Chapter 11:

Secrets

I ran down the abandoned streets, past the modern buildings that tried to fit in with the small village. I passed the circle where I had my one moment with Mason and straight to the building where I was about to be attacked by a shape shifter. I sped through the stairs because I didn't want to waste time waiting for the elevator to come down, open the doors like if I had eternity to wait, get inside, wait until the doors closed at the speed of a snail, and back up to wait for it to open up again. I sped through the dark red halls and up to the door where the thick pale woman in old fashioned designer clothes sped right out of. I slowed down my pace as I heard this overwhelming argument going on in my Aunt Maggie's office. Mason appeared near the door, his ears perked up. I made my way next to him.

"Answer my question?" I heard Vlad's voice booming into the atmosphere. There was no reply. After the silence, I heard a fist, heavy like a large rock, be dropped onto the desk.

"I won't leave until you tell me why there is a painting of me and my parent's in that room?" he yelled again. I then heard the desk smash into a wall.

"Okay! Okay," Aunt Maggie panted. There was a short pause.

"Tell me," I could clearly hear Vlad sneer.

"My parents found out what had happened to you," Aunt Maggie began.

"You're parents?" Vlad asked confused.

"Your grandparents, to clarify even more," she said.

"What?"

"Your mother is my sister," Aunt Maggie stuttered.

"I thought you would remember," she whispered.

"My memory became a bit faint after I transformed," Vlad said in a soft tone than the one before.

"Well, unfortunately, my mother didn't take the news very well. The news only caused a lot of folks back then to call her crazy. After a while, my father was able to convince my mother to express herself in her art, and Abigail came back after you and your father disappeared. Both her and my mother became depressed." Aunt Maggie's voice became shaky while she tried holding back her tears.

"Then, after about almost two years later, your father came back to look for her. She expected you to be with him, but you weren't. Abigail began to think you had forgotten her and thought you hated her, but your father reassured her that soon she would get to see you again. With that being said to her, she didn't think twice about leaving with him again. A couple of months later, Abigail came back to us, but her belly was huge. She looked like she was ready to explode. She told us your father had vanished after they had an argument about her keeping the baby. Abigail knew what would happen if she had it, but no matter what, she wouldn't think about killing it to save herself."

"It?" I whispered as low as I could so that Vlad wouldn't hear me.

"My mother was devastated; she didn't want to lose Abigail again. Abigail begged both my parents to take the baby in after it was born. Grandpa agreed quickly, but grandma was hesitant to answer her. A few weeks later," Aunt Maggie began to cry. I couldn't hear a single sound come from Vlad.

"Abigail went into labor," Aunt Maggie continued.

"Her screams became shrieks. I saw the fear in her eyes as I held her frozen fragile hand. Every bit of sweat came out of her pores as the baby began to rip through her belly. With every skin that was pulling away from each other like cracks, she shrieked even louder. My father couldn't stand to see her in her miserable state. He grabbed a knife and cut across the bottom of her belly. Abigail screamed her lungs out. Next thing I knew, her belly was fully open, and inside was a beautiful baby girl. Grandpa pulled the baby out and cleaned her up quickly to hand her over to Abigail. She was out of breath; her heart began to slow down. She kissed the baby on her blood dried forehead while she whispered 'I love you'. She told us she loved us as well and thanked us. The last thing she said was to protect the baby from your father. She made us promise her to keep her safe and to watch over you in case you ever needed help. That was her last breath, her last wish." Aunt Maggie could no longer control her sobs.

I found myself on the verge to do so as well. Mason hugged me from behind. I began to lose my temper. More flashbacks of my grandma came to my mind. Especially, the one three days before she died when she had said 'baby boy'. I found myself push Mason back and burst into the room with my tears creating a salty river down my cheeks, dripping from below my chin.

"I killed her?" I shrieked. Vlad and Aunt Maggie turned to look at me with their almond eyes open far wide as they could be. Mason got a hold of me from the back trying to calm me down.

"Answer me?" I yelled at my Aunt Maggie. Vlad moved toward the new grand window. My sobs had gotten out of control.

"Alexa," Aunt Maggie choked.

"Tell her!" Vlad yelled. Aunt Maggie began to hunch over.

"We only wanted to keep you safe. We didn't want you to have any emotional problems if you found out what really happened," Aunt Maggie whimpered. I began to struggle in Mason's grip.

"He was looking for me?" I whimpered. Aunt Maggie fell on her knees.

"I killed my mother and my grandparents," I mumbled to myself. I felt Mason's hold tighten around me.

"That explains why I had such a strong connection towards you," Vlad said to me. My eyes then made their way to his. I saw him make his way involuntarily slow for a vampire towards me. I let my head fall down as he got closer. I saw Vlad's arms outstretch before my petite body. Mason let me go, and I collapsed into Vlad's chest. His arms pulled me close as they wrapped themselves around my neck. My arms pulled him close to me as I wrapped them around his waist.

"You're my little sister," he whispered into my ear. As he said it, our bodies embraced each other even close as we let our sobs sing a blue song.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to him. He hushed me. After two minutes we departed. I knelt before my Aunt Maggie as her sobs became soft.

"The vampire that killed my grandparents was looking for me?" I asked her. She nodded.

"What does he want from me?"

"I don't know," Aunt Maggie whispered.

