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I open my eyes to the sight of Mike panting on the floor holding his face in his hands. We are in his room, but what happened to us being in his bed? Weren’t we just cuddling? His whole body is shaking on the ground while I’m standing in the middle of his room.
"Mike?” I ask, slowly crouching down in front of him. "What happened? Are you okay? What's going on?"
“Please, no more,” he whimpers.
“No more what?” I question, cocking my head to the side.
He slowly uncovers his face and looks me right in the eye and that’s when I see it.
“Shit!” I scream. “Mike, what the hell happened?" There's a bite mark on Mike's neck; two little holes on the side with blood dripping out.
"Are you actually you right now, Will?" Mike asks me. I try to lean closer to him, but he puts a hand up, signaling for me to keep my distance.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I feel like crying. "I need to know what just happened."
"Do you remember anything that just happened?" He asks me, keeping his hand raised. He looks so little in this state, as though he is a kid again.
"I remember us falling asleep in your bed..." I begin, trying to rack my brain for anything else. "Then I ended up standing in front of you a moment ago."
Mike looks like he is going to vomit.
"Will," he says in a serious tone. "We fell asleep in my bed almost two days ago."
My heart drops.
"What?"
"We fell asleep in my bed almost two days ago," he repeats.
"But I don't understand..." I say, not really knowing how to complete that sentence. What the hell was Mike talking about? We were literally just cuddling a few minutes ago. That wasn't two days ago. It couldn't have been...right?
"Look," Mike says, taking a deep breath and putting his hand down. "Promise me you're actually you right now and not the possessed version."
"I got possessed?"
"Well, you got attacked, actually." Mike sighs and looks at the ground. "You don't remember that, do you?" I shake my head even though he's not looking at me. Mike takes a deep breath and finally looks at me. He looks as though he is about to explode at any moment. He appears to be holding his breath and without saying anything, one of his hands finds a home on the back of his head, scratching it. Mike always scratches the back of his head when he’s nervous or anxious about something. He stops scratching his head after a few moments and lowers his hand down to the ground in front of me. Without thinking, I reach one of my hands out to Mike and lightly touch his free hand.
“No, don’t!” he says firmly, pushing my arm away.
“Mike, what’s wrong?” I shout at him, starting to get scared and angry at the same time.
“Will, stop it!” Mike shouts back. I don’t understand why he's reacting like this. I need to understand what the hell happened. Why does he have a bite mark on his neck? Why is he barely looking at me? Why is he so small and afraid right now?
“Mike, what’s wrong? What did I do? What happened?” I say anxiously, feeling water beginning to leak from my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Mike whispers, slowly reaching his free hand back towards mine. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Well, you, Will, didn’t do anything wrong; a part of you did something wrong. A part of you that isn't Will. But it’s all my fault. It’s all my fault, yet you don’t remember any of it. You need to know what happened but I don’t have the heart to tell you. But I have to tell you. It’s been eating me alive.” He laces his fingers with mine ever so slowly as he speaks, but he keeps flinching. Probably because of how cold I am. Why am I so cold, by the way?
“I don’t understand. Mike, please tell me,” I beg, squeezing his hand. His whole body shutters which causes him to let go of my hand and wrap his arms around himself. He's shaking and trembling, as though he were outside in the coldest winter.
“I’m so sorry, Will,” Mike gasps after a moment. “Your touch is so cold now—you’re an ice cube. When you squeezed my hand, I felt nothing but ice and it startled me.”
“Why is that, by the way? What happened to me?” Mike gently takes my hands in his and stares at them, shivering a little still.
“It’s part of what I have to tell you,” he replies. “You got attacked.”
“Yeah, you said that before. But by who or what?”
“And you attacked me," he added, disregarding my questions.
“I DID WHAT NOW?!” I yell, attempting to let go of his hands so I can locate the harm I apparently caused. Was it the bite mark on his neck? There's no way, right? How could I hurt Mike? How could I hurt the person I love and care about more than I do myself? How come I don’t remember? Mike raises his gaze from our hands to my eyes and I see that he’s crying.
“Mike?” I whisper, tilting my head to the side. He doesn’t tilt his head in return like he always does.
