Discovery

I was about to paint my nails when I heard a knock on the door. My adoptive parents were away and I didn’t know for how long they would be gone. But they left often and they didn’t seem to care about me much. Living with them was a lot like living by myself. Only I didn’t have to pay for anything and I could buy anything that I wanted with my credit card. They didn’t care. And frankly I didn’t care about them both as long as the bills were paid and I got to stay where I lived.  Maybe they were back and had forgotten a key. I walked downstairs and opened the door. It was Jack, my best friend.

He was panting and had a pile pf stuff in his arms. He walked inside, shut and locked the door and closed all the windows, blinds and curtains. Then he proceeded to look around every corner to make sure no one was there. When he was finished he said, “We’re leaving. Now.” I was so confused but he rarely spoke this way, in that tone so I obeyed him. It must have been very important so asking would just make things worse. And maybe there was something serious going on. If I talked it could slow us down and we could get hurt. He would explain what was wrong when it was necessary.

I grabbed a backpack for my self and one for Jack. He put all the stuff he had been carrying into his bag. Meanwhile, I was packing my clothes. I picked out my favorite shirts, shorts, pants and sweaters. I didn’t know how long we would be gone and where we were going so I brought stuff for all weather. I picked up my sleeping bag, and thinking of Jack, picked up one for him too. Next I went into my bathroom and packed my toothbrush and other toiletries. Running back downstairs I grabbed a book off the shelf in the hallway and stuffed it in my bag too. I knew exactly where this book was without looking at it. It was always there and I had read it many times. I handed one of the sleeping bags to Jack and put my own in my bag. I had to squish, but it all fit.

I wrote a quick note for my parents incase they came home while I was gone and cared where I had gone. I doubted it but I wrote the note anyway. We went outside and locked the door behind us. After that we didn’t turn back. We ran down the beach. When we were a ways away I realized that I had left a light on. My parents were going to kill me. Electricity was very expensive these days. I wondered what was going on. Maybe there were some murderers on the loose, or maybe someone had kidnapped a child. What if they were evacuating the area? Could there be a freak storm on its way? If so why were we leaving on foot? Wouldn’t it make more sense to drive? Or stay put in a nice sturdy basement?

When we were both out of breath we slowed. When we reached the forest we started walking. It began to rain so we sought out shelter. Walking along we saw a cave.

“I bet we could stay there. Its small and snug and warm.” Jack said.

“Perfect. And I can’t run anymore.” That last part was very true. I was deadbeat.

We climbed in one after the other. Jack went first and I followed him. When inside he pulled out a lantern. He turned it on and sat it in the middle of the floor. We unrolled the sleeping bags we had packed. As I was pulling out mine the book fell out. I read the page it had opened to. My mom used to say if you were stuck to drop the book, as weird as that sounds, and whatever page it opens to will help you through whatever is troubling you.

Jack looked at me as I began to read out loud. “…As dilemmas come to you, you should face each one. Everything you do will affect your Change. Our creator tests us for reasons we may not understand…” I drifted to a stop.

Jack opened his mouth to say something but he stopped.  I watched him. Then he spoke. “I’m amazed. You haven’t asked me why we are doing this. Why? You always ask about everything we do and all the reasons for them. Why not now?”

“Well I knew something was wrong. You looked so hurt and frightened and relieved at the same time. I knew it was important. So I figured you would tell me when you were ready and we were safe. So now will you tell me now?”

“Yeah. Okay you know how my brother turned evil and left and we haven’t heard from him since?” I nodded. I knew the story. “ Well I saw him tonight and it was bad. He has taken the original copy of the Vampire Code. He is using it to enslave all the vampires. Including my parents.”

“Okay. But why do we have to hide? I’m not a vampire.”

“Not yet but you will be. And soon, too.” He had lost me.

“What?”

“Look at the palm of your hand.” I was so lost. That’s where my birthmark was. I knew vampires’ birthmarks were the beginning of their Change. When it turned emerald green, you were a vampire. That change was called the ‘beginning’ of your new life. As you lived and things happened to you, your birthmark spread and told the tale of your life. The very old, wise vampires could read others lifemarks, as they were called. They could know everything that happened to you.

