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“Lottie come hunt with me we need to have a little chat, come.” As we ran, I noticed she was smiling as she was running so I pushed ahead of her and looked back mischievously at her to chase me. She took the bait and surged ahead of me, a look of determination on her face. She was ahead of me by a good fifty yards when something changed in the way she held her shoulders and I saw her drop them as if the wind had been knocked out of her and she stopped, dejected. I pulled her into my arms and let her sob her rage, anger, and loss out in my arms. I said nothing nor did she; I just let her at it. We stood like that for a long time; I noticed the sun was starting to set. I loved watching how nature’s colour changed while the sun sank below the mountains. The yellow turning to fiery reds and oranges and then to greys and blacks. Beautiful! Wish I could paint the change.
“I’m sorry about everything,” said Lottie in a small voice to me. “I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble. I was just so angry and upset.” I rubbed her back and soothed her.
“I know, ya poor dickens, sorry too for your loss and for Demitri biting you.” We sat down on the grass and Lottie began explaining her life to me. Her mother always made her feel like she was worse than the scum on the side of her shoe. She was a mistake and it was her fault for being born. She grew up feeling unloved and worthless. She never before had felt a part of a family until she met Paddy and me and she was only just beginning to feel something. The minute she found out she was pregnant she felt blessed and God was giving her a baby that would love her and a finally a reason to live. However, when she lost Ruby she felt so angry with everyone and everything that she felt like she did not deserve to be happy. Paddy and me were the only people to make her feel even slightly important and she felt that it was because of the baby.
“Lottie, you are an important person, baby or not. You are also very talented. How did you manage to do all that you did back in the house?”
“I grounded myself,” she said simply. “Kinda like meditation only stronger.”
“When I touched your arm it burned me. Alec could not deaden your senses, you acted like you could not hear me, and then all of a sudden I could hear you in my head. How did you do that?”
“Well I was very determined that Alec wouldn’t be able to knock me out again. I don’t like the nightmares I have, at least when I’m awake I can’t dream. I used to have terrifying nightmares when I was a human, sometimes nice ones in which my mom loved me and was good to me, but I’d wake up to her screams and her screeching at me “to get my lazy arse outta bed and go to shop to get milk for tea.” Any clothes or possessions I own are things I bought myself, the teachers used to clothe me as mine were usually full of holes or too short for me, so my mother laughed at me when she saw me and said “let them at it, I won’t need to waste my money then.” I loved her anyway despite the way she treated me. I didn’t know any better. I only had one friend and her name was Katie Flanagan but she was killed by some boys at school. My mother’s reaction to that was “little bitch deserved it with the way she was carrying on.” After that I just closed down my feelings completely and built up a barrier around myself to protect myself. I developed the ability to shut out what my ma was saying to me, as if I was tuning her out. I could see her lips move but that was it. She could be punching my arm or slapping my face to get me to wake up and I’d be completely unaware. It was a protection technique. Now, I’d be covered in bruises and they’d hurt like hell once I re-focused but at the time I felt nothing. I guess becoming a vampire just improved my abilities. How long have you been a vampire Faine?”
“Hmmmm let me see…I suppose just over 100 years ago.”
“How did it happen for you?”
“Well I have a brother, Adam who’s married to Karen in cork. We were both turned. I was 16 and he was 19. Our family were very poor but then there were a lot of mouth to feed. Four boys and three girls. We caught the plague and all but Adam and I were left. When an old vampire came down from the mountains, his name was Michael Bunion and he asked us to join him and his family. We were sick too but he bit us both and we were changed. We didn’t want to go with him, but we did for a while. His family were always warring with other nomad vampires and we were tired of living like that and decided to leave after Michael lost his head. The family bid us farewell and we went back home and settled there, buried our family and cleaned up the farm. Sometime later Karen and her friends Helen and Therese were travelling through Kerry and curiosity got the better of her, she wanted to meet the survivors of the Bunion Clan. Apparently, we were the only ones left. When Karen and Adam laid eyes on each other, it was instant love at first sight. Adam agreed to move to cork to be with their family but I insisted on staying here in Kerry. I often went to visit just to make sure Adam was happy, like a mother hen, he was so thrilled to be with Karen.”
“How did you meet Paddy so?”
“Paddy was in trouble. An angry bull that broke had trampled him while he was taking a shortcut through a field and the trampling left him with a broken leg and some broken ribs. I found him, carried him home to my house, and nursed him until he got better. Being alone for so many years I had developed knowledge of healing plants and herbs.”
“Did your thirst not drive you mad being so close to a human like that?”
“No surprisingly, I wasn’t tempted at all. I was more concerned in helping him to get better.”
