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I’ve rented a little apartment. I figured it made more sense than staying in a hostel all the time. I furnished it nicely and painted all the walls in a pretty yellow colour, it makes the place seem fresh and sunny looking. Vera likes the colour too. I bought her a lovely cot with a mobile on top that plays the Fur Elise, my favourite song, she loves it too. Even though she can speak as well as me, she’s still only 6 months old. I can’t believe she’s been mine for a whole 3 months. We’ve had so much fun together. We go out for walks everywhere, go sit on the pier and look out at the sea, I’ve taken her swimming in the ocean and she loves the smells everywhere too. Lucky for us it’s summertime so I get to take her out daily. She is beginning to look more like a 9 month old than a 6 month old. We’ve looked up on Google to try and learn about children like her, in libraries too but to no avail. I wish I felt I could confide in Faine. I really miss her a lot. I miss the family too but Faine feels like a mom to me. I don’t want to bring Vera home I’m enjoying her all to myself far too much still.
I’ve asked her if she remembers her real mother and she said yes and described her as being slim, pretty and redheaded. (Like Faine I thought smiling). Vera has black hair now. All in little curls around the bottom of her neck, so cute. I put little slides and bows on her head, she loves feeling pretty and pampered. Her favourite colour is orange not pink like I had loved when I was little. She said she only ever got to see her dad once; he had dark hair and the most beautiful eyes that seem to see all of you. I thought this was great because the first thing I see is a person’s eyes too. Windows to the soul as they say. We carried on just doing little things and getting to know each other’s habits and likes and dislikes and having fun. We went on little holidays and explored little islands and generally had fun. I was looking at her little face one day after we’d spent the week out in the sun and noticed she was growing a crop of freckles. I used to be plagued by them as a kid but I put so much lemon juice on them then that they faded a lot and now I have very few. When we went out in the sun it was usually in places where there were no other people because both Vera and I sparkled in the sun.
“You’re just so pretty my ole patta.” I said to her.
“What does patta mean momma, you always call me that?”
“Well honey, it means sweetheart, someone I once knew used to call me his patta.” I felt that familiar knot curl up tight in my stomach as the feelings of loss and agony threatened to devour me, as even the thought of him came into my mind. Thank God I had Vera; I’d have gone mad otherwise. I’d be just like poor ole Gabriel. I smiled when I thought of poor mixed up Gabriel and wondered did he ever find that girl he was chasing and then I felt sad again cause it reminded me of Bastien who right before he left me was defending my honour and beating the crap out of Gabriel. I hadn’t let myself think of Bastien in many months. I had blotted out all the memories of him. I had filed his memories away with all the other disappointments of my life into a box in my head. I had loved him and could have spent my life with him, but he left me so unceremoniously and I would not lower myself by begging for him to come back. Not that I knew where to look for him anyway.
“You okay momma? Did I say something to upset you? You look so sad.”
“It’s ok patta, momma’s just remembering a man I once loved and thought he loved me too but I guess I was wrong.” I heard myself say sadly.
“Come on Vera, let’s go for a walk. I put on her furry coat and leggings and tucked her into my arm, I never use the elevator in the building, just took the stairs. I only lived on the 3rd floor so the jump down was nothing and Vera said she loved the air rushing up her nose, it made her feel breathless as if she were running fast. I had resorted to the vegetarian diet as it was easier to find animal blood so as to blend in with the humans. The neighbours all thought Vera was a darling and often offered to babysit for me if I wanted a break or a night off. I always declined. I had nothing better to do anyway. Anytime I started sketching it was always Bastien I ended up drawing anyways, sometimes it was only his eyes, but it was always that one look he’d give me that made me think he thought I was something special. When Vera slept it was always the longest time for me. I’d try to lie on the bed and close my eyes like I could sleep if I wanted to. Instead in those times I’d reflect back on my life both as human and vampire and try to see was there any pattern in my life that always ended up with me being abandoned or on my own. It just seemed from the start when my mother didn’t want me; I started to build up my barrier. I saw it being done on a psychics show once. Amazing what you can learn on TV. I felt when I had my barrier up that my mom’s taunts and digs wouldn’t hurt me but they did of course. So I learned to have selective hearing and sight too. I walked in once on her and my stepdad shagging and I was so disgusted. I was only 12 and it sickened me so much that I ran straight to the toilet and hurled up my lunch. Yet when my first boyfriend came along and promised he loved me, I believed him and let him shag me. Course he did a runner when heard he’d bonked a virgin and got me pregnant but diary you know the rest of that story. I never did find out who my daddy was. My real daddy that is. Our lives ran along neatly like a bubbling brook always somewhere new to explore every day. All was quiet until last night I heard shouting outside my window and figured it was some punk kids junked up on something. When I heard a girl screaming I looked out of the window. I saw two lads pulling her up a lane way and I knew where that would lead, so I let myself out of my window landing gracefully on the ground and followed them up the alley. The first guy looked around as I approached and said
“looky here, what we got, aint’ you a looker sugar” he was really ugly and had a missing tooth in the front. I waited to see what goofy no. 2 was going to say, then goofy no. 1 said
“Hmmmm, I be liking her a lot more, she looks fresh! Should put up a nice fight! What say you B?”
