Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 163

He hadn't spoken at all, and for the first time I realised something wasn't quite right. Although grateful he wasn't asking me hysterical questions, I had to admit I should have expected some sort of a response. I had been so busy flirting with disaster that I hadn't paid enough attention to how weird he was acting.

"What's your name?" I asked, trying to fill the awkward silence that weighted the air. Although he seemed comfortable, I was tense enough for both of us. I realised I was wringing my hands together in a steady rhythm and moved them behind my back, self-conscious of the nervous habit.

"Carl. What's yours?" He responded easily enough, but the tone of his voice was blank and emotionless.

"Uh, Ava. Listen, you're probably wondering what the h.e.l.l just happened out there-"

"I'm not."

His calm was disturbing, and I trembled all over. He might as well have had a flas.h.i.+ng sign saying blood donor hanging around his neck.

I kept expecting the man to lose the plot and act like a normal person would under the same circ.u.mstances. He was behaving as though being bitten by a freakishly strong, strange man and pushed around by a freakishly strong, strange woman were perfectly reasonable things to happen.

"You're amazing," he said. I shook my head, his words knocking me even further off-kilter.

He shot toward me, intimidating me with his height. Cornered, I panicked. The sudden sense of alarm I experienced made it harder to concentrate on not doing anything stupid-like draining Carl dry.

Logically, I knew I was stronger than him, but I was raised to understand men were supposed to be stronger than women. It was hard to see him as a victim when he was heading for me with intent on his face. Holding my hands up in front of me, I backed away. He pushed them out of the way, rus.h.i.+ng forward to grab my waist and press his lips against mine.

His tongue forced my mouth open. There was nothing s.e.xy about it. It was sloppy and rushed and unattractive. But the pulse in his neck was so temptingly close, I almost put up with the kiss. On the edge of a dark line, I stepped back, retreating firmly onto the side of human.

The girl in me got p.i.s.sed off at his roughness. It was a good distraction from the thirst. I shoved him, slapping his face hard as he stumbled back. He rubbed his jaw, but the dopey, languid smile never left his face. I resisted the temptation to slap him on the other cheek just to make it even.

"You need to go home now, Carl. Forget about tonight, and mind yourself. And don't even think about doing that to me again unless you want a broken nose." My voice was steadier than I felt.

He frowned at me, his forehead wrinkling as though trying to figure something out.

"I want to stay with you."

His voice was interesting, quite high in pitch for such a big man. It had a nice tone, and I wondered if maybe he was a good singer. I realised I was staring at the pulse ticking in his neck instead of his face. To my absolute horror, he inclined his head, offering me his throat.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, backing away because the strings holding me together were already stretched as far as they could go.

He's willing, whispered a little voice inside. What harm is one little sip?

I shook my head vehemently, trying to silence the urges. They hadn't always been this loud. I doubted one little sip would be enough anymore.

"I'm... not sure." His eyes were confused again, the colour dulling as he answered.

"Okay, time to leave." I wanted him as far away from me as possible.

Gripping his arm firmly, I held my breath so I couldn't smell him; I led him to the door and pushed him out into the hallway. It was hard enough to stop myself licking his neck without him offering it to me on a plate. I slammed the door after him and waited to hear him go downstairs. He didn't. I peered through the peephole and saw him still standing there, motionless. His face was slack; he was just... waiting. It was like someone had switched off his brain.

"Sod him," I said under my breath. I stalked over to the alcove that pa.s.sed as a kitchen and rummaged around for some bread. After shoving some slices into the toaster, I fidgeted around my kitchenette, slamming press doors even amounts of times and then scrubbing at a clean plate until the toast was ready. I slathered on lots of strawberry jam then sat on an armchair in the adjoining living room and munched away, the sugar soothing me a little.

His pulse outside the door was enough to keep me on the edge of my chair. I drummed my fingers as loud as I could, but the beating went on and on, louder and louder, until I felt like screaming. My head pounded as the thirst intensified, my entire throat feeling like it was caked in dust. The gnawing in my stomach had grown into something I couldn't ignore.

