I shake my head. “Nothing,” I say, closing the front door. “Thought I heard something.”
“Probably the thunder,” she replies, handing me a towel.
I rub it over my drenched hair and arms. “Yeah. Must have been.”
25
Today’s been a great day. I’ve finally gone hunting completely solo. I suppose I could count that first rabbit, but I’d rather just forget about that.
Even though our stock of blood is pretty high, I really needed to do this. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t caught the odd animal myself or anything, but it’s the fact that Kate trusts me not to go rogue, and start hunting down little old ladies, or sneak into town to catch a movie. Those urges are behind me now. I’ve grown up. Well, in my head at least.
I drop the sheep onto the table and smirk at Kate. “What do you think? It’s not exactly a rhino—but it’s a start.”
“Well done, Thea. I’m proud of you.”
Kate slides the plastic jug under the sheep’s head and then punctures its throat with the knife. Blood gushes out, filling it up to the top. “You hungry?” she asks, handing the jug over to me.
“Yeah. But I’m not drinking that. It’s too fresh. I’ll have some of yesterday’s batch.”
“Come on. Drink this instead. This is your first solo hunt. It should be something to celebrate.”
I shrug as if it’s no big deal—but deep down it is. I haven’t had fresh blood for months. I couldn’t taste the difference at first, but now it’s pretty clear. God, I’m turning into one of those stuck-up wine experts!
Kate takes out a cup of human blood from the fridge.
Holding out a hand in protest, I shake my head. “You know what, Kate,” I say with conviction, “I’m going to try it neat. Not a drop of human. I think I’m ready.”
Kate throws me a look of concern, instantly sapping away my confidence. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”
“Why not? It’s been weeks since I puked last. What’s the harm?”
“You don’t want to upset your system. Everything’s been going so well lately, so why rush things?” Kate mixes the animal blood with the human and hands me the cup. “Just give it another week. That’s all.”
“Fine,” I say with a moan of reluctance, taking the cup from her. “One more week.” I down the blood in one, and then dab my mouth with a sheet of kitchen roll.
“Good girl. Just need a little more patience and you’ll be home in no time.”
26
Kate is outside on the bench, listening to music on the iPad, sipping a glass of red wine. And I’ve been in the kitchen for the past five minutes, staring at a cup of pure animal blood. I know it hasn’t quite been a week, but I think I’m ready to take the leap.
Correction: I know I’m ready!
I lift the cup, take a deep breath, and then start to swallow the contents. I don’t even mind the taste anymore. I can hardly tell the difference, but I lean over the sink just in case I puke again.
Two minutes pass…
Then five…
Then ten!
Still no vomit.
A great big grin takes over my face—because I’m going home!
Exploding with excitement, I race outside to give Kate the good news.
“Where’s the fire?” she asks as she removes the headphones from her ears.
“There’s no fire,” I reply, “just great news.”
Kate’s face lights up with a smile. “Oh, yeah, what’s that?”
“Well, I know you told me to wait a week, but I’ve just drunk a cupful of pure animal blood and—”
Her smile suddenly evaporates. “You silly little girl. I told you to wait.”
“What’s the big deal?” I ask, grimacing hard. “It’s only a few days difference.”
“I thought we’d moved past all this shit. I thought we had trust.”
“We do have trust.”
“Then you should have waited. Like I asked you to!”
“What’s the problem?” I ask, shaking my head in bafflement. “It worked. I didn’t throw up. So I can go home.”
Kate downs the glass of wine in one gulp and then wipes her mouth with her sleeve. “It’s not as simple as that. It might just be a fluke. You’ll need to be on animal blood for at least another month.”
My eyes widen in shock. “What the hell are you talking about? You said that once I kicked human, I could go back to my family.”
“And I meant it. But you haven’t been around any people for months. One sniff and you could have a relapse. Did you think of that?”
“No, I didn’t—because you didn’t tell me!”
Kate refills her glass and takes a huge swig. “Then I apologise. I should have told you.”
I’m lost for words as I watch her finish another glass. She reminds me so much of Mum.
And it makes my blood boil!
Kate puts on an obviously fake smile and then pats the bench, inviting me to sit next to her. “Show me that song you mentioned the other day. I can’t seem to find it on the iPad.”
“What’s going on?” I ask; suspicion in my voice.
“Nothing’s going on.”
“You’re keeping something from me.”
Somehow Kate’s smile becomes even more forced. “No I’m not. Why would you think that?”
“Because you’re acting strange. Do you not want me to go home?”
She pours what’s left of the bottle into the glass and then takes a huge swig. “Of course I do. When you’re ready. But the last thing you want is to go guns blazing and mess—”
“Has something happened to Mum?”
Suddenly the glass slips out of her hand, shattering on the concrete.
I stare at the wine as it runs like blood into the cracks.
The concrete becomes a light-brown carpet.
An image of Mum instantly forms in my head, pulling me away from the farmhouse. I’m back in my house, on the landing. Mum’s crying.
Screaming for help. Begging me to stop.
Stop what?
I focus hard on Mum’s face. It seems so much clearer than before, almost as if a fog has been lifted.
