Ava stayed with Simon most days during the hours when the sun was up. After her first day of running away from him and then burning when she stepped into the sunlight, she quickly learned not to step out into the direct sunlight. But during the night, she didn’t spend as much time with Simon. It wasn’t that he was a bad person, or that she didn’t like him. But, being around him was just a reminder of how her life was now horribly wrong and she would never have her old life back.
It wasn’t his fault but his help was only reminding her of what her new life consisted of. She couldn’t think of anything else when she was around him. So far she still hadn’t contacted her family. It weighed heavy on her, but she wasn’t sure what she could say to them or how she could explain that it wasn’t a good idea for her to come back to New York. The sad truth was, she shouldn’t leave here, not at least until she gained control over herself and learned how to function as a vampire.
The sun had gone down a few hours ago, and the stars were shining bright above them. She had wandered a little on the outskirts of town, but when she came across too many people, she felt the side of her that she didn’t want to deal with and came back to Simon. Finding him outside smoking, she started to pace in front of him.
“I’m hungry.” She told him, running her hand through her hair in frustration. “I… I saw a bunch of people. They smelled so good.” Part of her was disgusted, it made no sense that she should get hungry at the sight of humans. But, the other part was frustrated she hadn’t fed from them.
“Hungry,” he repeated, watching her. Simon felt as if he couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t hungry. Rabbits, squirrels, and the like only kept his undead body functioning; they did little to assuage the wanting he felt within his stomach. He sighed. “You’ll get used to it. It doesn’t go away, at least unless you feed on...humans, I’m guessing, but it’s something you can learn to live with. Or fix. If you do it the right way.” Simon wasn’t going to pass his own judgments to her. As long as she didn’t go around blatantly slaughtering people and telling him about it, he wasn’t going to abandon her.
“It’s the worst feeling, isn’t it?” he commiserated. “But it’s probably a good thing you held back. This town is crawling with...people who wouldn’t appreciate that.” He paused, taking a drag from his cigarette. After he released the smoke into the night air, he continued. “Besides, you would have regretted it. There’s a few rats in the cage if you need something later, but perhaps you’d sit outside with me for a bit?”