Love Bites

It was so funny, but over the next couple of weeks, things became very… odd. For one, whenever I had English and Math class, that day would be beautiful. But the rest of the week would be just horrible, with rain, storms, and the like. I kept up with my homework and other classes more easily than I did in high school, and started to hang out with Henry more often.

“So, do you have a girlfriend?” I asked him one day after class as we walked to his car. “I’m just curious…”

“No, I’m not taken,” said Henry with a laugh. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Are you crazy?!” I said as I shot him a look. “I’ve had my share, and that’s more than I’ll ever need in a lifetime. All of them were assholes, and I’ve sort of given up on the whole love thing. It makes me sick to see others happy and in love, yet I hate not having that person in my life. But that only ends in a Shakespeare tragedy. Like in Hamlet, I will be the tragic Ophelia who dies because she cannot have true love. And a life without love is absolute sadness, but a life with a painful love is just suicide.”

“You speak like a poet,” said Henry as I got into his Mustang. “I’ve never known someone who is so wise beyond her years as you. Maybe that’s why…”

“Why what?” I asked curiously as we headed towards the road to his house.

“Why I like you so much,” he whispered softly.

I blushed, amazed that HE of all people, liked me. I mean, what’s there to like? I’m fat, ugly, and I am a HUGE nerd. This guy finds me intriguing, and LIKES me?!?! What kind of drugs is he on to think that?

The house came in to view, and the two of us got out, and headed inside. “Hello Mrs. Carson!” I chirped as she came into view. “Mmm! Smells wonderful. What is that delicious smell?”

“Fresh cookies out of the oven,” said Mrs. Carson cheerfully. “Here, take some up to your room Henry, and Gia, why don’t you take your glasses of milk?”

She handed Henry the plate of piping hot cookies, and I the two glasses of ice cold milk, and we headed upstairs to chill. Just as I was about to pop a cookie in my mouth, the door burst open. In came Rollo, ready to bug us yet again as usual.

“Have you told Gia yet?” asked Rollo to Henry.

“Told me what?” I asked as I put my hands on my hips.

“No, not yet,” said Henry with a serious look on his face.

“WHAT?!?!?!” I practically screamed.

“I know something you don’t know!” sang Rollo before he left the room.

“I hate when Rollo does that,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest. It seemed every time I came over, Rollo would be there, waiting to pounce on us and aggravate us. There was never a quiet moment since I first started to come over.

“Ditto that,” said Henry as he flopped onto the bed. I heard a faint sound in the distance, and it sounded like thunder. Weird, I thought to myself. It’s a time when I see Henry, and it is going to rain. Weather must be fucked up because of global warming I guess…

I sat down on Henry’s bed, and slipped off. I fell to the floor, my knees killing me from the landing. “Fuck!” I exclaimed as I looked at my knees. “I’m bleeding…”

Henry’s eyes went wide, and he ran out of the room, and I heard a strange CLICK as the door slammed shut. I hobbled over to the door, and tried to open it. I was locked in.

“Henry!” I shouted, banging on the door. “Please let me out! I need a band-aid, and I’ll be fine! Please come back!”

I heard snarling and growling from behind the door as I pushed my ear to listen. I’ve never heard a sound quite like it in my whole life; it sounded inhuman, almost animal like. And I knew for a fact that the Carson’s did not have any pets. What was going on?

I looked at my knee, and saw that the bleeding had stopped, but the blood had dripped down my leg. I limped over to the bed to get a tissue, and I licked it and began to wipe off the blood. I heard the door CLICK, and in walked Henry, who was shaking so bad I thought he was going to fall. He clutched the mattress of his bed as he sat down next to me. “How’s the cut?”

I showed him my knee, and his eyes lit up. His hands ran up and down my leg, giving me chills. His lips brushed up my shin to my knee, and he kissed my knee. I could have sworn that I felt his tongue flicker over my cut, and I began to shake with nerves.

His eyes faded from blood red into a soft brown, and he sighed, and put my leg down. “I should take you home… Before you hurt yourself again.”

“S-sure,” I said as I gathered my things up. I was not in the mood to stay any longer, less I be locked in Henry’s room for no apparent reason again. As I walked down the stairs, I noticed Rollo standing off in a corner, like a lion ready to pounce. His eyes looked at me viciously, and I got a weird feeling from him. I felt that he wanted me to leave, and he wanted me to leave now. “Bye Rollo, Mr. and Mrs. Carson!”

“Bye dear, take care!” said Mrs. Carson.

“Bye Gia!” said Mr. Carson. Henry and I walked outside, and the instant we got into the car, I started on him.

“I’m sick and tired of being in the dark now! You are going to tell me what the hell was up with locking me in your bedroom, and you are going to tell me now!”

Henry started the engine, and pulled out of the driveway silently. “I demand to know what the hell is going on! I mean, you locked me in your room, and there was all this growling and snarling going on from behind the door! It scared me! Please tell me what is going on…”

“It’s nothing,” said Henry quietly. “Nothing at all.”

“You can’t call that nothing!” I shouted as I turned to look at him. “Now if you don’t tell me, I’m never going to see you again!”

“I guess if that’s what you want…” said Henry as he pulled up to my house.

“Don’t you try to tell me what I want and what I don’t!” I shouted. “You don’t know, so stop trying to pretend you do!”

“Then tell me what you want so I don’t have to,” said Henry as his eyes burned with intensity.

“What I want is something I will never get,” I said harshly. “I want the truth… and you.”

I got out of the car, and slammed the door shut. As I walked towards my house, I heard the engine shut off, and felt a breeze pass by me. And then, there was Henry, standing right in front of me, looking back at me. He kissed me, and I swayed there, weak in the knees. I felt somehow drained from his kiss, and I pulled away.

“Sh, not here,” I said, hoping my mother did not see us making out. “Can you come to my bedroom window? It’s on the ground floor by the rose bushes…”

He kissed me once more, and nodded as he pulled away. I ran into my house, and threw my things down. “Hey Gia, how was school?” asked my mom.

