Chapter 3
Cold, deep, and dark water weighs heavy above me. Rolling waves rage around me. A storm pushes and pulls me back and forth. I struggle against the crushing weight. I need to be free. I need to swim. I need to swim north. I must swim north. Always north.
I instinctively know the direction. I swim for what feels like hours, further and further, struggling against the violent waves tossing me back and forth. The water grows colder and colder, until a dim light pierces the darkness above me. I swim towards it. Desperately I fight the waves to reach the surface. Every time I get close I'm pulled deeper, just out of reach, over and over again.
"Lua..." The dim light calls out to me in a distant, sad voice.
I must reach it. I have to reach it. I try and fail again and again.
"Lua..."
With one last desperate effort, I use all of my remaining strength to push myself upwards. Finally, I breach the surface.
"Lua!"
I blink my eyes. My blurry vision clears and I look up into the face of my best friend.
"Lina." I whisper. My voice is sore, and painful.
"Oh Lua! I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I thought I was going to lose you!" My roommate wraps me up in her strong arms, and pulls me into a tight, sobbing hug.
"Wh-what happened?" I say once she releases me. I look up at her tear covered face. We're in our apartment. The full moon looms large outside our window, bathing our small living room in silvery light. I'm laying on our couch, with Lina leaning over me. She looks like she’s been crying for a long time. She looks deep into my eyes, and I look into hers. I see sadness, fear, and….regret?
"Lua, I'm so sorry. You died. I'm sorry Lua, I just couldn't lose you. I'm so sorry." She pulls me into another hug as she starts crying again.
Confused, I hold her in a tight hug until she's ready to talk again.
"What happened?" I ask again when she pulls away from me.
Lina takes one look at me before breaking down in tears again. She sinks to the floor, holding her sides as she starts hyperventilating.
"You died Lua. You died. I'm so sorry Lua, I didn't know what to do. You died."
I painfully rise to a seated position, my whole body protesting. I reach out to my friend, holding her by the shoulders.
"It's ok Lina. It's ok, I'm here. I didn't die. Look at me, it's going to be ok." I say, trying to comfort my friend.
She calms down enough to get her breathing under control. She looks up at me from the floor.
"You were dead Lua. I don't- I don’t know how I did it. I'm not supposed to be able to. I'm so sorry Lua."
"It's ok, just slow down. What are you talking about?." I ask.
Lina shifts uncomfortably, holding her head as she collects her thoughts. "I was just waiting for you to come home, and you… I heard you outside. I opened the door and found you. Your neck Lua, your neck… I just, I shouldn't have been able to, but I couldn't lose you. You…you died in my arms Lua. I just couldn't lose you, I'm sorry Lua. I'm so, so sorry."
I slowly reach up and feel my neck. I run my fingers over a deep, thick scar running horizontally from one side of my neck to the other. I take in the still wet blood all around me, and the trail of blood leading from the door to the couch.
"How? How am I alive Lina?" I barely whisper.
"I…I..." Lina shakes her head, looking very distressed.
"Lina, please. Just tell me. I promise, it's going to be OK." I squeeze her shoulder to reassure her.
Lina's eyes grow very serious. "I…I turned you Lua."
"You turned me? What do you mean?" I ask, furrowing my brow in confusion.
Lina looks down at the blood covered floor. After a moment of silence she barely manages to whisper. "I'm a vampire Lua."
A long silence hangs in the air between us. It takes me a moment to process what she just said to me. Suddenly, I burst into uncontrollable giggles. I roll back onto the bloody couch, holding my stomach as I laugh painfully.
A couple minutes later I'm all giggled out, and I return to a seated position. Lina is still looking at me, her brow furrowed in a very serious expression.
"Really Lina, a vampire? Come on. You really have watched too much Forbidden Bite." I giggle out.
She only continues to look me in the eyes. My smile quiverers, then slowly fades. "Lina…"
"I'm a vampire Lua". My roommate repeats, with conviction this time.
I roll my eyes. “Ok, sure you are. Show me then.”
My roommate hesitates for a moment, before nodding. She stands, her full height towering over me, filling the small space of our living room.
"No matter what Lua, remember that I'm still me. I'm still Lina, and I will never hurt you. I promise. Do you understand?"
Nervously, I nod.
The temperature begins to drop in the room. I shiver, as I slowly look around. The long moonlight-cast shadows of our living room begin to move. They slowly creep from the corners, dragging themselves to converge on Lina. My body quivers under the invisible weight of emotions not my own. It feels as though the shadows carry with them fear, dread, anxiety, and despair, out of the darkness itself. The weight of it is suffocating as it fills the air.
The moonlight from the window seems to grow brighter as the shadows reach Lina’s feet. They slowly twist and twirl around her ankles, and up her legs, transforming into thick black smoke. Lina holds her powerful arms out as the smoke dances around them before coming to a rest on her shoulders.
She towers over me. The smoke clings to her body tightly, almost forming the image of an elaborate ballroom gown, made of darkness itself.
Lina’s skin pales. Her muscles strain and bulge wherever the smoke does not hide them. A blackness as dark as tar fills her eyes completely. She slowly rolls her neck, and tilts her head back, as two long fangs grow out of her teeth to hang out of her mouth, and over her now purple lips.
She seems to emanate fear itself. Just gazing upon her towering visage of darkness fills me with despair. I tremble, clinging to the edge of the couch tightly.
"Oh." Is all I manage to say as my mouth drops open.
Suddenly, the smoke falls off Lina, and the shadows quickly return to their rightful places around the room. Once again I am face to face with the Lina I know. I gasp as the air warms and the weight of fear is lifted from around us.
"Oh?" She asks me with a raised eyebrow.
"I guess you are a vampire." I say quietly.
This time it's Lina's turn to laugh. The beautiful melody of her laughter releases all the tension in my body.
"Well that's certainly not the reaction I normally get." She says as she sits on the bloody couch next to me. Her look of amusement quickly turns to concern.
“Are you ok though? It’s not easy seeing that for the first time.” She gently places a hand on my shoulder.
I shake my head, "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have a mental breakdown any minute now… It's just a lot to process. I died, and my best friend is a vampire… I mean, I guess it's ok? Like you said, you're still Lina, right?” I ask her with a nervous smile.
Lina returns the smile, and pulls me into a rib crushing hug. “Thanks Lua. I’ll always be your Lina, I promise, no matter what.” She says into my ear, holding me tight.
Now it’s my turn to hold back tears. After a moment she releases me. “You still haven’t told me how I’m alive. You said you ‘turned’ me. Does that mean…Di-did you make me into a vampire too?” My voice quivers.
Lina looks down again as she shifts uncomfortably beside me. “I'm sorry Lua, I shouldn’t have. Not without your consent. I didn’t even think I could, I’m not supposed to be able to. I just didn't know what to do. I couldn’t lose you.”
Panic fills my chest. “Lina, y-you made me a vampire?!” My voice trembles out.
“No.” She says with a deep, sad frown.
“No?” I look at her confused.
“I made you my thrall.”
