*** The sun was finally out of the snowy clouds. The snow had partially stopped and now fell only in bits. The change in the weather meant that the vampires would return to their hiding places which also meant a safe month for Hope. Speaking about Hope, there was a small bulge on her stomach, and the pregnancy began to show. It would take only a few weeks before her mother noticed she was pregnant, and I was thinking of what to do. There were two solutions to these. The first was to tell her mother about us, explaining how she got pregnant and how important and powerful that baby was. The other was to make Hope stay with us until she was due to deliver. I liked the second option better, but I knew it would not take long before Gladys would find out about us. She would have to know one day, but it couldn't be now. It was not safe. It was Thursday, about two days before Hope's birthday. I picked her up from her house, and we went to school. She was now comfortable with holding my ha

"Vampire?" Mrs. Wallace asked again. I clenched my jaws, knowing she wouldn't take it easy. It would take some time before the words sank into her head. She probably didn't know what a vampire was. She turned to Hope and gave her a worried look. "Vampires aren't supposed to be real," she pointed out. "Well, we are," I confessed. "And the town is crawling with them." Mrs. Wallace sighed and took a sit beside Hope on the couch. Hope caressed her blonde hair slowly with her fingers. I knew Mrs. Wallace had a lot of things on her mind, and this secret was another burden to bear. This time, it was for her safety. At least, she was now aware of the dangers the town was threatened with, especially at night. "The town is filled with vampires?" She asked, surprised. I scratched the back of my head and smiled at her. "And werewolves, too," I added. "Werewolves are real too?" She asked, looking up at me with her eyes widened. "Yes," I replied. She sighed and covered her face with cuffe

"Noah Richmond," he said, stretching his hand for a shake.   I looked at his hand for a moment. I wasn't pleased he was here, though I had been expecting him. Javicia had told me about him. He was very dangerous, more dangerous than her, I supposed. And I felt he was here for the same issue. My baby.    I clenched my jaws and took his hand, shaking it. He smiled at me broadly. Why did they act so friendly when they were so brutal? I couldn't blame them because that was how I acted when I was the bad guy. Maybe karma was returning the favor. I felt karma was feeling so much better, returning all the bad favors. I let go of his hand.   "So, Desmond," he continued. "I heard my sister had a thing for you."   I smil

I sat on the porch with a bottle of 1886 in my hand. I had just finished taking a long gulp, and the burning sensation lingered in my throat. Sometimes, I wondered if the alcohol wounded my throat and if my super healing would kick in and ease the pain before I could find out. I didn't know, and I didn't care. All I knew was that it helped me when I needed it most.   I took another gulp from the alcohol and stared at the night clouds. The stars were shining brightly, and so was the crescent moon. Sometimes, I wondered if Zack thought of ambushing me on a full moon and running off from town so that he couldn't give me the cure. I didn't know if this was paranoia, but I was sure he didn't like me. I was reminded of how he accused me of putting Hope through excruciating pain.   I couldn't lie that I had messed up. Yes. But it wasn't par

I remembered. I recalled everything. That night had been one of the worst nights in our human existence. I had blamed myself for causing such torture on Florence. Father had given her deep cuts and bruises on her back from the whip. I winced each time I heard the whip land on her back.   We went to the market square to look at people. We usually stayed alone, so we didn't see people that often. We had been secluded from the whole world. We couldn't blame ourselves for being that curious. We were kids. But, our curiosity led to Florence's demise.   She had sacrificed so much for us when we were hungry, and I couldn't believe that I had forgotten about that so easily. Was it my fault? I was under the spell of Suzana for so many years and hadn't noticed. Even Jocelyn and Zion didn't.