To Be Mortal

Years passed but life stayed the same. Jeremy and I continued to love one another, and my skills in martial arts were slowly growing. I felt confident and happy, but I had no idea these were going to be my last days of happiness for a very long time.

I was just about to celebrate my 20th birthday tomorrow and was hoping that Jeremy would soon turn me, but he continued to resist. I suppose it might complicate things if I could no longer be his supply for blood but… I thought I was more to him than food.

The supernaturals had been getting more and more unsteady in the past years and rebellion was becoming a bigger and bigger threat ringing in the ears and hearts of humans. Supernatural children were being expelled from school, parents being fired without just reason. Poverty claimed the streets of Toronto in a hold that had never taken place before and fear of war spread across the entire world.

The new international bureau had been formed as planned in 2014 and it started its reign over society by messing up the whole system. They demanded all countries give up their supernatural records to the new agency and large bureaus were built in every major city of every major country. They were known as the HERO bureau; also known as the Human Elite Reinforcement Organization bureau. A new law was set in place that every supernatural must be tagged by a long number tattooed onto their forearm and have DNA samples as well as prints from their hands, feet and ears. However, the strangest thing about the new group was that agents were made up of both human and supernaturals.

Jeremy refused to apply to be put into the database. He explained that he had been ducking the government since he was first turned, and wasn’t about to stop now. I had to agree with him, despite the penalty for being caught unregistered was death. Or torture. If you were lucky they just sent you to jail.

It was nearly midnight and I was watching a movie while Jeremy was out. I had no idea what he was doing, but I had gotten used to that. Jeremy liked his privacy, I could respect that.

I heard pounding footsteps in the hallway and I clicked off my television. Suddenly the door flew open and Jeremy appeared. He was bleeding heavily from the shoulder and his hair was an absolute mess. I had never seen him so desperate and weak before. He slammed the door behind him and locked it.

“Ava! Ava!” His head whipped around the room and caught sight of me. He took me my arm and quickly led me to the bedroom. Yelling and pounding was heard on the door. “We’ve got to go!” he opened the window and looked out.

“What?!” I cried “I can’t climb out the window!”

Jeremy took my waist in his arm and held me tight. “Ava, you have to.”

“No, I don’t.” I said, pulling away. “We talked about this. You know what you need to do...” I paused and looked him right in the eyes. “I’ll find you.” I promised.

I heard kicking on the door and the pounding on it made the wood begin to shatter and give way to black boots. Jeremy hesitated then sighed. He had no other choice. If they caught him he’d be killed, if they caught me with him he’d be killed and I’d be arrested; but if he turned me… I’d look like an innocent victim, like a prisoner that tried to keep him from leaving so he had to stop me. Jeremy had to kill me.

He kissed my neck once, twice, then all I felt was pain. Every nerve, every inch of skin tensed and I shrieked. I hadn’t expected it to be like this, it was supposed to be light and painless, like falling asleep. This was not the case.

Next thing I knew I was a crumpled mess on the floor, and Jeremy had left. HERO agents swarmed over me as I laid there, crying and writhing on the floor like a worm cut in half or a chicken with only most of its head cut off.

Slowly, every nerve ending sent single sparks of pain and cooled. It was like putting a hot hand under running water; pain, but then… nothing. It started in my toes and fingertips and moved up to my ankles and wrists. My hands and feet lost all feeling except for perhaps a dull pain, as if someone was simply sitting on them and cutting off the circulation rather than killing my body’s cells and draining my being of blood. The sensation moved up my limbs and appeared on my ears and nose. Suddenly it became very hard to move and breathe and my heart screamed in agony as it attempted to fight the poison flowing through my veins. I gasped for air, trying to thrash around more in case I could get a good breath of air. I’ve never wanted anything more ever than in that moment. All I wanted was oxygen. Black storm clouds flickered around the corners of my eyes as my muscles gave out and I knew that this was my last living moment on earth.

The last thing I saw was the bright red alarm clock on the bedside table reading 12:01. Happy Birthday to me.



“It all happened so quickly, and the memory is so clouded now.” I murmured. My voice became swift and thoughtless and my eyes were locked to the floor.

“That was when you were sent to the Toronto HERO office, correct?”

I didn’t reply at first, my throat clenched with anger at that moment as I moved my thumb over the harsh, black letters on my skin. 00667825. I closed my eyes and remembered the words I had once said, ‘I’ll find you.’…

I had to keep telling myself that.



Most people are unaware that to become undead one must in fact die first. I know, it sounds silly, but still completely true. I think that the moments between death and undeath are the most innocent, personal moments a vampire has before the bloodlust and constant agitation takes place.

Most people thought of heaven as clouds full of singing angels and plucking harps. Others perhaps thought of it as a beautiful meadow full of plants and animals. Some even, may have thought of it as their own home, full of family and friends full of welcoming arms. My heaven, however, was so much more beautiful. Whether or not it was actually Heaven, or even a simple figment of my imagination, I had to… have to believe it had been real.

