The Morning After

  I was suddenly on my feet, I was more awake at that moment then I could ever remember being in my entire life. I wasn’t dead, for some reason that though surprised me. There was not one ounce of fatigue in my body. It was like I had been asleep for days. It was dark, but I could see everything everywhere. It seemed that I could see through the forest for miles. I could hear everything, I could hear a bird flying in the night. I could hear mice sneaking around; I could hear crickets chirping and their little hearts beating away off in the night. If I let my ears guide my eyes I could see where they were all perched. The forest was so alive. I looked up at the stars they were so bright. I could see the spectrum of colors surrounding them.

   ’Conner?’

  The voice I heard startled me. In a instance, I was in ready to defended myself. I had spun at the voice and coiled myself like a spring. I could taste something sweet in my mouth, my venom. I swallowed it down, it reminded me of honey. I looked around for the voice that startled me; there standing off to my right was my Gloria. Her hair was down; she had leaves stuck in it. It made me smile. Gloria’s T-shirt had the sleeves torn off; she also had taken her boots off. Gloria looked exhausted.

   I looked at the ground around us; my fatigue top was folded up on the ground. Gloria must have folded it up and placed it under my head as a pillow. My backpack was a few feet away, next to them was Gloria’s boots with her wool socks half tucked into them. Laying there next to my fatigue top was a half empty bottle of water, Gloria was standing about ten feet from me. Not only did she like exhausted, she looked frighten.

   ’Conner, can you hear me?’

  I took a step towards her; to my surprised she took a step away from me. I stopped; Gloria took two more steps back. She looked as if she was on the edge or running, I was puzzled by her body language. What was she frighten of, me?

   ’Gloria?’

  My voice had surprised me. It sounded soothing and gentle. It made me think of the seducing voice of the villain from a serial killer movie. Gloria took another step back away from me.

   ’Please, don’t go.’ I pleaded.

   ’Conner, are you ok?’ Gloria was terribly frightened.

   ’Please.’ I said holding out my hand to her, ’Don’t go.’

  Gloria took a step towards me.

   ’Conner, is it really you?’

  I scowled at her, ’Of course it’s me, who the hell else would it be?’

  Gloria exploded towards me. I braced myself for the impacted that I knew was coming. Gloria hit and stopped cold in her tracks. I hardly moved from the force of her crashing into me, I forgot I was going to be as strong as her. Everything came to the forefront of my mind that I was now a vampire. Gloria my love had infected me, I was through the metamorphoses. I was forever Conner the vampire and Gloria would now be my wife.

  Gloria had her arms wrapped around me. I held her tightly to my body.

   ’Conner, your crushing me.’

  I let her go and laughed. I took her hands in my and held her out at arm length. She was so beautiful. I couldn’t figure why she had been so afraid of me.

   ’Why were you afraid of me?’

   ’Conner, you looked as if you might hurt me.’

  I pulled Gloria into my chest, and then I rapped my arms around her. ’Why in the world would you think I might hurt you?’

  Gloria didn’t answer. Lightly I took her by her arms and I push her out from me so I could look her in the eyes.

   ‘Gloria my love what’s wrong?’

  Gloria lowered her head, ‘Because when you woke up, you looked frightening. Until I knew for sure you would be you, I wasn’t taking any chances.’

  I was taken aback by what she had said. ‘Gloria what’s wrong?’

   ‘Conner, you don’t look like you should, I don’t know any other way to say it. Now that I know you’re you, I’m not scared. But Conner, you look scary.’

  I laughed. This coming from the girl who carried me up the mountain.

   ‘How do I look scary?’ I asked gently reaching down and lifting her head with a finger under her chin.

   ‘You look like death.’

  Her answer frighten me, didn’t I look like every other vampire? I knew Gloria had seen many others during her life, how did I differ from them.

   ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

   ‘Conner, look at your hands compared to mine.’

  Gloria took my hand and put her other one next to it. Immediately I noticed the different. Gloria’s hand looked beautiful, with her normal white satin skin tone. Mine on the other hand looked chalky white. My finger nails had grown out about a quarter of an inch past the tips of my fingers, which were longer then I have ever kept them as a human. The thing that I noticed the most was their color, they had a bluish tint to them.

   ‘My skin, it looks like I’m dead.’ I said feeling anxious.

   ‘That’s not all Conner; your lips are the same color that your finger tips are. You have dark shadows under your eyes too.’

  I took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out slowly. I didn’t know that vampires could have a panic attacks.

   ‘Is there anything else?’ I asked.

   ‘You have a lot more grey in your hair now.’

   ‘Just my luck, everyone else comes out looking like some kind of super model, I come out looking like death. Damn it!’

 Gloria laughed; she quickly tried to put her hand over her mouth trying to stop the laugh.

   ‘Conner please, don’t be so dramatic.’

  I sat on the ground, and shook my head. Gloria sat down in front of me cross legged. She looked at the ground and a smile broke across her face.

   ‘What are you smiling about?’ I asked harshly.

  Gloria’s smile just got larger, then she looked me in the eyes and said, ‘At first I wondered if you were still you, but it’s pretty obvious now that you are.’

   ’Oh yeah? Why’s that?’ I was starting to get irritated.

   ’Because your being all grouchy in a way that only my Conner could be.’ Then Gloria laughed a laugh of relief. I just frowned, which made her laugh even more.

   ’Conner I can’t tell you how worried I was about you. when as you were changing you started looking all, you know. I don’t want to make you all self-conscious or anything, but you were looking all sickly. And then you wouldn’t change, you just laid there suffering. Then when you shut off, I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up. Then out of no where you jumped up the way that you did, you scared me.’

   Gloria had just said more than I could process. What she said didn’t make sense.

   ’Hold on second, am I not suppose to look this way brand new?’

   ‘I don’t know, I never did. And I’ve never seen anyone else look the color or the way you do.’

   ‘Great, I was the freak as a human, now I’m the freak as the vampire. I just can’t catch a break.’

   ‘Conner you’re not a freak. You’re still the man I love. When you were a human, you looked dangerous to the humans, I didn’t notice myself because, well you know. I was a vampire and you were a human. But I noticed the way other humans acted around you. I used to laugh at the silliness of it, you were anything but ferocious. But being intimidating is a part of who you are, so why wouldn’t you bring that with you? Maybe your color will get better after you feed.’

