Vampiric: Chapter One, Part 2

Numerous events spanned the two years leading us to the meeting with Caroline, most from before we left the camp Drei had started. It was the second location of the camp, as the first had been compromised by decisions I had made about one particular boy. He was also the reason we were able to escape and continue protecting children like me. Children born into gifts over an element—elementals as we learned to refer to ourselves. Our protectors, and the administrators of the camp, were a group of vampires led by Drei; they believed in the good we would do for the world if we were allowed to grow in our talents and learned to hide ourselves from a government that would turn us into experiments.

Lily—a blond vampire turned in the 1920s—disappeared some months after we had settled at the new location and never returned. I asked Drei once where she had gone, and he told me not to think on it. I did, though. It was strange losing someone so integral to the camp. She was the only vampire who smiled regularly and was in a cheerful disposition more than half the time.

I had been free to do what I wanted during the day, now that the older children had taken over leading and creating new games. Sometimes I would join in, for old time's sake. But it wasn't the same, and I would soon leave, unable to feel as young as I thought I needed to believe I was.

That first Christmas there, more children I knew left. Of course, new children with earth or water elements kept appearing throughout the year, but I felt more like a stranger. Not even the occasional night Drei and I would spend talking could make it feel like home.

A week before my twentieth birthday, I went to Drei and Valetta. I had decided I wasn't needed there and it was time I returned to the reality of life, hopeful to figure out where I was heading. The longer I stayed, the more anxious I became that I was losing time. Valetta had said once I didn't have a lot of that. Time, that is. It might have been depressing if I hadn't had some mystery to keep me pushing forward.

They sat sipping something from teacups and Mitchell—a dark skinned vampire who enjoyed teasing me and answering my questions in riddles he knew I couldn't solve—was on his way out when I entered.

“Join us,” Valetta said, setting her cup before her.

I slid into a chair between them and inhaled, trying to remember the words I thought would sound best.

“I want to thank you for everything over the last couple years,” I began, aware of the curious looks I received from both ends, “but I feel it's time for me to leave.”

Drei nodded and flashed Valetta a look that seemed to say they knew this had been coming.

“We were hoping you would stay a while longer,” she said softly.

“I'll stay until the thirteenth.” My tone suggested this was long enough as I gauged both of their reactions. It hadn't bother them as much as I had imagined. In my mind, they would be furious and insist I wasn't ready. Alas, I had underestimated them.

As I waited for one of them to say something, a scent filled my nose. It was coppery and disgusting in my mouth. Nearly gag worthy, and somehow familiar.

The smell was wafting from their teacups, and I realized they were drinking blood, not tea. Why this was so shocking, I couldn't determine, but it was. It made me sick to think of whose blood it was, and how they went about retrieving it. When I tried to stop the thoughts, more came.

Drei noticed my discomfort and said, “We need to drink to survive. We do not harm people; this is from—”

I waved at him to stop, not wanting to know. Though I loved him, I didn't need to know what he was drinking; and I decided never to ask or be around when he was. It would be better that way.

“So you have decided to leave,” he restated.

“Yes. A week from yesterday.”

“Valentine's Day will not be the same without you,” Valetta said. With that, she stood and left, as though Drei had demanded her to do so.

He drained the last of his beverage as I tried to find something interesting in the room to hold my attention. The children’s rooms had more personality; Drei’s cabin hardly looked lived in. There was a distinct dearth of posters or anything to sufficiently distract my mind from his drinking. His lips were stained red when I faced him again.

“I am coming with you.” His tone was stern and direct.

“I wasn't going to tell you no.” I stood, knowing I still had to figure out what I was taking and where I wanted to go.

Drei kissed my cheek, pulling me into his embrace. “I would have followed even if you did refuse me.”

My arms wrapped around him, my face buried in his chest. It was my favorite place in the world, just being in his arms. There, it felt like nothing could reach me; I would be forever protected and safe from injury of any kind. Moments like that were so sparse, they were even better when they happened.

“When are you telling Martin?” I whispered, fully aware that Martin wanted to take control of the camp when Drei left. Martin was a stubby, albino vampire who liked to agree with Drei even when he was wrong—not that he often was.

“I am not telling him a thing. Valetta will take over in my stead; she was always my chosen successor.”

“He won't be happy.”

“His happiness does not concern me,” Drei said in a way that made the cruel words sound gentle. “He does not care about our goal or our purpose; he cares only for what power he may grab for himself.”

“I love you,” I told him, smiling. I was delighted Drei had noticed it, too. It was the one thing I was most worried about when I had made my decision. If Martin took over, I would have found a way to make Drei stay or change his mind. The camp would fall apart, and that would be on me. Enough things like that were already on me and I didn’t want more.

“I have always known Martin's kind;” Drei kissed my hair. “Just as I have always known my duty here would end.”

Our embrace seemed to last forever in my memory, but eventually the thirteenth came, Valetta was officially declared new lead vampire, and we left. Martin threw sinister glares our way until we disappeared into the foliage. Somehow I knew that wouldn't be the last of him, but it didn't stop me from feeling relieved he was gone for the moment.

We traveled for a week to a city known for its constant ebb and flow of people and faces. There we rented a small apartment and I took on a part-time job—I refused to let Drei pay for everything from his mysterious source of income. While he spent the nights doing his thing—mostly research on the city he would later share—I often kept to the apartment, content with leaving to work and occasionally buying a new outfit.

It really was a cozy space. There were two small bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a living room. Though we each had our own room, sometimes, after he had been out late, he would lie beside me until morning when I would get ready for work.

When I wasn't working, Drei had me read up on the work of great revolutionaries, from those who developed revolutionary theories, to those who led the fights, marches, protests, boycotts, and numerous other political devices. He insisted I needed to know the past if I wanted to succeed in the future. That, and I needed to see how the fire elementals led their movements in contrast to how the air elementals led theirs.

Though we were alone, we still kept our distance, except for the occasional embrace or kiss. You could never be sure how alone you were, and it was just good practice. We knew we could have thrown our caution to the wind if we really wanted to, but it was best to be reserved. Whenever—if ever—I began to lead my revolution, it would be the most valuable thing to us.

If you're careless, you will be found. And, as my lessons had proven, very few air elementals lived past their movements. Very few fire elementals lived after as well, but that was our burden. No one had said it would be easy.