You're in Vampire Country, Now

“Everything after that was like some horrible, slow-motion dream… the others came, the other vampires I mean, and took Gerard, Mikey, and I to their underground “hideout”. They told us of the things they’d done, seen, and were going to do to us. Throughout the whole thing I just remember thinking we were going to die slowly and painfully at the hands of some psychopaths that sucked people's blood and called themselves 'Vampires'.

I remember them leading us into this small room with gray, stained walls and a concrete floor. I remember them sitting us down and revealing their plans. I remember Gabriel coming into the room and telling us that we wouldn’t get away “this time”. It wasn’t long before Gabriel wanted to try turning us again. He talked of, “getting rid of the little one” and how he’d turn Gerard and I “slowly and carefully, I want you to be the perfect little vampires!”. Then, instead of getting rid of Mikey he decided to turn him too. Gerard protested, saying he was too young, that he would gladly sacrifice himself if he let Mikey go. The only thing Gerard’s protest earned him was a slap across the face. Mikey shrieked almost the entire time after that, and Gerard didn’t say another word…

The turning process wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, though it was still close to unbearable. Gabriel took Gerard, Mikey, and I outside on this cliff, where we were directly under the moonlight. I don’t remember much about it, all I remember is the feeling of being engulfed by fire, and then a strange peacefulness. Then I passed out…I think…I know I went first, that I’m sure of.” I paused, waiting for some sort of reaction out of Sorrow, but she was too awestruck to say anything. In fact, no one except Frankie and Tater had ever heard this story. I mean, Ray and Bob asked about it but we never bothered to tell them.

“We started out raiding small villages on the coast of New Jersey, where we lived at the time. The humans all slept with guns, like that would help them, and knives. It was almost amusing, when a man and his son would come out, yelling at us to go away and never come back, threatening to shoot us or hang us, “even the girl too!”. Of course, they were always the ones we hunted first.”

“Have you ever been shot?” Sorrow asked suddenly, her voice tight in her throat.

“Yeah, I have…four times I think…maybe five. One time in the heart.” Sorrow’s eyes grew wide. I continued.

“After a few years I was leading the raids alongside Gabriel, almost taking pride in what I was doing. I still didn’t like killing…but I began to hate humans, I really did. Just…they were so stupid…their petty wars…I don’t know they were merely barbarians to us, animals. But that was the one thing I really liked about vampires. As I’ve stated before women were property back then. Men didn’t give a damn what we wanted, we weren’t allowed to be in the military, no one cared about our opinions, but the vampires did. They didn’t give a damn that I was a female, and I was just about the only female in our division. They accepted me as a second leader, and they didn’t dare think I was inferior to them.

However…I got sick of it quite fast…Gerard and I, after serving the vampires for twenty years, had started to talk about leaving, going out on our own with our friends Franklin and Raymond, and getting away from some of the bloodshed. But it wasn’t until Gabriel who, mind you, was hundreds and hundreds of years old, proposed to me that I asked to resign from leadership, and leave the clan. Of course, Gabriel refused, and I don’t think my rejecting his proposal helped any. Regrettably, we all had to sneak out and run away. It was crazy, and we could have gotten killed for it, but we made it…

We fled to the south and lived in Texas for half a century, however all of the civil war shit got to us and we went back up north, to New York, until the 70’s. Somehow Gabriel found us and we knew that we weren’t safe up north, so we had to move back into the south, to Louisiana, where we are now.” I sighed and leaned back, having just recapped my entire life up until that point. I’d never felt so exhausted in my life. Nothing was said for what seemed like hours, but I enjoyed the silence.

Sorrow looked as if she were going to cry. “You okay?” I asked, even though I knew she wasn’t. Then I remembered her sister. “Kayla…” I mumbled, mulling over the thought of telling Sorrow about what happened to her cousin. I knew she’d hate us, but I felt like I shouldn’t rob her of knowing what happened to her cousin, like I had been. “Your cousin…” I said, louder this time, knowing there was no going back. Gerard stared at me, silently pleading for me to not tell. Mikey looked at me, and then I immediately wished I hadn’t said anything. Telling Sorrow would ruin Mikey’s chances with her, and he loved her. But I had to. “Your cousin lived through the car accident.” I winced as Sorrow’s head shot up, and she stared back and forth from me to Mikey. “Here,” I said, producing Kayla’s diary from my pocket. “Take this, go in a room by yourself, and read it.” Sorrow looked hesitant but did what I said.

“I…I can’t believe you’re letting her find out.” Mikey, said, worried.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine…once she gets over the fact that you killed her cousin…”