Monster

by Yolanda Olson

  He gestured to me to sit on the beautiful white corner room sofa. Then he walked out of the room and came back with some drinks. I knew what his was so I giggled when he toasted to me.

  Sipping my water I waited for him to tell me something. Anything would be great to hear about right now. Especially since my time was ticking way I needed to get my mind off of things.

  Instead he got up, left the room, and came back minutes later with a second glass of his drink. Sipping it he made a face and then set it down.

  “Still trying to get used to it, huh?” I said sympathetically.

  Laughing he replied, “Yeah. Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes I can’t stand it but it’s food so I do what I have to do to survive.”

  “I understand completely.”

  “Well enough of the heavy. Let me tell you a couple of stories. But before I do, I think you may want to write in this,” he said tossing my journal toward me.

  “How did you get this?” I asked more suspiciously than I meant too.

  “I had Drake go by your place and pick it up. I had a feeling you were going to run into some kind of trouble when Shane saw you and Max leave together. Anyway, take a sec to write in it then I’ll tell you some stuff, okay?”

  Nodding I looked around for a pen and chuckled when I saw that Drake had slid my pen into the front flap.

  “I’ll give you some privacy. This vampire thing can make me see across rooms,” he said laughing. As he stood to go he hesitated in the doorway. “Hey Finn?”

  “Hmm?” I asked glancing up at him.

  “You’re not alone in this. Not anymore.”

  I gave him a smile of thanks. It was good to know I wouldn’t be taking Skiles on alone. That actually encouraged me to not be afraid to make a decision now. Even though I wasn’t sure what that decision was going to be.

  4. Secrets

  (Day Two)

  It’s great to know that I’ve got an unofficial official army.

  No way can Skiles beat me now. I really don’t want them to help me though.

  If something happened to one of them I’d never forgive myself.

  Ever.

  And since I’m stuck with eternity, the guilt would probably drive me mad.

  It’s strange though, how this being the first night I’ve actually spent with them, made me attach myself so quickly.

  Maybe I did need some kind of interaction.

  For now I'm going to make sure that I stay close with these four.

  Not because they are so hell bent on protecting me but because I could feel myself loving them.

  In a monstrous kind of way.

  “Done!” I yelled out as I closed my journal. Kendrick walked into the room with a third glass of his dark red drink and smiled. Reaching behind me I slid the journal behind a pillow on the sofa I was sitting on and put my legs up. Stretching across the sofa I got myself comfortable, waiting for Ken to start telling me some stories.

  “So,” he said sitting back down in his Maison style chair.

  “So?” I said.

  “What do you want to know first?” he asked.

  “Whatever you feel like sharing,” I replied with a shrug.

  “Let’s start with the sun then. One evening I was feeling particularly depressed about my existence. I can’t remember why really but I think I had actually sat here one night thinking about what I had become. A parasite having to feed off of others to survive. If anything is depressing that is,” he said rolling his eyes. “Anyway so I sat here thinking about a way to end it all. I tried everything. I staked myself.” His raised his shirt to show me a scar on chest. “I ate a pile of garlic, you can only imagine how my breath tasted. I filled the tub with Holy Water and laid in it. Nothing worked. Then again the theatrics of all of those things kind of made me feel stupid for trying them. I went out to the front and watched the night sky give way to dawn. And then it hit me; the sun is supposed to make us explode or something.”

  He stopped to take a sip of his drink. I sat there patiently and kind of shocked that Ken ever felt depressed so bad that he would contemplate all these ways to die. I shifted on the couch and laid my head on the armrest.

  “Sorry, I’m trying to get this down without hurling. The longer it sits the chunkier it gets. So there I was with this great idea that I was so sure would give me the beautiful death I wanted so badly. I stepped down off the porch and walked to the middle of the driveway. I looked up at the sun’s rays starting to peek over my pine trees and I closed my eyes for a moment to take a deep breath. That’s when I felt it. The warmth of the sun washing over me, the heat as intense as anything I had ever felt before. But I didn’t feel any intense pain. Sure it burned, I mean it would only make sense since I hadn’t seen the sun since I had ‘died’. Would you believe the worst I got was a mild sunburn,” he said as he shook his head and chuckled.

