Chapter Four: In order to live forever, first you have to die.
“So what was it like, Charlotte?” Hayden asked at breakfast. Rachel stopped, her fork hovering a few inches from her mouth. I exchanged a glance with her. We had all decided weeks ago that, no matter what, we wouldn’t ask about each other’s’ transformations. Charlotte, however, acted like he had just asked about the weather.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Come on love. Yeah I do.” Hayden was on the edge of his seat, like she was going to reveal some secret he couldn’t see in us.
“I woke up hungry,” she began. Her entire tone was nonchalant. “It wasn’t the ‘I-skipped-breakfast’ kind of hungry. My stomach was in a knot so hard I could barely breathe. Once I got some blood in me that started to disappear. But I had to be constantly drinking. Then the headache started. My head felt like someone was taking a jackhammer to it.” Now Charlotte spoke a little softer, a little more intense. “I could hear everything. When someone moved downstairs I heard their every footstep. This lasted for a few hours. Once the sun started to rise, everything else ended. But sunlight still kills my eyes. If you see us in the day, Fletcher and I always wear sunglasses. In Valencia I’m tempted to wear earplugs.” By now, Charlotte was enunciating certain words and adding dramatic impact.
“What about the powers?” Hayden asked, excited. “You can read minds, right?”
“Only slightly,” Charlotte admitted. “It’s more a feeling. Like I can sense what someone is thinking.” I stood up, not wanting to hear any more. I knew that would be coming the next time I woke up. That only meant I probably wouldn’t sleep tomorrow.
Fletcher followed me to the patio and I leaned against a column. He stood against the column next to me. I pressed my cheek to the cool stone.
“What was yours like?” I asked him after a few minutes. He looked up at me, his gray-blue eyes searching mine for the answer I wanted.
“Pretty much the same,” he said carefully. “But easier. I knew more of what was going to happen.” He paused. “Don’t worry.”
“Seriously? After what Charlotte just said how am I supposed to not worry?”
“You know Charlotte. She was exaggerating—somewhat,” Fletcher added. I groaned and turned to the pool.
* * * * * * * *
Fletcher was wrong—Charlotte hadn’t been exaggerating. I slept for two hours, maybe, the day before my birthday. My stomach gradually began hurting until it felt as though someone had stabbed me. I stepped out on the balcony, taking in the fresh air. The sun was rising over the trees. I propped my elbows on the railing and looked at the colors dancing on the pool’s surface Fletcher appeared behind me and handed me a bottle of blood. I waved him away.
“I don’t want any,” I said and leaned over the balcony. The air didn’t feel cold to me, so it didn’t help my pounding head.
“Drink or I’m going to force feed it to you,” Fletcher replied and put the bottle in my hand. I took a sip of the red liquid. Once I started it was impossible to stop. The blood fueled my body; it was almost intoxicating. Suddenly a door slammed downstairs. The sound was like a hammer to my skull. I collapsed against the short stone wall of the balcony.
“Get in here,” I heard coming from downstairs. It was María’s voice, but strange. Amplified and distant at the same time.
“Do not speak to me that way.” Gabriela joined in the conversation now. “What have you done?” Fletcher crouched down next to me as the voices became louder. Another slam of the front door and I shouted in pain. Charlotte and Rachel woke up and got out of bed.
“Stop,” Charlotte said as Rachel started to leave the room.
Fletcher got up and opened the door to his room. Since Hayden moved in, Fletcher had moved to the empty room upstairs, down the hall from mine. He came out with two more bottles of blood. I drank one and took a few sips out of the other. My stomach was starting to feel better but my head was still fuzzy and pounding.
“Can’t we help Anna?” Rachel asked Charlotte. Charlotte didn’t answer verbally but she probably shook her head. Rachel and Charlotte have adjacent rooms so Rachel sat up with Charlotte while she changed. I had stayed away with Fletcher—as usual.
I stood up as my stomach stopped hurting. The sun was now above the trees and lit up the entire veranda. I took off my jacket and tossed my flip-flops away.
“Anna,” Fletcher whispered as I climbed onto the railing. He was too late, though, because I jumped and dived headfirst into the pool. I cut through the water and kept my hands in front of me. The water was cooler than the surrounding air, but nothing really felt cold to me. I surfaced to see Fletcher kneeling in front of me at the side of the pool. “Feeling better?” he asked.
“No,” I said and took his hand. Instead of climbing out of the pool, however, I pulled hard on Fletcher’s hand and dragged him in. I pushed up the side to sit on the edge. Fletcher climbed out and shook out his sand-colored hair. He watched me carefully as if expecting me to break down or something. “I’m fine,” I told him.
