Are You Sure This Is My Life We Are Talking About?

The cell phone at my hip vibrated. I picked it up to look at the message.

Here.

“Rachel, let’s go out front for a minute, I need some air away from this claustrophobic mess.”

She shook her head in agreement and we silently slipped away from the crowd. Standing out front, we stood a few feet away from another one of cousins. Devin was somewhere in his 20s and smoking on a cigarette. Hating the smell, I made sure to stay upwind from it. Rachel and I stood there, under a tree, nursing our sodas and soaking in the silence. A small tear rolled down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.

“Whoa, who’s that? You didn’t tell me you had a hot neighbor,” she said halfheartedly, changing the subject from tears to boys.

I shrugged. “I’d take a bite out of him.” I joked.

Rachel rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. “You would.”

“I did.”

She gave me a funny look. I didn’t say anything odd, not by our cousinly standards. I would usually say something perverted with which she would respond ‘you would say that’ and I respond with ‘I did’. But I guess the difference was there or she wouldn’t be giving me an odd look.

You’re a lucky girl Sara, she’s positive for vampirism. The thought went through my head like lightening. It startled me so badly that I started choking on my soda.

“Are you ok?” Rachel asked.

I nodded quickly. My cousin Devin walked to the cement sidewalk, stamping out his cigarette before walking back inside leaving us alone with Dante` standing on the edge of the grass staring intensely after him. I knew he was controlling my cousin’s actions, giving us privacy, but Rachel didn’t know that.

“Why is that guy just standing there? Common let’s go inside.” She tugged on my arm, trying to make me hurry, but I wasn’t going to go anywhere, and neither was she.

“It’s ok, I know him, he’s cool.”

Dante` walked up to us with a small smile, meant to calm Rachel.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

I nodded. “I asked him to come.”

My dark haired vampire put his arm around my waist and stuck out his other hand of Rachel to shake. “Hi, I’m Dante`.”

“Rachel.” She put her hand in his, shook, and quickly withdrew to her side.

Dante` looked at me. “Should we go to your room? We’ll need privacy for this conversation.”

I nodded and motioned with my head for Rachel to follow, but headstrong as she was, she wasn’t going to budge.

“Tell me what’s going on right now. You’ve never told me about this guy before. Who the hell is he?”

I sighed, trying to pick my words carefully. “Dante` is my boyfriend, kind of. My mom and dad know about him and about our relationship. I didn’t tell you because we met the day before my letter came that I got into Oxford. Plus, I’ve busy packing all of my stuff up. Look,” I sighed, “we want to tell you something, but in private, ok? And yeah, my parents know about this too.”

“You can’t be pregnant if you just met him. So what the hell is it?”

“If you come with us, we’ll tell you, but not out here where everyone can hear.”

Rachel stood there for a second, her short black side bangs falling into her eyes. “Fine.”

I smiled softly, one battle won. I ushered them both into the house, Dante` keeping everyone away, and into my bedroom.

“So? Spill.” My cousin ordered as soon as the door was closed.

“I’m going to England, and I am going to school there, but not to Oxford. School isn’t the reason I’m going to England. Dante` is.” I held my hand up to interrupt her. “Let us say everything we have to say before you say or ask anything, alright?”

She nodded reluctantly.

I looked over at Dante` telling him to introduce himself again. He cleared his throat. “My name is Vladimire Dante` Balitiu. But everyone just calls me Dante`, since my father is also called Vladimire. I'm half Romanian, half Italian, but my family now currently lives in England. I’m.. different. So is Sara, more so now, and so are you. I’m not sure how your cousin wants to say this to you Rachel, so I’ll let her explain the rest.”

“Because I’m different, genetically different,” I let my fangs slip down a little, “our parents arranged for us to get married when we were babies. Well, actually Dante` was three years old, I was the baby.” I smiled wryly, knowing the tips of my fangs must be showing by now. “I’m going to England because of our engagement, we’re getting married really soon, and the school pretense works good for the family. Only my mom and dad know about this. Besides you that is.”

“You’re telling me your getting married?” She said quietly.

“And that I’m a vampire, well, we all are.”

“That was smooth,” Dante` said under his breathe.

I elbowed him in the ribs.

“Oh, he’s a vampire too, huh? What kind of medication did they put you on? I know you like to read about this kind of shit, but Sara, it’s not real! I read the same books you do. I want my own Wrath or Vishous as much as you do, but they aren’t real!”

“I know they aren’t real. But I am. Look at me!” I forced my fangs down, revealing their full length.

“Fuck me sideways,” Rachel whispered.

“And why would I do that when I can do Dante` any way I want?” I wiggled my eyebrows.

Rachel laughed breathlessly. “They look real.”

“They are. Dante` has a pair too, and you will have your own once you get ‘activated.’” I made air quotes.

“Activated cousin? And what do you mean me too?”

“Yeah. Apparently only male vampires get their teeth at puberty, us girls have to wait until they bite us which activates our genes, giving us our full vampirism. And I mean just that. You are a vampire too. I can’t sense it yet, but Dante` knows how to and says you are, which is why I can tell you all of this.”

“Oh shit.”

Dante`, Rachel and I talked for a while, Dante` making my guests think I was there chatting with everyone. Rachel finally got her emotions under control, not taking as easily as I did that she was a vampire. After much debate, we came to the conclusion that Rachel would spend the night, same as Dante`, at my house and that she would come with me to the airport to say goodbye. As close as we were, no one would go against our wishes for it, and I slept better that night knowing my cousin knew the truth.