Love Sucks

I had never even dreamed I could ever be so happy being a vampire. Yeah, the blood drinking thing was repulsive, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. Of course, that wasn’t the only thing I didn’t like about being a vampire…

I hated that I had to walk out on my mom. I mean, she gave me life, put me through college(well, I’m going to have to take a break from that for a while… You know, being a new vampire and all…), and did so much for me for the past nineteen years of my life. But I guess it’s okay in the end because I had to protect her. If she knew what I became… my God, I don’t know what she would say.

Right now, she probably thinks I’m doing drugs or something. Oh well, better to think that than the fact that I am a vampire.

To tell you the truth, I was totally unprepared for what being a vampire was all about. But luckily, I had a loving family to help guide me through my tough times. I was so glad that I was allowed to live with the Carsons, despite Mr. and Mrs. Carson’s old fashioned beliefs. I guess they knew I was a respectable girl, and not some harlot from off the streets, and that their son Henry was madly in love with me.

I slept in Henry’s bed, and Henry slept on the futon, mostly because of Rollo’s prying eyes. You see, Rollo has mind reading powers, AND he has x-ray vision. I didn’t want him to go running off to his parents telling them I was screwing their son, mostly because I respected his parents way too much.

The first day of being a vampire was the most interesting. I had senses I had never had before as a human. My vision, which was extended only so far as a human, was expanded 360°. My sense of smell, hearing, and taste were also changed, and it scared me that I had become so different than what I was. I could smell blood from thousands of miles away… I could hear the next door neighbors arguing, even with their windows shut… And the taste of blood, my very first taste, was that of beyond anything I could have ever desired.

“Henry, Gia looks weak,” said Mr. Carson as everyone stopped laughing at me loving the smell of my own blood. “We need to take her out hunting… She has to get used to the fact that she can’t KILL humans.”

“This I gotta see,” grinned Rollo evilly.

“Buzz off,” I said, sticking out my tongue at him. “I bet you I am better at it than you!”

“Oh, a day old vampire thinks she can out-hunt a century old vampire? I think not!” laughed Rollo.

“We’ll see,” I said, smirking.

“Gia, I think you’d better change my dear,” said Mrs. Carson. “Your dress is absolutely soiled! Come with me, I’ll help you find something…”

I blew a kiss to Henry before departing up the stairs with Mrs. Carson. “I hoped you would be coming here soon to live with us, so I went on a shopping spree, and bought you a whole bunch of new clothes to wear…”

She opened a mysterious door, and gently guided me inside. She hit a small button, and my eyes widened. We were standing in the HUGEST closet I had ever seen before, and all the things inside: t-shirts, jeans, shoes, sneakers, purses, socks, lingerie, negligees, and accessories were mine.

“Oh… My… God!” I gasped. “Th-thank you! Thank you so much! I honestly am at a loss for words… This is amazing!”

“I kind of had some trouble finding things you liked, but Henry and Rollo gave me some ideas,” said Mrs. Carson as she smiled back at me. “Henry told me you were the jeans and kooky t-shirt type. And Rollo gave me the idea for the sexy lingerie…”

I groaned. Just my luck. I’d be wearing the sexy stuff to bed, and Rollo’s watchful eyes would be gazing through the walls. Mega creepy!

“Oh, don’t worry about him,” said Mrs. Carson. “He was only trying to help…”

I rolled my eyes, and quickly grabbed a pair of jeans, a cute pale blue t-shirt that said Ravenclaw… It’s not that we are smarter than you(Although it’s totally true), and some converse low tops, and trotted down the stairs.

“So, who’s coming with me to hunt?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

“I’m going to stay home,” said Mrs. Carson. “I got to bleach the floor, and clean up that dress of yours…”

“Rollo, dad, and I will take you,” said Henry. “Come on!”

We ran out of the door faster than the speed of light, and into the forest in the Carson’s backyard. As soon as we were deep enough into the forest, Henry grabbed my shoulder, and I stopped running. “Sh, this is the perfect spot to hunt for deer,” whispered Mr. Carson. “Deer blood is the second best to human blood, and it’s also the easiest prey. Watch as Henry hunts, and then you can give it a try…”

Henry hid behind a tree, and slowly but carefully snuck farther and farther away. Then, I saw what he was after. A HUGE stag was off in the distance, its antlers branching outward and very large and sharp. I was afraid if the stag felt threatened, it would turn and attack with its antlers. I held my breath, and then realized it meant nothing to me now because I was a vampire, but I did it anyway.

The stag, to my surprise, was completely oblivious to the fact that Henry stood several feet away, hidden behind a tree trunk, waiting for the right moment to attack. Then, Henry took his chance. “ARGH!” I cried loudly as Henry leaped on top of the stag with no problem at all, and bit its neck and began to drink. “Holy shit! I thought it was going to attack you!”

Rollo fell to the ground roaring of laughter as Henry finished up. “Ha, a stag attack me? Preposterous! They only charge other stags, but that’s only during mating season,” said Henry as he licked his lips. I ran over towards him, and kissed him, tasting the stag’s delicious blood on his lips.

“Well done Henry!” cried Mr. Carson. “That’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen this year! Go on now Gia, it’s your turn… Try that doe that’s one hundred yards away.”

I looked with my vampire vision, and spotted the doe that Mr. Carson was talking about. She was of average build and size, very weak. My mouth began to salivate; if Henry’s stag had tasted that good, I could only imagine how nice the doe would taste.

I sunk to my knees, and crawled army style as quietly as I could towards my prey. It wasn’t the same technique Henry used, but I was going on instinct. I found a tree nearby, and quietly stood up and hid behind it. Like Henry’s stag, the doe was completely oblivious as to what was hiding just a few feet away. If I was human right then, my heart would have been racing, pumping adrenaline through my body.

