They Claim They're Immortal

“William,” I started while wrapped in a fluffy, white robe. As happy as I was clean, whenever I made even the slightest movement I would feel a twinge in my gut. I had a large bruise going across my stomach and my back. I didn't blame Kyle in the slightest but I hurt.

Blade paused and turned away from the spaghetti he was making. “Yes?”

“I need you to take me back home.” I held up a finger as he opened his mouth to speak. “Hear me out.” Blade closed his mouth and I sighed. While he had been washing out all the blood from my hair I'd gotten to thinking. I mentally freaked out while going over the last two days. I'd ingested blood. A complete stranger's blood. I could have retracted some sort of disease! But at the same time, if Tyler's a vampire wouldn't that mean he wouldn't be able to carry diseases? Just for argument's sake, let's say I did believe them and all their... stories. That would mean Tyler's blood was safe. I mean, they seemed pretty intent on keeping me safe, why would they give me blood that could cause me harm? Or, better yet, kill me?

“I've been thinking-” Blade mumbled something along the lines of 'that's never good', but I ignored it and plowed onwards, “about everything. You could let me go and say that I'd escaped. I could move to... I don't know, Sweden. I'd change my social security number, my name, my phone number, anything that they could trace. I'd take out all my money and I'd cut up all my bank cards and I'd go. I have friends that could help me, you could save me.”

“Jessica-”

“Wait. Please, William. You're not really going to let them hold me hostage for the rest of my life are you? You can't! You'd be considered an accessory! You'd be- You'd be thrown in jail like the rest of them when I've been found. People will notice, my friends will look for me. They might even be looking for me right now. The police might be looking for me right now.

“I have a job. I have patients that need me. I have a father that'll worry-”

“Worry? Jessica, let's face facts. Your father will most definitely not worry about you,” Blade said with a scoff.

“You don't even know my father. He will worry about me and my whereabouts,” I snapped. I pushed the truth to the back of my mind. I knew Blade was right, but I wasn't ready to admit it yet. Not even to myself.

“I know enough about your father to last a lifetime,” he snapped right back. “Do you not recall that I can predict the future? Well, Jessica, I've been predicting the future long enough to know the aftermath of your brother's and mother's deaths.”

“You don't know anything,” I hissed. Memories were starting to resurface so I pushed them down. I wasn't ready to relive their deaths. I didn't want to relive them.

“Okay, you want to delude yourself? Well, things don't work like that, Hayes. You gotta face the truth. So how about we do that? Let's take a trip down memory lane. Think back to that cool October night. October 11th, I believe. What were you doing on that night, Jessica? You remember don't you?” Blade had stepped close to me so I could hear everything clearly.

“No! Stop!” I cupped my hands over my ear. I couldn't hear this. I was already on the edge of falling into a brake down, I wasn't ready for this but the flashbacks had already started.

“I'll be fine, Jessie. Just go. You need to go,” he urged. I couldn't leave him like this. He would die! And he couldn't die! I needed him. I needed my brother.

“No!” I gasped out. I closed my eyes and scenes from that night played quickly behind my closed lids. “Please! No!”

“No. I don't want to go!” I complained. I wouldn't just leave like that. Not with this happening. He was my brother, if he could stick up for me whenever I needed it, I could stick up for him too. I would stick up for him. Even in times like these. Especially in times like these.

“Get the damn girl!” they yelled, “Don't let her get away!” they hollered. My brother pushed me roughly into the closet and locked the doors swiftly. I rattled the door knob, but he peeked in through the large enough crack and tossed me the ring I had dropped. He then pressed his finger to his lips in a shushing manner.

I obeyed and sat down on the little white stool, peeking through the crack. Three men made their way into the room after breaking the door completely off their hinges. My older brother stood tall compared to them, but under that facade of bravery and confidence, he was scared. Scared and worried for his baby sister.

“Where is she?” they demanded. My brother always had put me before himself, but I just wish he hadn't. “Playin' all tough won't get you nowhere, boy,” one of the men had said, his southern accent shining through the threat. “It'll only land you in deeper shit,” he added. My brother didn't back down, denying them of getting to me.

-

They picked up my brother's limp body and placed it into a stretcher. Our neighbors ran out of their houses to see what all the commotion was all about. Ms. Jenkins held her hand to her mouth in horror, seeing the scene playing out before her. Oh, how I wished that this scene was only a scene in a play. But, no. It was all reality.

“One twenty volts! Clear!” My brother's body jolted upwards as they tried to get his heart pumping again. They raised the power of volts another time, but it didn't work. My mother was sobbing into my father's chest and I stood watching, my four year old mind not being able to take it.

