Free Vampire Books: Vampire Bite – Chapter 15

An hour passes.  I’m still on the sofa.  Another hour passes.  I finally manage to get up, still clutching my cup of tea.  I drink it. 

My phone rings.

Alfie’s name appears on the screen.

Please let it be him, I think.

I answer it. 

“Ava!”  Alfie’s voice! 

Relief swells in me.  I burst into tears.

“Ava, are you ok?”  Alfie sounds like he’s panicking.

I half laugh, half cry.  “Yes, I’m just relieved you are,” I say, sobbing.  “How are you?  What happened?”

“Nightmare – was worried sick about you.  Where on earth are you?”

“Err … I’m at home actually.  Weird story.”

“How weird?”

“Well … Casper was there and he … err … got me out of there.”

“Casper … the bloodsucker?!”  Alfie says, the tone of his voice rising.

“Yeah … weird huh?”

“He just … picked you up and took you home?”

“Basically, but … what about you?  I’ve been worried sick about you – and I felt so bad – I tried to stop Casper taking me – I wanted to help you!”

“I’m not great actually, at least I’m alive though – bloody bloodsuckers – don’t know what they’re playing at.”

“What do you mean – what’s wrong?”

“I got bitten and … stuff – but I’ll heal quickly – I have superpowers remember.”

“Where are you?”

“Just at the base.”

“Can you come over?”

“Err … well … see … I’m a bit too injured—”

“What?!  Can I come see you?”

“Yep, will get my bro to come pick you up in an hour – then you better tell me everything that happened last night.”

“You too.  Thank you.  See you soon.”

I jump in the shower and eat a big breakfast, with a very strong cup of coffee, finally feeling able to stomach something, and get dressed quickly.  I’m just ready when Sammy knocks on the door.  He has a car, not a bike like Alfie, so I get to sit next to him and bombard him with questions.  No luck though.

Sammy laughs and says, “I’m tellin’ you nothing – that’s Alfie’s place.”

Eventually I sit back, feeling grumpy and tired, and wait until we are there.

“Where is Alfie?” I ask Sammy.

“He’s just in his cabin,” he says, and grins at me.  “He’s not at death’s door.”

I run up there anyway and knock on the glass on his door.

“Come in,” I just about hear.

I go in and look around – there is a pile of Alfie’s discarded clothes on the table, but I still can’t see him.

“Where are you?” I say, my voice quivering.

“In here.”

I rush into Alfie’s bedroom.  He’s lying on top of the covers, propped up on about four pillows, just wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.  He beams at me as I go in, but my eyes are drawn to his leg – which is swollen to double the size.”

“Oh my God – Alfie! That looks really bad – why aren’t you in hospital?”

“I’ll heal – werewolf remember.  Come here,” he says, holding out his right arm towards me.

I go to him and sit on the bed at his side.  He puts his arm around me and I lean over to kiss his cheek, but he winces.

“What is it?  Are you hurt somewhere else?”

He pulls up his t-shirt and under is a big patch of gauze – much like what was stuck on my neck after I was bitten.  Blood has seeped through and shows up vibrantly against the white plaster.

“You’re still bleeding – I thought you said you healed quickly!”

“Yeah, but it was more than a bite – more like a rip.  It’s not bleeding as much as it was though.”

“Will you scar?”

“Nah – I’ll heal up just fine – should be great in a couple of days.”

I eye his leg.  “Really?”

“Yep.”

“What happened to your leg?”

“Well – I was pretty ganged up on there – while I was fighting one bloodsucker, another went for me and I guess he twisted it or something – but it broke pretty bad.  Is a good thing I was a wolf as when I turned back the bone went right back to the proper place again.”

“How did you get away when you were injured?”

“I’ll tell you all about it – after you tell me what happened to you!”

“Alright then.”

“Go on then!”

I explain everything I can – as much as I can remember – excluding the details of how attracted I still felt to Casper.  At least I didn’t give in to it though.  His eyes darken when I tell him about Casper killing the other bloodsucker, then darken further when I tell him Casper thinks I’m his.

“This is not good – he’s fixated on you Ava.  Do you like him?”

I don’t answer fast enough, and I can feel my cheeks heat.  “I don’t—”

“You do.”  He says it quietly.

