Back from the Dead (Cody)

[olivia]

Olivia held back a sigh as she stared out the window for what felt like the hundredth time of her small and cozy apartment. The bright city lights illuminated the room she was standing in, which was near the kitchen, as she tried to distracted herself from worrying over the stranger currently resting in her bed. It had nearly been three days since she had found him bleeding to death, along with a female werewolf who was trying to help him. Unfortunately there wasn't much time to do anything but to bite him, seeing how he had lost so much blood. So Olivia decided to intervene with fate that day and changed him in to the creature she was... A vampire.

For the past a few days all she could do for him was dress the wounds he had received from the thugs and hope that his transformation wasn't any more painful than what she had experience. If there was one thing she remembered the night she was changed it was the pain that followed afterwards... It was excruciating.

Luckily for him it was coming to an end or at least it should be... Turning away from the window, which was usually always covered by blinds except for at night, she walked over to her small couch to try to think of something to do. Usually around this time she would be out and about in the city doing various things she needed to get done, but she didn't feel comfortable leaving him by himself. So, it was a good thing she was all stocked up on her supply of blood, especially since he would be needing it as well.

While brushing a strand of red hair that had fallen from it's bun out of her eyes she reached over and grabbed the remote that was resting on a small coffee table. Olivia turned on the TV that was sitting straight across from the couch lazily with a sigh. After flipping through a few channels she turned it back off before getting back up and walking to her bedroom. Honestly, she doubted if she had ever been so bored in her life before.

As soon as she had stepped into her room her blue eyes glanced over toward the body occupying her bed real quickly, before finding her book bag on the floor and pulling out a novel. Sitting herself on the ground at the foot of the bed she opened the book and began to read know that it would keep her busy for a few hours, but as she read on she couldn't help but question whether not she had did the right thing by changing the human... It didn't matter though. What had past was past. All she could do now was hope that her gut instinct was right.

[cody]

"Ommph" was the only sound he heard, not the quickest fleet of foot could have avoided it. The world suddenly became very noisy as the device thundered into use as soon as the United States Army Sergeant's foot stepped on the pressure plate initiation system. Hundreds of nails, screws, and other sharp objects that the sickest of minds in Iraq could conjure, flew out from an explosive that had been hidden along the road. SGT Cody Long cried out in agony as the scores of twisted metal ripped through his skin, his shins becoming a crimson mess from the sheer weight of iron being thrown at him. He collapsed on the spot as his limbs and torso became peppered with numerous wounds from the Improvised Explosive Device. A couple of his Brothers In Arms rushed towards the obliterated Team Leader as he floundered uselessly on the concrete, the agony of the booby trap coursing through his nervous system. The blast was so powerful that cinder was still falling in small particles around the two men as they pulled Cody, well what was left of him, to a more secured location and provided as much suppression fire as they could so the medic could do his job.It was a scene that horrified the high-speed, super-trooper Medic that came to save the day. He didn't know where to begin? Which limb first? Tourniquet? Where's his left leg? These were the thoughts of a overwhelmed Medic who then turned and lurched, spilling his stomach of its contents. The pain rippled through Cody's body in torrents, unimaginable pain that finally, mercifully, brought about shock.

One last stalwart cry escaped his lips as his eyes opened to the reality that it was all just a nightmare...a very, VERY painful one. What he obviously hadn't realized was that the pain he felt in it was very much real, it had been the final stage of his transformation. His mind and body had luckily kept him the state of a flashback far worse than anything he had actually experienced in Iraq.

His oculars were swollen and shifted feverishly back and forth, his body still twitching some as he recovered. He was sitting up in the bed and had no idea, not even the slightest, that the Gorgeous woman who had aided him was sitting next to him. He shot up to his knees while still situated on the bed and looked around for a moment, trying desperately to figure out what was going on. He looked in Olivia's direction and squinted his eyes, a multiple of feminine figures slowly ventured back towards him, only to dwindle down to 3, then 2, then the real deal was the only one remaining as his vision honed in.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to scare you. I had a really bad nightmare and I honestly don't remember much...except I was robbed. Wait a minute, how long have I been out, Nurse?" Nurse? The poor guy thought he was safe and sound in the confines of a Hospital. He didn't wait for an answer and sighed a deep relief, "Nurse, I sure thought I was a goner. I came so close to death, I literally felt it. Hey, there was a woman there too, she saved me... she saved me. Where is she?"

