Witchblood

  Chapter Two

  When I came round I didn’t recognise anything, even myself. I was in a darkened room, but could see colourless winter light sneaking round the drawn curtains. The terrible pain had vanished and I felt full of life and vitality, as if I’d just been for a good swim session and come out hungry and energised. For those first few blissful seconds, I’d forgotten everything, and wondered idly what had happened.

  From my prone state, I peered around the gloomy room. I decided to get out of bed, find whoever had been looking after me, and ask them where the hell I was. Maybe Luke or my father had brought me here, though the latter was unlikely. It couldn’t be Alex, as I obviously wasn’t in our student accommodation. The more I tried to recollect what had happened, the duller and more clouded the memories became.

  I sat up, and saw through the gloom to where somebody was seated in a corner of the room. It all flooded back. The glamorous couple in the club, the girl gang, and the man’s head bent over my face, his eyes full of compassion, my dark red blood covering his chin.

  No freaking way! I lay back down on my pillow and willed myself back to sleep. In fact, I was obviously still asleep anyway. One of those dreams where you think you’re awake when you’re not. Maybe I was in a coma and this was some weird dream world that my crazy imagination had thought up for me. I screwed my eyes up and tried to ignore the man’s gentle voice and my heart pounding to a different, slower beat.

  ‘Jessica, it’s ok. I’m here. You’re safe. Jessica?’

  Reluctantly I sat up and slowly opened my eyes once more, willing myself to see a different, more familiar scene. No such luck!

  I looked over again to the man who was sitting in the darkest corner of the room, and found I could easily see his every feature. I’d always had less than perfect eyesight and had even worn glasses for a short time when I was at school, but now I could make out every little detail in the room with a quick glance. The room was decorated in a country style, with a pale wallpaper covered in tiny rosebuds, the floorboards polished. There was a beautiful antique-looking quilt folded at the foot of my bed, and the man I recognised to be Daniel from the club, was reclining on a rather old but comfy looking armchair, his long legs stretched out ahead of him.

  ‘Jessica, you have slept for two days and nights since we brought you here. I didn’t think you were ever going to awaken. How do you feel? Hungry, I expect,’ Daniel said, his eyes twinkling, but his face looked serious, concerned even.

  Suddenly the nightmare became real and I struggled to keep up with the events flashing through my memory. I couldn’t believe this was real. No way was I awake! Deciding I was definitely in a coma and hallucinating, I decided I may as well go with the flow. Hell, it would make a good story when, or if I woke up.

  ‘Where am I? What the hell are you? And where are Luke and Alex? I yelled at him, and then carried on more quietly. ‘Those girls...they were punching me, kicking me.... I was dying.... I couldn’t move my legs.’ I quickly wriggled my toes and changed my position with relief. ‘Then you came. What did you do? Who are you?’ I asked, immediately regretting the question.

  ‘Shhh, I know it’s confusing, but you should be feeling fine now. I saved you,’ he said, as I frowned at him.

  ‘Where are we then?’

  ‘We’re in the Lake District, in a house belonging to a friend of mine. We got you out of Manchester immediately after the funeral.’

  I looked at him, uncomprehendingly trying to process his bizarre words. He was still the most beautiful man I’d ever seen and I was a little distracted by that. His burnt chocolate eyes searched mine out and this time they felt very different to look into. They no longer held me captive, but they soothed me, calmed me.

  ‘Why? What? I’m sorry, I don’t understand. I feel strange, not myself. I remember things, I remember those girls, but I don’t understand what you’re saying. My funeral? But I’m not dead!’ I whispered, a feeling of dread surrounding me like a thick fog.

  ‘You know why, Jessica. If you let yourself believe it, you know what I am, and you know what you’ve become. You can feel the hunger inside you. A hunger like no other, and if I’d left you, you would have eventually dug your own way out of your grave.’ He paused for breath and as I just waited silently, he continued. ‘You most likely would have killed the first person you came into contact with, drained them, and moved on to the next. You would have notified the media and the governments of the world of our existence, and whilst we have dealt with worse, it would have been an awful lot of unnecessary mess to clear up. We try not to let newborn vampires go on killing sprees, which would ruin our fairly safe position in this modern, disbelieving world.’

