Diary of a Newborn Vampire (BOOK #1)

Pieces

 William

I lost track of Ava moments after her fight with her friend, who seemed nearly unfazed by the incident. "Nearly" because I caught a glimpse of something in her eyes as soon as Ava stormed off.

I couldn't help myself. I wanted to know more. Not out of pure nosiness, but out of the bottomless concern that hit me like a tidal wave. Everything that Kira had said resonated with me. Then there was the way Ava tried to seem so dignified when she only held herself together by the seams.

Part of me almost envied her.

The music grew louder in my ears. I looked around the room trying to remember why I came to this party--to this town--in the first place. The vigilante. No one of the type was here. No blood-crazed vampire searching for his next victim. Maybe I had found myself at just another stupid high school party.

I closed my eyes and felt a strange, gravitational pull upstairs. One that set a sense of anxiousness in my chest. I wanted to ignore it--to turn around and head back home never to think of this night again. But I didn't.

My first thoughts on the second level focused on the smell. It wasn't the boozy, sweaty scent of the party downstairs. It was stronger. That of blood. My mind spun with thoughts of the vigilante and the unnatural pull I had here.

Then I heard it.

The familiar sound of a vampire sucking blood. The smack of his lips on her neck. The soft moan of his pleasure and cry of begging. I knew it all too well. A different me found commonalities with this vigilante. I was once much like him.

Back when I truly didn't care about hurting people. When I let the monster within me take over. When I considered myself broken beyond repair. Then I met Bernard and Jacqueline. They changed me and my ways. Maybe they didn't fix the broken boy, but they handed me the glue just waiting for me to pull myself back together.

The vigilante hid in the study with his victim. He had his back to me and her body hung over the unused desk. A blood-crazed vampire usually didn't recognize someone's approach. If they ever had any training, they forgot it after a while.

I kept in the hall noticing the girl's blood-matted hair, blonde. And her torn dress--red. My stomach shrunk in realization. Of course, the vigilante's latest victim happened to be the girl I noticed. The girl who walked into the party like nothing could faze her, only to meet her death at the end of the night.

Maybe we're all just broken dolls searching for our pieces.

My heart ached for her--my humanity in sight. I cared—I cared about the girl I didn't even know. And boy, did it scared the ever-living hell out of me. I edged closer to the doorway.

Stop, I told myself. You don't need to play hero.

After all, this was the way of life. People died--humans died. And sometimes that happened to be at the hand of a vampire. It wasn't my job to jump in and save the girl. Fate meant for her to die tonight. It was all in God's divine plan.

And what a stupid plan that would be.

Suddenly the vampire stopped. His whole body froze, and I just knew. He sensed me in the room. He wasn't blind or deaf. He was a vampire--hungry or not. And he wanted meal tonight. He'd do anything for the blood.

I stepped forward, holding myself tall and expecting a fight. But the shadow of the vigilante took one look at me, his face concealed in the darkness even with my vampire eyes. He laughed a low sound before jumping out the window.

I couldn't help but stand shocked. Vampires weren't one to give up a fight so easily. Some of us lived for it just as for the blood. I ran over to Ava's limp body and pressed my fingers to her throat. Her pulse was slow, barely there.

"Come on, Ava," I whispered. "You can't let him do this to you. Think of how much you have to live for."

Maybe it'll get better, I wanted to tell her. But what did I know? In over a hundred years, my life hadn't. I still searched for those pieces when they were probably just a pile of dust by now.

But her breaths became next nonexistent. Funny how at peace someone's face was when they were unconsciously dying. Here she was dying. No, it's not going to get better unless that counted after death.

I should have left her there. She would travel onto whatever existed in the afterlife. Her broken life would just disappear. She wouldn't have to suffer it anymore. But what about her friend, the one I could tell cared even though she insisted she didn't? Her sister who suffered the loss of their parents, too.

So, I did the unthinkable.

I knew the consequences. I knew the possibilities. If she didn't make it back to her natural form, a bond would probably form between us. And I couldn't find myself capable of thinking that way about anyone.

But I couldn't let her just die. I saw myself in her and the broken life she lived. I couldn't not save her. Sometimes playing hero was the best option even if turned out far from how you originally intended.

I took my own wrist and bit it open, the blood pouring from it. Then I pressed it to her mouth. She gagged on my blood for only a few seconds before taking it willingly. I felt a surge similar to that of electricity go through my body.

"You'll be okay," I told her, my voice weak.

I felt her purse become something new. Something stronger. A flood of hope rushed through me. I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Then something changed. It slowed back down.

I stared down at her body in a panic.

Then it stopped altogether.

No.

"Ava, come on," I begged of her. "Believe it or not, there are people out there who need you. They need you to keep living. You can't let go. Not now. I know life is hard. I know people leave and it sucks, but...you can't let it destroy you. We're all broken, some of us more than others. But giving up is just giving in. Don't give in."

Her face paled with the loss of blood. Then her body shifted from that of dying girl to something stronger. I felt it in front of me and in my bones all the same. A strange feeling set itself inside of me.

And in that moment I knew-- I just knew--she lived.

Not as a human as I so hoped for, but as a vampire.