‘Let go of me, please, Amelia,’ I said, unmoved by her display of affection. ‘I’m not here for sentimental reasons. I’ve come for answers.’
Amelia released her affectionate hold of me. She knelt down before me, took my hands and stared into my eyes. ‘First, tell me. How do you feel? Because you look great, so much better than you did when I left you. For which I apologise. I naturally assumed you didn’t make it.’
‘I feel cold. I’m tired. And I feel…so angry.’
‘Why are you angry, my love? You should be happy. You’re alive.’
I glared at Amelia. ‘Where’s Rachael? Get her for me.’
‘She’s not here presently. She’s out hunting.’
‘What, my blood wasn’t enough?’
‘Listen, calm down,’ Amelia said softly. ‘Come on in. We’ll talk. It’ll be okay.’
‘Okay? Tell that to the dog I just killed!’
Amelia frowned. ‘What dog?’
More tears welled up in my eyes. ‘I just brutally murdered an innocent Alsatian at the park.’
‘Why?’
‘It attacked me. I acted out of self-defence at first, but then something took over. Something evil. And I felt this uncontrollable urge to just…take its life, which I did.’
Amelia’s right hand cupped my face. ‘There, there. It’s okay.’
‘And the scary thing is, up until I finally stopped…I was enjoying doing it. And the sight of its blood when it leaked out… The smell of it…’
‘What? What about it?’
‘It gave me goose bumps. Even now, just thinking about it, I…’ I furrowed my brow in confusion. ‘Why do I suddenly feel a…a craving for—’
‘A craving for blood?’ Amelia let out a sigh as she caressed my cheek. ‘You know, that’s not surprising given what you are now, my dear.’
My eyes widened in horror. ‘What do you mean, what I am now? What’s happening to me? What’s Rachael done to me?’
‘I’m sorry, Bobby. I’m so, so sorry, my dear, but you are now a vampire, like Rachael and I.’ Amelia shed a tear. ‘And do you know how I know for certain?’
‘How?’
‘Because I cannot hear your heart beating. That’s the main give away.’
I frantically unzipped my parka, and then placed my right hand to my heart, which I kept there for several seconds. She was right. I could feel no beating, though it should have been beating rapidly.
‘You see, we vampires have heightened senses. We can see long distances, with crystal clarity. We have an impeccable sense of smell and hearing, and they aid us when it comes time to feed.’
‘So, I’m… I’m d-dead?’
‘In a manner of speaking, I’m afraid, yes.’
It took a moment or two for me to fully comprehend what Amelia had told me. And although it was alarming, I realised something. That I had finally been granted what I wished for numerous times over the years. Power. The power to exact revenge on those who wronged me on a daily basis.
I beamed at Amelia excitedly. ‘Cool.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I’m a vampire. I really am a vampire!’ I was so overjoyed that I leapt onto the low garden wall and back flipped off, landing perfectly on both feet. ‘Yes!’
Amelia stared at me with her mouth agape.
‘You know what this means, Amelia? This means I can finally get even with those kids at school, the ones who tease me each day! Tell me, do I get to turn into a bat, too? Can I… Can I fly? That’d be so cool!’
‘How could you possibly be so excited? Do you know what this means? Do you know what you’re going to have to do each and every single night from here on in, Bobby?’
My smile rapidly faded as the horrible truth suddenly dawned on me.
‘This isn’t a television programme, nor a movie or a silly novel, Bobby. This is life, real life. And real-life people – totally innocent, unsuspecting people with families – will die because of your unquenchable thirst for human blood. You’ll never know peace, you’ll never know true happiness, and you’ll have to bear the ever-increasing burden of grief for the remainder of your cursed existence.’
‘That’s right,’ Rachael said, stepping out of my house, wiping fresh blood from her mouth with a blood-stained white handkerchief. ‘And Mummy and Daddy won’t be there to console their precious little boy. Not anymore.’ She closed the front door quietly behind her, then stepped over the wall and approached me, licking blood residue from her fangs, staring at me menacingly. She thrust the handkerchief into my face. ‘Here. Smell. You like? You know you want some. Come.’ She then clutched my right forearm and pulled me towards the gate. I looked back to Amelia and pleaded with her to help me, but she retreated indoors, sobbing uncontrollably.
Rachael forced me into making my first kill, a young woman in Caledonian Park taking her early morning jog just before sunrise. We then retreated back to Rachael’s just as the sun was starting to rise. While she and Amelia slept, I remained wide awake, hiding in the dank, cluttered attic, thinking of a way to avenge my parents’ death. I eventually came up with a very simple but effective plan. It was to involve deception, split-second timing, and, above all, patience.
After the sun set later that evening, Rachael and I ventured back out to feed again. This time, with taste for blood acquired, I recommended we dropped by and said “hello” to some much deserving school pupils who made my life a misery over the years. (There were five of them. Rachael and I were unfairly outnumbered, but unbeknownst to them, she and I had an advantage.) I knew the precise location of their whereabouts, as I often heard it mentioned during our classes together, so we made haste. Once there, Rachael and I, to cut a long, gruesome story short, drained the lot of them. Even rendered one or two who were brave enough to defend themselves limb from limb. (What a mess. I pitied the poor cleaner who was responsible for that particular area.)
As time progressed, Rachael and I became inseparable. It started out as me being her protégé, but I considered her more than a tutor, more than a friend; she was my sister. (So I led her to believe, that is. If only she knew how I truly felt about her, and how I was patiently biding my time.) And speaking of sisters, Amelia one day had finally had enough of her cursed existence, and seeing me become what I had didn’t help matters, either. So, having being burdened with guilt for far too long (over forty long years according to Rachael) she decided to take her own life.
