So I'm a Vampire... Now What? - Book 2 (Original Version)

Chapter 7.3 - Accept My Sacrifice

It was snowing again.

That was the thing that I remember most about that evening. It wasn't the shock on Frankie's face as he was cut off mid-sentence, puzzled as I was by the sudden and violent appearance of one, no: two... wait: three crossbow bolts in his chest.

What should have been even more memorable was the sheer look of betrayal on his face. There was a little bit of confusion as well, even as the third bolt thudded into the right side of his chest. That's something that's going to stay in my memory for a long time: the look he gave me that demanded I answer why this was happening to him, and while I was on that, could I please figure out exactly what it was that was happening?

I could stop right there and rewind just a little, take back the crossbow bolts and the look on Frankie's face, and focus on something else that was just as striking—

Rewind...

The woman was silhouetted against the well-lit pay-station, the large Green P sign behind her, huge fluffy snowflakes almost seeming to suck the colour out of the world like something out of a Frank Miller comic book. She was hooded, so I couldn't see her face, the hood just part of the long black coat that almost seemed to sweep the ground, but that was nothing unusual in itself since it was snowing. It was a damned cool coat, the kind that you wait all year for the perfect weather in which to wear it again. It was the kind of coat that would look nice on almost everyone but had been made specifically for a certain body type.

I had noticed all of this in one glance before looking away, noticing the woman but not really noticing her at all. After all, it was just a woman alone at night. Habit alone made me instantly want to make myself seem less of a threat and to check that the other guys, mainly Stanley, weren't going to do anything stupid.

The threat was never supposed to come from her.

Rewind...

It felt good to look across the smiling faces of my friends as we walked into the Green P parking lot towards Frankie's parked car. It was a snapshot moment, one of those moments where I wish I had a camera in hand because it was at just the perfect angle, and everybody was in perfect step to be properly epic. Even if I had managed to get a camera, it was a moment that was only meant to be captured in memory, never on camera, and no matter how much you tried to recreate it for Instagram or whatever, it would never be the same.

Picture it with me. Benjamin and Natalie were holding hands as they walked, Frankie was right in the middle, telling a story about how one of his martial arts instructors liked to claim that he was present at every major historical event in the last one hundred years, no matter how unlikely. Stanley was glancing at his phone, half-listening to Frankie in the way that he does. I was at the end of this row, slightly ahead and perfectly positioned to capture this mental image as I glanced back at them.

The snow had begun to drift down sporadically, big fluffy flakes that stuck and lumped together, forming a thin layer of not-quite-but-just-you-wait-ice on the ground. I could feel my shoes almost crunching through the building slush and knew that in a couple of hours, the entire city would be covered in a crusty blanket of white once again.

For that moment though, it felt good to be with friends, my friends—

Rewind...

The snow was falling as we filed out of the church. In my memory, it still plays in slow motion, my brain trying to make sense of it all and trying to attach meaning to everything. I was first out of the door and held it wide open as my friends, and fellow vampires exited into the cold night air.

I noticed the statue one more time, and maybe I felt a little fear then, felt a little something, but I could be making it up. It's one of those things where we try to attach meaning to the meaningless, that our actions have echoes however small.

I gave the statue the middle finger salute and let the door swing shut on its judgement as I walked backwards out into the falling snow—

Fast Forward...

It was snowing again.

And Frankie was coughing up blood.