Double Take - A.J. Cole (classic fiction txt) 📗

breakfast, did some light housework, showered, dressed, went for a jog through the park three blocks from her apartment, had a pleasant phone conversation with her mother… okay, not so normal. Later, she showered again, ate lunch, did a bit of window-shopping, changed into clothes with a little sparkle, and went dancing with three of her friends. Nice day.

Sunday – normal. She slept in, eased into breakfast, took a shower, threw on some sweats and trotted down to the local movie-rental store, got three (a romance, a comedy, and a super-hero action film), made a huge bowl of popcorn, watched two of the movies, went to the store and bought a massive bottle of aspirin, picked out an outfit for school, took an early evening jog, came back and changed, treated herself to dinner at one of the less expensive restaurants nearby, came home, got ready for bed, watched the last movie, and set her alarm clock before going to sleep.

Monday – not normal. Not normal at all. By three o’clock in the morning, she was eating aspirin, moaning, and spitting blood into the bathroom sink. Vlad had used the term “teething.” Ha! No way! If babies had to go through this much pain, they’d all grow up to be axe-murderers. This, in her opinion, was not teething. It was torture. By ten, the worst of it had passed, but she was left with an alarming set of vampire fangs which she might have considered cool were it not for the fact that they were making her talk funny. She found this out while peering at her reflection; she’d leaned closer to the mirror over the sink to check out these bizarre additions to her mouth and tried to say, “Isn’t this interesting.”

What came out was, “Ithn’t thith intewesthting.” She rolled her eyes in disgust and tried again. “Ith… cwap.” Saying the “r,” she had realized in the nick of time, would have caused her to puncture her lower lip. She practiced opening and closing her mouth to see if she could do so without getting injured, and after several tries, figured it out.

“Okay. Again. Ishn’t dish intrrreshting.” Better, but not by much. She kept at it, glancing at her watch every few minutes, finally accepting that she wasn’t going to make it to her second class of the day, either. By the time she’d re-mastered her ability to pronounce words without sounding like Tweety Pie, it was one-thirty in the afternoon, and she was so tired she doubted she could drive without face-planting into the steering wheel. At least if she did decide to bite people that night, they wouldn’t die laughing at her before she could do her vampire thing.

No point in getting undressed again, she reasoned, and lay down on the sofa for a nap. She was so fatigued by her lack of sleep the night before, she didn’t even dream. At around seven o’clock, her need to pee prodded her awake. She stretched, opened her eyes, and realized she could see in the dark. They hadn’t told her she’d be able to see in the dark. Why hadn’t they told her she’d be able to see in the dark? And was someone sitting on the loveseat across from her?

She screamed.

“Not again,” said Vlad, his tone a vocal eye-roll. “Arissa, I truly hope you don’t wake up that way all the time.”

“I usually wake up alone,” she said, gathering her dignity and sitting up, “so… no.” She stood and dashed into the bathroom, calling, “Excuse me if I’m not used to finding guys watching me sleep when I wake up!” The way she’d said that made no sense, but so what?

When she came back out, he gave her one of those lopsided grin-things. “You’re very cute when you’re asleep. Leander is a lucky man.”

“What?!” She started to protest, but a sudden pain shot through her stomach and she doubled over. “Ow! What the hell!”

“Hunger pains, my dear.”

“Seriously? Ow, ow, ow!” She heard the sound of a bottle being uncorked and her nose would have twitched had she been a vampire rabbit. “What’s that?!”

“Blood, of course - ”

Before the words were barely past his lips, she was across the room, grabbing the bottle away, and then stood there downing its contents in a long, happy guzzle. She shoved the bottle back at him. “More.”

He raised an eyebrow, saying nothing, and took another bottle from under his jacket. He uncorked it and shoved it at her. “Here – didn’t want you to bite the neck off and end up swallowing glass.”

She drank again without pause, swiping an arm across her mouth when she was done, and licked the resulting red smear off the back of her wrist. “I need more.”

“I know. Have you thought about how you’d like to do this?”

A vicious gleam in her eye was accompanied by a matching grin. “Trina and her mother. They deserve a touch of anemia.”

“Who?”

“My cousin and my Aunt Lila.”

He looked distressed. “You know, relatives aren’t recommended unless you plan to kill them when you’re done. They do have a tendency to talk among themselves, you know.”

“Oh, come off it, Vlad! Who would believe them? I missed Trina’s birthday party the other night because of the meeting, and she and her mom are pretty miffed at me. Everyone knows it, so if they tried to accuse me of biting them, the rest of the family would tell them to stop being so vindictive, or to find a more plausible way to slander me.”

“Hmm. I suppose I could try to make them forget, too.”

“Wait.” She frowned, licked the mouth of the bottle for a moment, realized what she was doing, and stopped. “Didn’t you say that was something we could do anyway? Heal them up and make them forget?”

“Yes, but not blood relatives. Is your aunt related to your parents?”

“Only by marriage.”

“I see. She’ll be no problem, then. But her daughter is another story.”

“You can say that again,” Arissa muttered. “But look – if her mom doesn’t remember, even she won’t believe Trina, so what’s the big deal? Let’s go.”

“I - ”

“Vlad! I’m starving!” She grabbed his hand and almost pulled him through the door without opening it.

