by Pet TorreS
While I slept on my stomach, my long black hair flowed over my pillow. My nightgown’s loop went down my shoulder. My left-lung was revealed and my mother stopped her gaze on my tattoo.
My mother’s face puckered up in irritation and disappointment at me.
When I woke up, she was not in my room any longer. I walked to my wardrobe and put away my night-dress and remained barefoot.
My mother got up from the couch and started walking through the living room, but the television was on.
“You didn't go to school today,” she said and pressed the ‘Stop’ button on the remote and the screen became black.
“Oh... I think I slept too much.” I wiped my hand across my forehead.
“What tattoo is this on your back?” she asked, discontented.
“How can I tell...?” I shook my head as I was a little dazed.
“Valkyrie, I didn’t expect this from you!” she confessed. There was an edginess in her voice.
“Me too,” I declared, shaking my head.
“What's going on, Valkyrie?” She looked down at the ground. “Are you rebelling against me?”
“No... It is nothing to do with you!” I said dissatisfied.
“Why did you do this? You know I don't like tattoos!”
“I didn't!” I confessed as I looked up at her face.
“How?” she asked, disappointed. “What are you talking about?”
“I won’t try to explain it... you wouldn't understand the reason why I have this symbol,” I said, looking around.
“What symbol is this? Where did you get it?” she insisted.
“Mother, I really can’t explain the details. You must stay out of this,” I advised.
“I'm your mother and you still owe me an explanation!”
“No!” I said and stepped out of the living room, avoiding a major discussion about it. However, my mother wasn’t satisfied. She came walking after me, searching for answers.
“Who’s playing with your mind? Your friends?” she insisted and her voice was elevated.
“They have nothing to do with this!” I contradicted.
“Your friend Eros... He looks to like he would do this kind of thing.”
“What do have against him?” I stared at her, frustrated.
“He doesn't seem to be a good boy! You became strange after you met him.”
“You don’t like Eros.”
“I don’t want you to be friends with him!” she ordered.
“Your wish is realized.” I took my hand away and folded my arms across my chest. “He went away from this town,” I muttered, my voice almost inaudible.
“That’s good news!” she exclaimed, happy.
“I want to be alone!” I ordered angrily as I knew my mother wished to see Eros stay away from me.
“If you really like this boy... You need to forget about him! That is because I have never wished to see you together!” she confessed.
“Okay,” I said and stared down at my feet. Then I quickly closed my bedroom door.
My love for Eros had become a burden in my life.
I realized my mother who had never opposed my feelings for boys, was now doing so.
She would want to see Eros stay away from me, even though it would cost my unhappiness.
Chapter 7
The wind continued to howl....
Some gloomy clouds moved slowly across the sky.
I was sitting at the top of a mountain.
Three bats hovered around me. They flew into the woods.
My dress’s black fabric looked to have acquired proper life.
It flew toward the windstorm.
Suddenly, a tenebrous voice sounded in my ears.
“Valkyrie!”
I knew who the owner of that voice was. I heard a familiar voice saying, “Come back!”
It was my father’s voice.
He called my name telling me I should return to his castle. He needed me in Neptune.
I stared toward the sound coming from his voice. I was looking for him and his voice was closer each time as if he was there beside me.
“Father!” I said, looking up at the sky.
“Come back, daughter!”
A dark smoke appeared in front of me. My father emerged from it, extending his hand in my direction. He wanted me to to him.
I gazed up into his mysterious eyes and saw my mother’s face. I was confused. I didn't know what to think and what to do but I knew I couldn't abandon my mother again.
In my unconscious, I wished to be with my father. Neptune was my home in fact. I knew I was safe in his castle. I didn’t need to hide my true origin from anyone.
I shook my head as I was bewildered. Then I interrupted my daydream. I looked around my room to a black wall. There was no one there and my father wasn’t in my bedroom either.
I had just dreamed of my father.
Chapter 8
It was night. I was still in school and nobody was in the place.
My instinct designated my procedure that day. There was a need for me to be there at that moment, in the middle of the gym.
Without witnesses, it was inevitable, all that was happening around me. I walked slowly and stopped moving on when four lamps switched on. Then at the same time they switched off. They seemed to have a life of their own.
All I saw were the flashing lights, intensely, without quitting, like in a nocturnal club. Besides flashing, they also began to shake.
I looked up at the ceiling and also around me and nobody was there.
There was a certainty inside me.
Who might that be?
‘Eros!’
In those seconds, my hope overcame me. It’d been making me wince....
I shuddered at the thought.
“Eros!” I shouted at the four corners of the place.
The flashing lights flickered more often and its movements added a strange eeriness to the place.
It looked like an answer.
