Jorja realized that Michael would not let her out of his sight in light of the current circumstances. As the two of them lay awake on the bed, Jorja thought hard about how to worm her way out of this before sunrise and couldn’t think of anything. She then thought about the possibility of turning Michael into a ghoul, the process that Alexi and Selena had described.
She shuddered. Michael’s arm brought her closer to him.
“You know,” Michael began, “you’re oddly cold a lot of the time.”
“Yeah….” Jorja started to say. She resigned herself to the fact that if he were to comply at the suggestion of being a ghoul, he would have to know about her being a vampire, as he sure wouldn’t say yes to that…yet.
“Michael?”
“Hm?”
“I need to talk to you about something I feel like letting you know.”
“Sarah…if it’s about that dress…I mean, under the circumstances, it really….”
“No, I mean…it’s not the dress, it’s something else.” Jorja sat up. She felt quite nervous; this time it had nothing to do with food. Michael, already exhausted from the week of surprises, drew a long sighed.
“Not another function…really, now, I want to keep you around, but you’re spending money like there’s no tomorrow here…and you’ve had two fits this week!”
Jorja sighed. “I suppose I should start from the beginning….”
“I guess you should, Sarah!” he retorted. It occurred to her then that she didn’t even give him her real name, but that would come later.
“Well,” she began to say after a few seconds, “there is a reason that I am cold and that you never see me in daylight, and it’s not because of any reason you may have right now. In a way, I am ‘sick,’ but not sick in the normal way.” Jorja looked over at Michael to gauge his feelings so far. Michael simply stared at her, and after a few seconds of silence he motioned her to continue.
“I’m a vampire, Michael.”
A silence fell in the room. Jorja struggled to say something more but a chuckle broke her train of thought. Michael tried to stifle his snickers but couldn’t help it. Jorja didn’t know if he genuinely thought this was funny, if he was laughing to assure himself at the enormous ridiculousness of her words…or if he was trying to calm himself after finally making sense of the days filled with very strange incidents which culminated in this statement.
“No, really….” Michael suggested after getting over what she had said. “I don’t know if you’ve got Halloween and April Fools mixed up, but one happens in the fall and one happens in the spring, neither of which is happening right now, as it’s currently November. So…,” he continued, leaning towards her and holding her by the arms, “since it’s just not true, we’re just going to go to sleep now.” Nervously, he attempted to smile.
“I see that you need some more convincing.” Jorja replied, dejected. She sighed, and decided that he would need proof. Taking his blood would be met with firm protests, since the last time she drew blood to feed herself, Michael thought she was doing it while in the moment, a sex trick; she decided to show him her teeth instead, to start. She grinned widely to show him her teeth, and her canine teeth elongated.
“Neat trick!” he responded, leaning back again, hands under his head. Jorja felt her blood boiling a bit. “Accessories these days, they keep getting more and more intricate. You know, in Europe they made tiny Swarovski diamonds dangle from the end of a fine string attached to contact lenses, and you can wear them like normal contacts? Weird, huh? Emo is everywhere these days….”
“Oh, really? Diamonds?!” Jorja lost herself in the thought of diamonds for a moment before snapping herself back to the present. “I mean…Michael! Come on, these aren’t false teeth,” she said, as she retracted her canines.
“Is that the best you’ve got, Ms. I-am-a-Vampire? You’ve got to do better than that,” he said as he touched her leg. Irritated, she brushed him off.
“Fine, then! I’ll do better.” She got off the bed and stormed off to the kitchen downstairs.
“Oh, come on now, sweetheart,” Michael said as he followed nonchalantly. “Is something petty like this necessary to be worked up over? We’re not even four days into this relationship and you’re acting like my fiancée in Los Angeles—hey, wait…hold on now,” his lax tone changed to one more paranoid when he saw that Jorja was now holding a steak knife, blade close to her extended arm.
“…just exactly what are you planning on doing with that — ?”
“Since you don’t believe me, we’re going to extreme measures.” Jorja said forcefully. “There’s a reason I’m pale and cold to the touch and everything else you’ve probably noticed was off with me – and here is proof!”
Jorja, with tears in her eyes, swiftly sliced herself at the wrist.
“What the fuck! I’m calling 911 – I’m doing it now…!” Michael started, but then watched in morbid curiosity as Jorja’s deep cut filled back up, and layer by layer, her skin sealed itself back together.
Michael looked at her, very confused. He approached her and took her wrist, investigated it thoroughly, and slowly put it at her side. Realization had broken the flood gates in his mind.
“911, what is your emergency?” The operator’s voice was heard through his Blackberry. Michael hung up.
“Now do you see? Or do you need for me to eat dust at sunrise?” Jorja spat out.
“…no, that won’t be necessary….” Michael answered, stunned, and upon realizing his word choice, “I-I mean, of course not!”
Jorja sighed. “Now, I get back to what I wanted to ask you.” She tossed the knife in the sink and walked over to the kitchen table to sit. Michael followed suit, pulling out a chair for himself also and sitting down—he would need the seat, he just didn’t know it yet.