Loved By The Vampires

by Lilly Wilder

  “Okay, I’m ready to go.”

  For a brief moment, Mina had second thoughts. She remembered the threat she’d received from the twins and she knew she needed to take it seriously. A girl’s jealousy knew no bounds - that’s usually the case. Women had a tendency to go crazy overboard when they thought they were losing their man and this went double for teenage girls.

  Mina sighed. Was one coffee really worth trouble with the school bullies? Probably not, but then, her ego surfaced. Who the heck were they, thinking they could dictate who Mina could and couldn’t see? That was just ridiculous. Mina had every right to see, kiss or even fuck whoever she wanted. Wasn’t that everyone’s right?

  Her nostrils flared. Her blood boiled. She was free to do whatever the hell she wanted.

  “I’m ready, too,” she smiled at Raphael.

  Chapter 13

  It was the night of a half moon but the area before them was clearly illuminated. Mina was seated on the grass, next to Raphael. They were near a small lake and a few ducks were gliding peacefully on the surface of the water, which reflected the dark skies. Mina’s coffee cup rested next to her. It’d been empty for almost two hours now.

  The time just flew by. At first, their conversation seemed strained, like neither of them knew exactly what to say or ask, to start off a proper conversation. Then, they’d cut each other’s sentences, stop talking, start again at the same time, then they’d burst out into laughter. It was fun, but almost pointless to talk as it got them nowhere. Still, she felt like her body responded well to his proximity. She was calm and composed, and she liked how he wouldn’t let her pay for her coffee. It was a matter of principle, really, not that this coffee cost an arm and a leg. How lousy it was, they should be sued for even charging for it.

  After getting the coffee, they walked out of the cafeteria and toward the lake. There were still people around, just hanging out. The campus was brimming with life. Somehow, Mina didn’t mind. She didn’t care about any of those people. She didn’t really care about Raphael either. Or, did she? Looking at him now, his walk wasn’t as cocky as before, his whole posture changed, when he wasn’t with his audience. He was almost normal. If he could ever be considered normal, being so handsome.

  They finally sat down by the lake. He offered a bench but she always preferred grass. The texture was much softer. She took off her shoes, then her socks. He eyed her weirdly, but didn’t say anything.

  “You don’t mind, do you?” she asked innocently. “I just love the feel of grass on my bare feet. I get to do it so rarely.”

  “Did you do it often before?” he beamed.

  “When I was a kid, yeah. Not so much anymore.”

  “I know what you mean,” he sighed, looking into the distance, trying to find an invisible spot. “Life seemed so much simpler back then, no?”

  “Yeah,” she nodded, trying to find that same spot.

  “You’d just play and worry whether your mom and dad would get you the toy you wanted for your birthday,” he continued.

  “If you had parents,” she replied, not looking at him.

  He turned to her. She was still faced forward but she could see with the corner of her eyes that his gaze was glued to the side of her cheeks. Her answer surprised him.

  “Your parents are…” he asked, not finishing the question.

  “Yes.”

  She felt like that wasn’t a lie, so it was easy to confirm. She wondered about him but dared not ask.

  “Mine, too,” he replied, as if he read her mind somehow.

  Now, it was her turn to face him. He wasn’t sad, though. It was like he had come to terms with his loss and, now, it was simply a fact, just an honest answer to an honest question. What neither of them realized was that this was one of those questions that brought people together.

  “I guess we all have a similar story. Parents killed by slayers, right?” he asked and she was grateful that he faced into the distance again.

  She felt like she couldn’t lie about this. So, instead of a reply, she just murmured something barely audible. This was a sensitive topic and when she signed up for this mission, she didn’t expect that she’d have to wear her heart on a sleeve.

  “But, you know…” he continued. Obviously, it wasn’t his intention to let this one go. “I can’t even hate them.”

  “Hate who?” she asked, afraid that she already knew the answer.

  “The slayers.”

  “Why not?”

  The dynamic between a vampire and a vampire slayer was always a clear cut one. There was nothing but hate. There could never be anything but hate. It’s simply how things were.

  “They were just doing what they believed was right,” he explained enigmatically. “I know my parents were… bad vampires. They did bad things, to good people. Even to good vampires. I never knew that until I came here, and I met some people. My grandparents are my guardians now. So, I asked them about it and they had no choice but to tell me the truth.”

  “About your parents?”

  “Yes.”

