The Vampire's Soul

The Corpse

In the garden, the sun is high in the sky. Rosie wipes her sweaty forehead, standing up. She planted vegetables all morning. You were going to do it but an emergency came up, forcing you to go to town. Rosie didn't hesitate to offer her help, seeing that this emergency was a huge inconvenience in your schedule orchestrated perfectly to the second.Rosie never imagined the amount of work that was put into maintaining a small cottage before meeting you. Solely raising sheep required to wake up at 5 am. The vampire sighs, tilting her head to the side at the thought that you might sometimes kill yourself at work because you don't have anything else. The reason why you love your sheep like your own babies is that maybe you're just lonely.Rosie can already hear your truck even though you still have a few kilometres to drive. You'll be here in five minutes. Rosie smiles.These days your relationship has turned strangely domestic. Rosie is waiting for you to come home, you cooking in the kitchen while she sets the table. She never had that. Cooking with someone and seating on the table to share a meal was a foreign concept but she liked it. Watching you eat was... intriguing and satisfying for a reason she couldn't explain. Trusting you so quickly and being so comfortable around you, defences down, was also foreign. She'd grown so accustomed to being wary of humans. But everything about you was different. She could feel the aura around you was simply... Light.Wanting to finish what she's doing so she can greet you at the door Rosie quickens her pace.When you get out of your truck smiling at her, Rosie has the sudden urge to inhale the smell of your blood, but she holds herself back biting the inside of her cheek. Even if in vampire society it's a compliment, a human would consider Rosie blatantly smelling them out of line... Just plain weird.You however don't show this type of restraint. With a huge smile on your face, you wrap one arm around her neck, hugging her closer to you for a few seconds. Rosie cannot help but smell your perfume, closing her eyes to enjoy this short moment. Shaky fingers, reach out grab at your hips but they stop mid air.Totally. Absolutely. Utterly. Out of line.'Did you manage to plant all the beetroot?'You ask.'Yeah, I also did the courgettes and the melons... And the tomatoes.' The vampire mumbles absent-mindedly, as if it's nothing.Your mouth opens wide, suddenly stopping your walk.'You did all that while I was gone?' The stars in your eyes shine.'Yeah, it didn't take me that long.' Rosie shrugs.When you look at her with such admiration in your eyes, Rosie smirks, insides warming up.'You're... Incredible!' You wrap your arm around hers and hug her tightly walking hip to hip towards your home. Yeah in your head, as long as she'll stay, it's yours and Yoora's home.Blood. It's what Rosie thinks about all day long when she's hungry. When she's awake, when she's asleep. It doesn't naturally run through her body so she constantly has to renew it, drinking from beings who have the chance to have a continuous blood flow. She always needs to refill her organ with human blood. Animal blood doesn't taste good nor does it have the same nutritional properties. Draining one human would last her a week.Hunger is what takes her in the forest at three in the morning looking for animals to feed from. She had to be careful not to wake you up. She hates this new way of life where she has to content herself with animals. She always used to have her personal blood bank. She'd come at a given time and let Rosie sink her fangs into her smooth neck. She was like a good glass of wine that Rosie could call whenever it pleased her. She was paid obviously. But since humans are vile, lying bastards, her walking pint of blood had to betray her.That day the look in Rosie's eyes was so bewildered, aggravated, shocked. How could she ever do something as low as betraying a Min? The impudent didn't even turn around when Rosie screamed at her not to leave her like this, not to leave her at all. Maybe it was Rosie's fault for trusting a human in the first place. Yes it was.She sinks her teeth into the deer. A beast of this size would never satiate her, the need for human blood never really leaving her.These days, you only wear low cut collars and your smooth neck looks so inviting. When you bend in front of Rosie she has to put everything in her not to pounce on you and bite into that delicate neck from where she can smell the heavenly scent of the blood pumping in your veins.If Rosie decided to just let her animal instinct take over. If she decided to let go, there is nothing you would be able to do. Rosie thinks that at least you wouldn't be in pain, the bite of her teeth rendered painless by the bond that's been forming between you two these last few weeks. Trust.When a human trusts a vampire, it doesn't hurt them for too long when it's time for the night crawler to feed. Their defenses are down, inhibitions released for the creature to freely do with them as they please.It's the stomach hardly filled, skin attacked by the cold of the night and hair wet from the dew, that Rosie comes back into the cottage. Barely passed the threshold of the door her nostrils flare. She knows this smell. Really well. It's the smell of putrefaction coming from the barn. Heart beating out of its ribcage, Rosie runs over there. You were sleeping when she left, it can't be you. If something had happened to you your body wouldn't have had the time to rot in such a short time.Pushing the wooden door of the barn, Rosie