Forever, Your Dearest

I couldn't help but stare in disbelief. "What... exactly do you mean?"

"Well," Rosi shifted and left the room. Her voice floated through the kitchen door, "there are people who hunt your kind. You've met them before. Actually..." she returned to the living room, holding two more cups. Offering me one, I felt as if it's smell floated around me. "If I remember the stories, you shot one of them?" she gave a small smile.

My mind forced itself back, thinking of before the events of my "freedom." A memory ripped its way through the rest, of a man standing in the doorway, while I held onto a gun in fear. That's right, I remembered, I had shot a man.

A shiver pulsed through my body.

“Oh god.." I felt my eyes widen, "I shot a man?"

I could feel alarm rising in my throat.

Almost instantly, without a sound, Rosi was leaning over me, holding down my shoulders with her altering-heated hands. I didn't understand for a moment, until I finally collected my senses, away from the odd burning-freezing sensation, and looked around. I had pushed myself partially out of the chair, and was being held back from taking a step away from it. Or whatever my mind had triggered for me to do.

"Don't get out of line," the woman murmured. Her scarred arms shivered slightly, from the force she was using to hold me down, however, they seemed far too strong to be overpowered. "Remember, Jade," she murmured, "I know many ways to train a new vampire. You need to learn to control yourself, otherwise I'm going to teach you control. Going in the way you were about to would call for a very painful form of it..."

Her voice seemed so calm and monotone as she pushed me back into the seat, where I remained, shivering, for a moment, before taking a deep breath, and nodding a little. Perhaps nothing that had happened prior to being bitten had really ever sunk in.

"Now... where was I?" Rosi mused, sitting down, and looking up again. "Oh. Yes. Those people hunt your kind down. If you don't die quickly, lose consciousness, or seem easily caged, you'll end up in their labs."

The woman paused, staring at me warily.

"I was an experiment to turn vampires back into humans. They figured that if they could find a way to alter a vampire back into a human state, there was no need for killing them. Of course, they don't know anything about vampires, and their experiments are all wrong. I guess you could say that when they did that, it only partially changed me."

She took a long breath, as her eyes shifted to the window.

"I can eat real food, and blood, and I can't go into sunlight. It's like a sunburn that would be - for a human - from over eight hours of sunlight in one sitting, but within seconds. And if you're curious, it doesn't hurt. I can't feel anything. My nerves are almost all completely damaged from the experiments I've gone through, and I can barely feel touching a person now."

I realized that with this pause, I had a chance to talk, but couldn't think of anything to say. She took this opportunity to finally examine the burn on her hand.

"How did you meet Frank?" I finally squeaked, after what seemed like an eternity. Pressing my lips to the new cup, I realized that it was already empty. When had I drank all of it? Feeling slightly embarrassed, I placed the cup back down.

The scarred vampire looked at the cup, then to me. "He was there, too. They all were. Every mortal hunter that's around is searching for them." Her pale lips twisted to a smile, as if thinking of a pleasant memory. "Mikey was almost transferred to my cell group. He couldn't be tamed. No matter what the hunters did, he would lash back. After he had killed three of the guards, and been through multiple tortures, he finally calmed down. They thought he was broken. For revenge, one of them thought it would be funny to put him through more suffering." A glint in her eyes told me something different. It was almost as if she was reliving the events to hold the exact details. "The night they put him in my cell, Gerard's group grew restless. I've never seen even the most bloodthirsty newborns act how they had. They were all separated."

My mind ran through every possibility that may have brought them to this day. "What happened?" I pressed further, leaning forward.

"Oh," she let out a small laugh, "they burnt down the entire building. Gerard calmed down enough to trick a guard, and killed him. When a guard is killed in a cell, multiple guards are brought in to restrain the vampire that is guilty. I don't know how he did it. He acted out in an abnormal way. I've never seen a vampire like him. He was completely in control of his rage, as if he knew how to harness it..." Rosi still held a smile on her face. "He was so young at the time, too. He didn't even wait for them to close the cell door. Once they were out of his way, he released every experiment in the building. His friends helped him burn it down..."

A short silence filled the room. Rosi shut her eyes, and I could hear her foot lightly tapping on the ground, just in front of her chair. Slowly, she began to wrap her skin again with the white cloth.

"They made a lot of friends that day. Friends of those friends, even. I can only wonder if they made more enemies than their friends, though." Almost sluggishly, she rose to her feet. "That list has a good deal of those friends on it. A few aren't from there, but almost everyone on that list knows at least one other person on it." Rosi didn't move for a moment, before her breathing slowed, seeming almost rhythmic after a moment.

I waited, however, she didn't move. "Rosi?" I murmured, taking a step toward her. The second I did, she jerked slightly, and her eyes flitted open.

Rosi gave a small yawn. "I'm sorry. Jade, it was nice to meet you, but I'm tired. Come back any time," she smiled, "if you ever need help with your vampirism, feel free to come to me, as well. You seem to be the making of a fairly good vampire. Especially for being so young." She flitted to the door, however, something about her movements seemed less graceful than how they had been prior. She no longer floated, and a faint, "tap" could be heard every few steps. "I'll see you soon," she smiled, stepping behind the door, and cracking it open just wide enough to allow my body to slip between the door and the frame. "Good bye."

I could only nod, giving a small wave. As I found myself on her doorstep, I could almost feel her smile from behind the door. "Thank you," I squeaked, looking around, as my eyes adjusted to the light.

Sadly, Rosi hadn't told me what I had actually wanted to hear, however, gave me a vivid image of the event that she had described. At least she had explained the list a little bit.

Letting out a sigh, I began walking down the street, slowly, struggling to think of the next location to walk to.

A faint breeze floated over my face, kicking up the almost unnoticeable remains of Frank and his friends, making a feeling in my gut twist violently, and I felt my body twitch violently for a second. "Frankie..."