Chapter Twenty Eight - Part Two

Maxwell

Well, she took it better than I thought. She’s still not happy with how things turned out, but then again neither am I. It doesn’t take much to put a list together of things she needs to ‘vampire proof’ her house. Since I still have a few hours before Charlie comes home, I call Grace.

“So what’s the new word?” Grace bellows into the phone.

“I found out who was after Charlie.”

“Do tell.”

“Henry.”

“Henry as in—” She starts to say, but I interrupt her.

“Oh yes, our dear friend Henry. Turns out he blamed me for Prue killing herself to get away from him and he…he set out to kill Charlie with the help of his bride, who is now a vampire by the way.”

“Charlie’s fine, though, right?”

I’m at a loss for words.

“Maxwell? Charlie’s okay, right?” Her nervous tone echoes in my head.

“Not exactly.”

“Please tell me he didn’t kill her.”

“Oh, he killed her. But I saved her.”

A sharp intake of breath sounds over the phone. “She’s…one of us now?”

“Yeah. And of course she’s upset with me for not letting her die.”

“Typical Charlie.” I might not be able to see her, but I know she has a smile on her face. “So what happened to Henry and this bride of his?”

“His bride, Daisy…not sure, she slipped through my fingers and disappeared. If she’s smart, she’ll never show her face to Charlie or myself again. As for Henry, he’s dead thanks to you.”

“The device.” She doesn’t wait for me to answer. “Do not tell anyone you used that. It’s a secret and when the time comes I’ll tell you more, but until then zip it.”

I don’t understand what the big deal is. Where did she get it from anyways? Who was producing such a thing and how many vampires had it been tested on to see if it worked?

Grace’s lecture continues before I have a chance to interject. “Now, to make things a little easier, I’ll tell Benjamin you need the names and locations of your new donors. It might take a while, meaning she’ll already be turned before I’ll have the list, but it’s the most I can do for now since I’m not there to help her…to help you. Just keep her calm and occupied and the both of you will get through this just fine. She’s scared, is all. Do you not remember being scared too? It was a nice chat, but I got to go for this whole trial thing.”

I barely have time to say goodbye before she hangs up. I can’t believe she’s still a part of that trail with Benjamin. How long does it take to convict Emma and be done with it? I know I should be more thoughtful, but I need help with Charlie and I know Grace is the only one who can talk some sense into her.

The rest of the day goes by extremely slow and boring as I wait for Charlie to return. I nearly fall asleep from boredom. Thankfully, the sounds of her huffs can be heard outside the door. Before she pounds on it impatiently, I open it. She barges in and throws her purse on the table before she falls into one of the chairs.

“I take it work didn’t go that well,” I say, trying to get her to talk through her frustration.

“Oh, it actually went better than I planned only because I didn’t have to think of a lie. She confronted me…she called me out and told me how I can continue to work through my ‘condition’.” She holds up her hands and puts imaginary quotation marks around ‘condition’.

I ignore her calling her soon-to-be death as a human and birth as a vampire a condition. “What’s the brilliant idea? Because I know it has to be brilliant since it came from a girl who confronted you when she knew that one day soon you could kill her in an instant.” I see the look of torment on her face as I say that last part. “I didn’t mean that you will, just that you could…if you wanted to.” Nothing I say is making this conversation better.

“You’re saying I’m going to be a savage? Is that it?” Fear distorts her voice.

By opening my mouth I only made things worse. “No, you’ll feel hungry, but nothing more than what a human would feel when they’re hungry. Crazed blood lust is a rare occurrence. You’ll have plenty of blood already within your body to survive. However, you’ll have to make a relationship or I should say friendship with our donors so when you do need to eat they’ll be more willing to supply.”

“Great…that’s just fantastic. Can we talk about something else besides eating people?”

“I completed the list you asked for of items to revamp your house.” A smile forms, half cocked on my face at my joke.

“Very funny. Give it here.” She holds out her hand, waiting for the piece of paper.

I hand it to her and she starts rattling off all the items. “Really good blinds, dark colored curtains…that’s it? I mean, I knew that, but I was expecting more. Maybe tomorrow I’ll make a trip to pick the items up and then we can go to my house and put it all up.”

“Anything you want. I can let them know at the front desk that I won’t be in need of this suite in the matter of a few days. It might also help you change in your own home as well.”

I see her exhale harshly as if it took a lot to release after hearing my words. “So now all we can do is wait?” she says, more to herself than to me.

“I wish there was more, but yes…all we can do is wait. At least we won’t have to wait long. Only another two or three days.”

