After Dark

After Dark (27)

--chapter 27--

Crystal Turner

We were all standing outside the movie theatre waiting to buy our tickets. Ryan, Renesmee, Julie and Gina wore heavy coats but were still shivering. I was wondering how cold it was because I was wearing black jeggings, a blue top, and a small white hoodie. Maybe it's this whole vampire thing. Speaking of vampire things...

"Uh... I'm just gonna go. This line is way too long. But I'll meet you guys after, 'kay?" I told them.

"Where?" Ryan asked.

"How about The Spot?" Gina suggested.

"Uh... sure. See you later!" I waved and walked off.

Oh God. It was so hard being around them! It gets harder everyday, I think I need to feed on someone. Or just get some blood from Gareth Livingstone. I guessed it was blood after I had tasted the fresh one straight from that girl I killed in the woods.

I walked over to Dawson's, and turned into the pitch dark alley. There was a little break in the darkness. It was the same dim, yellow lightbulb from last time. I could still see really well, but I still noticed the darkness. I knocked on the door three times like Brooke did. 

A while later, Gareth opened the door. He looked the same, except that his hair was ruffled up (like Ryan's but messier) and in place of the clipboard he had last time, it was a small notebook and a biro pen.

"Oh, hi. It's Crystal right?" He asked.

"Yeah, it is. I need help." I said. 

His face turned serious.

"C'mon in."

***

I sat on the raggedy sofa. It had lots of bumps but it still looked more comfortable than the white plastic chairs. Gareth closed all the doors and stood leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

"So, what's up?" He asked.

"First, you have to promise not to tell Brooke." I said.

Gareth looked amused. "Okay." He promised.

"Here's the deal, I kinda accidently changed someone she thought I'd killed."

"So..."

"Look, she kinda freaks me out you know! And anyway, she was especially clear about the 'low profile' thing since I killed some chick in the woods."

"Oh yeah, I saw that in the paper. Front page, congratulations."

I glared at him and he laughed.

"Can you help me or not?" I said, kind of pissed off.

"I guess, nothing better to do, so, who's the newborn?" he asked.

"'Newborn'?"

"Oh, right. Um... a newborn is a new vampire, someone who's just been changed."

"He's some chick's dad. I think her name is Julie Hunter. He also drives a black Jeep."

"So, what I'm getting here is, you wanna kill him?"

"What?! Where'd you get that from?"

"Well, how else can he still live in Forks, without Brooke finding out? It's not that hard spotting a vamp, you just have to be looking for the right features."

"Which are...?"

"For starters, the colour of the eyes. Vamps have red eyes, the ones who feed on human blood anyway."

"What's the alternative?"

"Animal blood. I tried it sometime, it's abit disgusting, but some vamps live with it. Also, they are weaker. They also have gold eyes instead of red."

"Wierd. Anything else?"

"Yeah, if you see anyone who's paler than normal, doesn't eat, never sleeps, has super strength, that's a vamp."

"What happens if I go out in the sun?"

"Your skin will reflect the sunlight. It's like vamps are made of glass. Cold, hard and reflects light. But the reflection looks like you're sparkling."

"Wierd." I repeated. "How do you kill a vampire? Wooden stake? Garlic? Holy water?"

Gareth laughed. "Neither," he said. "You have to rip his or her body apart then burn the pieces. If you don't burn them, the parts will re-attach."

I thought for a while. "How do you know so much about vampires?" I asked.

"Because I am one."

"But your eyes..."

"I wear contacts. They dissolve within a few hours because of the venom in my eyes but that's enough for my shift here."

Silence engulfed us again.

"What about the voices in my head?" I asked.

"What voices?"

"It's like, I can hear people talking in my head, but their lips aren't moving."

"Oh, oh! You can read minds!" Gareth exclaimed.

"You can't?"

"No, I don't have a special power. Then again, they are rare to get. It depends on your human life before. Maybe you could understand what people were saying with their body language really well."

"Hmm... maybe. Do you have any more blood-in-a-bottle?"

He left the room and returned in a couple of seconds. Man he was fast. But he is a vampire! I took the bottle and drank its contents. Cold, sweet but stale.

"Not as good as the fresh stuff."I said while handing him the empty bottle.

Gareth placed it on the table and sat on the sofa beside me.

"I wouldn't know. Haven't touched a human in years." He said with a little laugh.

"Why?"

"Around fifty years back, I tried out the animal diet. It was tricky, but it lasted me a couple of months. I was living in a cabin in the forest so hunting would be easier. When I thought I could handle the human-blood urge, I went back to the city, to my family's home. My dad was a vamp too, and was trying to teach me his 'vegetarian' ways. He lived with his new wife (we moved around alot, so he never stuck to one woman). The minute I entered the house from my retreat, the scent of human blood overhelmed the air around me. I followed the smell, and it led to the kitchen. My dad's wife was there, making dinner.

'Gareth! You've returned!' She said and hugged me.

The stench was too much for me, and her neck was mere centimetres from my mouth. And I bit into it. Fresh, juicy, non-animal blood flowed from her neck into my body. When my dad came home from work, he saw my mouth and my clothes red with blood and his wife's limp body in my arms. He tried to kill me, but I was too strong for him due to my recent feed on human blood and his alien diet. He left when I nearly ripped his arm out and I've never heard from him ever again."

Gareth sighed sadly. I put my arm around his shoulders.

"I'm so sorry." I said softly.

"It's probably for the best. More lives are safer due to me not killing anymore."

I removed my arm from his body. It was kinda wierd, because we'd just barely met.

"Then where do you get the supply from?" I asked

"The Forks Hospital's blood bank. It's the only way I can live on a healthy diet and keep humans alive."

"So..." I said. "How do you plan on killing the newborn?"

Gareth looked at me and grinned.

*****