Chapter 4

In all honesty I cannot remember if we were there for days or hours. I know that days had past but it felt like hours. So when we exited her apartment on the third day it was only because her sister had phoned her.

My vampire hearing allowed me to hear both sides of the conversation. It wasn't intentional.

"Oh my god. Do you have any idea how worried I've been? You said you would call me. You were supposed to call me yesterday." Her sister practically yelled. I watched as she cut off the reply that Beth was forming on her lips. She had paused only to take a breath, it seemed. "I've been calling, Beth. I texted. I came by and you didn't answer the door. If you hadn't answered the phone this time I was calling the police."

"I'm sorry about not answering the door, we were busy. My phone was dead, I only just plugged it in twenty minutes ago. I didn't notice the missed calls. Or the texts."

"Busy?! I was scared out of my mind. I thought she had killed you and dumped your body in a swamp." The woman was close to hysterical.

Beth started laughing but her sister was not amused.

"Stop laughing at me. It could have happened. There are female killers out there. Anything could have happened." It was then that I realized that it wasn't anger in the voice on the phone. It was fear, sorrow and desperation. I could hear the tears in her voice. I didn't like how it made me feel.

The woman had reason for her fear. She said she feared I had killed her sister but the truth was hidden in her voice. The truth I heard was she feared she had died due to her illness.

I took a physical step back. I pushed my hands through my hair. What was wrong with me? I was way past my fascination with humans. Usually, I preferred vampires and even them rarely.

I looked around at the tiny kitchen. Eight feet long. Six feet wide. The left side was a bank of drawers, cabinets, and a refrigerator. The right was a waist high counter, sink, dishwasher, and four burner electric stove. A toaster and microwave sat on the counter. There were more cabinets above the counter.

Beth was reassuring her sister. I was desperate to leave, desperate to stay. I didn't like this need I felt.

It made me feel vulnerable. That is not a comfy feeling for a vampire of any age.

I was thirsty. I had feed only once from Beth. I feared taking too much. If she had been healthy it would have not been a concern. I could have drank two pints of blood before she passed out, alive. A pint and most people have no adverse effects. Beth is not most people. First, she was sick. Second her sickness is in her circulatory system.

"No. Alex is still here."

Hearing my name pulled me back to their conversation.

"You still should have called, Beth." Her sister berated her.

"I know, Ann," Beth said solemnly. She looked up and found me watching her.

Whatever it was she saw caused her concern. I saw it flash over her face.

"Let me call you back. I promise I'll call," She told her sister.

After they disconnected she laid the phone on the counter still connected to the charger.

"You look like you're about to freak out."

That boat had sailed. I though.

"I'm going to shower," She told me as she looked at the digital clock on the stove. "I think I should have lunch with her."

Wow. I could feel it. Tension. That morning after feeling you get when you've just spent the night with a stranger. The feeling was flooding off her in waves.

"Yeah. You should," I smiled. "I'm sure she's wondering by now if I kidnapped you and made you call her."

She laughed. The tension was broken. "I know you think you're joking but you're probably right."

"I'll go ahead and head out," I told her. I didn't tell her that I didn't want to leave.

It was hours later that I decided to go back. I could still taste her, in every sense of the word. Her blood still filled me, her scent was still on my skin. I had showered in the hotel but I knew I could still smell her.

I had feed on a waiter that delivered a tray of strawberries to my room. He was alive. I had drank a full pint at least. I'm careful.

I took a taxi and had them drop me off a block from Beth's complex. I found the building with little effort. There was an ambulance siren screaming a block away in the opposite direction. Every second the sound became more faint.

I found her apartment and knocked. The door was pulled open and her sister stood there. Her makeup smeared. She took a few shuddering breaths. She stepped back and I took it as an invitation to enter. I shut the door as she had moved farther into the room.

With the door closed the scent of onions was overwhelming. I could also smell pepper.

Sadness and fear.

"Where?" I asked.

She wasn't facing me but I saw her shoulders shaking. "G-gone. They just took her. I - I have to go to the hospital," She spoke as she moved to the kitchen.

I followed.

She retrieved the big bundle of keys from the counter.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't lose her. Not now. Not yet," She sobbed. She pulled open the door that led to resident parking.

I was breathing easier. She wasn't dead. I don't know why it mattered so much to me, yet it did. I had followed her out the door.

"I took a cab here. Would you mind if the rode with you?" I ask. I kept my voice even but I worried she would say no.

She shook her head. We were already at a small light blue truck. She pressed a button, the locks disengaged. For the first few minutes there was silence broken only by the vehicles purring engine.

"She told me she wasn't seeing you again."

"I couldn't stay away." Simple but at the same time it wasn't simple, because it was true and I had no idea why.

She just nodded from the driver's seat. "She's dying." Her voice broke.

"She told me. It was the reason for not seeing each other," I said putting emphasis on the word seeing.

She nodded. "There is nothing they can do. I- I've tried everything." She laughed harshly. "I have tried every healing spell I thought was safe. I've spoken to all her doctors. Nothing."

"You're witches?"

"Not her. She doesn't believe in the supernatural. I'm not evil either. I'm struggling to keep my faith but I'm not evil." She was looking out the windshield, navigating traffic.

"I never said you were evil." I told her. I just never figured her for a witch. Most witches wore only natural fibers. She was wearing a rayon top, I could smell it. "What coven are you with?"

She did look at me now. Just a glance. "Moralin," She said. "They've tried to help. We cast a help spell a week ago day before yesterday." She shook her head as she slowed down. "It should have worked. It didn't but it should have. It was a full coven, it should have worked." I could hear her sadness and her doubt. She really was doubting her faith.

"Nine days ago?" I didn't know what to think. I had decided to come here nine days ago. The spell?

"Do you believe in vampires?"

She flipped on her blinker preparing to turn. She turned into the hospital emergency parking lot.

She still hadn't answered me by the time she parked in a space.

We were halfway to the door before she answered.

"Yes. And that doesn't make me crazy," She told me. She didn't look at me, she just kept walking.