Chapter 16 | Chapter 18

Days passed as young Andric continued to be a nuisance (but a cute one) at night, and slowly began to grow into the man he would hopefully become. I continued my painting, trying to build my savings back up, and my lovely Mari continued studying Vampire Lore, Parenting, and practicing her Knitting. I had bought her a box of needlepoint supplies, as well, but it seemed that would wait until Andric was a bit bigger.

(more…)

Chapter 15 | Chapter 17

The dreary weather outside actually was a boon to me, because it meant that there wasn’t a sun to burn me up. I could see that Mari was getting tired of the constant rain, however, so I made sure she had plenty of things to do inside.

With what was left of our savings, we had bought some curtains (which I can’t believe I had forgotten… Thank you, Mari, for mentioning it to me…) and started cluttering up the house to really make it look lived-in.

(more…)

Chapter 14 | Chapter 16

Things at “Camp Forgotten Hollow” slowly became routine. Mari woke up each afternoon, had a solitary dinner, and did any cleanup the camp needed. I then woke up later (closer to sundown – for obvious reasons..) , went to find my breakfast alone (also for obvious reasons), and came back to camp.

Between the two of us, the camp was always spic-and-span, and the garden was growing weed-free. It wasn’t a huge additional income, but it was welcome none-the-less. I was still making most of our money from painting, because Mari had quit her job so she wouldn’t have to commute to Windenburg every work day. Once we had a house, perhaps she could find a job she could work from home in an office, but I certainly wasn’t going to require it of her. I was making enough money currently that we were still able to save a hefty amount with every paycheck from the gallery.

(more…)

Chapter 13 | Chapter 15

When Sonia and I pulled up in front of a huge, ugly mansion in a desert town an hour or two later, I sat there for a moment, completely nonplussed. I hadn’t even known there was a desert town anywhere close to where we lived… and I quickly made sure Sonia would let me take care of things by myself. She nodded, and replied that she would remain in the car, then expressed concern about me being in the bright sun.

With a hand on her shoulder, I assured her I had plenty of energy left from my meditation, that I would be just fine as long as he answered his door in a timely matter… and then left the shade of the car with a smile.

(more…)

Chapter 12 | Chapter 14

The next day dawned behind a haze of clouds, for which I was incredibly grateful. I woke groggily and stumbled out of the tent to find Mariko eating some cereal on my … oops.. our… cooler. She smiled broadly at me, and quipped “Good Afternoon, sleepyhead.”

“It’s afternoon?” I asked, confused, and wandered over to my diminishing stash of plasma packs. I didn’t want to go find “breakfast” in the town square, and I wasn’t about to ask Mariko… that’s not why I married her, and it seemed extremely presumptuous of me to assume she would be okay with being “breakfast”.

By the time we were done with breakfast, rain had moved in to go with the clouds, and Mari pulled out an umbrella wryly, and made a quick call to Windenburg’s Camping Supply store, and ordered a delivery of new chairs so we could sit by the fire again.

(more…)

Chapter 11 | Chapter 13

The evening “dawned” slowly, with as keyed up as I was for tonight… and I woke up, took my shower, took care of my garden, and prepared for my “day” as best as I could.

Sighing, I found a human wandering around the town square looking very lost, and… steeling myself, I tried hypnotizing him as my blood told me how to do. It worked, and he grinned up at me emptily… so I leaned in, and took a bit of his plasma. It tasted a good bit better than the plasma packs – which, of course I had run out of…. but I didn’t like the guilty feeling I got afterwards, since he hadn’t been willing before I hypnotized him, only after. He walked away muzzily (I hadn’t drank enough to make him tired)… and I frowned to myself for a moment, watching him drift away. I hadn’t even asked his name! How rude of me…

(more…)

Chapter 10 | Chapter 12

The next day was mercifully cloudy, and it allowed me some time to actually work on my painting. While working on it, however, I noticed that my shower was pouring water out of the nozzle without even being turned on. Figures. More going wrong. I laid down my paintbrush, and rummaged through my toolbox in search of a wrench.

