Chapter Nineteen
“Is everything alright, Genna?” Jessica asked in a formal tone.
“No,” I blurted. “All my friends are turning into freaking vampires.” My head started spinning and I leaned against the wall for support.
Jessica smiled apologetically and put her hand on my shoulder. “Come with me. There’s something I should tell you.”
She led me into her bedroom. It was a lot bigger than the one Bailey and I used. It had two matching queen sized beds. Both beds had titanium roses wrapped around the bed frames and the same fluffy white comforter. There was a vanity mirror with two matching jewelry boxes; they were black with pink roses painted on. One wall opened up into a closet with sliding doors.
Jessica sat on the bed closest to the door and patted next to her for me to do the same. I hesitated by the door. She was a vampire after all.
She rolled her eyes and smiled. “You can sit on Heather’s bed if you prefer,” she offered sweetly.
I slowly walked to the opposite bed and sat down. The bed was very plush and I felt like I was falling into a hole. I situated myself as Jessica watched me with an amusing grin on her face.
“What?” I said when I was comfortable.
“Oh it’s nothing.” She looked around the room for a moment before meeting my gaze again. “So, what did Damien tell you? About us I mean?”
I started fingering my sweatshirt again. “He didn’t say much. I didn’t even know you guys were—well you know—until last night.”
She nodded, “Sounds like something only Damien would do.” She paused again, nervously looking around. “Do you want to know how I was changed?”
I think she heard my quick intake of breathe because she giggled. “Well, just to let you know, out of the three of us I am the eldest. Damien second and I adopted Heather into our family. But, that is her story to tell I suppose.”
“How old are you?” I asked.
“I stopped counting after my five hundredth birthday.”
My stomach twisted as bile rose in my throat. “So long?”
She smiled. “We don’t age, Genna. I thought you knew.”
I nodded. “Just surprised I guess.” I paused realizing something. “That must make Sebastian…” I trailed off.
Her eyes shot to mine. “He isn’t much older than I am, less than a hundred years.” She paused, probably working up what ever memories she could. “I was born in 1476. My father was a Spaniard and my mother died during child birth to my little sister. When I was sixteen my father was invited to sail on the voyage with Christopher Columbus.”
I gasped, “No way.”
She nodded and smiled. “It wasn’t a very nice trip. I hated boats to begin with. But anyway, being sixteen my father hated the fact that I hadn’t chosen a husband yet. He was forced to take my little sister and me with him. He was very angry with us. We were only a burden to him now. He wasn’t exactly working on the ship, but he didn’t want to watch over us.
“I took watched over my little sister while my father would get drunk below deck. Her name was Jeshicka, similar to my name now. In this lifetime, I took her name to honor her, she was a precious girl. She had such imagination. Jeshicka would tell my endless stories about love, the future at the new land, sea monsters. She had her whole life planed out.
”Of course, you know of the Pinta being the fastest among the three ships. We were aboard that one. There were men everywhere and very little women. The only women were the milk maid type. The men favored Jeshicka and I because we were young, we were virgins. My father didn’t try to stop it, the rape. I took twice as many beatings for trying to defend myself and for trying to help Jeshicka.
“By the end of the voyage I had been raped at least thirty times, beaten twice that much, and completely starved. What little food was offered to us, I gave to Jeshicka. The girl was only twelve and still growing, she needed it.”
Jessica paused again. Her face was twisted as if she would cry, but her eyes were dry. I waited as she stared at the floor. She seemed to be trying to calm herself.
“Sebastian was on the ship as well. He was a rich merchant at the time. His father had recently passed away before he, well, died. So that left all of his father’s money to him and he wanted to set up house in this new land everyone was talking about. When he realized what was happening to girls like us on the ship he was outraged. He couldn’t stand it. Sebastian was the only man I believe, that didn’t touch us once.