“Everything’s great ma, ton of homework to do, BYE!” I said quickly as I slammed and locked the door shut. I turned around, and looked at Henry who was lying on my bed and looking very comfortable. I slowly walked over to him, and lay there next to him on my bed.

“Your room’s nicer than mine,” said Henry as he pointed to the two bookshelves in my room and the desk with my laptop on it.

“Thanks,” I said as looked into his brown eyes. He pushed my hair away from my neck, and began to kiss it. I let out a soft moan as Henry got on top of me, and started to bite and suck on my neck. His biting was gentle, as if he was teasing me, which turned me on. I’ve never had a biter before.

“Henry,” I whispered as his hands felt my chest. “I don’t want to rush this… can we take it a bit slower?”

Henry put his hands on my back, and continued to kiss and bite my neck. I felt him start to grind against my body, and his biting started to intensify. Now, it was starting to really hurt, and I knew I must be bleeding by now.

I was scared to tell him to stop, so I pulled away, and took off my shirt and his. His body was absolutely amazing, and I ran my hands over his chest. He took off his pants, and I took off mine, and he pulled me on top of him. I lay there, looking down at him, and kissing him all over his cold, hard body. His body and mine connected, and I ran my hands up and down his chest.

“Gia,” he whispered as his hands pressed against my back. He rolled me over, getting back on top of me, and started to kiss my neck again. It was way more tamer than before, gently kissing up and down my neck. I went limp, completely drained of all energy, as if some power had taken hold of my body, slowing me down. I didn’t care, I had Henry with me.

He started to bite me once more, but this time, he really started to sink his teeth into me. “I CAN’T DO IT!” he said a bit loudly. I started to cough loudly so my mother wouldn’t hear, and thankfully, she did not. Henry got out of bed, wrapping the sheets around him, and sat in a chair away from me.

I lay there, my strength coming back to me, astonished that he had stopped. “Why? Do I repulse you?” I asked bitterly.

“No, you’re beautiful,” whispered Henry. “It’s just… You wouldn’t understand or believe me if I told you.”

“Try me,” I said. “I’m pretty open-minded.”

“I can’t be with you like this because… I’m a vampire.”

“Holy fucking shit,” I said softly. “That explains the biting…”

“And why I ran out of the room when you cut your knee and locked you in my room,” said Henry apologetically. “Sorry about that, but it was for your own safety.”

“Is it just you or-”

“Mom, dad, and Rollo are,” said Henry. “I’m sorry I’ve been such an asshole to you. I should have told you before, but I was scared of what you would think. I really like you, and I didn’t want you to hate me, or think I was weird…”

“Well, you got to admit that it’s very rare to find a vampire nowadays,” I said as I sat up in bed with the sheets over me. “And I don’t hate you, I hate that you didn’t tell me sooner…”

Henry sighed, and looked at me. “There’s more to the vampire story than you think… I haven’t told you everything yet.”

“What more do you need to tell?” I asked as I patted the empty space next to me, begging him to come back to me.

“I- my whole family,” stammered Henry. “We have some sort of power. It comes with being a vampire. All of us have the gift of speed and flight, that’s an automatic given for all vampires. But each vampire has a certain power…”

“What’s yours?” I whispered as Henry slowly walked back over to the bed, and sat down next to me.

“I can control the weather,” said Henry. “It usually happens when I have a very strong emotion. Remember the nice weather we had, and the gust of wind that blew you away from that oncoming car?”

“That was you!” I exclaimed. “Whoa, thanks for that! I’d be road kill if you didn’t save me…”
“Welcome,” said Henry as he kissed my forehead. “Mom is the telekinetic one. She can move things with her mind. A good tip is to never piss her off, cause she will throw things at you…”

“Oh please,” I scoffed as he slowly put his arms around me. “Your mother is as harmless as a house plant. She is such a sweet woman, I highly doubt she would do that.”

“Well, she’s a vampire, so believe it,” said Henry. “And dad’s the one who can heal himself and others easily, be it vampire or human. It helps in vampire battle…”

“Vampire battle?” I said, looking into his eyes. “What-”

“Later,” he said. “I will show you what I mean. But you will wish you hadn’t…”

“I bet you can guess what Rollo’s power is,” smirked Henry.

“X-ray vision?” I asked.

“Close, he can read minds and see through walls,” said Henry with a laugh. “It sucks to have a brother like that, cause I get hounded all the time by him. Well, I’ve never really gotten hounded by him because I’ve never had a girlfriend before.”

“Are you seriously 19 years old?” I asked quietly.

“I am immortal, so in actuality, I am 88 years old,” said Henry. “But as you can see, I do not age. I will always be 19 for eternity; damned forever.”

Inside, I cringed. I made love to an 88 year old? Bleach! That’s like sleeping with my grandfather!

“Damned?” I asked softly.

“Yes, damned for all eternity,” said Henry coldly. “When we are finally killed, or if we so choose to take our own life, we will never see heaven. Vampires all go straight to hell when they so called die. That’s our fate, and nothing can save us from it. I’ve gotten to accept it after the first few years of becoming a vampire.”

“Why is it so?” I said resting my head against his chest, listening for his heart that did not beat.

“We are cursed creatures Gia,” said Henry solemnly. “We are creatures of evil; capable of doing only evil. Do you think heaven would accept a demon like me? Open up the pearly white, pristine gates of heaven for one so unfitted such as I? I think not.”

“Well,” I began hopefully. “All curses have a way of being broken. I mean, take Sleeping Beauty for example. Her true love kissed her, and she awoke from her sleep. The curse was broken there, so what makes this any different?”

“Because my beauty, that is fairy tale, and this is real life,” said Henry sadly. “I wish I could break this curse, but there is no way it could happen. I will be this way until I so choose to die or die in battle.”

“I don’t want you to die,” I whispered as I kissed his lips. He gently pulled away, and took my face in his hands.

