A thousand fires burned the inside of her chest, and she fought with all her strength not to scream. Her skin felt like she had insects crawling all over her, and the faint glow of the afternoon that peaked through the curtains made her want to vomit. Her stomach constricted, and her brand-spanking-new fangs punched free from her gums as another wave of Hunger gathered inside her. How anyone thought becoming a vampire was glamorous, she had no idea. This sucked… no pun intended.
Her thoughts lingered on the feeling of the knife slicing through her and the sound of her heartbeat as it flickered with life before she passed out. Melanie had known she was going to die, and she had been terrified. She’d tried her best to be strong and stop herself from showing any fear, but fear was a horrible human emotion too hard to mask. But nothing could have shocked her more than awakening in a grave of dirt, Caitlyn’s neck at her mouth. She knew right away what had happened, and she was afraid again, afraid of what she had become.
Melanie remained hunched on the comfy armchair, the room almost completely in darkness as she took in the exquisiteness of Caitlyn’s home. Trying to ignore the raw, gut-wrenching pain that racked her entire body, Melanie focused on the delicate furniture and fixings of the quaint little bungalow. Her new twenty-twenty vision meant she no longer needed her glasses, and it was a strange sensation to be without the wide-rimmed specs perched on her nose. A lush, apricot wall was adorned with artwork that she guessed was original. Caitlyn had been alive for a very long time; it figured she would have collected some stuff along the way. Hardwood floors complimented the room with little or no personal touches apart from the one wooden box atop an ornate, black iron fireplace.
There were no pictures of Caitlyn or Donnie in this room, but this room was all Caitlyn—sophisticated and stunning. Melanie wondered what parts of the house were to Donnie’s taste. She knew they lived together, but as long as she had known them, they hadn’t exactly been the PDA type. Maybe it was down to Caitlyn’s age… or maybe she should stop being nosy to distract her from the pain.
Another punch to the gut, and she gritted her teeth, forgetting about the fangs in her gums and scoring her bottom lip. She had been a vampire for less than a day, and she hated it already. She should have just died three days ago, and then she wouldn’t be feeling as shite as she was.
Feeling restless, Melanie got up and circled the room a few times before she had to sit down again, exhausted. Where was the super strength? Where was the invincibility all vampires carried? Melanie began to wonder if she were the exception. Were the Bambi legs she was currently working with a permanent fixture, or would she grow out of this weakness fast? Surely now that she was anything but normal, she would start to see the fringe benefits soon, because right now, with the tiny pinpricks of fire in her blood and the constant weakness, Melanie wished she were back in the security of her human life.
The door to the sitting room opened slowly, and Donnie popped his head in. She smiled at him, and he came in quietly, moving with a grace and fluidity that should have been impossible for a man of his size. He perched himself on the chair across from her and tossed her a bottle, which she caught with ease now. Before—uncoordinated as she was—Melanie would have dropped the bottle on the ground, her lack of sporting ability a sore topic with her GAA-mad father who yearned for his only daughter to be as sporting as he was. But then again, he also lived a life of crime, so his opinion didn’t matter… much.
Focusing her new vampy eyes on the bottle, her nose caught the smell of coppery deliciousness before she had even opened the cap, and she groaned at the scent of it. Quickly, she uncapped the bottle and chugged down the heavenly goodness, quenching the fires of Hunger for a little while at least. When Melanie had finished, she placed the empty bottle on the floor and ran the back of her hand over her mouth.
Her hand came away bloody, and she longed to lick the drops from her skin. Tears pricked her eyes with embarrassment as she looked up at Donnie, who was watching her with sympathetic eyes.
“I would’ve licked the blood by now if I was you. Hell, I wouldn’t have been so civilized and opened the bottle. When Cait first made me, I sank my fangs into the plastic and sucked straight from the bottle. The Hunger makes us animals in the beginning, but you’ve shown great promise this day. Cait will be pleased.”
