And His Jacket Smelled of Cigarettes

23 · Stories

     I woke up, feeling a bit groggy. Sitting up, I recalled sharing a drink with Donn, but there wasn't much else... not until I noticed the chain hanging from my neck. The sun necklace! He had given it to me... but I still couldn't remember why. Everything was so fuzzy after the alcohol started taking affect. I stood up and went to my door, feeling surprised when it opened. He didn't lock it?

     I searched the house, but Donn was nowhere to be found. As a last resort, I opened the front door as quietly as I could, looking outside. That's when I saw Donn leaning against the porch rail, smoking a cigarette.

     "Donn?" I said, trying not to startle him. He still turned around quickly, blowing smoke out of his mouth before putting the cigarette out on the rail and flicking it into the yard.

     "Jen. I'm... sorry, I'm trying not to smoke so much. Was it bothering you?"

     I came out a little farther, shaking my head. "No... I don't mind."

     "My brother and I have a lot of differences, but... I guess this is one habit we both picked up." He pulled his pack and a lighter out of his pocket and lit another cigarette. I moved out and onto the porch, putting my hands on the rail a couple feet away from him. He didn't look at me.

     "You two were never... close?" I asked, afraid I was prying too much. He glanced over at me, but his eyes seemed tired rather than angry.

     "Once." He took a long hit off of the cigarette, blowing a large cloud of smoke from of his mouth. "Things haven't been the same."

     "How did... the scars--" I paused. "I-I don't mean to intrude... I'm sorry--"

     "It's alright. We got into an argument after... someone important left us."

     "Jereth." I mumbled. Donn heard me and turned, blowing smoke into my face; his icy blue eyes were almost glowing in the dark.

     "How do you know that name?" His face was dark and serious, and I wrung my hands nervously.

     "I... found a journal. It was in my room, mixed with the stacks of books. There was a note at the end, a-addressing... you and Athan..."

     "I see." Donn took another hit off his cigarette and tilted his head back, closing his eyes. "I never thought I'd have to talk about him again."

     "W-we don't have to! I-I shouldn't have brought it up, anyway, I--" Donn stopped me, putting a finger near my mouth with the hand he had his cigarette in. The smoke made my eyes sting, and I coughed. Donn then brought his hand back down to his side.

     "Jereth was my brother. Our brother," he began, leaning on the rail with his back to the yard, "but not by blood. Back in the late 1800s, several popular books about vampires had been released, and people started getting... crazy about them. Your mother is a vampire, your father is a vampire. At one point, they were staking corpses just to be sure. A couple years passed and things were going as smooth as they could be. Then... the stories started going around. Entire villages, burned to the fucking ground. Wealthy families with generations upon generations of vampires were being slaughtered, one by one, by people who called themselves 'vampire hunters'."

     "Jesus..." I gasped, crossing my arms and bringing a hand up to my mouth.

     "The twentieth centry came, and... so did he. He was just a boy, then. Not even thirteen yet. Thirteen. Blonde curly hair, and those telling, light pink eyes."

     I was taken aback. "W-wait... pink eyes?"

     "A vampire's eyes change depending on the parents and purity of the bloodline. Pink means the child had two vampire parents, blue means there was one human parent and one vampire parent, and a dark red means they've been changed."

     "Changed?"

     "A ritual can be performed to change a human into a vampire, but the procedure is risky."

     "So... what happened to Jereth?"

     "Not only was he a purebred vampire, he was an orphan of one of the great houses that fell. And somehow, out of everyone he could have chosen, he came to my brother and I." Donn sighed, having finished his cigarette. He pulled out another, beginning to chain-smoke. "Ever since his family got massacred, he had this thing against... killing. With the times like they were, it was hard to capture even a single person without people going wild. Weeks would go by, and not a single drop of blood would touch our tongues. Can you imagine?" Donn pinched the bridge of his nose. "In order to survive for that long, we had to kill. There was no other way. A whole body of blood lasted us those couple weeks. Jereth found it... inhumane. For the near hundred years that we cared for him, he never once killed a man."

     "How... how did he survive?"

     "He still fed. But we did the dirty work so he didn't have to. There were plenty of times that I tried to show him how, but he just... wouldn't do it."

     There was a long silence; the crickets chirped louder than ever, and Donn had smoked almost an entire pack of cigarettes.

     "Jereth... was the light of our lives. The golden child. Athan was the second eldest and even he looked up to him. He was so smart," Donn laughed, "god, he was... all the things I wasn't. And he... cared about life. All life, no matter who lived it. I know he loved us, but... in the end, he had to leave, because we were the monsters."

     "Donn..."

     "Jereth kept me and my brother close. And when he left, things... took a turn for the worst. Athan blamed me, saying there was always another way I could've handled it. We fought verbally until... I lost my temper, and things got physical. And then..." Donn trailed off, touching his hand to his scars. "Nowadays, he barely eats at all, just like Jereth. He refuses to kill. And like always, I am left to do the dirty work."

     "I'm... not saying I know what you've gone through, but... m-maybe... there is another option--"

     "Save it. You honestly think I haven't tried? That I never tried to change for Jereth? This life... it's apart of me now. I can't turn back." Donn was starting to raise his voice. "I've gone to hell and back for my fucking family."

     "I... I know, I just--"

     "Since when did you think we were fucking pals? Acting as if you know what's right? You don't know what it means to be what I am. You don't know shit about me."

     "Th-that's not what I m-meant!"

     "Why the fuck are you still talking?"

     "D-donn--" I said frantically, holding my hands out to try and calm him down, but he exploded. He rushed forward and grabbed me by the neck, starting to squeeze; the metal from the necklace was digging into my skin.

     I gasped and tried to choke out words, clawing at his hand. "Pl... e-ease... Do-- ack!" My vision was becoming fuzzy and dark, and Donn's bright blue eyes were the only two pinpoints of light I could see.

     Just as I felt myself starting to slip, the pressure left my neck and I collapsed, a violent coughing fit following after. It took a few moments to realize that I had never hit the floor, but I was in Donn's arms, and he was hugging me softly. I saw his lit cigarette roll across the porch, and he spoke to me in a quiet voice.

     "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." he hugged me a little tighter, his voice becoming shakey, "I was going to kill you. I..."

     "Donn, y-you... you were just a-angry, that's... that's all." I said between gasps. I brought my hands around him, and started rubbing his back. "It's okay."

     Donn continued to hold onto me, the night slowly getting colder as dawn approached. For the first time, I felt something other than anger towards Donn. I felt... pity. He was someone that needed help; a person that needed someone--anyone--to care about him. I thought I had heard Donn crying that night, but I just held him tighter.