Awakening

Chapter 6: Live Each Day Like it's Your Last

Today was the day. Today was the day that everything could go horribly wrong. How would we survive? If we didn’t kill Ebony, the world would be the victim of a horror film. If our side didn’t win, Ebony would rule over the world. I wished that I was among the humans, naïve of the world that lies outside their door.

 I suddenly remembered when I would watch superhero movies with my brother. The villain would be cunning, but the protectors of the innocent would always triumph. Right now, the villain was one step away from killing us all. It was our duty to win. We had to be vicious; we had to shield those we cherished most. Now was not the time to back down.

I heard two knocks on my door; it was probably Drakko telling Maribella and I to get ready for war. I walked over and opened it, and it wasn’t him. I didn’t recognize his face, but he was cute. He looked about twenty-one, which meant that he could possibly be Maribella’s boyfriend, Armando.

“Hello, I’m Armando. You must be Angel; Ari’s talked about you many times. How’s your new life treating you?” Armando managed a smile, even as things were. I was surprised; no one had smiled in a while. It was nice to have a break from constant fear and awkward conversations.

“Well, it’s been hard lately, but you probably already know that. I’m ready to win!” I laughed. “Okay, I’m not really ready, but I don’t think anyone is. I think we all wish we had more time to get ready.”           

“If we were prepared we wouldn’t have anything to worry about. Anyway, I was hoping that I could have some time with Maribella.” The look on his face worried me. It made me want to know what he was going to tell her, because it didn’t look like it was good news. He wasn’t going to break up with her, was he?

I wasn’t quite sure what to think, but I left the room and let Maribella and Armando talk alone.

I decided to go into the kitchen, where Drakko, Blake, and Jayde were. It would probably be best if I didn’t get into the middle of whatever was happening with Mari and Armando.  

Blake looked in my eyes, with the spirit and sorrow of a lost puppy. “I don’t know if we can make it to tomorrow… We don’t have any advantages that I’m aware of. We don’t even have an army. How many people do we have… five?” Blake reached for a cup of coffee and took a small sip. “I don’t know why we’re even trying. We’re going to die.”

“We don’t know that. All we know is that this is going to be an uphill battle. You’re right, Blake. We don’t have any advantages; in fact, I think we’ve gone mad. But you know what we have? We have teamwork. We have hopefulness...”

Jayde interrupted Drakko. “More like hopelessness... I don’t think we have a chance.”

“If you want to have a bloody chance, then you have to show that you can put up a fight. Alright?” Drakko was right, if we wanted to have a chance we had to work for it.   

I heard Maribella and Armando shouting. Sadly, I was right about them breaking up. I hoped that it wouldn’t affect our chances today.

“Fine then! If you don’t want to help us, then just leave. I don’t need a pathetic loser following me around, pretending to love me; pretending to care about me. I’m good without you. You know what? We’re gonna kick ass today, and we definitely don’t need you to slow us down. Goodbye, Armando.” Maribella’s words burned; tears flooded her eyes as she shut the door.

The first person to comfort Maribella was Drakko. He wrapped his arms around her, and said it was all going to be alright. Blake paced around, paying no attention to anyone else. It made sense that he was in shock; he was the weakest of all of us. He was the one who could be most easily harmed.

It suddenly hit me. Today might be my last day, and I decided that I wasn’t going to play it safe.

I walked up to Blake, and told him that we needed to talk. He nodded and came with me to my room.

“What’s up?” Blake asked then sat on the bed.

“Other than the future being in jeopardy; not much, but that’s not what I want to talk about. Blake, I love you; I want to be with you, I don’t care about the risks.”

Blake looked at the carpet. He shook his head, and then looked up in a smile. “I knew,” Blake said, “I knew that you wanted to be with me. It’s all you’ve been thinking about lately. I considered what I to say if this particular scenario came up.” Blake paused. “Yes.”

A wide smile came upon my face and I laughed as a hugged Blake. I was happy to know that he didn’t reject me as I thought he would.

Blake and I were standing next to each other. He blinked slowly and I saw his pupils dilate. We both knew what was going to happen next.

Both of us slowly leaned in, and our lips met. We kissed for nearly a minute, and I felt butterflies as I did before. Blake had his soft hands on my face, and they felt warm on my skin. Suddenly, we both heard a cough and backed away. It was Maribella.

“Why hello Angel and Blake. Having fun?” Maribella offered a smile and a quick wink, but then her face became cold and distant. “We have to go. It’s time to plan for combat.”

I took a deep breath. “Oh, alright. Guess we should get going then, shouldn’t we?”

Blake nodded and said, “We have to do this sooner or later…and I don’t think we get a choice.”

Maribella left the room, and so Blake and I were alone.

“If anything bad happens today, I want you to know that I love you. I want you to know that you mean a lot to me, and I need to know that it’s been a pleasure knowing you.” Blake offered comforting words, but I wish that I didn’t have the thought of losing him in my mind.

“I love you too. I’m really glad I had the chance to meet you.”

Blake was quiet for a few seconds, and then opened his mouth.

“Who are we kidding? I know I won’t be able to make it through this battle. I know I won’t survive. You know it too; it’s obvious. I want you to make me into a Vampire like you. It’s the only chance I have. Will you do it?”

I thought about it. Blake was right, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about changing him.

“I’ll do it.” I said half-heartedly. I didn’t want to cause him pain, but I didn’t want him to die. He wanted me to bite him, so I decided that I would.

Drinking Blake’s blood felt even better than it did before. His blood tasted sweet, like honey. I remembered everything that had happened between Blake and I. Would all of that change if he wasn’t human? His scent would change; instead of smelling like blood, it wouldn’t smell at all. Or maybe it would… I wasn’t sure. Blake wouldn’t feel warm when he touched me, instead he would feel cold. I would miss all of those things.

I lifted my mouth from Blake’s neck and I watched. It was painful, but I held on.

Within a minute, Blake’s eyes opened. They were not emerald, which was yet another thing I would miss. Now, his eyes were chocolate-colored. It was a pretty color for eyes, but I missed Blake’s wonderful emerald green eyes.

“Where’s the blood?” Blake asked with a sly smile on his face. He seemed excited about his new being.

I answered, “In the fridge, on the second shelf.” I figured that Blake was going to drink almost all of it, which was understandable since he was a newborn Vamp.

Everything was ready for war. Blake was stronger, everyone was mentally prepared, and all of us were ready to stick together.