Awakening (Awakening, #1)

Chapter 18

I sit silently, chained to the pole near the window that teases me with thoughts of being with Violet; free of this place. This surprised Asher enough to the point where he somewhat complimented me saying that I am 'very compliant' and he's glad he won't have to kill me so soon. How he wishes there were more Awakened vampires out there like me. This unnerves me and makes me uncomfortable and that much more anxious to get out of this place, wherever I am, anyway.
It's been approximately a day since I've last seen Violet. I wonder if it's normal to keep track of my days I've been held here by thinking back to the last time I held her in my arms. It feels right to me.
A few moments later I'm startled awake by a wet, slushy sound, like the sound of a wet rag hitting the floor. I must have dozed off because I would have seen or heard her before she even got close. I look down next to me and the horrid aroma meets my sensitive nose before the image of a blood bag even registers in my brain. Immediately I am no longer tired.
Teegan stands tall next to me with a look on her face that says her feelings aren't hurt anymore, but I don't care either way. Her feelings are the least of my worries. It's just Teegan and I down here in this chilly basement since Asher decided it was time to go up to bed and sleep in the very late afternoon. I wonder if I was ever lazy like he is. One would think that a man on such a seemingly important mission would have no time to sleep. This worries me more than it comforts.
"It's not human," Teegan says, referring to the rancid dark blood in the bag. I look at her incredulously.
"You must think I'm stupid," I scoff and turn away from her as much as the restraints will let me. They seem to be made of some type of vampire strength resistant material because I've already tried to get free of them. But when I'm thinking of escape, I wonder what I would do if I did in fact get free. Would I kill Asher? Teegan? They both know something huge that I know nothing at all about. Something that I want to know about. As much as I don't like it, I'll have to play defenseless hostage for now.
"Yes, I do. But not stupid here," she says, pointing to her temple. "stupid here." She points to where her heart would be if she had one. I look her deep in her eyes with the most unwavering, hateful gaze I can muster and she doesn't even blink. Since she won't elaborate, I turn back around and go back to staring at the small inconsistencies in the cement wall in front of me.
Teegan sighs after a few moments. "Just drink it. You need to eat something." I say nothing. "Jonah, stop being stubborn! Just trust me. Why would I give you human blood knowing what would happen? When you're Awakened, it'll be by your own hand. And you'll want it." She's closer now, although I don't know why. I don't want her anywhere near me, and she knows it.
Teegan crouches down so she's eye level with me, and reaches out her hand to touch me and I jerk away. She looks hurt but only for a split second. I know exactly what she's trying to do.
Stunned at the realization I haven't asked this before, I say, "What are you?"
Teegan looks giddy all of a sudden and she seems excited that I seem interested in her life, which I am, to some degree. I'd like to know exactly what I'm up against. I already know Asher is a human, easily overpowered. But he's clearly a very powerful one. "Well," Teegan says, sitting next to me with her legs crossed like it's story time and we're in kindergarten. I roll my eyes on the inside. "I'm a lot of things." She says this with a lilt in her voice and my stomach wretches but I manage to keep my face impassive. "But I'm a vampire like you. Well, not quite like you, but mostly so. And I'm a witch." The way she just divulges this information like I asked her what day it is makes me feel queasy.
A witch. Witches are real. I don't even have time to be surprised, I'm a vampire anyway. Doesn't get much crazier than that. "A witchpire." I say. Teegan startles me with her sudden uncontrollable laughter, like I've just said the world's greatest joke when in reality, I wasn't trying to be funny.
"I guess you can say that," she giggles.
"When you were leaning in to touch me...," I trail off, thinking. When the pieces finally come together, she speaks for me.
"I want you to remember me," she says softly. "You have no idea how terrible it feels knowing everything we've had and to look in the face of the boy I love and realizing he doesn't remember any of it. It's like ripping open a wound over and over. And once you remember, you'll finally see why I've done all of this for you," There are tears pooling in her eyes now. "I love you." She sniffs and lets out a small laugh as if acknowledging that this is all ridiculous, but I know she's only waiting for me to say something.
I wait a few moments and turn to look her right in her eyes. She stops sniffling and looks at me with an expression full of hope and promise. And I'm about to tear all of it to shreds. "I don't want to. I may have felt the same way at some point, yes. But this, chaining me to a pole and locking me in a basement in the middle of fucking nowhere then professing your undying love for me is bullshit. I don't want to remember you, I don't want to be near you, I...hate...you."
She sucks in a breath like I've struck her, and the air hangs thick between us. So thick you can taste it. Two seconds pass...three...four...
Then Teegan is across the room with her hands glued to my temples, unwavering with a look of pure determination and pain in her eyes. Then the mind numbing bolts of pain surging through my skull whisk me away into unconsciousness and I am gone.
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"Stakes" by Vancouver Sleep Clinic is playing. The song is beautiful and completely enchanting. The prom committee did a really great job decorating the place, I have to say. When I heard the theme was going to be a winter wonderland of sorts, I was skeptical since the prom themes are always corny or odd.
But being here with Teegan in my arms looking as beautiful as ever is really the icing on the perfect cake that has been my evening so far. She's wearing a form-fitting crystal blue dress that flows out slightly at the bottom and hugs her curves. The sleeves are lacy and amazing and I just can't handle being here with this girl in my arms dancing to this perfect song. Teegan did her hair up special for tonight, and it's curly and voluminous and it decorates the frame of her face lightly accented with makeup.