I attacked, and body slammed the doe to the ground. I bit into its neck, and warm, fresh blood flowed into my awaiting mouth. The doe tasted like rich, expensive Swiss chocolate, and I was quite put out when I had drained it.

“Very interesting way of hunting,” smiled Mr. Carson as I walked calmly back over. “I’ve never seen anything like it… Very good, Gia. Rollo, you’re next.”

“Dad, can I go up against Gia?” smirked Rollo. “We’ll both charge for the same deer. It’ll be a race to see who’s the better hunter.”

“Son, I don’t want anyone to get hurt-”

“Believe me,” I said, also smirking now. “The only thing that’s going to get hurt around here is Rollo’s ego…”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” said Mr. Carson as Henry snickered.

“Pick your poison,” said Rollo. I cocked my head, not comprehending what he meant. Rollo sighed. “Pick the deer you want us to fight over…”

I scanned the forest, looking for the perfect deer, one that was good enough for Rollo not to call me a wimp. I finally found the perfect one, a stag that was even bigger than Henry’s, and it didn’t look quite as peaceful as the other two deer were.

Rollo caught my gaze, and grinned broadly. “Oh no,” sighed Mr. Carson. “Gia, you can’t be serious… You don’t even know how strong you are!”

“Well, this will be our little test,” I shrugged. “And if anything bad happens, I’ll back off and let Rollo win.”

Rollo and I crept off towards the stag; I went left, Rollo went right. As I got closer, the smell became more pronounced,. The wonderfully delicious scent wafting through my nose made my mouth water. I had to get to the stag before Rollo or else I would go crazy!

The huge stag began to snort, twisting around to see where the danger was. This stag was no imbecile; he knew there was something there, hidden behind the trees. Its eyes widened with fear, and it started to trot slowly off. I took my chance then, and chased after it.

The stag began to run faster and faster, and soon, I wasn’t the only one chasing after it. Now that my competition was gaining up on my prey, I had to act, and act fast. Just as the stag was about to turn, I pounced on top of it, and bit down hard on its flank. Victory was mine!

“Holy crap!” exclaimed Henry.

“Goddamn it!” cursed Rollo angrily, flinging a rock at nothing in particular.

“Wow,” said Mr. Carson. “That was amazing…”

“I should have known Gia was going to be special like that,” said Henry as he patted me on the back. “I mean, she was gifted even as a human…”

“Excuse me?” I exclaimed, lifting my head up from the stag’s flank.

“What I meant was when you were human, you were very particular,” said Henry. “You weren’t like any of the other people in college. You were very smart, smarter than most at your age, and prettier than anyone I’ve ever met…”

“Haha, you made Gia embarrassed!” laughed Rollo, who just had to read my mind to be a pain in my ass. “Whoa, Gia are you okay? You look… red.”

I looked down at my body, and my once shockingly white skin was now beet red. My nails, hair, and eyes were also red too as I glanced at my reflection in my compact mirror. “What’s wrong with me?” I asked, worried and upset.

“Oh my God!” cried Henry. “Now you are blue!”

And so I was as I glanced into my reflection. Everything from my hair to my skin was entirely blue. What the hell was going on?

“Curious… very curious,” said Mr. Carson. “I think we are seeing what your power will be. Gia is a morpha.”

“A what?” asked Henry, Rollo and I together.

“Morpha,” said Mr. Carson. “She can change her appearance at will. But at the present, she is just developing that power, so it should take a week or two for it to sort out. Powers usually work that way when someone first becomes a vampire. The emotions of the new vampire ties in with the power in the beginning, but then they learn how to control it, and use their power.”

“So, this is just me showing my emotions?” I said, my skin, hair, nails, and eyes now turning back to the color they were before. “Okay then…”

“Dad, I’m going to walk with Gia back up to the house,” said Henry as he put his arm around me. “Why don’t you go and hunt with Rollo? You both need to hunt to keep up your strength…”

“Go on son!” said Mr. Carson. “Come on Rollo! Let’s hunt.”

I laced my hand with Henry’s, and we walked back home. “Gia, have I ever told you how much I love you?” asked Henry.

“Hmm,” I thought, wondering where he was going with this. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, there is something I wanted to talk to you about,” said Henry slowly.

Uh oh, I thought to myself. This can’t be good. He probably doesn’t love me anymore… He probably regrets that it was HE who turned me into a vampire. But what am I going to do if he doesn’t love me anymore? Where am I going to live? What am I going to do?

“Uh, Gia?” said Henry, snapping his fingers in my ear. I jumped. “Sorry, you sort of spaced out…”

“Oh… right,” I said. “Go on.”

“Well, I know we haven’t been together very long,” said Henry. “But, I know something is real here. There is no denying it, this… chemistry. It was like we were destined to be together. Like after all of the heartaches, pain, misery, and sadness, there was a bit of joy, hidden beneath the surface. For seventy years, I have been looking for someone special, my soul mate, my other half, and have never found it. But now, I am glad to say, I have found her…”

“And… who is SHE,” I asked, unsure of the answer.

“Why, she’s standing right here next to me!” said Henry as he kissed my forehead. He stopped suddenly, and turned to face me, looking straight into my eyes. “Gia, you’ve made a living dead person feel almost alive again. You’ve made me feel complete, and even though you have made some mistakes, I’ve found that you were not to blame for them. You are the most beautiful, kind, caring, most selfless person I have ever met, and I would like to ask you one question…”

He kissed my hand, and then knelt down in the grass. “Gia Gianattassio, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? To be bound to me forever, as I to you?”