Kidnapped

Chapter XVIII

Tanananana, chapteeer.

Sorry for being away, but that's the rule now.

1 chapter every two weeks. D:D:

I need some kind of organisation.

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Everything was packed. We had decided to leave the house in a complete disaster in order to hide our tracks, even if it was for a short time. After calling Patrick, James sneaked into the neighbour's house to collect supplies such as food, water and of course, garlic. There was no connection between the great legends of destroying a vampire with a piece of garlic, although its smell was hardly bearable.

It was early spring in Portland so most of the snow vanished. It was a huge advantage for us who were going to travel mostly on road leaving marks behind. We had to be sure that absolutely nobody was going to follow us at least until we left the town.

I felt really sick because of the thirst and I had the impression I was going to collapse any moment. However I never felt safe enough so I asked James to keep smoking at least one cigarette. Shifting was never pleasurable so I wanted to avoid it on road.

It wasn't a long trip, but for me thirty minutes seemed more like a 30 hours. I couldn't relax a bit. The realistic and confident part of me tried to convince myself that if I had relaxed, it would have been less likely to shift. But I was completely frightened, stressed and always strained that anything which seemed not safe to me had the power of putting me on guard. That's why I had been continuously interchanging my form.

I was, at the same time, relieved and surprised that nobody followed us. Before rescuing James from the Centre, I had the impression that they had really high-tech and modern security systems, huge armies of guards, tracking systems and so on. The truth was that we were only three teenagers who had managed to break in and out of the building rather fast despite the fact that the staff of the Centre tried to appear threatening. As Adam said, this was only a ghost building, but still I considered that for their own pride they should have prepared for special situations, like this one, much better.

Once we were out of town, we slowed down the speed and each one of us looked after Noam's green Dodge. James got pretty worried when we didn't find it even after 15 minutes but got angry when we did because he thought it wasn't smart to hide a green truck between green bushes, thing which I agreed with.

Noam was a nice guy. Moreover, I was glad to see that he was also confident and seemed really organized about everything. He was muscular and tall, but moderate, with a tan but soft skin. I had to admit he was one of the most attractive men I've ever met. He was also very friendly and before I got in he made sure I had enough space and air in the back of the car, where I had to stay for a long period of time, accompanied by James.

Both James, but especially me, felt like throwing up from time to time because of the garlic smell. Noam made me understand that in the end I was forced to drink human blood, particularly because it was the first time. He also let me know that the term of vampire is only a generalization and that there are many different types of vampire. Each had their own perk, power and most important, vulnerability. Almost none of the vampires were alike others.

I should've been scared to find out all those things about me, but the way Noam talked gave the impression that these were things which they would deal almost every day with. I was pretty sure that I was going to be safe.

We had to cover a 24 hours way from Estacada to Lake Preston in South Dakota. I had visited the state before but I've stayed there even less than in the others, about 1 month. I was now sure that my father had businesses there with Patrick.

We've had many stops. Adam advised us not to use credit cards, to pay by cash, to take the receipt with us and to burn it. We had to get rid of the tracks as good as we could.

We had covered three quarters of our road trip and right before entering South Dakota, we decided to take another break. I wasn't sure if I could survive even 5 miles so I told the guys I would stay in the car at the border of the gas station, away from any living thing. I was still having a fight with myself about having to drink blood or not and it wasn't anyway easy for me.

Me, me, me. You'll get over it if you try to accept who you are.

All this time I kept thinking about James as well. I wasn't worried for Adam anymore because for now we had found a solution. But I knew James was going exactly through what I was and I wondered how he could resist for so long and so easy.

James was the first one to come back in the car.

"I brought you coffee because Noam suggested it will make you feel warm, but I think you should take a nap."

"I'm fine, thanks. I just want to arrive there sooner."

"We're both in this, alright? We have to do it. I think Patrick will make it easier the first time, but it's vital for us now, do you understand?"

"It will be uncomfortable. It's not like cutting your finger and sucking the blood out of it. It's drinking blood from another human, blood from their own vein."

The space in the back of the truck was really tight so he placed the coffee and the food behind him and approached me a bit more.

"I need you. I am scared to death myself, not to mention unprepared and confused. I have to take care of you but it's hard for me in these moments and I don't want to disappoint you. So, be brave and make me brave too."

In these moments, I've always remembered my father and how confident and strong he was. And I figured that I was his daughter and I was just like him. So, because I was guilty now of everything that's happened to James, I knew that the least I could do was to lift a weight off his shoulders and be able to take care of myself.

I quickly got up, shook my head and nodded. He sketched a warm smile and put his arms around my waist, pulling me on his legs and really close to his face. He leaned on his back and I went after him, kissed him, got the coffee from behind and backed off to my seat.

I felt really happy that I still had the force to tease somebody in this state. I thought I was a happy person before becoming a vampire, but imagine being ten times happier when you're close to starving to death. It sounds impossible and weird. I tried, in that moment, to see how I feel if I just forgot about all the bad things and seriously focus only on the good ones. I was overwhelmed by how confident, lucky and all the other good feeling that I felt and inside me I laughed hysterically, until I shared everything with James and we started to laugh so loud that the whole gas station could hear us.

Finally, Adam and Noam got back into the car, both chatting like two close friends and I fell on my thoughts, scolding myself because this whole time I couldn't see the bright parts of anything.

Now that I felt much more relaxed, I forgot about shifting and drinking blood and after finishing my coffee, I leaned on James' lap and fell asleep with an imaginary smile on my face, feeling ten times more determined, ten times safer and ten times more powerful.

I'm a vampire for god's sake!

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:] iloveyouall.