“Eros... is it you?”
My thoughts were fed by optimism.
“If it’s you... please become visible!” I said as I thought he would be doing one of his vampire tricks.
The lights came back to normal. I didn‘t sense any more of that stunning energy. It wasn’t there any longer.
Chapter 9
I did not fall asleep quickly after what happened in the gym. I was imagining Eros could have been there, close to me. It made me realize how much I missed him.
I knew I shouldn’t feel that for him.
I turned back to face my window, where I always stood when sleep did not immediately overcome me. The yellow stars filled the night sky and in their company was a full moon, brightening the obscure clouds. I closed my eyes and imagined an owl flying over the trees. I conjured it in my thoughts that it could come to meet me.
Immediately, an owl emerged on my window. It was like Eros, when he morphed into that bird.
I stretched my fingers. The owl stared down at my hands and landed just above them.
“Eros!” I said, staring at the owl. It stared straight into my eyes.
Its presence banished Eros’s absence in my life.
It was fantastic and something enigmatic. A vampire was dependent on an innocent owl. I remained fixed at night under a perfect sky, until my sleep arrived to steal it from me.
Chapter 10
There were days I didn't feed appropriately.
Ultimately, I just fed on food prepared by my mother. This, however, didn’t extinguish my desire for human blood.
Since my return to the planet Earth, I wasn’t actually giving myself the privilege to drink any new human blood. My hunt began in a wood, distant from my home. I didn’t want to risk being surprised by someone I knew. I wished to save lives, so I went in search of some wild animal.
The thick scrub made it difficult for my journey. My clothes were also quite inappropriate for this particular mission. I should have hunted wearing black jeans and boots.
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In fact, I dressed in a black skirt that went to my knees and a delicate colored blouse and worn sneakers.
I had a bright idea that I wanted to become a ‘black panther’. Things would better and I could hunt with more precision.
My female body originated into a ‘black panther’. After a few steps, a policeman was in search of someone in the forest, maybe some fugitive bandit. He looked scared, after all, I was a wild animal and extremely dangerous. It was in his standpoint. He gestured toward me.
I jumped opposite him. It was my defense strategy. He shot his gun before I could attack him. His shooting was a little faster than I expected. Certainly the bullet would have drilled my heart if it wasn’t for the action of a owl that appeared in front of me.
The owl sank to the ground and closed its eyes.
Trying to avenge what the policeman did to the unprotected animal, I immediately jumped on top of him and threw him to the ground. His firearm dropped from his hand. My triple jump didn’t allow any chance for the policeman to remain alive. Yeah, he was dead, his face was bloodied.
I turned into human form again and moved toward the fallen owl on the ground. I knelt down next to it and placed my hand on its head. What started out looking like a wisp of smoke began to take shape as a masculine body and the gray smoke disappeared in that moment. It wasn’t the owl that was lying on the dirty ground.
It was a creature in human form.
I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.
“Eros!” I yelled as I was frantic.
He was still unconscious.
“Eros!” I said, sliding my fingers on his head and his ears as I was pulling him to my lap.
“Eros!”
At this moment he opened his vampire eyes. I was so relieved when I saw he was conscious.
“Why did you do that? The shot should have been for me.”
He didn't answer. He just closed his gray eyes, without any enthusiasm for life.
Chapter 11
I transported myself, holding Eros in my arms. He was still unconscious. Then we were in his house - the same house which he had led me to once to reveal my true origin.
Eros was lying on the floor in front of me. His blood had dirtied my clothes. I was happy he was there beside me. Actually, I felt nervous about his wound.
After that I put my right hand on his wound point and a gray energy appeared around his body, doing circular movements over him. Then, his wound was healed.
In this case it had cost me my vampire energy. I was weak, I hadn’t drunk any blood yet and I had lost sleep on many nights.
“Blood!” I managed to say before my body contorted and I bent forward, putting my palms on the floor.
Eros opened his eyes and stared at me. He got up and came walking toward me. Then he took my arm and pulled me to him.
“Valkyrie, are you all right?” he asked, looking at me with torment about my state.
“I’m very weak...” I said and my voice was almost inaudible.
“You need blood,” Eros stated, finally looking into my eyes.
“It’s good to see you again.” I stared into his deep mysterious gray eyes.
He met my eyes for a second and then he looked away quickly toward the wall and saw a rat going up to the ceiling.
He leaped forward and did a somersault. He got to hold the rat with his left hand.
Immediately, he walked closer to me with his hand extended, offering me his prey.
“This is for you, ” he said, in a sensual voice.
I looked at the hunt and as I realised I was being forced to devour a rat, well, it wasn't in my plans. However, I did nearly everything that Eros suggested to me.
