Her hair is cropped short, dyed blonde with brown streaks. I solemnly hand the cashier a twenty dollar bill. She smiles, giving me my change, then saying good-bye, the grin plastered on her face easily read- go away, you’re taking up floor space.
But Gaby was happy, and that’s what really mattered. I grimaced, replacing my wallet in the bag and slung it over my shoulder- it was now weighed down by a brush, snacks, face wash, another set of clothes, and other things that she had pulled off the shelves from Target, except a new pair of green Converses, already on her feet, finally in her size. She pulls a pop-tart from the bag and starts munching. It smells to sweet to me, but then finally it’s gone, the wrapper dropped to the depths of a black trash bin. She grabs my arm, like whenever she wants to be carried, but I reluctantly shake my head.
“Not with all the people. As soon as we get past this town.”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t you drive? Aren’t vampires supposed to be good at that?”
I shake my head, laughing softly. “Why? Vampires date back way before cars were an idea on a napkin.” I look at her, sad suddenly. Denise would ask me that, before she got her license. The new haircut makes them look just a little less alike, but her face still is a mirror to my love. I stare straight ahead, her attempts at conversation lost on me for a while. At least her voice isn’t like Denise’s.
“Whatever, Damien. So, uh, where are we going?”
“To see something,” I say calmly. “If we can.”
“Ugh. Can’t you just tell me? I’m kidnapped, I can’t know? Or are you planning to release me one day?” She’s angry again- I hate that after two weeks she still hates me.
I shake my head. “It’s a… personal matter. Need to know basis.”
“Ohhh, like a vampire council? That’d be so gothic cool!” she squeals, but I have no mind for it.
“No, Gaby, it’s… different. You’ll find out later, I guess.” I shrug, not really caring. She may find out later, but it may also be canceled. I shake my head again. “Sorry, though.”
“Please,” she replies, just as soft, then huffs.
“What?” I ask, amused.
“Why are you so… nice? You kill my boyfriend, then kidnap me and never lay a hand on me and obey my every desire? What’s up with you?”
I smirk, just a bit. “You complaining?”
She shakes her head. “No, just wondering. And why don’t you, um, kill me too? Don’t we smell like food to you?”
I shake my head. “People made up those stories so that you’d be afraid. I don’t want you to be mouthwatering, you won’t be. If I do, you’ll be irresistible. Simple, really.”
“Damien, nothing is simple about you.”
“Sorry. I’m so used to explaining things to… another, and she took information without question.” I shook my head, wishing I had not said so much. Gaby is silent for a while, the small road we walk on becoming less and less maintained. I figure that she has forgotten it, but the silence is welcome, after thinking of Denise.
“You miss her,” she whispers simply. “Then what happened to her?” I am voiceless for a long time, as we walk. After two weeks like this, Gaby is stronger and is less tired, but her breathing is heavier. We are nearing the edges of town, a large wood ahead of us.
“I’ll carry you in there,” I comment, not looking at her. She drops it, but her question continues to echo in my mind. Then what happened? Then what happened?
*************************************
Gaby is curled up on the tiny motel bed when I return from hunt. The little town we had stopped at had many farmers on the outskirts of town, so as she slept through the night, I went hunting. The farm I had come across that looked just right to me (not too shabby, but not so wealthy-looking that much ado would be made), I had walked right in. There was a man, in his mid-thirties with a bald spot, simply staring at me over his midnight snack of Cheerios and granola. I had fed, and turned to the exit, when a door swung open and a teenage girl’s voice called me Will. Will, she had said. Why?
Will.
Denise had used that name for me, for two full years- the longest I’ve ever kept one persona. And I would have kept with that until the ends of the universe, but then she left.
So how did that girl know? I had been so dazed, I hadn’t looked to see who she was, I just broke down the door and ran. And now I didn’t have the courage to return.
The motel room here had two small beds, so I laid back onto the one opposite Gaby and stared up, listening to the rhythmic and soft breathing of the only living thing in here. Eventually I turn my ears inward, listening to the chatter within my own self.
I still had to go, I knew. This didn’t change a thing.
mwahahaha
