The Immortal Rules

Chapter 5

Fragments of nightmare plagued my darkness.

Lucas and Rat, pulled under by grasping white hands.

The dead deer, rising from the grass to stare at me, her gaping ribs shining in the moonlight.

Running through aisles of rusty cars, thousands of pale things following me, shrieking and hissing at my back.

I awoke with a start. My ribs were hurting like crazy and I was in a random place. I looked up and saw the vampire from earlier. I jumped up but immediatly slumped against the wall, trembling. Looking down at myself, I blinked in surprise. My old clothes were gone. Instead of my thin, faded patchwork shirt and pants, I wore black jeans and a dark shirt without a single hole or tear. The filthy, torn and probably bloodstained jacket had been replaced with a long black coat that looked almost new.

"What...what happened to my clothes?" I asked, touching the sleeve of the coat, blinking at how thick it was. Frowning suddenly, I looked up at the vampire. "Did you dress me?"

"Your clothes were torn to pieces when you were fighting the rabids," the vampire informed me, still not moving from where he stood. "I found you some new ones." His deep, low voice held the faintest hint of amusement. "I did not see anything."

My mind spun. "I-I have to go," I said shakily, getting to my feet. "I have to...find my friends, see if they made it back to the hideout. Stick is probably-"

"Your friends are dead," the vampire said calmly. "And I would abandon all attachments to your life before. You are not part of that world any longer. It is better to simply forget about it."

Dead. Images flashed through my mind of rain and blood and pale, screeching things, hands pulling someone over a fence. With a hiss, I shied away from those thoughts, refusing to remember. "No," I choked out, shuddering. "You're lying."

"Let them go," the vampire insisted quietly. "They're gone."

I had the sudden, urge to run "You can't keep me here."

"If you want to leave, you may go." He didn't move, except to nod to a door on the other side of the small room. "I will not stop you. Though you will be dead within a day, if it takes that long. You have no idea how to survive with the inner-city hunting you, how to avoid detection, and if the vampires of this city discover you, they will most likely kill you. Alternatively, you could remain here, with me, and have a chance of surviving." I glared at him. "Stay here? With you? Why? What do you care?"

The stranger narrowed his eyes. "Because if they catch you they will kill you and torture you for information about me that you don't have." he said.

"I will teach you what you need to know to hide from the inner-city Or-" he turned slightly, gesturing to the door

"-you can leave and try to survive on your own, but I wash my hands of you and whatever blood comes after." I slumped back to the wall, my mind racing. Rat was dead.

Lucas was dead. I'd seen them, pulled under by rabids in the old city, torn apart before my eyes. My throat closed up. Stick, much as I hated to admit it, was most likely dead as well; he couldn't survive the trek back to the city on his own. It was just me now. Alone. A vampire.

My chest felt tight, and I bit my lip, imagining the faces of my friends staring at me, pale and accusing. My eyes burned, but I swallowed hard and forced back the tears. I could cry and scream and curse the world and the rabids and the vampires later. But I would not show weakness in front of this stranger, this bloodsucker who might have saved me, but about whom I knew nothing. When I was alone, I would cry for Rat and Lucas and Stick, the family I'd lost. Right now, I had larger issues to deal with.