OUT FOR BLOOD - Vampire Love and Revenge

OUT FOR BLOOD - CHAPTER 32 - Turning Vampire

CHAPTER 32:

JADEN’S  POV:

Carrying Catalina’s lifeless body into her apartment, I kick the door shut behind me.  Her heart has long since stopped beating, her blood has thickened, the flow from her wounds has stopped.  Watching her murder on the television screen didn’t even come close to conveying the monstrosity of what was done to her.  Her entire body is covered by injuries.  Goddamn bastards even broke her arm.  As if the cutting, stabbing and choking weren’t enough. 

Not bothering with the lights, I walk through the darkness to the master bathroom.  I lay her carefully down on the plush ivory rug, in front of the large sunken bathtub.  After turning on the water, I carefully rip off what’s remaining of her clothes.  Then I take off my own bloodstained clothes.

Picking her up, I step into the bathtub and settle her on my lap.  Even though she is past caring at this point, I use a washcloth to gently clean her wounds.  I also pop the broken bone in her arm back into place, although the transformation will be taking care of the injury, along with all other injuries. 

I get out of the tub and leave her in, letting her body fall underwater.  While I dry off, I stare down into the tub, at the dead woman that I love.  Submerged underwater, her dark hair is floating around her bruised face.  The cuts covering her body won’t begin to heal until the sun is up.  By the time the sun sets, she’ll be completely healed and then some. She’ll be vampire. 

I lay a towel down on the rug and reach into the water to pull her out.  While drying her off, I kiss each wound that I come in contact with, ridiculously wishing that simple kisses could make it all better. 

Going through her drawers, I pull out a random nightgown and manage to get her into it.  I tuck her into bed, fanning out her wet hair so that it will dry faster.  As if on auto-pilot, I walk stoically to my own clothing and put on a pair of pajama pants.  Trying to hang on to the calm numbness, I walk back over to the bed and stare down at her once again.  Then I break down.

Am I doing the right thing?  As much as it would kill me too, would she be better off if I gave her the final death?  I’m so afraid that what my parents did will result in my Catalina turning into a monster.  If they are right, if a violent turning results in a violent vampire, she would be better off with a stake in her heart right now. 

I don’t even know what was in those shots.  I’m afraid to find out.  My parents’ cryptic remarks on the subject only leaves me to believe that it will come to no good. 

Had Catalina wanted to become a vampire, I would have been ecstatic.   I would have turned her myself in the most gentle way possible.  But she never wanted this and I would have never pressured her into it. 

I’m over three hundred years old and I’m strong.  No matter what the results of this night are, I can handle her.  I can make her good.  We’ll work through it and be happy.  I have to believe that.  I refuse to lose her and, if anything, I can use mind control on her while she’s young. 

Emotionally exhausted, as I feel the sun about to rise, I collapse onto the bed next to her, twining my fingers through hers.  When the sun is over the horizon, I feel her fingers twitch.  Then I’m asleep. 

I wake up to the sound of purring. 

My eyes snap open and I am staring into glowing greenish-gold eyes.  Eyes that used to be brown.  Eyes that shouldn’t have changed color after becoming a vampire.  They should still be brown.

Her face is expressionless, her eyes are curious.  As she crouches over me, her long hair is falling onto either side of my head, like a curtain enclosing us into our own private world.  Her face just inches from mine.