The Love of Blood - Part 3

(Two months later…)


No matter how gentle or charming he could be, I thought that what had come to pass was impossible. But as I basked outside in the November afternoon, I realized that I was slowly growing accustomed to living here. It was amazing that after he tore me away from my family and everything that I knew, I didn’t loath every fiber of his being. I didn’t think I could if I tried. I didn’t doubt that he was a vampire, something that only dumbfounded me when my deep thoughts clung at the forgotten shores of rationality.
I pulled at the last bits of green grass, staring up through the shedding trees at the sky. I wondered if my family missed me. A dull pang hit my heart. Hopefully not too much. I remembered how it hurt like crazy to be away from them at first when I would lie awake at night wondering how I could possibly fill the gaping hole inside of me. But time had slowly worn down the pain, not enough to consume it, but just enough so that it didn’t consume me.
A cool breeze brushed my face, bringing back energy that replaced some of my peaceful drowsiness. I could get used to this, I thought, stretching.
The light sound of flapping wings brought me back to full attention, and I sat up as Icarus came gliding down.
“Hey,” I called as he landed on the front porch.
“Hey yourself,” he said, smiling. He raised an eyebrow. “Comfortable?”
“Yep.” I flopped back down.
“I’m going to start dinner early today. ‘Should be ready in about an hour,” he said, going inside.
“I think I’m going to go for a walk first.”
“Just be back before it’s too dark,” he said, sticking his head back out. “And don’t go past the blue orchids.”
“Sure.”
He went back inside and I leapt up, brushing off my jeans. Sometimes he acted so overprotective. I never got lost, and I had already been kidnapped, so he couldn’t really tell me off about that happening. I walked off and plugged in my headphones, thinking of a song. The music filled my ears drowning out the natural noises, and leaving me only the russet colors of the woods. A blue jay swooped down and flitted near me for a moment, before disappearing back into the trees.
Maybe I could get used to this…


