“I trust you.”
“Thank you, dove.” He sits up against the headboard and pulls me into his lap. “Take a deep breath, relax, and clear your mind.”
I focus on my breathing as I relax against him. My surroundings fade away as I tumble into the past.
***
PAST
Pain pulls me from the darkness. An intense searing pain unlike any I have ever known explodes through every part of my body. It slices through me, cutting so deep, I can’t form sound. The coppery taste of blood fills my mouth as my gums are ripped and reformed.
“This is the hard part. The transformation. It’s the final bridge you must cross from your old life to your new one.” The heavily accented voice of my employer sounds overly loud in my ears. I come off the floor, arching my back as the agony sweeps its way through my limbs.
“What have you done to me?” I croak.
“I have given you the life you never knew you wanted. Your talent and intelligence would be wasted here, toiling away as a textile worker, barely able to create. No. You were meant for better things. I knew it the moment I first saw your work. Now you’ll have eternity to do as you see fit with.”
“You’re speaking madness, sir. Please. I need?” My muscles clench and my stomach heaves. Rolling onto my side, I empty my stomach as the burning begins. My body catches fire from the inside out. My veins are a delivery system for poison. I fight against the blackness, as I try to climb out of bed. My limbs refuse to cooperate. They’ve become useless deadweight. I manage to pitch to the side.
Strong hands grab my arms and place me back in the middle of the bed, holding me down.
“It will all be over soon.” I drift in and out of consciousness.
The most delicious scent rouses me once more. Pushing myself into a sitting position, I open my mouth, tasting the air as I breathe it in. Saliva dribbles down my chin. I tilt my head and close my eyes, focusing on the one thing that makes sense?the hunger and the thirst, unlike anything I’ve ever known. I open my eyes and find a pretty maiden in a jade dress seated in a chair with my benefactor behind her.
“Ahhh, my son is awake.”
“What is this?” My voice is distorted.
“Where you decide if you will live or die.”
I focus in on her throat. The flutter of her pulse, calls to me. My body takes over. I gain my feet as a red haze lowers over my vision. I blink and find myself bent over her petite frame, ready to strike.
“No.” I throw myself back.
“You will find the will to live is strong. I caution you. The longer you choose to fight, the worse the first feeding will be.”
“I will never give in to this evil.” I hunch over, squeezing my eyes shut. I open them quickly when it only intensifies the woman’s scent.
“I will give you time to reconsider.”
Vampire. The soulless beast who possesses life after death. How have I landed myself here? Damned beyond redemption, dependent upon the blood of others to live. Better to die now than live a life of sins I can’t hope to cleanse myself of.
Every day Rasputin returns with another woman. They wait, clearly under the influence of his will, like living dolls in chairs. Lambs to the slaughter they smile down at me, never realizing the danger they’re in. I lay on my side, fighting to breathe as my vision dims.
I am not ready to die. I give in to the beast, clawing to the surface, and let instinct take over. I fall upon the first girl.
PRESENT
I’m jolted out of the memory.
“You don’t need to see the rest.”
“Why show me that?” I whisper, shaken.
“Because I want you to understand. We’ve all gone morally bankrupt at one time or another and had to work our way back up from the muck and mire. Who we become after the corruption can be an entirely different identity. It’s how we recover that matters most. I know you’re hurt. You’ve never seen the ugliest sides of your abuelita.”
“It was more than that.”