A Vampire's Prisoner (Part 13)

-Chapter 13-
The next few days passed by in a blur. A blur of fever, coughing, and some insanely serious stomach issues.
Groaning, Kasey turned over in her bed- sweating and fidgeting and whimpering like a little kid with a cold. Only Kasey didn't have a cold. She was dying. Or felt like she was, anyway. "Daemon!" she whined, picking at the sheets with her fingernails. "I don't feel gooooooood!"
The vampire merely nodded understandingly and placed a glass of water on the nightstand beside her. Ever since that one fateful night a few days ago, Kasey had been bedridden with a horrible fever. Her insides felt like they were on fire; she couldn't keep even the smallest portion of food down long enough to keep from starving. With a moan, she buried her head beneath her pillow. "Thanks for the water." she murmured. "I'd ask for something to eat, but that'd be stupid." She groaned again. "I don't feel good!"
"I know, I know..." Daemon answered. "Now you know what it feels like for us everyday. Although not quite so severe..."
Glaring, Kasey tossed a pillow his way. He ducked out of the way and was soon beside her bed. "You're not a very good patient." he remarked with a dry smile. "I feel bad for your doctors."
"Shut up! You're not helping..." Suddenly she stopped. Stopped talking, stopped breathing, stopped moving and just laid there, staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes. A surge of gut-wrenching pain paralyzed her for a split second as waves of fire swept through her insides. Once it subsided, she gasped. Chest heaving and eyes brimmed with water, she bit down on her bottom lip. "It hurts." she whimpered. 'Hurt' was an understatement. It killed. This was her third day of laying in bed, dying, with nothing to do but wait for it all to stop. She wriggled back beneath the covers and curled up into a feverish ball.
"Just try to get some sleep, okay?" she heard Daemon say softly, pressing a hand to her forehead. Murmuring something unintelligible, Kasey closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, savoring the cool sensation his skin had against hers. She frowned when it slipped away and she was left with a pillow against her cheek. She liked feeling Daemon better.
She hated being sick. She had hated it with a passion ever since second grade when a surprise flu prevented her from attending the class trip to the Jelly Bean Factory. That day, while her friends were getting free bags of jelly beans, she was stuck in bed pulling the heads off her Barbie dolls. (Hey, she needed to take her anger out on SOMETHING; better dolls than the cat.) Only this time, she knew it wasn't the flu. Grimacing at the thought, she remembered what she had been told the explanation was for her sudden illness. Three days ago, around the first wave of nausea, Sephan had told her.
"I think I'm dying." she had moaned, laying face down on the couch and clutching her stomach. It had hit her as sudden as a freight train, and just as hard. She couldn't help but wonder if Cal had done something to poison her...maybe he had slipped her some cyanide and the effects of the toxin were just now starting to show...
Interrupting her thoughts of conspiracy, Sephan had said simply, "You're not dying...that's just the result of mixing my blood with yours. I know, sucks, doesn't it?"
Still swallowing down the urge to vomit, she lifted her head from the cushions and tossed Sephan a wild look. "What?!"
"I told you it would hurt. I also told you not to eat anything in the next 24 hours. Not that you listened, or anything... Why listen to me? It's not like I know anything about vampirism..."
Kasey just stared blankly at him for a minute, then let her head fall back onto the couch. "What's happening to me?" she breathed. Something inside her felt like it was dissolving; like it was burning up in acid. She scowled at the mental images that flashed across her closed eyelids.
"Oh, it's nothing major." he assured her, distracted as he searched the living room for something. "Think of it as the flu."
"This is not the flu!" Kasey shouted. "I've had the flu; ask my second grade teacher. I know what the flu is! THIS IS NOT THE FLU!" With a groan of shameless self-pity, she resumed her tossing and turning on the couch.
Sephan sighed, flipped shut a cabinet beside the TV that he had been inspecting, and answered with frustration, "No, that's not what I mean. I meant that it's like any other illness: your body's natural defense system is fighting off the virus and making you feel miserable in the process. But it's not going to kill you, don't worry. Just like the flu, your white blood cells are fighting off the poison. You'll be fine in a few days. Damn it, where did he put it..."
"Where did who put what? And you mean I have...like...the vampire poison in me?" She shuddered at the thought. The blood-decaying toxin that made Cal so dead was inside her; flowing through her veins. It sparked a sickening feeling of panic. "...I thought you said you had never done this kind of thing before. How are you so sure about all of this? And...God, I'm not going to turn into a vampire or anything, am I?"
Sephan shrugged. "It's just common sense. And no- it takes WAY more than that to turn someone into a vampire." With a laugh, he finished, "Most vampires don't even know how!" That said, he disappeared around the corner into the kitchen.
"How can you not know how?" Kasey shouted after him. "I mean, it can't be all that hard. Bite, suck, turn. Where exactly does it get complicated?"
"It's like a snake bite." she heard him say between the sounds of more opening and closing cupboards. "Or spider, take your pick. The biting part is easy, but the rest? It's a little hard to figure out how to work it. Not to mention, you'd better know exactly what you're doing or you'll end up giving them too much poison and killing them. It's very tricky." Taking a quick look back out into the living room, he asked innocently, "By the way, you wouldn't have happened to see a lighter anywhere around here, have you?"
Kasey shook her head.
"Damn it! Where the hell did he put it?" He disappeared back into the kitchen, followed closely by the sound of opening drawers. "I'm so setting fire to his car after this."
"...so, it's not just 'I bite you, you bite me', then?" Kasey called, trying to take her mind off the internal battle going on in her veins.