“I didn’t even realize I’m going to miss the party this Sunday. I’ll have to call Morgan and set something up, preferably without Dave. I don’t need to explain myself to him too.”

“That would be best. The transition varies, Charlie, you could not change for a week. Grace turned two days after she was turned by Benjamin. As for me, I turned eight days later. Some people think that’s because I fought it as long as I could, because like you I didn’t want this life. We can’t take any chances that you start the change during the day unless you’re with Morgan, but that’s the last resort. It isn’t up for any more debate.”

Her voice is a faint whisper as she shows a timid side that I rarely ever see. “What’s going to happen to me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Maxwell, don’t act stupid with me, I deserve to know. Is it going to hurt?” I can tell she’s scared not just by the look on her face, but the sound of her words that she can barely speak.

“We’ll wait until the time comes.” I refuse to tell her. She has no idea what she’s in for and I’m not looking forward to informing her. The change is ultimately your humanity dying and it isn’t easy for anyone to experience their life slowly die away, leaving you an empty shell.

Her eyes squint with anger as she bolts up from her chair and stalks over to me. She pokes her finger in my chest as she bluntly says what’s on her mind. “Now you listen here, I’m going to die and I think I should know how it’s going to happen. You might not want me to know, but I need to prepare myself, I need to be ready in some sort of way, because let’s face it, when it happens I’ll be anything but ready. It’s nothing but a mystery and seems unreal right now. I need to fear it or I’ll just be overloaded when it takes place, so please be honest with me. What’s going to happen?”

I meet her gaze, staring at her for a few seconds before I speak. “It’s similar to falling asleep, but you’ll be able to feel your heart slow, you’ll be able to feel your breathing lessen. Your vision and hearing will fail, leaving you in the dark to gradually slip into slumber just before your heart stops. It doesn’t necessarily hurt, it’s just…scary.” I describe the details about my personal experience as I allow those bad memories to play behind my eyes.

I see dread fill her face, so I take her hands in mine just before a tear escapes her eye. Engulfing her in a hug, one hand holds her head to my chest as the other rubs her back. “I’ll be there when it happens and I’ll be there when you wake up. Just think of it like you’re going to sleep for the night and you’ll wake up in the morning like usual.”

Her sobs get louder and I can begin to feel the wetness of her tears on my T-shirt. It’s better if she gets it out now and faces the worse that’s to come head-on. She can do this…then again she has to.

Just as fast as she broke down, she recovers and pulls out of my grasp. She furiously wipes at the tears that streak her face as if they’re acid burning her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get all crybaby on you.”

“You’re apologizing for crying? You don’t have to say you’re sorry for being scared. If it makes it any better, I was beyond terrified and I didn’t have anybody to help me through it.” Without wanting to, I continue to go down memory lane. “I was locked in an underground cell of sorts almost instantly after I was forced to ingest his blood. I screamed and dug at the dirt walls for days I refused to die, but once I began to feel my organs start to shut down I welcomed death with the promise of getting revenge…somehow…somewhere…sometime in this never-ending life, I would get revenge.”

Her hand goes over her mouth from shock at my horrid past. I don’t bother to tell her that I had one person help me through it. Henry. We went through a lot together and his betrayal hurts, but I guess my betrayal to him hurt him too.

“I got past it, though, and years later I met Grace.”

“Is that why you killed him, Cornelius?”

“I was never convicted of killing him,” I say abruptly, trying to cover my tracks.

“Don’t get all I’m innocent with me, I read the book. I’m not pointing fingers, but from what I read he deserved it. I would’ve done the same,” she admits.

I give her an inquiring look. “Are you saying something that I should be paying closer attention to?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you. I might be angry at all of this, but I know it’s not your fault. I’m sorry you had to go through that and I’m sorry for being so—”

“No need to apologize. That was just how a majority of people behaved back then and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure my past isn’t your future. Now, what do you want to do with the rest of our night? I have something in mind if you can’t think of anything,” I say, changing the subject with a rise of my eyebrows.

Her laugh fills the room as well as a dull thump as she hits my chest with her palm. “The stores are still open. We could go shopping tonight instead of tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders, walking beside her as she heads to the door. “Maybe pick up some dinner on the way to your place?”

She nods her head in agreement. “Some burgers and fries.”

“Whatever you want.” The mention of food makes me hungry as well, but her blood is useless to me now since it’s infected with vampire blood. Vampires bite other vampires as a sign of intimacy on a much deeper level than vampires biting a human. Therefore, that list of names is just as important to me as it is to Charlie.