“God, I’d probably have drank his blood, being a newborn.”
“You know Lottie, it’s all in the mind, you’re so good at controlling your emotions, if you really want to, and you can ignore that need. Ever notice how long Valentina goes without hunting? She prefers animals because no humans get harmed.” I laughed then when I said that.
“What you laughing at?”
“I sound like a film commercial, ‘No Humans Were Harmed During the Making Of This Production.’ ” she laughed with me too.
“Anyway when Paddy was well enough to walk again he kept going on about this lovely valley he lived in and that I should come and live with him as a friend because he had noticed I was completely on my own. So I agreed. It is not as if I would have far to go if I needed stuff. So we became great friends. One day a new young couple moved into our valley, named Sean and Mary O’Connor and Mary was pregnant, but she lost the little scrap.” I held Lottie’s hand tightly when I said that and waited for her to look up and tell me to continue.
“Anyway a while after that Mary became pregnant again and when Seamus was born there was great rejoicing. Seamus was a little bit slow but was great with animals and knew every plant, flower and tree growing in the area. He loved greatly and was greatly loved in return. I became a nanny to Seamus and helped raise him. He was a charming little boy, so sweet and gentle, he became like my own son in time and we were so close. He would love it when I would pick him up and run with him, he was not very good at running and he would call it ‘flying with Faine.’ Sean and Mary hired Paddy to help with setting up the farm and the four of us became as close to a family as possible. Paddy got a pup called Kalib and the little pup used come down to the farm and follow Seamus around everywhere. He would whine to stay with Seamus at night when we were heading home. Paddy loved that little pup and would insist on him coming home, so kalib would follow us up the hill home. Paddy asked me was I an angel because I never seemed to grow older and that he was waiting until I did to see if I would do him the honour of being his wife. I told him that I was an angel and that it was impossible to be his wife but I would love to stay on and be his friend if that was ok. Truth was I loved him like a brother and didn’t see him as a husband.”
“Did he ever find a wife at all?” asked Lottie impatiently as she caught me staring off into the distance.
“No, he never found a wife but he was happy to be my friend. One day I was off hunting when I heard kalib howl and I knew it was sadness, so I raced home as fast as I could and followed his scent down to the river. I could feel the sadness coming off kalib. I had passed Sean and Paddy in the yard getting ready to look for Seamus who had missed his tea, something he never did. He loved his grub. I found Seamus in the river and blood was dripping out of his head. I was crushed with guilt that I had not been with him to save him. He knew not to go near the water without me near him. I brought him home and my heart felt heavier than ever. I’d lost my son, poor Mary and Sean and Paddy went into complete shock, Mary stopped speaking once her shrieks of agony stopped out loud, she would sit at the table and stare out the window all day and Sean went into work overdrive and couldn’t seem to stop until he fell exhausted into bed each night. I maintained their house and our’s just to block out the pain in myself. I stopped breathing because I did not care anymore and I tried to do everything. I learned to live with my grief. One day years later, I saw a gorgeous man walking up the path to Sean and Mary’s house I was on the way down to their house. He was wandering along, a lost soul, his own senses deadened. I felt an immediate draw to him, not just, because he was the only other vampire that I had met in the past 70 years but because something about him reminded me of me. He was a broken man. He lived with Sean and Mary for a spell, yes as a vampire until his evil twin Jane tracked him down with Demitri’s help and she killed them in spite and out of jealousy. I heard Demitri say to her “That’s wrong Jane, you only did that to spite Alec, and I want nothing to do with this” and he ran off. When Alec tried to kill her for killing his parents, as he called Sean and Mary, he failed and ran off. I tracked them at a distance when I had the chance I killed Jane with a few people’s help, Jordan and Gabriel to name a few along with Alec and a few more, we killed the masters who’d dictated their lives for hundreds of centuries and we moved here to Sean and Mary’s home after it was refurbished. Alec and I have their bedroom and it’s still the same only bigger.”
“Oh wow, faine that was some story.”
“Out of all of us Demitri is the oldest vampire and has been drinking human blood the longest. When we moved here, we decided to switch to animal blood. It is not hard when you make up your mind. But yes, there is always the burn and thirst at the back of your throat. Demitri had been so proud of himself when Valentina brought you in. There was so much blood and we were all devastated that you had lost your baby. Jordan particularly as she was going to raise your baby for you when you died. I smelled a bad smell to your blood when I first met you and presumed that it was you who were going to die and not your baby. I’m sorry you lost ruby Lottie but am delighted you are here now, like a little sister even though technically we’re the same age.” I smiled. “Back to Demitri, when your heart suddenly started beating he didn’t have time to react as the monster inside came raging to the surface and he bit you. A split second later he realised what he had done and he stopped himself and fought back the monster. He was gutted when he realised his venom was at that very second raging through your body. He could not kill you then because he felt like he had already caused you enough pain so he fled leaving behind even Valentina. He changed her too but only because she asked.” Lottie nodded but said nothing.
