Evanescence (Black Rose #1) (19 page)

The weekend has come. I have spent hours sitting in this tree filling pages of this past week with school, speaking with my family and Mike, training, Cedric and I's encounter, and bonding with Essence. I have to be sure to keep a record of everything. I want to be sure I can come back and remember.

I will not forget about the talks and time I have spent with the girl I love, Essence LaRoux. I will not forget about Sarah, the one who has helped keep me safe through this transition. And I will not forget about the pain Cedric has been putting me through, making this transition much more difficult than it already is. 

Before mom left out of town, she had informed me that she will be back before my birthday and hopefully, transformation, but for all we know, I can die at any moment. If that happens, she will return and find that I have become a vampire. A step-son who might not recognize her. It would be nice if I can at least say goodbye before I die. I mean, if I am to awaken as a vampire and not remember my human life, I'm practically being reborn as a new person. Everything before then wouldn't exist to me. When my heart stops beating, my soul will depart. My body left as a vessel to this monster. There must be something else I can do to remember. And so, I shall continue to write:

Fire. A 'gift,' as Essence had put it. Apart from the excitement, there is fear. Fear that I don't know how to use and control it. I wonder if the others are able to do the same, create fire, or something similar. Hopefully, they can tell me all the answers I need to know. Fire is destruction. Why would one want to possess a power that cannot be tamed?  

But, when the time comes, when I die, I have to believe these words. No, YOU have to believe these words. So listen to me, Evan, writing this as a human today, reading this as a vampire, possibly tomorrow. Believe every word. Believe everything your family tells you. Believe that Sarah is your step-mother, your caretaker for sixteen years. Believe that Essence loves you, and that the human in you, loves her in return. You love her. You DO love her.

Sarah and Essence are not only afraid that you will forget who they are and your relationship with them, but they are more afraid that you will ignore these words or what they will tell you. They are also afraid, that upon reading these words, you will understand and accept them, but you will not have the emotion that your human self, me today, has for them. So be gentle.

These words will feel as though they belong to another being. A human. Not a vampire. But you were indeed human and you are loved... My breath has gone weak, and each second that passes, feels as though it may be my last.

I ask that you believe and still be there for them. I know, they are strangers, but do it for them. Do it for me; yourself. They were there for YOU when you needed them. They helped you with the transformation you have today. You owe it to them to TRY....So believe.

I am still a part of you. Believe that your heart use to beat which was once mine. So give it to Sarah, your step-mother, and most of all, give it to Essence, your love. Believe, Evan. JUST BELIEVE."

With truth,

Me and You to You,

Evan Macrae

P.S. - Tell her, I love her.

There. Maybe apart from reading those notebooks a personalized letter to myself will help. Does all of me transfer over as well? Will I be more or less stubborn? More or less happy? More or less caring about how they feel?

I don't know. I think my family would have an answer to that, but I haven't spoken to them in a while. I have not received a call or text; Bianca, Mike, and Cedric have not been in school; and I've had this house to myself, yet occasionally, Essence would keep me company as we sleep the day away.

Time is crucial right now, and with Sarah gone, I need my family as much as possible before I change. I feel as though it's coming. It's coming soon.

"You ready, Evan?" Essence asks.

"We're here in one piece?" I ask jokingly placing my notebook on the dashboard.

"I told you my father's truck is reliable."

We hop out of the truck and look up to the mansion's pillars. Lights shine from the windows. 

"Well they're definitely home," Essence says.

"Yeah, hopefully I find what I'm looking for."

"And what's that?"

"Closure."

We walk to the red doors hand in hand and before we knock, the doors are opening.

"Evan? Essence?" my father says. "What a pleasant surprise. Come. Come in."

He outstretches his hand for us to come inside. He shuts the door and leads us up the golden railed staircase. We stop at a door in the hallway and he knocks. The door opens and it is my mother Valencia and sister Bianca.

"Ahem," my father clears his throat. "We have a couple visitors."

He opens the door wider. My mother and sister smile and rise from the bed.

"Son, how are you?" She hugs and squeezes. I'm getting use to her strength.

"I'm fine, mom, just wanted to talk to dad about a few things."

"Hi brother," Bianca welcomes hugging me. Then hugs Essence.

"Hi Essence."

"Hello," she responds to them.

"Always a blessing to have you here," my mother tells her.

"Thank you for being so welcoming."

"Evan and I will leave you two to care over Essence," my father says. "We're just going to have a little chit-chat about a few things and return."

"That’s fine with us. We’re doing some planning for his birthday," my mother says. Nice to see I was on their minds at least. "Care to help?"

"I'd love to," Essence responds.

"Speaking of which I love your necklace," Bianca admires. "Where'd you get it?"

"Evan gave it to me. As a gift."

My father places a hand on my back and speaks softly.

"Let's let them tend to activity," he whispers. "Come."

Essence then walks into the room being stolen by the hand by Bianca and my mother. She gives me one last smile before the door closes. 

"Follow me, son."

I follow my father down a few hallways--long hallways. We soon enter into a round room in which the walls are covered with books like a library. A few paintings hang high above the bookshelves on red carpeted walls. A desk sits in the center of the room, covered in papers and a few open books. He closes the door and meets me next to the desk.

"This is all yours?" I ask gazing around. I walk to one of the shelves and run my hand along the titles.

"Well, my office, but it is open to anyone who needs a book or three."

