I wasn’t sure how it happened or why, but I was both thrilled and amazed with this one particular turn of events. It didn’t feel like the confusing burden that the other things I’d been experiencing did. It felt like a gift, an actual gift that I could use in helpful ways. At that point, the other things did not. I had trouble seeing how any of them could be useful at all.
“Can you show me Brady?” she whispered.
In my mind, I conjured the still-fresh memories of Brady’s appearance and I concentrated on them, as I had subconsciously done on Lacey’s. Only that feeling of transferring, that feeling of sending something from my mind to hers, didn’t come. It was as though all I could send her were images of her. That or I didn’t know how to control the use of this newest development any more than I knew how to control the rest of what was going on.
Too bad supernatural powers and abilities don’t come with instruction manuals,
I thought sarcastically.
“I’m not seeing anything, Peyton.”
“I’m doing exactly what I was doing before. It’s just not working.”
“Well why not?”
I snorted. “Like I know. Dude, I have no clue what the bloody crap is going on with any of us, much less how to work any of this stuff.”
“Why can’t I see Brady? Why can’t others see us like this? Why just you?”
Her question struck a chord within me. Although I made a point not to ponder it, I’d asked the same question dozens of times. And I still had no answers. Information about other people, other gifts, other issues were all I seemed to have access to at that point, and even that was still extremely limited.
“I just don’t know, Lacey,” I sighed, feeling bone weary all of a sudden.
Lacey said nothing for several long seconds, but then she pulled her hand from beneath mine and wrapped her fingers around my own, squeezing.
“Hey, maybe we can get out of third period tomorrow and meet at the library. Might as well make some use out of those thousands of books, right?”
“And look for what?”
Lacey shrugged.
“I don’t know. Myths. Legends. Fairy tales. Local freak accidents. Hollywood’s makeup artists,” she added with a grin. “I don’t know exactly, but we can’t be the first people stuff like this has ever happened to. Isn’t that kinda where legends get their teeth?” When she thought about what she’d said, she snorted attractively, poking me with her elbow. “Oh, no bun intended.”
I rolled my eyes, but was secretly pleased that she’d at least paid enough attention in class to know what a pun was, even if she just referred to it as a piece of bread. Lacey was always far more concerned with socializing than she was with any kind of academic pursuit. Fortunately for her, she was bright enough that her grades didn’t suffer for the most part. Now, when it came to SATs and the vocabulary section, that might be a problem. But otherwise, she was pretty sharp. Not that it mattered. I wouldn’t have her any other way. It was always a source of great amusement for both of us when she horribly misused a word.
“So, what do you think? This must be a good idea! I mean, when have I ever suggested we go to the library? Um, never! That means it’s pretty important,” she declared, nodding her head as if to help convince me of the truth of her words.
“I would go based on that reason alone. I’m curious to see if the walls actually start to bleed when you walk in. Maybe I should video it.”
“Oh, you’re funny,” she responded caustically.
“Well, we can’t very well go tonight, so let’s finish up this salad, have some spaghetti and kick some boy butt on Guitar Hero. You down?”
“Psh, I’m all over it!”
********
Strangely enough, the library walls remained unaffected by Lacey’s impromptu visit.
“See? No blood,” Lacey pointed out with a satisfied smile. “They are imperious to my presence.”
“The library walls are arrogant?”
Lacey looked at me in confusion for a moment before the corners of her mouth started to twitch.
“They are…” she began, wrinkling her nose as she searched for the right word. “They are…”
I grinned as I waited, practically able to see the wheels turning and the vocabulary pages flipping inside her mind.
“All right, smarty. A little help here.”
“Um, impervious maybe?”
“That’s it!” Lacey exclaimed, snapping her fingers. “I wasn’t that far off.”
“Phonetically, no. But contextually, you were way wrong.”
“My god, Peyton! Speak English.”
We both giggled as Lacey turned three hundred and sixty degrees to inspect the library.
“So, where do we start?”
I shook my head at the question. Nevertheless, I gave Lacey a refresher course on how the library works. I showed her how to look up titles by subject on the computer and then how to find them among the stacks and stacks of books. She was like a kid in a candy store once she got the hang of it. She actually had some really good ideas on book topics to search for and, as a result, we found some titles that turned out to be quite helpful.
“Omigod, Peyton, listen to this,” Lacey commanded in a loud whisper. It was almost two hours after we’d arrived when she found something useful. She began reading aloud from the book in which she had her nose buried.
As opposed to the vampire turned via infected bite, vampires born into this condition can survive, though not comfortably, on a diet consisting of both human blood and human food. The vampire-born individual can also tolerate sunlight to a greater degree, although sustained exposure can result in permanent and sometimes fatal brain damage. One of the most significant differences between the vampire-born versus the vampire-turned is their bite. A born vampire’s bite is toxic to human tissue. One bite from this vampire will either kill or turn a human, whereas a turned vampire must bite a human on at least three separate occasions to have any adverse effect, their venom naturally much weaker.