His nostrils flared wildly, his memory hitting on random cylinders. " That scent. I smell her, it is pleasant and strong. Must be on my clothes." He looked down at his body to see that he was shirtless, no standard issued hospital gown adorning him. His brow raised slightly but he overlooked the minor inconsistency. Next, he peered down at the wounds that had almost taken his life and found that the area was not nearly as damaged. He ran his fingers over the wound site and was astounded by the abilities of whatever Doctor worked on him.

But as he looked up, two plus two started to equal four. There was no Hospital night stand to either side of him, no television mounted on the wall, no silver railings that come standard with all Hospital beds. Furthermore, there were no wires, tubes, or assortment of annoying beeping machines, in fact, there was NOTHING about this place that was remotely close to a Hospital room. The furniture said it all. This was someone's home and he was in their bed, shirtless nonetheless. He lifted up the covers swiftly and peaked to notice he at least had on his boxers. As his face turned and his eyes locked with Olivia's, his thankful to be alive expression had been removed and replaced by one of confusion and anger. "Who in the FUCK are you? WHERE AM I?"

He angrily yanked the sheets off of him and stood on the opposite side of the bed, neither saying a word. But after a moment, he broke the silence,"Look, I... I don't know what the hell is going on here but lady, if you do not give me some answers along with my FUCKING belongings, I'm going to break you in half...woman or not..and..." His words trailed off abruptly as he shook his head violently, his hands reaching up and toying with his ears. "What is all that chatter? There is nobody in this room except us. What kind of sick set up is this, lady? WILL SOMEBODY SHUT THAT BABY UP?" That chatter, little to his knowledge, was the normal conversations of Olivia's nearest neighbors surrounding her apartment. His enhanced hearing was already settling in and as he continued to cope with it, his nostrils began contracting and expanding, his enhanced sense of smell not bringing forth any familiarity with the pungent odor it dealt with. " And what is that SMELL?"

The icing on the cake came once he turned and noticed that his reflection was void in the huge mirror that sat atop her dresser. He took a few steps towards it, his arm outstretched and fingers cloying at it...as if that was going to miraculously make him appear. He laughed, not a joyful ho ho one, but a rather odd one with a twinge of fear in it. " A trick mirror huh?" This was a disaster, nice going Olivia. It was the real thing, used for decoration only one could guess.. a human who wound up in her apartment might find it odd she had no mirrors, right? He laughed again, the same kinda laugh but with more nervousness behind it. It finally dawned on him. He had somehow been caught up in some sick New York City sex thing and on the other side of the reflection less mirror were her buddies probably just a horse laughing their asses off. " Okay, I get it. I know what this is. I ain't stupid. Let me guess, you're a Nurse by day..obviously..and some kinda GOD DAMN SEX PREDATOR by night? Correct? Lady, plain and simple, if you and your laughing little FUCKING CHATTER-BOX FRIENDS behind that mirror don't let me leave, I will steam roll right over each and every one in this place."

His words, so loud and screeching, roared mightily across the room at her. Without warning, a massive wave of hunger struck at his gut, doubling him over, he was starving. Enough was enough as anger suddenly welled up inside of him, he felt like a different being, as if he had possessed another's body or vice versa. His powerful arms jutted out to either side and seized both sides of the mirror. A second later he had it pulled off of the dresser with the greatest of ease, it feeling like a loaf of bread in his clutches. His body twisted back into the direction of Olivia and he released the object as hard as he could with every ounce of anger in his core being put behind it. So much for a smooth transition. Looks like she'd have to go the rough around the edges route to get through to the wild buck.

[olivia]

Olivia turned the page delicately of one the Stephen King novels she had rented from the library as her eyebrows knitted together in disgust as she read a gruesome scene. Hearing a cry from behind her she shot up from the ground, not out of freight, but out of concern. She was use to the moans and grunts she had been hearing for the past three days but this was different. It was finally coming to an end much to her relief and hopefully his.

Allowing the book to fall from her grasp she moved so she was now standing at the side of the bed rather than at the foot. Blue eyes studied the stranger as he slow opened his own eyes for the first time in three days, obviously confused over the situation seeing how he had just called her a nurse. She almost felt the need to laugh at this being that the last time someone had called her a nurse it was during World War II, but she refrained from doing so as she shook her head slightly.

“That scent. I smell her, it is pleasant and strong. Must be on my clothes."

