Young Blood (A Saphael Fanfiction)

Rise Up

Simon waited, nervously hovering. It was the vampire's first time doing anything like this, but he was somehow able to regain enough of the Brooklyn clan leader's trust to be left in charge of this. A portion of his anxiety stemmed from the fact that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Another part emerged from the stinging feeling that plagued him whenever the thought of disappointing Raphael Santiago crossed his mind.

However, he was not left alone with his troubled thoughts for much longer, as he soon noticed the ground shaking where the girl had been buried. At first it stunned him, as he had never actually witnessed this process before; he'd only gone through it. It wasn't too long after when a dark, dirty hand emerged from the crumbling soil. The girl desperately clawed at the ground until eventually her entire body became visible from above ground. For a moment, Simon just looked at her, forgetting what he was supposed to do next. Nothing at all could have truly prepared him for that moment.

He really didn't do much more thinking, though, since the girl attempted to charge at him. Effortlessly, he tossed her back on the ground, where she only hissed and snarled at him as she was too weak to return to her feet.

"Oh, right, the blood!" he said, suddenly remembering that he was supposed to give the starving newborn fledgling some form of sustenance. He then reached into his (well, actually, Raphael's) jacket and tossed down one of the blood bags. The girl tore it open with her bare teeth and swallowed its contents hungrily. It was empty in a matter of seconds. He responded to this by offering a second one, which she also devoured ravenously. He then gave her a third one. He was thankful that he had brought extra just in case, as it took a fourth blood bag for her to finally calm down a little bit.

She looked up at him almost pleadingly with her deep brown eyes, shifting entirely in demeanor. She then began to squint.

"Who are you? What's going on?" she choked out, breathing heavily, her speech altered due to the presence of her brand new fangs.

Simon responded to this by kneeling down to meet her gaze. He placed a hand on the distraught fledging's shoulder.

"My name's Simon. I'm here to help you. It's all going to be okay," he said slowly, reflecting on each word as they escaped his mouth one by one.

The girl simply shook her head to indicate a lack of understanding, clearly too stunned to speak. There was a long, tense pause. Simon had absolutely no idea how to give the "you're a vampire" talk. Perhaps Raphael had trusted him a little bit too much.

In that moment he just wished that he had something, anything, to guide him through guiding this new vampire through what was most likely going to be the most difficult transition of her entire life. Right then she was confused and nervous to say the least, but Simon knew that in a few moments her heart would shatter, and he could hardly bear it.

"You're going to be okay. You're just different now, but that's totally fine," he said, continuing to beat around the bush.

"Different? What are you talking about?" she said, the pace of her speech growing rapid as she grew more nervous.

That was when Simon slipped. Somewhere within a haze of attempted reassurance and the pure nonsensical rambling that he was somewhat prone to, he ended up blurting it out.

In respond to his words as well as his sudden silence, she froze for a moment. She then began to shake her head before reaching with her soil covered hands to touch the two protruding fangs that replaced her normal, human canine teeth. Immediately, she moved her hands away, gasping. It was all becoming too real.

"This wasn't supposed to happen to me," she cried out.

"Shhh. It's okay. There are more of us who can help you. Just come with me," he said, trying to assure her and hopefully get her to cooperate.

It did not go exactly as planned. She responded by tensing every muscle in her body. As one swift, rigid movement, she suddenly jumped back up to her feet.

Simon did the same and they met at eye level once again.

The girl shook her head.

"Help me? No way! I think that I've already had enough "help" from your kind" she snarled, practically spitting out the last two words.

In that moment, Simon felt slightly guilty. He remembered when this had happened to him and we was so quick to blame Raphael for his circumstance, even calling him a monster. Now, he thought of Raphael as the furthest possible thing from a monster.

"Our kind," Simon corrected, slightly alarmed by how much he sounded like Raphael for a split second. "You're one of us now, and I promise I'm not gonna hurt you."

The girl paused for a moment. She could hear the genuine sincerity in Simon's voice, making her want to trust him. She almost did trust him. Almost. Then she remembered. She remembered the slightly older guy she met at the bleeder den that her friend brought her to. She remembered the vampire venom becoming a basic necessity over time. She remembered that same guy feeding her his blood and biting her, and before she knew it she was in a graveyard with a complete stranger. She wanted to trust Simon, but he was a vampire, just like the one who killed her. So, instead, she ran off into the night with her newfound speed.