I opened my fist and looked at my palm. My birthmark, shaped like a perfect circle, was slightly green tinted. The outermost rim was completely emerald. Jack pulled down his sock to reveal that his birthmark was also slightly emerald. His was shaped like a blob. We used to try to imagine all kinds of shapes in it. But we never found one that we remembered.

“By morning we will be vampires.” I said. I didn’t say it like a question or an exclamation I was just stunned.

“Yep. And since my brother, Ian, doesn’t know we are going to be vampires we are the only ones left to save them. He thinks that because he isn’t a vampire I am not one either. And he doesn’t even know you exist.  Especially because… you know…”

“My real parents are dead.” I said it barely above a whisper. I had been adopted after the fire that killed both my mom and my dad. I was in that fire too, but I survived, and I was only two. The fire couldn’t hurt me. I still stayed away from it though, at the time. But now I feel very drawn to fire. Its strange, but it’s like it is a part of me.

Unintentionally, I yawned. I guess I was tired. “Let’s go to sleep. But get all your stuff together in case we have to run for it. You can’t ever be too safe you know.” I really wanted to pretend this was just like when we used to go camping when we were younger, but I knew it was true. After we were packed again we climbed into our sleeping bags and Jack turned the lantern to a dimmer setting so we could sleep.

That night, I dreamed. I was in a dark room. The room was huge. It went on forever in all directions. I called to someone but it just drifted softer and softer until I couldn’t hear it anymore. It was so dark and quiet. Then a small flicker appeared in front of me. I moved toward it for light but it grew. The fire spread all around me and started creeping closer and closer. As the fire grew closer it also grew taller and louder. I could hear its roar. It was like a heartbeat, but different. I felt as though the fire was breathing with me. And it touched me. Alarmed, I pulled my hand away, but it didn’t hurt me. It surrounded me and took me up higher and higher. It took me to a small house. The house looked like the house my parents and I had lived in a long time ago before the fire. I moved to it. The fire touched the house and it went up in flames. Over the fire I could hear a fire engine and an ambulance. I heard my mother’s frantic screaming and my dad’s shouting of pain. Then I saw myself. A small toddler engulfed in the flame. And it couldn’t hurt me. I wanted to leave, to be anywhere but here. The fire seemed to obey my command. I watched the firemen carry out my dad and then my mom. They were put on stretchers and white sheets were covering their faces. I began to cry. Still watching, I saw myself, the little toddler, carried out. I was put on a stretcher and put in the ambulance with a gas mask. After everyone was gone I fell to the floor and wept. The fire came over me, but it was protecting me this time. When I calmed myself down I thought. I thought of the story when I was the little toddler. In fact, I remembered myself now. I remember a girl crying. Who looked just like me. I had brought this on myself. I was the reason my parents were dead. I was the reason!

 The fire carried me back into the darkness. Then it went out and all was black and quiet again. Although, this times it was more of a haven than something scary.

I woke up with Jack shaking me. I was crying in my sleep. Had it really been a dream? “Are you okay? Wow! Look at your hand.”

I lifted my arm and looked at my birthmark or rather my lifemark, as it was now. Then I flipped my hand over and the top of my hand was patterned with emerald green as well. I studied it for a few minutes. It was a flame. My dream was making sense now.

I picked up the book again and turned to a page that had been folded over many times. It was easy to find. It said that some vampires could go back in time. And others could go forward. And some could correct the mistakes of others. These were very highly regarded vampires called temporal vampires. Without them, vampires would have been discovered by the humans long ago. I had gone back in time. I had caused my parents death.

I began to cry again. “What’s wrong? Maria, are you okay?” He was worried.

