Love Sucks

I couldn’t believe any of it. I just couldn’t. I just kept screaming my head off, hurt and upset as to what my eyes were beholding.

Henry lay there, completely naked and covered in ash. Blonde strands of hair that were neither his nor mine were on his chest. “Gia! Oh my God, this isn’t what it looks like!”

“I’m sure it isn’t you BASTARD!” I screamed, tears rolling down my face. “You wanted to sink your fangs and dick into a HUMAN, and this is the remains of the wonderful sex you just had! God damn you, Henry! I’M HAVING YOUR BABY! WE ARE MARRIED! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!”

“I swear to you, I was just sleeping!” said Henry, brushing off the ash and getting up.

“No, don’t you dare touch me or get anywhere near me!” I yelled, pushing him off of me. I began to sob hysterically, and ran out of the room, and out of the house. “I CAN TELL WHEN I AM NOT WANTED. I’M LEAVING, AND HAVING THE BABY ON MY OWN. AND IF YOU DARE TRY TO FIND ME, I WILL KILL YOU!”

I slammed the front door, taking it off its hinges, and drove away in my old Tracer. I pushed the gas as hard as I could, and sped off to the nearest airport. I was getting out of New Jersey for good. I never wanted to see Henry ever again. How could he have cheated on me? I thought he loved me. I thought when we both took up our vows, that we both meant what we said!

“One ticket to the next flight out of this country,” I said, slapping down my credit card. “And make sure you do not write down where I am going on the charge card please.”

“The next flight out of the country is to Italy,” said the lady at the desk whose name was Charlene. “Flight goes from here all the way to Rome.”

“I’ll take it,” I said as I showed her my passport. I quickly ran through to board the plane, and grabbed a window seat. Goodbye my former life. I should have known that all good things come to an end somehow… I guess I was never meant to have my fairytale ending.

I rested my head against the window, and tried to go to sleep. “Are you okay miss?” asked the flight attendant. “Can I get you something?”

“Yes, may I please have a glass of water?” I asked, rubbing my head.

“Not a problem,” said the attendant as she scurried off to bring me back some water.

“Thanks,” I said as I drank most of it in one gulp. “How long is this flight?”

“About six hours miss. Why not put on your headphones and watch a movie? Or you could listen to our large variety of music.”

“Thanks,” I said, putting on the headphones and running through the files of music stored. I finally found something I liked. I put on Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and sat back and wallowed in my own self-misery.

I was now a pregnant woman on the run from her cheating husband. I’m all alone now, and will raise, and probably give birth to this child by myself. I started to fall asleep just as Colorblind by Counting Crows came on.
* * *
As soon as Gia had left me lying there in my old bed, I knew she had left me, or intended to leave me for good. But I was going to find her, even if she wanted to kill me. I had no idea what had happened, or how I came to be completely naked, covered in ash and blonde hair. Naturally, one would assume that I had screwed a blonde human, but I couldn’t have. I loved Gia, and I would never ever cheat on her.

I threw on some clothes, and ran about the house looking for dad. He would know what the hell to do. “DAD!” I shouted as loud as I could. Damn, he wasn’t home. I began to summon him with my vampire powers, and he soon walked through the door. “You are not going to believe what just happened…”

I took him into my bedroom, and showed him the ash and hair that covered me. I told him everything that happened, and he took the ash in his hand and sniffed it. “This is not human remains,” said dad. “And the hair is that of a horse. Someone must have done this to make you look like you had slept with a human.”

“Oh, I have an idea of who might have set this shit up,” I growled, remembering the warning at Gia’s and my wedding. “I’m not going to do anything TONIGHT. But be warned: THIS IS NOT OVER YET. Not by a long shot…”

“Two words dad: ANDREW BLOOD.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________

I finally arrived in Rome without throwing up on anyone, thank goodness, and ran to the nearest ATM machine to get some cash. I withdrew a couple of hundred euros, and then waited for a taxi to take me to the nearest hotel.

