“So many people have come and gone. Their faces fade as the years go by. Yet I still recall as I wonder on...” –More Than a Feeling –Boston

It’s Saturday and I’m drinking delicious strawberry lemonade right where Damien and I once were. This has now become my favorite spot in the living room. I’ve claimed it as my own.

My two friends sit elsewhere, stunned to silence. I love their reactions.

Payton’s the first to speak. “Oh…my…”

“I told you something would happen if you two were alone!” Izze clapped her hands.

“And now you’ve had your first kiss,” Payton said sadly, now officially behind.

“A bloody first kiss.” Izze winks. “How romantic.”

I stare at her with a sour expression. “Not really. Blood tastes awful.”

“Then you aren’t a vampire, Page.”

“What?” I breathe, offended.

“Vampires love blood,” Payton explained. “Every single one of them.”

“Yeah but I tasted my own blood. Maybe other people have better blood.”

“Page, be honest with yourself.” Payton began to clean off her polish with alcohol scrub.

“You said you didn’t like Damien. But then you make out with him,” Izze elucidates.

“What does that have to do with me being a vampire?” I snap.

“We’re just saying that you’ve probably just convinced yourself you’re a vampire just like you convinced yourself you don’t like Damien,” Payton explains.

I stare. There were no words to show how stunned I felt at their betrayal. “I thought you guys believed in me.”

“You’re sensitive to sunlight. You’re allergic to garlic and have sharp teeth. But,” Payton points to me, “you don’t like the taste of blood and you can manage to go to day school. You grow older and, most importantly, your family is human.”

I glare down at my lemonade.

“You can’t be a vampire if you are born from a human family, Page.”

“I don’t feel so good,” I say finally, standing. “You should leave.”

“Page…”

“I’ll see you at school. You can let yourselves out.”

“Page!”

Payton blocks Izze from following me up the stairs and I’m grateful. They’re not wrong, and this isn’t a revelation. I already knew these things. It’s just the first time my own friends have pointed it out, and I feel like they had broken something I treasured. Like the belief in Santa Claus.

…

The only strangers I trust are children which, ironically, are what I fear the most in horror movies. I can never trust a child in a scary film but in real life I find them completely harmless.

Which is why I approached one without any regard of my safety, my grocery cart pressed against my chest.

She had black hair and wore dark clothes, making her next to discernable in the lighting outside out the grocery store. I had passed the motionless girl when I entered shopping over an hour ago and, by now, had assumed she had left with her parents because obviously she was waiting for them.

But no, the stranger remained in place, as alone and silent as a shadow. Like I said, in a horror story, I’d be booking it. But this was real life, and she was, what, twelve? Fourteen? Too young to be alone. She could be approached by strangers…like me.

“Hey, kid,” I say, calling her attention. Her head snaps up to me, gorgeous green eyes glowing in the dark. They stun me for a moment, but I manage to shake them. I didn’t come to gape at her. “Where are your parents?”

“They’re not coming,” she answered.

“Then who are you waiting for?” I ask her.

The girl hesitates, and I realize I may have overstepped my boundaries.

“Do you mind if I wait with you?” I ask her gently. “I’d like to rest my legs for a bit.”

Her eyes latch onto my cart of fridge sensitive perishables.

“They’ll be fine. I have loads more at home,” I lie. “Here. Ice cream? It’s strawberry.”

I wonder how I look, shuffling through my bags and giving candy to a child. I represent the exact creep children are warned to avoid.

“You don’t have to,” I blurt out quickly. “I’m sure whoever you’re waiting for will be mad if you accept it, anyway.”

The girl takes the wrapped ice cream and says, “I’m waiting for you.”

My lips twist in confusion. “I’m sorry. Do you know me?”

We gaze at each other. She seems familiar…It’s those eyes. But I can’t place them, and I can’t look away either.

“Are you Page Fare?” she asks suddenly, not breaking eye contact.

“Yes,” I answer.

“Tomorrow morning you will wake up feeling heavy and tired, and stay home,” she orders simply. I want to laugh, but I don’t. I just stare at her, perplexed.

“You will fall back asleep and not wake up until late evening. When you do wake, you will feel normal again.” The child pauses, glancing at the popsicle in her hand to me. “Once I say “Bye”, you won’t remember this conversation and you won’t remember me.”

Finally, I find my voice. “What are you-”

“Bye, Page.”

I blink and rub my burning eyes. I feel as if I had been participating in a staring contest. But, who would I have a contest with? There’s no one with me but myself and grocery shoppers heading home.

I need sleep.

…

When I wake, I’m not where I expect to be.

I see clouds swimming with the sunset’s pastel colors and feel cool grass beneath my hands.

I’m outside. Somewhere.