  “But I don’t understand. Why didn’t the sun do anything to you?” I asked confused.

  “I’m getting there,” he said with comic impatience. Grinning his familiar boyish grin he held up his cup.

  “I... don’t get it,” I said more confused than ever.

  “You know what I’m drinking. It’s blood. But you don’t know what kind of blood. It’s what Drake and Shane drink too. I gave it to them after I realized that it kept me from dying an embarrassing Hollywood death,” he said laughing.

  Sitting up, I swung my legs off the couch. What was in that blood that made them invincible? I wondered if he’d tell me.

  I gave him my best little girl full of curiosity face and watched him with big hopeful eyes.

  “Taste it,” he said holding the cup out to me.

  And that’s all it took for my face to twist into a mask of disbelieving disgust. His laughter was so loud that I knew that he felt that he won the ‘war’ by grossing me out before I could make him putty in my hand.

  Damn.

  That face usually got me what I wanted when I was alive too.

  “I’m kidding,” he said setting the cup down. I watched him shake with laughter and for a moment contemplated throwing a couch cushion at him.

  I sat there with my chin in my hands waiting for him to stop laughing. Now I was really curious as to what type of blood it was that the three boys were drinking and why he hadn’t mentioned Maxwell yet.

  “Alright already!” I said impatiently.

  “Sorry,” he said wiping the tears from his eyes. He took a couple of deep breaths to steady himself, so he could finish telling the story.

  “Okay so this is human blood, but not completely. Remember on the computer when I showed you the screen and it said rabbit blood? Well in a way that’s what this one is. But it’s not rabbit this time. Come with me into the kitchen, I want to show you something cool.”

  I jumped to my feet and followed him out of the room and down the hall. We passed through a few more rooms until we got to a very out of place wooden door.

  It almost looked like an old dungeon door.

  Turning he laughed, “No, no. You go to the kitchen. I have to go downstairs and get something. It’s part of the coolness I guess you could say.”

  “You should’ve told me that when we passed through it then,” I mumbled going back into the room.

  I took a seat at the giant marble island that sat in the middle of his spacious kitchen. Through the curtains that blocked the bay door windows I could see the sun was at its peak. I smiled wondering what magical trick Ken had up his sleeve that he’s been able to sustain life in the sunlight.

  “Alright,” he said striding in breaking into my thoughts.

  I jumped slightly which made him grin. He placed a large mason jar on the counter. Leaning closely I peered at it and noticed that it had to be some type of blood but there were things moving inside of it.

  “Careful,” he said gently pushing me back. I watched as he placed a blender on the counter. Okay so he’s a modern vamp, sue him. Then he went to the giant stainless steel restaurant sized r
efrigerator and removed a clear pouch of scarlet colored blood. I took a quick look before he closed the door to the fridge; it looked like a blood bank in there.

  Coming back to the island, he flipped on the blender and emptied the pouch into it. I noticed how he squeezed every last drop of blood out of the pouch before disposing of it. The he reached for the Mason jar and opened it slowly. Before he pulled the lid off he turned around and went to the other side of the kitchen to retrieve a silver scooper of some sort.

  Grinning at me he asked, “You got a queasy stomach, kid?”

  I just laughed and shook my head.

  Removing the lid off the jar he jammed the scooper in and scraped a chunk of the blood and particles off the bottom, flung it in the blender, and slammed the lid shut.

  “Want to do the honors?” he asked pointing at the on switch.

  “Sure,” I said pressing it down.

  I watched in amazement as the two sources of his life sustaining drink blended together in a vicious tornado, almost as if resisting being forced together. Again I leaned close to watch the brutal dance taking place inside of the blender and noticed that the chunks that had been in the Mason jar were not breaking down.