“A rat?” I asked, my voice faltered at the end.
“This is not so horrible, is it? It’s like eating at a five-star restaurant!” he complimented.
I held the rodent with my hand and ate it with aptitude. I licked my lips afterward as they were dirtied with blood. But I still wanted more.
“Are you okay now?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I said slowly.
“Sometimes I do that too,” he explained. “When there’s really no other suitable prey.”
“I never thought you’d do that,” I confessed.
“What?”
“To have to eat a rat,” I answered.
“It was strange in the beginning to me too,” he explained.
Silence came over us and it seemed to trouble us.
“Why are you here?” I asked confused.
“You need to return to Neptune,” he said hoarsely.
“I won’t go back to Neptune...” I said penetratingly.
“You’re in danger if you remain here among humans,” he insisted.
“I know how to protect myself from them.”
“So much you know - you were almost shot!”
I stared toward the sound of his voice. This time my face looked full of worry.
“I don’t want your protection,” I claimed.
Eros frowned at me as he was serious. Then he finally said, “I didn’t come here to protect you.”
“What are you doing here then?” I asked, incredulous.
He seemed to be fighting to hold his attention on me.
“Your father expelled me from planet Neptune after your departure.”
Eros was now staring thoughtfully out the window.
“He did that?” I shook my head and then I wrinkled my forehead. I was worried about the situation Eros was now in. “Why did he do that to you?”
“He did that because he thought you came back to Earth for the sake of getting me.”
Eros turned his head back to look at me.
“Even though it was true... he hasn’t any right to expel you from Neptune,” I said furious and annoyed at my father.
“He disagrees with the idea that I don’t satisfy the feeling which you have for me.”
“It’s not your fault.” I stared into his gray eyes.
“Your father doesn’t see it like that,” he confessed.
“I need to talk to him,” I said, anxious.
“Don’t do it!” he said with his predominant voice.
“He needs to accept you back in Neptune,” I said.
“I won’t return to Neptune,” he said seriously.
“Where will be you go then? Will you live on planet Earth? You yourself just told me it’s too dangerous for our kind,” I said to him.
“I have no other place to go.”
“No, Eros... I don’t agree with my father.”
“He won’t listen to you! He doesn’t listen to anyone,” Eros said firmly.
“Neptune needs you and my father, too,” I declared sweetly.
“And you... you do not need me?” He just stared into my gray eyes.
I looked away, staring at the floor. My cheeks became ruddy. I didn’t know how to control my timidity.
“I don’t know...” I declared, shaking my head at myself.
I did need him, but it would be in a manner of which he could never favor me.
Then, all of a sudden, I noticed our faces were so close.
“Why don't you know?” he asked, now standing before me.
I could feel his cold breath against my cheek.
It was the opportunity I had to realize a lingering kiss that I had dreamed of for so long. But I had no courage to accomplish it.
“I... am confused, ” I said, staring at his pale lips that I so craved.
His lips were all I wanted at that moment.
“I need to go away...” I said and turned my body to the side and he wasn't face-to-face with me anymore.
My cowardice act turned him away from me.
“Take care!” he said, staring at me as I was going toward the front door.
“You, too,” I said with determination.
Yes, I was safe. After all, I had much more powers than him.
I was the ‘Vampire Princess’ that is, the daughter of the
most powerful vampire in the universe.
Chapter 12
The next morning, when I walked to the kitchen for breakfast, my mother was holding her cup of coffee. I sat down at the dining table.
Minutes later we heard a ringing coming from the front door.
“Who could that be?”
My mother rose from her chair and walked on to open the door.
When she opened the door, a policeman was standing on our front porch.
“Good morning, ma’am!” he said.
“Good morning!” she said, looking back at me, not knowing what was happening.
Why was the policeman at our front door?
I stood up and took a step toward my mother, standing beside her and held her shoulder, trying to save her from harm.
“I have warned everyone about a black panther,” he said.
“Panther?” my mother asked, startled.
“Yes, ma’am. Someone saw that wild animal in the forest. That animal probably killed our workmate,” he informed.
I lowered my face as he was referring to me.
“Are you attending school, young woman?” he asked me.
“... Yes...” I looked scared at him.
“Be careful!” he insisted.
“Okay,” I finally said.
I was scared as I thought he might discover the animal’s real origin.
“Valkyrie, I’ll drive you to school,” my mother said.
“Then do it, ma’am...” the policeman reinforced.
“I guess you don’t need to do that now, mother,” I said without fear.
“Excuse me, ladies!” he said.
“Good work!” my mother said.
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said with gratitude.
My mother closed the door behind us.
“It’s dangerous! A wild animal walking free by the town!” My mother believed this to be true.