My Own Human Read online

  “Yes, years, in what else would I count?” the Heather asked, looking curiously at me.

  “I thought you meant decades, I mean, when you say you are over two hundred it makes you sound so old. We all count in double digits,” I quickly explained, making her eyes go wide in shock.

  “You count in decades. Oh God, you are one of them?” the female spoke, her voice sounding all too accusing.

  “One of whom?” I snapped, not liking her prejudgement.

  “A vampire,” she whispered, crawling backwards until she hit a wall.

  “Of course I’m a vampire, you are the odd one here,” I huffed, not liking the tone she was using.

  “Shit, shit, shit, I thought she was human, I mean, she was talking in my language, shit, shit, I’m so dead,” the thing muttered to herself, hugging herself tight.

  “Me, human? Don’t insult me,” I growled, popping out my teeth, making her flinch back. I quickly retreated my fangs and calmed myself. No need to scare the human away.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” I apologised, cringing inside. Why was I apologising to a human?

  “Please don’t hurt me, please,” the human begged again, making me roll my eyes.

  “I told you that I wouldn’t, so just stop saying that,” I groaned, grabbing my neck in annoyance.

  “Can’t we go outside, this building smells,” I proposed, pointing outside as the scent of old cement and dust was irritating my nose. The Heather thing rapidly shook her head and crawled even further away.

  “Come on, I promise I won’t hurt you,” I almost begged, wanting to see the human in daylight. But as she didn’t budge, I crouched down next to her and cocked my head to the side, trying to be as unthreatening as I could be. “Please,” I repeated myself, really begging now.

  I didn’t know what made the human change its mind, but this time she stood up and took a few steps in my direction. Huh. She was taller than expected. Just a couple of inches shorter than me. She walked cautiously passed me, her eyes never leaving my face. Once she made it outside the building, she suddenly started sprinting towards the forest. I sighed at her futile attempt and ran after her, easily catching up with her and I grabbing her by her waist.

  “Hey, don’t run, please, I have so many more questions for you?” I asked, still holding her close to me, amazed by how warm she felt.

  “Please, let me go, please,” the Heather cried, her body restless in my arms. I placed her on the ground and sat down next to her.

  “Let’s just talk, okay? Just for a while,” I proposed, pretending like she had a choice, but I knew that I wouldn’t let her out of my sight. This was the biggest find in millennia.

  “Oh, okay?” the Heather nodded, looking at me with her dark eyes.

  “So, are you really human?” I asked, not understanding what was happening. Finding a human was like finding a dinosaur, both highly unlikely and oh yes, impossible?

  “Yes. Are you really a vampire?” the Heather answered making me chuckle.

  “Of course, I’m vampire,” I grinned, amused by her disbelief. Everyone was vampire, there was nothing weird about that. Being human on the other hand.

  “So, why aren’t you sucking me dry?” the Heather asked me in a weak voice. I raised an eyebrow and threw her a glare.

  “Why aren’t I what?” I asked in challenging tone, hoping she didn’t just insult me.

  “Why aren’t you sucking my blood out,” she explained herself with the tiniest voice.

  That’s it.

  I flew to her throat, wrapping my hands around it, bringing my mouth very close to her ear. I growled and popped my fangs out, trying to contain my anger. I felt how she tried to swallow in fear and I chuckled darkly.

  “Suggest that I’m a Dracula once more and you are a goner,” I hissed in her ear, making her shiver under me.

  “I’m… sorry,” she coughed, her hands clasped around my wrists, trying to pry them off her throat.

  I saw how she was struggling for air and quickly released my deadly grip, making her fall to the ground coughing andwheezing.

  Damn, humans were weak.

  “Sorry, forgot that you needed the oxygen intake,” I apologised, pulling her up and placing her steadily against a tree. She was still holding her throat and coughing her lungs out. Her breath came out a bit wheezy and she seemed quite hurt, actually.

  “You okay?” I asked, slapping myself mentally that I almost killed the Heather. That would only happen to me, me killing off the only human on earth. Great. Be careful!

