by Jade Farhill
Just then, James turned the corner.
He halted his whistled tune, eyes darting to the retreating hardware truck. “What were they doing here?”
“They got the wrong address,” Abby said, hoping her lie was smooth.
James scrutinised the truck for a terrifyingly long moment. Then he shrugged. “Do you need help with those?”
Abby wiped the sweat gathering on her brow. Sharon looked away.
Then James spotted Sharon. “Oh, and by the way, Miss Sharon Rormton, Abby went through with her dare the other night. I’m witness to her bravery.”
“See,” Abby said, trying to sound easy, “I told you so.”
Sharon held a hand up. “Well, I guess I can believe you then.”
James took one of the trolleys. “What are you doing here, anyway, Sharon? Shouldn’t you be at a glamorous fashion show?”
“Actually, she had nothing better to do today,” Abby replied.
Sharon sent her a glare. “Do you have to rub it in that I got fired?” This was their excuse. Sharon had actually quit her job.
Abby smirked. “Well at least you’re here instead of at home, wasting time watching those romance movies.”
“Ah, here are the delivery men,” James said, spotting the workers emerging from the building.
“Can you move these to the basement, please?” Abby asked, gesturing to the table and the box of cables.
***
But the cables and table didn’t make it to the basement.
“The delivery guys must have left them in the holding room—I’ll go find them,” Abby said.
“Hurry,” Sharon said, eyes darting around. “I feel strange.” She scratched her upper arms, leaving trails of blood. Her breath came fast. “Hurry!” she said again.
It was the same desperate tone of voice she’d used on Abby the night of the attack.
Abby raced to the lift, screams echoing down the hall behind her.
The elevator opened and Abby punched the button for the holding room. It took only twenty seconds for the elevator to deliver her to the right floor, but it felt like an hour.
Abby rushed out and bumped into James. “Sorry—can’t stop!” she said, dodging past him.
“Abby?” he called after her.
Sure enough, the cables and table were in the holding room. Abby started lugging them onto a trolley.
“Here, let me help.” James appeared beside her.
“Follow me,” Abby told him when they’d finished loading the trolley.
As they waited for the suddenly extremely slow elevator, Abby couldn’t stop thinking about the scientists who’d died before having their labs destroyed by vampire hunters.
Her hands started to shake.
“Abby, what’s going on?” James asked. The elevator dinged its arrival.
This wasn’t good. She needed to ditch James. But how? “Oh, I forgot something. Could you go get it for me?” she asked desperately.
“Sure. What is it?”
Abby described the first thing that came to her mind. “The cell separation equipment.”
“Hold the lift for me. I won’t be long.”
But the moment he was gone, she wheeled her trolley inside and hit the Close Doors button. She didn’t have time to feel bad about lying to him. If anything, she might have just saved his life.
The elevator opened on the basement floor. Sharon was still screaming.
Abby parked the trolley between the elevator doors so it wouldn’t leave.
Her sister was on the floor, tears rolling down her cheeks. “It hurts, Abby. It hurts!”
Abby hurriedly set the table up, then went back to get the cables. She locked the door to the hallway and then strapped Sharon down. Next, she set up an intravenous drip, including pain killers, and whispered soothing words to Sharon.
Sharon’s breathing came fast and her eyes drifted closed. Then she jerked up and snapped her eyes open. “You need to leave,” she whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Sharon’s heart was beating in fits and spurts. She convulsed, spasms wracking her body, her fists and jaw clenched.
Then her heart beat its last drum.
Abby stared at her sister, then looked down at the heart monitor to check what she already knew.
Sharon was dead.
***
Abby unhooked the intravenous anaesthetic and swapped it with a bag of blood pilfered from the stockpile upstairs. A lump formed in Abby’s throat. Even if she becomes a vampire, I still want to see her open her eyes and look at me. Just one more time.
Her vision blurred and she turned to grab a tissue to wipe her tears away.
Suddenly, goosebumps crawled along her skin.
Something was wrong.
Abby turned and looked at her sister.
But Sharon wasn’t the pale human she’d been minutes ago. Her eyes were open and trained on the pulse at Abby’s throat.
CHAPTER 3
Sharon’s eyes weren’t the cheery blue they’d once been. They were blood red.
Sharon snarled animalistically and struggled in her binds, her glasses falling to the floor and shattering. This didn’t look like it phased Sharon at all.
Abby retreated a step. Run. Run away. This isn’t your sister anymore. This isn’t Sharon!
And for a moment, Abby really wanted to follow that terrified voice and bolt out of the room. Maybe even find James and confess everything to him. Then they could both figure out a way to contact the vampire hunt—
Abby shook her head. No, that would mean the end for Sharon. Sharon, who hadn’t done anything to deserve this. Sharon, who’d sacrificed herself for Abby. Sharon, who’d spent the last week watching vampire love stories in the hopes that she would be able to control herself around humans.
Abby clenched her fist and strode over to the red button. She hit it fiercely and the IV released the blood into the vamp—Sharon.
