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Tommy watched Pierre walk out of the house at a
leisurely pace and remembered thinking that everything may actually turn out
all right. If Pierre had been running out of the house, or walking
frantically, then he would have been nervous. But, Pierre was strolling to
the car. Tommy could swear that, had he been closer to his best friend of
four years, he might have heard him whistling a jovial tune. Pierre looked
totally at ease, which, in turn, made Tommy relax.
Five minutes before, Tommy was anything but
relaxed. As a matter of fact, he would have had a difficult time thinking of
a time when he had ever been more nervous. Ironically, he wasn’t nervous
for himself or even for Pierre. He was nervous for Pedro and Sonny, and the
twins, whatever their names were. It wasn’t that they couldn’t handle
themselves, because most in this business could fend for themselves. It was
the look in Pierre’s eyes that let Tommy know that he meant business, and
that business was going to be ugly. He had never seen Pierre act like this;
but then again, he had never seen Pierre in this type of situation. The way
he had seized the gun was incredible. Actually, no, it wasn’t incredible.
It was impossible. He took the gun so fast, that if he had reached out a
moment before, Pedro wouldn’t have even reached for the piece. But, that
wasn’t it. The fun didn’t stop there ladies and gentlemen. No, not by
leaps and bounds. It was what Pierre had said to Tommy in a breathy whisper
of total seriousness. It’s good that
I’m here. You were gonna die tonight. He had said it in a way that let
Tommy know that it was entirely true. The only question Tommy had about the
comment was how the hell Pierre knew that they were going to kill him?
Either way, he had been right. Amazingly, Tommy
sat in the car, watching Pierre walk over to the car, and he felt a bit of
pity for the inhabitants of the house. True, they had conspired to kill him
and steal his money, but still, Tommy doubted that anyone deserved to die
the way they probably had. Some unknown feeling had come into Tommy, and it
had enabled him to understand that even though Pierre had the gun, he
hadn’t used it. He had heard gunshots, three to be exact, but sensed that
the men in the house hadn’t met their demise through bullets. Something
told Tommy that Pierre had not wanted to shoot these men. It was something
in his eyes. His blood red eyes!
Pierre opened the door and sat in the car. He was
looking out the passenger window, and Tommy couldn’t see his face.
‘We should go,” Pierre said softly, still not
turning his glance towards Tommy.
Tommy started his car and drove away from the
house as fast as the BMW would allow. He continued to take glances towards
Pierre, but Pierre was still staring out the window. What
the fuck are you staring at?
“What happened in that house? I heard shots.”
Pierre didn’t answer, still staring out the
window. Even if he had heard what Tommy had questioned, he didn’t show it.
Tommy was beginning to get a little scared. He had never seen Pierre act
like this, and it was starting to make him feel that he may not be safe with
him. Pierre had been acting strangely since Tommy had gone to get him. In
the house, Pierre hadn’t said a word, but he seemed to know that they were
going to try to rob them, and he knew where the money was. Then, he wanted
to be left alone with four men, to punish them? What
the fuck are you staring at? Why won’t you look at me?
Pierre didn’t turn or flinch, but he spoke in
soft and slow words.
‘You don’t want to see what I look like.”
Tommy froze at the wheel, unable to move. Hell, he
was barely able to breathe. What did
he say? Why wouldn’t I want to see what he look likes? I know what he
looks like! I’ve seen him before!
"What did you say? What’s wrong with
you?"
Pierre turned slowly and looked at Tommy. His eyes
were the color of blood, but the actual retinas were still an amazing blue.
Pierre’s face was covered in blood from the nose all the way to the bottom
of his face. His chin was drenched in deep red, and several spots had
dripped onto his sweater underneath. Pierre opened his mouth, exposing inch
and one half incisors through a sadistic smile. When Tommy saw those teeth,
a great wave of understanding rolled over in his brain, like a boulder
rolling from outside of a cave, sending brilliant light flooding inside. He’s a Vampire!
“Yes I am,” Pierre said calmly.
Tommy pulled the car to the side of the road. He
looked at Pierre for a long moment, not sure what he should say to his
friend, that now was much, much different. I
don’t believe in vampires!
Pierre laughed out loud in the idle car.
“I didn’t believe in them either, until I
became one. But now, I know they’re real.”
Tommy still had no words to say to his friend that
he talked to every day for four years. What could he say? Everything was
different now. He was different now. Another flash entered Tommy’s head,
and he ceased thinking as well as talking. He
can read my thoughts.
‘It’s harder for me not to read your thoughts,
than to read them. So many times tonight I’ve been stealing your thoughts,
and I didn’t know how to stop. I tried to stop, but it’s like you’re
talking to me. Do you think I wanted to find out that Sara fucked some kid
last night? No. But you knew, so I knew.”
Pierre finished talking and sat back, staring at
his friend in the driver’s seat. Tommy wasn’t sure what he should do.
