Dawn Awakening

"How?"

"Easy," John Mark answered. "Picture yourself as you were before the change. How slowly you moved, one foot in front of the other, heavy and earthbound. Remember the weight of an object, how it felt in your hand, not light as a feather, but dense. Robbie, you can bench press that piece of shit car of yours if you want. You have to be careful not to let anyone see how strong you are. How fast you move.

"Everything you did before you can do now almost effortlessly. But, it's going to be harder, take more work than it ever did before. Not showing what you can do is harder than not being able to do it in the first place."

John Mark walked to the window, holding Robbie's hand, dragging her reluctantly behind him. Placing her hand on the blanket and the curtains covering the window, he pulled them back. "See those people out there? They don't know about us. They can't. Imagine what would happen if they suddenly found out. What they'd do to us. We can heal the sick. We can stop death from coming. We are death, beautiful death in its purest form. What lengths do you think people would go to just to get what we have? To age so slowly. To live as long as we can?

"We're out numbered, probably one hundred thousand to one. The balance has to be maintained. You think people are good. And maybe, for the most part, they are. But, there are some who would stop at nothing to be what we are. Robbie, we protect people from the rogues. But more importantly, we protect them from themselves."

Robbie slid the curtain back into place. Chills ran up and down her spine as she considered John Mark's words. She hadn't thought of it quite that way. How precarious their situation was. One slip could tip the balance he and the Sons battled to maintain and endanger them all. All of a sudden, she wasn't so hungry. This new life, not quite as amazing as it had been moments before. She felt her fangs retract into hiding and her eyes dull, free from the blaze of hunger. Slowly, humanly slow, she moved to the dresser and pulled out a change of clothes.

"Better," John Mark praised, amazed by how quickly Robbie caught on. Hell, four years later, he was still tripping over his feet and breaking things, from time to time. "Can I trust you to behave yourself while I'm in the shower? Or do you want hop in with me, save water and all that? Maybe, wash my back?" He chuckled as Robbie shoved him out of the bedroom and slammed the door in his face. "Guess not."

Robbie dressed, carefully handling her clothes, terrified she'd rip them like paper. She had no idea of what to do about John Mark. He sang, his deep voice rumbling from under the shower's hot spray in its usual off key tone. The boy could not carry a tune in a bucket. At least, that much hadn't changed about him. She stood in front of the mirror, studying her reflection. Practicing, as John Mark had suggested, looking innocuously and harmlessly human. His words of caution echoing in her mind, no one could know.





Chapter 35

Bored with how long it was taking and ears throbbing from John Mark's bad rendition of Crazy for You, Robbie pressed her nose against the screen door, inhaling deeply. The aroma of happiness and contentment clung to the couple, walking lazily in the late summer heat down the sidewalk. Their scent beckoned her closer and roused the hunter's curiosity. Stealthily, she clicked the latch on the front door and slipped out into the purple twilight.

The couple, obviously boyfriend and girlfriend, young and so deep in first love, stopped half a block up the street from her house. Innocently, the boy, thick and stocky, probably a first string quarterback for the high school football team, bent to kiss the girl. Petite with mouse brown hair, the girl teetered on her tiptoes, hovering between darting into the house and granting the kiss. Finally charmed by the boy, she leaned closer to permit the kiss. So engrossed in each other, they had no idea they were being watched.

Robbie crouched in the bushes, hidden from their view, watching. She was just curious about her neighbors. That's all. At least, that's what she told herself. The boy's blood, full of vigor and promise, sung to her. Darting through the shadows of the upcoming night, enticed by his scent, she waited for her opportunity.

Robbie hissed in hunger as the boy walked past her, hands thrust deep in his pockets and a smug smile on his face, arrogantly sauntered past her. Hidden by a thick copse of bushes, he didn't see her. She couldn't stop herself. He was so close and he smelled so good. And she was so hungry.

Silently, she slipped up behind him and pulled him back into the bushes. The boy struggled fruitlessly, pinned by her grip. She pressed one hand tightly against his mouth to prevent anyone from hearing his screams. Her hunter purred with happiness, aroused all the more by the fight and the scent of his fear. Senses reeling, she punctured his skin with her fangs and moaned at the sweet flavor of his blood, thick and rich on the tip of her tongue. She could stop, anytime she wanted to. She wouldn't hurt him. Or at least, that's what she told herself as she latched on to his neck and worried at the wound to hasten the flow of blood into her mouth.

