Carpathian
"Hey Sky," I greeted my best friend as she opened the door.
"Hey Keekee," she smiled, her soft-gray eyes shone with happiness that I had become accustom to. "Come on in." I smile back at her as I step into her large home.
'I'm so glad that Sky's happy now,' I thought as my legs are tackled by Skyler's three-year old step sister, Tamara. "Hey Tammy, how have you been?" I asked her as I bend down eye level to the small dark-haired toddler.
"Dood!" she exclaims happily.
"That's wonderful," I smile as she begins to tell me about her walk to the park with Skyler and helping her sister make cookies. "I bet that was exciting," I tell her after she finished.
"Good evening Keeyln," Skyler's step father's, Gabriel, voice came from the stairs causing me to involuntarily tense for a second.
"Good evening Mr. Daratrazanoff ," I replied as I faced the tall, dangerous-looking, yet kind man.
"How many times do I have to tell you, call me Gabriel. You're part of this family as much as Skyler is." he smiled, lightening his dark eyes.
"Gabriel." I smiled back as Tamara squealed and ran to her father as Francesca, Skyler's step mom and Tamara's mother, came from the kitchen.
"I thought I heard you," Francesca smiled at me.
"Hi Francesca." I greeted.
"Before you girls go off and do whatever it is you do, may we talk to both of you?" Gabriel asked seriously. My heart began to pound nervously as I tried to think if I had ever heard or seen Gabriel so serious, in which I could not recall any time in the three years I had known him.
My nervousness must have been showing somehow because Francesca smiled sweetly and said, "Don't worry dear, it's nothing bad, just important." I smiled and nodded back as I followed the two adults into the living room. I sat down on the large dark brown leather couch beside Skyler as Francesca and Gabriel sat in front of us in the two matching chairs.
"Keeyln, what do you think about us?" Gabriel asked calmly. The question knocked me off guard.
"Umm, I think that both of you are amazing and I look up to you both as my second family." I answered honestly as Skyler gripped my hand, shocking me. I looked to her as I tried to control my emotions.
"Well, we see you as a daughter and believe you need to know the truth about us." Francesca started.
"What do you mean?" I asked, "you're not serial axe-murders and crazed demons are you?" I joked.
"No," Gabriel laughed. "But with all seriousness, what do you think about vampires?"
"Please tell me you're not vampires!" I shriek. "I mean, yeah, Dracula's all cool and all but I've read some things where vampires weren't such pretty things that don't follow the rules about not being able to come in your home without being invited in and having a weakness in garlic." I rambled.
"No dear, we're not vampires," Francesca smiled, "but they do exist."
"Of course they exist, Count Vlad Dracul the Third and Elizabeth Bathory are two of the most famous ones. I mean after all, they did inspire Stoker's Dracula," I rambled.
"No, we are speaking of the undead. Those without souls." Gabriel spoke softly.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, suddenly realizing how dry my mouth had become.
"Sweetheart, we are not human." Francesca stated softly. I jumped up with panic, 'Not human? What the hell? Oh god! They're going to kill me.'
"Keeyln, we're not going to hurt you. Please sit down," Gabriel said slowly.
"I think I should go." I whispered as I headed for the door.
"They're Carpathians," Skyler said quickly, stopping me.
"Carpathians?" I asked her with disbelief. "Really?"
"Yes." she said, "they're real. Just like the vampires are real."
"You mean…" I started.
"Yep." she finished, knowing I was going to ask her about the ones from my favorite series.
"Wow," I said as I just sat in the middle of the floor, letting the information sink in. "Carpathians…" I whispered. I suddenly jumped up, "Carpathians cannot be real."
"And why is that?" Gabriel asked as I suddenly felt something in my mind telling me that I wasn't dreaming and that they were real.
"Because! They just can't!" I reply.
"Tell us what you know about Carpathians," Francesca suggested.
"Well, they aren't human, but they take on a human form. They have tons of abilities, such as being able to shift into different forms, telepathy, and controlling another's mind. They also have longevity, they're not immortal because if they get a mortal wound, they can die, however they can shut their systems down to appear dead so that they can be healed. Even though they have so many gifts, they have some hold backs, such as having to consume blood and not being able to go out in the sun. Also, the males lose all ability to see in color and feel emotions around their 200th year until they find their lifemate, also can be considered as the human's form of soul mate but much deeper. Lifemates are like yin and yang. The male is the dark while one specific female is the light and has the ability to restore the male's colors and emotions." I explain. "It is because of this, they cannot be real."
"On the contrary, they are." came a deep voice behind me. I turned around to see Gabriel's twin brother, Lucian, and his wife Jaxon.
"How did you get that information," Jaxon questioned with worry in her eyes.
"My favoritest series ever," I smiled.
"The dark series," Skyler explained. "Her favorites are the De La Cruz brothers." she laughed, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
"How can we prove that they are real?" Gabriel asked.
"Seriously?" I questioned in disbelief.
"Yes." Lucian said in his velvet deep voice.
"Well the Carpathians usually take the form of a wolf or an owl," I reply nodding. 'That's gonna prove that Carpathians are not real and they are foolish.' I thought as I felt something brush my leg. I looked down and seen a black wolf. I jumped back away from the wolf and watched it turn into Gabriel before my vision turned black with 'they are real' as my final thought.