Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven
Awakening

Pain. Pain everywhere. The pain ranged from dull aches to sharp, stabbing pains. The worst was in my head, which felt like every drop of water had been squeezed out of it. Actually, I felt dehydrated all over. I needed a drink of water. Oddly, though, I seemed to be laying in a pool of some sort of cold liquid. Was it water? I was so thirsty, I felt as if even the contents of a swimming pool could not slake this powerful thirst I had.

My senses were starting to return now. My sense of touch told me about the liquid, and my nose was assailed by a number of smells: the distinctive, unpleasant scent of fresh urine, the rusty scent of old blood, the mingled scents of rusted metal and grease, with a slight hint of car exhaust. And though I didn’t have the strength to open my eyes, I could listen and pay keen attention to the sounds I heard.

Nearby, there were few sounds to be heard, but outside, I was keenly aware of a few passing cars and of the whoop of the police car sirens as they drove past. But where was I? I couldn’t tell, and I couldn’t open my eyes. The lights overhead were too bright, and seemed like they were burning holes into me. Keeping my eyes closed tight, I try to move away, but I find that I couldn’t raise my arms. I am aware of the presence of some fuzzy material surrounding my wrists, restraining me and holding me fast. Lying on the table, I felt vulnerable and naked, even though I was fully clothed. Had I been raped while I was unconscious? No, it didn’t seem like it.

“What the fuck is going on?” I demand, though there were no signs of life in this place, wherever it might be. Why was I here? Even more importantly, why was I still alive? I’d thought I was done for in that alleyway and that my life had come to an abrupt and violent end. I guess I was wrong. But I couldn’t feel a needle in my arm, which would indicate that I was hooked to an intravenous drip and thus recovering in a hospital. But if I wasn’t in a hospital, where the hell was I? And more importantly, why?

I hear footsteps echoing through the place I was in. It was a large empty space and the sound seemed to carry well, especially since it was the only audible sound inside the building, though I could easily hear the cacophony of the sounds outside. Wherever that might be. The harsh lights start to dim, and I open my eyes slowly. My eyes start to adjust to the light, but since I am held in a prone position, my field of vision is limited. The ceiling is very high, and there is no outside light of any sort coming in. I see windows above me, but even in the gloom, I can see that the glass had been painted over.

“Welcome back, my dear Raven.” I try to turn my head and look for the speaker, but it seems he is beyond my now limited ability to see him. The voice belonged to a man, that much I was sure of. I feel him near me and I get chills traveling down my body and shudder involuntarily. He had to be standing very close to me, but yet I could not see him.

I gather up every little bit of courage I had left. Who was this guy and what did he want? “My name is Mara Ravenclaw.” I reply. “And I demand that you let me go. People will come looking for me.”

The man’s laughter is chilling. I wasn’t going to leave here alive. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. Even so, no one will come looking for you until at least Monday, and it will probably take even longer before someone bothers to search for you.” Shit. He’d called my bluff. “I’ll make you a deal though. I’ll release you from the restraints, but you have to stay here.”

“All right.” I lie. I wanted nothing more than to get out of this place and get back home. I wanted to put this whole ugly memory behind me.

The man starts to undo the straps and I can finally see his face. To no surprise, it was the man I’d seen at the bar last night. The one that didn’t seem to belong at the Cock. But for some odd reason, I didn’t feel threatened by him, but rather a feeling that this was someone I could trust. He loosens the second strap, and I can finally rise from the table. I rub my wrists to restore the feeling to them, and take stock. I raise one hand to my neck. There was no sign of any sort of wound. Though last night, I could have sworn that I’d been injured. Was it all in my head?

I look down at my clothes. A brown smear of something stood out on the stark white on my blouse. My navy skirt was wrinkled, and the pantyhose were totally unsalvageable. Another three dollars down the drain. My shoes were gone. Damn, I liked those shoes. And they went so well with the suit. The suit. Renee had warned me about burning it. Maybe I should have listened. My nose catches a scent, and I sniff the air out of instinct. Blood. That was what I smelled. It was nearby. The blouse. Maybe that was it. I am able to unbutton the cuffs, but after undoing two buttons, I pull at the blouse, sending buttons to clatter onto the floor. I take the blouse and hold it up to my face, taking a long whiff of the stain. Yes, that was where it was coming from.

I hear a snicker, and am hit with a sudden burst of modesty. Still holding the blouse, I cross my arms to cover my breasts and the beige satin bra I was wearing. “What’s so funny?”

“You.” He replies. “You are still a slave to your baser instincts. But that should pass after the first time you properly satisfy your hunger. You are still very hungry. I can see it on your face.”

How did he know that? I could feel a pain in my stomach. I can’t ever recall being this hungry before. It was a sensation stronger than monthly cramps, a feeling like something was clawing at my insides. It was all I could do to not give in to it.

