The next day, Giovann came to me, somewhat desperate.
“They’re coming for us. She wouldn’t tell us. She would let us rot!”
“Calm down. What do you mean? Are they here? Today? Now?”
“30 minutes. Half an hour, but of course, only Inamorta knows what time it is. She’s the only one with a clock.”
“No she’s not. I’ve got one in my room.”
Basura came down the hall.
“Quickly. We’re going down in the basement. They can search the castle and never find us. I don’t know where Inamorta is, but I can assure you that she is not in this castle. Not even in those places she would close to us.”
“Where is my mother?”
“With Inamorta. I saw them leave earlier. She can tell us what’s going on. Inamorta trusts her more than she trusts even me.”
Giovann and I quickly followed Basura down to the basement. We went through a secret passage in the dining room wall, then down a long winding staircase. Far above us, I could hear people running. It hadn’t been half an hour yet, but this didn’t seem to matter to Basura. It hadn’t even been five minutes. I looked at Giovann.
“I swear she said half an hour.”
“She knew you were listening.”
We both looked at Basura, shocked. She took a deep breath.
“Dahlia, I don’t feel right not telling you this. I didn’t think it mattered at first, but now that the picture is coming together, it really does. Inamorta turned me, turned Giovann. Every so often, she feels she needs companions. She finds them, and she turns them. Sometimes she’ll keep them for a while, like me. Sometimes she grows tired of them. Like Giovann. Then there are those who are attached to others…like your mother.”
“What’re you saying?”
“You mother will never fully be hers. She thinks that by removing you—“
“She means to kill me.”
“And Giovann.”
Giovann’s head jerked around.
“Why me?”
“Whether it’s true or not, she decided that you are working wither enemies. She decided this to justify her dislike of you. She expected you to be obedient, to follow her every whim. You weren’t like that in life. You were rebellious, strong of heart. No matter how long she’s been around, how many languages she learns, how many adults she’s observed, she is still a child and an idealist. Hence this castle.”
“It was Inamorta, wasn’t it?”
Basura nodded, knowing instantly what I was talking about.
“Inamorta was unhappy when this castle was full. This wasn’t what she imagined vampire life to be like, is it?”
Upstairs, everything had grown quiet. We sat in silence, listening for anything. There was nothing. The clock sounded, signaling day, and I figured it would be ok to leave the basement. I stood up, but Basura put her hand out.
“They know that in here, there is no day. They are prepared to wait us out. Trust me, they want Inamorta bad enough. I think these are people that she ousted.”
“What was her name?”
“Helena. Before she was Inamorta, she was lovely little Helena. She decided she wanted none of human life, deciding that she resented humans for they way they treated her and her father. The vampires, though, lived their lives as they had always done. Nothing special. So she stirred the pot.”
Giovann laughed.
“Now the pot’s stirring back. Serves the little wench right.”
“Think about her as little as possible. We all have to leave. We can’t leave without her knowing, but we can go away where she can’t find us.”
Giovann and I nodded. My head pounded. I never wanted to be caught in this mess.
“There is only one of us who isn’t disposable.”
My stomach began to hurt, and I felt dizzy. Giovann grabbed my arm and led me to a chair. Basura disappeared and returned with a blood bag.
“It would either be you or me, Dahlia. If she can’t get your mother, she will kill her. You will be angry and defy her, and she will kill you. If I defy her, she will kill me. Our chances are slightly better since we are rare. Now, if she finds another vampire like us—“
There were raised voices upstairs. We all knew them: Inamorta and my mother. Instincts told me to run to her, but Basura and Giovann held me back. I hadn’t realized how strong I’d become. Studying closely under Inamorta had done me a lot of good. I easily threw Giovann off me. I managed to twist out of Basura’s iron grasp and make it to the bottom of the stairs. Before I even put my foot on the bottom stair, Basura was back on me. She managed to throw me into a wall. I could hear the voices getting more frantic, more aggressive. Inamorta yelled something, then I hear my mother scream. I wished to all high hell that we weren’t so far below them.
I started to cry, and I could tell it pained Basura to hold me down. Giovann stood, struck stupid, where I’d thrown him off. Footsteps pounded above us, and we guessed that Inamorta—no Helena’s—enemies were closing in. Basura’s interest was piqued, and her grip loosened. I took this chance to get free and run up the stairs. I was surprised at the scene I saw. My mother and Helena were surrounded by people, vicious looks on their faces. There was a long scar on my mother’s face. I couldn’t have hated Helena more. I felt like I was in a trance, lost somewhere outside myself. Slowly, I walked toward Helena. She smiled and I saw that blood trickled down her chin. The circle opened up before me, and I felt Basura and Giovann behind me.
“It’s over, Helena. You can’t pretend to be Inamorta anymore. Leave. Leave us all.”
