When most people describe a transformative day in their lives, they are usually talking about an educational speech they attended, a workshop that propelled their career forward, or a stunning vacation where they met their beloved. All those nice and fancy things that make your resume sparkle. Spiritual leaders will cite a religious pilgrimage, while business folk will recount the rapturous experience of decimating a sales record. I have the unique distinction of my most transformative experience being the night I died.
It was warm for late Autumn evening, warm enough that I could wear a cute pair of shorts and my nicest black dress and not have to worry about shivering all through the night. I picked out my tallest platform heels and put on my war paint because there was a battle to be won tonight. A battle of the heart’s affection, and I’d win. It’d be just like the volleyball finals, which me and the girls dominated so hard! Despite being devoted to our sport, all the other starting girls on the volleyball team always talked about their boyfriends during practice. I usually tuned the annoying girls out unless someone dropped some really juicy drama. Every day after practice, the girls would ask me if I was talking to anyone. I’d always tell them that I had a few on my radar, but they weren’t really boyfriend material. Of course, they wouldn’t buy that, no matter how true it was. Yet, I’d believed that night would change all that because one of the hottest and most mysterious boys at university asked me out on a date.
However, he was late. That should have been red flag number one, but I couldn’t see past the rose-tinted glasses plastered onto my eyes. None of my roommates were home that night because of club events or sports practice, so I paced back and forth in the kitchen, twirling my hair around my fingertips. I double and triple checked that I had everything I would need for tonight. Perfume bottle. Check. Hand sanitizer. Check. Make-up wipes. Check. Toothbrush. Check. Spare clothes. Check. Toiletries. Check. Wallet. Check. Everything was tucked neatly inside of my purse as it hung from my shoulder.
Twenty minutes passed and there was still no sign of him. A flicker of annoyance danced around in my mind as I watched the sun’s light fade below the horizon. He had said we’d meet at sundown, but I didn’t expect him to mean it. So, I shot him a text, asking where he was. His immediate answer was that he had just woken up. That was puzzling, but I assumed he meant from a nap and meant nothing by it. That was mistake number two. It didn’t take long for a pair of headlights to shine down the road in front of my apartment. As I walked out the door, my jaw dropped to the floor. Before me stood a man who exuded charm like it was a body odor. He wore a silver, reflective vest under a black suit jacket and a pair of luxurious black dress pants. His face was chiseled almost to an unhealthy level, and his eyes held a hint of a predatory gleam behind those amber and red irises.
“I told you I’d be here by sundown, Katherine.”
There was something about the way that he said my name that set my chest ablaze. My cheeks flushed as I stared in his eyes much longer than I’d care to admit today. However, at the time this was a challenge that I refused to walk away from. I walked down the stairs towards my suitor, who was gracious enough to step aside and open the car door for me.
“Thank you, Michael. You’re such a gentleman.”
“Oh please, you’re just being nice. I would do this for any lady, especially one as beautiful as yourself,” Michael replied.
Michael shut the car door, pressing the keys in his hand. His words were like honey dripping from his lips, lips that I was dying to taste already. At that point, I could tell he was interested but Michael was hiding something. My thoughts were drowned out by the immense roar of the car’s engine as Michael slid into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition. Wood and hickory danced around my nostrils as I soaked up the interior of the car. You could tell he had money, but then again, everyone at my school did. We were the best of the best in the state and the number one school in the South. Everyone from around the world wanted to come to my school, including this mysterious young man.
“Don’t worry about a thing tonight, Katherine. I’ve got it all taken care of. All you have to do is sit back and let me lead the way. I promise it’ll be a night you won’t forget.”
I knew from the beginning that something was off, but I was naïve enough to think that his weirdness was just a quirk. Yet the words on his lips were dizzying, it was as though he could give me everything my heart desired. Michael rolled the windows down, speeding through the residential part of the city. I hadn’t realized that he was driving, nor did I care.
“Michael, where are you from? I don’t think anyone knows anything about your past. Hell, almost everybody went to high school with at least one person before, but I’ve never heard anyone mention you outside of class.”
Michael hits the gas even harder, sending my stomach lurching as adrenaline pumps through my veins. For a brief moment, I recall noticing something off about his smile. An animalistic and primal terror urged me to run away as soon as the car stopped, but I couldn’t. For whatever reason, I felt called to obey his every command. My friends told me I had a way of doing the same thing, especially when I tried to charm people. Most assumed it was my snow-colored hair and cobalt blue eyes, but I suspected it was something else. Too bad I didn’t know my mother was damn near the equivalent of the goddess of beauty herself and could charm anyone she chose to. Michael was nowhere near as good at charming people, but my mental fortitude wasn’t exactly the best either back then either.