  He spoke slowly, using simple words. It only added to the effect his story had on her. She believed him. After all, she herself knew that vampires came in all sorts and sizes. There were good vampires, bad vampires and those in between. Those were the most dangerous. The bad ones, you knew what to expect of them. Pure malice and hatred but, the ones in between, those could really get you.

  “I wish I could meet the slayer who killed my parents,” he suddenly said and her body immediately jerked back instinctively, as if it sensed an unknown danger that was about to come her way.

  “Why?” she was quick to ask.

  “So, I could tell him or her that I understand,” he continued, “that I feel no thirst for revenge.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No,” he shook his head.

  She thought about it for a second, but she knew exactly what she wanted to say, what it was necessary of her to say.

  “That’s really noble of you.”

  “I mean, don’t get me wrong. They were my parents, and I loved them. I still love them but after hearing the horrible things they did, a part of me thinks that…”

  He couldn’t continue. His voice was shaking, down to a whisper now. His thought remained unsaid, but Mina knew what he wanted to reveal.

  “It’s okay,” she placed her hand gently on his shoulder.

  He turned to her and gave her a weak but grateful smile.

  “Sorry about this,” he suddenly perked up. “I wanted you to join me for a coffee and now I’m being all pathetic here, talking about my dead parents.”

  “No, no, it’s okay,” she assured him. “I totally understand and it’s okay if you want to talk about it. I don’t mind.”

  “I don’t want to bother you.”

  “You’re not,” she lifted her cup. “Look. It’s empty.”

  He looked at the cup, then at her.

  “You’re still here,” he smiled more cheerfully now.

  “See?” she teased. “I actually like this guy better than the cocky jock.”

  The moment she said it, she realized something. Could it be that he was being mean just to hide his pain?

  “I guess I do cross the line sometimes,” he admitted.

  “Sometimes?” she repeated. “The first time we met, you made my friend go away, like she was a dog or something. That was very rude.”

  “Oh, really?” he asked, gliding his fingers through his sleek hair but a few strands fell over his face and eyes.

  She had no idea how someone could look so effortlessly gorgeous. Good genes, probably.

  “I’ll have to apologize to her.”

  “Apologize?” she wondered. “You?”

  “I was probably with the guys when that happened.”

  “That’s no excuse,” she scolded him.

  “I know,” he looked down at his feet and picked at some grass around his sneakers.<
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  “I’m not saying it to make you feel bad,” she explained, “but you really come off as an asshole.”

  “That’s not my intention.”

  “Then what is your intention?”

  “I guess I just want everyone to respect me.”

  “Funny way of trying to gain respect,” she snorted.

  “I don’t want anyone to know that I’m hurt or sad, when I feel like that. I want everyone to always see me as the winner, never a loser.”

  “What’s wrong with being a loser?” she asked.

  “Are you serious?” he frowned.

  “Totally,” she nodded.

  “Who’d ever want to be a loser?”

  “I’m a loser,” Mina gave a dismissive half-shrug. “I actually value the experience of not getting what I want immediately.”

  “How do you do that?”

  “Well, it means I didn’t do something the way I was supposed to. I need to learn something new and that’s what we all need to do. But, you, and people like you, have this weird idea that you’re God’s gift to Earth and you know everything. Like, you don’t need to learn anything new and that’s not true. We’re all here to learn and one of the best, most effective ways to learn is from your mistakes.”

  He listened to her intently and she could see in his eyes that he was warming up to the idea.

  “I guess no one ever told me that version,” he admitted. “The way you put it, it really doesn’t suck to be a loser.”

  “That’s the spirit,” she laughed, “and besides, guys like you could never be losers.”

  “Guys like me?”

  His eyes lit up, realizing she’d just handed him a compliment, without even realizing.

  “Well, you know…” she was a little confused and tried to get out of it, but tough luck. He wasn’t going to let her.

  “No, I don’t,” he grinned, “tell me.”

  “Um, I… you know… well…”

  Instead of replying, he helped her by cupping her chin with his fingers, turning her to face him and then pressing his lips against hers. Mina closed her eyes, and inside her mind, she could see fireworks. She could hear fireworks. All around them, the woods were still. The moon was shining as mightily as it could and stars flickered. Mina’s head was spinning, as his lips simply lay there on top of hers - a perfect fit.

  There was no tongue, even though she was expecting it. When he pulled back a second later, she felt almost cheated that there was no French kissing, but then, she realized that this was all the more special.

  “Sorry…” he smiled. “You were just so adorable, I had to do that.”

  She couldn’t help smiling, too. At the same time though, she was angry with herself for liking it so much, for kissing him back. That wasn’t the plan, at least it wasn’t hers.