I got up to look through the peephole again. He stood in the exact same position.

"Get out of here, Carl!" I shouted at him before storming into the bathroom for a shower. The water helped drown out the sound of the blood pumping through his veins and made me feel a little more human. I had to get rid of him-that much I knew. His reasons for sticking around niggled at me; the abnormal blankness on his face bothered me even more. It wasn't natural.

After I showered, I went back to wandering around the flat. After a few minutes of pretending Carl wasn't there, I relented and opened the door again. I had to figure out his game.

"Why are you still here?"

He shrugged, his eyes unfocused.

"Where do you live? Are you sick or something?"

He shrugged again. He tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck once more.

"Oh, c.r.a.p," I said, slamming the door and retreating in a hurry. I spent the next couple of hours lying on my bed with music blaring until I fell asleep.

The first thing I heard when I woke up the next morning was a slow thud, thud, thud. It took me a few minutes to realise it was him. Still there.

I went to the door and opened it, exasperated beyond belief. Carl looked like he hadn't moved all night. His face brightened when he saw me, but dark circles cus.h.i.+oned his bloodshot eyes. He yawned then, looking completely exhausted.

"Why won't you go home?" I asked, startled by the whine in my voice. He stared back at me.

"Sit down." I meant in my apartment, but he sank to the floor. Not a good sign.

"Leave, and don't come back," I ordered, testing out a theory. He c.o.c.ked his head to the side and looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

"What the h.e.l.l? Just come in, before someone sees you." I glanced out into the hall to see my s.l.u.tty next-door neighbour smirking at me from her doorway, her dressing gown opened just an inch too far.

"Lover's tiff? At least you finally found a man," she said, tossing her honey-from-a-bottle coloured hair. She winked provocatively at Carl-who didn't notice-then went back inside, leaving the stench of overly sweet perfume in her wake.

"Come on," I said, majorly annoyed at my neighbour.

Carl followed me into my apartment; straight away, I felt suffocated by his presence. My flat wasn't large, but it seemed miniscule with him there, as though he filled up all of the free s.p.a.ce.

Pacing up and down, a rush of thoughts came to me at once. Vampires could enslave people, enthral them. What if I had somehow done that to Carl? I hadn't done it before, but I was as unnatural as the vampires; who knew what I could do?

When I was younger, I had been desperate to learn about my origins and snuck lots of books on vampires home from the library. They were supposed to be fiction, but I was pretty sure a lot of it was accurate. My grandmother caught me and flipped out about it before I could finish them, but from what I read, vampires had abilities. Mind control being one of them. Maybe I could do the same thing-or something similar.

I was infected with vampire poison while still in my mother's womb. Born an oddity, I was a human-vampire hybrid with a soul. A conscience. Guilt. And major thirst for human blood. With that kind of conflict, I should have had a split personality, but instead I was just a tad OCD.

Acting like a normal person ended badly for me, so I made the choice to hide from humans and vampires. My grandmother had made sure I remembered the legacy my mother left me. n.o.body can know. If vampires didn't find out how I was created then they couldn't do it again. I thought I was the only one, which made me a fluke-or a freak. I hadn't tried to test my limits, so I was never sure what I could do.

One thing was clear-Carl wasn't going away. He did whatever I told him to do-anything except leave-and he acted like he was a willing sacrifice or something. The more I considered it, the more I was sure the whole mind control thing could be done. But I didn't know how it was done. I always a.s.sumed it had something to do with biting humans.

I definitely hadn't bitten him. But he was still there, not moving, waiting for me to command him. I stared at him, not having any idea what to do. If I didn't know how I caused it, how could I fix it?

Chapter Two.

"Why don't you try to get some sleep?" I suggested. "There's some stuff in the fridge, If you're hungry. Help yourself."

Remembering how he had spent the entire night outside my flat without moving, I decided I needed to be more specific.

