Runaway

Chapter Two

When I woke up I took in my surroundings. Right away I could tell I was in some rundown hotel room; the smell was musky and damp, the room itself was hard on the eyes and the TV and lights were off. I turned around to stare at the ceiling, trying to remember how I got here. It was then that I noticed a body sitting on the next bed over. They were bouncing their leg in anxiety and had their hand over their mouth. Then I remembered last night.

“Mirabella.” I gasped and immediately choked.

“Shut up.” A voice relied dryly. “You should not talk, breathe, or even move for that matter.” Her soft accent from last night was now hard and emotionless. Mirabella stood up with grace and stepped into my line of sight.

Her image changed also from the night before and it made her look older and more elegant. Her dress was a solid midnight blue that wrapped around her neck and waist, like it was one cloth that started mid-thigh and ended around her shoulders, and she had ankle high black and silver high heeled boots that made a nice tapping noise when the heels landed on the floor. Finally, her impossibly long black hair was pulled back in a neat bun. Mirabella’s bright, grey eyes glared into my soul.

“What happened?” My voice was hoarse and it hurt to breathe.

“I am not going to hand feed this to you. You are a vampire.” Mirabella spoke causally as if she gave this news every day.

“I-I’m a vampire?” Shock covered my question. “That’s…That’s…” I tried to find the right word, but only one came to mind, “Awesome!” I looked at Mirabella, a wide smile of my face, and a mask of horror on hers.

“What?”

“This is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. Well I guess I will have more amazing things happen to me in the future, but so far this tops it!” I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. Well at least I tried. Once my weight fell on my legs, my knees gave out and I crumpled to the ground.

“You are weak, you idiot.” Mirabella stood over me with her arms crossed and her eyes cold, “Why would you believe that being this type of creature is a good thing?”

I pulled myself up onto the bed—with no help from Mirabella I might add—and turned to her, “Because the life I just had sucked. My family’s dead, my girlfriend cheated on me, I ruined my only friendship, and not to mention having a gay moment back there in Dark Magic.” I pulled myself to a sitting position and let my curiosity get the best of me, “So, vampires. What exactly does this mean? How did this happen? I’m not very strong in the Underground politics.”

Mirabella smoothed her dress, sat down across from me, and sighed, “You just want to get right into this, do you not?”

I nodded my head eagerly.

“Well in a few minutes your body will begin to starve so I will make this quick.” Mirabella turned her grey eyes to me, her eyes now soft, “Firstly, I am very sorry for what I have done to you, Reiss. If you had not made this change, it would have killed you. I was drunk—shocking enough—and I was thoughtless. I did not think of your well being, and I truly apologize. ”

“I forgive you.” I said impatiently. I want to know the good stuff.

“What do you want to know?”

“How did I survive the change?” That was the thing that was killing me inside. How did I survive this? I should be dead right now, but I’m not.

“Your body was strong enough to endure the pain and transition. There is a gland that you now have. Right here,” Mirabella placed a delicate finger just below my jaw, “It injects the person you are feeding on with the poison that creates vampires. The poison eats away the oxygen breathing and warm blooded cells in the human body, and replaces them with vampire DNA. With enough practice, you can choose to open and close them at your will. However, before then you must feed carefully; preferably not on humans at all.”