A Grave Hunger Page 24

  The small room seemed to close in around me, as the smell of fresh blood saturated each particle of air. I felt my hunger surge. The scent of Leah's sweet fragrance assaulting my senses and clouding my mind. The beast called to her to come closer and screamed savagely in anger when she remained silent and out of reach of its fangs. The monster snarled and hissed, banging relentlessly against its restraints. I felt as though I was watching myself in a movie, detached from the situation like an observer in someone else's life. I realised that my behaviour was abhorrent, but I was unable to do anything to stop it. I watched as Doctor Sotto escorted Leah from my room, explaining to her that it was too traumatic for me to be around her scent any longer. The beast writhed and strained against its restraints in frustration, teeth bared to reach the food source that was being taken from it. I was imprisoned inside my own body, unable to stop my horrific behaviour, unable to stop Leah from leaving me.

  Over the following weeks, I grew weaker and weaker. My traumatised body was unable to keep human food down. The beast inside wanted only blood. Frail and malnourished, a tube had to be forced into my throat. I didn't recognise myself anymore. My body looked to be witheringly away. I had lost weight and looked gaunt. My cheeks and eyes were sunken hollows. I was a ghost of my former self. I had underestimated the beast and how difficult it would be to overpower it. I had gone into this with such a determination to beat the monster inside me, but it was stronger than I had thought. I felt as though I was losing the battle.

  Amidst my clamouring for blood, I blacked out repeatedly, drifting in and out of reality as if it were merely a dream. The periods of darkness were the only thing that kept me going, the inky blackness pushing the pain into obscurity. It was a much needed relief from the constant pain, but the unconsciousness had another advantage: it allowed me to see Robert again. I would awaken to find him sitting opposite me and engage him in conversation as if nothing were wrong. We would be sitting in his living room, watching the game, drinking beer. Minutes later, I would blink, only to find that he had vanished.

  Leah had not been allowed to see me since she had been escorted from my room three weeks ago. But she still visited me in my dreams and stayed with me in moments of consciousness, when she appeared in hallucinations, through blurry eyes. She would smile lovingly, leaning close to me to press her soft lips to mine. I savoured the moment, a part of me realising it wasn't real, and wanting to grasp hold of it for as long as I could. But these moments would not last, the dreams swiftly turned frightening as Leah's features changed. Her lips and fingernails turned a vivid blood red. The rich crimson lipstick drew my attention to her pouted lips. Then her loving smile turned into a sneer, growing larger into a distorted grin that covered her lower face. As her smile widened, a set of fangs were visible, mingling amongst a tide of pearly teeth. A sweet, melodic giggle escaped her lips as she reached up to capture a drop of blood that ran down from the corner of her mouth.

  And within the blink of an eye through my semiconscious state, she was gone. She was no more than just a figment of my fever-induced imagination. These chilling hallucinations tormented me with dark images, until it felt as though it would drive me mad.

  It was the third month when I finally began to regain some of my former humanity. The vampire in me was slowly being defeated. The diseased blood cells finally washed out of my system. But it came at a cost. The vampire inside had been exercised, but it had taken its toll on my body. I had fought for so long, but my weak human form had no more fight left. I could feel the end approaching. As the darkness washed over me, I had one thought: Not yet, not without saying goodbye. Then nothing but darkness.

  I drifted away within my own obscure subconscious, through the darkest tunnel, coming closer to a bright, blinding light at its end.

  That’s when he first spoke to me.

  “Finlay… Can you hear me? Can you speak?” he said, his faint, echoing English garbled but comprehensible.

  I felt my head nod in agreement. My crusted lips parted to say yes, but I could not convey the words. Did my head really nod or did I imagine that?

  I heard him again. He repeated himself twice. The blinding light grew stronger as I pried my eyes open. Dark, blurry shapes danced in my vision. As my sight cleared, the shapes transformed into two silhouettes. There were two people standing over me encompassed by an even more bright light. Were these images angels sent from heaven to escort me to paradise? My thoughts felt hazy as I struggled against the dense fog that clouded my brain.

  My vision slowly cleared, as my eyes relaxed into focus. From the white of the hospital lights, she came into focus.

  “Welcome back,” Leah said. “I thought we lost ya there for a minute.” She leaned over slowly, gently pressing her soft lips to mine.