I was just coming out of my shower, with the faucet fixed when I realized I had another unexpected visitor.

“Mariko!” I cried, and hurried to her side. It seemed impossible that so much had happened since I had last seen her – nay, since I’d last even thought of her.

I folded her into my arms, and tried not to burst out crying with another rush of inexplicable emotion. I let her go, pushing the tears away, and noticed that she didn’t look the slightest bit happy with me.

…. “What?” …. Bewildered, I just looked at her, “What did I do wrong?”

“Wrong? What would make you think that? Why was I the last to know that you and Alex aren’t a thing anymore?! .. And where have you been!?” She burst out.

I cringed and looked away.

“I am truly sorry, Mari. So much has happened. I’ve hardly been myself these last few days. How did you hear about Alex and I?” I sighed deeply and tried to meet her eyes.

“The gossip is all over Windenburg. How you’re no longer human, you were seen drinking plasma.. and how you attacked Alex and wounded her gravely. It’s hard to even cross the street around town without hearing something else about it. People are afraid your art career is over, and, to be frank – they’re a bit afraid of you, too.” Her voice raised a little more with each statement, and I tried not to flinch away from her.

Her voice evened out, and she sighed. “All of Windenburg has always known about the vampires of Forgotten Hollow, and for the most part, those creatures of the night have always co-existed with us humans peacefully. People are now worried that you will change the balance.”

“I didn’t mean to – ” I began, only to have her interrupt me.

“- Dušan – I’m sure you didn’t. But it happened. And you should have come to me! How am I to help you – to be your friend – if you don’t even think of me in a crisis!” to my horror, her voice sounded near tears, and I reached out a hand to touch her shoulder.

“Did you ever think that maybe I was too far gone to even think of my friends?” I asked quietly, but then I thought of how I’d run to Sonia. I sighed deeply and looked away.

“I’m not very good at having friends.” I confessed miserably. “I’m not used to it. I’ve been a loner most of my life, and losing my mother didn’t help that. I’m not trying to excuse it.. but please, hear me out before you leave me to the wolves. Let me tell you what has happened since we last talked. Rumors hardly ever get the whole truth.”

I took her hand, and guided her over to the fire pit, motioning for her to take a seat. I lit the fire – mostly for it’s comforting presence, and started the story from the beginning.

She sat there quietly, sometimes watching me, sometimes watching the fire, but always listening carefully. Thankfully, she didn’t try to interrupt, or I’m not sure I would have gotten through the whole thing. After I finished, we both just sat there for what felt like forever.

She stood up abruptly a few minutes later, and started pacing in front of my little tent.

“Dušan. Oh, Dušan. I swear, this is not your fault. Don’t even think it. Damn that old vampire, anyway. How could you have known how dangerous he was….” she paused for a moment, then continued pensively, “I don’t think any of us truly knew – he’s always seemed to be harmless up in that old mansion, never bothering anyone. I had no way to know – to be able to warn you – that he had it in for your family. And as for Alex – she was only after your money, you know. Everyone knew it. Everyone – I guess, except for you. Perhaps it served her right for attacking you without knowing how hard you’ve worked to get where you now are. You losing control and feeding on her was probably inevitable.. and also completely forgivable, under the circumstances. How could you have known Vlad’s warning was so true? … You truly had no way to know.”

I watched her pace back and forth, wondering at her apparent unease.

“Mari – just so you know – it won’t happen again. I know I need to prevent hunger now. You’re safe.” I stood up, reaching towards her, but she stopped and pulled away.

“How could you think I was afraid of you?!” She burst out, clenching her fists.

Startled at her anger, I just looked at her speechlessly.