Sephan called back, "Ha, right...if that were the case, there would be an over abundance of vampires and not enough blood to go around. The only reason that hasn't happened is because turning someone is so hard to do." He slipped back into the living room for a split-second to ask desperately, "Are you sure you haven't seen a lighter? Or matches? Or anything even remotely flammable?"
"...no...why are you looking for them...?"
"Daemon did something with them. Damn him. And I could really use some stress-relief right now..." Stopping suddenly, he turned his attention to Kasey. "By the way, I'm sorry you're feeling so miserable... If it helps any, it was either do this or let you die. And I couldn't do the latter. Love me anyway?" He flashed an innocent grin that Kasey, even in her pain, couldn't help but nod to. "I know..." she went on, rolling over on her side as another wave of nausea sunk her into teeth-gritting misery. "And thank you for that, by the way. I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes."
"Don't mention it." he replied, suddenly leaning over the couch and flashing her the most comforting smile someone with razor-sharp fangs can give. "I like you; you remind me a lot of someone I used to know. It's nice having you around. Besides, I can't possibly let you die here. That would go against the promise."
Kasey looked up. She had always noticed that the dark rings around Sephan's eyes were darker than the others, but at the moment they looked particularly dark. Maybe it was just the lighting...or maybe it was something different. She frowned.
"You'll be fine in a few days," the vampire continued. "Just think of it like the flu."
Kasey nodded half-heartedly, but her frown didn't fade. "It's just creepy to think that there's vampire venom inside of me...I don't like it."
With a small smile and almost empty eyes, he murmured, "Don't forget, darling, you're not the only one. I'm just as much a vampire as Cal is. As is Daemon."
Kasey nodded and laughed dryly. She found herself on her back, now- staring upward and clutching her stomach. She smirked, "I don't know whether that means I shouldn't blame vampirism for how Cal is; or if it means I can't trust any of you."
With an almost regretful tone, he answered, "Both."
That had been three days ago. Three days...and she was still bound in feverish agony. Only now it went beyond throwing up. Now she really did feel like she was dying. If this was what only a little bit of venom did, she couldn't even begin to imagine the pain that went into being turned. Laying in her bed, eyes red and puffy and lips painfully dry, she thought. Thought about her mom, about how traumatized she must be from having her youngest daughter disappear while in her care... Kasey winced at the memory of how panicked and hysterical her mom had gotten when Kasey had gotten lost at Disney Land when she was five. After a good 20 minutes of exploring the princess-themed gift shop and a very alluring neon-green Tinkerbell costume inside, a security person finally found the oblivious toddler and reunited her with her mother. Kasey couldn't remember anything from that trip so long ago, other than crying in her picture with Mickey Mouse and her hysterical mother sweeping her little five-year-old self into her arms and crushing her in a hug; half-sobbing-half-whispering to her how much it would kill her to ever lose her daughter again. Typical mom-drama, Kasey had always thought when she looked back on the incident. But now...maybe not so much. Kasey's stomach tightened, only this time not from sickness. She missed her mom. Very much. She could only imagine what chaos there was at home. It took everything she had not to cry.
Sighing, the distraught and dismal teenager snuggled deep underneath the blankets and let herself drift off into a feverish sleep of nightmares and memories.
**********
Kasey wasn't sure what woke her up first. The tossing and turning, the bed sheets wrapped like tentacles around her entrapped arms and legs, or the coughing. It was probably a mixture of the three that shook her back awake hours later and forced her up to cough like crazy. Coughing soon turned into gagging, and Kasey found herself springing up and shoving away from her bed to stumble away on wobbly legs for the bathroom. She nearly crashed into Sephan, who caught her before she could go tumbling backward onto the floor.
"In a hurry?" he asked, gently holding her up by her arm as she steadied out. Kasey squeezed her eyes shut, leaning into Sephan, until the nausea passed. Sighing, she pulled herself up and nodded. "I think I'm dying, though."
"...still that bad?"
Grimacing, she nodded. Lips pressed firmly together to prevent any nasty accidents, she hummed out a grim, "Mmmhmm." Her frown deepened when she realized something different about Sephan. He looked...strange. His skin had turned, if it was possible, even more ashy than usual. The shadows around his eyes were positively black, and his eyes bloodshot. He looked sick; even more so than Kasey was. "You okay?" she asked hesitantly.
He nodded. "Fine, thanks. But you kind of look like you're going to faint. Maybe standing in the hallway isn't the best idea...?"
Nodding absently, Kasey didn't move; only stared off into space. Sephan stared at her, head tilted to the side, and tried to hide a smile. "...were you planning on doing something about that anytime soon?" he asked smoothly.
Snapped out of her daze, Kasey replied with a quick nod. "Oh...yeah, bed...right...what time is it?"
"Mmm...about 2:00, I'd say." Sephan answered, gently leading her back to her room. She stumbled behind, feeling an awfully lot like an injured elephant in comparison to Sephan's graceful steps. As he led her along, she noted mentally that all of the vampires moved like that...too swift and light to make a sound, and much too eerie for Kasey's taste. With a frown, she realized something else. It was 2:00 in the afternoon; a time that, for vampires, was reserved for sleeping. Or did vampires sleep at all? Tired and sick, Kasey mumbled out a barely-coherent, "Sephan, do vampires sleep?"
His answer was simple: light and airy like it always was...which didn't quite seem to fit with what he said. "Of course we do. In the daytime, most usually. Late in the afternoon to you is more like late at night for us."
