The rest of the week passed like a blur, but a really slow blur. Like when the days pass slowly and then suddenly it's the weekend; that sort of thing. I told Rani, Matteo and Carisa that I'd hang out with them on the weekend. Matteo invited me to his mansion again, and so now I was on my way along these strangely creepy and isolated streets to their house. I knocked on the giant house at around two o'clock. That's when he said to come over.
"Hello," said a man, and he creepily smiled.
It was the man from those photographs that I saw a few days ago. He stared for a moment, sizing me up.
"Can I help you?" he asked, kind of impatiently.
"Uh, yeah, sorry, Matteo and Rani told me to come," I told him.
"Ah yes, come right in," he told me, still smiling creepily.
He made me feel a little uneasy.
"Rani! Matteo! There's a guest here to see you!" called the stranger.
Silence followed.
"I suppose they're not here," he said after a few moments, and smirked.
"Perhaps I'll just go—" I started, something about this man did not seem right.
"No, no, they'll be home soon enough," he said. "I'll show you to the lounge room."
"Um, okay," I replied.
I followed him into a dark kind of room, not very lounge room-esque. It was dark and dank, and smelled kind of metallic and well... weird, I couldn't explain it.
"Don't scream," he looked at me right in the eye, backing me into a corner.
"What?" I said.
His face became... weird, to say the least. Veins crawled all underneath his eyes, and his teeth, his canines, sharpened to a point. He plunged them into my neck, pain shot through my body. I let out an ear piercingly high scream.
"Ow! My ears!" he exclaimed, covering his ears. "Wait a second, I just compelled you to not scream. Why are you screaming?"
I pushed him aside and ran out of the room, he appeared right in front of me. I screamed again.
"Ow!" he exclaimed, covering his ears. "Really again?"
"What are you?!" I managed to shout at him.
I heard footsteps rushing down the hallway. Rani and Matteo appeared in front of us.
"Roxy! Are you okay?" called Rani.
"What's going on here?!" Matteo yelled at the stranger.
"Ah brother, nice of you to join the party," he said. "I was just feeding off the food you provided. Although, she's a little bitter for my liking."
"She's not food!" Matteo exclaimed.
"She's our friend," Rani explained.
"You sound like those sharks in Finding Nemo," Matteo's brother mocked them. "Humans are friends, not food!"
He chuckled to himself, apparently finding himself humorous.
"Well—" Rani started.
"Guys, I'm feeling kind of... feint," is all I could manage to say, clenching my hand to my neck.
I started to fall down but Rani rushed over and held me up.
"Antonio, because this is your doing, please feed her your blood," she ordered him.
"If you send food to the house, I'm inclined to eat it," he said, bit into his wrist and held it up to my mouth.
"His blood will heal you," Matteo added.
I drank the blood, and the dizziness faded. I felt around my neck. No puncture wounds, just blood. I shoved Rani off of me and stepped back a metre.
"What are you all?!" I asked, trying to be brave.
"We're creatures of the night," Matteo said quietly, as if he was ashamed of whatever it is he was.
"Huh?" I asked.
"Um we're—" he started again.
"We're vampires, sweetie," Antonio told me, in a sassy tone. "Blood sucking, night walking, immortal beings with bad table manners."
"What?" I managed to say. "That... that can't be possible."
"Also, why couldn't I compel her?" Antonio asked, completely ignoring my commentary.
"Her necklace," Rani replied.
"Ah, okay," Antonio replied.
"What are you all talking about?" I screamed.
"Should we compel her to forget?" Matteo asked.
"No, she'll find out again sooner or later," Rani said. "We might as well let her know now."
"What are you all talking about?!" I exclaimed.
"It's okay," said Rani. "We're not going to hurt you, Antonio is just a little wild at times."
Rani shot a look at Antonio.
"I told you, if you set food at the front door I'll eat it," he repeated. "It's like pizza delivery."
"The point is, we're vampires," she said, calmly. "We've been around for a long time."
"Where are you all from?" I asked backing away slowly.
"Antonio and I are from Italy, during the industrial revolution period," said Matteo.
"I'm from India," said Rani. "During the Golden Age or the Gupta Period. I'm a lot older than Matteo and Antonio."
"Can we please stop calling me Antonio? It's Tony, I'm trying to seem more American here," he said.