  Curiously I looked at up Kendrick who was smiling at me.

  “Keep watching,” he said.

  And that’s when I saw it. The chunks seemed to dissipate as if though they were never there. From their breakdown came a white liquid flowing freely around the ended dance and bringing the two liquids together as if teaching them to share the space they were in.

  The noise stopped. He had turned off the machine and in the silence I sat there staring at the mixture.

  “What’s wrong,” he asked as he pulled the lid off the blender. He wandered over to one of the onyx cabinets he had built in and pulled out a pitcher. After cleaning it thoroughly in his sink he poured the now frothy mixture into it.

  “I don’t get it. What was that chunky stuff?”

  “I guess I can trust you,” he said jokingly.

  While he washed out the blender and put the pitcher away there was silence. Coming back to the island he pulled out the stool across from me and placed it next to me.

  “Okay, so the ‘chunky stuff’ as you called it? That’s the human blood. Those white pieces were bone marrow. Sound familiar?” he asked with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

  I suddenly understood my attraction to the stupid jar now. Bone marrow was what I used to sustain myself. But why would a vampire...

  Reading the look on my face, he continued.

  “The blood that was in the pouch was animal blood. I think this one was elk. Anyway there’s this tribe somewhere in the world that believed that the blood of an animal contains their life force or soul, right? So I thought why not try that with a minimal amount of human blood and see what happens. Would you believe I’ve had that Mason jar for 15 years? I haven’t had to take a human life in 15 years because of that experiment. And because of that portion of it that’s why we can walk in the sun. And that’s why I know that you can be in the sun without burning up and going boom,” he said making an explosion sound.

  “But I don’t feed on animals.”

  “Obviously,” he said rolling his eyes, “If you did your eyes wouldn’t be the same color as Skiles’. Now that I mention the eye thing that’s why Drake, Shane, and me have the same eye colors because we drink this special mix. Pretty clever, huh?”

  “Yeah it is. So wait, what does Max drink then? I mean how does he feed? His eyes are not the same color as yours.”

  “Mm,” he said sipping his drink. “I know. The reason for that is that since his heart started beating it made him partially human again,” he said matter of factly.

  “What? That doesn’t make sense!”

  “Powerful what loving someone can do to you isn’t it? But it’s true, since his eyes were blue to begin with and when he went through his transition ... his eyes. For some reason they turned blood red, he was the only vampire I’d ever seen have blood red eyes and from what he says, she was the only person he ever came across that found them beautiful. So if you remember your color wheel correctly, red and blue make purple.”

  “He likes to hear himself talk. Don't worry about it, he shuts up. Eventually,” said a raspy voice behind me.

  Jumping, I turned and saw a very pretty girl leaning on the door frame. She appeared to be my age and she was looking at me with a peculiar look. She had beautiful peach colored skin. Her hair was black like pure onyx, curly and long. It was pulled back in a loose ponytail. She smiled at me with kind eyes; eyes that were the magnificent color of a rolling green Irish countryside. She wore a blue and black fitted tank top, with a plaid design, which showed of her toned arms. Her muscle toned legs were shown off by the black shorts she was wearing.

  “Ava Deveaux,” she said giving me a friendly wave.

  “Are you...”

  “A vampire? Yep, actually I made him,” she said pointing at Ken who rolled his eyes.

  “Yeah Finn, meet my maker,” he said in a comedic deep voice.

  I laughed hoping she wouldn't be offended but I knew she wasn't when she laughed too.

  “Wow there's more of you around than I thought,” I said shaking my head.

  “Not really,” she said walking over to the refrigerator and pulling out the pitcher Ken had just put together. “Only a handful, well, maybe two handfuls really. I guess you could say we're on the endangered species list,” she said thoughtfully.

