Chapter 3: Where do you think you're going?!
"What do you mean she disappeared?!"
"I don't know, I mean, she didn't come back to room last night, I just assumed she found somewhere else to sleep!"
"How the hell did she get out?!"
"I, I don't know, we checked all the locks! Nothing's been tampered with!"
"You understand what will happen if she gets away? What the Lilim will do to us?"
"I know, I understand, she's my responsibility, I'll go look for her."
This isn't how I wanted to start my morning, Emily you little shit, if you've fucked things up for us, I swear we'll make you suffer for the rest of however long you live!
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It's still there, it hasn't dried, the patch is as fresh as the moment it splattered over the wall. It's almost eerie, looking at what are pieces of my brain splayed out on this ugly, grungy wallpaper in this filthy motel.
This isn't a place I ever thought I'd end up, hiding from psychopathic vampires in a flea-bitten motel on the outskirts of LA. And yet here I am, hiding in this room, hiding from the outside world, having just attempted and failed to commit suicide.
I guess it was wishful thinking, a gunshot to the head being enough to kill me was too much to ask for. That was maybe an hour ago, my wounds have healed but the blood and brain matter are still there, staining the wall, as fresh as they were the second, they splattered all over the wall.
It's still off putting looking at it, it shows both my humanity and inhumanity, a piece of me could stain that wall forever, never drying or rotting or fading away.
I wonder what would happen if someone actually found it; would they freak out? Would they maybe try to eat it? I mean isn't my blood and flesh supposed to be some kind of addictive drug or something now? What would that mean if someone did? Would I have my own ghoul? Would that alert the Lilith and her agents and set them on my trail?
So many questions, no answers, I barely understood the world when I was human, now I find out there's a whole new layer that I have even less comprehension of. Are they going to come after me now? Will the Lilith come after me now? Should I have stayed? No, the abuse would just get worse, but now what happens? Where do I go? How do I leave LA? How do I get out of California? Will that even make a difference?
I can't go back to my mom, they'll kill her if I even set foot in Orange County, I can't stay in LA they'll find me so easily. If I leave this state, where would I even go? Utah? Nevada? Mexico? Oregon? How the hell would I even survive there? And why would that be any less dangerous?
Last night seemed like such a blur, it was almost as if I was operating on instinct. I remember being a bat, I remember flapping my wings as far as they would carry me, I didn't even know where I was going or how far I had flown, I just wanted to get as far away from that house as possible.
When I finally landed, I regained my human form, I didn't even try, it just came automatically like instinct, like taking the form of a bat was somehow unnatural and consumed a lot of effort and energy, like tensing a muscle.
I didn't know where I was, only that it was some kind of rural area, right on the outskirts of the LA city limits, by the side of a highway. I was naked, cold, alone in the rain, I had no idea what was going to happen to me, I was terrified that I'd be attacked by some kind of wild animal or worse.
Thankfully it appeared that my answered; a trucker spotted me, assumed I was some kind of hitchhiker, took a look at my body and offered me a ride in exchange for certain 'favors' involving my mouth. I know I had Regina's blood in me, but I wasn't ready to embrace her teachings just yet, not that it was necessary. I don't know whether it was something in my saliva when I gave him a peck on the cheek, or maybe it was another vampire power, a form of glamour or hypnosis that activated on instinct without me meaning to or realizing, but somehow, I was able to convince him to let me ride with him for free.
He agreed to drop me off at a nearby motel, and being the ever-stalwart gentleman, gave me enough money to pay for a room for the night. When I arrived at the front desk I was confronted by the owner; she was an older blonde woman, maybe in her late 30s, at first, she was shocked to see a young, naked girl like myself walk into her business, she asked if I spoke English, if I was a victim of trafficking and if she should call the police. Oh god she has no idea how right she was.
No, with everything going on bringing the police into this was the last thing I needed. I looked the woman straight in the eyes, and whether it was through instinct or sheer determination I could feel myself drawing on some kind innate vampire power. I was hypnotizing her, placing her under a glamour.
I commanded the woman to give me a room for free, and to give me a spare set of clothes, some money out of the register and the gun she was keeping under the desk in case of robbers. Thankfully she lived here as well, the front office doubled as her own apartment and as luck would have it, she was the same size and build as me.
I've stayed in this room since then, I didn't get dressed, didn't even bathe, just sat down in the bed in this one spot, staring at the floor, trying to get a hold of myself; even if I still needed to breath, I don't think I'd be able to control it. I felt an overwhelming need for stillness, like a deer caught in headlights, I had this overwhelming anxiety paralyzing my body, I couldn't move a muscle.
I just sat there for I don't know how long, I stop keeping of time when I first turned into a bat, time had no meaning at this point. How much time actually passed didn't dawn on me until the sun literally dawned on me; as the light seeped in from beneath the curtains it seemed to signal something in my brain, something that told me it was alright to move and the danger was over, the anxiety dropped to a more manageable level, but I knew that was just some nonsensical emotional response, like some sort of animal instinct from my stupid monkey brain.
I know I'm not out of danger, I know the sun isn't any kind of real defense, after all it doesn't do anything to me.
It was at this point I decided to try the gun, just for shits and giggles really, but also out of a kind of morbid curiosity, curious to see what it's like to be shot in the head. It wasn't bad, it was like a really massive headache, but it got better.
Why the hell did I make her give this thing to me, I knew it wouldn't do anything, I knew it was useless, I guess it must just be my stupid monkey brain again. The same stupid monkey brain that made me fall in love with Farah, the same stupid monkey brain that made me fall in love with Veronica and Regina, the same stupid monkey brain that landed me in this mess.
I contemplated for a moment what to do with this gun, should I return to the owner of the motel? I mean I could just glamour her again, make her forget she gave it to me, but what if I may need it later on, but if something happens to her and she can't defend herself?
I'm tired, I'm exhausted, my head hurts, but at the same time I'm too afraid, too full of adrenaline to stop. I can feel movement returning to my body in the form of shaking, like my nerves were vibrating, I drop the gun because my hands can't hold it through the shaking, I have to figure what I'm going to do, I'm stranded here, no where to go for help, no way to get out, they'll find me eventually and then.
I want to go home, but I can't, I want to just regress into being a little girl and sleep in my bed and be with my mom, but I can't.
I can't ever go back, there's no way to go back.
I take a breath as I realize my 'family' is already on my trail, I don't have much time. I have to get washed and get dressed, I have to keep moving, I'm going to take the gun with me.
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"The Lilith and her people can't know about this, you understand?"
"Yes mama, I understand."
"If the Lilith finds out about this, that's it for us, you know she's looking for any reason to declare us outcasts."
"I know."