“Fortunately, my dear Raven, I will not force you to hunt for your first meal. That lesson will come later.” He makes a move to touch my face and I pull away. His face does not register a change of emotion. He gets up and retreats into another corner of the building. I start looking for a way out. I must be in a warehouse of some sort, because I can make out a large sliding door, the huge metal door was totally shut, and the van that I had seen last night was parked in front of it. I get off of the table, and my legs are shaking so badly that I can barely remain standing. A metal folding chair had been left nearby, so I sit down quickly. It seemed that I wouldn’t get real far if I tried to escape. What had they done to me? I felt as weak as a newborn kitten.

From somewhere in the building, I can hear a refrigerator opening, and judging by the sound, it was a fairly small one. The door closes, and before long, I observe the man walking back towards me carrying what looked like…no it couldn’t be…was that a unit of blood? He looks at me and with one hand, grabs a second folding chair from somewhere out of the shadows and comes toward me. When he gets within a couple feet, he tosses the bag to me. I barely catch it, and the awkwardly shaped thing nearly falls out of my lap. I look at it, and sure enough, it was a unit of blood. What sort of crap was this? I look at the man accusingly, and all he does is shrug.

But still, I was hungry, and for some reason I’d gotten it into my head that this would satisfy the hunger I felt. Blood? Sure, lawyers had a reputation for being blood-suckers, but this was totally ridiculous. But I wanted it. No, I needed it. I lift the bag and turn it around. The bag should have been very cold, but to my sense of touch, it didn’t seem that way. And I wanted it so badly, but how was I supposed to get it? There was no tubing attached to it, and it seemed to be tightly sealed.

My instincts once again started taking over. I felt something move in my mouth. I tentatively use my tongue to explore it, and encounter needle-sharp points that had to be fangs. Fangs? I had fangs now? I bend down and bite the bottom of the bag, then start to drink from it. As I feared, it really was blood, but even though it was cold, it was extinguishing the raging hunger I felt. I feel the liquid running down my throat, tasting both salty and metallic at once, but as much as I try to pull away, I cannot. I had to feed.

At last the bag is empty, and I feel satiated, like a flea after a good meal of dog or cat blood. I look around, and the guy had been watching me the entire time. I had just drunk human blood and enjoyed it. I had fangs. None of this was making any sense. In my confusion, only a single word comes to mind, and I manage to get it out. “Why?” With that word out, I find my tongue once more. “Why did I just do that? Why did I just enjoy it?”

“You did what was necessary to survive.” His words are like an icy dagger, each one piercing my heart and chilling my already cold body. Cold? I didn’t feel cold, even though I’d removed my blouse, and no goosebumps had formed on my skin. The large warehouse didn’t seem to be heated, and on a cold rainy November night, I should feel cold. But why didn’t I?

I felt a bit stronger though, so I get up and try to look for another exit. I started walking away from the table and away from the van. Surely the garage was not the only way out. The man seemed to have noticed my confusion, and read my very thoughts, because he blocked my path. “You can’t go back to your life, Raven.” He tells me. “Because you are no longer alive.”

My eyes widen in shock and fear. “Wh- what do you mean?”

“Have you not noticed yet? You are dead, Miss Ravenclaw. You have no pulse, no breath, no warmth, no heartbeat.” My hand goes to my neck, trying to feel for a pulse. Nothing. I try another spot. Perhaps in my haste, I’d missed the pulse point. Still nothing. I raise my hand up to my mouth. When I exhaled, my breath still lacked its normal warmth. So I was breathing! The guy was lying! But when I stopped concentrating on my breath, my chest no longer rose and fell. “You have joined the ranks of those no longer living, more commonly known as the Undead.”

It started coming back to me. I could remember the attack in the alleyway, the slowing of my heartbeat, and thinking that I was going to die. “I- I remember being attacked, that woman, she drank my blood didn’t she?” I look around frantically for her, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Was that good? I wasn’t sure. To be honest, I wasn’t sure of anything anymore. My life, it seemed, was over.

“Yes. We are Kindred, Raven. What the humans, or kine, more commonly call vampires, and we must feed upon blood in order to survive. Monsters we are lest monsters we become.”

I shook my head. Those last words sounded like a piece of fortune cookie philosophy, and like most fortune cookie sayings, it made no sense to me. “I’m a vampire? And you are too?” The man nods the answer to both questions. “So that means that I have to avoid the sun, crosses and garlic bother me, I won’t cast a reflection, and I can’t go into someone’s house unless I’m invited in?”

He laughs a little. “Those are old wives’ tales, my dear. Garlic and crosses typically have no effect upon our kind, I brush my hair in front of the mirror each night upon rising from my bed, and I do not need an invitation to enter someone’s house.” He offers me an unkind smile. “But the sun, now that is our mortal enemy. The sun can and will kill us if we are not careful. There is much for you to learn my dear, and that is why I am here. To teach you the ways of our kind.”
He gestures back toward the chairs. “Go back and sit down.”