"But it strips you of your individuality," I told him.
"Can we focus?" asked Rani. "Vampires also have special powers."
"We can compel, vamp run, have super strength, super hearing, heal instantly, heal others instantly with their blood and live for like ever," Tony said.
I took a moment to take it all in, kind of intense.
"I'll go now," I said. "I'll be back soon, I just have to do something."
I started to walk off.
"Hey, Roxy," called Tony. "Look, I'm sorry for attacking you. And also, are you going to keep our secret?"
"Yeah... I'll keep it," I told them. "I'll see you soon."
I walked out of the house and then started sprinting back home. I needed to know how to protect myself against them, the vampires. As soon as I got home, I researched what vampires are vulnerable to. The top answers were; garlic, a religious symbol and if you sprinkle seeds on the ground, they must pick them up and count them. Perhaps that's the name where Count Dracula came from. I rushed out to the local supermarket and picked up a lot of garlic, some garlic bread and some bird seeds. I went back to my house and cooked the garlic bread, they won't know what hit them. I walked back to their house with all the stuff I had bought, plus an old crucifix that I found around our house, I'm not Christian however I'm pretty sure my grandma was. I shoved everything into a bag and ran back over to their house. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to open. Instead, I heard Rani call out that it was open. I walked inside and set down the garlic bread. I went into the lounge room and sprinkled the bird seed on the carpet. Then I put some garlic on the door frame, and set the garlic bread on the coffee table and took a piece.
"Hey Roxy," Rani said and walked in, not noticing the garlic and the bird seed on the floor. "what's that smell?"
"What's what smell?" I tried to reply innocently.
Tony walked in and eyed the pan of garlic bread, also not noticing the seed on the ground and the garlic on the door frame.
"Oh yummy!" he exclaimed. "Don't mind if I do."
He took a piece and shoved it in his mouth. Much to my shock, nothing happened.
"This is good! Not authentic, but still good!" he exclaimed. "Who made this?"
Matteo then walked in.
"Why is there garlic in the doorway?" he asked, and continued walking.
"Why are there seeds on the carpet?" he asked. "Tony, what did you do now?"
"Why are you asking me?" he asked, his mouth filled with garlic bread.
"Why are there seeds on our two hundred year old carpet?" he asked.
"Why don't you have the urge to pick up and count them all?" I blurted out.
"What on earth are you babbling about?" asked Tony, his mouth still filled with food.
"Is that not a thing? You know like do you not have an urge to pick them up?" I asked.
"No!" he exclaimed. "Why on earth would you think that?"
"Because Count Dracula," I said, nervously.
"So you were the one that spread them everywhere?" questioned Matteo.
"Uh, maybe," I said.
He raised his eyebrow.
"Okay fine," I said. "I researched what vampires are vulnerable to and it came up with that."
"And you honestly thought that we'd pick up bird seed and count it?" Tony asked.
"I don't know what to believe anymore!" I exclaimed.
"Is that why you put the garlic in the doorway?" Tony further questioned.
I nodded, reluctantly.
"Roxy, we are Italian, what the heck do you think we eat?" asked Tony, eating more garlic bread.
"You're all vampires! Is that not insane?! I just want to know how to protect myself in case I ever get attacked again," I said.
I shot a glare at Tony, who just continued to stuff himself with garlic bread.
"Okay, clearly this is all a misunderstanding," Rani finally said. "Roxy, I'll teach you some stuff, okay? Antonio, clean up the bird seed and the garlic please."
"Why must I clean it up?" he whined, mouth filled with garlic bread.
Rani shot him a look of 'argue with me and you die' so he walked out of the room presumably to get something to clean it up.
"Come on, Roxy, I'll take you into my bedroom and you can ask me anything you wish to know about the supernatural world," said Rani.
I followed Rani into a room upstairs, it was cute and retro themed room. It seemed to match her personality and style. She sat down on the bed and gestured for me to join.
"Ask away," she told me as I sat down.
"What are you vulnerable to?" I asked.
"Vervain, which is a certain herb," she started. "Sunlight, unless you have a daylight ring like I do, wood hurts more than any other weapon and can kill us if it hits the heart, if our heart gets ripped out, if our head gets chopped off... that's all I can think of."
"Where can I get vervain?" I asked.
