Half Bitten

As captivating as the vacation house was, and much like the Rolands, it still managed to send a chill down my spine. I sighed wearily, knowing that it was probably the only time I would be able to breathe freely before sprinting down the dark hall. A hall in which elongated with every step progressing towards the endless pit that waited on the other side. Even the floorboards creaked as if they were withered, as if the once belonged to an old house.
To an extent, I knew that there was nothing safer than the Rolands’ vacation house.
My paranoia, I suppose, was a result of an endless internal battle fought by the guilt that sweltered around my body and my will to deny such a thing in the deep set of my mind. I couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that I ruined Christmas dinner and had thrown away my last chance to be accepted by the Rolands Family. After Alec walked to his room my dad did the best he could to preserve what was left of the dinner but was beaten out by everyone’s urge to end it abruptly.
I forced myself to clear the table along side Ms. Rolands. My father couldn’t help but to watch over us nonchalantly as we went about our business. After ten minutes or so he offered to help clear the dishes but I told him to stay in the kitchen and load the dishwasher. Not that I knew the Rolands owned a dishwasher. In a house like this, a dishwasher was probably the cheapest thing bought.
It wasn’t till long after I caught him peaking through kitchen door into the dinning room. Why didn’t he want to leave Ms. Rolands and I to our own company? In an attempt to ease his worried mind I offered to watch a movie and he eyed me skeptically. Somehow, I felt proud that my father suspected my mind to be bubbling up a plan and devising a proper execution.
Guess the deepest fear of any single parent is for the child to despise the new person of favor so tremendously that the parent would have no choice but to do the same.
A part of me accepted my father’s relationship with Ms. Rolands. The other part felt cheated, played into a lie. Couldn’t he have picked a better place to tell me? Couldn’t he have thought of a better time? Granted that ripping the band-aid off a scab shortens the pain, but doesn’t the pain still manage to take place no matter how rapidly uncovered?
If my dad asked for the truth, I would have no choice but to give him my approval and secretly regret it for the rest of my life. Once upon a time I did make it my goal to keep my father happy, especially because of the fact that my mother was no longer in his life. Ms. Rolands is exactly what he needed.
The water drops made their way down my cheeks. My hair was still damp, and due to the lack of a comb, curlier than usual. I let my fingers rise up to the light switch slowly. Another sigh managed to exit my body, this time out of hate. Turns out that only guest bedroom available in the house was at the end of the first floor, furthest away from any exit or light source.
The light switch clicked off and the door swung open in response. I ran forward, disregarding every eerie sound that decided to reach my ears. The dim ray of a night-light placed in the guest bedroom was the only thing that gave me a gush of relief.
Even though I wasn’t in my bedroom, or with Lowlii, a sense of safety overwhelmed my body. I scratched at the sweater that was still placed around me.
Now that I was in a semi private area, and my dad was probably sound asleep, my mind could only come up with once conclusion. I curled my fingers underneath the sweater and pulled up. Only after the sweater was in the air above my head did I hear another body in the room.
“Whoa!” the melodic voice exclaimed.
I stumbled towards the bed and fell while my hands reached around for a blanket to cover my half naked body.
“I should’ve told you I was in here.” Darby stood at the corner of the room nervously. Looking down to the ground he raised an oversized green flannel shirt. “Alec sent me to give you this about 15 minutes ago.” He spoke swiftly, as if he was trying to save his breath. “Alec said that there was no way you could survive the night in your bra—Christmas sweater.”
I smiled nervously. If this was Alec’s idea, why wasn’t he here in person?
“Thanks, I think.”
Darby looked up and smiled. For a second, the nervousness his body seemed to materialize melted away. I carefully leaned forward to reach for the sweater and the nervousness took over his body once again.
“ ‘It’s big enough that we could fit three of her in and it still wouldn’t be snug’ Alec told me. So, I’m guessing you could wear it as a night gown.” Darby continued to report in an urgent manner. Before I could reach for the shirt once again it was dropped at the foot of the bed. Within a blink Darby was halfway towards the door.
“Good night.” I wished politely.
Darby paused for a slight second and smiled halfheartedly. “Your father brought up your laptop and journal from the truck.”
“Journal?” I questioned, hopping that it would deny him the chance of leaving.
He looked down to the ground once again. “Don’t—don’t worry. I would never read it. You’re a guest in this house.
“Wait.” I tried not to let wishful thinking fill my mind. “You don’t hate me?
Darby stayed silent.
“You know, for the dinner. I ruined everything.”
For once, his eyes grew warm. “Don’t worry, really. Us Rolands, we’ve always been like that. There are always secrets that remain unspoken around here.”
