CHAPTER 7

His words had startled me. Once he had let it sink in though he snuck out my window (which must have been his way in though I was quite sure I had closed it), after telling me to be ready in ten minutes.

I told my mom, she took it fine. That was probably because she was half asleep though. I quickly put my hair in a messy ponytail and slipped on some black yoga pants and a dark gray and green polka-dotted tank top. After brushing my teeth thoroughly and putting on my converse I ran outside to see that Rory was already there.

As I hopped in the car a snide comment struck my ears.

"I thought ten minutes was long enough, but goodness, you took 12."

"Oh yeah very funny."

"I always am." He said while pulling off of my street. "So I told the others that we are on the way." He said. I couldn't help but stare at his beautiful face. He looked concentrated like he was hiding something and intent on keeping it hidden. It made my heart hurt that he felt he had to keep something from me. His handsome face blemished by a mask. "Stop feeling sorry for me or yourself." He commanded. I was taken aback I had completely forgot that he could probably hear what was going on in my head.

"I'm sorry." I said softly though I knew he could hear.

"Don't be sorry, you just don't have to worry about what I'm 'hiding' from you."

"Okay."

We pulled up to his house. He opened the garage and drove his car in to be among the others. Walking me into the house through the door in the garage. The house was very quiet and a feeling of emptiness emanated off of the walls.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, half expecting my voice to echo though I had said it in barely a whisper.

Then I saw Jill bound down the steps at just slightly faster than human speed. "Well, everyone one else is out… umm," Jill was saying uncomfortably, like she wasn't sure whether to tell me or not.

"Hunting." Rory finished. I guess I understood Jill's nervousness for telling me where everyone was. "Which I should be going to do now, Jill, I trust you have already been?"

"Of course," she said as though offended that he would think she wouldn't have gone before.

"Good, then I will be going." He said then turned to me.

"I love you." I told him. Then added lightly "don't come back until you're full." He laughed softly.

"I love you too." And then before I could see him move he was gone.

"Aww, you two are so cute." Said Jill. Then she grabbed me and flung me over her shoulder and ran up to her room at inhuman speed placing me on the bed. "Sorry, I just wasn't going to wait for you to walk up the stairs." She explained.

"Umm, thank you? Is that the right thing to say?"

"I'm not sure, I guess. But it doesn't really matter right now."

"So, what are we doing today?"

"Well, Damien thought it would be a good idea for all of us to tell you our backgrounds today. Like where we came from how old we really are, all that stuff."

"You already told me how old you are." I said referring to one of our first encounters when she had found me at five in the morning.

"Our real ages silly! We live forever we aren't really only in our teens."

"Oh." I said slightly embarrassed a blush creeping ups my cheeks. "So how old are you really?"

"Well, I was born in 1938. Which makes me 68 years old?" She sighed.

"Right." I said trying to grasp the idea that she could be my grandma.

"I know it is a strange thing to think about." She continued. "So I was born in 1938 to my parents Lillian and Max McDermott. I was raised in Chicago , Illinois until I was about 16 and a half when my father decided to take us on a camping trip. My mother and I thought this very silly because we couldn't handle something like that, but my father assured us that he would take care of us. I really trusted him. The first night out there was long. I can't remember most of it because it was a long time ago. But I do remember waking up to my father yelling in pain. I climbed out of my separate tent and ran to my mother and fathers. I saw my mother laying in the tent still her face completely drained of any color. She almost looked shriveled. When I looked at her closer though I the two half moon cuts on her neck that almost formed a circle, I didn't know it then but my mother had been sucked dry by a vampire. I could still hear my father screaming and it worried me but as I ventured outside of the tent I realized that the sound was coming from the woods and I wouldn't dare go into them." She stopped as though remembering it.

"I'm sorry that it happened like that."

