Chapter Four
The Deal
“Maya, are you ready?” I look at William; he is already standing up and has all our stuff in the backpack. His eyes are black, I know he is thirsty but I really hate having to go with him, it is not as if I have a choice, wherever he goes I go.
“I can stay here, while you go out.” My voice comes out whinny
“You know very well why I am not leaving you behind.” William looks back at me his face dead serious.
Last time he left me for a little while I tried to run away, I spend almost two days without William at my side, but as all my previous escape attempts he ends up finding me and I end up frustrated to see that he was able to track me down and realizing how dependent I am from him.
“Are you still mad about that little incident?” I play the innocent card.
“Little incident? Maya you scared me to death. Those were the worst 48 hours that I have spent in my entire life.” I know that is not true whom is he trying to fool; I honestly think he probably tracked me down in 2 hours and left me the other 46 hours free so that I figure out that I actually need him.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you want Maya.” he looks back at me seriously.” it is not like I am convincing you, plus I am not letting you out of my sight, so let’s get going.” he says with a smile in his face.
Moron! I stand up, taking as much time as I can actually muster, I know he is thirsty and I am not planning on making the process any easier on him.
“You are aware that the same kindness that you show to me I am going to show to you.,” he says smiling back at me, damn! Why do I need to depend so much on him?
“Fine!” I start moving a tad faster, I just hear him laugh. ”I think you are just afraid that I might outsmart you and actually get away with it.” I say trying to get back on the previous subject.
“You don't know what is out there Maya.” his face is now serious.
“What a bunch of humans and some vampires, I don't know how is that dangerous.” we are already walking towards the city.
“Maya, didn't you learn that not all humans or vampires are as nice as you think and considering your situation “he points at my hands.” you can't defend yourself.”
“I can perfectly well defend myself from the humans, thank you very much.” I say trying to save a little bit of my dignity.
“Okay, I'll give you that, but it doesn't take a very strong vampire to get you, now does it?”
“Like I should know, we hardly ever come across vampires, if you and I were not one I would even believe that we are a myth.” we have only met a little more than 5 vampires during this past fifty years, and by met I mean catch their scent.
“Come on Maya, it has not been so terrible, now has it?” His face shows concern, but I know he is just being theatrical.
“Could be worse.” I feel a small punch from William in my shoulder.” Okay it has not been bad.” I start to laugh a little.
“So why are you constantly trying to run away from me? “ He looks at me his face is serious.
“I don't know, I just know I need to hide and run away from you.” I look back at him, he is no looking at me, he is looking at the floor, and his mind has gone somewhere else. “And like that, you can get cryptic, sometimes it’s just hard to tell what you are thinking.”
“You can be perceptive Maya, but still I don't approve of having to go after you every now and then.” his previous mood returning, he puts a playful smile.
“And I don't approve to have to be attach to your hip every single minute of every single day, I do need my space occasionally.” I say seriously.
“I'll give you some space.” He separates from me a couple of steps. ”see!”
“Ha, ha, ha…“ my laugh is so fake; he just starts laughing. “you know that is not what I mean.”
“I know what you mean, but that is not going to happen.” He stops walking and his face suddenly turns.
I perceive the smell that attracted William attention a scent of a human, is a female my throat starts to feel like is on fire, but I try to keep myself composure. I can be stronger than the call, think of that human, a female probably not too old but not so young, her scent is mixed with other, younger ones she has a family and if she is in the outskirts of town. She is probably looking for something to feed them; killing her means she leaves orphans. Her instincts will tell her to run, she will try but against one of us she does not stand a chance, once she is captured she will look into those beautiful black eyes and she will not be able to look anything else, terror will be in her thoughts, terror for her and terror of her little ones ….
My mind goes through so many images, I can clearly hear her last scream, I can feel her pain, terror and worry, she knows she is going to die and she can't do anything to avoid it. I open my eyes, I am no longer thinking on the burn on my throat I can only think of her. I look at William pleading with my eyes to spare her life, but he is no longer looking at me, his instincts have kicked in and he starts running towards his prey.
I can't stand it, I have to get away from there I don't want to hear her last breath, her last scream.
I turn around and start running the opposite way of where she is. I really don't know where I am going but I just have to continue. William will is not even be aware of me disappearing, but he is going to be so mad once he figures it out; I don't care, anything is better than hearing that last thump in her heart.