I was startled when I heard no. 2’s reply, I know that voice. I kept my mouth shut, raised my barrier around me. Goofy no. 1 tried to tempt me to follow them but I stood my ground. I looked at the terrified girl who tried to tell me to run away with her eyes. I smiled at her knowing I was safe. B wouldn’t hurt me. His eyes had widened when he saw me and I saw the recognition flit across his face.
“Nah M, I’d say she’ll be big trouble.” He said.
“Huh?” said M” real slow and stupidly like he was in a daze. B kept looking at M but pointed to me and the girl and then to the exit at the end of the alley. I grabbed her and covered her mouth and bolted for my apartment. I told her to stay quiet. We looked out through the netting on the window; the lights were off so they couldn’t see where we had gone. M turned away from B and said
“Hey B, where’d dem girls go? Aw I was gonna get lucky tonight, dam. What happened? One minute I was looking at that little hottie and the next she wuz gone.”
“Maybe she was an angel.” B said and I could hear the smile in his voice. OH MY GOD Bastien is here and he just saved me and the girl’s life. What? Well not mine, but then maybe mine too. God only knows if that other guy was gifted or not. Why was Bastien here? Was he looking for me? Has he realised his loss?
“Oh my God, thank you so much for saving me. That guy M, I think he was called offered me somewhere warm to sleep for the night. I didn’t realise he was a vampire and wanted to kill me.” She said, worry etched on her face.
“How had I not spotted that?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked her gently now that Bastien had moved away with the famous M. Bastien’s’ scent filled my soul and renewed my love for him all over again.
“My name is Lucy McBride and you just saved my eternity. Those were two very mean vampires. I’m not strong enough to fight them alone but with your help we’ll take em down.” I just stared at her. Was she for real?
“How do you know they are vampires?” I asked her.
“Sure we all are!” she said smiling at me.
“I don’t get you!”
“Sure look” she paused for a second. “Lottie, I know you’re a vampire and that your child is a half vampire. Don’t worry, us McBride’s know all the other vampires in our territory.” I must have looked like a fish out of water to her, standing there with my mouth gaping open like one.
“Those guys weren’t gonna rape me silly, they were trying to kill me. They are part of Brian McClintock’s gang. We have a war going on between us for the past few decades. An eye for an eye and all that baloney. Wonder why they let us go?” She asked. I shook my head feigning ignorance. She tried to read my mind again, I could feel her thoughts cloying at my brain but thankfully Vera started crying and I excused myself to go and check her immediately. Vera whispered into my ear not to trust Lucy. I let her know in her mind to block it and I understood what I was doing. I brought Vera out in my arms. Lucy moved to rub her cheek and call her a bonnie wee lassie. Vera behaved perfectly.
“How old is she now then?”
“Nearly 10 months” I replied warily. She seemed to sense my wariness and as she went to the window she remarked that she’d be seeing me around and then she was gone. I heard her running away and when she was gone far enough away Vera burst out
“She’s lying.”
“How do you know?” I asked. I felt so thick at the minute, not being a mind reader sucked.
“She’s afraid of us, I felt it.” Vera said.
“Why would she be afraid of us, we helped her.”
“Because of who we are.”
“Who are we?”
“I am Bastien’s daughter and you are Brian’s daughter and she’s a spy for the McBride’s!” I stared at her in shock.
“How…ho….how do you know you are Bastien’s daughter?” I stuttered.
“I read in between the lines of what she was saying. She knows you were Bastien’s girlfriend, and Brian’s daughter and Maurice or M for short and her are in league to scare you out of hiding in order to have Bastien kill you as punishment for killing your sister Bianca!”
“How do you know all this?” I began to grow suspicious of Vera then and backed away from her. “Are you part of the plot too Vera?”
“No I’m your daughter and Bastien left me where you’d find me. My mother was killed by Brian’s gang to punish Bastien. Brian doesn’t know of my existence otherwise I’d be dead too. We have to get away from here as fast as possible otherwise Bastien will be forced to kill us both and he’ll be trapped forever.”