“I wanted you to know the full picture so you can judge for yourself.”
“I’m sorry about everything,” said Lottie in a small voice to me. “I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble. I was just so angry and upset.” I rubbed her back and soothed her.
“I know, ya poor dickens, sorry too for your loss and for Demitri biting you.” We sat down on the grass and Lottie began explaining her life to me. Her mother always made her feel like she was worse than the scum on the side of her shoe. She was a mistake and it was her fault for being born. She grew up feeling unloved and worthless. She never before had felt a part of a family until she met Paddy and me and she was only just beginning to feel something. The minute she found out she was pregnant she felt blessed and God was giving her a baby that would love her and a finally a reason to live. However, when she lost Ruby she felt so angry with everyone and everything that she felt like she did not deserve to be happy. Paddy and me were the only people to make her feel even slightly important and she felt that it was because of the baby.
“Lottie, you are an important person, baby or not. You are also very talented. How did you manage to do all that you did back in the house?”
“I grounded myself,” she said simply. “Kinda like meditation only stronger.”
“When I touched your arm it burned me. Alec could not deaden your senses, you acted like you could not hear me, and then all of a sudden I could hear you in my head. How did you do that?”
“Well I was very determined that Alec wouldn’t be able to knock me out again. I don’t like the nightmares I have, at least when I’m awake I can’t dream. I used to have terrifying nightmares when I was a human, sometimes nice ones in which my mom loved me and was good to me, but I’d wake up to her screams and her screeching at me “to get my lazy arse outta bed and go to shop to get milk for tea.” Any clothes or possessions I own are things I bought myself, the teachers used to clothe me as mine were usually full of holes or too short for me, so my mother laughed at me when she saw me and said “let them at it, I won’t need to waste my money then.” I loved her anyway despite the way she treated me. I didn’t know any better. I only had one friend and her name was Katie Flanagan but she was killed by some boys at school. My mother’s reaction to that was “little bitch deserved it with the way she was carrying on.” After that I just closed down my feelings completely and built up a barrier around myself to protect myself. I developed the ability to shut out what my ma was saying to me, as if I was tuning her out. I could see her lips move but that was it. She could be punching my arm or slapping my face to get me to wake up and I’d be completely unaware. It was a protection technique. Now, I’d be covered in bruises and they’d hurt like hell once I re-focused but at the time I felt nothing. I guess becoming a vampire just improved my abilities. How long have you been a vampire Faine?”
“Hmmmm let me see…I suppose just over 100 years ago.”
“How did it happen for you?”
“Well I have a brother, Adam who’s married to Karen in cork. We were both turned. I was 16 and he was 19. Our family were very poor but then there were a lot of mouth to feed. Four boys and three girls. We caught the plague and all but Adam and I were left. When an old vampire came down from the mountains, his name was Michael Bunion and he asked us to join him and his family. We were sick too but he bit us both and we were changed. We didn’t want to go with him, but we did for a while. His family were always warring with other nomad vampires and we were tired of living like that and decided to leave after Michael lost his head. The family bid us farewell and we went back home and settled there, buried our family and cleaned up the farm. Sometime later Karen and her friends Helen and Therese were travelling through Kerry and curiosity got the better of her, she wanted to meet the survivors of the Bunion Clan. Apparently, we were the only ones left. When Karen and Adam laid eyes on each other, it was instant love at first sight. Adam agreed to move to cork to be with their family but I insisted on staying here in Kerry. I often went to visit just to make sure Adam was happy, like a mother hen, he was so thrilled to be with Karen.”
“How did you meet Paddy so?”
“Paddy was in trouble. An angry bull that broke had trampled him while he was taking a shortcut through a field and the trampling left him with a broken leg and some broken ribs. I found him, carried him home to my house, and nursed him until he got better. Being alone for so many years I had developed knowledge of healing plants and herbs.”
“Did your thirst not drive you mad being so close to a human like that?”
“No surprisingly, I wasn’t tempted at all. I was more concerned in helping him to get better.”
“God, I’d probably have drank his blood, being a newborn.”
“You know Lottie, it’s all in the mind, you’re so good at controlling your emotions, if you really want to, and you can ignore that need. Ever notice how long Valentina goes without hunting? She prefers animals because no humans get harmed.” I laughed then when I said that.
“What you laughing at?”
