2. Trust
I couldn't believe their safety was the most important thing for them.
Before, I thought they were protecting town but they are not. Being part of the council and helping them out was just a disguise to keep themselfs hidden.
Who would think vampires could fight against vampires? Who would think vampires would live amongst humans without a simple taste of their blood?
Just imagine if people found out that they were not descendents but the same people. They would all get the blame of the killings and would be hunted down.
And here they were in front of me, telling me to trust them, to not to tell MY friends the truth about them. What gives them the right to ask me that when they have caused so much pain to my family and the people in this town.
Brook and Jenny were still at the door looking at me, waiting for my answer. The look in their faces when they saw the cousins and companiors talking to me just confirmed that they did see something on that day, something that scared them.
I wanted to walk towards them and leave Byron and family behind, I really could not deal with it so I started walking but then Christopher stepped aside from the formation he kept with his family and stopped before me. He was frowning looking at me with narrowed eyes, I could tell he wanted to know what I was thinking and I was glad that he couldn't read my mind otherwise he would have needed to kill me cause now I was the one in darkness, I was the one who wanted to destroy them.
Jeremy came in looking for me and our eyes unlocked to look at him. I could see Brook and Jenny in the background trying to talk to him, to stop him from getting close; it looks like they saw more than I thought.
"Is everything ok?" Jeremy said walking towards us. Brook and Jenny didn't get to hold him back. Jeremy walked up to me till he was facing them all.
"Byron...thanks for coming" he continued saying, if he just knew what they really where he would just pull his hair out of frustration.
Byron lowered his head a little in response of Jeremy's appreciation. Ok that was enough for me; I needed to leave this place.
"I want to go home Jeremy" I said very uncomfortable for having him so close to them
"Yeah, let's go. We've done enough already, let's go home" he hugged me and we walked away but not before Jeremy thanked them again for their support. Their support my foot, they are just making sure I won't open my mouth.
Jeremy walked me out of the church with Brook and Jenny behind us; I couldn't help by look back at where I left them in the church.
Byron and the other man were gone already, Christopher and Leonard were walking away and the two blonde girls were staring at me in a really disturbing way.
"What's wrong?" Said Jeremy making me look at him but I just shook my head and looked back again. This time they were gone… Brook and Jenny also looked back when they saw me looking back again but they didn't find anything because they just disappeared.
We walked up to the car and then Jeremy told us to wait for him cause he needed to at least thank people for coming and say goodbye to them. He made me stay in the car and I didn’t mind because seriously I didn’t have the strength to face all those people again.
I could have just ran inside and tell them about the vampires that were walking amongst us but I didn’t, I couldn't.
Brook and Jenny were with me, they have been with me the whole day. They really were good friends…I wonder what would happen if I told them now the truth. I know they saw something, I can tell, and normal people as I know them to be, would have gone around gossiping about it, but they didn’t do any of that. They just kept quiet and stood by my side.
Those vampires don’t know what friendship can do; they’ve been “dead” for so long that they’ve lost their sensibility and humanity. I could trust my girls I know I could.
Jenny trusted us with her secret, she trusted me, me that met just a few weeks earlier. This was nonsense, thinking about it I should be punished for not telling them earlier...
Their parents would later bring their cloths and stuff to my house because they would spend a few days with me. Jeremy asked them to, he didn’t want me to spend time alone which made me think he was going to continue doing his patrols with a few volunteers, otherwise he wouldn't think about me being alone. Well, he would but still I knew what was in his mind. You see what I’m saying, he’s just going to go wasted till he finds the animal that’s been killing them all, what he doesn’t know is that the animal he’s looking for doesn’t walk on all fours, he doesn’t know they can even hear his thoughts.
What should I do?
Brook and Jenny were sat behind me in the car and when I looked at them each one was looking thru their respective windows, as it avoiding to look at each other, as it avoiding to look at me. I could feel the awkwardness of the moment and I didn’t like it, we were never like this “Everything will be ok if you stick together, but you need to trust each other” that’s what Jenny’s grandmother said, those words were ringing in my hears now…”I trust you” it came out of my mouth without me wanting it to. They both looked at me and then at each other, I could see the confusion in their expression and I repeated “I said I trust you…but not here” Jenny suddenly smiled at me and I knew she knew what I meant. Brook was still frowning but then she relaxed too.
