Prologue
Pain. How could something so beautiful and natural cause so much pain? The last moments seemed to be the hardest of the whole ordeal. When the pain is at its peak, when your body feels as if it will shut down completely from the sheer force of the pain, it is alleviated. That is when the weight and the power of the situation finally hit you… hard.
The room was filled with crying and screaming, yet everyone was pleased and at ease. The air around everyone buzzed with excitement and an overwhelming feeling of welcome, happiness, and love. Even through the ache she still felt throughout her body and the suffocating feel of the fatigue that she was fighting in her mind, she shared the feelings of those around her. No, she felt those feelings and many more feelings beyond that: hope, anxiety, and a desire to protect and care for. The dull ache was fading quickly, leaving only the fatigue and anxiety. Why had she not been shown anything yet?
A close family friend approached her bedside. In their arms, they held a precious gift that everyone had been waiting for anxiously. Concealed inside the layers of fragrant blankets lay the one thing she knew she could no longer live without.
"Oh, Damiana… you do not know how long I have waited." The small bundle was gently placed in her waiting arms. She carefully peeled back the layers of cloth.
"Oh, Nina," someone let out an awed whisper, "Just beautiful."
Beautiful did not even describe what she held so close to her now. Just being in such close proximity caused the protective feelings to surge deep within her again. Whatever happened from this point on did not matter as long as this one thing was safe.
"I welcome you wholeheartedly, Damiana Atla Arun. I promise that I will protect your life with my own." The bundle of blankets moved gently, somehow showing that it knew its name before it had even been given.
The rest of the Arun line murmured their agreement from their positions around the room, "We welcome you as a member of our line, Damiana Atla Arun. We promise to protect your life with our own, as long as you reciprocate our actions back to any of us when the need arises. If you do not uphold your end of the agreement, precautionary or disciplinary actions will be enacted."
The newborn child gave a small, nearly unnoticeable smile. She already understood quite well what was being asked of her and what she must do in return. She understood the consequences of her failure to uphold the agreement, what would come about if she betrayed her family's trust. She understood more than is believed possible for someone her age. She was different; she was strong; she was an Arun.
1. Special
THIRSTY. JUST SO thirsty. I needed to sate my thirst, relieve some of the fire ravaging my throat. I needed to hunt. It was so difficult to focus on anything but that gnawing burn that was battering my insides.
Although I was running at such a fast pace, I could see every knot and hole and scratch in all the passing trees with such clarity. I could hear every bug crawling across the numerous surfaces surrounding me. I could smell the droppings of animals and the stagnant water in the ditches and lower dips of land along the side of my makeshift path. The need for blood heightened my senses, making it easier to locate prey.
Ba-umph, ba-umph, ba-umph. There, the sound I needed. Even from this distance away, I could hear the heartbeat and the gentle slosh the blood made as it travelled through the veins and pumped through the heart. The sound was alluring, deliciously seductive. I NEEDED that blood. Now.
Nearing the sound of the gentle heartbeats, I instinctively lowered into a low crouch. I could feel the hunter in me overpower my conscious thoughts. It felt good to let my body and mind do what it was made to do while I reaped the rewards. Slowly, carefully, my feet moved me towards the blonde curls shining silkily under the beam of a precariously placed flashlight.
"Camping a bit far out into the woods, are we?" I murmured to the fair headed young woman.
The girl jumped, spinning around to face me head on. "I'll be fine. I stored my food properly and chose a good spot to set up my tent. Plus, my cellphone is always handy." The girl's voice shook and nearly broke midsentence but she managed to get a coherent sentence out. Her heartbeat was speeding up and her blood was moving faster. Silly girl. It was painfully hard not to attack right then, but I wanted to make this a clean one. I didn't want to stain my new cashmere sweater.