“Ciao bella,” said the driver as he kindly opened the door for me. “Dove andare oggi?”

“Vado l’albergo, per favore,” I said as I sat down in the taxi. He took off, and I rested my head against the window. A tear rolled down the side of my face, and I sniffed and shuffled around in my pockets for a tissue.

“Perche sei triste?” asked the cab driver gently. “Una bella donna che tu possi non piangere.”

I smiled, and wiped away my tears. “Grazie signore. Tu molto simpatico…”

The rest of the trip I spent looking out the window at the familiar sights. We passed the coliseum, and I had felt a flashback of our honeymoon. “Can I have a go at it with you?” I asked Henry.

“You, want to fight me like a gladiator?” laughed Henry. “You know, women didn’t fight. Only the men did back in those times…”

“That was then, and this is now,” I said, taking the sword from one of the gladiators’ hands. “The reason was they were afraid of being beaten by a woman. Come on, show me what you got!”

Henry chuckled, and unsheathed the other gladiator’s sword, and locked blades with me. “En garde my sweet!”

The memory cut into me as deep as a knife. The familiar sea surrounding Italy brought back good memories too, swimming with Henry, making love with him on the shore while the fisherman catcalled. Memories that seemed fake to me right now.

The taxi stopped, and I paid him several euros, plus a very nice tip. He kissed my hand, and wished me well before taking off. I walked up to the Albergo Romano, and began to check in under “Mrs. Smith.” I got my room key, and headed up towards my room.

I really didn’t need such a large bed because I was going to be sleeping alone now, but it was very comfy. There was a TV that had several American stations on it, a writing desk, and a decent bathroom and sink. I laid down on the bed, and turned on the TV. Every single channel had a couple either kissing, or a guy begging the girl to take him back, and then she ends up taking him back. Can anyone come up with something different for a change?

I shut off the TV, and put a hand on my stomach. Strange, but it had gotten a lot bigger than it was a few days ago. I must be pregnant for about three weeks now…

I felt my baby move inside me, and smiled to myself. “Hello my precious baby,” I whispered softly. “I’m your mommy. I’m going to take good care of you. I promise… Daddy can’t be with us any more, but that’s okay. We will be just fine on our own. I will do anything to keep you safe, and from getting hurt like mommy did…”

I could feel the baby gently move about inside me, as if it was trying to reassure me. “Mommy loves you so much,” I said, as I began to sob. What had I been thinking, running away and being pregnant? And what I had forgotten most of all: I WAS A VAMPIRE. And like all vampires, I was going to need blood, and soon. I was fine now because I had had a glass of blood before leaving, but how long would I last? I was caring for two vampires now: myself and my baby. Would I have to resort to killing animals, or would I start to attack people? I shivered to think that I would attack an innocent human, and drink its blood like it was a bottle of Coke.

“What am I going to do?” I said, running my hands over my stomach.
* * *
“Where do you think she is?” I asked dad.

“Henry, she could be anywhere in the world or country right now,” said dad throwing his hands in the air. “We need to contact Rollo. Once we have him, he will be able to find out where Gia is…”

“Mom probably has Fionghuala’s number,” I said as I ran to find mom. “Mom, can you give me Fionghuala’s number? It’s an emergency…”

I frantically punched the numbers into my cell, and waited for someone to answer. “Top o’ the morning to ya,” replied a very sleepy feminine voice that must have been Fionghuala’s.

“Fionghuala? Is that you? This is Henry, you know, from the wedding? Rollo’s brother. Can you tell me where Rollo is? I need to speak with him immediately.”

“Mm, Henry love, he’s right here. You know you call at like four in the bloody morning with the time difference!”

“Sorry,” I muttered, and then she put Rollo on.

“’Sup brother,” he said sleepily. “What’s happening that you must call at this hour?”

