Vampire Experiment: Book One of the Vamp Virus Series

✧✦ Chapter Eight ✦✧

Arkhain walked through the quiet mansion, her heels clicking loudly on the stone floor. She wasn't particularly thrilled to be there to check up on this girl, but she knew it would help the overall situation. And she promised Lestat she would. She nodded to Red as he walked past and stopped in front of the door to Odette's room. She let out a sigh and knocked a few times.

She cracked the door open. "Odette?" She called quietly into the darkness. The first sound she heard was the rustling of a blanket as Odette moved around in the bed.

"Odette? I am not here to hurt you. Jasper sent me here, my name is Arkhain. I am here to help you." She said, closing the door behind her. She leaned back against the door and looked around and spotted her. "Do not try to jump me. I can see you in the dark." She muttered. "Now, are you going to talk with me? I can help you get through this."

She stayed cowering under the covers, staring over in the direction of where Arkhain stood. "How?" She croaked, her voice low and wary. "Why?"

Arkhain took a couple of steps toward the bed. "Has Jasper told you much about being a vampire? He is a hybrid, I am an Elder. That means that I have more power than him. It is a long process to change into a vampire in such an unconventional way, but taking in the blood of an Elder helps it to go quicker, or so we hope with your kind of hybrid." She sat down on the bed next to her. "If you do not wish to take my blood I can at least be here for you, like a mentor."

After a moment of silence she heard Odette sigh weakly and struggle into a sitting position. "I don't want to take anyone's blood. I only want to get out of this room."

"I know. But you are a vampire now, sweetie." She put her hand on Odette's in a motherly way. "Vampires eat blood. I mean that is just how it works. You can hold off as long as you want but the need will get worse. Eventually you will just attack someone in order to survive." She let out a sigh herself, leaning against the wall. "You don't have to do it today. We can just talk. Do you have any questions?"

"I don't know... I don't know what I should or shouldn't know about all of this. I just want to go back to the way things were..." She sat back and pulled her knees up to chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. Arkhain noticed that she had nasty cuts and puncture marks on her right arm from her wrist up to her elbow.

"Sweetie..." She said quietly and pulled her arm toward her. She looked down at the bites and frowned. "How did you come by these?"

Odette didn't want to answer at first, but after awhile she sighed. "I don't know. I get these random scary urges and I can feel myself slipping away, so I do what I can to stop it. When I bite myself, it keeps my mind my own and I have less moments where I can't remember what's going on. But it doesn't always help."

"You shouldn't do this." She leaned down and kissed them all, watching as they slowly began to heal. "The other thing about being a vampire, you can heal quite easy. You can also heal quicker with the help of another vampire."

"You said you were an Elder." She felt her arm and looked over at her. "So... how long have you been a vampire for?"

"A very long time. Harland, Lestat and I were in the original clan. The original clan was only about twenty vampires."

"Wow..." Odette actually sounded intrigued and sat up a little straighter.

"Jasper was what people call a familiar before he was a vampire. That means he was in the stage you were in before you were turned. He had to do what the vampires wanted him to do, no matter what. You have already drunk vampire blood, thanks to Jasper, so now you are a fledgling. Once you begin to consume blood on a daily basis, you will be considered a vampire, for your type."