DESI
I openedmy eyes and found Scout holding me, sobbing.
“Desi, please. Please wake up.” I smiled weakly, and she gasped. “Desi, you’re alive!” She laughed.
I stretched and blinked, then ran my tongue over my teeth.
Fangs.
I looked over at Scout, and her eyes were red like mine must be.
She frowned. “What happened to your eyes?”
“What do you mean?” I laughed. “They look just like yours. We’re vampires. Together. We can be together forever now.”
“No. Desi, yours aren’t red. You used to have blue eyes, the color of a stormy sea. Now, they’re bright.”
“What? No, that’s not right.” I stood and looked around. We were still in the diner. People were hiding under tables, crying and screaming. There was so much smoke and sirens and flashing lights.
I took her hand and tugged her forward. “We need to get out of here. Come with me and I’ll explain everything.” Together, we ran through the back of the diner and pushed the emergency doors open. I patted my pockets. I didn’t have my keys. Why not?
“I’ll drive.” She saw me struggling. “Let’s go.”
As we got into her car and took off, I recalled the deal with Samson. I had one day. Twenty-four hours before I lost all the memories of her, and I would be called to give him the souls of ten thousand evil men. I had to make every minute count.
“We’re vampires. You know that, right?”
“I’m a vampire,” she clarified. “Your eyes aren’t red.”
I reached for the mirror on the dash and tugged it down. “That can’t be—” I stopped short as I got a good look at my face.
“You will be marked. Every Bloodborn will know that you are being punished for what you’ve done.”
My eyes weren’t red, like every other Bloodborn. And they weren’t blue, like the Bloodsheds either. I had one blue eye, bright like a highlighter marker, and the other one was green, like a clover.
“Oh, fuck me.” I sighed and leaned back. “I have fangs, and I feel different. The—” I tried to tell her about the deal I had made with Samson, but my tongue was stuck. I couldn’t tell her.
“Well, I am, regardless of my eyes. And I’m going to spend my immortality fixing things between us. I’m sorry about Aleida,” I told her, hanging my head.
“Me too.” She sniffled. “Desi, I want to take you home, but then I have to go. I—” She stopped short and then frowned.
“What?” I looked up.
“Nothing, I guess. You lied to me the entire time we dated, and I don’t know if I can get over that. But none of it matters because—” She huffed in frustration. “What’s your address? I can’t believe I dated you for a year and don’t even know where you live.”
I rattled off the location and she drove us there. We parked in my driveway.
“Will you come in?” I pleaded.
She started to say no but finally relented. “Fine, but—” She tried to speak but then gave up. I helped her out of the car and we went inside.
Instantly, I spun her around and planted my lips on hers. I had less than a full day with her, and I wanted to spend as much of that time as I could inside her.
She kissed me back with matching fervor. The moment she walked out of that door, we’d forget each other.
For a time.
How long could ten thousand take? I grazed my new fangs against her neck. She smelled divine.