"Well, I must say that I have to disagree with you. You see, some beasts in the woods aren't always after what you humans consider to be a decent meal… sometimes they'd prefer something considerably fresher." I smiled malliciously, allowing my teeth to glint from the glow of her flashlight. She began to back away slowly, but I was behind her in nanoseconds. Using my power, I could easily reach into her mind and relax her thoughts. She gently leaned back into my arms. I rested her head on my shoulder, allowing her hair to slide back and expose her vulnerable neck. I could feel her pulse, smell the delicious blood gently cycling through her. Wordlessly, I lowered my lips to her throat and pierced her neck with my razor-sharp canines. The seductively warm, thick liquid coated my tongue while the smell and taste overwhelmed my senses. I kept drinking, savoring, until finally, her heart took its last beat…
Damiana woke with a start, fighting back the urge to vomit. A thin layer of sweat was covering her entire body, causing her t-shirt to stick to her chest uncomfortably. It was vivid, too much so. It had to have been close. She cursed under her breath. "Shit. Filthy leeches. They should know better than to come this close to a witch's house." Reluctantly, she untangled her legs from the twisted knots in her sheets.
She listlessly flipped on the light switch for her bathroom vanity and gazed into the eyes her mirror reflected back at her. She looked awful: slight purple shadows under her bloodshot eyes, knots and tangles all through her curly auburn hair. Despite her appearance, she was happy with what she saw; everything she had dreamt stayed where it should. Damiana knew she shouldn't even consider herself a vampire but the dream was so lifelike and vivid… too real for her disciplined mind to formulate on its own.
She spit, hoping to cleanse her mouth of the horrible taste still lingering there. She splashed her face with the cool water from the tap. She needed to clear her hazy thoughts and erase the images of the sickening things she'd dreamt about. She pulled her t-shirt up over her head and tossed it lightly into the hamper. A shower, yeah, that's what I need. I can't be tense, she thought, too many new people to keep my eyes on today. Damiana turned the knobs and got the water to a nice temperature and climbed in, hoping to mend her fraying nerves before another first day of school.
Wearing a pair of plain jeans and a simple white tank top, Damiana descended the stairs and sped out her front door. She had no desire to find out what inedible disaster her mother had managed to put together. Although, with her heightened senses and her "special" ability, she was sure it was some monstrosity that she wouldn't wish on even the most ruthless bloodsucker. The morning temperature was comfortable; a sign that midday today would be pretty warm. A gentle breeze blew and picked up sections of Damiana's hair and tossed it about. The air did wonders on clearing her cluttered mind. Her head felt lighter and airier; better than it had this morning. On such a nice morning such as this, dark thoughts were almost impossible to sustain for long.
Rochelle High School was only about 10 blocks from her house, so Damiana took the walk at a leisurely pace; anything to put off her upcoming responsibilities to teachers, schoolwork, friends, and most importantly, family. With so many vampires inhabiting the small Michigan town, Damiana was weighted with the responsibility of watching over the local teens attending Rochelle High. It was terrible, really. The already long classes seemed to drag on for eternities, partly due to the fact that she knew nearly the entire curriculum for sophomores.
High school was a killer. If boredom and boisterous young adults weren't enough to give her a headache, the constant inflow of thoughts from her many peers would. Damiana couldn't block her mind-reading abilities in school: any mind could contain a snapshot or little clip of info that could be crucial to protecting the lives of the innocents in her school. Heh… innocents. Hardly. Teenage humans are second only to vampires on the cruelty scale. Ruining someone's self-image and respect, dropping people into garbage cans, purposely inflicting pain, insulting and lying about others. It's depressing and downright pathetic. Sometimes I think they really just want to die by the way they ac…
"Dami!" Damiana turned around slowly to face whoever was behind her, interrupting her thoughts. She wanted to act surprised, although she'd known who was following behind her since 2 blocks back.
"Good morning, Jackie." Damiana replaced her reluctant frown with a more welcoming faux smile. "How long have you been behind me?" 5 minutes and 42.6 seconds or approximately .32 miles.
"I… dunno, maybe… 10 minutes or… so?" Jackie said breathlessly. Wrong. "I was… eating breakfast and I… saw you walk past so… I decided to try to… catch up… to you. Thought you might like… some company… this morning." Wrong again. Oh, wow, when did I get so bitter?
"Oh, thank you, but you didn't have to abandon your breakfast just to make sure I'm not lonely." She replaced her forced smile with a more genuine one. She did like Jackie's company; she made it easy for Damiana to keep her thoughts preoccupied. She chattered on and on incessantly but on some occasions, her inability to keep quiet was a blessing.