“I can’t do this… I love kissing you, but I can’t,” said Henry as he showed me his extremely pointed eye teeth. “You know why you get weak around me? I naturally ooze a sort of muscle relaxant so no human can resist me. It’s a hunting technique vampires are all given…”

This time, I couldn’t help but cringe. Hunting technique? I thought of the fact that I was here, in my room with him. The door was locked, and he had this power to make me go completely limp. He could do anything he wanted to me, and what he wanted most of all was blood. This scared me, and I let my guard down.

“I-I’m really sorry, can you please go,” I said, moving away from him. “I-I’ll see you next week. Promise. We will hang out then.”

In a whirlwind, Henry had gotten dressed, and exited through my window. I threw my clothes on, and lay there in my bed sobbing. What was wrong with me? I had feelings for an 80 year old! Why?!?! And this man, no VAMPIRE, could possibly kill me!

But then again, I had him locked in my room, with mom God knows where. He could have killed me, but he didn’t. So what does that mean, and where does he stand? I heard a roar of thunder, and saw lightening flash and cut through the already darkening sky. I knew he was mad because I know knew it was he who controlled the weather.

“Gia, dinner’s ready!” cried my mother from behind my door.

“I’m not feeling too well,” I said loudly so she could hear me. “I’m going to bed early. Goodnight mom!”

“Okay Gia, feel better.”

As I curled up in my lonely bed, I shook in fear as the storm became more and more vicious. And as the storm got worse, I began to feel just as bad as the storm was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Sorry to tell all you Jersey folks out there,” said the weatherman on the television. “But there is a whole lot of storms coming over to us, one right after the other. When will it let up? Well, it doesn’t seem as if it wants to, but Monday sure looks a bit hopeful. We will see of things lighten up then…”

“Thanks Chad!” said the peppy anchorwoman. “Hey Charlie, don’t you think all this weather is quite strange?”

“Why, yes it is Tiffany!” said Charlie with a little less pep than Tiffany. “I have a feeling it is because of global warming, and the hole in the ozone layer. But things will soon get better… Gray skies are gonna clear up… put on a happy face!”

“We’ll be right back with the latest updates on the ancient history of Nausicaia, the mythological vampire whose name was brought into question when her insignia was engraved on several apartment doors,” said Tiffany through her giggles over Charlie’s awful singing.

Hmm. I thought to myself. Another vampire? Mythology? This should be interesting. Let’s see what they have to say about this Nausicaia…

“We’re back!” said Tiffany with her usual pep. “Authorities believe that a group of rambunctious teens have drawn the trademark insignia of the vampire Nausicaia shown here: in Cape Town. Police are investigating the artists who defaced private property, but everyone is wondering what this symbol really means.”

“Legend has it that there was a woman back in the early 1500s who came to settle in the new world. That woman was Nausicaia. She had fled from England from persecution and religious freedom to what is now Cape Town, New Jersey, but that wasn’t the main reason why she had fled. According to legend, she was a vampire, and had fled and kept it a secret from those around her in the new world. But that only lasted for so long…”

“Her lust for blood became uncontrollable, and she soon devoured an entire town. She then ran off into the woods, and has not been seen since. Her insignia is all that she had left behind for us to remember her by. It represents great evil, and some of Cape Town residents have expressed their concerns regarding the insignia.”

“I know the legend of this demonic creature,” said an old lady by the name of Lillian Shriver. “This insignia couldn’t have been done by teenagers. It is work of the devil! We should all be on our guard!”

“Ah, you wipe it off with soap and water, big deal?” said a truck driver named Ted Larson. “Teens will be teens. They do stupid stuff. It’s not that big of a deal!”

“They defiled personal property!” said a very plump woman by the name of Gracie McGovern. “Once the hooligans are captured, they should pay for what they did. You can’t go around defiling private property; someone has to pay for this…”

“This insignia is exactly like that of the swastika or the pentagram, a tool to install fear,” said my old high school teacher, Rosemary Wilkins. “It should be taken seriously because we all do not want history to repeat itself. Never forget…”

“Investigation is still underway, and citizens are told not to panic. Gee, Charlie, I hope they sure get that figured out…”

I turned off the television, and looked outside. Still raining, and it did not look like it was letting up. I knew that Tiffany, the anchorwoman was full of shit. Global warming? Try having a friend whose a vampire who can control the weather!

It was a dreary Saturday afternoon as I munched on Mama Celeste’s pepperoni pizza, hot from the microwave. I took a sip from my Dr. Pepper, wondering what Henry was up to besides making the weather crappy. Over the past couple of days, I began to feel exactly like the weather. Mom began to notice it to, and she began to comment on how sallow and pale my skin was looking.

“Gia, my God!” exclaimed my mother as she walked into the kitchen. “What’s wrong? You look ill dear, are you okay?”

“I feel fine mom,” I sighed as she put her hand over my forehead, checking to see if I had a fever.

“Lord, you are ice cold!” she exclaimed. “If I didn’t know you better, I would have said that you were a vampire for goodness sake!”

I nearly spat out my soda. “What?!” I exclaimed, nearly choking as the soda burned down my throat.

“Well, you haven’t looked so well since Monday,” said mom. “Maybe it’s the weather that’s bringing you down…”

You have no idea mom, I thought to myself as I started to wash the dishes in the kitchen sink, and dried and put them away.
I shut the door of my bedroom, and flopped onto my bed. I buried my face into my comforter, hoping to smell the remnants of Henry’s cologne in my sheets. To my disappointment, there was only a small hint of his fragrance in my sheets. I inhaled, the wonderful masculine smell of him my only comfort amidst my misery.

Wait a minute! I thought as I lay there. Why should I be laying here moping about kicking Henry out of my room? I mean, he could have bitten me! But then again, he didn’t… I should go see him, and tell him I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to hurt him or send him away like that.