frowns when she sees you hunched over, gripping with shaky hands a black tarpaulin where she's sure the horrible smell comes from.'What are you doing?' She asks, voice low, inquisitive rather than blaming.You jump, gasping, a hand coming in front of your mouth.She's only mildly surprised to see you awake at this hour, it's as if the decomposing body that she knows is in the bag is only a secondary matter.Rosie sees the droplets of sweat on your forehead and the look of utter horror you're now harboring. She can smell the nervousness on you. She enters the barn, eyeing the body bag nonchalantly.'What are you doing up Yoora?' Your voice shakes, and you let the bag fall to the ground.Rosie only shrugs, shoving her hands that were gripping animal guts just minutes ago, into her pockets.'I was thirsty so I got out of bed.' She bites the inside of her cheek, thinking that it's one of the rare occasions where she's been honest with you.'But what about you? What are you doing dragging a corpse out in the middle of the night?'Pupils dilated, your hands start to shake out of fear. Your shoulders shudder and you look down, lips forming a sad pout.'It's not... It's not what...It's not a corpse...' You shut your eyes tight at the sound of your own voice. What is happening is fucking obvious, not only the smell is a huge give away, but the blood stains that's spreading across the floor from where you dragged the body. Yoora isn't stupid and you know you can't lie to her.'I can explain...' You try, voice small.'I'm sure you can. But you don't have to.'Still as nonchalant about the fact that she caught her host in the middle of some shady shit, the dark haired woman leans against a beam, gaze fixed on your panicked expression.'You really don't have to explain anything to me. Not because I don't care, but because I understand.' Rosie allows herself to add to the silence that settled between you.Furrowed brows, you take a step back from the woman whose arms you see are crossed on her chest.You feel her eyes on you too, like she's touching you with the tips of her fingers, your heart is beating out of your chest and it might give out soon.'I- You understand? What is it that you understand?' You chuckle not out of nervousness, but out of pure disbelief. Is that woman insane?'I understand that sometimes... Sometimes, some things are necessary.' She shrugs.She looks at the human whose heart she can hear beat right out of her chest. She can hear the blood pump out of her veins and almost hear her brain go into overdrive. She's thinking so hard and Rosie thinks that she shouldn't give so much thought into this situation.What happened is done and over.'I saw the... Bruises.' Rosie says softly, making Mika lift her head up, breath hitching.'W-what?' She puts a hand in front of her face.'The bruises on your body. I didn't say anything as it was not my place. We're still strangers, I didn't want to over step boundaries. But I saw them.'The human unfolds her sleeves where she thought her bruises had disappeared, hiding them in a hasty manner. She ignores that Rosie's vampiric eyes saw the remnants of the marks on her skin.The light bulb flickers on her face. It's gonna give out soon.'Is the person in this... the one who hurt you?' Rosie nods towards the decomposing corpse, using the softest tone she's ever used with anyone in all of her existence on this damned earth.Mika looks down at her feet and nods. Rosie first hears the sound of a tear trickle down. She hears all the others running down Mika's cold cheeks. And it's when her body is taken over by spasms, painful sobs filling the silent room that Rosie makes a first step towards her. She steps over the corpse and wraps the body of the young woman who's crying tears Rosie deems necessary.Rosie's become immune to death. Whether it be her feeding on live beings, her family being killed in front of her eyes or this fragile, hard working girl who took her under her wings and who looks like she could do no harm, killing her abuser. Death shows up to her doorstep every damn time, everywhere she goes.'It's okay...' Rosie whispers in the woman's hair, tears wetting her shirt. Their cold bodies mould together in a tight hug when Mika's hands go to hold the vampire.'I'm sorry...' It's Mika's turn to whisper.'No.' The vampire answers, stern. She doesn't know if Mika's apologizing for crying or for wetting her shirt, that's not even hers to begin with, or if she's apologizing for killing someone. Rosie doesn't want to hear any of it.At this moment their bond is tightening, sharing something akin to understanding through pain and sorrow.'Do not apologize. They deserved what happened to them.''I'm so miserable, Yoora... How am I going to live with this for the rest of my life?''It was self defense... In some cases killing is necessary in order to survive.' Rosie speaks, smoothing her hand down Mika's back.'Do you really think it was survival?' Mika chokes on her tears, afraid at the thought that this person she's grown to enjoy the presence of would see her now as a murderer.'Survival it was.' Rosie says definitive, remaining on her positions.Mika's heart constricts at the utmost understanding Rosie's displaying. She had been agonising at the thought of having to get rid of her father's body for days, wondering where on earth she'd hide him.The light bulb flickers one last time before they're left in the dark, fingers digging deeper into Rosie's jacket. Mika usually hates the dark but it's comforting in the other woman's arms.Whatever happens tomorrow she wishes she could stay longer than 'a while'.