  At that point I didn't know what to say. I mean she obviously had to be older than Ken and I didn't know her so I wanted to be respectful. I sat there in silence while Ken scooted a stool to the other side of the counter for her. Sitting down she sipped the mix and made a face.

  “Elk?”

  Ken laughed, “I guess it is. I wasn't sure.”

  Ava turned her attention back to me, “You smell different. I mean you don't smell like one of us. Or anything I've ever smelled before. And please don't take that offensively. I have a habit of saying things brutally.”

  “No offense taken,” I replied with a grin.

  “She’s a secret,” Ken said quickly. I could tell that for whatever reason, he didn’t seem to want Ava knowing more than she had to.

  “A secret? That’s interesting. Okay, well, I won’t pry. It was just your scent has me confused,” she said smiling at me.

  Her constant talk about my scent was starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable. I wonder if Ken would tell her eventually. I had only ever told him and his friends what I was and that was under the sting of the acid still coursing through me.

  “Hey! So I hear there’s a carnival in town,” she said changing the subject. “Have you seen it?”

  “Yeah I was there a couple of nights ago. It’s pretty big, they’ve got a really big stable with some pretty horses inside,” I said.

  “I like horses,” she said stretching her arms above her head. “Any idea what kind they are?”

  “Um yeah. Ryker said they’re Shires.”

  Suddenly Ava and Kendrick looked at each other then both turned their eyes to me. Ava got up and sat at the stool opposite of Ken so she was flanking me on the right. Feeling cornered I felt my inner aggressiveness starting to come to the surface. Cool it. It’s just Ken and his friend, I thought to myself.

  Gripping the edges of the counter with my hands, I closed my eyes and took a series of deep breaths. Whenever I felt like I was in danger or cornered, my survival instincts would kick in and if I didn’t quickly shut them off they would take over me and make me a raging out of control animal. Lately I had been teaching myself discipline to prepare myself for when I found Skiles.

  Ken placed his hand on mine which made me look at him. He was giving me a look that clearly told me that it was okay and that I needed to calm down.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  “She’s okay,” Ava said heading over to the fridge and pulling something out.

  “Cou
ld just be hunger pains.” She came back to the counter and handed me a plate with an apple that I could tell had been laced with something.

  “It’s not hunger pains,” I said with my eyes closed tightly. “It’s an incredible rage that I’m still learning to control.”

  She pushed the plate closer to me; I shoved it back towards her.

  “No thanks. I don’t do drugs,” I said feeling the warmth of anger slowly starting to dissipate.

  “Good. Neither do I. It’s just an apple.”

  “No. It’s not.”

  “What makes you think that?” she asked curiously.

  “I can see it pulsing slightly.”

  Ken immediately grabbed the apple and began turning it over in his hands examining it closely. “Where?”

  “By the core, can’t you see it?” I asked impatiently snatching it from him. I saw the pulsing again and shoved it in his face. “Here!”

  He eyed the apple then put took it from my hand and set it down. “It’s a normal apple, Finn,” he said quietly.

  “No it’s not!” I screamed.

  “Yes it really is. I’m sorry,” Ava said. She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. Her laugh sounded like wind chimes blowing in the breeze.

  Ken slapped his forehead with his hand and groaned. Then he looked at her and shook his head. I watched as he grabbed the apple and threw it in the garbage plate and all. By now Ava’s giggles had gotten even louder and she was wiping tears from her eyes. I looked at Kendrick waiting for an answer as to what just happened, when she hiccupped from behind her hand.

  “Don’t do that to her. She has enough to deal with now,” he said quietly.

  Sitting back down next to me he gave my hand a squeeze and set a glass of ice water in front of me.

  “Do what exactly?” I asked looking from Ava to Ken.

  “Vampires have abilities,” she said her eyes glittering, “we can do special things; normally to every type of species. I just wanted to see if you’d be affected by it. So I tried. It almost worked. Looks like your defense mechanism fought it off.

  Slightly. Good job!”

  “What ability, may I ask did you just use?”