She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself.. and slowly continued, “Dušan – I have not been truthful with you. I should have been – but I think I was lying to myself, too. I have loved you from the moment I met you, but you couldn’t see me. You only saw Alex – so I took the part of you I could have. The friendship. And I held on to it in silence. There are so many things I should have told you about this town, about Alex, about everything.. But I said nothing. And that’s on me. I’m sorry. But it doesn’t mean I’m afraid of you. Never that. I don’t care that you’re not human. I don’t care that you still live in a tent. I never would have. I’m not like.. her.” Her words stumbled to a stop, and she turned away.

Blindly, I turned, and nearly fell into my chair. What was I supposed to say to that?? I felt off balance, out of breath, stunned. How could I have thought I was meant to be with Alex. How could I have ignored Mari so completely! She turned back and watched me warily, then, she too sat down.

We both sat there in silence, watching the fire burn itself out. Finally, I stood up and walked to my garden.

I picked a lone rose out of a tangled bush, and held it out to her.

“I’m sorry, Mari. Please. Please, forgive me. I never meant to hurt you.”

She looked from my face to the rose and back to me, then hesitantly took it. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.. and then left. Without another word. But – at least she had taken the rose. Maybe there was hope, yet….

I threw another log on the fire and sat there for the rest of the night. I don’t truly need sleep anymore, and I didn’t really feel like hiding away inside my tent, anyway. What was I to do now? If I’d thought I was confused before her visit, I’d been sorely mistaken. By morning, the fire had completely burned itself out, and I wandered off, walking mostly blindly about Forgotten Hollow.

I ended up at the “Point” – an area with a bench, and a dead tree that overlooked the bridge out of town. I sat down on the bench, deep in thought. The events of the last few days swirled in my head, and I let them fly. I thought of Alex’s form on the ground – of the feeling of slipping into a darker form of me. I thought of Mariko’s confession, and I wondered at the way her words had made my heart clench. How could I have been so wrong about Alex? About Mari? Would she forgive me, as her head nod seemed to have said… or was that wishful thinking on my part? I went back and forth in my head for a long while, then stood to leave.

To my astonishment, the cat from the other day was walking toward me purposefully.

“You’re an idiot.” I heard in my head. Blinking stupidly, I stopped and stared at the cat.

“… What?” I blurted out, and I would have continued, but the cat interrupted me.

“Yes, yes, I know you can hear me. And I know who you are. You are your mother’s son, after all. She was my friend at a hard time in my life, and I always swore if I could repay her, I would.”

Even more shocked.. I bent down towards the cat, letting it sniff my hand as if it were just any normal cat.

“You.. you knew my mother?”

“I said so, didn’t I?” the cat replied in my head, haughtily. “Now – enough of that. You are what you were meant to be. Now you have to do what your heart dictates. You must go after her, of course.”

“After who? .. My mother?”

The cat laughed in my head, and climbed up on the bench I had just been sitting on. I sat down next to it.

“No, of course not your mother. Your woman. Not the one you attacked, doofus. The other one. The one you are meant to love.”

“I’m meant to… what? Who ARE you? How do you know all this? And what’s this about what I’m meant to be?”

The cat merely stared at me for a long moment, then it left as suddenly as it had arrived.

Nonplussed, I stood up, noticing that sometime while … conversing?… with the cat, the rain had settled in, and now I was getting soaked. I headed home slowly, my thoughts whirling in my head, and my heart still in knots. I had some deciding to do.

Chapter 10 | Chapter 12

Chapter 9 | Chapter 11

By the end of my day I had nowhere to go, and nothing else to do but to run to Sonia again. I relayed the rest of my day’s story to her through tears.

“She’s truly gone, Sonia!” I wailed. “I’ve looked everywhere for her. Even her cellphone is disconnected, and all her personal things are gone from her home. I don’t understand how a person can move so fast. I mean – she left all her furniture, but it’s clear from what her landlord said that she has no intention to come back for it.”

“And the worst part is – I just sat there on my cooler as she left, and I said nothing. I didn’t even TRY to apologize. She’s gone. And I did nothing.” Miserably, I broke into more tears, and Sonia quietly patted the couch next to her. I made my way over there and sat down, still bawling like a baby.

