I'm disappointed. Sophie wasn't at the shack when I came to visit her last night. I asked around Hoboland and the homeless said they saw her leave in the middle of the night, carrying a rucksag on her shoulders. They didn't know where she was going because no one had been brave enough to approach her. I have an inkling most of the homeless know what kind of a creature Sophie really is but they also know that no one would believe them if they told anyone. I know for a fact that I wouldn't, but then again I had had the unfortunate luck of witnessing her in the act so I basically had the cold hard truth smacked into my face.
So Sophie has left, literally left from Anchorage as far as I know, and I have no means of contacting her. And I'm feeling disappointed, and yes, a little bit irritated because I want to know more. I mean, she had promised me that she would tell me everything and I'm pretty sure that little taste wasn't everything.
That was really mean of her, to disappear like that without even telling me. She didn't return to her place the next night or the night after that. I was getting worried that the police had actually captured her and I kept pouring over the newspaper for any kind of signs. I even went online and checked the police website for news whether they had found „the decapitator" as the media liked to call her. So far, nothing yet and I sighed with relief every time I looked it up.
Sophie's new lifestyle has consumed me the past few weeks. I'm distracted at school and the teachers have taken notice of that in my current assignments, even mom has been questioning me softly whether there is something bothering me. Of course there is, but I can never tell her that. I can't even tell my shrink the truth! If I do, her concern for me would only increase and she would probably discuss with dad whether they should call my shrink for another analysis. Like the homeless, no one would believe me.
This is one of those times that I wish I have someone to confide in, but that particular someone is nowhere to be found at the moment. I'm just not that good with people and even the prospect of me approaching someone and asking him or her to be my friend both makes me cringe and terrifies me to my very soul. I think my time in elementary and high school is largely to blame for that. I have a hard time trusting people, even if they ever so much as give me a lengthy glance in my direction. Which is why I now find myself missing Sophie terribly, despite her new horrid change of diet. We of course weren't close as best friends would be in the general sense but I found no problems simply being with her. She didn't mind my quirks and my nervous ticks.
I refresh the police website once again on my laptop for the hundredth time. Nothing new. Just a report about a failed robbery at a corner store. That doesn't soothe my agitation though. I decide that a walk might do me some good so I pack up my laptop into my bag and walk out of the campus library. I feel a slight pang of guilt as I walk briskly out of campus. I should be working on revisions for my midterms but I can't concentrate.
It's similar how I felt during the attempted burglary, except of being dazed due to witnessing a vampire brutally kill someone, I'm filled with trepidation over Sophie's wellbeing. I remember she mentioned hunters a few weeks ago. Maybe they hunted her down? Is that why she hasn't contacted me? I try to shake the thought away but it stays put and continues to nag me until I cross Providence Drive. There's a quiet little coffeeshop up the street and I think a nice cup of chai latte will be able to lift up my pessimistic spirit. At least my cup will be half-full.
The sun is setting, casting brilliant colors of orange, red and magenta across the mid-April sky. The climate has been getting warmer each week and the piles of snow accumulated from the harsh winter are slowly melting away. While I'm glad that spring is right around the corner, I can't help but feel irritated at the snow puddles that are emerging everywhere. Some people don't know how to walk gingerly in those puddles and therefore spray me with muddled water from the sidewalks. The cars are the worst though, which is why I stick to the walls of the buildings whenever these puddles are abundant on the streets.
"Boo!"
I squeak with fright and jump to the side, my foot sliding on a piece of ice hidden with the slops of snow. Someone grabs my arm and steadies me with surprising ease.
"Seriously, you're so easy to scare," says a familiar snarky voice.
I look up at Sophie's smirking face and a smile breaks out on my own, with relief sweeping over me.
She's standing in the alley, shielding herself from the sun. I take notice of it and am going to ask about it but she cuts me off.
"I'm fine, we can walk around in dusk as long as the actual rays don't shine down on us." she explains.
"Where the hell have you been?!" I hiss under my breath, relief being swiftly shoved aside by anger. While I'm glad to see that her head is still attached to her body, I will nonetheless demand answers for her sudden disappearance.
Sophie raises an eyebrow, evidently astonished at my bold outrage.
"Biting back now, are we?" she smirks and then pulls me towards the street. "We can't talk here," she explains. „Sometimes the streets listen."
We walk together in silence, Sophie in front of me and leading the way. She has her hood over her head to shield herself from the remaining days's sunlight and I hear her breathe a sigh of relief when the setting sun disappears behind a tall building. She walks into a busy coffeehouse, filled with people who are all trying to get their last caffeine fix of the day. She finds an empty table at the far back and sits down, motioning me to do the same.
