Hera

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Chapter 5
~June 26th~
Over the rest of the school period, Hera made periodic visits to my house and everything was normal in my life. Over the months, life simply went on unchanged. In the middle of May, I finally introduced Hera to my mother, but not as a vampire, but as a human. Hera and I both decided that we would tell my mother what Hera really was, but only when the time was right, and we weren't sure when that time would be. As for Alicia, we talked from time to time about our plans for our future and our career paths. She was also still with Alex, however she invited me over to hang-out; however, my feelings for her remained unorganized. I felt used but at the same time I felt like she really wanted me. Hera agreed not to kill for blood anymore, and that if she felt the need for feeding, she could use me before bed. It made me sleepy and it helped me sleep. My feelings for Hera were foggy as well. I felt like she cared for me, but I also felt like she simply wanted to own me. Nevertheless, the most exciting thing to happen to me was getting my letter back from York Pennsylvania about whether or not I got accepted in.
“You ready?” I smiled at Hera. She wasn’t as enthused as I was about the whole thing.
“Here we go.” I hesitated in opening the letter, but curiosity got the best of me and I tore into it like a child on a Christmas present! I unfolded the triple-folded paper which determined my future and took a deep breath, nodding at Hera. She rolled her eyes and looked at her nails.
“What are you waiting for?” She spat. I gave her a look and began reading the letter. My eyes went back and forth like an old type writer. Hera was playing with her ring, not caring. A smile shot across my face at bullet speed.
“I got accepted!”
“So you’re leaving?” Hera asked followed by a sigh.
“Not yet, next summer I am, but it’s better than nothing.” I shrugged.

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“So what am I going to do then, I’m going to be alone again.” She turned her body, showing her side and crossing her arms, turning her sight away from me to the ground. I frowned and suggested, “Why not come with me?”
“Where would I even live? Ulrick you can’t leave, I don’t want to lose the feeling of having someone with me. You don’t know what it feels like to be alone for six and a half decades.”
“Well that’s mainly because I can’t really live more than eight Hera. Why are you so worried about me though? I’ll be ok.”
“But what if you get hurt or even get killed. This world is un-forgiving Ulrick.”
“Hera, I won’t get killed.” I chuckled.
“Then what happens if you find someone else?” She twirled her thumbs and gave a bashful look to the ground. I smiled and shook my head and acknowledged her question.
“We have a year to figure something out, and don’t worry, I’m still yours.” I re-assured, giving her a warm hug, sitting the letter on the table behind her. She surprisingly buried her head in my shoulder, and I felt her grip the back of my shirt.
“Ok…”

About an hour later, Hera stowed away into my room to do some reading, still worrying over my departure in a year. I thought it would be a good idea to give her some time to calm down, but I what I had in store for her would make her happiness rapidly regrow.
“Hera, are you up here?” I said, marching up the staircase.
“Yeah, I’m in your room.” She called from behind my door.
I entered, “So I have exciting news to share with you.” I smiled. She closed her book and turned to me.
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“You’re not going to York?” She posed on her side, wearing a long t-shirt and a pair of black spandex shorts.
“No no that’s still happening, but this should cheer you up.”
“Yeah, ok.” She went back to reading.
“Would you just listen to me?” I asked.
“I’ll consider it.” She closed her book again and gave me a stare. I felt a small shiver go down my spine.
“Don’t look at me like that. It freaks me out.”
“Sorry.” She shrugged and turned back to her stomach, laying her head on her side on her folded arms.
“Ok, so, after a senior of high school graduates, they blow off the steam and pressure of their tough years of education with a post high school trip called senior week.”
“That sounds original, and I already knew that, I’m thousands of years old.”
I sneered at her.
“Continue.” She waved her hand.
“Well, mom and I planned out my trip and I’m taking you along with me.”
“Oh yeah, and what if I don’t want to?”
“I’ll take Alicia.” I joked, which was returned with a pleasant hiss.
“I know you’ll go since it’s to New York!” That caught her attention.
“New York?”