Before I knew it the forest was definitely shades darker, and the chill of early night was settling in. I turned and looked back, the house no where in sight. The area looked familiar, but only vaguely so.
Probably about a mile from the house, I thought.
Just a little farther and then I would go back. I pulled the headphones out of my ear and put them in my jacket pocket. My eyes on my shoes, I sloshed through orange leaves, kicking them aside. Looking up, I saw something that stopped in mid-step. Blue orchids. Lots of them. I guessed it was time to go back earlier than I thought. Besides there was something I didn’t like about the area; the wind rustled stronger and the ways the trees bent slightly obscured the faded daylight. But then again, everything felt stranger at night. I headed for home.
The wind whistled around me, and I felt a twinge of paranoia. I knew there was nothing I could do about it; it came irrationally with the darkness. My foot snapped a twig. And another. I stopped walking. And another. Fear tightened my chest. No. Not again.
Without thinking I bolted. But before I got ten feet the biggest wolf I had ever seen leapt into my path. I screamed and jumped back, and it growled loudly, sharp, yellow teeth bared. Its midnight black fur bristled and I could see it preparing to attack, dagger-like claws gripping the earth.
Run
I moved to bolt the other way but it cut me off, barking and snapping its teeth warningly. Wild, black eyes locked on to mine and my legs went weak.
I was going to die…
I backed away as it slowly advanced towards me, hissing and snarling menacingly, back arched and ears flat. Suddenly it leapt forward and I screamed again and just as it prepared to lunge, something collided into me and then there was the scream of the wind and the wolf was gone.
“You’re safe Bella, You’re safe.”
Icarus.
I clung to him, sobbing, as he raced back to the house, trees flying past us at an alarming rate. The wind whip lashed around us, its roar drowning out the pounding of my heart. From far away a bloodcurdling, high-pitched howl pierced the night like a knife and I felt another thrill of fear, making me cling harder.
“There’s more than one!” he hissed angrily. “What the hell are they doing!?!? They know they’re supposed to stay on their side of the boundary!”
No, God no, please no. No more of them!
Unable to swallow the painful lump in my throat, I gasped at the night air.
“I’m so sorry Bella,” Icarus said into my ear. “It’s okay now.”
When the house was in sight, he slowed his pace and the howling wind died down. Walking, he continued to carry my trembling frame.
“I’m sorry that happened,” he said gently.
I didn’t answer or respond, unable to form words. My silence didn’t discourage him.
“It won’t happen again. I-”
His head suddenly snapped up and he sniffed the air. He scowled.
“What’s this?” he growled irritably. “Damn it! This is not the time.”
“What?” I whispered hoarsely.
He looked angry. “My sister.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “You have a sister?”
“Yes. And she won’t be too happy to see you, but you’re meeting is inevitable now. I knew I couldn’t avoid it, but now of all times…”
He shook his head, and marching up the front steps, cradled me in one arm and opened the door. Sitting on the sofa across from us was a young woman, and I must have gasped at her beauty which was only matched by that of Icarus. Her hair was black with sleek curls that came down past her shoulders, and her dark green traveler’s cloak matched the color of her eyes.
Icarus tensed.
“Drusilla…”
“I smelled you coming about a half-mile away,” she said smiling, though there was nothing friendly about it.
“You’re going to have to move,” Icarus said icily. “Bella needs to rest there.”
Her eyes flickered to me and fixed coldly, the smile dropping from her face. “So it’s true,” she whispered.
“I don’t want to tell you again.”
Drusilla sniffed in a prude manner and rose gracefully, stepping away as Icarus walked over to lay me down. I felt so exhausted and knew I wouldn’t stay awake long, having cried my tear ducts dry. My body had stopped trembling by the time Icarus pulled a blanket over me, and laid a hand over my forehead to check for fever.
Drusilla gave a low laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. “And I wondered why you didn’t show up at the last gathering when you were set to propose to Violet,” she sneered. “At first I thought maybe you had forgotten; you were never quite that sweet on her.”
Drusilla pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat in one fluid motion, tucking an ankle behind the other.
“So then I’m sent here to investigate, and when I smelled her blood-” she waved a hand at me, “as you approached, I thought maybe you had brought a snack.” She smirked bitterly. “Apparently I was wrong.”
Icarus moved away, but stood in Drusilla’s path and faced her as if protecting me.
“Drusilla…now is not the time-”
“Oh, shut up, Icarus!” she said angrily. “What do you think you’re doing!?! Not only is the girl not part of the family lineage, she’s also a mortal! This goes against EVERYTHING-”
Icarus raised a hand, and to my surprise she fell silent, though continued to fume.
“The lineage is not important anymore. Bella’s mine. She’s the one.”
Drusilla scoffed. “You think your soul mate is a mortal? She’ll shrivel and die before you look 30!”
I felt a pang in my chest. I’d never thought about that before.
“Besides,” she continued. “Both of our mortality rates are higher than any other vampires in our family! If either of us marry to mortals, we could be disowned or killed.”
Through my hazy vision I could see Icarus throw me a conflicted look.
Drusilla laughed. “And don’t think you could change her! That doesn’t count.”
He looked back to her, glaring. “I don’t care. I will stay with her. Bella’s the one, I felt it the first time I saw her.”
Drusilla rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so foolish. Many vampires think that they’ve felt true love, but were too blinded to recognize it as only stronger affection.”
“She’s different,” he said firmly.
A smirk tugged at his sister’s mouth. “Oh really? Different from all you’re other lovers, Icarus?”
I felt another pang in my chest. Others…
Icarus growled. “They’re not important. I made mistakes.”
“And she is another mistake as well,” Drusilla said certainly.
He shook his head and smiled gently at her. “You’re wrong.”
She smiled back coldly. “No. It is you who is wrong.”
Icarus stiffened as she stood and slowly walked around him to me, and I shut my eyes immediately, feigning sleep.
“Drusilla…” he said warningly.
“Oh, I won’t hurt her,” she said silkily.
A chill went up my spine as I felt her cold presence standing over me. She sniffed haughtily.
“She’s not even that pretty. And I thought you had better taste.”
I felt her lean closer and it took all of my willpower not to cringe away.
“I should kill you right now,” Drusilla whispered loud enough for Icarus to hear. “You know, just to remove temptation. But unfortunately,” she continued with cruel amusement. “Brother would never forgive me.”
“You’re no sister of mine,” Icarus spat. “Get out.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you change your mind,” she said firmly.
“I’m not changing my mind.”
I felt her focus leave me and relaxed immediately, but still I kept my eyes shut.
“Brother, you’re going to give up sweet Violet for her?”
I heard Icarus scowl. “I don’t love Violet.”
“She doesn’t love you either. But you don’t hear her complaining.”
“Complaining or not, if she has no love for me, she should marry Fredrick like she wants.”
“What she wants doesn’t matter,” Drusilla said angrily. “What YOU want doesn’t matter. What matters is the will of the family which is trying to keep our family in one piece.”
“A family that wants to stay in one piece, but will not let members naturally find their soul mates?
“Well, maybe if your soul mate was a vampire-”
“That’s the family you want to be part of?” he said, cutting her off.
There was a pause of silence.
“It’s the only one we have.”
Icarus laughed cruelly. “No, it’s the only one you have. The family can go to hell for all I care. They all will eventually and you can join them if you want. I’m not stopping you.”
For the first time in the night, Drusilla sounded hurt. “So that’s your final decision?”
I cracked my eyes open to see Drusilla’s eyes watery with tears.
“Unless you need me to write it down too, yes,” he said loathingly. “The door’s behind you.”
Jaw clenched, and hands balled into fists, Drusilla spun on her heel and strode to the door. She yanked it open and turned back briefly. Already she was cold again.
“Your children will never fly.”
And she was gone.
Icarus immediately relaxed and looked back at me apologetically. “I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” I said softly.
He kneeled next to me and checked my forehead for fever again. He sighed. “This isn’t over,” he said quietly. “She’ll be back. Or someone else.”
Oh God, another vampire?
“For what?”
“To convince me to leave you.”
If he left me…could I ….go home?
“And if you say no?”
Icarus looked worried. “I don’t know Bella. I don’t know.”


