Ch. 7

A Chapter by Havatara

“So, what are we going to do with the rest of the day?” Michael asked Rosemary after Sister Mary Jo was finished cleaning and off to do other things.

“Well, I don’t know. What do you want to do?” Rosemary asked.

“I don’t want to do anything. Do they have a library?” Michael asked.

“I think I saw it yesterday. Let’s go. I’ll get a wheelchair,” said Rosemary. She left the room, and came back a few minutes later steering a wheelchair in.

“We have to make it seem like you’re really hurt. I know you’re not. I did something to my claws, and your wounds are entirely healed. But when they’re in the light, it shows marks on your arm, and you humans think it’s rotting flesh, but it’s just simply a Vampiranese way of showing that there had been a wound made by a vampire there,” said Rosemary.

“Okay. I’ll believe you on that. Can we just go?”

“Fine.”

Rosemary wheeled Michael out of the room and down the hall. She then turned left, and then right. Soon enough, they were facing big oak doors that had ‘Library’ written on the front.

“Here we are. What were you wanting to read?” Rosemary asked.

“About vampires,” Michael replied.

“Haven’t I told you that all those stories aren’t anywhere near the truth?” Rosemary asked him.

“Yeah, but I’m running out of questions, so I’ll just get some from there. You’ll see.” Michael wheeled himself over to the mythology section, and Rosemary looked at books about humans.

“It’s so interesting, what’s inside you humans. So different from vampires. I’ll have to read some psychology books. I might learn some things about humans that I didn’t know before,” said Rosemary. She had just finished reading a very large books on the human body.

“How did you read that so fast?” Michael asked.

“Oh, it was easy. I could have read it faster, I just wanted to analyze every word I read and learn every thing I could about how the human body is built. I just don’t get how it can be so different from vampires, even if we look so much alike.”

“Well, I’m finding some pretty wacko stuff about vampires in here, too. It says that vampires are bloodsucking creatures that don’t care about anything, basically. But I’ve asked enough questions to know that vampires do have a life. They have a culture and everything, right?” Michael asked.

“Yeah. And we have families and live in houses deep underground or in the forests. But there are only about a million of us left. And compared to you humans, that’s basically nothing. You’ve populated the entire world.”

“It says here that the legend started because a very old vampire came out into the sun from inside a deep cave, and once he came out, he turned into a pile of dust. Is that true?” Michael asked.

“Yes. It is. That vampire’s name was Everblood. He was one million years old. He was the first of the vampires. He was here, even before the humans were. He was disgusted by them. His son told us. Everblood hadn’t left that cave in 100,000 years. He was so old by then, that the tiniest amount of light could have killed him.

“And the humans came. It was in Europe at the time, and the humans came without any light at all and stayed inside his cave. They snuck in there while he was in the lower levels, and stayed there, watching him.

“It took a while, but one of them gave him a name. Vampire. It was an ancient Greek word for ‘blood,’ and they saw him take the life of a cat that had walked in.

“They were so horrified by the creature and the threat it represented, that they fled they cave, and came back five days later with at morning. Everblood wanted to go outside and tell them to leave, but when he walked out, he turned to dust.

“And that was the end of poor Everblood. And that’s where the legends started. The garlic one came from his son, who just happened to be allergic to garlic. And when vampires have an allergy, it’s really a problem for them. Poor old Everblood Jr. turned into dust, just like his father.”

It took a while for Michael to say something, but then he said, “That’s the most interesting story that I’ve ever heard, except the one you showed me about the night your mother died, but that’s different.”

“Yeah. Do you want to do something else? Reading is getting boring. Why don’t we just take a walk around. If we find a completely empty room, maybe I’ll be able to show you my skills,” suggested Rosemary. Michael was everything but reluctant to follow.

Only they didn’t know how big this place was. They knew it was tall because Rosemary flew all they way to the top of the building, but they didn’t know how much ground it covered.

After about an hour, it started to get boring again.

“We’ve seen the kitchen, the food court, the suites, the daycare, and basically almost everything else. Why can’t we do something else?” Michael asked.

“Well, we can go to the top floor and I can show you some cool vampire things,” offered Rosemary. She didn’t even have to wait for the obvious answer, so she just found the stairs, left the wheelchair at the bottom, and took out her wings.

“Ready?” she asked Michael.

“Ready as I’ll ever be, which isn’t very much. I’m scared of hights,” said Michael.

“First mild claustrophobia, now hights. What’s next? Me?” Rosemary asked him.

“I’ve been somewhat scared of you ever since you told me you were a vampire. And only said little to help. Now let’s just get this over with before anyone finds us?”

Rosemary lifted him out of the chair and went straight up. They went up until the reached the roof, and then they went left. It didn’t take long to find the room they were in before.

“Here we go,” said Rosemary. She set Michael down and pushed the door open.

She regretted it the second she did it.

Sitting in the middle of the room was none other than Veripema. She had been waiting for them while they were there, and she had a wicked smiled drawn on her face.

“There you are. It only took me an hour of circling the city before I realized that you had gone to the place where I thought you thought I would look last. And guess what happened? Here you are in front of me, at the same place your mother died. And where you were born. Oh, how lucky me,” said Veripema.

“Why do you want to kill your niece? It just doesn’t make sense to me. But maybe that’s because I’m human . . .” started Michael.

“Or maybe you’re just stupid and you should have kept your mouth shut. Haven’t I told you that Veripema is dangerous?” Rosemary asked.

“Yes, but . . .”

“Will you two shut up long enough for me to have the chance to attack you?” Veripema asked, taking out her bow and arrow. The second Veripema did so, Rosemary also took out her dagger.

“Well well well. You’ve evolved well past your age level, Bloodrose, haven’t you?” Veripema asked.

“Shut up and attack. I’m not making the same mistakes my mother did. I’m not going to make the first move,” said Rosemary.

“Good. I wasn’t planning on letting you. Though, it would be nice to have this have the same end results as the one fourteen years ago. And I get dessert, too,” said Veripema, winking at Michael. He cringed, and backed into a corner near the window.

Veripema shot a bow, but Rosemary was able to dodge it easily. Her arm weapon was a bit harder to manage, but she was still able to shoot it towards her aunt. It missed, hitting the wall.

“Here’s a thought. Why don’t we do hand-to-hand combat, seeing as we both have lousy aim,” suggested Veripema. They both made their weapons disappear, and Rosemary met her aunt in the middle of the room.

But Veripema was stronger, and flung Rosemary toward the wall. She hit it with such force, that the wall broke, and Michael was the first to fall.

“Michael!”

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