ONLY YOU

four - vampire

When I open my eyes, light bleeds into them.

I flinch and cower away from it, pushing my face into the pillow. I groan. I have the headache of the century and I feel cold. I awaken and find myself in my own room. My curtains are wide open, streaming in daylight. I frown. I check for my cell, and find it's missing from my bedside table. I check my covers. I check under my pillow. And then the memory of Don and Richard comes back. I cry out and check my body. I'm dressed in my normal pajamas. I lift up my shirt and find I am covered in Band-Aids. I blink. I feel between my legs and a blast of pain hits me. The attack really did happen. I lift up one of the Band-Aids around my breasts and find teeth marks there. My stomach contracts.

I lurch forward, gagging. I need to throw up.

I throw my blankets off my body and run to the bathroom to vomit. When I'm done, I hear movement downstairs. Cupboards opening and closing. Rainey can't be home. Though I don't know exactly what time it is. I creep downstairs, certain I'm not making any noise, and then I poke my head around the archway into the kitchen. Wandering around my kitchen, like he owns the fucking place, is the guy – my attacker.

I want to vomit again.

'Get out!' I grunt.

The guy stops. He had been making himself a coffee.

He turns to me. My glare fixes on the guy. Finally I can see him properly. He's wearing a hooded sweatshirt under a leather jacket. His hair is dark brown and straight, covering most of his forehead and his eyes. He has a hardened face, yet beneath the chiselled masculinity, I can still see youthfulness there. He looks to be about eighteen or nineteen years old. His eyes are brown, and his pupils are dilated. He's tall. His long hand grip an empty ceramic cup from one of the cupboards. In the other long hand is the coffee maker. He was about to pour himself some coffee before I caught him in the act.

Despite his focused eyes, the way he's pursing his lips makes me think he feels nervous.

'Who are you?' I demand.

'I'm Sebastian,' he replies softly. 'I found you on the street.'

'Found me?' I sneer. 'What're you doing in my house?'

Sebastian looks around, like the answer is elsewhere, and he sets both the cup and the coffee maker down. He spreads his hands out and gazes at the countertop, probably trying to figure out what to say.

'I wanted to make sure you were all right,' he finally says.

'You attacked me,' I snap, stepping into the kitchen. 'You attacked me yesterday! And today? I was attacked again!'

'That wasn't supposed to happen,' he says.

'I'm going to call the police,' I say, heading to the kitchen telephone.

'Be my guest,' he replies moodily. 'Can I still have some coffee?'

'Fuck you,' I cry. 'Get out!'

'I can't leave you alone now, you'll be attacked again.'

I almost rip my hair out! 'YOU attacked ME!'

'But I let you go,' he says, shrugging his shoulders.

I fly to the telephone on the wall. I'm about to dial 911 when he appears right beside me and backs me against the wall, shielding my mouth under his hand.

'You can call the cops, but it won't do you any good,' he says.

I scream into his hand until he removes it.

'You and your friends need to be arrested!' I cry.

'It'll be hard to arrest us,' Sebastian says with a hint of amusement in his voice.