Therapévo

~ Chapter 3

Crowine Road, who would've thought, the most elusive members of Ljungborg where my neighbours all along. By neighbours I mean they were on the next street over, separated by a grove of trees that privatised all but the tippy tops of their houses. I should bake some cookies and send them over as a polite hello. I scoffed at second thought; stop acting like a grandma Louisa.

I got home, putting my keys into the glass bowl on top of the shoe wrack then shuffling out of my thick coat. After eating a venison burger, courtesy of the kind butcher on the main street and knocking back a glass of cow blood, I hopped into the shower and settled into bed as per routine.

I stared up at my ceiling and willed my suddenly keyed up body to rest, this had been happening more frequently as of late - as a Dhampir I should favour a nocturnal lifestyle but I had always been able to adjust my sleep routine to fit that of a humans. Recently, as soon as the sky grew dark, around when the clocks chimed midnight, my teeth would ache in my jaw and my muscles grew twitchy.

I wanted to do something, be somewhere. But I didn't know what or where.

With a sigh of frustration, I retrieved the pouch of the red Siderdnap berries Hetty had given me and popped one under my tongue. The deep crimson pearl melted in my mouth and my sigh of frustration turned to one of pleasure as the deep flavour flowed over my tongue. Sweet yet salty and smooth like the finest of wines.
I tucked the pouch back into the draw. Hetty said I had to be lucrative in my use of them, that they had an addictive quality, but they would work perfectly to ease me on my restless nights.

—

Waking up horrifically groggy, I found myself having to wipe at my eyes multiple times before they decided to function. My phone screeched at me again, the sound making me flinch.

8:15 - my breath hitched, I'm late!

I launched myself out of bed, stumbling when my hip ached as it recently had for a few weeks now. In a rush I threw on my clothes and brushed my blonde hair into a low bun, no time for makeup today; my first and only appointment today was at nine with Mr Gimmery and he loathed waiting; I reached my front door and grimaced.

The sun was up.

My lips set themselves into a thin line. Despite it being winter there was hardly a cloud and the sky was a bright blue already. There would probably be a storm later next week.

I pulled on my long leather trench coat, it wasn't exactly my style and made me look like a Van Helsingr vampire hunter, but Hetty had hexed it to be impermeable to a majority of sun light. I laced it up, pulled the sleeves to hang over my fingertips, my car keys ready in hand – one breath to fortify. I flicked up the hood and swung open the door, not even locking it behind me, because no one would travel as far out as I lived, as I sprinted across my lawn and flung myself into the car.

Tinted windows save the day, I sigh, putting my hands on the steering wheel as reassurance. I palmed at my hip, I'm getting too old for this shabang.

Just as I had turned my key to ignite the engine I felt a familiar twitch in the back of my skull; Comrade. It called. But it was daytime. The trees circling my house were sparse and wouldn't offer enough protection from the sun. A vampire would fry.

Comrade.

The calling declared more vehemently. My eyes moved to the small gully down the side of my house, where I kept the wood to dry for my fire.

Comrade! I physically jumped, hunched and holding my head in my hands as the loud plea bolted through my head. Jesus Christ, I cursed. Someone was over there. More so, a vampire was over there.