Worlds Apart

Chapter 2

My eyes fly open at the intense burning sensation on my ankle, disturbing the sleep I was reliant on getting me through the days that seem to drag out for an eternity.

I scurry backwards across the soft undergrowth that I was forced to sleep on. Once I'm in the safety of the shadows, I stare as the diamond shaped blister drains and heals. I rub as the mark disappears, squinting at the unharmed skin.

I'm never going to get used to that.

Nor will I get used to the fangs filling my mouth, which appear at every insignificant noise.

Afraid of the approaching sun, George and Elizabeth left me without answering any of my questions with the promise that they'd return in a few days to take me hunting.

Whatever that means.

I considered running. Of course, I did. But, to where?

They're the closest thing I have to finding out who I am.

I glance up at the canopy where the winter sun shines through the breaks between the branches and then down to the illuminated diamond on the brown leaf where my leg had been moments before. A breeze moves through the trees, casting the shadows, which create the lit up pattern to shift and change across the undergrowth.

Shapes dance across my skin with the swaying of the trees above me. The pale white hues of my vampire skin seem to glow in the cloud covered daylight, almost as if small creatures moved across my skin.

But the creatures I shared my bed with for the last three days have abandoned me. I felt their presence as they felt mine. An evil lurking in their home and, one by one, they left me truly alone.

I move my gaze to a patch of unclouded sunlight and slide my hand into the stream. For a fraction of a second, I bask in the warmth the sun brings, alighting my blood, until my skin begins to burn and blister over the seconds.

The injuries are gone by the time I've retracted my hand into my chest, but the memory of the pain lingers in my mind, warning me not to do it again.

Opening my palm, I look at the now healed skin protected by the shadows and then to my legs speckled with cloud covered sunlight. With an open palm, I reach out and move my hand through the light. I turn it, admiring the way my skin doesn't blister under the clouds.

Elizabeth and George warned me against this. They gave me two instructions.

Don't leave.

Don't go in the sunlight.

Perhaps I misunderstood. Perhaps it's just the direct sunlight that hurts us.

But this still doesn't help me.

I sag against the tree trunk I was sleeping against and tuck my legs and feet under the dress. I hoped I could sleep through until darkness. Sleep through this dryness in my throat that feels like it will never be satiated.

Something rips in the dress I was given, and I release a sigh of relief at the give in the tight fabric. I'm grateful Elizabeth and George thought of clothes for me, but they didn't consider the fact that George's clothes would be a better fit for me.

I stare down at the dress, held on my body with a torn strip from the hem. It's a timeless, floor-length, black dress. Similar to the one Elizabeth was wearing yesterday, it's adorned with lace fabric and beads.

With a heavy sigh, I drop back against the old leaves, mushy like leftover corn flakes. Recognising sleep will never come back to me, I lift my arm above my head and read my name over and over again.