“Surely Brian would love hear about his second daughter. If I explained to him.”
“Momma, you mother survived your birth only just by the skin of her teeth but it damaged her. She couldn’t love you. I know it’s a lot to take in, but please, we have to go now. Lucy will be back soon with reinforcements now that she knows where you live. Bastien tried to protect you by letting you escape but he thought she’d run away as soon as you left the alley. I grabbed my phone, photo of Ruby, our passports and my credit card. The rest I couldn’t care less about then I spotted the photo album of Vera so I grabbed that too. When I jumped out the window my phone fell out of my pocket and smashed into a thousand pieces.
“Noooooooooooooooooooo” I cried. I had a lot of precious memories on that phone plus all the numbers for the family. I was crap at remembering numbers and had been so glad that mobiles remembered them for me. I felt as we were being watched by a thousand eyes and I was very paranoid of strangers going by expecting at any minute to be surrounded and for us to be abducted.
“Quit panicking, you’ll get us caught, just relax, think of a joke and they’ll be none the wiser.” Vera whispered to me. I said the first joke that came into my mind.
“What did the plaster say to the wall? I’ve got you covered.”
Vera smiled at me and muttered “good!” Then she giggled. As soon as we were gone up to the beach, we got to the cave I’d found Vera in and went to the back of the cave and I started to claw our way out on the other side of the hill. I was still so paranoid that we’d get stopped. I half smiled when Vera cooed at how strong momma was when she saw me crushing the stones and earth to powder at my touch. We got out the other side and I pushed earth back in again to try and seal the entrance and ran with Vera in my arms as fast as I could to the airport. There was only one place I could go to feel safe and that was New York to Hazel and Malachi. I phoned her when I got there and she said to come right over. I hugged her when I saw her on the doorstop. It was so calming to see her. I felt safe at last. Vera reached out her arms to her and called her angel. Hazel smiled at me and said
“She’s so precious.”
“Ya, she’s special all right.” I said smiling at my little girl. She beamed back at me too. Malachi came out of another room then with a cup of blood for me and a glass of milk for Vera and a plate that was balanced on his wrist with some chocolate chip cookies on it.
“Ooooooooooooooh yummy, my favourite” she squealed with delight. I grinned at her.
“Thank you” she said as she took them to the table and sat down to demolish them. I loved that she could still be so innocent in the middle of all that was happening.
“Have you heard from the family at all Hazel? I kept in contact with Faine from time to time but I dropped my phone and shattered it in our escape and I’ve no numbers for any of them now. I don’t want to drag them into this. Please don’t tell them. I presume you already know what’s going on. I have to try to save him you know that or die trying. Vera is his kid.
I’ve asked her if she remembers her real mother and she said yes and described her as being slim, pretty and redheaded. (Like Faine I thought smiling). Vera has black hair now. All in little curls around the bottom of her neck, so cute. I put little slides and bows on her head, she loves feeling pretty and pampered. Her favourite colour is orange not pink like I had loved when I was little. She said she only ever got to see her dad once; he had dark hair and the most beautiful eyes that seem to see all of you. I thought this was great because the first thing I see is a person’s eyes too. Windows to the soul as they say. We carried on just doing little things and getting to know each other’s habits and likes and dislikes and having fun. We went on little holidays and explored little islands and generally had fun. I was looking at her little face one day after we’d spent the week out in the sun and noticed she was growing a crop of freckles. I used to be plagued by them as a kid but I put so much lemon juice on them then that they faded a lot and now I have very few. When we went out in the sun it was usually in places where there were no other people because both Vera and I sparkled in the sun.
“You’re just so pretty my ole patta.” I said to her.
“What does patta mean momma, you always call me that?”
“Well honey, it means sweetheart, someone I once knew used to call me his patta.” I felt that familiar knot curl up tight in my stomach as the feelings of loss and agony threatened to devour me, as even the thought of him came into my mind. Thank God I had Vera; I’d have gone mad otherwise. I’d be just like poor ole Gabriel. I smiled when I thought of poor mixed up Gabriel and wondered did he ever find that girl he was chasing and then I felt sad again cause it reminded me of Bastien who right before he left me was defending my honour and beating the crap out of Gabriel. I hadn’t let myself think of Bastien in many months. I had blotted out all the memories of him. I had filed his memories away with all the other disappointments of my life into a box in my head. I had loved him and could have spent my life with him, but he left me so unceremoniously and I would not lower myself by begging for him to come back. Not that I knew where to look for him anyway.
