The Vampire's Heart II - The Dying Heart (Phan)

Chapter 10 - Cynthia and Storm

Cynthia's POV

I hung back in the she-vampire's cave when Dan and Phil left for home. I had never seen a female vampire. Well, I had only seen one vampire at all! I looked around her cave. No creature shunned from human contact would have such advanced or well-made items as her. I assumed she was a thief as well as crazy.

"So," she said finally, "what do you want?"

"I just want to know," I said, my hands up and in front of me, "will my friend become a vampire or stay human, after that bite?"

"I would have answered Dan if I knew off the top of my head. But... here," she said, going to a pile of objects messily cluttered in the corner. She pulled out a book. "It may say in here." Storm viciously tore the pages back and forth looking for an answer. I tried to read the cover, but it was out of my view. "'A mortal human's love will reverse a vampire's curse, but if the vampire is already in love when he/she became one, it is up to the mortal to save him/her from the curse or not. The victim must be in constant contact with his/her lover for 24 hours to allow the curse to wear off. Otherwise, it shall take effect and the victim will undergo the transformation.'"

"So if they just stay with each other for 24 hours, he'll be fine?"

"Yes, I suppose."

"I should probably go tell them that."

"No need," Storm huffed, tossing the book back on top of the pile. I saw now that the cover read "Vampire's Legends." "They're so in love. They don't have to worry about it. They'll probably just go to sleep, since it's night now, and, considering what's happened, lay there for the entire day tomorrow." She leaned against a wall, brushing her black and red dress. "I guess that's the reason I'm a vampire anyway."

"What do you mean?"

She explained to me her story of getting bitten and having her lover abandon her. She looked so sad. "Of course I wanted to be human again," she added, "but I don't know what happened to me. I became obsessed to the point where I lost all rational knowledge. I was just so... depressed for so long and... I thought that if no one would love me, I could just pretend. 'Maybe it could work,' I thought. But look at all I've done. I've never done something so crazy. I can't even bare to ask for forgiveness."

I began to pity her. She was so upset. It made me upset to hear that someone whom she thought loved her would just leave. I watched as she caught her breath and sat on the dirty ground below her, cradling her knees together and beginning to cry. I sat next to her.

"Get away from me," she said. "Aren't you as pissed off at me as Dan and Phil should be?"

I wasn't, honestly. I stayed with her, talking her down.

Phil's POV

I wanted to thank Cynthia for her help, but she never returned from Storm's cave. I began to worry about her, but Dan advised me otherwise.

"She'll do whatever she wants," he said. "It's not unusual that she'll pack all her bags at once and take a road trip to who-knows-where at the spur of the moment. Believe me, if she wanted to come back, she would."

I trusted him, but it had been a few days now. I wondered if we should go back to fetch her, but maybe we should just let it go. She'll be back, right?

My last questions were answered, as we left the coffee shop one day. Cynthia was there, just walking, her hand locked with another unfamiliar hand. I saw her face at the same time Dan did, and we both rushed to her.

"Are you okay?" Dan asked.

"Where have you been?" I chimed in quickly.

She looked to her side at the person she held hands with. "I've great! I've been... out, we'll say."

Dan looked to Cynthia's friend. She scaled her. I didn't recognize her, but he did, and took a step back. "Storm."

"Hi, Dan."

My eyes widened, and my grip on Dan's hand tightened. I stood very close to him. "Storm. What are you doing here?"

"Don't worry," CC interrupted. "It's all fine, believe me."

I realized why I didn't recognize her immediately. She looked different - less pale, more human eyes... no fangs. I touched the perfectly healed bite marks and where they were on my neck that had punctured me just days, maybe a week, ago. But now... no fangs.

"I want to appropriately apologize to you both," she said. "I hope you don't stay made at me forever. We don't have forever to waste anymore."

"A-are you...?" Dan stumbled.

"Yeah."

She was human again.

"But... how?"

"Dan," Cynthia breathed, "I spent a long time with Storm, and honestly, she just went crazy. She's actually very intelligent, we have a lot of similar interests and well... she's really beautiful."

"Stop it," Storm begged, blushing.

Oh, I thought. I get it.

"I hope you don't mind," Cynthia said, looking down. "But this is who I love."

Dan smiled. He let go of me and hugged her. I wondered exactly what went down for Cynthia and Storm to fall in love, but I didn't care. I was happy. Everything seemed to work out.

Dan stared at Storm. I was sure he would snap at her. Instead, he said, "She's a mess. Tale care of her."

Cynthia punched him in the arm.

"You have my word," Storm said. "And hey, I can definitely say that girls are much better then men anyway."

"I thought the same thing!" Cynthia said as they began to walk away.

Dan grabbed my hand again.

"Feel a bit safer?" I asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"Now she's Cynthia's problem instead of ours."

He laughed. "Sure then."

We were safe.