He noticed a woman coming towards him and he took a few steps forwards.
“Well… You must be Charles…” she said, sounding curiously unimpressed as she crossed her arms. He wondered vaguely why she didn’t know him like Mary and Arthur did.
“I… Yes… Hi…” he said as he tried to focus on her.
She was shifting between a nice middle-aged woman with dark blonde hair and a slightly younger woman with distinctly purple hair.
“What the… Ugh…” He grabbed his head with his hands. His head pounded and his stomach felt queasy.
“Ah, yes. That’s what you’ll get for trying to kill my daughter,” she said, sounding almost pleasant now.
“I… What?” He looked at her again but his head throbbed worse and his stomach threatened to bring up whatever was inside it. He sank to his knees and rested his head on the cool grass.
“Oh, for crying out… Come here.” The woman came closer. He saw her shoes shimmering next to his head.
“Oh, shit” he sighed feebly.
“No need for such language!”
Charles rolled his eyes; at almost seven hundred years old, he could swear how he liked.
“What is going on? Who is your daughter?”
“My daughter, Petronella… Not that you thought to ask last night when you attacked her. Pet’s in the hospital thanks to you. Not only does she have serious blood loss, she almost killed herself cursing you! Stupid girl, though she hardly knew what she did…” The woman stopped rambling now, so Charles hazarded a look at her and regretted it instantly.
“What do you mean, she cursed me?” he asked when his forehead was safely back on the grass.
“Ah. Well, you see, Pet was pretty angry with you and, well, she cursed you… I didn’t know what the curse would do until I saw you this morning. I can see the residual magic and Mary and Arthur didn’t have a son yesterday, so I know it must be you. You are quite obviously human, now.” The woman knelt down and he avoided looking at her. “I wonder how that feels for you, blood-sucker? To become your prey?”
“Witch, what is happening to my sight?” he demanded, clenching his teeth against the pain as much as in anger.
“No need to be snippy. I do have a name, you know,” she huffed.
“What pray tell, is it, madam? That I might address you properly…” he groaned, but managed a healthy hint of sarcasm. He had no need of adapting to anyone’s speech patterns right now and slipped into his old, familiar ways.
She chuckles. “You’re an old one, aren’t you? You could well be older than me!” She paused. “My name is Ethelred, but you may call me Ethel.” She took his chin gently in her hand and lifted him up to look at her. “You have some penance to do, young man.” She was just the middle-aged looking woman now.
“Ethel… What is happening to my sight?” he asked again, forcing politeness between gritted teeth. Her voice was grating on his headache and it made his stomach feel all the more worse.
“Oh, that!” He frowned at the happiness in her voice. “I would imagine it is your physical human body warring with you spiritual vampire body.”
He closed his eyes and when he opened them she was the younger woman again. He squinted, ready to shut his eyes if she kept shifting, but she did not.
“I’m sorry,” he said rubbing his temples. “Run that past me again?”
“You were a vampire, yes?”
“Yes…”
“Now, you’re a human, yes?”
“Obviously…” Although it had been over seven hundred years ago, the familiarity of the sensations of humanity was starting to come back to him.
“Right, well in essence, your spirit, which is still vampire, is warring with what your human body can do.” Charles put on his best confused-looking face, like it was difficult, and she continued. “As a vampire, you saw through glamour, yes?” He nodded and felt like he had a good idea where this was going. “Right, well your human eyes can’t see through glamour. Your human eyes and what your inherent vampire spirit can do are warring with each other. I imagine your hearing is on the fritz as well?” she asked and he nodded again. “It’s the same with your human ears.”
“How do you know all this?” Charles groaned, holding onto the Earth in case he fell off.
“I’m a very old, very well-educated witch, and I take very well-educated guesses,” she replied flippantly. He heard the smile in her voice.
“Will it go away?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered, sounding like she cared little. “It might and it might not. If it does, it could take ages or no time at all. You may have to learn to control it.” He watched her check her watch and stand up, pulling him up with her. “Have you enjoyed life as a vampire?”
Charles hesitated, not sure what the right answer would be. “Yes… I did.”
Ethel nodded. “I can understand that, not that I advocate it. I imagine this was the worst punishment Pet’s mind could think up for you-”
“Can she turn me back?” Charles interrupted.
Ethel shook her head. “I don’t know. The curse took a lot out of her. And, I do mean a lot. The blood loss alone was worrying enough… But, the cursing…” She sighed. “You owe our family, Charles. You will owe us more if she doesn’t make it. She’s strong and her magic is strong, so we have high hopes. But, the gods help you Charles Dumphrey, if she dies.” Her face darkened and Charles was sure it was more than just in the figure-of-speech sort of way. She hopped over the fence and walked back into her house.
Charles tried to watch her go, but his eyes could focus on neither the real Ethel, with the purple hair, nor the glamour, with the dark blonde hair. He gave up, closed his eyes and lay back on the grass, hoping his head would stop throbbing.