   ’How long did it take me to change?’

   ’Almost nine days. For eight of it you laid there screaming and saying something about how someone was stabbing you in the eyes. And I think you were flash backing to the war. Then you were talking…’

  I cut her off. ’You don’t need to talk about that, if I can go the rest of my life not thinking about that that will be fine with me.’

   ’Was it bad? It seemed horrible. Never mind.’

  It seemed that my change was as bad on her as it was me. She had to watch me suffer for days. Poor thing.

   ’Then, you whispered my name, and then you were gone. You didn’t move for like twenty some hours. Then blam! You were on your feet.’

   ’I’m hungry.’ I said.

  Gloria was right; it was like she had said the thirst. It felt more like human hunger.

   ’There’s some humans at the lake, if you like we could go there to feed, we wouldn’t even have to hide the bodies. Someone will find them and think it was some kind of animal attack.’

   ’I’m not going to feed on humans Gloria.’

 Gloria frowned.

   ’I guess when could find some deer.’ Gloria made a fake retching noise at the thought of feeding on deer.

   ’It couldn’t be that bad Gloria, I’ve eaten deer when I was a human, it was some of the best meat I’ve ever had.’

 Gloria smile, ’We’ll see.’

  Gloria got up and headed over to the backpack. As she walked to our pile of stuff

I thought about my gun, ’Gloria where’s my pistol?’

   ’It’s in the bag, you don’t still think you need it do you?’

   ’No I guess not.’

  As Gloria bent over and picked up the backpack and her boots, I was caught completely off guard by her. I took in the shape of her body; the way her shorts looked when she bent over, a thought crossed my mind.

   ’I just had a thought.’

  Gloria zipped up the bag turn and faced me. She was holding the backpack in front of her, she looked as if she was about to put it on when I had spoke.

   ’What’s that?

   ’I think you started something that needs to be finished?’

  Gloria I could see had no idea where I was going with this. She lowered the backpack and cocked her head to one side.

   ’What are you talking about?’

   ’The shower?’

  For a second it went over Gloria’s head, then like a light bulb turning on she dropped the pack and went into her leap frog crouch, a huge smile crossed her face.

   ’Finished huh? If you think your man enough.’

  I was on my feet In a flash, crouched and ready to spring. I wild snarl erupted from Gloria throat as she jumped away from me. I could taste venom in my mouth. I could feel a growl rumbling in my chest. I started moving slowly and deliberately towards Gloria. As I moved towards her, she was snarling and growling like a cougar defending her cubs.

  I sprung at her like a snake strike. A wild high pitched roar came from Gloria; she was so fast I didn’t even get close to her.

  Gloria was on me in a blink of an eye. She had jumped on my back and bit me ferociously on the neck. The pain from the bite shot down into my toes. She reached under my arm and scratched me from my chest to my stomach. I was able to catch her arm with my left hand and pulled her off of my back around to in front of me.

  I grabbed Gloria by the throat with my right hand and slammed her down on her on the ground. I threw my body hard down on top of her. Gloria rapped her legs around me and locked her ankles; I ground my pelvis against hers. Gloria’s back arched against my body. I didn’t let go of her throat, she grabbed my back right above her legs and pulled me against her. I released her neck and grabbed her chin. I held her still and kissed her gently. Gloria and I made love, it was her first time, and mine as a vampire. We were bounded to one another. She had made me with poison, and I would keep her with my love.

  We laid on the forest floor together naked, the ground felt like a feather filled bed and I felt as if I could lay there forever. The transformation and the love that Gloria and I had shared had taken its toll on me, I had to feed. I brushed Gloria’s hair with my hand. She looked up at me.

   ’Let’s hunt.’ I said.

  Gloria was looking at our little camp as we stood there naked.

   ‘How much longer till the dawn do you think?’ I asked

   ‘Soon. An hour maybe, maybe less.’

   ‘We should get dressed then if there are humans around.’ I frowned as I said that. I like seeing Gloria naked.

  I was amazed on how easy it was to separate Gloria and I from them. I wasn’t human, I was a ruthless predator.  A time ago I thought of Gloria as the most powerful, dangerous person I had ever met. Now that I was of the vampire kind,

Gloria seemed almost fragile. I had pulled her from my back like she was a child. Then at times when we were making love my strength had dominated hers so completely it made me wonder how I would fair in a fight against male vampire.

   I hated to see Gloria dress, I loved her body. Even more so now because I knew she couldn’t hurt me, she was watching me dress also. My T-shirt had been destroyed, I held it up to look at it and Gloria smiled.

   ’Just go without it, I don’t mind.’

  I smiled and put on my army fatigue top. Gloria put on the back pack, I guess she was still doing backpack duty. We walked back towards the way we came into the valley. As a teenager I had gotten lost out here onetime and ended up spending the night down here. I knew the valley we were in. it ran basically west east. Once we got to the top of the mountain, we needed to turn south to get to the lake.

  Gloria and I were walking hand in hand at a normal human pace, we were in no hurry. We had been quite sense we broke camp, Gloria finally broke the silence.

   ’What are you thinking about?’

   ’You.’ I said. Gloria smiled.

   ’What about?’

   ’I’m just wondering if it will always be this way, or will we cool down after awhile. I’ve never experienced anything like that.’

   ’I don’t know, but if you’re aren’t going to be able to keep up with that performance, I’ll be disappointed. That was really nice.’

   ’I could go without your love bites though.’ I said rubbing the spot where Gloria had bitten me.

   ’Why? I like you angry.’

  I smiled. I could see that the sun was coming up, the little valley was getting brighter.

  Gloria sighed.

   ’What’s wrong my love?’

   ’There’s people camped at the lake, we may come in contact with some of them. I smelled a fair amount of people on the trail so once we get back on it we’re going to run into people.’

   ’So?’

   ’Conner, I don’t have any contacts with me and we’ve only got the one pair of sunglasses. Someone is going to see our eyes.’

   ’Screw them, who cares. I already look like a corpse, you wear them and I’ll just scare everyone. I’m going too anyways.’