  His gaze was most distracting, so I dragged my eyes away and lay back down, pulling the soft blanket over my head to block out the room. I giggled quietly to myself, and felt tears pricking the corner of my eyes as hysteria began to rise within. Now would definitely be a good time to wake up. I thought of all the books I’d read and films I’d seen, as I tried to remember how people were woken from comas. As I obviously didn’t have a family member or friend playing me my favourite music, I decided to opt for pinching myself on the arm.

  So, pulling the blanket from my head, I sat up again and ignoring the man in the corner, I pinched as hard as I could. I felt nothing and tried again. Weird! I felt the skin on my arm. It felt the same: soft and smooth, slightly paler, but I’d obviously lost a lot of blood, so that made sense. I could see the skin going whiter, almost translucent, where my fingers were pinching it together. It should definitely hurt, but I felt nothing but a little tingle. Maybe I’d suffered some kind of nerve damage, when the girls attacked me?

  ‘Jessica, you can’t hurt yourself’, his voice interrupted. You won’t feel pain the same anymore,’ and my eyes were once again drawn to his, which were now looking more than a little confused.

  ‘You must be hungry. Eva will be here soon and you can feed.’

  ‘Feed? I’m not an animal. Why do we have to wait for Eva anyway? Has she gone to the supermarket?’ I said, refusing to accept the niggling little feelings creeping up on me. A dry, aching thirst was building in my throat. A thirst like nothing I’d felt before. A thirst for …No! I ran my tongue over my teeth but they felt normal.

  Yet his words remained in my head, buzzing around like a swarm of belligerent bees. It couldn’t be true, could it?

  ‘I need to see Luke, and Alex. Oh God! What have I done? No! What have you done? You did this to me! I’m supposed to be having my eighteenth birthday party next month.’ He started to interrupt, but I railroaded him and carried on, picking up speed and volume along the way. ‘You probably got those girls to attack me. I remember it. I heard you saying that you knew I was the one you wanted, when you saw me in the club.’ Fury raged within me, unstoppable, and I leapt from the bed in one swift cat-like jump and was on him, punching him, tearing at his hair, and clawing at his face.

  He did nothing to fight me off. There was a slight noise behind me, then someone incredibly strong ripped me from him, and with a wrenching noise, a handful of his hair came with me. She propelled me backwards and pushed me unceremoniously down onto a soft stool she’d pulled over from the dresser.

  ‘Here drink this,’ she said. A mug of warm, thick, dark red liquid was thrust into my hands and I looked from the stunning dark-haired girl to the drink with disgust, until I caught its smell and something inside me took over. Its sickly sweet taste made me think of rare fillet steak, and strangely, dark bitter chocolate at the same time. I gulped it down and needed more, which she must have anticipated as she handed me a second, and then finally a third.

  Coming to the end of the final drink I looked up at them. Daniel had deep, dark scratches on his face and there was a small wound on his head, the size of a fifty pence coin, where I’d torn out his hair. It was raw and bloody, yet even as I watched it, I could see the blood clotting, the skin healing, bit by bit, as the tissue knitted together again. By the
time I’d finished my drinks, his face was once again perfect and his hair was even beginning to grow back.

  The girl watched me studying his healing wounds and smiled.

  ‘Think of it as one of the perks of our life. We may have to hide out when something occasionally goes wrong, but at least it’s difficult to hurt us! Try it again, if you feel the urge. Daniel likes it; it eases his guilt. It probably arouses him as well! Notice how he didn’t fight back?’ I looked at her in horror, but couldn’t tell if she was serious or not and she carried on. ‘Though it may be a different story, now you’ve fed. You’ll be stronger, so go easy.’

  ‘You’ve got to be joking? You want me to fight him?’ I questioned. She shrugged, a half smile crossing her face as Daniel frowned at her, before interrupting.

  ‘Eva, stop it, you’re distressing her,’ he said, but she just shrugged again and carried on.

  ‘You should know though, that in your case he actually did save you, and he didn’t even get a decent drink of your blood.’

  ‘I saw him with blood on his face. I remember,’ I interrupted, but she merely frowned slightly and carried on.

  ‘He did not set those girls on you. We have nothing in common with those half-demon miscreants.’ Her face screwed up with disgust as she recalled them. ‘If he hadn’t found you when he did, you would be rotting in your grave as we speak, and you would never have risen to this new life,’ she finished, with a somewhat dramatic flourish.

  I stood frozen, watching, as Daniel gently moved behind me and led me to his chair, pushing my shocked body down.

