Elizabeth and the Vampire's Cabin(26)

"I watched as my parents grew old. This was normal and an accepted part of life. But when my friends grew old, and their children grew old, and they were all gone, I started to feel the desire to end it. Luckily, all the half vampires were woman, and I used them as mates to keep me warm at night. But they too were aging and I knew one day I would lose them. Children never came, and when my mates were gone, life in my tribe was nearly unbearable. The vampire scare had been over a century ago, there was no one alive to remember it except me, but the female members of my tribe were still frightened of mating with me. It was sad to stay in my tribe with no one to mate with and no one from my early life to reminisce with. I was the only vampire in the tribe and I became a loner surrounded by people. Still, I stayed with my tribe until the Neolithic era. And then I lost myself in the many civilizations that were cropping up due to the domestication of plants and animals. Life no longer needed to be based on a hunter gatherer society. Farming was here to stay. And that was where I found Joe and the remaining vampires: farming on the mainland. I stayed with them for centuries before exploring the rest of the world.

"I wandered through millenniums. I took many lovers. So far as I know, none ever became half vampires. I never married and didn't have sex more than a few times with the same woman. I had already lost too many half vampire mates to old age to go through a long-term relationship again.

"In my travelling it was difficult to get into contact with the other surviving vampires. We were all half Neanderthal (except for Joe) and could recognize one another quickly if we saw each other in a chance encounter or in a news article. You'd be surprised how often Joe has made international headlines! But once the internet became commonplace it was simple for us to find each other without having to bump into each other. We only got close once again, the first time since our Neolithic farming days, when sites like Facebook and MySpace became commonplace. We tracked each other with ease.

"You and Arthur are the first half vampires that I have created. I never thought I would give this gift to anyone else, and I don't know why I chose now to create you both."



Chapter 12: Good Night

Elizabeth was reeling from this long narrative. It was the longest she had ever heard him speak about his personal life. In fact, this was the first time that she had ever heard him speak about his personal life.

"I want you to sleep well tonight, Liz. Just rest your body. There will be a lot of changes occurring, all of which will be normal. I'll come back tomorrow night. In the meantime, I'll ask Arthur to stay with you tonight. He can sleep on the chaise lounge."

Aaron departed and Arthur came in about ten minutes later.

"Aaron explained to me what's happened. I am so sorry Elizabeth. I had no idea this could happen!"

"I just need to rest."

"I thought the worst of it was right after downing his blood. So if you haven't felt anything yet then that means it probably won't be so bad."

"Don't worry about me. Really. I'm tough, remember? And now I'm a half vampire. It's gonna take a lot to kill me."

"Are you upset?" he asked her with concern.

"Surprisingly, no. Maybe, once the reality of it all starts to sink in, I'll be more upset. But I feel strangely exhilarated. I feel like this is the best thing to happen to me in a long while."

Elizabeth went to bed feeling weak and shaky. She was starting to get chills. She put on pajamas, pulled the covers over her body, turned out her bedside lamp, and drifted off to an uneasy sleep.

She went into REM almost immediately. She saw a giant sea monster that looked like a dragon. Elizabeth woke up startled. She felt gassy and had a strong urge to go to the bathroom. She ran to the toilet and stayed there for about twenty minutes.

"Are you alright?" Arthur called. She could hear him just outside her bathroom door. He had entered her room in concern.

"Go back to sleep, Arthur. I'll be okay."

Arthur was concerned. He had felt ill while transforming into a half vampire, but it hadn't been like this. The pain was all over in about fifteen minutes. After that, he had been well enough to climb a tree and sneak into Elizabeth's bedroom.

A few minutes later, she went back into her room. Arthur had left a hot cup of chamomile tea for her. She sipped at it for a few minutes until she felt her body begin to calm. Then she willed herself to go back to sleep.

Again, she began to dream. She had a dream of herself as a dog running through the woods on the island. She stopped short and saw Aaron with another woman in animal skins who looked peculiarly similar to him. They both shared the deep brow ridge that accentuated their eyes and athletic, bulky figures. A bit of the Neanderthal showing up in both. Aaron was pointing up to the sky and said, "Kyla, look!" There was something hanging from a large tree.