Beginnings (The Trifectus Series - Book One) (8 page)

I found a historical site devoted to vampires and their ancestors.  I started reading:

“Vampires are an ancient species of sub-mortals.  They first started appearing in literature and art in the year 273 AD.  Nobody knows exactly how they started, but how they rose up is all but too well known.  Vampires today are mostly created by the bite.  There are two main forms of bites: the hunger bite and the love bite.  They are different in nature and purpose, making a large debate about them.  A hunger bite is when a vampire or group of vampires needs to feed.  They grow restless and thirsty.  Their hunger is only quenched by the taste of fresh blood.  They can receive it from humans or animals, but humans provide a much more quenching taste.  A love bite, however, is produced when a male or female vampire wants to turn a mortal into a vampire for love purposes.  Both partners fall in love with each other, and the bite secures their fate as lovers for all of time.  You can tell vampires from their pale skin and cool touch.  They are undead, and can be killed only by the removing of their heads.  Be wary, though, for vampires are incredibly fast and cunning foes.  They do not take lightly to battle and will fight to the death, with their foes usually ending up on the side of death.  If you shall ever meet someone you suspect to be a vampire, be wary.  Their powers of seduction and manipulation are great, and even the strongest minds can wither in the presence of a strong vampire.  If you shall ever be caught with a group of vampires, you can kiss your life goodbye.”

Wow.  I couldn’t believe it.  Was James going to feed on me?  Was he inviting me over to meet his family because they needed to feed?  He did invite me for dinner.  Maybe I was the main course. 

I started thinking about what I read.  The website did mention a love bite.  A bite made by a vampire on a mortal to lock their souls together in everlasting harmony.  Maybe this is what he wanted.  Maybe this is even what I wanted.  To escape this cruel, oppressive world and lock hands with James and a new family, a family that would love me forever. 

This is what I had always wanted.  To leave my family and run away with the man I loved.  The man who would give me what I needed and never leave my side.  I was desperate to leave this city after school anyway, and this could be the perfect cover. 

As the night started coming to an end, all I could think about was what was written on my computer. 

I started drifting away to sleep a different person.  I wasn’t the same shy, innocent girl anymore.  I was different.  I wanted to be bitten.

I woke up the next morning with enthusiasm.  Today was the day.  Today was the day I finally got to meet James’s family and be with him. 

There was only one problem.  It was eight in the morning and I wasn’t going over there until tonight.  I had the entire day to sit around and obsess and worry about what was going to happen tonight. 

I decided to kill some time and get online.  Maybe Marcus was online and I could share the great news with him.

“Hey, how is your day going?” I asked him.

“Oh hey.  It’s good.  Just hanging out.  How about yours?” he replied.

“It’s great!  I am going over to someone’s house later for dinner and I am super excited.”

“Oh, is it that guy you were talking to?”

“Yeah!  I’m so excited.  I’m hoping he will ask me out tonight finally.  I feel like I have been waiting for forever.”

“Oh—yeah—that’s cool.  I hope he will be able to make you happy.”

“He does!” I said while typing a smiley face.

“Cool.”

Cool?  That’s all he says?  Why was Marcus always weird with me when the subject of James was brought up?  It was as if he didn’t like the fact I was talking to him.  Maybe he was just jealous because I couldn’t talk to him as much as before.  Whatever it was, I didn’t let it get me down.  I was hours away from my date and I was ready. 

As the hours grew near to my date, I started to worry.  What if they are expecting me to show up somewhere?  What if nobody shows up?  I will look stupid in front of my parents if I get dressed up and tell them I am going to a friend’s house and I never go.  What would I even tell them?

Just as I started to get scared, I heard the doorbell ring.  I looked at the clock: it was exactly five.

I rushed downstairs.  Maybe I would get to the door before anyone else and be able to rush out the door without them meeting James.  As I grabbed my bag and busted out of my bedroom door, I heard the door start to open.

Oh no.  Someone was opening the door and everything was about to go wrong.  I went down the stairs to see my father at the door.  This wasn’t good.

I went in front of the door to see Emma standing there. 

“Hi, Juliet.  Are you ready to go?”

“Y—yeah,” I said.  “Dad, this is Emma.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Emma.  Juliet has said wonderful things about you.”

My father reached out to shake her hand.  I didn’t even think about that.  What if he shook her hand and felt her icy-cool skin?  What if he started to get suspicious?  I turned to see Emma was wearing gloves.  It was late August and she wore gloves, as if that wasn’t suspicious.

I saw the look on my father’s face.  He saw the gloves and had a confused look, as if he was trying to figure out why someone would wear gloves in August.  He didn’t question it and I walked out the door.

“Be home by ten, sweetie,” he said.

Emma and I walked to the car, with a grin from cheek to cheek. 

I got in the car to discover James was behind the wheel.  I went to give him a kiss and he pushed me back.

“What was that for?” I asked.

“You father is still at the door.  If I kiss you, it will only give things away.”

I hadn’t even thought of my father still standing there.  James was always looking out for me and keeping me safe.  I waved to my father as we pulled away.  Things were starting to look up.

The drive was a fairly long one.  James and Emma lived on an older side of town that most people had abandoned years ago.  We finally arrived at their house.  James and Emma lived in an older style Victorian home.  It looked fairly updated, but still had a lot of older charm.  As we pulled up, I saw lights on and movement inside.  This was it.  I was about to meet his family for the first time.  I just hoped they would accept me.

We got out of his car and made our way to the front door.  I started getting chills and strong butterflies in my stomach.  I hadn’t been this nervous since the spelling bee disaster of third grade.  As we approached the door, it opened.  There they were: his family.

“Oh, come in, come in,” a woman said.