  I was vaguely aware of Doctor Sotto removing the restraints from my arms and legs, my focus firmly on Leah. She assisted the doctor in pulling me upright, as my strength was all but gone. I cried in relief as she hugged me to her gently, her own tears soaking my tunic. It was over. I realised that had I not promised Leah a future together, and if she had not been there with me, both physically and in my delirium-induced state, I might very well have given up. Leah was my prize for surviving the process. I was damaged, but not broken. The vampire was gone, and I was finally free of the curse.

  Chapter 42

  I smiled, watching Leah frown admonishingly when I entered the room, the skin between her eyebrows puckering as she did so.

  "What are you doing out of bed? You are still weak," she scolded lightly.

  It had been two weeks since I had left the hospital, and I felt better than I ever did. My body was slowly becoming stronger; I was beginning to gain back the weight I had lost, and I almost felt like myself again. The events of the last few months didn't seem real, almost as though the horrors had been imagined, or had been a bad dream. Strangely, my body held no trace that I had ever been a hybrid. There was no residual strength or speed lingering in my body, no overwhelming sense of smell, and the constant roaring of noise in my head had stopped. I was ordinarily mediocre, a run of the mill human, and I loved every minute of it.

  I had spent a lot of time recently analysing my life and thinking about what I wanted now that I was free of my dark curse. My life had been driven by revenge, anger, pain and loss, mindlessly slaughtering one vampire after another to try and fill the void I felt inside. I willingly believed, as all hunters did, that our job demanded a sacrifice. To sacrifice our happiness, maybe even our lives. I had accepted that, never expecting to live past the age of 40, or to experience a normal life. That had all changed when I met Leah. For the first time in my life, I had envisaged a long, happy life with her. And almost losing her had made me re-evaluate what was important, what I wanted from life.

  I joined her on the couch, wrapping my arms around her tightly and smothering her with kisses. She giggled and snuggled into my chest, head lying comfortably under my chin.

  "I feel great. Never better. And anyway, I've spent enough time in bed over the last few months. Unless being in bed involves you being with me, I'm not interested."

  "You're definitely feeling better." She traced an invisible pattern on my chest with her fingertips, the action sending shivers up my spine. We both sat in contented silence for a few moments before something on her lap caught my eye.

  "What's this?" I asked, dropping my arms to pick up a travel brochure. The front cover had a picture of Edinburgh castle and the words Visit Scotland on the front. "You planning a trip? I hope I'm invited."

  "Maybe, it's been a while since I was home. I miss it.” She pushed herself away from me, her cheeks colouring. “After everything that has happened, I feel like I should seize the moment. You know, face my fears, even if going home will remind me of my family. Life's short.”

  "I think that sounds like a good idea." I thought it was a damn good idea. Get away from here, away from the bad memories, the horrors of what we had experienced, of what we had lost. I wasn't n
aive to believe that getting away from here would completely eradicate those bad memories, but it was a start.

  "So what do you think? When you feel up to it, do you fancy a visit to Scotland?"

  I smiled and took her face in my hands, cupping her chin gently. "What about making it longer than a short trip? We could move over permanently.” I paused for a moment, letting what I had said sink in. She looked at me blankly. Obviously this thought hadn't occurred to her. “What's keeping us here? Robert is gone, there's nothing left for us here but bad memories. Let's start fresh, have a normal life, get normal jobs. We can do whatever we want, go wherever we want. I've had a lot of time to think when I was in that hospital bed. I’ve been thinking about life and what I want from it, and hunting isn't it. I want a proper life with you.” I searched her face for any sign that I had gotten through to her. The blank expression was firmly fixed in place.

  “What do you say, Scotland? You in?" I subconsciously held my breath, awaiting her response.

  "Can you give up hunting? It's been your whole life," Leah asked. It didn't escape my attention that she hadn't answered my question.

  "Exactly. Hunting has been my whole life. I've put my life on hold for so long, it's time I start living. But the question is, will you join me? There's no point in starting a new life without you."

  "Looks like you had an epiphany. Who would have thought you could be so deep?" She leaned over and kissed me gently. I momentarily forgot my objective, losing myself in the kiss, enjoying being able to touch her without fear of hurting her. It was Leah that broke away first. "You're not the only one that did some re-evaluating during your time away. I've thought a lot about it over the last three months too. I'm not saying that it will be easy giving up hunting, especially with everything we know is out there, but I'm willing to give it a try. We've both lost so much. Maybe it is time we start living.”

  I smiled, visualising our future together. A normal life. There were so many things I hadn't done, hadn't seen. I felt buoyant at the possibilities of our life together. I leaned over and traced the shape of her full lips with my fingertip. "Well in that case, let's start our new tomorrow."

  The End

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