"What?" she mumbles, blushing.
"You look amazing, I don't have any words. Can't help but stare," I smile. Teegan giggles and snuggles up closer to me and I gladly hug her tighter as we sway to the music along with the other couples around us. Nothing can be better than this.
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More pain. It builds and builds and it feels like my head is going to explode. My entire being is composed of pain all brought on by Teegan's hand. I try to get away but she has an iron grip on my subconscious and I fear it won't ever let go.
"I need to dig deeper," Teegan says under her breath. I think for the first time since I've been here with Teegan and Asher against my will I now know what terror feels like.
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Teegan leads me up to my bedroom and it's just us. My birthday party was pretty great since Mom could be there. Sam is at his friend's. It's just me, Teegan, and the silence of an empty house.
"I wanted to give you your gift when it was the right time," she says, sitting me down on the edge of my bed and straddling my lap. I know what she's talking about and I don't know if I'm ready for it. My heart is racing a million times a minute and I'm pretty sure it's just going to stop from exhaustion. We've been dating for a little over a year and I never pressured Teegan into doing anything she wasn't ready for and neither did she. It just wasn't something that was the main focus of our relationship.
"You don't have to. I don't even think I'm ready if I'm being honest," Now I'm sweating profusely and I know that's no turn on. Suddenly I'm embarrassed at my inexperience and anxiety.
"Just let me. Don't worry, don't be scared. Just trust me."
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Finally after what feels like hours but was most likely just minutes, Teegan lets me go. Her chest is heaving like she's labored for breath and I take a deep breath of my own even though it's not needed. I feel completely drained like I've run twenty miles non-stop. She looks at me with a fierce indignation masked with a bit of hope. It's crazy of her to think that torturing me like this will make me see her in a new light even with the new memories she dug up from the deepest pits of my mind.
She's dead wrong.
"See? Do you see now? I can bring it all back if you want me to, just say the word," she pleads.
When I don't speak, she continues. "The first time you asked me to prom. It was the most cherished night of my life. The first time we made love. The best thing that ever happened to me, to us." Teegan reaches for my hand and I jerk away out of fear. I want to get out of here, I want to go home. Back to Violet, back to everything that resembles some sort of normalcy in my life.
So I make the decision then and there, I'll be what Teegan wants me to be until I can make my escape and get back to the girl I love. So I lay my hand flat on the cold cement floor and slide it over to where hers is laying palm up and I place my hand in hers.
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I must have fallen asleep. I can't keep doing that, letting my guard down, but I can't shake the feeling that if something were to happen to me, it would have happened already. My lips are dry and chapped and I can feel my body failing me and I look over to the blood bag longing for the bitter yet satisfying taste and feeling of a full stomach. "It's okay, you know." Teegan says from the corner she confined herself to for the night as she watched over me. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, and I wouldn't let Asher hurt you either, you're safe." Speaking of Asher, I wonder where he's been since the other day.
With blood being the only thing on my mind, the smell has slowly invaded every thought in my clouded mind. I snatch up the blood bag and bite right through the plastic and relish the feel of the cold liquid running down my throat and putting out the angry fire of hunger that burned for so long. The blood is from a squirrel and I laugh to myself because that's the first animal I had ever drank from since being turned.
Once the bag is empty, I toss it to the side, away from me but I am still consumed with hunger that I bury deep down and lock away. Teegan finally looks a little bit satisfied by me eating something after all this time, and I am too. The nagging feeling of hunger has subsided turning into a small, less demanding presence. But it is still there.
The door at the front of the house busts open and I know that Asher is back and upon a further inspection, he has brought someone with him. That someone is struggling and losing. Asher grunts and the legs of the person he's brought here slide heavily against the wood flooring upstairs. The person is most likely unconscious now and my fear is back in full force and with a vengeance.
Asher makes his way down the stairs holding a girl in his arms, her head rolling side to side with his footsteps. It's a petite girl with pretty features and I release the breath I had been holding when I see that it is not Violet. Asher walks over to the next nearby metal pole and places the girl on the floor and I watch silently like the completely helpless coward that I am as he ties her hands to the pole behind her back. Then he binds her ankles together with thick grey duct tape.
Her head rests against her shoulder as her chest rises and falls slowly in her sleep and I can see the faint puncture mark on her neck near her artery where he must have drugged her into submission. She's clearly a fighter, and I'm relieved by that obvious fact because I'll need that attitude and determination to get the both of us out of here. Asher rises from his finished job, clearly pleased with his work. Whoever this girl is, I know that she's here for a reason and so am I. I make it my mission to protect her then, I don't really know why. She reminds me so much of the good things in the world, before I even know her or her name. I can keep her safe, especially with Teegan wrapped around my finger.
Asher walks over to me and gives me a look that says he's about to tell me something I'll really be happy to hear. "This here," he gestures vaguely in the unconscious girl's direction. "is Maggie Paul. She is a human, as you can clearly tell." Asher is very pleased with himself, like he's putting on some type of show and I have a front row seat. "And you are going to turn her."
And then my whole world shifts and falls from beneath me.
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