In Love With A Vampire Page 7

  And now that Ken was officially a vampire, he wished that he could have eaten his own words about becoming a vampire. It didn’t feel as good as he’d thought, and he had qualms about becoming this supernatural creature. His hormones were raging inside his body, and he didn’t feel like the normal Ken he was so used to.

  He let out a furious howl again, the hormones raging within him like a maestro. He could almost feel everything … he could hear babies crying from a distance, the sound of water tap running, couples bickering … the noise was just too much to bear. And he could scent almost everything around him so perfectly that it made his head throb.

  What this how life was going to be for him now that he was a vampire? He now had an acute sense of sound and smell. And he found that it was hard to tune out all the cacophony of noises that was pounding inside his head like crazy. Even the smells around him overwhelm him, making his nose twitch furiously. How could he control his newborn abilities? He knew that becoming a newborn vampire was going to be tough, and he hoped that he could master his supernatural abilities soon.

  The door to the basement swung open, and the sight of an anxious-looking Jesse standing in the doorway greeted him. Her jaw dropped as she gazed at him, her eyes filled with countless of emotions. It was as though she couldn’t believe her eyes. She couldn’t believe that the person facing her at that moment was her husband, who was now a vampire.

  Ken stopped howling, and gazed at his own wife for a moment. Would she like the new vampire him now? Would she treat him the same even after he was turned a vampire? Ken was so used to his pre-vampire life, and he didn’t think that he could start a new life with his wife as a vampire … it might take a little adjusting.

  Ken scented Jesse’s flowery perfume, and the smell of her bare skin. The smell was so intense that it overwhelmed him, making him go weak at the knees. Even though Jesse was a few feet away from him, he could smell her as though she was glued close to him.

  “K-k-ken …” Jesse began anxiously, pursing her lips. “Are you feeling alright?” She paused for a moment, waiting for a response from Ken, but he just stood rooted there, staring at her silently. “I didn’t think you’d turn into a vampire so soon …”

  Ken was at a loss for words. He wanted to run toward Jesse and hugged her, wishing that everything was the way it was. He wanted to kiss her, wanted her to tell him that this whole vampire thing was a dream, and that when this dream was over … he would wake up a human instead of a vampire.

  But the senses which were overpowering him set him back into reality, and he realized that this was real … it wasn't a dream he could just wake up from. He felt so supernaturally strong inside that even he could tell if he were dreaming or not … and his acute senses told him that everything he was experiencing … was real.

  After he was able to muster some composure, Ken asked in a hoarse voice, “How long have I been here? How long?”

  “You’re been coffin-sealed for two days,” Jesse replied. “Normally, it will take about three days before the vampire transformation is complete. So I was a bit surprised to find you completely turned into a vampire in two days. Th-that’s kind of rare, but not impossible.”

  Jesse saw the new orange hue in Ken’s eyes, signaling that he was a vampire. The transformation had made him paler than usual. Other than that, his features still remained the same. His eyes also looked more sharp and alert, like a hunter’s eyes.

  Ken let Jesse’s words sink in before he continued. “So did you do this to me? Did you turn me into a vampire?”

  Jesse lost her composure and broke into tears. “I-I had no choice, honey. You were dead. I couldn’t bear to live without you. The only way to make you live again is to turn you into a vampire. That was the only way.”

  “But how did I end up dead?” Ken asked, even though he had a slight recollection of what happened. He could still see the evil eyes of the killer in his mind, taunting him, making him feel the rage burn within.

  “You were killed … by a vicious vampire. He really clobbered you, and your body was a mess. You were dead by the time I got there. And believe me, I tried every possible human way to bring you back to life … but it was useless. The only way was this … I had to turn you into a vampire.”

  Jesse still recalled that night when she made the difficult decision of turning her own husband into a vampire even though she had been dead set against it all along. When she had exhausted all means of reviving him, Jesse decided to turn him. Using her fangs, she bit deep into Ken’s cold neck, injecting her own blue blood into his system. Her vampire blood would flow into his body, setting off the vampire transformation … and it would typically take three days for the transformation to complete. For it to work, Jesse would have to seal Ken’s vampire blood-infused body in a coffin for three days under ground level. Once all those requirements were met, Ken would officially begin his new life as a vampire in three days.

