Love is a Pretty Tragedy

[Chapter 8]

Henry's POV

The smell was strong that it instantly made my eyes pop open, and for all of my senses to instantly heightened. My attention first grasped how it was pitch black with just the sound of crickets as background noise and the sound of Estelle breathing softly. The smell was so sweet that my nostrils began to flare as my body began to heat up. I grazed my tongue across my fangs already knowing they would be present. A slight breeze passed, and the scent was once again present. It is the most wonderful thing I'd ever smelled in my life. I turned over on my side and see Estelle fast asleep beside me. She looks absolutely beautiful under the moonlight. I’ve never seen her so sound asleep before However, it wasn't how I usually felt about her. It wasn’t that I loved how her hair would flow down her back, how beautiful her brown eyes looked when they caught the sun or the way she laughed. I wanted her, a taste of her. Worse than any desire than I had ever wanted in my life.

The temptation had never truly been placed before me like this. A horrible urge came over me. I could feel her blood rushing through her veins. It was as if pump and release of the blood in her circulatory system was a mini-earthquake that my whole body could sense. On top of everything, the smell was too wonderful to resist. There was dried blood on her knee. Just one little sip or lick wouldn't hurt, I though, as I inched slowly closer to her neck. I closed my eyes letting the smell intoxicate my senses. My lips touched her skin feeling the hot blood just below. A small murmur left her lips and all the sudden I was aware of my actions. My human instincts had come back just for a second. I jumped back and sprinted all the way to the other side of the field. Not wanting to let myself ever get that close to biting her again. Her smell was still all around me and my lips were still tingling. It was forever imprinted in my brain. I needed her blood more than I needed anything before, but I had to resist.

I began to try to logically think of what I could possibly do, and then all of the sudden a memory from earlier in the night hit me. I had dropped off Estelle and went back to the apartment to change clothes as I had decided to go to hunting in the group tonight...not necessarily the baseball group that I told Estelle. They were meeting on the other side of town and waiting until nightfall. I was driving over there when I noticed something strange. A car behind me loss control of the wheel and ran into a tree. I quickly slammed on my brakes to go check on the driver. I ran over the passenger’s side, but there was no one there. There wouldn’t have been time for them to leave the car, and it would have been almost impossible to leave the car without some serious machinery. It wasn’t Wes’ car though. I am thinking the two had to be unrelated, but what if that was Wes? I had not even considered it earlier. If so, what happened to him? A horrible thought crossed my mind, what if one of my fellow vampires had taken him? It was too early for that. Nothing about it made sense so I called the police and headed on with my night.

All of the sudden I heard Estelle rustling around on the blanket, and my eyes went wide. I couldn’t just leave her in the field. Not that it wasn’t completely safe, but waking up alone was the last thing she could take right now. She needed as much support as I could give her, as I believe I am all she really has right now. I suppose I could feed and then come back and wait for her to awake. I truly didn’t trust myself in this open space to control myself. So, I decided to go with the last option, take her back to our apartment.

The trickiest part was getting her there. I opened my car door ahead of time. I slowly inched back closer to Estelle, trying to get used to her smell. I bent down and slowly picked her up, bridal style. A slight moan released from her pink lips. I was afraid that I might wake her up. I held my breath and slowly inched toward the car. She just wrapped her arms around my neck. A slight smile appeared on her lips. Must be having a good dream, I thought. I was happy to see all the bad things and thoughts had not yet reached her subconscious yet.

I slowly drove to my apartment, which thankfully wasn't too far away. I placed her down softly onto one of our raggy sofas surprised that I had made it all the way back without waking her. It seemed that she must have been exhausted from everything that she had been through tonight. I did a quick search of the house for Keane. He was nowhere to be found. A good sign. He must be out hunting and thinking that I backed out at the last minute. I am sure that was not a big surprise to him.

I wasn’t even how he would react to me bringing Estelle back here. He had never met her and never had the desire too. I walked down the hallway, and I slid down the wall. Hunger had overcome me at this point to where I felt like I could pass out. Blood was the only thing that could cure the sickness. I dragged my legs over to the refrigerator. I grabbed the first thing I saw and chugged it. A drop a crimson blood rolled down my chin, and I licked it away. Hunger still consumed me, and I knew that it wasn't going to be going away tonight, not after I had that constant smell of Estelle in my mind.

Her scent hadn’t lessened any since when it had awoken me earlier. I tried to drown out my thoughts as they were all too vivid of what I was capable of. I felt intoxicated by them. Standing up, leisurely walking over to her before I gently picked her up and put her neck to my mouth. I would place a few kisses on her mouth first before moving down her jaw to the desired location. One little bite wouldn’t anywhere near satisfy me. I really wouldn’t know how much of the, I’m sure, delicious goodness it would take before I would stop from killing her. I didn't trust myself. Just thinking about it was almost too much. There were only a few more hours until sun up, but I honestly thought that may be too long of a time to wait.

I straggled toward my bedroom, locked the door and put a chair underneath the handle. Not that it would do much to stop me. If my hunger got any worse, I would be able to tear through the wall and not even need to use a door. I collapsed on to my bed. If nothing else doesn't prove that I am a monster, this sure tops it. I am fantasizing about feasting from the girl I love right after she has lost her brother. I could potentially hold out for this one night, but for how long after that? At this moment, I would do anything for the slightest droplet of a certain blood type. During the daytime, I would just do anything to make her happy. Taking in what this transformation truly does to me make me realize how my choice to not follow her to Chicago is the right one. No matter how heartbroken I will be once we go separate ways, I just love her too much. I know she won’t understand at first. She may never see why I am leaving her. She deserves all the happiness in the world, and I am happy to have given her a piece of that for the past three years of our lives together. While I’m sure she will go on to do great things, have many children, and a great life, I will forever remember this time that we spent together. When she made me feel like my human self was my true self, and that the vampire side of me was just the way I was able to meet her.

