House of the Rising Sun

'There comes a time for every vampire when the idea of eternity becomes momentarily unbearable.' Words I had heard years ago echoed in my mind. Lestat had been right, being a vampire was not as glamorous as the movies portrayed it. I guess I should probably start my story back to where my entire life was flipped on its head. 

I had stumbled onto an obscure book in the back of a store, who knew picking up a book would turn me into a vampire. Me being the genius that I am, thought nothing of it when I first picked it up. It was only after the fact that I started looking at everyone like food that I wanted to go back in time and stop myself from ever touching that book. I was on spring break, my girlfriend had dragged me over to the library on our trip to New Orleans. I wasn't much of a reader, aside from a few George RR Martin novels I had never read much in my life. 

Nicole, this girl I had crushed on since middle school on the other hand loved books. We had only recently started dating seriously my freshman year of college. She had pulled me out of the hotel we were staying in to the bookstore across the street. While she was talking to the attendant I looked through the dusty shelves for anything that would pique my interest. 

The second my eyes went over the untitled leather bound book I felt an invisible pull towards it. Taking it from the shelf and flipping through the first few pages I was perplexed. Hand drawn pictures of strange plants and various notes in what looked like Latin filled each page. The noise in the store disappeared as all my attention focused on a page I just turned to. The symbols seemed to glow so I ran my finger across the page. I felt something sharp cut into my finger and I snatched my hand back, but not before a drop of blood splattered across the page and promptly disappeared as if absorbed by the book.

I quickly shut the book and stuffed it back into the shelf, looking at my bleeding finger I noticed a shallow cut right at the tip. Sticking my finger in my mouth to staunch the bleeding. I made my way back over to Nicole who was now browsing the shelves. 

"Babe, I'm going to be outside. Just need some fresh air." 

She nods at me without looking away from the books and I step out of the store back into the street. The humid air left me feeling a bit clammy, I felt a strange sensation on my skin as the afternoon sun emerged back from behind the clouds. 

Nicole came out of the store with a few new books and we made our way back to the hotel. In our room I collapsed on the bed, a shiver ran down my spine and I closed my eyes. Something was wrong, I felt pain erupt from behind my eyes and suddenly my veins were filled with liquid fire. A pained grunt escaped my lips and Nicole ran over to me. 

"Seth! Oh my god, Seth what's wrong?" 

"C-Can't Br-breath," I felt another spike of pain before I yelled out. "Fuck! It burns!" 

Nicole took her phone out of her pocket and dialed 911, she quickly told the operator that I was on the floor convulsing. I felt my limbs grow cold and the world faded to nothingness as the pain finally overloaded my system. 

I woke up to the sound of hushed voices and the beep of a machine. Opening my eyes I shut them almost instantly as the lights in the room burned into my retinas. How long had I been out? 

"Ma'am he's awake." 

I slowly opened my eyes and watched as Nicole entered the room, her eyes filled with worry as she went over to the side of my bed. 

"Seth you scared me, what the hell was that?" 

"I- I don't know, whatever it was it hurt. I felt like I had swallowed the sun." 

"Ma'am, your boyfriend was exposed to some strange toxin. Did any of you come to handle any poisonous plants recently?" 

My mind drifted back to that strange book I had looked at, Nicole started to explain to the nurse about our situation. Their voices faded out, that book was full of drawings. Maybe whoever made it left some sort of residue on the pages. I returned to the conversation the nurse and Nicole were having just as the nurse told Nicole that they would have to keep me overnight for observation. 

"Can I stay, I don't want him to be alone." 

The nurse nodded before scribbling something on the papers at the foot of my hospital bed. Nicole sat on a chair by my bedside and looked at me. 

"What?" 

"I was really scared Seth." 

Smiling over to her I beckoned her over. Giving her a hug while avoiding pulling on the IV lines in my arm I brushed her hair. 

"I'm going to be okay Nikki. I'll take you out to the museum when I get out." 

"I know, I just don't want to lose you too." 

Holding her a little tighter in reassurance I gave her a chaste kiss before pulling away. She broke away from the kiss and returned to the chair. We spoke for a few more minutes before I felt myself getting sleepy. I told her that I was going to take a nap and she nodded as she pulled a book from the bag she had been carrying. Smiling at her I drifted back into a dreamless void.