Guardian

“You…bit me…” said Fiona as she felt the puncture wounds on her neck. “I can’t believe it…”
“Ah, it happened. Now, can we move on? I don’t really have a lot of time,” said Vog as he grinned evilly. “Your…appetizer has awakened my hunger, and it would be best for both of us if we get this over as quickly as possible.”
Fiona felt herself go cold. So far, this guy had saved her life, bit her, and now he was warning her that he could possibly be a threat to her! What was going on? “Uh,” Fiona said nervously, “how about you…have a snack or something, before I ask my questions.”
“Great idea,” said Vog as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. “I won’t be long. Don’t go any where.”
Fiona slumped down on the ground and rubbed her neck again. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she said.

It didn’t take long for Vog to find a suitable meal. He passed up a few stray humans he saw wandering around, much to his distress. “Look you,” Vog told himself, “you’re gonna be in enough trouble with that human girl. I don’t think Erza would let me live if I bit some innocent humans.”
His meal turned out to be blood from a freshly road-killed dear. He lifted it up, and bite into it furiously. I wouldn’t have made it, he thought after his meal, looking at the bloodless deer. I would’ve bit her again, he thought with a shrug of indifference.
After he had disposed of the deer’s body, he belched rather loudly. “Now that that’s out my system, I better had back to her,” he thought. Yet did down, he felt disturbed. Something had made him much hungrier than usual, and he didn’t think it was the exercise. If he was right, this problem would become much more complicated…

Fiona tried to eat something while waiting for Vog, but it was futile. After her run-in with that disgusting creature, food was the furthest thing from her mind. Besides, she couldn’t concentrate long enough to make herself eat. Her mind kept wandering, and questions kept forming.
“Hey,” said a voice, distracting Fiona from her thoughts, “You gonna let me in?”
Fiona walked over to the door, and there he was, the vampire that saved her life. “Hold on,” Fiona said nervously. “I don’t even know your name. Why should I let you in?” she asked, trying to gain an advantage over him.
“Hi, I’m Vog! Nice to meet you,” said Vog with false cheer and a goofy grin. “I would like to be let in so I could elaborate to you what exactly happened to you tonight. So, if you don’t mind, can I come in?”
“You can answer questions from there,” Fiona said nervously.
“Serpent take you girl,” hissed Vog as he looked Fiona in the eye. “I could have killed you three times now, and I saved your life! What else do I need to do before I can gain your trust?”
“You also warned me about your hunger. How do I know that you’re not gonna drink my blood?” Fiona asked, trying to force herself to be strong. Yet she was finding it hard to do. Vog had brought up some very valid points, and his eyes, something about them made her want to listen to him.
“Fiona,” said Vog as sweet as he could manage, “I’ve already had my fill. If you would be kind enough to open this door, I would really, really appreciate it,” he said kindly.
Fiona shook her head quickly as she realized what Vog had tried to do. “You tired to hypnotize me into letting you in!” she shouted. She pointed at him and said, “Why, if you aren’t going to hurt me, did you try to force your way in?”
Vog was very startled that Fiona had noticed his trick. “It almost worked,” Vog grumbled to himself. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time. If you pay attention, you would notice the sun is starting to rise!” said Vog as he pointed at the sky.
Fiona looked out one of her windows next to the door. She gasped because he was right! She checked her watch, confirming what she had thought. It was morning almost! “Uh,” said Vog, “Please let me in before I become a crispy critter!”
Fiona could hear his voice quaver a little in fear. She weighed her options one last time, and then sighed. “Come in then,” Fiona said, hoping that she had not just doomed herself.
Vog entered the house, and quickly shut the door. He wiped a few beads of sweat of his forehead and sighed nervously. “Okay,” he said, trying to regain his composure. “What would you like to know?”
“Well,” said Fiona, “I want to know what that thing that attacked was, and why did it attack me anyways? I didn’t do anything to it,” she said. She had thought about her questions for awhile, and she realized that is what she wanted to know most.
“Okay,” said Vog, “the first thing you need to know is that there are two kinds of vampires in this world. To say good and bad is a little too black and white,” said Vog with a grin. “It is more like there are vampires that will kill humans, and then there are vampires that wouldn’t dream of such a thing. I am the later of the two. The thing you saw earlier was not one of the latter,” Vog said with a shrug.
“Why did it look so different than you? I mean, a vampire is a vampire, right?” asked Fiona.
Vog clenched his fists and grinded his teeth. “I would prefer it if you would refrain from comparing me with that disgrace you saw earlier,” said Vog.
Fiona felt power crackle around her, and she quickly apologized, “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I had no idea!” she shrieked frantically.
Vog laughed at her fear, “Don’t make the same mistake again, and I won’t hurt you,” he said with a grin, but his eyes showed that Vog was not kidding at all. “Now, unto your second fabulous question. The creature sensed your fear and homed in on it. Simple as that,” Vog said with little concern.
“Well, why did you help me? I mean, it would have been easier for you to walk away,” said Fiona.
“Believe me, I’ve thought that at least five times this night,” said Vog. “My job is to help mortals like you that are attacked by creatures like that. It’s the only way I’ll get to heaven…” Vog said. After this, he sighed, and seemed to stare of into space.
“But you saved me already,” said Fiona, “so why are you still here?”
“That,” said Vog with a frown, “is because I’m bond to you know.”
“What do you mean? Is it because you drank my blood?” asked Fiona.
“No,” said Vog, “if a bond happened every time I bit something, I would rather starve to death! No, the bond was formed when you saw me!” shouted Vog. “If you would have been a good victim and passed out a moment earlier, I wouldn't be here!”
“What are you trying to tell me?” asked Fiona.
“Look,” said Vog, “I’m stuck being your guardian until the day you die, whether I like it or not!”
“Oh,” said Fiona. She blinked a few times, tried to say something, and found all she could say was, “oh.”
“Oh does not begin to cover it!” yelled Vog. “I’ve got serious matters that need to be taken care of! Erza is gonna make me pay for this already, and now I have to cart you around with me wherever I go!”
“Wait, hold the phone,” said Fiona. “What do you mean by ‘I have to cart you around with me wherever I go.’? That doesn’t sound too good,” said Fiona. “I’m not going to go anywhere!”
“You’ll go,” said Vog, “not because you want to. Not because I want you to. Not even because Erza wants you to. No, you’ll either go and be safe, or you can wait here and die!”
“Die? That seems a little harsh, don’t you think?” asked Fiona.
“I never said I was gonna be the one to do it. Do you think that now that you know about of this that you can just live the rest of your life away from it? No, they know you escaped from one of them. They’ll come back to get you.”
“Why me?” asked Fiona as tears began to form in her eyes. “I don’t want any of this.”
“Ah,” said Vog, “quit your blubbering. Where I’m taking you is probably better than this dumb anyways. Come on Fiona,” said Vog as he began to leave.
“Wait!” hollered Fiona.
“I’m not waiting for you anymore, come on!” yelled Vog as he opened the door. It was then he realized his grave mistake. The sun had been coming up earlier, and they had been talking for awhile now. That would mean…
Vog shrieked in pain as the sun hit him full blast. He quickly hid behind the door and slammed it shut. He twitched for a few minutes and rubbed his skin. Patches of his skin were burned pretty badly, but nothing too severe.
He looked at Fiona, frustrated at his own foolishness, and said with all the dignity he could manage, “Okay, I’ll give you one day to get ready.”
With that, Vog walked over to Fiona’s closet. He opened it and hopped inside. “Fetch me when the sun has set,” he said as he closed the closet door. Fiona nodded, trying very hard not to laugh at what had just transpired.