“I’m okay. I just figured I could go back in time though.” I handed him the page and he read it to himself quietly. Then he pulled me into his lap. “I was carried by a flame, yet it didn’t hurt me. It took me to my old house. The one that had burnt down so many years ago. Only it wasn’t burnt down yet. The flame touched the house and set it on fire. I heard my parents’ screams and I saw myself from both points. I saw myself as a two-year-old. Back then, I remember seeing myself as I look now. I killed my parents. All this time I thought it was a freak accident but it was me all along!” With that I began crying again. Jack put his arm around me, but said nothing. After a minute of recollecting my self I asked “Jack? Have you completed the change yet?”

“I totally forgot to check. I was so worried about you I forgot all about it.” He pulled down his sock to find that his birthmark had changed to a lifemark too. His looked like snow or ice. When I touched it, it was cold.

 “Jack. Why is your lifemark so cold to the touch? Your arms aren’t.” He touched it. Then he touched my mark on my hand, of the fire.

“Yours is hot. Maybe it’s our thing. You know our power.  I remember reading that every vampire had a specific power. It was always the first mark you received after your Change. I think you deal with fire and I deal with ice.”

“So does that mean that we are like polar opposites?”

“No… I think it means that we keep each other in check. If we work together then fire can’t burn everything and ice can’t freeze everything.”

“Well I guess we better find some wood. Its supposed to be cold tonight and I want a fire to stay warm.” Jack went outside and started gathering wood while I read some more of the book. I wanted to find out how we could control our power. And I didn’t want to, but I knew, we had to start drinking blood sometime soon. One passage caught my eye.

Blood is a strange thing. We know we need it because our cells cannot produce enough blood for our powers. Our blood is emerald in color as well as being invisible to the mortals. They cannot see the lifemarks of vampires, thereby helping to keep us secret. Our lifemarks are made of our blood using up our blood quickly. Therefore we must ingest the blood of mortals, red blood, to give us energy. Emerald blood is poisonous and cannot be replicated or ingested. It would kill us. Red blood is the only blood we have found that we can live off of. So far anyway.

I thought this was interesting. I had never read that page before. I always thought of blood as disgusting. But now I understood why we had to have more of it. I continued reading.

Young vampires must start ingesting blood on their first day after the change. When they are younger their body uses blood more quickly to change the chemical makeup of our blood from being red to emerald. Every vampire had a different shade of emerald blood. We presume this is because of the amount of blood ingested, but we are not cretin this is what causes it. 

This meant that Jack and I would have to start ingesting blood soon. If fact I was hungry. It wasn’t like normal hunger. It was more of a thirst than anything else. I wondered when Jack would be back. I bet he is thirsty too. I read a few more pages when Jack came back.

When he came in he set all the wood on the floor in the corner. “Are you hungry?” he asked me.

“No. I am thirsty. I was reading in the book and I found that vampires, especially newborn vampires have to drink everyday. The older vamps can go for a while longer without drinking.”

He took this all in before he spoke again. “Okay. So who is our first victim? Or should I say snack?” he was trying to sound excited. But we both knew we didn’t want to drink it. I began thinking. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have blood from the blood bank? Or did we have to have fresh blood? I wasn’t sure.

“Jack. I don’t know how to drink any blood. Or how to ‘catch’ someone to feed on.”

“I have an idea. Why don’t you try to pretend to go on a date with some guy and they feed on him. And I can too. You know only a girl though not a guy.”

“Sure” So that was it. I was going to get a guy to date me so I could eat him. Gross.

I went outside. I decided to go to the mall. That was the most likely place to get a guy. I walked into the food court and sat down by myself. I put my purse down on the table and opened my can of soda. I started sipping slowly when an extremely cute guy walked over.

“Is anyone sitting here?” he asked.

“Nope. Its all yours.” I couldn’t believe it was working.

“What’s a girl like you doing here all by yourself? I would think you would have a bunch of guys drooling over you by now.” He winked at me. He seriously winked at me.

“Oh. I don’t know. I am new here. So I don’t know anyone.” That was a lie. I had lived here all my life and I even knew him. He was Steven, one of the boys in my class. But when vampires went through the change they looked different. My skin was more translucent now and my eyes had changed color. I used to have dark brown eyes. But now they were, well, emerald green. So he didn’t even recognize me.

