by Liz Crowe
“Don’t worry,” I replied, “this won’t take long.”
Vincent looked me over one more time and finally resigned. “What is it that you would like to ask?”
I looked down at the ground and then back up into his eyes. “What did you say to me before you bit me? I recall seeing your lips moving but I couldn’t hear anything. What did you say?”
Vincent smiled and appeared relieved, maybe by the nature of my question. “I said that I’ve always known how special you were.”
My heart dropped and if my face could still flush, my cheeks had to be bright red. “You son of a bitch,” I cursed.
“Excuse me?”
Looking at Vincent now, I felt nothing – no love, no desire, nothing. Actually I felt something. I felt hatred and abhorrence and revulsion.
“You,” I hissed, “uttered those words to my parents on the day I was born and somehow engrained in their minds the need to constantly remind me just how special I was. Those damned words have haunted me my entire life, forcing me to look for my true calling and lead me to this! Lead me to you! You had no right to do that to them.”
“What I said to your parents on the day you were born was the truth, Allison. How they choose to deal with those words was their choice alone. I can’t be held accountable for that.”
“No, you don’t get to blame this on them.” I pushed his shoulders forcing him backwards and onto the bench.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you, Allison. This attitude can’t all be about a silly little phrase I uttered thirty-two years ago.”
“Humph,” I shook my head in disbelief and whispered to myself, “silly little phrase.” That silly little phrase had had an unbelievable impact on me for my entire life, an impact which he apparently couldn’t see. I leaned in over Vincent and placed both hands on the back of the bench, blocking him in with my arms. “Where is Matt?” I whispered.
Vincent’s head jerked back at the sound of Matt’s name.
“Allison, Matthew is dead. Remember…”
“Cut it out, Vincent!” I yelled, anger seething through my clenched teeth. “I know everything. Where is he?”
Vincent took a moment before he responded. A cocky grimace spread across his face. “And what exactly do you think you know, Allison?” His voice was cool and calm. He pushed both of my shoulders, backing me away from the bench, as he stood up.
“I know that you bit me the night of the Halloween party and Marlo ran after you. She saw the accident in your mind; she saw you take Matt.” My voice broke and venomous tears began to roll down my face at the thought of Matt. The anger that had been building in my core was now overflowing. “She saw the visions you fabricated in your mind and fed me as the truth. You used your gift to record and replay stories to manipulate my mind and that of my friends. You helped accelerate my symptoms by feeding me blood and passing it off as wine. Do I need to go on?”
“Hmm,” Vincent mulled his thoughts for a moment, stroking his chin. “You’ve been talking to Marlo.” He was coy in his response.
“It doesn’t matter who I’ve been talking to. I know the truth and now I want answers from you. Where…is…Matt?” I demanded.
Vincent turned his back to me and walked around the bench, seemingly taking his sweet time in selecting his next words. His calmness angered me.
“Even if I told you where Matthew is, what good would that do you? You can’t see him. Or rather,” Vincent paused, “he can’t see you.” Vincent waived his hand up and down, insinuating Matt couldn’t see me because of my post- transformation appearance. “You can’t openly reveal who you really are to him, unless…”
“Unless, what?” I shouted.
“Or maybe you would reveal yourself to Matthew,” he said in a taunting voice, “yes, and then you would be in the same situation I am. A rule breaker, damned to death.”
“You would like that wouldn’t you?” I snarled. “You would like it if I broke a rule just like you, and faced death, just like you. What? Then I would be left with no other choice than to run off with you so we could exist happily ever after?”
“It did cross my mind,” Vincent replied arching his eyebrows.
“You bastard,” I roared. Anger piled up in my belly and I could barely hold it back. The urge to leap over the bench and rip out his throat was so tempting. “After all you have done to me, you still think I would run away with you?” My voice echoed through the hollow ridges below us.
Vincent ignored my question. “You know, Allison, even if I did tell you where Matthew is, it wouldn’t matter.” He stopped pacing and squared himself to me. He twisted his face into mine and said, “He wouldn’t know who you are.” His lip curled up at the edge, the tips of his fangs visible and an arrogant grin stretched his mouth.
“You erased all memory of me?” I was disgusted by the thought. Not only was it bad enough that he had kidnapped Matt and transplanted him somewhere, but he had erased the past eight years of his memory and our life together.
“I had to, Allison. It was for his own good.”
“What is wrong with you?” I shouted. “You think you can just go around manipulating other peoples’ lives for your own benefit?”
“Our kinds shouldn’t intermingle anyways.”
“What in the hell does that mean?”
“Allison,” Vincent stated calmly. “I don’t understand why you are so angry. If anything, you should be thanking me.”
“Thanking you?” I yelled. “And what exactly should I be thanking you for?”
“Think about it, I saved Matthew’s life.” Vincent was sincere in his response.
“You can’t be serious?”
“Your symptoms were there and they were real; you know that now. I removed Matthew from a very dangerous situation before you transformed on your own and possibly harmed him, maybe even killed him. How could you be mad at me for that? I saved him from certain death and eternal damnation.”
Vincent’s siblings were right, he was selfish and self-centered and lived in his own world.
