A Fatal Attraction

Tristan’s awkwardness left away as we paced away from the house. The tension between us was no more, but I had a feeling that it would be back before the day was over. Obviously, Tristan had come over for something and maybe he deserved an explanation and if I told him the truth, my punishment wouldn’t be as severe as the one Jessika had.

Tristan? I asked him. He looked at me. His expression was unreadable.

“That was you.” He didn’t say it as a question, but as a statement. He had heard me before.

Even though he didn’t ask a question, I answered him anyway, “Yes. Tristan that was me.” The expression on his face changed to amazement. Well, things weren’t so bad now. I was the interesting one, instead of the scary monster.

“That. That is purely amazing.” Tristan complimented and I couldn’t help but sneak a smile.

Thank you, I thought to him as I said “You think so?”

He laughed. “Okay. Now, you are just showing off.” He said through his laughter. I joined his laughter and we laughed together. Sharing a nice moment.

“Tristan,” I said, when the laughing fit was over. “You came back. I don’t understand why.” He looked at me with passion in his eyes. Passion? He looked away, then back at me and the passion that I’d just seen was gone. Maybe I imagined it. I don’t know.

“I don’t really understand why either. I just couldn’t get you out of my head.” He paused, considering my ability, and then said, “Yesterday, I was trying to figure out everything that had happened. I was trying to figure out who - what - you are. Clearly, you are not human.”

He was right. I am definitely not human. I didn’t know whether I was happy he knew or upset that he knew. I stared at him curiously. Wondering if I should betray my clan and my family and tell him the truth. He did deserve an actual explanation after all and he wouldn’t give up trying to find out the truth if I gave some poor excuse.

“No, Tristan, I am not human. I am a vampire.” The words from my mouth brought him to a halt.

Wide-eyed, he said, “You are a vampire?” It was surprising that there was no hint of fear in his voice or in the look on his face. I was pleased to know that. I didn’t like to know that I scared him. I nodded and a smiled pulled at the corners of my mouth.

Tristan exhaled loudly like he had been holding his breath. We continued walking as he tried to process everything. The speed, the unnatural ability to telepathically communicate with him, and probably the most common; blood.

As I expected, the question was asked. “Do you really drink blood?”

I laughed quickly, and then said, “Yes. I really drink blood.” A look of disgust flashed across his face as he thought of me devouring the blood from a defenseless person. So, I added, “don’t worry, I only feed on animals. Or other vampires.”

The second part baffled him. I said, “a vampire can feed off another vampire and get strength. Even more strength than when feeding from humans or animals.”

He nodded. “How old are you?” The question took me by surprise. I was expecting him to ask me if I had ever killed a person or something like that.

“Hmm…” I thought about it and said, “I am seventeen, but I was changed into a vampire in 1806.” The look on his face screamed “wow!” but he went on with the questions.

Carefully thinking of his next question, he slid his hands into the pockets of his jacket. The questioning continued throughout our walk. Some of the answers I had given him made him laugh and others had shocked him. The questions were the basic ones like, “do you burn in the sun?” or “do you have a reflection?” But there were some ones that were rarely ever asked, like, “What happened to your life as a human?” or “did your family get turned too?”

I had told Tristan about my human family and how the Kalibary clan murdered them then turned me into a vampire like them, so that I would remember what they did to my family. Tristan thought it was unfair that they would even think to do something so wretched and so I told him about what they would do to me if they were ever to find out about me telling him the truth about being a vampire.

“So, the ancestors from the Anixo clan will decide your punishment, and work it out with the Kalibary clan? That doesn’t seem fair.” Tristan tried to piece it all together. None of it really made sense. How we each belonged to a different clan. In the beginning, that confused me a lot too, but after a while, I got used to it. I explained to him about the Sevoca clan and what they did to Jessika for falling in love with a human. Then had to explain that the Anixo clan would not punish either of us by death. They weren’t so strict on human love affairs.

After explaining to Tristan how everything worked he understood things as much as any human would be expected to. It wasn’t much, but he was able to understand the gist of things. We started talking about him and his family. He told me about how he was adopted into the family he lives with now after his parents died in a car crash. So, we had something in common. Technically, we were both adopted. And both of our real parents are dead, even though his parents’ death was purely an accident, due to icy, slippery roads. He was five when his parents died and was being babysat while his parents went out for dinner. Then he told me about his foster family, about how much they mean to him. How he would do anything for his younger sister, even his older one who he rarely gets to see since she married back in June.

“So, what about your new family?” He asked. “What are they like?”

I pondered the thought for a minute then spoke. “Well, Adrina, she is the motherly type, so we consider her our mother. Since she is twenty-nine anyways. Well, when I was wounded one night, like you were, she nursed me back to health, since I was on the verge of death. And she allowed me to drink her own blood, to give me strength.” I stopped and thought about Jamien. Tristan shot me a look to encourage me to continue on. So, I did. “Jamien is my brother. He doesn’t exactly care for humans too much, so he wouldn’t like that I am talking to you right now. I am still not sure where this hatred for humans has come from though. And, of course, you met Lillian. She is my sister. She’s very sweet and social.”

Tristan looked at me with his gorgeous green eyes and smiled that exhilarating smile of his. A smile pulled at the corners of my own lips. Breaking the little moment we shared was my phone going off. I looked at the caller I. D. and it read Adrina.

I glanced at Tristan apologetically and he nodded, telling me to answer it, walking away from Tristan. “Hello,” I answered. On the other end, I heard Adrina going on about getting home, that it was important. So, I said, “okay. I will be home immediately.” And hung up without another word.

When I walked back to where Tristan was standing, he looked at me and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Did I look that worried? I didn’t know. “I just need to get home. Adrina needs me for something. I need to get you to your house.”

