loose control of myself every time I feel hungry or threatened.”
“Ok, Guillem. Whatever you say. Maybe we should call your family, you might be needing help. You look all pale and your skin looks wrinkly and sick.”
“For God's sake. It is for this reason I do NOT want to tell anyone. Nobody is going to believe me. After I fed my skin went back to normal, but now that I feel hungry again it looks like this, as if I dried up.” He took Lissette's hand and put it on his chest. “Do you feel a heart beat? Anything?” Then he moved her hand to his wrist. “And what about a pulse? Do I seem alive to you?” Then moved it just under his nose. “Do I breathe? Have you seen any human being alive that did not need to breathe? I do not!” She pulled her arm away from him. “Touch my arm. Do you feel any body heat? What other proof do you need?” Lissette was just staring at him scared. “In fact I was not even able to cry, not even when I saw my mother crying. It seems that my normal bodily functions do not work normally any more, it took me a lot of effort to finally drop a few tears back in the parking lot in Santa Ines.”
“But all this must have another explanation.” The waiter approached with the cachapa and juice Guillem requested.
“Do you want anything to eat or drink?”
“Yes, a pineapple juice please.” She said to the waiter then after the waiter left. “Let's see, if you are what you say. Can you eat normal food? I thought you would need blood, isn't that what vampires eat?.”
“Yes, I already took some blood from a girl as soon as I woke up in that strange house. As I said before, my skin was all wrinkly like this, but after drinking some unfortunate girl's blood it went back and looked almost is it did before, just a bit more pale than usual.”
Guillem started eating. The food lacked flavour, it was as if he was eating plastic. As soon as he swallowed the first bite he felt as his stomach twisted and the food came rushing back through his throat. The spasm were so hard to bear that he had to vomit on his plate and it came accompanied by a lot of dark coagulated blood.
“I am sorry Lissette.” Guillem said as he put the plate aside. “Excuse me! I am not feeling so good.” He yelled to the rest of the customers. “I have to leave his place.”
“Where are you going? Do you have a place to rest? If you are what you say you are maybe you should hide during the day somewhere safe.”
“That is what Sebastian told me as well, that is the guy that transformed this into this nightmare. He is expecting me back at his house, but I do not want to go there.”
“I am not sure if believing you or not, but you can stay with me if you want. You might just be sick and it would be good if you had someone close just in case something happened. I am sure we can put you in a closet or trunk, I will stay at home the whole day just in case you need help.”
“Well, thank you. I guess you are right.”
“Are you ok?” A waiter asked Guillem. “Do you want us to call an ambulance or maybe your family?”
“No thank you.” He answered and requested the bill.
“By the way, did the news say something about murdered people? Me and my friends saw a lot of corpses floating in the river.” Guillem asked Lissette.
“A lot of missing people was reported, but Cabrera keeps denying everything. A few police officers and politicians were going to say something, but when they were interviewed they just denied everything very nervously.”
“Maybe they were threatened?”
“That is what people is saying, anyway most people is avoiding talking about it now. They are afraid of disappearing as well. The ones still demanding an answer are the families of course, some reporters and the politicians opposed to Cabrera.”
“Anyway, let's leave this place.” Guillem said when the waitress brought the bill.
Guillem paid with the money Sebastian had given to him, leaving a generous tip and they went out of the restaurant. Lissette lived very close from there, in Bello Monte. It was just 1 hour walking time. When they arrived it was already slightly after 3am.
The apartment was extremely small and old. A kitchen with a small gas cooktop, walls covered with tiny tiles. A small lounge with old and deteriorated furniture and a small bedroom with a queen sized bed, a large trunk and a small closed placed against a wall. There was a small bathroom reachable from the lounge and bedroom. Everything was very clean and tidy.
“We can cover the bedroom window with the closet and you could get into the trunk. I will stay in the lounge and if you need something just let me know. I mean, in the trunk you will not be able to breathe for long, if you are a vampire that will not matter and if you are not then just open it or call me and I will help you. What do you say?” Said Lissette.
