I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

One of the most important aspects of fighting, I’ve discovered, is focus. If your mind isn’t in it, then there’s more chance you’ll die. Enough incentive? Obviously not enough for me, as that night my mind was somewhere else. I can’t quite pinpoint what exactly it was that I was thinking about instead. Flashes of different things, I think. Or different people. People who were, at any stage, some part of my life. People long forgotten and who I’ve left behind. Friends that I’d had before I knew about the supernatural, friends that I’d been forced to abandon in order to keep Matt’s low profile. I wonder what they’d think of me now. I can’t remember what I was like back then, so I can’t see how much I’ve changed.

It all happened very fast. Seemingly in slow motion. Joe yelled my name, his voice panicked and fearful. When I spun around I knew why. My head was rammed right against the punk vamp’s muscular arm, and it would have knocked me to the floor had the disgusting creature not have caught me first. Not like those horrible stone hands are any better, really. After he caught me he shoved me roughly against the wall, and then grabbed the back of my neck in one large hand to force me to turn around before holding me in some form of headlock.

What happened next was worse than everything.

They stopped.

The guys froze and stopped fighting. There was only one other vampire left anyway, but still. Our cause is to vanquish these guys. We’ve gotten too attached to each other now. That’s why my brother was such a good vampire hunter. He may not have all of the knowledge that these guys did, but in practicality, in a fight, there would be nothing to stop him killing them. Sure, using me as a hostage held him off once, but I think he learnt from that and wouldn’t do it again. I understand that. Eliminating vampires is our whole mission. But these guys are too close. They all care about each other too much. And now I’m a part of that. And even knowing this, knowing that this could lead us to our deaths, I’d wish for it no other way.

And if before was contradictory, racing so slowly, it was worse now. It was in fast forward, but also slow motion. I thought that was it. I thought it was over the second the horrible vampire’s teeth grazed my neck. I thought I was done for. And worst of all, I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want to die. I needed to stay alive. Not for myself, but for these guys. The only friends I have. I couldn’t die. I didn’t want to die. It would make them sad. I’ll accept that now. I didn’t want them to be sad. I needed to stay alive so that I could make sure they were happy. They deserved to be happy.

The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat. The rapid but steady thump thump in my chest. I could hear the pulse so clearly, and knowing that the vampire was about to bite me I was just waiting for it to get weaker and fade away. I was concentrating so hard on this that I barely registered the dramatic ‘No!’ screamed from one of the guys. Hell, I couldn’t even tell you who screamed it. All I knew is that the next second I was on the ground, breath racing, and watched as the terrifying monster, murderous snarl and all, crumbled into nothingness. Surely I must have missed something. Why wasn’t I dead or dying? My hand flew to my neck and I felt slight dampness, pulling my hand back to see a little bit of blood coating my fingers. There were no puncture marks, though. Just a shallow scratch. Leaning up on my elbows, my vision stopped swimming and I saw a murderous Pete launching himself at the remaining vampire who was frozen in shock. All this had happened in about five seconds, mind you, so for something so sudden I think I’ve done relatively well in explaining it. Pete made quick work of the other vamp, vanquishing it before the rest of us could step in to help or before it could flee.

“Elle, are you alright?” Patrick’s eyebrows were knitted together in worry as he rushed over to where I lay on the ground.

I nodded weakly. I was still numb from the shock and the million thoughts that had been racing through my mind only a minute before.

“Yeah.” My voice sounded light and breathy, even in my own ears. “I’m fine.”

Grasping the brick wall behind me for balance, my knees and legs shook as I struggled to stand myself upright on my feet. Unfortunately for me, my body didn’t quite feel like obeying my brain’s orders and as soon as I was up, I began to sway before I collapsed to the ground again. The hurried footsteps of the others were the only warning I had before someone scooped me up in their arms and began to walk home. With groggy, bloodshot eyes, I glanced upwards to see that it was, of course, Pete who was carrying me. I wonder if he wasn’t a vampire, would he be able to carry me?

“Don’t underestimate me, Princess,” he growled into my ear so lowly that the others couldn’t hear, but this time I didn’t recognize it as a threatening growl. Just a teasing one.

“Stop reading my mind,” I mumbled, but smiled just a little. I hated it, but he hadn’t called me ‘princess’ in a long time.

His small, throaty chuckle was the last thing I heard before curling in towards his chest and falling asleep.

***

They were all around me. Smiling, taunting, and getting ready for their main meal. I was that main meal. Pete, Patrick, Andy and Joe were nowhere to be seen. They weren’t with me. They’d left, just like Matt had.

I’d say I was in a room, but I wasn’t. I’d say I was outdoors, but I wasn’t. I’d say I was somewhere, but I’m not sure if I was.

There was no chance that I’d make it out alive. I was surrounded by them, and they just seemed to be multiplying by the second, stretching onwards to the horizon in every direction. They weren’t all Dandies. Some were hoods and punks. Some were parts of vamp subcultures I’d never even heard of. And they all wanted to kill me.

