I guess that things had been building up to it for about a week. Josie didn't take a walk in the dawn, or any of the other things that she'd threatened, but I still felt that I'd broken my promise to Eternus that I would protect her. The letter she'd left for her daughter finally got translated, and I'm not sure if Josie understood or not, but she had been going up there every night since to take care of her mother. Bastian didn't seem to care much, but then, I'm not sure if she told him what was going on with the Gangrel. Zane was still gone too.
After the last party, Josie and I didn't talk much for a few nights. I knew she had to be wrong about all vampires being monsters, but I didn't want to get in that fight again. We both made sure that, at night, we had things to do on opposite sides of the orphanage. Josie had been clinging a lot to Bastian, and it was really starting to make me sick; I mean, who was she to tell me that Jonathan was bad, when Eternus told me that her boyfriend was a member of a clan devoted to being evil?
One night, the Professor showed up, which wasn't unusual. He was always coming around to do magic tricks for the kids. Josie stole him away instantly down to the basement where she and Bastian had been since they woke up.
I kept myself busy putting the older children to bed, but I have to admit, I was really curious as to what they were doing down there. Eventually, the three came up to the TV room, where I was watching 'Les Mis' on PBS.
"Nancy, can I talk to you for a minute?"
I grinned. "Sure Professor, what's up?"
He kneeled down so he was on eye level with me. His eyes were suddenly interesting, and I hadn't noticed before how deep and colorful they were, kind of like Jonathan's, now that I thought about it. Hmm, that's pretty cool; my eyes are just plain brown, well no, they are a beautiful, rich brown.
"You will not remember being a Ghoul, you will not remember that the people you've met in Swarthmore are vampires, you will not remember any of the supernatural things, persons, or sights that you've encountered," he said commandingly.
Whoa…what was this? "What do you mean? Of course I remember. What are you talking about, Professor?"
He hesitated, a sign that he was lying. "Um, just checking your reflexes. Didn't work though."
"Hey, you were trying to use a mind-control power on me, weren't you?"
I looked past the Professor to Josie and Bastian. He was staring off into the distance, listening to his walkman, but I saw Josie put her hand to her eyes. She only did that when she was upset, very upset.
It all fit, it all clicked.
"Now, Nancy, it's not like you think…" the Professor said, desperately trying to defuse the situation, but I'd stopped paying attention.
"Y-you want me to forget all of this so I can't ever be like you, and never understand this stuff!"
Josie didn't say a word, she didn't have to, her expression said it all. For an instant, I stood there, incredulous. Then all the anger broke, the confusion, the fear. My master, no, more than that, my best friend had betrayed me. She probably thought just like all the others, that Ghouls were just pets or servants. Josie and her vampire boyfriend had asked the Professor to wipe them from my memory, and that was unforgivable.
"Nancy…" Josie was trying just as hard as the Professor to mend the damage they'd created, but it was far too late now. The music roared so loud that I was nearly deafened by it, and as she came towards me, arms out, I backed away.
"No! I trusted you!" I turned, and I ran.
Out the door, jumped off the stairs, not hearing the cries behind me, not caring if they called after me.
I knew where I was going; back to him, and my music would lead me there. Josie was right, they were monsters, but Jonathan wasn't, and he'd protect me. I ran through the warm night.
At the station, I called his pager, and left our code. 000-888, which meant, 'I'm on my way, meet me'. The train was empty, as usual, and by the time we pulled into University City Station, I felt his presence nearby, and the shadows melted away to reveal him sitting beside me in the seat. All the tears came rushing through and I threw myself against him, sobbing.
"Hush now, what's wrong?" Oh God, I'd sell my soul to hear him sing with that wonderful voice.
"They used some kind of mind power on me to make me forget everything about Kindred, but it didn't work, and Josie says that all vampires are evil and bad, and, and…" I wailed.
"Shh, it's Ok, tell me all about it."
As the train softly rolled towards the city, I told Jonathan about everything that had happened in the last week…the party, that guy kicking Valentine's head, the Don being executed, that Toreador yelling at me, Josie being all sorts of upset and wanting to die, and how I heard Josie and Bastian saying that we had no Prince, and Joe should consider himself in charge. There was a moment of silence after I finished.
"Nancy, look at me, I have something very important to tell you."
I met his deep, dark, beautiful eyes. "What is it?"
"I want you to stay away from the Kindred in Swarthmore. They're callus, driven by pure bestial instinct, and care nothing for mortals. Why, you're lucky that Josie and Bastian didn't just outright kill you!" he said.
"I don't think Josie would do something like that…"
"My darling, these people are capable of anything! Besides, how could I have possibly lived without you? Remember, I'd have eternity to mourn and burn from the guilt of not saving you."
"Oh Jonathan, I'm sorry! I didn't want to make you worry!" How could I have thought that he wouldn't get upset? There I was again, making trouble for the vampires who had better things to do than worry about me.
