Decayed

by Jessica Sutherland

  "Why don't you let me in, princess? That way I can tell you all about your new beautiful world." He held his hands out in a grand gesture.

  I snarled through my messy hair, "Go fuck yourself, you freak!"

  Laughter rang through the screen door, and his malicious grin never faltered. "You'll make such a lovely vampiress, you remind me of Clarrisse."

  "Such the fuck up! Go on and kill me if you want! Get it over with!" I pushed the door open and waited.

  Adelbrecht took a small step into the living room, towering over me. "If that's what you want," he grabbed my hair. "But I'm here as an educator, not as a lover."

  I tore away desperately. "GO AWAY!"

  Adelbrecht grinned, "You were such a snob, Georganna. You treated all those people so cruelly. And what has fate handed you? A life they dream about having. Eternity, money, glory. It's all yours now, and I gave it to you."

  "Why the fuck are you saying that? Why the fuck would you give it to me if I'm so imperfect! Just kill me, please!"

  Adelbrecht laughed, rubbing his chin. "Because you're special. You're beautiful, to me. And young. And so wonderfully adept," his long fingers ran down my arm. "at pleasing me."

  I shuddered away, worried of another reinactment of his affections. "Go find someone else to please you. I'm just ready to die and get it over with."

  "But don't you see," Adelbrecht towered over me again, pushing two fingers into slits along my throat. "you all ready are."

  Pain writhed through me and I growled, shoving him away.

  "Well, that's more like it, girly!"

  I moved to punch him, but he moved swiftly and caught my arm, pulled me to him and then slammed me into the couch. I howled as he buried his face into my chest, nuzzling my breasts and pulling my shirt down. Terror gripped me, and I pushed at his face and hands trying to tear them away. Laughter on his tongue, his teeth grazed my nipples and I arched in pain. His fingers thrust my breasts up and he ravished them. I moaned, my body unable to fight back. He tore my dress and shirt down, pulling them off my ankles.

  "Oh, my dear, you are beautiful."

  I drew in a breath and remained steadily silent as he took out his own penis, rubbing it across my belly. I wept as he brushed himself across me, letting fluids run alongside my naval and then my thighs. He pulsed as he pushed himself up, into me, and began to take what he believed was his.

  My soul, if I still had one, died then. I tried to look away and visit memories of loved ones, but his red eyes glared down upon me in the heat of his act. I cowered into the cushions as he consumed my life, and my strength began to melt. It was as if my memories themselves were being ripped away by his glowing, ember-like pupils.

  He finally came, and I stayed still as stone as he moved off from the sofa. "A bit smelly in here, isn't it?"

  I ignored his obscene joke at my expense. He grinned at me as I gathered my clothes and pulled them on. I hatefully avoided his gaze.

  "Well, my love. I know how you must hate me, but we really must move along."

  "What?" I stopped as I hobbled to the kitchen.

  "You are coming with me to Atlanta. I'm going to fix you up, give you some money. You'll have lots of fun!"

  "I'm not going to hell with you!"

  Adelbrecht's face fell. "You are my new lover, child. Now go shower and meet me outside. We can't take too long."

  I whirled to face the rapist. "I will not go anywhere with you! Get the hell out!"

  Adelbrecht's face fell. "But don't you see, you belong to me now, you are mine!"

  I snarled, pointing my finger. "GET OUT!"

  Adelbrecht's face paled, and he moved backwards.

  "DON'T COME NEAR THIS PLACE AGAIN!"

  "You'll realize that you belong with me, Georganna."

  "OUT!"

  Adelbrecht snarled as his feet moved one last time against his volition. He stared at me with angry eyes. "I'll be back when you've learned your place."

  I watched him turn and leave. I thought he would climb into a car, but he simply vanished. I gulped, afraid now more than ever of going out into the night.

  Three

  I sat in the trailer for a week watching news reports of my death, and never stepping out of the trailer. I was terrified, and Adelbrecht had made it clear that he would not leave me. I ended up watching a few vampire shows, wary of what he had said, and drowning in the misery of what I had done to the couple. I had drank their blood. It had not been a meticulous act, but a greedy, messy one. I scared myself.

