Shadow Land

Daddy Issues

“Ahh,” Alexander groaned as he woke up and clutched his head.

“Oh, you’re in pain now?” Jessica hissed bitterly from somewhere to his right.

“Huh?” Alexander muttered as his eyes adjusted and everything became less blurry. He was in an old fashioned cell with a stone floor and iron bars running from the floor to the ceiling. It was like one of the old western movies DJ had made him watch. A separate cell to his right held a fuming Jessica who was pacing back and forth.

“Why did you do this?” Jessica suddenly demanded in anger.

“What?” Alexander asked confused by her sudden outburst before finally understanding what she was talking about, “Oh. I’m so sorry. I…I didn’t mean to. Sorry.”

Jessica watched as he slouched miserable against the wall. For a second, she nearly cracked, but she had decided to hate him for what he had done to her. She had been thinking about it for the five hours she was awake and Alexander was asleep in these cells. She’d probably have a lot of sleepless nights now. Now that she had actually fully realized what had happened, she was not happy. So instead she just scoffed, “Sorry? You basically killed me!”

                The back of Alexander’s head hit the wall, “I know! I can’t tell you how bad I feel. But it’s only temporary, I swear.”

                “No, I’ve read about this stuff, there is no cure,” She stated determined to make him suffer.

                “Where have you read that?”

                Jessica stopped pacing for a moment to turn and look at him before meekly replying, “Twilight.”

                Alexander burst out laughing before sputtering out and clutching his chest in pain, “Twilight? I’ve heard about that. That’s the vampire romance thing that turned into a cult, right?”

                “You know about that?”

                “It’s hard to be a vampire and not know about that. I’m willing to bet that every male vampire in the country has been called Edward in the past few years,” Alexander laughed slightly before he could think better or it as he felt his side split in half.

                “Oh. Well, is it…accurate?” Jessica asked curiously.

                Alexander looked at her for a second through his blurry eyes. Her hair as messed up and in a tangled lump sticking out 90 degrees from her head. Her clothes and skin and a thin layer of crime on them and her eyes were bloodshot from all the crying she now couldn’t do. He had never felt more guilty and miserable in his life.

                “No. Not at all.”

                “So you…I mean…I won’t sparkle in the sunlight?” She asked skeptically. That could be kind of cool, annoying, but cool, she thought to herself.

                “No, there is no sparkling. What is it with humans and sparkly things?” Alexander laughed.

                “So then will sunlight burn me?” Jessica pushed thinking of the sunburn she had got last year in Florida.

                “No. Look, sunlight won’t do anything to you. The only reason people think that vampires are nocturnal is because most of what we…what they do is at night. We…vampires have to hunt demons and Shadows and basically anything bad that poses a threat to the world. And they only come out at night. Usually, vampires are tired by the time day comes around,” And then there’s the Dark Vampires, Alexander added to himself. He didn’t want to tell Jessica about all the monsters a vampire had to face; she would only temporarily be in this state, that he was sure of, so she wouldn’t need to know about the world of darkness he had accidently thrown her into. He would make sure of that.