.: At Least I'll Give You Dark Delight [Jyrki] :. Info

The mysterious man’s words rang through my head, still faltering between fiction and reality. It got to the point where I even theorized that I was dreaming and neither he nor this situation was real. It seemed perfectly logical to me. Was there anyone in the world who would believe that they were turned into a vampire after nearly being raped and killed? I wasn’t saying that I was denying reality, but I had no way of discerning the actuality of it.

I let my eyes wander back up the mirror to my face. It seemed so familiar, yet different, as if I was a friend from another lifetime. I brought the pale, skeletal hand up to the smooth surface of the mirror and ran my fingers along the coldness of the glass where my face reflected. Oddly enough, the sensation I felt was much different than what I was used to. Every touch, every smell, every sight seemed greatly enhanced.

If I were going to even consider believing this, I would need other proof besides my change in appearance and enhancement of my senses. There was also the evidence that I was even alive as well. Even though I clearly remembered having a bullet shot right through my lower abdomen, here I was: alive and well (for the most part). And that’s when I realized something that I hadn’t quite noticed before: not once had I felt my heart beat throughout my whole time here.

Now this was when I started to panic and even bothered to consider that maybe the man wasn’t playing a joke on me after all. And usually when people are panicking, blood pressure rises and heart rate increases; but I was feeling none of that. My hand right hand immediately shot to the side of my neck to see if I could feel anything remotely close to a pulse. My horrors were confirmed as I felt nothing.

For some reason, a surge of frustration rushed through me. All I wanted to do was go back to my normal life of taking hits of whatever was available and stripping. I didn’t ask for this situation. I couldn’t exactly say that I did nothing to deserve it though. Even so, I hated the fact that this was brought upon me. I even considered if dying was better than this.

As a stripper and drug addict, the most stress I dealt with daily was how I was going to find enough money for more drugs. That’s why I felt as if I couldn’t handle the amount of stress I was forced under at the moment. It was way too much for me. I was angry with myself. I was angry with myself for agreeing to Jake’s deal, and then backing out last second. I was angry with myself for even meeting him. I was angry because I was a drug addict and had ruined my life. And now I was living a life I didn’t want to live.

I looked into the mirror to see the ghostly figure with tears gracefully falling down her cheeks. I couldn’t stand seeing it anymore. Before I could even think about the fact that I would be vandalizing this man’s property, I let my hands fly towards the glass, banging against it as hard as I could hit and letting the shards of glass come raining down upon the vanity and floor.

I fell to the floor on my knees with the shards of glass, not caring if they dug into my skin or not. I was physically and mentally numb anyways so I didn’t see why it mattered. I buried my face into my hands, smearing the tears into the palms of my hands. I didn’t know why I was cracking under this pressure so much, but all I knew is that I felt like I was suffocating in this household. I needed to get out and pretend like this never happened.

I let out a shaky sigh before getting up. I adjusted my dressed and wiped all the tears away. After looking at a shard of glass to see if I had regained my composure or not, I decided to finally head downstairs to face my savior – or killer, I wasn’t sure which one – face to face. I left the area that was littered with sharp pieces from the mirror and started to find my way out of the large upper wing of the house and onto the bottom floor. It was a dark, creepy mansion. I couldn’t imagine living here alone. But was he alone? I wouldn’t have known since I was passed out for most of the time I was here.

I finally got downstairs and went from room to room until I finally entered a large open room with nothing but a few mahogany chairs around a large matching table. The room was decorated with old, elaborate objects that looked like they had come straight from the medieval age. I was in awe just looking at the room that I didn’t even notice the man who had turned me sitting at the head of the table, his eyes following every move I made. He finally cleared his throat to make his presence known, causing me to jump and turn around with a start.

“Glad to see you finally made it,” he said in his deep accented voice. His face was slightly in the shadows so I couldn’t see much of his eyes, but he was slouched his chair with one arm on the armrest and the other on the table, his fingers running up and down a silver goblet filled to the brim with some type of liquid that I couldn’t quite make out. I didn’t care to know what it was either. “Now if you’re finished breaking my objects, please have a seat so we can chat.”

I looked at him shocked for a second before looking at the table for a place to sit. I finally saw that the spot right across from Jyrki had a goblet that looked exactly like Jyrki’s in front of it. I assumed that this was for me so I sat down and looked across the vast table to my acquaintance. “How did you know about that?” I asked him, applying some forced confidence to my voice even though I was scared as hell.

“We have sensitive senses, as you will come to realize,” he replied, picking up his cup and taking a long sip from it. He set the glass down and licked his lips so as to waste as little as the fluid as possible.

“I didn’t catch your name,” I said as I picked up my own glass and looked into it. The sight almost made me sick to my stomach so I set it back down and looked back at the man.

“Jyrki. And I suggest you drink that so you don’t get weak. You’ve been passed out for a few days so you need the energy,” he said, shifting in his seat slightly so that his face was now fully in the light. “Besides, you should get used to it. You won’t be able to eat or drink anything from now on.”

I was going to protest, but something in his eyes told me that if I wasn’t going to drink it, he would have it forced down my throat. So I reluctantly took the cup in hand and very slowly took brought it to my lips. Very hesitantly, I let the crimson liquid flow down my throat and immediately felt some form of relief in this high-pressure situation. Something about it was making me feel like I was on a drug binge – and I loved it.

I downed half the cup in one sip before forcing myself to put it down and look at Jyrki once more. “When can I leave?” I demanded more than asked.

“I suggest you stay here. I can’t have you wandering the streets in your state. You don’t know what to keep away from and how to act yet. You’re only a rogue,” he said in his usual calm demeanor.

“No,” was my simple response. “I need to leave. I don’t care whether I know what to do; I’m sure I can learn. I need to get out of here.”

“Why? So you can go home to your empty apartment and drown in your misery as you usually do?” he asked, his tone slightly changing to a more degrading one.

I glared at him from the other end of the table before standing up. “I can’t stay here. I have a life of my own that I’d like to continue with.”

“You can’t pretend you’re human.”

“Why not? Isn’t that what you do?”

“I’ve been a vampire for over a hundred years; I’m sure I know how to act like a human.”

“I’ve been a human my whole life so I’m pretty sure I would know how to act more humanlike than you,” I retorted.

“But you don’t know when to act like a vampire when you need to. How will you feed? Will you be able to avoid the sun for long periods of time? What will you do if you get cut in front of someone and they see you heal? What if anyone finds out? What happens if you go to a restaurant to eat? Do you know how to handle any of these situations?” he demanded, not letting his voice rise, but letting the tone of his voice change to an unfriendly one.

I thought about all of those questions in my head and realized that I didn’t know any of those things. But I knew that I couldn’t stay here. “I’ll learn all those things as time goes on. I don’t need you teaching me. And I didn’t ask for this either!”

“I saved your life. What else do you want from me?”

“You should have let me die,” I concluded in a low but piercing tone. He stared at me with those cold-as-ice eyes, hoping I’d back down. I grabbed my cup off the table and took down the other half of it in an instant before turning around and walking out of the room. I remembered where the front door was since I had passed it on my way downstairs, so it was easy for me to find my way out the mansion.

As soon as I got out, I let a deep sigh. I turned around to see if Jyrki was following, but there was no trace of anyone at all outside. I soon gave up on looking for him and turned back around before proceeding to walk out of the neighborhood. Since I had no money with me, I had no choice but to keep walking until I reached my apartment or until I hitchhiked my way back. I didn’t care how I got away from the dark residence; all I knew is that I never wanted to come back here again.