The Vampire SEAL Collection, page 24
What does he want me to say? Yes, I can’t wait to have fangs and drink blood?
I nodded.
“Jo, I’ll be here the entire time,” my father added.
How appropriate. The man from hell was going to watch me go through hell—yippee.
“Um, physical changes?” I asked.
“Sure. Without getting technical, dizziness, stomach pain, maybe some feeling of claustrophobia, your body may feel itchy and you’ll more than likely experience head and gum pain. There are a lot of internal changes taking place and each person is different in the way they experience and feel it,” Dr. Vieira said as he adjusted the IV stand and turned on the monitor. “Are you ready?”
I laughed nervously. I was ready, but not to become part of the undead society so much as to run to the other end of the earth, away from vampires. As if by magic, my legs unfolded and I stood up and turned to look at the door.
“Don’t do it, young lady. You made your decision. I’ll be here with you every step of the way,” my father said.
I sighed and walked over to Dr. Vieira. I didn’t want to be near my father right now. Sure, I was comforted by his hug earlier, by the tears he shed, but that didn’t mean he was out of the woods just yet. Plus, I suspected he was trying everything he could to make this easy for me—and there was nothing easy about it. My humanity was about to be stripped away from me.
I reluctantly climbed into bed and laid my head back onto the pillow. Dr. Vieira started inserting needles into my hand and arm. Then he wrapped the blood pressure pad around my other arm while my dad pulled off the backing from the self-adhesive pads and pressed them on my chest. The heart monitor came to life and I was reminded of the day I woke up in the hospital over a week ago. It was the first time I had ever been in a hospital and where my life changed forever.
With all the needles, electrodes and machines working, my father poured his blood in a tall glass then set it on the table. The heart monitor chirped non-stop. Sweat peppered my forehead and the blood pressure machine beeped. The smell of blood filtered in the air and my nostrils flared, the scent making my tongue tingle. My mouth suddenly became dry.
“It’ll be okay. Breathe,” Dr. Vieira whispered. “I want you to squeeze this tube, so the blood pumps into the bag. I need two bags.”
My father looked at Dr. Vieira. “She okay?”
“Your daughter, I believe has been experiencing some early signs. You know, the normal ones that teenagers of vampire descent go through. Hers seem to be stronger than most, which may speed up the change.”
I almost laughed. There was that word again: normal. This wasn’t normal. Nothing about this was normal.
I lay there watching the blood flow through the tube into the bag and thought about Sam. Was this what it was like to lie in a bed and have someone drain all the blood out of him? I silently recited the Lord’s Prayer, hoping it would help not only me, but Sam as well.
Forty-five minutes later Dr. Vieira had two pints of my human blood. It was time to drink. I sat up and became dizzy, the room spinning. My pulse was in overdrive and I hadn’t even touched the blood. I was hosed.
Dr. Vieira sat beside me. “I want you to drink it slowly. If you drink it too fast, you’ll pass out.” Then he nodded to my father who placed the tall glass of blood in my hands.
I stared at it, trying to drum up the courage to bring it to my lips, the aroma prickling my senses, but my brain didn’t follow suit.
Then my father inserted a straw.
Yeah, that’s not going to help me.
I took a deep breath, covered the straw with my lips, closed my eyes and sucked. The first sip exploded in my mouth, the texture thick. The taste was sweet with a hint of salt. Dr. Vieira told me to drink it slowly, but all of sudden I wanted to drain the glass dry. I began sucking on the straw as fast I could. My cheeks caved in as I savored every mouthful. Suddenly, my father pulled it away from me.
I opened my eyes in protest.
“Slow down. Do you want to get sick?” my father asked.
Like a baby attached to her bottle, I pulled the glass back from him.
“I feel fine,” I countered.
Dr. Vieira looked at me in horror. What did I do? He told me to drink the blood, so I did, although my head hurt as if I had a brain freeze from sucking in an ice-cold milkshake.
“How are you feeling?” Dr. Vieira asked. He examined the monitor and all my vital signs were good, at least from what I could tell.