He probably won’t even want to talk to me after what I’ve done. Why should he? But, at least I will know in my heart that an attempt at an apology was made. That, and I wonder if he knows this Nausicaia person, vampire thing…

“MOM!” I shouted up the stairs. “I’m taking the car out to a friend’s house. I’ll be home later okay?”

“Sure thing, be careful!” shouted my mother after me.

I got into my car as quickly as I could, throwing my purse in the passenger seat. I engaged the engine, and pulled out of the driveway. I pulled onto the main road, and took off for Henry’s house. Once I finally got there, I parked in the driveway, and walked up to ring the bell.

I waited for someone to answer, but didn’t have to wait long before Rollo opened the door. He glared at me like I had robbed or killed someone, and I began to shrink under his intense gaze. “What do you want?” Rollo asked harshly. “Don’t you think you have caused enough damage to my family already?”

“Rollo, I understand know why you are mad, and I know what’s going on,” I said gently. “Please, can I see Henry? I want to apologize, and I have to tell him something…”

“Henry doesn’t want to talk to you, so go away,” said Rollo coldly as he started to close the door in my face.
“Rollo! How dare you treat a lady that way!” scolded Mrs. Carson as she invited me inside. “What did I tell you about treating women?”

“Always treat your women nicely and hold them in the highest respect as you do your mother,” droned Rollo as he shot me an extremely pissed look.

“Now, Gia, what brings you here?” asked Mrs. Carson as she guided me into the kitchen, handing me a warm cookie fresh from the oven.

“Henry is mad at me,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “Because I was being stupid, and I want to apologize, Mrs. Carson. That, and I wanted to talk to him about some Nausicaia person who came up on the news this afternoon…”

The plate Mrs. Carson had in her hand dropped to the floor with a loud crash. The plate broke into several smashed pieces, and she clumsily swept the broken bits up into the trash. “So clumsy of me,” she sighed to herself. “Well, Henry is up in his room, and won’t come out. See if he will let you inside…”

Mrs. Carson flashed me a small smile, and Rollo shot me a mega death glare before I left the room and headed upstairs to Henry’s room. I stood in front of the closed door, and heard a rhythmic thud… thud against the wall. I knocked on the door, awaiting his answer.

“Who’s there, and what do you want?” asked Henry cuttingly.

“It’s Gia, can I please talk to you?”

The door opened to my surprise, and I stood face to face with Henry, who looked at the moment like a very angry, beautiful Adonis of a man. But he wasn’t a man, he was a vampire… “What do you want with me? Haven’t you done enough?”

“Funny, Henry,” I said as I pushed myself into his room before he could close the door on me. “Rollo said the same thing to me. Does rudeness run in the family? Cause it seems like the only ones who aren’t rude to me are your parents!”

“Look who’s calling the kettle black!” said Henry as he lay back down on his bed, and threw a ball against his wall, catching it every time it came back to him. “You kick me out of your room, you come over to my house uninvited, and then you barge into my room. But I’m the one who’s being rude?!”

“Please hear me out,” I said as Henry ignored me and concentrated on throwing the ball against the wall. “I’m sorry. This whole ‘I’m a vampire and I can kill and drink human blood’ thing is a bit off the wall for me. How would you like it if I just thrust all of that into your lap all at once? Try to picture being in my shoes for once!”

Henry stopped throwing the ball against the wall, and sighed. “I know I was wrong to tell you, but you wanted to know what was going on, and I couldn’t make up an excuse for that snarling and growling noise outside my door… That noise was all four of us, and if I hadn’t locked the door to protect you… if I hadn’t left so quickly…”

I shivered, trying not to picture what would have happened had Henry not protected me. “I scare you, I know it. You can’t hide it from me like you want to. I can see it in your eyes. You are terrified that I am able to kill you at any given moment. You are scared that one single movement you make can be your last.”

His brown eyes flashed a stunning shade of brown as he walked towards me. I stood there, not knowing what to do, scared out of my mind. “You’re shaking,” he whispered, lips brushing against my neck where the black and blues from his biting were hidden with foundation. “Me being this close to you, close enough to touch… to destroy.”

A cold finger traced down the side of my face, gently pushing a strand of hair out of my face. “When we were in your room, so close together… our naked bodies entwined, had I completed our act and you would be crumpled to dust… Mere dust from the overwhelming pleasure vampires can give to mortals.”

“And… what do you want to do with me now?” I asked in a barely audible whisper.

His lips pounced on top of mine, pressing against them firmly. My mouth parted as a moan escaped, and Henry took his chances and entered his tongue. Our tongues explored each others’ mouths, gently caressing. I bit his bottom lip, cold and bloodless, and this time, he threw me up against the wall, pulling away from our passionate kissing. “I want…” he began as he traced kisses over my shoulders and leading up my neck. “More than anything to make love to you…”

And slowly, he backed away from me as I slid down the wall to the floor, weak from everything that had just happened physically and emotionally. “I am not as dumb as most of you mortals are,” sneered Henry. “I can control myself, my desires… Unlike the entire human race, consumed by gluttony, greed, and sex.”

I felt a sort of change in room temperature, as I began to breathe heavily through the smothering heat. “You think I would just fuck your brains out and let you die don’t you?” yelled Henry as he looked at me, his brown eyes blazing with anger. “Well, you’re wrong… I would never subject anyone to that. Especially not those who I lo-”

He stopped, and I caught his eye. My breathing became slower and slower, and I felt as if I were going to pass out. Henry had almost said it… the words I had wanted to hear since day one of crushing on him. Now if only he could say it to me fully… and lower the temperature too.

“Henry, please calm down,” I rasped, my throat dry from the heat of the room. “I can’t breathe!”

“Of course you can, you are mortal,” snapped Henry, not getting the point. “Oh… Sorry.”

The room slowly but surely got cooler, and I wobbled over to his bed, and sat down. I felt completely weak and drained, and I was sweating profusely. “It’s… it’s okay Henry,” I wheezed. “Can… can you get me a glass of water please?”