“No!  Well …” I say, and I look at Alfie’s hurt face.  “He makes me feel a certain way – but I know it’s because he’s a vampire!  I don’t want to feel that way!  He killed that girl – he makes me sick!”  I realise I’ve got to my feet.  I’m shouting.

“Whoa, Ava, take a breath,” Alfie says.

“I’m sorry,” I say, just standing there.

“Did you kiss him?”

“No!  I like you Alfie,” I say, unfortunately it comes out more pleading than romantic.  “You are good and wonderful, and I don’t want to lose you.”  A tear rolls down my cheek.

“Sit back down, Ava.”

I perch on the edge of his bed, feeling rotten.

“You’re not going to lose me – not unless he gets rid of me so he can be with you.”

“You’re a match for him anyway,” I say, managing a little smile, but another tear rolls down my cheek.

Alfie brushes it away with his fingertips.  “You’re beautiful, Ava, beautiful and lovely.  I’m not surprised he’s fixated on you.  I am too.”

I meet his eyes and finally manage to smile properly.  Very carefully this time, I lean over and kiss him on the lips.  He wraps his hand around the back of my neck and kisses me again, more deeply, and it’s a while until he lets me go.

“You need to be careful though, Ava.  I can’t turn you – but Casper is a vampire, and he can.  I don’t want a bloodsucker for a girlfriend.”

“I don’t want to be one either,” I say.

“Good.”  He pauses.  “Look, Ava, I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you were there last night – I should never have trusted that we’d be safe.  You could have died.  I won’t take that risk again.”

“I chose to be there.  It’s not all your fault.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“That’s a shame – I love seeing you as a wolf,” I say, teasingly.

“Well, after this is all over … we’ll see what we can arrange,” he says, and manages a laugh, but he winces again, his face screwing up in pain.  “Ugh – try not to say anything funny,” he says, groaning.

“Ok,” I say, grinning at him, finally feeling like everything is going to be alright between us.  “Tell me what happened to you now.”

“Yeah, ok.  I panicked when I saw five bloodsuckers coming for us.  Thought that was it – I had no idea how I was going to manage to protect you.  And as that blond one went for you – three of them came at me.  I’d seen it was Casper there as well – and knew I wasn’t fighting him – so I thought he’d gone for you too.  I thought they’d kill you.”  He stops and squeezes my hand.  “Even though he’s a bloodsucker, and into you, I’m still happy he saved you.”

I smile.  “I know.”

“I went into some kind of frenzy, desperate to get to you – just lashing out at them.  I didn’t really know what I was doing – wasn’t thinking straight.  Got my teeth around the neck of one of them, and that’s when another got my leg, but then I ripped the head off the one I got and the other two legged it.  I didn’t even notice how my side got hurt.  Then I looked for you and couldn’t see you, or even pick up a hint of a scent trail – guess that’s cos Casper carried you,” he says.

“You looked for me even though you were injured?”

“I had to – but I … when I couldn’t find your trail I had to stop looking.  I’m sorry – the pain was so bad, and—”

“Hey,” I say, putting my hand on top of his.  “Ok here, remember?”

“I know.  Still felt terrible though, not knowing where you were and not doing anything to find you.”

“I get that, I did too.  Do you know how the vampires found us?”

“Nope.  Mic and a team are out there now seeing if they can work anything out.  No-one else got attacked last night,” he says, with a little attempt at a shrug.  “’At least two bloodsuckers bit it though.”

I make us tea and sit next to him on his bed talking about anything and everything and nothing.  Every now and then someone pops in to see how Alfie’s doing – I guess they’re all like a big family.  They are getting friendlier with me too – maybe they think I’m more of a permanent feature now.  Mic drops by in the afternoon but he doesn’t have any news; they reckon the vampires were just out looking for us, and unlucky for us they actually picked up our scent.

By dinner time I can hardly keep my eyes open.  I make something for us to eat, but after that I crash out on Alfie’s sofa and don’t wake up until dawn.  Alfie must hear me moving about as he calls me in.  I quickly pull on a jumper and jeans and then hurry to his side.

“How are you?” I say.

“Awesome,” he says, sitting up and exposing his bare chest.  He swings his legs over the edge of the bed with his covers still partly around him.

I sit down at his side and he switches on his bedside lamp.

“How’s your leg?”

“See for yourself,” he says, stretching it out in front of him.

