It's Okay to be Different

2

It's almost 1 o'clock in the morning but vampires don't sleep. I get the sudden urge to go outside and walk around the city. Knowing how well my senses have been to me, I follow the urge and grab my Vetemens jacket before walking out of my home.

My instincts lead me to a night club. The music can be heard from outside. It could just be because of my sensitive ears, but I doubt it. A white Mustang GT whizzes past me at top speed. Speeding ticket much?

Over the loud, obnoxious music I hear a small whimper. Then an even smaller cry for help. "Someone help me please... I don't want to die." The voice begs. Someone is dying?

I follow the sounds about 10 blocks away from the club. I see a figure laying on the sidewalk in a fetal position with blood pooling around his neck. I also smell a vampire has been present. This poor mortal has been bitten and is probably so confused. They kept him alive. But I don't smell any venom. So they didn't change him.

So I approach said mortal. I kneel down and lean his head to the side to see the deep puncture wounds of a set of teeth in the side of his neck. He cries out when I touch him and tries to flinch away from my touch. "Please don't hurt me." His eyes are red and puffy. His words are also slurred together. That means whoever did this to him did it while he was intoxicated. And they probably knew he was too.

I sigh. "You must be in so much pain. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you." I snake one of my arms under him and the other one behind his knees and lift him off the ground.

As soon as he's in my arms, his eyes close and I run back to my house. I was going to walk so I wouldn't startle the mortal, but the smell of his blood and watching it drip onto my hands urged me to sprint to my home. With my speed, I'm there in a few seconds. I immediately call Kevin.

Kevin is a healer and one of my best friends.

"Kevin?" I ask once he answers

"Mitch! It's been a while what's up?"

"I have a mortal here. He's been bitten and I don't know what to do." I pause and stare at his neck and then my blood-covered arms for a moment. I can feel my eyes changing from brown to a glowing red. "There's a lot of blood Kevin and I haven't fed in a couple of days."

"I'll be right over."

I lay Scott down on my bed. I walk into the bathroom to wash the blood off my arms, instantly causing my eyes to turn back to brown. I dry my hands quickly and make my way back to him to pat at his wound with a towel. He winces at the contact. "You told me you wouldn't hurt me." He whispers and looks me right in the eyes.

I see the hurt in his eyes and sigh. "I know. I have to try to stop the bleeding. This isn't good for you or me."

He doesn't get what I mean by the last part I guess. He lays his head back down and mumbles his response. Even with my keen hearing sense, I can't decipher what he says.

"Do me a favor?" I ask as I carefully pat the blood off of his face and collarbone.

"Hmm?" He hums.

"Stop mumbling. You're making me doubt my abilities."

He just stares at me with a confused expression. "Abilities...?" He inquires cautiously.

"You'll find out soon enough. I can't keep you from it for long. It's coming your way too." I bring a hand up to his head and stroke his hair as I speak. "Whoever did this to you deserves to be banished."

He giggles a little. I don't see how he's laughing after he's been bitten but I look down at him and he's looking at me like I just spoke an ancient dialect or something. "Who says things like banished anymore? What are you? Born in the 1800s or something?"