Zone Zero: Redemption (Book 2 of 3)

Chapter 10

Daylight breaks through the sky and I am still yet to sleep. I know I have to succumb but still can't bring myself to indulge.

I poke what's left of the fire in an attempt to bring new life to the coals, but they are all but dead with only sparse remnants of orange remaining.

My eyes flick to my hands once more and I swear that I see blood staining my fingernails so I head to the small bathroom that is attached to the room and begin scrubbing my hands for the 7th time since the match. When my skin is red and tingling I drag my feet to the bed and slide in between the sheets.

Sleep comes rather quickly but my dreams are tainted red with blood.

I wake as soon as the door opens and sit upright.

Giselle enters the door wearing worn jeans with black knee high boots and a tight fitting black blazer as a top. It is clear that she is not wearing a shirt, or even a bra for that fact, underneath.

She carries with her a food tray filled with assorted fruits and a small bowl of nuts.

"Thought I'd come and check on you. Hungry?" she motions to the food and crosses the floor to sit down on the opposite side of the bed as me.

"What time is it?"

"Around noon I think. I don't really keep track of time anymore."

I feel like such an idiot asking a vampire for the time. Why would they care what time it is when they are immortal? For them a day is more like a minute.

Embarrassment must be flashing across my face because Giselle smiles sweetly and lets out a giggle.

"Vampires don't really keep track of time but you didn't know that so don't be embarrassed. We like to keep our secrets from humans."

I smile back at her and reach for the bunch of green grapes that are staring back at me.

"Do you mind if I ask how long you have been a vampire for?" I choose my words carefully. Even though Giselle has been the most sympathetic to my cause since arriving, doesn't mean that she likes me. For all I know she could curse my very name and shudder at the thought of me. I do hope for my sake that I have found a friend in her though.

A smile breaks on Giselle's face as though she was hoping I would ask and she is quick to answer.

"About 200 years or so now. I was turned into a vampire in 1805 just after watching the premier Ludwig Van Beethoven's opera 'Fidelio.' I was attending the opera with my husband Leopold and when I went to use the bathroom during intermission, someone grabbed me and pulled me outside. I remember the pain as he drank from me and as he finished he dropped me to the ground and went to leave me but for some reason he came back. He turned me into a vampire right then and took me under his wing. I learnt some years later that he was watching me throughout the entire opera and that was the reason he sought me out. He didn't want to hurt me, just to feed off me. He had no intention of killing or turning me but he couldn't help it. I knew that day that I would always be loyal to him." She speaks with such love and compassion for the vampire that turned her that I don't even think she knows that she hasn't even said his name.

"Who was he?"

The smile from Giselle's face fades and is replaced with an un-expectant frown.

"Cail of course. You didn't know that?"

The realisation dawns on me. She called him father the first time I was taken to see him. Of course he is the one who made her.

"Aren't you at all mad that he took you from your husband? Didn't you miss him?"