Chapter 15 - Garrett
My head was being split in two. That’s all I could think as bright, unrelenting sunlight poured into the room.
I must have forgotten to close the blinds the night before.
Squinting, I moved my head around, trying to find an angle where I could fall back to sleep without having to get up to close them now.
That’s when I noticed that the surface beneath me was not the soft down of my Fratelli-issued mattress, but something cold and hard.
Like the floor. Had I passed out?
Slowly, I began to take stock of my body. I hurt all over but nowhere hurt nearly as much as my neck. When I lifted my fingers to gently probe the area, I winced. It felt like pressing down on a fresh bruise.
And that’s when I remembered, and my eyes flew open.
I shot up from the floor so quickly that the blood in my body rushed to my head, and I almost passed out again. Frantically, I searched the room, eyes darting from wall to wall until they landed on an armchair in the corner.
She was there, arms wrapped tightly around curled legs, chin resting atop her knees. Her eyes were sunken and rimmed with red, and she stared at me with guarded desperation.
We stayed like that for a long time, neither one of us speaking, me holding onto my neck while the sound of my heavy breathing filled the room.
"You’re okay?" Her voice was raw when she finally spoke, like she’d spent the night screaming.
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth as I peeled my lips apart slowly. I tried to swallow once, twice, three times before realizing there was nothing there with which to wet my throat, and I simply nodded instead.
"Do you need water?"
I nodded again, bracing my hands against the cool tile to try and push myself to my feet.
"Don’t," she said, uncurling herself and jumping to her feet. "I’ll get it."
My eyes tracked her from one side of the room to the other as she padded towards the sink, and she, in turn, didn’t take her eyes off me as she walked.
She pulled a cup from the cupboard and let the water run for a few seconds before filling it to the brim. The sun hit the water at just the right angle, so that it sparkled in the crystalline glass.
I licked my cracked lips as she approached. Her hands were shaking as she held it out to me. When I reached out to take it, our fingers brushed for the briefest of moments, and she pulled away like I’d burned her.
But I couldn’t be bothered to dwell on her behavior, because I’d never wanted anything more than I wanted that glass of water. I brought it to my lips so quickly that it nearly spilled. It was gone before I even had the chance to enjoy it.
For a few seconds, I felt nothing but pure relief.
Then, I began to burn from the inside out.
Suddenly, as if from somewhere far away, I heard the glass crash to the floor and shatter. And with that came the distant sound of screaming—screaming like I’d never heard before.
And it was coming from me.
I fell back to the floor heavily, head slamming against the tile with a loud crack. My back arched. My veins bulged. I could feel the water as it traced a red-hot path down my throat, through my chest, and into my stomach, where it pooled like molten lava.
Something—someone—gripped my shoulders, prying me up from the floor. Whose fingers were they? I couldn’t remember anything but burning and pain and screaming. I’d never existed before that moment, and I didn’t see how I’d ever continue on after.
But there were words coming out of her mouth. Not words—a chant. One word repeated over and over again, like a prayer.
Not words. A name. My name. I wasn’t sure if she was whispering or screaming, but she spoke my name on a loop like she was reciting an incantation.
And then. "I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry."
The words blended together. Something wet hit my cheek, and with it came more pain.
"FUCK!" she shouted that time. "Garrett, I need you to open your mouth. Please, Garrett, open your mouth."
I tried to do as I was told, but my jaw wouldn’t budge. My teeth held together so tightly that I thought they might crack.
"Garrett, I know it hurts." Her voice was thick. "I know. I can make it better, but you have to open your mouth."
Her fingers came down upon my chin, sharp and unrelenting as she tried to pry my jaw apart.
With what little strength I could muster, I worked with her, forcing my lips to part just enough for her to pour something between them.
It was warm and sticky with a taste like salt and copper, and it slid down my throat like a salve, cooling everything it touched.
As I sipped, I felt my body relax, my muscles releasing tension one by one until I lay prone and exhausted on the floor once more.
Again, the room fell quiet except for the sound of my breaths.
Until, finally, I found my voice: "What did you do to me?" My throat felt like shredded paper. I couldn’t look at her.
For a moment, I thought she might not answer. Or that she’d simply left. But when I lifted my head up just enough to search the room, I found her sitting just a few feet away, knees once again pulled to her chest, eyes watching me like she was afraid.
I raised my eyebrows.
"I didn’t mean to," she whispered. "It was the only way."
"What was the only way?"
"To save you." Her eyes were saucers in her pale face. "I took too much, and—"
"Marella, what did you do?"
A long pause. And then, "I gave you some of mine."
"Some of your what?"
But I already knew the answer. It was currently pooling in my belly, damning me from the inside out as we spoke.
And she knew I knew. Because she didn’t answer. She just stared at me, eyes wide and pleading. "I’m so sorry."
I sat up, expecting dizziness. Instead, I felt steadier and stronger than I had in a long time. Slowly, I let the momentum pull me to my feet, let it carry me across the room and into the bathroom.
I almost didn’t recognize myself in the mirror. My face was pale, and my eyes were red. One in particular looked as though I had popped a blood vessel. The skin around my mouth was stained with splatters of deep red.
And when I finally gathered the nerve to peel my lips away from my teeth, I was greeted with a pair of elongated canines and the bloodstained evidence of what I’d just consumed.
I turned on my heel and marched back into the room.
"What have you done?" I demanded, voice no longer weak but thunderous. I’d never spoken that way—to anyone—in my life. "You’ve killed me!"
"You said you knew the risks." Marella clambered to her feet, arms crossed defensively atop her chest . "You told me to do this."
"I told you to drink from me!" I screamed. "I didn’t tell you to turn me into one of you!"
"I didn’t know that would happen," she snapped. "I just wanted to stop you from dying."
"And you couldn’t have done that by simply not drinking as much?"
She bit her lower lip, and I couldn’t help but stare at those teeth—the ones I knew were now reflected in my own face. "It’s not easy to stop once you start," she said quietly. "You… taste really good."
A flash of heat rushed across my face, but I dismissed it with a shake of my head. "So you decided to damn me?"
This time, she rolled her eyes, all her penitence forgotten for the time being. "I think that ‘damned’ is a bit dramatic."
"I’m sorry," I said sardonically. "I don’t know what other word to use for the fact that you’ve drawn me into your curse."
"If you’d have just let me hunt like I wanted to in the first place—"
"You’d have cursed someone else? Great."
"No, Garrett, I’d have killed someone else. Don’t be stupid." Her green eyes were blazing. "And you’d still be a normal human and there’d be one less bad person roaming the streets of Rossaia."
"I would have rather you let me die," I hissed.
"Yeah, well." She looked away from me now, letting her gaze drift along the floor. "I just couldn’t do that." Her voice was softer now, less defensive, once again remorseful. "I’ve never killed someone who didn’t deserve it. And I didn’t want you, of all people, to be my first."
I swallowed, not taking my eyes off her. "Well then," I finally said. "I guess that just makes me more determined to do what I came here to do."
She turned back to me, green eyes shining. "And what’s that?"
I leveled her with a hard stare, letting her catch a glimpse of my new teeth. "I’m to help you break the curse."