Special.

As soon as we reached the second floor Zack let go of my hand which did not surprise me, being in private was one thing but being in public what a whole other thing in itself.

I walked closed behind him as he walked to his bedroom, I could feel the eyes in the hallway burning my back and I couldn't help but the hear the whispers around me.

What is he doing with her?

He should be careful.

I can't believe they let her in, the whole point in being here is to survive not be killed.

The last comment really stung and all I wanted was to be out of the hallway.

“Here we are,” Zack announces as he opens the door to his room.

I walk in with a great sigh.

Zack closes the door and then looks at me curiously.

“What?”

“You really don't know anything about your kind, do you?”

“I guess not, why does everybody think I'm going to kill them?”

Zack looks at me and then walks past me to the other end of the room, he walks up to his desk and opens the bottom drawer and takes out a book.

“This should give you a better idea.” He says and hands me the book.

I take it carefully, the book was probably hundreds if not thousands of years old and I was afraid it was going to come apart in my hand.

“Halbtot?” I question as I read the title.

“It's German for half-dead”

I look up at him curiously.

“It's what your kind is called.”

“Oh.”

I look back down at the book and begin to wonder why my parents-most importantly my dad hadn't told me about this. Why where they so kin on pretending like I was something special, that I was some kind of miracle because I sure didn't feel like it.

“Are you okay?” Zack asks me as he notices how quiet I had become.

“Yeah, sorry. I'm just very curious about what this book has to say about me.”

“Don't take it too personal, this book was written many years ago and has been updated, not everybody is the same, don't forget that.”

I nod and give him a smile.

“If you want we can do this another time and you can go over the book.”

I shake my head, “I can do that tomorrow, besides I'm interested in hearing your story.” I tell him as I sit on the floor and place the book next to me.

“My story?” He asks with a raised eyebrow as he sits in front of me.

“Yeah, where did you come from? How old are you, and how long you've been that age.”

Zack inhales a deep breath and exhales slowly. “I'm originally from Maryland. I was 19 when I was converted in 1942, in a way I guess I was lucky.”

“Lucky?”

“When I got my letter for deployment I knew I was not coming back and I made my peace with it. I went to fight in World War II and I was injured in combat, I saw my whole life flashing right in front of my eyes and then this medic soldier asked me if I wanted to live and I remember thinking what a stupid question that was but then I realized it wasn't up to me to live or not.”

“So what did you tell him?”

“I said 'I've said my goodbye's whatever happens, happens'”

“Then what happened?”

“He left for who knows how long and then he came back and told me I might have a chance and he helped me up and put me in a truck with three other guys and I don't remember much after that, I lost consciousness and the next time I opened my eyes everything was brighter, louder, my teeth ached, I was starving, I was craving blood.”

“Do you know who converted you?”

Zack shakes his head, “we were left in an abandon mansion that had been bombed during the war, we were chained up, we didn't know what had happened. Had we been taken prisoners? But then I noticed a letter pinned to the floor and it pretty much told us that we had gotten a second chance at life, but this time we had to fight harder to keep it, and the truth was revealed, we were vampires.”
I look at him in amazement. It must have been so scary to not be able to control his thirst, to know his old life was over and he would never be able to see the sunrise anymore.

“The other three guys...”

Zack nods happily, “my best friends to this day, Alex, Rian, and Jack.”

“Did you ever go back to see your family?”

He shakes his head, “Couldn't bring myself to, none of the guys could. It was just too painful. They thought we were dead anyways, we couldn't open up the wound any further.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Tell me more about you.”

“I think you know everything about me.”

“I refuse to accept that.”

I shrug.

“Tell me about your parents then.”

“My dad was originally from London, he was 23 when he was turned into a vampire in the 1800s and somehow he ended up in America, he settled in New York in 1999 and two years later he met my mom. She was an undergrad in NYU and she was living in this shitty apartment with somebody she didn't know, and then it turned out her roommate Stella was a vampire and my mom freaked out because she had been living with her for a whole year and didn't even have a clue and they eventually became friends and Stella introduced her to her 'vampire family' and that's how she met my dad.”

“Was it love at first sight?”

“Hardly, she though he was arrogant and a show-off, and my dad thought she was a judgmental know-it-all but they got to know each other and fell in love, and they lived their life, my dad never asked her about becoming a vampire because he knew when she was ready she would say something and so it was a whole ten years before my mom became a vampire.”

“Ten years?”

“My mom wasn't the fall in love and become a housewive type of girl, she was more of the fall in love and continue doing the things I love type of girl, so she finished school, got her PhD, traveled a little, decided she wanted to get married and have a child and so she did and then everything else just fell into place.”

“Are there any more Halbtots in your community?”

“Just me, they're all pretty much vampires.”

“Pretty much?”

“Some have adopted human children, who later decide if they want to convert or remain a human.”

“I see.”

“I used to have a friend-”

“Use to?”

“Yeah she became a vampire and then stopped talking to me, back then I didn't know why but something tells me she heard about Halbtots.”

“Tell me about this ex-friend.”

“Jade, that was her name. She used to tell me that I was lucky because I didn't have to make a choice, that I had everything that made a vampire great and the advantages of a human.”

“That's what makes you so special.”

“Please don't say that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I'm not special, I'm an abomination.” I say repeating what everybody else was saying about me.

“No you're not.”

“Zack”

“No listen to me Zilia-” he pauses and takes my hands in his. “You are special, you have amazing parents who love you and would do anything to make you happy. People are just afraid of what they don't understand-”

“I don't understand myself.” I say cutting him off.

“But you will, you just need to figure out who you are and what you can be, and what you're capable of. Okay?”

“Okay.” I say with nod

He smiles and pulls me in for a hug, I sigh relieved glad to know I had a friend I could trust.