Altered Path

The building looks old and run down. There are broken swings and old tricycles scattered across the yard. The chain link fence surrounding the property is corroded and has shed flakes of filth crusted rust on the ground.

I look around me and I can’t see anything but this building, this fence, this desolate scene. The rest of the landscape is a barren desert at twilight. Cactus and large rock formations are silhouetted against the pale to deep blue sky as the stars began to light one at a time.

“We meet again, child,” I heard a familiar voice say.

I turned around and around, looking for the woman with the white bear, but I couldn’t see her.

“Hello? It’s rude to make people feel crazy, you know!” I shouted at the emptiness.

Deciding I was not going to stand here and wait for that strange lady to show up, I headed towards the house. I figured I could get inside and at least look for clues.

“Clues about what, child?” the voice asked.

“I refuse to speak to you if I can’t see you!” I shouted, then I marched up onto the porch and began trying the door.

It opened easily, so I stepped inside.

“What are you searching for?” I heard the woman’s voice say.

I ignored her, wherever she was, and moved into the next room.

The room was big and dark. Some metal railings were tossed about the room. Looking closer, I saw they were bed frames, the mattresses long since eaten through by rats or mold.

I turned to leave the room and there she was, the woman with the white bear. Except she didn’t have a bear this time.

“You asked to lay eyes upon me, and so I am here,” she said, then waved her hand graciously.

I sighed and said, “Great.”

Her eyes met mine and suddenly flared.

“What did you do?” she said, her eyes wide as if horrified.

I would have ignored her, but she was pretty scary, staring at me bug eyed, her sparkling eyes looking furious.

So, I took a step backwards and I answered, “Huh?”

She stood up and walked towards me, that expression getting angrier the closer she came. She placed a hand on my cheek.

“Back off, lady!” I said, swatting her hand away.

She didn’t hear me, apparently. She was staring at me, and a new look took over her features: sadness.

Shimmering balls of light seemed to emanate from her body, her hair, her clothes. They drifted down to the floor and fizzled out like sparks. They were beautiful.

“How did this happen, child?” she asked, and her voice hitched on the last word.

I wasn’t sure what she meant. I stood there, quietly, watching her.

“This is not how it was meant to be, and now it is too late,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“What do you mean? Who are you?” I asked.

The woman shook her head sadly, her silvery hair rippling as she did.

“It is no matter now, child. You will not see me again. May the gods bless you on your new path,” she said, then she raised her hand towards me, and a shimmering silver line slowly appeared between us.

I swiped at the line but it simply poofed away only to reform in the same place.

“What is that?” I said, panicking a little.

The silver line moved away from my body, shrinking, as if being reeled into the woman’s hand.

I hadn’t felt anything physically as the silvery cord disappeared into her palm, but mentally, it was as if I had suddenly forgotten what I was doing.

“What did you do?” I asked her as I rubbed my forehead.

I knew I needed to remember so I could tell Gideon about this. I had forgotten about her before, just like she said I would.

“Who are you, lady?” I said, angrily.

She didn’t answer, so I looked at the place she had been standing and found it empty. She was just gone.

I turned in circles, looking around for her, but she was nowhere.

“Hello?” I called out.

No response.

“This is not funny! Where am I?” I shouted, then I screeched in frustration.

How would I get out of this place if I didn’t know how I’d gotten here? And what was I trying to remember?

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my face, lightly slapping my cheek.

I spun around and crouched low, intending to pounce on whoever had snuck up behind me, but there was no one there. I stood up and looked around.

“Hello?” I said, but it was very soft and sounded more like a kitten than a vampire.

Then, I felt my shoulders being shaken, almost roughly, and a voice shouting my name.

I looked all around me as best I could while being shaken by some unseen force. I was about to take off running when I heard the voice louder.

“Melissa! Melissa! Wake up! You are safe!” the voice was saying.

“Gideon?” I said, softly.

I blinked a few times and managed to open my eyes to real life, finally escaping the strange vision.

“Melissa? Wake up!” Gideon shouted again.

I could feel the soft bed under me, the fluffy down comforter on top of me.