“Dušan…” she began haltingly – “I’m not sure what to say.”

She shook her head sadly, then continued, “I had a feeling she wasn’t right for you from the beginning, but I didn’t want to step on your happiness. Now I feel like I should have said something. Anything. Maybe you wouldn’t be hurting like this.”

“But she seemed so perfect! Why did I let myself fall so hard, so fast?” Once again, I buried my face in my hands, but the tears seemed to be drying up.

“Ah, that’s a question we all ask at least once in our lives, I think, Dušan.” Sonia said with a smile.

Then, the smile abruptly disappeared. “I think you have more to worry about in your life right now than a runaway fiance. Aren’t you forgetting a little something about your new diet? How are you going to deal with that?”

“I wish I knew, Sonia. Despite the temptation, I doubt I’ll be feeding off of humans. And I don’t need Vlad to show me how to make Plasma packs. I learned that in my research … I just wish I didn’t have to know. Moot point, I suppose, right?”

“Mroooowll.” I heard behind me, completely interrupting my train of thought. I turned around, expecting to see Prissy. I was shocked to see a black cat, wearing – of all things – a top hat and a neon green bow tie. I stared at him for a moment, wondering if I was just really hungry again and hallucinating.

“Sonia, do you see the cat with the hat and the bow tie??” I said softly, and heard her chuckling behind me.

“Of course I do, Dušan.” Sonia replied, “I’m not blind! He’s been hanging around since Prissy came to live with me. Him and a few of his friends.”

As if on cue, a dirty white cat jumped up onto the cat tree to join the black one. This one ignored me, though. “Mrrroooowllll” The black cat insisted, this time much louder. I got up and walked over by him, never losing eye contact. This was weird. I wasn’t really a cat person, but this cat clearly wanted something from me.

I put out my hand to let him smell it, and he jumped down off the climbing tree and approached me. After a brief sniff, he twitched his tail and ran out the cat door that I hadn’t even noticed until now. Blinking in confusion, I stood there for a long moment, then turned back to Sonia with a sigh.

“I don’t know what to do now, Sonia.” I said, miserably remembering the sight of Alex’s crumpled form at my feet. “I thought I had everything worked out. Now it’s all a big mess.”

Sonia stood up and came over to me, taking my shoulders in her hands. “Never fear, Dušan,” she said, “You will figure that out in time. You will, perhaps, even forget Alex. However – you should never forget the lesson that she taught you.”

I sighed, and looked away. “I don’t think I’ll be forgetting her. At least – not any time soon.”

Noticing that the sun had gone down, I suddenly realized the time. Sonia was probably exhausted. “I should go.” I said, and turned back to her. “It’s getting late for you.”

She smiled, and patted my shoulders one more time. “Yes, it is. But remember, you are welcome here at any time of day or night, my friend.”

After giving Sonia a quick hug, I headed home, thinking furiously to myself. My world had been turned upside down too many times in the past couple of days, and I felt disoriented, like the snowflakes in a snow globe after it’s been shaken violently. I was so befuddled that I apparently couldn’t even start a fire in my firepit without lighting my arm on fire. I quickly put it out, and tried again.

Something about sitting by a fire is comforting, and even though there was no real reason to have it lit – it’s not like I needed to cook dinner or anything – it made me feel better. I pulled out one of my limited supply of Plasma packs and drained it, then sat pensively looking into the fire. After a while, I realized how tired I was, and I extinguished the fire carefully and climbed into my tent.

The next morning, I tried to go back to my routine. Gardening, painting, saving money for my house. Because I truly didn’t want to live in a tent forever. However, I had forgotten one small detail.

As the sun rose in the sky, and the clouds moved away, my skin started smoking. It felt a little bit like the worst sunburn you’ve ever had. There was no way I could stand outside and paint all day like I had been doing. I retreated to my tent for a while, trying to figure out what to do – at least in the short term. My thoughts finally turned to the Windenburg library – and I made up my mind to go and expand my knowledge of vampires. I was going to need to know more now – a lot more.

