Daybreak (A Lapidot Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: A New Door Opened

Peridot glanced over at me. "You can stop freaking out now. You're safe."

"I can't ever know I'm safe now!" I shouted. "There are people out there who are hunting for my blood!"

"Lapis, you know I won't let that happen," Peridot mumbled.

"But what if it does?" I looked at her.

"It won't." She growled at me.

I closed my mouth and stared at her. "Am I bugging you?"

"You're overthinking this." Peridot propped up her knee and rested her elbow on it. "First of all, there are seven and a half billion people that live in this world, and vampires have all of those options. What's the chance that you would end up being their choice?" She smiled reassuringly.

"I was that vampire's choice earlier."

Peridot groaned and fell back onto her bed. "Come on, Lapis..." she sighed. "You're killing me!"

"Sorry." Peridot sat up and looked at me.

"As long as you watch who you're sitting next to, you'll be fine." I looked over at Peridot again and clenched my fist. My eyes shut as I looked away. There was an awkward silence that was broken by Peridot's roar of laughter. "Lapis!" She exclaimed mid-laughter. "That's not what I meant!"

I looked back at her. "D-don't laugh at me!" I twirled my hair, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry." She sighed. "I'm just trying to help."

We were silent. I glanced at her green eyes. "...would you be able to save me?" I asked.

"Save you?" Peridot repeated it. "I've told you—"

"I mean...would you be able to save me if a vampire bit me?"

Peridot stopped. She thought about it. "...if it only took some of your blood, the only thing that we'd need to save you is a blood transfusion...but vampires are venomous..."

"V-venomous?"

"...the only thing that would be able to save you from the venom is another vampire. They would have to drink your blood until it had no venom left in it. Then you'd need that blood transfusion." Peridot rubbed her chin with her thumb.

"...d-does the venom kill you?" I reached towards her and gripped her arm.

"If you're weak, yes, it will kill you. If you're not weak, it will paralyze you, and as long as you're not being killed while you're paralyzed, you have two or three days before you're suddenly a vampire." She looked at me.

"So they can turn me into one of them?!"

"Yes, they can."

"...would it hurt?"

"...yeah..."

Neither of us spoke for the second time. Peridot simply stared at me.

"...what if you got bitten by a vampire?" I finally asked.

"If another vampire didn't get the venom out, I would die." Peridot sighed.

"Die?!"

"We werewolves can't survive the venom if it stays. For vampires, it stings, for humans, it transforms, but for werewolves, it kills."

She pulled my hand off of her arm and gripped it.

"...have you ever been bitten?" I asked her in a quiet voice.

Peridot stared into space for a moment, then shut her eyes. Something told me that I had set her off somehow. I laid my head on her shoulder.

"I..." She bit her lip.