Henry walked over to the bed, knelt beside me, and kissed me gently. “I’m sorry… I guess I can’t control myself as well as I think…” he said gently before leaving the room.

I sat there, wiping my sweaty forehead, and tried to regain my natural breathing rhythm. I felt like the walls of Henry’s room were closing in on me. I tried to scream, but only fell down into a black abyss… falling, falling…

“Dad, I dunno what happened,” said a voice. “I went to get her water, and well-”

“Son, it’s okay,” said Mr. Carson gently. “She’s going to be alright. She just passed out. And what mortal wouldn’t? It must be as hot as an oven in here! Come now Gia, please wake up…”

I felt Mr. Carson’s cold hands trace over my closed eyelids, mouth, and cheeks, which slowly started to revive me. My eyes fluttered open, and saw that I was lying on Henry’s bed, him and his family looking down at me with concerned faces.

“Dear, are you alright?” asked Mrs. Carson as she dabbed my forehead with a cool damp cloth. “You just fainted. Here, take a sip of water, it will help…”

I took the cup from Mrs. Carson’s hands, and drained all of it within a few seconds. I sighed, and started to sit up. Bad idea.

“Oh my head!” I cried, rubbing my forehead in a circular motion. “I feel like I’ve bashed headfirst into a brick wall going a zillion miles an hour…”

Mrs. Carson patted my head gently, and left the room with her husband. Rollo stood there in the doorway not taking his eyes off of me. “You have something to say,” he said as soon as Mr. and Mrs. Carson were out of earshot. “Then say it. I’m not going to tell him what you saw…”

“What did she see?” asked Henry curiously. “What the hell do you know that I don’t?”

“I came over here for two reasons,” I said slowly. “One was to beg your forgiveness, and make up for treating you like crap. The second was to ask you about this vampire person who was on the news…”

“VAMPIRES ON THE NEWS? ARE YOU MAD?” shouted Henry. “She has to be crazy!”

“No, I am not crazy. It was on the TV. Something about Nausicaia…”

Henry’s eyes grew very big and wide, and I saw Rollo walk over to him, and put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, ask her what she knows about it, and then we can try to keep her away-”

“Are you kidding?” said Henry in a hushed voice. “She’ll be captured and brought anyway. You know that mortals cannot be around her! She’ll do worse to her than what any of us could!”

“Don’t say what you cannot be sure of!” growled Henry. “Besides, I am not weak; our family is not weak.”

“Have you forgotten her power?” asked Rollo as he grabbed his brother’s arm roughly. “She is the fastest tracker among us… and she can find us wherever we are. How can we protect her against such a creature?”

“Okay, can you two please stop acting like I am not in the room and tell me what’s going on?” I asked as I sat up in the bed, feeling much better.

“First you tell us what you know, and then we will fill in the missing details,” said Rollo, his eyes smoldering warning me that he could get angry by anything I was about to say.

“I was watching the news,” I began. “Just like any other day, when a story about Nausicaia’s insignia being graphitized on people’s properties. They gave a brief history of how she came to America in the 1500s, and the legend says she was a vampire and all that jazz…”

“And then she sort of devoured an entire town, and then left and was never seen again,” I said, looking from Henry to Rollo to see their reactions.

“Well, that’s the tamed version to what really happened,” said Rollo gently. “All of what you said was right, just missing the other important details. Nausicaia had fled England to escape from the vampire hunters, and started a new life. She had killed hundreds of thousands in England, and had finally wanted to settle down and start to control herself. So, she packed her things, and took off for the new world. She had trouble, as do all vampires, dealing with the craving for human blood, but she satisfied her bloodlust with animal blood. It sustained her for several years until she snapped and devoured an entire town. She fled, and is in hiding now, and has been for the last four to five hundred years.”

“But then why are people worrying about this now?” I asked. “She is in hiding God knows where! What’s so bad about the insignia that makes it so evil?”

“She has no clue has she?” said Rollo angrily. “We know exactly where our kind is, and it just so happens that Nausicaia is in New Jersey at this very moment. So all of us must be on our guard constantly. As for the insignia, if you really must know how it installs fear, Nausicaia leaves that mark on the bodies of the humans she has devoured. Now, do you understand?”
“I do,” I said quietly. “Is she really all that bad? I mean she tried to keep from feeding on humans…”

“She is both,” said Henry. “She has both good and bad qualities to her. It helps ensnare humans so she can feed. You must be on your guard too. I can’t be with you everywhere to protect you, but I sure as hell am going to do the best I can.”

There was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Carson walked in with a small bowl of soup. “Here Gia dear, please have some soup. You look like you could use some…”

“Thanks Mrs. Carson,” I said as I took the soup from her gratefully. I ate hungrily from the bowl as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Boys, can you leave Gia and I alone for a second?” asked Mrs. Carson.

Rollo groaned and Henry kissed my forehead before leaving the room with his brother. “Thanks for the soup Mrs. Carson. It’s delicious!”

“You are quite welcome my dear Gia,” said Mrs. Carson with a smile as se moved a bit closer to me. “I take it that you now know everything?”

“You can never know everything,” I said quietly. “I only know what I’ve been told so far…”

“That is a very good answer,” said Mrs. Carson as she started to play with my hair. “For, you do not totally know everything… You don’t know how we came to be the way we are…”

I looked up, and I saw a tear side down Mrs. Carson’s face. “Are you alright? Please, I didn’t mean to-”

“No, it’s not you my dear,” said Mrs. Carson as she tried to compose herself. “Some of us have a difficult story to tell, as do I. But it must be told. We aren’t damned creatures by birth, we are what we are by force…”

“I was born in Poland in 1933. My full name was Greta Liselle Frenski before I married. My parents sent me over here with my older sisters and brothers. They died in the war, along with the rest of my family. My siblings stayed with me in a very small apartment in New York. Things were pretty bad, living in a cramped apartment with very little money…”

“But, we coped as best we could,” said Mrs. Carson. “I was always the one who looked on the bright side of things. Even in our darkest times, I was the one who cheered the others. Poor Frida, Hans, and Edgar… they were the younger ones who departed from us first. Even though I fed them most of my rations, they died of starvation and malnutrition. All I had left was Britte, my older sister who worked in a sweathouse to make some money for us. Every day, she would come home, her poor muscles aching, her eyes full of sorrow and pain. How it tore me to bits that she was so miserable!”