Strangely, I obey. He was going to teach me what exactly? Were there some strange customs or traditions they practiced? “How did this happen?” I ask. I wanted to know. I think.

“First off, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is John Grayson, though you will call me Greywolf from this point forward. The woman that bit you, her name is Anne Bonnie. She was feeding and it went too far. She took too much blood from you. She tried to fix it by giving you some of her own blood, so you could heal yourself, but it was too late, you were too far gone. So you became one of us instead. A most unfortunate mistake, but I suppose now you must make the best of it. Few kine are allowed the gift of immortality.”

The gift of immortality? I was thinking it was more like a curse and that the price was far too high. “So you’re saying that all the old tales about vampires aren’t true except for sunlight and fire? And if the sunlight thing is true, how am I supposed to keep my job? My boss gives me flexible hours, but they’re not THAT flexible.”

The man named Greywolf smiles. “You can’t. You’ll have to quit.”

I look at him, eyes wide. I’d never quit anything in my entire life. And now I had to quit my job? That was crap! I bet he was just telling me this. I probably could walk in the sun, and could continue working. “I’m not quitting. The law is my life. There are too many people that need my help.”

“Then you’ll be fired for not showing up. But there are other ways to help people, my dear. The city has a need for a lawyer that is willing to help those who don’t have the means to hire one. And if you opened your own practice, you could set your own hours. I can help you, if you will only trust me.” He extends his hand toward me, the first time he had actually tried to touch me.

I did trust him. I wasn’t sure why. I take his hand. There was no warmth in it, though again, my own body was barely warmer than the room itself. “All right, so help me.”

“All in good time, my dear. As a Kindred, you have nothing but time.”

I shrug. I had time, but yet I couldn’t work anymore.” A rush of emotion washes over me as I realize that my life as I knew it was now over. I lower my head, overcome by grief for the first time since I’d lost my gran. I feel tears welling up in my eyes, but do nothing to suppress them. I feel the tears running down my cheeks, the liquid slightly warm. My nose remains clear. Odd really. Usually if I cried, my nose would start running too. It was some sort of sympathetic reaction or something.

Greywolf releases my hand and tilts my head up towards him. He wipes the tears from my face and holds up his hand. There was a watery red liquid on it. “Another hazard among our kind.” He tells me. “We do not cry real tears, but instead blood. If you cry too much, you could lose all of the blood stored within your body, and that would be very bad indeed. And more importantly, you should never, ever cry in front of a kine. It demonstrates your weakness, and raises far too many questions that you cannot answer.”

I nod, and raise my head to look at the ceiling, knowing that it would stop my tears. It was a trick I had been forced to learn as a young girl, as my cruel father did not tolerate tears. Happiness was required when his guests were around and when he came to my bed; it was only when he was at work or in the darkest hours of the rare nights he allowed me to sleep alone that I could cry without fear of a either a vicious beating that left no visible bruises or a merciless fucking.

My eyelids were starting to feel heavy. I was barely able to keep my head up anymore. I blink my eyes, trying to fight off the sleepiness. I notice Greywolf looking at his watch. “The sun will be rising soon. Kindred instinctively start to feel sleepy upon the sun’s approach, so it is a good idea to find a safe place to sleep for the day, what we call a haven, long before that. Because once the sun rises, you will be asleep, no matter where you might be at the time.”

That explained why the windows had been painted over. It was to keep out the sun during the day. This place must be Greywolf’s…haven? Was that what he called it? I get up and look around the warehouse for a suitable place to sleep. There was the table, but there was a pool of brownish liquid on it. That was what I had been laying in? Yuck!

Greywolf puts a hand on my shoulder. I turn to face him. He didn’t seem sleepy. Why? I didn’t really feel like asking him. Right now, I really wanted to curl up and go to sleep. “Forgive me, but I do not often use this place for sleeping, so it is a bit…lacking in the creature comforts that modern mortals are accustomed to. There is a mattress in the van if you would like to sleep there.”

I look at the mattress. There was no sheet on it, and a large brown stain nearly overwhelmed the pattern, a stain that was more than likely blood. Upon closer examination, it was actually several stains commingled into one large one, as I could see the edges of each stain. None of them were fresh though, as all I could smell was old blood. But how I knew that, I did not know. Perhaps somehow, this change causes my senses to be heightened, sharpened somehow. In a weird way, it made sense. If vampires had to hunt for prey, then like all predators, they had to rely more on their senses than humans.

The mattress wasn’t my first choice. Hell, it wasn’t even my fifth choice. I would have rather been sleeping in my own bed. But in the end, it was better than sleeping on the cold hard concrete floor. My limbs were starting to feel heavy, my eyes nearly closing of their own accord. I lay down on the mattress and curl myself into a fetal position. I felt so vulnerable. The last thing I see before I close my eyes is Greywolf, who is using a large cell phone and talking to someone. He is too far away, so I can’t hear him, but he seems to be making plans of some sort.