John Mark towel dried at vampire speed. Being a vampire had its benefits. He wanted to get Robbie out in the woods for a quick bite before she lost it completely. Dressed in jeans and nothing else, with the damp towel draped over his neck, he walked through the house. He padded through the house barefoot, looking for Robbie. The rooms were empty. He didn't have time for the curse on his lips to leave his mouth before the sound of muffled screams overtook his sensitive hearing. "Damn it." Apparently, Robbie had gone on a little hunting excursion of her own. He bolted out the front door toward the smell of freshly spilled human blood.

The air stirred around Robbie as John Mark placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her back from the dazed boy. "Are you planning to kill him?" he asked in an accusatory tone of voice that damned her and any explanation she might have tried to talk her way out of trouble. She exhaled a shaky breath as he bent to examine the boy. Scowling over his shoulder at her, he undid the damage she'd done and after a few suggestions hard planted in the boy's mind, released him to stumble down the sidewalk in a fog of confusion.

Shamed, Robbie curled up in a ball and licked a congealed drop of blood from the corner of her mouth. The kid would be fine, playing football in a week or two when practices started back up for the season, oblivious and no worse for wear. Of course, he'd have a small gap in his memory that he'd never be able to account for. But, with all the blows to the head the kid took during practice, with a little help from the good Doctor Thomas Sterling, could easily be explained away. "I was curious about him, that's all. And...," she stammered, fumbling for an explanation. He got it. After all, had his first day...hell first year or two been any different.

"C'mon, I've got a donor lined up for you. We can't have you stalking about the neighborhood snacking on future leaders of America." Robbie was relieved by the razzing tone in John Mark's voice and the hint of a smile and forgiveness in his eyes. She placed her hand in his and let him pull her up onto her feet. Determined not to make another mistake again, she squeezed his hand tightly as they walked back to the house.

A beat up pickup truck sat rusting in her driveway. The engine ticked as it cooled from the drive. Her eyes focused intently on the stranger sitting on her stoop waiting for them. Hungrier than ever, she whispered to John Mark, "Are you sure about this?"

John Mark held the door as Robbie and Alexander entered the house. Alexander stood a head taller than Robbie. A shook of fading red-blond hair poked out from the brim of his ball cap. He knew this would be a good match up. Alexander showed no fear despite Robbie's newness and inexperience. He took it in stride and sat on the couch, waiting for his cue.

Robbie took a seat next to the man. She recognized him from town. But, couldn't recall his name or exactly where she'd seen him. He extended his sun-weathered hand to her in a greeting. Eagerly, she returned his handshake and then meagerly folded her hands into her lap and waited for John Mark to tell her what to do next.

Alexander pulled his ball cap off and sat it on the coffee table. He was a big believer in hats off at the dinner table, even if he was the main course. Robbie mumbled a greeting and sat with her hands folded on her lap, nervous as a June bride on her wedding night. Laughable really, considering she could kill him with a flick of her wrist. He settled back and made small talk with John Mark while he waited for her to work up the courage to do what needed to be done.

John Mark watched Robbie as carefully as a mother watches her baby take its first bite of solid food. He instructed her on the mechanics of her act. Teaching her to spellbind and make the exchange between the donor and recipient pain free. He added a little power to the punch of her suggestion, making them stick. Alexander was here because he'd asked him to come. And if Robbie hurt him, he'd never hear the end of it.

Timidly, she bit into Alexander's wrist, lapping at the crimson flow with an eager tongue. Oh, the taste, the richness and decadence flowing into her mouth was heaven. No ice cream she'd ever eaten could compare to the rush of absolute bliss rushing down her throat. John Mark gently worked Alexander's arm free from her lips. She grabbed with desperate fingers, hungry for more. "You have to stop now," he instructed cautioning her.

The man's blood surged through her providing much needed nourishment. Robbie trembled as she forced her eyes away from the still pulsing puncture wounds in Alexander's wrist. John Mark sealed the wounds with the tip of his tongue and urged her into the kitchen to fix a snack for her donor when came round from her spell. "I'm sorry," she mumbled to John Mark, "I'm not very good at this, I guess."