“It was then I snuck behind her back, and got a job working as a seamstress to help out. I left school to work, and after a while, Britte got suspicious about where I went. And when she finally found where I went, she beat me something awful. ‘You imbecile!’ she screamed in my face as she tore at my braids. ‘After all that has been sacrificed! After blood has been shed from this family!!! And you are going to shit on all of it! HOW DARE YOU!’”

I flinched over Mrs. Carson’s harsh voice and use of language. I have never heard her so angry, bitter, or ever curse in my presence.

“I’d never felt so bad in my entire life,” continued Mrs. Carson. “I handed her all of the money I had earned, and went back to school. Her suffering was very short-lived because she was now able to cut back a bit on work because of what I had made. She began to take care of me a bit better, and even helped me with my schoolwork. I learned all I possibly could in school, knowing now what my family had gone through to get to where we were then.”

“As I got older, boys started to come onto me. I was a shy, pretty little thing, and not too much into that sort. I had the burdens of a woman three times my age to think about, and couldn’t care less about wanting a boyfriend. Sixteen years old, and already I had suffered more than any adult I knew. The war had waged on, and once it was finally over, Gitte and I knew that our parents and all of our family were dead. We said a prayer for those who had died, for those of us who had lived regardless and remained strong.”

“I was glad when the war was over, because it gave Americans a new hope for the future. I finished school, and began to work in a factory in an assembly line. It was hard work, and at times, you grew very stiff and sore. But it was money, and good money at that, which was very rare to come by.”
I patted Mrs. Carson’s hand reassuringly, feeling her sadness and pain that she was spilling out to me. It seemed almost endless, as if her suffering was still unending.

“I bet you are wondering how it could be possible that I am a vampire?” said Mrs. Carson softly. “Well, I was stuck at work late one night, working overtime. By the end of my shift it was very dark out, and I couldn’t see much. Every other lamppost was lit, and there was one on every street corner. I was very frightened, and jumped at the slightest noise. I continued to walk towards my apartment, when a man caught my eye. He looked ghastly pale, was very tall and thin, and had something red dripping down from the sides of his mouth. He flashed me a smile, and I saw his evil, pointed teeth and took off in a hurry. He followed me as I ran. I tried to throw him off but he seemed to know all of my moves. And when he finally caught up with me…”

Mrs. Carson let out a very audible sob that in turn made me cry with her. “I was only twenty five at the time. I didn’t know what I was, just that I knew that I was no longer myself. He left me there, clothes torn, bleeding on the sidewalk. I prayed that my pain would be short-lived, but I was so very wrong…”

“Once I became a vampire fully, I found that I had all this power that I’ve never had before. The telekinesis, the flying… being able to find my own kind! It was amazing…”

“But life wasn’t amazing until I met George, the love of my life,” sighed Mrs. Carson. “He was the one who helped me, who healed my broken heart from all the wounds I had suffered. He was the one who helped me become better at controlling my urges… And he is my soul mate.”

“That’s such a sad and yet lovely story,” I sighed. “Are Henry and Rollo your children? Did you have any children at all?”

“Darling Gia, how old do you think I look?” asked Mrs. Carson. I looked at her, studying her face and body. She didn’t look that old, just dressed it, ad probably dyed her hair that way…

“You must be in your-”

“Twenties, like I was when I was bitten,” said Mrs. Carson. “And so I shall remain. I never had any children, although I was supposed to have one with the vampire who had raped me, but it was a miscarriage. Vampires cannot breed with each other, so Rollo and Henry are adopted…”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” I said quietly. “How old is Mr. Carson?”

“Oh George is physically twenty six, but in reality, he is 78,” said Mrs. Carson. “And I am really supposed to be 77...”

“I am really sorry for all you have gone through,” I said as she gathered my empty bowl and spoon. “I honesty wouldn’t know how to cope if it were me…”
“You find a way… you always do,” said Mrs. Cullen as she kissed my forehead with her icy lips. “Now, are you going to be alright? Can I send the boys back in?”

I nodded, and she opened the door telekinetically, and Rollo and Henry stumbled into the room. “Eavesdropping I see?” said Mrs. Carson with a look of pure disdain. “Very naughty and rude! Why, you boys should be ashamed of yourselves!”

Rollo and Henry muttered many apologies, and Mrs. Carson left the room, flashing me a wink before making her way out. Henry flopped down next to me on the bed, and I snuggled deeper into the sheets. Rollo sat in a chair next to Henry, and started to stare off into space. “What’s with Rollo?”

“Oh, he does that when he is concentrating really hard on something,” said Henry with a smile. “He’s such a goof, honestly…” He rolled on top of me, and started to kiss me.

“Mmm, stop my love,” I moaned. “Remember, we can’t go too far or you will kill me. I’m human, remember?”
“Yes, but kissing is not sex…”

“True, but it can lead up to-”

“Now that’s plain foolishness!”

“And I rest my case!”

“Gia, I love you half to death,” said Henry as he held me in his bed. “Or as I should say, I love you in death…”

“Ugh, that sounds creepy that way,” I groaned as Henry laughed. “Vampire humor…”

“Anyway, why were the two of you listening at the door?”

“Well,” said Henry as he pointed to Rollo who was still in his own world. “He wanted to know what mom was going to say to you, and seeing as I do not have his power, I listened against the door. I can’t believe she told you her becoming story…”

Rollo snapped out of his far away gaze, and looked about the room. “Henry, we have to move. She wants us… and the girl.”

