Chapter 1

"She loved mysteries so much that she became one."


What would you say if I told you that I had lived in an alternative world for nearly seventeen years? Shocking, right?
The truth was that I had indeed lived a whole other life before this one.

I was born on February 1, 1996 and died on November 11, 2017.

And now I was back in 2009.

Things have escalated rather quickly will you tell me ?! Wait a bit, I can tell you more in detail.

At first, I did not fully understand what was happening. For a matter of fact, when I was born again, my memories were not as accurate as they are today. Not to mention that the barrier of learning was definitely present. Looking back, it was quite logical. After all, it would probably disrupt more than one if a newborn had the full capacity for language.

Anyway, as my new learning, I could remove some difference at home.

Like the fact that Peneloppe and Pedro Danielles were not my original parents. Wherever my aversion to broccoli was certainly not a novelty.

The strange and frightening dreams of an ego far too old for my stadium were also part of the process.

The advanced school level and the boredom more than evident in each of my classes also led me to believe that I was somewhat out of the ordinary.
Although it could still pass as a simple case of hyperactivity or even a gifted child.

It was only during my tenth year in this world that I fully understood that I was not only a child with an extraordinary intelligence and memories of another life.

June 20, 1997,
Santa Monica, LA

It was our first vacation outside of our small town of Wisconsin. Dad had made a considerable effort this year and the bonuses accumulated during the year had certainly paid off.

Personally, I could not really worry right now as I was just enjoying the hot rays of the sun on my skin.
A chocolate pistachio ice cream in my hand, I just waltzed in space under the eyes of my parents. Or at least, my other parents.

I was not sure of this feeling but I knew they were not the first people to teach me their wisdom of mind and heart.

Watch both sides before crossing, don't eat full mouth, sit down properly, don't forget to say hello etc. all these preachers had already long ago instilled in my brain.

Still, I could only oblige myself to follow these instructions again as a docile child. Certainly part of me was a little frustrated when Peneloppe-mom forbade me to watch the Halloween series because I was supposedly too young.

If she knew the content of my dream last night. I was almost certain that a high school party was not really her favorite dream for her little princess.

The view of the Panton shook me off like the flaming lights of Pacific Park. I always had a fascination with fair. A fact that had the gift of giving gray hair to my new parents.

But let's go back to the main point. The moment I knew.

As I said, I just walked without worry in the world. My ice cream in my hand and the sun's rays cradling my skin, I did not really care where I was going. It was until a pair of hands stopped me in my climb soon followed by an alarming gasp.

I immediately turned my head toward the source of my stop just to frown at the sight of an old bohemian woman.

She wore a sort of veil around the head with little pearls embedded here and there on the eggplant-colored cloth.

See ? Even my sense of detail was much more pronounced than an average ten-year-old girl.

" What are you ? " The woman with the sparkling blue eyes suddenly made me expand my puppies eyes in puzzlement. "So much strength of spirit ! "

An alarm bell rang suddenly in the back of my head at that moment and I knew I had to get away from this woman. Not only because Peneloppe had taught me that being a foreigner meant danger, but simply because I was not ready for what was to follow.

The ice had fallen from my hands as I was trying to free myself from the old woman's iron grip.

Unfortunately, she seemed to have a firm grip on my shoulders letting me wince as she shook her head again in bewilderment. " Where do you come from ? "
During all this time, I could only think of one thing. I wanted to get out of her embrace. Her questions became increasingly jerky and my instinct shouted at me to get out of here.

It was only when Peneloppe's and Pedro's distraught voice echoed behind our abnormal duet that I realized I'd ventured a little too far.

" Dan ! Dan Rosa Danielles! Dan ! "

I immediately turned my head towards the source of screams simply to widen further my frightened eyes at the sight of the couple. " I'm here ! Daddy, mommy ! "

" Oh my God ! Dan ! Hailed Peneloppe by stopping abruptly at my height before literally tearing me from the claws of the bohemian to swallow me in a hug. "Don't ever do us something like that again, girl! I thought we lost you! "

I could not help but hug her back before remembering at that moment the presence of the strange woman in the agreement of Pedro's voice. "Thank god you have found our little girl! "

My mother and I immediately turned to the woman and I gauged her now with suspicion and uncertainty as she kept her unnaturally blue eyes on me with a pensive expression.

"On the contrary, I would say that it was your daughter who found me. "

At that, I had immediately frowned in a bad feeling. Another sign of my age much more advanced ? I frowned more than most kids my age.

The obvious silence of my parents indicated their discomfort as the woman just continued to fix myself.

At least that was what she finally raised her eyes to meet the two adults now flanking my sides. "It's a very special little girl that you have here! "

" Uh thank you ? " My mother had blown, turning to my father with warning. "Pedro. "

"Right! I'm sorry but we have to go! Thank you for finding our little baby. "

With that, my father had barely given the woman time to say more. He had just pushed me and my mother with him to impose as much distance as possible between us and the stranger.

After that, we went back to the hotel where my parents had reminded me of the rules about strangers. And as innocuous as it may have seemed, this meeting with this gypsy had totally changed my life.

