speaking so fast he could understand what I was saying but not slow enough for me to think it through. I had said too much. The bell then rang and I dashed out of the classroom and ran home, not bothering with geography.
Damn, why didn’t I think? I had to open my trap didn’t I!
I was in the small meadow that leads off from the back garden of my house. It was a place where only I was allowed to go. It was a place of privacy for me that Caroline had made. It was far enough from the house that I could hear no one’s thoughts. If anyone wanted me they were not allowed to enter but go to the end of the garden where they would have to think my name only once and I would know.
Victoria, Caroline had thought, I recognized her ‘voice’ easily now. Can I come in please? After all she had done for me I thought she should. “Yes” I whispered. Her ears could hear it. Immortals could hear just about anything within a certain radius. “What happened sweet?” she asked if you don’t want to talk then I understand. I will respect your privacy, just know I’m here. I nodded; she was always nice, giving me privacy that I did not deserve seeing as I never give it to anybody else. Sighing she got up seeing I didn’t want to talk. "I will be in my office okay?" she said. I looked up at her and nodded once. In that same nod I was alone again.
A few minutes later I made my way indoors. It had started raining and I never had liked the rain much. As I turned into the living room I stopped abruptly. I could hear three voices behind the door. He was back.
3 - Forgiveness is divine:
“William?” he hadn’t changed at all but I couldn’t be sure. It had been years.
“Yeah it’s really me little Vicky” he said grinning. He was the only member of my proper family left. I couldn’t bear to lose him as well. He was the person I had been the closest to so I changed him when I saw him mangled at the foot of a building. He was angry with me so he ran away; to then find me in a gutter. He had jumped off in an attempt at suicide, because he thought me dead as well as mum and dad. The last time I saw him was in 1423 when he moved away with her. Finally I turned around and saw her loitering by the door. “I see you are still with him then” I said sourly. She scowled and William gave me a stern look.
The awkward silence was suddenly broken by an outburst of waking the demon by bullet for my valentine, my favourite band. Annoyed I looked for my mobile and found it shoved down the side of the sofa, where Cassandra had hidden it no doubt. The number was unregistered so I flipped the lid curious as to who it was.
“Hello Victoria Mason who’s speaking?”
“Not like you to not know is it little Vicky” William chided.
“Not now William and stop calling me ‘little Vicky!” I screamed.
“Oh sorry is this a bad time Vicky?”
“No it’s fine, sorry about that. Urmm, who is this?”
“Oh yeah sorry it’s Eli”
“Oh hey Eli, you alright? Wait. How did you get my number?”
“Yeah I’m good tahh and I got it off Lisa.”
“Ah, yeah, Lisa. Remind me never to provide my personal details with her again. You want to come over?”
“Yeah that would be great. She told me where you live as well I'm only five mins down the road I’ll see you in five”
There was a buzz as the line went dead. I immediately went into panic mode. Weird she doesn’t usually act like that, wonder who it was.
“It was Eli Caroline, he was new today. The reason I needed to hunt.” I started to move things about plumping pillows and generally tidying the place up. There was a buzz at the door and I sorted out my hair in the mirror quickly.
I swung the door open to reveal a gorgeous smiley Eli. “Hey Vick” my heart melted. Was this normal? In six hundred and eighty four years I have never felt this way, my legs are turning to jelly and my brain is all fuzzy.
“Whoa what's up with you Vicky?” Cassandra said laughing. You are in love with a human? How typically you! I bared my teeth at her, warning her that I would not be afraid to bite her head off in the literal meaning of the term. “Urmm, Eli this is my aunt Caroline, my brother Will and his eccentric girlfriend Cassie.” Cassie bared her teeth at me threateningly but I let it pass. “I thought you and Will have not spoken in years”
How much does he know? Williams’ thoughts read. I rolled my eyes to show that he knew nothing. Nothing apart from what I let slip earlier. “Well he only came back today.” I said replying to Eli. “Ah that’s why you ditched then?” he said jumping to conclusions.
“Yeah, I haven’t seen him in ages. Want to go out to the meadow for a bit?” I suggested wanting to get away from everyone for a bit. “The meadow?” he said confused. I remembered he hadn’t been here before. “Come on” I said. “I’ll show you.”
Eventually we got to the meadow at the end of the garden. Wow! Said Eli’s thoughts. “This is yours?”
“Yup” I laughed “it’s the one place I can truly be alone” he smiled. Showing all his perfect teeth, the way he smiled lit up the whole of his face, right down to his jade green eyes. I stared for a while, transfixed. “Vicky” he said, bringing me back to the earth. I blinked a few times and laughed “Oh sorry was I in space again?”
