The heat from the sun was almost blinding. I covered my face with the blanket and tried to go back to sleep. A wave of nausea hit me and I ran for the bathroom. I got down on my knees and threw up in the toilet. The bowl was full of blood by the time I was finished. After flushing it down the toilet, I brushed my teeth. I looked at myself in the mirror expecting me to look like hammered shit but no, I looked amazing. My hair still had the thickness and shine. My teeth looked whiter and sharper.
I took a step back and looked at myself more closely in the mirror. Not only did I look different, but I stood differently, and my eyes seemed to change but stayed the same. I looked like a hunter, a predator. I scared myself and I wasn’t sure how other people would react to the change in appearance.
As I peeked out of the bathroom door, I saw Rayce sleeping. I made my way out quietly, making sure not to make too much noise and headed for the door. I walked down the stairs to the kitchen. I made my coffee robotically. My mind was running a hundred miles a minute with questions of how and why this happened, or what it even was for that matter.
I looked down at the brown liquid in my cup. Not all of the cream had mixed in as little chunks of the powder were floating at the surface. I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip. A little piece of cream hit my lip and a wave of nausea washed over me, I ran for the sink. I vomited so violently, I couldn’t breathe and my back cramped. I closed my eyes and tried to catch my breath, but all I saw was Mrs. Scott and the delicious blood pouring out of her. I wanted more and my stomach growled at the thought of the wonderful liquid going down my throat.
I heard movement upstairs. Rayce was awake and would be down soon. I washed my mouth and the sink clean. The thought of pouring another cup made my stomach turn. I poured the whole pot down the sink and washed the decanter out. I also cleaned out the filter basket and I felt much better once I had gotten rid of it all. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Good morning, babe. Did you sleep well?” The tone of his voice told me he was still concerned. All I could do was nod but I didn’t look up at him. I was afraid of what I might see. I felt enough like a freak and didn’t need to see it on someone else’s face. He walked over to me and placed his hand on the back of my neck, smoothing down my hair and kissed me on the top of my head.
“No coffee?” he asked. His voice held surprise and I could understand why. I haven’t gone without a pot of coffee since I was sixteen.
“I’m sorry, hun. It tasted funny so I poured it out. I wasn’t thinking,” I said embarrassed. I shouldn’t have dumped it out. I knew Rayce liked coffee in the morning.
“Well, that’s alright. I will get some from the convenience store on my way to the office. I plan on talking to Jay about what has happened to you,” he came over and sat down across from me. “How are you feeling?”
I shrugged my shoulders. He wanted more of an answer from me but I couldn’t muster up a logical one. I didn’t want to worry him about me getting sick.
“Talk to me,” he said softly. His eyebrows went up in question.
“I’m fine, really.” He watched my face for a second until I began to become uncomfortable by his stare. I bit my bottom lip and sighed.
“Ok, I’m going to head up to the office. Will you be okay…alone?”
“I’ll lock the doors and keep my gun out. I’ll be fine,” I assured him. He was still nervous about leaving me with Gage out there somewhere.
“You can always come with me,” he said.
“Maybe I’ll show up later,” I smiled.
When he left the house, I headed upstairs and found myself in the bathroom looking at my gorgeous reflection in the mirror. I was still in awe over the fact of how good I looked. I didn’t have bags under my eyes anymore and my skin literally gleamed.
I turned from my new self in the mirror and entered my closet to get some clothes on. I needed to get the things on my list and plus I desperately needed to get out of the house. I hoped my truck would make it the eleven miles to the store. I felt a little sick but it was bearable.
Downstairs, I picked up my list of needs I had made after Rayce left. I sighed as I looked down at the food products. I didn’t want to get any of it. Nothing but the thought of blood made me hungry.
I climbed into my old beat up truck and started the engine. I expected it to groan to life but it purred like a kitten. I turned off the key and wondered what was wrong with it. It had always been loud and annoying. I turned the key again and it started right up but it was quiet as if it were a brand-new truck.
The memory of Gage walking into my room, wiping his hands on a mechanics rag with his jeans covered in grease popped into my head. He had fixed my truck.
The trip to the store wasn’t as interesting as I had hoped, I wanted to find something I couldn’t live without but it didn’t happen that way. I did look for some new shoes and hit up the clothes rack. I bit down on my lip and reluctantly headed back to the house. I drove passed the office on the way and I could see that Rayce was there. I quickly turned around. I pulled into the parking lot of the office and turned off my truck.
As I sat in front of the office, I couldn’t help but wonder if everyone could be inside talking about what a freak I was. I finally stepped down out of my truck. As I walked into the office, the scent of what the building used to be hit me. My stomach flipped to the scent of old oily engines.
I quickly typed my key code in and entered the gym. My nose instantly filled with all the amazing scents of the large room. I could smell sweat and different colognes, the plastic mats, and the metallic smell of the weights on the wall. I closed my eyes, the wood paneling on the walls hit me next. Behind that was where a tiny mouse chewed a cracker.
