Diary of a Vampeen: Vamp Yourself for War

by Unknown

  “Kellan, be mad later. They’ve bombed the Bladang’s house with gas. There’s more than one assassin. You have to check on my parents. Please!” I cried. “Please, please, please… please check on them.” I broke down into a puddle of tears.

  “Shit! Okay. Calm down babe. I’m already in my car. I’ll be there in a minute. Where are you?” his voice became warm yet urgent.

  “Kai pulled me into a hidden closet in the library to wait it out,” I replied wiping my face profusely with my sleeves. He released the breath he had been holding.

  “I’m here. Damn. You were right. They did bomb it. I see the cans still attached at the window seals…”

  “No!” I screamed.

  “Give the phone to Kai,” Kellan ordered. I shoved the phone at him and buried my face in my arms on my knees.

  “Survey the house and call me,” Kai directed immediately clicking end afterwards. He stood and started pacing. I heard him dial more numbers. There was a pause before the phone rang. It was answered on the first ring.

  “Kunane?” I recognized Kalel’s voice.

  “They gassed her parent’s house.” Kai didn’t bother to greet him. He eyed me for a minute before going in and out of his native language. It must be bad if he didn’t want me to hear.

  “Five more minutes and we can go out. Kalel switched on the vents which should clear the air soon,” he spoke softly. I felt like a broken soul.

  He lifted me up into his arms giving me a strong brotherly hug. He kissed the top of my head and gently rocked us side to side as we stood.

  “I know this is a lot for you Leka, but you have to be strong. You are new, still very human. In our world though, weakness will get you killed.” I knew he was right. I recalled Kellan’s words. “As a human, you act with your heart. As a vampeen, you act with your mind. And as a vampire, you act on your instincts. There is a distinct difference between each race. The weakest will always be a human and the strongest always a vampire because of this.”

  Chapter 22

  “Get me home now,” I demanded the moment we were out.

  “Gabi, Raf, hold it down here with Art. Make contact with every officer in the forest and the Blackheads. We’ll be back,” Kai instructed on our way to the garage.

  “I’ll sit in back with her; you drive,” Kalel threw the keys at Kai.

  He beeped open the black Mercedes and we all got in at once. He started the engine and immediately backed out. Kalel rapidly pressed buttons and flipped switches in various parts of the car.

  “Armor activated. Shield enabled. Right quadrant secure. Left quadrant secure. North scan complete. South scan complete. Tracker deactivated. Satellite disabled. Right boost in position. Left boost failed.” The female computed voice spoke with every move Kalel made. He tapped a few more buttons. “Left boost in position. Shark software launched. Communication complete. Connection complete. Diamond App in position. Laser guard active. Laser guard ready.”

  He finally sat back in the seat beside me. I flipped the phone in my hands nervously. I didn’t know what was waiting for me when we arrived; Kellan still hadn’t called back.

  I was struggling to stay under control. I cried all the tears I’d had in that tiny hide out. I was empty, devoid of emotion by this point. Every possible scenario had flashed already. I’d prepared for the worst but hoped for the best. “You can’t change fate,” Kai had stated. He meant death, but if my parents were murdered, I didn’t consider that fate. I considered it a mistake. Wrong place, wrong time but not fate. More like accidental fate.

  We flew through the morning traffic. Kellan’s car sat in the drive way when we pulled in. I didn’t wait for the car to stop before I leapt out and pushed open the front door. I heard my dad crying hysterically from before we arrived. I’d never been so scared in all my life. He’d never been so broken.

  “Dad?! Kellan?!” I raced through the house, upstairs and down. I was so upset I couldn’t focus on his exact location given my supersonic hearing. I finally ran right into Kellan’s arms. He gripped me harder than necessary.

  “Lexi,” he sounded like velvet. “Your dad needs you.”

  I couldn’t answer. I just shook my head.

  “Brace yourself. Be strong.” Brace myself? Be strong?

  He grabbed my hand and squeezed tight. We walked side by side into my parent’s bedroom. Kai and Kalel stood outside the bathroom door. Their faces evoked rage and yet sympathy simultaneously. It was in their eyes.

