A Turn of Tides
Page 2
I could no longer feel my hands and feet once I reached the halfway mark, and once I arrived at the boundary, my teeth were chattering and my body trembling uncontrollably.
As it turned out, it was all in vain.
I hit up against an invisible force field.
Exhaling sharply, I grimaced as I looked back at the harbor.
I had no choice but to return to the beach of this dark island, because I wouldn’t survive much longer in these waters.
By the time I reached the harbor, it was hard to even breathe and I could barely find strength in my limbs to haul myself up onto the boat.
I rolled onto the deck, then descended back to the bathroom where I stripped out of my ripped clothes and wrapped myself in towels.
I rubbed my skin, trying to stimulate blood flow.
Once I was finally able to feel my toes again, I walked into the room next door and pulled on fresh underwear, a shirt and pants I found in the closet.
Then I sat down on the bed and gazed at the door.
I could no longer deny it: I was trapped on this island.
Now I had to decide how to best keep myself from getting caught.
I didn’t feel comfortable staying on this small boat, but trying to enter the island seemed like suicide.
For now, I had no choice but to stay where I was.
I had to hope that they’d take this boat on an expedition outside, and I’d be able to leap off into the sea, and somehow find my way back to The Shade.
I walked over to a shadowy corner of the room, with a clear view of the door, and sat down.
Drawing my knees against my chest, I thought of Kira.
The beautiful blonde werewolf who doubled my heartbeat every time she laid eyes on me.
And I remembered the promise I’d made Rose just before we were separated.
I’d promised her that I’d finally profess my love for Kira as soon as we returned home.
I just hoped that I’d live to fulfill that promise.
Chapter 1: Ben
I left The Shade without the slightest idea of where I would go.
I just needed to get away from the island.
Away from our people.
I put the vessel on autopilot after what felt like a couple of hours and sank back in my chair.
Hunger ripped through my stomach as I sat in the control cabin, staring out through the window at the dark expanse of water ahead of me.
I didn’t know where I was going, and I wasn’t paying attention to the map.
I was just speeding forward, hoping to lose myself in an oblivion where I would no longer feel hunger.
Where my cravings would subside.
I tried to distract myself with thoughts of my parents, hoping that the pain of thinking of them might distract me from the physical pain, at least for a few moments.
I supposed they would have seen the note by now.
They might be wondering why I couldn’t have just stayed.
Why I couldn’t have tried to drink the blood stored in the chilling chambers which vampires used while taking the cure.
That blood was tinged with Anna’s blood, after all.
But I hoped they’d understand that I simply couldn’t risk killing one of our people again.
I also hoped that they’d do as I’d requested and not come looking for me.
They’d already lost Rose, and now to have me leave so unceremoniously… it would crush them.
But they would have to get over it.
Our people depended on them.
Besides, I might not need to stay away too long.
I just had to take a timeout.
I was desperately hoping that my reaction to being fed animal blood was temporary.
That for some reason, my body had demanded human blood on waking, but given time, it would adjust to animal blood just like the rest of the vampires in The Shade.
Why should I be any different? Although I tried to convince myself of this, I couldn’t shake the memory of the look in my father’s eyes as he’d watched me expel the animal blood.
Even he’d said, in all his centuries of experience, he’d never seen a vampire react to animal blood as I had.
But hope was the only thing I had.
I wondered how long a vampire could starve himself of blood.
I realized that I didn’t even know whether a vampire could die from lack of blood.
Being on the subject of blood again, my consciousness became aware of the pain.
The fire in my stomach raged on.
I clenched my jaw, closing my eyes and wincing.
My hands were beginning to tremble.
I gripped the edge of my seat.
I didn’t know exactly how much time had passed since leaving The Shade.
I deliberately hadn’t been looking at the time.
It only made the hours pass all the more slowly, the situation more unbearable.
I left the control cabin and stumbled along the passageway into the vessel’s galley.
I opened one of the cupboards and scanned the shelves—long-life milk and packaged foods mostly.
I ripped open a carton of milk and, without thinking, began to chug it down.
At this point, I’d drink anything to fill the void in my stomach.
I held my nose as I drank, trying not to taste the milk, since I was well aware that human food tasted foul to vampires.
At first I thought that it might have even worked.
As the liquid settled in my stomach, it at least felt less hollow, even if it didn’t relieve the burning.
But then I doubled over and retched it all up.
I tore open a packet of biscuits and began stuffing them into my mouth, chewing forcefully, as if willing my body to accept them.