“You okay momma? Did I say something to upset you? You look so sad.”
“It’s ok patta, momma’s just remembering a man I once loved and thought he loved me too but I guess I was wrong.” I heard myself say sadly.
“Come on Vera, let’s go for a walk. I put on her furry coat and leggings and tucked her into my arm, I never use the elevator in the building, just took the stairs. I only lived on the 3rd floor so the jump down was nothing and Vera said she loved the air rushing up her nose, it made her feel breathless as if she were running fast. I had resorted to the vegetarian diet as it was easier to find animal blood so as to blend in with the humans. The neighbours all thought Vera was a darling and often offered to babysit for me if I wanted a break or a night off. I always declined. I had nothing better to do anyway. Anytime I started sketching it was always Bastien I ended up drawing anyways, sometimes it was only his eyes, but it was always that one look he’d give me that made me think he thought I was something special. When Vera slept it was always the longest time for me. I’d try to lie on the bed and close my eyes like I could sleep if I wanted to. Instead in those times I’d reflect back on my life both as human and vampire and try to see was there any pattern in my life that always ended up with me being abandoned or on my own. It just seemed from the start when my mother didn’t want me; I started to build up my barrier. I saw it being done on a psychics show once. Amazing what you can learn on TV. I felt when I had my barrier up that my mom’s taunts and digs wouldn’t hurt me but they did of course. So I learned to have selective hearing and sight too. I walked in once on her and my stepdad shagging and I was so disgusted. I was only 12 and it sickened me so much that I ran straight to the toilet and hurled up my lunch. Yet when my first boyfriend came along and promised he loved me, I believed him and let him shag me. Course he did a runner when heard he’d bonked a virgin and got me pregnant but diary you know the rest of that story. I never did find out who my daddy was. My real daddy that is. Our lives ran along neatly like a bubbling brook always somewhere new to explore every day. All was quiet until last night I heard shouting outside my window and figured it was some punk kids junked up on something. When I heard a girl screaming I looked out of the window. I saw two lads pulling her up a lane way and I knew where that would lead, so I let myself out of my window landing gracefully on the ground and followed them up the alley. The first guy looked around as I approached and said
“looky here, what we got, aint’ you a looker sugar” he was really ugly and had a missing tooth in the front. I waited to see what goofy no. 2 was going to say, then goofy no. 1 said
“Hmmmm, I be liking her a lot more, she looks fresh! Should put up a nice fight! What say you B?”
I was startled when I heard no. 2’s reply, I know that voice. I kept my mouth shut, raised my barrier around me. Goofy no. 1 tried to tempt me to follow them but I stood my ground. I looked at the terrified girl who tried to tell me to run away with her eyes. I smiled at her knowing I was safe. B wouldn’t hurt me. His eyes had widened when he saw me and I saw the recognition flit across his face.
“Nah M, I’d say she’ll be big trouble.” He said.
“Huh?” said M” real slow and stupidly like he was in a daze. B kept looking at M but pointed to me and the girl and then to the exit at the end of the alley. I grabbed her and covered her mouth and bolted for my apartment. I told her to stay quiet. We looked out through the netting on the window; the lights were off so they couldn’t see where we had gone. M turned away from B and said
“Hey B, where’d dem girls go? Aw I was gonna get lucky tonight, dam. What happened? One minute I was looking at that little hottie and the next she wuz gone.”
“Maybe she was an angel.” B said and I could hear the smile in his voice. OH MY GOD Bastien is here and he just saved me and the girl’s life. What? Well not mine, but then maybe mine too. God only knows if that other guy was gifted or not. Why was Bastien here? Was he looking for me? Has he realised his loss?
“Oh my God, thank you so much for saving me. That guy M, I think he was called offered me somewhere warm to sleep for the night. I didn’t realise he was a vampire and wanted to kill me.” She said, worry etched on her face.
“How had I not spotted that?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked her gently now that Bastien had moved away with the famous M. Bastien’s’ scent filled my soul and renewed my love for him all over again.
“My name is Lucy McBride and you just saved my eternity. Those were two very mean vampires. I’m not strong enough to fight them alone but with your help we’ll take em down.” I just stared at her. Was she for real?
“How do you know they are vampires?” I asked her.
“Sure we all are!” she said smiling at me.
“I don’t get you!”
“Sure look” she paused for a second. “Lottie, I know you’re a vampire and that your child is a half vampire. Don’t worry, us McBride’s know all the other vampires in our territory.” I must have looked like a fish out of water to her, standing there with my mouth gaping open like one.