“Wow.”  The swelling has more than halved, but it’s looking more black and blue with bruising than yesterday.  “Do you think you can walk on it yet?”

“I could, but it will heal quicker if I rest it until tomorrow.”

“How’s your side?”

“It’s good enough to do this,” he says, and wraps his arms around me, pulling me back onto the bed with him.

I giggle.  “Hey!” I say, but I roll onto my side and wrap my arm around his chest, snuggling against him.  He doesn’t smell that fresh, but that’s not surprising, all things considered.

He kisses the top of my head.  “Ava….”

“Yeah?” I murmur.

“I love you.  You know that right?”

I practically stop breathing.

“You don’t need to say it back or anything.  I just want you to know.”

I raise my head and look into his eyes with their gorgeous amber rings.

“I love you,” he mouths, and grins.

I can’t help but grin back, but I don’t know what to say, I feel touched and full of love … but it’s too soon as it’s not that long ago I figured out I liked him … so I lean over and kiss him softly on the lips, then lean back and look into his eyes again.  He strokes the hair beside my face, brushes it back and tucks it behind my ear.

“I love you so, so much,” he whispers, and pulls me to him, tenderly holding me against his chest.

I hold him back, feeling cherished and wonderful, but with a niggling doubt that it’s bad that I don’t know if feel the same way yet.  Should I know by now?  I lean up and kiss him on the lips again, and feel full of love.  But does that mean I love him?

We lie there for some time, holding each other, gently kissing each other while taking care not to press on his injuries.  After a while I break the moment and say, “Alfie, I better go home today and do some work.”

He arranges for Sammy to take me back, promising he’ll see me tomorrow night when we’ll go hunting as a team again.  Even though no more werewolves were killed that night, there have been more murders and we still need to do all we can to stop them.  He makes me promise not to go out after dark alone – like I would even consider it.

I work hard all morning and then at lunchtime I decide to ring Mark – it’s been a while since we’ve spoken and he should know what’s happened – maybe it will help him come to terms with Trish’s death.  Not sure if it will though as no-one who was close to her could forget her – she made such an impact on our lives.

“Mark?”

“Ava, hi.”  His voice sounds kind of flat.

“How are you doing?”

He pauses, and I’m guessing he shrugs.  “Not my best.  I miss her so much, Ava.”  His voice breaks mid-sentence and it sounds like he’s crying.  “I feel really low.”

“I miss her so much too.  I wish … I wish she was still here with us.”

Sobs come down the line.

“I have so much to tell you – so much has happened.  Why don’t you come up for the day tomorrow?  You could get the train from Barnstaple.”

“I don’t know.”

“You would really want to know what I have to tell you – and telling you over the phone just seems weird.  All this is already so weird.”

“Ok then, I guess I could do with leaving the house.”

“Yay!  It will be good to see you.  I miss you too.”

We spend a while sorting out the arrangements before we ring off.  I’m glad he’s coming – it will be good for me to talk about this with someone who’s been in my life forever, someone who’s not involved and who I know I can trust.

I work my ass off for the rest of the day and into the evening, trying to catch up for all the time I’ve spent … doing other things.  More important things – worthy distractions – but I still need to earn enough money to pay the rent or I won’t be able to stay here.  It’s been dark for some time when I finally snap my computer shut.  It’s weird to have an evening at home, no Alfie, but a smile creeps across my face as I think about kissing him this morning.

I make myself pasta with tomato sauce then veg out in front of a film with a glass of white wine.  It’s quite a change from going out hunting – to think this was what I used to do most nights.  It’s nice, but it feels like another world from the one I’ve been living in recently.

As the credits start to roll at the end of the film I hear a tap on my window.  I look that way – my blinds are still open so outside I can see blackness mingled with a glow from the city lights.

Another tap.

Huh.  There are no trees that could touch my window and make that noise, and I’m too high above the ground for anyone to knock.  I turn off the TV and there’s another tap, followed by another.  I turn out the lamp next to me and edge towards the window, my heart thudding in my ears as I wonder who, or what, is out there.  I have a suspicion … but no.  It couldn’t be….

Another tap.

I make myself look down, and there, standing under the glow of one of the Victorian street lamps that line the river path, is Casper, looking like he’s about to throw something.

He gives me a cocky grin and a little wave.