Chapter Five: Bloody Footprints:

-Lauren-

I keep hearing voices.

I don’t know if I’m going crazy or not. I think I’m to be sick. Bet I probably look like a sight right now. My head hasn’t stopped hurting for days and I’m always. The more blood I drink, the more it isn’t enough. Those people did this to me.

I sat under a dumpster, shaking. How many people have I killed? How many times have I been shot at? Everyone won’t stop chasing me. I bit down on my hand.

I want to go home.

Lauren. Lauren.

I lifted my head. There it was again. Who’s there? What do they want with me?

Lauren!

“Who are you? What do you want from me?” I didn’t dare to move. What if this me losing my mind? What if it was a trap? I pulled my knees tighter to my chest.

Now, now. I just want to talk.

I froze. “Why?”

You interest me. How can you walk around during the day without burning up?

“You’ve been watching me?

I watch everything in the world. You just caught my attention. What exactly happened to you?

I didn’t dare to move. Could I trust him? It couldn’t have been that man who kidnapped me with his wife. Those people were human.

“Tell me who you are first.”

Oh, I apologize. The name’s Doyle.

“Where are you?”

Brooklyn.

“How are you talking to me this far away?”

We’re vampires, remember?

I rubbed my forehead. “That sort of thing is possible?” I looked out in the alleyway from under the trash bin. A couple walked by, staring at me. I could smell their blood from where I was. I’ve already eaten, but why do I still have to have more? I just wanted to stop and not have to feed for one moment.

So strange. How long have you been turned?

“Fifteen years.”

You sure about that? You act like you have just been turned.

“It’s not my fault! I was kidnapped and made this way!”

Oh, so that’s why you are able to walk around in the sun.

“Yes!” I lay on my side in a little ball. “I hate what they turned me into! I’m hungry all the time. I keep attacking people for blood. The cops keep chasing and shooting at me. My face is even all over the news.” I grabbed hold of my hair.

“I just want to go back to being me!” I screamed and gritted my teeth.

That’s where I can hold you.

I jerked my eyes wide open. Did I just hear that right? I want to believe him, but something doesn’t feel right. Who was this man?

“Why would you want to do that?” I asked. “What makes me so special?” His laugh made my spine freeze.

It’s like I said, you interest me. Now, shall I come to you or do you want to come to me? I shook my head.

“I… I don’t know,” I said. “Why should I even trust you?”

Because you are desperate, are you not?

“Well… yes, but…”

But?

“I don’t even know you. You could be trying to use me for your own means.”

And what if I’m not? What choice do you have? I thought you wanted to stop running from the police and being hungry all the time. I thought you wanted the old you back. Isn’t that what you told me?

I bit down on my lower lip. The smell of nearby blood made things even worse. “Well, yes…”

Then, what do you have to lose? You know what, I decided that I’m going to come to you instead. I don’t think you can make it farther than that block from where you’re cowering.

“Wait… Brooklyn’s really far away. How are you going to come to me?” I asked. “And how did you know where I was?”

Didn’t I tell you before? I can see you perfectly even as I sleep. Don’t worry about how I’m going to get you. You just don’t go anywhere. It was hard enough to pin down your location just today. I will be seeing you real soon.

“Hey, wait a minute!” I shouted. For the first time in days, my head was silent. Who was that guy? I didn’t have a good feeling about this. And I’m hungry again.