She knew that she was surrounded, knew that she was outnumbered. I asked myself how far I was willing to go to protect my mother. Being special could only protect me so much for so long. If these were the people Helena claimed were trying to kill me, then she held a certain power over me. I saw in her eyes that she knew exactly where she stood. Maybe she even planned things this way.
“What will you do to me if I don’t leave?”
I was silent. Just what would I do? I could attempt to attack her, and perhaps I could win—if the battle was purely physical. But it wasn’t. I didn’t know what trcks she had. Someone stepped up behind me.
“It’s nice to see that you’ve betrayed me, Basura. All those years ago, I sheltered you. It was I who protected you.”
“And it was you who turned me!”
“Will you bite the hand that feeds you?”
“So long as that hand is yours, then yes. You forget just how dependant on us you are. Try to do things on your own.”
I looked at my mother and made the hardest decision in my life. I would wait. I could only smile sadly. Things were just like they used to be. Back in the days when we had whole conversations without words. I closed my eyes briefly, and when I opened them, I knew the world would shift. Time seemed to slow down, even before my eyes closed. I felt like the room was spinning. When I opened my eyes, everyone was rushing toward my mother and Helena. My mother had a plan, and I was the most crucial part. I ignore the gnawing feeling in my unbeating heart. Before anyone could do anything, the two of them were falling down the stairs. Helena was so surprised. Any “old power” she might have had would be completely useless unless she knew what was happening. The light from a candle gleamed off some metal object. A knife. There was blood, and when the pair landed, they were in front of the giant doors that Basura and I had entered.
I jumped down the railing and ran to where my mother and Helena landed. I barely had time to register that my mother lay in a heap on the floor. All too late, all too slowly, the others came rushing down the stairs. By then, I felt such strength, such anger, such desperation as I’d never felt before. I heard a tiny whisper, clear as a bell, reverberate off the walls.
“I killed Aiden. Now I’ll kill you, too. Nothing will keep me from my newest toy!”
I wasn’t surprised when I heard that. Angry, livid, yes, but not surprised. Aiden was keeping me away, and I was keeping my mother. I punched Helena in her face. It felt so satisfying as she flew closer to the door. She was stunned, but I saw the anger rising in her eyes. In those moments, though, her anger would never match my anger. Her guilt would never match my guilt. Her pain would never match my pain.
I grabbed her by the hair, and threw my shoulder into the massive door. Light from the rising sun filled the room with a brilliant red glow. Already, Helena’s skin began to smoke. I threw her with all my might outside the castle door. Again, I closed my eyes and reveled in the warmth I hadn’t felt in a long time.
There was a scream. Then it was over.
No vampire is invincible. I’m sure it was a shock for Helena to be defeated in the most basic of ways. Sure it wasn’t a true battle. I’m sure her enemies had meant to destroy her in combat. But then, this plan wasn’t an option to them. They couldn’t kill her like this without killing themselves. In that sense, my mother was much braver than they could ever be. In that split second where she caught my eye, I knew she’d give her life to save ours.
I waslked back inside and knelt by my mother’s crumpled figure. I love her. I always have and I always will. She smiled at me. I twas the last thing she did. Take enough of a vampire’s blood, and they too will die. Helena had gotten out of control. Killing her did the world a favor. Only Giovann and Basura dared approach me. No doubt the others saw me come back in, unscathed by the sun, and thought I was even more powerful than Helena. I wasn’t but I wished I was. I held onto my mother, crying, wishing her back to life.
I don’t think I ever really recovered from that. I couldn’t stay in that castle. I had to leave. So I roamed the world, trying to forget, looking for ways to escape. I was roaming that parck there. I don’t know the name of it. Eventually, that Frenchwoman called the police, who called the hospital, who called you. And that’s why I’m here today. You can believe however much of my story you want to. But I’m somewhat happy here. The pain lessens a little each day. Twenty years ago, my mother died. Twenty years ago today. Twenty years since I’d last spoken. No doubt my children are dead. They were old the last time I saw them. Twenty years. And in twenty more years, unless you decide to release me, I’ll still be here. Still in your hospital. Still terrorizing your patients. But I won’t be hurting anymore.
“That’s it? Inamorta—Helena—just died so easily?”
“In all her life, she’d forgotten that she was bound by the same laws. She wasn’t invincible. To kill her would mean to sacrifice one’s own life, and that’s what happened.”
“But everything ended so suddenly.”
“That’s because Inamorta was wrong. Time is not ours to command. But please, I’m tired now.”
“One more question. Have you seen Basura or Giovann since then?”
“Many times. Basura has a lovely new house.”
“Who do you know?”
“These walls can’t really confine me. The we’ll never know the whole of them, we did learn some of Helena’s secrets. So fear me, for I am the greatest vampire alive.”
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