Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Damned ❯ The Trouble with Forever ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: The Trouble with Forever
I hyperventilated. And then I laughed hysterically. Then I hyperventilated some more. My mother came in to my room, having heard my ridiculousness.
“Cassandra, are you okay?!” she sat down next to me – I was on the hyperventilating trend.
“I’m just. Wow. No.” I breathed as deeply as I could.
“Did something happen? Did the vampire hurt you? Did something happen at school?” she was overreacting.
“It just,” I looked into her concerned eyes. I couldn’t tell her I was dating a vampire. I just couldn’t hurt her like that. “I have a date and I’m really nervous.”
“Oh my gosh! That’s so exciting!” she was beside herself. I mean, it had been almost two years since I had a date, I was excited for me.
“Yea. I mean, it’ll be fine. I just have to not worry so much and just, have fun. I mean we’re sort of friends already so it’s not a big deal. If it’s weird we’ll just turn it in to a hang out instead of a date.” I was completely adlibbing all of this for her benefit. She had to find my lunacy believable.
“That is a good plan. So who is it?” I knew that question would crop up eventually.
I scrambled in my brain for names of guy friends she might recognize but have no attachment to: Danny – gay, Steve – ex, Wes – she knew him too well, Matt – Matt could work. “Matt.” I said.
“Oh, that nice boy I’ve heard about. That is great!”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Yea. He’s great.”
“I just know you’ll have so much fun. Did he do the asking or did you?”
“Um, he did.” I looked at the clock on my nightstand, it was four thirty, “I should get going. I told him I would meet him at five.”
“He’s not going to come pick you up?” she was suspicious?
“No, that would be awkward.” She gave me a skeptical look, “Daddy doesn’t need to know yet.” I explained.
“Fair enough.” She smiled. “Have fun, it will be great!”
I sighed, at least that bullet was dodged – but the fact remained that I still had to go on a date with a sexy vampire. AKA THE ENEMY! Why did I say yes? Because you feel a pull toward him and have since you first laid eyes on him? Because he’s gorgeous? Because he asked? Because you love him? Could life suck any more?!
~~
I looked at the movie times, most of the movies did not start until seven; that gave me time to eat, not that I was hungry because my stomach was busy doing somersaults. It wasn’t the “date” with Connor that had me worried; it was about running into another witch, or worse, another vampire. And what if he was just using me. The thought had crossed my mind multiple times. I knew this was probably just a ploy to earn my trust and then I would divulge some great secret to him about my covenant. The funny thing was I really didn’t know anything. So if anything he was wasting his time – and I was getting free things out of it. I guess it wasn’t a completely horrible situation for me.
I gasped as I felt a pair of hands around my eyes and the gravitational tug in my tummy. I felt myself smile without my will. “Guess who?” he breathed in my ear, sending an electric shock through my entire body. I was falling for him; bad. This was not good.
I pretended to mull it over, “Hmm, Frank?” I heard his melodic laughter.
“Who is Frank?” He asked, removing his hands from my eyes.
I turned around to smile at him, “I have no idea.” I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“So what movie are we seeing?” he looked up at the marquee.
“Well, nothing starts until seven.” I informed him.
“That’s fine. How about we see something with action, or a plot?” he looked at the movies that were out.
“So, nothing too girly?” I joked.
“Yes, basically.”
“Okay, I can live with that. Sorry Matthew McConaughey.”
He laughed at my little joke. “Well, what should we do until seven then?” I asked.
“You should eat something.” He said, looking pointedly at my stomach, which had not shut up
since he arrived.
“Yea, that should happen.” I agreed, “Okay, to the food.”
~~
A vampire huntress, sitting in the park, under the stars, chatting with a vampire – this was my life.
“That fight earlier with Menoch – it was completely stupid. He has got this wife, and I use the term loosely, and she just gets on my nerves all the time. I had sparred with her, and therefore Menoch was upset about it.”
I nodded in understanding, “Yea, people can be really protective of their spouses,” I looked at him and added, “or mates.” He laughed slightly.
There was a comfortable silence but I wanted to break it, to hear his voice, to know his history.
“So tell me about you.” he said.
I looked quizzically at him, “You already know everything there is to know.”
“What do your parents do? What is your dog’s name? Things like that.” He seemed genuinely interested.