Kasey screwed her eyebrows together and tried to piece together what he had said. "But..." she started, "then why are you awake? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"
"Oh, I don't sleep." Pushing open her door, he led her inside. Kasey sat down on her bed, but had no intention of going to sleep. "Why?" she demanded, becoming frustrated with his cryptic replies. "...don't you get tired?"
Sephan didn't seem to pick up on how frustrated she was. Or maybe he was just ignoring her. Either way, he answered just as lightly as before, "Extremely. I just don't sleep."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"It doesn't have to. I just don't."
Kasey found herself lying on her back, staring up into darkness with an aggravated scowl. "But WHY?"
"Too many memories." His voice was different, now. It was stained by something dark and...sorry? "Too many things I regret... Sometimes the past refuses to die, you know. Sometimes it stays and haunts you. You really should go back to sleep."
The lacey pink lamp beside her bed switched off, and Kasey was rendered blind. "You really piss me off sometimes." she growled. "It's like you're TRYING to irritate me!"
"Oh, you love me and you know it. Now seriously- go to sleep. We don't need you wandering around the house when we're not awake." His voice gave away his position by the door. With lightening fast reflexes Kasey grabbed a pillow and thrust it his way, but heard it hit the wall instead. Sighing, she murmured, "I hate vampires."
"And they hate you too. Which is why you feel so sick in the first place."
Kasey quickly sat up and protested, "It's not MY fault Cal hates me! He's insane!" Waving her arms in the air to emphasize her point, she fell back with an angry groan. "...where is Cal, anyhow?"
"Gone."
She sat up again. Not that it did any good, being that the only thing she could see was Sephan's graceful form half-silhouetted by the dim lighting coming from the hallway. The darkness didn't deter her urgency, though. "But where is 'gone'...?" The blood-red stains splattered against the living room wall played an uneasy part in the scenario unfolding in her mind. "Is he...dead?" Would Daemon really kill him? He had known Cal much longer than he had known Kasey. Would he really...murder him? A shot through the skull and... Kasey tried to stifle a grin. As twisted as it was, she couldn't help but derive a sick pleasure out of the fact that she ranked above Cal in Daemon's book.
"Take THAT, you sonofabitch vampire!" she proclaimed inwardly. "Who's laughing now, eh Cal?" She giggled contentedly, then stopped and made a disgusted face. "Great- now I'm about as disturbed as he is. I really need to get out more."
**********
Sleepy days faded into antsy nights. Cal still remained suspiciously absent. Taro only showed up once in a while; each time only to slip some vodka out of the kitchen and take off again. He avoided Kasey at all costs. Only once had she actually seen him, and that was when she ran into him on the staircase. They stared at each other for a split second, equally startled, before slipping past without a word exchanged and disappearing. Neither of them wanted to speak to the other, because neither knew what to say. That was the last time she saw him.
As promised, Kasey slowly got better. Sephan didn't. As the teenager's symptoms vanished and she regained her usual fire, Sephan only seemed to get worse. His skin had become as faded and fragile as tissue paper. She was afraid it would tear if she touched it. His eyes were dark and hollow, and his veins stood out in an ethereal contrast that created inky lines running through his paper-thin skin. He reminded Kasey of a broken doll, with empty eye sockets and cracked porcelain skin, like the old antique dolls her grandmother used to keep stored up in the attic. It both frightened and worried her. The fact that his oddly light behavior never faltered seemed to make it worse. He reminded her of a living-dead doll. Whenever she asked him about it, he merely shrugged it off. "Stop worrying," he would say. "I'm fine." She tried to shrug it off, too, and ignore it; but no matter how hard she tried to scrub it from her mind, it still remained stuck in the back of her subconscious like a blood stain.
Surely it was nothing. Even vampires were entitled to a few sick days, right? Of course. With that established, she moved on to find something to keep herself preoccupied with. Already having explored the house, and bored with TV, she kept herself entertained by playing cards. And losing. Horribly.
"That's it!" she yelled finally, throwing down her cards. She stood up and shoved her chair back in. "I quit! You win! I'm not playing anymore. You're a cheater." This was one in countless games she had played with Sephan. First it was poker, then go-fish, then blackjack, then war, plus numerous others. Currently, the game was old maid. They had ran out of anything else.
"I didn't cheat!" Sephan protested. He pouted innocently. "You're just mad because you lost."
"Thirteen times!" With a frustrated sigh, she kicked the table. "I'm not playing with you anymore. This is getting ridiculous."
Grinning, Sephan teased, "Don't be such a sore loser. I can't help it that I kick your ass at cards."
"SHUT UP!"
Sephan began to reply, grinning deviously, but was interrupted by a fit of coughing. Kasey stopped her fuming. The tension in her muscles relaxed, and suddenly cards didn't seem like a big deal. "Sephan, are you okay?" she asked with a frown.
Still recovering from nearly coughing up a lung, he smiled back at her and replied airily, "I'm fine. Why?"
"You seem...sick." She bit her bottom lip. She was genuinely worried now. He had been coughing for quite a while; but recently he had started coughing up blood. The only things she knew of that caused that were pneumonia, tuberculosis, or something seriously nasty going on inside the lungs- like cancer. None of those options were things she could shrug off. Although that wasn't what had stopped her mid-rant and reverted her back into a state of apprehension. As Sephan had laid his cards back on the table to take a coughing-break, she noticed something wrong on his skin. A dark bruise; something black seeping up through his skin, like a stain, and bleeding through the porcelain like an ink blot would on paper. It was horribly familiar.
Sephan merely waved it away, and continued in a painful whisper, "I'm fine, really. Everything is just wonderful. It's nothing to worry about. Play again?"