“You’re like this because of me. I should have never taken us to that abandoned mansion the other day. You remember that at least, right?" I nod my head. Mike wanted to go urban exploring the other day and found this creepy, old-looking mansion. It looked cool enough to explore and venture through, but for some reason, I can't remember us ever actually going there. I remember us talking about it and getting in the car to head out, but I don't recall being there. Where did my mind go? "None of this would have happened if we hadn't gone there, Will. This whole fucking thing is my fault and it was a shitty idea in the first place,” he cries, leaning into me. His face falls onto my shoulder and I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Mike, please don’t say that. I’m sure this isn’t your fault, but you have to tell me what the problem is. What happened to me and what did I do to you? Why can't I remember anything? What or who attacked me? What did I do to you? Mike, please.” I run my fingers through his hair as I speak and he keeps shivering. I can’t tell if he is shivering because he’s crying or if he is shivering because of me.
He slowly lifts his head back up and rubs his fingers against his eyes. Then he looks at me and takes my hands in his again, flinching a little.
“You got attacked by a vampire bat.”
My heart drops.
My jaw is on the floor.
“Mike, what?” I almost laugh. This is ridiculous.
“You got attacked by a vampire bat,” Mike repeats. “As we were walking through the mansion, a bunch of screeching noises started happening, the lights went out, and you had some sort of an accident. I think you tripped over something, because one moment you were standing beside me and the next you weren’t even there. I tried to find you, but all I could focus on were the screeching noises. They kept on getting louder and louder as I tried to find where you went. I was insanely overstimulated and could barely process what was happening. Suddenly, within seconds, the lights flickered back on and I saw you curled up in a ball a few feet ahead of me. You weren't the only thing I saw though…” He trails off and darts his eyes away from mine before continuing.
“The screeches were coming from vampire bats. They were all around you, Will. They were circling around you, some of them were on you, and others were looking at me. I swear I hadn't seen them before, but within that moment, I knew that that's where the screeches were coming from. So as fast as I could, I scooped you up in my arms and ran out of there. I thought everything was fine once we got out of there, I swear to god. I carefully set you down on the ground once we made our way out. But the second I set you down, you…” His voice begins to quiver and his body starts shaking so much that I start shaking too.
“What did I do, Mike?” I ask quietly as I squeeze his hands. Please don't say what I think you're going to say...
“You looked me dead in the eye, but your eyes were all red. You had these massive fangs sticking out of your mouth and your skin was all pale. That’s when I noticed the bite mark on your neck and knew that a vampire bat had gotten you while I was trying to find you.” I let go of his hands and immediately dart my eyes to the bite on his neck.
"Did a vampire bat get you too?" I point to the bite on his neck and he shakes his head. I then take both my hands and cover my mouth so I don’t scream in his face.
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
“You immediately launched yourself at me and started attacking me! You pinned me down to the ground and I couldn’t move at all, which was weird because I’ve always been the stronger one out of the two of us. Anyways, no matter how much I tried to move around, you wouldn’t let me. Then you…” He stops.
“Then I what?” I question. “Mike, what did I do to you?”
It can't possibly be what I think it could be...
“Nothing, you just bit me, that’s all. That's what this bite mark is from. You got me here the other day and you did it again earlier.”
“I DID WHAT?!” I yell, moving myself closer to him. I'm going to cry for the rest of my life. It's over for me. This is the worst thing I could have ever imagined doing. I need to take a closer look at the damage I caused. He tries pushing me away lightly but I have to see what the vampire in me did to the love of my life up close.
“I think you needed my blood because you’re part vampire now. It’s fine, though, you obviously didn’t kill me and it barely hurt. It’s not a big deal.”
“Oh my god,” I whisper, rubbing my fingers on his neck where the mark is. Mike is squirming like crazy and I can tell he is trying to make me stop, but I don’t want to. “I had no idea I did that. Why did you let me? Didn’t it hurt? What if I’m contagious?”
“I didn’t really have a choice, Will,” he begins as he pushes my hands away once more. He straightens his shirt back up as he continues speaking. “I was literally pinned to the ground. I could not move. You somehow got way stronger when the vampire bat bit you, and whenever you touch me you feel like an ice cube, as you know. A lot within you has changed, Will.” He crosses his arms over his chest trying to warm himself back up. “Yeah, it hurt for a second, but it’s not like I could do anything about it. Also, I don’t think you’re contagious. Nothing happened to me after you bit me other than the bite mark, obviously. It hurts, yeah, but I don't have the vampire-like features that you have now.”
“You don’t have vampire fangs or anything?” I question, observing him closely.
“No, I don’t think you did anything more to me. Besides, I don’t care if you’re contagious. If I also got turned into a vampire, I wouldn’t mind. In fact, I’d much rather it be me than you, Will.” Mike sighs and looks at my hands again. "This is all my fault." I look at his hands and take them in mine once again; I need as much of him as I can get right now. I don’t want him thinking all this is his fault.