“Like what?”
Darby seemed to disregard my curiosity. “Do you write in that journal daily? Alec said he recognized it.”
I bit my lip, trying to recall anything that resembled a journal. “I wasn’t aware I had one. What secrets?”
“Oh well, I guess I wish you the same. Good night.”
I tried not to groan in disappointment.
“And if you need anything, I’m sure Alec wont be far. Our kind never sleeps anyway.”
Darby glided out of the room swiftly while his words rang much later in my ears than I had hoped. I waited to hear his footsteps fade away and caught a gasp.
Why would he need to hold his breath around me?
I slipped the flannel shirt on with determination. I was going to settle this once and for all. The laptop was thrown open as it tried to breathe patiently.
“Our kind?” my mouth echoed Darby’s words. What kind could the Rolands be other than human? I tried to think back to what Lowlii told me about them.
The Rolands were considered enemies to the Whites. The Whites had no reason to hate them but one.
“Cold hands, Pale skin.” I typed slowly then came to the conclusion that those words sounded all too familiar to me. “Blood sucker.” I gasped silently. These characteristics were the very ones etched into my mind; the thing that attacked innocent Hopi tribe people and left them completely lifeless.
His words suddenly made sense to my mind. Alec said that no one in his family was human—that he wasn’t human. He was the boy running through the woods the night everyone claimed the attacks started to happen. The way he ran—it could never be considered human.
But if he wasn’t human, or his family, was my dad suddenly one of them?
If he was bitten, why wasn’t I?
Did it have something to do with the legend; were the rest of the Rolands firm believers of it as well?
My fingers glided over the laptop keys as I quickly recalled the name of the European sailor. “Andreas” I mouthed, remembering the dreaded dinner conversation.
Eric was Ms. Rolands ‘boyfriend’. Judging by Alec’s reaction to the name, Eric wasn’t loved. More than anything, he was the bad guy. Eric was the one that replaced Andreas. But who was Andreas? Taking into consideration that Alec was the only Roland with chocolate brown hair and dazzling green eyes, the opposite of Ms. Rolands, there had to be an extra person in the family. Maybe even a biological parent.
Andreas.
My heart started to race, this couldn’t be the same Andreas as the legend recorded. Closing my eyes I urged myself to breathe. At that moment I denied every right to being the girl from the legend.
I denied being myself. If I were anyone else, this situation wouldn’t have occurred. Vampires and Werewolves would be in their own worlds not talking to me.
I extended my arms out in an attempt to stretch the stress away. To forget everything. My hands dragged along the carpet and stopped at a bump before me.
The journal.
The red patent book that seemed to find me as if in a chance of pursuing fate. Flipping through the pages I thought of Alec. It wasn’t as if words lined the empty canvases of the book and spoke of his life but the suspicion that he knew where this book came from noted itself.
Something told me that, human or not, Alec knew more things about Port Angeles than my dad and I combined. He probably knew exactly where this journal came from.
“Stop it!” A male voice exclaimed. “Stop it! You don’t know what you’re doing! Please, stop!” I tried to slow down my breathing in hopes of listening more clearly.
“Stop!” the voice continued. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”
Sensing the jitter in the voice, I threw myself up to my feet and started to run. Run as fast as I could. If the Rolands were vampires, what was to stop Ms. Rolands from turning my dad into one too? I would never forgive myself if something happened to my father and spending an eternity with Alec was not at the top of my agenda.
Without realizing I sped around the corner and gained enough momentum to slide across the marble tile of the kitchen floor. They wouldn’t have heard me enter the main living room of the first floor if it wasn’t for my body hitting the side table and knocking down the conveniently placed glass lamp to the ground.
“Jackie!” My father yelled out in anger after he managed to look over Ms. Rolands’ shoulder. The wide angle his eyes were opened up to made me cringe. In fear that one would pop out and hit me in the face, I tried not to interrupt him. “Are you crazy! What are you doing running around like that! Do you know what would happen if you got hurt, or even started bleeding!”
“Well, what are you doing out of bed this late at night?” I retorted back. “Don’t you know that you need more than eight hours of sleep!”
Before he could answer Ms. Rolands reached for the lamp on her side of the couch. “ Are you bleeding?” she asked in a rushed manner.
I reassured without bothering to check. “No, I’m fine.”
Ms. Rolands let her eyes grow sweet. “Don’t worry about the lamp, Jackie. Why are you down here? Is everything in the guest bedroom okay?”
Except for Darby seeing me half naked? “No, everything’s fine. It’s just that…” I let my voice trail off after realizing how ignorant I became.
What if I was never supposed to figure out the Rolands’ secret? The fear of Ms. Rolands figuring out that I knew what she really was did its best to keep my mind spinning with anticipation.