"So," I say icily as I take a seat opposite her. "Care to tell me why you vanished into thin air and not tell me beforehand?"
Sophie pulls a bewildered look. "Why so bold all of a sudden?" she asks, waving to a waitress to come take our orders. "You on new meds or something?"
"That's none of your business," I hiss, although I feel flushed at the remark and at my own boldness. I don't know why I feel so irritated, Maybe it's because the memory of desertion is too painful, too vivid in my heart. She has, after all, left me before. "And stop changing the subject!"
Sophie puts her hands up in surrender, chuckling. Does she look impressed by me? Her eyes don't look menacing, so I guess that's always a plus. I think my shrink would be so proud of me now!
"I had to leave because I was starting to make a scene," she leans in close and speaks in a low voice so that no one but me can hear. I have to lean in as well because the chattering of the guests around us is way too loud. "Rule number three of vampire law: Don't create unnecessary attraction that will make the humans suspicious. I had fed on and killed two humans in two months and it was almost becoming a pattern."
"True. The police thinks you might be a serial killer," I nod, remembering the reports on their website.
Sophie scoffs. "The police is pretty much useless in these matters but they might give valuable information to hunters. They're the ones who can notice our patterns and track us down. That's why I had to leave."
The waitress comes over and asks what we would like. Sophie asks for regular coffee and I order my favorite chai latte. I hold my tongue until she leaves.
"But why didn't you let me know?" I can hear the hurt in my own voice and I hope she hears it too.
"I thought you would understand," she says irritably. "The hunters could have tracked you too if you were seen with me too many times."
"How could I have known about that?" I fire back, equally angry at her sorry attempt of an excuse. "When you haven't even told me everything!"
"You don't need to know everything!" she snaps, eyes darkening and glaring.
"But you promised!" I say louder and I fight the urge to slam my hand down on the table.
Sophie glances around; people nearby have stopped chatting amongst themselves and look curiously in our direction.
"Look," she says quietly and with deliberate determination. "Before people assume that we're having a lovers' quarrel, you need to calm the fuck down." She gives the finger to a guest behind me and shoots glares at everyone else. Some of them frown at her rude gesture but others lower their gaze in shame.
I stare down at my hands in my lap, letting my breath subside. I have never been this worked up before. It is highly unusual of me as I tend to hide within the crowd, going my day in silence. But with Sophie around, it's like I'm a shining beacon, beckoning others to take a gander, to notice the little wallflower. I avoid looking up at her, afraid that her amused expression has been replaced with an angry one. But I will not say sorry, despite my compulsion to do so; she made a promise to me and I take promises very seriously.
"You done with your little tantrum?" Sophie sneers and I dare myself to glare at her.
The waitress comes back with our orders and asks if everything isn't alright with us.
"Just peachy," Sophie replies non-chalantly. "My friend here is just being a childish brat at the moment. Low bloodsugar perhaps?" She jeers at me.
I say nothing but give a tiny apologetic smile to the waitress who scurries back to the counter.
"I'm not a brat," I mumble into my cup of chai latte. Although still annoyed, I feel that my anger is diminishing little by little.
Sophie snorts while rolling her eyes. "Sure you're not," she drawls, flipping her hair back with her hand. Then she becomes serious. "Look, I will tell you everything but in due time. I can't shove every little detail about us down your throat. It's too much to handle for a human like you."
I disregard the implication that I might be considered too weak, put my cup down and try to give her my most serious look. "You really mean it this time?" I frown slightly as I notice how small my voice is compared to earlier. I sounded like a pleading child.
Sophie rolls her eyes again. "I can do that pinky swear for you, if you desperately want me to."
I nod eagerly and extend my hand over the table, pointing my little finger up. Sophie groans in protest but does it nonetheless. Our fingers entwine, but I can feel how cold her finger is, despite the cozy warmth within the coffeehouse. They really do have lower body temperatures than us humans. Sophie seems to realize it as well as she yanks her hand back and hides it beneath the table. I think the atmosphere was a bit awkward at first but now it's just cringeworthy.
"Do you always have to do that?" I ask after clearing my throat bit a bit in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Sophie raises an eyebrow. "What? It was starting to get awkward and-„
"No, I mean," I cut her off with an apologetic grin on my face. "I mean, do you always have to be on the run?"
"Oh!" she relaxes a little on the chair after realizing the mistake in communication. She shakes her head. "Nah, only if you're not being discreet. There are ways to survive without bloody murders."
My brows furrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Sophie smirks. "Bloodbags," she explains plainly. "We've got a nice connection within all the bloodbanks."