*****

My dreams were filled with the sounds of barking and snarling, and the bristling shadowed wolves with yellow eyes. I couldn’t escape as they snapped their jaws, preparing to attack. I tried to fly away, but they leapt onto me, tearing my flesh with razor teeth…

My eyes flew open and I jumped back when I saw two cold, green eyes watching me. Drusilla. Why was she here again?
“Drusilla don’t scare her.”
She smirked and turned away from me.
“It’s not my fault if she’s a coward.”
I sat up and turned to see Icarus sit at the table with a cup of coffee.
Drusilla scowled. “You’re even eating because of this human. Have you lost your mind?”
“No, but I will if you don’t get your point across and leave.”
She sighed and combed a hand through her long hair.
“Umm Icarus,” I started.
“Yes?” he looked up at me.
“About yesterday, that thing that was about to attack me…was that a…”
“Werewolf? Yes.”
“Oh, she had a little run-in with a werewolf, did she?” Drusilla jeered.
I sank back down onto the sofa. Impossible…But looking up at the two vampires sitting in the kitchen, who was I to decide what was and wasn’t possible?
“But maybe it was just a wolf,” I said weakly.
“No, it was undeniably a werewolf. And he had no reason to attack you like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re not vampire and you were clearly not on his land.” Icarus shook his head disgustedly. “Foolish thing. I’ll have to deal with him later.” He looked back at me. “And I’d suggest not going out for a while. I think there’s more than one.”


