These Streaks of Blood

5

Natalee perches on the edge of her new bed in a daze, one foot against the ground as if it hasn't decided whether it's going to take off running or not. Olivia skipped out a while ago with an air of delight, leaving Natalee to drown in her upsurge of dreadful thoughts by herself. Though being alone is like adding salt to a wound, she feels like she actually prefers it to Olivia's company. The girl isn't someone she sees herself ever becoming friends with; in fact, the moment she begins to desire that sort of friendship is the moment she'll know she can no longer trust herself at all.

She had already tried to cry, but nothing had come out. She feels more empty than she ever has before, and that's really saying something. She remembers the call telling her that her parents had been in an accident, and how she had rushed to the hospital with Emily only to hear the doctors say they were too late. Natalee knows nothing will ever match the agony of hearing those words, of realizing what they meant. But that time of her life was a whirlwind, and she certainly wasn't empty during it; in fact, she couldn't stop feeling. Feeling sad, guilty, regretful... feeling like the horror would never end, and she would never feel like herself again. 

Now, she's a character from storybooks. She's a part of old folktales. She's something that isn't supposed to be real, something that shouldn't exist by all laws of nature and logic of the world. How is she supposed to feel? Before, she doubted she would feel the same ever again. Now, she's really not the same, and she has no idea what to do about it.

She lifts her hand to run it through her hair. The strands are like silk, and it feels hardly different than when she runs her fingers through the surface of water. She sighs, but the sound comes out as more of a gag as a heaving sob wracks through her body. Hoping to calm the convulsing, Natalee throws her body onto the bed.

A vampire. She loves reading, and has read more fantasy books than she can count. A lot of them mentioned vampires in some capacity, but they all seemed to take different views of the creatures. Some of the characters were compassionate vampires, who stuck to drinking animal blood and still interacted with humans while staying sane. Some were ruthless monsters that loved to attack humans, using their predatory powers to their advantage. Under normal circumstances, if somebody had told her she was a vampire, Natalee would've laughed in their face, regardless of having a large imagination. However, she's seen evidence that can only be explained away in dreams. She saw her fangs in a mirror with her own eyes. She nearly tossed a queen-sized wooden bed upside-down by accident. She can still remember the sharp sting she felt when the boy had lowered his mouth to her neck, and now the memory is tainted with horrible comprehension. 

Olivia had informed her just before leaving that her desire for blood will show up in a few hours. She warned that Natalee's rational mind will begin fading away, slowly but surely, to be replaced with a mindset more animal and feral in nature. She promised that the boy, her 'master', will take Natalee hunting eventually, since he had promised she, Olivia, the same thing. Until then, Natalee would just have to try to remain semi-sane.

Natalee gasps loudly as another sob tears through her. She doesn't want to be a monster. She doesn't want to hurt anybody. If she is indeed a vampire - which she isn't yet willing to fully accept, despite the indisputable evidence - she promises herself, right now, that she will never harm a human soul. Though she loves animals, she'd rather drink their blood than a human's. That happens in a bunch of stories, right? It has to work, she thinks. It'll be no different from eating them... I've never been a vegetarian. No matter how hard she tries to convince herself, however, the thought of killing anything to drink its blood is repugnant to her.

Suddenly, an idea comes to her, and she sits up with a jolt. What if she refuses to drink anything's blood? After all, how can the boy really force her to?