A/N: I've had this idea since the beginning of this year (2008), and I've been editing it in various directions until it came out into this particular form. It started out as a high school student being the main protagonist, but it evolved into this. I hope that you enjoy, and know that even though it'll start out kinda slow, it'll pick up soon enough.
Now, then. On with it!
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NightBlind
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Chapter 1: Cadaver
“Where are you taking me? Who the hell are you?” Xandra shouts into my ear, sending a sharp pain through my head that brings me to her full attention.
“Somewhere safe--Where else?” I say back, running across the quad towards the dormitories. I whisper, “I know you just woke up, but just be quiet until I can set you down somewhere.” She’s so light on my back that I almost forgot that she’s there, probably because of her being so much smaller than me, but the flaps of the pale white sheet that cover her are constant reminders. Same for her legs, which are straddling me from behind as I carry her on my back. Can’t say I don’t enjoy it.
I peer around the corner and see that nobody is around. It’s not unusual for this time of night, but there are always drunks and party-goers to watch out for around campus. My shoes scrape the concrete as I run up the steps to the entrance to the dorms, Mack’s East Hall. I wrestle my wallet out of my back pocket and flash my card in front of the sensor to open the door. As usual, the glass automatic doors take about three seconds to open wide enough to squeeze through. Screw security, I need to get in!
“Why’d you bring me here?” She whispers into my ear. When she isn’t yelling, her voice is as sweet as ever.
“I’ll give you two seconds to think of a clothing store that’s open at two in the morning… Time’s up. We’re going to my room to get you something to wear.” I press the ’up’ button for the elevator and wait around the corner of the brightly-lit entryway in case anyone came by or looked through the glass doors.
I hear the elevator through the walls come down towards our floor and sigh with relief. “Looks like we’re home free for now,” I say.
There‘s a pause. Only the hum of the descending elevator above us is heard.
“Good,” she says, tightening her grip on my shoulders.
There’s a sense of surrealism that I find appropriate. I’m carrying a half-naked girl on my back into an elevator to take her up to my dorm room at two in the morning. Classy.
The doors part, revealing itself to be empty. “Perfect,” I say, and rush into the metal box. She does her part by jabbing the button that I asked her to push, prompting the doors to close. Their creaking gives me a chill, like fingernails on a chalkboard, and even Xandra grips my shoulders a little tighter than before.
“Hey!” a familiar voice shouts from beyond the closing doors, “Hold the elevator!” A young woman with short red hair comes running towards the elevator.
A cold sweat crawls down the back of my neck, and I back up to the corner of the elevator and let the doors close.
“Hey! Oh, come on!” The girl shouts, the doors clamping shut before she could reach it. I jump as she starts to slam her fists on them as Xandra and I ascend up the floors.
I let out a sigh of relief and say, “What the hell is Nataly doing up at this time of night?”
“You know her?” Xandra asks.
“Yeah, she and I were in a few classes together in freshmen year.”
The elevator stops with an annoying “Ding!” as it arrives at the sixth floor.
“Okay, be quiet,” I whisper, glancing around the corner of the open elevator.
“Shut up, I know” she says.
The lights in the hallways are always on, even at night, so I know that we’ll have no trouble finding my room. I’m just worried that someone will walk out of their room to go to the bathroom or something. My room is on the very end of the floor, so my biggest concern is that I make too much noise getting there.
“Hurry up, already,” Xandra murmurs into my ear, clenching her teeth.
“Shut up,” I say as I jog down the hall with heavy steps. It isn’t that I weigh that much, but that it’s so awkward to carry her that it’s as if I’m wearing cement shoes.
I fish my keys out of my pocket and unlock the door. Room 612. Home. It’s empty, as it should me, except for my bed, fridge, dresser, desk, and a million smaller possessions scattered about the room.
I let out a sigh of relief, “Okay, I’m gonna put you down now. Just… be sure to cover up, and everything.” I let her hold onto my shoulders as I let her legs go and touch the carpet. The sounds of the bunched up sheet are heard behind me before I start towards my dresser, making sure not to sneak any glances her way. “I hope that you’re okay with wearing boxers for a night. They‘re clean, so…” I say with a small chuckle, but the fact that there’s a nearly-nude girl standing behind me sticks to the back of my mind like a tumor.