Fiona packed her possessions quickly even though she had all day to get ready. She figured she should be worried about leaving her home, but she wasn’t worried at all. Actually, she was excited about just the thought of escaping from her home. All the memories she had of ‘home’ were painful. The only reason she stayed was because it was the only place she could afford.
She looked over her meager belongings after she had packed, surprised at how little she really had. There were a few different outfits (mostly black pants, but a few skirts had found themselves packed as well, generic blouses and shirts), basic necessities, a few personal belongings (a family scrapbook), and a few snacks.
“Hm,” she said as she looked at her watch. “It’s only nine…Great, now I have to find something to do for the rest of the day…” Fiona grumbled angrily. At first, Fiona thought about going to the movies, but then she remembered that money was kind of a problem. . She didn’t get paid until tomorrow. She considered seeing a friend, but she knew that all of her so called ‘friends’ could care less about her.
Sighing, she decided to take a nap. She hadn’t slept in awhile, and she figured now was a better time than any. She made her way to her room, dodging piles of junk and holes in the floor.
When she got to her room, she looked at the mess she would be leaving behind. She frowned and said, “I’m so glad I don’t have to clean this up…” This was because there were piles of junk everywhere. Her room was basically storage for whatever she could salvage, but she never had really gotten around to cleaning the stuff up.
She fought her way past the junk and lay down on her bed. She tried to focus on hard tired she was, hoping that that would distract her from how lumpy her crappy mattress was. After a few minutes, she was asleep.
However, Fiona’s sleep was plagued by nightmares. The first nightmare had her relive the night she just had with a major change. Vog had not shown up to save her. She had been left alone with that horrible creature. It had reached out and grabbed her leg as it grinned and said, “Don’t you worry, missy…I’m gentle with da ladies!”
Fiona awoke in a cold sweat from this dream. After making sure that it had been a dream, she checked her watch. It read 9:45. She cursed silently and tried to sleep again.
In the next nightmare she had, Vog was hunched over with something cradled in his arms. Fiona called to him numerous times, but he didn’t respond. Finally, Fiona walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. She wished she hadn’t.
He turned around slowly to face her. Vog’s lips were crimson red. It was clear that he had been feeding. As he looked at Fiona, Fiona saw that what he held in his arms was a small girl. Her face was relaxed, and Fiona knew she was dead. Vog looked at the girl in his arms, and then threw her body to the ground and looked directly at Fiona. “Fiona,” he said as he walked towards her, “I’m SO hungry!”
She had tried to run, but Vog was too fast. He caught her easily. Vog looked into Fiona’s eyes and smiled while he licked his blood-stained lips. “All will be made clear,” he said as he bared his fangs. Vog then pulled Fiona closer as if a lover’s embrace and bit into her neck.
Fiona woke up then, this time much more shaken. Her whole body felt cold, and she was overwhelmed with fear. After a few minutes, she regained some of her composure and checked her watch.  The watch displayed 12:00 in big, red numbers. Fiona sighed. It looked like she wasn’t going to get any sleep today.