  But the longer I sat in the old woman's awful clothes, listening to my former classmates tell stories of Chloe and Cole goofing off in class, I began to feel a quiet, white rage develop. I was dead to the world, and in every other aspect as well. My beautiful dark tan was gone. Now I was a corpse with the ugly scars of thread around my mouth. My eyes, once bright and pale, now dark and almost purple. I had bags under my eyes, blue and purple. My lips, still unforgivingly dry, were pale. But that had been days ago. Now, as days passed, my appearance in mirrors was becoming more and more ghost-like. Now I lookied like a fog, peering at reflective surfaces with pallid, haunted eyes.

  I could bleed, and I could feel pain. The sun, I deduced, could kill me. I also felt an insane hunger deep in my gut, and in my mind. I was turning into something evil, if I hadn't all ready. As Saturday passed without any sign of Adelbrecht or the law, I began to feel adventurous. The old truck sitting outside beside the old poplar tree began to look more and more attractive. I craved escape from my thin, aluminum prison.

  Eight o' clock crept slowly to me, almost as if it didn't want to. I went through all the piggy banks, wallets, purses, cushions, and tore open a safe. I found three-thousand in an envelope hidden in the deep freezer in the kitchen, twenty-five in Paul's wallet, and one-hundred in Joann's purse. Change from the piggy banks clanked haphazardly, but after some debate I decided to take that as well. I grabbed one of Joann's old purses and filled it with the money, grabbed the old Ford's keys, and made my escape. I hoped to find clothes and supplies somewhere.

  I climbed into the old truck, taking in the harsh stink of oil, sweat, and tobacco. A few whisky bottles sat in the floorboard, and I threw them out the window. As soon as I started the truck, I wanted to drive home. I wanted to go to my mother, but as I looked at my foggy reflection in the mirror, I realized I had no home to go to. I was but a vaporous, destroyed ghost of what their daughter had been.

  I blinked and realized that I could see perfectly clear without lights on. My vision had never been that great, but I had never needed glasses. Now that I looked at my surroundings with more interest, I found I had never noticed the world as it truly was. Everything seemed to pulse with life, and I could see small animals darting in the underbrush around the lot. I could hear every sound around me as if it were right there in the cabin. I started freaking out about it. I took a deep breath, put the truck in drive, and started to roll toward the overgrown road that led out of the lot. I could hear dogs barking in a far away distance, probably a nearby house. I decided to keep my lights off for the drive to a nearby town. Hopefully, I would see cops before they noticed me. This way, no one would see Paul's truck pulling out of his driveway.

  The dirt road was much longer than I had expected, and it took thirty minutes after pulling onto it to come to another paved country road. The gas hand was on half- a -tank. I hoped I could find somewhere without having to get gas. I really didn't want anyone to see me. I drove for two hours, all the way to Huntsville. I had drove alone for a long time across the interstate, passing towns and various exits that could take me out of the state. I had one priority first though, and that was getting myself some clothes. I was terrified of going into the store though.

  A super center sat along University Drive. I remembered it because my brother had taken me there atleast once. I shuddered, not wanting to think about family at all. I wondered if he was still at UAH, or if he had went home to stay forever and mourn. Sobs racked through my body
as I thought about my bubba, but I managed to push them back.

  The parking was sparce at two in the morning, and I felt like I would be spotted and stared at. I looked dead, not that I wasn't. I felt bile rise to my throat as I remembered Adelbrecht, and I pushed it back down. It hurt.

  The Wal Mart was empty except for a few late night stragglers and college students from UAH. I kept my head down and avoided looking at the people walking infront of the registers. Hurriedly, I grabbed a cart and sped to the clothes. I gasped as time slowed again, and I found myself standing infront of underwear in a second. I swallowed, wary. Hopefully no one would notice the undead girl and arrest her.

  I grabbed some cheap jeans, underwear, a bunch of shirts that looked horrible, and headed for the shoes. Flips flops and the most expensive, albeit ugly, looking sneakers went into the cart. I began to relax as I shopped, as I suppose I always did. It was one of the things that made me popular. I grimaced. I had wasted my life.