“Just a little” he said now laughing.
I wonder if she does that often. She did it earlier. I wonder what that was all about
“Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it I'm a daydreamer” I said. Then I realized. I had just answered his thoughts not his words. Why did it always have to be around him I always slipped up?
Vicky... Williams ‘voice’ said.
“Go away!” I replied.
Please let me come in
“Why should I let you?”
Forgiveness is divine
“you never forgave me!”
That was different
“Forgiveness is divine” I quoted.
Eli stared at me quizzically. Yes there would be a lot of questions. This slip up I could not hide. “What was all that about. You were answering thin air, and you just answered one of my thoughts, what the hell is going on here?”
I sighed. This was going to be difficult without him knowing the truth. “I’ll be back in one second just stay here please.” I needed to ask Caroline if he could know the truth. I needed him to know.
4 - Vicky’s secret:
Well done on your slip up batman! Cassandra greeted me. I ignored this and ran straight to Caroline.
“He needs to know.” I gasped. “He knows there is something wrong with me and he needs to know what. I need to tell him.”
"There is nothing wrong with you sweetie; you are just a little different to the rest of them."
“Yeah exactly and he’s noticed! Please I can’t lose him. Don’t make me lose him.” I was torn, stressed out. I suddenly needed him like a human needed air; he became the focal point of my world.
"Okay you can tell him. If one day you intend to change him." Said Caroline
“If he wants it. Then I will give it to him... Thank you” I closed my eyes and sprinted back to meadow. I was there within seconds.
“Where did you go?” Eli asked. I breathed in. This could be the last moment I spent with Eli, after this he could run away from me forever. Me and the monster I am.
“Eli. Do you want to hear my story? It doesn’t have a happy ending.” He must know by now that I can read his thoughts as he said in his mind one word. Please.
I exhaled. “You may want to steady yourself. This will be a bit of a shock.”
“I'm alright” he said. I sucked in a breath and began my tale.
“I was eighteen when the bubonic plague struck Italy. It was 1348 and I was the sixth person to catch it in the country. I was put under quarantine as it was highly contagious and four days later the buboes appeared. Two days after that I found an escape from my isolation and Caroline found me on deaths door. An hour later I would have been dead. I will always be grateful to Caroline but I would miss my parents. The transformation was a painful experience; it felt like my veins were burning, like my heart was pumping fire round my body instead of blood.
For four days I endured pain and fire until finally I awoke to see Caroline by my side. Everything was so different, my sight was enhanced and I could hear anything. I could hear Caroline speaking even though her lips weren’t moving, and then we understood I could hear thoughts. I pretended to lay dead and I was found an hour later.
The thirst was unbearable but I endured it, my parents saw me for one last time before they too died three days later. I never left them once after that day, I lurked in the shadows wishing I could tell them but knowing they would be repulsed by who I now was. I wished I could save them but also afraid they would hate me. I regret leaving them now, but I’m glad that I did as I sometimes wish that I too could eventually die.” I closed my eyes and inhaled as I said “I am a vampire Eli. Forever young, never aging and eighteen forever.”
A single tear rolled down my pale cheek and before I could wipe it away Eli’s hand was there. With a single finger he trapped it and looked deep into my golden eyes. “it doesn’t matter to me what you are. You will always be Vicky.”
“It matters to me.” I said. “I'm not Vicky anymore. I traded, my soul, my mortality, everything, when I became an immortal, I'm not the same.” I started gulping viciously for air and the tears were now overflowing. Eli pulled a tissue from his pocket and dabbed at my eyes.
“it’s going to be alright” he whispered softly as he pulled me into an embrace.
That was it for my self control. I pushed him away and found myself by where a rose bush used to sit, the bush now uprooted in my hand. I darted quickly to my bottle and drank as the scent was branded into my mind. “Sorry” I mumbled quietly. “I'm still figuring out where my limitations are.” He nodded in understanding and waited patiently. Eventually I glided back to him.
“You ok?” he asked, concerned.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” I replied.
“Is that blood?” he asked “in your bottle I mean.” I nodded and then thought of something that needed to be cleared up.
“Animal blood” I said clarifying the fact that I wasn’t like most others. “Me and Caroline decided we didn’t want to hurt what we once were.”
He grinned and nodded “that seems fair enough” he said still grinning.
“You don’t seem scared” I wondered aloud.
“Should I be?” he asked, confused.
“I don’t know, id obviously rather you not but it is odd” I groaned, furrowing my eyebrows. “Everyone else seems to know to keep their distance, I'm actually waiting for you to run away screaming.” He laughed
“Well I'm sorry to disappoint you then” he said now grinning again.
