The False Vampire

My body and mind felt on edge for the rest of the morning. I sat besides the closed windows and watched the rising sun, changing between gazing and reading the novel clutched between my fingertips.

Gazing and reading, the only thing missing was sleeping, and then it would be just the same as my old life. Before the Purswells. The Purswells, Jae, in particular, had me so confused. And feeling slightly betrayed. How dare they shatter my world of peace and serenity! Why on earth did I ever decide to go to school? My life had become swept up in a fantasy tale, like the action novels I read so much.

The only difference was, where the heroines in those were strong, deep and brave, I was not. I was not brave in any sense of the word. All I knew is that I wanted to run, I wanted to hide from the people that had brought me true happiness. But Jae, he was so confusing. Butterflies raced through my stomach, I did not know how I felt about him. I think I liked him. If his actions earlier were any judge, I think he liked me too. I sighed, a long drawn out sound that emptied my lungs.

By the time my phone pinged the sun had risen, and I, with my uniform on was packing my school bag. I grasped the silver thing, opening the inbox. I bold letters wrote Trinnean Thordis, the blind boy who held many secrets, I thought to myself. Opening the text message, I had to read it several times to understand what he said, and still, it left me wondering why.

Meet me in the gym after school, bring comfortable clothes – T (5:43 AM)

Furrowing my eyebrows, I packed clothes that I was comfortable in, a baggy grey t-shirt and yoga pants. I clutched the yoga pants in my hand, memories rising within my mind.

Mum and I used to always go to the gym on a Monday night, where we would join a two-hour yoga session with one of mum’s best friends, Carroll. Since moving, we had not done anything of the sort. Guilt ate at my insides as I realised that I had been too wrapped up in own friendships and problems to spend time with her. I made a silent resolution to myself to spend more time with my family. Grabbing my phone again, I sent back Trinnean a quick reply.

How long do u think it will take? – A

About an hour and a half maybe? Could be less depending – T

Depending what? T what are we going to do? And how are you texting? – A

I’m going to train you. And Nadia is very helpful. (and she’s not an owl, don’t expect me to do this often) – T

Note taken. Sorry Nadia. Alright T. – A

Very good – T
I scowled at the phone. Was it just me, or is Nadia a complete bitch? It really seemed that way sometimes. I reached into my drawers pulling out a blank diary. On the pages I quickly noted in concise points everything that Trinnean and Jae had told me in the past 24 hours, as well as my experience. I shuddered to recall on that. Under the recounting of my ‘experience’, I included a small detail about the terms Anthesteria, and Anamchara. I would find out what they meant, one way or another.

During my adventure down memory lane, I could hear a sizzle and pop that originated in the kitchen. I stashed the diary in my bag, and the phone in my pocket. Moving hurt, I felt dirty, like it was caught underneath my skin and despite the scrubbing I had done earlier, I still felt like I was covered head to toe in a layer of grime.

My above ground bedroom no longer felt like the safe haven that it was, and I craved my old bedroom, the one which was now across town. Thoughts bloomed in my head, what if he had an STI? Or that I was pregnant? But didn’t the body have a way of shutting it down? My thoughts buzzed, making my body freeze, right there in the middle of the hall. What could only be described as a panic attack began to bloom in my chest, and with effort, was shoved away. I had to compose myself, I had a long, long day ahead of me.

I would go to train with Trinnean, and then the doctors. How would I get to the doctors though? My thoughts screamed at me, only one answer was clear. I had to talk to Elisa. I shovelled bacon and bread into my mouth, eager to get it over and done with. It wasn’t long after I had finished that a horn beeped out the front. Like clockwork, I pulled the front door open a crack, before bolting into the car, using my school bag as cover.

In the car sat all the Purswell siblings, each, except for Jae, tense. I worked my lip between my teeth, feeling anxiousness tug at my stomach again. Elisa, in the front seat sat straight in her chair, staring out the window. Jae sat next to me, silent as a statue. I wondered what I was meant to do. I watched Jae, my eyes pleading. Without a word, he raised his necklace from his own neck, before wrapping his hand in a stray shirt from the boot, and lowered it over my head. He leaned close to me, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“This will protect you from the sun darling”Jae smirked at me, flirty in nature, but the rest of his untold sentence still reverberated within me, ‘and from me’.