My father pulls a pipe from the drawer and lights it. He blows the smoke into the air.

"Tastes disgusting," he chuckles. "But the act makes me look younger, I’d like to think. But anyway…"

He claps his hands together.

"We have a bit of some catching up to do. I'd imagine your time is almost up."

"Yes, I believe so. I mean, I can feel it.” And I can feel my heart race from the thought of it happening.

"Hmm."

"Dad, I was wondering about what happened the other day. You guys were…I don't know, upset maybe. Something I did?"

He nods.

"Hmm. I'm sorry about that, Evan. Just a… misunderstanding."

"What kind of misunderstanding?" 

He approaches a painting on the wall. It looks like him and my mother. They don't look a day older.

"Leonardo di ser Peiro da Vinci painted that. Of your mother and I. One of your favorites. We were lucky to meet him. Rest his soul." 

He blows smoke from his pipe. I join his side and stare at the painting.

The 
Leonardo Da Vinci? I would have never, in any lifetime, would have guessed that.

"I met your mother ages ago, decades before he was born. 1408 to be exact. I was working hand in hand with my brother during his rule. It became a stressful time for France and Italy. Our people were growing hungry, and our officers weren't quite cooperative themselves. So they fed and indulged every chance they had. They were pigs. No amount of blood was satisfying enough. We searched for them, and killed them off, but could not find one of our officers. We chased him as he ran corner to corner of the world, dodging justice. Until one night, he came home, and fed on a humble family. Your mother's."

"A vampire that eats humans and other vampires?" I asked. "That's like…"

"No, Evan," he responds. "Remember, before, your mother was no vampire. She was a human."

I had forgotten mother was bitten and miraculously, had been blessed, along with other female vampires over the centuries, with being able to procreate.

"I was much too in love with your mother before that night. She had not known. She was the only human I had eyes for and felt protective of. This of course, during a time I was feeding on humans. She made flowers, decorations, and jewelry for weddings. It was her passion and she was very good with it. We've came eye to eye before, but never spoke a word. I always watched her from a distance though knowing what monsters lurk in the night. And that night, when your mother found him, he had just finished with her family. I had been away on duty, trying to make sure nothing was becoming conspicuous. I heard screams in the night and immediately came. The house was to shreds. Blood was spilled. Her family was slain. Her pain had become my own."

He pauses for a moment, exhales, then takes a puff from his pipe.

"I opened a bedroom door and there she was, sitting against the wall covered in blood, her family, lifeless. But even more surprising, she, a human, managed to kill that vampire. When she seen me, she immediately jumped into my arms and cried telling me she had nothing left to live for. Later, my brother found out about the vampire and what happened. He became angered that now, our secrecy falls in the hands of a human woman who then began to lead a life of slaying vampires. He ordered for her to be found and killed, and I knew he would succeed if I chose to go through with it."

"He ordered you to do it? To kill her?"

He nods slowly.

"Yes, but because I loved her, I could not see myself doing such a thing. I found her finishing off a vampire. She knew the purpose of my visit, but I did not kill her, to say the least."

"You changed her."

"Yes. I was honest with my brother and told him the reason for my actions, and hers, expecting that he'd still have me killed and probably her. Surprisingly, he respected my feelings for her and spared her life. And so, the order was off. She was no longer a concern to my brother Lucid, The Dracula, but she hated me. Hated me for turning her into the monster that killed her family. Many, many ages had gone by and she disappeared. That's when all the wars began when others heard of Lucid's generosity. They hated his leadership and soon, Lucid hated them and became viscous, killing masses of our own kind until armies of vampires fought and fought and fought. I was exhausted, owing my respects to my brother for sparing Valencia, but I also became sad with myself wondering if she had rather died that night. Until one night, I ran into her in Florence, feeding on a man. She saw me and immediately tried to fight through fists, nails, teeth…and tears. When she calmed, I took her home, paid my respects to her family, and showed her everything about being a vampire."

"That's when she fell in love with you?"

"Yes. We heard of the famous Leonardo Da Vinci and paid him a visit.”

“Did he know what you and mother were?”

“To this day,” my father says. “I honestly do not know. But, he was quite the artist. Artists have keen eyes, like an eagle, so I would not be surprised if he knew, and took our secret to his grave. And so, he painted us together, and that was the day I asked your mother to marry me. It was then we eloped. Hopping place to place for hundreds of years as the wars continued. I felt like a traitor and soon returned for my brother. That was when we fought together one last time. That was the night he was killed. Valencia and I came here, built our home, and protected ourselves from humans and other vampires. All while keeping the Viscus charm safe and has yet to shine.”

He clears his throat and puts out his pipe.

"Technically, Cedric is right, the charm is still his father's until it chooses another. Until then, it is in my possession and has yet coiled itself around my neck no matter how fit for the position our family sees me."

He lifts it from the necklace it hangs upon.

"When the time comes, which I would not be surprised soon, someone or many will come looking for it. But I'll be ready."

"Dad. That's unbelievable," I say. "I can't imagine ever going through what you and mom have been through."

"A strong woman she is, Evan."

"So the wars are still…?"

"Yes, well not entirely still waging, but I presume there are vampires who believe the charm is destroyed, but others, have hope, and are in search of the Viscus Charm. Little do they know that He, Viscus, chooses you. Not the other way around."

"Has any vampires come here in the past?"