Being Human (37 page)

He dropped his hands. “Fine.”

“Your Honor, you can’t–” Mr. Anderson protested.

“Quiet!” the judge snapped. “It’s the defendant’s choice. This trial is over and Vampire Forces will take the defendant into custody to do as they see fit. I’ll place a gag order on the media, no paper is to report any story on the family.”

“Sunlight too, she’s family,” I insisted.

For a moment the judge stared in confusion, and then nodded. “The girl too.”

Relief filled me. It was finally over, I was over. My destruction was around the corner and I couldn’t care less. My family would be protected from the other humans. That was all that mattered.

Vampire Forces grabbed me, eager to put the restraints back on. They marched me back to the courtroom and the humans fell silent. My family and Sunlight watched, each one silently asking me what was happening. I had no words for them, this was my last moment with them.

There was something I needed to do.

Summoning my last bit of energy, I snapped the cuffs and shoved Vampire Forces away. The distance between us felt like millions of miles, Sunlight impossible to reach. I put everything I had into crossing the room, to reaching her. And when I did, I spared a moment for my family.

“I’m sorry.”

Dan locked eyes with me and the color drained from his face. “No.”

Then I turned to Sunlight and everything disappeared. The humans, the courtroom and trial, the scientists and experiments. All I saw was our time together. The details sped by, every moment of every night spent with her crystal clear before me. It made me smile and laugh and want to cry. All those moments combined into one second in time, one moment that was only me and her, and for the first time nothing else mattered. Hunger and need didn’t matter, my own survival was insignificant. As I gazed into her eyes, I finally understood what it meant to be human.

I kissed her.

She kissed me back.

Reality crashed back with a jolt. Pain raced through me, knocking what little strength I had left away. I crumpled as hot hands tore me away. My niece screamed, trying to reach me as Rissa and Dan pulled her back. They held her tight as she sagged to the floor, sobbing. Sunlight didn’t move, her fingers on her lips and eyes staring into mine. I held onto the memory of the kiss as they dragged me away, wanting it to be the last one I had of her. Another jolt and blackness crashed down on me.

This was the end.

****

He called me his Sunlight and said he didn’t hate the day because of me. When I was little, he stopped a monster from killing me. And when I was older and afraid of everything in the world and wishing for death, he saved me again. He made me feel safe, showed me that I wasn’t alone in the world. There was someone else. There was him.

And he was a vampire.

Water dripped, a steady plinking that echoed in the blackness surrounding me. Somewhere, footsteps clomped down a hallway and voices talked with excitement. A steady drone rolled through the air and something shuffled nearby.

In the darkness, a pale face shone. It looked sick, skin slack, eyes hollow and dead. The vampire could barely lift her head from the floor. She licked her lips, finding the strength to talk. Even then, her voice was a weak whisper. “It won't be long before it’s over.”

We pulled in the parking lot that stretched around the domed building. Already, it was full, police directing traffic to remaining spots. As we crawled to an open space, people walked around us. They chatted and laughed, looking carefree and at ease. One would think it was a normal Friday night and everyone was heading to enjoy the football game.

Only it wasn't.

VF appeared to escort us once we were parked. They led us into the arena and onto the field. There was barely a space to stand and not a single seat available. News vans were parked along the edge and the reporters were already speaking to the camera and interviewing people. There would be no mention of myself or Mackenzie’s family. Tommy’s bargain had been he would allow himself to be destroyed as long as his family and I were protected.

The trial over, Mr. Anderson left, turned tail and ran back to the west coast. He had assured me he'd win and the course of history would be changed. I think what he wanted was a career making case. What he got was a career breaking case.

At one end of the field, underneath a goal post, a platform had been erected. Posts were spread evenly across with buckets of water and fire extinguishers ready. A fire truck was parked nearby. VF moved across the platform, rushing off the field and disappearing beneath the bleachers.

The VF officers escorting us took us to the front, mere feet from the platform where they left us. People around us backed away, murmuring as they stared. The only people not looking our way or whispering were my parents. My mom’s eyes were averted and my dad’s back completely turned. They had been dumbfounded when I requested emancipation, sputtering and asking what they had done wrong.

What had they done right?

From the moment Tommy rescued me when I was a little girl, my life had been one nightmare. I didn't feel safe, not at school or in my own home. I couldn't talk to people, waiting for someone to finish what the monster had started. I knew all too well of the horrors people were capable of.

It wasn't until Tommy found me again that I finally felt something besides fear. As I sat in that cold cellar, watching him attempt to take care of me, the fear had eased. He had done something my own parents had been unable to do. He made me feel safe. Around him, I wasn't jumping at shadows. I found myself relaxing, smiling and meaning it. I wasn't putting on a show or pretending I was fine. I had finally started to heal.

As the trial progressed, my parents kept me locked in the house.
It’s for your own good
, they said. Therapists came and went, each one telling me I was confused. Yes, Tommy had rescued me, but my feelings weren't real. I was transferring my supposed-feelings on to him and once I accepted that, I'd understand Tommy didn't care about me, I was only food to him.

The humiliation I felt when the scars on my arms were exposed was unbearable.

The current therapist stated I had been trying to cut the bite marks off. No one listened when I said
I
made the cuts before Tommy, that he bit the scars to make me think of happier times with him. No one listened and no one cared. All they saw was an evil vampire taking advantage of a broken girl.

