To Be Mortal

warning: some content in this chapter is a little descriptive; if you are especially squeamish please beware.

They moved me to a different room, this one more represented a prison cell. It had a bed, two chairs, a table and a few other facilities I was sorely missing. There was still a mirror, still probably two-way, but the door to this room had one, small window. Silver plated and locked, but I think I would have lost the few shreds of respect I had for them if they hadn’t.

I was laid on my back on the bed, looking at the dreary ceiling above me. They were feeding me slowly, just enough I didn’t get enough strength to blast through the mirror and just enough, well, you know… not to die.

My last feed was three days ago, so I was feeling pretty crummy. Patricia told me once to keep my diet confined, that new vampires often reveled in their new powers and got used to feeding so regularly that when times got tough they aren’t used to hunger. Needless to say I didn’t listen. I was used to a regular, daily drink of human blood; not this animal crap they probably scrounged up from some slaughter house.

At least my wounds had started healing, especially around my wrists. Rather than looking like burnt flesh it now was tender and red as it healed itself. You could still feel the imprint of where the cuffs burned me; but I had expected worse.

The door clicked open and I saw Oliver enter, I pushed myself up to watch him open and close the door behind him. “Hello, Miss. Lynn.”

“Dr. Dubois. I thought I had scared you off.” I smirked, “It’s been a week since ‘tomorrow’; or had you forgotten?”

“I apologize, but I had a few… troubles since we last met. Besides, we wanted you to get settled into your new room!” he smiled and waved his hand around, “How do you like it?”

I rolled my eyes and sighed dramatically, “I don’t know, I think it could use more concrete.”

The doctor chuckled and sat down in one of the chairs, “I’m sure.” He began to settle down in his chair and took out a notepad and pen, “So, ready to get back to it?”

“To what?” as a blonde, I was good at playing dumb. As a psychopath, I knew how to use it. Of course though, for him it was just fun and games; or stalling. Whichever is less pathetic in your eyes.

“I thought maybe you could try answering that question I asked you yesterday.”

“I’m sorry, dude, I don’t do that with people I just met.”

He sighed, “There are other ways to extract information from people, Avianna, please don’t make us resort to those; quit stalling.”

I rolled my eyes, “Fine, it’s your choice, just don’t say I didn’t warn you… One childhood coming up…”



Sirens blazed from a far off place and rang in my ears. Rain splashed at my feet as I ran down the street. I had taught myself long ago how to properly walk down the streets of my neighborhood. Head down, limbs as close as possible, long skirt and quick pace. After I was nearly kidnapped when I was five I really needed to learn.

It was more important now than ever, as a fifteen year old pretty blonde girl with no companion such as me was easy pickings at this time of night.

Quickly I scampered down my driveway and past our little, bent up car. I entered through the back door, picking up the key from under a rock in the yard and quickly unlocking it. The cold rain was freezing and I was shaking madly. I scraped my hand on some of the ripped screen and winced. I held my hand to my body and took a quick glance. Blood dripped from my skin and I wiped it on my flower-print dress, biting my lip through the sting.

Inside I dropped my grocery bag on the kitchen counter and very quietly began to put things away. Milk, tea, microwave meals; they were all familiar foods to me. I did my best to be as silent as possible, but apparently I was a little too loud.

“Ava?! Get in here!” a deep, slurred voice snarled from the next room. I swallowed hard, shutting my eyes against the fear that stabbed me sharper than any knife.

“J… Just a minute dad.” My voice choked, like I had been breathing in smoke. I quickly finished packing away my food, hands moving swiftly so I could get it done fast enough not to…

“I said, GET IN HERE!”

I slammed the doors shut and hurried into the living room where he sat. I stood at the door and bowed my head, “Yes, father?”

Phillip Carter lounged on the chair, a beer in his hand and a liquor bottle on the table beside him… among others. “Throw out these all bottles and get me a beer!”

I nodded and began to scramble with the bottles, scooping them up in my arms. I felt one slip from them and I tried gripping tighter, but it fell and smashed on the floor. Tears fell from my eyes and I felt the floor shake as he got up from the chair and his greasy hand wrapped around mine.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” his breath wafted around me like a snake, coiling and biting. He pushed me down into the broken glass and all the bottles smashed with me. The shards cut into my skin like knifes, and I started to sob. “Shut up, bitch!” he growled, slapping me in the face. I yelped; but he didn’t like that. He grabbed me by the back of my dress and dragged me from the ground, “Get up, what the fuck?!” he snarled. I tried not to look him in the eye. He pinned me down and slapped me once more.