By the time I got to Windenburg, a massive thunderstorm had rolled in. At least my skin isn’t burning, I thought wryly and headed inside.

After finding the section on vampires, I settled in to read… only to realize I had an audience.

“Are you Dušan Bratan – the artist??” the young boy asked.

Sighing, I put the book down. “Yes?”

“Can I have your autograph!?”

Inwardly, I sighed in relief. At least he hadn’t taken one look at me and noticed that I wasn’t human or something. I reached out and took the pen and autograph book he held in his hand. Smiling in the least threatening way I could, I quickly scribbled my name and handed back the autograph.

Thankfully, this seemed to mollify the boy, who ran to a woman I suspected was his mother, jumping about with excitement.

I turned back to my book, and lost a few hours in reading. I found out a little bit more about vampires, but nothing hugely exciting. I had a feeling that I was going to have to learn how to be one from an actual vampire…. and there was no way I was going to approach Vlad willingly again.

Sighing deeply, I put the books away and returned to the chair, wondering what to do next. The question of the ages, I suppose. The storm still raged outside, and the after school crowd seemed to have dissipated. It seemed that not many other people were out and about, braving the weather.

Looking around, I noticed that one of the library computers was available, and it occurred to me that I should check on the status of my house permits. Surely I had gotten some sort of answer by now?…

I sat down, typing in the password to my email, and scanned through the junk mail. Unfortunately, there was nothing from the city. And there was nothing from Alex, either. (I mean – I had to check. There could have been something…)

My stomach chose that exact moment to remind me that I needed to keep myself full, so I signed out of my email, returned to my chair by the window and pulled a plasma pack out of my pocket. As I started drinking, I heard a loud gasp beside me. A red-haired woman was sitting in the other window seat, staring at me in horror. In confusion, I stared back, then I glanced down. That was when it dawned on me that my snack didn’t look anything like something that was consumable by humans. Embarrassed, and, yes, a little afraid at being found out, I left the library as quickly as I could. I finished my snack on the way back to Forgotten Hollow, glad to see that my new enemy – the sun – was going down.

In the dark, I took care of my garden and my bees, and stared miserably at the half finished canvas on my easel. There was no way I could paint in the dark. How was I going to survive if I couldn’t paint. I needed that house. At least I had plenty in savings now, but I really didn’t want to have to spend it on everyday expenses.

At a complete loss, I finally crawled into my tent, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, I checked my mail. … And yes! There it was. A note from the city.

I stared at the letter for a long moment, rereading it several times. Things just couldn’t get any better, could they?! My anger started bubbling up inside me slowly, and I don’t know what I might have done if Sonia hadn’t chosen that exact moment to walk by my campsite.

“Dušan! What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately concerned.

Wordlessly, I showed her the letter. She read over it, then frowned. I walked to my tent, and pulled out the copies I had of the house plans and the application. Everything was filled in, the plans were complete.. there was nothing wrong with them. Both of us were baffled. After a long conversation, the only thing we could figure out was to re-contact them, to try again… but to do that, I would need to go back to the library. And I wasn’t ready to do that yet.

I lit the fire again after Sonia went home, and sat there miserably. Poking at it with a long stick, I sat there most of the next night, lost in thoughts that kept going in circles. I couldn’t help thinking that I must have made the worst mistake of my life – moving here to Forgotten Hollow. At the same time, I still wasn’t ready to give up on rebuilding my mother’s legacy. There had to be something I could do….

---

Blooper:

Mid-conversation at Sonia’s house, one of the stray cats attacked her. And yes, the cat with the hat really did just show up out of nowhere and interrupt the conversation.

Chapter 9 | Chapter 11

Chapter 8 | Chapter 10

Author’s Note: This chapter takes a dark turn, and is not recommended family friendly reading. Be aware – and enjoy!