Beckett was watching on, once again perched atop a shiny Mercedes, and sipping from an expensive-looking tea cup. He didn’t seem to be the leader though, just a mild observer. Five vampires stood out from among all the rest. Four of them were gathered together, Dandies, and the other one stood by himself.

I recognized the four Dandies. There was Aiden, the vampire that tore my shoulder. Beside him, in his arms, was the smirking orange-haired female. She was short and thin, pixie-like just as she had been during our last encounter, and had the same devilish spunk attitude. In front of her was her sister Alayshia, sadistic smirk painted on her youthful face as she danced graciously around her sister’s legs, throwing me evilly gleeful looks. And beside them, glaring dangerously was the other male vampire that had been with them that time.

Although seeing these ghosts of my past haunted me, what scared me more was the lone figure staring sadly at me. I’d never seen him look so grim. He was shaking his head, tears glistening as they made their trek down his smooth cheeks.

I looked around. Beckett was gone now, an echoing laughter reverberating off all the undead bodies around me. I was the only living person here. In that aspect, I was alone, even with an army waiting for me to stop breathing.

All of a sudden, I heard a voice behind me, a body burning me without even touching.

“It’s okay, Elle,” he said. I couldn’t tell whether he was being taunting or not.

“It’s not okay…” I shook, burning up. “It’s not okay…”

“It is. It’s fine. You’re not scared of death, remember? Just trust me.”

A fearful tear seeped out the corner of my eye, just burning even more against my skin.

“I can’t trust you, Brendon!” I whispered ferociously. “I can’t. And you told me yourself, death is not what Beckett has planned for me.”

The heat was becoming too much. He seemed to be radiating it, especially his lustful breath on my neck.

“But this isn’t too bad,” he purred, trying to coax me into agreeing. “We can live together forever. We could be so happy together. One brief moment of pain for an eternity with people who want you. No one will miss you here in this pathetic world. But I miss you.”

My eyes glazed over with tears that burnt them as I turned to face him. He held one arm around my waist gently, but it still burned, and his other hand brushed smoothly over my cheek as a tear coursed down his own.

“I miss you so much, Evelyn. So much. Please come back to me.”

My eyes widened and I pushed myself out of his alluring grasp. As I propelled myself away, however, the burning just got worse.

“I’m not Evelyn,” I whispered before turning and running.

I ran over to the lone figure as quickly as my legs would carry me, although it felt as if they were both made of lead.

“Help me,” I wept. “Please. I know we’re not friends, but please help me.”

He looked away, still crying himself.

“Come on!” I argued furiously, tugging at the hood of his stupid blue hoodie to make him look at me.

I screamed at the top of my lungs when I pulled down the hood to reveal not Travis’ face, like I had expected. Instead, William Beckett’s face jumped out at me, a horrifying evil clown expression on his face, with a creepy laugh to match.

This burning was too much to bear. I was burning alive. The heat made me collapse to the floor, but I didn’t cool down. I cracked my eye open, but the floor was just one huge infinite mirror. And staring into that impeccably clean mirror, I was the only person in existence. All the vampires that surrounded me were bright orange flames, cackling as they swooped down upon me to smother my screams.

***

“Elle!”

I couldn’t stop screaming.

“Elle!”

“Please…” I whimpered. “Please don’t do this…”

“Elle!”

All of a sudden, the burning I felt began to retreat. Still twitching, I managed to force one of my sleep-crusted eyelids open. Hastily, I combed my now blonde hair out of my sweaty forehead with my fingers. I could feel my fringe in saturated clumps from where the perspiration had got to it, and tried to brush it out of my face completely. My breathing was still erratic from the nightmare, but I was only just coming to terms with the fact that it had been a nightmare. As I seemed to drift back into reality, I felt the definite feeling of arms around my waist, and glanced down in a panic. My panic died instantly, however, when I saw that it was Pete who was hugging me, cooling me down. As my heartbeat eventually made its way back to semi-normal, Pete sat up and looked at me anxiously.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I struggled to nod, but his worried eyes never left mine. When I felt I was up to it, I slowly sat up and came to quite a shocking realization; I wasn’t wearing a top. Or a bra. And there were no blankets covering me. And Pete was sitting about a foot away from me.

Yet somehow, I really didn’t care.

I don’t think he did either.

Falling into his shoulder, I began to cry. Was it the nightmare that was making me be like this? Surely it played a part. I remember never wanting to show any sign of vulnerability around him. I remember hating him. I remembered that he could read all my thoughts, which meant that he could read how much I wanted to feel his ice-cold chest on my boiling one again. But I couldn’t find it in me to care about any of this right now.

I just cried, and he held me. He rubbed soothing circles with his thumb onto my naked back and held me tight to his chest, cooling me down. I‘d never felt so delicate and broken in my entire life, and at the same time I’d never felt so cared for in my entire life.

We just sat like that for about an hour until he said something. Well, he didn’t say it, but he thought it to me.

“I read your mind when you were sleeping. I saw your dream.”

I didn’t answer. Not even with my thoughts. I didn’t have the strength. But after another ten minutes I spoke out loud.

“Thank you.”