Buildings passed by in blurry spires as we slowed to a stop. By the time I snapped out of the psychosis but when I did, we were at the restaurant with a waiter leading us to our table. My heart threatened to burst out of my chest, yet my outward expression remained as cheerful as when I left.
“So, Katherine, I believe you asked about my schooling history. Well, I went to school in Korea during my formative years, but I truly came alive when I moved to Italy. I studied all of the art movements of the time like the Romantics and the Enlightenment paintings; those were some of the best. The paintings nowadays just don’t capture the same passion for life as the old ones did, you know,” Michael said.
His tone was both gentle and disarming, almost as if he dared me to try anything. Alarm bells rang in my head, so I excused myself from the table and headed to the nearest bathroom. I called all my friends one by one, but none of them answered. Not a single one. So, I did what most people do when they are terrified. I cried. I cried a lot. So much my mascara made me look like I was in a circus, yet I did have one last option. I bolted out the door as fast as I could in my heels. Each step clopped along the street like a horse’s hooves, but I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being followed. Yet no matter where I looked, I couldn’t find anyone. My chest heaved, my ankles ached, and my heels throbbed so much, but I couldn’t stop running.
“And here I thought we were hitting it off so well, Katherine! Where do you think you’re going to? I mean, I drove you here,” Michael chuckled.
Michael appeared before me, grabbing me by the shoulder and stopping me right in my tracks. His hand was so cold, it tore the warmth from my shoulder. I took a step back and threw a punch into Michael’s stomach. I swore that my punch had landed, but here Michael stood, my fist in his hand. My legs quivered as this inhuman creature looked me up and down, licking his lips as the predatory gleam in his eyes grew even more telling.
“H-h-how did you find me? W-w-w-what do you w-w-want from me?”
“You look quite delicious darling. In fact, you look more like a vampire than a normal human anyway. Was your mother in love with a vampire?” Michael sneered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Vampires are just children’s tales to spread fear.”
“So that’s what you think. Well, maybe you should think again,” Michael said.
Michael opened his mouth, hissing at me as his fangs were laid bare to see. I darted down the alley, hoping that maybe I’d find someone or something to help me escape. Instead, a hand pressed down on my chest hard, slamming me against the brick wall to my right. Michael’s left hand snatched my hair, yanking my head to the side. A sharp pain erupted on the left side of my neck as the scent of iron fluttered on the wind. Despite all the stories glorifying the vampire’s kiss, I was not experiencing any of the benefits. In fact, it was much worse. I shoved him as hard as I could, yet Michael would not budge. My vision blurred as my fingers and toes ran cold. I searched with my right hand through the trash, hoping to find anything that could save me. Michael’s right hand traced my hip all the way up to my breast in a slow fashion. Finally, as my body threatened to collapse, I found a steel pipe and swung it as hard as I could into Michael’s head. Then, I kneed him in the groin with as much strength as my body could muster. The vampire stumbled backward, shaking his head back and forth like a dog.
“You tasted just as good as you smelled. I only wish I could’ve enjoyed everything you had to offer,” Michael said, shooting me a wink.
My eyelids grew heavy as my liquified limbs froze over. My heart stuttered as my neck leaked whatever blood I had left. I couldn’t shake this nagging blight that crawled on my skin wherever his fingers touched. It was gradual at first, but as my pulse grew weaker, the blight spread and consumed my skin. I knew in my heart at that moment that my fate was sealed. Tears streaked down my face as my thoughts drifted to my family and friends and how I’d never see them again. Then, my eyes closed for what I believed would be the last time…
A knock on my door rescued me from my thoughts as my mother walked into my room. She stared at me with her crimson eyes, but I looked away. Tears welled up in my eyes as dread threatened to consume my mind. Oh, what misery it is to be what I am, forced to watch my family grow old and die without even aging a day.
“Sabrina, you’re hurting, I can tell. If you want to talk, I’m here for you darling,” my mother whispers.
“I know mother, I just had a flashback to that night again. I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
My mother swept me up in her arms, pressing my head against her chest as I sobbed. Unlike normal vampires, my tears still flow like humans do, likely due to me being half-human. Much like my glowing blue eyes, yet my mother still treats me as her own. Almost two thousand years of experience being a vampire, yet she still bears a bigger heart than many mortals I knew.
Leave a comment