  But it seemed that it only took two days for Ken to complete the transformation, much to Jesse’s amazement. She didn’t know why, but it wasn’t impossible for the transformation to act faster than usual.

  Jesse was glad that she was still in time to save Ken that night. A dead person cannot be turned into a vampire if he or she has remained dead for more than three hours. It was all part of the vampire law of nature.

  Jesse returned to the present, and focused on Ken, whose eyes roamed the basement as if everything around him was new. He tried to zoom toward the corner, but he was too fast that he splintered some old furniture and knocked against the wall with jarring intensity, causing small pieces of wall debris to collapse onto the floor.

  “You need to learn how to control your vampire abilities, honey,” Jesse said softly, descending down the steps to the basement. “It takes time, but it isn’t hard to learn.”

  Ken swiveled his head toward Jesse, anguish filling his eyes. “Why?! Why did you have to go do this to me? I feel so different, like a foreign being whom I don’t recognize. I’m so overwhelmed with emotions that I don’t even know what I’m feeling right now…”

  “Calm down, honey,” Jesse comforted gently. “You’ll get used to it, I promise you. I’ll help you learn to adapt to your new life as a vampire. Even when I first started becoming a vampire, it was a real challenge. Luckily, I had some good vampire mates who helped me through the difficult process, and then, life wasn’t so hard anymore.”

  “But I don’t feel like myself anymore,” Ken protested. “I don’t feel like the old Ken.” Ken collapsed onto the floor, his shoulders sagging dejectedly. He was quiet for a moment, his mind flooded with thoughts. Then, he quickly looked up, rage burning in his eyes. “I’m going to kill the vampire who murdered my human self. If it wasn’t for him, then all of this wouldn’t have happened. I’d still have been a human.”

  Jesse edged closer toward Ken, and bent down next to him, her eyes filled with warmth and understanding. “But I’ve always thought that you wanted to become a vampire. You’ve practically asked me a thousand times before to turn you. I thought you want to become a vampire more than anything else. So why now you’re against it?”

  Ken shook his head, as if trying to shake Jesse’s words off his head. “No, you don’t understand. I feel so sick inside. It’s like I’m a completely different person. I can feel weird hormones raging inside of me, nauseating hormones that overwhelm me.”

  “Ken, it’s normal to feel this way,” Jesse tried to assure him, but it seemed as though all Jesse’s words streamed into one ear and out of the other.

  Ken could still hear those noises ringing inside his head, and they were killing him. He had no idea how to tune them out. “I can hear other people’s voices in my head …” Ken pressed his palms against his throbbing head, trying to clear the voices out. “Whose voices are those?”

  “They’re probably from our neighbors,” Jesse replied, trying to place a comforting hand on Ken’s shoulder, but he brushed it aside as though it was diseased. “Now that yo
u’re a vampire, you’re able to hear things from a far distance. Your senses are heightened, and every sense you have is now magnified. You can hear better, smell better, and even see better … You’ll just have to learn how to control your newborn abilities.”

  “How do I get these voices out of my head?” Ken cried, his face twisting in agony.

  Jesse couldn’t bear to see the pain on his face, and it shattered her to see him like that. “You can tune out those voices from your head. You just need a little practice and you’ll be able to tune them out at will. You have to learn to control your emotions first … that’s the first step. You’re now in a state of deep shock and confusion because you’ve realized that you’ve been turned into a vampire … and now all your emotions are all over the place. Once you’re able to gain composure and control your emotions, you’ll be able to tune out those voices in your head. It’s not that hard, if you’re willing to try.”

  Ken stared at Jesse as though she was crazy. “Control emotions?! I don’t even know what I feel now. It’s like there are thousands of emotions I’m feeling right now, and they’re intense. It’s driving me crazy!”