“Just a little lightheaded.” I raised the glass and sipped again through the straw, slowly this time. I had a feeling I was going to be a crazed vampire, always wanting blood. “What happens after the change? Will I always crave blood like this?”
Dr. Vieira looked at my father.
“That will depend, honey. It might be tough for you or it might be easy. It’s hard to tell. Some newborns have a constant craving, so we need to watch them closely. Take certain precautions. Others seem to moderate their intake better, not crave it as much,” my father explained.
Boy, what kind of answer was that? It sounded a bit like gibberish to me.
I sipped the rest of the glass, finishing it all as if I was slurping the last of my milkshake, and I wanted more.
My father sat on the other twin bed studying me. I couldn’t tell if he was amazed, frightened or in shock about my reaction to the blood. I imagined he was probably determining what kind of vampire I would be. I had the same question, but I wasn’t ready for the true answer.
I handed the glass to Dr. Vieira and asked, “Now what?”
“We wait. Do you feel the need to throw-up?”
The dizziness had slowed, almost stopped. My stomach wasn’t upset, which I imagined was a good sign. Maybe whatever Dr. Vieira put in my IV was helping the queasiness.
“I do feel a little tired.”
Dr. Vieira scribbled on his clipboard. He checked the monitor, then the blood pressure machine. He set down his clipboard, inserted the stethoscope’s earpieces in his ears, lifted up my t-shirt and placed the chest piece on my stomach. He stood over me, listening as he moved the scope around my navel. When he finished, he pulled out the earpieces, then jotted on his clipboard.
“Did you hear anything?” I asked.
“No. Everything seems normal.” He looked at his watch. “I need to step out. Why don’t you try and sleep? Your father will be here with you in case you need something. I’ll return in a couple of hours,” he said.
“When I wake up, will I have changed?” I asked.
“We’ll see. It’s hard to tell.” Then he turned to my father. “Commander, may I speak to you outside?”
My father followed Dr. Vieira out into the lab.
It had been a long day. I stared at the ceiling. How long would this take? Would it even work? Maybe when I woke up I would still be human.
My eyes popped opened. I grabbed my stomach and curled myself into a ball. My insides burned with every organ inside me screaming to get out. My whole body cramped and tightened from my sternum down to my legs. Sweat ran down my back and the sides of my face. What was happening to me? I closed my eyes, then opened them again. A noise beeped beside me, a loud noise that had me cringing in pain. I moved my hands from my stomach to my ears, trying to quell the loud sound that was driving me insane. Then another intense cramp wracked my insides. My stomach lurched and I heaved, but nothing came out. Something cold touched my forehead. I looked up, but my blurred vision didn’t allow me to see who was next to me. I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Please make the sound stop—please,” I called out as I pressed my hands against my ears.
“Jo? This is Dr. Vieira. Do you know where you are?”
I craned my neck to look at the man standing over me. I knew his voice, the name, but I couldn’t see him. I blinked a few more times, trying to clear the haze that covered my eyes. When I opened them, Dr. Vieira was peering down at me.
The pain ramped up again, grabbing hold of my stomach, this time more intensely. I shifted my hands from my head to my abdomen. A fire rushed through my veins and, suddenly, my throat burned.
“What’s happening to me?” I screamed.
“Jo, you’re going through the change,” Dr. Vieira said as he wiped my face with a cold compress.
“Make the pain go away. Please!” I cried out.
The burning intensified, snaking through every organ and vein inside me, itching for release. I closed and opened my eyes, then closed them again, the light above me burning down like I was touching the sun.
“The light, make it go away.”
“Jo, can you hear me? Honey, it’s me, your dad. Only a little while longer, then the pain will subside,” he said as he rubbed my sweat-soaked back.
The pain diminished and I took in a breath. The sweet smell of cinnamon hit me. The aroma intensified as a familiar female voice filled the room.
“How is she?” Kate asked.
“Not now. You shouldn’t be in here,” Dr. Vieira said.
