The Awakening (16 page)

On Tuesday the others were still needed downstairs so I braced myself for another day alone with David and tried to calm myself down as my heart rate soared and I reached for my amethyst crystal, which I had found before I left for work and chanted Pax a few times. I knew he was normal and no harm would come to me or anyone else. It was only when he actually touched me I felt odd so I decided to just try to keep contact to a minimum and try to be upbeat and chatty so he wouldn’t think I was being odd. I had thought the morning had gone quite well and I’d managed to contain my discomfort however after lunch David suddenly said “Lauren do you have a problem with me?”

“No, of course not. You seem like a really nice lad and a good worker.” I replied quickly, slightly taken aback.

“It’s just you always seem a bit jumpy around me and quiet and I haven’t noticed you like it with anyone else.” David explained looking uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry you feel like that. Honestly I think you are fine and I have no problem with you at all.” David stared at me and then slowly reached over and picked up my hand. I remained still; but something in my face must have changed because David said, “See, something isn’t right. You wanted to take your hand away instantly. Is it me? Do I remind you of someone? What is it?” I sighed and tried to think of what to say, how I could possibly explain.

“It’s not you honestly. Look it’s just a bit of a weird situation, it’s really hard to explain just don’t worry about it.” I said and hoped he would drop the subject, but he pressed on.

“Lauren please tell me what’s going on. You seem so nice and friendly but you always have a slight edge when you talk to me and keep a little bit of distance. I’m enjoying working here but its making me a bit paranoid.”

“David it really is hard to explain but it’s not you I promise,” I stated and shook my head. I felt terrible as he looked so dejected but really didn’t want another vampire friend. He frowned and looked sadly around the room.

“Would you rather I worked on a different section. I can ask Wendy to move me downstairs.”

“No! No it’s fine, don’t do that; look it’s just weird.” I sighed and tried to think of a way to explain my strange behaviour with him but no logical reasons came to mind so I realised I would just have to be honest. “I know what you are.” I blurted out. He looked at me strangely.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said with concern. “It begins with a V.” I said with an awkward smile, his eyes widened and he stood up and backed away a little bit.

“What do you mean? How do you know that? Have you told anyone?” he said in a rush and became paler.

“It’s ok. Calm down. I haven’t said anything to anyone and I won’t so don’t worry. I told you it was a weird situation, and I have my own secrets too.” I said.

“What do you mean? This is crazy. This is just too weird!” David was muttering, as I made sure the door to our little room was firmly shut.

I began chanting in a low voice and then raised my hands, the papers we had been sorting out lifted from the table and started falling into alphabetical piles. I looked at David who was transfixed. I lowered my hands and the papers gently came back down and stopped moving “I’m a witch and when I come into contact with a vampire sometimes it gives me a chill or jolt. It usually only happens when I’m surprised and touched by an unknown vampire.” I explained to a stunned looking David. “Oh my god! I don’t think I’ve ever met a human that knows about us and I’ve never met a young witch before, my mum and dad know a couple, but I’ve never met them just seen photos. This is unbelievable.” he gushed excitedly staring at me in utter surprise.

“Tell me about it. I found out coming up to a year ago. It’s been a weird year. I’ve been trying to limit my vampire connections and my witch stuff for a while so meeting you was a bit of a shock for me.” “How did you find out?” he asked and sat down again looking interested and a bit more relaxed.

“It’s a really long story but short version is boy meets girl, girl had weird visions and black outs, finds out she’s a witch and her boyfriend is a vampire.”

“Oh my god! That is unreal. I’ve never known that to happen before.”

“Yeah a lot of people have told me that. I’m either gifted or very unlucky, I’m not sure which at the moment,” I smiled, and continued. “Don’t worry your secret is safe with me and I can probably be completely normal with you now you know. Here give me your hand.” he reached over and held my arm and nothing happened “There fixed no more jolts.” I smiled again and felt my entire body relax. “If it you makes you feel any better I’m only a half vampire my mum is human.” David said laughing. “Are you kidding? Really?” I said in amazement.