In terror, the first and only thing I could think of to do was to run to Sonia. Which I did. She immediately embraced me and asked for the whole story. What I remembered of it, that is. Her eyes grew bigger with each sentence I spoke, and by the end she was nearly in tears.

“I should have known something like this would happen.” Sonia said when I finally finished the story and waited for her response.

“What do you mean?” I said. I was afraid I knew the answer, but part of me wanted to hear it out loud.

“Dušan… you are no longer human. I’m afraid Vlad did not just feed on you as you had originally feared, but he also must have forced you to feed on him.” Her eyes were serious, and she spoke haltingly, as if she was afraid to actually say the words.

I felt my knees try to buckle underneath me, and the world started spinning.

“What??” It came out in a harsh whisper. “What do you mean?” I asked, even though the answer was clear.

“I’m sorry, Dušan. There is nothing that can be done.” She dropped her hands to her side, and sighed deeply.

The silence stretched between us seemingly interminably.

Finally, she spoke again. “I don’t know what else to tell you, Dušan.”

“The only thing I can say – is that this should not change who you are. You are a good person at heart. And you are still my friend.” She held her arms out to me, and I could see no censure or fear in her eyes.

I folded her frail form into my arms. “Thank you, Sonia.” I whispered, and then, without another word, I left. I had business with the vampire on the top of the hill.

I burst through Vlad’s door without even bothering to knock, full of righteous anger.

“How DARE you!” I intoned.

“How DARE you say there are no hard feelings against my family – and then do THIS to me!”

“You welcomed me into your house with what I thought were good intentions! I should have known that was impossible for you.”

He even had the depravity to act like my anger made him afraid.

“WHAT were you thinking?!” I demanded, trying to force an answer from him.

“I… It was for your own good, my son.” He began, haltingly.

“How could … THIS… ” I motioned to myself and continued, “Be for my own good. I’m now DEAD!”

“No, you’re undead.” Vlad corrected. “And now you’ll live forever. You’ll have time to build your mansion and your legacy to rival even mine. After all that has been done to your family, I felt I owed you this honor.”

I was completely dumbfounded.

Before I could come up with anything to say, he reached behind himself to a package on the pipe organ.

“Here, childe.” he said and handed it to me.

I slowly ripped open the paper – only to find some plasma packs inside. Nearly shaking with anger, now, I looked up at him and began to speak, only to have him cut me off.

“You will not have to feed on humans, as many of us do. I can teach you to make these for yourself.. but you will have to eat. I can tell you haven’t fed yet – and not feeding can lead to dire consequences. Both for you and for those around you.”

“This. Is. Not. An. Honor.” I bit out, barely coherent enough to even talk.

“How could you even think something like this would be for my own good. You have taken EVERYTHING from me!”

In a white-hot rage, I flew at him, and, to my surprise, he fled from me.

I chased him out the door, feeling myself slide into … what I can only describe as… another form of myself. An angrier, more terrible form. One I hoped I never had to experience again.

Before he could leave his yard, he suddenly turned around, his eyes clearly showing his inhumanity.

Howling in rage, we met in the middle – a mess of arms, legs, and fangs.

I couldn’t tell you how long the fight lasted, or even what exactly transpired during it.

All I really know – is that I lost. And when I came back to myself, I was alone on the ground outside Vlad’s mansion. Shakily, I got to all fours and tried to push myself upright.

Well, that had gone well I thought to myself sarcastically. I dropped my head into my hands, at a loss of what to do now. Fighting with Vlad solved nothing, but I knew I would never forgive him for what he had done. Nothing could ever be the same again, obviously.

After long moments crying and feeling sorry for myself, I pushed myself to my feet and dusted myself off as best I could.

With nothing else to do, I headed home dejectedly. Things could not get any worse at this point, right?

I was standing at my campsite, feeling very sorry for myself when I heard someone stomping up behind me. To my utter horror, I turned around to find Alex there. How had she found my home? What was she doing here?! I glanced around, suddenly seeing my.. hovel.. for what she must see.