"Nah, no worries. Once you've had cereal, there isn't really anything new you can experience from it. And besides, you're way more interesting than Cheerios."
Damiana laughed at Jackie's attempt at a compliment. "Well, I'm happy you feel that way. I usually like to think I'm more entertaining than milk and wheat shaped like pool floats." The pair began to walk the last half-block to Rochelle, sharing the details of their summers and semester schedules. Maybe today won't be too unbearable.
"'Maybe today won't be too unbearable.' Chyeah, right. What the hell was I smoking this morning to even have thought that?" Damiana quietly mocked herself as she dialed in her locker combination. So far, her teachers were as emotionless and apathetic as a white wall and about as interesting as one, too. She'd been bumped into and nearly knocked over on more than one occasion so far and she didn't know anyone even slightly familiar in any of her classes. To top it all off, every mind in the school seemed to be in overdrive, flooding her senses with so many muddled thoughts; it was enough to drive anyone up the wall. "Only two classes left, Damiana. You can fight off vampires in close quarters combat, more than one at a time sometimes, why can't you handle a typical day of mortal high school?"
She did a quick book exchange and continued on to her next class: Biology. This was a class she could really get into. Studying life and its purpose and inner workings fascinated her. It gave her a new respect for life and strengthened her desire to protect it from harm. She may not agree with what humans chose to do and not to do with their lives but it was her job to protect said lives all the same. Anything to make her want to do so even more was certainly welcome.
The Biology class was a small one: only about 10 students in all. Still, none of the faces seemed even relatively familiar. The small class gave Damiana ample chance to relax a bit. With so few minds in one room, the explosion of senses was lowered to just a dull roar. She let out a contented sigh as the beginning-of-class bell rang. The teacher, a relatively good looking young man in his late 20's, dutifully walked to the front of the classroom. He introduced himself as Mr. Sillen. He was wearing a nice dark blue sweater that fit his trim upper body well. He wore relaxed khakis and classic Converse. Snap out of this! NO ogling the teacher. Just… focus on your class work and the task your family has given to you. This is no time to lose your focus!
"…Damiana? Damiana Arun? Damianaaa… anyone home? I believe the world of Biology is calling for your attention. Maybe even yelling for it." Mr. Sillen called, suddenly at her table.
"Huh-whaa?" She shook her head, trying to bring herself back to the present. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, Mr. Sillen. I wasn't paying attention; I promise I'll try harder." Damiana could feel her cheeks get warm. She wasn't used to having attention be drawn to her. In fact, she tried desperately to blend into the crowd, be as commonplace as possible.
Mr. Sillen laughed, "This is a classroom, Damiana, not a military line up. Daydreaming once in a while isn't harmful… unless, you know, you're driving or cooking or shaving or having your name called for attendance or…" The class let out a few giggles at his jokes. Damiana felt her face redden a few more shades. "Anyway, continuing on. Carina Baker?"
"Here. Thankfully, I wasn't completely disregarding the teacher." Carina responded almost instantaneously. She turned to face Damiana and gave her a deliberate smirk. Hope she enjoyed that comment. Damiana stopped reading Carina's thoughts right there. She felt intruding on her thoughts any longer might end in Carina losing a few of her falsely tan limbs, preferably her pretty little head. While Damiana plotted, Mr. Sillen continued attendance as usual. He reached the bottom of his list and took a seat atop one of the unoccupied lab tables at the very front.
"So, Biology, what a-" Mr. Sillen was suddenly interrupted by a light knocking on the door. "Oh, a late comer? Come on in, it's open!"
Upon Mr. Sillen's prompting, the knocker opened the door and stepped inside. "Uh, sorry… Mr. Sillen, right?" Mr. Sillen nodded and the newcomer continued, "I hate making excuses but I haven't been able to find any of my classes today… this is the only class I've managed to find on time, or as close to it as I could hope to get."
"Oh, no, don't worry about it. Being new is the best excuse you could give. Next to being late because you were buying me lunch or something, of course. Who could give someone detention after getting free lunch?"
"Someone who doesn't eat lunch? Or dislikes anything free." A boy at the table in front of Damiana answered. She hadn't noticed before, but his raven hair was streaked with grass-green dye. She didn't understand why she hadn't noticed him earlier. You weren't paying attention, were you? You were daydreaming about the teacher!