"Listen Carl, look at me. You have to take care of yourself without me telling you to. Anytime you're tired, sleep. You're hungry, eat. When you're thirsty, drink. Whenever you need to use the bathroom, go find it. You get dirty, clean yourself. If you're in danger, save yourself. Even if the danger is from me, okay? I'll be back soon."

We had spent the entire morning in the same apartment, and now I was ready to eat him alive. Literally. A bit of fresh air and some s.p.a.ce would do me good. I locked him into the flat, unwilling to risk him following me. He wasn't happy about being left behind, but it was for his own good.

It was a bright winter's morning, and the streets were relatively empty. I grabbed a sandwich from the nearest shop and made my way to the park. A woman b.u.mped into me, and my fangs shot out straight away. I retracted them, but being so out of control rattled me.

"Wish I'd let the d.a.m.n vampire eat him," I muttered to myself, scaring an elderly man who was pa.s.sing by.

I sat on a cold bench in a quiet corner of the park. It was nice not being close enough to a human to want to bite them. But I still worried about Carl. I had to get rid of him-to protect him from me. I would never hurt him on purpose, but I had come too close to crossing the line to ever trust myself with him.

I s.h.i.+vered; both from the cold and the niggling insistence I had to call someone for help. I was out of my depth and didn't exactly have a list of people to turn to. Only one person knew the full truth about me, and that caused the distance between us. She hadn't treated me well, yet I grew up craving her love and acceptance-no matter how much she failed me. She was my only familial link, the one my mother charged with my care, the one who could have loved me but didn't.

At twenty-five, I could now stand as her equal. I could defend myself. But the thought of asking for her help made me feel like a child again. She'd always wanted to cure me, as if I was diseased. Facing the idea of asking her advice cut deep. I didn't want to prove her right, but I had n.o.body else in the world to turn to; I ensured that when I ran away and made a life of my own, intentionally alone. The choice was out of my hands; I had to put pride aside to help Carl.

My stomach churning, I held my mobile phone to my ear and waited for a familiar voice to answer. One word threw me back into my past. The silver crosses, the holy water baths, the daily prayers to G.o.d for cleansing. The mistake I made that forced me to leave. One h.e.l.lo from Nancy, my grandmother, and everything I bottled up threatened to break loose.

"h.e.l.lo?" she said again, her voice impatient. I hesitated, already regretting the call. I wasn't sure what to say, or if she'd even want to hear from me. Our relations.h.i.+p has always been strained at best.

"Ava?" she whispered. I swore silently. How on earth did she know it was me? I cleared my throat, stalling as always.

"Uh, yeah, it's me."

"Ava," she repeated, relief was.h.i.+ng the tone of her voice, much to my surprise. "Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm all right."

"Do you know how long I've been worrying about you? Seven years. Seven years, Ava! Without a phone call or anything! How dare you do that to me?"

I sat back and let her words roll over me. The familiar anger in her voice was almost comforting. I ran away when I was eighteen, after an intimate moment with my first serious boyfriend almost turned into a bloodbath. Too ashamed to go back home, I did what I could to make money and finally got a place of my own. I didn't go far. I settled for a rough area she wouldn't be caught dead in.

"Granny," I interrupted. "I need your help. I've... done something. I don't know what to do to fix it."

Her intake of breath was sharp. But her voice became brisk and business-like. "Is there a body?"

My insides curled up in shock. "No, I haven't... I don't hurt people, okay?"

"Then what is it?" Her voice was too calm for my liking.

"There's this guy, Carl. I don't know him or anything. I just happened to be around. I, uh, smelled something. A vampire attacked him last night. I helped him get away, but now he won't leave me alone. I think I've done something to him. I don't know what, but he stood outside my door all night, waiting for me."

"Is he stalking you? Have you called the police?"

I almost laughed. I could only imagine the police trying to deal with Carl. "It's not like that, Granny. He's not himself. It's like he has a spell on him. He thinks he's my slave or something."

"Is that a bad thing?" The amus.e.m.e.nt in her voice loosened me up completely.