“I just wanted to get some ice cream.” I managed to peep.
After my words registered inside my father’s mind, his eyes narrowed down. “What do you mean? You never eat this late at night.”
Feeling the burn of his judgment, I tried to stay calm. “I didn’t get a chance to eat at the dinner.”
Ms. Rolands sighed, “Well, I hope you know that what happened at dinner was not your fault.”
I nodded in response.
“The ice cream’s upstairs in the game room.” She directed me. “Be careful, it might still be dark up there.”
In a way, my clumsiness paid off. The second lamp was bright enough to illuminate the space around my father and Ms. Rolands but dim enough to keep everything around that space concealed with darkness. I wished them both a good night and went up the stairs towards the game room. After knowing that their minds were clear of any suspicion I purposely started to walk on my toes in hopes that I could remain unheard.
“Be careful.” My dad urged sweetly. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Kassie.”
Ms. Rolands giggled. It wasn’t in a bashful sense or even in a dazed sense. It was as if she was happy to have someone talk to her in way where she felt loved.
For a moment my mind ran back to Lowlii. He made me feel such happiness. Not only in myself, but the world around me. I tried to distract myself from anymore thought of Lowlii in hopes that the empty hole that developed in the lack of his presence wouldn’t grow.
The pool table was still set as if a game was being played. My eyes traced the outlines of the various colored balls. Out of instinct my hand reached for a pool stick. I leaned over the table slightly in hopes to hold a better angle to shoot the ball. I breathed in but found myself unable to breathe out after feeling cold fingers set themselves on my shoulders.
“So I take it you know?” I could feel the vapor of cold breath against my cheek as I tried to open my mouth.
“It wasn’t hard to figure out, Alec. Every conversation we have is about how immortal you are.”
I could hear him smirk, “more or less.”
“So,” I swallowed hard. “Should I ask the first question?”
“Go ahead.” He hummed.
I mumbled incoherently, “Who was Andreas?”
At first, nothing but silence answered back to me. “He was my father.”
“What happened to him?”
Another moment of silence followed.
“He was killed.” Alec mouthed slowly.
In an attempt to ease the pain I strained my mind to figure out what could be as powerful enough to kill a vampire. “Who killed him?
“It wasn’t a ‘who’. It was an ‘it’.” Alec informed.
I allowed myself to say nothing.
“I take it that the silence is due to the fact that you already know?”
I shook my head slightly, “what happened to him?”
“He was attacked by an animal. The same animal you’ve grown to love. A werewolf.”
My heart sunk while my mind fought to understand his words. Werewolves were the good guys, not the bad ones. “Why would werewolves attack your father?”
Alec swallowed slowly. “Because, Eric was his twin brother.”
“Couldn’t his death just be a misunderstanding?” I whispered. “Maybe they got confused.”
He snickered bitterly. “Werewolves know who you are and where you’ve been just by a mere whiff of the air. Once they have your scent, they don’t forget it.
Eric was the troubled one in my father’s family. Not only did he seem innocent, he was pure evil. Within the first minute of meeting him, any human can figure out that he was insane.”
“And a vampire.” I chimed in untimely.
Alec took in a sharp breath and continued his story. “My father’s family was of the sorts that took the obligation of protecting the innocent. Not hunting and feeding on them. Just like werewolves, we too are born to protect humankind. What we protect it from is highly different.”
After a momentary pause I finally understood what Alec was saying. “You protect humankind from werewolves. That’s why The Whites hate you.”
“No,” he corrected in an annoyed manner. “You humans are far more than predictable.”
I chose to disregard his sneer remark and allowed him to continue.
“We are just as strong and just as weak. It would make no sense to be attacking something so alike to us and the war would be endless. Wouldn’t you rather kick a solider when he’s unarmed and powerless?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
A vapor of cold breath seemed to brush my face again, this time in irritation. “Would you like me to bite you instead?”
“Now, that’s a rhetorical question.” I stated confidently.
“I’m going to continue now.” He growled in an effort to scare me speechless. In someway I was thankful that it was dark around us. Catching a glimpse of his eyes would’ve made me faint; they always managed to send me in a deep paralyzing trance. One I fought with every fiber of my being.
“My father’s family made a living on becoming slayers. What they would slay were rogue vampires, ones that threatened the lives of many innocent mortals. Werewolves were supposed to do the same, except the rule was that they had to stick to their own species. It was the only way we could set balance on earth between the vampire and werewolf kingdom.
Eric never liked the idea of Vampires and Werewolves working side by side. His rule was that there had to be one leader. One leader that would be the most powerful and did not have to abide to any law.” Alec stated in a low volume.