No chance.
Soon the floor was covered in a blood-traced soup of milk and biscuits.
As it turned out, it was all in vain.
I hit up against an invisible force field.
Exhaling sharply, I grimaced as I looked back at the harbor.
I had no choice but to return to the beach of this dark island, because I wouldn’t survive much longer in these waters.
By the time I reached the harbor, it was hard to even breathe and I could barely find strength in my limbs to haul myself up onto the boat.
I rolled onto the deck, then descended back to the bathroom where I stripped out of my ripped clothes and wrapped myself in towels.
I rubbed my skin, trying to stimulate blood flow.
Once I was finally able to feel my toes again, I walked into the room next door and pulled on fresh underwear, a shirt and pants I found in the closet.
Then I sat down on the bed and gazed at the door.
I could no longer deny it: I was trapped on this island.
Now I had to decide how to best keep myself from getting caught.
I didn’t feel comfortable staying on this small boat, but trying to enter the island seemed like suicide.
For now, I had no choice but to stay where I was.
I had to hope that they’d take this boat on an expedition outside, and I’d be able to leap off into the sea, and somehow find my way back to The Shade.
I walked over to a shadowy corner of the room, with a clear view of the door, and sat down.
Drawing my knees against my chest, I thought of Kira.
The beautiful blonde werewolf who doubled my heartbeat every time she laid eyes on me.
And I remembered the promise I’d made Rose just before we were separated.
I’d promised her that I’d finally profess my love for Kira as soon as we returned home.
I just hoped that I’d live to fulfill that promise.
Chapter 1: Ben
I left The Shade without the slightest idea of where I would go.
I just needed to get away from the island.
Away from our people.
I put the vessel on autopilot after what felt like a couple of hours and sank back in my chair.
Hunger ripped through my stomach as I sat in the control cabin, staring out through the window at the dark expanse of water ahead of me.
I didn’t know where I was going, and I wasn’t paying attention to the map.
I was just speeding forward, hoping to lose myself in an oblivion where I would no longer feel hunger.
Where my cravings would subside.
I tried to distract myself with thoughts of my parents, hoping that the pain of thinking of them might distract me from the physical pain, at least for a few moments.
I supposed they would have seen the note by now.
They might be wondering why I couldn’t have just stayed.
Why I couldn’t have tried to drink the blood stored in the chilling chambers which vampires used while taking the cure.
That blood was tinged with Anna’s blood, after all.
But I hoped they’d understand that I simply couldn’t risk killing one of our people again.
I also hoped that they’d do as I’d requested and not come looking for me.
They’d already lost Rose, and now to have me leave so unceremoniously… it would crush them.
But they would have to get over it.
Our people depended on them.
Besides, I might not need to stay away too long.
I just had to take a timeout.
I was desperately hoping that my reaction to being fed animal blood was temporary.
That for some reason, my body had demanded human blood on waking, but given time, it would adjust to animal blood just like the rest of the vampires in The Shade.
Why should I be any different? Although I tried to convince myself of this, I couldn’t shake the memory of the look in my father’s eyes as he’d watched me expel the animal blood.
Even he’d said, in all his centuries of experience, he’d never seen a vampire react to animal blood as I had.
But hope was the only thing I had.
I wondered how long a vampire could starve himself of blood.
I realized that I didn’t even know whether a vampire could die from lack of blood.
Being on the subject of blood again, my consciousness became aware of the pain.
The fire in my stomach raged on.
I clenched my jaw, closing my eyes and wincing.
My hands were beginning to tremble.
I gripped the edge of my seat.
I didn’t know exactly how much time had passed since leaving The Shade.
I deliberately hadn’t been looking at the time.
It only made the hours pass all the more slowly, the situation more unbearable.
I left the control cabin and stumbled along the passageway into the vessel’s galley.
I opened one of the cupboards and scanned the shelves—long-life milk and packaged foods mostly.
I ripped open a carton of milk and, without thinking, began to chug it down.
At this point, I’d drink anything to fill the void in my stomach.
I held my nose as I drank, trying not to taste the milk, since I was well aware that human food tasted foul to vampires.
At first I thought that it might have even worked.
As the liquid settled in my stomach, it at least felt less hollow, even if it didn’t relieve the burning.
But then I doubled over and retched it all up.
I tore open a packet of biscuits and began stuffing them into my mouth, chewing forcefully, as if willing my body to accept them.
No chance.
Soon the floor was covered in a blood-traced soup of milk and biscuits.