“Do you want me to show you around?” He was definitely interested in me. We spent the afternoon together and he bought me a smoothie. Then he drove me ‘home’. Really he took me to his house where I fed. He thought he was just kissing me but really I was feeding. I never knew how good blood tasted. I wanted to devour all of his blood but I realized I was going to kill him. I stopped abruptly and pushed him back. Then I left mumbling that my parents had wanted me home soon.

When I got back to the cavern Jack was already there. His eyes were closed but he was still awake. The lantern was dim. He was leaning against the wall, sitting on top of his sleeping bag. I was cold so I sat down next to him and put my head on his chest. He put his arms around me.

“So, did you like it?” he asked me, followed by kissing my hair.

“Yeah. It made me feel stronger. It was like a jolt of energy and electricity at the same time. What about you?”

“Pretty much the same. But when she touched me she said I felt cold. I wonder if it had anything to do with my gift for ice.”

“Maybe. But I don’t think you are cold. I find you very warm and cozy. Right now anyway.” We smiled at each other. Then I looked at him and he kissed me. It wasn’t like kissing Steven or any of the other boys I had dated before. It sent a burst of electricity through the both of us. It was almost like the effect the blood I drank earlier had on me. Although it was different and I didn’t know it could, but it got better than that. He tasted so sweet and before I knew it, it was over. He stopped kissing me and stared into my eyes for a long while. I stared back after a while. I wondered what he saw in my eyes.

When I looked into his eyes I felt as though I could see right through to his soul. And all of a sudden my wrist began to feel hot. Alarmed we broke our gazes. My wrist and his ankle were both glowing and there wasn’t any other light in the cave!

The inside of my wrist had an elaborate heart on it. My lifemark had extended even more than before. Jack’s lifemark also had a heart on it. His was smaller and much simpler. I touched his ankle and it felt ice cold. Then I touched my wrist with my other hand and found that it was burning hot. It was hot enough to burn the skin off anyone, anyone that wasn’t gifted with fire.

Although I didn’t understand it yet, I knew that fire wasn’t bad. It could be good too. You just had to love it. Everyone that is afraid of fire doesn’t have any love for it, only fright, so they feel intimidated by it. This makes it unruly. I understood. I understood why the fire couldn’t hurt me. I had loved it from the beginning. It had always been a haven for me. When it was dark I went to fire for light. When it was cold I went to fire for warmth. When I was lonely I went to fire for company. My parents hadn’t loved the fire. That’s why they perished. It wasn’t my fault at all. I hadn’t killed them. They had brought it down on themselves. I felt a bit better.

“What are you thinking about?” Jack asked me.

“Oh nothing. I was just figuring out why my parents had perished and why I hadn’t.” He just stared so I continued. “Fire is like another being. It breathes and thinks and had feelings too. Most people are afraid of it because it can cause destruction, but it can do good things too. If you respect fire and love it, then it won’t hurt you. When I was little my parents were afraid of fire, like most people. When the fire, which I caused, reached my house, my parents were frightened so it murdered them, because they didn’t respect it. But, I do respect it, and I always have.” He nodded.

Then he asked, “How has a two year old respected fire? They seem likely to be the most afraid of the fire. Why weren’t you?”

“I think its because I liked the fire. When it was dark, I looked to fire for light; when it was cold, I looked to fire for warmth; when I was lonely I looked to fire for company. It was like my friend, my haven. I didn’t have any friends as a child. My parents had loved me, but I didn’t go to school. My parents had started teaching me young, so I never went to preschool either. I was almost always alone. But my small bedroom had a fireplace that almost always had a fire in it.” I really had always respected fire, and it always had been my friend.

“Okay, so that explains your gift for fire, but what about my gift for ice? Its not like I was always cold as a – Oh wait, that is true. The cold has never had an effect on me. I have always liked to play in the snow, and swam in the middle of winter. My mom said I had a thick skin that kept me warm. What if I have always gotten along with it? Is there some special thing what goes with that? Or am I just weird?” Jack believed the last one was the correct idea. I could tell from just looking at him.

