Chapter 5

Damian was right when he said Laura looked awful, as she herself soon discovered when she saw her reflection in the mirror. "Why?" she asked.

"Blood," Her two undead companions replied simply.

Thing is, blood was very essential to an undead. It was what repaired their damaged cells, nourished them, and kept their abilities- majority of which Laura was told she was still yet to see- at peak level.

Unfortunately, an undead body didn't produce its own blood; the whole paranormal side of the affair was what separated them from a real dead body after all.

Anyway, to combat this, their appetite included a regular consumption of blood. In fact, it was their main diet.

Undead anaemia was a really bad experience. Effects of it included looking awful like Laura did then- pale face, bloodshot eyes, body the colour of ash- and in extreme cases, insanity. In fact, the reason why her effect had been limited to the awful appearance was because of the vial Frederick had given her to drink before their journey began.

The vial was in actuality a "trick blood"; that was what her companions had called it. What it was a synthetic formula with active ingredients that tricked their brains into believing that there was blood in their system to use even as their cells showed that there wasn't. It helped maintain their insanity till they could get to an actual blood source.

Anyway, after getting Laura settled in her room at the end of a long hallway, her companions took her to what they called "the storage room". It was actually a big refrigerator the size of a bedroom filled with bags of blood and, as unexpected as it sounded, food. Apparently, unlike popular fiction suggested, undeads could eat conventional meals even as it was of no benefit in their body.

They gave her a bag of blood as a refreshment but she told them there was no way she was sinking her teeth- fangs, they called it- into a bag of blood. After so much debate and counter debate, they agreed to her request of pouring it in a cup for her; shaking their heads mockingly at the newblood- newblood was the term for a newly turned undead.

Laura made a funny face when she was handed the cup of blood. Thing is, while she wasn't squeamish of blood- she was a medical examiner after all- she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that it would be going into her body through the mouth. This is supposed to be the most ill-advised method of blood transfusion, she thought to herself.

But ill-advised or not, Laura put the cup to her mouth and as soon as the blood touched her mouth, she immediately began to feel alive. She felt so alive in fact that she couldn't understand how she had survived so long without the blood.

Laura drained the cup and would have asked for a second fill if not that she feared she might appear greedy; and who knew how "Lord Damian"- she made a yuck face at the name inside her head- treated people he thought greedy.

Anyway, after the "refreshment", Laura's companions brought her up to date on the happenings in the house as they strolled back to her room.

For starters, Damian was a little over three hundred years old and he wasn't Frederick's actual brother; turned out they weren't even related. What he was was actually the foster son of the original owner of the mansion, Frederick's friend.

On the old man's deathbed, Frederick had offered to turn him but he vehemently refused. No reason was openly given for the refusal but the rumour going around the house was that the old man was a staunch Catholic; and while he had been acceptable of Frederick's "dark" nature while he lived, he couldn't bring himself to join at his death.

Anyway, the old man died and Frederick was so hard hit by it that he changed. It was almost as if he had lost the will to live; and so, as a favour to him, Kirt, a long time undead friend of Frederick's, turned Damian. Through his dedication to nurturing Damian, Frederick finally returned back to his former self and the duo had been joined ever since.

Well, that explains why Frederick holds Damian at such a high esteem, Laura thought to herself when she heard the story. But she didn't make any outward comment, only encouraging her companions to continue.

The story went on for a while; many of which Laura zoned out of. But she did her attention to hear that they included various adventures the undead brothers underwent as they built and made a family of the undeads of New York.

Laura reached her room just then; and after making sure that she had everything she needed, her companions left her.

It had to be said that the bedroom was the biggest Laura had ever seen; not that she had seen that many, to be honest. She was always too busy at work to attend open houses, and none of her friend was that much of an house enthusiast.

Anyway, the room was big and it was all hers. She smiled. Not bad, Laura, she thought to herself. Not bad at all.

Two minutes later, that thought had changed. Laura wanted badly to leave.

Now, she wasn't thinking about running away or anything. There was nothing in her former life to run back to in her; at least none that she wanted to.

To be honest, Laura's life was pretty dour before that day. In fact, turning undead was the most exciting thing to have happened to her in forever. Leaving that, especially in light of what the undead future had to offer her, was highly illogical; and Laura didn't do illogicals.

But she really felt like she had to get away from the house then, at least for a while.

Her mind made up, Laura went to her new wardrobe to see what she had been given her. A little contemplation and she decided on a white top with black jeans. She actually thought about dry-cleaning the clothes she wore before but as her eyes set on the fireplace, she changed her mind. There was already a fire started in the pit so all she had to do was toss the clothes in the flames; making a mental final goodbye to her former life.

Laura thought to leave through the front door but on realizing that Damian would probably be there to stop her, and presumably in the rudest manner known to the world too, she decided to go through the window instead. The mansion was only two stories tall so easy jump. Obviously the architect was more into making the building wide than tall; and he certainly wasn't thinking about undeads.

Just then, Laura noticed the incredible chill outside; it was the middle of October. She grabbed a coat; not that she needed it actually as she soon discovered. Turned out that the undead body loved cold conditions thrived in.

Laura sneaked out and perched tentatively on the edge of the window sill, praying vehemently before she jumped down, and followed again by another prayer of thanks that she didn't break anything.

She looked around for a means of transport but the most of the cars in the parking lot were already taken; and the keys to the available ones were inside where she reminded Damian was too.

Unfortunately, unlike the nineties movies from which the mansion seemed to have emerged, there weren't horses in the house either so riding away into the night.

Well. Laura shrugged as she turned down the driveway and took the only option available to her. She walked.