be fine.” He assures me, grabbing and squeezing my hand in silent support. I am grateful. Won’t admit it out loud to him but I am.
“If something goes horribly wrong and I don’t get a chance to say it I just want to thank you for…” I am cut off as a primal instinct in me comes out of nowhere. A scent that is so enticing, so sweet but so metallic at the same time wafts around me and my fangs protrude. “Oh my god.”
“Savannah remember try and be discreet.”
“Uh huh.” I humour him, releasing his hand and waving him away. I walk forward, sniffing the air like some random dog, following it until I find the source of the smell directly in front of me. “Oh my god that is the best smell in the world!” I whisper as I spring forward.
Dominic
I watch Savannah pin the human girl against the alley, her instinct telling her to cover the girl’s mouth for screams. I keep an ear out for any possible problems as Savannah bites the girl and gets her almost perfectly. Most people think – because of movies – that once your turned that’s it. Everything is perfect and comes to you naturally.
That’s not actually true. It’s called reborning for a reason. We are reborn from humans into vampires and just like small human children need to be taught how to be human, reborn vampires need to be taught how to be vampires. Yes we technically die – to change from what we were as a human to what we become as a vampire. There does need to be a transition – but we aren’t actually dead like the movies say. We feel, we mourn, we love and we get angry. We are frozen physically in time yes, it’s a perk of being immortal, yes we have skin that is ice cold, a reaction to our own blood leaving out system, but everything else is learnt.
And we still have our souls.
The creator can make or break a reborn vampire. It is frowned upon to turn anyone if you are less than a hundred vampire years old just because of the work that has to be done to create a healthy reborn vampire. So many things could go wrong at any time they say you the skills to be able to deal with them.
“Dominic what now?” Savannah says urgently. She is holding the young girl by the scruff and away from her like she is a disease.
“Did you lick her wound?”
“Yes.” She says, but double checks. She’s in a frenzy I can tell, but controlling it well. “What am I supposed to do with her now? We didn’t talk about that part.” She looks at the unconscious girl like she is a nuisance and almost snarls.
“Place her gently in the garden over there.” I point to a flower busy garden about twenty metres from us. “Lie her on her side and she will wake up in about ten minutes and not have a memory of it.”
“Can you do it?” She asks, practically throwing the girl at me. She is sniffing the air again and her eyes are trained ahead like a pit-bull dog’s would be. “I found another one. Oh my god how can you just stand there. She smells fantastic! You can’t have her but, she's mine.”
“Ah sure.” I say, catching the human girl before she hits the ground. “Feel privileged sweetheart.” I say to her sleeping form. “My girl chose you to be her first. That’s something we never forget.” I look around to make sure no one is watching and gently carry her over, placing her in the garden in a non-invasive, non-humiliating position. Like I said. We aren’t actually animals like legends say we are. We are like humans, we eat from other animals. Humans.
I turn back around trying to spot Savannah but she has disappeared from view. In a momentary panic I try to see her future, now that I know what her life altering situation was I should be able to get her back. But nothing. Nada. Zip. “Why can’t I get her?” I murmur to myself. I shake my head as if that may somehow help. “I can get everyone. Why can’t I get her?”
Frowning I start zipping around the place faster than humans can see. All they would feel is a breeze blow past them. It only takes me a moment but I spot her, she has a guy named Jason Morris pinned up against the wall. He is begging her not to hurt him and she's just grinning at him like he's a rat to her cat.
“Please!” She says mockingly. “As if you could do me any damage.” She laughs when he kicks at her stomach. “I am stronger then you will ever be. Faster than you will ever be. More than you will ever be! Now shut up, your whining is so annoying.”
Oh my god how did she get in a reborn rage so fast? I panic, realising she's in the worst state someone just turned can be in while hunting. Seeing Savannah like that is a little confronting for a moment until I see Sam and Tyson flying around the place licking the wounds of people everywhere, lying them all along the floor. “Oh my god.” I stutter when they stop. “She has to have at least bitten forty people!”
“Yes.” Sam says. “We need to stop her. She is going crazy.”