John Mark lifted Robbie's chin, licking a stray trickle of blood away from her lips with a reassuring smile "It takes time."

After Alexander recovered enough to drive, Robbie and John Mark saw him out. She was thankful for Alexander's sacrifice and his patience. Her thirst had ebbed to a gentle tickle in the back of her throat. "Human blood works better than other kinds of blood doesn't it?" she asked.

John Mark shook his head as he closed the front door. "Yeah, drinking from animals is ok. But, it's like surviving on junk food. Once in a while you've gotta eat something nutritious. Human blood satisfies us better."

Robbie lowered her head in shame as she recalled the incident with the boy. "Do you think I could have killed him? That kid, I mean?" She asked, as she looked up at John Mark, her eyes round and apologetic. "I don't know what came over me. He smelled so good. Once I tasted him, I just couldn't stop myself."

"You could have," he shrugged, lost at the thought. "I'm not going to let you hurt anyone. In time you will learn to control your instincts. But, you have to work at it. As much as I love you, if you lose control and kill. Even if it is an accident, there won't be anything I can do to help you. The Sons forbid taking of human life. Life is sacred above all else. You must only drink from donors and then only enough to stave off your need. Save your hunting instincts for the deer. Use them to slake your thirst and quell your hunter. But, take only what you need. Killing is for self-defense only. The penalty for taking a life is death. And I won't lose you."

Robbie understood John Mark's warning. She shivered at how close she'd come to losing control. The last twenty-four hours of her life had been consumed with blood and death. Eager to do something normal and to change the subject, she asked, "Can we still go down to the shop?"

"Sure," he replied. John Mark didn't mean to scare Robbie. And she was afraid, primarily of herself. The whole world was one giant Pandora's box for her and it was wide open.

They walked down the silent sidewalk making their way across town. "Everybody is asleep," Robbie commented. She stopped in front of an old brownstone. "Well not everybody, I guess," she whispered, snickering. Sounds of the couple making love inside filtered through the crumbling brick exterior.

John Mark stifled a snicker. "That's Mrs. Taylor and her ah, friend. It seems Mr. Taylor is out on the road this week, and well...you fill in the blanks." He left off waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Robbie.

Robbie swatted at John Mark and dragged him down the sidewalk. "Who's the voyeur?"

John Mark shrugged as he trotted to catch up to her. "Sometimes if you listen, you can catch people's thoughts. I was just repeating what I heard. No harm in that is there?"

Robbie slid her key into the shop's back door and pushed her way inside. "That comes in handy sometimes doesn't it?" She thought back, recalling how he had answered questions before she asked them and how he unloaded her car for her without her verbalizing her desire for him to do so. "Real handy," she grumbled, stomping into the office to review the last few days' worth of receipts.

John Mark pretended to have a sudden interest in arranging the bananas on their metal stand, ignoring her last statement. An hour or so later, Robbie emerged from the office, smiling gleefully. "All finished." Despite her inattention to the shop over the last couple of weeks, they were still in the black. As she suspected, Corrine had done a superb job of running the business. "Can we get out of here, this place reeks," she said, wrinkling her nose against the sweet smell of the shop.

"Cool, lets go out the lake and hang out for a while." John Mark was ready to get the hell out of the shop and away from the smells and noise of the town. He could do with some peace and quiet, and a little Robbie time. Not Robbie, the vampire time. Not John Mark, the mentor time. Just, Robbie and John Mark time.

Robbie stood at the back door, locking up. Catching a scent, she grabbed John Mark's shirt. "Someone is here," she whispered. The scent wasn't human, but slightly sweeter and muskier, not unlike John Mark's and her own.

John Mark shrugged as he replied, "Yeah, its just Patrick. He's one of the trackers. Nothing to worry about. He's out making rounds."

"Tracker?" Robbie asked curiously.

"Yeah, one of the brothers. Don't worry we are perfectly safe. Patrick is harmless," John Mark replied, taking her hand securely in his. "C'mon out Patrick, meet my girlfriend, Robbie." He scanned the tree line looking for the illusive tracker to make his appearance.

Patrick landed with a soft thud, lowering his body from the high branches of a neighboring maple. "Hi."

