Virgin Vampire Part 8

If it was possible for blood to stop I think mine would have stopped at that moment. Except I knew the expression of blood physically stopping in your veins was something invented by humans and did not actually take place. But the shock that reverberated through my system was enough to paralyse me, leaving me staring wide eyed and speechless at both of them. I was not the first of my kind... 1

“Once again your idiocy astounds me,” Dimitri remarked, bitter amusement colouring his tone. “Did I say there were others like her? No, I just said that the knowledge of virgin vampire blood was something that is not so secretive.”2

Their words were lost on me as I stared numbly into the moonlit distance, flashes of long forgotten memories bursting through my thoughts. I did not know that I still possessed any memory of my previous life... 3

Rain, there had been rain that night. Light, dancing sprinkles that scattered like beads upon contact with the pavement, turning the bright streets into glistening surfaces. I remembered looking up at the falling droplets through a clear umbrella, walking past the bright lights of the theatre as I made my way home. Four years had not dimmed the memory. It streamed through me with such intensity that I was forced to relive the entire night again...4

An old lady with fine hair and deep jade eyes stood huddling beneath the bus shelter, and feeling kind I offered her my umbrella. 5

“I only live down the street from here,” I said, giving her a friendly smile. “It’s only sprinkling so I won’t be too wet if I walk fast.”6

“Oh, that’s very thoughtful of you but I only need to get to the bookstore around the corner. I can wait for the rain to stop.”7

She returned my smile warmly, her green eyes catching the streetlight overhead so that they almost glittered. 8

“Well... let me take you to the store then,” I insisted, feeling bad if I simply left her standing here alone. 9

“Really? If it’s not too much trouble...”10

“It’s not,” I reassured, stepping aside so that we could both share the umbrella. 11

We walked down the bustling city street quickly, both of us eager to get out of the rain. For some reason a nagging part of my conscience told me to get home. 12

“Well, here we are,” the lady said, as we stopped before a large bookstore with a vibrant red door and gold lettering. 13

I frowned when I spotted the small sign on the dark glass. 14

“But it looks like they’ve closed.” I turned to her and immediately took a startled step back.15

Perhaps it was the light, but her green eyes glinted darkly as she watched me, her lips curling up into a smile that seemed laced with underlying evil. I glanced around nervously, the pulse in my veins thumping when I realised the street was empty. 16

“I know.” 17

It was all I could do not to scream as something sharp and white protruded from her grinning mouth. I backed away frantically, my eyes widening in horror at what I was seeing. What the hell was going on? 18

“Who are you?” I asked, fear leaking into my voice. 19

The pulse in my veins increased to a deafening crescendo. 20

“I believe the question should be what am I.” 21

Her smile widened, stretching her old face into something demonic and sinister. She opened her mouth to reveal the two white... fangs?! And unable to contain my terror I shrieked loudly, fighting the instinct to run and snapping my umbrella closed to use it as a weapon. Terror made my hands tremble.22

“Stay away from me,” I said shakily, holding the umbrella out in front of me protectively. 23

As horrifying as everything was becoming, she was still an old lady – not in much of a position to attack. 24

“Oh this is going to me much more fun than I’d thought.” The words came out hiss like, making her appear even more demonic than before. 25

With agility beyond her years she leapt forward, green eyes glinting manically like an animal. I screamed and brought the umbrella up against her body so that it thudded as it made heavy contact. 26

“Foolish girl.”27

The lady – creature – whipped the thing out of my hands swiftly, snapping it in two in the time it took for me to blink. I stood gaping at her for another second then turned and ran, screaming, in the direction I’d come from, fear induced tears stinging my eyes as the nightmare sunk itself into my head. She was going to kill me. A choking sob escaped my lips as a hand clawed at my shirt, flinging me backwards where I collided into the glass window of the bookstore. Pain shot itself throughout my body and an explosion of tinkling glass filled my ears. I couldn’t breathe. Coughing, I pushed myself up from the shard littered carpet, my palms digging into the sharp glass as I tried to get to my feet. Gingerly I lifted my head to see her standing on the other side of the broken window. Another twisted smile flashed across her features and in one bounding leap she launched herself through the window frame, picking me off the floor and slamming me into a wall with one fluid movement. 28

Pressure pressed itself on my lungs as several ribs cracked.29

“Please, let me go,” I sobbed, inching myself away from the frightening fangs. “Please...”30