Sharon struggled a moment longer, then relaxed, her eyes falling on the IV and following it up to the blood bag. Then she focused her red-eyed gaze back on Abby, as if planning how to get fresh blood.
Shivers went down Abby’s spine. But she stayed where she was, watching her sister get calmer and calmer, and watching those red eyes turn blue again.
***
A knock came at the door.
Abby jumped. No, someone couldn’t come in and see this. They’d think Abby was a psychopath, chaining her sister to a table.
And what about Sharon? How would she react with another huma—
Sharon growled and rattled her chains, eyes on the door.
“Abby?” came James’ voice from outside.
It took a moment before Abby could breathe.
“Are you all right? What’s going on in there?” A key was inserted into the door and the knob started to turn.
Oh, no. How could she salvage this?
The door opened and Abby quickly slipped through it and stepped into the hallway. “Oh, hi, James,” she said loudly. Maybe if she spoke over the top of Sharon, he wouldn’t realise there was a vampire in the basement.
James frowned at her. “You left without me. I thought you were going to wait.”
“Sorry about that. You know elevators, they get cranky if they’re open on the same level for too long.”
He looked confused. “I don’t know about that …”
Abby laughed nervously. “You’re right. They’re just machines, they don’t have feelings.”
A chain clanged in the basement and James flicked his eyes over her shoulder.
“I have to wonder if the writers of Terminator ever thought about elevators when they wrote the tag line ‘Rise of the machines’!” She laughed loudly, trying not to cringe at her own joke, and grabbed James’ arm. “Speaking of rising, I’m very busy at the moment and I’m sure you are too. How about we chat later? Look, the elevator’s even waiting for you. You can think about Terminator in there,” she said, all in a single breath a
s she pushed James into the elevator.
The doors closed and Abby relaxed.
But just as the doors were about to fully shut, Sharon shrieked—an unmistakable human female scream.
A hand shot out of the elevator.
The doors opened.
James had a set jaw when he stepped out. “That’s it—I’m taking a look at what you’re doing down here.” He strode past Abby, who scrambled to block his path.
“Look, it’s not what you thin—”
Sharon screamed again.
“I don’t want to hear it right now.”
Abby grabbed onto his arm. “James, just let me explai—”
He tore his arm from her grip and kept going.
Panic grasped Abby’s throat with icy fingers, and she threw herself between James and the door. “I can’t let you in there.”
But he simply pushed her aside and strode into the room.
“Help me,” Sharon said to James, her blue eyes imploring. “Please, she’s insane.”
James took in the chains, the table, the IV drip, then turned on Abby. “What the hell is going on here?”
Abby shook her head. “Like I said, it’s not what you think.”
James started for Sharon, picking up some bolt cutters along the way.
“No, don’t!”
But it was no use. He stepped up the Sharon and put the bolt cutters to the chains.
Before he could even cut the chains, Sharon snarled and lunged. The chains were the only thing that stopped her.
Abby pulled him away. “You need to stay away from her. She’s—sick. You can’t touch her!”
James dropped the bolt cutters, eyes wide. “What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t do anything. This is why I told you to hear me out!”
“Then tell me!”
“There was a crazy lady who was a vampire and she sucked Sharon dry, then forced her to drink her blood. And … now Sharon’s a vampire.” Abby cringed—it sounded ridiculous, even to her.
“You expect me to believe that vampires exist and your sister is one of them?” James was incredulous.
“Yes.”
James shook his head. “No, I’m out of here. The director’s going to hear about this.”
Meaning he was going to tell Abby’s mum.
“You can’t!” She grabbed hold of his arm again, but he pulled away.
“Abby, you’re talking about vampires and hiding your chained sister in the basement and you don’t want me to tell anyone? You need to be admitted to the psychiatric hospital!”
If circumstances were different, she might agree with him. But … “Then you tell me if you feel safe releasing her!” She picked up the abandoned bolt cutters and marched over to her sister.
Sharon smirked evilly at her and Abby suppressed shivers. She put the cutters to the chain and glared at James. “How do you feel about it now? Am I still insane?”
James looked uncertain; his breathing was shallow.
“She’s not my sister anymore, James. I know you feel it too. She’s a predator, and we both know what she’ll do the moment she’s loose.”
He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. When he opened them, he said, “Okay. Tell me everything.”
Abby started at the beginning. She even showed him the DNA results from the three tests.
It was late afternoon by the time they’d finished talking.
“So vampires exist,” said James. He didn’t even sound surprised anymore.
“Yep.”
James thought for a moment. “Do you think vampire hunters exist?”
Abby widened her eyes. “They’ll kill her! We can’t involve them!”
“You said yourself that she’s no longer your sister! Abby, we need to deal with this and you and I clearly aren’t equipped to do so.”
“I am equipped! She hasn’t escap—”
“Only because I believed you, because I know you and I trust you! But what happens if the next person who finds her lets her out?”
Abby had no answer for that.
