Part three
The cops hand on his shoulder brought him around to the here and now. "How
long have you been like this?"

"Why do you want to know?" Tommy countered. "I don't even know your name."

"I am lieutenant Nick Knight,"

"How can a vampire be a cop?" He pulled away from Nick, and went back over
to the cot, he sat down.

"Why can't I be a cop?" He was surprised when Nick sat down beside him.
"How long have you been this way?"

"Four months,"

"Why do you want to go to jail?"

"I don't want to go to jail, I want the death penalty." He confessed.

"Canada doesn't have a death penalty,"

"I see," Tommy looked around the cell again.

"If you get out of jail, will you kill again?"

"I...I don't get the choice do I?" he stuttered.

"You know, you can't stay in jail," Nick said.

"I've confessed...I'm guilty...I want to die." Tommy couldn't look at him.
"I want to die...I'm evil."

"Your not evil." Nick said firmly.

"I kill....."

"If you didn't have to kill to feed, would you feel as evil?" Nick asked.

"I don't know," He admitted.

"Come with me," The man offered. "I won't hurt you."

"My confession?"

"It's been...misplaced, as far as anyone knows, you never where
caught." Nick paused. "Are you coming?"

Tommy looked at Nick, trying to decide if the man was honest, then he
realized that this man was his only hope. He got to his feet. "Let's go,"

*       *       *

Tommy was taken to Nick's loft in the Caddie. The loft looked like it had
once been a warehouse, but it had been redecorated. There was a grand piano
in one corner, and in
another, an artist easel, on it, a painting that looked like it was drying.
The furniture of the room was in black leather, and looked expensive. There
was a balcony that lead to other rooms.

The vampire that had been with Vetter when he was arrested him came out of
one of the rooms, he was dressed entirly in black. His long black hair
looked freshly washed. "Why did you bring him here?"

"There was no where else for him to go!" Nick countered.

Tommy watched as the man came down the stairs to the first floor of the
loft. He still didn't know if he could trust these two. They where vampires
like him. He knew vampires had to kill to survive. That these people
killed...and the man...he had wanted to kill him. Would have to if Vetter
hadn't stoped him.

Nick gestured to a couch. "Make yourself confortable,"

"Thanks," warily, Tommy sat down on the couch.

"Your hungry aren't you?"

"How did you know that?"

"Your fangs are fully extended," The man told him.

Nick walked over to the refrigerator, he took out a wine bottle, uncorked
it with his teeth, poured a large glass, he then brought the glass over to
Tommy. "Drink this,"

"What is it?" Tommy asked as he took the glass.

"Yack's vomit, what do you care?" The man said harshly. "Just drink it!"

Tommy drank the liquid, it was blood, and it was cold. The cold was a shock
to his system, he could tell from the taste that it wasn't human blood. "Do
you drink this all the time?"

"Don't you think the police would notice if all the vampires in Toronto
killed the way you did?" The man countered.

Tommy put the glass down. "I didn't want to kill them,"

"I know," Nick glared at the man.

"What's wrong, can't lower yourself to drinking cow?" the he man asked
scornfully.

"It's cold," Tommy finally said.

"I think I can help with that," Nick filled a mug with the blood, and put
it in the microwave. After a few moments, the machine dinged. Nick took out
the cup and brought it to Tommy. "Here, try this,"

Tommy took the mug, he took a sip. This time it was much easier to drink.

If he didn't think too much about what it was, he might be able to live on
it. "How can you be so calm about being a vampire?"

"I've had a lot of time to get used to it," Nick sat down beside him. "How
long have you lived on the streets?"

"Since I became a vampire," He admitted. Tommy drank the liquid and then
put the cup down. He looked up to the man. "Did you bring me here so he
could kill me?"

"Why would you think he would kill you?" Nick asked.

"He would have....if Vetter wouldn't have stopped him."

Nick glared at the man. "What right did you have to try and kill him?"

"He was leting the word get out about us," the man shrugged. "Besides he
asked me to let him die."

"Vachon, he's like you,"

"What do you mean?" Vachon asked.

"His master left him for dead,"

"Angel didn't leave me for dead. She gave me instructions before she killed
herself,"

"Tommy didn't even have that,"

Vachon looked over to Tommy, his dark eyes were suddenly a lot less bitter.
"Nick's right, you should stay alive. Why don't you go and get cleaned up?"

Tommy didn't say anything, he knew he didn't smell too well.

"Why don't I show you where you can take a shower?" Nick suggested.

Tommy nodded. Nick took Tommy to the second floor of the loft. Tommy
followed him in, it looked like a guest bedroom. The first thing he noticed
was that his host could be seen in the mirror, and he couldn't.

Without having to be asked, Nick said. "It's hard at first, but you can
learn to be seen in a mirror."

"How do I do it?"

"All you have to do is concentrate,"

Tommy did, and found that his image began to appear in the mirror. He
looked like a monster, a horrible monster. He let his concentration break,
and his image faded from view.

