Chapter 8

I got back to the desert table and I saw that Scarlett had come to join us.

Chase and her were talking but then she abruptly disappeared by saying,

"Um, guys, I have to do this thing before I get back to the dorm and by the time I get back, you'll definitely be asleep. So, you pretty much have the dorm to yourselves tonight." Chase and I both nodded. It was a shame because I wanted to talk to Scarlett about my first day, but I'd settle for Chase. Up the stairs we walked and I moved the rusty door with a little bit of force.

“I call dibs first in the shower!” Chase exclaimed. There were showers in our dormitories? That rocked because at least that way, we wouldn’t have to keep walking up and down all of those stairs all the time. He gathered his clothes and then opened a door that I had been completely oblivious to when I walked in. The door was right beside the window. When Chase opened the door however, there was one more flight of stairs, which I just found utterly ridiculous. Sighing to myself, I got on my bed and wrote in my journal. I kept a journal ever since I was fourteen. It was something that kept me sane. I pretty much wrote an overview of my day in my very messy handwriting.

Day one: Okay, so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

It was worse! I had to get up at five a.m. and then they actually tried to make me learn stuff! I think I would have preferred my jail cell! I met this guy named Chase and he’s my roommate. He’s really awesome and kind of hot really funny. Charlie met this guy called Ashley and Jake got all pissy about it because he’s in love with her and some random new friend of Tegan’s hates me because I’m dark. What an eventful day. I also met this chick called Scarlett, who’s pretty much my twin. I threatened this guy named Adam, that’s how I landed in detention, just in case you’re wondering. I always knew Jake was in love Charlie, but he doesn’t want to admit it and she doesn’t see it because he’s her brother. It’s all just a big mess. Okay, all of this thinking is giving me a brain haemorrhage because I’m not used to this thinking thing headache, so I’m gonna put my pen down.

I put my pen down and then waited for about fifteen minutes and then Chase came down the stairs, drying his black hair with a white towel. I sighed,

“Clean enough yet?” I murmured not meaning for him to hear, but he did.

“Could’ve done with an extra hour, but beggars can’t be choosers, now can they?” He smiled facetiously, as I gathered my things together and ventured my way up the staircase. It creaked like nobody’s business and when I got to the actual bathroom, it looked atrocious! There was soap scum growing on the bathtub and there were big ugly cracks in the wall. I did not want to have a shower. Luckily, Scarlett had told me I was welcome to use her shampoo because I didn’t have much left. I always took free samples of shampoo from hotels that we always stayed in and I must say I was dangerously low. Luckily, the shampoo she used was black shampoo - a.k.a. it works especially for dyed black hair and my streaks were kind of fading and they needed a revamp. I let the hot water trickle down my back and I closed my eyes, hoping to just stay in here forever and not have to go to lycanthrope culture in the morning, ugh. I finally came to terms with the fact that I had to get out, so after washing myself heaps, I got out and got into my pyjamas. When I got back down, I hung my towel on the other door handle and I couldn’t help but think of how disgusting that bathroom was. I think even Little Sisters had a better bathroom than that and that was certainly saying something alright. I picked up my journal and remembered something that I had to write down. I turned the page to write one thing...

Tegan’s new little friend, Emilee, she thinks I’m ‘dark’ what is up with that? Yeah, I wear dark clothes, but somehow, I didn’t think that was what she meant.

Just then I felt somebody reading over my shoulder and so I wrote,

And Chase is a dickhead nosey parker for reading over my shoulder. He laughed at that and then he sat at the end of my bed. I closed my journal and put it under my pillow.

“You keep a journal, huh?” He asked, “It’s a good way to stay sane. I do it a much better way though.” He explained and I was intrigued at what he had to say.

“How’s that?”

“I draw, if you know where I’m coming from.” Draw and observe to stay sane. That could mean he draws escape plans I didn’t want to say it as a serious answer in case it sounded stupid and made him think that I thought he had no life or something.

“Drawing escape plans, thinking of ways to escape?” I laughed, amazed at how casual my voice sounded and he actually nodded,

“yes; because I have absolutely no life.” He murmured sarcastically and then a shadow spread across his face. “I know why Emilee doesn’t like you.” He told me sullenly.

“Why? I’m not that ugly, am I?”

“It’s nothing to do with your appearance at all. It is to do with your bloodline.” Say what now?

“My bloodline?” I asked, incredulously, wondering what this was all about; what could my blood have to do with this?

“I’m going to tell you the Valeska legend. Be warned; it’s not pretty.”

In true scary story fashion, the light flickered and dimmed, making shadows appear on Chase’s face. He launched into the story in a haunting voice.

“Back in the 1600s, when magic was not said to be evil, there was a town named called Skeldergate. It was a small, rural village with dirt roads and the only mode of transportation was horse and cart. In the middle of the village was a Catholic Cathedral; a Victorian structure and looked rather gothic. Everybody was respectful to the cathedral. Until bitterly cold British Saturday evening, that is.

