Young Writers Society

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4

The intoxicating aroma of coffee flowed through the apartment, clinging to the walls the way dust clings to a TV screen.

I opened my eyes in a disgruntled fog, and tried to stand up, but my legs were about as supportive as a straw would be, and gave out as soon as I stood up. I began grumbling at myself angrily as I heard the old womans voice in the kitchen, " I've made breakfast if you want some," she said cheerfully, I could tell she was smiling," you should eat something, being as tall and lanky as you are."

Great, I thought hobbling up off the couch and towards the the dining room, just what I need to wake up to after my hellish night.

I sluggishly pulled out a chair that sat under the wooden table, that sat between the living room and kitchen, and sat down. " Do you want coffee or juice?" Ms. Volturi asked, and when it took to long to respond she added, " Or maybe something a bit more tasteful?" She winked at me like she was in on some big secret.

" Coffee's fine, thanks." I said no longer acknowledging her curious stare, that kept looking at my face as though I had another head growing out of my neck.

" Do you want an omelet?" She asked putting the coffee down in front of me with a soft thud.

I shook my head.

She gave me that curious stare again. " You know, now that your body is going through changes you should eat more." I choked on my coffee, shaking my head.

" No, I'm eighteen, I'm done with puberty." I said.

She just laughed.

" No, my dear, I'm not talking about puberty." She said placing an omelet in front of me, smiling revealing enlarged canines.

I gasped. " How did you know?" I asked confused, with a look, I'm sure made my tone seem equally stupid, because all she did was smile and tap her temple with her index finger.

" You have so much to learn child." She sat down across from me. " How about you eat that omelet? I spent ten minutes slaving over that hot stove for you. Be grateful."

Nice, she's trying to guilt me into eating the stupid omelet. I obediently started to nibble on the egg, cheese, and tomato concoction. I hate tomatoes I thought glumly as she started talking again.

" We vampires can tell other vampires apart from humans. You see, vampires have different auras than humans, for the vampires auras are much brighter and stronger, and you can feel them on the occasion that the vampire is strong enough." she paused for a second, " I knew you were a vampire because I could feel that your aura held distress in it, and if you were a human I knew I wouldn't be able to feel your aura."

I opened my mouth to ask her something, but she dismissed the question with the wave of her hand. " For a young vampire your aura is quite strong almost stronger than mine, and I'm an elder."

" How ol-" She cut me off.

" Old enough." She answered. I chewed on the tasteless food and drank the too sweet coffee.

" Is it true tha-" She cut me off again, I was starting to get ticked off.

" Yes, some vampires have special abilities, but all vampires have heightened senses, and

their strength, speed, and intelligence is improved dramatically. Yes, I have all those things, and a few special abilities of my own. I can read minds and read and change peoples emotions. You've heard that some vampires can perform "mind control"," She did the quote mind control with her fingers, " that's partially correct except the human isn't under your control, you first just subtly give them ideas to do something and then the mundane actually ends up doing it. Very naive they are. Did you know we gave them the idea of the Great Wall to keep the Mongolians out and we also gave them the idea of the Great Pyramids? We did, and they're still ungrateful to us, just look at all our people they killed in the Salem Witch Trials. Almost half of us! And you have no idea how annoying it is to find one of those wanna be vampire hunters," She rolled her eyes. " since when is it bad to be different? The humans will consider anything that's not like themselves "evil"." She did that finger quote thing again.

I was about to tell her not all humans are like that, when she started talking again.

" Yes, dear, I know not all humans are like that, but majority of them are. Back to the special abilities, I do not know if you have any yet, but you seem promising."

I gulped down more coffee ignoring her stare.

" You need to feed at least three times a week seeing as you're so young but after a few months your wont need to feed as much. Probably in about a year or so you can feed once every two weeks."

The thought of Davide and the bandages made me feel sick as it sent guilt crawling down my spine. Drinking blood? It just seemed so gross. Like I'd be backstabbing the human race. It somehow doesn't seem fair.

" My child, it's not a curse to be a vampire, but it's not a blessing either. You don't have to feed directly from humans, that's why we have blood donors and blood banks. Plus the humans do owe us a bit for all the things they've done to us." She clicked her tongue angrily. " They are so closed minded," She was getting angry. "anyways, I have blood if you need something that will keep your body sustained." She walked over to the fridge and opened a side compartment and retrieved an IV bag filled with blood.

My mouth began to water at the sight of the scarlet liquid and I was immediately disgusted with myself...but also a bit happy... I mean I'm a vampire now... Isn't this what they do? Drink blood?... Is that sick? I asked myself as she placed the bag in front of me and said, " You can either take it now or regret not taking it later. Davide asked me to keep an eye on you for him. If you don't drink that now you may seriously hurt yourself. New born vampires need to feed a lot or else they'll die. Davide would be furious at himself and me, if something happened to you, and I don't want him mad at me." She said smiling. " That boy can have quite a temper."

" Davide?" I asked, the words barely audible. She just nodded.

" He's my grandson. He really cares about you, you know, and I can see why." She said looking at me affectionately causing me to blush nervously. I picked up the bag of blood uncomfortably and began drinking the blood self consciously. I tried to ignore how good it tasted, but I could feel my body tingling at the taste of it.

" You must be wondering, so I'll tell you. I'm Davide's grandmother as you now know, but I don't think he told you much about his family, did he?"

I shook my head numbly.

" His mom died not more than a day after having him. You see she was just a human and his father was a vampire. In the vampire community vampire-human relationships are frowned upon, but that didn't stop his father. Anyway, the doctor there was a vampire and decided he would take their relationship matters into his own hands and he drained Davide's mom of all the blood in her body, taking his fathers beloved Abela, and his mother away. When his father Jacop found out he started to hate himself for what he was, and Jacop decided to not tell Davide what he was, a vampire. So Jacop kept Davide away from me, because he knew I would tell Davide what he was." She sighed looking worn out, " At thirteen Davide found out what he was. I found him passed out not even three blocks from here and I knew that he had awakened, so I took him to my apartment and when he woke up I told him everything. He didn't even know his father was a vampire."

I looked down at the empty IV bag lying on the table guiltily, as a tear streamed down my cheek.

Poor Davide.

" I have said enough," she said standing up abruptly. "you will know more as time grows on, but not anything else today." She walked over to the door, picking up her purse. "Feel free to use the shower if you want to."

I knew that moment, as I watched her retreat out of the apartment now having a strange, powerful, purple glow around her, I would never be able to look at anyone the same ever again...