“The one and only.” I nodded.
“Well, I have been itching to go there to do some shopping.” She bent her one leg up so her foot was in the air and gave me a subtle grin.
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“So will you go? We’re staying for two weeks.” I informed.
“Alright, I guess I’ll tag along, but you need to promise me something.”
“What would that be?”
“You’re taking me to the Smithsonian. That’s the one thing I really want to do during our stay.”
“I promise I’ll take you.” My smile grew.
“Ok, I guess I should start packing then.”
“Hurry, because our flight leaves tomorrow.”
“What?!”
“Yup! Better hurry because my mom and I already bought the plane tickets and everything.”
“Well jokes on you because I live nowhere near here.” She giggled, climbing out of bed and slipping on a pair of sweatpants from my dresser.
“Okay… Where do you live then?”
“Beach of Miami.” My heart dropped and I took a deep breath, wiping my face with my hand.
“What would be the matter sweetie?” She walked up to me.
“If you have a house on Miami Beach, then why on earth do we stay here at my small little town house? Also I can’t believe you live two and a half hours away and volunteer here. How did you even manage to end up in Harrisman?”
“Well it isn’t hard to get here since I can run extremely fast and not get tired at all, and also I stay here because I normally used it as a hunting ground.” She showed her fangs and put a finger on her right razor.
“Oh… well it’s comforting to know I spent years here without getting hunted.” I gulped. She stood inches in front of me, placing a hand on the broad of my chest.
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“You’re too cute to kill…” She grazed her fangs across my neck and kissing under my jaw.
“O-ok…” I stuttered.
“Better get driving sweetie, I have to pack.” She walked past me, and down the stairs.
“Yeah, yeah…” I murmured.
Hera was really enjoying her ride home. I drove a Jeep wrangler, and the weather was so perfect out that I removed the doors and the roof, letting the warm summer breeze of Florida flow around us, driving past several orange fields and endless stretches of grass.
“Keep driving, we’re almost there!” Hera exclaimed, standing up in the jeep and letting her hair blow in the wind. She led me onto an unfamiliar two lane road that seems to stretch for miles on end.
“Do you know where were going?” I asked in confusion as we pressed on down the gravel path.
“It leads us out along the beach. My house isn’t in the main city; it’s nice and secluded out here on the coast. Trust me; you’ll know it when you see it.”
As we neared the end of the road, it abruptly merged into a dirty and rock riddled trail, as it took us closer and closer to the ocean.
“I can already hear the waves.” Hera hung onto the roll bar of the vehicle and closed her eyes with a smile, the wind rippling through her sweatpants and tank top.
“I can’t hear anything over the engine and these potholes rattling my Jeep.”
“Yeah, but my hearing is far more superior to yours.” She grinned at me. I shook my head and chuckled. The ocean peered into view on top of the row of field and sand dunes, disappearing into an outstretching ghostly horizon fog.
“There’s my house!” She squealed, pointing over towards our right. I was expecting a large mansion with all the perks, like a yacht and a pool with a pool house
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and a trampoline out in the water with a dock, or whatever rich people have, however, what I saw was more comfy. She lived in a simple one story white house surrounded and shrouded by palm trees, where virtually no sun hit her house, not even on its roof. The trail I was driving on, quickly gave way to packed sand which served as the resident’s driveway, so I simply parked in a shaded area on the side of the property. In the back of her house, which faced the beach, was a wooden walk way leading out to the beach, with a white surfboard with black pin striping on its edged and a Hawaiian flower stickered to its front, and a red kayak leaning against the railing at the end. The back door opened up to a screened in porch, set with a white hard plastic round table, fitted with two chairs matching the set, and a wicker sofa to the side by the glass sliding door leading inside. The wood of the porch was painted an ocean-like sky blue to compliment the white furnishings. The house windows were customized with black shutters that matched the roof shingles and the front door. The palm trees growing on the property were massive enough to cover above the house and loomed low enough to serve as a chair, as well as to shield the sides of the house.