I come to a town, but I don't want to slow down my pace, so I run around the village, trying to get as close to the humans as I can without being seen to try to masquerade my scent, but I know that is going to be hard. I pass a small creek and there are some men skinny dipping and some of their clothes are on the ground I steal the strongest smelling of the shirts and manage to pull it on top of me, and I keep running.
A few more miles I feel the rain that is starting to fall down hitting me in my face and soaking my clothes getting me damp from head to toe; this is going to erase my tracks, he is going to get so mad, but I need to hide, I need to disappear, I can't take it anymore.
I keep on running, but if there is something that I've learned is that I won't get far if I keep this pace, he will be able to catch up with me in no time.
I start looking at my surroundings looking for a good hiding place, unfortunately there isn't much to work with. If I hide in a tree or at ground level, he will be able to catch my scent easily. I look up to the mountain and voilà, there is a small cavern on the top that is partially hidden and will be hard to find it if you don't have the right angle to see it.
I climb the mountain and luck is on my side; at the hard part I am able to jump from rock to rock.
I reach the cavern and slump down on the floor. I am finally able to calm myself; inhale I can see my chest raising, exhale, my chest comes down.
My mind starts to clear up and try to make sense of what just happened. I am aware of what we are and what our body requires so that we can keep our strength, but my mind can't get away from those thoughts, why does a human life needs to be sacrifice in order for our thirst to be satiated?.
I'm certain I am the worst vampire in history that has ever existed, not only I am the most inadequate physically, probably also mentally. I hug my legs and put my head where my knees are and I wait for William to find me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s been long, not an usual thing for William, he usually finds me right away but now?.... I have seen day and night pass several times, my thirst is starting to feel painful in my throat. He is probably making me go thru this to teach me a lesson…. as he usually points out, “Maya where will you go? How will you eat? How will you be able to defend yourself?”
I only wish that I could explain to him and that he understands what my mind goes thru each time he has to feed, unfortunately it would be asking too much to him and somehow I get it: why something that should come so easy for any of us should be a concern to me?
He will think of me as a crazy invalid little vampire, but I just can't do it. I can't help it if I have all those images in my mind and that I am able to create a story behind the victim and somehow picture what is going thru their mind while life is being drained out of them. It most certainly doesn't help afterwards having the lingering scent of that human in the air.
I know an animal also have feelings… let’s face it, they are living breathing creatures, but somehow it is not as bad, I can't relate with them, I was never one of them. As a human it was something that I most likely ate, I can always think that I am still partially on a human diet. The satisfaction of their blood in my system is not the same, but is better than having all those thoughts in my mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time passes; I have distracted myself with some of the spiders that are in the cave seeing how they are knitting their webs, preparing their little traps and then seeing them catching their prey.
I lose track of time, could only be days, maybe weeks but I just stay here I am a small statue inside the cave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I open my eyes and the sun is coming out, I can feel the warmth inside of the cave, I decide that is time to come out of my hiding place and have some fresh air. I first put my arm outside into the sun and see the little sparkles in it, it always catches me by surprise; I walk a little more and now the sun hits my face, is so refreshing letting it warm my stone cold skin. I close my eyes to let my other senses work better I feel a gust of wind caressing my face and I laugh a little, my hair is moving freely in the air, I hear the wind in my ears the breeze soft. I am about to sniff letting my sense of smell detect my surroundings but I stop remembering I am thirsty and this will only create more pain in my throat, I stay like this for a little while.
I open my eyes expecting to have a great view of the forest below me, but I am only able to see William standing in front of me. His handsome face glittering with the sun rays hitting him, making him look even more handsome, I am about to think that this is a much better view than the one that the mountains have to offer, and then I see his murderous look and that certainly stops me in my tracks.
“Get in the cave Maya.” his voice is not kind.
“Why?“ How does he dare use that tone with me?
“NOW!!!” Okay, I don't think it is up for discussion.
I reluctantly turn on my heels, and walk back into the cave.
He follows me in; I can feel his stare on my head. I turn and look straight at him.
“What are you trying to accomplish Maya? You think this is funny, cause I most certainly don't think so.” his voice comes out like a growl which only makes me furious.
“Oh! So you think I do this for fun?” I put as much sarcasm as I can “oh yeah, let’s see how long it takes William to find me this time? Oh no, let's go with this one instead, let's see how totally worthless I am without you? Yeah William! I do this to make YOU mad and make myself feel useless.”
“Have you ever thought what these little outbursts do to me?” This time he is not growling but he is still furious.