“Would you mind explaining what happened to me? Not to mention who I am, and who the hell you are?” I hear her say not too far behind me.
I freeze as I reach into my dresser drawer for a shirt. “About that,” I say as I stand back up, still facing away from her, and toss one of my larger shirts over my shoulder, “I was hoping to tell you later, but… well…”
“Look, pal, just tell me before I start running outta here.” I hear her drop the sheet and put on my shirt. “There, you can turn around now.” Good, it’s long enough to cover her up.
I comply, and turn to face her, noticing that her face is flushed. Mine is, too, I’ll bet, and I don’t blame either of us-- she looks exactly the same as she used to look, damn it.
After a deep breath, I say, “My name is Jay, I’m on my third year in college, majoring in medicine with a minor in vampire anatomy. According to your tags, your name is Xandra. Everything else on yours tags have been whitened-out, so beyond that, I don’t know very much else.” She holds up her wrist to examine the white plastic bracelet with the name ’Xandra’ written across it. “Your body was going to be dissected by my class tomorrow.”
Her eyes widened, her face wrinkling with anger, “Wait a sec! I’m not--!”
“Dead? Oh, yes you are.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? You guys some kinda weird cult?” She takes a step towards me, looking me straight in the eye, though she’s more than a head shorter than I am.
“Have you felt your heart beat at all since we left the Medical Center?”
She gasps, and put her palm between her breasts and her other hand on her carotid artery on her neck. She must want to make extra sure, not that it will change anything.
After about five straight minutes of standing perfectly still, she removes her hands from her chest and neck, letting them dangle to either side like those of a doll’s. Her face is paler than it was before, tears filling her wide terror-struck eyes.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” I say, taking a step closer to her, getting ready to comfort her. And no, not that way. “There’s nothing wrong with--”
“J-just… stop, okay?” She says, putting her hands on either side of her head. “Why am I still walking around if I’m dead? This is stupid!” Her knees crash to the floor, and she holds her head as if doing so would protect her from what is happening. She sobs.
“You still don’t get it? If you managed to get through sixth grade, then it should be pretty obvious,” I say, looking down at her with a cocked eyebrow. “You’re a vampire!”
She looks up at me with a jerk of her head, mid-sob, and stands up. “A vampire?”
“Yeah. That’s the only way you can walk around without a working heart, anyway. Let me see your teeth real quick, just to be sure.”
She obediently opens her mouth like a baby saying “Ah,” and I take a look at her chompers. It doesn’t feel like I’m looking at the jaws of a human, but of some kind of animal. Her canine teeth are so long that I wonder about the future of her tongue. It’s the first time that I’ve seen a real pair of vampire fangs, though. The shine that they cast reminds me of pearls. I notice that they are a different coloration from the rest of her teeth. According to a textbook that I read last year, when a human is turned into a vampire, their canines fall out and grow back in seven minutes, which explains their perfect shape and color compared to the rest of her teeth.
I snap out of it and say with a cough, “Ahem. Uh, yeah, those’re fangs.”
She closes her mouth and looks up at me, “So if I bite you, I’ll suck your blood?” She seems a little too excited to know this answer.
“Well, you’d sure as hell be able to drink it. People always think that vampires suck blood through their fangs like straws, but they just use the fangs to puncture blood vessels so that they can drink the blood that bleeds out. The reality is more gruesome than common belief, in my opinion.” I shudder a little at the thought
She puts a hand to the side of her neck, “Yeah, that’d hurt like hell…”
“Actually, from what I’ve read, the saliva of vampires acts as a pain-numbing agent, very much like when a leech latches onto it’s prey, and the prey can’t feel anyth--”
“Okay, stop right there, Jay,” she says, putting a hand up to stop me. She smiles-- God, that smile-- and laughs a little, “You’re a real nerd, aren’t you?”
I smile along with her and turn back towards my dresser, “It’s not so embarrassing for me when it’s you who isn’t wearing any pants.” She lets out what sound like an ‘eep!’ and proceeds to smack me in the back of the head.
An ear numbing bang sounds from my door. I curse aloud, my heartbeat hitting mach one in the process.
