The Awakening (23 page)

"Don't fight it, Alex," he vaguely heard
Aya say. Of course he was fighting it. He was
dying
, but that was the
point wasn't it? His humanity had to die in order for him to be reborn as a
vampire.
He had to die
.

Clutching his head in his hands, he drew in sharp
breaths, each slicing into his lungs like shards of hot metal. As his vision
began to blur to black around the edges, he could hear Gabby still speaking the
words of the spell over and over, until the strange language was all that he
knew. Letting it overwhelm him, he trusted Aya's advice and stopped fighting.

Alex breathed out and he swore he felt the moment
his heart stopped beating. There was a second of nothing but oblivion and he
thought he could see forever...then there was nothing.

That's the thing about being knocked out, or
falling asleep for that matter, because when he finally come to, it always felt
like a second had passed. Alex felt all his senses coming back long before his
eyesight joined the party. Even before he started breathing again and it was a
strange sensation. He fought against the current that was weighing him down,
searching for the light.

"How long until he comes back?" he heard
Aya say through the fog.

"I'm not sure," Gabby replied. "It could
be a minute, it could be an hour. There's no time limit on this."

Fixing on their voices, he willed his eyes to open
and when they did, he sat up sharply, gasping for air. As his heart started to
beat again, he clutched his chest as the first thud echoed in his ears. How the
hell did he even hear that?

"There's your answer," Aya said with a
shrug.

"Alex," Gabby knelt forward, a palm on
his forehead. "Are you okay?"

"No," he croaked. "That was messed
up." He felt like he'd been beaten within an inch of his life, and he
could remember a few times he'd been beaten up. The most recent being in the
gardens back in Ashburton. It had been one of Katrin's vampires pummeling him
and he'd been the bait to lure out his friends. That was also the night he
found out about…well, vampires and witches and every other supernatural mumbo
jumbo creature that was living within five yards of his house.

"Is that it?" he asked, wiping his brow.

"Not quite." Gabby held out the bowl that
contained their blood and nodded. "Drink. It'll complete the change."

He'd forgotten about this part. The bit with the
blood. Looking at the contents, he felt like throwing up, but as soon as it
swirled around in the green plastic bow, a scent washed over him. Grabbing it
from her hands, he drank greedily, like he was parched after a day of hard
labor in the gardens.

He felt it slide down into his stomach and the
moment it hit, he began to choke as a sharp pain spread through his abdomen.
Dropping the bowl, he doubled over, wrapping his arms around himself. They
didn't tell him about this part. As the pain spread through his body, it felt
like he was ripping apart, burning from the inside out…he'd never felt anything
so horrible in his entire life. Better him than Isobel.

Aya suddenly appeared next to him, cradling his
head in her lap, her hand stroking through his hair. "It's going to
be okay," she crooned. "It'll pass soon."

"Fuck," he gasped as another spasm ripped
through his chest. "Is it supposed to feel like this?"

"You're changing," she said. "You're
entire body is altering how it works. It's going to hurt until it's done."

"Let the pain take you, Alex," Gabby
said. "Let it take you and it'll feel so much better."

He trusted Gabby with his life and letting his fear
go, he let the pain wash over him as he made the final transition into a
founding vampire. Even as his consciousness stared to fade, he thought about
his sister. He had to focus on why he was doing this, why he had sacrificed
himself to become the thing he never wanted to be.

Hang on, Izzy
, he thought.
I'm
coming for you
.

Alex's eyes opened slowly, darkness to the bright
light of the night-time around him. Curling his fingers in the grass on which
he laid, he stared up at the sky and wondered why it was so bright.

A thousand, million, trillion stars shone down at
him through the canopy of trees above and he found himself wondering if they'd
really been there all this time. A slight breeze ruffled the leaves above him
and drew his focus a little closer to earth. Sound pulled his attention in
every direction and he couldn't decide which to listen to first. The scurrying
of some night dwelling creature, the far off sounds of cars and trucks on the
highway and a thump-thump sound he couldn't quite place.

After a while, he realized he was hearing a
heartbeat. Focusing on the sound, he heard three distinct patterns all
intertwined, beating out a complex rhythm. He sat up slowly and squinted
as his eyes focused.