“I can explain…” I began.

“You’d BETTER explain!” She yelled. “You LIED to me! You’re not a successful artist – you’re a CON artist!”

“I am not!” I yelled back. “I already applied for the permits to build a home, and I have plenty of money to do just that! I never lied to you – I just didn’t tell you I was living in a tent!” Weak at the knees from hunger and everything that had happened, I sat down on my pitiful little cooler to continue.

“Alex, I adore you. I couldn’t risk losing you by telling you the truth. I AM successful as an artist, and I can afford to care for you. It just doesn’t look like it right now. Things will change – I promise you!”

“You LIE! I can’t believe a word you say! Imagine my embarrassment when I had to hear all about you from FRIENDS of mine who knew you better than I knew you! You’ve made me the laughingstock of everyone in Windenburg. Everyone knew about you except for ME!”

I started to reply.. I stood up, looking at her beseechingly.. and then I felt something slide in me. The world went a bit dim, and everything was spinning.

Or maybe that was just me spinning. Before I knew it, I was in that.. other.. form of me. And not out of anger this time. I couldn’t excuse it on that.

I saw myself begin to attack Alex as if through a fog. And I couldn’t stop myself.

The sweet, metallic taste of blood slid down my throat as I fed, but, still, I couldn’t stop. This had been what Vlad meant when he said not feeding was dangerous.

My own body had taken the choice from me. Sadly, I set myself back down on my cooler, and looked down at Alex’s crumpled form. She was never going to forgive me now. Whether or not I lied by omission was no longer an issue. I had attacked her.

I was completely “myself” again by the time Alex stood groggily up – so I was totally aware when she threw my ring into my garden and stumbled away. She didn’t even say a word.

I’d been wrong. Things could definitely get worse. Desolate, I fell to the ground by my tent and gave into the rush of tears. What would I do NOW?!

Chapter 8 | Chapter 10

Chapter 7 | Chapter 9

By the time I woke up, the sun had gone down, but the pain in my abdomen certainly had not. It still felt like hunger, though, so I reached into my cooler to try something else.

Nope. The yogurt was definitely bad, too. I wondered what might have happened. I’d never had stuff in my cooler go bad before – and it made me wonder how long I’d been trapped in that coffin at the vampire’s mansion. Maybe I’d been “out” for quite a while. It was the only explanation I could come up with.

Meanwhile, I most definitely was going to have to find something to eat. And going all the way to Windenburg in the state of pain I was in now was definitely out of the question. I tried to think of options, but my brain was as muzzy as the rest of me.

Finally, I grabbed my fishing rod and tackle and headed to catch a nice fresh fish. Halfway there, I doubled over in pain, and looked in horrified wonder at the purple glow that was emanating from my stomach. Moments later, the pain passed slightly, and I convinced myself I had been imagining things, and continued on to the pond.

Fishing while hurting is not something I recommend, I have to say. It felt like forever before I had a bite on the line, and the disappointment when I didn’t catch anything was palpable.

What seemed like hours passed, and finally I managed to catch something big enough to eat. All the little goldfish I threw back. I still didn’t know what goldfish were doing in the pond – but they could also stay there for all I cared. I grabbed up the fish and my stuff and started the painful journey back home.

By the time I got home, I needed to go to the bathroom – so I used my friendly bush. By the time I got done, the weird glow was back, and the pain had nearly doubled. Tears ran down my face, and I angrily wiped them away and set out to make some dinner. I couldn’t remember ever being this hungry before. How long had I been trapped?? Days?!?

The fish took literally forever to cook. It smelled amazing, too. I wondered why I had been too busy to get fresh fish lately, and why I had just been eating out of my cooler. I guess I’d forgotten how good a fried fish could be!

Once my fish was done, I sprinkled it with some spices and sat back down to enjoy it.

The moment it hit my mouth, I knew something was terribly wrong. I couldn’t imagine what it was – but there was no way the fish had gone bad in the short walk back from the pond. What was going on?? I dropped my head in my hands, and then decided I’d try one last thing.