Racking my brain on what to do. I lurched forward in my seat, flicking on the radio to the most annoying channel that I could think of. Ear screeching country music filled the car, something I knew none of the Purswells liked due to their raising under John, an avid lover of the stuff.

“Adrienne!” Samuel, whose fingers were on the steering wheel tightened, his face pinched. Jae behind me laughed. Elisa fiddled with the controls, but only ended up pressing the wrong one, stuffing the system. The country music turned louder and louder. “Elisa, turn it off, turn it off!”

I sat against the back seat, amused, as they fumbled with the controls. Neither of them figured to turn it off, until Jae pushed the shiny silver button. A mutual exhale of relief sounded throughout the car.

Everyone relaxed, except for Samuel, who was woven tighter than ever before. A look of murderous rage overcame his features before his driving became jerky. He pulled over on the side of the road, turning to face me. We all stared at him with curious expressions. He pointed a finger in my face, almost turning me cross-eyed in the process.

“What. Happened.” His eyes glowed an eerie gold colour.

“What are you?” I knew he was angry, but I was more curious about the change that had come over him. I realised that I knew that Jae was a faerie, a sun faerie, but as far as Elisa, Anita, John and Samuel were concerned. I had no idea.

“Werewolf. Which doesn’t matter right now. Your thighs and stomach are sore. What happened!”his expression didn’t ease in the slightest. He seemed to just become even more angry as the conversation progressed. I couldn’t tell him about my experience, couldn’t even form the words in my mind without having a panic attack. Elisa and Jae were now also staring at me, perplexed, thunderous.

“If you must know, I’m on my period” I squinted my eyes at him, hoping I sounded believable. When an embarrassed expression crossed his face, I knew I had been successful. “How did you know anyways?”

“I’ll tell you later. Let’s just say I’m finely attuned to your body Adrienne. “ I stared at him, willing him to tell me with my eyes. He released a sigh. “You’re my mate Adrienne” he stared into my eyes, pleading for me to understand, like I had been to Jae. My stomach twisted. His mate? But in all the books I had read, a mate was like someone’s soul mate.

Samuel pulled back into traffic, driving up to the school. I was left in silence, pondering his words. I didn’t feel like his soul mate. He only seemed to me as a brother. I glanced up at Jae. No, it was only Jae that I had feelings like that for.

The Purswell siblings left the car, only Elisa remaining behind. I scooted out of the car and stood in the sunlight. It washed over me, warm and welcoming. Not burning. My head tipped back, absorbing the rays as they danced over my skin. I glanced at Samuel and Jae’s backs. Jae glanced over his shoulder and winked, a gesture that set my cheeks aflame.

No longer happy to remain silent, Elisa grasped my arm. Her eyes glanced over my face, filling rapidly with tears. I realised that she looked restless, her regular glow about her gone.

“I’m sorry Lis”

“It’s fine. Just don’t ever do that to me again!”the tears tumbled from her eyes, trekking down her cheeks.

“ I know, I won’t. I was tired, overwhelmed and freaked out. I won’t do it again! I promise!” I smiled and hugged her, just feeling him nails dig comfortably into my back.

“Now that is that, what’s going on?” her cool blue eyes searched mine questionably. I took a deep breath.

“Yesterday, when I got home, I had…I had an…experience…I…I can’t. Read this” I shoved the diary at her after pulling it out of my bag. Though the notes were concise, methodical, I watched as her face darkened. “I wanted to ask you, if you could please…you know, drive me to the doctors?” I bit my lip, feeling the poor bruised skin crack and begin bleeding. Elisa nodded slowly.

“I will”

The bell, like every other day I had attended this school, rang at exactly 3:10:02. Feeling a little bit lame, I flushed privately to myself, however knowing that it was distracting me from my thoughts, I continued with the precise measures I was taking.

It only vaguely turned up in my mind that I was meant to go to the gym with Trinnean. I was nervous, my palms shaking slightly. I had never undertaken self-defence classes before, heck, the only physical activity I was ever any good at consisted of climbing trees.

At this time in the afternoon, there were only one or two people milling around the change rooms. I placed my bag on a bench before changing into my yoga pants and shirt, nervous about what was to follow. I bit my lip in nervousness, wincing as my teeth dug into the bruise that was a result of a perceived relapse of previous habit.

