Page 22 of Pity the Living, Not the Dead

I rolled over and kissed him. “Liam, my love, I’m not this way with everyone. You seem to have reopened a part of me I swore I would never allow myself to have again, my love.”

Being a vampire was like riding out a seriously mind-blowing, cool-ass psychedelic trip. Not that I’ve ever taken an illegal drug in my life, but I could only imagine it feeling much the same way. No longer did my hands or any part of my body move in slow motion, they whizzed by in a whirlwind of colors and streaks, as did most everything. A couple weeks into this whole vampire thing, and I was still mesmerized. Scents were stronger, more pronounced. Sounds were everywhere, things I’d never seen before were now clear as day. Even blood held so much more than just the metallic taste it was known for. It was hard not to climb atop the buildings flanking the Seattle skyline and shout from the rooftops, “Being a vampire kicks ass!” Even though sharing our secret was forbidden for more reasons than you’d think.

At this moment, I could see the movement of a hummingbird’s wings on the nature show we were currently watching, my eyes glued to the screen as childlike exuberance filled me. Elijah chuckled from his comfortable perch, stretched out across the leather sofa.

“Did you see that?” I asked him, pointing at the screen, afraid to divert my eyes and risk missing a second of the wondrous program.

“Yes, love, but I’m enjoying watching you more than the TV,” he replied.

“Everything is so vibrant, so full of life. Look at his wings. The colors on his back. Ooh, ooh, see the gecko behind him on the block wall?” I reached out to touch the screen, forgetting the scene wasn’t playing out right in front of me in real life. This was beyond words. I felt like a stranger in a strange land. One full of new and exciting things.

“Come here, my love,” Elijah said, patting the cushion beside him. “Your eyesight is better than you think. You’ll be able to see the details from back here.”

There was so much energy coursing through me, I wasn’t sure I possessed the ability to sit still. It was like I ate a vat of sugar and needed to run it off. How he could be so calm was beyond me. I supposed having two hundred years to get a grip on the changes helped. Wow, two hundred years. I couldn’t even imagine. That sent my mind reeling, only to be launched into a cavern of doom when the fact that I’d outlive my family smacked me upside the head. How will I ever survive that kind of heartbreak? My god, my sweet sister Olivia. She’s been my beacon of light since birth.

“Are you okay, Liam?” Elijah asked as I stopped mid-turn toward him.

“Olivia,” I mumbled, barely above a whisper.

“What about her? Did she text you? Is she okay?” Elijah replied, keys in hand and at my side, ready to be wherever he needed me to be.

“She’s gonna die!” I blurted out. My mind filled with the horrific scene of her funeral.

“Liam!” Elijah shouted, shaking my shoulders. “What happened?”

“I need to see her. Can we change her? Would that be okay? I can’t go on without her. She can’t die.” I muttered each thought as it came to mind, without pause.

“Liam! Focus!” Elijah hollered. “Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.” I slunk down onto the couch, my mind a whirlwind of emotions.

Frustrated, Elijah stomped across the room, then back again, before taking a seat beside me. “Liam, has something happened to Olivia?” he asked in the calmest voice he could muster.

“No.”

“Then what is all of this about?”

“It snuck up on me, you know? All of this. The fact that I’ll live forever, but my family won’t. Oliviawon’t. How can that be?” I pleaded, nearly in tears.

“Liam, my love. First, try not to cry. The tears you shed relinquish your body of the blood it needs to retain. Releasing it weakens you. Emotions do not, don’t get me wrong. You are allowed to grieve, to feel sorrow, and it doesn’t make you less of a man to cry. But the loss of bloodwilltake a toll on you. Olivia is alive and well, this is premature mourning. Being a youngling, a freshly changed vampire, your emotions are in a state of uproar. You need to do what you can to control them before they control you,” Elijah explained, cradling me in his arms.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re right. It’s just, I want her to live forever, like us.” It was hard to put into words how deeply I felt this. “Olivia would do so well as a vampire, she’d save many lives.”

“She would, but you and I both know that as a woman of medicine, it would be hard for her to accept this. I’ll make you a promise, though. If the day comes and this life is something Olivia truly desires, we can change her. The other side of that coin is, if she declines, you will need to accept her decision. She’s a smart woman and won’t dive into anything hastily.” Elijah, the rational one. Good thing one of us was. I could see myself in need of someone I trusted to pull back my reins as I lost control. “Now that we’ve settled that, we need to discuss tomorrow.”

“What happens tomorrow?” I asked, racking my brain for anything he told me that I may have forgotten.

“Tomorrow, the housekeeper comes. It will be your first introduction to humans. You’ve been a vampire for all of two weeks, that’s not very long in our world. Learning to control the blood lust takes time and patience,” Elijah began. “You’ve done well while hunting, following the guidance and directions I have given you, and you’ve not killed.”

One thing, one person, was still at the forefront of my mind. “If this goes well, will I be able to see Olivia soon?”

I really needed to work on my poker face. Elijah had a killer one – no pun intended. I couldn’t tell if he was ready to reply with a yes or a no. “If this goes well, I will start introducing you to more of the human population. I’d rather something go awry with a stranger than with someone you love. You don’t understand, love. Taking a life, a pure one such as your sister’s, is a regret you never get past. Liam, if you hurt Olivia or any member of your family, no matter how much they’ve angered you, I guarantee you’ll regret it.”

Elijah was right, I knew that beyond a doubt, and I needed to be strong and overcome this challenge, for Olivia as well as for myself. Nodding, I replied, “I trust you to know what’s best. I’ll follow your lead.”

He pressed his lips to mine. “Come, my love, it’s time for bed.”

We woke the next night, showered, and dressed. As soon as Elijah opened the bedroom door, it hit me like a magnet drawn to metal. Imagine trying to hold on for dear life as a tornado neared, the force of the wind pulling you toward it. You fight your hardest, but eventually the inertia from the winds win out, sweeping you away. Hearing that lone heartbeat inside our home had the same effect. Entranced, I followed the sound to the source, completely at its mercy.

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