Beyond This Life

Beyond This Life (Pt 4)

"So how do we do this?" I asked. I was jittery and jumpy and totally ready to scream. I mean, if I was this Cherina chick then whatever we did would bring my memories back.

"Ummmm, I'm just, uhh, gonna drink from, you know, your neck. I mean, because, uhhh, my venom will get to your brain faster. That way," he responded, his face a deep shade of red.

But see if I wasn't this Cherina woman, some random guy would be chewing on my neck for no reason. And then where would we be?

"You don't mind right? I just don't know any other way. Your body absorbs my venom too quickly when I take from your wrist so... maybe this will work. I don't know."

"Beau, shush, and bite me already. Unlike you, I can grow old."

Beau bit his bottom lip before saying, "Well, actually Mistress, we Civilians can grow old. Just as the Troop can."

His fangs were always visible. Which made me think of all my visions where I had fangs too. But I didn't have fangs now. "Beau, what happened to my fangs? If I was like you why don't I have fangs?"

"When you, uh, lost your memories---well, the process got rid of everything. Everything that made you Cherina until you were just like before, just Cherish. When you remember everything, I'll tell you where the rest of who you are is being stored."

"I was human before vampire. So did someone turn me?"

"Yes and no. In a past life you were human-turned-" ---he hesitated--- "human-turned-vampire. But as your soul was reincarnated over and over, there was always Civi---vampire blood in you. It was only a matter of time till you became one of us."

"Oh." I let all of that sink in and blinked a few times. Took a deep breath. "Well, let's get to it."

He nodded. "Right."

Beau nuzzled my neck, and I briefly remembered how he'd savagely killed that man at my school. I stiffened.
He stroked my arms slowly. "Relax, Mistress, we've done this before."

"I don't remember, remember?"

"I think the heart remembers everything."

And then his fangs. His hands tightened on my arms and his hair tickled my back.

One after another, pictures and places, names and faces came to me. One actually played out.

I was in a dark room. Beds lined the walls and I walked to each one, staring at the sleeping faces, the tiny bodies wrapped tightly in blankets. One bed I stopped at. "This one," I said. To who I don't know but there was a grunt in response. "Leave us." Footsteps. I knelt by the bed, pushed a stray hair from the girl's face. Her eyes shot open and registered my presence quickly. "Don't freak out. I'm here to save you."

"Save me from what? Save me how?" she said.

"From the system. With these." I flashed my fangs and she gasped. "Being an orphan hurts, and I've decided I'm not gonna let you go through it."

She stared at me for a long time, judging and analyzing me. And then she smiled at me and it was bright and full of trust. It was kinda whimsical.

"What's your name? How old are you?"

"I'm Joann, and I'm thirteen."
"Kinda small for a thirteen year old. But that's cool. You'll be my little sister."

Another face and name hit me: Paige, my second-in-command. She was tall and muscular, but still very feminine and kinda shy too.

A horde of vampires stood in groups around the Higher Up's desk. She stood, everyone else in the room falling to their knees. After raising her right hand, fisting it, and thumping it over heart twice, we stood.