James lifted his chin. “Precisely. We’re in over our heads, and vampire hunters are the only ones who know how to handle that.” He pointed to Sharon, who was watching them with intelligent eyes.
Those very eyes that had become disturbed when watching fictional hunters kill fictional vampires. Those very eyes that had pleaded silently with Abby to help her, no matter what. Those very eyes that were now about to be betrayed.
And Abby knew then that she wouldn’t turn her sister over to the hunters to be killed. How could she? This vampire, this terrifying monster who looked at Abby with hunger, was still her beloved Sharon.
“We’re not handing her over,” Abby said quietly. “We can’t.”
“But why not?”
“Because … because there has to be another way.”
And she could find it, she realised. After all, she worked in a laboratory with access to all sorts of scientific equipment. Equipment necessary for finding cures.
Hadn’t all those studying vampires been using labs? What had they been searching for?
What if they’d wanted to find a cure?
It was worth a try. And if she didn’t find a cure, at least she could train Sharon to not attack and kill humans.
Then, once Sharon was trained, Abby could release her and hope that she’d stay away from hunters. Maybe Abby could even train to her to not bring attention to herself. To drink only what she needed to stay alive.
But … what if there really was a cure? Abby needed to fully investigate that before she let her sister loose. Until then, she needed to keep her safe.
She met James’ eyes. “I’m going to cure her.”
CHAPTER 4
James scoffed. “She’s dead. You can’t cure the dead.”
“And yet she’s still responding.”
Sharon’s gaze was following their conversation.
“The only way to deal with vampires is to kill them,” James pointed out.
“I’m not the first one who’s had the idea to cure vampirism.” Abby told him about the strange instances she’d read about in the news, omitting the fact that everyone had died and the labs had been burnt to the ground in mysterious circumstances.
James looked at her for a long time, thinking. “Fine,” he said eventually, and rubbed a hand over his face. “Get their data. But it’s my duty to keep everyone in this building safe, and I can’t while she’s here. I’m going to report this to vampire hunters in a week.”
“I can’t cure her in a week!”
He glared at her. “Then you have a month!” He turned on his heel and strode to the door.
Well, that was impossible. He was just setting her up to fail and Sharon would be killed by the hunt—
As if reading her mind, James stopped at the door. “I’ll keep people away from here. The less people know about this, the better.”
***
Abby set up the last of the digital recorders and aimed it at Sharon. She checked eBay to see how many more of her possessions she’d sold to get more funds. Turning back to Sharon, she pulled out her log book and noted the time—she hadn’t made much progress at all.
She sighed. “I need to do more tests. Like silver and sunlight and … everything else.” She gave Sharon more blood, then attached sticky pad to her sister’s chest. Sharon met Abby’s eyes.
“Come closer,” her sister purred.
Abby’s mind went blank and she disregarded all the instincts that shouted at her to back away. She stepped closer and Sharon smiled. The vampire leaned forward and curled her lips, opening her jaws and biting viciously into Abby’s neck and shoulder.
The pain broke through the blankness in Abby’s mind. She screamed as her legs buckled under her and she rolled away from her sister’s clutches. Blood poured down Abby’s arm. She quickly applied pressure and ran to get the first aid kit on the other side of the room.
Maybe James was right.
; But the alternative was Sharon’s death.
Abby took in a calming breath and thought about what had just happened. Sharon had commanded her to do something, and Abby had followed implicitly even though she knew better. It was exactly like what had happened the night at the beach, where Abby had almost got out of the car and followed the crazy lady to certain death.
At the beach, she’d dismissed it considering it had been the least insane thing to happen that night. But now … maybe she needed to consider what this actually meant.
She went to her log book and wrote down both incidents. What could cause this feeling? It was almost like a … compulsion. Hadn’t she found references in vampire legends about compulsion? She did a quick online search and confirmed her suspicions. She also discovered that, according to most of the legends, unless broken, the compulsion lasted until the task was complete.
Abby leant back in her chair. So, her sister could compel her to do things against her will. Yet both times she’d been compelled, she’d broken out of it.
But how?
A blister had burst that night at the beach.
And now sharp pain from Sharon’s fangs had snapped her out of it.
Could it be that pain was the answer to remaining in control of herself?
Abby approached her sister slowly. “Are you still hungry, Sharon?”
“Who’s Sharon?” the vampire spat the name out.
Abby’s insides twisted. “You are. You are Sharon.”
The vampire narrowed her eyes.
“You’re my sister.”
The vampire scoffed.
Did she really not remember Abby?
Abby pulled out her phone and brought a picture up of her and Sharon hugging and smiling on the day she’d got her job at the Disease Control and Prevention Centre. Abby then pulled out a makeup compact and flipped it open, then held it and the phone up to Sharon to show her what she looked like next to her sister.
Sharon raised an eyebrow. “You think seeing just my clothes will prove anything to me?”
Abby froze, then peered into the mirror. All she saw was empty space, chains and clothes hanging suspended over the table.
Abby closed her eyes. How else could she prove it to Sharon?