"Alex?" He heard a voice call out to him
and it was familiar somehow. An image of an olive skinned woman with wild brown
hair came to mind and he turned to find her watching him, concern in her hazel
eyes. No, hazel wasn't right. Caramel?

"Gabby," he sighed.

Gabby glanced past him, her shoulders sagging in
relief and he turned to find another woman beside him. Her eyes were so blue
they could be called cold, but he only saw warmth there.

"How do you feel?" Aya asked.

"Overwhelmed." Everything was beating
down on him, demanding to be heard, seen, tasted, touched…a high definition
assault.

Aya smiled and rose to her feet, holding out a hand
to him. "Let me help you."

Grasping her hand, he stood and marveled at how
fluid it felt.

"We should go back to Isobel's and
prepare," Gabby said.

At the mention of Isobel, Alex felt anger sear through
him and the intensity took his breath away. He'd seen Sam and Zac change into
their vampire modes on several occasions, but when he felt his teeth start to
move, he slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Shit," he hissed, feeling slightly
embarrassed.

"Deep breaths," Aya said, holding his
shoulders. She understood, of course she understood. She had issues with
controlling this kind of thing, didn't she? Alex suddenly understood how she
felt. It had happened so easily, so fast…one little mention of his sister's
name and his anger almost took him someplace he wasn't sure he ever wanted to
go.

As he breathed in the crisp air, he felt everything
go back to as it should. His teeth seemed to settle and his vision wasn't quite
as sharp.

"Okay?" the hybrid asked and he nodded.
"It'll take time, but we're here to help you. Zac can help you with all of
this."

"I know."

Aya wound an arm around his back and helped him
walk through the forest back to where Tristan was waiting with the car. He
looked around, not quite believing what he was seeing. Reaching out, he brushed
his fingers along the trunk of a tree, felt the breeze against his face and
breathed in the earthy scent that hung all around them. Alex sighed and
looked up at the sky again. How had all of this been here and he hadn't noticed
it before? All this…
life
.

Aya looked up at him and smiled, her eyes shining
bright with laughter. "You're like a baby seeing the world for the first
time."

Smiling back he replied, "That's because I
am."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Zac stood with Alex in the lane behind Isobel's
apartment, the night slowly giving way to the dawn. He promised he'd help him
adjust to his new life and now was the time. It was the only time because
Isobel was counting on them.

He'd been through it with Sam, but this time was a
whole different game. Alex was vastly different from his little brother. They
both had kind hearts, but Alex was innocent. Gabby had told him once that Alex
was the underdog at school. He was the one that bullies picked on and still he
went out of his way to help people after they'd pushed him down. Either that
was stupid, or incredibly brave. Right now, Zac would bet his last dollar on
the fact that those bullies would be running the other way. Alex was kind of
bad ass.

"I don't feel cold," Alex said, his voice
full of disbelief.

"That's normal."

"I'm just so…" He shrugged.

"C'mon." Zac pointed to the roof.
"Have a go."

"What, just jump?"

"Yeah, just jump. I'd aim, though."

"I don't…"

"Don't worry about looking stupid," Zac
said. "There's worse things than missing. Besides, this is the fun
part."

Alex looked up at the roof, three stories above,
and his jaw tensed.

"Do you want me to go first?" Zac asked
with a laugh. "I can catch you."

"No. I've gotta grow a pair."

Zac stood back and watched as Alex stared up at the
roof and a moment later he jumped. A crack signaled his arrival on the roof and
what sounded like a couple of broken tiles. With a laugh, he jumped and
landed beside Alex. "Nice, huh?"

"That's incredible. I had no idea. I mean, I
knew you guys were fast, but it's something else doing it."

"We'll go for a run one day. I like to call it
the ten second mile."

"That'd fuck the Olympics right up."

"Try passing the drug test."

Alex sat down heavily on the top most part of the
roof and Zac perched beside him. For a while they just stared out over the
city, keeping their thoughts to themselves. What a fucked up world that it had
to come to this to save everyone. Zac had done a lot of stupid shit since
moving home, treating Alex like an annoying ant was one of them. He guessed he
owed him one hell of an apology.

"I'm sorry, Alex," he said wryly.

"What for? There's a lot of stuff, so you have
to be more specific."

He let out a laugh. "Yeah, well all of it. I
was an ass to you for no reason. I got you messed up in all of this. I got your
sister messed up in it. And now you're a vampire. Can't get any more shitty
than that."