  I piled a few things in the cart and headed for the makeup. My hair needed changed. Anyone who knew me could look once and fall over from a heart attack. I threw some Maybelline into the buggy and moved out, my next objective being hair supplies.

  I curled my lip at the check out. I had purposefully avoided the living cashier so that she couldn't stare at my dead face. I stood quietly, my head down low, pushing in hundreds into the DIY checkout. I didn't bother bagging anything except the smaller stuff, piling everything into the cart and rushing out at top speed. No one blinked an eye.

  The motel at the bad side of town stank of pollution and crime. I was lucky to find it. Most places needed credit cards to check into. This one was just desperate enough for business to let me stay. Or the guy wanted to attack me. I knew in his eyes that he had something planned the moment I handed him a hundred.

  I made two trips to put all my possessions in the motel room. I wanted everything in case the trunk got stolen. The sheets were filthy, dead bugs were sprawled across the bathroom, and a roach stayed perched above the bed. I shrugged off the ugly dress and grabbed my hair dye. I ran the shower, hoping it would clean it, and placed my razors and soap on the side. But first, I had to fix my hair.

  I had done it because all my friends wanted to do it too. Chloe, Raechal, Amy, and even a few of Tabitha's friends had dropped the brown hair look for the Gaga platinum blonde. It was really pretty, on certain people. I frowned, remembering everyone compliment each other, but secretly thinking they were awful-looking with it. I stared down at the box of dye, wondering if it was worth it. I didn't know if I'd look any different with the deep, berry looking hair.

  The dye smelled awful, and I'm sure they could smell it in the other rooms. Though the patrol sirens probably distracted most of my neighbours much more. It wasn't long before I heard a gunshot ring out, and sirens squealed a street away. I sat in silence, wary of the action, before checking on my hair again. I took it down and looked at the strands, not bothering with the mirror. That was a luxury I no longer had. My hair was purple looking, but that would be okay. I'm sure my blonde hair made me too ghostly anyway.

  I listened to the sirens and screaming occupants while in the shower, shaving and cleaning my body with much less violence than I had at Paul's. I grimaced, thinking of their dead bodies. I couldn't keep the truck, it would be recognized. I rinsed my hair for the last time and climbed out of the shower. I fished out my new underwear, jeans, and a Hello Kitty shirt. I never thought I would wear this sort of stuff, but the super center didn't exactly carry Ralph Lauren. I found that I didn't really give a damn though. My life as a prom queen was officially over. Now, I was just another stupid vampire.

  I thought about my secret crush on the weirdo guy, Jordan, while in ninth grade. He was still really weird, but I had always wondered what it would be like to be with the thoughtful kid. He was on drugs now, but he had always been really nice. I grimaced as I remembered the last time I had spoken to him. It was at a pep rally, and Cole and I made fun of him for listening to his emo music. I covered my face. I was so ashamed, even then, but I just wanted to be popular.

  BANG!

  I started, heading to the door.

  "Hey, baby," a thick voice drawled through the door. "Speak Easy says you gots some dough, we just be wonderin' if you interested in some cookies my momma made today. They're really cheap!"

  "No, I don't want your drugs." I snapped.

  "Hey, hey!" He chuckled through the closed door.

  I quietly slid to the peep hole and looked out upon the gangster wanna- be.

  I waited for him to retort, but someone to the far left called his name and he looked to them. In a second, I had crept to the window, climbed out, ran to my truck, and placed my hand on the shoulder of the guy standing my truck.

  "Hello," I whispered.

  The man's eyes widened, his mouth gaping, as I tore his crow bar away from his hands. I thanked the stars that Paul never got a liscence tag, as three others crept toward me.

  "Hey, little girl, we just wanna make some money and go home."

  "You're looking in the wrong place."

  "Hello Kitty's gotta temper."

  I narrowed my eyes. I felt the bloodlust starting to form within me. I didn't want to leave a mass of bodies all over the motel. Even more, I didn't want to be a murderer. The five men circled me and I waited. The one that had offered cookies hung back and watched as his crow-bar wielding friend lunged at me. They wanted to be gang bangers. Fine, I thought coldly. Gangbang this.