Out on the street she asked if he wanted to take her car or his, but he shook his head and told her to look around. When she did, she realized that this nighttime was not her regular one, that everything was brighter than usual, all of her senses in high gear and filling her with an exhilaration she wouldn’t have thought possible before.

“Is this how it is for you all the time?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. No wonder you don’t commit suicide over not being able to go out much in the day! I love this!”

He gave her an indulgent smile, like a proud parent watching his toddler take her first steps. “I rather thought you might. As for driving – why? We can get there faster running.”

She stared at him in surprise, having totally forgotten about that ability. “So I can now run as fast as you normally do?”

“No, dear Arissa. Faster. You’ll have to pull me along, I’m afraid, or you’ll lose me.” He stepped up beside her and took her hand. “I assume you know where these relatives live?”

“Well, duh.” She gazed around once more in brief wonderment, and took off.

Like a starship at warp speed, she made a tunnel through the air, everything directly in front of her clear, everything on either side elongating into star-trail blurs. She couldn’t feel the street beneath her feet yet knew they were touching it. She wasn’t breathing, and her body experienced no fatigue despite the super-human pace she maintained, nor did she feel the weight of Vlad being hauled along faster than he claimed he was accustomed to moving.

Three houses away from the one her aunt and uncle owned in a posh subdivision, she slowed and stopped. She wasn’t even winded.

“Nice neighborhood,” Vlad remarked.

“I guess. If you like zero lot-lines, that is. Personally, I couldn’t stand living in a house so close to the ones on either side that you can practically reach through your window and poke your neighbor in the eye.”

“I… okay. Which house?”

She nodded toward a two-story home painted yellow with white trim, registering the fact that normally she’d only be able to detect its color in the daylight. “What time is it?”

“Eight twenty-two.”

“Damn. They’ll still be up.”

“Where is your aunt’s bedroom?”

“Not sure. One of those windows on the second floor.”

He leaned back against a nearby tree. “Naturally. I suggest we wait until some of the lights go out, then.”

“But I’m so hungry, Vlad! Can’t we just, you know, zap up there and… and… ”

“Yes?”

“Crap.”

“Ah, that lovely word again. By the way, I’m glad to see you mastered talking with your new teeth. It takes most werepires much, much longer.”

“I practiced.”

“The lisp- ”

“Yeah.” She went to the front of the house and started to climb the five steps up to its front porch.

“What are you doing, Arissa?”

“They’re my relatives. I seriously doubt they’ll question my being here.” She rang the bell, not caring what Vlad thought about it.

A moment later, her aunt opened the door and favored her with a smile beneath bulging eyes. “Arissa! What are you doing here?”

Only momentarily disconcerted, she answered, “I, um, well, I missed the party the other night because of a meeting I couldn’t avoid, and wanted to come by to wish Trina a belated happy birthday. And apologize for missing dinner. May I come in?”

The woman stepped back. “Of course, dear. Trina is in her room. I – oh! And who is this?”

Arissa glanced over her shoulder. “Oh. Sorry. This is Vlad. He didn’t want me wandering around alone at night. May he come in, too?”

“What? Well, for heaven’s sake, I’m not going to make him wait on the porch! Please come in, er, Vlad, is it?”

He gave her a beautiful, charming smile and crossed the threshold. “Thank you so much. You’re Arissa’s Aunt Lila, yes?” Under his breath, he added so low that only Arissa could hear, “Oh, you’re good, Riss. You’re very good.”

“What a polite young man!” Lila was saying. “I am, indeed. May I get you anything?”

“No, thanks. We’ll be having dinner later.”

“I see. Ah! Vic, darling, your niece stopped by with her friend to wish Trina a belated happy birthday! Isn’t that nice!”

Yeah, so “nice” that I’m only his niece! Arissa could almost feel her fangs itching. “Hey, Uncle Vic. Hope it isn’t too late for a visit.”

“Not from you, sweetie. Look, why don’t you and Aunt Lila go up and see Trina. Your friend and I can have a visit while you’re doing that.”

“Great idea! Come on, Aunt Lila.” With a wicked glance over her shoulder for Vlad, she followed her aunt up the stairs.

They went down the hall to Trina’s bedroom, where the older woman knocked and called her daughter’s name. “Your cousin is here, pumpkin! May we come in?”

Trina opened the door, her expression sour. “Great. You couldn’t be bothered coming to my party, so you show up in the middle of the night on a Monday and expect everything to be fine now, right?”

Arissa pushed past the annoying blond, who she knew was only blond because of talented hairdressers. “Pretty much,” she said.

Lila shut the door, but as she did, Arissa’s enhanced hearing detected a small, manly scream coming from somewhere downstairs. Vlad must have been enjoying a snack of his own, she figured.

“So other than good wishes,” said Trina, “what have you brought me for my birthday?”

Ah, no sweeter opening could have been given, thought Arissa. “May I have a hug first?” Not waiting for the other girl to answer, she threw her arms around her cousin and sank her fangs into the girl’s throat.

“Arissa, darling, what are you doing?” asked her aunt.

How tempting it was to keep drinking, Arissa thought distantly, her hunger pangs abating a tiny bit. Trina whimpered, however, and the sound brought the werepire back