The massive vampire leaned back in the armchair and crossed his right leg over his left, his foot resting on his knee. He then rested his massive hands in his lap and lowered his lids, as if to give her the privacy to do what she wanted to do. Only when he sensed that she was ready did he open his eyes and glance at her again.
“I’m sure you have questions, and I’ll answer them as honestly as possible for you, Melanie. But some answers may not be the ones you want to hear, so be careful.”
The Hunger quietly eased for the time being, Melanie felt more or less like her old self, except for the non-beating heart in her chest. She hadn’t reacted well to Caitlyn when she’d first awoken to her new self, and Caitlyn hadn’t been by in a long while to see her.
“Is Caitlyn mad at me? For punching her, I mean.”
Donnie shook his head. “No, Caitlyn isn’t mad. She just wanted to give you space to hate her without you feeling obligated to her.”
“Why would she think I hate her?” Melanie gasped.
“Because it was she who made you a monster.”
Melanie swept a strand of hair from her face, wincing slightly as her muscles protested. “That’s not how I feel at all. She had no other option but to make me… though it hurts right now to get my head around things. She did what she had to do to save me.”
“Caitlyn doesn’t see it like that.”
Melanie’s head began to throb. “Okay… but I don’t hate her.”
“She’ll be glad to hear that, though she may take some convincing. Between us, Caitlyn never wanted to inflict this life on another. She vowed long ago to never make another. She’s only made two vampires her entire existence, and they are both sitting in this room right now.”
His jaw ticked, and Melanie thought it best to move away from the subject for the time being. “When can I be around people again? I should be out there helping them catch the monster that technically killed me.”
Donnie shifted in his seat, a very human act, and Melanie began to understand she would have to learn how to act human around others. “It could be a month; it could be a year. We just don’t know. But from how you are today, I expect it will be sooner rather than later.”
“Will I hurt other people?”
“You’ll adjust to your new strength, but right now, it would be very difficult for you to be around people like Ever, or even Ricky. Their blood will call to you, and despite Ricky’s power, he’d be powerless to stop a hungry vampire from snapping his neck.”
She sucked in a breath—not that she needed to—and shuddered. She’d never want to hurt Ricky. Idiot that he was, she liked him.
“Caitlyn may ask Derek to help you. Train you to fight against one such as himself.”
“Why can’t you train me?” she enquired, not particularly keen to be on the receiving end of a punch by Derek. Somehow, she felt easier with Donnie.
The older vampire chuckled. “I’ve always been physically stronger, and my adjustment to vampirism wasn’t as much of a change as you would imagine. True, I traded beer for blood, but being a rugby player meant I was always going to be a strong vampire. I have brute strength that comes from years of playing sports and have a more smash first think later attitude, and Caitlyn can only show you so much. You need to learn to use your power and training with Derek, a person who is used to training with new recruits from his army days and someone who will be very hard to break who’ll help you.”
Melanie tilted her head, soaking in all the information Donnie was giving her. Never again would she be vulnerable or weak. She would be strong and prove to Caitlyn that she had done the right thing making her. Melanie had wished for years that she would have lat
ent magical powers that would blossom one day.
“I can see the wheels turning in your head. What’re you thinking?”
Melanie snickered. “It’s funny to think that I’ll never be weak again.”
“You weren’t weak before, Melanie. Many of us would’ve felt blessed to have your strong mind.”
“But my mind didn’t protect me from being kidnapped. Ricky was right all along. I was perfectly flawed in my humanness. Now I can help others with more than my computer skills. I can be a valuable member of the team, not a liability.”
Donnie rose and stretched out his long, muscular limbs, cautiously coming to stand in front of her. Then he lowered himself down so they were at eye level. Something clicked in Melanie’s mind, and she knew that, no matter what, Donnie would look out for her.
Family.
She had never really had a family before, her parents too consumed with their own lives to worry about their quiet, hacker daughter. Even when she was arrested for hacking into the government database, her parents had sent the butler to pay her bail. Mom spent most of her time in Europe shopping, and her dad… Her dad had enough to do commanding his criminal empire. Then Tom had recruited her, giving her a new place to stay and a way to use her skills for good.