“Those guys weren’t gonna rape me silly, they were trying to kill me. They are part of Brian McClintock’s gang. We have a war going on between us for the past few decades. An eye for an eye and all that baloney. Wonder why they let us go?” She asked. I shook my head feigning ignorance. She tried to read my mind again, I could feel her thoughts cloying at my brain but thankfully Vera started crying and I excused myself to go and check her immediately. Vera whispered into my ear not to trust Lucy. I let her know in her mind to block it and I understood what I was doing. I brought Vera out in my arms. Lucy moved to rub her cheek and call her a bonnie wee lassie. Vera behaved perfectly.
“How old is she now then?”
“Nearly 10 months” I replied warily. She seemed to sense my wariness and as she went to the window she remarked that she’d be seeing me around and then she was gone. I heard her running away and when she was gone far enough away Vera burst out
“She’s lying.”
“How do you know?” I asked. I felt so thick at the minute, not being a mind reader sucked.
“She’s afraid of us, I felt it.” Vera said.
“Why would she be afraid of us, we helped her.”
“Because of who we are.”
“Who are we?”
“I am Bastien’s daughter and you are Brian’s daughter and she’s a spy for the McBride’s!” I stared at her in shock.
“How…ho….how do you know you are Bastien’s daughter?” I stuttered.
“I read in between the lines of what she was saying. She knows you were Bastien’s girlfriend, and Brian’s daughter and Maurice or M for short and her are in league to scare you out of hiding in order to have Bastien kill you as punishment for killing your sister Bianca!”
“How do you know all this?” I began to grow suspicious of Vera then and backed away from her. “Are you part of the plot too Vera?”
“No I’m your daughter and Bastien left me where you’d find me. My mother was killed by Brian’s gang to punish Bastien. Brian doesn’t know of my existence otherwise I’d be dead too. We have to get away from here as fast as possible otherwise Bastien will be forced to kill us both and he’ll be trapped forever.”
“Surely Brian would love hear about his second daughter. If I explained to him.”
“Momma, you mother survived your birth only just by the skin of her teeth but it damaged her. She couldn’t love you. I know it’s a lot to take in, but please, we have to go now. Lucy will be back soon with reinforcements now that she knows where you live. Bastien tried to protect you by letting you escape but he thought she’d run away as soon as you left the alley. I grabbed my phone, photo of Ruby, our passports and my credit card. The rest I couldn’t care less about then I spotted the photo album of Vera so I grabbed that too. When I jumped out the window my phone fell out of my pocket and smashed into a thousand pieces.
“Noooooooooooooooooooo” I cried. I had a lot of precious memories on that phone plus all the numbers for the family. I was crap at remembering numbers and had been so glad that mobiles remembered them for me. I felt as we were being watched by a thousand eyes and I was very paranoid of strangers going by expecting at any minute to be surrounded and for us to be abducted.
“Quit panicking, you’ll get us caught, just relax, think of a joke and they’ll be none the wiser.” Vera whispered to me. I said the first joke that came into my mind.
“What did the plaster say to the wall? I’ve got you covered.”
Vera smiled at me and muttered “good!” Then she giggled. As soon as we were gone up to the beach, we got to the cave I’d found Vera in and went to the back of the cave and I started to claw our way out on the other side of the hill. I was still so paranoid that we’d get stopped. I half smiled when Vera cooed at how strong momma was when she saw me crushing the stones and earth to powder at my touch. We got out the other side and I pushed earth back in again to try and seal the entrance and ran with Vera in my arms as fast as I could to the airport. There was only one place I could go to feel safe and that was New York to Hazel and Malachi. I phoned her when I got there and she said to come right over. I hugged her when I saw her on the doorstop. It was so calming to see her. I felt safe at last. Vera reached out her arms to her and called her angel. Hazel smiled at me and said
“She’s so precious.”
“Ya, she’s special all right.” I said smiling at my little girl. She beamed back at me too. Malachi came out of another room then with a cup of blood for me and a glass of milk for Vera and a plate that was balanced on his wrist with some chocolate chip cookies on it.
“Ooooooooooooooh yummy, my favourite” she squealed with delight. I grinned at her.
“Thank you” she said as she took them to the table and sat down to demolish them. I loved that she could still be so innocent in the middle of all that was happening.
“Have you heard from the family at all Hazel? I kept in contact with Faine from time to time but I dropped my phone and shattered it in our escape and I’ve no numbers for any of them now. I don’t want to drag them into this. Please don’t tell them. I presume you already know what’s going on. I have to try to save him you know that or die trying. Vera is his kid.