  “That’s why you need to calm down now and embrace the fact that you’re now a vampire. The first step to becoming a vampire is to control your emotions. I know that now you’re overwhelmed right now and I promise you that everything will cool down and be better in time.”

  Jesse watched as Ken paced back and forth around the basement like a wild animal in its territory. She wished she could just offer Ken a tight warm hug and tell him that everything will be OK, but Ken didn’t seem warm enough to accept any offer of physical affection.

  Jesse recalled the time when she too had first discovered that she was a vampire. She had become hysterical, and she couldn’t accept the fact that she had been turned into a creature whose blood running in her veins was blue, and not red. She could hear sounds from miles away, and she could smell the stench from the dumpster. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and one she wanted to endure again, and she could emphasize with Ken’s plight. But as time progressed, Jesse was able to adapt and control her supernatural abilities, thanks to the help of her vampire mates who were so kind and understanding. If it weren’t for them, Jesse wouldn’t be able to adapt well and she’d have probably gone berserk and then on a wild rampage for human blood.

  Maybe she needed to give Ken some space first for him to settle his emotions. Maybe it was better for her to leave him alone now … and give him some time to digest the fact that he had been turned vampire.

  But looking at him, her own husband, who had been so loving and caring for the past four years, she couldn’t bear to just walk out of the basement like that. He’d been there for her when she needed him, and now, it was time for her to repay the deed.

  The man she was looking at didn’t seem like the man she knew anymore. Instead, he was this wild creature whose bloodshot sharp eyes were filled with lust … lust for human blood. Yes, Jesse could see it in those eyes. The same desire she had when she first became a vampire. All she could think of was blood, the sweet taste of human blood. She had this strong desire to sink her fangs into human flesh and suck all the red juice that was flowing in human veins. She couldn’t control herself, and eventually she murdered some innocents along the way due to her bloodlust. But after years of practice and some help from her vampire mates, Jesse wasn’t the wild bloodthirsty vampire she used to be anymore. She devoted herself to help protect human from vampire attacks, and guilt seared her deeply every time she thought about all the innocent humans she’d kill just because she wanted a taste of their blood. She regretted her past, and she wasn’t going to see Ken go down the same path as her. She knew that as a newborn vampire, Ken was bound to hunt down humans for their blood, and she wanted to make sure that Ken didn’t go around killing innocents because of his thirst. She’d have to guide him, and teach him the correct ways of living as a vampire so humans did not have to fear vampires, and both parties could co-exist peacefully.

  Jesse let the thoughts of the past slide away and she trained her eyes at her vampire husband. He looked wild and rabid, circling the perimeter with his eyes rolling, his face creasing in anguished lines.

  Jesse knew that sooner or later, Ken would realize that he was thirsty and that he needed to drink something … human blood. Jesse didn’t have any blood bag supplies from the hospital at hand, so she couldn’t feed Ken those. And she couldn’t let Ken roam freely out in the streets for fear that he’d kill innocent passers-by. She had to get him another replacement for human blood … animal blood. Of course, animal blood didn’t taste as sweet as human blood for vampires, but animal blood was one way to quench a vampire’s thirst for human blood, and it would keep the vampire satisfied momentarily so he or she wouldn’t go hunting for human blood.

  Jesse had to slaughter a wild animal and bring it back for Ken as his ‘supper’. As she pivoted on one heel and was about to travel to the distant woods to hunt for animals, she realized one thing: she just couldn’t leave Ken alone in the house, for fear that he might go outside and prowl the streets for innocent blood. He was still in a traumatized state, and with his current state of mind, Jesse wouldn’t trust to leave Ken alone for even one second.

  “Why do I feel so … thirsty?” Ken croaked in a dry voice, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. “I’m just so unbearably thirsty …”

  Jesse knew that it was time for Ken to feed … feed on blood. And she wasn’t going to let him near any of the innocent humans.

  “OK, I’ll quench your thirst,” Jesse assured him. “But you must follow me. I’ll bring you to a place from you can feed all you like.” She stretched her arm out, gesturing for Ken to take her hand, and then she would lead the way.