Kasey grumbled something under her breath and swiped up her hand of cards. She yanked the chair out with one angry action and took her seat at the table. "I really wish you'd talk to me." she murmured. Her eyes remained fixed on her cards, partially scanning them to look for a course of action and partially looking for an excuse not to let Sephan see the genuine worry in her eyes. "...and stop cheating."
"I don't cheat- I'm just better than you. And I do talk to you. I just don't tell you things you don't need to know. What are we playing?"
"Gin." In all her seventeen years, Kasey had never lost a game of gin. Then again, she had only played with her dad on rainy days, but all that aside she still considered herself a formidable opponent. Shuffling the cards with practiced ease (something she had prided herself on in grade school), she splayed the cards out on the table, gathered them back up in one swoop, and began to deal. "I'm a pro at this game." she remarked snidely. "No WAY will I be losing this one."
Needless to say, Kasey lost.
Twice.
Finally, she gave up. Laying her head against the table's surface, she sat there and sighed. She mumbled three intelligible words: "I hate cards."
***********
When it came to cryptic responses and withheld answers, Daemon was even worse than Sephan was. A few hours of lost games later, Kasey wandered off to find Daemon. Playing any kind of game at all with Sephan was a lost cause. Besides, it killed her to be around him- to see him fading so fast without reason or explanation, and to be able to do absolutely nothing about it. It shouldn't have worried her and she knew it. Sephan was a vampire. He more than anyone would know if everything was okay or not. But still...something pricked at the back of her mind, sending little jabs of sinking feelings shuddering through her skull. It reminded her of the queasy feeling that stirred up in her stomach when she saw car wrecks on the side of the freeway. She hated to look at them. They reminded her of death, pain, and bitter endings. Only now she got that feeling whenever she was around Sephan.
She didn't like it.
It was quite unfortunate that the only other person in the house had an uncanny ability to make things worse.
"I'm worried." Kasey stood before Daemon- eyebrows drawn together in an anxious line and arms crossed in apprehension. She had blocked him off just as he had taken his last silent step off the staircase.
Daemon gave her a dazed look, then answered tiredly, "It's 5:00. If you're about to ask me something, come back in an hour...or three." Swiftly gliding past her, he moved on. Kasey followed.
"It's about Sephan."
The vampire still didn't stop; or even slow his pace. "What about him?"
"I'm worried about him. He's sick, but he keep telling me not to worry."
"Then don't."
"But he's really scaring me now! I think he has something serious!" She grabbed Daemon's arm. He stopped, annoyed, and turned back to her.
"We've got to do something." Kasey muttered gravely. Her voice took a steady climb up the octave scale with each new word. "Something is seriously wrong. I think...I think Sephan is dieing."
Daemon shrugged her panicked grip loose of his arm. His tone remained steady and indifferent as he spoke, "More or less. But you pretty much get the basic concept." That said, he continued towards the kitchen. Kasey stood there gaping. Suddenly, she let out a high-pitched, "WHAT?!" She could see Daemon cringe at the sudden increase in volume.
"Stop screaming." he murmured. "He's fine. Or at least he will be in a few days." His voice faded and ceased. He disappeared into the kitchen. Kasey stood outside, arms crossed and fidgeting as she waited for him to emerge. Anxiously, she ran her hands up and down her arms and sighed. "Will someone please explain what's going on?" she asked a little more quietly. "None of you ever talk to me. I want to know what the hell goes on around here. Why is Sephan so sick?" Her jaw tensed and she swallowed. "...does it have to do with me? With the blood he gave me?"
The tension in the air seemed electric. It kept Kasey's energy super-charged and her mind as uneasy as static. After what seemed like an eternal wait, she heard Daemon's voice call back smoothly, "No, it has nothing to do with that. Don't be so paranoid." He appeared in the kitchen doorway again, a glass of water in his hand. "It's self-induced."
"Self-induced?" She grew more confused by the second. The electricity never left her nerves. "...and that's supposed to mean what?"
The vampire wandered out into the dusky fluorescent light of the living room. He yawned, tired, and replied indifferently, "It means he won't die. Not yet anyway."
"Not yet?!"
He cringed once again at the sharp rise in pitch her voice took. "Calm down, this happens all the time. He'll be fine in a few days."
"Are you sure?" Her voice was shaking. She still wasn't convinced that Sephan was okay- the bruise-like stains on his arm told her that. "...I didn't think vampires could get sick."
"They can't." Daemon paused to twist the cap off a small white bottle. "We can't contract illnesses. The poison is too strong to allow viruses to survive. I told you vampirism had its advantages." With a flick of his wrist he poured a handful of small red capsules into his hand and swallowed them with a sip of water. A glance at Kasey's questioning stare made him smirk and reply smoothly, "Did you think the only way we got blood was from biting naive girls?" He tossed her the bottle, which she caught and swiftly scanned over.
"They're...blood?" she murmured. Gingerly fishing out a capsule, she turned it over in her fingertips. She recognized them- she had stumbled upon similar ones on her first night in the house. She remembered suspecting something sinister the first time she saw them, along with an uneasy feeling at the sight of the thick, blood-red fluid that filled them. The feeling didn't change. Shuddering, she dropped the capsule back into the bottle and spun the cap back on.
"That's creepy." she stated flatly. A moment of thought spurred her to add, "...but not as creepy as the blood bags. Those are worse." It was true. Plastic blood-brimmed hospital bags lying around the refrigerator were disturbing enough to make her lose her appetite whenever she accidentally grabbed hold of one while rummaging for food. Although human blood disguised as medicine still ranked pretty high on the creepy-scale. Kasey made a face.