Dressed, I coiled my hair into a bun, walking out of the room. In front of me, was a massive hall that I had imagined only existed in the movies. However, different to what I normally saw was the plush gym mats that were locked into a square in the middle of the floor. The smell of funky socks and stale sweat entered my nose, causing a shudder to wrack my body.

“I thought you were never going to turn up” And then there was Trinnean, standing in football shorts and a plain t-shirt, without his regular cane and a grin on his face.

“Well, I wasn’t going to but I figured I couldn’t just leave you waiting” I rolled my eyes at him, a gesture that he seemingly always knew when it occurred. He waved his hands onto the mat, silently coaxing me to step on the padded blue fabric. Suddenly, Trinnean struck out, his extended leg catching me completely unaware as I fell to the ground, the air escaping my lungs in a wheezy rush.

“Lesson one, always be aware of your surroundings” he reached out a hand to help me up, then manoeuvring me in some way that I ended up pinned underneath them “Lesson two, don’t think they’re going to cut you some slack”.

My eyes narrowed at him as he climbed off me. I stood up in time to see his swinging fist, of which I partially dodged, being clipped only in the chin and not the temple. My breaths came in hard and laboured, a sweat forming on my brow. He looked so relaxed that it almost wasn’t fair. I tried to swing a punch at him, noting he left his side undefended, realising a second too late that it was a bluff. He grabbed my arm, twisting it forcefully so that it contorted behind my back, sending me to my knees in an attempt to relieve the pressure. Trinnean let me so silently, allowing me to face him again. He stood with his legs braced slightly, hands crossed in front of him.

“We need to work on your hand-to-hand combat. How’s your coordination?”

“Alright” I frowned slightly “Why?” Trinnean at my response stalked away, to a black duffle bag that I didn’t notice earlier. He pulled out two wooden swords, not unlike the training swords used in kendo. Walking back he tossed me one, which, I managed to catch but trip myself over in the process. We had only been “training” for about ten minutes, but I had already fallen to the floor more times that what I usually did in a week.

As he reached out his sword to attack me with, I jumped back, dodging the swing. I attempted to defend myself with the sword, throwing large clumsy blocks that he easily overpowered me with. He must have tapped me at least eight times in the following five minutes before he stopped. Realisation came to me, if I were to survive in his world, and the Purswells, I needed to learn how to do this. Determination swept over me as I focused on the goal that what happened to me the previous night would never happen again.

For once, taking Trinnean by surprise, I thrust my sword at him, still clumsy but more focused than previously. His unseeing eyes widened slightly, before moving in to block. Over the duration of the hour, as we trained, I had to remind myself that Trinnean was much better at this than I was, perhaps better than I would ever be. After the session, an hour had passed, and I was too exhausted to even handle my own body weight. Muscles quivered with each step, tender with the battering they had taken. I had never done most of the things, such as weights, treadmill, hand-to-hand, sword fighting or even climbing up the rope. The rope caused me to shudder. That one killed me the most.

Trinnean had left my sweaty form in the gym, leaving sweat free, his cane clicking on the vinyl floor. My hair had untangled from the bun an hour ago, plastering to my back and face. I decided then and there a shower was in order, damned to be told otherwise.

Though I had the serious case of the heebie-jeebies using the school showers, I reminded myself that I could’ve used the ones in my dorm room, however, I believed they were too far away for me to push my sore body.

The hot water did wonders, unwinding sore muscles and washing away the sweat. Steam curled around me as I turned the taps, drying myself with a clean towel that the school stocked. I stood there, dripping and naked for a few long moments, contemplating how to improve myself. Trinnean had left me with a daily training schedule, demanding that I complete a series of push-ups, crunches and other sorts at home, before also concluding that we’d need a minimum of four training days a week.

I sighed, knowing I’d be in a world of hurt for a little while, before stiffly moving to put my clothes on. Dressed, I exited the small stall, where I found Elisa. Perched gently on the chair, she had my bag strapped to her back. She looked me over, giving me a questioning glance as I only shrugged.

“Are you ready to go?” By go she meant the doctors. I swallowed loudly, the sound echoing in my ears. Nodding my head, I replied with a curt yes before dumping the towel in a basket near the exit, leaving to go face the doctor. And hopefully not needles.