by R. J. Rogue
I catch and hug her.
"Let's enjoy it," I say.
I lead her down the steps and into the pit. The flowers and candles are at shoulder level, and on the table is a picnic basket. I cover the table with a cloth and then remove the loaded turkey sandwiches, I prepared for her and her can of soda. I then remove my veggie burger that's wrapped in aluminum foil to keep its warmth, a big bag of chips to share, soda, and a huge bowl of fruit I got from the market. Inside, I leave the necklace I made for her.
"Wow," she says. "You never fail to surprise me."
"I try my best with you," I say.
She reaches across the table and rubs my cheek.
"You're doing more than anyone else has."
I smile and brushes some of her red hair from her face.
"Looks like sundown is near. Shall we light the candles?" She asks.
I pat the outside of my pants’ pockets and that was the one thing I forgot to bring. A lighter.
"May have to do it the caveman way."
I search the ground for sticks. I have no experience with the old fashion way. I find a few in the forest. I step over the circle of candles, but my heel knocks one and it begins to roll.
"I'll get that," she says.
"No, I got it," I smile. "You stay there and enjoy your food."
"Okay," she giggles.
I step into the pit and the bulb rests at her feet. She smiles at me as I bend over and pick it up. When I do, a flame appears, the candle is lit.
"How did you--?"
I shake my head.
"I--I don't know I just…grabbed it."
"Do it again," she says staring at the candle in my hand. I grab the next candle in the circle around us. It lights as well. Essence exhales deeply with excitement and I look at her just as surprised. I place the two candles down.
"Evan, your eyes. They're…not like before. They're different."
"What do you mean?"
She stares into them.
"They're orange, a bit red. Like fire."
I reach for the third candle, but before I can touch it, the candles all light one by one. Our eyes follow each candle around their circular path.
"Am I doing this?"
Essence looks around at the candles and shakes her head.
"We both know it isn't me."
"How is it possible that I can do something and don't know I'm doing it?"
"Something to do with becoming a vampire perhaps?"
I shrug.
"Maybe. I'll find out from them."
"Come. Sit. Eat with me and be careful with those," she says eying my hands.
I smile and we begin to eat.
"They seemed afraid of you after what Cedric had done."
"Yeah, I can't imagine why."
"Your face it…It healed like instantaneously, but now that I think about it…"
She pauses as I bite into my veggie burger. I wait for her to finish, but she sits in deep thought.
"What's wrong?" I ask. She eyes the candles then looks back at me.
"When he hit you, you healed. Remarkably fast, but like it glowed. Like fire. Like how these candles lit."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying whatever you did yesterday, and from what I seen just now, I think they are somehow related. And from the expression on their faces, maybe it's just me but, I doubt they don't know something about this."
"If you're right, I wonder what this means. I wonder if it's something good or, bad or—I don't know."
She shrugs and shakes her head.
"I'm not sure, but if this is true, I'm willing to bet they have the answer to that."
I bite into my food and take a drink of soda. The sun departs over the horizon. Orange and red no longer bleeds across the sky. Instead, the pit shines orange and red like a campfire. The sky begins to glean of star light.
"Are you afraid? Of us?" I ask.
"Not of them personally. Maybe. It's more of the nature of what they are and what you are."
I stare at her.
"You mean who?"
She captures the offense I took.
"I'm so sorry, Evan I didn't mean it that way. I'm not used to, you know, myths being true."
"Don't worry about it," I try to laugh. "Even I'm afraid of myself, but I'm surprised you haven't run from me yet."
"Well, apparently, you'd catch me if I tried," she jokes.
"Good point. I would."
"You know, who would have thought two guys that are best friends go to my school, become vampires, and that there has been a family of them living here in Utica for years?"
"I would've never thought this was where my life was headed. I had believed high school, college, have a family, grow old, then die, was life."
"Are you afraid?"
"Petrified," I answer almost immediately. "But all I can do is accept myself for who I am."
"And not 'what' you are," she smiles.
"And not 'what' I am," I agree
We sit quiet and finish our meals. She looks to the water troubled.
"What's on your mind?" I ask.
She stays quiet a moment longer.
"I'm just afraid of what Cedric said. About what happens when you die.”
Her face begins to blush. She licks her lips and still keeps her eyes averted from me.
"All of the memories we're making now. The talks we've had. Me. There's a strong possibility you will forget, but I won't. I'd have to live with the fact that I only lose people. I don't get to keep them."
I get up from my seat and sit next to her.
"I won't forget,” I say. “I will remember you. I have my notebooks to help me."
"We don't know if that's going to work. It may all just be words to you, Evan."
"It won't be!"
She finally looks into my eyes. Tears sit on her bed of eyelashes. Her bottom lip tries to hide beneath the top.
"But how do you know? How do you know that once you die, you will wake up, read your notebooks, and believe? Even if you do believe, you won't feel those memories you wrote. It will all just be words. Words. Words. Words!"
She begins to sob.
"It won't be that way. I just know it won't."