We sat in silence for several minutes looking around and occasionally clearing our throats as if we were to say something. Then the silence was broken by the sound of bullet for my valentine breaking out, I dug into my pocket and blinked in confusion as I scrambled about finding it empty. I closed my eyes and concentrated on where the ringtone was coming from. I followed the vibrations over to where I uprooted the rose bush and flipped the lid up. It came up as mum.
My mother was dead and I was frozen.
Scared to move
5- The impossible; possible.
“Vicky?” Eli exclaimed, I still hadn’t moved a millimetre. “Victoria!” he shouted finally catching my attention. That was the first time he had said my full name. My mobile was still ringing, just about to close off at the chorus. I closed my eyes, inhaled and flipped the lid as I lifter the mobile to my ear.
“Mum?” I whispered.
“Victoria” said the voice over the phone and I breathed a little easier as my long dead mother’s voice flowed out of the receiver. Then I panicked.
“Mum, no offense and I mean it’s great to hear you, but you have been dead for six hundred and sixty two years. This is impossible!”
“Sweetie, I don’t know what you are on about, its 1347. Please come home. You are only seventeen.”
I stood there immobilized. This was impossible and not to mention totally weird. I pressed the end call button and picked Eli up with a look that said don’t ask any questions please. He simply nodded and allowed me to sprint to the large white stone house. As soon as we were inside I put Eli down and called a meeting in the dining room.
“Caroline, you are over three thousand years old. Is it possible to bring someone back from the dead?”
“No. And I wouldn’t advise trying it out. There could be all sorts of complications.” Caroline clarified. “Are you thinking of bringing your parents back?”
“No, no nothing like that. More like someone else has.” A tear escaped me and trickled down my cheek. “I just received a phone call from my mother. She asked me to go home. It was like I ran away all over again. She said exactly the same thing. She thought I was seventeen again, that it was 1347.”
William gasped. “Impossible!” he choked “that can’t be true. It was a dirty phone call!”
“Yeah. Right. By someone who sounds exactly like mum and knows exactly what she said six hundred and sixty four years ago? No it was defiantly her!”
We sat in silence until Eli stood up.
“Can someone please tell me what is going on?” he asked.
“Mum called” I whispered.
“But you said, you told me she was gone. That there was a part of you that was glad you didn’t save them as they could now rest.” His voice was hysterical with confusion, and I could tell by his thoughts his mind was swimming and he was going to collapse. Just in time I lunged forward and caught him before his head hit the ground.
“I know.” I said “there has been some sort of paradox. A month before the plague struck, a week before my eighteenth birthday, I ran away. I just got a phone call from mum saying exactly what she screamed down the phone at me about six hundred and sixty four years ago.” I blinked, inhaled and fled from the room.
Up the stairs, to the right, there was a double white door. I pushed through it and ran to the large bed on the raised platform. Lying down I could now think properly. Looking around my beautiful room I prepared myself for goodbye. The walls were a deep purple colour with a contrasting white marble floor. At the end of the room stood two glass doors opening out to a glorious balcony view and in the middle, on the marble platform, lay the massive white fairytale bed, black net drapes hung suspended, matching the black silk bedding.
Around the room stood other pieces of furniture. Either side of the entrance doors stood huge, white bookshelves, filled from floor to ceiling with books dating as far back as the 1500’s. To the right of the balcony stood another double door, leading into a huge walk in wardrobe holding hundreds of garments. On the opposite wall stood a white dresser and chest of drawers. Dotted around the room on the walls were posters of all my favourite bands, pictures of me with people like Pablo Picasso, Michael Jackson, Princess Diana and others.
I crouched down, scrambled under my bed and pulled out a red shoulder bag. I chucked it onto the bed and ran to my wardrobe, picked out my favourite items and shoved them in. I chucked a few of my favourite books on top and closed the bag after putting tomorrows books in.
Urmm, I don’t know if you can hear me but hi...God I sound stupid! Can I come in?
I sighed. “Yep you do sound stupid and sure you can.” The door clicked and Eli walked in.
“Gee, thanks... Is this your room?” he asked in awe.
I nodded and saw his jaw drop open in envy. I suppressed the laugh that was building inside me. I was about to ask what he was doing up here when his mobile interrupted the silence.
“Hello” he said
“Where are you?” asked a worried voice.
“At Vicky’s” Eli laughed “I left you a note... hello?”
There was silence as a click ended the call. Eli looked around in confusion.
“Is something wrong?” I asked out of politeness, I already knew something was very wrong from the shouting from his head.
“Yes. He never does that. My uncle I mean, he never hangs up without a goodbye.” His voice was worried now, scared for his uncles safety.
“Do you want us to go check up on him?” I asked. He nodded.