Vampire…
“I can brush my hair. It will be fine wet.”
The hope that somewhat glimmered in her expression faded, but then her now recognizable smile returned, and she placed the items back on the desk slowly. “Of course. I’ll be out in the hall when you are ready to head to the kitchen.”
My wolf stirred inside me as I watched her walk away, remorse and sadness inundating my chest.
Vanessa stopped before reaching the door and hesitantly turned to look at me. “I know you grew up in a different world, and you were told so many things about us that you might not know what to believe. But I promise that if you give us a chance, Natasha, you’ll soon realize we are nothing like you were made to believe.”
D didn’t exactly melt in the sun so…my mind suddenly reminded, contradicting its own mistrust. Wth?
The ache pouring from her words made its way up to me, and as I watched her grab the doorknob, my wolf urged me to stop her.
“Maybe you can help me dry my hair after all… please,” I mumbled, frowning.
Vanessa’s grey eyes almost beamed with joy when she faced me, contrasting beautifully with her tanned skin and soft features. Her curly brown strands bounced with each step she took. “Sit here.”
I did as she asked, realizing the desk was not a desk but a beauty station filled with a million trinkets I hadn’t seen before. The moment my eyes settled on the illuminated mirror dread slammed into my being, and my hand flew to my face, covering the mark over my eye. With everything that had happened, I’d completely forgotten about it, and now everyone had seen it… including D, and Dante.
Unfortunately for me, my reaction wasn’t at all subtle, and the Vampire girl’s eyes filled with concern.
“I don’t need your pity,” I clarified, hating that I didn’t have my makeup to cover it up.
“It’s not pity, sweetie,” she assured, reaching for the bottom of her sweatshirt. “It’s recognition.” When she pulled the fabric up, a jagged scar on her stomach was revealed.
Stunned, I let go of my eye, focusing on her skin. “I thought Vampires self-healed, like shifters did,” I whispered.
“Yes, and no.” She shrugged, letting go of her sweatshirt. “This happened when I was a child. I was stubborn, you see, and decided I could totally ride a bike even though I’d never even owned one. So, I got on my friend’s bicycle, and down the street I went. A steep street, may I add. Lo and behold, I crashed into a few crates outside the bodega, and the spiked pedal of the bike sliced my stomach open. It took one hundred stitches and it hurt like a mother trucker.”
Taking the hairbrush and the strange tool, she turned it on, the thing emitting a buzzing sound as hot air blew from it.
Blinking, while she began to spray something on my hair, I processed her story. “Was that when you died?”
A chuckle escaped Vanessa. “Well, my mom kind of wanted to kill me, but no. I didn’t die. Why would you ask that?”
“So how did you become a Vampire if you didn’t die, and you weren’t cursed?”
My question must have been loaded because she frowned, staying silent for a few minutes, all the while brushing my all-white hair with her hot air-blowing machine.
“Sorry, there is just a lot to unpack there,” she admitted. “I’ve never died. I haven’t been cursed either.”
“So, you were born a Vampire?” I asked, shocked.
“No.” She laughed. “No one is born this way. I mean, the first Vampiress was born of a mother and a father, but that’s a whole other story. Our race was created by her though, by the Countess of the Dracul Dynasty. I was just human one day, and then Imade a choice to become…different, but still, me… I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s how it felt.”
My teeth nibbled on the inside of my cheek while tried to understand. “So, you chose to become a Vampire?”
“You could say that…” Vanessa nodded, her expression sobering with the memory. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
“Is that why you said earlier that some things are difficult to accept?”
Sighing, she nodded once more, finishing up the other side of my hair. My strands were straight and limp, it didn’t take much to dry them.
“Then why would you choose a life where you go after innocent humans and enslave them to drink their blood? Why would choose to be a monster?”
Both disbelief and hurt flashed over her face with my words, and she physically took a step back, as though I’d slapped her.
I instantly regretted the words, but it was too late, they’d already sliced through her. Unfortunately, everything I’d been told about them was ingrained in me, and I wasn’t sure what was real anymore.