“Jay! What the hell’s going on in there!” A girl’s voice shouts through the door, followed by several more bangs. Nataly.
I grab Xandra by the arm and, for all practical purposes, throw her underneath my bed. The mattress is two feet off the ground, so there’s ample room. Before she can protest, I lunge down close to her and cover her mouth with my hand.
I mouth the words, “Stay quiet,” to her, and grab my bed’s comforter, draping it half on the bed and half over Xandra to keep her hidden. Nataly’s still slamming on the door.
After that is set, I tear off my shirt, turn off the lights, and toss the TV remote onto my bed.
“Whaaat?” I whine, trudging over to the door, unlocking it and pretending to fumble with the knob.
She opens it herself, almost hitting me in the head with the door, and stands in front of me, face-to-face. “Why the fuck didn’t you hold the elevator for me, and who’s in here with you?” She shouts rapid-fire.
“Whoa, whoa,” I say in a tired voice, putting me hands up in defense, “What’re you talking about, Nat? I’ve been asleep.”
“Bullshit, I saw you in the elevator with some chick. Just because you‘re able to get someone in bed with you doesn‘t mean that you can just deny me the elevator.”
I sigh, “Nat, come on. You know that I haven’t even had a girlfriend since high freshmen year. Fuck, I don’t even keep condoms in my drawer anymore.”
She stares at me, slack-jawed and dumbfounded. “You’re such a loser, Jay.”
“Fuck you, now let me go to sleep, okay?”
“Not yet. Who were you talking to earlier?”
“‘Talking to?’” I look back into my room and shrug my shoulders. “You see anyone else in here?”
She shoots a glare my way and pushes past me.
“Hey!” I shout, making a grab at her to stop her.
She flips the light on and looks at my bed.
“So who was it?” She asks, turning toward me.
“I must’ve been talking in my sleep or something. Leave me alone, will you?” She’s getting way too close to my bed. A single peep from Xandra, and I swear I’ll re-kill her.
“No, I heard a girl’s voice in here. It’s against the dorm rules to bring in a guest after midnight, Jay.” Always with the rules, aren’t you, Nat?
I trudge over to me bed and pick up the remote. Pointing the device at my TV, I turn it on. Immediately, there’s what looks like a soap opera rerun, playing at high volume. I turn to her and put up my hands in presentation.
After a silence, she says, “Fine, you’ve covered your ass this time.”
Without another word, she walks out of my room and slams the door behind her. The sound shakes the walls and window. I can see a column of dust cascading down from the ceiling, and hear someone down the hall shouting at Nataly.
“Okay, she’s gone,” I say to Xandra with a sigh, lifting up the thick comforter.
“Who was that, anyway?” She asks as she crawls out from under my bed.
“Same one from the elevator. Remember?”
“Not really. I’m still trying to process everything that you just told me about vampires and stuff.”
“It’s not that hard to understand, trust me.”
“Oh, fuck you, Jay, who’s the one who just woke up as a vampire, here?”
“Yeah, yeah. But you don’t sound very grateful that I saved you from getting your organs torn out by my nutcase of a professor.”
Xandra stares at me for a few seconds, “About that, how did you get me out of there at two in the morning?”
I sigh, “Okay, I’ll explain that, then. My class and I were supposed to be dissecting a female cadaver tomorrow. Or today. Whatever. Anyway, I’m a Teacher’s Aid for the class, so a couple hours ago, my professor called me. He said that one of the cadavers’ canine teeth fell out and have started growing back. I knew that it must’ve been a vampire, but I didn’t know which one it was.” I stop, and take a glance at her. She doesn’t seem confused, but she’s cocking her eyebrow. I wonder if I’m going too fast? “I get to the Medical Center and he calls me into the room where we dissect things for anatomy.”
I pause.
“And?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. I see you on the table with the sheet over you, and…” I stop again. I can’t say it.
“Just tell me already. It’s something about me, right?” She stands on the tips of her toes and stares me down face-to-face.
I swallow a lump in my throat. “And I realize that you were Hanna.” She cocks the other eyebrow. “Hanna could raise both eyebrows, too. You’re definitely her.” What am I saying? She’s sure to think that I’m lying.
“Who’s Hanna?”
“My girlfriend--” I blurt out before I can stop myself.