He embraced me again. "It's all right, but you, my dear, will be a guest of my haven for a while. Don't go back there, Nancy, only death and corruption await you."
For the next three nights, well, the days too, but he was asleep then, I stayed in the warehouse with Jonathan and his friends. I got fed from a lot, so I spent most of the days sleeping too. They all had so many questions about the city and what was going on there, so we talked about Swarthmore nearly non-stop. Actually, the first dawn, I woke up from lying unconscious on the floor, and really, really wanted Josie's vitae. Something about everyone here made me feel a bit dirty, violated, but I knew that Jonathan would never let anything bad happen to me.
The third night was tiring; everyone was partying hard, and I saw some things done to mortals that God forgive me should I ever see them again. At least it wasn't me, and they were just mortals, after all, not Kindred or Ghouls. Towards midnight they all went after me again, and I swear, I thought I was running out of blood. The music kept dimming then picking up, and I was afraid of losing it altogether. Finally, Jonathan took me outside and away from everything.
He was talking about how glad he was to have met me, and how much I'd helped him, but the music was nearly to loud for me to hear anything else. Jonathan took me right there, and we kissed again, swimming through sound and fury. I was so weak, but it was all right, because he was there to protect me, he'd be there forever. It switched to a major key, all the harmonics perfect as the shadows seemed to close in from all sides. Crescendo to Forte, Grand Pause…
An impact woke me up. Through the haze of the pain and fatigue that I couldn't explain, I recognized the feel of fresh air on my skin. I was outside. A car was peeling away; I must have been in that car. The floor or ground was warm, but the air was a bit cooler, it must be dusk, dawn, or evening. The pain in my head was sharp, and I was lying on something hard and patterned uneven, most probably stone or concrete stairs. Perhaps I had fallen? The sounds were of children playing nearby, and a dog barking, and the scents were of grass, the suburbs. Hmm, evening and it's warm, it must be summer or late spring.
A new sound entered my small sphere, a woman singing, her voice and song sounded familiar, like I should know them, but the sensation passed quickly. She was close to where I was, but my head still hurt too much to open my eyes and see. There was a child with her, sounded like a baby. I wondered what my own voice sounded like.
"Who is that?" Well, from the sound, I probably had a very nice, smooth voice, but right now it was weak and strained, probably the result of whatever trauma I'd suffered.
"I-it's Josie. Who's there?"
Josie. The shape and form of the word was one that I recognized, and felt like it was a positive thing. In fact, the word stirred up a warm and near-safe feeling, did I know this Josie? A door opened near me, screen door.
"Nancy! Oh my God!" the woman screamed.
I opened my eyes. Hmm, pretty close to the mark. As my vision slowly cleared and focused, I saw that I was indeed lying on concrete stairs in the front yard of a suburban home just after dusk. It was a girl, not a woman as I'd first thought, who was standing above me, holding a toddler. Her voice had made her sound older, though she looked to be in her late-teens. Still, like her name, there was something about her that I knew…
Putting down the child, she helped me to my feet, though a wave of nausea and dizziness nearly brought me to my knees. That must have been some knock on the head. All the while, the girl, Josie, kept going on about how I shouldn't go running off like that, everyone was so worried, was I ok, what happened?
"Um, Miss Josie, I'm really very sorry to have been unconscious on your porch stairs. Perhaps I could use your phone?" Wait, who was I going to call? 911 probably couldn't help me at this point. Actually, my first memories were of waking up on the steps just a few moments ago; yet, there must have been more to my life than that. I dug into my pockets, looking for a wallet and ID.
What I found was a worn plastic card that stated: NANCY AL CODA, AGE 17, RESIDENT OF THE SWARTHMORE ORPHANAGE, 118 SOOT DRIVE, SWARTHMORE, PENNSYLVANIA, IN EMERGENCY CONTACT JOSEPHINE AL CODA: (610) 448-7578, I AM ALLERGIC TO SULFA ANTIBIOTICS. That person must be me, or else I was wearing someone else's pants. This must have been my ID, right?
"I'm only 17? I feel much older than that."
"You're 23, I had that card made for you when you first came to live here, don't you remember? All the children carry one," Josie said, shaken.
I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Josie. I guess I know you, at least I feel like I should anyway."
Her face crumpled as if she might burst into tears, and she ran up to me, hugging me tightly. "Oh Nancy, what happened to you?"
Suddenly she backed up, staring at me, the look a mixture of shock and fear. I raised an eyebrow in question as she reached forward and took my pulse. True, I probably had a heck of a lump on my head, but she was being a bit drastic.
"Bastian!" Josie yelled.
"Are you all right?" I asked, trying to calm her down, "You seem a bit pale."
