fangs of fate

“Lexy,” the voice whispered as a hand punched through my stomach. “You should have joined me.”

So that’s it huh? This is how I die, a stake through my stomach and I don’t even get to see who did it?

“Wake up! Lexy, wake up!” someone yelled at me.

I shot upright in my seat, sweat streaming down my forehead. Next to me stood my girlfriend, Janea. She was tall with curly, jet-black hair, and smooth hazelnut colored skin.

“Same dream?” she asked.

“Yea. This must mean something,” I responded. “How are you holding up on... you know what?”

“I'm okay for now, I think.”

So, I'm a vampire. One of the last ones remaining. One is my girlfriend who I turned just because she asked me to, which I admit wasn’t the greatest idea. The other is the person that keeps appearing in my dreams. Being a vampire comes with a ton of benefits like enhanced speed, strength, healing, and senses. However, there's a major drawback, especially for a new vampire like Janea. The uncontrollable craving for blood.

She must feed from me because the amount she drinks would kill a normal person and thanks to my healing ability, I can replenish my blood at a fast rate. Janea has made good progress towards controlling herself though. She used to feed every hour, but now she can go up to four without needing to feed.

“It has been four hours since the last time, that’s why I'm asking.” I said worriedly.

“Lex, I said I'm fine, leave it at that.” Janea replied.

Just then the bell rang for fourth period, which was ap biology, and we were going over blood types.

If Janea sits through even one minute of this lesson, she’s going to lose it. 

Janea must’ve seen the worried look on my face because she said, “I'm good, trust.”

I sighed. No arguing with her when she’s made up her mind.

I'm going to have to bail her out later because of this, why can't she just listen to me?

I’ll give credit where credit is due, she lasted longer than I thought she would, but I was still right.

When I looked over at her, she was trembling and sweating like she was suffering from withdrawals, which in a way she kind of is. 

I raised my hand, “Mrs. White, can I use the restroom?”

I was out the door before she could respond and Janea wasn’t too far behind me, successfully executing a plan we’ve practiced many times.

I laughed as we walked towards the restroom, “I told you to skip biology and get this over but no, you want to be hard-headed, now look at you.”

“Shut up,” she said weakly as I pushed open the restroom door.

I barely rolled up my sleeve as Janea bared her fangs, the pointed canines pressing into her bottom lip and making an indention, her eyes becoming slivered and a glowing shade of yellow, her painted nails sharpening into claws.

She chomped down on my arm and no amount of healing or durability can take away the pain of being bitten by a hungry vampire.

“Whoa! Take it easy Janea! That actually hurt,” I exclaimed.

“sowy,” she replied jokingly.

It took her ten whole minutes before she was satisfied.

“We should skip the rest of the period,” I suggested.

“No, I need to learn how to control myself and the only way to do that is by exposing myself,” Janea said defiantly. 

I shook my head and sighed again, there’s no reasoning with this girl, is there?

“Fine, have it your way and you better not cry to me if you get yourself in trouble.”

Luckily, we made it through the rest of the period with no further incidents and next was lunch and after that was gym. Pretty easy and fun, right? Wrong. So very wrong.

It started at lunch. 

I was laughing with Janea and my only other friend, Allison, when I got the worst cramp of my life. I fell to the ground in the fetal position and clutched my side. 

This isn’t a side stitch; this isn’t anything I've ever felt before, this isn’t normal.

I was in real pain, something that doesn’t happen often.

“Lexy what’s wrong!?” Allison yelled, her high-pitched voice causing me a splitting headache that felt like an earthquake.

Suddenly I was lifted off the ground and I felt like I was floating. Is this what an out of body experience feels like?

Janea was carrying me away from the chorus of screaming teenagers, I assumed we were heading to the nurse's office, but she took me straight out of the school. We got to the end of the street and the craziest thing happened; I was perfectly fine. The cramp, the headache, everything gone in an instant.

“Janea, something is really wrong. First, the dream of an unknown vampire killing me, and now this. Something bad is happening and I think I’m right in the middle of it.”

She didn’t respond, just looked at me with worry in her eyes.