"There's nothing you can do about it, Evan," she cries out. "At any moment, your heart will stop. You will die. When you wake, you will no longer know who I am. You will forget about this. About me. About…us."
My heart begins to pain and my throat begins to choke.
"Essence, no. I love you. When I die and wake, I will still remember you."
Her eyes shake and quiver holding tears above her beautiful eyelashes.
"I would hope so because I love you too, Evan."
We hold onto each other's eyes a while longer. I reach into the basket and pull out the chain and heart-shaped jewel with silver wings. My step-mother, Sarah, had given it to me when I was a child. It used to hold an oil inside that kept bugs from the forest away. She figured it be perfect for me since I was always in the forest, but I barely ever worn it. She understood that it looked more feminine than masculine to wear, but she never wanted it back. Give it to one of your girlfriends, she always joked. Of course, I've never had eyes for anyone except Essence. The story of Viscus had given me the idea.
"What are you doing, Evan?"
I place the jewel onto the chain so that it hangs.
"I'm giving you my necklace."
She smiles.
"And to make it better…"
I grab the pocket knife from the basket.
"Evan?"
I cut the tip of my index finger finger and hold it to the opening of the heart-shaped jewel.
"What are you doing?"
My blood fills inside of the jewel and I put pressure around the cut until it fills to the top. I insert the small plug to keep it safe from pouring out, wrap my index finger into a bandage, and hold the necklace up to her.
"I want you to wear it. To always have a piece of me with you."<
br />
She stares at the necklace, and to my own surprise, a golden glow begins to shine through some of the red, a small light. Essence gazes at the jewel.
"It's…It's beautiful."
She stands and I place the necklace over her head. The jewel rests perfectly atop her chest glowing against her skin.
"Don't ever feel as though you only lose people. Know that you will always have me."
Chapter Twenty-Four: History
The weekend has come. I have spent hours sitting in this tree filling pages of this past week with school, speaking with my family and Mike, training, Cedric and I's encounter, and bonding with Essence. I have to be sure to keep a record of everything. I want to be sure I can come back and remember.
I will not forget about the talks and time I have spent with the girl I love, Essence LaRoux. I will not forget about Sarah, the one who has helped keep me safe through this transition. And I will not forget about the pain Cedric has been putting me through, making this transition much more difficult than it already is.
Before mom left out of town, she had informed me that she will be back before my birthday and hopefully, transformation, but for all we know, I can die at any moment. If that happens, she will return and find that I have become a vampire. A step-son who might not recognize her. It would be nice if I can at least say goodbye before I die. I mean, if I am to awaken as a vampire and not remember my human life, I'm practically being reborn as a new person. Everything before then wouldn't exist to me. When my heart stops beating, my soul will depart. My body left as a vessel to this monster. There must be something else I can do to remember. And so, I shall continue to write:
Fire. A 'gift,' as Essence had put it. Apart from the excitement, there is fear. Fear that I don't know how to use and control it. I wonder if the others are able to do the same, create fire, or something similar. Hopefully, they can tell me all the answers I need to know. Fire is destruction. Why would one want to possess a power that cannot be tamed?
But, when the time comes, when I die, I have to believe these words. No, YOU have to believe these words. So listen to me, Evan, writing this as a human today, reading this as a vampire, possibly tomorrow. Believe every word. Believe everything your family tells you. Believe that Sarah is your step-mother, your caretaker for sixteen years. Believe that Essence loves you, and that the human in you, loves her in return. You love her. You DO love her.
Sarah and Essence are not only afraid that you will forget who they are and your relationship with them, but they are more afraid that you will ignore these words or what they will tell you. They are also afraid, that upon reading these words, you will understand and accept them, but you will not have the emotion that your human self, me today, has for them. So be gentle.
These words will feel as though they belong to another being. A human. Not a vampire. But you were indeed human and you are loved... My breath has gone weak, and each second that passes, feels as though it may be my last.
I ask that you believe and still be there for them. I know, they are strangers, but do it for them. Do it for me; yourself. They were there for YOU when you needed them. They helped you with the transformation you have today. You owe it to them to TRY....So believe.
I am still a part of you. Believe that your heart use to beat which was once mine. So give it to Sarah, your step-mother, and most of all, give it to Essence, your love. Believe, Evan. JUST BELIEVE."
With truth,
Me and You to You,
Evan Macrae
P.S. - Tell her, I love her.
There. Maybe apart from reading those notebooks a personalized letter to myself will help. Does all of me transfer over as well? Will I be more or less stubborn? More or less happy? More or less caring about how they feel?
I don't know. I think my family would have an answer to that, but I haven't spoken to them in a while. I have not received a call or text; Bianca, Mike, and Cedric have not been in school; and I've had this house to myself, yet occasionally, Essence would keep me company as we sleep the day away.
Time is crucial right now, and with Sarah gone, I need my family as much as possible before I change. I feel as though it's coming. It's coming soon.
"You ready, Evan?" Essence asks.