"What does he want from me?" I yelled in her face.

"I don't know!" she retaliated as her head flinched up to look me in the eyes.

"I believe I have an idea," said Vlad. I stood up and waited for him to continue.

"My father came to look for me, I think before you were born. He was in despair as he told me my mother was planning on having her baby. He said she would die if she let it happen. He told me he promised to kill the baby if it were born. He wasn't going to stop until he'd find it. I guess he finally found you, and he's sticking to his promise."

Suddenly, a swift of massive air ran through the room. A clan of pale faces stood around us in dark black robes with red underneath, Vampires.

"Enough!" A pale man with golden eyes and dirty blonde hair said.

"What are you doing here?" Mason spoke this time since the longest.

"Trying to protect ourselves," The man replied.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"That should be none of your concern," he replied with calm.

"To your luck, it is," I sneered.

"Watch your tone," he said as he burrowed his eyes at me. I returned the gesture.

"Protect ourselves from what?" Vlad spoke this time.

"You two know enough. Just let us do our job."

Mason moved in front of me.

"Xavier?" Mason hissed.

"Xavier," I whispered to myself. He turned his gaze toward me. He then made his way towards me, but Mason became more guarded before me. I then heard him growl under his breath.

"Step aside," Xavier commanded as he buried his eyes into Mason's. Mason slowly began to move to the side, and involuntarily my left hand got a hold of his left arm to pull him back a bit.

"It's okay," Mason whispered.

"How peculiar," said Xavier. He then took quick steps near me and bellowed his face near my neck. He took a sniff the way Stephen did.

"Let me guess, my scent is a sweet mixture of human and a tender smell close to a vampire," I snickered more comfortably. His head flinched back as he gazed into my eyes. I believe I heard Mason growl once again.

"How'd you know?"

"Let's just say a little birdie told me." Mason growled once more.

"Has the birdie mentioned your strength?" he snickered in a flirtatious way.

"A bit, but I'd prefer to hear it from an expert's point of view," I flirted back as I took a step closer to his face. His eyes glowed a bit.

"For a human, you seem to be able to move a vampire at least an inch. If any ordinary human tried to do it, it would be like moving a boulder."

"I guess I'm special," I purred as my fingers caressed his robe gently.

"I guess you are," he whispered as his face began to close in against mine.

"Enough!" Mason sneered and came in between me and Xavier.

"Mason's right. We need to analyze this new information. Vincent will appreciate to hear it," said a slim pale woman with the hood of the robe over her head. Xavier gave me a crooked smile.

"Indeed he will," he said and took a few steps back.

"We'll meet again," he said as they disappeared.

"What the hell was all that about?" Mason hissed once he turned to face me.

"I was just trying to get information from him. How else do you think I got something out of Stephen?" He flinched back a little, and then he got mad again.

"You flirted with Stephen! What else did you do, huh?" I took a step back.

"Whoa, calm down. I hope you're not trying to insinuate I'm a tramp," I sneered.

"You sure seem to do whatever it takes to get your way."

"Whoa, okay Mason in case you forgot she's my sister and I won't let you talk to her like that," Vlad hissed. Mason put his hands up in front his chest and took a step back. I turned to look at my Aunt Maggie who was now standing near the window. I walked to her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out this way. Believe me, all I wanted to do was protect you. I didn't want you to get hurt, or feel guilty about what happened," she mumbled on and on. I placed my hands on her shoulder shushing her.

"You were only keeping your promise," I whispered. She pulled me into a hug and squeezed as tight as she could.

"Just remember Alexa, it was your mother's decision to have you. She knew what would happen if she did,' she reassured me. Next thing I knew, Vlad was part of the hug as well. Then, we felt another pair of arms around us.

"Umm, Mason?" Vlad asked.

"Mhmm," Mason replied.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Hugging you guys," he replied.

We all tried to get a look at him. When we did, he had his eyes closed with a smile.

"What?" he finally asked as he noticed our stares. We kept a hold on it.

"I just felt left out is all," he defended as he pulled away from us. We all gave a light laugh.

"I'm glad all of that is over with," Aunt Maggie said as she wiped a tear away.

"I'm just glad Alexa is my sister," Vlad said as he put his arm around me.

"I just hope your dad doesn't find me," I told him.

Aunt Maggie and he gave me an eerie look. I looked back at them with the same look.

"What do you mean my dad?" Vlad asked crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Well, yeah. Your dad is looking for me because our mother died giving birth to me. He must also be pissed off because I'm not his child." Aunt Maggie and Vlad flinched back a bit and looked at each other with concern.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, we just hope he doesn't find you either," Vlad said and Aunt Maggie wouldn't look away from him.

"I don't think that's it," I questioned.

"Okay, you caught us," he said as Aunt Maggie's eyes grew wider.

"It surprises us how well you're taking all this information," he finished and Aunt Maggie turned to look at me with a smile and her head began to bounce up and down.

"Uh-huh," I said and turned my gaze onto Mason to see if he believed them as well. Unfortunately, he seemed emotionless.

"Well, I just hope your dad will get this crazy idea out of his head. If he loved our mother very much, he would stop searching for me," I said as I made my way towards the door.

"You're right," Vlad mentioned and he followed behind. I turned to look at my Aunt Maggie.

"I'm glad there are no more secrets," I said and walked away.