Rayce was inside the firing range. I could even hear that coming from the soundproof room. I tried to open it but it was locked. I flipped the switch on the wall, letting him know I was there. I could even smell his cologne through the door. All of these new senses were a little much to take in.
I had come to the conclusion that something along the lines of transformation was happening. I definitely felt different. My body was changing. I tried to think back on my life and remember if anything like this had happened to me before, but nothing came to mind. Only the thought of blood made me sick before but now that was all I wanted.
When Rayce finally emerged from the range, he smelled of gunfire and man. I wanted him at that moment. He was right. I was insatiable. I couldn’t get enough of him.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said and kissed me.
“Hey,” I sighed happily. “Jay isn’t here, is he?”
“No. He is running some errands for me,” he explained.
“What sort of errands?”
“Just work stuff,” he said smiling slyly. It was clear that he was hiding something. I didn’t have time or the thought process to try and figure out what he was talking about.
“Did you talk with him?”
“I did, but…”
“But, what?”
“There is no logical reason why you would…do what you did.”
“No answers then?” I sighed.
“Nothing yet,” he confessed.
I took his hand with a smile on my face and I looked up into his confused eyes. “I need to tell you something.”
He pushed my red hair behind my ear, “You can tell me anything.”
“You can obviously tell a change in my body,” I stated.
“I can,” he said with another grin. This time his eyes screamed desire. I almost faltered but kept my cool.
“I think it best we go outside for some air.”
He took my hand and lead me to a door in the back of the gym. He pushed it open and we were outside. I had never used that door before. Out behind the office sat several old cars in pieces. I looked up at Rayce in question.
“When we purchased this property, the cars came with it,” he explained.
“Ah, right,” I said nodding. “Listen, I need to talk to you about what happened, but I’m not sure how to explain it.”
“I’m listening,” he said.
“Well,” I paused. My voice shook. My mind has been racing since last night. “All I can think is that I’m…turning into a hellhound.”
“Impossible,” he stated.
“Is it?”
“You can’t be. I haven’t bitten you three times. That’s the only way it works, babe,” he explained. “Craving the blood, that blows my mind, but don’t worry, I will keep you away from it.”
“How?”
“You won’t have to hunt anymore I will take care of you,” he said.
I didn’t want to think about that. I had no plan on stopping. I knew I wouldn’t be able to live without it. Maybe I would be able to cut it down but I knew, for a fact, stopping completely was out of the question. My body needed it, it craved it.
“I don’t want you to have to take care of me.”
“It’s my job,” he assured me with a smile. “I love your independence but a man’s job is to take care of his woman.”
I had never had a man take care of me so well. Rayce was the perfect man for me. I wanted to gush over his words but I couldn’t focus. I wrapped my arms around him and placed my head against his chest. All I could think about was how he wanted to keep me away from the blood. I knew he was trying to keep me safe but I was almost enraged over the thought of not having it. I had to focus on the last doubt he had.
“I have been bitten three times. Twice by Gage and once by you, maybe that’s our answer.” I explained and looked up at him.
He cleared his throat, “Jessica, it doesn’t work that way. You have to be bitten by the same person three times for it to work,” he explained.
“Okay, look at it from a different angle. When a hellhound is made, the person who makes them is the only one who bites them and then that person made belongs to them. Am I right?” He nodded but kept a serious face. “Now, through all the years of hellhound’s existence, has anyone ever been bitten by multiple hounds before?”
He took a cigarette out of his pack and placed it in between his lips, “Yes.”
“So, maybe something else happens to a person who has been bitten by different hellhounds. Now, I feel different in so many ways.”
“How different?”
“My body heat is higher but I am running no fever and my teeth are sharper. I crave blood like a dog craves a bone. I’m starving right now and it’s not food I want, I feel no need for food. On top of all of that, I can smell and hear everything.”
“What do you mean?” He looked at me like I was crazy.
I pointed across the street and he looked in that direction, “I can hear that field mouse chewing on an old paper plate and it still has bar-b q sauce on it.”
I couldn’t believe it myself, but I knew he could hear and smell everything I could and he didn’t even try to deny it.
“Ok, Jessica, if that is what’s happening to you, then why is it taking its sweet time doing it? When someone is turned, it is instantaneous. They are one of us in a matter of hours and you haven’t been bitten in nearly a month.”
“I don’t know. Maybe my immune system is fighting it. I don’t know,” I said.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you yet, but I know that if you happen to be turning into one of us then you still have to eat food, even if you feel like you don’t need it,” he explained.
I nodded. I was trying to take in everything he was telling me and to tell the truth, it did make sense. Marie explained that it was almost instantaneous.
All I wanted to do was be with Rayce and live with him forever, but he didn’t want this life for me. My stomach flipped but I knew what I had to do, I had to find Gage. Maybe he would have some answers for me. I had to risk everything to find him.
I got up on the tips of my toes and kissed Rayce on the lips. His warm arms wrapped around me and drew me close. I loved this man and I knew he loved me. There wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t do to be with him. We didn’t talk, we only held each other.