“I sound like a film commercial, ‘No Humans Were Harmed During the Making Of This Production.’ ” she laughed with me too.
“Anyway when Paddy was well enough to walk again he kept going on about this lovely valley he lived in and that I should come and live with him as a friend because he had noticed I was completely on my own. So I agreed. It is not as if I would have far to go if I needed stuff. So we became great friends. One day a new young couple moved into our valley, named Sean and Mary O’Connor and Mary was pregnant, but she lost the little scrap.” I held Lottie’s hand tightly when I said that and waited for her to look up and tell me to continue.
“Anyway a while after that Mary became pregnant again and when Seamus was born there was great rejoicing. Seamus was a little bit slow but was great with animals and knew every plant, flower and tree growing in the area. He loved greatly and was greatly loved in return. I became a nanny to Seamus and helped raise him. He was a charming little boy, so sweet and gentle, he became like my own son in time and we were so close. He would love it when I would pick him up and run with him, he was not very good at running and he would call it ‘flying with Faine.’ Sean and Mary hired Paddy to help with setting up the farm and the four of us became as close to a family as possible. Paddy got a pup called Kalib and the little pup used come down to the farm and follow Seamus around everywhere. He would whine to stay with Seamus at night when we were heading home. Paddy loved that little pup and would insist on him coming home, so kalib would follow us up the hill home. Paddy asked me was I an angel because I never seemed to grow older and that he was waiting until I did to see if I would do him the honour of being his wife. I told him that I was an angel and that it was impossible to be his wife but I would love to stay on and be his friend if that was ok. Truth was I loved him like a brother and didn’t see him as a husband.”
“Did he ever find a wife at all?” asked Lottie impatiently as she caught me staring off into the distance.
“No, he never found a wife but he was happy to be my friend. One day I was off hunting when I heard kalib howl and I knew it was sadness, so I raced home as fast as I could and followed his scent down to the river. I could feel the sadness coming off kalib. I had passed Sean and Paddy in the yard getting ready to look for Seamus who had missed his tea, something he never did. He loved his grub. I found Seamus in the river and blood was dripping out of his head. I was crushed with guilt that I had not been with him to save him. He knew not to go near the water without me near him. I brought him home and my heart felt heavier than ever. I’d lost my son, poor Mary and Sean and Paddy went into complete shock, Mary stopped speaking once her shrieks of agony stopped out loud, she would sit at the table and stare out the window all day and Sean went into work overdrive and couldn’t seem to stop until he fell exhausted into bed each night. I maintained their house and our’s just to block out the pain in myself. I stopped breathing because I did not care anymore and I tried to do everything. I learned to live with my grief. One day years later, I saw a gorgeous man walking up the path to Sean and Mary’s house I was on the way down to their house. He was wandering along, a lost soul, his own senses deadened. I felt an immediate draw to him, not just, because he was the only other vampire that I had met in the past 70 years but because something about him reminded me of me. He was a broken man. He lived with Sean and Mary for a spell, yes as a vampire until his evil twin Jane tracked him down with Demitri’s help and she killed them in spite and out of jealousy. I heard Demitri say to her “That’s wrong Jane, you only did that to spite Alec, and I want nothing to do with this” and he ran off. When Alec tried to kill her for killing his parents, as he called Sean and Mary, he failed and ran off. I tracked them at a distance when I had the chance I killed Jane with a few people’s help, Jordan and Gabriel to name a few along with Alec and a few more, we killed the masters who’d dictated their lives for hundreds of centuries and we moved here to Sean and Mary’s home after it was refurbished. Alec and I have their bedroom and it’s still the same only bigger.”
“Oh wow, faine that was some story.”
“Out of all of us Demitri is the oldest vampire and has been drinking human blood the longest. When we moved here, we decided to switch to animal blood. It is not hard when you make up your mind. But yes, there is always the burn and thirst at the back of your throat. Demitri had been so proud of himself when Valentina brought you in. There was so much blood and we were all devastated that you had lost your baby. Jordan particularly as she was going to raise your baby for you when you died. I smelled a bad smell to your blood when I first met you and presumed that it was you who were going to die and not your baby. I’m sorry you lost ruby Lottie but am delighted you are here now, like a little sister even though technically we’re the same age.” I smiled. “Back to Demitri, when your heart suddenly started beating he didn’t have time to react as the monster inside came raging to the surface and he bit you. A split second later he realised what he had done and he stopped himself and fought back the monster. He was gutted when he realised his venom was at that very second raging through your body. He could not kill you then because he felt like he had already caused you enough pain so he fled leaving behind even Valentina. He changed her too but only because she asked.” Lottie nodded but said nothing.
“I wanted you to know the full picture so you can judge for yourself.”