“What’s wrong?” Kate asks, her words echoing from a distance.
I see Mum pinned to floor, my jaws locked around her neck. She’s fighting for breath, fighting to free herself from my weight. But she can’t. She’s dying.
Because of me.
“Thea!” Kate shouts. “Talk to me!”
Her voice snaps me out of my vision. Her eyes are wild. She looks frightened.
“I killed my mother,” I blurt out; my stomach in knots, my hands juddering. “Didn’t I?”
Flashes of Mum fill my head and claw at my heart. Watching movies together. Taking me to school when I’d missed the bus. Waving her goodbye when she left to work the nightshift.
The nightshift at the supermarket.
My hands start to tighten.
Was Mum a vampire?
I make two fists, digging my nails into my palms.
Has she always been one?
Blood is dripping from my hand.
Did she infect me?
But then I see Ivy, Mum and me at the beach, building sand castles. Mum moaning at us for getting sand in her eyes. She couldn’t have been a vampire—the sun was out.
“You used to work with Mum—didn’t you?” I ask. “You worked at the supermarket. I remember now. She used to talk about you. She was your friend. Why didn’t you mention it?”
She doesn’t answer as a tear rolls down her cheek.
“Did you infect me?” I ask, my tone sharp, full of acid.
Kate slowly shakes her head, sobbing. “No. It wasn’t me.”
“Then who was it?” I ask, every muscle tightening, my vision narrowing.
She braces for a moment, wipes her eyes and then replies, “It was your mother.”
I swallow hard, unable to comprehend Mum doing something so dreadful. “I don’t believe you.”
&n
bsp; “It’s true. She bought the blood from me. She wanted to cure your grandfather’s cancer.”
This is bullshit!
“Then why did she infect me with it?” I ask.
“I don’t know, Thea. And that’s the God-honest truth.”
More and more images of Mum flood my mind, as if a backlog of data is forcing its way to the surface.
“I shouldn’t have sold it to her,” Kate continues, “but I wanted to help.”
“No—you just wanted the money!” I notice the iPad on the bench, so I pick it up. “Is that how you paid for all this stuff?”
She doesn’t respond.
“Tell me!” I demand, blood from my palm smearing on the iPad screen, my nails almost cutting through the glass.
She slowly nods.
I scream at the top of my voice, launching the tablet through the air, with the headphones still attached. Kate’s eyes follow it as it bounces hard onto the concrete path, shattering the screen.
“Why couldn’t I remember killing my own mother?” I yell, standing up, the anger suffocating me, crushing my chest and lungs.
“Because I blocked it from you. I had to. As soon as your mother gave you the blood, I started seeing pictures of you in my head. I didn’t know what they were at first. But then I saw you kill your boyfriend.”
Jared.
“What do you mean?” I ask. But before she even answers, I’m whisked back to my bedroom again, to the night I was meant to leave with him.
I gag when I see him lying on his back.
His throat torn out; blood spewing from him, onto my carpet.
Oh, Jesus Christ!
No.
“I killed Jared, too,” I say, my words muffled by gritted teeth.
Kate nods, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I saw your mother tie you to your bed.” She stops for a moment, clearly struggling to speak. “And I saw you kill your mother.”
I start to cry as I relive the memory of sinking my teeth into Mum. It sends shudder after shudder of horror through me, churning my insides like I’ve just eaten something rancid.
I feel sick.
“Once I figured out what she’d done to you,” she continues, “I knew I had to take you far away. The police would have come for you, dragged you away. I couldn’t let them do that to you.”
“You should have let me remember.”
“I had to block it out. To protect you. You needed hope.” She stands up, reaches out to take my hand, but I back away from her. “That’s how you’ve come so far. How we’ve come so far.”
I can’t stop crying; can’t stop thinking about Mum, bleeding over the carpet, crawling away from me like a dying animal.
“I was never going home,” I snap, spit dripping from my lips. “Was I?”
She doesn’t answer.
“I am a prisoner—and a monster.”
Kate shakes her head. “No. You’re not. You’re Thea. And this is your home.”
“No it’s fucking not! This is your stinking home!”
“We don’t have to stay here. We can leave any time we want.”
“With you?”
“Yes. We’re stronger together. We can go anywhere. Another city maybe. Or even another country.” She starts to follow me as I reach the path. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Go to Hell!” I scream as I burst into a sprint.
“Come back!” Kate shouts. “It’s not safe out there!”
“Fuck you!”
Reaching the gate in seconds, I hurdle it with ease, landing on the dirt track with a thud. But I keep moving. Keep pushing forward. After a mile or so, I glance back, expecting to see Kate on my tail, or a set of headlights. But there isn’t.
She’ll never catch me.
I’m finally free.
As the dirt track widens, flashes of Mum and Jared, jolt me like a cattle prod.
Keep moving…
After a few minutes, I reach a deserted two-lane road. I must be getting close to the town. I push the anguish to one side and focus on getting home.
No matter what…
Another thirty minutes pass and there’s still no sign of life, just one or two farmhouses in the distance. Where the fuck am I? There’s no bus stop. No train station. There’s fuck all of anything.