  Ken hesitated for a moment, and seeing the sincerity in Jesse’s eyes, he took her hand.

  Jesse sighed with relief. It seemed that Ken was still able obey her command, even in his current disorganized mental state. She was going to whisk both of them at the quickest speed toward the woods, where she’d help slaughter some animals for Ken.

  “Are you ready?” Jesse glanced at Ken, but Ken didn’t respond. He just looked at her, wondering what she was up to.

  Using her supernatural strength and abilities, Jesse clutched Ken’s arm as tight as she could, and zoomed out of the house, down the streets and headed northeast toward Forsythia Woods. Within minutes later, they reached the woods, where grassy hills stretched in an undulating pattern with clusters of trees scattered all over.

  When Jesse had stopped moving, she glanced at Ken to see how he was doing. To her dismay and shock, she realized that he was gone! Ken must have escaped from her grasp when she’d whisked off to the woods.

  Heart pounding incoherently in her chest, Jesse whirled around the woods, combing for any signs of Ken. She sniffed for him, scented him, and circled the woods, searched high and low, and still … she couldn’t find him at all!

  Anxiety set in, and Jesse was racked with fear. Now that Ken was on the loose by himself, there was no telling what he would do. He could be out there somewhere in the streets, or some neighborhood, hunting for unsuspecting passers-by. In his wild rage for blood, he’d probably kill his victims before sucking their blood.

  Jesse couldn’t believe that this was happening. She had to look for him, as soon as possible.

  She couldn’t believe that this was happening to her … to her own husband. How did everything turn out so different that she’d expected?

  6. Imminence

  Rellie had rewound her interview tapes for like almost the zillionth times, hearing Kalista’s annoying pitchy voice blaring through the tape recorder. Kalista certainly had a good story, one that could probably unravel the mystery of the innocent deaths caused by a rabid vampire on the loose.

  She was going to write a fantastic story, which could garner human interest and eventually lead to the capture of the elusive vampire whose identity was still unknown.


  Rellie typed a few more lines for her latest vampire story, when a yawn tugged her lips. Fatigued, Rellie realized that she needed to catch some sleep. She’d been so obsessed with this latest story that she’d barely gone to the washroom, or taken her meals properly. She shut the lid of her laptop, ready to call it a day.

  There were still several reporters staying back in the office, doing their shifts or finishing up their stories. Looks of intensity were plastered all over their faces. Rellie snorted. She was going to have the best news in the paper …. everyone would just have to wait and see.

  Rellie packed her things into her satchel, and bade some of her colleagues goodbye as she exited the office.

  The chilly night air swirled around her, sending goosebumps prickling all over her skin. The night was unusually cold, and Rellie chastised herself mentally for not remembering to bring her warm sweater to work.

  Rellie headed toward the isolated cab stand, where the only sign of life was only a black cat lying on the bench. Rellie sat on the bench, and the cat snarled in response before scampering off.

  Rellie’s cellphone buzzed, and she picked it up.

  “Hello?” she said into the phone, clutching her satchel against her chest as the wind howled at her.

  “Where are you?” a familiar voice on the other end said. “It’s getting late. You’re usually not this late.” It was Jon Richards, her fiancee. He sounded a bit worried, but Rellie could tell that he was trying to conceal it.

  “Sorry,” Rellie replied. “I had to work on some things in the office. I’ll be back home soon, I promise.”

  Rellie could hear his heavy sigh. “OK, be back home as soon as you can. Tabbie misses you.” Tabbie was their Persian cat, which they adopted about four years ago from the animal shelter. Both of them had a fondness for cats, and it was through an animal convention that they knew each other.

  “OK, remember to feed Tabbie,” Rellie reminded. With that, she hung up the phone and glanced both sides of the streets, hoping to catch a cab. But there was not a single cab in sight, and Rellie began to feel her heart flutter with trepidation. What if there was no cab anymore at this ungodly hour? What if she had to wait there until the break of dawn?