Chapter Seven

There was a different air about AnnMarie when she came home that night. It was something stiffer, something unhappy. She seemed to be taken by some kind of tension that threatened to snap back at any moment.

Esther didn't know what it was, and she didn't ask. She simply waited for whatever it was to spill over.

Maria quietly made a bowl of cereal, and began to eat it at the kitchen table. Esther sat across from her, reading the local newspaper.

It was very quiet for a long while. It was so quiet that Esther would hear the circulation of the ceiling fan above them.

Suddenly, AnnMarie let her spoon clatter loudly into her empty bowl.

"You know, I don't know much about having friends—"

Esther looked up at her with an even expression, one eyebrow raised.

"But I feel like friends aren't supposed to bite friends while they're asleep, drink their blood, and whisper creepy things to them." AnnMarie said.

Esther tried to retain her composure and cleared her throat.

"I'll admit, I don't have many friends either. But I would also tend to agree that friends shouldn't do that."

Ann-Marie's bottom lip quivered a bit.

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

Esther felt her mouth become dry, and she couldn't form words.

The woman had been awake for it more than once? And she'd never said anything until now? Why on earth not?

"I'm sorry." Esther said carefully. "I thought you didn't know. I thought you were sleeping through it."

AnnMarie stood up, smacking her hands into the small wooden table.

"And that makes it okay?"

Esther exhaled between clenched teeth and shut her eyes. "I guess it doesn't."

"So does that mean you don't want to be my friend?" AnnMarie choked out. "You've just been staying here for my blood?"

"What?" Esther frowned. "No, I do want to be your friend, but Annie, I have to eat."

"You could have asked first!"

Tears started to slip down the woman's cheeks, and Esther found herself all at once in a flurry of panic, fear, and confusion. She stood and took a step closer to AnnMarie.

"Listen, Annie." She said. "Can we just calm down and take about ten steps back? How long have you known that I was a vampire? Why didn't you say anything to me sooner?"

"I've known since I met you." AnnMarie said, brushing her tears away. "I saw how your eyes reflected in my flashlight. That's how I knew."

"And you... didn't expect me to feed off of you?" Esther asked.

"I don't know I..." she seemed flustered and ashamed, staring off at the ground. "I just wanted to be friends. I promise. That's all. Nothing weird. Just friends."

Esther sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She decided to pull out her trump card. "Listen, Annie, I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you, but here's the thing, I know you're not being honest with me either."

AnnMarie's lip trembled all the more, and tears spilled from her eyes a new.

"You know about the curse." She said.

"I know there is a curse here, yes. That's all I know. Can you tell me more?"

AnnMarie abruptly stood up.

"There is a cruse here, yes but not on this place. The curse is on me, or rather, it is in me. It is in my very blood, and in every breath I take. It is as much a part of me as the cells that make up my skin." She said, rapidly pacing back and forth. "Some days, I don't know if am the curse or if the curse is me. I don't even know that the distinction matters."

She went on like this for a good while longer, talking in circles and talking in nonsense, pausing every once in a while to let out a strangled sob.

When she had calmed down a bit, she took a shaky breath and sat back down.

"But what is the curse, Annie?" Esther asked.

"The curse is that every friend I make will die." She said. "And every friend I've ever made has died."

Esther parted her lips but made no effort to produce any words.

"Please don't be mad at me." AnnMarie said, shaking her head. "I've just been so lonely. I've never had a friend for more than a few months, and these last few years I've been doing my best to keep everyone I could possibly harm away from me. But I need someone.

I knew I couldn't live completely isolated like this forever. I needed someone I couldn't hurt and—"

"And you wanted me to be your friend because I am already dead." Esther said. "Therefore the curse can't affect me."

AnnMarie said nothing. She simply turned her gaze to the ground, as her tears continued to fall.

"You weren't worried that I might kill you?" Esther asked.

"I hoped you wouldn't." AnnMarie said. "And if you did, then... oh well." She ended her sentence with an uncertain sort of shrug.

"Oh well?" Esther said.

"I'm the last person in my family line. If you killed me, it would just mean the end of the curse." She said. "I don't want to die. I really don't. But the thought of living my life like this, completely isolated, for who knows how much longer, is almost scarier to me."

Esther looked at the poor girl with a frown. While it certainly answered a lot of the questions she had, this information brought up new questions.

Was it a family curse?

How far back did it go?

Had she ever tried to break it?

Who created to curse?

While Esther was very interested in the specifics, AnnMarie was clearly distraught. She thought it unwise to push for details, and instead decided to focus her efforts on comforting the girl.

"Listen—Annie." She said. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like I didn't want to be your friend. I didn't mean for it to come off like I only wanted your blood. I too enjoy companionship myself.

But you must understand that I can't go around telling everyone I meet that I want their blood. At the very least they would think I was crazy and and the very worst that would get me killed."

AnnMarie tearfully looked away from her as she drew her knees up close to her chest.

Esther crouched down in front of her and continued.

"If you want me to leave, I will. You have the power to make, you know. All you have to do is say the word and I won't be able to come back into your home."

AnnMarie tearfully shook her head.

"No I want you here." She said. "I just don't want you drinking my blood."

Esther pursed her lips and placed a hand on her knee.

"Then I won't do it." She said. It pained her, but she said it.

AnnMarie put her very warm hand on top of hers.

"Do you promise?"

Esther swallowed.

"I promise."