I wish there was someone who would lie to me about it or make up a story about it. I had lived all my life thinking of myself as nothing other than an average human being, but before I knew it, I became a creature that has to sink its teeth into people's flesh like a freaking leech. Then it hit me like a strike of lightning. I turned to my mom who was watching me digest the truth in my head.
"Mom, how did I get here? Where are Alyssa and Cammie?" My voice cracked with emotions.
"We found you lying unconscious in Alyssa's car," She told me and took a deep breath, "You have no idea how much that frightened me."
"What was that, mom?" I asked.
"There was blood all over you," Mom spoke in a quiet tone. I could almost see the dreadful moment flashing through her eyes. I tried to gather the last thought. The bitter-sweet desire for blood that was so foreign, yet so powerful to me. A gnawing hunger for something warm, running inside those veins, and then I heard Alyssa and Cammie screamed in terror.
"Oh no! No!" I buried my face in my hands. I just didn't want to imagine the picture.
"What's wrong, Vivienne?" mom came to pull my hands away.
"Mom, I killed my best friends!" I started to cry.
"No! Honey, you didn't kill anyone!" Mom tried to pull my hands from my face, "They are fine. There was nothing happened to them."
"Really?" I asked through my tears.
"Yes, I only had to insist on them to go home. They just wouldn't leave your side," Mom told me. "Don't worry, your friends are safe. No harm was done."
"So why was there blood on me?"
"You had a terrible gum bleed, that's all," She told me, "Anyway, it still gave me a good dose of shock just to see your..." but Mom simply broke herself off.
"Mom, if there's something I don't know, it's time to tell me now," I reassured her firmly. "You saw my what?"
Mom looked at me as if to make sure that I still had enough sanity to take this, so I put on a brave face to make her continue.
"I saw your eyes and...your teeth," My mom finally admitted.
Now, I remember it. I ran the tip of my tongue across my upper teeth, but there were no fangs, only the same old ones that remained. I reckoned how long they once were. It felt like walking straight into a horror movie. I think I would scare three years out of my life too if those fangs showed up again.
"Mom, I need to see my eyes," I said at last.
"Honey, I don't think you should see that now,"
"Please, mom," I insisted. She hesitated for a moment but then opened the nightstand's drawer and took out a pocket mirror before handing it to me. I held the mirror in my hand.
I almost let out a terrified shriek. There was a pair of glowing eyes staring back at me. They had liquid golden rings around the pupils, which seemed to glow literally in the dark.
As if Mom didn't want me to witness too much of that, she turned on another lamp by the nightstand, the light quickly outshone the golden hue of my eyes, making them return to their natural shade again.
"What the heck is this?" I asked in a whisper.
"Optical fluorescence," she answered, "It enables you to see in the dark."
And that was not the only thing about my freaky self. As I examined the skin on my arms, it seemed as though some of the melanin had left my body.
"Okay mom, can I be exposed to the sun?" I asked because if I was like Dracula, I would have to roam the streets at night and go into hiding during the day, which was suck.
"What, you think you should live in a cave?" Mom said. "Honey, it's just a myth. Sunlight is bad only that it's too bright for vampires. They do have an acute sense of sight. Daylight just annoys them. You have extraordinary night vision though. You may demand sunglasses for any outdoor since you tend to be too sensitive to light."
"That's good to know about this UV problem," I said. "But are you sure I won't burst into flames if I go out in the sun?"
"You get a sunburn, yes," Mom replied, "But as long as you have sunscreen on, it's not a problem."
"How do you know so much about all these stuff?" I asked, feeling impressed. Mom just raised her beautiful eyebrow and pointed to herself.
"Doctor," she said.
"Oh yeah, right, I forgot," I said, feeling a little slow. "But how do you know so much about vampires?"
Mom laughed. She pointed to herself again and said, "Vampire's wife."
And for the first time here, I had the heart to laugh. Well, I should've known my mom had lived with a vampire even before I was a zygote.
"Mom, was I really that scary to you?" I asked rather timidly later.
"Yes," She said, "And also no. I was scared to death when my daughter was covered in blood. But no, I wasn't scared of what my daughter has turned into."
In that heartfelt moment, we both got tears in our eyes. She came to embrace me- the creature that only a mother could love. There was something else that I needed to know, so I wiped my eyes and spoke again.
"Do you think both of Alyssa and Cammie know about what has happened to me?"
"I don't think they do. It was dark, and you were unconscious. I made sure no one else approached us while I was checking on you," Mom said and exhaled again. But I still had a thousand questions forming inside my head.
"Mom, I'm still curious about how...you know...how could you and dad... you get what I mean?"
Because even if I spent an entire night looking on every page of my biology books, there wouldn't be a single lesson that could explain how I could come into existence in the first place.
"I think there is someone you can talk to better than me," Mom said.