“Have you ever thought of what your feedings do to me?” I am furious as well and I say the first thing that comes to my mind.
He stops and looks at my face, his face is no longer furious, my eyes must be black now, it has been a while since I last fed I know it because of the burn in my throat that I have been trying to ignore all this time . I start turning so that he can't look at them, but he grabs my face gently, I sigh and look back up at him.
“What do my feedings do to you?” His tone is more in control.
“Does it even matter?” I look back at him, honestly I know that this is a crazy idea, but is MY crazy idea, I don't expect him to understand me
He looks straight into my eyes; and to my surprise, I start to see some kind of understanding.
“Stay here.” he says.
He leaves so fast, I go to the end of the cave and I slump back into the position I was in. It doesn't take William long to return, his steps are heavier than usual and I can hear the sounds of a hurt animal, as soon as he steps in I hold my breath the smell of bloody animal is probably saturating the cave, I keep my head down trying not to look at it.
“Come on Maya, you need to feed.” His voice tries to be gentle, but I can still detect some traces of his previous humor.
I shake my head. He comes and sits next to me. A little while passes and we are just sitting there. Why did I open my mouth, he was right I should not run away.
“You should really just put the poor animal out of its misery”.
“Wh….“I try to reply but the scent of the blood hits me hard and I can't control it. I look up and the elk is so close to me his eyes look into mine, they are begging me to kill him, my instincts overpower me, and before I am aware of anything I am already next to it piercing its throat and letting the blood satisfy my thirst. When I hear its last thump from its heart, I stand up and sit back next to William, not looking at his face. I know I should thank him, but I am still mad at him.
We are silent for a while, not looking at each other, I am just looking at the wall that is in front of us, trying to calm down.
“You had me worried Maya.” He decides to break the silence. “You really outdid yourself this time.”
“How long?” there is no emotion in my voice.
“Three weeks.” his voice is calmer than before
“Huh, looks like I broke my record.” I can help on smiling a little bit at this.
“Nice touch the stinking shirt and hiding in the cave.” I look down and I realize I am still wearing it.” I was about to give up in the area, lost your scent near the creek but the gust of wind brought some of your scent and drove me right up here.”
“My bad.” I still wasn't looking at him. “Why didn't you just, give up?”
“It's not that easy.” his voice sounds sad.
“Wouldn't it have been easier?” I finally look at him; his eyes are not looking at me, they are looking at the wall in front of us.
“I will never give up on you Maya.” he looks down and corrects himself.” I can't.”
“Too bad.” I look again up to the wall not caring the effect that my words have on him.
“Maya, why do you run away? “ I sigh, his voice is no longer mad, maybe I can reason with him.
“Sometimes I do it on purpose.” I smile a little bit. “To annoy you, but like this time I just had to run.” I put my head back in my knees.
“Why did you have to run?” I can hear the curiosity in his voice.
I turn my head and look at his face. I sigh.
“I don't want to see the terror of their eyes, feel the pain of their life being drained out and hear the last thump of their heart, it’s as if it is happening to me. I can imagine their illusion, picture their life, and somehow is painful.” I look back at the wall. “And I know it doesn't make any sense at all… at least for us. I mean why should I care?”
“But somehow you do care.” he says matter of fact.
I nod.
“That’s why you only drink animal blood?.” I know he is looking at my face.
I shrug my shoulders. I turn and look back at his face.
“So what do my little outbursts do to you?” I try changing the subject.
“I already told you before. You scare me to death, and that is hard considering I am a vampire” there is a smile on his lips which manage to improve my bad humor.
“Liar.” I am also smiling now.
“Why don't you believe me?” He laughs a little.
“Because who am I to you?” I question.
He shrugs his shoulders.
A little while passes and we are silent still looking at each other.
“Let's make a deal, I know that my feedings are painful for you and you leaving me is… Scary“ I am about to say something, but he raises his hand to stop me. ”How about if I try to follow your diet, but you stop running away from me.”
“Oh William, no, I mean it is one thing that I am special about our eating habits, but I can't change who you are.”
“Maya, we are not discussing changing me to somebody else; I am just proposing feeding differently.”
“My running away is really messing with your head.”
“After this last stunt, you have no idea.” his eyes widen and I can hear a little bit of worry in his voice.
“Okay, I will try as long as you try as well.”
“Then we have a deal.” he is smiling widely.
He really doesn't have any idea what he is getting on, but then again, do I?