I wrinkle up my nose in distaste. I have never given blood - simply because I'm petrified of needles – but the thought that vampires are draining the supplies repulses me.
"You're the reason behind the blood shortage," I say as sudden realization dawns on me. Every month the bloodbank would send notifications, urging people to donate blood as they were low on supplies.
"Oh cry me a river," Sophie snorts, waving a dismissive hand at my accusation. "Besides, that's just a trick to get people to donate. There's plenty of blood to go around. Why, I could bathe in it and there'd still be enough."
"How many of you exist?" I ask hurriedly, frowning at the mental image of Sophie splashing around in a huge blood-filled bathtub.
Sophie sighs deeply. "Not many," she responds and looks somber.
"How many?"
She considers it for a while, eyes looking up at the ceiling as she does a mental count. "Around 3000 of us are in North-America. It's a similar amount in Europe, I've heard, and there's way more of us in Asia," she grins wickedly. "Not many Indians or Chinese worry if one or twenty of them disappear occasionally."
I would disagree on that remark but I'm no longer in the mood to argue now that she's back to telling me stuff. "I thought there would be more of you," I admit hesitantly.
Sophie nods. "Same, but nope."
"Why's that?"
"Population control," she explains matter-of-factly. "If there would be more of us, there'd be less of you and we would have a food problem."
"But what about animals?"
"We can drink from animals, sure," she says casually as she takes a sip from her already cooled coffee. "But it wouldn't sustain us as animals don't carry the important nutrients that can be found pulsing in your veins."
I gesture at the coffee she's drinking. "What about regular food?"
Sophie shrugs. "We can eat it but we might as well be eating dirt. Same lack of nutrients." She takes another sip. "This could mud water for all I know because it tastes the same for me; like nothing."
"What about. . ." I shift uncomfortably in my chair and clear my throat. "other bodily functions?"
She throws back her head and laughs heartily. "You mean if we piss and crap like you do?" Her shoulders quake with laughter. "Of course, you idiot! We're not zombies, just undead. There's a slight difference, you know?"
I nod, feeling my cheeks becoming warmer from embarrassment and wish it was due to the lukewarm chai latte I've been sipping continuously. Sophie takes a phone out of her pocket, examines the time displayed on the screen and then looks up at me.
"Listen, I've gotta go and meet. . .a friend," she puts the emphasis on friend and I instantly know that she's referring to one of her kind. When she sees the alarmed expression on my face, she quickly reassures me that they're not meeting here but downtown at a club.
"That's not what I'm worried about," I say hurriedly. One vampire in Anchorage brought forth two gruesome murders, imagine what two of them could do!
Realization dawns on Sophie as I stare at her imploringly and her mouth forms a small "o". But she brushes it off. "Relax, Leia," she assures me once again. "I just got back. I'm not gonna cause any mischief when the cops are still in investigation mode." She gets up, pulls some change from her jeanpocket and puts it on the table. "That should cover the bill," she winks at me. "See you around, Leia."
And she's out the door before I've even finished putting my coat on. I find myself rolling my eyes and grumble in frustration. How typical of her. She's like a teaser trailer; luring the audience in by showing just small but crucial bits of info and then drawing the curtains in front of everyone, leaving just feelings of frustration. I go up to the counter, pay the bill and then exit the place.
There's nothing else for me to do except study for midterms but I'm in no mood to go back to the library. Besides, dinner is almost ready and today is beefstew day. My all time favorite food that my mom makes with such love during winter. My stomach rumbles in response to my thoughts and I head back home.
Mom notices the mood change within me at dinner and I just respond by saying that I had a good revision time at the library and that I might actually ace the test. She smiles at me while Nathan, playing with his phone at the dinnertable (can you be more annoying?), rolls his eyes. I go to bed, feeling somewhat satisfied with my day although our altercation earlier left a bad taste in my mouth. I hope there will be none of that later on.
I awake some time later in the night when I hear tapping sounds. I check the time at my phone and it says 4:00 am. The tapping continue, more rapidly this time, and I realize it's coming from my window. I stumble out of bed, rubbing my eyes and gasp. Sophie is crouching on the ledge by the window, tapping like a madperson. From my window that is on the second floor. She looks haggard, her eyes darting around in every direction as if afraid that someone is watching her. She hurridedly motions for me to open up the window and I open it.
"What are you doing here?" I ask breathlessly.
"I fucked up, Leia," she says, her voice trembling. "I fucked up! "
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That's it for chapter 9! A cliffhanger, yay!
What the fuck did Sophie do?!
I want to dedicate this chapter to mellowbars.
She has been a HUGE help in critiquing my chapters and help me see the errors that I tend to do. She's amazing!