Varick
It started with a heartbeat. As if I was submerged in water, listening to the magnified sound, consuming my reality. Then, from total darkness, came light. Sunlight. Pouring down on me, warming my cheeks. But despite it, I felt cold, damp, uncomfortable. An icy wind bit at my exposed skin. The only warmth I could feel was someone's hand in mine, a body pressing down on my chest.
I couldn't move at first, the stiffness of my muscles not easing at all. Oxygen poured into my lungs, and with a spike of joy, I realised I was breathing. Truly breathing.
I blinked, making an effort to force the heaviness from my limbs. Where was I? Why was I so weak?
I recalled the arrow Abraham had fired at me. Selena kneeling over me, her hot tears on my face.
Selena.
I opened my eyes and dark tendrils of hair were the first thing I saw, blowing loosely in the wind. I reached for her, my arm so heavy, it took an age to move. I tilted my head, trying to see her and my eyes locked on a gun at her temple.
The weight of the entire universe couldn't have stopped me from moving then. My hand shot through the air and I knocked the gun aside just as she pulled the trigger.
The shot echoed off into the distance and the sound of flapping bird wings filled my senses, startled out of the nearby trees.
She gasped, rearing upwards, her eyes finding mine, coal-grey and absolutely beautiful. Christ, how I loved her. It tangled with every fibre of my being.
“Selena?” I managed, my throat parched in a way I didn't recognise.
She trembled all over as she looked at me, her eyes wide as if she were seeing a ghost.
I propped myself up on my elbows, groaning as my muscles protested every move. It was as if they'd turned to lead.
“What's going on?” I eased the gun from her grip as she started shaking her head.
Before I knew it, she'd slammed me back into the ground, clinging to me, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Selena-” I groaned, gasping, suddenly aware my lungs were starved of oxygen.
That couldn't be right. None of this was right. The sun was shining, daylight surrounded me. I was dreaming, I had to be. But why did it all feel so real?
I draped my heavy arms around Selena, trying to soothe her. She flinched as my hand caught her left wrist and I glanced down to find it in bandages.
“What happened? Are you alright?”
Laughter bubbled from her throat in response. She leaned up and cupped my face. “Am I alright?” She laughed harder and I gazed at her, baffled.
“What on earth's going on?” Brendan's voice sailed to me.
“He's alive!” Selena practically screamed, kneeling up, turning to him.
“What?” Jameson barked from somewhere close by.
In moments, I was surrounded. Jameson and Brendan crowded in, gazing down at me. The breath was knocked out of me as Jameson flattened me back to the ground in a bone-crushing hug. And it really was bone-crushing. I gasped from the force he used, trying to free myself of him. But I was weak, useless against his strength.
He released me in a wave, gazing at me with a curious, head-tilted look. “What's wrong with him?”
Selena started laughing again, taking my hand and guiding me up into a sitting position. I blinked as a headache descended on me. Something I hadn't experienced in well over a century.
“Christ.” I covered my eyes from the glaring sunlight.
“He's human,” Selena laughed.
“Impossible,” Brendan breathed and I wholly agreed with him. But why then did I feel this way? Why were my superior senses dulled, my heart beating a steady rhythm in my chest? Why was I sitting out in the sunlight without bursting into flames?
“She's right,” I suddenly laughed. “And it hurts like hell.”
◐ ☼ ◐
My morning wasn't spent out in the sunlight like I would have hoped but in Brendan's lab, being prodded and poked by a team of scientists.
Selena stayed with me all the while, sitting in a chair beside me. The only sign of the arrow that had pierced my heart was now a little reddened X across my skin. I ran my hand over it again and again, lost for words as to how I had survived. And not only survived, but turned human.
I was given painkillers for my headache and for the first time ever, experienced the powers of modern medicine. And not only that, but drank them down with a glass of water. I marvelled at the feel of it flowing down my throat, erasing the dryness it met along the way. Soon, the pain in my head ebbed away to nothing.
The weakness of my body was my biggest concern. I could barely walk without growing breathless.
Brendan came to me around midday, a clipboard in his hand. He dismissed the other scientists before speaking to Selena and I. “It is very early to draw conclusions, but I have a hypothesis that may explain a few things.”
“Go ahead,” I said, keen to understand this miracle, if only a little.
Brendan smiled, gazing between us as Selena took my hand in hers. “Selena's blood was in your veins when you died. The cure already lived in you. I had injected you with it and you have also been feeding on her for a long time. I can't say just yet which was most important, but those are the facts. Forgive me if this is a rather crude analysis, but it seems your death was the catalyst to 'switching on' your humanity.”
“But what about the arrow? How did he heal?” Selena asked, gripping my fingers tightly. I could feel the squeeze, the almost-pain. Evidently she was used to holding onto me as tightly as she liked. But I didn't mind. The feeling was human, and that wasn't something I was going to complain about any time soon.
“Once the arrow was removed, Varick would have had enough Vampire blood in his system to cure himself whilst the change was made.” Brendan shrugged. “That's the best explanation I have for now.”
Selena gazed at me and I melted at the desperate look in her eyes. “I'm so sorry.” I must have scared her half to death. And I nearly did. The thought made my stomach churn. What if I'd woken up a minute later?
“Your muscle fatigue will pass,” Brendan addressed me. “From our assessment, I believe you have similar symptoms to that of someone who's been in a coma. Your body has been fuelled by V blood for a very long time. You have maintained very limited human muscle mass. So...” He smiled. “You will need physiotherapy until your muscles regain their strength. I'll set up a daily exercise routine for you and you'll be back to your old self in no time. Your old, human self that is.” He grinned and I shook my head in disbelief.
Brendan left us to it and I tugged Selena up to lay next to me in the hospital bed – which was much more difficult than it would have been once. And I was sure she helped.
“This will take some getting used to,” I growled as she nuzzled into my neck.
“It's strange to be stronger than you for once,” she teased and I grinned up at her, a challenge in my gaze.
“Don't get used to it. I'll be fighting fit in no time.”
“I don't doubt it.” She kissed me and as our lips met, every human desire I'd ever had unleashed on me twofold. A lump rose in my throat.
“Another thing I'm going to need to get used to.” I pressed her back a little and she pursed her lips.
“This is going to be fun.” She beamed and I had no doubt, she was entirely right.