*****


“Yes, I would definitely suggest not going out,” Icarus said.
He closed the door to the library staircase and walked over to where I was huddled in the corner, a book open and unread in my lap. Three other vampires had come to talk to Icarus, and feeling their hateful attitudes, I was up the staircase before they came in.
Icarus sat in the windowsill. He looked sad.
“Apparently, the family refuses to get rid of the werewolves as long as you’re here. And I cannot get ride of them myself. But I cannot let you go either. Drusilla finally told me at the last moment that even if you left and I married Violet, my family would kill you on sight if you ever crossed paths.”
Kill me? Why? I had no say in the matter. I was here against my will.
“That’s not fair,” I choked out, furious tears burning my eyes. “It’s like they think it’s my fault! Like I’m here by free will! Oh, I hate this!”
I slammed the book shut and flung it across the room. Icarus looked shocked.
“I thought you loved me-”
“No, Icarus! That’s just your twisted little fantasy!”
I wiped the tears from my face and got up. “I’m leaving,” I said angrily. “I’ve never been more scared in my life. I don’t care what the hell you have to say to me, I’m getting out now before your sick family finds and kills me, because apparently I’m keeping you from them.”
Faster than I could see, Icarus grabbed my hand as I made for the staircase. I growled, and dug my fingernails into his wrist. He didn’t flinch.
“You don’t understand. You can’t leave. They’re already here watching.”
I felt a thrill of fear. “What?” I hissed.
“They’ve never really left. They won’t enter the house as long as I’m here to protect you. But if you leave, they’ll kill you faster than it’ll take for you to blink.”
I swallowed. “Fine. They can’t keep after me forever.”
I yanked my hand free of his grasp and started down the staircase. I paused to look back at his sad face.
“I hope you know that this is all your fault.”


*****

(4 months later)


Each winter day had churned by slowly until it was early March, and I was only fortunate enough to stare lifelessly out the window. Icarus on multiple occasions commented on how miserable I seemed. That would only make me angry. There really was nobody to blame for that except him. I knew that my life was in danger right on the other side of the window, outside where once in a while I had seen malevolent, pale faces watching me. Yet I was also in danger here, the stuffy insanity of being locked inside was steadily seeping into my brain.

Morning turned to day, day to afternoon, afternoon to dusk. I knew Icarus had come up behind me, and I knew the sad, worried look he wore too; it was forever imbedded into my mind.
“Dinner?”
“Why? You don’t eat.” I responded bitterly.
And it was true; food did nothing for him. He needed blood, and since he couldn’t leave without me being killed, he couldn’t hunt. But thankfully for him, Drusilla had started to bring him jars of blood, which kept him alive but only barely so. Sometimes it was frightening to look at his taut and impossibly paler face and the dark brooding circles under his eyes.
“I meant for you,” he said softly.
“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t eat dinner either.”
“You’re depressed,” Icarus stated sadly.
“Well if I am, there’s no one to blame but you. You got me into this mess.”
“I know,” he whispered.
“I want to go home,” I said, feeling my heart clench.
His voice was barely audible. “I know.”


*****


“I know how to end this,” Icarus said quietly.
“What?”
He kneeled next to me on the floor. He wouldn’t meet my eyes, but kept his sad gaze down.
“You won’t like it. But it’ll work.”
He gently, but firmly wrapped a hand around my left arm and lifted it. Tracing a sharp, icy nail down my wrist, he stopped over the blue vein and pressed down into the skin drawing blood. I yelped as a sharp pain shot up my arm. I panicked.
“Ow! What’re doing!?!”
I tried to pull away frantically and his grip tightened.
He didn’t look at my face, but his eyes were hard.
“I’m making you a vampire.”
“No! Don’t!” I gasped. “I don’t want to be like you!”
He looked up at me as if he had just been slapped, and his former indifference was gone.
“Please Bella, it’s the only way. They can’t kill you if you’re a vampire.” His voice softened. “It’s not that bad. And after I teach you to hunt….you can go back home.”
Home…
“Isn’t there any other way?” I begged.
“No.”
“Do I have any choice in the matter?”
‘The venom in my fangs will turn you into a vampire,” he said, ignoring my question. “It’ll hurt at first, but then you’ll be fine, I promise.”
I tried one last time to yank my arm away, but it was to no avail. He paused and looked up at me regretfully as he lifted my wrist to his mouth.
“Take care of yourself,” he whispered, putting both fangs against my wrist. “I’ll miss you.”
And then he sank his fangs into my skin. I screamed as a searing pain raced up my arm to my brain, and then there was nothing.


