Chapter 11: Against all odds

I woke up feeling good. Better than good even, I felt great. Was I in heaven? I don’t think I should be, they say suicides go straight to hell. But if I was in hell, why did I feel so good? Hell wasn’t supposed to feel good... hell was supposed to feel… well, like hell I guess.

I did feel a sense of peace though. There was something different. Something important, that I couldn’t quite get my finger upon. I felt lighter, as if some burden had suddenly dropped away.

I pushed myself upright to look at my surroundings, when I noticed something shift on my chest. I looked down to see what was on my chest and promptly fell back on my back. Cleavage. Not anything to write home about, maybe a B cup at max, but I had cleavage. How could I have cleavage? The hormones I’d taken for almost a year barely got me to AA. Duh, it must be stuffed, tissues or something. I stuck my hand in my training bra, which was rather too tight at the moment, to remove the tissues.

Nothing. Nothing at all. Well, nothing but my own flesh that is. And sensitive too, I’d have to watch out with that. Was it the hormones that did this? That couldn’t be, could it? I admit I did take a lot of hormones at the same time, but these things don’t just grow over night.

I giggled and had to admit that they did, I had the proof of it right here. But I was pretty sure it wasn’t the hormones that did it. Wait, if I suddenly had breasts, did that mean…

Slowly I slid a hand into my panties. For a second my hand moved about trying to find the damnable dangly bit, then it shot out again lightning fast. Nope, it most definitely was not hormones that did this. There was simply no way the hormones could’ve fixed me down there.

It wasn’t until that moment that it truly dawned on me. I was fixed! No longer stuck in a body that shouldn’t be mine, I was no longer haunted by that mismatch of body and mind. That’s why I felt at peace, the burden that had been with me all my life was suddenly lifted.

Well, that answered one question. Not to sound ungrateful, I still didn’t understand why I wasn’t dead. Nor why I now suddenly was a proper girl. Nor why this bed had wooden boards on all sides.

Wait a minute, I knew this bed. I’ve slept here with Joanne, this was her coffin. Why was I in her coffin? Okay, stupid question, you commit suicide, you end up in a coffin. But I wasn’t dead.

Wait a minute…Wasn’t I? I checked my pulse. I held my breath as I waited. Was that a beat I felt? Nah, too faint. One minute passed, then two, three, four, five and still I wasn’t quite sure if there was something or not. I let out my breath in frustration. Wait a second, had I just been holding my breath for 5 minutes? I wasn’t even feeling any discomfort. I tried both my chest and my throat to feel if there was a heartbeat, just to be sure. If there was it was too faint to feel.

Then that must mean... that I am dead. Well, I guess that means it wasn’t a failed suicide after all. I sat there for a couple of minutes letting the idea sink in. Joanne must’ve done it. Even after I got sick over it and told her in my letter that it was me who had the problem. How dare sh… wait a minute. The reason why I was disgusted is gone. I’d get to spend eternity with Joanne! In a proper body!

I cheered out loud and promptly shut up in surprise at the sound of my voice. It was more or less the same but it sounded richer. This would take some getting used to.

Another question answered and a new one came forth. If I was now a vampire, then Joanne must have been here. That still didn’t account for me being a girl though. I never heard of a turning that included a sex change. True, vampires weren’t exactly common, but it happened often enough and there were quite a few books written on vampires. Was it the added hormones? That sounds a little bit more likely, but it still doesn’t make sense. Vampires have no shifting powers, so with or without hormones I should still be the same.

I took a look at my watch and saw it was half past seven in the evening. It should be dark outside, and thus safe to go out. I climbed out of the coffin, and looked around. The first thing I noticed was that none of the candles were on, nor was the electric lighting. Yet I could still see as if it were daylight. I could see the coffin, the unlit candles, the items on the shelves and the letter pinned to the door.

Dearest Willow,

Forever yours,
Joanne

Dried red tears adorned the page. She still loved me! But she wouldn’t be back for two weeks. And she was talking… Oh my god. She was talking about following me into the sunlight. I had to find her before then. I had to know there was no longer any reason to be disgusted. I even… I would even tell her my history. But first I had to find her. She was in agony somewhere, waiting for me to either be here or be gone. I had to let her know I was alright now.

But where would I find her? She didn’t leave anything of an address, just that she’d be back in two weeks. I’d presume she’d go to the same place she’s been staying the last two days, which was a good thing cause she made it back within a day, so it couldn’t be too far. How to find her? If only Cathy was here, she always had a plan ready.