"These are more common." Daemon commented after Kasey handed the bottle back to him. "Sometimes the taste of blood triggers some...emotions, and we lose our heads a little bit. In other words, we lose control and go on massive killing sprees while sucking up all the blood we can drain. This way we don't have to taste it." He tapped the bottle and grinned. "Now, if you don't mind, I really have to get out of this house. I'm going crazy here..."
Kasey could sense the tension in his voice. Now wasn't the best time for her to bug him...something was stirring behind his eyes, and it wasn't something that made him particularly happy. She touched his arm, not wanting to pull him back for fear of agitating him more that he already was. "But what about Sephan?" she persisted as gently as her strained anxiety would allow. "You still haven't explained what's going on."
With a restless sigh, he stopped and turned back to her. "He does this every month or so." he started in a low voice. "Remember what I told you...about what happens when vampires don't get enough blood?"
Kasey nodded. She shifted onto her other foot and folded her arms. "You die. From the inside out."
Flashing a crooked smile, Daemon leaned in dangerously close. Kasey found herself half-bent over the back of the couch, her arms outstretched on either side to keep herself from tumbling over. Daemon leaned over her. His lips inches from her ear, he whispered, "Exactly." He pulled away suddenly, leaving Kasey wide-eyed and still holding in a shaky breath. "...what the hell was THAT?!" she gasped. The vampire shrugged. "What was what?"
"Just...never mind, you still haven't explained to me what's going on with Sephan!"
His patience breaking, he snapped back, "He's DYING. Slowly. Is that simple enough for you? He's letting himself go without blood and it's killing him. That's what happens to vampires. Is any of this making sense?"
Kasey looked hurt (although she tried her damnedest to look angry instead). She watched with eyes of stone as Daemon's muscles relaxed and he exhaled slowly. "Sorry..." he murmured, leaning back against the couch beside her and pushing a hand back through his hair. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment, unmoving, before saying softly, "Now's not the best time to talk about this."
"Why not?" Her tone was harsh; her glaring eyes even more severe. "I want to know what the hell is going on. With both of you. And where the hell are Taro and Cal! GOD!" Kasey shoved herself upward and stalked off to sit, legs crossed, on the loveseat on the opposite side of the room. She had had just about enough of vampiric temper tantrums, thank you very much.
Daemon followed her, the grace of his movements once again putting her to shame (another quality she was just about sick of).
"Sephan will be fine." he assured her in a soft tone. "I told you- this happens all the time. It's nothing unusual."
"...why?"
Prodded by her less-angry tone, he moved closer. Arms folded atop the loveseat, he continued. "Vampirism is an interesting thing... It keeps the body eternally healthy and keeps it from aging. At first it's great- forever young, never getting hurt or sick...but after a while, you start to miss it."
Kasey leaned her head back and looked up at him. "Miss what?"
"Being human." he replied wistfully. "Feeling pain, feeling weakness...being alive, and vulnerable. Without that...it's like we're already dead."
"But you're not. And you know that."
He smiled again. A cynical half smile with mixed intentions. She hated that smile. It always made her blush madly. Damn those teenage hormones...it's not like she was in LOVE with him or anything...sorta...he just...er...well, it just so happens his smiles made her blush. Lowering her head to keep her face from lighting up like a forest fire, she pushed on. "I still don't understand. Why would he want to be in pain?"
"Because it's the only thing he CAN feel. After so long, even your emotions start to die away. This is his way of reminding himself that he's still human. It makes him feel weak and flawed...and not so incredibly invincible after all."
Kasey nodded, but still couldn't comprehend it. She picked at the fraying edge of a cushion with her fingernails, still avoiding looking at Daemon. "...does it have anything to do with me?" she mumbled.
He shook his head. "No, of course not...why would it?"
Kasey took in a breath. "That night...when everything happened and I almost died...I was talking to him." She could feel Daemon shift ever so slightly to lean forward more. "And...?" he prodded.
"And...I brought up that one thing that you told me not to bring up around him."
"...don't tell me. Lilly?"
She bit her lip. "Yes..."
There was a pause. "What did he say?"
"Nothing...he wouldn't talk about it. Listen, I'm sorry I brought it up. I know I shouldn't have but..." Her voice cracked before she could go further. She ended with a simple, "I'm sorry." Kasey couldn't even begin to describe how guilty she felt. Sephan was...a friend, in a twisted sort of way. He had saved her life on more than one occasion. And so how does she repay him? Ask him about his dead girlfriend and send him spiraling into despair deep enough to drive him to kill himself. Wow, way to go, Kasey.
"Don't throw yourself a pity-party yet-" Daemon stated abruptly. "You didn't trigger it. He would have done it with or without you. In all honesty, I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. I guess you've acted as a distraction for him. You can't try to think like he does, Kasey; his mind works differently than yours. It works differently than mine, or anyone else's. It has nothing to do with you- trust me. Sephan...he's very complex."
"I noticed."
"He's not crazy. Just..."
"Not all there?" Kasey finished for him and looked up. Daemon shook his head lightly and tried to think of a way to explain. Meanwhile, Kasey sucked in her bottom lip to hide the smile creeping onto her face. He was adorable when he was thinking about something. "It's the opposite, really." was all he could come up with. "It's complicated. I've known him for a long time..."
"Did he try to kill himself back then, too?" Kasey laughed tersely. Daemon didn't seem to find it funny.
"He's not trying to kill himself. Where the hell did that come from? I told you- he's not going to die. In a few days he'll break and drink some blood again, and everything will be fine. But for now, he'll keep starving himself for as long as he can."