“Yep, it’s true my dad’s a vampire and my mum is human. I wish I was completely human sometimes would be easier but I figure I’ve got the best of both worlds. Just hard with the secrets sometimes. Although, you probably understand that,” he explained.

“Tell me about it. Nevertheless, how can your mum be human? She must know all about vampires. Does she know everything? Was she ok being pregnant and stuff?” I said feeling a buzz about meeting someone I could share my secrets with. “Oh my god I have so many questions I’ve never met a half vampire before. This is so weird and exciting.” I continued feeling a big grin spread across my face as I realised David might be able to give me some information I never thought I’d get. “We definitely need a long chat.” David smiled.

“Why don’t you work your magic and we’ll sit back and chat. It will still look like we’ve been working hard all day and we won’t have lifted a finger.”

“That sounds like a brilliant plan. I don’t get to practice magic very much it’s hard when no one is supposed to know about it.” I began chanting and raised my hands and the papers started sorting themselves out. I smiled, as David face was that of utter awe, and I did another quick chant before lowering my hands. Then, we settled into a deep conversation.

David told me that his dad had fallen head over heels in love with his mum and, although vampires are 100% involved in normal human life, they nearly always marry another vampire. His dad’s parents liked his mum, who is called Annette, but tried to persuade his dad, Vincent, that he would be better off with a vampire girlfriend. Eventually, when they realised how serious he was about her, they welcomed her with open arms. It was only when they were engaged and started talking about having a family that Vincent’s parents began to worry. They knew it was unfair for them to marry and plan to have a child and not tell her Vincent was a vampire, but there were serious risks with telling a human their secret. The family talked about it for weeks and consulted the vampire council who interviewed Vincent to make sure he was 100% sure he wanted to spend his life with Annette and to find out how he thought Annette would take the news. A meeting was arranged with a witch on standby that was permitted by the vampire council to erase Annette’s memory if she became hysterical or threatened to tell a newspaper or TV station. To everyone’s surprise Annette took the news remarkably calmly and said she had suspected something was different about Vincent, but not that he was a vampire. Vincent told her he understood if she wanted to leave him and start a new life with someone else, but she said she would only ever love Vincent and she still wanted to marry him and have children; although she was concerned about the child. Vincent told her that all research that had been taken suggested that the child would be fine and could be raised as a vampire or human, as they can survive without blood supplements. He went on to tell Annette that information was limited, as not many half-breeds were born and their child would probably need to monitored for a few years; for safety and research purposes. He explained, the vampire council would probably want their child to visit a specialist doctor to have his or her weight, height, hearing, sight, blood and reflex tests done. He said most of these would be similar to what a normal doctor would check for, but obviously the vampire council wanted this information so half-breeds could be more thoroughly researched and documented. Annette weighed things up in her mind and decided she still loved Vincent and wanted his child.