"I'm not done." She said. "I haven't even gotten to where I was changed. So as I was sitting in the dark listening to my fathers screams get softer and softer, I knew he was about to die. And I knew that my mother was already dead. I didn't want to live without them. I didn't want to live in an orphanage. So I picked up the knife we had used to cook dinner last night and I slit both of my wrists. That wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do with a thirsty vampire wandering around. I guess that once he finished off my father and he smelled my blood he came back. I remember not knowing what to do. He raised my wrists to his mouth and …well you know. I know I passed out. I don't know what had made him stop though. He obviously did. I woke up three days later a vampire. I didn't understand it at first. Everything was sharper, my vision the way things smelled I could hear everything. I had seen Dracula the movie, and when I was around people I had the thirst for blood. At first I didn't know what else I could do so I did drink human blood. It was into the nineteen fifty's when I met Damien, Melanie, and Triston. I had been looking for my next human prey on a busy city street when I saw Triston. I had never been in love before so I had mistaken my lust for him as blood lust, mistaking him as a human. I started tracking him. That was just what I did. And finally late one night when I cornered him when he wasn't with Damien or Melanie I realized that he was a vampire also."

"Wow." I said she had such an interesting story like it was right out of a book.

"I know. When he found out I had been tracking him though he brought me home to Damien and Melanie. That was when I had it explained to me that I didn't need to feed off of humans that I had an alternative. Even after I knew that I kept tracking Triston though. I couldn't help it I was in love with him. When I told him that I loved him we ended up getting married and I moved in." she finished.

"Cool." I said

"Yeah I guess." She sighed. "So now we just wait for the next person to get here to tell you there story." She said.

"So why is everyone out hunting?"

"Because we get hungry. And it is especially hard to be around you so much. You have no idea the risk you are taking by being here with us. You do realize that we could take your life so easily without even meaning it?"

"Yes I know, but I don't care. I trust you." She smiled sweetly at me.

"You are probably the best friend I have ever had." She told me.

"Thanks." I said and I gave her a hug. At first she didn't know what to do. She stood almost paralyzed. Then she hugged me back. It felt good to have a friend.

"Hey guys I'm back" said Triston.

"Hi" I said.

"All right, well I'll be going." Said Jill.

"See you later." I said

Triston walked over and took the spot that had been occupied by Jill.

"So how is your day going?" he asked politely.

"Just fine and yours?" I asked in the same manor.

"Quite well." We both laughed. I felt so comfortable with Triston he could easily be my older brother.

"So where would you like to start your story?" I asked.

"Well, I will tell you my age first I guess."

"Allrighty then."

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to make a guess?"

"Sure, why not. How about 1901."

"Not even close."

"Then when?"

"Try in the mid 1200's."

"What?!" that made me speechless. He had to be joking.

"Yes, I don't know when exactly but I can tell you a little about my life then. I don't remember my parents well. I do remember my sister though. Her name was Madelyn. One night she was stolen from her bed by Spartan warriors. It crushed me. I convinced my parents to let go to war, to fight as a Trojan. Like many others I died on the battlefield, but not the way most did. I had been stabbed. I was lying on the ground bleeding. Amidst all of the fighting, I saw Damien walking calmly through the fields of gore. I called out to him to help me. To get me out of there. When he came over to me I told him that I needed to live to save my sister, for her sake. He helped me off of the battlefield. And brought me back to his house. Where as I was telling him my life's story he bit me. It wasn't until later that he told me what I had become and that he had done it to help me find my sister. He and Melanie were married and they became like parents to me. For the first few weeks Damien took me out everyday to look for Madelyn. When we found out they had killed my sister I had been upset with him for dooming me to an eternal life without her. I had lived my whole vampiric life surrounded by human blood which made it easier for me when I left not to suddenly start feeding off of humans and to stick with animals. But I soon came back after realizing that Damien had only done that so I could live to find the truth about my sister. I will never be upset about it now though."

"Oh, do you think that you would have done the same if you were in Damien's shoes?"

"I'd like to think so but I'm not sure." He said after thinking for a minute.

"Why do you think that you got the power that you did?"

"I'm not sure. I guess it was because when I was passionate about something I was able create the perfect argument to win some one over and the last thing I had done was convince my parents to let me go in to battle and for Damien to help me."

