My hand dropped to my side as if pried off by a sudden shock of electricity, my chest heaving up and down heavily. I felt cold inside, a sense of numbness I could not decipher. No matter what excuse my mind tried to produce, there was nothing I could say to my father’s defense. Normally, I would be filled with feelings of doubt at the dubious accusations, but there was no ounce of doubt in me. The fact that he did not try to argue or defend himself told me that it was true - my father was indeed responsible for my aunt’s death. "What was it you said, again? A blood sacrifice." "Yeah, that's right!" Zamani chimed. "The blood of the person who turned you into a monster, would reverse the curse." But my aunt did not turn my father into a vampire, and I doubt she knew he was one. "But of course, he couldn't murder the son of his dearest friend. I could never understand such blind loyalty, I mean, the guy is already dead and buried." "Watch it," Esra warned coyly, silencing Zamani wi

Esra's head snapped to the side, and she pinned Zamani with crazed eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, there is no such thing!" He broke into a humourless chortle. "Do you think vampires are a thing of yesterday? There's a damn village full of them, and they have a damn council running the country from the shadows. The SASIU is only sent out for severe cases, and they only have one single goal and instruction – shoot to kill." "Is that so?" Esra challenged. "Well, I'd like to see them try." "Esra, what... we should be getting out of here, drop this entire thing!" Esra tipped her chin in defiance. "Go if you want to, I won't stop you." The vampire's hold on me had loosened, however, he made no attempt to completely let me go. More people stepped out from the shadows, cladded in black cargo pants and military boots, gray t-shirts, black bulletproof vests, masking their identitities with black balaclavas. They carried advanced specialised weapons evidently exclusive to their departments

If someone had told me this would be my life a year ago, I would have probably thought they were mocking me. I felt like I lived through a lot, experienced so much, and just felt a lot.My stay at the hospital was bittersweet, I've had some scary moments. Turns out being a mother takes a lot more than just caring a baby in your womb, these past two weeks proved that there was a lot that went into parenting. I was officially initiated into motherhood.The trauma of seeing him being rushed to the emergency room for suctioning on a few occasions because the food came out through his nose, to witnessing the mother next door devastated because her baby was rushed back to ICU and realising that I was on a thin ice. Coming to understand and interpret Mpilo’s different cries and learning how to act in every situation. Nonetheless, I learned to appreciate the good that came with the bad. My heart filled with warmth at the rate he was growing. Maggie's secret did the trick, Sy gave Mpi