  “Urrrhh, I’m fine,” the Heather spluttered while she rubbed her throat.

  “Let me see,” I offered and gently pulled away her hands. I saw the raw marks my fingers left and made a mental note not to forget how fragile this human was.

  “I’m fine,” she curtly spoke. Getting the hint, I backed off and sat down, leaving a safe distance. I looked at the Heather and just couldn’t comprehend how vampire she looked. If it wasn’t for the smell and her eyes, I wouldn’t have seen any difference. Come to think of it, I was probably only able to correctly diagnose it because I was so obsessed with them. An untrained eye could have easily mistaken her for vampire. Which is only logical, since we live in a vampire world. So where did this human come from?

  Maybe she had been stuck in a freezer and came out after a cillennium? Maybe she discovered how to become immortal? Maybe she was a vampire mutation? Maybe she had fallen out of the sky from the planet Mars?

  “So, where did you come from?” I blurted out, not believing any of my hypotheses.

  “Eehmm…” the Heather mumbled. “I don’t know, I can’tremember,”

  I growled in frustration. This could’ve been the moment I found out everything about humans, but now I still didn’t know squat. She flinched back and I quickly retreated myfangs.

  “Sorry. Reflex,” I explained as I pointed at my teeth. It was an involuntary response. I knew many people that never had their fangs slip, but every once in a while, mine popped out.

  “So, ehmm, since you don’t know where you come from. Can I take you to my home?” I reasoned, trying to contain the excitement bubbling up inside me. If she didn’t know where she came from, I couldn’t leave her here alone, right? I would just take her with me to my house. I had no choice here! But, oh my gods, a human in my house, that would be the opportunity of a lifetime!

  “I’d rather not,” the Heather murmured, not daring to look me in the eye.

  “So, you’re going to stay here in the forest?” I challengingly asked, spreading my arms out in a mocking gesture.

  “Errr… I guess not,” she stammered in defeat, making me almost jump for joy. I was taking the human back to my place! I hoped she’d allow me to do tests on her.

  “Then let’s go, it’s only a three hour speedwalk,” I grinned, standing up as I grabbed my old bag, ready to get going.

  “A three hour what?” the Heather asked, looking at me indisbelief.

  “Speedwalk. A run,” I further explained when she kept looking at me like I was crazy.

  “I hope you know that I’m not running for three hours, right?” she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s only 200km?” I countered, not understanding what the big problem was. It had taken me a little less than three hours to get here.

  “And you ran that in three hours? What, don’t you own a car?” she snorted, obviously making fun of me.

  “No, of course not. That’s a human utensil,” I snapped, making her flinch back again. Damn, what was with this flinchy human.

  “Are you afraid of me?” I asked, narrowing my eyes and studying her frame.

  “No… No, eehmm. No I’m not,” she hesitated, clearly trembling on her feet.

  “I’m not that scary,” I grinned, humoured that she clearly thought otherwise.

  “How do I get to your home? I’m not running 200km, I’m not mental,” she huffed, shaking her head.

  Good question. How did I get
her home? We could always walk at the human speed, which was about 5km/hour? So that would take us…. Eehmm… Less than two days. Perfect.

  “Well, we could walk at your speed. It’ll only take us about forty hours to walk,” I happily suggested, feeling rather smug that I solved our little problem.

  “Are you mental? I can’t just walk forty hours? I’d better stay here in the forest,” the Heather snorted and sat back down at the foot of the tree. “Or you could carry me with your vampire strength and speed.”

  “No, you are coming home with me and I’m not carrying you, I’m not someone’s ass. End of discussion,” I growled, forgetting to control my temper once more. Again she flinched, making me roll my eyes in annoyance. I already told her I wasn’t going to attack her. “Stop flinching, I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “Then stop growling like an animal,” she huffed.

  Growling like what? With what did she just compare me? An animal? I closed my eyes, slowly counting to ten, so I wouldn’t grab her throat again.

  “What are you doing?” her soft voice asked, making me open my eyes.