“Thank you Lissette. As I showed you I am no longer breathing unless I am talking or actively make an effort to do so. Why are you doing this? I mean, for all you know I might be just some crazy guy that believes he is a vampire.”
“Simple. Because you saved my life when I most needed someone.”
“I did not do anything anybody else would not have done. Anyway thank you for helping me Lissette.”
She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. Guillem smiled back at her and both started moving the closet placing it against the window and then covering any gap with newspapers and anything they could glue in place. Then the proceeded to clean up the trunk and as soon as it was ready, he squeezed into it. It was very uncomfortable to be in there. They closed it to test the lid and confirmed no light got into it.
“Well, I guess this is it? Will you be ok in there?” Lissette asked.
“I guess. If everything goes well I will tell you tomorrow night.” He said blinking at her. “If not, I guess you will find a lot of dust instead of me, that will be more convenient that having to get rid of a body.”
“Not funny. If you want you can use one of my night gowns to rest. I will wash your clothes during the day so they are ready when you wake up.”
“Thank you. Can you find out in which room is Roberto recovering? I am sure you heard about him from my friends and family.”
“Of course, I will call you mother with some excuse and get that information for you as well as which are the visiting hours.”
Once ready, Guillem squeezed back into the trunk and saw Lissette close it. Guillem yelled from the inside “Remember not to tell a word to anyone!”.
He closed his eyes and stayed there waiting for something to happen. He finally felt as something within him told him the sun came out and his body became rigid and his skin wrinkled even more. As he was losing consciousness he found himself once again, being dragged by the Guaire river and drowning until dead only to repeat the experience once again.
After dying a thousand times in that same river he finally opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by darkness. For a while he did not know where he was, all of his memories were messed up. He stayed there looking nowhere and trying to remember where he was and how he got there. After a while he opened the trunk and sat up.
“Guillem? Are you ok? I heard a noise in there. Can I come in?”
“Yes... Lissette!” He said when he finally remembered her name.
Lissete opened the door and entered the bedroom, in her arms she had his clothes already cleaned up.
“Do you need help to get out of the trunk?” She said looking at him sitting in it.
“Yes please.” Lissette helped him get out of the trunk. “What time is it?”
“It is just passed 7pm. The night has just started. Change your clothes. What do you have planned for tonight?”
“I do not know.” He said holding his head between his hands in frustration. “Maybe I should go see Roberto, do you have the information I requested?”
“Yes I have it, I must say that your sleep did nothing good for you. You still look... sickly.”
“I feel so much hunger. I do not know what to do about it.”
“Well, if you really are a vampire then you need blood. Right? Maybe you could ta
ke it from me.” She said blushing.
“I could not do that to you. I do not want to get anyone else hurt.”
“Well. What about going out with me tonight? A date. Maybe we could catch a midnight movie after you go see Roberto. What do you say? You have nothing else to do anyway.”
“Fine. Meet you there, what about the San Ignis movie theatre?”
“It is a date, see you there.”
After putting on his clothes and the overcoat Sebastian gave him. Guillem called a taxi to pick him up at Lissette's apartment and went to the East Hospital. It was very busy even at that time of the night, particularly the emergency section. He went into the hospital and saw people being cared for on the corridor's floors, chairs and stairs. Most of them had wounds made by slashing and fire weapons. He took the elevator to the second floor where they were keeping Roberto and searched for the room, a few nurses reminded him on the way that visit time would end at 9pm.
The room's door was slightly open and there seemed to be no visitors at the moment so he went in as silently as possible. Roberto was sleeping and had many bandages all over him, his sleep was quite irregular. Someone must be staying there with him, probably his mother because the couch next to him had a bed sheet, a blanket and a pillow. Guillem sat down in a chair next to Roberto's bed and whispered in his ear.
“Buddy, I am still around. Do not feel bad, you did everything you could, it was my decision to let go off the pole.” Roberto's sleep calmed
Religious Fangs Page 14