“I’m sorry girls, I just bumped into him and he wanted to see you before we left” said Jeremy. I didn’t feel like talking or listening to anybody, not even to nice Ben but what he did surprised me. He came around my side, opened the door of the car, dragged me out and hugged me so hard that I felt my lungs coming out of my mouth, but it felt good. I needed that hug. He then told me he would call me and went back inside the church.
People were coming out already, it was all done.
“let’s go home” said Jeremy and he started the engine, looked at me and for the first time in a long time he gave me one of his famous annoying smiles before driving off to home. I couldn't help by wonder how he’d been able to repeat this situation again and again. With his mum, his dad, sisters, cousins etc…he’s actually been closer to death than I have and still my future says there will be more blood, how much more? This is tiring.
All the houses in town had red flags hanging on their windows or on their doors. When I asked Jeremy what was all that about he told me that it was tradition to put up the red flag every time a member of the council dies.
“But I didn’t see any when Sam Julian died”
“They put them up just on the awakening day, you didn’t come to town that day”
Oh my god!! I totally forgot about it, Sam Julian is dead which means Josh is going to take his place in the council and Jeremy any time soon. But was Josh already part of it? I did see him talking to them as well as Jeremy but I'm sure they didn’t say anything to Jeremy yet, is just so soon to tell him something like that, I don’t even want to think of his reaction to the news but what about Josh... he’s dad’s been gone for a while now, is he a part of the council already?
We finally got home; the neighbours as well had the flags up.
I don’t know if I liked to see them, it was like announcing all around, Elizabeth’s dead!! It was just wrong; I stopped outside the car and looked at the flags for a while. The wind was blowing them and as it moved, that red colour looked like blood. I was so immerse staring at it that I didn’t even realised that Jeremy already opened the door of the house, he had to come back out and drag me inside.
“Go upstairs and rest Gabrielle” he said taking off his jacket and putting on a jumper.
“Where are you going?” I asked him but I already knew where he was going, he was planning on doing a night patrol where his live would be at risk.
“I have things to take care of” he said while changing his shoes for trainers.
“You are going after them aren’t you?” I didn’t say after the animals’ cause I knew better, but he just kept getting ready ignoring what I was saying. That made me get angry, he didn’t know what he would find out there but he was going anyway.
“Are you trying to live me alone in this world?”
“C’mon Gabrielle, you can’t expect me to just seat back”
“Yes, that’s what I expect you to do…uncle” I never called him uncle before and I thought it was time to get started; he looked at me almost with tears in his eyes and hugged me.
“I have to do this, i won’t be gone for long and I won’t go alone” I surrendered, there was no way he was going to change his path but I understood, if I were strong enough I would also go but to hunt the real ones. I know how to do it and that’s the worst thing of all, I know how to kill them I could just tell them what I know but I didn’t, stupidly I couldn't and at the end Jeremy left.
Brook was in the kitchen preparing something to eat while I was with Jenny on the couch in the leaving room. From there I could see Elizabeth’s small room, the one she used as an office and I couldn't help by getting in.
“Where are you going?” said Jenny
“This was her office” I said to Jenny that by now was beside me.
“We shouldn’t be here Gabrielle, it will just hurt you”
“No, hold on” I started looking around, this house was so big but her office was so small, how could she work in here? Even sometimes she used to lock the doors…where is the air coming from, how could she work in this little space. I could see Jenny from my periphery, she was admiring something. Something caught her attention.
“What is it?” I asked her, but she never answered. I tapped her shoulder but she was still staring at something. What was she looking at she was like frozen. I walked closer to her calling her name but nothing. Brook called us from the living room and I told her to come to the office.
