Watch out for Vampires by Summer Cheng

Chapter 19

    Author's note:

  Sorry for being so slow on updates. Anyway, life gets busy so that is just how it is.

   Now here is the long-awaited update you have been waiting for people.

       The next evening at 8 pm, Stella arrived at Nathan's place. She had no idea how a person could be a half-vampire instead of a full-fledged one. How did that even happen? Yet, Nathan was a half-vampire. The only vampire traits she noticed were his habit of wearing a hoodie, rarely going outside much before dark, his sharp, fang-like two top teeth, and the way he almost sounded like he had a rasp when he spoke to her.

          Unlike the vampires on the news, he sounded gentler. She rang the doorbell and waited for a response. She hoped his sister, and grandmother were away so they could be alone.  

            "Hello," Nathan said.

            "Hi," Stella said.

             Nathan let her inside and closed the door. He made sure it was bolted properly to avoid strangers bothering them. He handed her a glass of water. As he drank it, his stomach rumbled. Strangely, he had not noticed this happening before while in her presence. What was so different about it tonight?

             Stella sat on the sofa. Nathan sat beside her. Stella was not sure what Nathan had in mind for the date only that he had invited her over, so she came. It was such an awkward silence that filled the room. She noticed it was mostly dark beside the dimly lit chandelier that hung from the ceiling. There were some strange assorted decorations on the walls, most of the furniture was poofy and pink, but a few were black and hard.

             "How have you been?" Stella asked to break the defeating quiet. 

            "I have been great," Nathan said. His voice came out a bit muffled.

              Stella's eyes widen at the sudden change in his voice. What happened? She was sure it sounded clearer yesterday when they had spoken. "I will be right back, " She remarked. She went into the kitchen and got out some ice. She put it into a ziplock bag and wrapped a towel around it.

             "Here, I could not help but notice, your voice is off, and your left cheek is a bit swollen," Stella stated as she handed him the ice.

               "Thanks, you are so good to me," Nathan said. His eyes watered as he held the ice to his cheek. He felt his stomach growl again.  He looked at his watch and gasped. It was worse than he thought. His body was starting to become more vampire-like every minute and he worried that he would turn into the dreaded creature of his dreams if he were not careful.  Oh, why had he let her come?

               "You are welcome, " Stella answered. She went back to the kitchen and started to cook some steaks. She accidentally cut her thumb open when she opened the can of beets to go with them.

              "Ouch," she yelped from the pain.

         Nathan heard her cry out and dropped the ice pack. He went to check on her to see what was the matter. He saw the red seeping from her thumb. He groaned in pain. What was wrong with him? His grandmother said vampires had not sucked human blood in years. Why did he feel pain from seeing Stella's injury and what did it all mean? 

He found some bandages in the first aid kit and bandaged her wound. He felt his mouth water at the sight of her preparing a meal. Man, he wished he could watch her every night, and they would never have to be apart. He sighed. Was he kidding himself when he thought it could ever work between them? Here he is part vampire and she is a human. Those are not even close to the same thing.

            He helped take over cooking the beets and watched as she set the table. He did not tell her about the weird cravings he had recently or admit he had drank animal blood recently. He also did not say that he worried one day he would drink human blood or might need it to survive. What if his grandmother was wrong? What if he was a full-fledged teenage vampire about to become eighteen instead of a half-breed one as they originally thought? 

             Stella came back and flipped over the steaks. A burn appeared on her arm from the grease that had splashed onto her. She screamed in agony, and Nathan felt as if he were burnt too. As he looked at his left arm, he gasped. A red mark, the same size as Stella's burn, had appeared on his arm. What? How could anyone explain this?

               Nathan took over,  he removed the steaks once they were nice and brown. He added them and the beets to their plates. He fixed Stella's glass of juice,   and a glass of sheep's blood mixed with carrot juice for his. His was inside a special cup so she couldn't see what it was. He hated to keep secrets from her, but how could he tell her the truth?  The truth was he was scared, and he drank animal blood because he craved blood from humans but did not want to risk killing one and having the law after him.  Yeah, there was no way he could tell her this.

               He had forgotten to mention his birthday drew nearer and that the closer it was to it the worse his condition grew. He had pain, his fangs hurt, and he had woken up earlier that day to see scratch marks across the bathroom mirror, his pillow was ripped to shreds, his nose was bleeding, and his left knee ached. He also felt a need to kiss, hug, and explore other things he never thought of doing before now. He could not make someone do those things without their consent because he did not want to harm them. He stopped himself by being extra cautious.

           The trouble was it was way harder with Stella to refrain from doing something rash because he felt a connection with her.  He began to sob.

            Stella reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nathan, whatever it is, I am here for you," she began to say.

"Stella, I know, I said I wanted this job, but I am so afraid... Afraid of what is happening to me. I have nightmares, I can't handle going outside at all anymore, and I feel pain. When you got the burn, I felt as if I were burnt too, and a strange mark appeared on my arm," he told her.

He left out the other details so as not to worry her. He couldn't tell her those because it was harder since she was not a vampire.

A voice in his head said, "Not yet, anyway. You could make her one. All you have to do is say the word, and I am sure she will let you turn her."

Nathan stood up, screaming as he left the room, "I can't. I won't do it. I refuse to make her into a freak like me! I mean, look at me. I am an immature half-vampire, and I can barely control myself around her. I won't make her into something she is not just to satisfy some foolish cravings."

         Stella gasped when she overheard what he said to himself. She never knew it was this bad for him. Why didn't he tell her? She would have agreed to find someone to marry them so he could do whatever was necessary to stop the pain. She was unsure how to tell him because of how freaked out he was over it.

      She went into the next room and saw a bedroom full of pink with no trace of black. She also noticed it looked old, yet neat despite its appearance that no one ever used it. She sat on the bed. She did not see Nathan walk past and shake his head.

     Nathan went to his room, locked the door, and decided to stay there for the rest of the night. He was determined to figure out how to protect both himself and Stella from whatever was happening.

Stella closed the door to her room and locked it. Suddenly, she felt sleepy, although she wasn't sure why.  Unbeknownst to both of them, Stella was being tested to see if she was loyal to Nathan and to discover if she was afraid of him. She lay on the bed and dozed off, not noticing when the clock struck midnight.

        Nathan felt it. He could sense her presence despite her being elsewhere in the house. "Whoever you are, get out!" he shouted. "I will not bring harm to her or shame to my family. I will not hurt her. I will not, do you hear? So be gone, all of you," he yelled. He had another nightmare that evening.

     The story continues in Chapter 20

     Until then,

bye-bye, little owlets!

Summer out!