“You stole him from me, hid him and then basically drugged me to accelerate my symptoms and you expect me not to be mad? And not only that, you expect me to thank you for destroying my life and Matt’s?”
“I only nudged your symptoms along. It was inevitable that you were going to have to transform. I did what I had to do to get you to finally see what you really were.”
“You did what you had to do?”
“Yes, Allison. You certainly didn’t pick up on any of the more subtle hints that I had left for you.”
“And what kind of subtle hints did you leave for me?”
“I knew you were dreaming about the garden, of course.”
“Because you planted those dreams!”
“No. I did not plant those dreams.” He said the words with such sincerity that I believed him. “That was the venom in your system trying to tell you your history. I heard you talk about the dream and that’s when I knew you were more than just a descendant with thirteen gold flecks in each eye. But you couldn’t interpret the dream on your own so I left some books to help you piece it all together.”
“Books? What books?”
Vincent sighed. “In your den, Allison. At your house.” He tossed his head over his shoulder and nudged it towards my house. “All of those leather bound books detail your family’s history. I recorded everything that I had learned from your ancestors or witnessed with my own eyes and wrote them down on those pages. I even left the Bible open to the story of the Garden of Eden thinking it would catch your attention and make you want to read but it didn’t.”
No wonder Vincent had been so persistent for me to read the night I came home from the hospital. He had wanted me to figure everything out on my own.
“And when you obviously weren’t going to read the books I thought I’d try something else.”
“And what was that?”
“I wanted to plant a different sort of dream. Not one of the gard
en because I didn’t want to tamper with that. But I figured since I knew you could dream, why not plant one that directly told you that you were a vampire.”
“You planted that nightmare that I had on Rattlesnake Island? What were you thinking?”
“Allison, believe me, that wasn’t the dream I envisioned. I dreamt up a romanticized story, something you would see in the movies, something that would have made you want to become a vampire, not scare you from it.”
“Well then what happened?”
“I don’t really know. Maybe the venom…”
“Enough. Enough!” I yelled. I couldn’t take this anymore. Vincent was avoiding anything having to do with Matt. “You could have approached me and left Matt out of this!”
“Oh yes, because when I told you on our trip home from the island that you were part vampire, you really believed me,” Vincent sarcastically replied. “If I would have told you that, you would have run back to Matthew and told him about the conversation and I couldn’t have that.”
“You could have faked my death! Didn’t you think of that? You could have left Matt and my friends alone and just faked my death.”
“Events may not have unfolded the way I wanted them to, but what’s done is done,” Vincent replied.
“And you think you have what you want. Me.”
“I would still like you to go away with me, yes.”
“You have to be kidding me! Never! I never want to see you again,” I said through labored breath, tears scorching my face. “You stole my husband, manipulated my friends and cursed me. If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you myself and save my siblings from having to do it!”
Vincent snorted. “Your siblings,” he stated.
“Well they certainly aren’t yours anymore.”
“And they certainly can’t protect you! Caz was hot on your trail and Lorenzo wanted to have a family meeting to discuss how to handle the situation!”
“Caz?”
“Yes, Casper Devoe, Luscious’ henchman. You remember him from the Halloween party don’t you? He was getting closer to you. He scouted out descendants in Cocoa Beach, then Tennessee, then that young couple in Columbus. I knew he was at the hospital the day before your accident; I could smell him all over you. And then he showed up at Jordana’s party. And what did your siblings want to do? They wanted to talk. Well there was no time to talk. If Caz was that close, then Lucious and Delilah weren’t too far behind, and I was right, wasn’t I? I did what I had to do to protect you!”
“Leave,” I yelled, pointing a finger out over the valleys. “And never, ever return.”
Vincent paused and eyed me from head to toe. “It’s too bad you don’t want to join me. We really could have enjoyed eternity together.”
“Leave!”
Vincent took a deep breath and sighed. “Your wish,” he placed one arm in front of him and the other in back and took a bow, his eyes never leaving mine, “my command.” With that, he stood up and in two huge leaps he was out of sight.
I stared out over the lake and into the ridge where he had just disappeared. Everything had happened so quickly I had to wonder if it had happened at all. I took a deep breath and swallowed the cool air into the pit of my stomach. The anger still churned, but now that he had left, it seemed to subside. Could he really be gone, just like that? I expected more of a fight from him. I thought he would try harder to convince me to go with him. If I was such a prized possession, how could he just go? The depth of my anger must have shown through so much that he knew he couldn’t convince me tonight. Or was there something else?
I walked to the edge of the ridge and looked down. Fog rolled up over the jagged landscape like a bubbling caldron. I hopped off the ledge and descended into the darkness. I had to see for myself if Vincent was gone or up to something else. I landed on an outcropping and searched through the fog in the three directions around me but saw no sign of him. I took a step off the ledge and descended several hundred feet below to the river’s edge. The riverbank was smooth dirt dotted with rocks. There were no foot prints. I took a deep breath but could only smell the crisp fall air. Vincent’s scent was nowhere to be found. He must have moved so fast that I couldn’t pick up his scent.