   ’I guess.’

  Gloria didn’t seemed convinced, but I didn’t want to worry her about it I was too hungry. Then I caught a scent of something that made my stomach growl.

   ’Please tell me that’s not a human.’

  Gloria started sniffing for the scent I had caught, ’No, I don’t know what that is. It smells kind of gamey.’

   ’I don’t know Gloria, but whatever it is it’s about to be breakfast.’

  I shot north after the trail. The smell motivated me to run recklessly through the dense under brush and trees. I could hear Gloria running behind me in the path of destruction I was leaving behind. I was so focused on the scent that I ran square into a huge tree. I bounced off it to a complete stop. Gloria almost ran into the back of me laughing as we watched the giant fir tree go crashing to the earth.            

   ’Timber!’ Gloria said laughing, ’Dang Conner, I’ve never heard of a vampire running head first into a tree before.’

  I glared at her and took off running after the scent, it was getting stronger by the moment. I could still hear Gloria chuckling to herself.

   ’Laugh it up chuckle head.’ I said over my shoulder.

  The scent was getting so strong that I thought I was going to choke on the venom in my mouth. Then out of nowhere I was upon the maker of the scent. The sight stopped me cold. I couldn’t help but laugh, Gloria stopped right behind me.

   ’Oh yuck Conner, you’re not are you?’

  I didn’t even answer her; there standing on his hind legs was a very large brown bear. I reached back behind me and grabbed the back of my army shirt and pulled

it off of me over my head. The large bear locked his eyes on mine and swung his large paw in front of him as a threat.

  I smiled at the bear, ’Your finished’

  I coiled and stuck. The bear didn’t know what hit him; he went over on his back I bit into his large neck too hard and bit a chunk right out of him. Blood sprayed everywhere; I couldn’t control its flow. I spit the chunk of neck onto the ground and tried to get my mouth over the wound. The bear tried to thrash under me but

I was to strong and he was losing too much blood. The blood made me crazy, the feeding was quickly turning into a frenzy. I just tore the bear to shreds; I ripped him apart with my hands when he quit bleeding out and started eating him raw.

  After I had my fill I jumped up and looked at the bear, the poor guy looked as if a bomb blew up inside of him. I had torn his head off, ate threw his shoulder. I threw his front leg that I had eaten though somewhere. His whole chest cavity was open.

   ’That was nasty Conner.’ Gloria had said with disgust.

  I looked at myself, I was covered in blood and bear flesh.

   ’That was crazy.’ I said to Gloria.

   ’No Conner that wasn’t crazy, that was disgusting. You better not ever get the taste of human in you. Because if you do that to a person, oh my goodness.’ Gloria put her hand over her face.

   ‘What am I going to do with you?’ she asked starting to laugh, ‘Look at yourself for crying out loud. Let’s get to the lake so you can wash up before someone sees you. Do you still feel hungry?’

   ‘No, I’m feeling pretty stuffed to tell you the truth.’

  Gloria grabbed my army top and we started running back to the lake. I felt so go I just started laughing. I could see Gloria a few steps ahead of me just shaking her head.

   ‘What’s wrong with you?!’ she yell starting to laughing.

   ‘I don’t know you made me, if I’m messed up its your fault.’

  We came at the lake south of the path. We stopped above the lake on one of the high ridge lines that surrounded the lake. I could hear people moving around at their camp sites. I could imagined that the campers were starting their breakfast, maybe fried eggs and bacon. I loved bacon, I wondered if I could still eat it. Gloria had said once that she had eaten meat from a store once in a bind. But it wasn’t something that she had ever wanted to repeat. The sun was completely out and the lake was still as breath taking as I remember it.

  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I could hear the hearts of the dozen campers scattered around the lake, I could hear the chipmunks in the rocks at the southern part of the lake. I walked back to Gloria and pulled my boots and socks off.

   ’Hold still please.’

  I walked around her to her back and opened the pack that she was still carrying.

I placed my boots, my wallet, my keys and my cell phone inside and zipped it back up.

   ’What are you doing?’ Gloria asked me.

   ‘You see the little cove over there on the far side of the lake?’ I asked pointing in the direction I wanted her to look.

   ‘Yes.’

   ‘Meet me over there.’ I started to turn back towards the lake.

   ‘Conner, if you hunt the humans, we’ll have to kill all of them.’ Gloria had a concerned look on her face.

  I walked back over to her and kissed her on the cheek, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ I turned and ran to the edge of the ridge and I jumped towards the lake.

  From the top of the ridge to the middle of the lake was about a hundred yards. As I flew through the air the wind felt amazing, I knew that everyone around the lake would hear me hit the water so I figured what the hell. Right before I hit the water I pulled my knees up to my chest and cannonball into the water. The water was freezing cold, but it felt amazing. I understood what Gloria had meant when she talk about the way hot and cold felt. I swam to the bottom of the lake. The lake was full of rainbow trout. They swam away from me; I guess I was the bigger fish.

  I started swimming towards the little cove that I point Gloria towards. I knew there were no humans there it wasn’t the best place to camp, too rocky.

I couldn’t believe how fast I could swim. I didn’t even need to come up for air. Gloria told me she had swam to Europe more than once, it didn’t seem like it would be to terribly difficult. I hit the surface of the water and looked around. No one seemed to be looking in my direction so I swam on the surface into the little cove; I climbed out of the water and laid on a large rock.

   The sun had just come over the eastern ridge. The sunlight hit my naked chest, its rays felt amazing. I could feel the surface of my skin warming. Like a lizard laying on a hot rock. I laughed, without body heat I would need the suns warmth to help dry my army pants. I propped myself up on my elbows to look for

Gloria. She was working her way around the southern part of the lake. She was moving at a normal human pace, I could hear the different campers saying good morning to her. They must have wondered about her bare feet, I laughed again. I couldn’t believe how much fun I was having.

  It took about twenty minutes for Gloria to reach me on the rock. She was frowning at me as she walked up to my rock.

   ’Hello my love.’ I said.

   ’You should have heard the talk about the large fish that just jumped out of the water.’

  I laughed.

   ’Conner, you’re going to need to do better at hiding then that.’

  I smiled at her, ’Kind of like your bare feet?’