Henry and I got up out of bed and thundered down the stairs. “I’ll drive,” said Rollo as he unlocked the Mustang’s doors. “You two get in the back and buckle up. It’s time for some speed…”

The car took off, burning rubber in the driveway. The houses and trees were all just one big blur, and I began to feel a bit queasy. I shut my eyes, and leaned against Henry for support.

“I think it might be best if you did shut yours eyes,” said Henry. “It will help with the nausea…”

“Hang on,” said Rollo as he spun the car into another direction.

“Two questions!” I shouted over the roar of the engine and music. “Where are we going, and are we almost there?”

“One, we are going to Nausicaia,” said Rollo as he honked the horn at two pedestrians. “And two, we will get there when we get there…”

“Please make it fast, I think I can see my soup coming up now,” I groaned as I buried my face into Henry’s chest. “And why do we want to head straight to danger?”

“Because it is better if we head straight into danger than have her hunt us down,” growled Rollo.

“Sorry about Rollo, he’s just a bit angry about all of this,” said Henry gently as he kissed the top of my head.

“You think?!” exclaimed Rollo as he slammed on the brakes. “All of us are in a shitload of trouble. I hope to God she is in one of her good moods. If she is, there is a slight chance that all of us might make it out alive!”

“Well, slight is better than no chance at all,” said Henry, trying to be hopeful.

“If either of you think this is comforting me, it’s not,” I said as the car pulled to a stop finally. “Oh wow, we are here…”
“Now, listen very carefully,” whispered Henry into my ear. “Do not look at her, do not have any thoughts in your head, and sure as hell don’t make any sudden moves. Please, I am begging you, if you do this, we will have a better chance of surviving this. Understand?”

“Yes,” I whimpered, very afraid of what we were about to face. All three of us got out of the car. I gasped at where we were headed. We were far away from suburbia, very far away indeed. We were now in the middle of the worst city you could ever possibly be in: NEWARK.

I grabbed Henry’s hand as we walked under a graphitized bridge. It was dark, except for several lit garbage cans. Several black and Hispanics loitered near them, and as we passed, a hooker made its way over towards us.

“Hey hunky, wanna be with a real woman?” asked the skankily dressed woman as she flipped her hair. She ran her hands up Henry’s chest, and for a split second, I thought he was going to go with her. “I can please you way better than she can… Come on sexy, you know you want me.”

“No, thank you,” said Henry coldly as he pushed her away. “I have better things to do…”

I felt so much better after Henry had pushed the whore away, and we headed off under the rest of the bridge. Rollo stopped, and I slammed into Henry accidentally. Rollo put a finger to his lips as he looked at me, and traced his finger around a bare patch of the bridge wall. Once he had pulled away, Nausicaia’s insignia burned on the wall, and it opened up for us to enter.

I gasped as we went inside, Henry closing the door behind us. It was very dark inside, only dimly lit by waxy dripping candles. It would look very romantic, but the room held no feeling of love in it. Rollo and Henry stepped in front of me, and knelt down in front of a very beautiful woman sitting on a throne. Henry pulled me down to kneel, and I fell to my knees with a thud.

I looked up, gazing at the beautiful woman sitting on the throne, and wearing a beautiful, ornate crown upon her head. Her very pale skin shone beautifully in the candlelight. Her flowy, long black hair cascaded down to her lap; her brown eyes glittering as she looked upon us. Her minions were all over the room, two on either side of her as guards, and the rest off in corners conversing with each other softly.

“I see the two of you have answered the call,” said the beautiful woman in the most feminine voice. “Welcome, Rollo Carson. Welcome, Henry Carson. And welcome… um, who are you, pray tell my dear?”

The two minions on either side of her began to hiss and bear their teeth. Their eyes began to glow red, and Henry gripped my hand tightly. “Ah, I see. You are not one of us… You are the one I’ve been hearing about lately. The vampire lover…”

“Please ma’am,” I said, my head bowed. “I’m Gia. I don’t know why I am here, or what any of this is about, if it so pleases you…”

The beautiful woman chuckled softly. “Do you not know who I am? Have you no clue who I was?”

“Nausicaia,” I whispered softly.

“Yes,” she said softly, hissing on the s. “I am she. I am the queen of the vampires, the most fairest of all vampires in the world. And I have called this meeting because I see impending doom in the future for the vampires. And the funny thing is… you are somehow connected.”

Nausicaia closed her eyes, and I closed my mind as quickly as I could. I thought of nothing, completely clearing my head of all thoughts. But although Nausicaia couldn’t read my thoughts did not mean that I couldn’t see hers. The room around me blurred and changed into a wilderness. Wolves surrounded the vampires, and were closing in on them. I screamed as the wolves lunged forward and began to attack, but nothing happened to me. Once the bloodbath was over, the wolves transformed, and became human. Most of them were males, and people I didn’t recognize. And then… I saw two people that I did recognize.

I came crashing back to the room, falling to the floor. Henry was beside me, looking very concerned and worried. I looked at Rollo, and he looked back at me, a fiery intense, angry gaze. He looked as if he wanted to kill me, and in a way, I think he did want to.

“Is this what you saw?” asked Rollo as he bowed to Nausicaia. “You saw all of this happen?”

Nausicaia rose from her seat, and walked over to Rollo. Her eyes gleamed, and changed to pitch black, and Rollo began to curl into a ball, writhing in pain. “You dare question what I know to be the near future? You dare doubt me and my knowledge?”

Rollo stopped writhing on the ground, and looked back at Nausicaia. “I would never… ever dare,” he gasped as he pulled himself up into a standing position. “I-it was hard to-”

“Imagine?” finished Nausicaia, her eyes blazing. “Betrayal is nothing hard to picture… In fact, it’s very common with mortals and immortals. Why do you sound so surprised at this? I see your mind Rollo; I see your hatred towards her…”

I gasped, and got up, heading for the nearest exit. I wanted to just go home; all of this was way too much. Henry chased after me, and just as I reached the door, a huge man blocked the door. He bared his teeth menacingly, and I backed away from him slowly. “No one leaves without permission!” barked the deep voice of the huge man blocking my way.