Kasey shook her head and turned, propping herself up on her knees so she could face Daemon- still leaning casually against the back of the couch. "That just doesn't sound like him! He's..."
"Not as strong as he pretends to be."
Kasey cut her own words short and stared thoughtfully into his dark eyes.
"You don't understand. He needs to feel sick every once in a while...or else he's afraid he'll forget. It's like anything else...if you stop doing it long enough, you start to forget how it felt in the first place. The longer we're vampires...the less we remember about what it's like to not be."
"He hates it, doesn't he."
"Being a vampire? Of course he does. It's harder on him than any of us. Even before it happened he was very..."
"Sharp?"
"Mmm, good word. Sharp and intricate. Very aware of his surroundings. His senses were already on overdrive then; the super-charge vampirism gave them almost overloaded his senses. He thinks faster than most people...most vampires, even. It's enough to drive someone crazy."
Kasey turned around and slid back down to a sitting position- once again turning her back to Daemon. "...so is that why he's like that?"
"Partially. Then again, there are other factors to it."
"Like what?"
"He's seen too much." Daemon twirled a strand of Kasey's hair between his fingers and she froze. It's not like she had never had someone play with her hair before. Her best friend Avery used to twist it into countless little braids during math class. But this was NOT Avery. Kasey sat as still as a statue on the couch, looking straight ahead, while the vampire behind her continued speaking as if nothing was wrong. "You have no idea what he's been through. He needs this; to feel human...to keep his mind from breaking."
Daemon traced down her neck, making the teenager's breath catch in her throat. She wanted so badly to turn around and see his expression, but if she did he might stop...
"Vampires are very fragile creatures." he whispered. "Almost as fragile as you are..." With a fluid gesture, he pulled her hair back and tucked it behind her ear. Kasey nearly stopped breathing all together. Vampires, she hypothesized, didn't know much about 'personal space'. Not that she was complaining at the moment. The cool sensation his skin left against hers was incredible- like pressing her cheek to frigid silk. It was funny; in all the vampire movies she'd seen vampires' touches were supposed to be unbearably icy and hard as stone. The truth was far from what she'd seen in moves. Daemon, Taro, Sephan and, yes, even Cal had all touched her skin at a point- and the sensation it left was more like something cool and soft and oh-so luxurious. It was a strange and utterly exhilarating feeling. Or maybe that was just those teenage hormones again... She had forgotten about wanting to turn around now. She was perfectly happy where she was. Although if she HAD turned back, she would have seen Daemon's eyes locked onto her neck. "You have beautiful skin..." he murmured, tracing down her throat to her collarbone. His detached tone didn't surprise her...but maybe it should have.
"Mmm...I think you need new friends. Just a random thought- but it's true."
"Oh really?" His fingers began to wrap lightly around the curve of her neck one by one. "Why is that?"
Kasey swallowed hard. "...well, in case you haven't noticed, you're hanging out with a bunch of psycho-killers. Except for Sephan. You can keep him as a friend. He's the only normal one...er, sort of." Whatever she had started saying suddenly seemed bland and unimportant as the vampire drew his fingertips up her neck, caressing her skin inconceivably lightly. A forced laugh escaped her lips and she asked dryly, "What are you doing?"
Daemon froze. In an instant he drew his hand back and stepped away. His eyes snapped away from her neck, breaking the hypnotic effect it had on him, and left him with an expression of horrified disgust. Kasey looked back quickly. "What's the matter?" she asked brokenly. Damn it, he stopped touching her. She hadn't wanted him to stop. Shaking his head clear, Daemon murmured back, "Nothing, it's nothing...I just...need a break. And some blood..." His heart was racing. His eyes flitted anxiously to the door. "Lots of it." What had just happened? He couldn't even remember what had taken place in the past few minutes... He blinked, trying to get the image of her neck out of his mind. It seemed that the blood capsules hadn't taken effect just yet. Maybe now wasn't the safest time to be around her...
Resting her chin on the back of the sofa, Kasey gave him a suspicious look. "By the way..." she started. "About...Cal...is he..." the volume of her voice dropped to below a whisper. "dead?"
The panic seemed to leave his eyes and was soon replaced with his familiar smirk. "Cal? What, did you think I killed him?" He laughed. God, it was good to hear that laugh. "He's my friend; as much as I hate him sometimes, I could never kill him."
"Yes, talk about Cal...talk about anything, just don't let yourself look at her neck anymore." he wished silently. He didn't want her to know how tempted he was to sink his teeth into her throat at the moment. Whatever ounce of trust she still had in him would be absolutely massacred. No, he could hold out a little while longer. As long as she didn't start bleeding, he was fine.
Kasey made a sickened face. "Ew." she stated flatly. "Why are you friends with him? All he does is try to kill your other friends." She stopped- held her breath- and waited to see his reaction upon her reference to herself as his 'friend'. Sure, it might seem like a stupid teenage-girl game, but hey, Kasey WAS a teenage-girl after all. Daemon just snickered. "That's only because you don't know him. There's more to him than that."
"Like what? As far as I've seen, every chance he gets he tries to hurt you. Just with the things he says..."
"He's not all bad, really. It might sound crazy, but he just wants what's best for me."
"By what, bringing you down? I think you're delusional."
The frustration was evident on Daemon's face. Kasey would be lying if she said it wasn't absolutely adorable. She was tempted to see just how frustrated she could make him... "You don't understand," he said. "It's more than that. He's been my friend for a long time..." A spark ignited in his smoky eyes. He looked back at her with a cocky smile. "That's why he hates you so much."
