Turned

Chapter Thirty Three

The human blood might've stopped my thirst for blood, even lessened my wish to kill but I still felt... horrible. I'd told him one of my deepest, darkest secrets, not that I'm a vampire but that I was... that I left home for good reason. I hoped we'd be together for longer than we were, I actually thought we would last... maybe not forever but... long enough but I was wrong and it left me hurt again, in the same pain I was in when I was with Kyle. I thought for sure that he'd stay but Leo had to go and ruin everything with memories of Kyle, a man I barely thought about since we broke up. 

I pulled myself up, heading back to my flat was... difficult, I wanted to go and see Leo, knowing if I did, he wouldn't be alive. Instead, I did the second worst thing I could do. I decided to confront him, to go to work, pretend I wasn't sick anymore. Caleb wrongly guessed my idea of 'sick', yes, the vampire blood had worn off, worked its way out of my bloodstream but the breakup of a fresh, whirlwind romance, if I could even call it that... was much more painful. 

I expected to see Nick behind the bar, serving customers but the shape was too muscular to be Nick, in a dark tank top, his skin tone near pale, human looking but pale, icy blue contact lenses. He looked up at me and smiled as I joined him. Caleb, I couldn't get rid of him, everywhere I looked, he was there. 

"Good to see you're well again" he commented as I jumped behind the bar.

"Where's Nick?"

"You both called in sick" Caleb replied, flashing a smile at a female customer. 

I didn't say anything, just helped Caleb thin down the line of queuing people, all desperate for a drink. There was no need to talk to him, part of me still barely even tolerated him, let alone anything else. He wasn't the type I felt I could be more than a little friendly with.

"How are you holding up?" he asked me, being oddly nice.

"Like someone is taking a wrecking ball to my insides, you?"

"I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking"

"Why do I get the feeling that you're enjoying this?" I asked rudely.

"I'm actually... not, would you believe. At the same time, I'm aware this is partially my fault"

I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't care, it wasn't why I felt so... awful. I trusted him, I really trusted Nick and it turned out to be one of my biggest mistakes. I hated it, how I trusted him... how it was broken because of my idiocy, my foolishness. I shouldn't have asked him to help get Leo, it wasn't fair, it was too early for all that.

"I'm not very good at... do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"No, thanks" I said, shooting that option down quickly before he found out the real reason I felt like absolute shit.

"You know, everyone goes through it" he replied with a sinister smile.

"Vampire blood withdrawals?" I whispered.

"Heartbreak" he whispered in my ear as he walked past me to grab a bottle of whiskey.

"What? What are you talking about?" I asked but it sounded like a really bad lie, making me blush, making me stutter as I tried to sound as convincing as possible, realising it just sounded much worse.

"I've been alive long enough to tell the difference between the two" Caleb said cryptically as he mixed a drink. "I've been through both myself, never gets any easier"

"Which one?"

"Both of them"

"So, how do you get over it?"

"Stop drinking it" he offered.

"You know what I meant" I snapped. "A relationship... with someone... normal"

"Plenty of breath mints, hides the smell of iron, stops them tasting rust every time they pull in for a kiss" Caleb joked with a smile but he was a good enough judge to realise my glare was a warning sign. "Oh, alright, calm down. Communication, trust and loyalty, the key to any relationship, without the three foundations, you won't last past the... cute and fluffy stages"

"Because I can really be honest, can't I?"

"I didn't say honesty, I said trust, there's a difference" he replied.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I'm careful with my words and if I were you, I wouldn't tell her anything she doesn't need to know" Caleb explained.

"He and I didn't... won't it hurt our foundations"

"Why? Which one does it fall under?"

"Trust?"

"Trust is earnt, you go through the stages. You don't blurt everything out on a first date, you don't tell them absolutely everything, it's a one-way ticket to the land known as 'Single', you build up the foundations of trust as time goes on and if it feels like you don't fit, you break up, simple as that"

"And if you think you can make it fit?"

"Don't... it's a ticket to the land of 'An Awful Relationship', if neither of you fit, you can't make each other fit, it just isn't going to work. What you do is you let them go and find someone else who they will fit with while you do the same... otherwise you get the miserable relationships, the arguments that are never healthy and you both end up hating each other and cursing the days you met"

"And the whole aging thing?" I asked as he led me into the back, away from prying eyes and eager ears.

"If you love someone, you tend to find it doesn't matter if they look the age you were when you were made or if they're older and worn out, worn down, it's the years you spend with them that counts, being there through the good and bad times"

"What about... turning them?"

"Don't force it on them, some people will never want our... way of life, you just have to accept that otherwise, you're breaking a foundation by breaking their trust and being selfish. As I said, if you love them then you'll find a way through, believe me"