  Without going further, without seeing anything, I knew. There was only one thing that could bring my father to rock bottom. There was only one thing that could make him cry out like that. She’s gone…

  I released Kellan’s hand, slipped past Kai and Kalel and lightly forced open the door.

  She was lifeless; no color. Her clothes were soaked from my father’s tears; he had tried to revive her. He had razor cuts all over him. He had tried to feed her. The blood still ran from the corners of her lips.

  There was a dart poking from her chest. It was syringe-like and had held some sort of liquid; the poison that killed her. Pinned to her shirt by the short arrow was a note.

  Thanks for the collateral.

  I began to convulse. Serum soaked my mouth. My bones ached with rage. I punched a hole in the tiled wall. It gave me no relief.

  My dad looked up at me. His eyes were bloodshot, his body shaking profusely and his face showed nothing but defeat. I took in his blood stained clothes. The world around me began to blur for the first time since my transformation.

  I pulled my dad into my arms, coddled him as if he were my child.

  I was cold, numb. Nothing can ever prepare you for the death of a parent.

  “They said I wasn’t a threat. They saved me because I wasn’t a threat...” he cried. “They wouldn’t let her go. I couldn’t save her. I… I couldn’t…” he stumbled to form a sentence, to convey what he’d just been through. He was a broken mess.

  I walked silently past the other men in my life and carried my heart broken father to the family room. I set him down on the sectional. He was shaken, distraught. And I was in shock, disbelief. Perhaps it hadn’t hit me. Maybe I didn’t want it to hit me.

  That was it. I couldn’t let it hit me. Kai had said I had to be strong. Dad needed me to be strong. Humans are more vulnerable than vamps.

  I sat beside him. We held each other; we comforted each other. He hugged me; I hugged him.

  He eventually stopped crying yet we sat entangled into each other for hours more. We didn’t speak a word as my serum never settled.

  Kalel left. I heard him say he would take her body to the morgue. Kai and Kellan lingered, pacing repetitiously but never approaching us.

  They made calls for us. Soon our home was filled with familiar voices but we didn’t move. Our father-daughter mourning continued. Aunt Claire, Beth, Al, Auggy, Mel, Craig, Gabi, Rafi and others I didn’t know or recognize flooded our house with well wishes and many more tears yet none of them dared to disturb us.

  How did this happen? Why did it happen? She was innocent. She’s gone… She’s really gone and I never got to say goodbye.

  I was a complete brat last night. I took their presence for granted. I didn’t expect to never get the chance to say I love you again… I assumed I’d get to hug her again. I was so wrapped up in me, me, me that I’d missed my last chance. She came in and said good-bye. I’d given her a kiss on the cheek, but no hug; I said “Good-bye. I’ll see you tomorrow,” but not I love you. I was horrible; a spoiled vamp who didn’t deserve to be an ambassador. I deserved what was coming for me, but she didn’t.

  I was startled by a hand on my shoulder. I didn’t flinch. Whatever fate had for me I was ready. I deserved every bit of harsh reality and torture I got.

  “Stop beating yourself up.” It was Kellan. His voice still melted with warmth and comfort. I swallowed the serum to a controllable level.

  “I’m not,” I answered robotically.

  “You’re pro
jecting your thoughts. I’m hearing everything you’re thinking.” How is that possible? “I don’t know,” he offered hearing my one phrase of confusion.

  My eyes shot open for the first time in hours. I turned my head towards him. I wondered if everyone else heard them too. Granted I had a motive for temporary insanity but it would still be embarrassing.

  “Don’t worry, I checked. It’s only me.” He spoke softly, his eyes were full of concern.

  “I’m sorry for everything,” I thought.

  “Don’t be. I was a jerk. I’m the one who needs to apologize.” He came around and stood over me. His emerald eyes darted between me and my still lifeless father.

  “Sit with me?” He sat beside me taking my hand closest to him. He caressed me rhythmically but didn’t invade the connection I had with my dad.