  Gloria looked down at her feet and sighed. I jumped down from my rock and picked her up and spun her around in hug. I set her down and smiled.

   ’Do you know how much I love you?’

   ’Not as much as I love you, but you still have blood on you.’ she pointed out, ’and you’re getting it on me.’

   ’Why the sudden case of the grouchiness?’

   ’I don’t know, I’m worried about you I guess. You seem funny for some reason, I don’t know what to make of it.’

   ’You want to know what it is? I’m having a good time, maybe your not used to seeing me have so much fun. How’s my color doing, do I look better now that I’ve eaten?’

  Gloria sighed, ’No you look about the same.’

   ’Well, we all can’t be underwear models.’

  Gloria smile at my remark, ‘Why don’t you finish cleaning up. So we can go home. I need a shower and a change of clothes.’

  I scrubbed my face and arms in lake, Gloria made sure I had all the bear flesh out of my hair. It seemed like I had dried blood everywhere. Even after being under the water, I still had quite a bit on me. After Gloria was satisfied that I was clean enough to be around other people I retrieved my stuff from the backpack and placed myself back in order. I hated to put my shirt back on, the sunlight felt so well on my skin. I couldn’t see how a vampire could not want to be out in the sunlight, it just felt so good. I could just stand in its warmth with my eyes closed for hours. Letting the sun’s rays warm my face, I kept losing myself in the sun’s warmth.

   ‘Conner, I need you to focus for me on getting your boots on.‘

  Couldn’t Gloria feel how good the sun felt?

   ‘Conner! Boots, please. I need you to focus.’

  I wished she wasn’t in such a hurry to get home. I could have laid in the sun till it had set in the west. After some work and Gloria’s goading, I was ready to head back to the truck.

  I explored everything with my new super senses. I tried to smell every tree, flower, plant and animal. We pasted three groups of hikers on the way out. All of them had asked if I was ok, or if I needed medical attention. I just laughed to myself. I just stared them in the eyes. Their need to help quickly vanished when the saw my red eyes. I could hear the quickening of their hearts. It never got old.

Gloria was the picture of patience with me frightening the humans. I enjoyed listening to them after they thought we were out of earshot. I would smile; Gloria would just shake her head.

   ‘You’re not driving home. You’re way to side tracked to drive safely Conner.’

  I laughed, I didn’t mind. The drive was amazing. The sound of the air passing by my window. The sound of the other cars, the vibration of the truck, the light reflecting off of the other vehicles. The sun on the back of my neck as we drove west back to Seattle. How in the world could one focus with all of this. Gloria let me take it all in; she understood how overwhelming it could be being brand new. It was like seeing the world again for the first time. I couldn’t get enough.

  Gloria pulled into my spot behind my apartment.

   ‘Conner I have to go to my place to get some stuff.’

   ‘Okay.’ I said.

   ‘Promise me you won’t go outside or do anything out of the ordinary till I get back.’

  I smiled at her, Gloria’s concern was cute. She acted like I might hurt myself if she wasn’t there to take care of me. It was beautiful outside there was no way in hell she was going to keep me cooped up today. I think she didn’t want me to go

out because I looked too scary. That was probably true, but I knew it wouldn’t be so bad after night fell. At least I hoped.

   ’I’m going to take the truck. I want to bring some stuff over and I don’t want to carry it.’

   ’That’s fine.’ I said.

  We went through the common door and went up stairs to my apartment. I started  to smile as we walked down the hall to my apartment; Gloria noticed my smile.

   ‘What are you smiling at?’ she asked.

   ‘So you’re getting some your clothes to keep at the apartment, or just to change into?’ My smile got a little bigger. We stopped in front of my front door.

   ‘A little of both.’

   ‘I have no doubt that you have a ton of clothes; I don’t think all your stuff will fit in my apartment. If you’re moving in, we’re going to need a bigger place.’ I chuckled at my joke. But then Gloria submarined me and my joke.

   ’I know, I’ve already thought about that. I’ve been talking to these people that built a spec house in Kirkland, it’s very nice. I think it will work out nicely if we can get it. They were going to sell it, but I think they will rent it to us if we make it worth their while.’

  I was stunned. How long had she been planning for us moving in together?

   ‘Gloria, hold on a second. You and I have only been on good terms for like three days, when did you start talking to these people about the house?’

   ’Actually it’s been almost two weeks that we’ve been on good terms. You lost nine days remember? Anyways, I saw the house and made an offer the day before I first stayed the night with you.’

   ’How did you know that you and I would move in together?’

   ’Conner don’t be silly, was there really any doubt that we would? Besides, back then it wasn’t safe for you and I with that one a*****e thinking this was his territory. I had to move us someplace where I knew there weren’t any vampires. If someone found me with you living like June and Ward Cleaver, they would have

killed you and ran me off and there wouldn’t have been a thing I could have done to stop it.’

   ’Okay, so why do we need to move now?’

  Gloria put her hands on her hips and sighed.

   ’Conner you really need to work on your ability to focus. Weren’t you listening? I have way to much stuff for your little apartment. Two the a*****e is still out here, baby we don’t need that kind of headache when you and I can just move. Trust me my darling, you’ll love the house.’

  Gloria unlocked my front door and handed me my keys. I took them and asked, ‘I thought you were going to take the truck?’

   ‘I am, I have my own keys to your truck.’

   ‘And how long have you had them?’ I asked smiling.

   ‘Since I bought you the new couch and flat screen. How did you think I moved everything? I went looking for you, after I went to your work and you weren’t there, I went and found your landlord. He said you had gotten arrested. So I grabbed your keys, made a copy. The next day, while you were at work I got you moved.’

   ‘When did you get the new apartment?’

   ‘When you were in jail. Conner I told you all of this. You didn’t hit your head when you jumped into the lake did you? never mind, I’m going. Give me a kiss.’

  I grabbed Gloria and gave her a kiss. Instantly I felt a rush through my body. I pull her tightly into my body and kissed her deeply. Gloria tried to break the kiss.

   ‘Conner, stop. Silly boy we’ll have time for that later. Clothes, shower. Will you at least try to focus?’

  I laughed. ‘I’m sorry everything is so brand new.’