Ah, his new and approved senses were already coming into play as they should be. Watching him as he looked down at himself in confusion, she took the opportunity to catch a glance at his stab wounds which were nearly healed now.

“I’m not a nurse…” She finally replied gently as she tucked a loose strand of red hair behind her ear. “You really shouldn't’t be moving so much…” Olivia warned despite knowing that he wasn’t paying attention to her, but to the room he was confined in. His eyes roamed wildly around the room as if in search of something before looking down at himself once again and lifting the covers. Glancing at the ground for a brief moment she could only guess what thoughts were going through his mind right now. With a small sigh her eyes met with his only to see anger emitting from them.

“Listen I know it’s weir-“

"Who in the FUCK are you? WHERE AM I?" Well, she was about to explain some things to him before he decided to take this approach and in all honestly she couldn’t blame him. Perhaps she was a bit unrealistic when she had played this situation out in her head but she was still unprepared for this reaction, and in reality she wasn’t sure what to expect. She blinked her blue eyes for a mere second and the next thing she saw was the man standing across from her on the other side of the bed.

Quickly she opened her mouth to tell him to sit down, but instead she decided to wait to see what he was going to do.

"Look, I... I don't know what the hell is going on here but lady, if you do not give me some answers along with my FUCKING belongings, I'm going to break you in half...woman or not..and..."

Her eyebrows shot up at this slightly as if challenging him to go ahead and try to do his worse to her, but she shook her head with a small frown as she watched him grab for his ears.

"What is all that chatter? There is nobody in this room except us. What kind of sick set up is this, lady? WILL SOMEBODY SHUT THAT BABY UP?"

“Will you please calm down ?” She asked with a cringe hoping that her neighbors couldn’t hear him. There was no sense of her talking to him until he would be more willing to listen, but at the moment he was too distracted by everything else. The sounds, the smells, and probably the hungry that would slowly be making its way to the pit of his stomach.

"And what is that SMELL?" And there he went off again not even giving her time to answer any of his questions, ones of which she would be glad to answer for him. Moving her feet she began to slowly walk around the bed toward him, hoping to get close enough encase he decided to do something stupid.

“Would you stop yelling? It’s the middle of the night…” She watched him closely and carefully in hopes to predict his next move if he had one, and it was during this time she witnessed him glancing at her mirror. Oh no… It was a mirror she had bought in San Francisco years ago in a joke shop to amuse herself as an inside joke. The old notion of a vampire’s reflections not being seen in a mirror wasn’t true, however; this mirror didn’t show anyone’s reflection. Not even a humans or any object for that matter.

" A trick mirror huh?"

Olivia nodded her head slightly. As ironic as it was it really was a trick mirror. “Yes.” She answered with a gently whisper as she took a step back as she sensed his anger. It was evident in his expressions and eyes. This was not working out as she had planned. Damn it.

" Okay, I get it. I know what this is. I ain't stupid. Let me guess, you're a Nurse by day..obviously...and some kinda GOD DAMN SEX PREDATOR by night? Correct? Lady, plain and simple, if you and your laughing little FUCKING CHATTER-BOX FRIENDS behind that mirror don't let me leave, I will steam roll right over each and every one in this place."

Olivia couldn’t help but widen her eyes at such an accusation. It was by this point that she could now feel her own frustration and anger rise… But then he decided to do one more thing to push her buttons… With a soft grasp she ducked low to the wooden floor as the mirror flew over her head and crashed into the wall breaking the glass into thousands of pieces.

Slowly she stood back up with a roll of her eyes. “You know that’s bad luck right?” She asked as she pointed to the mirror, or what once was a mirror. Stepping over the shards of glass she quickly made her way to him and placed her small hands onto his shoulders with the intention of pushing him back to sit on the bed.

“My name is Olivia and you’re going to listen to what I have to say. You’ll refrain from asking any questions until I’m done, ok?” She said as she stood in front of him and stared up into his face with a strong voice, like a mother would do to it's child after doing something bad. “You were attacked in an alleyway and were bleeding to death, so I did the only thing I knew that would help you… I bite you. You had no time to go to a hospital.” She explained as she raised a hand to trace a finger over the scare on his neck that was made by her teeth.