  The house slowly emptied and we were still in the same spot. Dad hadn’t moved. His stomach had been growling for hours; he didn’t budge. The numbness was beginning to subside to a hollow pain I couldn’t fabricate on the worst of days.

  I had to move. I had to do something at some point. I didn’t have a protective bubble any longer. That was always my mother and now she’s… gone.

  “Dad,” I whispered his name; the only name I’d ever known him by.

  “I couldn’t stop them,” he stated. He was beside me but his mind was far away.

  “It’s ok,” I hugged him again.

  “I couldn’t protect her. But all she did was protect me…” he trailed off.

  “You did all you could,” I said knowing it would never be enough for him. He’d always feel guilty.

  “It wasn’t enough. It’ll never be enough.”

  “Your love is enough for me. She knew you loved us.”

  “Love doesn’t protect anyone from pain. I’ll never forget her pain…” His eyes filled with tears again begging to trickle over his red rims.

  We were silent again. Flashes of her on the floor passed before me again. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what had happened; how she died. Vampeens are supposed to be immortal. There are only two main ways to kill us and she didn’t die by either…

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “Huh?”

  “I’m ready Alexa. I’ll be damned if they get to you too. The only way to protect you is if I become one of you,” his voice was full of conviction. I knew he was right. He needed to be made vampire for his own protection outside of mine.

  “I said I’d support you. Are you sure you’re ready though?” I checked. His tears dried. I sensed the change in him. His grief was overturned by determination and maybe a desire for revenge. I didn’t hate him though. I shared the same outrage. If fate wouldn’t deliver justice then I, no we, would.

  “I’ve been ready.” He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t blink, cringe or move. He was firm when he said it. We both smiled at the same time.

  “Do you want to eat one last human meal?” I asked. “Trust me; it’s not the same after.”

  “Thanks sweetie, but I’m ready.”

  I nodded affirmatively. “Kai?”

  “I’ll do it but not here,” he replied immediately. “Auggy assigned two guards to you. They’re patrolling outside.” Kellan stood and peered out the blinds to check.

  “Do you want me to be there?” I asked but wouldn’t let him go without me.

  “Is it painful?” he looked at Kai.

  “For the first few minutes it stings. It will pass when your body sedates you. The pain makes you numb. You’ll go to sleep. You’ll die in your sleep and wake up vampire two days later,” he explained.

  It seemed strange hearing the timeline. It would take me a while to think of my dad as anything but human.

  “I would love to have you with me,” he invited me along to the biggest event of his life: his death and resurrection.

  One last embrace with my dad led me into another with Kellan. I squeezed him as close as possible to me and didn’t let go. All the fighting, tempers flaring over nonsense. Going through what I had, seeing the pain in my dad’s eyes; hearing the pain in his heart be screamed outwards was grueling. At the end of all of it though, it only reminded me of how much I loved Kellan.

  Had that have been me and him in my parent’s place; I would have been more disheveled than my dad at this point. Regardless of how tempting Kai was, fact was I could live without him. I would survive just fine without him in my life. But Kellan, I couldn’t picture my world without him. If anything bad ever impacted him or took him from me my world would collapse right at that moment.

  It hadn’t just been my mom to get me to this point. It’d been a combination of people in my life. And Kellan was certainly one of them. He’d guided me, taught me and even laughed at me; he’d protected me, almost died for me and continued to love me in spite of all my mistakes and mood swings along the way.

  I’d been foolish; ridiculous and stupid were probably more like it. I couldn’t believe it had taken my mother dying in cold blood for me to realize how much I’d taken for granted. I… she… she’s gone. She’s truly gone to be with Gran.

  I didn’t want to look back and regret anything with Kellan. Most importantly, I didn’t want to regret ever letting him go. I couldn’t lose him like my dad did my mom. I couldn’t lose him like my mom. My heart couldn’t handle it. I can’t handle it.

  “We need to go Leka,” Kai prompted. I let go of Kellan and returned to my dad’s side. I took his hand and squeezed lightly.

  “You’ll always be my daddy; even if you’re a vampire,” I smiled.