A thumb brushed away a tear that escaped and leaked down her cheek. “I’ve always wanted a family, a little sister to look after. I never had that. Sport was my escape from the horrid foster family I lived with. Cait and me, we’ll be your family. You’ll never feel alone again.”
Melanie guffawed. “What are you… a mind reader?”
Donnie raised an eyebrow and grinned.
“No frickin’ way! Where and when do I get that power? That’s so cool!”
Laughing, Donnie eased himself down onto the wooden floor. “It’s not as cool as you might think, sister.”
Melanie returned his smile at that.
“While Caitlyn has the ability to communicate with those she has created when she wishes, my ‘gift’ means I’ve numerous thoughts running through my mind at any given time. Sometimes it’s hard to filter them out, but I’ve learned to control it over the years.
Each gift is different. Caitlyn will tell you all about hers in time. It may take time for your own ‘gift’ to manifest. It normally comes from deep within us. I was always a good listener, so I guess that’s why I’m now always listening.”
Melanie threw her hands up in the air. “So basically, I’m still gonna be a computer geek, but I’ll be able to see inside comps and see what’s wrong with them? Hardly as cool as controlling the weather or freezing things over.”
“This is real life, not an X-Men movie.”
Melanie blinked and looked at her friend, who could hardly contain his laughter.
“Mr. O’ Carroll, you certainly are a dark horse.”
He winked. “Wait till you seen my movie collection. It’ll be nice to have someone to watch those with rather than Caitlyn’s fascination with rom coms”
Melanie burst out laughing at the image of the two hardened vampires sitting down watching The Notebook. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to control herself. “Oh my God, that’s too much.”
“And I’ll deny we ever had this conversation if Cait finds out I let one of her secrets out.”
She held up three fingers. “Girl Guide’s honor. I will never speak a word.”
“How’re you feeling now?” he asked.
She could feel the beginnings of the fires of hell building up inside her, but it didn’t burn as much as before. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her knees.
“I feel okay, I guess. I still want blood, but I no longer want to hurt you for not giving it to me.”
“That’s good. It’ll get easier. As a baby vampire, you need to drink at least every two hours until it becomes too much and you just don’t want or need to drink. You probably feel like you couldn’t eat solid food right now?”
She grimaced, the thought of ingesting normal food repulsive.
“In time, you’ll begin to be able to eat proper food as well. You won’t need it, but you can still enjoy the occasional burger every now and then.”
Donnie got up off the floor. “You also don’t need to be holed up in this room all your immortal life. I’ve my own space, as does Cait. Before she returned to the station, she told me to tell you to pick which room you feel most comfortable in and to think about furniture, colours, and anything else that you might want. If you want stuff brought over from your apartment, then that can be arranged as well.”
He walked over to the door and looked over his shoulder at her. “This is your home now for as long as you need it. Never feel you have to deal with this by yourself. Both Cait and I are only a call away if you need us. Come on; let me give you the tour.”
He was out the door and moving along the hall as Melanie detangled herself and followed him. She paused at the doorway, the fading sunlight still lingering in the glass hallway. Melanie gingerly raised her hand and began to inch it ever so slowly into the sunlight. Her skin crackled, and she hissed, pulling her hand back as the smell of burning flesh tainted the air.
She darted her gaze up to Donnie’s retreating form and snarled. “Hey, little help here.”
He stopped but didn’t look back at her. “First lesson. For the first few years until you grow accustomed to it, the sun is your enemy. It’ll burn you to your final death. Sunscreen mutes it, but for a while, you can only go out in the dead of night. Look to your right and flick the switch.”
She did as he asked and watched as the glass tinted over. Melanie repeated her initial action, and the sun no longer burned her skin. Steeling herself against the fear inside her, she stepped forward and followed Donnie into the kitchen. Thankfully, Donnie had already shaded the windows as she watched her flesh knit back together. Donnie walked over to the fridge and removed a bottle of blood, waiting while she drained it dry, suddenly overcome with Hunger.