I looked around again. The moon had moved towards the west and reflected brightly off of the stream. What am I doing, I thought to myself. I told Vincent to leave yet I was down here looking for him. I should have known better. He wasn’t going to stick around and be humiliated by my rejection. His ego wouldn’t allow that.
I looked into the stream and saw my reflection staring back at me. The tears had stopped but trails of blistered flesh were temporarily left in its place, some already starting to heal. I looked sad and felt confused. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do now. I desperately wanted to look for Matt but had no idea where to even start or what to say to him if I found him. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back to the castle or just leave and start fresh someplace new. Something in my reflection caught my attention. Something was different. I examined my mirror image trying to identify what was off. My eyes. They were a pale version of the vibrant rings I was accustomed to seeing. My belly let out a growl that snuck up to my throat. The back of my throat felt like it was on fire. I needed to feed.
I turned toward the wall of rock that I needed to scale to get back to the lake and my house. From there, I would run back to the castle so that I could hunt with one of my siblings.
I leapt towards the ravine, aiming for a rock jutting out of the side but as I approached the rock, I missed it. I expected to land on my two feet on top of the rock, but my new found agility failed me. I wrapped my arms around the rock as my legs dangled below. “What was that all about,” I muttered to myself. I swung my legs back and forth until I had enough momentum to swing myself up and around, where I landed on my original target. I took a deep breath and pondered what had just happened. After relaxing for a minute, I realized I was drained. It must be a combination of not eating enough on my first hunt and my argument with Vincent that had zapped me of all my energy. I wondered again what I should do – run back to the castle and hunt or rest first. A flare of heat ignited in the back of my throat...eat, I need to eat.
I set my sights on another rock, several feet above me. If I could make it to that rock, then it would be just a short jump to the top and I could head back to the castle. I dug down to find some energy and sprang towards my target but missed again. I didn’t land anywhere near where I wanted. I hit the side of the ravine and slid down, rocks and brush scratching my skin.
I slid down the side finally resting on another jagged outcropping, small rocks and other debris hitting me on their way to the river. I realized I needed to take smaller jumps to get to the top; I just didn’t have the energy for anything more than that.
I took small leaps, expending all of my energy, and eventually made it back to the lake. I bent over and grabbed my knees taking in a much needed breath. I surveyed my body. My blouse was ripped and several scrapes appeared on my arms. I had a hole in the knee of my pants and even broke a heel off of my boot. I sat on the bench and took my boots off; they were of no use to me broken. I hung my head and decided I needed rest first before hunting. There was no way I had the stamina to run back to Castle Adena.
I got up and walked towards my house, remembering the important rule Marlo had taught me when it came to meditating…find a safe place. I grabbed the handle of the backdoor but it was locked. I formed an open palmed fist with my right hand and pushed it through the glass. I apparently had enough strength for that because it broke on my first attempt. I pulled my hand back and it was a bloody mess and stung with venom, but at least it would heal itself. I unlocked the door and walked in.
It felt like I was home, like I had really lived here for the three years Vincent had said I did. Everything was familiar to me, but that was probably due to Vincent’s contrived, and quite convincing, images. I walked through the living room and came upon the sofa table where the
framed photographs were displayed. I picked up one of me and Jenna. I felt the sting of a tear touch my eye but I fought off the tears as I did not want to deal with the fiery pain. I missed my best friend Jenna so much and wondered if I’d ever be able to see her again. I then grabbed the photo of Matt on his motorcycle and stared at it before holding it to my chest as if hugging his photo would make me feel better. It didn’t. I set down that picture and picked up the next. This one was of me and Vincent on the Lake Erie shoreline at sunset. We were sitting on the beach with the bright orange sky behind us. We had our arms wrapped around each other in a playful embrace. We both looked so happy.
I felt disgusted. I slammed the frame down against the table shattering the glass. I flipped over every other framed photo of the two of us. I didn’t want to see him, even in a photo, after what he had done to me.
After breaking all of the picture frames, and throwing a few across the room, I stomped up the stairs to the loft bedroom. I threw myself on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. The bed was soft and feathery like a cloud, but I wasn’t comfortable and this wasn’t going to help me rest. I sprang from the bed and landed on the wall overlooking the living room. I surveyed the rooms below me and decided this would be the best place to rest.
I crouched down, assuming my meditation position. I pulled back my hearing but was having a difficult time. This morning’s events were still running through my head like a marathon runner. I took a deep breath and tried again. The sounds of the cricket’s chirping and the soft breeze began to fade. Slowly, my eyes began to close. I heard a noise from below, it sounded like something moving over broken glass, but I fought to keep my concentration. I had to rest before my run back to my family and my next hunting trip. My hearing turned to deafness and my vision faded to blackness. As my sense of smell cut off, I caught a tiny whiff of something pungent. My mind went blank and I was out.
I wasn’t sure how long I perched there but the next thing I knew I was falling off the wall and sailing across the living room. I landed with a great deal of force against the fireplace. My senses were all over the place. Every nook and cranny of the brick was visible to me. I could see every grain of wood in the floor. Sounds flooded my ears as if thousands of radios were blasting at the same time. I looked up to the loft and saw a shadow move amongst all of the fine details I was trying to comprehend.
