Vanilla Lace

Analiese remained unmoving. Thoughts were racing about through her head, and her sea green eyes directed towards the floor in despair. “I just knew there was no way I could be with you,” she mumbled.

“Ana,” Oliver reached to hold her shoulders but Bill immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.

“Please,” Bill begged. His brown eyes deplored their fate, and he hugged the girl close to him. “You have to swear—you cannot sacrifice yourself.”

“If I want to do so to save you, I shall,” Analiese replied. She let tears roll down her face. “At your rate, Bill, you’re changing much faster than me. I’m literally stuck. I’m a half. There’s nothing more I can become because I’m now in between and that’s how I’ll be forever. You will change entirely. How can I just sit and watch you change? I’m not a selfish person. I won’t take you away from people who love you.”

“If you do, I will still kill myself. Your efforts would go to waste,” Bill spat. He eyed her miserably. “Analiese, this is impossible. I won’t let you do this.”

Oliver heaved a sigh. “I won’t, either. Ana, you know I won’t let you give yourself up.”

“But you want to save your people?” She raised her voice, her burning eyes firing at the older vampire. “And how are you going to do that if Bill stays alive, if I stay alive? You can’t!”

“Please,” Bill shook his head and held her face dearly in his. “I’ll say I’m sick, fake my death, anything. Please, just don’t leave me.”

Analiese wiped her tears away and pulled from Bill. “I don’t want to talk about this now,” she said as she turned away.

“Ana,” Oliver said. “You have to leave this place. Whoever that got your message, he’s coming right now.”

“This is the time to run away,” Bill pulled her to look at him. His eyes showed immense sincerity. “I’ll ask someone to call Tom and tell him I died. He’ll figure something out about how to tell my mother.”

Bill spoke rashly, and did not consider his mother’s feelings. His mind was interpreting that fact, and Analiese seemed to receive it openly. She mentally sighed at this boy’s recklessness.

“No!” Oliver said. “Not yet. The Austrians think we still have Bill. We need him to be alive to get Karl back. After we defeat them, I will send one survivor to tell their leader that Bill died. I’m sure they will be smart enough to fake the cause of your death. They want to protect this secret from the humans. They have to.”

Bill nodded fervently. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, that will do. Ana, let’s go.”

Wordlessly, Bill led Analiese away. Oliver watched as the two young hearts ran up the stairs to take what they could from the clothing boxes. As Bill was eagerly rummaging through, Analiese spoke after what was a long silence from her, “Am I being too selfish?”

“What?” Bill looked up at her. “Ana, you know this is the only way we can be together. I won’t risk you, but I’ll risk my mother’s heart. She will still love me even after I . . . die. I have had eighteen years with her. I’ve only had a few weeks with you, and I know that this is what I want for the rest of my life. You’re not being selfish. I am. Let me be, because I honestly don’t care right now.”

At the end of his sentence, Bill sent Analiese a heartwarming smile. She could see that his truthfulness was unfeigned apart from feeling it. They were combined body and soul for she shared her venom with him, and what he felt, she felt just as much.

“I love you,” Analiese smiled at Bill in return, tears escaping her eyes in a split second. She didn’t even notice them forming. Her hands went to cup his face and she gave him a chaste kiss. We won’t both make it—you don’t know it.

“I love you, too,” he said, feeling renewed instantly with her kiss. He was beaming by now, and was too absorbed by her enchanting stare that he did not seem to notice her negative thoughts. Too much like a human who reads thoughts from one’s face, Bill did not realize Analiese’s doubts.

Bill and Analiese raced down the stairs in a few minutes, and Oliver passed them a few hundreds of Euros. “This should sustain you for a while,” he said, his stern look intimidating the both of them. “You have to be careful and trust no one.”

“Thank you,” Bill said to him.

Analiese said, “Oliver, I’m sure my mother would have realized how much she loved you if only she had the chance to see today.”

Oliver took a deep breath and maintained his composure as he pulled the girl in for a warm embrace. It was a wordless thank you, and Oliver nodded at the both of them. “Go,” he said to them, taking a step back. “Go and don’t look back.”

The two of them nodded, and they were off, hailing down the first cab they spotted.

* * *

It was a late Sunday afternoon when the sun was hanging low. The air was thinner and colder than it was supposed to be, and there were little signs of life around Vienna except for a few people lingering at the train station. Bill took Analiese’s hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. The smile he shot her sent her flying. He was purely beautiful, and it made her insides soft at the mere sight of him. The best part was that he belonged to her, as she him.

The young woman felt truly blessed to have his undying love and encouragement. Face it; her stubborn, incessant pessimism was a large pitfall, but he helped her out of it just fine time and time again. No one could blame her, though, for all she wanted was to do what was right, even if it required risking herself. Seeing Bill like that now, she forgot everything about giving herself up. All she was going to was visit her mother’s grave while Bill went to the bank, and then they would leave.