”He was special to me. Besides Jeshicka, he was my only friend. He was like an older brother to me. I never expected anything out of him when it came to what they were doing. It was inappropriate to talk about such things, especially with a man. He didn’t know, or at least didn’t tell me that he knew, about me being one of the girls getting raped.”
Jessica looked at me when she said the last word. “It was different times then. Such things were allowed.”
She sighed and continued. “On the last night of our voyage, I was taken to the lower deck. It smelled horribly of filth and feces. Med are such pigs,” she spat. “They crowded around me then, smiling and whistling.” Jessica broke off, clenching her teeth together. “It was dark, any lantern that was lit was blown out. It was cold yet warm at the same time. The crew was sweating from a hard day’s work of running the boat. I remember wanted to gag but forcing it down.
“Men tugged at my skirts until I stood there, completely naked. They murmured to each other, talking about my ‘beautiful body’ and silly things like that. Before anyone could have their way with me, Sebastian was there.
“’Get away!’ he screamed at the horrible creatures. He wrapped me up in his jacket and pushed me towards the steps. I didn’t make it halfway up before I heard the strangest sounds. I turned to see Sebastian fighting with each of the crew members. He beat everyone to a bloody pulp, I might add.
“I felt dizzy then, and fell down the stairs. Everything went black, but I could still hear the moans of the crew. Someone scooped me in their arms and carried me up the stairs. I don’t think on that entire journey, I was grateful to have the splashing wet sea upon my face until that very moment.”
Jessica smiled then. “I wasn’t dyeing of course. When I woke, Sebastian told me what happened and I asked him how he could fight with such little ease. That’s when he told me about the dark gift. He told me everything about it, the unfathomable strength and beauty, and of course the bloodlust, especially the blood lust.
”I asked him for it, no, I demanded the dark gift from him. I wanted to seek revenge for what those men did to my sister and I. They needed to pay for what hurting us in such a way that we were never the same.
“Sebastian didn’t argue with me about it. Back then, he didn’t have the sort of morals he does today. As I said before, he was still relatively new to our world. But in the end, I know he doesn’t regret it. Once I was changed, a path I would never inflict on another, we tormented the crew of the Pinta. First of course was Rodrigo de Triana, he was the worst out of all of them. And then, we tortured his sons and theirs.
“Eventually, Sebastian grew tired of my constant thrill for revenge and set off on his own when I married. We ended up in Salem. At the time, I didn’t know its reputation for witchcraft. My husband turned on me, but I didn’t mind, it’s not as if I could die.”
She laughed at herself for a moment. “I was so consumed with the tormenting of the local townsfolk, I had forgotten that I didn’t age. Sooner or later they notice, they always do.”
She looked at me. “I’m sorry.” She frowned and then smiled. “Did I scare you?” She was almost amused with that thought.
I stared at her, puzzled. “What happened to Jeshicka?” I asked, not wanting her to stop her story.
“Oh,” she gasped. “I didn’t mean to leave that part out.” She stood up and walked to her vanity mirror. “She was a sick little girl from the start.” Jessica was thoughtful for a moment as she picked up a necklace out of one of the jewelry boxes. “This was our mother’s,” she said, handing it to me.
It was a simple choker. The choker itself was a black piece of velvet that tied behind the neck. It had a black diamond amulet wrapped in a silver web. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The Victorian style jewelry had always been my taste.
“I had given it to Jeshicka on her twelfth birthday. She wore it everyday.” Jessica took the necklace back from me and replaced it in the jewelry box. “Jeshicka caught some disease on the boat. She died a week before the man in the crows nest yelled ‘land hoe!’ to the rest of the crew. They threw her body into the ocean without a proper funeral. It was only another reason to seek revenge on the fiends.” Her voice turned harsh.
“I’m sorry again; I get carried away telling that story.” Jessica smiled apologetically.
“I’m fine,” I whispered. My voice was weak. “But I do have a question though.”
Her grin grew and she turned back into the chipper girl I knew from school. “Shoot,” she said, breathlessly.
“I’m not trying to sound mean or rude, but do you kill people?”