“Whatever you say.”
My soaking shorts and shirt stuck to my skin and my head kept hurting. I stood up and jumped to grab the upstairs balcony. My physical strength was increasing as well as my senses. I appeared in my bathroom and threw up in the sink. My stomach kept churning even though there was nothing left in it. When I turned around, Fletcher was there again.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than follow me around all the time?”
“Not really,” he answered quietly. I looked away from him and glimpsed my reflection in the mirror. My wet hair stuck out at strange angles and my eyes had dark circles the size of bruises under them. My bright green eyes were rimmed in red. I looked like the stereotypical vampire or a drug addict in withdrawal. I felt more like the second one.
“Anna!” Rachel called. I tried to open my eyes, but the sunlight was blinding. “Wake up!” I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep against my dresser. When I put on the sunglasses from on top of the dresser, I tried looking around again. My room looked strange flooded with sunlight. I never had trouble seeing in the dark, so the only light I ever saw in my room was moonlight.
“Why are you waking me up at…four in the afternoon?” I asked Rachel as she sat down on the edge of my bed.
“I wanted to be the first one to wish you happy birthday!” she exclaimed as if it were obvious. Fletcher had actually been first since he’d stayed up with me for a few more hours. I wasn’t about to disappoint Rachel, though.
“Thanks Rach. Now can I go back to sleep?” Rachel frowned but stood up. I knew she was mostly sad that she wasn’t a full-vampire yet. “Okay,” I said finally. “Let’s go downstairs and shoot some pool.” Rachel’s face brightened and she practically skipped out of my room.
“Good evening Anna,” Charlotte said in her attempt at a Transylvanian accent.
“Vampires are originally Spanish, Charlotte. But nice try.” Char rolled her eyes at me.
“Buenas noches, then. Happy?”
“Very,” I said with a smile.
“Morning, mates,” Hayden said as he sat down at the table.
“We’re not your mates and it isn’t morning,” Charlotte said.
“¿Quieres ir al Mar Mediterráneo hoy? Posiblemente María vaya a permitir que nosotros ir.” Charlotte asked me in Spanish so Hayden couldn’t understand. He had picked up some words and phrases but the rest of us were fluent.
“No,” I answered. I didn’t feel like going to the Mediterranean or having a party tonight. “Pero, quizás mañana.”
“Would you two stop talking in Spanish? At least try Japanese or something I don’t hear every day,” Hayden said.
“You’re just pissed you have a late birthday,” Charlotte muttered.
“No, I’m just pissed that even as vampires life is still boring.”
“Get used to it,” Fletcher interjected. “When you live for a thousand years, after a while there will be nothing to do.” As usual, Fletcher was leaning against the kitchen island instead of sitting at the table. I don’t know why but he never seemed to eat with us.
“Anna,” I heard a soft, clipped voice come from behind me. I turned to see María in the doorway to the kitchen. “Charlotte, Fletcher, you come too.”
“Great,” Hayden muttered, “they get to have a little vampire party.” I ignored Hayden and followed María. I glanced at Fletcher but his face was blank and didn’t give me any clues as to what was coming. María opened the door to the study and gestured for us to enter. Standing behind the desk was a tall man with long black hair. He faced the wall in front of us and had his hands clasped behind him. When we sat down, he turned and put his hands on the desk. He had chocolate brown eyes and the olive skin surrounding them showed the beginnings of wrinkles.
“Hello,” he said with a smile. “My name is Amaury. I will be your teacher for the duration of your stay here.” Charlotte and I exchanged a glance. Fletcher just looked bored. “First lesson: always have a source of blood. Even if you are drinking straight from a human body, do not allow yourself to become so thirsty you must kill the human to survive. Two pinpricks on the neck are far less suspicious then a missing person or dead body.” When Amaury finished, he just turned around again. I stood up slowly, not sure what to do, but Fletcher got up and left.
“What was that?” I asked when we got to the living room.
“Amaury,” Fletcher said as if that answered it. “I met him last year. He’s strange but knows what he’s talking about.”
“Cool,” Charlotte said. As usual she was completely unfazed. “Let’s go swimming.”
Forgive me.
You don't seem to be comfortable with two-word dialogue tags. While it's good to keep some variety by sprinkling in dialogue tags with more information than just "he said," those will be more interesting if there aren't as many of them. It's sort of like when a teacher asks you to highlight information in a packet that you think will be on the test, and you highlight the whole thing. Nothing stands out.
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