I Am A Monster

I Am A Monster : Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I know immediately that something's wrong. I'm alone, crouched in a cave. It's clearly a memory; as usual (well, except for that last time) I have no control over my actions.

This has already happened.

From the top of the cave, there are two gleaming red eyes that bear down upon me. I feel rooted in place. I want to scream in anger, fear, and frustration. But I'm paralyzed, my jaws sticking together as though glued, and I can only stare up at my enemy in terror.

"Why, hello," she says, and I can hear her smile in her voice. "I was hoping to stumble upon a nice snack." I can hear her tongue brush against her lips in thirstiness. In the dim light, I see her thin, agile form tense, preparing to spring.

"Get BACK!" I scream, and I morph into a pure white wolf and charge. She snarls in return and ducks just as I lunge; I go sailing over her head. Sunlight greets me, bathing me in light and blinding me, and I feel something sharp pierce my right leg. I howl in pain and rage and swivel around. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the end of a blade sticking out of my leg, blood dripping down and soaking my perfect white fur, as pain flares up my leg like fire. I lock eyes with the vampire for a split second before rage fills me like lava, and in a burst I erupt, lunging and clawing. I manage to get to her chest, and one swipe is enough; she gasps in pain, goes tumbling backwards, and lies on the ground, breathing shallow, ragged breaths, her eyes glazed and staring at nothing. I clamp my teeth down hard on her neck and she chokes as the blood oozes down her neck and onto the ground. Then she breathes her last breath in a short, weak exhale, without drawing breath again. She sort of slumps, relaxing entirely. My teeth clamp down harder, though she's already dead, and I bite down on her neck with relish. My starving body demands food.

My leg is getting worse.

[CAUTION : SHE IS ABOUT TO EAT THE VAMPIRE. IF YOU DISLIKE GORY (BLOODY) PARTS, SKIP THIS.]

In a few quick, deft chomps, I eat her entire left arm. My leg pours blood. I feel like I'm splitting in half with the pain. It grips me like steel bands. I feel like I'm suffocating. But the meat and the blood makes me feel stronger, and the pain stops intensifying. I quickly tear off her left arm, eating it with gusto, but at the same time I'm disgusted with myself. How can I do this?

Then comes her left leg, then her right. Then her head. Then her torso.

[GORY PART IS NOW OVER]

Soon she's just a pile of bones, licked clean. Well, true, some are a bit cracked. One of her ribs has a clean break.

My leg stops throbbing so much, and I feel the blood healing my leg. I pull the dagger out with my teeth, and the wound begins to close.

Like magic.

Alexa is screaming in my head, screaming for me to stop the vision, to wake up. In my vision, I slump to the side, panting in pain and weakness, as the wound slowly heals.

The vision bursts.

I wake up on the floor, my head in Kathy's arms, covered in a layer of sweat, gasping. I sit up weakly.

"What did you see?" asks Kathy, sounding curious, excited, and concerned all at the same time.

"Everything," I croak. "Too much. Way, way too much."

I lift up my pants leg to reveal a long, white scar--like a knife blade had been pierced into my leg.

My vision was real.

"A vampire attack," I say. "A memory. But it happened, n' that's the proof." I point to my leg. "She recked my damn leg."

Kathy gulps. "What did she look like?"

"I didn't really pay attention to that," I grunt. "Jus' saw her as another enemy."

There's a knock on the door. "Yes?" calls Kathy.

"Hi," says a voice. It's a male voice, unfamiliar to me.

"Sam!" Kathy calls happily. "Come in."

A boy with dark, wavy brown hair, dark eyes, and tan skin comes in. His eyes rove the room, then land on me. Then, without any questions, they turn to Kathy, who grins and looks out from under her eyelashes, holding out her arms as if to embrace Sam. Sam bounds forward, scoops up Kathy (who yelps in surprise), and kisses her on the cheek. She smiles and looks him over once, then says, "You've been raiding?"

"Was hell," he says as an answer. "This one vampire, man, she was huge, I mean--"

Kathy laughs, then looks at me and gives me a shy, lopsided grin.

"My mate," she explains. My stomach makes an unpleasant churn. I hate this whole mate business. I just hope mine died already. See, everyone has one soul mate. It's not so simple, though; you can't go out and find them. There are many different rumors, but the true one is hidden among them all. Your mate could have existed anywhere in time. There's no guarantee they're still alive. Which is why, as time goes on, it gets rarer and rarer to find a mate.

"Hi, Sam," I say.

"Hi," he replies. "Name's--well, you know. And yours?"

"Bree," I say, just as Sam dumps Kathy onto the bed.

"Hey!" she protests, grabbing him around the waist as she goes tumbling in. With a surprised, "Ah!", he's pulled into the bed after her. She playfully pins him to the mattress.

He grins and tries to get up, but she clings to him like a monkey, holding onto the area of his chest with her arms and her legs locked around his waist, hanging like some bizarre sloth. Kathy giggles.

I'm going to be sick.

"Uh, guys...?" I say. I feel the blush creeping into my cheeks.

"Sorry," says Sam. He manages to pry Kathy off of him, and then they stand next to me, standing next to each other. Kathy, looking normal before, now looks a head taller. Her shoulders are set back, her eyes gleam, her arm is around Sam's waist, and she holds her head high.

"Anyway," I say, trying to push the horrible mental image out of my head and failing miserably, "My studying...?"

"Right," says Kathy, looking apologetically at Sam and sliding out of his grip, skipping over to me with a new spring in her step (or skip, whatever).

"Studying," Kathy says, giving me another one of her lopsided grins.

We open the book.

There is a knock at the door just as Kathy clears her throat to start reading. With a resigned sigh, she stops reading.

That was possibly the last peaceful moment of my life.