You Fight For All The Wrong Reasons

I didn’t know that vampires could have scars. But I guess Mederma didn’t work on everybody.

“It was the Fourth of July in the new millennium and my family was hosting a party. They had just started shooting off fireworks. My older brother was home from college, and he wanted to show me some illegal fireworks that his college roommate had given him. He told me that the rest of the party-goers wouldn’t notice between the fireworks that were already going on and another party that was shooting off their own fireworks a couple houses down.

“Being the stupid teenager that I was, I followed him in earnest around the back. I helped him set up a huge canister, and as I got to my feet, he knocked me back down again.

“I could never remember my brother being that strong. We used to wrestle with each other all the time, but he could have swung a 500 pound baseball bat at my torso and it would’ve had the same effect.

“I tried to jump back up again, and he pounced on me, holding me to the ground. I then knew how getting hit by a freight train feels like. But then, I was suddenly distracted from all of that pain.

“I realized that my nose was three inches away from the fizzing canister, which was ready to burst at any second. The scar…” he pointed at his eye again “was from him digging his fingernails into my skin and pulling my face up.”

I clapped my hand over my mouth in shock, but Cam went on with his story.

“I remember swearing at him at the top of my lungs, twisting and turning under his massive weight and strength. But I couldn’t escape. I knew in that instant that I was going to die.

“The canister finally exploded, and, oh my God…” He searched for the right words but the horror etched on his face explained it all. “There was this excruciating pain in my eyes and I was overcome by this weird nothingness, but I was still conscious and aware of my surroundings. I seriously thought I had died. I remember thinking,This is it. You had better hope you’ve done everything right, Cameron. But I could still hear my brother’s growls, and the faint noise of the party going on without us in the yard.

“And I knew that I wasn’t dead. Yet. I had just been blinded by my brother’s “illegal fireworks”.

“From there on I was helpless. My brother wasn’t done yet. I felt this awful burning sensation on the side of my neck. I had been bitten. My brother was a vampire. I didn’t know that at the time, of course.
“I don’t know why he didn’t just devour me right then and there. Maybe he wanted me to feel the same way he did, lower me to his position, so that he wouldn’t be the only one to suffer eternal damnation. Whatever the reason, he dumped me on the side of the railroad tracks close to where we lived. Adalia found me two days later.”

His words hung in the air, the horror of his story sinking in even more. When I found my tongue again, I asked, “So…can you still see?”

“Oh, yeah. Everything goes back to normal when you’re bitten. Actually, everything is clearer, sharper, more real.”

Suddenly, another question dawned on me. “Who was your brother? You never mentioned his name.”

Cam’s eyes went straight from my face to my shoes. His face went even grimmer, if that were possible.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “You don’t have to answer…”

“No,” Cam responded, just as fast. “It’s time you knew.”

I bit my lip in anticipation. Cam’s eyes met mine again.

“Eli.”