“Please, daddy, no!”

“What? What are you going to do? Leave me?!” he punched me in the face and my mouth spat blood, “Like your bitch mother?!” another punch and my head started to spin, “You’ll all just the same!” kick. “Greedy!” kick. “Selfish!” kick. “Disloyal!” kick. He pushed his face right into mine and spat. “Think about that!” he rose from over me and stomped off towards his room, “Clean this up!”

I waited a few moments after he left before picking myself up. First I picked the glass shards from my arm and bandaged them with bits of my dress I ripped up. I probably should have gotten stitches, but… dad wouldn’t have liked that. The blood soaked through but I had to clean it up as soon as possible. I swept up the glass and threw it into the garbage, blood still staining the light brown colouring.

That night I cried on my bed, or my mattress stuffed in the corner of the living room.



I knew I needed to get away, but I never had the courage, not at least until my cuts had healed from that night. It had been a normal day, school then dinner then my dad went on a drunken rampage through the house. I hid in the kitchen cupboard, praying he wouldn’t find me.

Once he had fallen asleep, I crawled out and took to the streets. It was dark and foggy, but anything had to be better than what was at home. I was dressed in a simple white dress than hung loosely around my knees. It used to be longer but… I needed bandages more than once and a while and had run out of bed sheets a long time ago.

It was much too late to be out, but I had no idea where to go. As I tried to think, my pace began to slow. I began to wander, fear pricking at my neck as I realized there wasn’t anywhere else I could go.

A howl erupted from the mist, an inhuman, bone chilling howl that made her skin crawl. I stumbled backward and slammed into a wall by accident. Three figures emerged from the cloud; cackling and howling. Their eyes glowed yellow and I gasped, “Werewolves.”

The largest one leaned back and howled, “Oh, my. We have a smart one here; boys!” he ran right up to me, his body only inches from mine. “What a pretty girl.” He tilted his feral face and took a deep breath. He was human now, but I knew that could change at any time.

The three of them looked awfully alike, probably related, it was often said that packs in urban areas around here were either strictly family or gang-type relationships. Their hair was long and brown, spiked up all around their face. They were also rather young, the eldest only about 19 years old, and the youngest about 15… her age. Their youth, however, didn’t make them any less frightening.

One of the other werewolves stepped forward, standing to one side of me, “Delicious.”

The other took my final side that wasn’t pressed against a wall, “My, my… What’s a pretty little girl like her doing out here?”

“Waiting for us, I think.” The first said. He grabbed me hand and pulled me into an abandoned house. He twirled me around and I started to cry.

“Please don’t eat me!” I sobbed.

The three of them laughed, “We don’t want to eat you!”

“We just want to have some fun!”

I whimpered and the wolf let go of my hand, turning to his fellows, “Watch the door, and I might let you two have a turn.” I turned to find a way out but the wolf was too quick. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into another room.

I tripped and fell to the floor, he got down and flipped me over to face him. I thought he was going to beat me like my father but he did something else.

He kissed me.

I tried to struggle, but his grip was like iron. His whole body was holding me down, and I was unable to move.

He kissed my neck and began to move his hands. I shrieked but his lips on my neck then let his teeth nip and threaten to rip. I yelped and forced myself to stay quiet. Tears streamed down my face and I cried, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I can.” He growled into my ear.



I lay on my back on the floor. I hadn’t realized I had so many tears to shed in a single night, but after hours of… it… Honestly… I had blacked out and I was… not thankful to be awake.

I had to return home; I had no choice. No choice at all. I thought there could be no place worse than home, but I was wrong.

It was dawn when I came home, and he was waiting for me. “Ava! Where the hell were you?!” he grabbed my hair and dragged me inside, “You were going to leave me, weren’t you?! What the hell were you thinking?!”

I couldn’t remember the last time he had been so angry, he hit me and hit me and I prayed to simply die there. Pain engulfed my whole being and I cried. “Do you hear me? Can you hear me?! I will NEVER let you go!”



I was breathing unsteadily, my heart racing. I… I hadn’t told too many people about this. I blinked and glanced to Dr. Dubois, he was staring at his clipboard as if he was staring into a long, dark tunnel.

I wasn’t sure if he had heard me finish my story, so I let him sit in silence for a while.

“I… I didn’t realize that…”

“Don’t pity me, Doctor.” I sneered, “If I wanted that I have a million other stories I could tell you that would make those seem like a walk in the park.”

He got up to leave, his expression completely blank. Before he closed the door behind him I growled, “You should stop coming in while they’re starving me. You never know what I could try.”