V FOR VAMPIRE // jenlisa

Chapter 7

J.

I have to get out of here. Somehow. The doors and windows are locked, I can't possibly get myself out of here. My hopelessness sinks in heavily onto my body as I look at Lisa, her agitated expression scaring me to no end. I can see the resemblance of the man in the woods with her expression and I wonder if everything is going to repeat itself. Who was the man? What was the man?

A vampire is the only answer I can come up with. Never in my 18 years of life would I have believed in that. It was supposed to stay in books, movies, just outright fantasy. I hope and pray that this is a dream. A very elaborate, bad dream that I wake up from any second now and blabber about to Rosé. Even Lisa. The Lisa I know.

But even my brain refuses to own up to any accusations of it making up this dream and I whimper. I'm stuck here.

"I only wanted to make you forget for your safety, Jennie. I would have harmed you by now if I wanted to." Lisa says from beside me in a strained voice and I hate that it makes sense.

"He was a...vampire?" I ask the words sounding comical.

Lisa's answer comes after a second of silence. "Yes."

"You're a vampire, too?" I ask, hoping the answer to be a negative.

My eyes scan over Lisa's pale skin highlighting defined features that only differ by a slight roundness that she sported as a kid. Her canines make more sense now. 'I got it chipped last year.' Bullshit.

"Yeah." She says softly, watching for a reaction, but I give her none.

I don't know what to do anymore in this situation. The best alternative is to run. From Lisa, and maybe even this town. None of it can happen while I'm locked out in her car. I want to disappear. My head feels dizzy again.

"Let me out." I say normally, hoping she will comply.

"You need to forget." She insists.

"I can't forget!" I roar as she stiffens.

"You need to act like you have, then." Lisa says as I stare at her in disbelief.

"This isn't school theatre, Lisa. You're a...a vampire. I was almost killed by one. I can't be near you. Let me out." I say as Lisa's expression dulls.

"I can't let you go." She murmurs, looking at me with an emotion I can't decipher.

I press up more against the door behind me, "Are you going to..."

"No! God, no." She says, shaking her head wildly. "I would have by now if I wanted to, Jennie. I mean it." She says firmly.

"Why would I trust you?"

"Because we're friends."

"You're a vampire."

"For fuck's sake! You think I asked for this?! To be a vampire?! To stay in hiding?! To be undead?! I wanted a normal fucking life with a loving family! I wanted friends at school like in movies! I just wanted a normal life! Was that too much to ask for?!" Lisa hits the steering wheel as the car's horn blares.

My body softens out of my own will.

If I hadn't been saved, I would be a vampire by now, maybe. The possibility scares me to no end. I gulp down emotions of guilt, telling myself it's not my responsibility to feel this. I don't know Lisa's story, or motive. She's a vampire, and I'm only human, practically her prey.

"What happened?" I ask carefully, deciding to know her story, her motive.

She doesn't waste a second, unexpectedly.

"Nothing much, really. I was bitten. By one of the new kids at the foster home. Jeon Somi. She was nice. A good friend, or so I thought. She was so much like you, truthfully." Lisa says, casting me a look as I raise my eyebrows. "Except for she was faking it the whole time. I'm not sure if she used mind-control or just snuck into my head and picked up on you. But here I am, a previously idiotic human, now a feared vampire."

"Are you...sneaking into my head?" I ask, pushing through the heaviness my chest adopts after her story.

She stares at me a long while. "I still can't. I'm blank."

"Can you pick up on others?" I ask, recalling Twilight's weird plot of Edward not being able to get into Bella's head.

"Yes. Everyone but you." She says a little frustratedly and I blush discreetly as I realize the romantic dynamic of the book's leads.

"You're really not going to hurt me?" I ask quietly, searching her face for any signs of deceit.

"Jennie, I want to protect you." She says firmly as her hand hovers a little over my arm and then settles on it.

Her fingertips are cool, yet so reassuring, although warm should be what represents the feeling. It doesn't matter, because she's making me feel warm all over. I'm back to feeling like my 13 year old self that fell head over heels for her.

I don't know if it's the vampire bite messing with my head, or the shock of almost dying that makes me face this fear I once had, as teenage Jennie, but I do it. I do it.

I press my lips to the girl of my dreams and I bask in the softness of her mouth. I feel free, although I expected to feel scared the whole time. It's liberating, it's happy, and it's emotional at the same time. Lisa's fingertips trace my jaw as I fight back a giddy giggle at the tickles I feel, and how my heart swells with joy. My heart stutters when Lisa suddenly breaks away, grasping her mouth tightly and looking up ahead.

My heart's at the verge of breaking but she saves me, for the second time on this day, "Sorry, I almost bit you." She says guiltily and I know that I should be scared, but my heart leaps happily and I wait for her urge to leave. I beg in my mind for it to go away so we can kiss again.

"Come here." She whispers as her hand grabs my face and reconnects our lips eagerly. I smile into the kiss and she follows.