“I better get home and put up these groceries,” I said.
He took my face between his hands and gazed down into my eyes. His stare was intense. Everything about me had changed and he could see it.
“Would you like me to come with you?”
“I can handle it, thank you,” I said with a forced smile. I couldn’t focus. “I love you.”
“I love you too, babe. I’ll be home soon but call me if you need me.”
“I will,” I said and kissed him before leaving.
Once inside my truck, I thought about where Gage could be. I loved Rayce but I still had a plan. My plan was to find Gage, but where could he be? I knew he was watching my every move. I scanned the office parking lot and surrounding area.
“Alright, sicko. Where would you be?” I pulled onto the highway toward home. As I stopped at the one stop light in town, I scanned the area which could be seen from my home. There were a couple as almost everything resided in a strip-mall fashion. My house was on the corner of the street facing Main Street. I tapped my hand on the steering wheel. “Where are you,” I whispered.
The only place he could see my every move was open twenty-four hours. When the light turned green, I hit the gas. Only two blocks down from my home sat the establishment with blacked-out windows. The only one where he wouldn’t be questioned as to why he was there all the time. The only place someone could sit for long periods of time.
I waited for a long moment before getting out of my truck. Random people walked in and out of The Watchdog, my old job. I glared at the windows and wondered if he was watching me in that moment.
The bar had the familiar smell of cigarette smoke and stale beer. Music played on the juke box in the far corner. Two people were tending bar. A woman I had never met before and my old boss. I looked down at my feet and continued to a window seat. I didn’t exactly give him any notice when I quit. He was pissed.
I could see almost the entire town from this window. The blue paint on my house stuck out like a sore thumb. There were other places he could watch me from, of course. The diner was one of them but they closed early. The Watchdog was the only place he could be all night if he wished.
“Hey, sweetheart. What can I get for ya?” The barmaid asked. I looked up at her and her brown curls hung down her shoulders. She was a foot taller than me and her figure was slimmer but still had a thick shape. Her brown eyes looked tired but her smile was nice.
I didn’t want anything but I had to order something in order to sit, “Coffee?”
She smiled brightly, “Anything else?”
“Just coffee, for now, thanks.”
“One cup of black gold, comin’ up.”
I should have parked in the employee parking lot out back of the building. If Rayce drove by, he would see I was here. I could only hope he would stay at the office for a while. The barmaid set down a paper napkin and my coffee in front of me.
“I appreciate it.” She turned to leave. I would have stopped her for cream and sugar but I didn’t plan on drinking it. It didn’t appeal to me anymore. I knew what I wanted and coffee wasn’t it.
I sighed and looked back at my home. I began to wonder what Gage was thinking. Why would he want to watch me so closely? All because Rayce and I were together? I wasn’t that special. I had never dealt with anyone like Gage before. Even my controlling and abusive ex wasn’t that sadistic. There was absolutely no sanity in the entire situation.
I needed to ask him why. I was taking a huge chance on talking to him or coming to find him for that matter, but being in public was safer. He couldn’t attack me with people around and get away with it. I knew he would come in, I had to wait.
I sat with the cold cup of coffee between my hands for what seemed like hours. All I could do was watch the traffic on the street. For a small town, there was a lot. That was why I would take the back-alley home after work. It was safer, or so I thought. Main Street was full of mostly truckers traveling through.
The familiar sound of the back-door opening caught my attention. The brightness from outside shone in, blinding me for only a fraction of a second. The instant my eyes focused, they landed on Gage. I found this strange. My old boss hated it when customers used the back door. I waited for him to start yelling, but he didn’t.
I didn’t move a muscle or make a sound. I only watched him as he walked behind the bar and grabbed a beer from the cooler. I was flabbergasted. He took a white binder from under the bar and skimmed the pages. It was the product log. I remembered it from when I worked at the bar. Then I heard his deep voice. “You need to order a keg of draft and toilet paper for the bathrooms,” he stated to my old boss.
“I’m on it, boss.”
“Boss?” Then the realization hit me. Gage owned this place. I began to wonder how long he had. Rayce was right. Gage has had his eye on me for a long time. The barmaid walked up to Gage and smiled, “Hey, baby,” she said with a smile.
“Baby?” I whispered. “Oh, you poor girl.” I kept my voice low while I observed him wrap one arm around her waist and pull her closer. She kissed his cheek and that was when his eyes landed on me. He looked like a deer caught in headlights. I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes. A wash of disgust came over me and I fought the feeling to get up and leave.
“Give me a minute,” he whispered to the woman in his arms. With my heightened senses, I could hear the slightest sound. I still thought he was a good-looking man but the thought of him touching me made me ill. He grabbed another beer from the cooler and walked around the bar. As he approached, I shifted in my seat. He was taking in my appearance. “I knew you would come to me,” he said cockily.
I snickered, “Don’t flatter yourself.” I wanted to shoot out his knee and stomp his balls but I needed answers. “Sit down, Gage. We need to talk.”