“Second lesson. When we are injured, we need a healthy intake of blood. The synthetic blood will do for bridging the gap between feeds, but when we are hurt, we need to feed on human blood. Right now, you’re drinking donated blood because you would be likely to rip out a human’s throat to feed the Hunger.”
The kitchen was as minimalistic and chic as the living room with no dining table, simply a tiled, black-marble breakfast bar with hobs and a sink. The room wasn’t very large, and Melanie supposed vampires didn’t need a massive eating area. Two massive silver fridges were set against the only wall.
“The second fridge is stocked with blood, the first with normal food. Take what you want when you need it. Don’t stand on ceremony here. There’s no need.”
She discarded the empty blood bottle and moved out of the kitchen to an area of the bungalow that branched into a variety of different rooms, all with their doors closed. At the end of the hall, the bedrooms seemed to carry on around the corner. Stairs to her left signaled there was another floor above that she hadn’t considered would be there before.
“Up the stairs are Caitlyn’s quarters. She has a self-contained living and sleeping area.”
Melanie narrowed her eyes. “Do you sleep up there as well?”
A sad smile. “No, my room is the area under the stairs. It, too, has a self-contained living area with a shower, living room, and sleep area. It’s very nice and open planned, and it has an amazing view of the city at night.”
Melanie didn’t want to push him further. All the rooms seemed to be like luxurious apartments. She pointed to the room at the far end of the hall, the one that veered off around the corner. Somehow, she felt she would be intruding if she had her room right next to Donnie and underneath Caitlyn’s.
“Can I have that one?” she asked.
“Don’t you want to see it first?”
Melanie shook her head. “No need. It’s still gonna be the nicest place I’ve slept in.”
Donnie motioned for her to procee
d, and she strode over, twisted the handle, and shoved the door open. Her mouth dropped at the amazing space that lay before her.
The walls were painted a dazzling shade of sky blue, the white furniture only adding to the brightness. To her right stood a gigantic bed raised up off the ground, the four posters canopied by a luscious blue silk curtain that draped over the bed. Off to the side of the bed, a writing desk and bookshelves lined up, leading off to a locked door.
Melanie’s eyes grew wide when she spotted the massive, fifty-inch TV in front of the darkened windows. This was like going to the best hotel ever and not paying a cent.
Donnie strode over and opened the door, indicating the porcelain-tiled bathroom. “Bath, shower, and all that girlie crap you might need. Door to your left is a walk-in wardrobe. If you need some new clothes, Cait can order them in for you.”
She just watched him, mouth open as he grinned.
“I’ll leave you to get settled in. I need to check in with Cait and let her know you’re doing okay.”
He swept from her new bedroom as she stepped farther into the room, suddenly overwhelmed by all the changes in her life. Panic bubbled in her chest and her flight instincts kicked in. Eyes darting around for an escape, her gaze fell on a familiar friend leaning against the bed.
Staggering forward, she took her laptop bag in her hand, her fingers gliding over the badges she had sewn onto it by hand. Perching at the edge of the bed, she unzipped the bag and pulled out her laptop. She might feel a little out of her league, but she knew how to de-stress with her laptop.
Opening it up, a piece of paper slipped out, and she grasped it. Setting the laptop down on the bed, she opened the note. Tears welled up in her eyes as she traced over the words with her eyes.
Lanie,
No matter what happens, I’m here for you. You can’t get rid of me that easily. See you soon, vampire girl.
It wasn’t signed. It didn’t need to be. Much as Donnie was the only one to call Caitlyn Cait, only Ricky ever called her Lanie. She hugged the note to her chest, and for the first time all day, despite the fire in her veins, Melanie began to think that becoming a vampire might not be as bad as she thought.
Hunger punched a vicious hole in her stomach, and Melanie doubled over in pain.
Then again, maybe not…