Over the next year or so things were very happy for Vincent and Annette and they married and moved in with each other, but when Annette became pregnant she suddenly felt a bit trapped by this vast secret and the worry that the baby maybe unwell when born and the uncertainty of the babies life. She longed to be able to share the secret with someone close to her, the secret began to eat away at her, and she became withdrawn from Vincent and angry. She knew it wasn’t Vincent’s fault as he had been 100% honest with her but she had no one to lash out at or speak too so she began to argue with Vincent and become isolated and emotional. Vincent was worried about Annette and the unborn baby and went to the vampire council for advice. They told him this was common and perhaps the best course of action would be to erase her memory, but Vincent couldn’t bear to do this and begged them for another alternative. After much discussion, it was decided Annette could tell her two sisters under strict conditions, the news could not under any circumstances be shared with anyone else in the family and if the sisters reacted badly they would have their memories erased immediately. The hope was that, by Annette being able to share the news, she would feel freed and that even if the sisters memories were erased, at least for a short time, Annette would have been able to discuss it with someone close to her that was not a vampire. A family meeting was arranged and again a witch was on standby, but everything went amazingly well. The sisters, already knowing Vincent, took the news well and were glad that they had been trusted with such important and secretive news. One of the sisters was very into supernatural activity and believed in ghosts and the strength of herbs and crystals and was actually quite excited by the realisation that maybe some myths and fantasies were true. Annette was delighted and had always hoped her two sisters would accept the news and she thrived in the rest of her pregnancy and went back to being the happy and loving wife she had been before. David was born in a straightforward labour and was fit and healthy and the family grew happier together. As David is half vampire and half human, he did not need blood supplements, but without them he had none of the vampire strengths and as a baby had coughs and colds as any normal child would. Vincent however found this difficult as he was not used to human illnesses himself and asked Annette if David could be given blood supplements and after much consideration, she agreed. Within months, David grew stronger and no longer got common childhood illnesses and sailed through the next few years. Annette however sometimes felt uneasy giving her child blood supplements and they agreed to cease them and see what happened. Within a couple of months, David caught a cold and they noticed that his education and sporting skills took a slight dip so they resumed the blood supplement treatment. When David went to secondary school they decided they needed to explain everything to him, being a half vampire meant that he had been brought up and surrounded by mostly humans and had never suspected anything and took the news badly. He thought they were playing a mean trick on him and felt cheated, frightened, and anxious. David became angry and lashed out, he started to do badly in school and received detentions and letters home about disruptive behaviour and truancy; but eventually, with lots of talking, reassurance, information, and a better introduction to his vampire family, David settled down and accepted what he was. He excelled in school and went to university getting a first in his degree, which brings us to the present date. David had decided to have a year out before commencing another course, as he wanted to eventually qualify as a doctor and study genetics. Being a half vampire, he was fascinated with your body’s blood, cells, and DNA. He wanted to explore this to help everyone and secretly research his own vampire genetics. David was proud of his vampire heritage, but found it sometimes a burden. It was a secret that had to be carried his entire life. He did realize the benefits his vampire genetics had given him and knew he had managed to succeed in his education partly down to his increased vampire IQ. It was also down to hard work and a supportive family. However, David knew he wanted to meet and marry a human but had not decided if she should know or if he would give up his vampire strengths to hide that part of his lifestyle. Being a half bred hiding his vampire side would be quite easy as he could just cease his blood supplements and he his family was predominately human so most had no secrets to hide.

As we talked, I was amazed by David’s story and fascinated by the love and trust his parents had for one another. I wondered if Gavin and his family would ever allow me to tell someone else to release some of the burden I felt I carried. I asked David what he thought of my situation. After much deliberation he said that perhaps Gavin and I would always be connected now because it was his closeness that has awoken the Wiccan powers in me and we had fell in love as humans not as a vampire and witch. However, David thought a lot of this rested on how much trust Gavin’s whole family had in me and whether I could ever totally embrace their vampire side. It was such a difficult situation. There were the added complications of Daniel. He made me feel uncomfortable yet excited and Elizabeth thought I might have crossed paths with him before and warned me about him. If me and Gavin did get back together Daniel would therefore forever be connected to me through the family, and I would be unable to avoid him entirely. It was brilliant to meet a half vampire and be able to talk about so many things and of course to discover that if me and Gavin did ever get back together, and want a family, it would work with no ill effects to the baby. Speaking to David also made me realise that perhaps I should start to feel some pride in my Wiccan heritage as he had his vampire heritage. It was also interesting to discover the additional powers some witches held. I had no idea they had the strength to erase someone’s memory. I wondered how you learned this powerful skill and if it was only certain Wiccan covens that were entrusted by the vampire council with this task. Perhaps I should start to embrace my Wiccan skills rather than try to avoid it and hope it might become dormant again and maybe even contact other witches. I decided I wanted to meet Gavin, share some of my newfound information, and see how he was. I did miss Gavin. Perhaps I was being harsh by trying to remove him from my life, but did I really want to always have vampire connections; maybe even a vampire family or child. I’d found the last few weeks quite refreshingly straightforward and stress free, so I wondered, was it easier for everyone for us to stay apart and get on with our lives separately?