Sinjin, A Vampire Romance

Chapter Eleven

Sinjin

Sleep eluded me the following day.

My thoughts refused to leave me alone, you see. I was literally plagued by them. Damn that woman to hell and back, her presence unsettled me so. And the thought of her with Odran the Oaf? Ugh! I felt ill.

The longer I lay there, the more wound up I became. Perhaps the telly would distract me and divert my thoughts. A bit of reality TV might ease me through the afternoon. I turned the black box on with the remote and flipped through the channels incessantly. Nothing could pique my curiosity and my wretched thoughts returned to the oaf and the tempest.

I sprang from my bed, picking up my new shades from my bedside table and perching them on my nose as I opened my bedroom door. I was intent on finding something to occupy my restless mind. I could not yet determine how bright the day was and sunlight, of course, is the natural enemy of any vampire. I could only hope for heavy cloud cover, a much friendlier option.

"Bugger," I said out loud. The day was filled with abundantly brilliant sunshine, and worse still, the blind was fully open, allowing the infernal rays to spill from the window onto the wooden floor. I wondered if the little twit had done so on purpose. Perhaps as a protective measure just to create a natural barrier between us.

The only way to close the blind was by pulling down on the drawstring, a task I could not perform without incurring a nasty burn on my arm, at the very least. Bugger, bugger and bugger!

Yes, I should have abandoned the idea altogether but I was so blasted bored inside my dreary bedchamber. There was nothing to watch on the telly and I recently finished my latest Stephen King novel. Truly, there was nothing to keep me confined inside my bedroom. Thus, to hell with it! I decided to take my chances on it.

Tiptoeing slowly, as if I intended to take the sun by surprise, I approached the bare window with true trepidation. With one rapid movement, I launched myself forward, my only intent being to catch the drawstring and yank it down rapidly. But as I began my leap, a ray of sunlight appeared on my arm and I anticipated a pain so intense that I thrust my arm back, thereby disturbing my body's equilibrium.

Plummeting to the floor, and directly inside the cruel pool of light, my sunglasses flew from my head and landed five feet in front of me. As I went down, I instantly braced myself for the agony of unrelenting sunlight being thrust upon me, and then, the strangest thing occurred. I felt no pain whatsoever! I exited the patch of sunlight as quickly as possible and sat up to examine the bare parts of my body for any signs of burning. But to my utter astonishment, there were none. Extraordinary! And the sun's brightness was not as harsh or uncomfortable as I remembered from the past, in the few circumstances that I had to endure it.

Yes, without my precious sunglasses, I had to squint, but surprisingly, the brightness was bearable. More than that, it seemed almost pleasant. Pleasant? Really?

Slowly and carefully, I extended my smallest finger into the ray of sunshine that radiated through the window. First, I tested the tip of my smallest digit, then the rest of it. Nothing happened. Nothing. There was a noticeable absence of any negative effect whatsoever. A gentle warmth was all I perceived. What the...?

I dared to extend the rest of my hand beneath the warm ray. And found it exactly the same. Sliding my whole body inside it, I let the sun's rays fall fully across my face. And then?

I felt simply glorious! Somehow, by some miracle, I was actually sunbathing and loving it. But why? And how could that be possible?

Then the realization dawned upon me as clearly as a sunrise.