  “I’m counting to ten so I won’t kill you,” I snapped, not believing the nerve this Heather thing had. Calling me an animal? Humppf. She was lucky she was a rare human that I needed for research. “Let’s just start walking. We’ll take pauses so that your tiny human body can keep up,” I commanded and started walking towards the city. “Come on, follow.”

  I heard the Heather groan as she stood up. I rolled my eyes and decided to just ignore her for a little while. She annoyed me, but I was too interested in her to let her wander off in the forest or even be afraid of her. Which I knew I should have been, since they were supposed to be extinct and here I was, walking and talking with a human girl.

  But then again, so far, she seemed rather weak.

  “You are going too fast,” I heard from behind me, making me softly growl in the back of my throat. Humans weren’t just weak, they were also slow.

  “Fine,” I snapped as I slowed down my pace, matching hers. Gods, she was slow. This was going to take days before we reached my place.

  “Can’t you walk any faster?” I impatiently groaned, earning a dirty look from her.

  “No, I can’t. I’m only human, remember,” she said, almost growled. I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation and decided to just keep my mouth shut. If I didn’t say anything she wouldn’t either.

  * * *

  We walked for a couple of hours in total silence, except for her groaning and whining.

  “I’m tired and I’m thirsty,” the Heather suddenly said, stopping and looking expectantly at me. I nodded, not wanting to get in another discussion and opened my bag, grabbed a +pocket and gave her one.

  “What’s this?” she asked while studying the +pocket. I grabbed another one for myself and tore the corner off.

  “It’s a drink filled with protein, glucose, vitamins, energy… Everything the body needs,” I said, gulping down the purplefluid.

  “Why is it purple? This isn’t blood right?” she inquired, still looking hesitantly at the pocket.

  “It’s blueberry and raspberry and no this isn’t blood. We don’t drink blood, why would we?” I explained, shaking my head because of her silly questions.

  “Okay…”she mumbled, taking a tiny, tiny sip. “Eww, that’s definitely not blueberry nor raspberry,”

  I shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. Berries don’t exist anymore. It’s just a flavour name.”

  “Oh. Okay. It’s not too bad, I guess,” she murmured and also drank her pocket. “You have something to eat?”

  “No? We don’t eat, we just drink the +fluids,” I answered, not understanding her question. I had read cook books, but since there weren’t vegetables or animals left, we couldn’t really cook, even if we wanted too. On the other hand, our +fluids were all we needed to keep our body satisfied, so we didn’t need foods.

  “I don’t feel so good,” the Heather suddenly whispered, going completely pale. I cocked my head to the side, not knowing what to do. I even let out a little yelp of helplessness when she fell face first on the ground. Damn.

  “Uh-uh… This isn’t good. This is not good,” I mumbled to myself. I crouched down and gently slapped her cheeks, trying to get a reaction out of her. Nothing. I grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her limp body, hoping that she’d wake up. Nothing.

  “Damn, damn, damn it! Wake up,” I cursed, shaking her body in desperation.

  Damn, think woman, think. Check if she’s still alive.

  Good thinking. I brought my ear to her mouth, to check if she was still breathing and sighed in relief when I felt her warm breath on my skin. Good. Then I placed my index and middle finger on the vein in her neck and checked for a pulse. Again, check. A rapid pulse. Good.

  Wait. A rapid pulse?

  I knew that the human heart had about 60 beats per minute, but her heart was going way faster than this. I placed my fingers back on her neck and counted out the beats.

  113.

  That wasn’t healthy. In fact, that was way too high. I looked around me, for the first time angry that I loved coming to abandoned places and groaned in frustration. What was I supposed to do now? Damn, what was happening to her? What had I done?

  That’s when I remembered the +fluid. It was a vampire drink, so maybe her human body couldn’t process it? That made sense. I sent her into overdrive. Yes. But what now?

  I needed to get as much of the fluid out of her body.

  Good, how?

  I groaned when I knew I had only one real option and I turned her on her side. I took in a deep breath and pushed my index finger as deep in her throat as I could. The retching sound coming from her mouth turned my own stomach upside down. I shuddered in disgust when the purple fluid came gulping out of her mouth.

