I was fifteen when I died.
I was in the car with my mom, Sheila, and my stepdad, Robert. We were driving home from Robert’s cabin north of Canada. Mom and Robert were arguing in the front seat; Mom wasn’t pleased that we had to cut our vacation short because Robert’s boss had called him and told him to cover someone else’s shift at the construction site. It had been several months since Robert had started his job as a contractor, and he didn’t want to be on his boss’ bad side, so he obliged. So, on the road we were, in the middle of the night.
I tuned out their arguments by plugging the headphones into my ears and putting the music on full blast. My mom and Robert got along fine and I guess he was alright. I mean, he took good care of my mom and deep down I wanted her to be happy, but I absolutely hated it when they argued.
This little cabin trip had been Robert’s idea to kindle our relationship. Mom had been thrilled, but I was less enthusiastic. I complained that I had plans for something else already, but after some convincing from Mom, I grudgingly complied. So, Robert was just as miffed as Mom that we had to cut our efforts so short.
“Bob, watch out!” Mom’s sudden scream pulled me from the rock music pounding in my ears.
He thrust his foot down on the brakes. The car came to a screeching halt a couple of yards in front of a heap on the road.
“Oh my god,” Mom gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “I-is that a person?”
The headlights from the car shone down on a big man, sprawled face down on the asphalt. He wasn’t moving.
“What happened?” I asked annoyed, having slipped down on the car floor in the abrupt stop. I gazed through the windshield, spotting the man. “Is he dead?”
Mom’s worried eyes darted between me and Robert. “Should we call 911?”
Robert shook his head slightly. “Wait here,” he said as he opened the door and slipped out from his seat. “I’m going to see if he’s all right.”
“No!” Mom tugged at his sleeve. “Stay here, with us.”
I understood Mom’s fear. My mind was already filling up with stories and urban legends of some crazed man who stopped unsuspecting people on the road and then butchered them in tiny little pieces. A lot of people have gone missing on the highway. What if one of us would become one of them?
“I agree with Mom,” I said, my eyes fixed on the immobile body. Sweat dripped down my back from trepidation. “Let’s just leave him and get the fuck outta here.”
Robert narrowed his brows before he shook his head. “I’ll be fine,” he began walking cautiously toward the big man.
Mom bit her lower lip. Then she opened the passenger door, letting herself out into the night.
“Mom!” I protested, sitting straighter in my seat. “What are you doing?”
Mom shushed me. “I’m going with Robert.” She quietly closed the door, leaving me alone in the car.
Defenseless. That’s what I felt as I watched both approach the man. I chewed on my nails as Robert knelt to check the man’s vitals, placing two fingers upon the man’s neck. Mom was close by, hugging herself against the autumn Yukon cold.
“He’s got a pulse,” Robert shouted.
Mom’s shoulders sag in relief.
I exhaled, realizing I had been holding my breath the entire time.
Mom was about to punch in nine-one-one on her phone when it happened.
The man got to his feet in record speed. He grabbed Robert by the shoulder with one hand and with the other, snapped his neck. Mom screamed. The man threw the lifeless body of her lover away like a piece of log and turned to her. She scrambled backwards, tripped, and fell on her butt. The night filled with her screams. The man grabbed Mom’s leg and drew her closer to him. Her pleas transformed into hysterical sobs. With one of his gigantic hands, he secured both of Mom’s and then pulled her closer. He locked his teeth—his really sharp teeth—on Mom’s throat.
The last gleam from Mom’s eyes slowly faded away. Her screams dissolved into gurgles. That monster held her tightly, in a gruesome death’s embrace, hungrily sucking her blood.
I couldn’t move. My own screams were lost in my throat. My face was wet with tears. The man stood up and dropped the corpse of my mother on the ground. She was joined with Robert’s lifeless, broken body.
I jerked awake when he approached the car. He was a big man, maybe around 6 feet tall. His gut was round, but his arms and legs had muscles that pulsed with each movement. His face was obscured by an auburn beard and shoulder-length, unruly hair. Even his eyebrows were thick and grisly. If a bear ever transformed into a semi-human, it would look like that man. Heart hammering in my chest, I crawled into the front passenger seat and quickly locked both doors. I looked around for the man, but he wasn’t in front of the car.
A horrifying screech filled the car and then metal grinding together as the passenger door opened. The man’s dark and frenzied eyes found me frozen in the seat. He made to grab me. I screamed and threw my phone in his face. I backed away closer to the driver’s seat’s window. The man snarled ferociously and grabbed my leg with such strength I thought he had crushed my ankle. In one fluid motion, he threw me out of the car.
My back collided against the gravel by the road. The wind was knocked out of me. I struggled to regain my breath. Suddenly, the man was right on top of me.
How did he get here so fast?
He tried to secure me in the same way as he had done with Mom. I kicked and punched as hard as I could. I managed to wrestle with the man for a while, but he was bigger and stronger. He landed blows after blows to my stomach and face. Every bone in my body felt like breaking in pieces.
I had been in fights before, even broken my arm once in a fight between a guy who had been twice as tall as me, but this was unbearable. With each blow to my chest and back, my lungs released every pump of air out of me. My stomach relieved me of its contents. I wanted him to stop, to just get it over with but clearly, he wasn’t done with me.