"Who's that?" I asked in surprise. Wasn't it supposed to be a secret between us? Then we heard a knock on the door. Strangely I got the same feeling of chill when the doorknob turned. Someone opened it slowly, and I sat amazed at the presence of that person. It was Octavia who entered.
Octavia walked gracefully forward, looking as sizzling as ever.She came to stand at the foot of my bed."Octavia? What are you doing here?" I asked cluelessly, but then I remember the fight and how she had helped us escape. "Oh my, don't tell me you get hurt, are you okay?""I'm good, thank you," she responded quickly. Octavia did look composedly unharmed. I let out a sigh of relief."Then why are you here in the hospital?" I asked again, feeling even more confused. Suddenly things began to make sense. I turned to look at Mom again."Mom...""She knows," she answered the question in my eyes.
How strange it was just to wake up in the morning. There was something creeping beneath the layer of my skin, in my pulse, racing through my body. I felt so much stronger, and that scared me.As I sat watching the dust motes dancing their way through the cracks of the window, the sound of light footsteps approached the door."Good morning, sunshine," my mom said pleasantly as she entered the room. A huge smile stitched across my face, but then there was something I seemed to come to."What's wrong, honey?" she asked, reading my face."Well, it's just that, 'sunshine' sounds too ironic for a vampire," I told her with a weak shrug."Oh, Vivienne," Mom brea
The next day was shining bright and blistering hot. Even with my sunglasses on, I could tell there wasn't a single pack of clouds in the sky. Standing before the sensors of the Ultara gate, I kept telling myself for a zillionth time that no one knew it, no one expected it."You look nervous," a melodious voice uttered behind me. I almost jumped out of my skin. I craned my head around to see Octavia in her usual dazzling self. She smiled innocently at me."What do you want?" I snapped."Viv, I just want to apologize about yesterday," she said, using my short name as if she owned it."Apology unaccepted," I muttered back. And when the laser scanners flashed green and the steel door slid open, I quickly walked off without giving a second
I was pretty convinced that I wasn't going to survive the lunch period. It seemed as if there were loudspeakers attached to every corner of the hall. And whenever someone walked past me, I found myself clenching my fists and held my breath.The mixed scents of the place were too mind-boggling. I forced myself to walk, but I always saw figures flitting in and out of the corner of my vision. My vampire instinct was begging me. My teeth were itching so bad, I just wanted to bite something, and that horrified me to no end. It took every ounce of my willpower to keep to myself. Now, I was starting to worry about these innocent freaks. They didn't know their lives were completely exposed to jeopardy because of my existence."Vivienne, you look as if you were watching a bunch of cannibals," Cammie said, jerking me to my sense
After lunch, I told Cammie that I wasn't ready to pick up Karate yet, and she believed me without a doubt. And that was because I had unfolded Octavia's note and read what she said in the finest penmanship I've ever seen.Meet me at the library,—OI cringed. What makes the girl think I would answer her call whenever she wants? She also drew a smiley face with fangs popping out. I was going to rip the note, but then I remember she had saved me with a tube of sunblock. I sighed in defeat. Besides I also wanted to go to the library in the first place. Maybe I should just go and get it over with.A moment later, I found myself wrapped in the crispy smell of gazillions books and dried wooden shelv
Finally, my seventeenth birthday arrived. Cammie and Alyssa agreed to come over to my house tonight to celebrate. But now as I was concentrating on the components of human cells and chromosomes on my lab table this morning, I sensed a rush of electric wave radiating from someone sliding into the chair near me. I turned to see an angelic face that belonged to no one but Octavia."What are you doing here?" I asked surprisingly."I'm taking a biology class," she simply said with a smirk. "So how's everything?""Still torture," I said truthfully. "But I'm getting better at it now.""You are," she agreed in a quiet tone. For some reason, her approval made me smile with pride. Then, Ms. Grace, our professor appeared. She wore her usual lab
We gathered at my house after school. Cammie and Alyssa had got the wildest decoration I'd ever seen in my house. I had to keep saying 'No' to five tiers of king-size cake that Alyssa was trying to get for me. Cammie had put sunflowers and balloons and a dozen birthday hats and tooter things, even though there were only a few of us attending the party. But the most ridiculous thing of all was, my two best friends spent a good portion of time dressingme!"Please, don't tell me to look at myself when you're done," I said while Cammie was applying some eyeliners and lip gloss on my face."You have to be a Cinderella tonight," Cammie told me."Well, then you both can be my stepsisters."
The party had ended for good. After Cammie and Alyssa left, I sat in the living room. My mom was right beside me, one of her arms held my shoulders for moral support. Octavia was sitting opposite us on another chair, a look of intense concentration registered on her face."Honey, maybe it's just a phase, you're only having it the hard way, that's all," Mom tried to soothe me."Mom it's definitely not a phase and you know that," I said dryly."Maybe we can make a readjustment to your diet," Mom suggested. I opened my mouth to protest, but this time, Octavia spoke quietly."I believe there is something more to that."We turned to look at her, but she didn't look up, and her voice also