Caduceus

“This,” He pointed to himself. “Was supposed to scare you. Aren’t you surprised to see me here? Or even a little curious how I got here?” I shook my head. He rolled his eyes and jumped on the bed. “You’re no fun.”

I chuckled.
“So I’ve been told. However, I am curious why you are here?” He shrugged.

“Now that I think of it, I don’t really know. Eric told me where you were.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Eric?” He nodded.

“Of course. I live in the same house as him. The old Arche manor, huge and beautiful. But the Blanche one was much cooler.” I went next to him, on the bed and leaned on the wall.

“But…why?” He looked at me and sighed.

“You’re in danger, Stel. See this?” He said and took out another pendant. “It’s the Caduceus. For short, the messenger of bad news. I found it a few days ago in New York. That’s why I came here, looking for Eric. I knew he killed Cameron and he found out the truth, even if not entirely. I also had a very interesting dream…”

I cut him off instantly.
“Dream? I thought vampires didn’t sleep.” He nodded.

“True. Until we found these two stones. They’ve been found a few years ago, one of the reasons the vampire race slowly lessened.

Some vampires would do anything to become human again. I’m not one of them.” He smirked. He raised and got up. He started walking through my room, inspecting everything. “But these stones give us the chance to live like a human. Sleep, eat, go out at night and day but this doesn’t mean we’re not still vampires.” He caught a glimpse of something interesting, because he started smirking. “What do we have here…”

Oh, no.

“A diary. Let’s see…” He flipped through the pages. “Dear diary…I feel like shit.” He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “It starts off interestingly enough.” I rolled my eyes and tried to get it back but he was taller. “I can’t believe my best friend has done this to me. I know I’ve been here for a short period and I already know we’ll move again but dot, dot, dot I’m even surprised that Lucas accepted. I knew Christine liked him but why didn’t she tell me the truth? That she is indeed jealous. She didn’t have to steal my boyfriend.” He chuckled. “Harsh.” I rolled my eyes again.

“You think? Now give it back.” I tried to jump him but he got away, he used his super speed to get up on the bed.

“Next…Dear diary, today was weird. Dad and mom started yelling out of nowhere. They usually make up and kiss and everything comes back to normal, but not this time. Nate told me to go to my room and forget what was happening downstairs but how could I?!”

I bent my head down. That was right before mom left. That night changed mine and Nate’s lives. “It seems your ‘mom’ left, huh? Do you want to know how your real mother was?” I nodded and went on the bed, opposite him. “She was really beautiful. She had light brown hair, blue eyes and had this way of being very professional. She hated mistakes, that’s why the Blanche family became nobility fast. It was one of the most important families in the town and everything the mayor would do had to be accepted by the two families. Your mother was an example for a lot of girls. She was nice, caring, lovely, she never stopped impressing everyone. She loved you a lot and she didn’t want that arranged marriage for you.”

“But what happened? And who’s Rebeca?”

“Oh, right…Vampires usually can’t have children. However, if the male has sexual relationships with a female human she can get pregnant. Your father transformed your mother a long time ago. Maybe even 1000 years ago. Your parents haven’t been born when the documents said they were. Your mother got pregnant with Nate 30 years before you.”

“So Nate’s older than me by 30 years? And not one?” He nodded. I gasped. “But this means I’m older than 100 years?” He put up a thinking face.

“Yes. You were 40 when we met. And I was just 23 years old. Your parents moved here and they managed to make false documents so people wouldn’t get suspicious. Blanche and Arche were the only vampires in Firehole. Haven't you ever asked yourself why you and Nate knew French so well? And why sometimes when you talk you have a weird accent?” I shook my head. “Your mother is from France and your father is from England. They met when um…there was a war. Your father was hungry and that’s how he met your mom.”

“How do you know all this stuff about my parents?”

