DANIEL HERON: BECOMING

25. I won't feed on him.

Daniel rolled up his right sleeve. He clenched his palm in a fist, making the veins on his forearm pop up.

"Go on," he said, glancing up at Ana. "Bring the needle and stuff. I'm ready."

Ana remained seated on the coffee table, she just shifted her position, so that she could face Daniel. She didn't get up, nor showed any intention on doing so.

Daniel stopped examining his arm and fixated his dark eyes on the long-haired vampire. "There won't be a needle," he stated when the peculiarity of Ana's behavior sank in.

Ana shook her head left to right a couple of times. "Do you remember what I said about the blood that could be healing for a wounded vampire?"

Daniel gave it some thought. "You mean the part about blood that runs through the veins thanks to the beating heart?"

This time, Ana nodded. Her blue eyes rested on Daniel, making him uncomfortable. He agreed to help Teresa, but the reality of what he was expected to do hit him.

"I'm gonna have to let her bite me."

Ana nodded once more. A lock of her dark hair caressed her cheek. Gracefully, she pushed it back.

"Will it hurt?" Daniel's forehead creased.

Ana's eyes seeked Teresa before she answered him. "I do not know. When we feed off the living, they usually scream, but I can't tell if it's because of pain or terror."

Daniel gulped. His mind took him back to the abandoned factory where his friends met their death. They screamed all right. He would have screamed too had he not felt paralyzed. Ana's statement was a reminder that he was facing women that weren't a part of the 'normal' world. For lord knows which time, he found himself questioning the mysterious paths of fate that brought him to this moment.

Teresa's weak voice broke his train of thought. "I won't feed on him."

"It won't be feeding," Ana responded. "You'll only take as much as you need to trigger the healing process."

Teresa struggled to lift her head off the headrest and asked, "And who will stop me once I sink my teeth into him?"

Two women stared at each other, eye to eye, so a shiver that passed through Daniel's body remained unnoticed. Am I a hero in this story, or an idiot, he wondered?

"I will stop you," Ana answered Teresa, looking at her without blinking.

"And what if you... fail?" Speaking became a tiring effort for Teresa. "I don't want... to carry... on my soul..."

"Teresa, knock it off!" Ana cut in. "I will stop you. You're in no condition to fight me at this point."

Teresa's eyes closed, and her head fell back to the headrest. Ana shifted her gaze to Daniel, and all he was hoping for is that she wouldn't consider him a coward for shaking. Hero or an idiot, the words sailed back to his mind.

As if she sensed doubts within him, Ana said, "Thank you for doing this for Teresa. If you're ready, come closer."

Run! Somewhere deep inside, a voice that might have been his own, issued a final warning. And indeed, his legs moved, but they didn't do what the voice asked. Instead, they carried him towards Ana and injured Teresa.

"Now what?" Daniel asked, his voice barely audible. The right sleeve was still rolled up, fast paced heartbeats made the blood vessels under the skin even more noticeable. Rather than Ana, he stared at his own veins, his gaze almost piercing through to the red liquid that ran inside of them. He extended his trembling arm towards the vampire who seemed unusually frail, laying there in the armchair, with eyes closed. Therefore, he looked up at Ana anyway. She smiled compassionately before subtly shaking her head left to right.