Yes, that was it. I’d have to find out what had happened to Cathy, and get her out. I couldn’t let my sister alone now, not when she got into trouble because of me. No longer was I the small weak little misfit. I had a vampire’s strength now. Sure, the powers like stealth and so I’d need to learn, but strength I could use. Just to be sure I was right I tested it on the coffin, which I could lift now with hardly any trouble.

So what did I need if I was going to safe Cathy? I was going to try not to hurt anyone, so I’d probably have to sneak. Looking down at my pretty white and green outfit I realized that it would never do. Luckily my own rags were a lot more suited to the night. I quickly changed and set out on my rescue mission

I made my way out of the mansion and onto the road to town. The wind was whispering its song through the trees. The silver rays of moonlight and the reflection of the stars reflected upon the still wet forest, making it seem alive. I started running towards town, first in a leisurely pace, but building up the pace steadily, until the trees all but flashed by and I arrived in town in what can’t have been more than a minute or two.

Chapter 12: A sisters love

The church clock told me it was about 9 p.m. when I arrived in my old neighbourhood. The roads were fairly quiet, which was a good thing, because I didn’t intend to be seen tonight. There were still a couple of people walking about, so I’d decided to go through the gardens.

If I had been this limber back when I attended school I’d never have flunked phys ed. Fences, hedges, walls, none of these really slowed me down as I made my way home. My old home I should say, it wasn’t really mine anymore.

The lights inside were on, both in my sisters room and in the living room. I got the key from my wallet and as soft as possible I opened the backdoor. As I stood in the hallway I realized a problem. To get upstairs to my sisters room I had to pass the living room, the door of which stood wide open.

Very carefully I made my way to the door, and being careful I peeked inside. There, on the couch sat my father. Actually, to say he sat would’ve been generous. He lay sprawled out over it, a bottle of something that looked like strong liquor clenched in his arms. Another 10 to 12 bottles stood around the couch and the coffee table. Dirty dishes were left on the dining room table, and clothes lay throughout the room. What the hell had happened here?

Since my father seemed thoroughly out cold, I walked past the door and up the stairs. As I neared my sister’s room I could hear sobbing from within. I rushed over and flung open the door. As I did so I heard the sound of wood breaking. My sister lay on her bed, face in the pillows. At the noise it shot up and looked first at me, then at the door.

“Sis? Is that really you?” she asked and then took a second look at the door. Before I could answer her she said, “And how the hell did you just do that?”

I looked at the opened door myself, and saw to my amazement that the lock of the door had been broken out, the metal parts slightly twisted and sticking out at an odd angle. Wow. I broken through a locked door without a moment thought. I’d have to be a lot more careful

“This is the neither time nor place to explain sis. From what I saw it’s healthier if you’ll be living with me for the time being. I need some explanations too, but they can wait. I’d like to grab some stuff from my room while I’m here. Just give me a moment. I rushed into my room, grabbed my backpack and my laptop, a couple of books and a small selection of my CD’s. I made sure my favorite Sisters of Mercy and Tjaikovski CD’s had been included and went back to Cathy.

She was already busy stuffing some of her own clothes into a bag. Together we quickly gathered what she needed and made our way downstairs, with a total of 5 bags. I caught Cathy throwing wondering glances my way every once in a while. I ignored them for the time being.

“Oh sis, there’s no food at the mansion, I advise you take some from the fridge.” Another 4 minutes later we had enough packed for a couple of days and were on our way out the back door. I was carrying the brunt of the bags, which did slow us down a little bit, but we still made good time.

When we arrived at the mansion Cathy started towards the side entrance. “There’s no need for that anymore Sis,” I told her as I opened the main door. She looked at me, the question almost visible on her face, but she waited till we were inside to speak up.

“It’s story time Sis. Start talking, what the hell is going on here?”

“A lot, Sis. The evening I last saw you, I met the owner of this place, a girl named Joanne. After letting me know it was ok for me to stay here we got talking. One thing led to another and after a mutual make-over she asked me if I believed in love at first sight. She’s the most amazing girl, beautiful as can be. Golden curls cascading down her face, the most beautiful black eyes, face of an angel. She’s my age too.”

Cathy got an amused look on her face. “Ok, I get the point. You’re in love that much is obvious. Now stop doting on her and tell me how you did the impossible back there!”

“I’m getting to that sis, but it is important for what happens next. Anyway, she claimed to be allergic to sunlight. She had switched to a night schedule because the sunlight hurt her. But as the days passed, I started to notice other things that didn’t add up. I’ve never seen her eat, I had no clue where she slept, or at least, it wasn’t in a bed I ever saw. Also, her skin was cold. Just when I figured it all out myself, she shared her secret with me. She is a vampire.”