Again, the hot dog took forever to cook.. but finally, it was done, and I braced myself for yet another attempt to eat something.

Nope. This was not going to work. Food was out of the question. Maybe I just had some sort of a stomach bug?

Miserably, I say there and looked at my weed-strewn garden and my sad little campsite. What was I going to do now? There was no way I could garden in the amount of pain I was in. … Perhaps I should call the local landscaping company and see if they would send someone over just for the day. One quick phone call later, I steeled myself for the bill that would certainly be placed in my hand when the gardeners were done for the day.

I contemplated painting while I waited for them to arrive, but I couldn’t think of anything to paint. I wondered if I even had enough red paint to depict the amount of pain I was in… and quickly determined painting was not in my near future.

The gardener arrived, looking a bit confused at the fact that he’d been called for such an extensive garden at what was, essentially, just a camp site. He clearly wanted his paycheck, however, and said nothing. He went about his business, and I asked him to pin the bill to the easel when he was done – I needed to rest. I crawled miserably into my tent, and fell, blessedly, into a deep sleep.

When I woke again, I stumbled groggily out of my tent and glared at the sun behind the clouds. After getting violently ill in the bushes, I headed back to my tent.. but I didn’t quite make it there.

A force I couldn’t deny pulled me into the air and spun me around. The glow was back, too, only this time it was all over my body. What, exactly, had happened to me while I was at Vlad’s house? What had he done to me?!

Still airborne, I felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside out. I screamed out in agony, confusion and anger.

Then, finally, I was set back down on the ground. I nearly fell over in relief. Most of the pain was gone, and the only thing left was a dull pang of hunger. Which did make sense since I’d been sleeping for nearly an entire day. I made up my mind to go to Windenburg and do some more research on vampires. On the way home, I could stop and get something to fill my cooler with. I quickly cleaned all the bad food out of the cooler, trashed it, and headed for town.

I ignored the strange looks I was getting and went immediately to the section on vampires. I pulled out a volume I hadn’t noticed before and began reading. I couldn’t imagine why people were looking at me like I was cursed or something. I quickly lost myself in my research, though, and it was nearly dark again before I pulled myself back out of the books. I had learned quite a lot about Vampire feeding habits. They would hypnotize their prey and then drink their blood, and the victim would be left with no memory of the incident and exhausted. There was nothing mentioned about being ravenously hungry after such an attack, though, so I wondered why that had been the case with me. I was filled with anger that Vlad had apparently attacked me, though. Had that been his entire reason for inviting me to his house? Or had he had other motives?

I had skimmed over the section on “vegetarian” vampires who drank plasma fruit or the juice instead of feeding on humans, not seeing any reason why I would need to know how to make either. It did ring a bell, however, with the weirdly pulsing fruit that grew on my trees. No wonder it sold so well in my town….

Before leaving the library, my thoughts ran to Alex and my home. I headed to a nearby computer terminal, found the proper website, and started filling out the paperwork to apply for building permits. I was going to need a home to bring Alex to, after all, and I still hadn’t told her about the fact that I was camping on my own land. I wondered what her reaction would be. Maybe if I got the building underway before I let her know, then she wouldn’t be as upset. It wasn’t like I hadn’t saved enough to start building, after all – I just hadn’t taken this final step.

I finished putting in the applications, and checked my email. There were a couple notes from Mariko, checking up on me, wondering where I’d been the last couple days, and the usual spam. I didn’t know what to tell her, so I didn’t reply. I would figure out what to say, and call her tomorrow. After I got some food in my stomach and had another nap. The nap sounded like the best part, however, and I packed up and started to leave the library.

Thinking about the trip home, I decided to make a pit stop at the bathroom. While washing my hands like normal, I looked up at the mirror.

The only thing in the mirror was the toilet behind me. I cast no reflection.

Chapter 7 | Chapter 9