"You're seriously delusional. That makes no sense."
"Maybe to you. But Cal...he's seen a lot. He knows what vampirism does to the mind...and to life in general. He knows that the best way to face it, and to keep the pain from killing you, is to just let go. Once you stop caring, you stop feeling."
Kasey cocked an eyebrow warily. "And why would he care if you feel?"
Daemon smiled, but not at Kasey this time. At something far away, that Kasey knew she couldn't understand. "He's much more human than you give him credit for. He has emotions just like you. That's why he's so against you being here. He knows this...this whole situation...is, let's face it, seemingly hopeless. You don't know much about him...I'm kind of surprised. You strike me as the type of person who would be able to read people better."
None of what he was saying made sense to Kasey. The way he was talking was as if Cal was trying to protect Daemon from getting hurt by getting rid of Kasey before he could get too attached...and that he wanted to numb Daemon's still existent emotions to keep him from feeling any more pain. She shook her head; Cal would NEVER do anything thoughtful like that. Ha, yeah right!
With new enthusiasm, she bit back, "He set me up and tried to kill me. Not to mention turned YOU against me. For Christ's sake, Daemon, you almost bit me because of what he did!" She thought she saw the vampire wince slightly at the mention of the messy biting incident that almost happened between them.
"About that..." he began. "Would you believe me if I told you I was sorry?"
Kasey settled back on the couch, arms folded over her chest. "Yeah...I know...but since we're on the subject; that night you...well, you did something that I'm still a little, er, confused about..." She fell backwards onto her back and gazed up at the ceiling. "When we were in the forest...you..."
"...do we have to talk about this? Kasey, believe me when I say nearly killing you was one the stupidest things I think I've ever done."
"No, not that. Although we should probably talk about that, too. I mean...you...well...kissed me, and..." She shifted uncomfortably. "And...that was weird."
"Oh...that."
"Yes. That." She suddenly found herself staring up into his smoky eyes again. Once again leaning over the back of the couch to stare down at her, he grinned. "You take things too personally, you know that?"
Kasey frowned. "It was a kiss. How am I NOT supposed to take it personally? Not that I'm implying anything...I mean, I'm not just bringing it up for giggles. It was really strange. You don't just KISS someone and then expect them to shrug it off. Hugs, maybe. But a kiss? You just don't do that! And...and..."
"...and?"
"And you're making me feel very uncomfortable right now. Stop staring at me." Quickly and before her face could light up like a Christmas tree, she grabbed a throw pillow and held it down over her face. "You have no idea what 'personal' means, do you?" she mumbled from behind her makeshift fortress.
"...so you're more worried about a KISS than the fact that I nearly ripped your throat out?"
"Yes. Sue me."
"Well then. You're a strange kid...very strange. But I like it- it's cute." He was answered with a poison-barbed "Shut up."
"I don't blame you for still being wary about what happened..." he said. "I'm surprised you trust me at all anymore."
"I don't have much of a choice. You're the only way I'll ever get home."
He smirked. "Yeah, pretty much. But just so you know...I'm not going to kill you." As positive as the message was, the words still sent chills up Kasey's spine. The fact that she was in a situation where she needed constant reassurance that she wouldn't be murdered was chilling enough on its own. "I really do like you." he went on, his voice low. "I want you to go home. You're...interesting, for lack of a better word. And contrary to how it may seem, I'm not heartless. I'm just as human as you are."
"Yeah..."
"...I know you don't trust me."
"Yes I do."
"Not completely." When Kasey didn't answer, he went on. "It's fine..." With a jerk, he pulled the pillow out of her unsuspecting hands and uncovered her face. He smiled wryly. "That just gives me even more reason to try and prove you wrong. And I WILL prove you wrong."
Kasey snatched it back out of his hands and positioned her shield back in its rightful place- over her head. "You still haven't explained about the kiss."
"...you're still stuck on that?"
"Yes. I know it was to keep me from fighting back...Sephan already kind of explained what vampire kisses do...and Taro illustrated it perfectly." she frowned beneath her pillow-covering. "But all that aside; it was weird. Very, very weird."
Suddenly, the pillow was snatched away. She opened her mouth to shout something angry at him, but her words stuck in her throat as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. Her heart skipped a beat. No, scratch that, it damn near stopped completely. "...um...hello?" she rasped when her voice finally returned. Daemon only grinned. "See? Just a kiss- no big deal. Are you over it now?" Kasey nodded silently, dumbstruck, and scrambled for something to say. "...I don't know," she rushed after a minute of murderous silence. "I think you might have just confused me more." Her eyes widened to the size of saucers when Daemon leaned down closer and stopped- his lips inches from her own. "You take things WAY too personally." he whispered with a smile. Kasey was sure she had Daemon all figured out at this point: for example, at this moment in time, his smile would turn into a smirk and he would swiftly pull away only to leave Kasey lying there like a bumbling idiot. At least, that's what she THOUGHT he would do. Then again, she should have known better than to assume anything about him.
His smile gradually faded, but he didn't move. Kasey held her breath. Her eyes were transfixed on his dark ones. She couldn't move even if she had wanted to. He stared at her- through her- for what seemed like an eternity. Their faces were almost touching. Suddenly, he pulled away. Shoving away from the couch, he mumbled something in a frantic tone. "I've got to go..." he said quickly. Before Kasey could even wriggle up to a sitting position, he was gone. She stared at the now empty space where his body had once been in bewilderment. That was when she noticed something. A light stinging on her arm pulled her eyes downward to see a small, paper-thin cut right above her wrist. She must have scraped it on the splintery wooden arms of the sofa. Frowning, she rubbed away the threadlike line of blood that hovered above it. Daemon couldn't possibly have sensed a cut so tiny, could he? No, of course not. She looked up at the empty room. He couldn't have sensed that...right?