“Ah, your girlfriend. It’s just wishful thinking, pal. I’m not your girlfriend, and I don’t plan to be.”
“No, you have the same habits as her. Like raising your eyebrows. You look, sound, and are the exact same size as she was when she died. You’re Hanna.” My heart beats against my ribcage, and my eyes focus only on her. She’s Hanna, and I know it.
It must be hard for her to look me in the eye. Her gaze keeps shifting away to something else. “Look, Jay,” she says, stern as she used to be, “Stop saying that. It’s starting to get annoying, and I’m starting to get tired.”
I glance at the clock and see that it’s not even three in the morning. I guess that being a new vampire leaves one with some kind of jet lag. Death lag, maybe?
She walks up to my dresser, “Turn around.”
“What?”
“Turn around!”
“Okay, okay!” I turn away, and I hear her pull open the drawers and rifle through my clothes. “Just put everything back when you’re done, okay?”
She isn‘t listening. “What kind of clothes are these, anyway? There are just t-shirts and jeans, t-shirts and jeans! Get a little something more than this, ya nerd.”
“Shut up. They’re cheap, they’re comfortable, and you can kiss my ass.”
“You done getting dressed yet?” I ask, sitting cross-legged facing a corner of my room, reading a monthly medicine magazine that I borrow from one of my neighbors every now and then. It’s been awhile since she started sifting through my clothes, so I think that it’s high time that I checked on her.
“Yeah, I’m almost done choosing something suitable,” Xandra says.
“Why does it have to be suitable?”
“Because I don’t think that people will believe that I bought a shirt that says ‘Talk nerdy to me,’ okay?”
I laugh and say, “Point taken. But more to the point, are you okay with wearing my boxers?”
“For now, yes. There isn’t anything much better to do for that area at the moment, anyway.”
“True, but I still feel sorry for you.”
“Well, don’t. I’m fine with it. I’ll get myself some new clothes when I can.”
“And when do you plan that to be? It‘s not like you can go out during the day anymore.”
The sound of her movements stopped. I turn around in my spot to see her fully dressed in a pair of my jeans, rolled up at the bottom, and a small yellow t-shirt that I never wear. She looks like a little kid, as long as I forget her age.
I say, “The night’s almost over, so you need to get to sleep until sunset tonight.”
She scoffs, “What about that professor of yours? You stole me from the Medical Center, so what’d you do to him? Ask him nicely?”
I recall that I beat him over the head with a tray that holds dissection tools. “In a way. I had to get you out of there. He was planning on dissecting you, even though you’re still an undead vampire. You can still feel pain, so it’d be more like torture.”
“What kind of college hired a psycho like that?” She adjusts the belt on the jeans.
“He’s a good medical professor. He’s just… a little obsessed with vampires these days. He wants to know exactly how they’re built, from the inside out.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Sure. His wife was bitten and turned just a few months ago by a vampire who got onto a freeway. You know, one that just rampages outside of the vampire cities and kills humans for blood.”
“That must’ve sucked, but…”
“But what?” My throat is coarse with all of this talking, so I get up and walk over to my fridge to grab some water, walking over piles of discarded clothes. She tossed jeans, shirts, and socks all around the room when she went through my entire wardrobe. Yeah, she’s Hanna, alright.
“He’ll probably call the cops on you, won’t he?”
“When he wakes up, probably.” I snicker, intentionally sounding evil as I do so.
“Are you stupid or something? When he wakes up, you’re screwed!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Hanna--”
“Don’t call me Hanna.”
“Fine, Xandra. I managed to prop him up in his desk chair and cleaned the bump on his head and any other blood before I stole you. I also put a few empty beer bottles on his desk and around it, so I just hope that he thinks that the headache is from a hangover. We have until three in the afternoon at the latest before he realizes that it wasn’t a dream.”
“What happens at three?”
“We dissect you.”
“Ah.”
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A/N: I hope that the people who enjoy vampire literature aren't disappointed, because there's a lot more to come. I promise. I know that I still need to work on my first-person present-tense writing, but I hope that I did it somewhat correctly throughout the chapter, and gave at least some insights into Jay as a character.
Constructive criticism is appreciated, and thank you for reading this first chapter.