“This is not your fault, Mike, please stop saying that.” I squeeze his hands and he flinches a little. “I just can’t believe that I attacked you. Please tell me it didn't hurt too much.”
“It’s really fine, Will. I don’t want you to worry about me. You weren’t in control of what you were doing and you only got my neck; it’s really not a big deal! You weren’t you when you got hungry like that, and as long as I can provide you with what you need, I can’t be mad, right?” Mike says as he lightly squeezes my hands back.
Did he just say “when I get hungry like that?”
I never want to hear that ever again.
That is the most disgusting and horrendous sentence I have ever heard in all my life.
“But I’m hurting you, Mike! I’m literally biting into you and sucking your blood! I don’t want to kill you!” I panic as I hold onto his hands tighter.
“Look at me, Will,” Mike whispers, releasing one of his hands from mine and using it to tilt my chin up. My body shivers and my heart rate increases. “You’re not going to kill me, I can promise you that. Okay? We are going to figure out how you can be more in control of yourself while you’re in this state until we can figure out some kind of counter-curse thing to bring you back to normal. Okay? Trust me.” He keeps his hand on my chin as he speaks, lightly brushing his thumb on my face. His other hand is still holding both of mine and I know for a fact that my face is insanely red right now. “I just want to fix you, Will,” he sighs.
My heart is melting right now.
“But how?” I question, looking into his tired eyes.
“No idea, but I am going to find a way,” he promises, giving me a small smile. I return with a small smile of my own and lean into him slowly. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hey, it’s okay,” I hear a soft voice say later that evening.
“No, Mike, it’s not,” I say, tears trickling down my face. I’m sitting on the floor in my room with the door locked. I can’t be around Mike right now.
“Please open the door,” Mike begs on the other side of my bedroom door.
“Why, Mike? So I can just hurt you again? Not happening!” I say sternly. My throat feels as though it’s closing and my eyes won’t stop spilling out tears. I wish things didn’t have to be this way, but I can’t think of anything else that either one of us can do right now to make me stop sucking the life out of Mike.
“Will, please,” he whispers, and I hear him sit on the floor outside my door rather than standing like he had been before. I shift my body to the door but remain on the ground, sitting against my door as well. I imagine both our heads leaned against the door in the same location.
“No, I’m a nightmare,” I cry, sniffling uncontrollably.
“You’re a gorgeous nightmare,” Mike whispers.
“What?”
“You heard me.” I turn around, desperately wanting to open the door so I can see the look on his face. But instead, I see his hand slowly creep under the door into my room. His hand has dried up blood and scratches on it, which makes me want to cry myself to sleep. I slowly reach for his hand and he intertwines his fingers with mine ever so delicately. “I don’t think you’re a nightmare at all, but if you’re going to call yourself that, at least throw the truth in there too.” He rubs his thumb against mine. “You can stay in your room as long as you need to, but you can’t take me out of the equation. If that means that I have to sit here for days on end, then I will,” Mike explains, squeezing my hand with everything in him without hurting me.
“Oh, Mike,” I cry.
“Shh, I know, it’s okay,” he whispers, still holding onto me.
“Please don’t let go,” I beg.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I reposition myself so that I'm laying on the floor rather than sitting without letting go of Mike's hand. He holds onto my hand tighter as I’m moving around, as if he’s scared that I’m leaving.
But I would never leave him.
I am now facing the door and I position my eyes to Mike's soft, bony hand. He is still holding onto me tightly and rubbing his thumb along mine. I move my head closer to his hand and gently press my lips on the back of his hand.
“Oh! Fuck, Will, are you hungry?” Mike worriedly shouts, trying to untangle our hands.
“No, Mike! I’m fine!” His hand relaxes. “I just…I wanted to thank you?” Shit, why did I just kiss his hand?
“Oh, okay. You’re welcome, then.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “So that was a thank you kiss?”
“Well, uh,” I stutter, really unsure of how to even explain myself here. Before I can continue that thought, Mike pulls my hand underneath the door and I feel his lips on the back of my hand, ever so gently.
“Oh, Mike!” I gasp.
“You like that?” he teases.
“Mhm, yes, I really do,” I admit, my heart practically flying out of my chest. His lips find my hand again and he trails me with kisses—the back of my hand, my fingers, the palm of my hand. He even gives me a few kisses on my wrist and every part of me is squirming.
"Was that okay?” Mike asks once he finishes.
“More than okay,” I say breathlessly.
“Good,” he says, squeezing my hand. "I promise we are going to figure this out. I am going to fix you."