The sunshine pulsed violently behind his eyelids. He groaned and flung his arm over his eyes. He was not meant for daylight, he had not been meant for daylight for seven hundred years. He was meant for moonlight and starlight and darkness.
His stomach grumbled and he groaned again. Human food held no enticement for him and he had no idea where or how he would get blood without his fangs.
What was he to do with himself?
He did not know how to be a human. For all but seventeen years of his long life, he had been through throes of emotions that had been horrendously worse than those first seventeen years and his first run through puberty. Now, he was back in a human body, and most likely going to be susceptible to human emotions and the thrilling end of puberty. He could already feel it all tugging at the edges of his mind, trying to override every instinct and thought as though the last seven hundred years had been nothing.
He had been happy with his life. He had known who he was and what his morals were, what he thought about humans and in what situations those thoughts would differ, and he knew what he would do with the rest of his life, however long that might have been. Now, he could hardly go around drinking human blood without people thinking there was something seriously wrong with him.
He had no powers and, more importantly, no fangs with which to procure blood without anyone noticing. He could not go on living on his own and only going out at night, where he was comfortable and knew how the world worked.
It had been seven hundred years since he had been in the light and the world had significantly changed! Now there were rules and schools and parents who held some mysterious sway over human teenagers, and-
There was a vibrating in his pocket that pulled him from his musings.
He pulled the phone from his pocket and saw that he received a ‘text message’ from someone called ‘Cam the Man’. He sighed and wondered how many more people would be in his life that he did not know. He pressed the text message:
Cam the Man: dude, rents suck. no escape!
He dropped the phone on his stomach, not having any idea what this meant, what to reply to this person, who they were, where they were, and why there was no escape.<
br />
Last time he had been human, if someone had told him that here was no escape, he would have had some idea of what was going on. Seven hundred years later and he did not feel like he had a hope in the world. He supposed that was what you got for moving in the same circles for a couple of centuries; the last one had seen the most drastic changes and Charles had only kept up to a certain point.
Charles lay on the grass for a while longer, without knowing exactly how long he had been there, when he heard Ethel’s voice call out to him.
“Why don’t you get up and go inside? Your skin won’t appreciate this amount of sun after so many years without it.”
He propped himself up on his elbows, his phone sliding off his side, and looked at her. She leant against the fence and flickered less than the last time he saw her.
“Can I ask why you are being even this cordial to me?”
She sighed. “It’s not that easy.” She hopped over the fence once more and held her hands out to help him up.
Charles shoved his phone in his pocket and took her hands.
“Try,” he said when he stood up. He squinted every now and then as he tried to focus his eyes, but she still flickered.
She sighed again. “I’m not young like Pet. I know you were only following your instincts, again not that I’m condoning your actions…” She looked at him and then looked out at the street. “I can’t say you don’t deserve what Pet did, despite the cost to her, but I also don’t believe in making your life even more difficult for you. I’m a witch, Charles, as you well know, and I am bound to love all of nature. In one way, it is unfortunate for me that you’re part of that nature. Maybe being human will be good for you, and if I can help you adjust then I won’t count that as lessening your punishment.”
Charles thought for a moment. “You do not like me much, do you?”
“Charles, you tried to kill my youngest daughter! Of course I don’t like you!” Oddly and embarrassingly, he blushed at her comment and she smiled. “But, that doesn’t mean I’m not prepared to get to know you and, if you show yourself worthy of it, to forgive you.” She patted him on the shoulder and he felt rather awkward. “As I said, you have penance to do, Charles Dumphrey, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help you. If only to help Mary and Arthur.”
“Uh… My thanks,” Charles replied, smiling as sweetly as he could.
“You’re just lucky you caught me in a good mood; it looks like Pet will be okay. If not, it would be a different story.”
“Of that I have no doubt, Ethel, and I will do my best to make up for my crimes.”
She laughed. “You have learned to use your powers well over the years haven’t you? Your natural powers of charm and adaptability, I mean.”
He found himself blushing again. “I am sincerely appreciative. Perhaps when… Pet’s better, I can apologise?”
She frowned slightly. “Maybe.” She looked back towards her house. “Why don’t you go inside, Charles? Have something to eat, get better acquainted with the world?”
He nodded and she turned away. “Do you know exactly what this curse entails?” he asked.
She turned back. “I’m sorry, Charles, I don’t. You’ll just have to do the best you can.”
He nodded again. “Thanks.” She smiled and hopped back over the fence.
He sighed and walked back to the front door. As he opened it, his pocket vibrated again. He prayed silently and pulled the offending phone out of his pocket once more. It was another text message from that Cam person:
Cam the Man: dude, where are you?
Charles groaned and threw the phone on the kitchen bench. He shuffled to the fridge, took a deep breath and opened it.
An array of smells assaulted his nose – his heightened sense of smell was somewhat normal – and none of them were very enticing, as he expected. He smelled vegetables and dairy products, all a lot fresher than when he was last human, of course. The raw meat smelled slightly more delicious than the rest, but he was not sure how Mary would react if he ate all the raw meat in the house.