Robbie took Patrick's hand, lightly shaking it and smiling. She instantly liked him. He had a certain amount of boyish charm, but as she had learned, vampires couldn't be judged by looks alone.

"Anything exciting going on tonight?" John Mark asked as he removed Robbie's hand from Patrick's grip. Possessively, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he tugged her to his side.

Patrick sniggered at John Mark's reaction. "Nope, quiet tonight," he replied. Tilting his nose into the air, he muttered a hurried "See ya," and bounded down the street to chase after a familiar but distant scent. No cause for alarm...yet.

"Girlfriend," Robbie asked shrugging off John Mark's arm. "First I've heard of it."

"Hey, I'll race you to the lake," John Mark said, darting down the parking lot and throwing sprays of loose gravel from his heels. Ok, so he was avoiding the heavy talk he knew was coming. Ignoring her statement. He just assumed that after everything they'd been through and the hot make out sessions, she was on board with the whole girlfriend/boyfriend thing. He didn't think he'd have to officially ask her. Women, would he ever figure them out?













Chapter 36

"This was a good idea," Robbie said, leaning closer to the small fire John Mark had built on the sandy beach to warm her hands. The night air was fresh and clear, and a bit cool with a trace of autumn in the breeze. Stars lazily drifted across the velvet sky and the moon, fat and full, bathed her in its light. It was funny, how many things she'd seen her whole life: the sky, the moon, and the stars, but she'd never really seen them at all until now.

John Mark sank down onto the sand beside Robbie, gently navigating her body against his and enveloping with his arms. "I like to come out here to think," he said as he toyed with a stray lock of hair that had fallen free of her messy ponytail. Across the lake an animal bayed a shrill howl, offering its song to the night. Robbie stiffened against him and held her breath for a minute. "A coyote," he explained to set her at ease. She immediately relaxed and snuggled up against him.

"I hate being cooked up inside all of the time too." Robbie shifted her body so that she could tip her chin to look up at his face. Shadows of light and dark played across his angular cheekbones and danced in his brown eyes. She was tempted to reach out and trace their path along the line of his jaw. She didn't though. When it came to John Mark, she was tempted to do a lot of things.

She'd known him her whole life. Yet, recently, it'd seemed she hadn't really known him at all. One of the many things she'd always taken for granted. Her parents would never die. This whole in the wall town was nothing more than a pit stop on the way to someplace better. And John Mark would always be the same. The same John Mark she'd always known. Never changing.

John Mark frowned at the shadow of an expression that flittered across Robbie's cheeks. Her mood was calm. But, he couldn't catch exactly what had caused the sudden flicker of doubt in her eyes. Unsure of what to do and how to ask, he did what any guy would...changed the subject. "I always took you for an indoor girl. A degree in library science and all."

Robbie giggled, "Not necessarily. I like order. Libraries...books...the randomness of thought transformed into words, the words into sentences and paragraphs, the paragraphs into pages, and the pages into books. There's no limit to what we're capable of creating up here." She tapped John Mark's forehead with an index finger as she spoke.

"Everyday we transform chaos into order. Nature is the ultimate expression chaos transformed into order. One person sees a tree and thinks "how beautiful." Another person looks at the same tree and sees a work of art. What's more, that person takes what he sees in his head and creates it. One person sees a field, flat and ordinary. While another sees a city, teeming with humanity, yet to be built. It's the same with words. To one person...words are just words...while another person takes those words and writes a masterpiece.

"I mean, look at us, driven together by a set of random circumstances...chaos. It was nothing more than a roll of the dice. My family living next door to yours. Us being friends. My parents. Everything that's happened. Just a random set of events set in motion by the hand of fate. I guess. Here we are, at the end of it all, or maybe at the beginning, I don't know. Bound by something, a part of something bigger than the both of us, something that defies logic. Yet, our minds catalogue it into something that makes sense to us and we accept it to be true."

She over thought everything to the point where it hurt him to think about it. Even as a kid, when he was content to just go outside and play and let the day bring whatever it brought. She had to have a plan. He'd never given it much thought before. Just accepted it as the way she was. How she organized her world and maintained control of it. He wondered exactly how difficult this was for her, for the first time in her life, operating on the fly, having to let each day come, without a plan and completely at the mercy of chaos she sought so desperately to control. "Shit happens and then you die," John Mark said, paraphrasing Robbie's words.