"Nope."

"Remember when you ran over a vampire with my
car?"

"Shit, do I," Alex said, running a hand
through his hair.

"Shattered the windscreen."

"As if that's a comparison for all of
this."

"You know, I never got around to getting it
fixed."

They fell silent for a while until Alex waved at
the city. "Everything feels...sharp, like the world's suddenly in
HD."

"Get used to it."

"I don't remember all these stars being here
before," he said, looking up at the sky.

"Everything is multiplied ten times now.
Sight, smell, sound. Even your emotions."

"I feel like I could run for days and not even
get tired."

"You're faster and stronger. You'll have to
compensate until you get used to it."

"Is this burning normal?" Alex waved at
his throat and swallowed hard, like he was trying to get rid of a bad taste.

"Yep. Alcohol helps with that."

"So, that's why you're such a booze
hound."

"What can I say? I had issues."

"Had?"

"I'm dealing."

"Does the burning go away?"

"It gets better with time," Zac said.
"It's like when you were human and your stomach rumbles to tell you you're
hungry..."

"Great. I think I'd rather the rumbling
stomach. This feels like acid reflux."

"In the beginning, it's the thing that some
vampires struggle with. It's like a itch you can't scratch and until it's sated,
it just drives you mad. Some never get their heads around it. I had a lot of
trouble with that and still do on occasion."

"Does everyone go through that?"

"No. Sam didn't. I guess because he had
someone there to help him."

"You."

Zac grunted. "I won't leave you in the lurch,
Alex. I've got your back for however long you want me around."

"However long...that sounds like such a weird
notion. I've got shit loads of time now, unless Aed bites me, right?"

"Or you get into a fight with Aya."

"Remind me never to piss her off."

"I don't think you could, even if you tried.
She thinks the sun shines out your ass."

"Really?"

"You were the first one of us to give a crap
about her for the kind of person she is. I wanted her for what she could do for
me and it took a long time to realize that your approach is a better way of
going about things."

"I guess we can learn a lot from each other,
right?" Alex asked with a grin.

"Ah, don't get too cocky," Zac said with
a laugh and slapped his friend on the back. "You're taking this
surprisingly well, you know. I thought this would be a lot harder."

"I guess I'm not the traditional candidate for
vampirism, hey?" he asked wryly.

Zac frowned. "We'll be there for you, don't
worry about that. You've got a shit load of support to draw on and there's no
way in hell any of us will let anything happen to you. If we have our way,
you'll live a billion years along with the rest of us."

"Aw, shit. I don't want to think about a
billion years. Talk to me in a hundred and I'll give you a status update."

"Vampires have an inflated sense of time.
We've got a lot of it, so urgency is not high on the agenda. You've got to know
when to strike and when to hold back."

"And now is one of those times to
strike," Alex said, morosely.

"That it is."

Alex glanced at him, obviously wanting to ask
something. After a moment of hesitation, he came out with it. "What
do I do? I mean, for blood?"

"Find a human, bite, drink."

"I don't like the idea of sucking on some
random's neck."

"It gets easier."

"But there's got to be another option, right?
Sam and Liz feed on animals..."

"That's all well and good, but feeding on a
fluffy bunny rabbit isn't going to keep your strength up in the long run.
Listen, feeding straight from humans isn't nice for everyone, but it keeps you
strong and we need you strong. I'm sorry, it's just the way things are."

"What if I can't stop? What if I hurt
somebody?"

"I'll be there to stop you," Zac said.
"But you gotta know that being turned by a spell makes you very different
from me. You're a lot stronger physically, for one."

"So, you mightn't be able to stop me if I go
mental?"

"There's always the chance, but I don't
believe it'll be an issue for you. You still care. Sometimes the process of
turning can take that away. I've done it a few times and I don't recommend it,
but when Aya left me and I went with Regulus...I saw her with Tristan and I
just couldn't take it anymore."

"What did you do?" Alex asked, looking a
little alarmed.

"I just turned it off." He shrugged,
looking away. "Once your ability to care is gone, it takes your humanity
away."

"But you've come back."

"Yes, but it takes a lot to want to," he
explained. "If you don't have anything or anyone to care about, then some
vampires never come back. They never have control. They never stop."

"Then how did you? Was it because of
Sam?"

"Yes, because of Sam the first few
times."

