How Sweet The Taste

I groaned as I came back, my head throbbing. Everything hit me all at once, making my eyes snap open and me sit straight up, pushing away from the form I thought would be standing over me. I hit the wall, gasping as my eyes search frantically around the dim room. I began to relax when I realized that I was in my own room, sitting on my bed. I took a deep breath in relief, flopping back over onto my side. It was just a bad dream. It never happened. I never left my bed. I tried to go back to sleep, to get some rest but my head was killing me. Groaning, I got up and headed towards the bathroom for some pain meds.

I squinted when I flipped on the light, refusing to look at my reflection just yet. I opened the mirror, grabbing a little white bottle from of of the three shelves. I closed the mirror and the bottle slipped from my hand as my breath whooshed out of lungs. I leaned forward, wide awake now as I examined my face. A large bruise was forming under one of my eyes, turning an ugly yellowish-purple. My bottom lip was busted, making me automatically touch it with my tongue. I hissed at my stupid action as pain stung the side of my lip. My actions stopped when I thought about it a little more. In my nightmare, the girl had hit me on the very same cheek. I swallowed hard, hoping that it wouldn’t be there.

My fingers gripped tightly at the bottom of my shirt, my stomach knotting up as I slowly pulled the fabric up. A light scream left my lips as I yanked my shirt back down, stepping back until I hit the wall behind me, like I was trying to get away from the scar on my side. A cry started, a whiny sound as I tried to wrap my head around what happened to me last night. For the second time all in one day, I was almost killed by a vampire. I bravely lifted up my shirt once more, inspecting the scar on my pale side.

It wasn’t raised up off of my skin or indented, looking like a simple red tattoo or something. It was obvious that it was a set of teeth, seeing the gap between the top set and the bottom set, like a mouth shape. I hesitantly brushed my finger tips over it, snatching my hand back when they made contact. It didn’t feel any different than regular skin but when you touch it, the scar feels like its frozen, cool to the touch, not body heat temperature. I started to pace around the small area in my bathroom, thinking.

What the hell does this mean? Will I turn into a vampire because that crazy bitch bit me? What will happen to me? Why is she so determined to keep me away from Harry, when I didn’t even choose him? My head snapped up when I heard knocking and it was not coming from downstairs. My side started heating up where the scar was, turning warm under my shirt. I stepped out of the bathroom, peeking around the doorframe at my window.

I rushed to the window, snatching the curtains closed to hide me. The person continued tapping on my window, ignoring my obvious hint to go away. I scrambled around my room, grabbing a large bag from the floor of my closet. I can’t do this. I won’t do this. I began to stuff clothes in my bag, my scar continuing to heat up, starting to get really hot. I stop packing, running to the bathroom, soaking a rag in the cold tap water. I place it over my scar, hoping it would ease the now burning sensation on my side.

“What’s wrong?” A deep british accent asked, scaring the day lights out of me.

My scar was on fire, feeling like it was literally burning the skin around it. I began to hyperventilate, clutching at my side. It was even hot to the touch. Harry rushed forward, grabbing for me. White pain burned at my side, making me scream out, smacking his hand away.

“Get away from me!” I screamed harshly as tears rush down my face from the pain that was taking over my stomach, desperately hoping this would work.

“I’m not going anywhere until you are better.” Harry snapped, reaching for me again. I backed up, swatting his hands away.

“Leave me alone! Back up away from me!” I snapped back, giving him a hard shove, sending him backwards. I was right. The pain in my side dropped a temperature, proving my theory right. She marked me, gave me this to keep me away from Harry.

“You have to get far away. Leave me alone. Just go.” I say, trying to sound stronger than I felt. I didn’t want him to leave. I wanted him to stay, to help me. A hurt look possessed his face, his green eyes sad. I couldn’t take it. The stress was just to much. I began to cry, silent tears at first until they flowed into a sob, a sad cry.

“Please, just leave. I’m sorry. I can’t go through that again.” I sob, dropping to my knees as I place a cool rag over my burning scar. Harry took a few more steps back, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he watched me cautiously.

Harry’s POV
“Can’t go through what again?” I asked, panicking on the inside. Did she remember after all? I shifted my feet nervously, observing the broken girl in front of me. She leaned back on her knees, a little look of relief crossing her face as I stepped back.

“You know that blonde that I was, erm, dancing with last night, at the club?” She asked s she slowly got up off the floor on shaky legs. I nodded my head once, silently telling her to continue. She leaned against her bathroom sink for support as she held a rag underneath the cold tap, wringing it out before placing it underneath her shirt. What was all that about?

“Yeah, well, she’s a vampire. She basically kidnapped me last night, beat the hell out of me, bit me and then knocked me out, all over you.” She says, motioning to a nasty bruise on her face. Why am I just now noticing this?

“Wait, she bit you?” I asked, rushing forward. She held an arm out, panic taking ver her face as she backed away from me. I stopped in my tracks, watching her closely as she pressed the cool rag harder against her skin. I returned to my recent place, further away from her.

“Yeah, she bit me.... The crazy bitch...” She said, muttering the last part under her breath. She pulled up her shirt, revealing the red teeth marks that looked tattooed onto her pale skin. I leaned closer, zeroing in on the marks.

“She marked me. I don’t know what it is, but when you get close it burns. When you went to grab for me earlier, it felt like my skin was being burnt by a hot iron.” She told me, explaining the whole wet rag thing.

“She marked you but not in the way that you think. Nothing bad is going to happen to do, you’re not going to turn into vamp or anything. It’s kinda like a restraining order against me. The mark on your side will burn if I get close to you, it makes it to where you don’t want to be around me.” I explain, rubbing my face before running my hands through my curls, teasing them.

“She said something about you being hers and looking for you for over a hundred years.” Anna said, standing on her own feet now without having to use a prop.

“She wants me? I don’t even know who she is.”

Notes