“I have just lost the love of my life,” I said, shaking with anger and sadness. “She’s left me… Gia left me! And I need you to come back home to help me find her. I don’t care what you have to do. Bring Fionghuala back if you must, but your ass needs to be back here helping me find Gia.”

“Ugh, Henry,” groaned Rollo. “You are like not going to believe this, but I can’t just hop on a plane to go back home. I hear there’s storms coming in, raging hurricanes and thunderstorms. There won’t be any planes taking off soon for a few days until the weather settles.”

“I’ll make the weather nice,” I growled, knowing he was trying to make up excuses. “I want you over here ASAP. Got it?”

“Yes, now can I go back to sleep?”

“No, answer me this,” I said, my stomach churning. “Can… can you HEAR her thoughts?”

There was silence on the other end as Rollo concentrated. “It’s very dimmed. I can hear her feelings though, LOUD AND CLEAR. She’s very upset and miserable, but I don’t know why. I know she is sitting in some hotel, crying her eyes out. What did you do to her?”

“I did NOTHING!” I shouted into the phone harshly. “I-WAS-SET-UP!”

“Okay, whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow…”

I punched the wall, angry and upset as hell. Tomorrow could not come soon enough…

I was awoken by someone poking me, and I rolled over. Rollo looked down at me with a concerned face. “I know what’s going on,” he said, tapping my head. “Shit… that sucks. I mean, I knew from day one that you loved her and only her. I mean, you’ve never loved ANYONE the way you love Gia before. And, like you said, we got to find her.”

“But how the hell can we locate her?” I asked impatiently.

“I can try to get through to her by mind to mind communication,” said Rollo as he shrugged. He sat down on the bed, and soon had a blank look on his face. This continued for a good five minutes, and then he finally returned back to normal. “Shit, she told me nothing. She’s still so upset, Henry. The way we were communicating… it sounded like she didn’t want to be found.”

It was as if someone had nailed me with a stake through my heart. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. She was just SAYING she didn’t want to be found, she didn’t mean it. Did she?

“I’m afraid she doesn’t want to be found brother,” said Rollo as he patted my shoulder reassuringly. “I’m sorry. I don’t think there is any way to be able to find her…”

“I don’t care!” I barked angrily. “We are just going to try harder! I’m not giving up any sort of hope on Gia’s and my love! I KNOW somewhere deep down inside her, she still loves me and wants to be with me, and somehow, I’m going to prove to her I was ALWAYS faithful to her!”

“There is something else,” said Rollo quietly. “Gia’s not feeding. She hasn’t had blood in a few days now. If she keeps denying herself blood, she might attack a human, or even die. We have to find her, and fast. I will keep trying my best to get her to crack…”

“Thanks, Rollo,” I said before he left to go to his old room. I ran a hand through my hair, and began to pace my bedroom. How the hell was I going to find Gia?

I knew that finding her might take weeks… maybe even months, and within the course of that time, she would be getting further along in her pregnancy. I knew that if she was to have the baby alone, she would die. Please, let me find her!
_____________________________________________________________________________________

I hadn’t moved from the hotel room in weeks it must have been. I lost track of the time. When you mope, you think time just drags on and on, and time means nothing to you. I was weak, so weak that I could barely even move. My stomach had grown so much that I now looked like I had swallowed a watermelon, and the baby thrashed about inside me worse than ever. It was hungry too…

I wanted to cry, but I had used up all my tears. The pain was unbearable, and there would be times when I would go without sleep for several days because of it. I wasn’t going to drink blood, not animal blood for fear of how it would affect my baby, and definitely not human blood because I wanted to have my dignity.

“Sh, baby,” I said hoarsely. “Mommy’s here… she’s hungry too. Oh so very hungry… But there is nothing I can do. I can’t even move…”

The movement inside me grew a bit less violent, as if it had understood me, and knew that there was no hope. “I’m sorry my beautiful baby. I’m sorry I brought this upon us both… I don’t know if either of us is going to make it…”