Nick patted him on the shoulder, "You'll feel better about yourself after
the shower,"

"If you say so," though Tommy didn't believe it.

As Nick showed him where the he kept the bath supplies, Tommy got up the
courage to ask. "Won't a shower hurt?"

"Why would you say that?"

"It hurts when I get stuck out in the rain."

"That's another thing you'll have to concentrate about," Nick turned to
leave. "I'll go get you some clothes,"

"What about what I'm wearing?"

"Throw them away!"

"Thanks,"

Tommy took off his clothes, he was still wearing what he wore to the
birthday party. He tossed the clothes in the trash. He opened up the door
to the shower, then turned on the water, he ran it till the water felt
warm, then he stepped inside.

The water felt like knife stabs against his skin. He remembered what Nick
had told him, and he concentrated, trying to think himself made of steel,
and slowly the water stopped hurting.

For the longest time, he let the water run over him, he closed his eyes,
and tried to think the past was gone, letting the water wash away his sins,
but it didn't work, he couldn't get Kimberly out of his mind.

*       *

Tommy woke slowly. It was dark. He could feel that, even without being
fully awake. Slowly he opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground in
an alleyway. There was a twilight like haze around him. He looked up,
the moon was out, but it wasn't very dark.

//What am I doing here?// He asked himself.

The night before had been a blur. The last thing he could remember was
Billy talking to him at the party. He had no idea how he had gotten here.
He just knew that he was dressed in the same clothes he had been wearing at
the party.

He felt different, almost as if he were a different person. He could hear
many heartbeats. They were like a symphony. He hungered, not for food,
for something else....something that his body craved, but he didn't know
what.

His neck hurt, he reached up and touched it, there was a large open place,
as if he had been bit, but he couldn't remember. He looked down to his
watch, it was ten o'clock. He had to get home.

He walked home, the house was dark, empty. He used his key to get in. He
found a note on his bed, from his foster mother, telling him that Kimberly
had been by the night before, and asking him if he had found a new place
to live yet. It also told him that if he chose to stay out all night,
that he better find another place to live and soon, because if he weren't
out by Monday, she would throw him out. He crumpled up the note, and
threw it away.

So his foster parents were kicking him out, at least he knew he had a place
to stay. He took out his suitcase, and began to pack, trying to forget
the hunger that overcame him.

He walked over to the mirror and looked at his neck. The wound was large,
gaping. He had seen wounds like this in horror movies, victims of vampires
had wounds like this. .Some how he knew he should be dead, but wasn't,
and the longing was there. His eyes where glowing, and his teeth were
long. He was a vampire!

"How did this happen?" He asked himself.

The door bell rang. He could feel that the person that rang the door bell
was alone. Food, food had come to the door. All he would have to do was get
the person into the house, and he could feed.....but he would have to make
him self look normal. He closed his eyes and willed himself to look normal.
When he opened his eyes, he looked normal, all except for the neck.

He opened up a drawer, and took out a bandanna. He wrapped the bandanna
around his neck, and tied it. Then he answered the doorbell.

Standing on the steps was the woman from the night before.....suddenly he
could remember, remember that she had left him for dead, turned him into
this. He hated her, he had never hated anyone the way that he did this
woman. "What do you want?"

Jaqueline looked surprised. "I wanted to tell you happy birthday Tommy,"

Revenge formulated in his mind, revenge powered by hunger. He wanted to
hurt Jaceuline just as much as she had hurt him. "Come in,"

The woman came in, Tommy closed the door behind her, then he pulled her
roughly to him and kissed her passionately.

"I thought you would hate me," She whispered as she put her arms around
him. "I should have never broken up with you, can you ever forgive me?"

"I could never hate you," he lied. "The past doesn't matter, your here now."

"I love you," she kissed him. As they kissed, he unbuttoned her blouse,
slipped his hand into her bra and began to caress her nipple. She moved
closer to him. "Are your foster- parents here?"

"They have gone out for the evening,"

"I've missed you so much," she breathed. "Make love to me Tommy, make me
feel like I did before I went to train for the global games."

He pulled Jacqueline to him, then picked her up in his arms, and took her
to his bedroom. He set her down on the bed. His hunger was about to consume
everything. He let the hunger overcome him, he pulled her neck up, exposing
it, then he bit down, drinking deeply.

As he drank, she kept telling him that she loved him. He passed out soon
afterwards.

*       *       *

Tommy Oliver woke up, the hunger that he felt before was gone. He realized
someone was beside him. He looked down to the person. It wasn't the woman
who had turned him into a vampire. It was Kimberly, his Kimberly. He felt
her cheek, she was cold.

Panic weld up in him. He turned her neck, and saw that he had tore her neck
out. He had killed her, he had killed the only woman he had ever loved.
What was even worse, he could feel Kimberly inside of him, as if she were a
part of him. He knew her dreams her thoughts. He cried, holding her body to
him.

]


Katrinka@flash.net
Co-leader of the Knighties