   ‘That’s fine, but later. I’m gone.’

  Then in a flash, Gloria was gone. I smiled because I could actually see her move at a vampire pace. I went into my apartment and closed the door.

  I walked straight to my room. I stripped down and walked into the bathroom. When I went past the bathroom mirror I caught my reflection out of the corner of my eye, I froze. I couldn’t take my eyes off of myself. The first thing I had noticed

were my eyes. They were red of course, but not like Gloria’s. Gloria’s eye were bright, like the brake lights of a car. They looked as if they were bright with life,

Mine on the other hand were dark. They reminded me of the dark color blood filled with oxygen. They weren’t bright with life, they were the color of death. Under my eyes there were deep shadows, the shadows had a blue tint to them.

  The color of my skin looked chalk white, there was no other color. It made me think of the typical movie vampires, all white, jet black hair and the sharp fangs. My hair was still short and brown, but like Gloria had said I had quite a bit grey in it. I smile at the thought of fangs. I noticed that the scare on my right cheek

was gone, well I wasn’t expecting that I thought. I also noticed I was a lot bigger, I was already nicely built. I carried two hundred pound easily, now I looked as if I had put on twenty pounds in just my chest and arms alone.

  I had to take a shower, if Gloria caught me gazing at myself in the mirror I would never hear the end of it after making fun of her. I guess I could have been a underwear model after all, well I could if I didn’t look dead. I laughed and turned on the shower.

   I remember that Gloria hadn’t waited for the water to get warm, so I just got in. I gasped, not at the cold but at the way the water felt when it hit my skin. It felt like little pins and needles, it was amazing. Hearing Gloria come in the front door brought me back to earth. I didn’t know how long I was in the shower before she

got back. I just knew I hadn’t touched the soap yet. I quickly washed myself and my hair. As I was rinsing off, I could see blood in the drain. The blood made me think of me and the bear and I laughed.

  I turned the water off and got out of the tub. I was sure that was why it was important for me to take a shower while Gloria was gone. She knew that I would get so sidetracked by the water I couldn’t get myself into any trouble. I wrapped my towel around myself and headed into the bedroom.

  I put on a pair of my new jeans. Gloria had bought me these long sleeve white T-shirt. So I grabbed one of those and threw it on. I tucked it into my pants, grabbed a pair of socks out of my dresser and headed out to the living room.

  Gloria was sitting on the couch with her legs crossed. She was wearing black slacks and a black spaghetti strapped tank top and little stilettos heels. Gloria’s hair was braided into two pigtails. They were resting down the front of her body. I just smiled.

   ’Conner do you insist on dressing like a child? We bought some nice clothes and you want to dress in T-shirt and jeans. Take that shirt off please.’

  I took my shirt off and handed it to her. Gloria went into my room, I could hear her in my closet digging through my clothes. She came back with one of the fancy dress shirts that she had got me before the change. It was a dark purple, but looked black in poor light. I put it on and buttoned it up, it barely fit now that I

had my new vampire body. Gloria’s face beamed when she looked at me, She clearly liked what she saw.

   ’Now that’s much better.’

   She went over by the door and took my new dress shoes out of the box, ’Here, put these on.’

   ’I take it we’re going out?’ It was like she had read my mind.

   ’I know there was no way I was going to be able to keep you in the house tonight. But you have to promise me that you won’t do anything crazy. I talked to the home owner and it looks like we got the house. It’s not a hundred percent yet, but if you don’t behave were going to have to go on the run for a while. And I want that house!’

   ’What would make you think I would do something crazy?’ I asked with humored.

   ’A, I don’t know, the BEAR maybe!’ Gloria said putting much emphases on the bear part.

   ’I’ll be good, I promise.’

   ’Good, I really want that house.’

  I smiled, and put my shoes on.

   ’Ready?’

  Gloria smiled, ’Conner, it’s still early afternoon. We can’t go out till it’s almost dark. Have you not looked in the mirror yet? Just wait till someone runs off screaming from you, then you’ll understand.’

 I laughed, ‘Shall we sit then and talk for a bit then?’

   ’Sure’

  Gloria and I sat down on the couch. She crossed her legs and rested her hands in her lap. I sat on the other side of the couch so I could take her in.

   ‘So what would you like to talk about?’ she asked.

   ‘So tell me about the house? When do I get to see it?’

   ‘It’s big, two stories. Five bedroom, four bathrooms and a three car garage. The whole down stairs has beautiful wood floors. The master bath is huge, our bedroom has its own balcony. It has a large Great room. That has double doors going out onto a patio. It’s like a dream.’

   ’What’s a Great room.’

   ’It’s a fancy name for the living room.’

   ’We don’t have three cars though.’

   ‘Oh we’re getting rid of your Toyota.’

  I raised one eyebrow, ‘We are, are we?’

   ‘Yes, Conner this house has a one point five million dollar price tag. I am not parking your old Toyota there.’

   ‘One point five million! Are you crazy! How the hell are we going to afford that?!’

  I was shocked, was she crazy? One and a half million dollars; I don’t think I’ve even been in a house that expensive. The neighbors would take one look at me and call the cops, and Gloria accused me of hitting my head.

   ‘Gloria did your elevator stop going to the top floor? You’re telling me you want to hide from other vampires in the middle of the suburbs, yet you don’t want me to go outside till it gets dark. Like the rich won’t notice me. But anyways, so how is it moving into a house that more expensive then our whole neighborhood a

good way to be inconspicuous? I’m confused.’

   ’Okay, first I looked into getting the house before you were a vampire. Second, it really doesn’t matter where we are, you’re going to sand out so we need to be careful anywhere. Third, we’re not hiding from other vampires, I said we don’t need that kind of headache. Conner no matter how well someone can fight, they’re no match for you and I together. But vampires fighting is messy, that’s what we don’t need. And lastly, I really want the house, and that should be good enough.’

  I laughed, she had me there. I really didn’t care where we lived, as long as we could be together and happy.

   ’Do you really think I’ll like the house?

   ’Yes I do.’

  We sat in silence for a bit, ’Will I get used to it, how spacey I’ve been sense the change?’

   ’Yeah, for the most part. But sometimes it’s too easy not to care if you‘re spacey. Like you on the rock by the lake today. If I would have let you, you would have laid there all day.’