Bill spoke, leaning in closer to Analiese’s pale face with a slight smile. “Daydreaming?” He said to her, stifling a laugh. She shook her head with a slight blush and smiled. “Let’s go.”

Their fingers interlaced as they made their way out of the train station. “You know,” Analiese started, trying her best to be discreet as she spoke. “Your fangs are really growing.”

Bill grinned toothily. When she was done, she stopped and reached into her bag to pull out a black cap. Bill eyed her curiously before she put it on his head.

“I don’t know how it works, but just don’t let it get in your eyes,” she said to him softly, a hand on his chest. He was so tall and so firm despite being rather thin. She loved him just like that, and she was glad that she was going to take a chance to be loved by him.

“Thank you,” Bill said courteously. The sound of a nonexistent symphony played when they were lost in each other’s eyes for a split moment. A dazzling ray of sunlight shone at them, and Bill felt a weird tingling sensation creeping down his neck where the ray first hit when the passing cloud passed, revealing the sun. Their special moment was interrupted when he gave a slight groan at the irritancy.

“Let’s go,” Analiese said, her hands pulling down his cap, making sure his ponytail was in tact. Bill wore a ponytail every time since running away. It was less likely that he got recognized. “We don’t have all day. We have to leave here as soon as possible.”

“Have I told you I love you?” Bill smiled down at her, tucking her mahogany-colored stray lock behind her ear. Her eyes bewitched him, making him resist the sunlight that weakened after a while. The girl laughed and bit her lower lip as she pulled him along.

It was entirely nightfall by the time they reached the city, and the bank was close. The maximum withdrawal at the machine was limited to two thousand Euros and Bill insisted that it wasn’t enough. They had no choice but to wait and visit the bank the first thing next morning to withdraw cash so that they would no longer have to depend on credit cards. This way, there was no possible way of tracking him down if all he used was cash.

The two of them wandered the streets like sleepless people, sitting on various benches throughout the city and talking the night away. Near what was a boulevard of well-maintained tulips encircling a manmade pond, Bill took Analiese’s hand and sat her down on the bench after they had bought drinks from a twenty-four hour convenience store.

“Sit, princess,” he smirked, bowing as Analiese sat down. He childishly shuffled to the back of the bench, kicking at the crunchy fallen leaves in his way, standing as he watched her from behind.

“What are you doing?” Analiese laughed, her hands busying themselves with opening a can of Coke.

Bill smiled, “Don’t look. Just continue what you’re doing, okay? Enjoy the view, or whatever. Feed the ducks.”

The girl eyed the bread that they bought right beside her. She turned around halfway to look over her shoulder. “Enjoy when you’re behind me?”

“Just don’t look!” Bill insisted. He turned her head so that she would face the front. Analiese sighed with a smile plastered on her face.

“Fine,” she said, taking a sip. And she took out the bread and picked a few pieces before throwing it into the pond in front of them. The ducks quacked as they gathered and fed on the bread.

“Thank God it’s dark as Hell here,” he mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Bill smiled as he cleared his throat.

The black-haired teenage boy, with his cap still on and his jacket zipped up entirely, took a deep breath before slipping his four fingers into his front pockets of his jeans. His thumb was lingering outside, tapping as he sang:

Die wärme trägt uns bis in die unendlichkeit
Alles treibt an uns vorbei
Im mondlicht sind nur noch wir zwei

Die unendlichkeit ist nicht mehr weit
Die unendlichkeit ist jetzt nicht mehr weit

Die nächste ewigkeit ist an der zeit
Für immer ist alles was uns bleibt
Durch den horizont am himmel vorbei

Die unendlichkeit ist nicht mehr weit
Die unendlichkeit ist jetzt nicht mehr weit

Analiese listened entirely, her gaze settling far beyond the ducks and the tulips. She was staring into nothingness, her mind only letting in Bill’s voice and the lyrics. The infinity is not far anymore. It isn’t.

There was a moment of silence as Bill returned his eyes to Analiese. She was unmoving, and it worried him. He went closer. “Ana?”

Analiese blinked a few times before breaking from her train of thought. “Yes?” She smiled. “Bill, it was beautiful.”

“Thanks,” he said. “It’s one of the old songs.” He still had his hands in his pocket as he went closer to her, letting the back of her head almost lean against his abdomen.

Analiese grinned and dropped her head back to look at the striking boy that she was proud to call hers. He gaze directed up at his eyes. “It’s still amazing,” she said. “Why are you so shy about singing in front of me?”

“Because . . . I have never sung in front of a girl before like that,” he revealed, a foot nervously digging into the sweet smelling grass beneath. “And I sound better standing.” He could hear a short laughter from her just as a cold gust of wind blew.

Bill looked down at the girl and broke into a spontaneous grin before he leaned down, unable to resist the urge to kiss her. He took her lips with his very own from where he stood, only a few steps back so that they could accommodate each other better.

