k_a_webb | Sponsored Fiction: The Donor House: Caleb: Entering the House (part 2)

Sponsored by Elizabeth Barrette (LJ user ysabetwordsmith)

Trigger warning: addiction

When it was over and Caleb felt normal, he couldn’t look at the two vampires who had helped him. It embarrassed him that they had seen him in that state. He stared at the wall, trying not to think about what had just happened. Blake still sat on the bed, which made him too close for comfort, while Alice stood at the end of it. Finally Caleb felt like he had no choice but to look at one of them. He choose Alice because she hadn’t bitten him.

“How are you feeling now?” she asked softly, watching him carefully.

“Better, thanks,” he replied.

“Can you tell us about how you ended up here?”

“My owner threw me out and I had nowhere else to go.”

“What made you choose to come to here rather than somewhere else?”

“I don’t want to be like them. It wasn’t my choice to end up like this.” He felt tears well up in his eyes. “If I can I want to learn how to make this manageable.”

“You know it’s not going to be easy?”

Caleb nodded. “Three hours in the longest I can go without being bitten.”

“We can deal with that.” She turned her attention to Blake. “I need you to stay with Caleb while I go and talk to either Issac or Nick. They need to know that we have a new arrival.” She looked back at Caleb. “If I could I’d stay but it’s better if I talk to them. Blake is just a visitor while I somehow managed to make myself a part of the runnings here.”

“Will you be long?”

“I’ll be as quick as I can.”

When Alice left the room Caleb could feel his tension levels increase. He focused on the wall again, breathing slowly to try to keep himself calm. Being alone with a male vampire wasn’t easy, even though he knew that Blake couldn’t be anything like his owner. Blake wouldn’t be at the donor house if he preferred owning humans. Then Caleb remembered something that Alice had said about Blake knowing what it was like to deal with addiction.

“Why did Alice choose you to help me?” Caleb asked quietly, before wondering where the courage to ask something so personal had come from.

“I know what it’s like to be addicted to being bitten.” There was a moment of silence and Caleb bit hard on his lip, unable to stop thinking that he’d made a huge mistake talking to Blake. “When I was sixteen I found myself in the auctions. Two years later my owner threw me out and there wasn’t a choice back then. I spent the next three years trying to find vampires to bite me but it wasn’t easy. You get the dregs of vampire society going after you because they’re the only ones who will lower themselves to drink an addict’s blood. To be honest I’m surprised I lasted so long. Most don’t. Then I met Alice.”

Caleb turned to look at Blake, relieved that he hadn’t made a mistake, and found himself looking at the vampire properly for the first time. “She helped you?” he asked, in an attempt to stop himself from staring at Blake.

“To begin with she wasn’t sure what to do with me. She knew that addicts like us existed but she had no idea exactly what we were like. I actually threw myself at her and begged her to bite me because it had been days since someone had. Instead of doing as I asked her to she managed to convince me to go to the house she shared with Nick. Once I was safe there she gave me a choice. She could bite me and the need would fade for a little while or I could be turned into a vampire.” Blake shook his head. “It wasn’t a choice to me. After so long dealing with the need I said I’d prefer it if someone changed me.”

“Who changed you?”

“In the end it was Nick because Alice didn’t think she was capable of changing me. Nick never wanted to turn anyone into a vampire but eventually he agreed that he was doing the best thing he could for me. Then I walked away. One night, without saying anything to either of them, I left the house and didn’t return. I’ve never forgiven myself for doing that to Alice but she’s never held it against me. Sometimes I wish she would but she seems to understand why I did it better than I do. When Nick sent me a letter to tell me about the donor house it took me six months to gather up the courage to come here and talk to her.”

“Why did you walk away?”

“When I asked to become a vampire I thought it was the easy way out. In some ways it was the easy way out but I had more difficulty than I ever believed I would getting used to being the one doing the biting. Even though Nick explained how someone gets addicted, and how unlikely it was that I’d ever make someone addicted if I fed carefully, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t make myself take blood from a human.”

“What changed?”

“Nick, Alice and Issac set up the donor house. If it had never happened then I don’t think anything would have changed. I’d have continued spending my immortal life hiding from the rest of my kind because I was scared of them and feeding off animals.” Blake smiled. “Being here has helped me to see that not all vampires are like the one that owned me. Really I should have known that from the moment I met Alice, but it was too soon. I’m still not happy about feeding off humans but there are rules here that I know will stop me from accidentally making someone addicted to being bitten.” He looked at Caleb. “Would you ever want to become a vampire to get rid of the addiction?”

Caleb shook his head without even really thinking about it. “I want to deal with this.” He put a hand out and gently touched Blake’s arm. “If I was in your position I would have done the same thing, but I think that being here will give me a real chance to get better.”

Blake nodded. “If I’d had the choice then I would have done exactly the same thing.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.