“We’re twelve hours into it. She just woke up. She should fall back to sleep soon,” my father explained.
I didn’t want to fall asleep; I wanted someone to kill me. I laid in the bed, frozen in a fetal position as the pain ramped up again and this time nausea swept over me. I heaved, but like before, nothing came out.
My father lifted me up and positioned me over the side of the bed. I opened my eyes and the room was darker now. The beeping noise had stopped, but my eardrums still vibrated. The only sound echoing in my ears was my father’s heartbeat. I counted the beats as he held me.
“My throat. It’s burning,” I whispered.
“That’s normal. It’s a vampire’s thirst,” Dr. Vieira said.
As he said the word vampire, a cluster of cramps gripped me, spreading throughout my body, each one more intense than the last.
“When can you give her blood?” my father asked.
“When her fever breaks. I inserted a mild sedative into her IV. She’s probably through the worst of it, so it shouldn’t stop the final process.”
There is a final step? I can’t take any more of this pain. I pray the last step doesn’t kill me.
My father eased me back down onto the bed. The heaving had stopped. I curled up and held onto my stomach for dear life, afraid it was going to disintegrate.
“Can I have some water?” I asked.
Dr. Vieira held a cup in front of me while I lifted my head. I sipped through the straw as the ice water seeped down, cooling the parched skin that lined the back of my throat.
I dropped down onto the pillow and resumed my fetal position. The pain had dulled, and for the moment I could relax. I closed my eyes.
God help me. I didn’t know if vampires believed in God, but I needed to believe he existed, even in the world I was about to enter.
As I looked up, the sky was dotted with bright, twinkling diamonds as if someone had sprinkled fairy dust and it had stuck to the background. Where was I? Was I in the planetarium at school? My gaze roamed from side to side. A blanket of sand stretched for miles in both directions. No, this wasn’t school. I looked out in the distance and a stream of water ran by just beyond the sandy carpet I was sitting on.
I rose and walked over to the edge, stepping into a cool stream of liquid that tickled my toes. I turned and thick, dense trees filled in the landscape behind me. It appeared I was on a beach—a deserted one. How did I get here? The bright moon shone down, its reflection dancing on the water. I took two steps into the stream, looking down through the crystal clear water, the sand glistening beneath it. I inhaled the fresh clean air, reveling in the beauty that surrounded me and made a wish as my gaze roamed the horizon. As I stepped farther into the sparkling water, an electrical charge skimmed up my legs and my body shivered. My chest tightened like someone had wrapped a rope around me and pulled it tight. Every sense and shiver told me to go back, get out of the water, but like a magnet drawing me to it, I kept walking into the stream, which was only ankle deep.
The farther I walked, the stronger the force, pulling me forward. I continued my journey, stepping slowly into the velvety sand. The breeze played with my hair and for the first time in my life a true sense of freedom washed over me.
My vision was sharp as if it had been altered, enhancing every detail of the sandy floor beneath the crystal clear water. A soothing sound sang in the distance.
A soft breeze blew, the sweet aroma of honeysuckle tickled my nose. As I waded through the stream, the splash of water grew louder, piercing my eardrums. The water around me became turbulent and the clear liquid turned red. My pulse quickened. A sudden fear of danger lurked ahead, but I couldn’t stop.
I kept walking, stepping slowly through the red water, which became darker the closer I got to the waterfall. I willed my feet to stop, throwing my arms out in front of me, trying to balance myself. But my right foot hit a rock sending me over the edge into the blackness below.
As I soared downward, my body relaxed, allowing the world below to swallow me. I was no longer afraid. It was as if my destiny were pulling me down into my new world—the Superior world.
All the inhibitions that suffocated me were melting away one by one, leaving the Inferior world behind. I inhaled, taking in the salt from the red water that sprayed on me as if the fairies had released their magic dust. As I got closer to my destiny, the cloying scent of jasmine and lavender filled the air. I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact, when my body began to slow like someone were applying the brakes. A slow burn crawled up the back of my throat and, suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.
