Chapter Six

   Now, this is really confusing, but I’ll say again – I’m no ordinary teenager. In fact, I’m barely human. Everyone I know or knew, before I moved here, are barely human. My father, Tracy, Andrew... me.

   I got in the back of the car, between Andrew’s companions; while Andrew and the other man got into the front. We drove on and on; where we were heading I couldn’t guess. I held my head in my hands and thought why I had agreed. It was those eyes; I could still feel them upon me, even now. It was the way he had said my name too; as though it was said many decades ago, only to be heard by me at that moment when I did. Only once before have I heard it said aloud. I have heard it mumbled in the minds of those who do know it.

   I let my mind wonder to Jake and how I had to leave him there in the rain with no explanation. My mind imagined how disappointed he might have looked. Only now did I realise that I could have changed the outcome. Instead of putting myself in the position I was; I could have headed back with Jake, began a separate life, a better life.

   ‘What are you thinking about, Tiffany?’ he asked from the front. Coming out of my daydream, I looked at the passenger seat.

   ‘Can you not read my mind?’ I asked; usually those of advanced skills could easily see through a person.

   ‘Hardly would be the case,’ he replied.

   ‘Then what I think is my business alone.’

   The car stopped, but the place we pulled up outside of was unfamiliar. It was a mansion. The sky above was full of rain clouds; out of which poured a beating rain. I braced my mind for anything.

   We got out and walked up the broad stone steps to the thick oak front doors. Suspicious as I was, I kept my eyes on the man who knew my name. Clearly, there were many people within our circles. Probably all of them knew who I was (the Tiffany me).

   A prickling sensation weaved through my thoughts as I felt the presence of other minds around the building. We walked through a long corridor and through a side door into a large study. Near the back was a desk; on it was a brass jug and a set of matching goblets.

   ‘Would you care for a drink, Tiffany?’

   ‘What is it?’ I asked stubbornly.

   ‘Something you need to get used to,’ he said with his back to me while he poured the mysterious liquid into a goblet. ‘Here you are. Drink up.’ He handed me a cup and I heard the slosh of the drink inside. Looking at it made me want to be sick, as well as the smell.

   ‘No, I refuse.’

   ‘We all wanted to resist at first but now look at us.’ I realised that they all now held a drink; each clasped the brass as if the fluid inside was too precious to waste even a single drop.

   ‘All I see are monsters. I don’t want to become what you are. I’m not one of you.’ I knew I was different.

   ‘Yes, you are. You cannot deny it for any longer.’

   Then it hit. ‘You lied. You said I could leave if I want but now I see I can’t. If I become one of you, I’ll never be able to leave here. This place will become my prison.’

   ‘Timandra.’ It was said again but this time with a force I could not disobey. That one word reminded me of who – what – I was. ‘Drink it.’

   So I drank. The taste of iron and metal hit my tongue, it was vile. As much as my reason told me it was barbaric, I couldn’t stop until all the warm, fresh blood had transferred from the cup to down my throat. After the last drop disappeared, I dropped the goblet and it hit the floor, clashing in my ears, before rolling away.

   ‘See, it wasn’t bad. Now you’ve tasted it, you’ll want to know how to gain more.’

   ‘No,’ I said. I had clasped my arms around my stomach and was bent forward. I felt sick and felt a demon. No, a vampire... for that is what I was deep inside. It had now been unleashed.

   ‘Timandra.’ The jolt of obedience hit me again.

   ‘Stop, don’t say that name.’ Tiffany, Tiffany, that is who you are, I repeated through my mind.

   ‘Are you going to deny who you are now as well?’

   ‘That isn’t who I am,’ I declared.

   ‘Seize her,’ he ordered. My arms were clamped by Andrew and another. ‘Timandra, we’re letting you become what you’re meant to be...’

   ‘I don’t want to be a killer!’ I screamed, interrupting him.

   ‘That is what you are. Like us, it’s in you for a reason. There are some out there who wish to kill us. If we do not defend ourselves, we will die out. You are key to our survival as a species...’

   ‘But it means killing innocent people, to live,’ I interrupted again.

   ‘That’s how it is wherever you look.’

   Truth is I have heard of our slayers. They were the successors of a well-known legend. Humans only knew it as a legend. We knew it to be a real part of history. The basic story is this – one man sent out to kill all those who were thought to be a threat to humankind. Those beings were monsters; designed, created, born.

   Now I was one of them, I wished one of them could find me and stab a stake through my heart. Knowing I was a risk in my new home, I couldn’t bare killing the ones that were near to me (my friends). One stuck out more than the others.

   ‘That’s why we moved...’ I thought aloud. ‘We moved so I could kill anyone I wanted without the despair being a downside. It’s because I don’t know anyone that will make it easier for me to accept my own truth.’ They each wore a crooked smile and their eyes sparkled at my insight. I closed my eyes and dropped my head. ‘Well, I’m sorry to report that you’re too late for that not to be a problem.’

   ‘What...?’ the strange one asked.

   ‘I have friends in the town already. One of them being much closer than any of the others.’

   ‘You’re lying. You’re saying this to make us delay your time.’

   ‘I can assure you it is no lie. You can even ask Tracy to second me, if you need proof.’ I opened my eyes and inclined my head boldly.

   ‘That may be, but you’ve already tasted blood. It’s too dangerous now to let you return.’

   ‘No, it isn’t. It was disgusting. I’ve never tasted anything as fowl as that in my life. It made me feel sick.’

   ‘Is that so...?’

   ‘Yes, so it is safe for me to return. Take me home,’ I ordered. At that moment, I felt the flame inside me ignite and burn behind my eyes. It did not hurt or sear me; no tears rolled down my cheeks; no flinch of muscle or body at the shock.

   ‘Very well, but I warn you – be careful.’