A young man came to the door. He was wearing large headphones with the wire and jack trailing behind him, was dressed to the teeth like a goth, and had a vaguely sinister seeming about him. Perhaps I used to know him as well.
"Cool, she's back," he said apathetically.
"No! You don't understand!" Josie ran over to him and whispered in his ear, and for an instant, a look of shock played across his face.
I was starting to get a bit dizzy again, and sat down on one of the chairs on the porch. Taking stock of the situation, I recounted what I knew. My name was Nancy and I was currently 23. I used to, or perhaps still did, live at the Swarthmore Orphanage, which would mean that my home was in this suburban town, if I was indeed presently at the orphanage. The girl Josie knew me, so it was logical that I had known her, and possibly this Bastian kid as well. From what I could piece together from Josie's words, I'd been gone for a day or two, maybe more, and remembering my head and the circumstances of my first moments, I had probably been kidnapped or beaten up in some capacity.
"Um, Nancy, why don't you come inside until we can get this all straightened out?" Bastian asked. From the way they both were acting, they knew something that I didn't, but then again, given that my consciousness only went back about ten minutes, probably everyone knew something that I didn't.
"A-are you feeling Ok?" Josie, still shaking, picked up the toddler and carried her into the house as I followed the two of them.
"Yeah. I got a whack on the head, but I think it'll be fine in a few days, nothing to worry about."
Actually, now that I thought about it, what did I look like? Was I attractive? Also, if I'd been missing and beaten, I must have been a mess. The clothes I was wearing seemed no worse for the wear, but I also wanted to fix my hair, and for that matter, see what kind of hair I had. Josie disappeared up the stairs with the baby, and Bastian sat down on the couch, just staring at me. That kind of made me uncomfortable.
"Excuse me, but can I use your bathroom?"
"Sure. It's back through the kitchen, take a left before the back door."
Once I found the bathroom, I shut the door, leaned heavily against the sink, and looked in the mirror. Wait…that was really strange. Hmm, maybe it was a trick mirror or something, but I knew that shouldn't have been. Confused, I wandered back into the room where Josie and Bastian were both sitting on the couch.
"Josie, what I said before might have been wrong, I think I might have to go to the hospital to have everything checked out."
"Why?"
"Well, I'm sure I've got a concussion, I'm having minor visual hallucinations. This is going to sound silly, but I couldn't see myself when I looked in the mirror. Those effects will probably stop after the internal swelling goes down, but I want to make sure no other nerve functions were damaged," I answered.
"So you couldn't see your reflection?" Bastian joined in. I shook my head. "You're going to have to explain everything to her, you know," he said to Josie, then got up and walked into the kitchen.
"Where are you going?"
"It's not my problem. Besides, I have to finish those tracks for my gig tomorrow night," he called back, sounding like he was headed down a flight of stairs.
"What do you need to tell me?" I asked politely, anxious to discover more about myself. Hopefully, I'd been a good person.
Josie looked down, nervously rubbing her palm. At last, she seemed to come to some kind of inner resolve, and raised her head. "Nancy, I have something very important to tell you."
"What is it?"
"This might be hard to believe, but I'm a vampire, so is Bastian, and you are too. That means that we're the walking undead, and we drink the blood of human beings to survive."
"Yeah, right." I grinned along with her joke. "No, tell me something real, tell me about me, if you can."
She put a hand to her face and rubbed her eyes. "I'm being perfectly serious. You and I, we ran this orphanage. A few days ago, I Embraced you, made you a vampire like me, made you my childer. A powerful enemy of mine kidnapped you, and I was afraid you were dead."
"I don't believe you."
Josie stood up, opening her mouth, and I swear, however irrational this may sound, she had two large fangs. Wow, my head must have been more messed up than I'd first thought. She bit down deeply into her arm, drawing blood, then licked the holes, and they were gone. This was getting to be too much. Josie took my hands and led me over to the couch, and we sat down.
"Here, take your pulse." I put my fingers against my jugular as she instructed. "Can you feel anything? No."
Inexplicably, she was right. That couldn't be. If my heart was no longer beating, then I should be dead. I tried to find my pulse on the other side, and then on my temples and both wrists, nothing.
"I don't understand."
"Stop and concentrate hard, you're not even breathing," she told me. Again, completely accurate.
All of this was too confusing to think about. I'd woken up for the first time not even an hour ago, and found that I'd inherited an entire life. So, then I find out that I'm dead, but not only that, I'm a vampire as well. A lot more happened that night; a goth-punk kid came by and said that I knew him, but of course, I didn't, and he and Josie talked for hours out on the porch, but I just sat where I was on the couch, not moving.
Towards dawn, Josie brought me down into her basement, and within a few minutes, I found myself so exhausted that I had no choice but to sleep, hoping against all that when I woke up again, I'd have at least managed to hold on to the memory of those few hours.