Vanilla Lace

Bill stared up at the girl's eyes with his own widened like saucers. This curiosity in him was overcompensated for, and he felt a rush of blood to the head once more when he realized he couldn't say a word about it. Analiese... Vampire... It all seemed so familiar to him but he couldn't put the pieces together..

"Jesus," Bill muttered under his breath as he tried to back away from her, clambering backward to fall on his bed and over the messy sheets. "You're... you're not human!"

Analiese covered her mouth instinctively with a little shocked gasp. She hadn't spoken to a human being in a long while and it all started again when she entered the hospital, and her habit was screwed up. Despite all the shock, she could read Bill's mind that this all was familiar to her but he didn't understand it too well. "Bill, listen to me," she said. "Please!" And she looked around.

Bill felt his heart racing, and racing out of his chest like a car let loose on a highway. "Stay away from me!" Bill held a hand out as his eyes were filled with horror and shock.

Analiese frowned, feeling so sad she could just die from the ache in her heart right then. "You don't remember me, do you?" she said softly as she put down her hand. "I have so many things to tell you, Bill. I have brought great danger upon you, but I didn't mean to."

Bill's breathing was as paced as before, and stared at Analiese with great fear and caution. Especially at her fangs. "Don't touch me," he said. "Please don't bite me or anything. Are you going to hurt me?"

"I already bit you once," the girl confessed. "Bill, I don't have time. You have to listen to me!" Tears flowed freely down her eyes. She watched as Bill transited into a state of dreamlike trance. He was having visions again.

I was running down the streets to come face to face with a burned down house.
People were all over, watching the firemen put the fire out.
The next thing I knew, I was on my knees and crying my heart out.

I enter a hospital room and see myself on the bed. Myself? Why am I looking at myself?
I lean in and pushed my hair away from my own face and the hands I possessed... they were not of my own.
Carefully, I bit my own neck and watched myself come to life.

Analiese studied Bill's face and entered his mind; she saw everything he saw and hear everything he heard. She knew everything that Bill himself was thinking. He realized it wasn't him being himself in all those visions. A sudden gasp from Bill as he was brought back into present time shook her and she stared at him, worried.

"Do you know now?" she asked, swallowing. "Bill, vampires exist. I'm sorry if you never wanted to know."

"Oh my God," Bill muttered as he rubbed his head. He noticed he was having cold sweat.

"Bill-"

"Why are you... why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?" Bill asked, bewildered and demanding answers. "And my visions. They weren't me!

Analiese sighed. "I know they weren't you. They're my memories. I bit you, so you see what I saw. You have visions of my past, Bill."

"Please stop saying my name," Bill mumbled in reply as he tried to process everything. Every time he heard his name from her, he felt shivers. The hair on the back of his neck would stand on its ends and freak him out more than he should have been.

Analiese looked at Bill, disheartened. She didn't manage a single word.

"Why did you bite me? Then why are you not allergic to light? Shouldn't you disintegrate and melt or burn to ashes?!" Bill asked.

The girl sighed. "We're not vampires of myth," she said, being careful not to add his name since he hated it so much. She hated assumptions like that. "And I'm a half. But that's all you should know about me for now. Did you know your fate?"

Bill looked at Analiese, still in disbelief of the whole vampire thing. He ignored her question. "Why did you stalk me? I think I have seen you many other times. And you... Wait, you were following me since I was a kid!" He recalled the fireworks at the parade ground. At that thought, he shivered and shriveled up, hugging himself against the far end of the bed across Analiese.

"I did!" Analiese admitted in agreement. "But it's only because I..." Her voice trailed off. She can never tell him the truth. Not after his reaction turned out so bad. She really wanted to win his trust back again. "Can you please listen to me? I have important things to tell you. You were once dead. All you had was this stupid machine," she said as she hit the life support that wasn't in use anymore. And she stared back at him. "I wanted to save your life real badly. Everyone was really depressed, especially your brother. He never left the hospital room once in three days and I felt extremely terrible because it was all my fault."

"Your fault?" Bill asked. "I... I can hardly remember-"

I saw myself in the cafe with Gustav like I was stalking from across the street.
I started running away when the me in the cafe came out running to chase me.
There were a lot of cars in the morning Vienna traffic and Tom was screaming from the side and Gustav was shouting from across.
I watched as the me who was chasing after got knocked down by a car and flung across the street.

"Ugh," Bill groaned and rubbed his head. "Can you please stop doing that to me?"

"I thought it would be better if you saw it for your own eyes how you died," she said.

"How do you do that?" Bill asked, curious. His weariness wore off slightly. He always felt more alive at night nowadays. "And from that accident, I should have been broken into a million pieces!"

The vampire gave a depressed frown. "These are the characteristics of a vampire," she said. "You have rapid healing powers. She reached around for some keys in her janitor pocket and took it out. "And to prove I am not lying to you-"

"Wait, what are you doing?" Bill asked, eyes widened in surprise. "You're not going to do that to me-"

Analiese shut her eyes tight and drew blood from her forearm as she dug the key deep into her flesh. She let out a small groan in pain, but showed it to Bill. Bill watched in pure amazement as the wound just covered up by itself slowly. It left a slight scar.

"That will disappear in a while," she said. "It explains why your bones managed to grow back, and your flesh have been healed. You will find merely scars. And which doctor was it that attended to you? How many were there?"

"One," Bill said in great shock still as he stared at her arm. There was only blood left and Analiese went to the connected bathroom to wash it off.

"What's his name?" she asked. "And didn't he say anything about your most unusual healing?"

"No. He just said it was a miracle. And it's Franz. Franz Bruckner," Bill answered. "Why? What's happening? You said I was in danger?"

Analiese read from Bill's mind that he was in a total state of panic but she heard the nurses coming back and she quickly headed for the door. "Thank you," she said. "Tell no one at all and stay in the hospital at all times. You have to listen to me. I'll find you again," she said and she closed the door.

Bill stared at the door and as Analiese left. He clutched his heart and sank his head onto his pillow. How could this be happening to him?

Franz Bruckner. She had to find this man.