I – at the time – didn't know the big bang was the sound of a loaded gun being fired. And I didn't understand why my brother had fallen onto his knees like that, holding his hand to his stomach, cradling the wound as his blood poured from the hole. The men ran out of the house when they saw my brother fall to the ground, his breathing turning shallow and slow, his face looking back at me, his eyes fading of the life he once had.

I ran to him. I called his name over and over again. But he just wouldn't wake up. His eyes were open. His once cheery hazel eyes. The ones I always looked up to. My brother had always been the strongest man alive to me. The one who could never lose, never fall, and never, ever die.

All of that was proven to be wrong.

-

“Mom!” I yelled bounding downstairs tying my hair up into a haphazard bun. I was late. I knew my father would be waiting in the kitchen impatiently looking down at his Rolex watch every few seconds, my mother standing there beside him, waiting patiently. “Mom, is my bag down there?!”

I was expecting a 'yes, sweetheart!' hell, maybe even a 'no, check the living room, honey' but all I was met with was silence. “Mom! This is not the time to-” I cut myself short when I saw that the kitchen was a mess. It was as if a brawl had taken place just minutes before, the stench of blood and sweat hanging in the air.

“Mom? Dad?” I tried cautiously. The three bar stools placed in front of our island were all knocked down. The clean dishes that were drying on the counter now on the blood streaked floor. Cupboards open as if somebody fought against an attacker as they were being dragged away.

I stepped around to the other side of the island and muffled a gasp at the sight. There was blood everywhere. The victim had been dragged through it, I could tell from the way it was streaked across our limestone kitchen flooring. I held back the bile that threatened to spill and followed the track marks that led to my living room.

“Dad!” I yelled when I saw he was tied up in one of our old chairs. He shook his head as if he wanted me to turn back and run. I was about to when I was grabbed from behind. I yelled and fought against my attacker but they knocked me out with a good hit in the temple with the butt of their gun.

-

I woke up violently as I found myself tied up beside my father. My mother was bound up and gagged too but she was seated across from us. In front of us. So we could watch.

“So glad you could join us, Jessica. Good to see you're still alive and kicking.” They were the same attackers who killed my brother. “Now, as much as I crave seeing that pretty little neck of yours cut and that beautiful head of yours severed from your shoulders, this will have to suffice. You see, my boss wants you to live a little while longer, but he said nothing about wanting you to live happily.” His southern drawl was completely gone, but I would never forget his face.

He strode over to my mother and I screamed as he gripped her chin and jerked her face towards him so she could stare into his cold, dead eyes. He assessed her quietly. The air was so thick, so tense. He stepped behind her and made her look right at me. Tears were leaking out of her eyes and her sobs were muffled behind her gag.

“Get a good look at your daughter, Lisabeth. This is gonna be the last time you'll ever see her.” He whispered that but it was clear as day. He pulled out a long, sharp foreign blade and pressed it to my mother's throat. My father was begging incoherently behind his gag. I stared at my mother sorrowfully. I couldn't look away from her swollen, tearful eyes. I knew I wouldn't be able to save her, it was then when I realized this.

“Don't blink, Jessica. You don't wanna miss this.”

-

I dropped the very last flower into my mother's grave right before they started lowering and shoveling dirt onto her casket. I stared on blankly. I felt so dead inside. My father was no better, he didn't even spare me a single glance the whole service. The only reason I was even aware if his presence was because he placed his hand on my shoulder when I didn't make a move to drop my flower into her grave. I was in a trance, too out of touch with reality to know what was going on around me.

I stayed to watch as they dropped the last few shovels of mud over her grave. I stayed to watch as they smoothed the mound of land that my mother was buried under. I stayed as the people who attended the service started to leave. I even stayed when my father left. The workers who buried my mother left me to myself and I stared down at the ground. I looked first to my mother's gravestone before looking at my brother's.

Could this have all been my fault?I had asked myself. And for a few months I believed it was. I had convinced myself that they had died because of me, which I still—partially—believe today. I hadn't even realized how long I had been sitting there staring, thinking. When I finally got up to leave I noticed vaguely that the sun had started to set. I cast both my mother's and brother's graves a last look before turning on my heel and walking towards the cemetery’s exit.

As my heels clicked against the cement ground on my walk home I vowed to myself that I would exact my revenge on these men. That I would see to it that they would suffer at my hand. They would not even realize what hit them.

-

I gasped as I came back to reality. I glared at Blake weakly. “Take me back,” I whispered harshly.

“You still wanna go back there?” he asked with a raised brow.

“No, you asshole. Take me anywhere but here.”