   ’I felt like I could have.’

   ’I know, that’s why I was bugging you.’

   ’I’m worried about my color. I don’t want to be stuck in the house for the rest of my life and only aloud out at night. I’m going to feel like a monster.’

   ’You’re not a monster Conner, I know how important that is to you. And to me, I won’t let you be.’

   ’So why the suburbs?’

  As Gloria went on about the house and the neighborhood I didn’t really listen to her. I was too struck by her loveliness. The shape of her hips in her slacks. Her breasts and the way they stretched her shirt. The shape of her mouth moving; and her hair, her hair was so beautiful. I loved her pigtails. I felt a rush of heat run though my chest thinking about her naked.

   ’Conner are you listening to me?’

   ’Yes.’ lost my focus again it looks like.

   ’Well?’

   ’Well what?’

   ’I knew you had spaced out. I asked what kind of car do you want to buy.’ I laughed I really wasn’t paying attention.

   ’I don’t know, something big I think, but I wouldn’t mind something fast too.’

   ’How big?’ Gloria asked raising one eyebrow at me.

   ’Childishly big.’ I said.

  We sat in the quiet enjoying one another’s company, I was having trouble processing the turn of events. How could all of this happen so quickly? I felt like I had gotten on a runaway bus. But the fact that the bus had gotten away from the driver didn’t matter, we were out in the middle of nowhere. When there’s nothing to crash into, who cares if the bus was out of control. Maybe there was more at work here then my or Gloria’s will. Maybe all the power of the universe had destine for us to be together. Who knows these things? Who was I to question these things, I was no philosopher. I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss, and when it came to Gloria and I, I could stay in ignorance.

   ’Conner you’re doing some heavy thinking over there.’

   ’Yeah, I was thinking about the old saying.’

   ’And which of the old saying were you thinking about?’

   ’Ignorance is bliss.’ I slid over on the couch to Gloria and took her in my arm and kissed her. She didn’t stop me or resist me. 

  A few hours later we redressed. After dressing, Gloria and I stood smiling at each other. I walked over to her and gave her a huge.

   ’Thank you, what was that for?’

   ’For finding me. For loving me.’

  Gloria smiled and gave me a kiss, ’I told you, I knew from the first time I saw you I was going to love you. Shall we go?’ Gloria asked stepping back away from me.

   ‘We shall.’ I took Gloria’s hand and we headed out of the bedroom. ‘So what are we doing tonight?’

   ‘I don’t know. I was thinking we could just walk and let you enjoy what you are now.’

  Gloria and I walked up to the strip, the lights of the building, the sounds of people, the cars driving by. Everything was so alive, I couldn’t believe I had missed so much. I liked smiling at people, you could just about hear their hearts stop with fear.

   ‘Conner will you stop that please?’

   ‘Stop what?’

   ‘Scaring the humans.’

  I just smiled from ear to ear, ‘Oh your one to talk, I can remember you growling at humans.’

   ‘That was different.’

   ‘How was that different then me smiling at people?’

   ‘Because you weren’t with the most dangerous looking vampire on the planet. Now there’s nothing to worry about.’

   ‘I can’t help it, its fun.’

   ‘I know, just please do growl at anyone.’

 Gloria and I walked on and enjoyed the night. I could walk with her for ever like this. Listening to life, Gloria you are my love. I will never leave you, or let anyone touch you. What a life you and I will build. Can one heart that no longer beats be so fill? We shall see my love, we shall see.

 

   ‘What are you looking at?’ Gloria asked looking over my shoulder.

   ‘An Excursion.’

  Since Gloria said we needed to get rid of my little truck, I started thinking seriously about a new one. I wasn’t crazy about moving to the suburbs, but I figured if I was going to live out there, I would at least try to be obnoxious. So when we had gotten home from people watching I figured I would get online and see if I could find an Ford Excursion at a reasonable price. Not that I new what Gloria would think would be reasonable. Gloria rubbed the side of her face against of mine, she felt so wonderful.

   ’There’s one down in Portland.’ I said not trying to be distracted.

   ‘Conner that thing is huge, huge and ridiculous.’

  I smiled wide, ‘I know, that’s the point. You’re moving me to the suburbs, so I’m going to be obnoxious. Look at this thing. 6.8, V-8 turbo diesel. Four wheel drive.

The ad says it’s a ’05 and it only has thirty five thousand miles on it.’ I turned and looked at Gloria, ’Best part is, they only want twenty one for it.’

  Gloria looked at me, she didn’t look impressed. I grinned from ear to ear.

   ’What?’ she asked.

   ’It’s black. What? You’re the one who said my truck needed to go.’

   ‘Whatever Conner, I’m not the one who’s going to drive it.’

   ‘Just think, we could put a lift kit and some big old tires.’

  Gloria rolled her eyes and walked out of the kitchen.

   ‘Hey, what do you want from me, I’m trying to build a suburban assault vehicle!’

  I closed my laptop and followed Gloria into the living room. She was sitting on the couch watching TV. I sat down next to her and smiled.

   ‘Conner in all honesty, do you really want the monster truck or are you just teasing me?’

   ‘I would love to have one. Becoming a vampire did not cure the redneck in me, and there’s something about having a big old jacked up, gas guzzling monster truck that just calls to me. Plus, I couldn’t pass up the chance to tease you. But with all seriousness I do want it.’

   ‘Well if you would like me to buy it for you, then I will.’

   ‘You buy it for me? I thought we shared everything now.’

   ‘Nope, you’re going to let me buy it for you.’

   ‘Just think, when I’m done with all the upgrades you can use it on your bank robberies.’

   ‘Hardy, har, har funny man. When does the dealership open?’

   ’Well it’s about two now, so in about six hours. I would like to get there about when it opens, and it’s about a three hour drive to Portland, so shall we go?’ I asked.

  Gloria smiled, ‘Of course we can, let me go to my place and get some money. How much do you think we’ll need?’

   ‘The truck is twenty one, I think I should be able to get at least a thousand for the Toyota on trade in. There’s no sales tax in Oregon, but licensing, let’s be safe and bring twenty five. Maybe we could do some shopping after we buy the truck.’