I didn't care how scared the other vampire sounded. This was the end and I was glad for it. My family would no longer suffer and I would be released from this torture. A slow smile filled my face. I think I understood irony now.

The quick smiles were my favorite, so fast I barely caught them, but I knew they were real. When Tommy prolonged his smiles, they didn't look right. Like waiting for someone to take a picture; you smile and smile and as the seconds pass the smile feels less real, losing its emotion as it turns fake. Now I'd never see those quick smiles again.

Rain started to fall, drops pattering softly to the ground, but quickly gaining momentum, hammering down and icy cold. Thick clouds covered the sky, stretching across the horizon, keeping the sun from making an appearance. No sun meant VF would resort to torches.

Silence fell over the restless crowd as a group of VF officers marched onto the platform. A limp figure was dragged between the two, a black bag covering the face. They quickly tied the vampire to one of the posts, and then pulled the black bag off.

They came and took the vampire. She didn't fight or struggle. As terrified as she was, she was relieved. I saw it in her eyes before they slipped the black bag over her head. For a moment, it was silent. I forced myself to my feet, stumbling to the door. I pressed my ear against it to listen. An awful scream filled the air as the smell of burning flesh tainted it. The vampire had been set afire. That meant the sun wasn't out.

“It's not him,” Mackenzie's mom whispered, clutching Mackenzie, whose face was buried against her.

Mackenzie's dad raised his eyes. He looked at the platform, but I don't think he had seen anything since the end of the trial, too numbed by the fact he was losing his twin. I think that pain was worse than all of the shared pain he and Tommy felt during the trial.

The vampire screamed when VF lit her and the flames quickly spread despite the rain. The sound set my teeth on edge and goosebumps spread across my body. Sporadic applause trickled across the field. I kept my eyes on the platform, a desire to give the poor vampire a friendly face in the crowd. Her screams died into weak moans that faded as the flames consumed her. As the fire was doused, I blinked back tears, a bitter feeling filling my chest.

This was wrong. They weren’t killing cold and emotionless monsters. They were killing people with feelings. Tommy had proven that!

Tommy who loved, laughed and
lived
! He understood what friendship and family meant and had been willing to risk everything for what he believed, for the people he cared about. He’d do anything if he thought it'd make me smile and nothing if he thought it'd upset me. He sacrificed himself because he thought it'd make a difference. In that moment, when he gave in, he was more human than every person gathered in this crowd.

The ashes were cleared away and the crowd resumed their chatter. VF moved across the platform, then disappeared beneath the bleachers again. I felt tears form in my eyes and a sick feeling fill my stomach. There was one other post. One more vampire to be torched. Instead of torching the vampires at once, they were doing it one by one and saving Tommy for last.

Footsteps approached and I knew. This was it, the end.

Mackenzie’s dad doubled over as he cried out in pain. He clutched his mouth as we gathered around him. What did the sudden pain mean? Was Tommy being hurt? He was about to be destroyed, wasn't that enough?

“Dad?” Mackenzie's voice trembled.

“I'm all right,” he whispered, his already pale face going even whiter. “It just felt like someone yanked on my tooth. Don't worry about it; I'm sure it's nothing.”

I wasn't certain who he was trying to assure more: us or him.

I glanced at the platform. VF was back, but instead of tying Tommy to the post, they were hurrying down the steps and pushing through the crowd. They made their way towards us where they grouped around us.

One stepped forward, his voice low. “You need to come with us.”

Something in Mackenzie’s dad snapped. Maybe it was the torment of the trial and the torching being released at once. Or maybe it was the fact that his twin was going to be killed, the bond between them severed. His head whipped up and anger flared in his eyes. His hands turned into trembling fists. He met the VF officer’s eyes and spoke one word that vibrated through the air. “No.”

“Sir.”

He jerked away from the VF officer, his body joining his shaking fists. “You’re not taking the only friendly faces out of this mob.
My brother
needs to know we’re here for him. We’re not leaving.”

The VF officer stepped closer, his voice so low I could barely hear him. “Where is it?”

His face faltered and his anger melted into confusion. “What?”

“Where is it? Where is the vampire?”

He lifted his chin, stepping closer until he was nose to nose with the VF officer. “If I knew anything, I wouldn't tell you.”

“Come with us.”

Hands grabbed us and VF pulled us through the crowds and towards the platform. Voices whispered and spread like wild fire.

“Did they say a vampire was missing?”

“Did the sympathizers free it?”

“Are we safe?”

Then I saw it.

No, I didn't just see it, I experienced it. I heard it, tasted it, smelled it, felt it. I was no longer being dragged towards the opening under the bleachers. I was somewhere else, someone else...

The smell of burnt flesh saturated the air with its putrid stench. I ran away from the smell, my legs shaking with fatigue. Ahead, a blinding light glowed like a beacon beckoning me. A figure appeared and the light shined like a halo. I forced myself to run faster and slammed into the figure. My teeth sliced through hot flesh and a burst of blood hit my tongue. More warm blood spurted on my face as I pulled away, forcing myself to leave the human behind. The brief taste ignited me, life coursing through me. I bit at the restraints around my wrists. A tooth tore free as well, but my hands were loose. I burst into the light, ignoring the burn of the daytime air. Row upon row of cars spread before me with trees looming in the distance. I raced past the cars, no destination in mind, only following my instincts, my need to survive. At last I broke free of the cars, the edge of the trees in sight. I put everything I had into reaching the trees, letting them swallow me up like fire.