The False Vampire

Whoosh.

The noise the arrow made as it zoomed through the air startled me at first. Then had me squinting in excitement. Samuel's arrow hit the bull’s eye, and was only a centimetre from dead centre.

"Shit"

As I glanced over to Samuel, I noted his eyebrows were drawn into a tight line, his lips curled back in annoyance as he stared at the arrow. Jae walked over to me, before turning in my direction.

"He's a bit out of practice"

This earned a huff from Samuel, and a chuckled from Jae. Though this seemed poorly executed to them, I was incredulous. The fact that he had even hit the bull’s eye was astounding.

As I was staring at the forgotten arrow, I get a nudge. Looking over, a bow and arrow were stuck in my face.

I am sure my eyes grew as large as mount Olympus. Surely, they could not mean to give me that thing. Especially after seeing how good Samuel was. No way. Na-uh.
Reading my expression, Samuel laughed. In a gentle voice, he managed to coax me over to the spot he previously stood in.

As I held the long bow in unsure hands, I let him guide me into the proper position. As he did so, he murmured a bunch of instructions.

"Remember don't use your arm to draw back the string, but your torso instead"

He sounded sure and confident, something which I could be envious of. As I repeated the motions, which he had previously used, I took a second to focus. In my hands, I could feel the tension in the string, almost as if it was pulsing with a life of its own.
Trying to relax, as if he was trying to get me to do, was harder than it appeared to be. My mind was racing at a million miles per minute, my hands shaking.

As I exhaled, I released the bow. It was a tense few seconds, until a sound thwack!
It was only then I knew I had successfully launched the arrow. Not realizing that my eyes were indeed closed, I opened them wearily. If the arrow had swooped any lower, it would have missed the target all together, and even as it was it seemed to be barely hanging there by a thread.

It seemed as though a burden had been lifted off my shoulders, a sigh of relief escaping my disbelieving lips.

I had done it!

The words whispered across my mind like a light at the end of the tunnel. It was in that fraction of a second that I knew this was something I could accomplish. Despite the tension thrumming through my body, and the twitching that occurred deep in the muscle of my shoulder, relief took off the edge off all that at one stage could have made me complain.

Crossing to the quill, I plucked another arrow, knocking it back onto the string. I repeated the same motions as before. Taking a deep breath, I released the quivering string. This time the arrow flew slightly further, if not only by mere centimetres, but missed the target entirely.

Biting back bitter words, I could feel my hands clench into fists. The knowledge that I could do this taunted me, the pressure agitated me, the shocking force of the ultraviolet waves as they slammed against my skin left me in an agony only similarly felt when lit on fire. And it was like being lit on fire, a fire that burned without flame.

I bit my lip hard, hard enough that I began to taste as the blood welled up from the cut that my teeth had made. A dull, throbbing pressure thumped behind my eyes. My thoughts began to become sluggish, my movements slow. This, alone was torture.
Still, I once more knocked an arrow, aimed, and fired. The arrow flew once more, but this time, hit the target with a thwack.

It surprised me that this time, I seemed deeply embedded. Staring at the long piece of plastic, I could no longer see the tip.

What had I done differently?

Was it the fact that I changed my position slightly? No I don’t think it was. Silently I pondered the thought, rolling it around inside my head. No answer came to me, and I knew it was one I was going to lose sleep over.

It wasn’t until my skin was peeling off my arm in small sheets that I allowed Jae and Samuel to pull me out of the sun. I ached, like I never had before. Even more then when I had run out into the sun as a small child, thinking that I were invincible, that maybe that time, the sun would not burn me.

Sitting in the car, my posture was rigid. I could not allow my exposed skin to touch anything, not even myself. Occasionally, I would move my arms to a point where it would rub a piece of clothing, or the seat itself and pain would flare like one thousand flames.

As the car pulled to a stop, I peered out the window. The street was entirely unfamiliar, yet it was not. Perhaps we had driven through here before, but there were no distinguishing markers that jogged my memory.

Parked in front of a medium sized white house, vines crawled up the sides, giving it a country feel. The house looked strangely out of place in the middle of a city. The small house was surrounded by a white picket fence that was only as tall as my hip, a little white letterbox perched on top of the fence.

Jae led me gingerly by a burnt wrist through the small gate in the fence. A cobblestone pathway led up to the front door, being surrounded on both sides by small flowers and herbs. As we trotted down the short path I named as many as I could recognize.

Sage, Blue Vervain, Butterfly weed, Wormgrass, Wild Rose, Mint…basil.

There must have been hundred of others that I did not recognize. Silently, I returned my attention to the doorway which we were now walking through.

The inside matched the outside. Inside it had a homey feel, furniture that was both modern and classic mixed as one to create a seamless rustic feel.

A clattering of pots and pans sounded, and I guided by Samuel into what was the kitchen. The room itself was an old style kitchen, open fire included. However, there were also many state-of-the-art gadgets.

The woman kneeling by the crackling fire prodded the hot coals once more, before standing and wiping her hands on her long gypsy style skirt.

Turning round to face us, she jumped slightly when she saw us there. Raising a delicate hand to her chest, no doubt to calm her racing heart, she smiled.

“Hello dear, my name is Trish”

I gulped, not knowing what to say.