"I'm sort of... what's the word? I guess I'm haunting you, now. It's way freakier for me than it is for you, trust me," she said, giving a short laugh.
"So you're a ghost?"
"No… do I look like a ghost? Gross. I'm haunting you because of that."
She pointed at me, or, more specifically, my neck. I brought my fingers to the gently pulsating wound. It was like someone had pricked me in the neck with a needle. Err, twice, for whatever reason.
"I don't, um… get it."
"It's whatever, I didn't expect you to understand, anyway. Basically, I'm inside of you, now," she explained nonchalantly.
"W-what!? No way! How do I get you out? I don't want you in-inside of me..,!"
She snickered. "Then we're on the same page. Why would I want to be inside of you? I don't like this, either. So, you're gonna help me. As reimbursement. And because… you definitely don'twant me around any longer than I have to be."
Her tone turned slightly devilish in that last half—a threat, probably. I shivered, imagining all the gruesome possibilities. But… something confused me.
"Are you… uh, nevermind. Sorry."
"Huh? No, go on. I'll answer anything. Anything at all! Keeping you in the dark would only make things harder for the both of us."
"W-well, then. Aren't you… just gonna kill me? After I get you out I mean."
"Ha!" she laughed. "You're still worried about that? If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."
'You definitely wanted to kill me back at school, though. And who's dead, now? Heh, I'm kind of badass. Vampire slayer. Lovely the Vampire Slayer.'
I shook off my random thoughts, realizing that I probably looked strange, sitting there all silently.
"But you're a ghost. You can't hurt me—yet."
"And you're sure about that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
A chill ran down my spine. No, I wasn't sure of it at all. She had only been toying with me earlier. There was no guarantee that Ponygirl couldn't harm me if she really wanted to. What better place to destroy something from than from inside of it?
I gulped.
"So? What'll it be? You'll help me, right? It is your responsibility, now."
'Is it? I did kill her… does that make it my responsibility to bring her back? I don't know… but whether or not that's the case, I really would like her to get out as soon as possible."
I thought it over for a second, but there wasn't really much to think about. In the end, what could I really do? Either gamble with the idea that she couldn't hurt me—which would leave a frightening vampire in my head for who-knows-how-long—let her possibly kill me, or go along with her plan to separate us.
"I'll help. Ah, um—what exactly am I supposed to do?"
"Perfect! Thanks, Love! I was worried you'd be hard to convince, but I guess I got lucky! If it was anyone else—like that girl, Amalie—I might've been totally screwed and forced to kill them, ya know?" she said happily, patting me on the shoulder.
Not that she was actually touching me.
"I… wouldn't know. I'm not a murderer."
"Nope—not yet you aren't!"
I furrowed by brows. I was now sat up straight, legs folded inwards, and Ponygirl was sitting across from me. I picked at and played with my toes to calm my nerves.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Okay, this might sound kind of… craaazy, but believe me—it's the only way. And I'll be with and help you for each and every small step of the way."
That wasn't something you'd want to hear from a person that had blood dripping from her face. Not at all.
"You're… scaring me."
"Aw, I swear it'll be fine. Relax. The twoofus—we'll only need six. Actually, five would work… yeah, five."
"Five?"
"People."
"People?"
"Dead people."
"Dead?"
"You're—er, we're—gonna kill five people. Understand?"
"N-n-no! I don't understand at all!"
"Are you crying? Why are you—hey, stop that, it's fine. I've killed way more than that already. I said I promise, it's all fine. Wow, you just won't stop crying—"
"You—you wa-want me t-to—"
"Kill five people, yes, that's what I've been trying to say. You've really got to work on that stuttering, I mean, it's no wonder you've got no friends."
'Damn you, I'm stuttering because I'm scared! I'm scared of you!'
"Why?"
"It's a bad habit—they call it an impediment, you know. I'm sure people would treat you better if you spoke nicely."
"No, I mean the people! Why do I have to kill anyone?"
"Hold on, it's not just anyone. It's five people. I'll choose who we kill, by the way."
Seeing my distressed expression, she sighed—thinking up the best way to explain her reasoning,
"Back at school, you turned my physical body to dust. Now, I don't have any body to anchor my spirit to. Well, besides you. But this is your body—I need one of my own."
"I… think I understand. But why five? Wouldn't one body be just fine?"
"Oh, well… this is kind of the gross part. Vampires require specific physiology that comes with the transformation—without it, a single, normal, body can't ever hope to contain me."
"So? Can't we just… turn someone into a vampire?"
"…Do you know any other vampires?"
"You don't?"
"Just scrap that idea, okay? It won't work. The person has to be dead, anyway. How exactly do you plan on killing a vampire without turning their body to dust?"
"I guess. Sorry…" I looked down at my lap, then, back up. I frowned. "Then how are you inside of me?"
"That mark on your neck, duh. Don't you know anything about vampires?"
"N-no… you d-d-don't mean that I'm…?"
"A vampire?" She leaned closer to me, smiling villainously. Then she fell back. "Of course not. You're only halfway there, since we didn't do the whole ritual stuff. But… it seems that halfway is enough. You probably have the important parts, already."
"You don't mean… I'll b-burn up and die in the sun, now? Wait… do I have to d-drink blood? No… I don't want to be a vampire!"
"I don't know. It's not like I've ever done this before. You're probably fine, relax. You don't even have fangs."
I hurriedly scurried across the floor to my mirror and pulled back my gums. To my relief, she was telling the truth. My teeth truly looked normal.
'Or, wait… they're not a little bigger, are they? Oh, I can't tell!'
"Hey, if you hate it that much, I'll remove it from you—the vampiric essence. After I get my own body back, obviously."
"Really? You can do that?"
"Duh. All I've gotta do is…" she smirked. "Suck it out of you."
I tilted my head, confused. Ponygirl looked disappointed in my lackluster reaction.
Suddenly, a new question popped into my head. A very, very important question. One that had been bugging me for quite some time, now. I'm sure many of you have been wondering the same thing.
"E-excuse me, I don't know if this is rude, but—"