“So if Brady bites anyone, he’ll either kill them or they’ll turn into a vampire,” Lacey finished, summarizing the very obvious and very alarming facts for me.
I felt a little short of breath, but forced myself to look at the positives.
“True, but he needs less human blood than other vampires. Maybe if and when he has to drink blood, we can get it for him without him having to bite anyone.”
Thoughts of having a blood drive for my brother ran through my head. The vision was in some ways comical, as it was replete with a red and white truck, little old ladies equipped with needles, tubing, orange juice and cookies, and shelves overflowing with plump plastic bags of dark red blood. Although it would never happen quite that way, I couldn’t write off the idea of actually drawing blood out of my own body to sustain my brother if it came to that. I was hoping it would not, that part of my odd gifting might be to uncover a way to stop all this or reverse it or…something. But if it would save his life, I wouldn’t hesitate to do that for him.
After a few thoughtful seconds, Lacey continued reading aloud.
With regard to killing a vampire, a creature widely considered to be immortal, cinematic portrayal is correct in that a wooden stake to the heart is fatal. Any amount of sun exposure to a turned vampire is fatal as well, but only prolonged exposure for a natural vampire is problematic. The exact amount can vary, so ultraviolet rays are still considered a danger to any and all vampires including the natural. Otherwise, vampire are essentially impervious to—
Lacey paused abruptly, looking up to give me a cheeky grin. “Impervious! Did you hear that, Peyton?” After a short bark of laughter, she continued.
Otherwise, vampires are essentially impervious to any weapon, wound or machination. On a side note, vampires are also unaffected by both crosses and garlic.
When she quieted, flipping through pages and scanning them for more interesting, noteworthy tidbits, I resumed looking through the book I’d chosen, one called
The Legend of Two Lakes: Where Culture and Myth Collide.
…and scientists maintain that there is a convergence of natural energy in the center of the Two Lakes community. Compasses cease to work, spinning erratically when brought within the town limits. Many electrical devices short out quickly due to unpredictable power surges. Supernatural phenomena of every variety and origin have been documented from the earliest of civilizations. A catalog of such documentation can be found in Exhibit C at the back of this book…
… intensity of energy was believed by the Druids to have drawn the eye of two very powerful heavenly bodies—siblings, in fact—Arrina, The Goddess of the Sun, and Arma, the God of the Moon.
As a result of an ongoing war between the two, exceptional abilities were granted to the sons and daughters of Two Lakes, each being shackled to either the sun or the moon. The two deities reasoned that the Order which managed to rise to dominance would be an indisputable indication of which sibling was more powerful.
For centuries, the creatures of the day and the night battled and shed blood in their uncontrollable urges to dominate. It was when their numbers began to decrease dramatically, threatening extinction of the gifted children of Two Lakes, that the great singular God positioned the earth between the sun and the moon and, in the darkness, created an answer.
This ‘answer’ has long since been prophesied by Druidic holy men. Through the ages, all have agreed that the ‘answer’ is a child, a daughter to be exact. The holy men foresaw that this girl would be born inside an eclipse and would be gifted as an oracle.
The holy men divined that the oracle would be bestowed with a portion of the knowledge of Arma and Arinna, the two fallen angels. They also divined that she would be able to see the second nature of the children of the sun and the moon. She would be very powerful, possessing the ability to harness their abilities. It was foretold that she would be surrounded by the influence of both darkness and light, and that her struggles would be many, as she alone would hold the power to bring peace to a world of supernatural creatures, but only through great strength and great sacrifice.
It was with immeasurable sadness that the holy men wrote of the child’s difficulties, which were to be many, and her choices, which were to be most trying, so much so that the holy men became concerned that any one person could carry such a burden. It was with abundant care and immense consideration that the Order of the Druidic Soothsayers voted in favor of intervention.
And so they intervened.
In the earliest part of 2000 BC, the Order used their considerable collective magic to place a charm on the ‘answer,’ one that would draw to her a helpmate, someone whose soul the ‘answer’ would bond to for all eternity. His perfect love of her would enable the ‘answer’ to suppress the powers of those she encountered. Her helpmate would provide her with calm and solace like nothing else in life, enabling her to resist being consumed by the overwhelming intensity of raw power.
But nature demanded that balance be maintained, so the Order was forced to place another enchantment on the ‘answer,’ one that would draw to her another person, another of nature’s most powerful creatures. This second person would be able to set free the darkness in others, unleashing monsters in every corner of Two Lakes and threatening the life-force of the ‘answer’.
Upon the death of the last member of the Order, there was no indication that the ‘answer’ had been born. The dying Druidic holy man maintained until his last breath, however, that she would come. He believed she would mature in an eclipse, just as she was fashioned in an eclipse, and that she would save humanity from the monsters of both the day and of the night.