This was far from a normal event. There wasn’t exactly a precedent set on
how to act when your best friend tells you that he has become a vampire. A
question arose in Tommy’s mind, and he decided that he should vocalize it.
“How did it happen? When?”
Pierre smiled and began to wipe some of the blood
off his face and chin with Kleenex he had kept in his jacket pocket. As
Tommy stared at Pierre, he saw that his large incisors were shrinking. It
was like he had seen in the movies when the vampires attacked, only in
reverse. The teeth grew smaller and smaller until they were just a little
larger than average. But it wasn’t the size of the teeth that was
frightening; it was how they gleamed white. They were long, sharp looking
and extremely clean. It was like vampire teeth were new, like baby’s
teeth.
“I don’t know when it happened, exactly. But,
I know that tonight is the first night. When I woke up, and you were at my
window, I was a vampire. I could see the blood coursing through your veins
and it looked delicious.”
Tommy reached for the door handle, his first
impulse after hearing that his blood looked delicious, was to run. He felt a
powerful and cold hand gripping the back of his neck. It was then that he
began to understand something that was very important. Him being in this
car, alive and breathing had nothing to do with anything besides Pierre
allowing it. Also, he was alive because Pierre hadn’t chosen to feed on
him.
“No, I’m not going to eat you. I don’t eat
people; I drink their blood. Come on, eat people? That’s gross”. Pierre
said this and laughed, obviously amusing the hell out of himself at the
expense of his friend.
He moved forward towards Tommy and looked directly
into his eyes. He was speaking with his mind now; words had lost their
meaning to Pierre.
Listen. I
don’t have the answers to your questions, because I have too many of my
own. This is very new to me, but it is now the only thing in my life that
means anything. So, I have a question for you, my old friend. Do you want to
live forever, or, die, at the hands of another’s choosing?
Tommy broke the stare and rubbed his temples. It
hurt like hell when Pierre talked to him through his mind. It was like his
brain was vibrating with bass from a powerful stereo. He wasn’t entirely
sure what Pierre was asking, but he assumed it was the question of whether
or not he wanted to live his life as a vampire.
YES!!
The word echoed in his head, and Tommy swore the
pressure would blow his eardrums or make his nose bleed. Tommy wasn’t sure
how he should answer. One question continually rang out in his head and that
was what seemed most important. If I
say yes, I will live forever, but would I want to live as a Vampire?
The answer was “No.”
Tommy looked at his friend? and said, “ No. I
don’t want to live forever. Just as long as I am supposed to.”
Pierre leaned back and nodded slowly. He reached
for the door handle and pulled the knob. The door opened slightly, sending a
blast of cold air into the car. Tommy took the fresh air in a large gulp,
realizing how much he needed fresh air.
“Okay then, my friend.”
Pierre extended a cold hand towards Tommy, who
took it gingerly. Tommy was scared that Pierre would yank him forward and
bite him anyway. But, it didn’t happen. He shook his hand, one quick and
firm pump, and then exited the car.
Tommy sat alone in the BMW, and took a deep
breath. He opened the window on his side and relished the fresh, cold night
air as it flooded the front of the car. He took breaths in large, greedy
gulps, seeming to be incapable of filling his lungs. After a moment, he
began to get his wits about him and a single thought occurred. Sara.
Pierre knows about Sara, and he’ll get her!
Tommy reached for his seat belt and extended it
across his broad chest. He was
going to have to drive fast if he was going to have time to find Sara and
warn her about Pierre. What the hell
would he say? Oh , hey, your boyfriend, yeah, he’s a vampire. And, oh
yeah, he knows that you fucked some other guy!
It didn’t matter what he said, as long as he
tried.
He reached for the gear knob, and felt a cold hand
around his neck. He looked all the way down that long arm to which the hand
belonged and really wasn’t a bit surprised to see Pierre standing outside
the car, his teeth long again, and his eyes as red as blood.
Before he could think a single thought, he was
yanked out of the car and was hanging in the air, looking down at the
malicious eyes of his former friend as they glowed in the snow blistered
darkness.
“I thought you said I could live?” Tommy asked
in a desperate plea to his old friend.
Pierre pulled him close and said, “I said that
you could live forever or die by someone else’s choosing, someone else’s
hand.”
Tommy shook his head vigorously. He wanted to
live. He didn’t want to die like this. He didn’t want to be killed by
Pierre, his friend, and a vampire.
“I said you would die by another’s hand, and
the time would be at another’s choice. That hand is mine, and the time I
choose, is now!”
Tommy could feel Pierre’s warm lips pressed over
his neck. His skin popped like a plastic bag, and sudden warmth flooded down
his neck. It hurt worse than anything Tommy had ever felt before did. And
then, it didn’t hurt anymore.
©2003 StoriesByEmail.com
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