My blood approves

“He was so attractive that I would’ve gone with him anywhere,” Mae said bitterly, but she was angrier with herself than him. “I had barely made it a block, and then he just appeared out of nowhere. I don’t suppose you really know what its like since you didn’t react to Jack or anyone that way, but I was in love with him instantly. In retrospect, he probably wasn’t half as attractive as Ezra is, but to my human sense, he was an Adonis. So I never even put up a fight. When he led me away into the trees, I was too intoxicated by him to even think of Sarah.

He sunk his teeth into my neck, and I thought for sure I was dying, but it felt so good, that I didn’t even care. I should’ve been pleading for my life, for Sarah, but I just…”

“You couldn’t do anything,” I tried to comfort her. While I had never been in the exact same position, I knew how impossible it was to think when a vampire wanted your blood. They were made so you’d give yourself freely to them. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“But I loved her!” Mae insisted fiercely. “I just wanted to spend the rest of my life watching her grow up and being a part of her life! But instead I went into a patch of trees, and let a vampire bite me. He drained me, but then instead of leaving me to recover and go back to my family, he offered his arm to me. He said I tasted too good to waste on a human life. I didn’t understand what he meant, and I was still completely under his spell, so I did I was told.” She smiled painfully and rolled her eyes at her own ignorance.

“I had a choice!” Her voice broke sharply. “I’m the only one that did. Ezra was forced into it, and Peter and Jack were done to save their lives. But me, somebody asked me. I didn’t understand what it meant, and yet I agreed to it.

Willingly.”

“But you couldn’t have known.” I thought about reaching out to touch her, but she was too angry.

“For two days afterwards, I laid in the trees, afraid to move,” Mae went on. “Your body is attacked by the virus, and everything is changing and dying and moving. You’re weak and in pain, and I had no idea what was happening to me. Then finally, my strength returned, only much more brilliantly then it had before. And this unquenchable thirst. All the while I had been writhing pain, all I had been able to think about was Sarah and how much I wanted to get back to her. But as soon as I felt that hunger, I knew that I could never go back to her. I couldn’t trust myself.

“Within my first few hours as a vampire, I nearly killed our neighbor, I was so hungry. But after that, my bloodlust calmed down, and I felt safe enough to just check on my daughter. I hid in the backyard and peered in through the window. Before I even got near the house, I heard Sarah crying. Philip was carrying her around trying to calm her down, and he said, ‘I know you miss your Mama. But we’ll find her. She’ll come back to you.’” Fresh tears were streaming down her cheeks, and the car started to slow. We were on a suburban street I had never seen before, and Mae parked on the side of the road, underneath a tree.

“I slept in the woods during the day, and at night, I would sit outside the window and just watch Sarah. She cried for me every night for a month. Philip had the police searching the area for me, so I had to be very careful so no one would spot me.” She sighed heavily. “I lived that way for over six months. I wore the same dress, and mostly, fed on our neighbor, since he was nearby and he had been taken with me. If Ezra hadn’t found me, I don’t know what would’ve become of me. Maybe I’d still be living out behind that house.”

“What happened to your family?” I asked quietly.

“Philip eventually remarried a girl I had known from the deli. She was very kind, and I’d like to believe that she was good to him. They had two more children together, and Sarah eventually started calling her Mom. I don’t know if she even remembers me anymore. It’s probably better if she doesn’t.”

Mae nodded towards a house in front of us, and I saw the silhouette of an older woman it the window. She was carrying a small child, a little boy, on her hip, and she looked happy. There was something familiar about it, and I couldn’t quite place it. Then it dawned on me. Her hair graying wavy hair, pale skin, and even the way she smiled — they were all Mae’s.

“That’s your daughter!” I gasped, looking over at her.

“It is.” She looked pleased that I had been able to see the resemblance.

“She’s a teacher. She used to be married, but her husband left her years ago.

Ezra threatened to teach him a lesson, but I told him not to. Sarah has to live her own life. She’s fifty-four now. She has a daughter, Elizabeth, and that little boy on her hip, that’s her grandson, Riley. My great-grandson.” She smiled painfully. “During the week, she watches her grandkids until eight, while Elizabeth works and goes to school. Riley’s three, and Daisy just turned five.”

“So you just come out here and watch them?” I asked.