*****


After three days the light came back on in my head. I remembered the pain of the transformation. I remembered how Icarus had taught me to hunt. I opened my eyes and gasped at how clear and impossibly amazing everything looked, the brilliant colors nearly blinding me. I yelped when I realized I was upside down and let go of the branch I was hanging from in shock. I expected to hit the ground, but with reflexes I didn’t know I had, I flipped in midair at lightning speed and landed on my feet. A dumfounded smile tugged at my lips.
“Wow…” I breathed.
I stood and a strong wooziness suddenly came over me.
“Ugh.”
I clutched at my head and crouched down, gently rocking back and forth. My stomach sloshed uncomfortably, and for a moment I felt like throwing up as I faintly tasted the remains of blood in my mouth. But as I looked at the ground, I quickly became mesmerized by the green of the grass, forgetting my headache. I never knew that everything was so beautiful and detailed. After a long moment, I shook my head and stood up, stretching. My back still stung sharply from where I had practiced sprouting my wings again and again, until I could do it properly. The bruises probably wouldn’t go away for a while. I sighed. How was I going to explain this when I got home?
Home…The realization finally hit me.
I was going home! After six long months, Icarus finally let me go. I was proud of him for doing that; I didn’t love him, so I had no idea of how much he was hurting. But it must have taken a lot. And I was glad he did; I was ready to go back.
I looked around; he had left me in the middle of the woods alone. I guess he couldn’t bear to watch me leave. And yet for some reason, by instinct I knew how to get back. I sniffed the air and was hit with a thousand different scents all at once. I reeled back, still not used to my extreme senses. But mixed in with the different smells, was the familiar scent of home, which was off by some miles. Amazing…I smiled as the hairs on my neck settled back down. Yeah, this wasn’t so bad…
I started off for home, and I would have been there quicker, if there wasn’t the reluctance to leave the mind-blowing colors of the woods behind. I sniffed the air once more and grudgingly sorted out a shortcut. I wondered what wolf would smell like…Would I eve recognize it? My eyes dragged over the greens, yellows, purples, pinks. Even the blues…blue orchids. I stopped in my tracks. He told me not to cross the blue orchids…but I was a vampire now. Whatever lied over there couldn’t hurt me, besides I would only be passing through quickly. This was my shortcut. I smelled the air one last time, and picked up on nothing dangerous; just an occasional bird or squirrel. Perfect.
I stepped over the patch of blue orchids and continued on for home. It all seemed so peaceful.
Mom and dad are going to be so happy to see me…I wouldn’t be surprised if they had given up after all that time. But I’ll be back so soon. We’ll be able to fix everything. I can go see Julie too! She’ll be so-
Before I knew it, I was thrown back, the wind was knocked out of me and I suddenly found myself on the ground. I struggled for breath and tried to spring up, but was pushed down again.
“Well, well, well,” A silky voice said dangerously. “What do we have here?”
I looked up, and was about to scream-
“Scream and we’ll cut out your tongue, filth!” he hissed darkly.
I shut my mouth. Six more creatures such as himself stepped forward. They looked like tall men with dark blue, scaly skin and sharp fangs like mine. They all glared down with equal detestation, but their leader seemed crueler. The seething hate in his eyes wrapped icily around my pounding heart.
“Uh oh, it seems as though you’ve wandered off your land, bloodsucker,” he said mockingly. His voice suddenly became dangerous and hateful again and he leaned close to my face. “And after all the times we’ve made it clear that beyond the blue orchids is our territory, you should know that vampires-” there were low hisses and growls. “Are not welcome.”