He stood there for a few more minutes, wondering what on Earth he should eat. A sandwich seemed the easiest and perhaps the safest. He found some ham, lettuce and mayonnaise – a combination that for some reason he felt was good – and found some bread to put it all together.
Sitting at the kitchen table, Charles looked at the sandwich. He felt as though he faced an unpredictable enemy. He laughed self-consciously at himself and pulled the plate towards him. He picked up one half of the sandwich and hesitantly took a bite.
It was certainly not as delicious and invigorating as a mouthful of warm blood would have been, but the mayonnaise had a zing to it, the lettuce was nice and crunchy and the ham had a satisfying, vague blood taste. The bread was not as exciting as he thought it would be after the centuries of progress; it was dry and filled his mouth like cotton wool.
He found a glass and filled it with water from the tap to wash down the bread.
He sat down at the kitchen table again to see if anything would happen. He smiled as more time passed and nothing did. After a minute or two, his smile faltered as his stomach roiled.
He remembered this feeling well, despite the centuries that had passed. This feeling preceded vomiting. He looked around in panic, not sure what the etiquette for vomiting was in a modern suburban house. He jumped up, knocking the chair to the floor, and rushed to the bathroom.
He washed his mouth out, again looking desperately for any sign of his fangs, and went back to the kitchen. He sighed as he picked up the chair and looked around the room.
If a sandwich was not going to suit his body, he certainly did not know what would. He decided to go upstairs to his room, quietly hoping that, like his vision, his human side would begin to win out and he would be able to eat something without throwing up before he starved to death.
His step faltered as he wondered if he should look for Red tonight and get the vampire to help him feed.
Although, he thought, asking Red for help as a human would not be easy. Or safe.
Chapter Three
L
ater that day, Mary and Arthur came home. They all sat down to what Charles assumed was a normal family dinner.
He spent a most uncomfortable half an hour wriggling in his seat under the gaze of the two adult humans. They sensed he was not in his usual mood, whatever that might have been, and primarily left him to his own thoughts, instead going into great detail about their days as though they were the most exciting days in the world.
After dinner was finished, while Charles was worrying dinner was going to make a re-appearance, Mary excused him from helping with the dishes and suggested he go up to his room and rest. He was thankful they did no more than look at him thoughtfully, as though hoping he would tell them what was wrong without being too overbearing. As far as human parents went, he thought he probably could have done worse.
“I…uh… Thought I might go for a walk…” Charles said hesitantly.
Mary and Arthur looked at each other. Arthur nodded as though encouraging Mary and she turned back to Charles.
“Of course, Charlie. Don’t be out too late, but take your time.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
He smiled and gave her a swift hug, unsure if that was etiquette or not, but hoping it would not be viewed as too strange. She returned his hug and, when he pulled away, she did not look overly curious as to his behaviour. He smiled at them both again before hurrying out of the house.
The sun was setting and he took a deep breath of the night air. However, his human nose was in charge at the moment and he could not smell nearly as much as he would have liked. He concentrated, hoping he could make his vampire scent work better, and took another breath.
This time, he smelled a bit more and he felt pleased enough with this slight victory. As he walked down the path again, he looked over to Ethel’s house. It was still flickering, but a lot slower than it had
been earlier in the day.
He blinked and turned right out of the front gate. He looked at the clock on his phone, wondering where he might find Red and the boys. If they stuck to their usual routine, they would be meeting where they last saw each other, at the park.
As he was about to put his phone back in his pocket, it rang. He looked at the screen and saw that Cam was calling. He sighed, stamped his feet, and growled. Taking a deep breath, he answered the phone.
“Duude! Where have you been?” came the voice on the other end.
“Uh...” Charles was not often at a loss for words, but when faced with people who knew him with no idea who they were... Well, he just did not know what to do.
“No worries, dude. Gah, the rents have been so in my face all week! It’s so annoying. Luckily, I’ve managed to get away from them for a few minutes.” He paused for breath but, before Charles could say anything, he continued, “they’ve been making me go on tours and take pictures, and totally pretend to be enjoying myself. They won’t even buy me anything!” Charles heard a yell in the background. “All right!” Charles heard Cam yelling back. “Sorry, dude, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“O-” Charles stopped as the dial tone clicked on. He shook his head as he put his phone in his pocket and kept walking.
Great, he thought, I am apparently friends with a crazy person! Although, Red is hardly not a crazy person... But, he is not human so he has an excuse...
He was close to the park when his normal hearing kicked in again, and he heard Red and the others waiting for him. So, obviously not everything had changed. His stupid human heart skipped a little and he felt it beat faster. He grumbled to himself and wondered what the boys would think of his predicament. Swallowing, he upped his pace. He could not hear the others talking anymore and he hated to think what that meant.
“Charlie?” he heard Dan say and he found himself surrounded by him and the other boys.
unvamped Page 3