Fiona passed the rest of the day reading random books she found around her house. This ranged from the Bible to a guide on how to prevent hair loss. After she grew bored with this, she realized that the sun had set. “Finally!” she said. With that, she ran to her closet.
She began knocking on it, forcing herself not to pound on the door. “Vog, time to get up!” Fiona said.
Something grumbled back to her from inside the closet. Not understanding what was said, Fiona asked Vog to repeat it. Vog opened the closet door and said “I said, ‘Do you have any coffee? I’m not an early evening kind of vampire.’”
Fiona looked at Vog strangely for a few seconds. Vog sighed and lowered his head. “You humans wouldn’t know a good joke if it bit you,” Vog said.
“Right…” said Fiona dryly. “Hey, can we go now?”
“You sure are impatient. Of course, I’m not surprised by that. You really don’t have anything worth staying for, do you?” asked Vog.
“How do you know that?” demanded Fiona. She was more puzzled than angered by the strange comment.
“I hate having to repeat myself,” said Vog as he shook his head slowly. “When I bite somebody, I have full access to their memories. So, when I bit you, I took the liberty of finding out exactly what kind of person I would be dealing with.”
“You rummaged through my mind” hollered Fiona as she pointed at Vog. “How could you do such a thing? Don’t you have any respect for my feelings or my thoughts? Has anyone ever mentioned boundaries to you before?”
Vog waited until Fiona at had exhausted herself from all the yelling. “Look,” said Vog calmly, “it was better for both of us. I’m not going to waste a long time getting to know you when I can find out everything about you in a few seconds!”
Fiona turned away from Vog to hide her tears. However, Vog could hear her sobs. “What’s the matter with you?” Vog asked.
“Why don’t you just bite me and find out for yourself!” Fiona yelled. “You completely disregarded my will and did as you wanted!”
“Hey,” said Vog as he put his hand on Fiona’s shoulder, “you and I both know this isn’t about that. You’ve been bottling up your emotions for some time now, right? All of this has just brought everything together, didn’t it?” Vog completely lied about this. He knew what was bothering Fiona, but he didn’t think that it would help the situation at all if he told her what it was. Besides, she probably knew what it was.
Fiona wanted to yell at Vog, tell him he was wrong, but she couldn’t. “It’s not that,” she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I…I’m used to being in control of things…This just…turns my whole world upside down…There’s just so many things out there…That thing last night…” Fiona stopped at this. She realized that it had taken her awhile, but she was coming to term with what could have happened. That is what really bothered her. As much as she hated to admit it, she was scared.
Vog patted her back comfortingly while rolling his eyes. Vog had known that Fiona was going to have an outburst like this, but he didn’t have the time or patience to deal with it right now. Besides, Erza would be enraged, best case scenario, at him already for not checking in yet, and he didn’t want to be too much later.
“Fiona,” he said gently as he could manage without making it sound fake, “It’ll be alright. Calm down, and lets go.” After this, Vog began to grind his teeth. If he didn’t get her moving soon, he might do something he would regret.
Fiona stood up and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. She sniffled for a bit more and than grabbed her stuff. “I’m ready to go now,” Fiona said. To face the unknown, Fiona thought to herself.
Vog nodded. “Then let us not stand around anymore. It’s time for you to meet Erza!”
“Erza?” asked Fiona, confused out of her grief.
“Erza is a female vampire of great power, skill, and age...You didn’t hear that last part. Her long, blond hair touches the floor and her silver eyes seem to pierce your soul,” Vog recited, as if he was teaching about some historical figure, not someone they were getting ready to meet. “I have to answer to her for all of my actions,” said Vog as he shivered for a moment. “In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that she knows exactly what’s going on here…”
* * *
She sat in a secluded room by herself, watching events as they passed by on many different screens, but nothing really merited her attention. Bored out of her mind, she prepared to leave the room. However, as she began to stand up, all of the screens shut off except for one.
She rolled her eyes, not amused at this dramatic effect. “Enlarge,” she said as she pointed at the small, single screen. Quickly, the image became much bigger. It was then she noticed a familiar vampire, standing on a pole: Vog. She sat back down in her chair and began to massage her temples. Whatever was happening, or had happened already, was going to be very bothersome.
“Vog,” she said under breath like it was a curse as the video; which displayed Vog’s recent actions and his interactions with Fiona, “looks like you just made things a hell of a lot more difficult. Serpent take you!” She shouted this last part and bared her fangs.
The screens around her spat out sparks and shut off simultaneously. She stormed out of the room, forcing herself to stay mad. “Vog,” she said as she pushed her long, blonde hair out of her face, “you’ll be the doom of us all!”