“A man named Valeska Adrik, or more commonly known today as Adrik Valeska, was making his way to the Cathedral to ask the priest for guidance on what he should do about the man named Emmett Parker, who was always trying to steal his business away from him. Unfortunately, Parker was a man, drove by power. When he got to the cathedral, Parker was there; standing at the fence, waiting for him.

“‘Good evening,’ smiled Emmett Parker, when he saw Adrik. Holding a knife in his pocket, Parker was well-armed, ready to dismember the one man that stood in his way of becoming the most successful man in all of Skeldergate. Adrik walked closer to Emmett Parker and was looking to approach him civilly and then the lights from the outside of the cathedral dimmed and he felt something tug at his pants and then a cool breeze swept over him and whispered, ‘decapitate this man.’” Chase’s voice was even more haunting now than it was at the start and he told the story as if it was straight from a book or something; he was a very good storyteller. I was so caught up in the story that I hadn’t even realised I’d moved slightly closer to Chase and that we were now directly face to face.

“His eyes widened and then he realised that he must do this before it was he who was dismembered. In cold blood, Adrik plunged forward at Parker and pinned him to the floor, searching through his pockets. Placing his hand on the knife, Adrik smiled and then he pierced his enemy’s throat in one particular spot, watching the life drain out of him; every single drop of blood, every ounce of flash of colour in his face turning sickeningly pale. Smiling to himself, Adrik scooped Parker in his arms and took him to the cemetery across from the church, not even bothering to dig a grave for the man. Instead, he just placed his enemy’s limp body in the bush beside a dead villager named Edward White. From behind the church, a woman was watching and saw the great pleasure in Valeska’s eyes. Her eyes widened and then after Adrik had returned from the cemetery, she appeared at the doors.

“’Thy shall not be blessed by the lord above for the slaughter of an innocent man. It seems thy hath developed a desire to slaughter of his own kind and so he shall. It seems only just that thee shall not be able to walk in the sunlight and he must, in order to survive, kill of his own species. You shall remain this way until somebody dismembers you or runs a blade through your cold heart.’ It was from that night on that Adrik Valeska began experiencing sharp pains in his throat and uncontrollable weakness in the sun. It was now evident that he was becoming a vampire. The next day, he went to the church to confess to the priest his sins and then when he went to enter the holy ground, he was unable to step onto it. After many days of struggling, he finally saw the woman again.

“She looked scared of him the next time she saw him and then she told him, ‘there is only one way one may break the curse in which hath been set upon thy.’ Adrik almost pleaded with her and demanded to know what it was and she did not tell him.” I frowned, desperate to know what happened to the bloodsucker next. “People began disappearing in Skeldergate over the next few days and then a Russian man named Vadim Mavra stood with his Siberian husky outside the cathedral, waiting for the priest. A cold wind swept over the man and then whispered to him ‘this cathedral may be yours when thou hath destroyed it.’ Overtaken by greed and desire, the man smashed the stained glass windows of the cathedral just as the priest came rushing to see what the fuss was. The husky was barking and then the priest looked horrified and was disgusted by this action and he was not the only one. The bystanders also thought rather lowly of this man.

“The woman that had casted the spell on Valeska came across this man with this husky and murmured something under her breath that sounded like another curse. Suddenly against his will, the man got down on all fours and then felt his temperature rise. He looked around for help and when he only saw this woman, she averted her eyes and hurried down the street. That night, he felt a big change in his temper and a huge change in himself. He was becoming more vigilant, like his husky dog and was able to hear well, like his husky dog. The next morning, he found himself on his way to the cathedral and that happened to be right where the woman was standing.

“The man demanded her help and asked her what was happening to him and she told him, ‘Thy shall not be blessed by the lord above for the slaughter of God’s humble place of worship. Thy shall not proceed to walk in the light of the full to admire his creation as a human being but as a Siberian husky. you will remain this way until somebody is to dismember you with silver like the blades of your shoes.’ It was from then onwards that every full moon, Vadim had transformed into a ravenous, uncontrolled Siberian dog. What the woman did not tell the two cursed men was that they were the key to breaking each other’s curse. It was not until a whole century later that this was discovered and neither species had succeeded at killing either of them. Too many ordinary people were killing them. Valeska had bit many people and infected them and as did Vadim and so this is how the feud still continues today.” The story had finished, “Your last name is Mavra. It means you are the vampire’s key to destroying their parasite curse and if you find a Valeska vampire, you could break the lycan curse.” He explained. Great, so now I knew why the vampires wanted to kill us all the time because they were selfish and only wanted their curse to be broken. Well, where in this wide world would there be a Valeska vampire was what I wanted to know.