  “And you’ll always be my little girl; even if you’re over a hundred years old.”

  As we left, closing the door that one time was so symbolic. I was closing one chapter of my life, shutting out the past full of family memories. After school chats at the kitchen island, the endless loop of CSI on the TV at night; the special moments where I caught her looking at me in awe as all parents do. I’d miss her voice. I’d miss her I love you’s, her words of advice and praise; her hugs. Most of all, I’d miss her guidance. She was my how to, what to and when to on all things both human and vampeen. And now she’s gone; and with her everything else.

  Perhaps Kai was right. Maybe it was fate. Had my mother been taken from me a few months before, I wouldn’t have survived my transformation. I wouldn’t have met these new key people in my life had it not been for her connections and influence.

  Very symbolic. I closed the door on a past with her and was walking into a future empty of her. From now on it’d be just me and Dad. Father and daughter; vampire and vampeen.

  Chapter 23

  This was it, the moment my dad had been waiting for. I stood by his bedside clutching his hand. He smiled at me, his eyes dancing excitedly. I tried to be happy for him and I was to a certain degree but the nerves had taken over. I’d just lost my mom and no matter how “safe” this appeared to be, there were still far too many risks involved for me to relax.

  I looked around the room. We were in a downstairs room. It had a single mirror on the crimson walls. The only furniture in the room was a four poster bed made entirely of thickly carved mahogany wood. The sheets were red as well, more of a brick color that somehow worked.

  On my other side Kellan squeezed my hand tightly reminding me of his presence. I rested my head on his upper arm watching my dad anxiously. He didn’t seem hesitant in the slightest. A bit flighty maybe but only in anticipation.

  “You ok Dad?” I asked breaking away from Kellan.

  “I’m good sweetie. Don’t worry.” He was beaming; it put all my fears to rest for a minute.

  “You remember what we talked about?” We had given him a crash course on everything including how he would feel waking up; i.e. the intense cravings for blood.

  “I remember everything. Stop worrying kiddo.” He ruffled my hair playfully trying to lighten my mood.

  “I can’t…”

  “Ok. Let’s get this show on the road,” Kai announced as he entered the
room. His eyes passed between us. “Are you sure you can handle this Leka?” he checked. I nodded afraid my voice would crack if I spoke. Kellan stepped closer and put an arm around me.

  “You ready Stew?” Kai pressed with him one last time.

  “I’ve been ready,” his answer was solid.

  “Great. Where do you want me to bite?” He flashed his teeth and I involuntarily squirmed.

  “Here,” he threw up his wrist. Before anyone could react Kai bit into him. I heard the tear of my dad’s flesh as Kai’s teeth sunk into him.

  Everything went into slow motion. Dad winced and looked over at me adoringly. My eyes returned to Kai. I planned to make sure he didn’t take too much. As it was I was fighting the urge to knock him away from my dad; that’s only my protective instincts though. I leaned down and gently kissed his forehead. He was beginning to sweat; his skin was glistening as his color slowly drained from his cheeks.

  Kai pulled out and licked his teeth and lips enthusiastically.

  “You taste really good Stew,” he winked. He stifled a smile back, but I knew that took effort. His forehead was scrunched together as he concentrated.

  “It hurts a little worse than a sting,” he admitted. I crouched beside him. “It’s bearable. Don’t worry,” he quickly amended.

  “How long until he zonks out?” I asked Kai again. I knew we’d covered it before but my mind was mudded by the moment.

  “Depends. It’s different for everyone,” he stated. He turned to my dad. “Do you need anything Stew?”

  “Water,” he choked. This was more brutal than I’d expected.

  “I can bring you water, but it won’t help. Do you still want some?” Dad shook his head no. Kai nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Come get me if you need me.” With that he left us.

  I diligently stood, sat and laid with my father for hours. I sent Kellan to get a wet rag and wiped away his perspiration like the best of nurses.

  Five hours after Kai’s bite he finally drifted off to sleep. I didn’t move though. His heart beat had slowed already; his pulse barely sprinted steadily. It was then that I realized there’s no going back. My dad would never be human again…