“You aren’t weird. I don’t know. Its all so confusing.” We sat there for a while each deep in our own thoughts.

I wondered what the heart was for. Every part of ones lifemark was important. The circle was the beginning or the ‘center’ of my lifemark. The flame was showing my gift for fire and all that burned. The vines connecting them all described the path that I followed to get where I was. But I didn’t know what the heart was for. In the book I have read that vampires who find their other half (their soul mate, so to speak) had a heart on their lifemark for when they found them. Was Jack my other half? I knew I had always loved him. But I thought that was just because he was my best friend. After a bit of geometrical thinking I came to the conclusion that I didn’t love him; I was in love with him.

The silence was broken when Jack yawned unintentionally. We arranged the ‘beds’. My green sleeping bag was against one wall and Jack’s blue one was next to mine. We each had a small pillow. Then we packed our backpacks again. I put my book in the front pouch so I could reach it easily, if needed. Then I put my clothes in the main section and zippered it up. I carried my bag over and sat it above my head so I could reach it easily. Jack did the same.

Finally he turned off the lantern and put it in the side pouch of his backpack. He put his hand on my arm and moved toward my hand. He took my hand out from under my pillow and we both gasped. My lifemark was glowing. The book says someone’s lifemark only glows if they are with their other half or using their gift. And I wasn’t using my gift so that definitely meant that Jack was my other half. He knew it too and he looked at me. Well to be exact, he looked through me. He saw me. Not what’s on the outside but what’s on the inside, which obviously was me, right?

He kissed me lightly on the lips and then we went to sleep. I had another dream this night. This time the fire surrounding me was comforting. I looked and saw Jack. I called to him. I told him to stay away as I remembered my last dream. He couldn’t hear me and moved closer and closer. I tried to stop the fire but I couldn’t so I began to cry. My tears caused the fire to stop. The fire realized it had hurt me deeply and had gone out. I ran to Jack and he opened his arms to me, but when I touched him he cringed. Then I realized that the fire was still there, only the fire was me. I stepped back and began to cry again. My tears didn’t go anywhere though. My skin was so hot that the tears evaporated.

 Jack came closer. I told him to go away but he came closer. I turned to run but the nothingness had become a wall. I realized we were in the cave. But we were in the past? It was daylight so that meant we were in the past. How odd.

Jack touched me and he felt icy cold. But I didn’t burn him! He held me. And then I think I fainted. The next thing I knew I was waking up and it was morning. That was the weirdest dream. I woke Jack.

“Hhuummmm?” he was still kind of asleep. I was about to say something when I heard footsteps outside. I shook Jack again. This time he opened his eyes and lifted his head.

“Jack. There are people outside. I heard them and they are getting closer. We have to leave!” I whispered. He nodded and we rolled up the sleeping bags quickly. I stuffed them in the backpacks and we put them on. Jack was about to leave our haven when turned around and looked at me.

“No matter what happens;” he whispered. “I will always love you. And we will get through this. Use your gift. I know you can.” I was about to interrupt but he continued guessing what I was going to say. “You can. I saw you. When we went back in time together you used your gift. The fire obeyed you. And it always will. Use it. It is your only defense. And whatever happens, don’t worry about me. I have my ice. We will be fine.” With that, he kissed me. It wasn’t soft and timid like the last kiss we had shared. This one was fiery and strong. When he stopped and left the cave I could feel my lips tingling.

We ran. The people saw us and began following us. “There they go!” one yelled. Another said, “Catch them!” We kept running. I ran my heart out. I had an idea. I stopped short and told Jack “Keep going. I have an idea.” Then I turned to face the three men in pursue of us. I let them catch me. One held my arm. But it burned him and he cringed away from me and screamed. Then I touched another one and he too ran away. The third one stood and stared. I lifted my neck and drank.