  I wiped her saliva off my finger and checked her pulse again. The rapid beating was slowing down, but not enough. Not nearly enough. She was still unconscious and her breathing seemed to have slowed down. I needed to get her to Father as soon as possible. He was better with emergencies than I was. I groaned as I looked at her limp body on the ground. There was no other way than to carry her there myself. I huffed, feeling humiliated and picked her up, amazed by how light she was. I grabbed my bag and hurried back to my house, using a mix of speedwalking and fledding. In under two hours flat, I reached my house and I immediately called Father, explaining what happened. As fast as he could, he made his way over to me.

  “Please tell me I didn’t kill the only human left?” I asked him in a begging tone, knowing that I would never be able to forgive myself if I did.

  Father touched the vein in her neck and checked her mouth. “She’s alive. For now. We need to introduce fluids into her bloodstream, to thin out the contents of the +pocket,” Dad decided, making me sigh in relief that he knew what to do.

  “Please tell me the Heather will be okay?” I again asked, needing reassurance. Dad nodded and immediately hooked her up, starting the transfusion in less than five minutes. Good thing he took up seven main courses in university and learned a lot of skills.

  “We’ll just have to wait and see,” Father shushed me, pointing at a chair for me to sit on because I was annoying him with my hovering. I huffed and aggressively sat down.

  Time went by slow as I stared at the human girl, studying her for any signs of change. After a while, the Heather softly moaned and her eyes fluttered open. I rushed to the couch, hoping that she was okay.

  “A… Adrianna?”

  Chapter 2

  Testing

  THE BIGGEST SIGH of relief escaped from lips as the Heather’s eyes fluttered open and she softly murmured my name.

  “Yes, I’m here,” I said reassuringly, giving her my best non-intimidating smile. She gave me a weak grin of her own, before falling back into the darkness. I immediately panicked and patted her on her cheek, trying to get some other kind of reaction, but Dad stopped me.

  “She’s j
ust sleeping. Humans need a lot of sleep, you know that,” Dad reasoned, making me nod because of the logical explanation.

  “Do you know what this means though?” he went on in a high pitched voice, not able to contain his excitement. I shook my head silently, making him clap his hands loud and sharp. I flinched from the penetrating sound and rubbed my ears in annoyance.

  “This is a human, a real human! Now we will finally be able to find out so much more about this species! Oh, we’re going to change history!” Dad cheered, jumping from one foot onto the other in excitement.

  “I kno-ow! Finally we’ll solve so many mysteries!” I screamed with the same high-pitched voice, his enthusiasm contagious.

  “Hohoho, I can’t wait to start doing tests!” Dad added, rubbing his hands like a mad scientist, a crazy grin on his face. I’d probably be concerned if I wasn’t mirroring his posture and mad chuckle.

  “Me neither!! This is so exciting!” I squealed, literally jumping up and down, clapping my hands like a lunatic.

  “Best thing that happened all year!” Dad blurted loudly, throwing his hands up in the air.

  “Best thing that happened all decade!” I over-exaggerated while holding my head in disbelief. “I’m the luckiest girl in the world,” I whispered to myself.

  “I can’t believe we are going to be the first ones who …”Dad muttered softly, absolutely not talking to me.

  I shook my head and tried to calm myself down, feeling rather dizzy from excitement.

  Stay calm. Let’s just focus systematically on what had to be done. Firstly: DNA tests, take blood samples, saliva swab, bone marrow sample, skin sample, hair sample. Secondly: physical and mental tests. Speed, strength, vision, smell, scent, hearing. Thirdly: integrate her into vampire situation, see how they handle themselves.

  I sat patiently down in the chair next to the couch as I grabbed a book to keep me occupied. Father walked out of the room, still murmuring to himself like a madman. I tried to read but gave up after a couple of pages. I just couldn’t keep my eyes off of her, so no use in trying. She looked so vampire, but with a couple of human indicators. Her dark blue eyes were a recessive trait that no vampire would ever inherit, her pores were too visible, and the freckles randomly scattered over her face made her look human. Besides that, she wasn’t pretty enough to be vampire.