“You’ve been unconscious for three days here in my apartment as your body was dying off and your stab wounds were healing… As for all that chatter and smell you have been experiencing, it’s because your senses are far much better than what they were before.” She paused for a brief moment as she licked her lips slightly with a sigh. “You’re hungry, aren’t you? You see… The truth of the matter is that you’re no longer human, stud. You’re a vampire.” There was no sense in prolonging the suspense. He had to find out sooner or later, and quite frankly he was her responsibility and she wasn’t about to abandon him. “And if you want to survive I suggest you take my advice and stay away from the sun and fires from now on.”

There, now all she had to do was wait for another stream of violent reactions… But as she stood there, with her arms crossed, she thought of something else to add to her speech as she narrowed her eyes slightly. “By the way I don’t appreciate being called a sexual predator or having my mirror broken. As for your clothes I had to throw them out, but I had a clean set delivered here so you can wear those... So, what's your name?” Oh boy, she didn’t quite have a good feeling about all of this. It felt as if all the good she was trying to do was going to be thrown right back in her face…

((I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes. This was typed late at night. ^^))

[cody]

Stay out of the sun and fires from now on? She had bit him? She did it to save him? He had heard enough, he had let her dribble her wacko mumbo jumbo for far too long. Cody wasn't fooled by her innocent little "I saved you because it was the right thing to do" bit, he knew she was no savior, she was a damned sicko. He had heard about her kind in news stories and such. The kind of people that think Vampires are real and, some people, to apparently include Olivia, had actual dental work down on their teeth to actually give them fangs. One thing that she said which was honest was the fact that she had guessed he was hungry.

He broke free from her and scanned the room once more as she made her last little speech about not liking being called a sex predator. He paid no mind to her nor gave her the courtesy of his name. All he wanted was his clothes, or the clothes that she had claimed to had got for him by delivery. Ah there they are, folded neatly on the floor next to the adjacent closet. He scrambled to them and actually looked quite comical in the way he tried so hastily to put them on, sometimes almost falling right over.

The hunger hit him again, this time like a sledgehammer shot to the stomach. He endured it long enough to put the rather upscale looking shirt on before making a bee line to the next room where he was lost at first, but finally malingering into the kitchen where he griped the refrigerator door. In a single, rage induced yank, he ripped it open and completely OFF. It wasn't so much the fact that he ripped it off, it was that he still held it and it felt like a feather in this clutch. He tossed it aside after peering down at it, his mind REFUSING to believe what Olivia had been saying all along.

He didn't feel threatened by her now. If she meant him any ill will she would have either killed him or made it known already. It still didn't keep him from being freaked out by her Vampire fetish. As he turned to the left and looked into the fridge, there was no cherry cheesecake his favorite dessert, no left over pizza, no sandwich meat selection, nothing of the sort. Instead, there were stacks or blood bags, enough to feed an Army it seemed.

The reality struck him hard and fast, it was real, he was a Vampire. It wasn't because of anything the nut-job Olivia had said though, no, the truth was testament to how badly he yearned for those bags. And to add to it, he felt like he had no control over his actions as, one by one, the bags were ripped open by his powerful hands and the contents therein emptied into him. After each bag was finished he'd toss it over his shoulder or to the side, littering her home carelessly. When he reached the last one he let out a mad, guttural roar then emptied the bag into himself. He licked the emptied plastic hard, like a child would after eating a melted candy bar only to find a few chocolate smudges remain on the inside of the wrapper.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?", he yelled out at the top of his lungs, his senses too hazed to realize where Olivia was at that point. If it's true then what would become of things, he thought. His Aunt, nieces and nephews, all of whom he planned to visit two weeks to a month at most, each year, will never see him again. His only connection to them would be a phone and that would bring torture to him. What about the right woman, who he kept hoping would come along. He wanted to find a wife and settle down, perhaps too quickly, but that was always a flaw of his..impatience. He wanted to have kids too, a little boy and girl, and then more if a future wifey would allow it, yet that too was not an option now. "I have nothing." he whispered to himself before yelling it out in protest to Olivia's actions. The pressure and magnitude of the situation was just too much to handle for Cody and so he made his way to the front door. "YOU HAVE GIVEN ME NOTHING, OLIVIA, NOTHING. I am just as DEAD now as I was in that fucking Alley!" The words held their own weight as they pressed against Olivia's conscience about the same time Cody yanked her front door open, and off of the hinges, just like with the refrigerator. He spun around after exiting and screamed back into the door-less area...

"I'll figure the rest of this Vampire shit out on my own. I think you HELPED enough thus far, don't you agree? Oh and my name is Cody, and I will never forgive you for this."