   ’Okay, I’m going to run home, and get some money, and something to else to wear. Be back in a flash my darling.’

   When Gloria came back from her place I was absolutely dumb struck. There was no way I was going to be able to concentrate on driving. In a thousand life times, I don’t think I would ever get used to seeing Gloria’s loveliness. Gloria was wearing

a little smock dress. The dress had a light a color pattern that ran horizontally. I couldn’t take my eyes off her naked shoulders. Gloria had left her hair down, she didn’t even tuck it behind her ears. She left it where it fell. In one hand she was carrying white flip flops, and  in the other, a little black backpack that one would

use as a purse.

 She handed me the purse, ’The money is in my bag, I also have some blue contacts in a case in there for you, you’ll need to put them in before we leave.’

  I couldn’t speak, all I could do was stand there and stare.

   ’Earth to Conner, hello.’ Gloria said waving her hand out in front of her trying to get my attention.

  I blinked a few times and shook my head.

   ’I’m sorry, you need to warn me when your going to come over looking like that.’

   ’Is there something wrong with the way I look?’

   ’Gloria, how the hell am I going to drive when you look like that? You know how easily distracted I am.’

  Gloria smile and said, ’Easy, I’m driving.’

  It took me about an hour to find the title for my truck. Gloria made it almost impossible to think. Her looks were so intoxicating, she just sat patiently on the couch with her legs crossed. Every time I would catch a glimpse of her legs I would be struck stupid and would just stand there looking at her legs like a moron. Gloria would just smile and tell me to focus. I would blink a few times and off I would go looking for the title.     

 

  We eventually left headed to Portland around five. I couldn’t think I was so excited about getting the Excursion. I thought we were taking a chance driving down there without calling first, but the web site had said that the page was updated daily.

  As Gloria drove, my thoughts drifted. My parents were dead, but my brothers were still alive. I didn’t know what I would say to them about me, but I didn’t see them much. One of my brothers lived in Kentucky still, he had stayed there after he had gotten out of the army. My other brother lived here in Seattle, but we

rarely spoke. He had his life, I had mine. He had had a baby girl last year. And I had never seen her, I had only met his wife the one time at their wedding.

  Sometimes my eyes would drift onto Gloria’s legs. When they did, my mind would block out everything else. Gloria would notice and I would hear her snicker and would reach out to touch my leg to break my obsessing.

   ’Conner baby, you can’t sit like that and stare at my legs.’

   ’I’m sorry,  I’ll notice them and I can’t seem to take my eyes off of them. Does it bother you when I do that?’

   ’No, it’s not polite to stare. You can stare at me all you want, but if you can’t stop yourself from staring at me, what will you do if you can’t stop staring at a human? Baby, you’ll give someone a heart attack. Do you understand what I mean?’ 

   ‘Yes’ I sighed.

   ‘Being a vampire takes some practice I know. That’s why I dressed this way today. Not to sound conceded, no one will be able to take their eyes off of me. It will make the humans more at ease around you. Though your dressed is very non threatening, you should always remember the humans will always be frighten of

you.’

  I was wearing a casual short sleeved white button up shirt. The kind you picture a beach bum would wear. I was wearing light tan cargo pants and a pair of sandals. The skin around my toenails had a blue tint.

   ‘So remember to move slow, try to smile. Don’t sit too still. And most of all try to keep your eye contact down to about three seconds at a time.’

  I scowled and rubbed my eyes roughly.

   ‘Hey you’re the one who wanted to go car shopping. Just wait, we’re going to be somewhere and you going to forget to play human and your going to really frighten someone. I know how much that would bother you.’

   ‘I know, I know. Gloria, it’s just hard to think about all of this when I keep seeing your legs. You make it very difficult to think.’

  Gloria laughed, ‘I know it’s hard, just try to remember who and what we are, and you’ll be fine.’

   We got to the Ford dealership about the time they were opening. As we were pulling into the parking lot, I could see my new Excursion out on the line. Well, at least there was a black one out there, I just hoped it was the one from the web sight.

  I pointed the Excursion out to Gloria, ‘My love, can you drop me over by the Excursion before we park? That way the salesman sees you before he sees me.’

   ‘Okay.’

  Gloria dropped me off and went over and parked by the showroom. I walked around the Excursion, thinking about what I would like to do to it. It was stock, who ever had owned it before me was no redneck. The paint job was very clean,

no dings or scratches. I could smell the diesel, I was gettingbutterflies in my stomach. I smiled at the thought, I didn’t know a vampire could get the butterflies feeling.

   I could hear Gloria talking to the salesman, I turned and look towards the showroom. The salesman looked very typical. Grey suit, slicked back black hair and very smug. He had a thin moustache, He looked like her could lose a few pounds. He wasn’t very tall, maybe five foot eight. Gloria had the salesman’s arm,

Gloria was sure using her charm on him, buttering him up. As the salesman got closer to me, I could hear his heart rate increasing. He was getting nervous. I could see sweet beading up on his forehead.

   ‘Conner this is Tony, Tony this is my husband Conner.’

  I tried to remember to smile and I stuck out my hand to shake Tony’s. Tony shook my hand and tried to keep the picture of confidence.

   ‘Conner Steele.’ I said with a smile.

  Trying to not look angry was taking some work. For the last few years I’ve tried to keep people away with an angry face. I wondered if me trying to look friendly

could actually make me look more intimidating. I started to chuckle at the

Thought, Gloria was warning me with her eyes to be nice.

   ’Tony Snyder. Your beautiful wife tells me that you were looking at buying an Excursion.’

   ’That we are.’ I said.

  Gloria still had Tony’s arm, it was like she was trying to be his moral support. This was the first time I’ve actually interacted with a human. Through Gloria and I were out in public last night, we didn’t actually talk to anyone. I looked at Gloria

holding onto Tony’s arm, immediately I could hear Tony’s heart rate speed up. Gloria shot me another angry glance. I just smiled.

   ’Do you mind if I start her up?’ I asked.

   ’No, I don’t mind.’ Tony said handing me the keys.

  I started around the to the front of the Excursion, Tony started to follow. But Gloria had stopped him.

