Win is turned into a vampire against his will after being attacked at the university pool one fateful night. Five years later, he finds himself saving a drowning human in the same pool, their situations eerily similar. Neither can forget and are dra...
"Win, just try. Maybe if you go there, you'll get some closure."
Though he was sure it wouldn't work, Win heeded the suggestion and walked through his old university well after dusk. Memories of a different time—a different Win—crept in as he passed by the familiar brick buildings and trees lining the quad. A well-shaded table where he ate lunch with his friends slipped under his fingertips. The pathway he booked it down, afraid of repeat tardiness for his management class after morning swim practice, tread calmly underfoot. How had everything changed, yet nothing had?
Revisiting the sport he loved so much in college hadn't helped, either. Another one of Ari and Sert's ideas falling flat as they struggled to support him in his new life. An escalation of his vicious nightmares and Win withdrawing into himself again were the results. Mind on auto-pilot, the comfortable patterns returned as his feet carried him to where it both ended and started. Win looked up and noticed that the lights of the university pool were still on.
Odd.
He was a walking example of why you shouldn't swim alone and late at night.
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Team struggled as air trailed in tiny bubbles from his lips. The blood rushed in his ears, forcing his broken thoughts to fragment further. He needed air. He needed to get out of the water, but each kick brought agony as the cramp seized his leg. Why did he do it again? Hadn't he learned his lesson the first time?
Pain bloomed as his lungs fought for air, but it didn't compare to what the searing chlorine did as it flowed down his throat. This is it. Coughing and choking, darkness edged his vision. Team would meet his cousin, dying the same way. The lights from above dimmed as his heavy-lidded eyes closed.
The overhead lights cast irregular shadows ahead of Win as he dared to investigate the pool and who was using it. Faintly, the lethargic thudding of heartbeats reached his ears, and he broke into a sprint before leaping over the gate. His face was the least of his worries, recognizing the rhythm that could only mean one thing—death. Win skidded to a stop after rounding the corner. Five years...
Five years and he was right back to the night he drew his final breath as a human.
The calm surface contrasted with his fears as they surged. He neared the edge of the pool, expecting the phantom of his nightmares to rise out of the water and finish the job. No monster sprang up from the depths as Win scanned the lanes, perched on the edge. His eyes latched onto a murky form on the bottom of the pool and he dove.
Powerful strokes brought him to the person's back in a blink, the time spent in this very pool permanently imprinted on him. The heartbeat of the dark-haired boy continued to fade as Win hooked his arms around him. Pushing off from the bottom, he sent them both hurtling upward. Win landed soft-footed on the tiles, the one in his grasp unresponsive.
On the pool deck, the thrum of the boy's heart was barely above a whisper. Lifeguard training rushed back as Win pumped his interlocked palms against the swimmer's chest. He pinched his nose shut and forced a breath into his airway. Nothing.