[olivia]

Taking a step back she knew she wouldn't be able to stop him from doing whatever he wanted at this point. As a new vampire he wouldn't know his own strength let alone how to control it, and by his size Olivia could only imagine how much stronger he was than her.

No... All she could do was watch him curiously with a concerned look in her eyes and hope that he would calm down even though she knew the likely hood of that happening was slim. Seeing him make a move she stepped to the side allowing her bare feet to step onto the broken shards of glass, as he went on a search for something. Oh, the clothes... Opening her mouth she was about to tell him where they were but she didn't need to seeing how he was already pulling them on quickly. Perhaps to quickly being that it took him a few attempts to get them on correctly.

Just as fast as he had gotten up and done that he was off again wondering through her apartment. Not moving from her spot she knew he was in the kitchen from the sound of it. Olivia walked out of the bedroom and through the doorway only to witness her refrigerator door being ripped off. Well, if her neighbors weren't awake already by all his yelling they certainly would be now. Leaning against the doorway to the kitchen she watched as realization hit him as he saw all the blood bags. That was the conformation he needed apparently to realize that what she had said was the truth.

Empty bags quickly littered the wooden floor as he raided each and every corner of the fridge for every last drop of blood it had to offer. He probably didn't remember, but this wasn't his first taste of blood. Holding up her arm she glanced down at the faint scar that was upon the smooth skin of her wrist from where she had bitten herself.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?"

Her head snapped back up at this with a raised eyebrow. Didn't she already explain this to him? Not having seen anyone else right after their transformation she wondered if this type of reaction was common or if everyone was different...

What did she do when she woke up one hundred and fifty one years ago after she was bitten? Olivia closed her eyes briefly trying to picture the scene that had happened so long ago in her head. She was alone when she had woken up in the unused barn in the middle of the day. Naturally the first thing she did was open the door to get out, but she had immediately felt pain as the skin on her hand came in contact with the sun's rays... It wasn't until two weeks later a vampire came across her and began to explain things to her before leaving her on her own again.

"I have nothing."

Open her eyes she focused them back on the distraught man with a simply shake of her head. Perhaps she had made a mistake...

"YOU HAVE GIVEN ME NOTHING, OLIVIA, NOTHING. I am just as DEAD now as I was in that fucking Alley!"

She cringed slightly as his voice ringed through her head as if it was an echo. It had been a rash decision on her part, but there was hardly no time to think if he had wanted this or not. All Olivia saw and thought about the moment she had walked in that alley way was the pleading look glistening in his eyes. Had she walked away from the scene without doing anything she knew she would've had to deal with the heavy weight of guilt upon her shoulders, but now she felt it because she hadn't walked away. This had been a losing battle since the very beginning... If only she had been at a different place at a different time.

No! Not her door too! It was already bad enough that he broke her mirror, broke her fridge, drunk all her blood, and now he had broke her apartment door. Bastard.

Following behind him she stood in her doorway painfully aware of all the people that stood in the hallway wondering what was going on. It was good thing she hardly knew any of this people and hardly ever saw them...

"I'll figure the rest of this Vampire shit out on my own. I think you HELPED enough thus far, don't you agree? Oh and my name is Cody, and I will never forgive you for this."

Why? Why did he have to say that for all to hear? Watching him storm away she moved herself into the hallway before yelling, "Vampire? As if I would want to role-play that shit out with you, buddy! Find someone else to play with and don't bother ever coming back here!" There... Whatever people might have thought Cody meant by the world vampire she was able to cover up by making herself look like a tramp... Great... It was a good thing she didn't care about what these people thought of her.

"Sweetie, are you ok?" An elderly women asked gently as she approached her slowly.

"Oh, I'm fine. I swear that's the last time I pick up a man from a bar. They're nothing but trouble. I'm sorry for all this disruption." Olivia replied with a reassuring smile before walking back in to her apartment and lifting the wooden door up from the ground. Slowly she prop it up between the doorway gently, knowing she would have to get someone to fix that for her. With a sigh she slowly turned around and began to pick up all the blood bags before throwing them away.

Cody... Finally she wouldn't have to call him a stranger anymore. What was she to do now? He obviously wanted nothing to do with her and that was fine, but perhaps she could keep an eye on him from a far and make sure he stayed out of trouble... She knew his scent now, so he would be easy to track. With a determined nod of she walked to her bedroom to clean up the fragments of glass. If only she knew what the hell she was getting herself into...