He shrugged. “I had time. I’ve always wanted to know more about you. After you disappeared, I wanted to find you but thought again. I traveled a lot through Europe and found small documents about a Beatrice Blanche and an Aaron.”

“Just Aaron?”

He nodded. “He took my mother’s name because he didn’t have one?”

He nodded again.

“Then…” I got up and started walking across my room. “My…father transformed mom after both me and my brother have been born. Vampires can have children because female vampires can’t get pregnant. This Rebeca has been adopted by my family because mom wanted her to get that arranged marriage.”

“But when they wanted this, Eric wasn’t the one she had to get married with. It was Chris, his older brother. Rebeca was human and she really died, but someone changed her and she came back. When she saw you and the one you were supposed to marry, she thought you took her place and that Eric was supposedly hers. Rebeca kind of died because of her own stupidity. She hated you and she messed with Eric’s head. When Eric told you those bad things about you not acting like a vampire you got really mad. You changed.

Me, being also a vampire, tried to help you but you went crazy and became evil. Vampires are evil but you were more like a demon. Vampires aren’t demons. They are creatures who live with blood. Like humans live with air.”

“If I am a vampire, and my brother is one too, why don’t we drink blood?”

He put a finger to his chin and thought. Out of nowhere he went downstairs.

“Hey!” I went in the kitchen to see him looking through the fridge.

“Aha! Found it!” He closed the door to the refrigerator and put two bottles of tomato juice on the table. “What’s this?”

“Tomato juice. Dad always puts it in everything we eat.”

“Wrong. It’s blood. I can smell it.” He opened one bottle and took a sip. “It’s good. He put blood in everything you eat, not tomato juice.” He rolled his eyes. “Tomato juice…huh. No one would drink something like this.” I went closer and took a sip from the bottle too. It tasted like blood, and I liked it. “Yummy, huh?” I chuckled and took another sip, and another, and another until Alex took it from me. I surprised even myself when I growled at him.

I could feel something growing in my mouth. I stopped and put my finger over them.
“Fangs…” He nodded.

“And that’s not all.” He took my hand and dragged me to the bathroom.

“Oh my God…my eyes are red.” I watched slowly into the mirror to see how my eyes changed back to green and the fangs slowly turned back to normal teeth. “It’s incredible. I thought all of these were myths and imaginated things, but it’s true…vampires are real…I am a vampire.” I was completely stunned while Alex was smirking.

“Now you believe me…? Everything I told you is true. I am real, you are real, Nate is real and Eric is real. These are the vampires from Firehole. In America there aren’t many…I think there are a few more in New York and Las Vegas but that’s all. Vampires usually like Europe more. So I think…25 vampires are in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Romania and Russia. Also the other 5 from America, plus the unknown ones…I don’t know all of them. Do you think people really die out of nowhere? Vampires kill them before they bite them and also…some just take blood from hospitals. Simple like this.”

I went slowly back into my room and fell on my bed. I turned on my back and closed my eyes, a smile forming on my lips.

“It’s amazing. It’s like a whole new world just opened up. I can do anything I want and I won’t die easily.”

He started chuckling. “But you’re not an ordinary vampire, Stella. You are Stella Blanche. Many vampires will come after you. Many want to kill you.”

“Why?” He stared incredibly at me.

“Why? Because you killed many people: vampires, families, children. You were the Devil on Earth!”

I glared at him. “Don’t yell. Dad’s sleeping. Do you want him to find you here?” He shrugged.

“I guess no. He is a vampire slayer.” I sighed.

“Why doesn’t this surprise me…” He chuckled and went towards the balcony. “Leaving?” He turned his head and nodded.

“I will show you what you can do, tomorrow. It’s Sunday and you have the entire day to yourself…I hope. If not, make it available.” He jumped out and disappeared. I closed my eyes and smiled. Things were getting weirdly interesting in Firehole. It really shocked me how calm I was. But I guess I always knew something about me had been a total mystery and something in my memory forgotten.