“I can’t go with you?” He asked, trying to refuse to go home. I wanted to take him, but Jamien wouldn’t like that too much.

“Maybe, it is best that you didn’t.” I said, and then quickly added, “At least not yet. Another time?”

He agreed and then told me where he lived. With him on my back, we made it to his house in less than five minutes. When he got off my back, he struggled to keep his balance, trying to shrug off the dizziness. At least this time he didn’t look at me like I was a freak.

I helped him to get to the front door then ran off towards my house. Adrina sounded more worried and scared than I had ever heard from her. It had to be something horrible. But what? The last time that she was even remotely close to sounding so scared was when she had found out about Jessika. So, this must be worse than that. At least to her it is. Along with my human family, Jessika’s death is the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with.

I opened the door to see Adrina, Lillian, Jamien and two other men I didn’t recognize. Horror ran across all their faces, except for the man closest to the door. Probably the one that had to give the horrible news to people.

“Good afternoon, Aiden.” One of the men said, bowing in honor. I bowed back respectfully. “We are ancestors from the Kalibary clan.”

Cutting him off, the other one said, “This is Sir Reziv and I am Sir Iren.” The first name was familiar. I just couldn’t remember where I had heard it. I thought about the name, and then it smacked me in face. He was one of the ones who had threatened me in the first place. Then, took part in murdering my family. Sir Reziv. The name repeated over in my head.

I pointed my finger at Reziv and said, in a low, menacing voice, “it was you!” Everyone’s eyes turned on me and stared at me in shock. Nobody understood what I was talking about, except for Reziv.

“It was you!” I repeated. “What the hell are you doing here?” Anger ran through my body fiercely. I was ready to rip his throat out for what he had done to my family.

“What ever are you talking about, Aiden?” He said my name with a hint of disgust falling off his tongue. No one caught it, but me. They were too busy trying to figure out what I was talking about. Adrina looked as if she wanted to say something, but couldn’t find her voice. She wanted to shout that I was out of line.

Surprised that I wasn’t trying to hide my past by telepathy, I said, “you know what I am talking about. Two centuries ago. Almost a year before I was turned into a vampire. You sent threats to my family, that you would murder them if I wouldn’t listen to you.” I paused, thinking of the night my parents were murdered by the very man standing in front of me. “I never took your threats seriously, so you took their lives. You murdered my parents then three days later murdered Imera. She was an innocent little girl and you took her life. At the cost of my mistake.”

I stopped, trying to recollect myself. Breaking down in front of ancestors was not a very smart thing to do, especially if one happens to be Reziv.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he interrupted. “Ah, so you admit that you made a mistake. From the looks of their faces-” he pointed to Adrina, Jamien, and Lillian, “-it seems that you have been keeping secrets from them.”

I growled ferociously. “Then, why don’t I tell them the truth. All of the truth. The reason that I was turned into a vampire. I am sure they would like to know the story.” I glanced at them and none of them looked like they could handle what was coming next. “Tell them how you wanted me to live eternally, with that guilt over my head. Because death wasn’t a good enough punishment. You wanted me to suffer.”

I was right. None of them were ready for that. Each of them looked like they were about to cry, if they could have cried. Not even Iren knew what to say to it. He didn’t look distraught, but he did look very confused. Adrina stood up.

“Sir Iren. Maybe you should tell Aiden the reason that you are here, so that you may leave calmly.” Her voice was strong. And Iren nodded.

His eyes wondered around the room then focused on mine. “It seems that there is someone - or something - that is killing vampires.”

They should kill Reziv, I thought to myself. I crossed my arms over my chest and said, “What do you want us to do about it?”

Adrina’s eyes flicked to Jamien’s then to Lillian’s. “Aiden,” Lillian spoke. “They want you to join them. So, they can strengthen your power and make you stronger.”

My voice flattened, “there is no way in hell I would ever consider joining you.” I paused then said, “I don’t care how strong you can make me, I am not joining you.” Disgust filled my voice as I said ‘you.’

Iren looked more disappointed than Reziv. If they weren’t ordered to come here, Reziv would have been perfectly fine with my objection. His lips curled around his teeth, fully exposing his fangs. Defensively, I mimicked his actions, crouching close to the floor. Ready to strike if he came any closer to me. Panic struck everyone at once. Reziv was the first to straighten his body and press his lips into a tight line. I stood from my crouch and glared at him momentarily. Iren broke my hard glare when he cleared his throat.

“Maybe, we should come back another day,” he said, beginning to leave. Reziv followed behind him slowly. Looking back once more to through me a “this isn’t over” look. I simply nodded, knowing he understood fully. The two of them disappeared into the outdoors. Once they were out of sight, Adrina fell loosely back on the couch. Guilt ran through my body faster than a freight train. What I had done was wrong, and now curiosity is beyond them.

“Aiden,” Lillian’s soft voice sang around my ears. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

I simply looked at her, knowing she could clearly see the sadness that shown through my eyes. “I couldn’t tell you about how my family was murdered at the cost of me.”

Jamien was the only one who looked at me after that. His voice startled me. “You know, we would’ve understood.” I wanted to say, like hell you would, but instead, I sighed a little dramatically. I deserved it, if nothing else.

“Thanks.” I said and started to walk slowly up the stairs to my bedroom.

Adrina grabbed my arm and turned me to face her. “Please think about joining them,” was all she said and released the grip on my arm.

I walked to my bedroom and hesitated to open the door. My hand turned the doorknob slowly and I dragged myself inside, not wanting to move. Moving to the bed, I collapsed onto it. How could she want me to think about joining them? Especially after what she had just seen. I wouldn’t dare join the Kalibary, not after what happened to my family.