“Guess he was a bit of a narcissist. He wanted to be that leader, and he would do anything to make it happen. Even killing one of his own brother. Of course, he couldn’t tell anyone of his plan. Vampires knew many things and not a lot stayed unspoken. The more information was tossed around, the more likely chance that the king of the werewolf kingdom would catch it.
In his human form, Samuel was nothing but a harmless being. But on the nights of full moons, not even the most powerful god could withstand such a creature. In a calm state, his eyes would stay a strong shade of silver but when he wanted to attack they turned red. Sinful red. A shade in which can only signify death. His black shabby fur would turn coarse. Coarse enough to sting anything that touched it.” As Alec continued whispering breathlessly into my ear, another chill went down my spine. My hands twitched and my palms grew sweaty. My heart was unsteady; behaving in such a way that only Lowlii would force.
“Samuel was a creature of destruction. He knew that nothing could stand in his way and this scared him. In fear that he would be killing what little innocence this world had preserved he vowed to his tribe never to change unless it was necessary. They, in honor and response, vowed to do the same.
Eric knew that this was his chance to kill Andreas, seeing as how he was the leader of our Kingdom.
But Samuel had friends that took wind in the sky and took home underneath the grounds we solely walk on.” Alec stopped to observe my facial expression for any signal to cease his ranting. I was sure I looked as if I was about to faint. Alec was standing so close that I was sure at any second my life would be over.
“He tried to warn Andreas.” I mouthed.
“And Andreas grew angry. Not because he was appalled that Samuel had the power to spy on us even through the wind, but because he knew that his words were true. Andreas suspected all along that Eric would want to take the thrown by any means. One of them he refused to succumb to. My father did not want to die in front of his own brother, even if his brother was the one doing the killing.”
“So he made Samuel fight him.” I added. “To kill him.”
“They fought for hours.” Alec agreed effortlessly. “That night was the only night the clouds clashed in anger and lightening struck everything that was liable to be stricken. But Eric heard that Samuel had called a meeting with Andreas and figured that he could kill two birds with one stone. He tracked them down with plans of killing both of them.
Smelling Andrea’s blood was not something Eric endured happily. Seeing my father’s body fall helplessly to the ground from the arms of an overgrown mutt only made the situation worse.
Two days after Andrea’s death, Samuel’s murder was set to be committed” Alec stopped and swallowed dreadfully. I could feel the sadness swell in his eyes. The feeling wasn’t one of which that grew from the murder of his own father but from a memory trigged by Samuel’s.
I dreaded whispering Alec’s name. “Did you kill Samuel?”
Caught in a wave of regret and remorse, Alec bit his lip before growling dully. “ I didn’t ask for your judgment. Rufus and I—we had no choice.
Eric was our leader and disobeying the leader resulted in being killed.”
The tears that suddenly accumulated around my eyes made their way down my cheek.
“My mom knew nothing of it at the time. She was too blinded by her idiotic infatuation with Eric.”
“Did you like killing Samuel?” my voice was barely audible.
“I said his murder was set to be committed. We figured out a plan but the execution failed. He ran away in hopes that no one would ever find him again. It wasn’t long till Samuel’s son owned the thrown to the Werewolf Kingdom and declared war on us, in hopes to avenge his father’s so called death. Only three years after the battle did he call a truce and on that night, Eric was killed.” He pronounced Eric’s name with such hatred that it was acidic.
I swallowed hard. “Would you have taken his life, if you had the chance? Would you have killed your own uncle?”
Silence answered back. Ms. Rolands and my father’s laughter died off moments ago but due to the lack of Alec’s droning voice in my ear, my mind only came to the conclusion only now. I could still feel Alec’s breath against my cheek. I couldn’t fathom that the slightest turn of my head would allow the unforgettable to occur. I tried to shift away but Alec’s hands did not loosen or tighten their grip on my shoulders.
“So, you knew that I was a vampire yet you still found power to come out of your room late at night. Why?”
I tried to find the right words that would allow me to escape. “I don’t know. Why haven’t I been bitten yet?”
His breathing shortened. “I don’t know.”
His hands took a sudden course of action and ran themselves away from my shoulders and rested on the edge of the pool table. I was disabled from running away seeing as how his arms were now on either side of me.
“How long has it been since you ate?” I strained my voice to speak.
Alec’s cold breath grew intense as it made its way down my neck. “Three days.”
The words that seeped through his lips made me cringe. “Can I ask you another question?”
“Mmm.” He hummed melodically.
“Do you want to bite me?”
I could feel his cold lips approach the skin of my neck. “Would you look at me differently even if I answered that?”