There were questions in my mind of what would happen next for me? Will that vampire side take over more and more now that she will not keep me holding on to my humanity? I shook that thought from my mind. I just had to be grateful for any extra time I did have.

Her scent automatically hit me again like someone had just sprayed the room with a bottle full of it. I could feel my hunger attempting to consume me once again but shook my head. I grinded my teeth as I gripped the side of the bed, trying to contain myself in my spot. I closed my eyes as I remembered once again why I could never be with her completely.

The sun was almost up, and Estelle was becoming restless. Tossing and turning. I was afraid she would wake up any minute. I quickly walked to the bathroom and glanced into the mirror, still no reflection. My tongue grazed over my fangs; they seemed to be getting shorter. It was probably just my imagination though. I was pacing, anything to make the time pass any faster. It seemed like these few hours were years; the time seemed to be moving so slow. The nights always move slowly, and the days fast. However, never this slow. The sun was almost halfway up now, as I saw it was starting to crawl through the blinds. I felt my fangs once more as I sat down in a chair beside Estelle. They were regular now. I let out a sign of relief. I relaxed in the chair, and Estelle's eyes fluttered open reveling the beautiful browns she owned. A smile appeared on her face. She must have woken up from the same good dream, I thought. However, it soon disappeared and was followed by a confused look. "Where are we?" She asked sitting up on the couch yawning.

"My apartment." I replied quickly.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead; I suppose remembering everything that had happened was real. "Oh. Why did we move here?" I was dumbstruck by her question. My mouth must have literally been hanging as I tried to think of a response. I spent so much time trying to not think of her; I forgot to make up an excuse. What could I say? Then suddenly, Keane came from down the hallway. When did he even get here? I thought.

He came over, and stretched his hand out towards Estelle, who shook it reluctantly. "Keane, Henry's brother. Nice to meet you. I have heard so much about you." Estelle looked surprised.

"Um, nice to meet you too." She said bewildered, probably never thinking she would meet Keane, or maybe thinking that he never truly existed.

"And to answer your question, darling. I was worried about Henry. He didn't call, and it was after midnight. So I drove to where the two of you usually spend your time. I found you both sound asleep. So I woke up Henry. He told me that you couldn't go home and needed him. With no questions asked, I drove you both back here. You were sound asleep until now. I guess the couch is more comfortable than it looks." Estelle let out a forced chuckled. Overall, she seemed to believe his story though, I suppose no reason not to. I was filled with relief; I could never come up with something like that on the spot. "Well, let me go get dressed. See you two soon." Keane left, but not before giving me one of those you'll thank me later looks.

"You look really pale, Henry. Are you okay?" Estelle asked in concern.

"Yeah, um, I just didn't get much sleep. I’m more worried about you, babe." I wasn't feeling quite human yet.

She looked down shyly, her face was still tearstained. "You should probably be getting home." I said quickly while watching her straighten her wrinkled shirt.

“I really don’t know if I can go back yet. I don’t know if I can emotionally and mentally take it.” She looked like she was on the verge of tears again. I quickly sat down beside her and put my arms around her. “You are so cold.” She rubbed her hand up and down my arm. “What were you outside all night?” I definitely wasn’t fully human yet.

“Just caught a chill I guess.” I tried to play it off.

She just nodded her head. "I hate to ask, but I'm so hungry. What do you have to eat?" Estelle got up from the couch and headed over to the fridge. She was probably ready to get out of my cold arms. I did not think too much about it until I remembered what was in the fridge. Just blood! I jumped off the chair I was sitting in and ran in front of her. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"We don't have any food," was the first thing that blurted out of my mouth.

"Really? None at all. I’m not in the mood for jokes, Henry.” She said trying to get around me, but I was frantically blocking her every move. "Henry, this isn't funny. I'm really hungry. Why won't you let me open the fridge?" Estelle seemed like she was getting more pissed off. She was serious. What excuse could I use for having blood in the fridge? We help donate to the blood drive. Keane works at the hospital and their refrigerator died. Perhaps…but she beat me to the handle before I could make an excuse. While she opened the fridge, my whole body sank. Is this really how she is going to find out after all of these years? I expected to hear a scream or gasp. Instead she just said, "Now, why didn't you want me to open your fridge?" I looked inside and, the stored blood was gone. It was replaced with regular things like orange juice, milk and eggs. Pretty empty, but it was normal human fridge.

Again, I was saved by my brother. "Anyone want to head out for breakfast?" He said cuffing one of his sleeves.

Estelle was completely bewildered by my crazy post-vampire morning self. "Actually…I think I'm going to head home." Estelle said heading for the door.

"That's good. Your parents are probably wondering about you. You look a little pale Henry," Keane said with a smirk on his face. "How about I drive you home? Henry join us as we have an errand to run afterwards."

The car ride to Estelle's house was awkward, to say the least. No radio, little conversations that were soon to end, a few directions. I felt so bad. She didn’t even feel comfortable going home yet, but I was being too much of a freak for her to feel safe at our apartment. I just feel so stupid about everything.

We finally reached her house. “I love you.” She said as she left the car. Blowing a kiss back at me. I mouthed back, I love you too babe. I faced towards Keane, who just laughed. "You have so many things to learn, brother."