"I have some if you want it," she said. "I put it in that necklace you're wearing so you couldn't be compelled by anyone."
"Who else in the town knows about you guys?" I questioned. "Does Carisa know?"
"She knows about us and the supernatural world, yes," she said. "The police department know about vampires, but the Sheriff's best friends with Antonio, so that's not saying much."
"What other creatures are out there?" I asked.
"There are werewolves, which there's a pack out in the forest of this place and we're enemies with them," she started. "There are witches and warlocks. Actually, you know that girl Opal?"
I nodded.
"Her grandmother's a really powerful witch and Opal's taking after her," she explained.
"What about Odin?" I asked.
"He's extremely powerful, but he absolutely hates the supernatural world," she said. "He hates himself for what he is as well."
"Any other creatures around here specifically?" I asked.
"There is a bad vampire gang in the town," she says. "They're worse enemies with the wolves than we are, there's a full on war between them and there have been instances in which we've been partially involved but not ever fully involved."
"Other creatures in general?" I asked.
"Vampire hunters," she said. "It's self-explanatory what they do, but they are enhanced to kill us. And mermaids and fairies too, not any that I know of within America. Other than that, that's it."
"Are mermaids specially advanced in any way other than the tail?" I asked.
"Yeah, depending on the mermaid they can manipulate water. Like freeze it, boil it, control it in general," she explained. "Also, mermaids are quite tasty to vampires. Tastier than humans, actually."
"What's the difference between fairies and witches?" I asked.
"Well, witches are a very regional thing on the powers they possess, whereas fairies magic is pretty constant," Rani explained. "Fairies only have white magic which is healing spells, protection spells and peace spells. As well as the fact that fairies have less power than witches and are far less common."
I nodded, to take everything in again.
"You look scared," she said.
"It's just intense," I replied. "It's a bit overwhelming, intimidating if you will."
"I can understand," she replied. "I was freaked out the day that I turned and found out about it."
"You can remember?" I asked. "Wasn't that six hundred years ago? Does your memory not fade?"
"Another perk of being a vampire, we don't have to forget anything we don't want to," she told me.
I sat silent for another moment.
"Do you want me to walk you home now?" she asked.
It's like she could read right through me sometimes.
"Yeah, thanks," I told her.
"C'mon, let's go," she said.
I got up off the bed and walked out and down the stairs to the hallway. Rani quickly shoved on her regular boots and I followed her outside.
"Wait, so all those reports of animal attacks lately are vampires?" I asked Rani.
"Yeah, unfortunately," Rani said.
"Are any of those from Tony?" I asked.
"No, we all drink from blood bags from the hospital," Rani said.
"So this town is infested with vampires?" I asked.
"Not just vampires, there's werewolves and witches too like I said earlier," she told me. "The big vampire group is the Strychnos which has around fourteen members, including the leader Hugo."
"What about the werewolf group?" I asked.
"That's the Shadow Wolves Pack," she explained. "There's a lot of them because there are several families within the pack, there's like thirty to forty of them."
"And the sheriff knows about all of this?" I asked, confused. "Yet she doesn't put a stop to it?"
"As far as I'm aware, her and the Strychnos have an agreement that those who trespass into their territory is fair game, however if they go outside these boundaries of killing people, like they have been lately, then they will be punished or killed," she explained. "Though, I think that Hugo has started to threaten to kill off members of the police so they're in a bit of a problem."
"And you can't do anything?" I asked.
"Unfortunately not, we can't let the sheriff know that we're vampires," she told me. "As well as the fact if we want to keep them allies we can't mess with them."
"Wait a second, who's older you or Tony?" I asked.
She laughed.
"Me by a very long shot," she said. "I'm three-hundred and sixty-seven now and Tony is two-hundred and twenty."
"Also, is your age determined by your actual birthday or the date that you were turned?" I asked.
"Birthday," she said. "Well, that's how I do it anyway."
"This is my house here," I told her, pointing to my house.
"Alright, I'll head home now," she said.
"Do you want to come in?" I asked, politely.
"No thanks, I should get back," she said. "Hopefully, Tony isn't terrorizing innocent people."
"Okay, see you later," she said.
"Bye!" she exclaimed and vamped out.
These next few weeks will prove to be very interesting, to say the least.