“Wow… I feel so relaxed just looking at the place…” I acknowledged, with the soft wind against my skin, the song of the waves brushing the beach, the bubbles joining in with their peppering pops, and the palm trees taking part with their leaves bristling against each other.
“How come you like my place so much? I wouldn’t even want to set foot out of here.” I slipped of my shoes and socks, then sunk my feet into the sand, walking over to one of the low bearing trees and taking a seat.
“Well, it just gets lonely here. I did try living in the main city, but its full of ass-holes, and it just wasn’t for me.”
“But you wouldn’t be lonely in the city.”
“They’re not the kind of people who make you feel well at home. I prefer the loneliness more than them. Your little town is nice and home like, so that’s why I chose that place to do my volunteering and hunting.” She giggled.
“Welcome to Harrisman I guess.” I laughed. The drive from Harrisman to Miami was exhausting, and I made the decision to spend the night here and leave early in the
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morning to make our flight up to New York. Our plane left at two in the afternoon, which left us plenty of time to make it home, grab my bags, and reach the airport.
Hera gave me a tour of the inside of her comfy loft in the sand. The rooms in her house were painted either white or sky blue to give a coastal vibe with the beach like decor. Fisherman’s netting hung from the ceiling of the porch, paintings of beach geography hung around the house, leaving no wall simply blank and un-decorated. Over the couch in the living room which sat next to the door leading onto the porch sat an old wooden ship in a bottle. The couch was set in-front of a forty inch Samsung LCD television. Leading from the living room to the other side of the house was the kitchen with basic kitchen appliances. No fancy touch screen or stainless steel wares, but functioning simple equipment. Hera says that the simple stuff always worked the best and lasted the longest. In-between the living room and the kitchen was her dining room with a table that could seat six people. Leading from the kitchen was a wash room with a washing machine and a dryer, and then that led to the front door, which looped over back to the living room. In the middle of this loop of rooms was a creaky wooden staircase made of oak. The upstairs had four, smaller rooms. A bathroom, a guest room, Hera’s room, which had the same theme as the living room, and then a room fool of paintings that Hera herself had made. By the window there was an easel with a blank canvas, begging to be live imagination. The moment she led me inside, my breath was taken from me at the master creations that scattered her room, and how much effort and time it must have taken to complete such pieces.
“Did you make all of these?” I stood in awe.
“I did, some are even over a hundred years old, and however, they’re starting to fade away with time.”
“You make Davinci look like an amateur.”
“Don’t talk bad about him, he taught me how to paint.” She laughed.
“There is no way.” I said in amazement.
“A couple things, but then he got so sucked into his inventions; he put off painting to concentrate on his war machines.” She said. One painting in particular caught my eye. It was buried in the corner, but it was very different than the others. It
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was a portrait of a man in a full black suit with a red tie. His hair was buzzed and his eyes were blood and seemed to glow on the canvas. His black suit popped out against his pale white skin, and his face wore the expression of a warrior’s stare, and his height similar to mine.
“I’m going to assume that this is your brother?” I said, pulling out the dusty canvas.
“You’re correct, that’s my brother Jonas. The suit you seem him wearing right now he wore whenever he was going out on important business back in 1910.”
“His eyes are different than yours though, were Ares’s eyes like that?”
“Ares’s eyes are an Amber color. Our eyes I guess you could say showed our rank. I’m the strongest out of the three of us since I have the most strength and the most acute senses, however, they were like my body guards, like bees to their queen, and now I’m on my own. It’s very different, but easy.”
“How is it easy living without your family?”
“Well that part isn’t, you of all people should know considering you barely know your dad, and now he’s gone.”
“Yeah, true… So, who was stronger, Ares or Jonas?” I asked.
“Ares was stronger, but Jonas was smarter and more forgiving. It was a situation of brains over brawn,” She softly chuckled, “They got into the biggest of fights.”
“Hey, Hera?”
“Yes Ulrick?” She turned to me.
“Would Ares kill me if he saw me?”
“Just hope I stop him before he does anything.” She walked out of the room with a smile.