I was roused from my sleep by bloodcurdling screams that echoed through the street, shattering the peaceful silence. I first thought it was in my head, a nightmare, but seeing as my eyes were wide open and the screams continued, I knew it was unquestionably for real.
Rachael and I watched helplessly from a safe distance as Amelia disintegrated in an explosion of blood and flaming ash seconds after her naked body was engulfed in flames.
Rachael took her sister’s death rather lightly. Whereas I, on the other hand, genuinely missed Amelia. After all, she was kind to me. She was caring, affectionate, and just an overall angel, despite what she really was. Her death, particularly the way she died, opened my eyes; it made my plan to exact revenge on Rachael so much simpler, foolproof.
So, early one morning, while Rachael slumbered peacefully in her bedroom, I decided to finally put my plan to the test, to see whether I could once and for all be rid of the callous vampire who mercilessly murdered my parents.
I crept up to the front door and looked through the letterbox with narrowed eyes. It was a beautiful day outside. The sky was a cloudless blue. Perfect, I thought, as there were no clouds to conceal the sun that Rachael, once outside, would be fully exposed to. I unlocked the door and opened it fully, taking care not to be singed by the sun. Then I made for the staircase, which I quietly ascended. I entered Rachael’s bedroom and started towards Rachael, who was curled up in a foetal position on her bed. As I reached down to scoop her up into my arms, I glanced up at the boarded up bay window. I thought, Those sheets of plywood have shielded
you long enough, Rachael. No more.
With a deep sleeping, lightweight Rachael in my arms, I descended the staircase, gazing at her with an unbridled hatred. (I simply couldn’t wait to see her finally get her just deserts.) I paused at the bottom of the staircase. I closed my eyes and slowly bowed my head. ‘Mum, Dad, this is for you,’ I muttered. ‘I love you both. Please, bear me no ill will.’
Rachael started to stir, so I decided to act, and act quickly. I hurried towards the door, and then threw her outside using all my strength. She landed on the unevenly slabbed concrete path with an impact so horrid that even I flinched.
I slammed the door and frantically locked it. I knelt down and watched attentively through the letterbox as a smouldering Rachael, whose smooth, pale white flesh rapidly changed to a blistery, glowing crimson red, writhed while letting out shrill screams of anguish. She then, to my shock, got to her feet and charged towards the door, her arms flailing hysterically. She pounded desperately, screaming, ‘Let me in! Let me in!’
‘No chance of that!’ I shouted through the letterbox. ‘You’ve had this coming for ages, Rachael! Payback’s a bitch, and so are you!’
Rachael stumbled backwards, crashed to the pathway and frantically scuttled backwards, towards the picket gate. She rolled onto her stomach, reached up and used the gate to once again haul herself back to her feet. Her shaky charred hands ignited simultaneously. The wispy flames shot down both arms, setting the baggy sleeves of her hooded jumper alight. She spun around and staggered back towards the house, her torso and her hair ablaze. The crispy black flesh of her once youthful face began to crumble away, leaving muscle tissue, even bone, exposed. Her jaw slackened and a fine light-grey smoke streamed out from her mouth.
Just as she was a few feet from the door, she stopped dead, teetered for a moment, and then dropped exhaustedly to her knees, with her arms spread wide. Her eyes rolled back into her skull and she let her head fall back. Flames erupted from her every orifice, quickly engulfing her in a cross-shaped blaze of fire. The rancid stench of her burning flesh wafted in through the letterbox, up my nose. It turned my stomach, but it was worth it to witness her gruesomely agonising departure from this life to the next. She let out an almighty bloodcurdling scream before finally exploding in the exact same fashion as Amelia.
I hung my head and heaved a sigh of relief.
That evening was to be my first ever solo hunt. While prowling around my usual location (which will remain undisclosed) I couldn’t help but actually miss Rachael’s presence. After all, she had been by my side each and every single night for nearly two whole years. The thing I missed most of all were her diverting stories of her life which she would often regale me with. And as much as I hated to admit it to myself, I would have given anything to see her friendly face, to see that warm smile of hers just one more time. A friendly face and a warm smile would be more welcoming than the faces of fear, the screams of horror and pain, the cries for help, the pleading to be spared, that haunted me whenever I tried to be at peace. But in the immortal words of Amelia, “This isn’t a television programme, nor a movie or a silly novel. This is life, real life. And real-life people – totally innocent, unsuspecting people with families – will die because of your unquenchable thirst for human blood. You’ll never know peace, you’ll never know true happiness, and you’ll have to bear the ever-increasing burden of grief for the remainder of your cursed existence.”
And so, no longer a shy, naïve eleven-year-old child, but rather a relentless predator devoid of compassion, mercy and even fear, with an unquenchable thirst for human blood, I go on night after night…alone. I lurk in the shadows. I watch. I wait. I pounce on those unsuspecting, those foolish enough to cross my path. So be warned. You could be next.
The end
Started 26th April, 2015 – Completed 11th May, 2015
8,416 words
This story came to me quite literally from out of nowhere. As a result, I have put two stories on indefinite hold. One being a complete rewrite of my debut story The One For Me, the other called S.P.I.R.I.T.S.
I was going to give the whole vampire genre a rest, but I thought, “What’s one more going to hurt?” I rewrote the ending several times, as I was never too happy with it each time. It took me hours and hours to write let alone think of how to write the part where Rachael dies. It was a nightmare, as my vocabulary is pretty weak.
I also never intended it being so long. Still, the story basically wrote itself.
Hope you enjoyed.
Deception: (An Introductory Tale) Page 3