Cathy started to say something but I held up my hand to stop her. “I know what you think sis, but do not worry. She only feeds on animals, she’s had her chance with me a lot of times and she never took advantage of me. She only bit me to save my life and she returned that favor, or I wouldn’t be here.”

Cathy sat up and looked at me worriedly, “Save your life? From what?!”

“Well, you didn’t show up for a couple of days, and I got real worried for you. I shared my concerns with Joanne, and she offered to go out at night to find out what happened to you and if need be, safe you. She also offered to let me join her as a vampire so that I’d never have to fear dad again. We could be together forever. For a moment I was elated. I could think of no greater joy then to spend the rest of eternity with her. But then I remembered my secret.”

“Now you need to know that I hadn’t told Joanne about my birth defect yet. I didn’t know how to tell her and was scared silly that she would no longer like me if she knew. At the thought of being stuck for all of eternity in this broken body, I got physically sick. I got so sick that I couldn’t utter another word without puking. Joanne misunderstood me getting sick. She thought I was sick at the thought of being a vampire. She was hurt badly by this and left, saying I wouldn’t see her again.”

I was in tears by then. Cathy looked at my face shocked, but let me continue, “I tried to stop her Sis, I really did. I was puking at the time, and I couldn’t get out a word. I couldn’t stop her.”

I paused a moment to gather myself again, wiping my tears away with a sleeve. Cathy stared oddly at my sleeve, but kept silent. She did wrap an arm around me which helped a lot. A minute or so later I continued.

“Almost a week had passed and you still hadn’t shown up. I was running out of food, so the next morning I went into town during working hours. I thought that dad would be at work. I found out he wasn’t when I ran into him at the shop. He outed my secret to the whole town, he hit me in front of everybody and told me I’d never see you again. As I ran away the people in the grocery store held him back. And top it all off, I fell while I ran home through the rain and spoiled most of the food.”

“When I came to the mansion, covered in mud and wet from the rain, I went in a search for Joanne. I needed her so much. I was hoping that maybe she had returned or was sleeping in her sanctuary. She hadn’t and she wasn’t. I’d lost all I ever cared about. I saw no way out anymore sis, except to end it all. I took all my pills and swallowed as many as I could, hoping to drift off and never wake up again.”

With tears in her eyes she almost whispered, “Oh my god. If I’d known things had gotten that bad I would have tried a lot harder to get out. But…Willow? I don’t think you can actually overdose on hormones. Sure it’s very dangerous and it might cause a heart attack, but the hormones on themselves can’t just kill you like that I think.”

“That might explain why it was so painful and took so long before I passed out. Anyway, I woke up somewhere else. I’ll spare you the details on how I found, but I can tell you that I’m a real girl now. I mean, I always was, but now my body fits as well!” I almost glowed with glee when I told her that and I saw her eyes bulge.

“You’re all girl now? But… that’s impossible! Isn’t it?”

“I thought the same Sis, but it’s all real now.” I pulled down my shirt a little bit to show off my décolleté. “See, it’s all me now. And not just up here,” I blushed a bit as I nodded downwards.

“… Wow… Uhh, congratulations Sis… But… how?”

“I don’t know sis, but I think it has to do with my other revelation. I also found out that I now am a vampire too. It was then that I found Joanne’s letter to me. Wait one sec.”

I shot out of the room towards the sanctuary to retrieve the letter, ran back and handed it to Cathy, who read it in silence. When she was done she looked up at me and said, “Wow, she really does love you. I’m not too sure that I like you being a vampire, but it sure beats you being dead.”

She paused for a second, “Wait a minute though. It still doesn’t make sense. How did you become a real girl? Vampires don’t have any shifting powers.” She looked puzzled for a moment and then repeated, “They only improve upon what’s there when they turn. Getting prettier, stronger, faster, that all is normal for what will happen to a new vampire. But I’ve never heard of them shifting upon turning.”

I nodded, “That part I haven’t figured out either. I’m guessing that me being loaded on hormones had something to do with it and you are right, becoming a vampire perfects your body, but it’s nowhere near shifting, just improving what’s there.”

“Maybe Joanne will know more about this? What I know about vampires is just hearsay. She might have more information. All the more reason to go find her, but first, what happened to dad? He never was like this before…”

- unfortunatly, once again an unedited post
-- please leave a comment if you enjoyed this story :)
Love,
Amber