Like the last time I felt a jolt of energy. I was entirely refueled. But I remembered that Jack didn’t have any blood. I took out the bottle I kept around my neck. I quickly emptied out the sand and took my knife to cut open the man’s throat. Thick red juicy blood gushed out. I held the bottle to it and it filled to the brim with blood. Then I put the cap on and wiped the blood off the outside. I kissed the man’s cheek leaving ‘red lipstick’ there. Really it was the blood that was left on my lips. I really didn’t want to kill them, but they had tried to hurt Jack. If they wanted to kill us, wasn’t it right to kill them to stay alive ourselves? Besides we had to save the whole vampire race. I pushed this aside and ran to Jack who lay crumpled up on the sand. He had run out of energy and was crumpled on the ground in front of me. I took off the cap of my bottle and poured a bit of the blood into his mouth. I stood up and waited. Not a minute later, Jack stood up.

“Thank you.” He said. I noticed he had a drop of blood left on his lips. I wiped it off gently and he licked my finger. Then he took my hand and we ran to his house for cover.

“We should set up camp on my island. No one will find us there.” I said, recalling the island my parents had bought me for Christmas last year. At the time I hadn’t really wanted an island, I would have rather had a cool phone, but now I was thankful I had taken the island. Although technically speaking, I had ended up getting both the phone and the island. Hey, what did you expect a spoiled fifteen-year-old to want (and get) for Christmas? His house wasn’t safe, his brother knew where he lived and would try to capture him as well.

“Sure, sounds great.” He didn’t care where we went as long as no one found us and we were able to set up a camp to stay at for a while without leaving every two days.

“Well, it is an island, so…” I trailed off.

“We’ll need a boat.” Jack finished for me. Inside his boathouse was a small boat with a little inboard engine. He lowered the lift and it went into the water. Then, I pushed the button to open the ‘boat garage’ door. I got into the boat and then Jack did. He started the engine and closed the door behind us. I held the backpacks on my lap while we motored to my island.

All we saw all morning was water, water and more water. (I also saw a fish.) But that was about the extent of the interesting things that happened all morning. Around lunchtime, I took off my necklace and removed the cap. Jack and I each took a small sip of the blood to restore our energy. We didn’t speak much aside from Jack’s ‘thank you’ and my ‘you’re welcome’ after I gave him the blood.

Around nightfall we reached the island. We pulled ashore and looked around. The island was covered in tall grass and shrub like trees. The shrubbery was so wild no one would notice us or think to look there for us. I supposed my island would be unruly after neglecting it for three years. 

With some effort, Jack and I pulled the boat into the marshy grasses. I arranged the grasses around the back of the boat so you couldn’t see it from the water. Near by, there was a sturdy shrub-like tree, so I tied the bowline to it, just in case.

“So lets set up the tent. It is going to be dark soon.” Jack said. We took the backpacks and climbed up the small hill. I a flat spot without any shrubs, that was covered in soft grass and we decided to set up camp there. The tent had two metal poles, one in the front and one in the back. Jack hammered them into the ground. Then, I placed the fabric over the poles and snapped on the caps that hold the fabric in place. The fabric was waterproof, kept out wind and kept in heat. It was perfect for a deserted island in the middle of the water.

Jack took out the five metal spikes. I put them in place and Jack followed behind me, hammering them down. They were on top of the fabric to hold it to the ground completing the tent. In the front was a zipper to close it. Jack put the backpacks inside and then crawled in after them. I followed saying my goodbyes to the sun as I went.

The inside was big enough to put out the two sleeping bags and had a corner to put the backpacks in. The ground was covered in soft grass, cushioning us. The bottom of the tent was made of the same material at the fabric top. If it rained, we would stay perfectly dry. We rolled out the sleeping bags and crawled inside. I was so tired.

“Good night Maria. Sleep well.” He said softly. Then he gave me a good night kiss and I closed my eyes. I was asleep in an instant. Tonight I was so tired that I didn’t dream - or travel back in time.

 

 

Reviews

[Xfaerie corpseX]

wow... i really like this.