“You stalked me. You should know all this.” I teased.
He nodded, “True, but I would not mind if you told me in your words.”
I smiled, “Well, you know my dad is a carpenter. My mom is a JPPO, that’s a juvenile probation and parole officer. My sister is a banker. My dog’s name is Cindy, she’s twelve. I’ve lived in the same house I was born in all my life, and I’m in love with Josh Hartnett.” I smiled, that was my life in a nutshell.
“I gathered the Josh Hartnett bit.” He laughed, “I mean your walls are pretty obsessive.” I grew red slightly – my far wall had somehow become a shrine to pretty boys. Mostly Josh. “It’s a good thing I bear a striking resemblance to him.” he whispered, crooked-half smile securely in place.
I studied his face… he was different. Brown hair and eyes sure, but he was… Connor. He was perfect to me. I wanted to change the subject.
“So when did you turn… well, you know?” I wanted to know about his history – but I didn’t know if it was rude to ask.
“Into a vampire?” he asked.
“Yea,” I was feeling sheepish.
“It was a long time ago.” He began, and I could tell I was in for a story. “I was eighteen years old in eighteen sixty four, give or take a decade. At that time, my father was dead, and my mother was dying; I was her only caretaker. There was a lot of stress then. We were living in a farm where crops did not grow, in a neighborhood where trade was difficult. I remember thinking so many nights, when I was alone, ‘please God, just take my mother. Just let her die, and have this be over.’ I prayed for her suffering to end; but that did not happen.
“We struggled with her illness for almost a year before I found Menoch. I was gathering firewood when I saw him, drinking from the neighbor’s farm hand. One of the only mortal memories I retained was the look on that girls face that day. She had this glazed look that clearly said she was not all together there, but it was such a peaceful look; distant and far away. I longed to have that freedom; from stress, from my responsibilities, from the downright horrifying sight I was seeing.
“I walked up to Menoch, I did not know it was Menoch at the time, but here I was, marching up to this… monster. He dropped the farmhand who fell thickly to the ground. Menoch hissed menacingly at me. I was not afraid. I asked him what he was. He hissed in response… free. I looked back toward my house with my dying mother waiting for me inside and I asked; how can I be free? And Menoch smiled.” He took a ragged breath, as though coming back to the present. He looked at me completely engaged in his story.
“I do not really remember the next few days. It is as though I was in a long sleep and awoke more alive than I had ever felt. I was strong, powerful, energized, but I was thirsty; so very thirsty. When I was a newly changed fledgling I would eat three or four times a day. I was insatiable. Over time I learned to control it.”
“What happened to your mother?” I asked, not sure if he had left that out on purpose.
“She died. As all mortals do.” He looked into my eyes and if he read anything there it must have encouraged him to continue. “I did go back for her. She was, barely alive. I had left her for too long without support. I told her what I could do for her; how I could save her. She was terrified. She called me a soulless, godless, creature. She said that her son had died and that I was a mockery. I am not sure how much of that she meant and how much was her raging fever. Before I left her voice softened and she said, Connor my son, no creature is meant to live forever. God will see to your end. Then, her eyes closed for the last time. I stood there and watched my mother die, hating me. My last memory of my mother was her thinking I was a soulless, godless creature.” He was shaking his head as though trying to clear the memories.
I quickly cleared the tears from my eyes, not wanting him to know how sad of a story that was. He looked up at me, my eyes still brimming with tears; he looked horrified.
“I did not mean to make you cry.” He reached toward me and gently wiped away the tears. “I’m sorry.”
I let out a nervous laugh and smiled encouragingly, “I’m sorry. I’m such a baby with sad stories.” I admitted.
He smiled half-heartedly in return. Looking into his eyes, I saw concern, caring, how could someone this deep be a horrible vicious abomination? He leaned closer to me and I had a brief thought, oh my god, he’s going to kiss me. He stopped suddenly and I heard his reply. “I won’t, if you do not want it.” I rested my hand against his cheek and our lips connected.
I had never felt anything quite like this. People always say cliché things like “the stars burst before my eyes” or “I felt the world stop”. I simply felt his soft lips on mine, the usual wrench we had on each other, and yet somehow it was the most significant feeling I had ever had.
Even if all vampires were my covenants sworn enemies, even if he was evil and heartless… Even if he was using me, somehow it was worth it.