Chapter 2

Sylvester is six-foot-five and is very skinny. His square face is bristly and mostly sunken in. His cheek bones pop out from the rest of his face and his bushy white eyebrows make it hard to see his brown eyes. Needless to say the smoothest and only hairless part of him is the top of his head. His skeletal structure makes you wonder when the last time it was that he had anything to eat. Despite his ghastly appearance, he is one of the sweetest guys you’ll ever meet. Through everything that has happened, these are the people who have been there for me the most. They have also respected my privacy, and let me be alone when I needed to. I haven’t been the same since… that night.

It's really hard to talk about what happened to my husband, but it is a crucial part of my story and how I became who I am. It was late at night and Liam was spending it at a friend’s house for a slumber party with the soccer team. The storm had just set in and the cold made us turn on the pellet stove. I didn't feel right about the night at all, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was so wrong. I tried to enjoy our night alone despite the way I felt. I didn’t want to let Julian know that something didn’t add up and ruin the night so I kept my mouth shut as we watched a movie on the couch. We got ready for bed and made our way upstairs. Being alone for a night made us feel like young lovers again, we joked around and fought each other playfully as we entered the bedroom.

Laughing simultaneously, we crawled into bed. The joy in Julian’s eyes made the years come swiftly off his face as we kissed in between laughter and one line jokes. We held each other closer that night than ever before. Soon we began to play-wrestle while we fought to take off one another’s pajamas. The smiles never left our faces as we settled into position. All I could remember was his warm body next to mine. How comforting it was just to be with him that night. It felt so natural, like nothing could ever separate us. We commenced into each other passionately kissing the other’s body, never taking our hands away from one another. It’s still hard to believe what happened next.

We were in the middle of making love when we heard scuffling down stairs followed by a loud crash. Julian had told me to wait upstairs while he got dressed and raced down stairs to investigate the noise. From upstairs I heard a loud thump and nothing more, I got worried and ran down after him. I slowed down as I reached the bottom of the stairs and then stopped for a few minutes. Taking a deep breath, I peaked around the corner to find Julian knocked out on the kitchen floor. My heart was pumping through my panic as I raced to his side and tried to wake him up. He wasn’t moving, so I quickly checked his pulse for a heartbeat and to see if he was breathing. He was still alive, so I frantically shook him and called his name to try and get some sort of movement out of him, but he remained motionless. Then I heard a noise coming from behind me.

I slowly turned my head, looking in the direction the noise had come from, to a dark figure approaching me. He went from moving slowly and gracefully towards me to moving too quick for me to see, he grabbed my arm. His grasp was so painful but I couldn’t cry out as fast as he was moving, soon I felt my hair being pulled as my head jerked back. My eyes widened as the stranger bit into my neck everything started getting fuzzy, I could feel my eyes rolling into the back of my head and then everything went dark. When I woke up, my body ached. I felt like I was hit by a truck or intoxicated the night before. I rubbed my forehead before opening my eyes. The kitchen was a mess; everything that was on top of the counter was now on the floor. Pasta sauce that we had just made coated everything.

Then I noticed something else on the floor. The red substance reached over to the refrigerator, mixing in with the pasta sauce, from where I was laying. At first, I thought it came from me but then I looked over towards the window. That’s when I saw Julian. His torso had been ripped open as if someone was conducting an autopsy on him. Every slow breath that he took, more blood drained out of the large wound. His innards lay next to him on the floor. I covered my mouth in complete fear of the sight and my eyes began to water. I tried to get up but I was too weak. Taking a deep breath, the smell of the room filled my nostrils.

I could smell every little detail of the room, including Julian’s blood. A strange feeling came over me. I felt a fire growing in the pit of my stomach, rising up into my throat. I had no control over myself. All of that blood just, everywhere. I wanted it so bad, unlike anything I have ever wanted in my life. Soon enough, the feeling that I needed it over came me. I couldn’t understand why, but I had to have it in my system. It felt like I would burst into flames if I didn’t drink it right then. So then I drank, first lapping up what was on the floor. Then, when all of that was gone, I craved even more. I rationalized with myself, trying to prevent from feeding on Julian. Before I knew it, I couldn't control myself. I needed more, I couldn't think straight. In a matter of seconds my husband's life ended at my hands. I was so ashamed of myself for what I had done, I couldn’t forgive myself. I'd like to blame my husband's death on the intruder from that night. But I know, deep down, if I could have found some way to control myself; Julian would be alive. Since that horrible night, I've vowed off of human blood.