Bella's Story
First Sight
On my mom's side of the family, I was fully Italian. My mother was the first generation born in America and when she became an adult my grandparents moved back to the outskirts of Rome. I spent my spring break in Italy every year with my grandparents. But the visits stopped after my grandmother died and my grandfather rushed us back to the United States.
My grandmother had this beautiful home on the suburbs of Rome. It was a simple one story home with a vegetable garden in the back. The yard was huge and the garden lied across the yard giving the house the warm feeling of a family living inside. I loved it. I knew my grandfather was inside reading the paper. The poorly paved roads showed how many people had cars in our town, not many. It was the perfect life for a nine year old girl. Visiting grandparents in Italy, eating Italian meals and learning the history and language was an experience I'll never forget. Renee always pulled me from this fairy tale to bring me back to the states the same time every year, but due to some complications with my passport I had to stay an extra week. Grandma and Grandpa had no problem with it. Their tan wrinkled skin glowed in the sun light. Grandpa's white graying mustache always made his kisses tickle. Grandma was a no-nonsense woman with I tight bun holding her hair back. On Saturday my passport had been approved and I was free to leave, but grandpa insisted I stay the night. That day grandma and I stayed in the garden picking tomatoes for her sauce when she began to tell me a story. (AN: it's all in Italian, but I don't speak or understand so it will be in bold…)
"Did your mother ever tell you the story of her older sister?"
"No, …She has a sister?"
"Well, she died today many years back. She went to the city to study and one day we got a notice saying she died in a car crash. She had been behind the wheel when she lost control of the wheel and the car flipped over and burst into flames. Your mother was crushed."
Grandma was a master of story telling and I was already prepared to hear what really killed her. "But the funny thing was Auntie Michelle didn't own a car. I know how she died, once they told us, we knew that the cold ones had gotten her."
"…Cold ones? What's that grandma?"
"Ahhh, in America I believe you call them Vampires. I can't tell you much because very few have gotten away alive. They are very beautiful; their looks will call you in like a siren's call. Their eyes are red like the blood they consume. Beware the red eyes."
"But vampires aren't real!"
She smiled. "Is that the foolishness they tell you in the States. Who told you they weren't real. I can tell you it wasn't your mother. She tries to pretend like she doesn't but she believes. They don't burn in the sun and they don't have fangs. They don't die with garlic or stakes. They blend in with us. How do you think they'd survive if such obvious flaws were in their design. Even if you don't believe, I can only give you this one warning. Never go to Volterra. That's where your aunt went. I know that it's the most dangerous place a human can go at night. I'll tell you this once, don't go."
Then we heard a twig snap behind us. It was night by now and the sun had long ago disappeared. We both turned to see nothing but as I went back to tend to the vegetables I saw them. In the bushes only meters away war a pair of glowing red eyes glaring back at me. Before I knew what was happening Grandma had grabbed me by the collar of my dress and dragged me across the yard. We both ran as fast as we could as Grandma turned to look back. She squeezed my hand and whispered "Live, my Bella…" She dropped to the ground and pushed me to keep running. I saw it pounce onto my grandmother. Dirty blond shoulder length hair shadowed the face that was killing my loved one. His chiseled features glowed in the moonlight. He turned to look at me. His gorgeous face twisted into a smile I didn't trust as he blew me a kiss. His smooth looking lips retuned to my grandmother's throat as I ran crying and screaming back to the small home. The blood would be splattered all over the yard.
My grandfather was startled when I burst through the back door. I was screaming, "THE RED EYES!" in my cracking voice. He didn't even go to look outside because I had traces of blood on my blue dress. I guess the vampire had flicked some on me in his toying. My grandfather threw me over his shoulder and ran out the door. We stole the neighbor's car, not caring how it would get back, and got the first flight back to the states. My mother didn't believe a word my old superstitious grandfather was spewing. We were told later that grandma had died in a car crash and that the car had burned her beyond recognition. I remembered grandma's word's from the story. "Michelle didn't even own a car…"
I had seen with my own eyes what these thing could do and I wasn't about to sit back and wonder what else could go wrong. I was going to tell others, and fight these things with everything I have.
Grandma will not have died in vain. That was how I found out about the world of vampires.