North Water

Chapter 7

Cold. Wet. Dark. 

"Where am I?" She breathed out. 

The floor beneath her was hard and cold. Close by  she could hear the faint sound of water dripping. She could see objects but couldn't make out any details. 

"Hello?" Her voice was shaky and quiet. 

Ashley rose to her feet, her eyes were adjusted to the darkness and she could make out where she was. 

"A sewer?" The foul stench hit her nose confirming her location. She looked over her shoulder and saw nothing but a dark tunnel. 

"Well that's sketchy." A small laugh escaped her laugh and she began walking down the tunnel. 

What felt like hours but was only a few minutes of walking past her. Her legs ached and were wet and she was freezing. As she continued on the air around her fell in temperature and the water began to turn to slush. Her chest hurt, her legs were weak, she fell to the floor, getting covered with the freezing slush. 

Her hand felt something under the water and went to retrieve it. It was round and heavy. She grunted as she pulled the object to the surface. 

"James!" 

His face was pale and his beautiful eyes were missing. She quickly dropped his head and screamed as she scrambled back. 

"No. No. NO." She covered her eyes and jumped to her feet. 

Running through the endless darkness, tripping over things in the water. 

"Help! James!"

Just then a voice echoed around her. "Ashley. Ashley! Ashley!" 

"No!" She covered her ears and fell to the floor once more but the voice followed her. 

"Ashley!" 

She screamed as she jolted awake. She patted down her body, dry, her legs, dry, her hair, dry. The room around her grew to be familiar and she let a breath escape her. 

"Ashley!" Her head shot to the voice. There next to her, sat a worried looking William. His eyebrows were scrunched together and his body was tense. 

"What?" She asked confused. 

"You're fine. It was just a bad dream." He looked at the fear written on her face and pondered what she was dreaming about. 

Her cheeks a bright shade of red, she rose to get out of bed. He watched as she walked over to her folded clothes at the foot of the bed and pulled on her jeans and there her hair into a pony tail. He admired her curves and the way little strands of hair outlined her face that bring out her soft features.

"Is James okay?" She asked. 

His throat cleared. "He's... different."

"Different?" 

He nodded and walked out of his room with her following his trail. They walked to the kitchen where she saw James in a bar chair. His fingers were rubbing his temples. 

"James!" She yelled.

"Shh." He groaned. 

"Sorry." She whispered. She walked up to him and examined his body, his clothes covered in dry blood, his dirty blonde hair in disarray. And then she saw them. She saw his bright red eyes. 

"Am I a," His voice cracked when he looked Ashley in the eyes. "a vampire?" 

"I believe so, babe." He slowly nodded his head with a blank look in his eyes. 

"It's impossible." He whispered. 

James was in complete and utter shock. His head pounded. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that a monster, a make believe monster that was only seen in movies and heard about in books and old legends, was what he was now. All he wanted was to be at Ashley's place, passed out drunk on her couch. 

"It's okay. You're still the same James." her soothing voice comforted him. 

His mind went into over drive. All of sudden he was holding William by the lapels against the wall. Williams toes were barely on the floor. 

"How could you do this to me?" James shouted. 

"It's not like I wanted to save you! If it were up to me you'd still be on the sidewalk." William shouted back. 

James let him go and groaned. He held his head and stared at both of them. 

"My head hurts." He stated. 

"Yeah. It's going to for a while." William said. "Hungover dumbass." He whispered under his breath. 

James rolled his eyes and sat back down on a stool. Waiting.

"Im starving." 

William nodded and grabbed his black coat, he tossed Ashley hers, and finally James'. 

"Let's go." He said. 

"Where are we going?" Ashley pondered. 

"To a friend." 

The drive to wherever William was taking them was eerily quiet. Ashley didn't dare make a peep and she could feel the tension between William and James. James' head was pounded and he had this feeling of hunger in him. Not a regular hunger like for a cheeseburger or pasta, it was something that twisted his stomach in pain. 

He looked at Ashley. He could see the flecks of gold in her eyes that he never noticed before and the tiniest pores on her face. He smelled her perfume mixed with Williams cologne and the mixed smells tickled his nose. 

"Are we almost there?" He asked. 

They pulled into a long driveway that went up to a beautiful house. Modern and sleek, the tall walls were white and the windows were large. Red and white rose bushes laid right in front of the house. What caught Ashley's eye was the expensive looking car parked up front. 

"Where are we?" She asked, turning her head to William. He just shook his head and exited the car. 

The three of them walked to the door which William opened and made their way inside.

"Adira!" William shouted. 

The house was three times as beautiful in the inside then the outside. The space was warm, with soft shades of white painting the walls, and dark furniture sat on the dark wooden floor. A large spacious kitchen that would be any chef's dream was to the right of them with the living room to their left. 

"Wow." She whispered. 

"Exactly what I was thinking." James whispered to her and smiled. 

"William?" A voice echoed from upstairs. 

"Yes, Adira! Come down here!" 

They heard footsteps descend down the stairs and coming towards them. A stunning woman entered the room. Her pale skin contrasted with her jet black hair that was elegantly curled, her legs were long and thin. Lips that were painted a soft shade of red and big blue eyes looked across the three. 

"Everyone this is an old friend, Adira. Adira, this is Ashley and James." 

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