Patrick: Monster in our Midst

Leticia embraced Daciana. Her hand smoothed what remained of her hair. Daciana trembled, crying out in pain. A sudden stillness came over her, a calm, steady breath. Daciana turned into the embrace, accepting the comfort. A second voice seemed alien, it came from outside the body, but Leticia recognised it as her own. Searing pain accompanied the strangled voice. It spread into her head and etched its way down the right side of her body. The heart quickened with the pressure on her body increasing. Leticia gasped for breath as her arms, unable to cling to Daciana for support they fell by her sides. Nausea in the pit of her stomach had nothing to give. The world spun and grew dark.

As Daciana regained her senses, the weight of Leticia grew in her arms. A sharp inhale, eyes widened, blood dripping from Daciana’s mouth. Leticia slumped to the floor, lifeless, her eyes half closed. Deep punch wounds bookmarked the bite. The blood seeped through, trickling down her throat. Daciana sank back, her breathing quickened. What had she done? The body on the floor remained motionless. Daciana grabbed Leticia, shaking her shoulders and screaming for her to wake up.

Luliana covered her mouth. She felt sick, a shiver through her body at the sight of blood on Daciana. The body of their adoptive mother was on the floor, unresponsive to pleas. Patrick stumbled on the stairs, tears blurring his vision as he scrambled to separate the two. He cradled Leticia, stroking her face, begging her to stay with him. A shaking hand called for help. He had no words to describe what had happened or how they would explain the lack of blood. A few drops on the floor and two human teeth were signs his daughter was one of them. Terror flooded him, reminded of how he rejected Charlotte and Caleb’s help. Daciana was no longer his daughter. She was a vampire.

Patrick stepped back to let the paramedics wire up Leticia. His breath held as they awaited the confirmation of a heartbeat. Another applied pressure to the puncture wound. They questioned Patrick about her injury. He shook his head. Patrick had been upstairs when his daughters called for help. Luliana stared at Daciana cowering in the corner, her head buried in her knees. Unable to get the answers required, they inserted an intravenous line into Leticia’s hand. The isotonic sodium chloride solution flowed, and they were ready to leave.

At the hospital, Patrick paced, as he had done in the months before, waiting for news on Daciana. The girl raised was gone, replaced by a monster. She drank from Leticia, and now his fiancée’s life hung in the balance. He watched Leticia disappear into the emergency room. Doctors and Nurses hurried after her, and sounds of machines whizzed and beeped. Luliana slumped on the sofa close by. They left Daciana at home. Her pleas for forgiveness were unheard. She apologized as Patrick grabbed his keys, wanting to come with them. Why would he bring a dangerous creature to a hospital? The temptation would be overwhelming. Daciana did not have the self-control to resist.