“Let the mortal go,” said Nausicaia as the door opened by itself from behind the large man. “I’ve no use for her now…”

As soon as the man moved away, I ran as fast as I could out of the room. I stumbled out of the hidden door, back under the bridge where the garbage pails still continued to burn. The hookers must have been busy doing their job, because as I ran back to where I thought the car was. Tears rolled down my face as Nausicaia’s words burned in my head. Betrayal is nothing hard to picture… In fact, it’s very common with mortals and immortals.

I see your mind Rollo; I see your hatred towards her…

The vision that she played for me echoed in my head. I had recognized two people from Nausicaia’s vision: Andrew and me.

Nausicaia said herself she is never wrong about what she sees I thought to myself as I ran to try to find the car. But me? A wolf? And with ANDREW?!?! What’s up with that?

I couldn’t possibly be a betrayer; hell I didn’t even know how the hell I would even want to betray Henry and his family. And, what the fuck? Calling me a betrayer!? Call me a bitch, a whore, a slut, but never call me a betrayer.

I found the car, and got in, locking the door behind me. I curled into a ball, and sobbed loudly. How could she say that? What does all of that mean?
Tap, tap, tap. I jumped, and looked at my passenger window. Henry was standing there, looking in and looking furiously at me. I didn’t need to be a mind reader to know two things: one, he knew what Nausicaia and Rollo knew, and two, he was mad at me for running off. “Open up Gia…”

I cracked the door open, and Henry took full advantage, and wrenched the door open and pulled me out. “Whoa!” I cried as he slammed the door shut and threw me against the car. I felt my back sear in pain, and I bit my lip, trying to deal with it.

“What is with you?” growled Henry, his face inches from mine. “First, you have the nerve to even SPEAK to Nausicaia! Then, you run away from everything! Hello?! We aren’t in Pleasantville! We are in NEWARK, city where you don’t want to walk the streets alone! You could have gotten hurt!”

“What is with you and saving me?” I whispered softly. “And I couldn’t help it! She asked me something, so I spoke. And for your information, I am still alive and fine!”

“You need saving,” said Henry, his lips brushing against mine. “Cause one day, when I am not here, who’s going to save you? And now… with you betraying me, my family, and my kind…”

“I swear to you!” I shouted loudly in his face, wanting him to jump in fear and surprise, but he just stood there, not even flinching. “I would never even think of hurting you or your family like that! Hell, I don’t even understand what that meant!”

Henry slammed me up against the car, and I whimpered in pain. “Don’t-lie-to-me!” he snarled through gritted teeth. “Nausicaia’s visions are never wrong… And there was no mistaking you in that vision!”

“Please, Henry,” I pleaded. “Listen to me! I don’t understand any of this. Please explain to me why all of you think I am going to betray you.”

I looked into his eyes that were so angry I thought they would explode and burst right in front of me. “Henry, ease up,” said a voice from behind him.

“You!” I said angrily, pointing at Rollo who looked worn and beaten. “You hate me? You don’t even know me! You may have the ability to see through walls and minds, but you’ll never know who a person really is…”

Rollo held up two fingers in a peace sign, and Henry turned around to face his brother. “Oh, I’m supposed to ease up after all of this shit! She wants me to tell her what Nausicaia’s vision means, but-”

“You think that because of this knowledge, she will go off and-”

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!” shouted Henry as he grabbed Rollo by the throat. “I am not going to let you spill everything so she can hear and know of everything!”

“But-she-has-to-know,” stammered Rollo. “Maybe-it-could-prevent-”

“Yes… you make a good point,” said Henry as he dropped his tight grip on Rollo’s throat. At that moment I was torn between running to comfort Rollo, and breaking the Mustang’s windows out of sheer anger and frustration. “But what if it only drives her to betray us? Then what?”

“I figure she’s got a right to know since she already knows too much as it is,” said Rollo as he walked over to the car casually and unlocked the driver’s side door. “Both of you, get in. Now!”

I threw myself in the backseat next to Henry, both of us staying on our separate ends, not even looking at each other. “Well, I must say, the two of you are acting very immature for your ages,” said Rollo as he broke the silence. “Henry, you’re acting like a baby, getting all mad and taking it out on people. Gia, you need to take your emotions down a few notches cause it’s getting a bit disturbing. Now both of you: shut up, grow up, and listen to what I have to say…”

“Gia, remember what you saw in that vision?” asked Rollo gently as he began to drive carefully down the abandoned dark road. “You saw a pack of wolves that attacked vampires didn’t you?”

I nodded, afraid to say anything. “Once the massacre was over, you saw yourself changing from wolf to human… and you weren’t alone were you?”

I bit my lip, afraid of crying in front of Rollo and Henry. I had been standing next to Andrew, and it seemed in the vision that we were a couple by the way we were standing so close together. But I mean, come on! Me, love Andrew? Yeah right, maybe when hell freezes over…

“Some other guy was with you when the wolves attacked… someone you know,” continued Rollo. “He looked familiar to me, but I just can’t quite put a name to him…”

“But Rollo,” I interrupted. “What’s your deal with the wolves? Why did they attack the vampires?”

Henry’s fist tightened, and I thought he was going to hit me any second now. “Vampires and werewolves… we just don’t get along,” said Rollo quietly as he continued to drive. “We are two very different creatures, and since the dawn of time, we have never been friendly to each other. It’s just how it is…”

“Wait, so you are saying I betrayed you guys by becoming a werewolf, and then telling them all you told me?” I asked.

“And if you did get bitten, even if it was not on purpose,” said Henry, making me jump a bit at his abruptness. “I would no longer be able to be around you, protect you, or even care for you…”

I took a deep breath, and let it out slow. So, even if I was transformed into a werewolf by force, I would never be allowed to see Henry again. I couldn’t let that happen; I had to try to reverse fate as best I could. But how?