Turned

Chapter 3

She was lying on top of Calvin and the pillows. She turned, looking up into his eyes and seeing a passion burning there that he obviously couldn’t hide.

Last night had been the best night of her life. It hadn’t been… the… adventure they’d taken. It had been the pleasure and the deep rightness in her soul that this was the man she was utterly meant to be with.

“Did you enjoy yourself?” The glee in Calvin’s voice made her smile. Sarah gestured her body toward him.

“Of course. It’s you. You’re my Soulmate,” Sarah said, feeling surer of herself than she had in weeks. She still wasn’t so sure she wanted to be with him, but her worries were beginning to wean, all curled up in his arms and utterly, almost unrealistically elated.

Calvin’s grin stretched from ear to ear, making him look handsomer than anything. Sarah’s breath caught in her throat.

“Are you thirsty?” Calvin said. She knew he didn’t mean for a Sprite from Taco Bell. Some of her elation faded; it was replaced by fear.

The burning in her throat was suddenly overwhelming. No! She wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t feed on humans. Every time she fed, she’d remember Mom or Dad or Gramma or Gramps or her sister Victoria or her life as a human- the life she suddenly missed. She looked away from Calvin and tried to take her mind off the thirst in her throat.

“I won’t feed from humans,” Sarah said softly, staring down at the floor. All of a sudden she felt anger- hot and boiling, and only growing stronger. “I will not feed from humans!” she yelled. If only she was right.

Calvin’s smile faded. He reassured her gently with his touch, softly caressing her cheek. She was amazed that physical contact with him still felt so ethereal, as though she were floating through a mere dream.

“Sarah,” he whispered, and his voice was full of pain. “You do not have to feed now, but eventually your urges will become too strong and you’ll slaughter everyone. It’s an inescapable part of being a vampire.”

“But you said I’m not fully a vampire yet,” she said, grasping at something- anything to get her out of this. “You said that I haven’t fully turned.”

“You haven’t,” Calvin said, smiling. “It’s actually a good sign that you’re thirsty already. It means your body has taken to the change quickly, and that you will certainly be a vampire. Some die during the attempt.”

“Like the other four who are Bound to you,” Sarah said, remembering the conversation she’d had with him.

He nodded.

“Sarah-” His smile widened. “I think that you are the one I will choose.”

She was stunned. There were two other women Bound to him. But he was going to be choosing her? Why? How?

“Do you even know the other two?” She was blinking hard and fast, trying to cover up the sudden tears in her eyes.

“Yes,” he said. “One is Genevieve. She was preordained for me. We’d been together since we were born, and I was going to marry her. The other is Veronica. She died long before you were born. We were both still human, and only after I was changed and she didn’t make it did I realize she was one of those Bound to me.” Calvin ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I miss her.”

Pain shot through Sarah, but she ignored it. “You said you were going to marry Genevieve. But…?” she asked.

He was silent for a long time, so long she almost thought he hadn’t heard her, but he smiled and said, “But I met you.”

She was stunned. He’d given up the love of his life… To be with her?

“I…” Her voice was raspy, the threat of tears present in her eyes. “Thank you” was all she could say before the waterworks escalated. She relaxed into Calvin, smelling the seductive scent of him and crying until her heart seemed almost swollen with love. Love. The emotion that had hated her for all her life was finally making its way into her heart.

…

The darkness of the dream somewhat surprised Genevieve. Maybe it was because she hadn’t expected it. Maybe it was because she was stupid. Whatever. She inhaled the air.

The smell of roses.

This was a Shadowing Dream. Someone was trying to tell her something.

The picture cleared and she saw Calvin. At first it was only him, mostly naked. She smiled. She missed him deeply, and couldn’t wait for the wedding. She could almost see him in black tie now, grinning at her.

And then her vision shifted and she saw the girl.

If Genevieve had not felt pure hatred before in her life, she most certainly felt it now. The girl was a newborn, only hours old. He was cheating on her? She snarled, watching the dream.

“You said you were going to marry Genevieve,” the fledgling girl said. Her name! “But…”

Calvin was silent for a long moment before saying, “But I met you.”

Her anger, her rage, her hatred, her fury, was what shattered the Shadowing Dream.

Genevieve sat straight up in bed. Her contacts had been burned away by the venom in her eyes.

Now they were a bright, startling grey.

Genevieve grinned, her fangs glistening in the moonlight. “Two can play at that game.”