He sighed and mumbled something before saying loud enough for me to hear, “First I want you to eat something.” He slid a plate across the table with some eggs, bacon, and toast on it. I wasn't hungry any longer but figuring that if I ate something I'd be able to recuperate some strength, I picked up the fork gingerly and took a small piece of the egg. Placing the small piece in my mouth was amazing. I almost moaned, it was that good but I willed myself not to. I refused to give him the satisfaction. I finished quickly and looked up to find him staring at me intensely. “What?” I snapped.

“Nothing. Just thinking, is all,” he replied with a shrug. He took the plate from me and placed it into the sink. “Now then, I know you're not in a really forgiving mood but I figure I should apologize. You know, for making you remember and all.” He had the audacity to look sheepish. “So,” he drawled, “I'm sorry.”

I didn't reply. Blade was right about one thing. I wasn't in a very forgiving mood.

-

“They should be back by now!” Jake was pacing back and forth in front of us. Tyler was sitting across from me on the sofa playing with the strings of his hoodie, Kyle was eating a sandwich on the loveseat, and I was sitting in the recliner watching Jake pace. Him pacing made me want to pace which made Kyle and Tyler anxious. This was not healthy for anybody.

“For god's sake—sorry Aaron—will you just sit down?” Tyler asked. I held a hand up and waved off his apology. It hardly meant anything, it's not like he hasn't said worse. I'd become accustomed to him and his curses and such.

“How can I?” That was rhetorical. “Kyle gave her a concussion!”

“Not on purpose!” Kyle argued. I crossed one of my legs over the other and analyzed the situation. Jake was upset because Jessica had gotten hurt and he wasn't about to protect her. Tyler was frustrated with Jake because he was so wound up. Kyle was upset because Jake blamed him for the whole thing which then led Tyler to be slightly mad at Kyle because that's the reason Jake was mad. I sighed mentally because Jake would probably take any slight noise as an insult and lash out.

Jake was walking along a very thin line and his temper could flare up and snap at any moment. It seemed the only time he was truly calm was when he was able to say that Jessica was safe and in his sights. It seemed that this was not just another “job” for any of us anymore.

“Lord, just shut up already!” Jake roared. I looked up knowingly. Odd, I thought to myself.

“Jake, is your demon upset as well?” I asked calmly.

“I am not upset,” he snapped.

“Alright,” I agreed. It was best to agree with everything he said at this point. Too bad Tyler didn't think so.

“Let's face it, already. Jake you only have your panties in a bunch because your sexual frustration is peaking and you can't do anything about it because Jessica isn't here,” Tyler snapped.

“Zip it, dumbass,” Jake snapped back.

“Dumbass? Who the hell do you think you're talking to, Jake? I could take you any day of the fucking week,” Tyler threatened getting up from his seat on the sofa. The air was tense and tempers were rising. It seemed like the right time to intervene.

“Shut up and sit down,” I ordered firmly. Tyler snapped his fangs at Jake and Jake growled at Tyler before slowing sitting down on opposite sides of the sofa all the while watching each other to see if one was going to jump the other. It was safe to say I'd had enough. I got up from my chair and stood in front of the two of them. I felt like a father about to scold his children.

“Obviously things are going to have to change around here to accommodate our... visitor. That means you two will have to change your ways as well,” I started.

“I don't have to change anything,” Jake interrupted quickly. I held up a single hand and gave him a hard look. He sank back into the chair and sighed.

“You want to protect her? You must stop all this foolishness. You are not to fight like a pair of children over a new toy. You are both over three centuries old, act like it. Furthermore,” I started to pace in front of them. “She will obviously need more things from her home but we are not to let something like this happen again so, I propose we not let her out of the house unless all five of us are there.”

“Five?” Kyle interrupted. I let that slide because Kyle wasn't involved in the childish bickering.

“Yes. Blade will be staying here to help teach her and get her ready for the accession.”

“What? Why?” Tyler asked.

“Because,” I started shooting him a hard look like the one I had given Jake, “unless you two learn to live with each other in peace—which I know will not happen—then we will need somebody to balance things out more evenly,” I finished.

“And you think Blade is the right person for 'balancing things out more evenly'?” Jake scoffed.

“He will probably be better than either of you two,” I snapped.

“So basically he's going to be a babysitter?” Kyle asked.

“Yes. Basically,” I answered.

Kyle laughed around a bite of his sandwich. “He'll hate that,” he stated. I nodded in agreement.

Tyler and Jake both sighed simultaneously. I relaxed, finally satisfied. The tension had been eased, they had forgotten all about their anger, and they had both backed down. I sat back down in the recliner and clasped my hands in my lap. “So, who's going to call Blade and tell him the good news?”

Nobody said a word.