It was a first for both, kissing in such an unusual position, but they made the best of it. It made them both smile at the silliness before it got deeper and more passionate. Eventually, Bill let slip his hands from his pockets and they went around to hold her face in his, enveloping her hands that were already on his face.

The black-haired teenager was leaning over awkwardly, and it only made Analiese slowly try to turn around. Gradually, she managed to get on her knees on the bench and their lips remain locked as Bill made his way beside her, sitting down before she got over him.

Overcome with lust, they made frantic love on the bench in the dead of the night with nothing keeping them warm except their own body heat. They thought nobody knew.

Or so they thought.

* * *

Tom was sitting around his hotel room on an early Monday morning, frustrated by Bill’s prolonged disappearances. He was at his wit’s end, waiting for a call either from the Austrian Embassy, Bill, or any vampire who had news of him. How peculiar was it that Tom was waiting for news from a vampire? He found it hard to believe, but after seeing Bill, he knew it was real. His own twin brother was turning into one, yet he still loved him. He really wanted to hear from him. As if God read his mind, his cell phone rang.

Tom immediately lunged for it when it vibrated noisily on the desk across the room. Fumbling, he finally managed to press the receive button and he exclaimed into the phone, “Hello?”

“Tom Kaulitz?” The voice said. It sounded familiar to him, and Tom straightaway associated it to the man who had visited him to retrieve information a while ago.

“Yes!” The dreadlocked twin said eagerly. “You have news of Bill?”

“There are only some things we can tell you,” he started. “We caught Bill at the beginning of the week and he has escaped almost four days ago. We have information on him, and we will be getting him back on Monday night. Then, it should be possible that your family shall receive him by Friday.”

“Bill escaped?!” Tom snapped. He was on his feet, and had his free hand running over his exposed head of brown and blond dreadlocks. “How did he escape? I mean . . . how could he escape?”

“I’m not allowed to disclose that, but I will tell you what you have to do. We understand your brother is constantly in the public eye, and we would like you to assure the press that he will return by the end of the week. Back them down, Mr. Kaulitz. We cannot afford publicity on something like this. And you know we will take action against you if you reveal anything, right?”

“Are you sure?” Tom frowned, his grip on his phone tightening in his sweaty palm. “You have to swear. My mother is worried sick because you know how Bill was just taken from us like that without letting us—”

The voice nodded, “Yes, and wait—what is he doing?” Something that was happening on his end of the line distracted the voice, and Tom frowned in confusion. There was sudden a loud crash in the background and chaotic noises ensued, following an unpleasant groan from the voice, “NO..!”

There were more thought-provoking sounds as Tom’s widened eyes stared in horror into nothingness. He was only trying to envision the other side, but failed to do so. There were countless splatters and groans.

“H-hello?” Tom stuttered when the other side fell entirely silent apart from an alarm that sounded since the chaos started. “Hey. Hello?”

Then, there was a slight scuffling that Tom picked up, and a low voice murmured, “The Central Cemetery, Tom. You wouldn’t want to miss it.”

Tom’s eyes enlarged. “W-who’s that?” He demanded. “Hello? Who are you?”

“Tonight at 11, though I cannot ensure that you will see the next sunrise.”

“What are you talking about? What do you mean?”

The voice laughed. “My time is limited, and so is yours the moment you decide to see Bill. The humans aren’t telling you everything, are they?”

“What? What about Bill?” Tom exclaimed into the phone. His curiosity was greatly piqued. “Where’s Bill? Do you know where he—”

There was a click and the line went dead.

Karl threw the phone aside and it smashed against the bloodied wall, breaking into pieces. He kneeled on the floor or one of the observatory rooms in the Austrian Embassy in Berlin and drank deeply from one of the few bodies he attacked just seconds before.

The alarm was deafening, and the whole room was already locked up, much to his annoyance. He knew he had no choice but sit and drink as he awaited resistance. He slumped against the wall and licked each of his fingers before continuing to drink.

Staring sideways as he heard footsteps thundering down the corridor, he smirked. He looked the other way and took in the mental image of the glass window he managed to break through after starting with such a small crack. Eventually, the crack had gotten bigger with his undying knocking, and when the time was right, he made a jump for it from afar to pick up momentum and speed. He dived right through. It shocked the researchers around the room, much to Karl’s satisfaction.

All the vampire wanted was to foil their plans of keeping it secret from Tom. There was no way he could escape seeing how he failed the first time, and security was tightened. He wanted more mayhem, and so he found the chance to tell Tom about the secret meeting. He hoped that Tom’s interference would cause some sort of problem for the Austrians. He knew that the vampires would win, so Tom would most likely die or be a vampire in the end so he had no fear of letting him know about everything.

The cunning vampire was entirely pleased with himself as he drank long and deep from his second body, being caught red-handed and not caring at all even as guards filed into the room with silver ammunition.