"I'm freaking out here! I can't be around him; he keeps offering himself to me. His neck, you know? I'm scared, Granny. I don't know what to do. It's like he's trying to get me to bite him. I can't control myself; you have to help me. Please, tell me what to do?"

A couple of tears rolled down my cheeks. My hands shook again. I had to have the worst of both sides: the weakness of humanity and the overwhelming thirst of vampirism. I sniffed noisily, overwhelmed by self-pity and frustration.

"You could come and stay here. I could help you control it."

I brushed away my tears, angry at her words. "How? You gonna make me kneel on the floor and pray for my sins? Didn't work before, remember?"

"There's no need to be a smart mouth." Her voice trembled a little. The way we reverted back to our old relations.h.i.+p annoyed me. Her, the victim. Me always having to apologise for the way I was born.

"I'm sorry. This is hard for me, okay? I can't go back there. You know that. I have to figure this mess out." I tried to swallow my bitterness for Carl's sake.

"You can't do it alone. If you're asking me for help then you're in big trouble, that much I can tell you. If you won't come here then I can give you a name and address. There's a man I've come across who knows about things like this. He might be able to help you. Will you go see him?"

I nodded obediently before remembering she couldn't see me. "Yeah, okay. I'll see him. Thanks."

"Before I give you his details, I need you to promise me something."

"What?" I said warily.

She took a shuddering breath. "I want you to keep in touch with me. I want my granddaughter back. And I need you to remember you are human. Not a vampire. Not a demon. Not evil. I'm sorry it took me so long to realise that. You have a problem, yes, but it isn't bigger than you. You can do anything you put your mind to. Remember that when the thirst kicks in."

She moved on briskly, giving me the details of the man she knew and telling me to be careful. She hung up before I could thank her.

I quickly typed the man's contact details into my phone before I forgot them. Peter Brannigan. I was pretty sure the address was in a nice part of town. I imagined Brannigan to be a middle-aged librarian living with his cats. I wondered how my grandmother had even come across him and if he was the real deal, or yet another con artist.

The entire conversation with her had been surreal. I sat and stared at my phone for a few minutes, completely overwhelmed. The day before, I had been sure I would never talk to the woman again. Yet there I was, listening to her talking about my thirst like it was nothing.

I was born in my grandmother's house, shortly before my mother died from a vampire's bite. She refused to go to a hospital, saying they would find me. Whatever she said convinced my grandmother that not only did vampires exist but that her grandchild would be a hybrid version who needed to be kept hidden. My start in life was a secret. That was rule number one in our family, so it was strange for my thirst to be acknowledged by my grandmother in such a relaxed manner.

I only remembered her telling one person the truth about me. That woman had appeared to be the real deal. She was the one who told us vampires hadn't been able to turn humans in over a century. She warned us that secrecy was imperative, and she even tried to mend the damaged relations.h.i.+p between my grandmother and myself. She disappeared before she could finish the job.

I knew I had to go back to the flat, but I figured if I brought food then Carl's scent might not hit me as hard. I unlocked the door and dumped the food on the table, keeping a careful eye on Carl. He had been asleep on the sofa and was stretching lazily, giving me a charming smile.

"Hungry?"

He nodded eagerly. I gave him some of the food and took the rest, standing at the counter to put s.p.a.ce between us. It was nice being close to him without feeling compelled to bite him. It was almost normal. I had company for dinner for the first time in seven years. I nearly smiled.

I wasn't sure how being enthralled worked, if his brain worked properly, if he'd even remember all of this later. But I decided to treat him like a normal person as much as possible. Just in case his mind was still his somewhere in there, and he was freaking out internally.

"Is there anyone who might be missing you, someone I can ring?"

Carl looked up dreamily, shook his head slightly, and went back to devouring his food.

For someone who had spent almost seven years spending as little time with humans as possible, I was strangely disturbed by Carl's lack of chatter. I found myself waffling away to make up for the quiet. Twinges of guilt snapped at my insides when I thought of his worried family.