Everything was dark, completely pitch black; except for a single candle. I sat cross-legged, staring into the white flame with an intensity I had never experienced before.

When I became aware of my surroundings, I looked around. That was when I saw her face, just a shimmering outline in the candlelight. Her face was well formed, with sharp cheekbones. Not like she was starved, but simply had a pretty head. Her eyes were the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen and blonde hair that was all too familiar.

“Mom?” I choked, my eyes tripling in size and my face turning down. She was no older than I, younger even, but though I had never seen her before… I had always pictured her in my head since I was a girl.

She said nothing, but simply waved her perfect fingers over the flame of the candle. “Irony, isn’t it?” she said. Her voice sounded different, distant. “That you should die the same day as I?” she smiled faintly and looked up to me. “Oh. Avianna, my beautiful Ava; I’m so proud of you.”

Tears streamed down my cheek and I couldn’t summon words to speak about how much I have yearned for her, even to this day.

She looked at me with sympathy and love, “Don’t be too harsh on Phil, my darling, my love. He has been through more than you know.” She turned back to the flame and continued to feel the heat with her palm.

“I was never able to be there with you for your birthday, not physically at least. I won’t miss this chance.” She smiled and looked me directly in the eyes, “Make a wish.”



The hospital I awoke in was dark and dreary. My head was fuzzy and my ears rang with a headache that threatened to kill me. I coughed at the dry air and a nurse in a rather tattered uniform saw me and walked over. She looked like a lemon, really. Her lips were thin and dry, like she had been sucking something really sour from birth. Her hair was pale blonde and thin, curling in strands around her oval head. She walked stiffly with a straight back and looked at everything like a flesh-eating disease.

“You’re awake.” She said. No shit.

“Yeah… I…” my mouth was dry and I felt really hungry, so much so I was pretty pissed. But I should be nice, even if this woman wasn’t making it easy. So, I summoned my most innocent, kind voice and asked very politely “Could I possibly get some Jell-O or something? I’m starved.”

She looked at me like I had called her mother a word even an enraged pirate’s parrot wouldn’t dare utter. Though I hadn’t thought it possible, her lips shrunk further and her eyes expanded thrice their normal size.

So instead of answering me she turned and walked away. “There will be someone to pick you up soon.” She hissed through her sour lips.

I looked around and realized this was not proper hospital care. I had been here many times, mostly from my father. Hospitals were supposed to be white and clean, but this was dark and dusty and dirty. There were a few other patients in beds adjacent to mine, most were moaning or rocking back and forth. Some were not moving at all. Then it hit me.

I was in the supernatural wing. Memories of the night before surged my brain and I gasped. I tore from my bed and with lightning speed and stopped in the bathroom, over the sink and mirror. My skin was as pale as snow, and my eyes were intense, glowing even, with a cold blue that looked like it could shatter the glass any moment. My breath quickened and I held my abdomen before heaving and throwing up nearly two cups of blood into the sink.

My lips trembled and I looked back into the mirror. My eyes were red. Red! As red as my blood that had splattered the sink. I wiped my mouth and stumbled out of the bathroom, my eyes wide with shock. I could hear chuckling in the corner of the room.

I turned to see a woman laid in a bed close to mine. She was severely bloodied with patches of gauze everywhere and her right arm was handcuffed to the bedside.

“You think this is funny?” I growled. My mind was confused, that didn’t sound like me at all.

“Yes actually.” The woman laughed, her throat drier and weaker than even mine. That was when I realized I recognized her.

“You’re Penelope Freedman.” I murmured. “You’re supposed to be on the run from the HEROs.”

“I was until about midnight when they found my hideout. Turns out they were raiding my neighbor’s apartment, came out to get the paper at the wrong time, man.” She grinned and pointed to the wounds on her face, “Got this in the car chase.” She looked me over up and down and snorted, “Newly changed, huh?”

I crossed my arms and rubbed them subconsciously and coughed, smelling something simply disgusting; like wet dog.

She grinned again, “Guess you get to see what a supernatural life is really like.”

“Avianna Nicole Lynn?” a deep, yet feminine voice spoke from the end of the room.

I turned and saw an older woman. Well… she sort of looked older. Her skin was smooth and wrinkle free but her hair was short and silver. Her skin was pale and her eyes were a strong hazel. She was a vampire. Like me… like me.

“Yes?” I said.

“I’m Agent Patricia Green of the HERO agency. I’ll be helping you… readjust.” She said softly, well… not softly. More like forced sympathy. “I’ve got a car outside waiting for us, we have much to talk about.”



“Penelope Freedmen was the first person you met after you changed?”

“Didn’t expect that?”

“It seems too coincidental to me.”

“I could be lying. You’d never know.”

“Why would you possibly lie about that?

“Well, because I can of course.”