A groan escaped my lips, why does my head hurt so much?
Then I notice the man looming angrily "idiot! over a week without blood is suicide. Most vampires would have attacked someone, but instead you decided to collapse! You would have died if I hadn't gone looking!" Barman's waving his arms about dramatically, when I catch sight of the bandage on his left wrist and I felt a tang of guilt.
"I'm sorry. I…" I blurted. I didn't know what to say. For a human to let a vampire feed on them- it was taboo, worse than taboo- like reducing themselves to an animal. I did that to him, "I'm so sorry…" I chocked on my own words, but im not sure how I would have finished that.
"It's all well and good pretending your human, but don't forget you're a vampire! Forget that and you'll end up killing someone or yourself!"
"I know. I got carried away. I was stupid. I wont do it again" I couldn't look him in the eye, I was ashamed. But the words struck a chord in me pretending to be human- that's what I was doing wasn't it? Playing the part of a young runaway human, off to discover the world. I've lied to everyone I grown to know, I built up this persona Shion Liberson that doesn't even exist. Not here, nor in the vampire city. Shion Liberson was an idea that I thought up. The person I wanted to be.
"Too right you won't. Your body was shutting down- you were dying."
"Do you think I should return?" I asked him. I felt so stupid, I can't believe I got so carried away. Maybe this was a bad idea, I couldn't escape being a vampire anyway, maybe I should just accept it?
"Return?" he asked, taken back by the question. He forgot his anger, which was replaced by confusion.
"To the vampire city?" I finished, uneasy. I forced myself upright, against the throbbing pain in my head, and the weight of my body.
For the first time, he looked uncomfortable, "Shion…" he began.
"Shion's not even my real name."
"I didn't mean that. You can still be Shion, you can still carry on, you were happy, weren't you?" he asked.
I nodded, happier than I've ever been. But also, every day I was guilty of lying to my friends and pretending to be something I wasn't.
"All I was saying, is that you also have to remind yourself that you're also a vampire, and that means your needs are different from a human." Kindness looked strange of the gruff barman; instead of this worn scary oversized man, it gave him the feel of a large tattered teddy bear.
"Thank you. For what you did." I nodded at the bandage on his wrist.
He pulled the edge of his sleeve over the bandage, uncomfortably. "I won't do this a second time." He warned.
"I know." I muttered, the blanket was scratchy but warm, and I pulled it closer, up to my chin and rested my head on my hands. Though the building didn't get any direct sunlight, I knew it must have been about dawn, but with the slight buzz still hanging over in my head, and the heaviness of my body, I didn't want to move. I dozed, wordlessly, curled up in the old worn sofa with a woollen blanket up to my neck, for as long as I dared. But the morning came too soon, and I had to peel myself off the sofa and heave myself back to the pub to collect my things before setting off for school. By that time, I'd managed to work most of the stiffness out of my body and was almost back to normal.