SLAM.
With a shaky sigh and clenched fists, Daemon leaned back against the closed door. He had gone too long without blood...he was going through withdrawals now. The smell of newly-broken skin had frozen him in place. It was a feeling he reviled. With a slow exhale, he calculated that it would take a few more hours before all the pills he took would kick in and balance him out. "Wonderful..." he growled inwardly. "Until then I'll just have to try not to KILL anyone."
Without warning, a smooth voice whispered in his ear, "Why so blue, pookie?"
The vampire jerked away, startled. "What the hell!" he gasped. "God, stop doing that!" Forcefully, he shoved his friend away. "...and what did you just call me?"
Sephan slinked back a few steps, an oblivious grin on his face. He shrugged. "I don't know, I thought it was cute."
Daemon shot him a baffled look. Finally, he slumped back against the door. "You're weird." he muttered. With a quick glance upward, he added, "And you look dead."
Sephan smiled, his skin as white as his fangs, and answered back civilly, "Likewise." Daemon studied his friend for a moment. Sephan's skin was now nearly translucent; his blackish veins projected stark lines of purple-tinted blood streams running throughout his body. Sickly bruises dotted him like a beaten body where the venom had seeped up through the skin, and his usually vivid eyes had faded to a pale turquoise. He truly did resemble a corpse.
"No wonder she's so freaked out- you look awful." he commented bluntly.
"Ah, Kasey..." Sephan slipped beside his friend. "I think I like her better when she's angry." His brow furrowed. "I really do hate it when she acts like this."
"What? Worried?"
Sephan nodded. "Brings back memories." he whispered. Daemon mumble something in agreement. "So...she told me she talked to you...about..."
Sephan quickly cut him off. "Yeah, she did. But it's fine; it was years ago. I'm over it now." He flashed his faded eyes back to Daemon. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"
"What makes you say that?"
"Well for one, you're incredibly tense, and more cynical than usual- which is damn near impossible unless something is wrong. And two, those circles under your eyes tell me you've either skipped a few years of sleep or you're not drinking blood. I assume it's the latter. Don't tell me I'm starting to rub off on you, am I?"
Daemon smirked. "No...I just haven't felt like it."
"Mhmm...it's addicting, isn't it? The feeling. It's almost like how it used to feel when we could still stand sunlight."
Daemon didn't answer that time. After a few moments of silence, he whispered, "Yeah, I guess it is."
"Just don't go without blood for too long- I'm already dangerously close, and it's only been a few weeks. So why the sudden interest in self-torture, pookie?"

Cringing at the new nickname, Daemon replied, "Please don't call me that. Honestly, it's extremely creepy. And it's nothing new, I've just been...distracted lately."

Sephan pouted and stared at him with hurt eyes. "But it's fun to say. And what, may I ask, has been distracting you? You're more off-balance than usual. That's dangerous for a vampire, you know. If you go too far off balance, you might just fall."
"I know..." he said softly. "And it's not what, it's who..."
**********
"Lighter, lighter, where's the lighter..." Sephan slid open yet another drawer for the millionth time and rummaged through it before giving up and moving on to the next. Trying to keep himself from drinking blood was like trying to quit smoking; if he didn't have some means of distraction, he might just kill someone. Muttering his complaints, his eyes locked on a bright pink plastic pig-shaped cookie jar sitting on the tile counter. Sliding over to it, he lifted up the top...only to slam it back down when it broke out into a chorus of mechanical "oinks".

"Damn talking appliances..." he whispered resentfully. "When I find some matches, I'm lighting it on fire." He eyed the pig warily, then, with one quick movement, pushed open the top and reached inside. The second "oink" hadn't even gone off before he slid his hand out and shut the lid, lighter in hand. "YES!" he rejoiced silently. "Bwahaha...what now, Daemon?" Happy with himself, he already started going over in his head plans for revenge. Maybe set fire to his car? Or even better- set fire to HIM. No, wait...that would be illegal. He was still formulating his revenge-scheme when a familiar voice pierced the silence.

"Sephan?" Taro's voice was shaky. It cracked as he finished the name.

"Mhm..." Sephan hummed, his back still turned to the doorway as he inspected the lighter. Seeing it was unharmed, he turned back and began to ask, "What is it-?" What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.
Taro stood in the doorway- but he wasn't alone. Beside him was a man, and in his hand was a gun cocked and loaded and pressed into Taro's temple. His eyes were wide and his voice shook as he added, "I think we have a problem."
[Bang//Bang]-->
Well that's the end of chapter 13.<3 Hope you enjoyed it! I know- I'm horrible for leaving you in suspense like that. No, really- this is just a cruel one. Heh...sorry about that. >.> I couldn't resist.
Anyway-
About the interview;; my computer decided to hate me and kill itself, killing all my files with it. Thus, the interview was eaten. But no worries;; I should have it all backed up on my comp ((hopefully)) so as soon as I get the time, I'll re-do it and post it.
<3
Sorry about the delay.
Also, if you've sent me a message and haven't gotten a reply, it's probably because durring my computer's suicide, all my messages were wiped out. =X Bleh; I know...frustration central. Anyway;; so I'm not ignoring anyone! I'm just electronically-challenged. <3
To make up for it, here's a piece of toast.

It likes you.<3
((pssst, p.s. I love people who give me comments.<3))
Much love,
Kali

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