Even today I did not know how she did it. Whether it was a mere sign of chance or a new turning point in my life, this meeting had confirmed the one and only thing I was now certain of.

I was not of this world.

Of course I seemed pretty calm about it now, but when you had close to a lifetime of memory and seventeen years of experience to get used to it, it tended to make you react that way.

Plus, it was not really that bad. I remembered very little of people in my other life. Only the main lines. Not to mention that my past experiences allowed me to avoid replaying certain mistakes.

Like accepting this drink from the most beautiful boy of my freshman year. Or even try to please this popular girl in the hope of climbing the social ladder of high school.

Unfortunately it also came with disadvantages. Like losing interest in things I already experienced. High school for example.

Why bother to iron the same things. It was boring to die. A fact that Peneloppe and Pedro had understood very quickly.

They had immediately pulled me from school benches for home schooling. It was certainly more interesting for me.

At least, it gave me a lot more time to give myself an education without having to relive the worst moments of my other life.

It turns out I was not a kind of big social butterfly in my old life let alone now.

Especially after the incident last year.

It turned out that it was only at that moment that I fully realized where I was. The comparison had taken some time to catch up with my initial shock but I knew exactly where I was now. Or at least, in what world.

April 24, 2004,
Settle,

It was during this famous evening that I fully realized the world or rather the universe in which I was.

I decided to go to the local library to entertain my old spirit with some worthy literature. After all, we were going to move out and I was pretty sure the little town of Forks was not going to be as busy as Settle.

At that moment, I had not thought of anything more. It was a simple move to a nearby town.
Peneloppe had told me that she had grown up in this city and she thought it would be the ideal environment for me. Perhaps even to try a new integration within a school institution. If only I had known that it involved so much more.

Unfortunately, all I was concerned about at the time was just reading books.

I had just finished Diderot's last work and wanted to immerse myself more in the works of philosophers of the time. I found a kind of comfort in their wisdom of mind and their vision of a world in revolution.

It made me think of myself somehow. A person trying to adapt in a world that was not his. In an era that was not his.

Unfortunately, to be done I had asked Pedro to drop me. As a result, he was also my return.

He worked in this small Mexican restaurant on the other side of the city. He was a cook and he certainly had reconciled me with my love for cooking.

Sometimes I thought that I could literally go through all this life changing journey just to taste one of Pedro's dishes again. He was talented like that.

I knew for a fact that my first father was not really an ace of the kitchen but I was convinced that he had other I was unable to remember and over the years I decided to stop forcing myself to remember. The life I had at the time was enough for me.

Unfortunately, I was far from imagining the new twist of my life.

It was late, much later than expected when Pedro came to pick me up on the steps of the library. Well after closing in reality. I had to run in the thundering rain to reach the passenger side of the truck before slamming the door behind me with a sigh. The heat of the vehicle a strong contrast with the weather outside.

The ride had been moderately filled with a joke from Pedro about my extraordinary intelligence and the famous rolls of my eyes on my part.

However, the rain had only worsened and it was such that we could barely see the road in front of us.

As a result, Pedro had seen the vehicle overturned in the middle of the road too late.

I remembered the squeaky braking sound, the truck deviating from the road and the long slide along the asphalt before we hit the vehicle already on the ground. The shock was such that my breath was cut. I had tried to cling to the handle above the door in a last instinct of preservation before turning my horrified eyes towards my father.

Everything seemed to have been slowed down from that moment. His eyes wide as he dropped the wheel to put his arm in front of me, the flash of light, the feeling of leaving my seat as the vehicle left the road in a barrel, the brightness of the glasses maliciously piercing my clothes to lodge under my skin and pain. The deafening pain in my eardrums as my head hit the windshield violently in our fall.

At that moment, a black blanket of silence enveloped me in which my old memories returned to me.

It was like an accelerated science fiction movie. My father, John, my mother, Georgia, my little brother, Philippe and a series of endless memories until the final moment of my death.

My first death.

The pain was such that my heart rose in my chest. A scream left my lips as the consciousness regained possession of my body.

At first I thought I was starting a new kind of life. One moment, I blinked to remove the blinding light and the other I could smell the smell of blood, gas and smoke.

I could practically hear my heart in my chest as I realized it was not like that famous day at the maternity ward. It was far from confusing and reassuring.
It was the exact opposite as I felt a new numbing pain all over my body. My arm lying at an unlikely angle awoke a new scream in the back of my throat before I turned my head to the side to fully realize the magnitude of the situation.

My most recent memories merged with my elders and I finally realized where I was.

The accident.

"Da-d-"

The words were stuck in my throat as I tried to call for the man by my side. I was unable to move any of my limbs without releasing a horrible scream of pain. It was like I was on fire. The pain was such that I felt my head about to give way. My neck was stiff and numb and my right leg seemed crushed into several pieces.
I dripped blood on my lips sending me into a new frenzy of panic. I could feel my limbs trembling as I struggled like numbness to reach my father.

