I squeeze my eyelids shut, trying to imagine I’m anywhere else. With anyone else. Isn’t this the part of the story where a handsome prince comes and saves me?
Well, my friends, fairy tales aren’t real. Knights in shining armor aren’t real. If you want to survive, you have to save yourself. You have to embrace your inner monster and be the beast you hate.
“Leave me the fuck alone,” I growl, still keeping my eyes shut.
“This is a god-blessed blade,” the ghoul continues, voice awed. “One of the only things capable of killing a vampire. And…scarring one.”
He removes his hand from beneath my dress and grabs hold of my arm once more. Finally, I risk opening one eye to see him staring at my flesh intently, as if it’s a canvas and he’s a starving artist.
“Fuck you,” I say through gritted teeth.
His smile is slow, predatory almost, and causes my hackles to rise. “If you’re offering.”
Before I can gather my wits, he presses down on the inside of my arm with the blade. Pain—excruciating pain—explodes in my veins at the first stab of the dagger. I press my elongated fangs into my bottom lip in a desperate attempt to stop my sudden need to scream. But when he presses down again, a cruel laugh reverberating through him, I can’t contain the anguished cry.
“Violet…?” a drowsy voice murmurs. And then, more alert, he repeats, “Violet!”
I turn tear-filled eyes to see Frankie now standing, struggling between the two monsters that hold him. “Violet!” he screams again, the agonized noise somehow soothing my ravaged soul. Even amidst the pain, it’s comforting to know he cares.
Fuck, I’m screwed up, aren’t I?
“Please, stop! Do you want money? I’ll give you money! Fuck!” Frankie attempts to headbutt the icicle man, but the second monster quickly wraps an arm around his neck, cutting off his air supply.
The pain is lessening, replaced by a growing numbness. I don’t know if it’s the adrenaline disrupting my nerves or something else entirely, but I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing. Each swipe of the blade against my skin is nothing more than a tickle.
My head is spinning wildly, and I can feel my vision begin to go dark.
“Violet!” Frankie screams again, face pale. The monster on his left backhands him across the face.
“Shut the fuck up, you fat freak.”
Blinding, incandescent fury rushes through me at his words, settling in my stomach like a ball of light. I want to grip it with both hands and give it a pull, but I don’t. I can’t.
After what feels like an eternity, the giant releases me and pushes me onto the ground. The ghoul stands over me, a cocky smile dancing on his lips. He leans forward to spit on me before straightening, scrubbing a hand down his chest.
“Remember this moment, vampire scum. Remember how hated you are. Of how hated you all are. Do us all a favor and go fall on a wooden stake.” He kicks at my stomach before nodding towards his friends, who reluctantly release Frankie. He wastes no time crawling towards me, tears blurring his eyes. His hand hovers above me, as if he wants to touch me but isn’t sure where.
“Violet! Fuck, Violet. We need to get you home, okay? You’ll be okay.”
Almost mechanically, I nod my head, but my eyes are fixated on the once-smooth skin of my arm.
My head swarms with indignation as I read the words now carved into my porcelain skin.
Vampire Whore
WE’RE both silent as we walk back to my dorm, Frankie’s coat once more draped over my shoulders. I’m trembling erratically, and my hand fumbles as I attempt to open the door.
“Let me,” Frankie murmurs, pushing it open and helping me inside.
My room looks the exact fucking same, so why does everything feel so…different? Maybe the room hasn’t changed, but I have. In a matter of minutes, I have grown years in age. Centuries, even. I’m no longer that scared little girl who wandered through life carelessly.
What I’ve been through…
That changes people inherently. It warps their very genetic makeup.
I drop Frankie’s jacket onto the ground, immediately staring down at my distorted skin. Those words glare back at me like an ominous promise and a reminder. It was so easy to forget that I was the most hated monster in the universe. That my father had a thousand more enemies than friends. Now, it all comes rushing back to me, like a bomb that has just been detonated.
I don’t cry. I think I used up all my tears in that alleyway, when a little sliver of my innocence was shattered into unfixable pieces. I feel like a ghost gliding through life, never being able to actually stop and smell the roses. Instead, I’m an apparition. A presence that lurks and never participates. I’m…nothing.
Well, nothing but a vampire whore.
“I have a potion that can make this disappear,” Frankie whispers hoarsely. He hasn’t moved from the doorframe, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. “I’ll start on it tonight, and it should be ready in the next few days.”
“No.” I shake my head once, and then again, more vehemently. “Not tonight.”
Still wearing my short black dress, I crawl onto the bed and underneath the covers.
“Violet?” Frankie takes one step closer as I extend a hand, pulling back the blankets.
“Stay with me?” My voice is a plea, nothing but a hushed murmur.
Without hesitation, Frankie crawls beneath the covers beside me and spoons me from behind. His scent surrounds me, comforts me, and somehow, tames the monsters in my head.
Still in his arms, I turn on the bed until I’m facing him, our noses touching.
“I’m so sorry, Vi,” he murmurs brokenly. It’s almost as if he can’t bring himself to speak above a whisper. As if the silence is a fine slate of glass already cracked and moments away from shattering. There’s something tranquil and serene about silence, though. It’s the secrets we carry,