  As he flung himself at me, I kicked my foot up and met him in the face. He flew backwards, moaning and grasping his nose. The other three came at me with curses, and I ran around them. They ran into each other, never catching me. I finally stood in the trailer of the truck, my foot propped up on the side.

  "Why don't you boys go on, and we forget this ever happened?"

  The men laughed, guffawing.

  "Hello Kitty, we're going to tear your pretty little as up!"

  I ran into the motel room. They stood there a second before registering that I was gone. When I returned, they had begun scratching at my tires with pocket knives. I made a coughing sound and they looked up, eyes widening and jaws slackening as I pointed Paul's rifle at Cookie's head.

  "Get. Away. From my. Truck."

  They swallowed noticeably, threw their hands up, and backed away.

  "Now, now," Cookie said in a panicked voice, "let's not get nasty."

  "My thoughts exactly, gentlemen."

  My blood curled as Cain's voice carried across a breeze. He strode up between us. His long, expensive coat swished around his long legs.

  "So move along before she kills you."

  The men curled their lips, shaking their heads, but stalked away. They threw glances back at us, and I knew they would be coming back.

  "Get your things, we're leaving." he stared down his nose at the gun, "leaving that as well."

  I huffed at him. "You are mistaken."

  "Oh, I am?"

  "I'm not going anywhere with you, you rapist son-of-bitch, murdering bastard! I despise you!"

  "I am your father, lover, brother, and god."

  "You are the devil reincarnate!"

  "That too, but you must bear with me."

  "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

  "Do you want to attract the attention of the police, you stupid girl? You have all ready shown your idiocy by confronting a group of human men in an open place. Anyone could have seen you and witnessed you as a murderer. What then?" Cain's lips narrowed in a sharp whistle, and a woman with honey colored hair appeared at my side. A large suitcase on wheels leaned against her.

  "What the hell?" I cried, fighting back as he put an arm around me.

  "You are going to my house in Atlanta, where you may find more pleasure than you realize."

  I glared up at Cain's shocking red tie, sharp suit, and yellow eyes. His hair was perfect as always. I loathed every part of him.

  "I know you hate me, my love. Soon
you will learn to love me."

  I snarled, "I'll never love a monster."

  He sniffed, nodding at the woman and following her to his own car. "You'd be surprised what you can fall in love with."

  The drive through Alabama to Atlanta was morbid. I sat in a limo across from Cain. The vampire with honey hair told me her name was Lily in a small, timid voice. I noticed her eyes were black. Classical music played through the limo the whole time, and I let my eyes fall on the passing stars, and the the slow, steady rise of dawn.

  I was craning my neck to watch buildings when I heard a click from the front, and the windows tinted several shades darker. I raised an eyebrow, wondering how they had done that.

  "Simply another good example of why it's so pleasant to be rich," Cain smoothly said from his seat.

  I stayed silent, avoiding his eyes. He was a murderer and a rapist. If I had any decency, I would have killed myself before getting into his car.

  I felt pride, a long lost flaw, rise up and swallow me. He had taken all of my dignity. I would never love him. He had murdered Cole and Chloe outright, he deserved hell and all its torment. My thoughts shifted to the corpses in the camper in Alabama. I was also a murderer, and a coward.

  Shaking, I retreated away from the window and sat fumbling with my shirt.

  "We'll get you nicer clothes, Georganna."

  I glowered at the ugly vampire, "I like my clothes."

  "Oh, don't be silly. You are a princess, like Cinderella. Not some little goth punk that thinks they know what poetry is. Or one of those crazy looking sluts all over Youtube!"

  "I know what I am, no thanks to you, so leave me alone! I'll wear my clothes. Back off!"

  "All right," Cain held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Wear your Hello Kity shirts all you want. Just know that the offer is there."

  "It's not appreciated." As I said that, I felt Lily tense up. Cain grinned at her, but spoke gently. His eyes betrayed that gentleness, and I knew I had done something wrong.