"Why do you think that your power doesn't work on me?"

"…maybe this sounds silly but…never mind."

"No, tell me. I'm not going to laugh."

"Well, it doesn't really make sense since none of our powers work on you, but you just remind me so much of my sister. You even look similar, you act the same. I feel like I am already connected to you. Like we have some type of bond that works as a barrier. I don't know it's silly."

"No it's not."

"Thanks kid, you really are special."

"Just because your hundreds of years older than me doesn't mean you can call me kid!"

"What would you rather prefer whopper-snapper?"

I grimaced, I didn't like either but would definitely rather be called kid than whipper-snapper.

There was a light knock on the door.

"Come in Elyse." Triston said.

Elyse entered in all of her beauty.

Elyse was the person I had been most worried about talking to. It was probably because I hadn't figured out how she felt about me yet. She almost always acted differently towards me, never the same.

Once Triston left she sat next to me on the bad. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Please don't look so nervous."

"Why shouldn't I look nervous?"

"Why should you?" she asked me.

"Why am I nervous?" I hated myself for not being able to lie. It constantly forced me to tell the truth. "I'm nervous because I'm worried that I will find out that you don't like me, and then I will know for sure." I said thinking about each word before using it.

"What makes you think I don't like you?"

"Well, your attitude when you are around me is almost always changing. And I don't know any other reason than you not liking me. And I feel like I can't trust you as well as the others, because you got me drunk." I said my face hidden.

"Good." She said. My head snapped to look at her. Good? Why was she so cruel?

"Good? Why is that good?" I said rudely, but I didn't care about my manners, she wasn't exactly using hers.

"You're not going to understand why until I tell you my story, so please be quiet and listen. I was born in 1969.I had a good family good friends. I was changed on my seventeenth birthday in 1986. I fell off of a roller coaster that my friends and I were on. I was somehow caught by Melanie. Though I was caught my spine still broke. Melanie changed me to keep me 'alive'. The police said that my body fell into the woods and was just never found. I obviously came into their family. I ate the same as them. Then recently at our old school, after a football game I was with this guy and he tried to kiss me. I hadn't eaten in a while and before I knew it I had bitten him. I didn't want him to become a vampire, so I drank all of his blood. That is why I said well, it is good that you don't trust me, I don't want you to."

"You don't want me to trust you?"

"No."

"Well, too bad. Because I do."

"Look I really do like you, but I don't think that you should be around us. You are putting yourself in a lot of danger."

"I don't care." I said stubbornly.

"Cassie, don't be stupid. Every second you're with us you are more likely to be killed."

Tears were welling in my eyes. Why was she telling me to go away, I loved their family for who they were not what they were.

"Ugh, please don't cry, I didn't mean to upset you. I am just trying to keep you safe."

"Cassie? Elyse?" called Damien.

"We're in Jill's room." Elyse said.

Elyse stood up before Damien and Melanie got to the room. "I'm going back to hunt." she said. I wasn't sure if it was to me or Damien and Melanie, knowing that they could hear. Melanie and Damien appeared in the doorway.

"Why don't we go into the living room?" Melanie said.

I nodded and walked out of the room. They let me walk down the stairs by myself which I was happy about. I tried to unnoticeably wipe away the tears in my eyes. I walked into the living room and sat on the cream colored couch.

"I hope you have enjoyed listening to our stories." Damien said.

"Umm, yes I have."

"Well, this is the last story for today I think." Melanie said.

"Melanie and I were married when we were changed." Damien started. "It was only, I'd say, five years before I changed Triston. We were at home eating dinner, when we heard a disturbance in the back of the house."

"And of course Damien, being male, just had to check it out to keep me safe. Because all men are macho." Melanie added playfully.

Damien grimaced. I thought it silly because they were adults yet they still acted like teenagers.

"So, I went to check it out and in the back of the house, there was a person. At first I was alarmed and was ready to fight, but it was a girl, very young probably about nine. I went to help her up to see what was wrong, but when I bent down to give her my hand she lunged at me and bit me." Damien said.