I’m lost again.
I don’t have any money. How the hell am I supposed to pay for a ticket? I can’t exactly run home.
Fuck it! Just keep moving. You’ll figure something out.
Further along the road, I come to a junction. The rusty old sign says that left will take me to Colladale, and right will take me to Furnace Lake. Nothing about a train station or a town centre.
It’s got to be Colladale.
I turn left and continue down another dark road, the sky obscured by overhanging trees.
Panic sets in when the road appears endless. I’ve gone the wrong way! Why didn’t I pay attention when we went to the hospital?
Because that bitch told you to keep your head down, that’s why!
The muscles in my legs have started to throb, forcing me to slow down. I can feel another bout of tears come on when I reach yet another junction—but this one doesn’t even have a sign!
Distraught, I come to complete halt in the middle of the road, look up at the moon through the trees, and scream as loud as my lungs and voice box will allow me.
My head begins to thump, so I stop screaming, and then drop to my knees in defeat, sobbing into the night, praying that a car will just run me over, and be done with it.
A minute or so passes and I hear a faint noise in the distance. It’s getting closer. Glancing back, I see headlights about a mile away.
Kate.
I try to sprint again, but my legs feel stiff. I’ve run too far. There are high bushes on either side of me, so I have no choice but to carry on along the road at a quarter of my speed.
The rumble of the car reaches me in seconds, but I keep jogging, ignoring her. I don’t need her. I can survive just fine on my own.
“Excuse me,” a woman’s voice calls over from the car. “Do you need some help?”
I turn to find a white car, and an overweight woman in her late-sixties, poking her head out of the driver’s side.
“I’m fine,” I say, continuing along the road, relieved that it’s not Kate.
“Are you lost, sweetie?” she asks, her husky voice filled with worry.
My jog becomes a walk. “I’m just going home.”
“How far is that?”
“Not far.” I wish I knew the real answer.
“It’s a bit late to be out here on your own, sweetie. Can I give you a lift?”
I stop walking and look back at her. “How far is the nearest train station?”
“About three miles. I can take you there. It’s on my way.”
I glare at the endless road in front and behind me, and then nod at the lady. “Okay. That would be great.”
I climb onto the passenger seat, put my safety belt on, and the lady drives off.
“How come you’re out here so late? Where are your parents?”
What the hell do I tell her? That I ran away from home? That I live hundreds of miles away?
That I’m a blood-sucking vampire?
“My mother and sister are meeting me at the train station.”
“How come you’re out here alone? It’s almost eleven.”
“I was at my boyfriend’s house. His father was meant to drive me to the station, but his car broke down. I just took a couple of wrong turns.”
“Oh, I see. Do you have a phone on you? Maybe you could tell your Mum that you’re safe.”
“No, I left it at my boyfriend’s house.”
The lady reaches down into the door-panel and pulls out a mobile phone. “You can use mine if you want.”
As we reach another junction, the sound of a beating drum fills my ears. I cover them with my hands.
“Are you okay?” she asks, placing the phone in the centre cup
-holder.
“I’m fine. Just a bit of earache.”
“Oh, sounds nasty. Well, we’re almost there, sweetie. It’s lucky I found you when I did because these roads can be…”
Her words disappear into oblivion.
There’s a thick vein on her neck. It’s pulsating.
Ignore it, Thea. You’ve already fed.
The sound of blood pumping is deafening. The old lady’s lips have stopped moving. She glances at me with a frown. She knows something’s wrong?
Am I drooling? Snarling?
She mouths something again. I try to read her lips. ‘Are you okay?’ I think she says.
I tug on the safety belt, twisting it hard with my fingers.
My stomach growls.
The vein in her neck pulsates even more.
The rushing blood echoes even louder.
My body is shaking.
My nails are digging into the seat.
I’m—
“STOP THE FUCKING CAR!”
The tyres screech against the road as the car comes to a halt. I pull on the door handle hard, and in a split second I’m outside again, racing towards the lights of the town centre straight ahead. I don’t look back at the car. I don’t trust myself.
I just keep moving.
I pass an old church, a small school, some houses, a playground, a few shops, before I reach the lit-up town square. It’s packed with hordes of people, spewing out of pubs and kebab shops, laughing, singing.
Staring at me.
The sound of blood rushing through so many bodies is beyond deafening, beyond bearable. I can’t breathe, can’t see straight as I dodge men, women, blocking every direction. There’s a dark lane to the side of a rowdy pub. I sprint down it only to be met by a congregation of men, filling the narrow passage, wall to wall. Too late to turn back, I barge my way through, knocking two of them flat on the ground. I hear them yell something at me, but I don’t acknowledge their words; it’s all just white noise, inaudible background chatter.
I reach another road; this one seems even busier. There’s an army of women coming out of another pub, heading into a white mini-bus. On the opposite side of the road, there’s a man leaning over a brick wall, puking onto a small patch of grass.
A woman tries to speak to me, but I just snarl at her as I cross the road. A motorbike comes out of nowhere, almost hitting me. I leap out of the way, landing on the bonnet of a parked car.
Thea (Book 2): A Vampire Story Page 10