"Damiana? Daydreaming again?" Mr. Sillen's voice brought her back down to reality. She could just manage a tiny nod to his question. She had, in fact, been daydreaming again.
This time, the classroom burst out with laughter, directly aimed at Damiana. She felt her face slowly reddening again. She was further reminded that she wasn't accustomed to this much attention, albeit only a room with 11 other people total. Damiana could barely stammer out an apology this time around, "Sorry, Mr. Sillen. Can you please repeat the question?"
"Certainly. The seat next to you, is it taken? I'd like our new friend Daniel Ronan here to have a table-mate on his first day. Maybe someone to show him around a bit." Mr. Sillen gave her a convincing smile. She fought against the urge to lie; not that she couldn't pull it off and fool any human here effortlessly but she wouldn't handle the resulting guilt well. Damiana chanced a glance around the room, seeing the faces of the other girls around her; all of their faces were painted with a look of sheer jealousy. It was obvious, even without mind reading, to understand why they were so willing to "help" Daniel: they just wanted a chance at him. She saw this as a perfect opportunity to get a little bit of her frustration taken care of.
"No, this seat isn't taken. Daniel's welcome to it," She gave Mr. Sillen and Daniel the most innocent smile she could manage, although it came out more as a smirk that only a cat would wear once it had snatched the canary from its cage. "Oh, and I'd also be happy to escort Mr. Ronan around the school. I'm sure everyone understands how hard it is to be new some place or another at some point in their lives."
"Alright, Daniel, you're new lab partner will be Miss Damiana Arun. Now as long as we're on the subject of labs and partners, I thought we might review a few lab safety rules and…" Mr. Sillen continued to list the safety rules that were basically common knowledge for Damiana now. Once again, she allowed her mind to wander, this time only allowing it a short line so that it can easily be drawn back in.
As Daniel approached their new shared workspace, Damiana finally focused on the way he looked. It was something new. Something Damiana wanted to find out about. She didn't expect to react the way she did when he looked directly at her. She let out a barely audible sound of a suppressed gasp. He was handsome, no, gorgeous! She was having trouble tearing herself away until he stood right before her, asking her to scoot in so he could move past. Absolutely ANYTHING for you, Dan, she thought as she jerked her chair forward towards the black-topped lab table, Thank you Mr. Sillen.
"Hey Damiana, it's nice to finally meet my new lab partner. My last science teacher wouldn't allow partners. She constantly thought we might end up lighting ourselves on fire or ruining her lab in some way, shape, or form." Daniel greeted Damiana jovially. He seemed to enjoy her company. Most others choose to ignore me; not that I don't blame them, next to vampires and themselves, I'm the most deadly thing here. By subconsciously steering clear of me, these humans keep themselves safe. That argument with her own head never made the overwhelming issue feel any better: she had no friends except one chatterbox and most of the faculty.
Her mind praised her for staying so emotionally distant, for her sake and her classmates' sakes. But her heart thought otherwise; it ached for company. Her body needed it. These feelings were painful to deal with. Damiana had never heard of anyone in her family line who desired friendships and company the way she hungered for it. "Likewise, Daniel. I cannot wait to get to work with you on lab projects." Oh, smooth, way to sound not creepy. You'll set the record for shortest time with a new lap partner. She turned her body towards him, showing he had her full attention.
"Nice. Oh, I was wondering, would you still like to show me around a bit after class? I don't want to make you miss anything for me." Daniel looked over at her exposed legs nervously, a faint blush forming on his cheeks. Damnit… she has nice legs. If only she knew how much she's teasing me by doing that. Ugh, no. Don't screw this up with her by having those thoughts. I want to get to know her, now. Damiana could hear him think to himself. He liked her legs, he wanted to know her, and he didn't want to screw anything up to scare her away. How sweet. She'd never heard anyone say or even think anything like that about her. Damiana knew she was going to enjoy this school year here, now.
Hey, maybe things will perk up this year. "No, it's no problem. It's definitely my pleasure." Damiana could feel a grin spread across her face. Daniel returned it wholeheartedly. Yeah, this is going to be a good year.