"Then I came into the room wondering what was taking so long, only to see a little girl sucking on my husband's neck, you have to understand how strange that was. So I yelled at her and she jumped up and left. For three days Damien screamed out in pain and I had no idea how I was supposed to help him, but I held his hand and tried to feed him but he wouldn't take the food. One the third nights I had fallen asleep but was awoken when he let out his loudest scream yet. Then he stopped screaming all together. He opened his eyes and looked at me. They were blue, but they hadn't been blue before so I was frightened. Before I could do anything he jumped on me and bit me though." Melanie sighed.

"You have to understand Cassie when I new vampire wakes up they haven't ever eaten so they really can't control their thirst." Damien said as though he were apologizing.

"It's all right; I'm not going to judge you by something that happened hundreds of years ago." I said. The words sounded funny to me.

"Everyone should be back soon." Damien said.

"Why don't we get you something to eat seeing as our family has just finished." Melanie said.

"Okay."

Melanie got up off of the couch and walked to the kitchen, I followed. She led me up to the refrigerator and opened the door. It was stocked to full capacity with food. I gawked.

"Not to be rude, but why do you have so much food if you don't eat it?"

"Well, Elyse, Jill, and I went to the supermarket yesterday and got a little carried away." Melanie admitted slightly ashamed.

I laughed. I could imagine the scene compared to the amount of food that was there.

"What's so funny?" Rory asked while he snaked his arms around my waist. I jumped in correlation to my heart.

"Just the idea of the girls in your family getting carried away in the supermarket." I answered.

"Well, you can have anything in there or in the cupboard, we bought it all for you." Melanie said while exiting.

I turned around, eager to see Rory's face. It was late afternoon. The setting sun played shadows against his godly face.

"You're beautiful." He said. I blushed crimson, but didn't look away; the thought of looking at something else, no matter how beautiful it was would be disgusting in comparison to him.

"You're very handsome yourself." I told him. This was embarrassing to say aloud but I knew that he wouldn't make fun of me so I didn't mind.

"G-d! Please stop with the mushiness until I'm out of earshot." Said Triston as he came into the kitchen. What was he doing in here; he didn't exactly need any food.

"It isn't our fault that you're able to hear us anywhere in the house." Rory complained.

"Well, you might want to stop anyways." Elyse said also entering the room.

"Cass, why don't we go for a walk." I liked that he had called me Cass, only my dad ever called me that and it felt very endearing that he had decided to use it.

"'kay" I said. He grabbed some food, though I didn't see what and two blankets. Then he led me out the back door and on to the hill. We walked to almost the top of it when he set down the blanket and the food.

"You have a thing for picnics don't you?" I said reminiscing about last weekend when he brought me down to the creek.

He gave me a smile and set out the food. There was a pie, a whole pie. That was all that I saw before I looked up at him like he was an idiot.

"I don't exactly eat whole pie's" I told him.

"That's okay, what you don't eat now I'll force feed to you tomorrow." He joked.

I looked down. He had gotten the essentials for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Peanut butter, jelly, and bread.

I started to spread the jelly on half of the bread.

"Here." Rory said taking the bread and knife away from me. "I'd rather you didn't handle a knife."

"It's a butter knife." I whined.

"Yes, but a butter knife in your hands is still a deadly weapon."

I crossed my arms and set myself with a pout. Rory handed me the finished sandwich and I took it hungrily. I finished it quicker than I thought I would. Rory pushed the pie towards me. I picked up a fork and pulled out a nice chunk I stuck it in my mouth. It was strawberry rhubarb, which was easily the best pie in the world. I chewed slowly and swallowed.

"Rory?"

"Yes?"

"A while ago I had a dream, and…" I stopped; maybe I shouldn't bring this up. Maybe I don't want the answer, or maybe I do.

"And…?"

"Well, in it… I think you changed me."

"Yes, I remember." He said curtly.

I really wanted to know this but I was afraid to ask. Don't be afraid I told myself. Just do it. Just ask him.

"I was wondering, are you were planning on ever changing me?"