He grabbed my hair and pulled me up. I glimpsed the sight of his jagged, shark-like teeth before he plunged them into my throat. Blood gushed out my wound, spilling down my neck. I should have felt pain, but instead I had an odd feeling of bliss.
The images of a great, wide tunnel in shining light didn’t appear before me as I laid on the uncomfortable gravel. I didn’t hear any voice of God that beckoned me to come to His side. What I did feel was my own ragged breath. My lungs that desperately tried to retrieve air. My primal urge to remain alive on this God-forsaken planet.
Blood flowed freely down to my chest. Coldness crept over me. My eyelids threatened to close at any moment. My ears were occupied by the sounds of my thumping heart, desperately pumping blood into the open, exposed vein on my neck. I felt the man’s presence beside me.
“You’re a pretty little thing, sweetheart,” he said in a grisly voice. “I’d hate to see you go.”
Through my blurred vision, I saw the man bite hard into his own wrist. His blood dripped down his arm. He forced the wrist up to my mouth.
“Drink it,” he growled.
It was disgusting. The blood tasted like bile. I had no choice but to swallow. My pulse slowed. My eyelids shut down. Ice encircled me. Everything became dark. I couldn’t see anything, not even my own hands.
Then, an electrical current surged through me. My body writhed on the ground like an injured snake. My voice came out in a gurgled cry. I thrashed all over the place, my muscles spasming. My bones creaked. My ligaments twitched. The veins beneath my skin wriggled like maggots. My heart was near to bursting. The gaping wound on my neck throbbed horribly. My teeth were giving me agonizing headaches. It felt as if the dentist was taking sheer pleasures in drilling your teeth all the way into your gums without any anesthetic. Take this pain away from me. Let me die.
*****
I opened my eyes. Darkness greeted me once again.
But I was somewhere else. The ground felt smooth, but cold. I wasn’t outside anymore.
I rose and felt around for the wound on my neck. It was gone. Healed, it seemed.
Suddenly, I keeled over, holding my stomach. I felt hungry but it was hunger like I had never experienced before. I felt it in my entire being. It echoed loudly within my body. I was hollow from deep within and I needed to fill it with something. I had to find food and fast!
A delicious smell tickled my nose. Saliva gathered in my mouth. I sniffed the air. In the middle of the room was a small, square table. On top of it was the source of the tantalizing scent. Like a starving beast I ran toward the table, snatched the plastic bag from it and ripped into it with my salivating mouth. Liquid burst out of the bag. I tried with all my might to catch every drop into my mouth. I sucked hungrily from the bag. It was so sweet, so supple that I wasn’t even aware that I was moaning. I squeezed the bag empty.
My hunger finally sated, I looked around. My senses were heightened. The room was pitch black, but I could see perfectly well. There was a bluish tint around the things, like when seen through sunglasses. My mouth, or more like my teeth, ached horribly. I pressed my fingers gingerly to my teeth and winced. I drew them away and saw droplets of blood—darker than usual—seep from small wounds on my fingertips. My ears picked up the electricity humming within the house. A slow, methodic heartbeat drummed inside the room.
“You finally awake?” a gruff voice asked behind me.
I turned around and saw the man who had attacked me. His beard was matted in dried blood. My blood.
“Where am I?” My eyes never left off my assailant and kidnapper.
“My living quarters,” the man said, smirking. “You’re going to be staying with me now, sweetheart.”
“Why?”
The man leaned in close. He gave me a toothy, sinister smile. “Because I made you as one of my own.”
I ran my tongue across my teeth. I looked down at the torn bag at my feet and noticed that it was a blood bag. Marked O+ on the side. The sweet taste of the blood still lingered on my tongue.
“You made me a vampire.” I stated matter-of-factly, gazing up at the man. “What about my mom? And Robert?”
He snorted. “Dead.”
Spittle built up in the corner of my mouth. Of course. The bastard killed them. Left them to rot on the side of the Yukon road. I barreled toward him, a shriek tearing my throat. His laugh filled the room before he grabbed my hair and slammed me against the wall.
I gasped, stars popping within my blurred vision. My breath was caught short when he clutched my mouth.
“There’s no way you can take me on, dumbass. They’re dead and you’re going to accept that.” He snarled, his foul breath choking me.
“Fuck you!” I hissed as I tried kicking him in the crotch.
My head slammed against the wall for the second time. It made a dent in it. Something wet ran down behind my ear.
“I’m your bloodfather now, and you will do as I say. You’re mine. Don’t you forget that.” He dropped me on the floor. He made to leave, but not before delivering a fierce kick up my abdomen.
Coughing and retching, I made a feeble attempt at crawling after him. Even though I’d become a bloodsucker, I would not stay here with that monster. He smirked and locked the reinforced steel door.
There was an ache in the back of my throat. A lump that threatened to lodge itself there. My eyes burned as I bowed my head.
Orphaned, alone and trapped inside, at the hands of a beast.
What cruel fate awaited me?
THE END
Villimey Mist has always been fascinated by vampires and horror, ever since she watched Bram Stoker’s Dracula when she was a curious, little girl.
She loves to read and create stories that pop into her head unannounced.
She lives in Iceland with her husband and two cats, Skuggi and RoboCop, and is often busy drawing or watching the latest shows on Netflix.
She has written a vampire horror series with the first two books out on Amazon:
The third book, Nocturnal Salvation, will come out in January 2021.
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