  ‘You’ll be more comfortable here Jessica,’ he said. So I sat and stared, as they both went and sat on the bed, watching me watch them. My head thumped with the sharp pain of confused emotions, as my thoughts whirled around like a cyclone, destroying any ability to make a coherent sentence. The strange woman’s words raced back and forth in my brain - her flippant attitude as she remarked upon my death, her calm yet jokey demeanour when she found me attacking her friend, or boyfriend, or whoever he was. She’d just been amused. I would’ve been livid if it had been some girl attacking Luke. Everything whirled around until eventually I realised that several things she’d said didn’t add up, and I was finally able to put a sentence together.

  ‘But I thought you just said it’s difficult to hurt you?’ I questioned, before immediately regretting it, as I was swamped with a whole new load of gory information.

  ‘It’s difficult for humans to hurt us, yes. Superficial wounds, even bullet or stab wounds will heal within minutes, as long as it’s not through the heart or doesn’t sever the head,’ she said. I flinched involuntarily at the gruesome nature of her statement, but my interest was awakened.

  ‘I thought vampires’ hearts didn’t beat? I thought you were supposed to be dead, or rather undead?’ I asked, feeling a little braver.

  ‘If our hearts didn’t beat then how would we bleed, and how would we heal? Of course we have different blood, with different cells and DNA, but it still needs to be pumped round our bodies.’

  ‘Right, so unless I stab him through the heart, or chop off his head he’ll be fine?’ I said, feeling a bubble of humour threatening to burst into nervous giggles.

  Still dreaming, still dreaming, still dreaming! Part of me repeated like a mantra deep inside.

  ‘Not quite. We have the strength to literally rip each other apart, so we’re capable of killing each other as easily as humans kill each other; and for that reason you’ll be trained,’ she said.

  ‘Who are you anyway? Why are you here with him?’ I had so many questions surging through my head, but as I had no idea where to begin, I just blurted them all out. ‘I remember you from the club; you were there,’ I said. ‘You licked my hand in the alleyway,’ I added, scrunching my nose up in disgust.

  ‘My name is Eva. I’m helping Daniel take care of you and keep you away from Manchester, until we can trust you not to cause trouble. Your blood tasted exquisite, quite unlike anything I’ve tasted before. It’s such a shame we didn’t get to you earlier, before it all spilled onto the road. What a waste!’ she replied smoothly, laughing at her quip.

  ‘Jessica, Eva made me what I am. Consequently she is responsible for me and my actions, as I am for you and yours. She’s here to check everything goes smoothly,’ Daniel added.

  ‘Great! So although you’ve saved my life by turning me into a vam….one of you, you’re jailing me here, so I can’t even see my family and friends?’ I spat out.

  Daniel answered. ‘Jessica, believe me, you wouldn’t want to see your family and friends right now,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I’m sorry that you care so much. I was drawn to you in the club, yes, but you walked away from me and I let you go.’

  ‘Right! You let me go? How nice of you!’

  He ignored my interruption and went on.

  ‘Those girls ended your life. I felt your distress, and so I came looking for you. I found you and I saved you the only way I could. Your heart drummed its last beat as I held you. They stabbed you in your descending aorta and..’ I looked at him questioningly ‘My what?’

  ‘It’s a main artery, actually the largest artery in your body. It runs all the way down your chest and abdomen. They stabbed you from behind and it went straight in, through your ribs. You bled to death in a matter of minutes,’ Daniel explained, gently caressing the top of my arm, his eyes boring into mine.

  I flinched away from him involuntarily. Everything was just too much to take in. He might be gorgeous, and he might have saved my life, but I wasn’t about to get all cosy with him. I had Luke, didn’t I?

  Breathing deeply, I sighed and mentally pulled myself together. I tried to take in everything they told me, I really did. I even tried counting to ten; but nothing worked. A week ago, I’d been a regular, normal - well, almost normal, considering I'd started uni a year early, seventeen year old. Now the life I knew had been extinguished and I was being told I’d been murdered by a girl gang, saved by a vampire, been buried, dug up again and here I was walking, talking and feeling a thirst like no other!

  Turning round I stalked over to the window, fed up of looking at their beautiful faces, and needing to see daylight. Without thinking, and within a space of seconds, I’d grabbed the heavy curtains and whipped them open. A very human impulse, and as both the vampires’ shouted ‘No’s’ rang in my ears too late, the dull winter light poured in and blasted my eyes with such a brightness, my head exploded. I staggered back and sat down in shock, my head pounding and my eyes burning.