“How the hell did she get so many?”
“I dunno man.” Tyson says bringing a new person to join the prone party. “But she's crazy fast.”
“She’s wiped out half the party!”
“We need to get her away from here.” Sam says urgently.
“Agreed.” I say running vamp speed to her. “Savannah you need to stop.”
“Go away.” She hisses and turns to me, eyes wild and blood everywhere down her face. “He needs to learn his lesson. No one ever calls me a monster.” Well that explains where the reborn rage came from.
“Savannah you’re in a reborn rage.” I say laying a hand on her. “It’s where your human emotions and need for human blood clash. It happens when you have too much.”
“To much what?” She hisses at me like I'm crazy.
“You have fed to much honey.” I start rubbing her back in slow lazy movements. She is stiff at first but almost starts to relax instantly. “You have overloaded your system.”
“But he used to harass me!” She says with a little more aggression then is needed, although I keep rubbing her back. Jason is cowering like a dog and about to scream but Savannah clamps a hand over his mouth. “Shh you little dog.” She hisses at him and I will admit that that is hot. “No need to make yourself look more pansy then necessary.”
“Savannah you need to stop.” I say rubbing her back some more. A tactic I learnt from Abraham. Physical touch from another vampire helps sooth the human still in them down. “You don’t need any more for a while.”
“But…” She says, as she starts to shake. She loosens her hold on Jason and he slides down the wall so his feet are at least touching the ground. I’m getting through to her! “But he will know if I don’t bi…” She looks around us and sees all the bodies everywhere. “Oh my god.” She whispers, clearly upset. “Oh my god. I… oh my god… I… what have I done?” She releases Jason’s shirt and he desperately tries to get away. Sam is ready and discreetly takes him to the side, biting him and licking the wound so his mind is blank and our secret continues to be safe.
“Savannah?” I extend my arms and she just stands there, shaking and in shock.
“Dominic I’m… I’m a monster. He… he… he turned me into a monster.” She looks close to tears and seeing as vampires can’t actually cry that’s a bad thing. “Oh my god… What have I done?”
“Savannah shh.” I say rubbing her back again. The human that’s left in her responds well as she relaxes. “Every reborn does it.”
“As bad and as many as I did?” She asks hopefully.
“Umm…” I’m not sure whether to tell her the truth or lie to her. “I should have been watching, helping you.” I say instead and the hope in her eyes deflates. “It’s my fault this happened.”
“It’s bad isn’t?” She asks again, all the fight leaving her. “I hurt so many people….” That’s the one great thing about a reborn rage. The rage disappears just as fast as it comes.
“They are never even gonna remember.” I reply.
“But I’m a monster.” She looks at me, angry. And we’re back! “Zeke. Zeke made me this. He must die!”
“Baby...”
“Don’t baby me if you want to keep your testicles!” She says.
“Ba… Savannah
you were just reborn raging. Its normal for you to be like this.” I say gently. Please let it be over soon! “I promise you it will get better!”
“How often do we have to feed normally?” She asks forcefully as she starts surveying around us as if Zeke is just randomly going to pop out of nowhere and yell ‘Surprise!’
“After the first twenty four hours it decreases dramatically.”
“How many times Dominic?!”
“When you’re a full vamp about once a week.”
“And when you’re a me?” She prompts.
“Once a day.” I concede finally.
“Oh my god.” She sighs. “I’m a monster.”
Savannah
“Dom she's been sitting there for almost twenty four hours.” Sam thinks I can’t hear him but I can. Of course I can. I’m a vampire now with super hearing and super speed and super god knows what else. “We are gonna have to do something.”
“Dude she just turned.” Dominic whispers back in the same quiet tone. “Give her some time.”
“We have!” Sam replies. “A whole damn day. She has to move. We need to get back to the school.”
“You go then.” Dominic says. “I’m not leaving her.”
“What about her friend?” Tyson says quietly. “Sophie is gonna wanna know what happened to her.”
“When you see her tell her that she had a fall and that I took her to the hospital.” Dominic says thinking fast. I have to admit he’s quick. “Tell her that the hospital here thought her