Dangerous Vibes - Book I of the Dangerous Series [WATTY AWARDS 2012 FINALIST]

Chapter 14 - Disbelief

"No. I don't kill humans Miranda. It's in our instincts naturally of course to crave for their blood, but over time you learn how to control your urges." Over time? How much time exactly...

"I kill only animals to feed if I do get the urge to hunt. Most of the time though, we feed off of a blood bank back at home. But not all vampires have that same control that myself and my family have. Like that man you saw in the alley that night; he was a rogue. He was attacking that girl, and then the second he smelt you Miranda, he wanted your blood. Being able to control our urges is a very difficult thing to do, and only decent vampires are able to do it-"

"So there was a girl then? I knew I didn't imagine it...and you lied. You lied about her Will, why?" I asked in desperation, my heart pounding a million miles an hour at the realisation that this gigantic big puzzle was finally beginning to piece itself together.

"I'm sorry for lying Miranda, I really am. The girl, she, well, she didn't quite make it out alive. I had to cover it up. There was no way you needed to know that back then." His words had triggered an intense pain in my stomach as it dropped to the floor in disgust. I couldn't believe it. I felt so sick to my very core. I knew that there was nothing I could have done to have prevented it though, but what made me feel even more sick was that it could have easily been me, if Will hadn't showed up.

Tears were forming in my eyes then and I could see that Will had felt immensely guilty for having to lie to me. I swallowed back the tears and moved on to the next question of distraction before I broke down into one big blubbery mess.

"How old are you exactly?" That one question was playing on my mind the second that he had mentioned that it took time to learn to control his urges.

"Do you really want to know Miranda?" He asked, looking hesitant. I thought about it. It was creepy. The thought that I'd been hooking up with a one-hundred-year-old...

"You know what, don't tell me..." I trailed off, breaking his gaze and staring at the floor, becoming lost in my overworking mind. It was so flooded and clouded, on overload. I was trying to absorb that the guy I was falling for was telling me that the supernatural fairy-tale used to scare kids was actually real, and that he was it?

I took in a deep breath before jumping to my next question. "So is this why you cover up in the sun? Is this why I don't see you eat?" I asked, as question after question continued to pop into my head.

"Yeah...like I said before, there is science behind it. Not only are we built to draw humans in, but all of our predator senses are heightened. Like our eyesight, our hearing, our strength, our ability to move. It's like our cells work so much more efficiently than human cells, and they're able to repair themselves almost instantly. Which explains why our wounds heal instantly, and why we're able to live for as long as we do." There he goes again mentioning that dreaded lifespan implication again...

"Our heart beat is slowed down to a bare minimum, hence why our aging process is dramatically decreased. And that's why feeding off of blood gives us instant strength, that's why we crave it. Blood is the ideal nutrient; it has everything in it." I just continued to stare at him, trying to take in all of this impossible information...

"But ultimately all of this has its consequences. Like our loss of control, and the frenzy-like state that consumes us when we're hungry and turns us into the ultimate predator; almost like a shark, or a lion. And then there's the sunlight, we're extremely sensitive to it, our ability to absorb UV rays is also heightened. It will instantly burn us the second that the UV hits our skin." Ok so I was right when I'd first met him in thinking that perhaps he had some weird sensitivity to light. All of this had once seemed so impossible to me, challenging everything I'd ever learnt about life on earth. But it somehow, all made sense.

"Is that how you die? By sunlight? Like in the movies, where they explode?" I questioned him frantically, wondering if he'd risked his life each and every time he'd gone to Uni. This made him chuckle a little and I felt like a bit of an idiot. This wasn't magic as he'd said, it was pretty much an evolutionary mutation, a scientific change to the human being.

"Because our cells can repair themselves instantly, there's really only one way that we can die; one way to prevent cells from repairing. To remove, or remove the physical link, to our vital organs." That made me squirm. I was pretty sure that he was referring to his head, or his heart...and that snap I heard that night. He must have snapped that vampire's neck, physically removing the link, that is, the spinal cord, from his neck to his head...

"I'm sorry Miranda, I can see that this is difficult for you." He said sympathetically.

I hesitated, and then snapped myself back to question mode. As hard as it was, I wasn't done yet.

"So when did this 'evolutionary change' happen? When did 'vampires' begin to exist? And why is it that us, 'humans', only speak of it as a myth? Why has no one seemed to have figured it all out yet? I mean, I'm sure they'd find dead bodies with fang wounds at the neck and the blood completely drained? Surely they'd be testing the DNA at the wound?" Question after question just kept rolling from my tongue. All of this was beginning to do my head in...

"The first made was reportedly thousands of years before Christ." Wow. Mind blown...

"And you would be surprised who does know about us Miranda. Vampires are everywhere. They're in the government, in politics, in the military, the secret service, the media, cops, doctors, forensic scientists; everywhere. It's not all that hard for them to cover it up when they have that much power in society. And you wouldn't know about it because as soon as a human becomes suspicious, we have that hypnotic ability to convince you otherwise." This scared the hell out of me. I couldn't even begin to imagine how many vampires I'd actually met before.

"Our race is constantly at risk. Can you even begin to imagine if everybody knew about us? It's like the key to eternal youth, the cure for death. If everyone knew, before we know it the entire world would be overpopulated and overtaken with vampires, and there would be nothing left to feed on. Not to mention the rouges, they would become out of control."

He literally had a reasonable answer to everything that I was thinking. It all made sense. But that didn't mean that I had the strength to accept it yet. My brain was on overload and I suddenly found myself that exhausted and in physical shock, that I couldn't even hold my body up any longer.

I collapsed back onto the bed on my back, covering my face with my hands. I didn't want to deal with this right now. I just wanted to run away and escape this fantasy world, to go back to my normal life where childhood fears were not a reality, as if none of this had ever happened. But I couldn't, it was too late. I already knew the truth.

"I'm so sorry Miranda..." Will whispered, apologising for the millionth time. Using that amazingly alluring voice of his again, drawing me in deeper and deeper under his hold, like his next victim...I couldn't bear to look at him right then. I rolled over to face the wall, away from him. I wanted to leave, to escape, but I also wanted so badly for him to comfort me, to wrap his gorgeously toned arms around me, and tell me that everything was going to be ok...damn it! I couldn't help but think of him like that no matter the situation!

And before I knew it, that's exactly what he was doing. He laid down behind me and wrapped his arms around me, in the sweetest, most passionate embrace. I didn't bother to push him away. Instead I melted into him, absorbing in his warmth, feeling his shiver-producing cool breath on the back of my neck.

My eye lids began to feel heavy, and my overloaded mind began to slow down. Before I knew it...subconscious darkness.