Path of the Vampire forum

Vampire. That word hit Harriet like a truck. It made sense to her, based on what had happened, for vampires to be the explanation. But she sure as Hell wasn't ok with it. She tried to ring the blood from her shirt, but as she got it on her hands she shuddered and ended up wiping it off on her jeans instead. "This is ridiculous.." She groaned. "You're mad!"

He had saved her though, she reasoned. That had definitely happened. There was no way she could imagine a pain so real, so vicious. She must've been shot. But now she was miraculously fine, and if there had to be an explanation it definitely could be vampires. She hated just thinking about it. Did she have fangs now? Weird eyes? Was she paler? She checked herself, but the blood just made her feel disgusted and she decided to stop looking down at it.

"Do.. Do I look different?" She almost scolded herself for asking - like he'd know, he'd only seen her in a dark alley. Harriet let him lead her to the street, and she looked around skittishly, taking in as much as she could, trying to remember each step so that if this man was going to kill her she could find her way home following an escape. She didn't think he would though, not really. He had saved her. She reached out and tapped his shoulder, flinching away as soon as he responded.

"Sorry, ah.. What is your name? Y'know, so that I can, like, file a police report." She tried to make it sound like a joke, she really did, but it wasn't all that funny and the way her voice broke half way through it didn't help. She was renowned for making crappy jokes in even crappier situations, and few ever landed well. She forced a smile, but it was over flowing with clear dread.

Why couldn't it go back to normal? She should have just wobbled home, showered, gone to bed and spent another miserable day at home. Her routine wasn't much, but she liked it. She liked lounging infront of the biggest window in her apartment, reading, bathed in sunlight. She knew it could never happen again, be it because she'd burn or because this was the night one of the dogs ate her. Maybe if she survived she'd get a dog. She always loved German Shepherds, and she'd seen a lot of them working at the police department. They were lovely.

Reminded of the police department, Harriet wrung her hands. She had a job, a proper stable job, and the teenagers in Vampire books never had to deal with that. Sure, she was suspended so it wouldn't be a problem immediately, but it definitely would become one. She honestly loved her work. She was new enough to still be filled with hope about helping the city and now she knew she never could. Unless she became some sort of vigilante. She gave a little hysterical giggle in her head at the thought.

For a moment, she didn't know. There was a moment of mental hesitation, where she thought of nothing, before her name and who she was came back to her. In the shock, she'd almost forgotten. In her head, she recounted to herself. She was Harriet Opara, 22, a relatively new recruit at the local PD. She'd been suspended. She didn't linger on why, because she didn't want to think about it. It was foolish. Her mother had died, and her father lived across the country. There was no bitterness there. Her favourite colour was green.

"I'm Harriet." She said, after the moments of contemplation. "I'm an Officer, at the PD... Although, probably not any more.." God, how would she resign? Or would she fake her death? No, that would never work. It would open an investigation. Harriet supposed she could just send it to them and then ignore them forever. She did want to though, she'd wanted to be a police officer since she was very young. She still had that typical 'make the world a better place' attitude from the Police Academy. She didn't want it all to end so soon.

"If I can't work, how will I make money?" She was mostly talking to herself, not Peter. Her eyebrows pulled together with concern. Her apartment was expensive, she would never be able to live their without a job, and she liked it there very much. It was the right amount of room for her, and in her short time there she had become incredibly attached to it. Harriet was so sick of being new to things. She'd only been out of the Academy for a year, only had this job for eight months. And now she was starting something else new, with a new person who she didn't know anything about.

And then something else new struck her. If she was a vampire, she knew what vampires did, in movies anyway. And he said she needed blood. She couldn't bare to do it, she wouldn't manage it. Especially not taking a life. She had spent her previous years working to protect. Harriet was never squeamish, but the thought of drinking blood made her stomach churn.

"I don't want to.. I don't want to kill. I won't have to, right? Right?" She repeated it, getting a little louder and reaching out to grasp his arm. It was harder than she meant it as panic directed the movement.