I sat up and grabbed my throat, choking, gasping for air. Where was I?
“Jo. It’s all right. I’m here.”
I opened my eyes. “Sam is that you?” I asked between coughs.
“No, my dear, it’s your father. You were dreaming.”
“Water. I need water.” I sat still rubbing my throat. “It burns.”
“Her fever is gone,” Dr. Vieira said.
I looked over and Dr. Vieira was adjusting the IV bag. His heartbeat was sharply distinct, so defined. I glanced at his jugular, then up at him, then back to his neck.
“Give her the blood now, Steven,” Dr. Vieira said in a sharp tone.
I turned to look at my father. I forgot his name was Steven. I cocked my head to one side and the vein in his neck looked appetizing as well.
Suddenly, my gums ached. I dipped my fingers in my mouth and the tip of my forefinger caught the edge of my right eyetooth, which was pointy and longer than the rest. My eyes widened in horror and I drew in a sharp breath.
Holy Crap! I’m a vampire.
I quickly removed my hands and covered my mouth.
“It’s okay. It’s normal to want blood.” My father handed me a tall glass with a straw in it.
No, it was downright strange that I wanted blood, but I grabbed it anyway. Not certain if I should drink it, I shifted my gaze between him and Dr. Vieira looking for approval.
They both nodded.
I raised the glass and wrapped my lips around the straw. I inhaled and the sweet candied aroma made the flame in the back of my throat burn brighter and hotter in anticipation of that first sip. I released the straw and moistened my lips.
“Go ahead and drink.” My father guided the glass towards my mouth.
The first sip entered my mouth, sliding over my tongue, coating the wall at the back of my throat. The burn lessened with each sip, awakening every cell in me. I finished drinking and within seconds I wanted more.
I handed the glass to my father and Dr. Vieira had another one ready for me. I grabbed it and drank, not stopping to breathe. I finished drinking the second one and still wanted more. It was like a revolving door. When I finished one glass, another one was handed to me. After five tall glasses of the sweet nectar, the room started spinning.
My father handed me another glass.
“No, no more. I’m dizzy.”
“Very well, she’s had enough,” Dr. Vieira said. “She should be well sated. It’s been a long twenty-eight hours. She should sleep through the night.”
I eased myself back onto the pillow. “What day is it?”
“It’s Wednesday evening,” my father said as he rubbed his eyes. “Your change is complete. How do you feel?”
I watched him as he studied me, his hand holding mine as if we were best friends. His eyes were pleading, begging me to forgive him. While my hatred for him was still there, I decided to keep it hidden for now.
I wasn’t sure how to answer him. The pain, the burning sensation and the vomiting were gone, replaced by… I wasn’t sure yet.
“Sleepy right now,” I said as I yawned.
“Get some rest. Tomorrow will be another long day.” My father stood up and walked over to the empty twin bed beside me. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”
Dr. Vieira had left the room—I imagined to get some sleep as well.
I closed my eyes and picked through my brain, trying to take inventory of my body. How did I feel? I lay still, reaching out to every cell within me trying to find a difference between human and vampire. I couldn’t find anything.
As I thought about the blood that tickled my tastebuds, I jolted to a sitting position. My gums throbbed and I winced as my fangs descended. I inserted my fingers inside and touched the tip of my left fang. The back of my throat burned. Suddenly, my skin itched. I wanted blood, needed blood. I inhaled and grabbed my pillow, curling myself into a fetal position. I took several breaths in and out. Slowly my fangs retreated. I closed my eyes, willing myself to sleep. A layer of warmth coated my skin as my muscles relaxed.
Webb had said I was going through vampire puberty, but that was before the change. Now that I was a vampire, what stage was I in? Blood lust? Whatever it was, I had a feeling it was going to be far worse than any type of puberty—human or vampire.
18
I woke the next morning to an audience of people watching me as if I were some caged animal that they were admiring. I wiped my eyes trying to remove the sleepy crust that glued the corners together. I sat up, not sure if I should speak or not. What were they all staring at?