“What’s wrong with her?” Brook asked me with a frown
“I don’t know” Brook walked around Jenny to see what see was looking at and then she called my name. “Gabrielle look at this”. I walked around Jenny and Brook showed me what it was, it hanged on the wall and it looked like an old weird mechanism.
“What is it?” I asked Brook but instead Jenny answered “is a lock” she smiled and became normal again.
“This is a lock…how do you know?” said Brook
“I’m not sure...I just know” Jenny said and then looked at me “so your mum knew about witches too”
“Why would you say that and why were you looking at it like that?” I asked her wondering what had a lock to do with witches
“This lock is enchanted, this kind of locks are used when you want to hide something that just your lineage could find and I was trying to figure out what it was, I don’t know I just couldn't stop looking at it”
“Ok so what do I do?”
“You open it”
“How?”
“That I don’t know, but just a member of your family can open it that’s the only thing I can tell you” said Jenny, Brook stepped forward and tried to touch it but Jenny grabbed her and pulled her back “you don’t touch that lock” she said with that weird glance of hers. “Go and open it” she continued pushing me forward “well there must be something important in it to be hided magically” she continued saying and I stepped forward, I looked at it for a while but there was no buttons or anything. It had dust on it so I blew it off and then a hole opened as if a mail box. Brook and Jenny stepped closer to take a look at it.
“What am I suppose to do now?”
“Put your hand inside” said Jenny
“I really don’t know how I know these things, just do it” this felt like in those TV shows where they put a box that is covered in front of you and then they tell you to introduce your hand inside, guess what's in there…I took a deep breathe and slowly introduced my hand. It felt empty inside, I couldn't touch anything and suddenly something pinched my finger making me scream and step back. When I looked at my finger I had a little drop of blood and after a second the door opened leading us to a bigger and brighter room. This was weird and awsome. We got into the room and just by being in there I felt like being in the 17th century, it looked like this place was still conserving the real walls and floors, this part of the house was the real house from back in 17
03…I could se paintings and pictures of a lot of people hanging on the walls.
“So this is Meredith” said Brook, I walked towards her that was in the far east of the room, looking up the walls to a picture of a young beautiful woman that looked a lot like Elizabeth.
“She was beautiful…my dad told me he had a crash on her in high school” said Brook “he said she, Elizabeth and Jeremy left town for a few years and when they came back she got straight into the council”
“Woow” said Jenny “she does really look like you Gabrielle, is so scary” I turned to look at the picture she was looking at and of course she was talking about Gabriella. All those pictures were from our family, from our ancestors, there even were dresses of that period of time hanging on the walls. This place looked like an antic shop and there were books everywhere.
“You should put Elizabeth’s picture in one of the walls, she’s now part of this place” said Jenny “it looks like a museum” yes I should put her picture up here, I wonder if Jeremy knows about this place.
There was a modern desk with a laptop on it so I guessed this was the real place she used to work in. There was an open book on the desk so I walked closer to see what it was. I started reading it without even realising cause something about it was familiar to me. It was Elizabeth's hand writting.
“It’s been years since the last time I wrote but today is important. She finally talked to me”
“Oh my gosh is her diary!!!” in no second Brook and Jenny were behind me
“What is it?” said Jenny
“I didn’t know she kept a diary…” I passed a few pages back and started reading from the middle “today Meredith told me something I couldn't believe, she said that the death of mum and dad weren’t caused by animals but by something else, I couldn't believe it when she told me that but I have to believe it cause I need to be prepared”
As soon as I finish reading it Brook looked at me with narrowed eyes “Something else?” She said.
“I think we need to talk” I took the diary with me and we walked out of the 17th century and back on the 21st, once we walked out, the door closed and sealed by itself. Does this mean that everytime I want to get in here my blood has to be derramado? And then I complain about vampires tsk tsk.
We went into the living room where I told them to take a seat. Before I started explaining I told them that this was something I found out by chance and that I never told them cause it wasn’t a secret that belonged to me.
I told them everything I knew about them, including the way Gabriella died. I explained them all the things that happened to me since St. Martyr's day and at last my terrible mistake with that strange man that turned out to be a vampire.