“My name is Rosa and this is my husband, Remey,” she said.  “We are James’s parents.”

Rosa was a petite, slender woman.  She had dark black hair, not a single strand out of place.  Her blue eyes and warm smile made me feel welcome.

Her husband, Remey, on the other hand, was her complete opposite.  He stood six foot tall.  His dark hair was slicked and parted as if he was straight out of the 1920’s.  His piercing brown eyes were overshadowed by the cigar hanging out of the side of his mouth. 

“Well, how do you do, ma’am?” he said with an accent.  “It’s a pleasure to meet such a fine young lady.”

“Why, thank you, sir,” I said, trying to calm my butterflies.  “My name is Juliet, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

That wasn’t so bad, I thought.  I met his family and they were nice.

“Come down here and meet our guest,” he yelled to the top of the stairs.

After he yelled, I heard talking and footsteps before seeing more faces make their way down the stairs.  They were politely arguing with one another.  There were five of them, all very different.

“This is our guest for the evening, Juliet,” Rosa said.  “Juliet, this is Michael, Maria, Lucas, Elsa and Troy.”

Michael and Maria were an obvious couple.  Their playful banter and affection clearly showed their love and commitment to each other.  Michael was of average height with rich brown hair.  Maria, a shorter girl, had bright red hair and piercing green eyes.

Lucas and Elsa were another story.  Lucas was obviously in love with Elsa, but she didn’t seem to care.  She had a look to her.  She didn’t mess around and didn’t need anyone but herself.  She didn’t seem to care much for Lucas, but gave him attention every now and again.  Lucas was a smaller man.  His love, Elsa, was a 5’9” girl who towered over him.  It didn’t seem to matter to him, though.  He loved her.

Troy was the brute of the group.  He was tall, big and ready to rumble.  He looked as if he had just come out of the backwoods of Canada just for this dinner.  While he was large and intimidating, he was very gentle with those around him.

“Why don’t we head into the dining room for dinner?” Rosa asked.

As we made our way to the dining room, I couldn’t help but look at the grandeur of the house.  Scattered on the walls were mementos from over the years.  I had never seen so many old things in my life.

As we started to sit down, I looked at the table.  Every plate but mine had raw meat that looked like it just came off the bone.

“Don’t be alarmed,” said Remey.  “I know it probably looks strange to you, but we just suck the blood out of these steaks.”

“Oh,” I said in shock.  “Is this how you usually eat?”

“Not at all,” interjected Troy.  “Vampires usually feast on live prey or sacks of blood.  You know, the typical.”

“Now Troy, don’t scare her off,” interjected Rosa.  “We want to make her feel welcome and invited in our home.”

“I think what Troy is trying to say is that we do this only when having company over,” said James.  “We don’t need to feed often, but when we do, we like to get it from places like blood banks.”

“Yeah,” said Michael.  “This way we can have the human blood without actually having to hurt anyone.  Everyone wins.”

I started to think about my Internet search.  The page said nothing about blood banks or bags of blood.  It said that they get it from live animals or by stalking and taking it from humans.  Were vampires misunderstood?  Were there lies going around to try to scare people away from these peaceful people?

“I’ve never heard of getting blood from there before,” I said.

“Most people don’t,” said Elsa.  “Everyone likes to paint us as some kind of savages that stalk some old lady on her way home and suck the life out of her.  That stuff was big back in the old ages, but now that we have hospitals and blood banks it isn’t needed.”

“Well, how do you get the blood then?  Do you break in during the middle of the night and steal it?” I asked.

“Not at all,” interjected Lucas.  “I actually work at the hospital and get the blood that way.  Every now and again I’ll take some and bring it home for everybody.”

“What do you do at the hospital?  Are you a doctor?” I asked.

“No, he’s a male nurse,” Emma said, snickering.

“You know, it is very common and respectable to be a male nurse, Emma,” he shouted.

“Now, now, you two, calm down,” said Maria.  “We all respect Lucas and what he does for us as a family.  Stop teasing your brother.”

“Did you see the werewolves in town?” asked Troy.  “We need to do something about this, Remey.”

“Now I am sure we will figure something out in good time.  We cannot just go and attack them because they were out.  We are under lockdown anyway after that attack on Juliet,” Remey said.

“You guys know about that?”  I asked.  “I’m so sorry if I caused you problems,” I said apologetically.

“Not at all,” said Rosa.  “James did the right thing and we stand by him.  If he hadn’t been there, who knows what could have happened to you.  We are just happy you are safe, dear.”

“I overheard two people talking yesterday about the full moon tonight,” I said.

“Was it Derek and Cara?” asked James.

“Y—yeah.  How did you know?”

“We have known about them and them about us for a long time.  We keep eyes on them, especially at school, to make sure they aren’t a threat.”

“Yeah,” interjected Michael.  “Werewolves can be a major threat.  When it is a full moon, they can’t always control themselves.  Their have primal instincts that can kick in and take over.  Some can control themselves better than others, but most can’t at all.”

“There were three full wolves spotted the other day,” said Troy.  “Those two wouldn’t be rolling with another wolf.  They haven’t even hit the point to fully transform anyway.  They aren’t currently too big of a threat to us.”

“So they won’t be a problem?” I asked.

“I didn’t say that.  Younger wolves that haven’t hit full maturity yet can still be a threat.  They can still transform, but most of their speed and strength isn’t there yet.  They don’t seem rogue, though.  They seem to follow a different path.  Most likely if you leave them alone they will leave you alone,” said Troy.

As we ended dinner, James told me he wanted to talk to me outside.  I started getting butterflies thinking of being alone with him.  We walked outside underneath the full moon and twinkling night stars.

“I hope you are having a good time,” he said.

“Of course.  I love your family.  They are way better than mine anyway.”