"This time?"

"Aya forced me. She jumped me from behind,
snapped my neck, locked me in a dungeon and tortured me into coming back."
Alex was staring at him with wide eyes. "It doesn't mean any of it will
happen to you. I truly believe it won't."

"It doesn't make me feel any better. It's
against my nature and believe me, I know how ironic that sounds."

"Don't worry about hurting anyone. You can
compel them to be still so you can feed, heal the wound and make them forget it
all happened."

"Then after all of this is over, I can find
some baby kittens."

"That's the spirit," Zac said, stifling a
laugh. "There's always pinching a few bags of blood from a hospital. Done
that before. Or get yourself a vampire girlfriend."

"Um, sounds...kinky?"

Zac let out a loud laugh. "Doesn't satisfy
your hunger a hundred percent, but it sure is satisfying in other ways."

"Too much information, Zac. Keep that shit
away from me."

"Blood sharing is probably the most intimate
you can get with another vampire. Humans have marriage, we have more fucked up
means of commitment."

"What does it taste like? Blood?"

"It's hard to describe," Zac said.
"Everyone tastes different."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like you can taste the kind of person
they are. Sweet, sour. Good, bad. I guess it's something you have to experience
for yourself. You'll like it. It's how you are now."

"How I am now," Alex echoed, dropping his
head into his hands, stifling a sob. "What have I done?"

"Hey," Zac said. "It's fucked up, I
know, but think about Isobel. Think about her, because you're her only hope
right now. You can spend all your time agonizing over the fact that your life
has changed, or you can spend that energy on the task at hand. There's plenty
of time for moping after she's safe and sound. Anyway, I won't let you be a
fucking mopey bastard."

Alex sniffed. "What the fuck happened to you?
Did Gabby replace your brain or something?"

"I got a reality check," Zac said with a
laugh. "I've been through my fair share of woe. If any good can come of
that by sharing with you, then so be it."

"I'm just worried about Izzy. Aed seemed to
think she was his lost love or something. What if he's turned her into a
vampire? What if he's hurt her? I'm suddenly this powerful founding vampire and
I'm just sitting here."

"You have to have hope, Alex. That's the only
thing that gets you through. I was the master of diving in head first and
asking questions later. Take it from me when I say we need to plan this. The
only way we're going to get one up on Aed is with a solid, airtight plan.
Besides, did you see the way he looked at her? I don't think he'd hurt a hair
on her head. He said he wanted her to remember. Whoever this Siobhan is, he
loved her and cares enough to give her time."

"I hope so. I really do. I don't think I could
ever forgive myself if we were too late."

"It's not your fault. Gabby told you about it.
Isobel would've been in a lot more trouble if we didn't show up when we did. We
all would've."

"It doesn't make it any better."

Zac sighed, worried about him. If his state of mind
was slipping, then it could mean trouble. Alex was the perfect candidate and their
only one. If he faltered at the last minute it could mean everything was over
for real. "When the Three get here in a few hours, we'll meet up at the
warehouse that Aya and Tristan found. There's no use worrying about it until
then. You're just working yourself up."

Alex sighed sharply, rubbing his eyes. "Then
tell me a story to take my mind off of it. You've probably seen a lot of stuff.
Tell me something."

"Nye's got some zingers," Zac said.
"He's lived a lot longer. Aya still doesn't like to talk about her past,
so don't even ask. I'm sure their stories are a lot nicer than mine."

"What about Tristan? Do you guys still hate
each other?"

"No," Zac said, shaking his head.
"We've got a shaky alliance these days."

"I want to hear one of yours. I've known you a
while now, but I don't really
know
you, if you get my meaning. Sam
mentioned once that you enlisted in the army?"

Zac grimaced at the memory. "I died in the
Civil War and for a long time I thought killing was the only thing I was good
at. It was the only thing I knew. I spent most of my vampire life enlisting in
wars. In part because of that belief and the fact I couldn't curb my
bloodlust. I used it as an excuse. If I was fighting and killing the bad guys
then it was okay. It wasn't, it never will be."

"What made you stop?"

"The last time I enlisted I went to Vietnam. I
thought I'd seen all the brutality that humans were capable of, but I was
wrong." He shifted on the rooftop, glancing at Alex. "Are you sure
you want to hear about this? It's not exactly award winning stuff here."