   ’Why don’t we let him be a child by himself so I don’t have to be embarrassed.’

  I walked over to the driver’s side, jumped in and fired her up. The turbo diesel engine sounded so good, I revved the engine a few times. I was going to have to put an exhaust on this thing. I could hear Gloria reassuring the salesman behind the truck.

   ’Conner just looks scary. But he’s a teddy bear, don’t worry if he acts up I’ll just roll up a newspaper and swat him on the nose.’

  Tony laughed.

   ’Bad Conner!’ she joked.

  Tony just kept laughing. I just shook my head, what an a*s. I shut the Excursion off and came back around to where Tony and Gloria were standing. Tony looked like he had calmed quite a bit. Gloria was good, I had to give her that. She had lots of experience dealing with men like Tony. I reached out and for Gloria’s hand. She let go of Tony’s arm and took my hand.

   ’Well Conner, what do you think of her?’

   ’I think she’s the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. She’s the love of my life. But if you were talking about the truck, I love it. If we can work out a deal to both of our satisfactions, I think I would rather drive her home then my old truck.’

  We started walking back to the showroom. I could see several of the other salesmen in the showroom looking at us, well at Gloria anyways.

   ’Would you like to take it for a test drive Mr. Steele?’

   ’Conner please, nah, I don’t think that will be necessary. I trust you Tony, you don’t seem like the kind of man that would lie to a guy like me.’

   Gloria instantly squeezed my hand. I looked down at Gloria, then I looked over the top of her head at Tony who was walking on the other side of her. The sweat start to bead up on Tony’s forehead again. I smiled.

   Tony led us to his desk. Gloria and I sat on one side and he sat on the other. He reached into his desk and pulled out a credit application and slid it across the desk to me.

   ’Well first I’m going to need you two to fill out this credit application and then we can go from there.’

   ’I don’t think that will be necessary Tony. We’re going to pay cash.’ I said.

   ’Oh, even better.’

   ’Here’s the thing, Gloria and I would like to, how would one say it. We would like to avoid as much unnecessary hassles with paying cash.’ I became very serious and looked Tony right in the eyes, ‘If you know what I mean.’

  The color drained from Tony’s face. I let the smile return to my face.

   ‘Conner stop it. Tony is more then willing to help us, there’s no cause for you to be ornery at Tony, he’s been nothing but helpful to us. Tony, do you need me to

get a newspaper?’

  Gloria’s tone was so gentle and loving, I almost melted. Her vampire voodoo worked it’s magic on Tony, instantly his color returned and he laughed. Gloria laughed with him. Tony’s heart rate returned at once to normal.

   ’I don’t think we’ll have any trouble meeting you and your wife’s needs in this matter. If you would be so kind and excuse me for a minute.

  As soon as Tony was out of sight Gloria turned to me, ’Conner that was horrible, Tony almost pissed his pants.’

  I laughed.

   ’I’m not joking, that wasn’t funny, do you want the Excursion or not?’

   ’I do, I’m sorry,’

   ’You don’t need to say sorry to me, just be nice.’

  True to his word Tony and his sales manager work it all out so we didn’t have to worry about the Feds. looking into our large cash purchase. They gave me a great deal on my trade in, they lowered the selling price on the Excursion, and I paid for the extended warranty separate from the truck. I thought it was funny how

quickly the dealership was willing to take twenty thousand dollar under the table. I knew dealerships were shady, but this was a new low. Got to love a used car salesman, they even topped off the gas tank for me.

  Gloria and I had gotten to the dealership around eight and we drove off the lot two hours later. Legs or no legs I was driving, I found that even with looking at Gloria’s legs I could had enough room in my head to pay attention to the road. From the dealership we went to a aftermarket garage and had them give me

the darkest tint I could get. It took about two hours for them to get the Excursion back to us. Gloria said she was up for shopping while we were waiting for the tint, but the home owners of the house Gloria was wanting to rent had called and wanted to meet to sign the lease agreement.

  Gloria was so excited, she wouldn’t tell me the details of the lease. Which meant  it was bad, I didn’t want to rain on her parade so I didn’t ask. We got on I-5 north and headed back to Seattle. Great, we’re moving again. Well at least we had

the Excursion to help.

   ’I can’t believe we got the house.’

   ’So am I going with you to sign the lease?’

   ‘No, the home owners are already having trouble with this whole affair.’

   ‘Then why are they willing to rent if they aren’t comfortable about this?’

   ’The money.’

   ’That figures, are you going to tell me about the lease agreement?’

   ’Nope.’

   ’So how are you getting to your little meeting with them?’

   ’Well, I was planning on…’

  I just laughed. Gloria was going to have to drive the Excursion.

   ’A*s.’

  I couldn’t help but laugh, it was either I take her or drive herself. I didn’t think Gloria would want to run to her meeting, so she was stuck driving. I was never going to live this down.

  We pulled into my slot behind the apartment, the Excursion hardly fit in the parking spot. Gloria and I got out and met in front the truck.

   ‘Conner my darling, can you do something for me while I’m gone?’

   ‘Sure my love.’ Gloria smiled at me.

   ‘Can you start packing for me? I would like to move as soon as I take possession of the house. So in other words, I’m planning on staying at the new house tonight so it looks like you have some work to do.’

   ’Well, drop me at a U-hall on your way to your meeting.’

  Gloria smiled, ’I love you, have fun packing.’

   ’Thanks.’ I grumbled, ‘I hate moving.’

    ‘I hate this truck.’

  Gloria got shut the door and rolled down the window, ‘Have fun.’ she said sticking her tongue out.

  Gloria threw the Excursion into reverse and flew out of the spot, shooting me one last smile she burnt rubber down the alley behind the apartment.

   ’I thought you were going to drop me off at the U-haul?’ I said watching Gloria tearing down the alley.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Jazz]

I've been reading this all day, but i think i better stop, before my parents yell about staring at the screen all day.
This book, so far, is brilliant, i love it, there wasn't a boring part, the couch through the wall had me laughing my head off, and the contrast if her looking so fragile, but being stronger than Conner is really ironic and the way you wrote that Conner didn't remember why he was in so much pain, during the change was brilliant, i really wasn't expecting that.
I can't wait to read the rest of this =]