"Ped-Pedro! "

My heart sank back into my chest as I suddenly saw the man who had raised me, the one who had brought a sense of comfort despite my persistent feeling of abnormality, lying unconscious against the steering wheel. A large cut adorned his forehead, and an even more prominent line of blood lay on his forehead. I saw a drop squirted on the broken windshield making me want to throw up. Or it may have been the effect of shock coupled with pain.

Anyway, I knew we could not stay here.

I forced against my neck numb to look at my leg just to realize I was stuck. A new feeling of panic increased my blood pressure along my limbs in anguish before I cast my sights on my father again. I tried to call him, to shake him with my still free hand, and ignore the bits of glass piercing my skin.

Someone had to help us.

I tried again to call for my father, in vain before suddenly jumping at the sudden agreement of a crumple of jail. I turned my head sharply towards the source of the noise before giving a deafening cry to the feeling of my stretching muscles.

The rain seemed to have stopped as I watched the other burning vehicle at the other end of the road. My heart blew for the people still inside before I realized that it could happen very soon to us if we did not get out of here quicker.

However, my gaze was not slow to widen at the sight of a figure lying near the other car accident.

I tried to straighten up in my upside-down position before leaning against the window frame now hovering around me.

"Hel-help! " I gasped breathless as I struggled against the pain of the splinters of glass piercing my skin before forcing my voice. "Please, help us! "

The figure suddenly seemed to stop at the agreement of my voice and I forced so much air into my lungs to get his attention.

This was my first mistake.

If I had been in better shape, I could have seen how suspicious his present activity was. Or even how much the silhouette seemed calm in the face of such an accident.

Unfortunately, my preservation instinct struck too late.

It was only when I saw the figure disappear at an unimaginable speed that I began to cry in despair. At first, I did not have enough strength to fully realize what had happened. I was still in shock and my body was in too much pain to record what was happening.

However, it was only a matter of time before the silhouette reappeared and this time, much closer than I had first imagined.

My mind, still confused by the accident, did not immediately record his feline walk, nor his accoutrement of anything less than doubtful. All I was concerned about at the moment was getting help.

"Please, my-my da-dad ... he is ... he is un-"

My breath caught in my throat as the stranger suddenly found himself nose-to-nose with me.

His face, he was perfect.

Not in a perfect sense as the doctor of this series of perfect chick-flick but in the inhumanly perfect sense. His skin, his skin shone in the moonlight and the flames of the other vehicle danced in his eyes of an intense blood red. However, that's not what the hairs on my arms get on. No, it was that sadistic smile displaying a set of blinding white teeth.

"There, there, there, little human! "

This voice. I did not know it at that moment but this enchanting voice would be the result of several nights without sleep.

I felt my heart racing again at the sight of his inhuman mask before feeling my breath caught again as he suddenly sniffed the air.

A new sick smile appeared on his pale pink lips before he suddenly knelt in a feline position.

"You smell deliciously exquisite! " He had declared in a grunt worthy of an animal before licking his pale lips.

I had barely had time to fully record his next move as he suddenly touched my bloody forehead with his icy hands before bringing the liquid to his lips. My blood froze at the sight of the scene and I knew here and there that I was about to reach the deep of the other world. The sight of my blood staining his perfectly drawn pale lips amplified my nausea and I could soon feel new moisture along my cheeks.

I was crying.

"There, there, there, don't be afraid! " He chuckled, running his icy hand along the bone of my jaw before I let out a new scream of pain as he tightened his hold around my face in a vise. "It will not last long. Promised! "

The feeling of his icy hand was so strong against my skin that it made me think of the time I got frostbite. I was so petrified by his words that I only winced as he turned my neck slightly to have better access.

Everything seemed to have slowed down after that.

I closed my eyes hoping to reach real death this time. As improbable as it was, I had resigned myself to die to the teeth or fangs of a being considered impossible.
However, this did not happen as planned. To be monstrous at least. I waited for the pain with melancholy when everything disappeared into an abyss of darkness.

Even today, I don't know what happened.

I woke up several days later to meet the benevolent face of my mother and father hovering over my hospital bed. The doctors had told them that I was in a coma and that only time could tell about my condition.

At first I was immensely relieved to see Pedro by my side but it was before I remembered the accident. At first I had thought of some sort of dream or nightmare but all that had felt too real and by then, I knew, I knew I was in a world where vampires existed.

Of course, my therapist was not so enthusiastic about it and I quickly realized that it was better to hide my epiphany if I did not want to be an asylum escape. Nevertheless, I knew that I was not crazy. For a fact, I had always been out of the ordinary and if I existed then the vampires could be real as well.

Obviously with the accident, the sessions of therapies, re-education, since I broke my leg, the move was postponed. Hence the reason why I did not especially give the city much more importance.

Unfortunately, a year and a half later and I realized how stupid it was for me not to have made the connection earlier. Still, I knew that I could not really blame myself for such a fact. Who could imagine living a reincarnation experience in a teenage literary saga.

It's been a while since I wrote on this site. I don't know if my writing has improved or if on the contrary has worsened but I wish to start this story with a new eye. So for all those who take the time to read me, please leave a little feedback.