"We're here in one piece?" I ask jokingly placing my notebook on the dashboard.
"I told you my father's truck is reliable."
We hop out of the truck and look up to the mansion's pillars. Lights shine from the windows.
"Well they're definitely home," Essence says.
"Yeah, hopefully I find what I'm looking for."
"And what's that?"
"Closure."
We walk to the red doors hand in hand and before we knock, the doors are opening.
"Evan? Essence?" my father says. "What a pleasant surprise. Come. Come in."
He outstretches his hand for us to come inside. He shuts the door and leads us up the golden railed staircase. We stop at a door in the hallway and he knocks. The door opens and it is my mother Valencia and sister Bianca.
"Ahem," my father clears his throat. "We have a couple visitors."
He opens the door wider. My mother and sister smile and rise from the bed.
"Son, how are you?" She hugs and squeezes. I'm getting use to her strength.
"I'm fine, mom, just wanted to talk to dad about a few things."
"Hi brother," Bianca welcomes hugging me. Then hugs Essence.
"Hi Essence."
"Hello," she responds to them.
"Always a blessing to have you here," my mother tells her.
"Thank you for being so welcoming."
"Evan and I will leave you two to care over Essence," my father says. "We're just going to have a little chit-chat about a few things and return."
"That’s fine with us. We’re doing some planning for his birthday," my mother says. Nice to see I was on their minds at least. "Care to help?"
"I'd love to," Essence responds.
"Speaking of which I love your necklace," Bianca admires. "Where'd you get it?"
"Evan gave it to me. As a gift."
My father places a hand on my back and speaks softly.
"Let's let them tend to activity," he whispers. "Come."
Essence then walks into the room being stolen by the hand by Bianca and my mother. She gives me one last smile before the door closes.
"Follow me, son."
I follow my father down a few hallways--long hallways. We soon enter into a round room in which the walls are covered with books like a library. A few paintings hang high above the bookshelves on red carpeted walls. A desk sits in the center of the room, covered in papers and a few open books. He closes the door and meets me next to the desk.
"This is all yours?" I ask gazing around. I walk to one of the shelves and run my hand along the titles.
"Well, my office, but it is open to anyone who needs a book or three."
My father pulls a pipe from the drawer and lights it. He blows the smoke into the air.
"Tastes disgusting," he chuckles. "But the act makes me look younger, I’d like to think. But anyway…"
He claps his hands together.
"We have a bit of some catching up to do. I'd imagine your time is almost up."
"Yes, I believe so. I mean, I can feel it.” And I can feel my heart race from the thought of it happening.
"Hmm."
"Dad, I was wondering about what happened the other day. You guys were…I don't know, upset maybe. Something I did?"
He nods.
"Hmm. I'm sorry about that, Evan. Just a… misunderstanding."
"What kind of misunderstanding?"
He approaches a painting on the wall. It looks like him and my mother. They don't look a day older.
"Leonardo di ser Peiro da Vinci painted that. Of your mother and I. One of your favorites. We were lucky to meet him. Rest his soul."
He blows smoke from his pipe. I join his side and stare at the painting.
&nbs
p; The Leonardo Da Vinci? I would have never, in any lifetime, would have guessed that.
"I met your mother ages ago, decades before he was born. 1408 to be exact. I was working hand in hand with my brother during his rule. It became a stressful time for France and Italy. Our people were growing hungry, and our officers weren't quite cooperative themselves. So they fed and indulged every chance they had. They were pigs. No amount of blood was satisfying enough. We searched for them, and killed them off, but could not find one of our officers. We chased him as he ran corner to corner of the world, dodging justice. Until one night, he came home, and fed on a humble family. Your mother's."
"A vampire that eats humans and other vampires?" I asked. "That's like…"
"No, Evan," he responds. "Remember, before, your mother was no vampire. She was a human."
I had forgotten mother was bitten and miraculously, had been blessed, along with other female vampires over the centuries, with being able to procreate.
"I was much too in love with your mother before that night. She had not known. She was the only human I had eyes for and felt protective of. This of course, during a time I was feeding on humans. She made flowers, decorations, and jewelry for weddings. It was her passion and she was very good with it. We've came eye to eye before, but never spoke a word. I always watched her from a distance though knowing what monsters lurk in the night. And that night, when your mother found him, he had just finished with her family. I had been away on duty, trying to make sure nothing was becoming conspicuous. I heard screams in the night and immediately came. The house was to shreds. Blood was spilled. Her family was slain. Her pain had become my own."
He pauses for a moment, exhales, then takes a puff from his pipe.
"I opened a bedroom door and there she was, sitting against the wall covered in blood, her family, lifeless. But even more surprising, she, a human, managed to kill that vampire. When she seen me, she immediately jumped into my arms and cried telling me she had nothing left to live for. Later, my brother found out about the vampire and what happened. He became angered that now, our secrecy falls in the hands of a human woman who then began to lead a life of slaying vampires. He ordered for her to be found and killed, and I knew he would succeed if I chose to go through with it."