“I’m awake….” I mumbled against the pillow my face was mashed into.

I felt the bed rise as he got up.

“What was that? That was no simple nightmare,” Gideon said, looking at me expectantly.

I was peering at him with the one eye that was not pressed into the fuzzy pink pillow, and he looked more concerned than usual.

“I don't know, I really don’t. I thought it was real. It felt real.” I said as I threw back the comforter and sat up.

“Careful,” Gideon said, taking a step closer as if to catch me if I tumbled off the bed.

“I’m okay, really. I think it was just a nightmare,” I said.

“Who were you shouting at in this nightmare?” he asked me, eyebrows raised.

I thought about it for a moment and couldn’t remember if I had been yelling at anyone, so I shrugged.

“You were shouting, ‘who are you’, over and over,” he said, still waiting for an answer.

“I don’t know, Gideon. Honestly, I don’t even remember what the dream was about,” I said, “Why does it matter?”

Gideon looked me in the eyes and asked, “Who did you speak to in your dream?”

I felt the power of the sire bond pushing me to answer him and my mouth blurted out, “I won’t remember.”

I immediately knew something was wrong. I knew enough about compulsion to know that when wording sounded off, it was probably because the vampire compelling them had given them bad information, or not enough information.

“What do you mean ‘won’t’?” Gideon asked me, “Don’t you mean you can’t remember?”

“I can’t remember.” I said, confirming, but it felt strange saying it. Like a lie.

“That’s because it is a lie, dear,” he said, responding to my thoughts.

I felt my anger flare.

“Calm down, Melissa, please. I know it’s difficult to understand, but what you are saying is a lie, just not one of your own makings,” Gideon said.

I didn’t understand and it was frustrating and scary. Had someone been messing around in my head?

Tears started spilling down my cheeks. I don’t know why I started to cry, but once I started, I couldn’t stop.

Gideon went paler than I’d ever seen him at the sight of my tears and my carrying on. He sat quietly in the chair next to the bed, occasionally saying, “there, there”.

I finally started to feel my sobs coming less and my tears beginning to dry.

A lot. It felt strangely stiff.

I felt my cheeks, which felt sticky and crusted, and when I looked at my fingers, I screamed.

My fingers were bloody. How had I injured myself sitting in bed?

Was this still a dream? How could I even tell?

“It’s alright, dear. It’s fine,” Gideon said as he jumped up and came to sit on the bed beside me, “They’re your tears, Melissa. You’re not wounded.”

I looked at him and he pointed to the sheet I had been wiping my face with.

It was soaked in blood. Or tears, I guess.

I sniffled, then said, “Is there anything else horriffic and terrifying that I should know about being a vampire?”

Gideon sighed.

“There’s many things, Melissa, but I hope you trust me to be here to help you through them,” he said, and he rubbed his eyes.

“I do. Trust you, I mean, but that doesn’t make it any less terrifying when it happens. So, am I going to turn to mist or into a bat or wolf or something? Tell me now so I can at least be prepared,” I said angrily.

“I will tell you that many of the legends about us are true,” he said, “There are many things you can learn and many more you will develop in time.”

I had been in the worst mindset, about to tear into Gideon about his poor vamp parenting skills, but his answer flipped that switch off in a second.

“Really?” I asked him, leaning forward, “I could learn to turn into a bat?”

Gideon eyed me for a second.

“If I tell you the terrifying thing is coming, will it help?” he asked me.

I nodded.

“Get ready,” he said, smiling a little.

Then I didn’t see him. Then I did. Then he disappeared again. Then there was a wolf where he had been standing.

I gasped and took a step backwards, mostly out of reflex because I was honestly awestruck at the sight and didn’t feel fearful at all.

“That is so friggin’ cool,” I said, and I clapped as I added, “Teach me, teach me!”

Later, when the sun had gone down and it was safe for us to be outdoors, Gideon had me get dressed up for a night ‘at The Outpost’. I had no idea what it was but I was excited to be going out, so I didn’t ask any questions.

I sat in my fancy bathroom in front of a lit vanity applying makeup and perfume when I realized something.

I felt happy.