  ‘Here, your eyes will be sensitive for the first few months.’ Eva threw me a pair of dark sunglasses, and with new super reflexes I neatly caught them in one hand. Whoa!

  Once I’d recovered and my head had stopped pounding, I looked up at them both again.

  ‘So, I take it daylight doesn’t kill us and we don’t have to sleep in coffins?’ I said, looking at the bed and realising I was very much relieved on both accounts.

  ‘What about garlic and stakes?’ I added with a wry smile.

  ‘I’m going to need some refreshment if we’re getting into this conversation,’ Eva stated and walked out of the room, as Daniel laughed at my horror-struck face.

  ‘Don’t worry, it comes from a blood bank,’ he chuckled.

  Making me jump, Eva suddenly reappeared with three more mugs in her hands, and after handing them out, settled herself in a wicker chair.

  ‘OK. Shoot!’ she said, grinning at Daniel.

  ‘Well, in answer to your first question, you can of course sleep in a coffin if that’s what you fancy, but we tend to prefer beds for comfort and practicality!’ he said with a grin.

  ‘And no, the daylight will not kill you.’ I nodded and he carried on. ‘We can go out in the day, as long as we stay out of direct sunlight. Our skin and eyes are extra-sensitive, so the sunlight burns us a lot quicker than it does humans. However, it would take about twelve hours for us to actually turn to ashes, and that’s under direct, hot
Mediterranean sunlight.’

  ‘Oh well, that’s a nice thought,’ I interrupted, turning my head and squinting up at the window, feeling a powerful urge to jump out of it, into the rolling, endless hills. Be free of this macabre scene I’d found myself in.

  ‘It’s fine, Jessica. In the summer we just tend to sleep in the day and get up at night, hence all the stories. It’s just like shift workers really,’ he said.

  ‘But we don’t need to sleep as much as humans. Some of us prefer to sleep a couple of hours a night and some stay awake for several days and then sleep for a twelve hour block,’ Eva interrupted.

  ‘Right, this is getting a little too much. I need some air. Is it OK to go outside for a bit then?’ I asked, putting my empty mug down on the side and standing up.

  ‘Yes, but we’ll come with you,’ Eva answered.

  ‘In case I decide to run away?’ I sighed and rolled my eyes.

  ‘Yes Jessica. We cannot afford for you to be seen by the public anytime soon. Your photos and story are in all the media, and you haven’t changed enough yet,’ Daniel said as he led the way out of the room.

  ‘What do you m…. Oh!’ I exclaimed, seeing myself in the mirror as I passed by, on my way out of the room. I stood and stared at my reflection. Transfixed, I slowly sat down on the padded stool that had been tucked under the dresser and simply gazed at myself for a couple of minutes. In the obvious ways I still looked exactly the same, and yet there were subtle changes already visible. I ran my fingers through my tangle-free blonde hair, which looked like I’d spent hours in an expensive salon and was gleaming healthily. My pale skin looked like porcelain, smooth and unblemished, and I couldn’t help touching my cheek gently with the tip of my finger, just to check it was me under there. My lips stood out a darker red, sensuous and full, and I pressed them together, watching them ping back and fill with blood into a perfect Hollywood pout.

  After a second’s hesitation, I pulled my top lip up and back to inspect my teeth, but they looked perfectly normal - just a shade whiter maybe. Phew! Relieved I got back to my self-inspection, and looked into the eyes staring back at me through the mirror. They were definitely my eyes, but they seemed to sparkle a slightly darker blue than previously. Ironically, I looked a picture of health and felt the first hint of a smile forming on my lips.

  ‘Another unexpected perk then? I asked, with a slight tinge of sarcasm. ‘How long have I been here?’ I said, the questions still falling from my lips relentlessly, but noticing I was smiling for the first time, albeit only slightly.

  ‘It’s Friday. Your funeral was on Wednesday. We brought you here on Wednesday night, and you have since been asleep two days,’ Daniel replied.

  Eva came over and stood nearby, looking at me through the mirror.

  ‘A looking glass was my favourite place when I first changed. Although I suppose it always was,’ she laughed. ‘It becomes fascinating watching the change. You’ll become more beautiful with every drink, and your eyes will darken a little more each day, until they match ours, so eventually your appearance will no longer be a risk.’