She paused, seeming to think, and the grip around my shoulders loosened. But in the next instant an unimaginable, incomprehensible, searing pain pierced the side of my neck and something like warm blood spilled down my shoulder blade, drowning the air with its tangy smell. I screamed, trying to push her off, but everything was beginning to hurt so much I didn’t know where reality stopped and the pain began. Something like fire raged through my veins, burning my airways and engulfing my lungs in a blazing inferno. The air died in my throat and I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe. Everything was agony. The very blood in my veins scorched and I prayed for it to end... 31

“Isobelle?” The sound of my name startled me into the present.32

I looked over at Jeremy, the vivid memory of the night of my turning dispersing rapidly. Dimitri too was watching me with a strange expression.33

“What does this mean?” I finally said, unable to comprehend the disturbing revelation. “I don’t... understand.”34

“What do you remember about the day you turned?” Dimitri asked me suddenly, and my heightened senses sparked as the coincidence of the question registered in my head. 35

“Everything,” I replied, wincing at the freshly played memory.36

“And your Chaos period?” 37

I frowned. “Chaos period?” 38

“The first weeks that follow a person’s transformation from human to vampire – the initial thirst, the confusion, the adjustment,” Jeremy explained. 39

I gazed out into the distance as I tried to remember, but my memories did not extend to that transition period, offering only vacant spaces filled with hazy light. 40

“I don’t remember...”41

“Usually a vampire’s Chaos period is very clear to them, but the day of their turning is not,” Dimitri remarked.42

“Then why am I able to? Why am I like this?” I looked into his dark eyes, searching for a truth I knew was not there. 43

“That I can’t answer. All I know is that the older slayers use virgin vampire blood to hunt vampires and have been doing so for quite some time.”44

“Hold on, you said that there aren’t any other virgin vampires... So how are they able to use the blood? Where do they get it from?” Jeremy interrupted, seeming quite confused. 45

“If your logic matched your hunting you’d be dead by now,” Dimitri said, barely able to contain his displeasure. “And if I knew the answer to that question I wouldn’t be sitting here and telling you – I would either be with these slayers now, or I’d be dead.” 46

“So the only way I can understand why I am like this – why I never finished turning and why I have no need for human blood – is if I find these slayers,” I said slowly.47

“Yes.”48

“Then I have to find them.”49

“Do you have a deathwish?” Dimitri asked, an expression of disbelief crossing his pale features. “I already told you that this is not as easy as you think – these slayers will not hesitate to kill you on sight and they’re experienced enough to have killed others much older and more powerful than you.”50

“Not to mention they’re heavily armed,” Jeremy said, referring to the virgin vampire blood that they so mysteriously obtained.51

I gave Dimitri a look of bemusement. “Dimitri, do not tell me that you actually care whether I live or die?”52

“Don’t test me vampire,” he countered, without the slightest pause or falter.53

If the situation was not so bizarrely dire I would have laughed. I stood up from the emerald grass, turning and seeing the crumbles of ash that littered our surroundings. The silver moon’s position in the sky told me it was somewhere around one to two hours after midnight. 54

“You do know that you are still my prisoner. Tonight was only a means of me testing the extent of the effect your blood has to the other vampires.”55

I spun around and came face to face with Dimitri, who up close seemed even more frighteningly deadly than ever. My body tensed as the threat of attack came and suddenly I remembered the torture he had inflicted on me previously. The recent turn of events had almost made me forget his dark nature.56

“But I’ll let you go and find these slayers – hopefully they’ll kill you off for me,” he continued, a wicked grin crossing his lips.57

I did not know whether he was serious or joking and glanced over at Jeremy, who looked as puzzled as I was. Seeming to enjoy our confusion, Dimitri began to walk off, the tips of his brown- blonde hair illuminated by the moonlight. Before I could register the fact that Dimitri was letting me go he stopped and turned around.58

“What are the both of you waiting for, do you want to find these slayers or not?”59

I looked at him speechlessly. 60

“Why are you helping her?” Jeremy asked, looking as shocked as I was. 61

“Because if I don’t go and find them, they’ll find me and kill me for revealing to you what has been kept a secret amongst trusted slayers for decades. So, better attack than be attacked. Besides, I have some unsettled business with them.”62

I did not know what was happening with Dimitri but not hesitating a moment further I began to follow him, afraid that if I dawdled he would change his mind. Jeremy trailed along as well, and whilst this clearly made Dimitri unhappy I welcomed his presence for I did not think I could embark on a journey alone with Dimitri. 63