"Oh honey you can't be held responsible for that" said Brook "yeah you didn't know you were inviting a vam...you know...in" Jenny couldn't bring herself to say it, it was weird to be able to finally talk about them with somebody. "Even though I didn't know, I could have told them the truth when he came into my room the first time" I felt so frustrated that tears started pouring off my eyes, I tried to hide them but it was late. They already saw them "you didn't know it was going to get to this" said Jenny while seating beaside me.
“If those vampires have been walking amongst us for centuries I recon they must have known the real Gabriella, your family started with the hunting and they know that…if they see you…do you realise what that means?” Jenny said now really alarmed, I’ve been talking about vampires killing people and she didn’t even blink and now she starts freaking out.
“Elizabeth must have known something wasn’t right when you told her about that stranger coming here and that’s how he got to her, he was waiting for you but Elizabeth was waiting for him” Jenny said
“What is going to happen now?” said Brook and I really didn’t know what to tell them.
"Ok...what is going to happen now is that you are going off to bed...you need to rest that's what Jeremy said and that's what you are doing so start walking" said Jenny pulling me off the sofa. I felt relieved now that they knew, I trusted them and they trusted me. As I walked to the stairs Brook asked me a bit alarmed if Jeremy knew about them too.
“I don't think Elizabeth had time to tell him but he’s next in the council” their eyes widened in shock, they forgot about it already? We are destined to be part of the council wether we like it or not after the previous member dies. I could now understand more than anybody else why Elizabeth sent me away.
“Are you going to tell him that you know?” said Brook and I didn't think about it again till now. If he was going to be part of the coucil he would know so what was the need of me hiding it?
"I don't know yet" was the only answer I could give them and they sent me off upstairs.
I still had to think about the meaning of this deja vu's and nightmares. It is clear by now that I'm seeing Gabriella's past but is it thrue what Jenny said about the warnings? Is something like that going to happen to me? No, nothing like that will happen if I stay away from them. I won't give them the chance to hurt me or anyone I love. My relationship with them ends here.
Once in my room I lied on my bed and opened Eliz...mum's diary, I started reading from the first page.
"03/08/1990
I can't believe mum is gone, is just so hard to live on like this, people keeps dying around us, I don't understand it, I can't stand it.
I'm feeling the same pain she was feeling back then, the only difference is that i know why this is happening. She didn't... I went on reading.
25/08/1990
My reading got interrupted when I felt a cold wind behind me, that feeling was so familiar that I quickly stood up to see Christopher in the middle of my room again, like that first night he appeared in here. We stood in place just looking at each other. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling or anything cause he had that poker face of his. I wasn't interested anyway or at least I didn't want to be. He needed
to leave, I didn't want him close.
After a few seconds of us staring at each other, he stepped forward trying to touch my hand but I moved away. He then looked down like frustrated.
"You told them" he said, but not as a question, he actually knew I did tell them. That only meant he was listening to us all along but I didn't care.
"so? I trust them" I said responding to his none question.
"I know you do but…"
"look" I interrupted him "I don’t want to know anything about you and your vampire world anymore. I don’t even care if you don’t look like the ones out there or if you don't act like them you are still one of them. I don’t understand how I didn’t see it before but you are evil. All this is because of you; you started this situation in 1703 when you decided that you couldn't loose Gabriella to Leonard. You hurt people, you shouldn’t live in the same world as we humans do. You shouldn’t even exist. I don’t want to see you or any other member of your family ever again otherwise you will regret it" I hated him, right now he was the least of all of them I wanted to see.
He kept his unreadible face but his eyes, I could see he was hurt and that... I didn't want to see it.
"Now go away"
"Gabrielle"
"No, leave now!!"
"I think you better leave" said a voice behind me, when I turned I saw Jenny, she had that weird glance of hers and it actually made Christopher back up. He glanced at me for one last time and then vanished before our eyes.
I'm not sure of what I felt when he left but today I was really sensible.
"Are you ok?" Said Jenny, I didn't look at her, I didn't want her to see the insecurity in my face.
"I will be"
TO BE CONTINUED........