  ‘OK, so I need to see Luke and my dad soon, before I change too much. Or they won’t recognise me, will they?’ I asked, returning to my forgotten argument. The thought of Luke and my father not recognising me cut deep into something still human in me, and my eyes filled with tears.

  ‘No, you can never see them. You would kill them. You haven’t felt the power of blood lust yet; you haven’t tried to control it,’ Daniel answered coldly. The smile left his face and turned it to stone.

  ‘Then I have to learn. Now! I have to control it before I change too much. I owe them that much. Luke will be upset. I need to see him again.’ I saw them exchanging quick glances, hers irritated, his softer.

  ‘Maybe, let’s see,’ he acquiesced.

  It wasn’t until I got downstairs and started looking for shoes, that I wondered about my clothing. Obviously someone had dressed me, although not adequately for going outdoors, as I was wearing pale blue satin pyjamas. I wondered if they were Eva’s.

  ‘Here you can borrow these, they should fit.’ Eva passed me some green Hunter wellingtons and I smirked at the brand she’d chosen – well-suited for a vampire, and laughed again at the idea of a vampire taking country walks.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Eva scowled at me.

  ‘Oh nothing, I…’ and dissolved into giggles again. ‘Sorry, just ehm, just the idea of you guys getting muddy in the country!’ Tears rolled down my cheeks and I doubled over, as both vampires stood and watched me uneasily, clearly thinking I’d lost the plot, and maybe I had. It still felt like a very surreal dream and I could feel hysteria welling up.

  Eventually I managed to control myself, and followed them outside to find that I was standing by an idyllic farm cottage, surrounded by acres of rolling hills. There was nothing else in sight, no buildings, no villages and no roads. Nothing. It was beautiful and bleak, peaceful but eerie. I guessed it would be a very long walk to the nearest house. The cold winter air was refreshing, but didn’t chill me like it should have done, considering I was wearing thin pyjamas. As the day was so dull and cloudy, I decided to try taking the sunglasses off. This time my eyes were prepared, and even though it was so bright that it felt like a glaring summer day, I could manage. It felt good, more human I guess.

  However, I didn’t feel human for long, as the conversation soon turned back to my new life, and my earlier questions were answered.

  ‘Stakes will only kill you if they go straight through your heart. It’s the one organ which can’t self-heal,’ Eva said with a shrug.

  ‘And garlic does nothing to us. In fact French vampires stink of garlic, because the humans they feed from eat so much of it,’ Daniel explained grinning.

  ‘I thought we didn’t feed from humans. You said you tried to avoid killing sprees?’ I said looking at Eva.

  ‘I said we didn’t kill people or at least we try not to,’ Eva said with a smirk.

  ‘We’d have been in a lot of trouble, if we’d left you to awaken with no guidance. If we let you, you would feed until you drained every last drop; but we do not,’ Daniel said as I frowned, yet another question forming on my lips, but before it could be spoken, he answered it.

  ‘We can drink blood from a bank, like today, but it’s been changed in the purification process and isn’t ideal. So there are other ways. We can get people to donate freely, they get pleasure from it and we don’t kill them. We just take a little,’ he finished.

  ‘So if you go around feeding on us, ehm…. them, then why doesn’t anybody believe in vampires? Why have I never seen anyone wandering around with fang marks?’ I asked, feeling more than a little repulsed at the idea of biting humans for my dinner, but also curious.

  ‘I suppose the best way to explain it is by comparing us to mosquitoes. They are an irritation but you rarely notice them biting you. As long as we don’t take too much blood, we can put the human into a trance, feed and disappear and they don’t know any different. Our fang marks heal in a matter of seconds.’

  ‘Fantastic! I’m a parasite. Just what I always dreamed of becoming! Thank you so much!’ My sarcasm got the better of me and I glared at them.

  ‘Excuse me!’ Eva interrupted. ‘I don’t think of myself as a parasite at all, thanks very much! I think of myself as an elevated being. Right at the top of the food chain, that’s all. I’m more beautiful than I ever was, I’m quicker and stronger than I ever was and I don’t age. Perfect!’ she said grinning. ‘Also, it doesn’t have to be as Daniel suggests, as I rarely need to put the human into a trance. There are some humans I know who understand what we are and worship us. They are an easy feed, if you can put up with their simpering adoration.’

