If I Die By Sunrise

It Gets Real

I stared at Jerry for what felt like forever. To say that I was confused was a huge understatement; I was lost as all hell. It took me several seconds to regain enough composure to find my voice and even longer to formulate a proper sentence. "What are you talking about?"

Jerry was pacing the floor in seconds. He paused once, and in his expression, I saw that he seemed to be debating something, perhaps whether or not to tell me anything more.

"Jerry?" I called, but it was more of a plea.

Upon hearing his name, he seemed to return to himself, though not completely. His eyes were wild, frantic. I swallowed the lump in my throat. The adrenaline and fear from the nightmare hadn't subsided yet and Jerry's behavior certainly wasn't helping to quell them.

Jerry stared across at me, his countenance apologetic. "How could I have not known? How could I have been so stupid to endanger both our lives like that?"

His words were really frightening me. "God damn it Jerry! What are you talking about?"

"You're a damn...I can't even say the word..." He muttered. He was physically struggling to finish the sentence. I waited; though I was sure whatever he was going to say would make me feel even more scared.

"You're an empath." He said the word similar to how the vampire in my nightmare had, as if it were an expletive.

I blinked at him. "What is that?"

He raked a hand through his hair. "An empath is a very powerful human being. They have a psychic connection with the supernatural, mainly vampires." He walked over to his huge closet and after a second, returned with what could best be described as a tome so big it could rival War and Peace.

He flipped through the pages to an illustration of a human fortune teller and what seemed like over-exaggeratedly drawn vampires surrounding her while she read someone's palm.

"For awhile," Jerry continued, "everything was fine. Vampires and empaths got along well, especially since empaths could understand vampires better than they understood themselves. This, as you can probably tell, was both a good and bad thing.

"Vampires didn't mind being understood, but they are very solitary creatures, they don't want friends, they want sustenance.

You see Charley, empaths connected with vampires on every level imaginable; spiritually, emotionally, physically, but unfortunately, this meant that an empath's blood was agony to resist. The blood lust was immensely great but, so was the bond between them. For a long time, vampires protected empaths in turn for the friendship and the unbreakable bond they shared. It was a struggle at times, but mostly it was very practical. Until the day one vampire broke that unspoken rule.

"He had meant to murder the poor guy, maim him and leave him for dead. Get the blood lust out of the way and ensure he wasn't still breathing so no one would recognize that it was the body of an empath. But that vampire was a fool. The very first empath to be bitten by a vampire and it turned out that no matter how bad you treat the body, an empath will always take on the form of the supernatural creature that bit them with or without it being the intention of the creature to turn them.

And that's not all; the empath became a very powerful vampire. As revenge, he murdered his Maker; something vampires never do because of the bond a Child has with his Maker. That was the first sign that empaths were completely different from us. He had no semblance of or care for our conformity. He was single minded and viciously vengeful. The empath went on to massacre many vampires and it took even more to stop him.

For everyone, it was an outrage. Demetria, our centuries old Queen, stated that empaths couldn't be trusted, that they were too strong, almost omnipotent. She ordered to have every empath, from newborn babies to old and ailing, killed.

For many vampires who were close to empaths, it was hard to see their friends destroyed by the Order but it was a necessary evil. Many vampires chose not to go against the Order and abandoned their human friends. And thus the biggest empath genocide occurred.

I thought it was over. That they were all gone. Demetria promised that she would see to that. Apparently not.

Charley, your existence signifies that the war is not over. You're still here and that is a threat to Demetria, Aumone, Luke, all of them, maybe even to me."

Jerry's face was grave, for the first time I've ever seen, he looked completely tortured.

"Does this mean they'll come for me? Jerry, you can't let this happen."

"It's too late Charley. Through you, I felt them. They're close. They know you're here and they know I have you. They are going to consider me a traitor for not giving you up and have us both killed. It doesn't matter that I didn't know, all they will see is that I've been keeping you hidden." He stared off into the distance looking pained, I immediately felt guilty; if it weren't for these stupid powers and my scent then neither of us would be in this mess. In a way, I was kind of lucky, though. If Jerry hadn't taken me then, not only would I still be a target, which I was, I would have led them to the Sanctuary where my family was hiding. And that thought made me sick.

"H-how do they know I'm here?"

Jerry frowned. "Think about it Charley, who have you pissed off or tipped off by your existence."

It took me awhile to muddle through the fear and anxiety swamping my brain to remember and when I did, I shuddered with disgust. "Keith."

He nodded. "Keith must have found the time to go to Romania and tell Demetria that you exist. You were getting real chummy with him and he is a half breed after all. As dumb as he is, it wouldn't take long for him to put two and two together."

I was disgusted with myself. Thanks to my foolish antics, I put our lives in danger.

Jerry's voice pulled me from my thoughts. "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to have Keith's head for this."

I was nodding my head in agreement when the sound of Jerry's doorbell rang through the house. My spine stiffened immediately and painfully, I could also feel goose bumps break across my skin.

"Someone's here." I whispered.

Our eyes met from across the room. "Vampire?" Jerry asked.

"Vampire." I confirmed.

Before either of us could react, Cleo was standing in Jerry's bedroom doorway. She looked hurried and harried; her bright red hair was a mess and her clothes were rumpled. It was the first time that I had ever seen a vampire looking so disheveled.

She didn't let either of us speak, through a thirst-parched voice she exclaimed, "The army is coming. They think Charley is unstable and that you intend to make him one of us. They want to kill us."

She glared at me from across the room. Her pitch-black eyes narrowed into slits and her fangs extended. "This is all because of you!" She screamed, pointing at me, and the last thing I saw was the flash of the light glinting off her fangs before she pounced.