  “It’s getting late,” she said, suddenly putting on her socks and shoes, and jumping up to her feet.

  “Did I do something?” he asked, worried, also getting up on his feet.

  “No, I just….” she wanted to give him an explanation but it was hard, because she herself didn’t have it. “It’s late, I have to go back.”

  She rushed to her dorm, without even saying goodbye to him. She just couldn’t. Her cheeks were too flushed and she was scared that the second time, it would be her kissing him, instead of the other way around.

  Chapter 14

  I was two days before the Witches’ Sabbath was to take place. Reeba reminded her already of that but Mina needed no reminder. It was too important to forget. Reeba asked if she could bring some plants from the botanical garden to make the so called Hexensalbe, so Mina was headed there the following evening, after school.

  Reeba explained what Hexensalbe was, even though Mina had already heard about it. The so called flying ointment, Hexensalbe was an essential ingredient to any Witches’ Sabbath. It was a hallucinogenic ointment they used during their meetings, which allowed them to be open to receiving visions from the other world. Mina wrote down all the ingredients on a small piece of paper, then folded it carefully and placed it into her zipped pocket. There was quite a lot on the list and she needed to get all of them if they wanted the ointment to work.

  When she arrived at the Botanical garden, she had no idea how she was going to steal plants from there. She had a big jar in her backpack and a pair of household gloves, as some of the plants were poisonous, so she didn’t want to risk it. She hoped she’d be alone there, so she could go ahead and do her criminal deed undetected, but the moment she walked in, she realized that there was already someone there.

  She recognized him by his stooping posture. He was kneeling down, next to a bush, inspecting the blossoming flowers gently, with the tips of his fingers, making sure not to hurt them as he did so. For a second, Mina thought how lucky a girl would be to have him touch her like that, as if she was a flower that needed to be cherished, watered and admired. Wasn’t that what any girl wanted from a guy?

  She tried not to make a sound but he quickly turned around and immediately sprung to his feet, so she couldn’t admire him any longer.

  “Oh, hey!” he recognized her straight away, greeting her with a smile.

  “Hey Thorne,” she smiled back, approaching him.

  She wondered if they should kiss on the cheek, just as an innocent greeting but she remained where she was. She didn’t want to seem pushy.

  “What are you looking at?” she asked him.

  “It’s crape myrtle,” he informed her, glancing at the flowers again, as if they were so beautiful, he simply couldn’t keep his eyes off of them.

  “Sounds like some old lady with dozens of cats,” she laughed.

  “Yeah, it does,” he joined in. “What are you doing here?”

  She looked around, and saw that, again, there were only the two of them there. She was thinking what would be best: to go back and do this some other time, or make him a possible accomplice and steal the plants together? The other option was far more tempting but he sounded like a goody two shoes who didn’t break the rules very often. That didn’t fit in with her plans. A thought occurred to her: Raphael would probably steal them immediately. Hendrik, too. She didn’t doubt that. But, Thorne…. He seemed too sweet to do anything wrong.

  “I’m here…” she started, still weighing it, “because I need some plants.”

  “You need plants?” he wondered. “For what?”

  “A friend,” she replied mysteriously.

  “Why does your friend need plants?”

  “She needs to make something.”

  “Like a potion or cream?”

  “You could say that,” she frowned, feeling a little embarrassed that she had to lie.

  She hated lying. It wasn’t something that came natural to her, so she always had to make an extra effort when she was doing it and it was hard keeping up with a lie, not getting entangled in it.

  “From the way you’re replying, I’d say you don’t want anyone to know what your friend is doing, right?” he asked ingeniously, even though she expected as much of him.

  “Right,” Mina just nodded.

  “Then, I’m guessing it’s a potion.”

  Mina didn’t reply. She just looked at him and the answer was written all over her face. To her surprise, he wasn’t upset.

  “Potions are dangerous,” he continued. “Does your friend know what she’s doing?”

  “I think so.”

  Mina pulled down her backpack, and extracted the glass jar from it, then the neon yellow gloves.

  “By the looks of it, it’s something dangerous?”

  “Poisonous, yes.”

  “What are you… I mean, what is your friend making?”

  “Hexensalbe,” Mina said, trying to sound as German as she could.

  “The flying ointment?” he called it another name but Mina knew it was the same thing. “She’s a witch?”

  “Why else would she need it?”
Mina asked, a little more gruffly than she intended.

  She’d been stressed out as the days slowly passed and it started to show only now.

  “So, you need the fat of children then,” Thorn said gravely.