  ‘Daniel, I’ve done this babysitting thing before, and you seem to have picked a reasonably intelligent human. If you think you can stop her running off to kill her family and friends for a bit on your own, I’ll pop into town and pick up some supplies, and
I need to see Sebastian.’ Daniel nodded at her and she sauntered off, lithe and cat-like, without a backward glance, leaving me staring after her, speechless.

  I looked from her retreating figure back to Daniel. He was watching me quietly, yet I could tell he was also alert, ready to act if I decided to make a run for it. But what was the point? If I wasn’t dreaming and if this was all true, then I had to believe them. I couldn’t risk killing my family if I got near them, or any other human for that matter. I didn’t want to be a killer. No, I had to work on getting Daniel to teach me how to control this blood-lust they spoke of. I had to control it before I changed beyond recognition.

  ‘Let’s go back in. Are there any other clothes I could wear?’ I asked.

  He seemed to relax a little and followed me back to the house.

  ‘You’ll have to borrow some of Eva’s until she gets back, but they should fit,’ he answered.

  He led me to a different bedroom, which had the feel of an expensive hotel. The walls were a pale shade of cream and the bed was huge, high and covered in luxurious faux fur throws and suede cushions. There was a lovely, soft, deep pile rug on the floor and a couple of expensive-looking abstract prints on the walls. Eva obviously liked tactile fabrics and had good taste. I hoped the same was true of her wardrobe, as I remembered with some trepidation the tight cat suit she had on in the club. However, on opening the doors I found a neat, well-organised space with about eight different pairs of jeans hanging neatly and a shelf of simple t-shirts and soft jumpers.

  ‘I think she keeps her undergarments in there,’ Daniel said smiling.

  ‘Oh! Yeah, right. Thanks.’ I’d completely forgotten that all I had on was satin pyjamas, and felt a blush rising to my cheeks as I strode over to the drawers, where I found some normal-looking cotton bikinis and a matching vest top. Unfortunately for me, the bras were all too large for my rather petite chest.

  ‘Are you going to stand there and watch?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes please. Though I could get hands on and give you some help removing the pyjamas if you like?’ he added with a twinkle in his eye.

  ‘No, I don’t think so. I was being sarcastic.’

  ‘It’s not as if I haven’t seen you naked before, Jessica. We have a connection. Your soul called out to me when you were dying. I came to find you; we’re meant to be together.’ He seemed sincere, but it came across as sleazy.

  ‘No thanks. You saw me when I was drunk and I made the biggest mistake of my life going down that alley, which I’m paying for by losing the love of my life. My soul was calling out to Luke,’ I said, suddenly remembering the vision of Luke coming towards me, hands outstretched as I bled to death. ‘I don’t want to ever think of that night again. Get out!’ I shouted.

  I was really developing a temper. I stalked over to the door, pushed him the last inch through it and slammed it in his shocked face, retreating to sit on the edge of the bed, tears slowly sliding down my cheeks. I wondered at that. I didn’t think I’d be able to cry, or blush for that matter. It seemed too human. Maybe some part of me had stayed human? Maybe that part could stay in control. Maybe I could see Luke after all, and make him understand. I held onto that thought and crossed my fingers, hoping and praying that all was not lost.

  Thankfully Daniel gave me the space I needed, and eventually I stopped moping and got dressed in some comfy boyfriend jeans, a pale blue t-shirt that made my eyes shine more than ever, and a soft, baby blue cashmere sweater. I found a brush on the dresser and combed out the minor tangles in my now beautifully shiny hair, tying it back loosely with the hair band which I always kept on my wrist, and which obviously had been overlooked at the undertakers, or morgue, or whatever it was called.

  I looked in the mirror and I appeared normal, well healthier than normal, but still me. I didn’t look like a monster, and if I didn’t think about the events of the past few hours, including me knocking back several mugs of warmed blood, I would never believe that anything had changed.

  After spending a couple of hours cooling off in the bedroom, I decided I’d better go down and face Daniel. After all, I had to live with the guy, until they’d trust me on my own.

  ‘Hi,’ I said entering the lounge. Daniel was sitting with his back to me, watching the news.

  ‘Any news of me, then?’ I quipped.

  ‘No, but this is national, we don’t get the local northwest news here. How are you feeling?’ he added.

  ‘Fine, I... erm... just get really angry bouts, and I feel like I’ve lost everything for just one stupid mistake. As for the club - yes, I was attracted to you, but I walked away. I stayed faithful to my boyfriend. Eva said that as vampires, you could sway people to want you. So who’s to say you didn’t do that to me?’

