Dark Hearts

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

              The burning in my throat started to get worse when I saw Erik bring out a bottle of blood from the fridge. My throat was on fire now. He took a sip from the bottle. It smelled like chocolate almost to me. I was half tempted to grab his bottle right out of his hand. Instead, I just sat there staring at him drinking it—more like chugging the blood. This is impossible I can’t take it anymore. “Erik, could I have some of that?” I asked sheepishly pulling at my hair.

       “Yeah, you can have a bottle. I was waiting for you to tell me to get one, it was pretty noticeable you weren’t staring at me.”  He grinned at me, getting me a bottle out of Richard’s fridge. “Here, try not to drink them all. I won’t be out to get anymore for a while.” I almost yanked it out of his hand. I felt like I was dying, my whole body was starting to get sore. I opened the bottle, and just started to chug it. The taste of it was better than the sweetest hot chocolate I ever drank, except it was cold. For the first time drinking blood it was exceptional. My body stopped aching. I felt refreshed and even stronger than I had before.

       Maybe I was finally a full vampire. That excited me a lot. I want to just run around, I feel so energetic. Erik picked me up once again. He went down the stairs and put me in the downstairs bedroom. He pulled up the sheets and tucked me in. I actually felt comfortable. I wasn’t ready to sleep, I felt really hyper.

He sat with me to watch the sun go down from the window at the nightstand. A smile played on his face. It was an adorable smile too, flashing his perfect teeth. Where were his fangs? Did they just disappear or did I not see them? Nope, they weren’t there. He put his mouth close to my ear, “You ready for the night? You and I will have a good field trip,” he said overly enthusiastic.

       “What do you mean?” I whispered back. He started to play with my hair. “A field trip? Where are we going?” Erik looked at me. His lips turned into a grin.

       “You’ll see my sweet Melinda.” He took my hand. We started to go out the door. I still had no clue where he was taking me. This should be interesting. He opened the door for me, another sweet gesture. My heart was beating but barely.

“You will like this little trip. Buckle your seat belt—you can get hurt because you’re not a full vampire yet. No arguments or complaints.” I buckled my seat belt, nervous about our destination.

       “You aren’t going to tell me where the destination is, are you?” No answer. He just turned the truck on. I turned the radio on to country. A Brad Paisley song was on. “I love this song. I forget what—“

       “It’s called ‘She’s Everything’, I love it too.” We sang the whole song. I was the one who was out of tune. Erik sang it perfectly, like I knew he would. I looked at the speedometer. We were going sixty down a back road. He had a funny way of showing he wanted to keep me safe, going sixty on a back road—now seventy-five—was not safe.

“Don’t worry. I would protect you if we got in a crash.” The car squealed to a stop. “Wait here. I’ll get the door for you.” Erik opened his door, it seemed like a movie moment. He put his jacket on then opened my door. Everything seemed to move so slowly.

       “Why are we here? This is one crappy house. Is it a house you bought?” The house was decrepit. The structures were worn down.

       “No, it’s a kind of a social gathering for vampires. Only vampires can get in.”

              “There are more than you two in town? More vampires?” My voice sound shocked because I was. I guess I was hoping there were only Erik and Richard.