It was just too much to handle. She needed a minute to breathe, think and process the fact that her parents were dead leaving her as head of the family. Well, she and her little bother Jeremy, not a big family, but still the problem remains. The Gilbert family may not be large in members, but the number in the bank account was indeed big and for that she was required to step up and manage the Gilbert state.
Her parents did not grow up with money, them being rich was actually recent. Actually, she could the guess when the Gilberts began to have importance in this world.
She was told that her parents had an important role in the foundation of the new world. A world where humans knew of the existence of the supernatural beings and even managed to ruled over the rest of the species. Well, almost every species. Witches were seen as equals given the fact that they were just humans in charge of keeping the balance in nature. Werewolves were rare, but were seen as a fundamental part of society. And finally, the vampires. They were seen as valuable possessions, their heath capacities made them perfect test subjects, their strength made them the perfect guard dog and their enhanced beauty made them the perpetual beautiful lovers. Even if they did not agree to any of those social roles.
"Miss Gilbert you still need to sign these documents" the family lawyer was starting to cause her a headache, but he was only doing his job and because of that she was forcing herself to remain polite.
"Please Andrew, call me Elena. Really, there is no need for anything to change between us." Elena replied smiling, she really didn't want things to change. More than they were already changing.
"I'm not sureeeee… but ok, if it pleases you" the lawyer replied with uncertainty.
They had been in the same position for hours, he had been standing next to the table in her father's office while she was sprawled all over the sofa. Just hidden form the chaos that ruled outside this little room while trying to solve all the paper work. It amazed her how the lives of her parents were just a bunch of business contracts for most of the people. She was lost in her thoughts but was once again interrupted by Andrew.
"There is just one more thing you need to see." he said in a low tone as he approached her with some papers in hand. He looked nervous now, he had been relatively calm all day so whatever was in those paper must be really important.
He sat next to her and without looking up from what he was holding he began to say " You are fully aware of the human-vampire relationship, right?"
"Y-yes" Elena responded, what did it had to do with anything?. She was fully aware of how vampires were seen and treated. It was disgusting how they were treated as slaves, animals and even things. But this had been going on for years now, and just the vampires and some humans were against the status quo. "I know how we are supposed to treat them, and of course I know the business my parents had involving them".
"Good, but you don't know everything" He replied to her and finally gave her the documents "There is a very important detail that had been hidden away form you".
She began to read the documents, but she really didn't understand what was written "What is this? Here it says the Gilbert family is the owner of a vampire, but I don't get what they mean by 'original' nor I know where this vampire is supposed to be. I've never seen a vampire in the house." She was talking a bit too fast and with a higher tone than she was used to.
"That is the thing, you've never seen it, but you are now it's owner" Wow! She really didn't like vampires being referred as things. He didn't know what bothered her the most, the way he expressed himself or being told she owned someone. "Elena, you need to listen very carefully. Vampires are an abomination of nature, as you know they are not born but created"
"Yes, I know that but…"
"Just listen! Think about it, if they are created there must have been a first creation. Well, in this case creations, the original vampires are precisely that, the first vampires to be created. And you are now the owner of one of them"
Elena was trying to assimilate all the information she had been given, but it was too much. Original vampires? How old were they? How many are they? What was she supposed to do with him?
"Ok…. But… what am.. umm.. how many are there?" She needed some answers.
"As far as I know there are four. When they found the Originals there were five, but after years of failure on trying to subdue one, it was put down" he finished saying as if they had just killed a dog! No, she couldn't let herself to get angry. She needed to do something before that.
"Where is he?"
"Your parents kept it hidden in this house. I'll take you to the underground room" He said as he stood up from the sofa. "You don't really need to do anything with it, just know of its existence in case someone needs to use it in the future."
They were walking down a dark corridor, it vas humid and Elena found it hard to breathe. How could anyone live down here?
Andrew stopped in front of an iron door with sigils carved on it. He took a key form his pocket and began to open it. the lock cracked as if it was about to break and the door made a wailing sound which proved how long it had been since the last time someone has opened it.
When the door was finally open Elena's senses were assaulted with a coppery decaying smell. She wanted to know where it was coming from, but the place was so dark that she could barely see a thing.
Then there it was, the sound of metal being dragged over stone.
"It's over there" Andrew said as he pointed to the figure laying on the wall.
"WHAT happened to him? Is he alive?" Elena shouted, he looked so dead. She ran to towards him and just kept staring at him debating whether it was a good idea to touch him.
" It stopped eating years ago. It is not dead, but it's desiccating. "
Elena needed to reassure herself that he was indeed still alive, vampires scared her but they did not deserve to die. She raised her hand and when she was about to touch his cheek he opened his eyes.