  ‘I admit, I did try to glamour you, but as you said, you walked away. When I looked up into your eyes, I wanted you there and then. Nothing Eva could have said would have swayed me. It was inevitable, and yet you refused me.’

  In some ways the new information helped me, but in others it worried me. I couldn’t yet read him. Earlier, he’d obviously been flirting with me, but now he was being quiet and contained. He felt a connection with me which I didn’t feel ready to accept, or admit.

  A week and a half passed before I saw Eva again, and I spent those days in an uneasy company with Daniel. I found that when I looked into his eyes, my human feelings would weaken. In those brief moments, I felt attuned to him as if we were two halves of a whole. I realised as time passed that I could judge his mood, and sometimes I finished his sentences, his words springing into my mind before he spoke them. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but he seemed to feel the same, as he instinctively seemed to know when I was mulling over Luke and feeling resentful, and those times he stayed away and gave me space. He watched me with cautious eyes, and occasionally I saw bewilderment in them, as if he didn’t understand why I’d feel that way.

  Consequently, I avoided eye contact, avoided conversation. I spent my time watching television, and became obsessed with following my murder case on the internet news websites.

  Eva had only been gone a couple of days, when I’d grown bored of daytime television, especially as they didn’t have reception for any channels other than BBC One to Channel Four. Having said that, it didn’t surprise me, seeing as the house was seemingly in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by mountains! I’d asked hopefully whether they had an internet connection, fully expecting the worst, but to my relief they had.

  Daniel led me to his room which was disappointingly boring. It had been painted in very modern and manly beiges and browns and he had a plain white duvet cover and a cream rug on the floorboards. Over in the corner was a neat desk with a compact PC, a set of speakers and an iPod. Maybe I’d been expecting some black satin sheets or, well, I don’t know really, just not this. Luke’s bedroom at university was always crammed with stuff, and if honest was a little smelly, but at least it was interesting; it showed me who he was. This room told me nothing.

  I sat at the desk with a new mug of dark, silky blood, which was an acquired taste, but like Twiglets or Marmite, it set your taste buds alight and made you want more. I booted up, waiting for Google to load. I initially did a search on the BBC, but soon found more information on the northwest news sites. I looked in horror at the photos of the blood-stained alleyway and then read the reports. I began to feel strangely detached. It didn’t seem real. After all I was sitting here; I wasn’t dead after all. However, as I read the statements from my family and friends, my eyes blurred and I struggled to read about their grief. It was still far too raw.

  I read the report of how my body had been found in the early hours of the morning. It confirmed, as Daniel had already told me, that I’d been stabbed once in my back, piercing a major artery from which I’d bled to death within a matter of minutes. There’d also been multiple internal injuries, caused by a continuous kicking which had fractured my spine and would have left me paralysed if I’d not died; and of course there
was the sliced cheek to mark their work.

  Anger coursed through my body like an electric jolt, as I read about the gang and how they’d left other girls for dead. Some of these had survived, but were scarred for life and too scared to prosecute. I wanted to kill them, to rip out their throats and fling them aside like rubbish. Whoa! The feelings shocked me to the bone and I wondered if they were due to being a vampire, or just being a victim.

  Due to the cheek wound, my missing handbag, and the fact that they found my shoes several feet away, the police had correctly assumed that I’d stupidly tried to run. Even though they knew all this, they were currently at a loss, unable to proceed, as there was no evidence and no CCTV cameras on that alleyway. They had interviewed all the girls and come up with nothing helpful, as they all had fabricated alibis. They’d ended my life, and they were getting away with it. I hated them.

  I clicked on photos of me happy and smiling, contrasting with the photos of my family and friends. Alex was caught up in a cloud of guilt because she left the club without me, and Luke, the grieving boyfriend who’d been met at Manchester airport with the worst possible news. Further on, I noticed they’d managed to track down my father and the paps had got a picture of him leaving the funeral home, his face drawn, his eyes sad. The poor man had lost his wife only a year ago, and now his only child; and all because some silly power-hungry girls had decided I didn’t respect them enough.

  I stared at the images on the PC and suddenly it all became clear. I realised what I’d lost, and also what Daniel had saved me for. The three people who meant the world to me deserved to know I was still here. I had to find a way to still be there for them; Daniel was to thank for that. He found me. He saved me and gave me this new life, and I wasn’t going to waste it.