I pulled myself to my elbows and feel a chilled breeze blow my hair left. I feel relieved of the scary, sludgy symptoms I had last time I was semi-conscious. When Lee found me this morning, incapable of staying conscious. I felt as if I had overdosed on sleeping pills.

Digging through my mind, the last memory I recall was returning to sleep on my bed. So why was I waking up outside and not in my own room?

“You’re awake?”

I look to my right and see Damien sitting beside me, staring at the sunset.

“Damien?” I scoot to my butt. “Where are we?”

“At a park,” he answers evenly.

“Why?” I ask.

“You don’t remember what happened?”

I shake my head.

“Lee told me how you were feeling so I came in to check on you,” Damien explained.

“And then kidnapped me?” I question, disbelieving his story. “How did you manage to get into my house?”

“Shhh.” He put a finger to my lips. “I’m getting to that.”

I sit there, waiting.

“Well?”

“Well,” Damien lowers his hand, “the truth is, I got into your house.”

Silence.

“Yeah. I know that.”

“I was able to get into your house because I’m a…” He allows the silence to rise to an unbearable climax.

“What is it?!” I demand, feeling like I’m about to explode. “Tell me already!”

“Vampire.”

“Yeah, what about me?”

“No, I’m a vampire.” He points to himself. “Me.”

For a second I stare, wondering if I should laugh.

“You aren’t a vampire.” I smile, shaking my head. “You make fun of us. You walk in the daylight. You’re afraid of blood and have no fangs!”

Damien rolls his eyes. “I’m a day walker.”

“Prove it,” I shoot.

“I can’t.”

“Then what about the blood?”

“I didn’t want to attack you.”

The sun was almost gone, leaving an eerie splash of red across Damien’s face.

“Well, how about fangs? I don’t see any.”

Damien opens his mouth and I see two pearly white at each end of his mouth elongate and sharpen.

I scoot back, frightened. His fangs are so much more realistic than mine.

“You don’t need to be afraid.” Damien extracts his teeth. “See? Gone.”

I cover my mouth with a cool hand. “Why did you make fun of vampires?”

“I had to. I didn’t want anyone suspecting I was one.”

“How could they?” My eyes narrow. “You don’t have fangs and you don’t burn in the sun. Wait, what about your family?”

“Vampires.”

“All of them?”

He nods.

Damien stands and brushes stray grass from the back of his jeans.

I stay at him for a second, baffled, tormented by confusion. Why…why does he choose to tell me now, after all this time? Why does he choose to tell me at all?

“Why are we here?” I ask, clearing my throat.

“Why, Fare,” Damien glances at me, his eyes dark, “I’m supposed to kill you.”

The words scorch my ears and I scramble to my feet.

“No.” I shake my head. “You’re lying.”

“I’m seriously not.”

“But. Why? Why do…” I can’t even finish the sentence. I’m a mess of emotions.

“Because you’re a cure.”

I blink at him. “I’m a what?”

He steps toward me and I find that I can’t move.

“Fare. I know someone is finding a way to treat your burning problem.”

“Yeah. So what?”

“Fare,” he repeats my surname again, even more solemn, “you are a vampire.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I’m serious, Fare!”

“And so am I!” I shove him away and step back. I’m really hating him saying my name. “Though it’s nice to hear someone believe that I’m a vampire.”

For once.

“But you’re human, too,” Damien adds.

“Huh?” I gawk.

“Well, you don’t like blood,” he says by way of explanation. “You can eat human food. You have to have it to survive.”

“I can’t be both, Damien.” I shake my head.

“You can. You’re a half-breed.”

“A half-breed?” I repeat, hating the taste of the word. “Like, half human half vampire?”

“Yeah.”

“And this means?”

“Well, that part doesn’t matter. It’s the fact someone is going to cure your skin sensitivity to the sun that matters.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

“Yes!” Damien roars, causing me to jump and stumble backwards.

“Why?”

“People think they’re safe during the day. But that changes things if vampires get a cure.”

I scoff. “Yeah, maybe in the olden times when people believed in vampires. No one will notice if vampires are cured.”

“They will,” Damien assured darkly. “Turning vampires into day walkers will cost many lives.”

“But you’re a day walker,” I point out. “So there has to have been a cure before.”

Damien shakes his head. “I just am a day walker. It came with the package when I was transformed.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “You do know the cure is going to be finished. In a few weeks if my uncle has his way.”

Damien nods and I continue, “So what are you going to do?”

“I already told you, Fare.”

Dread seeps from me. “Are you doing it now?”

“No, not now.”

“Then when?” I’m not sure I want to know.

“I can’t say.”

Damien doesn’t look the least bit distressed. It’s like we’re having a talk about schoolwork or something totally impersonal. Not a mind-blowing conversation that just threw my world off axis.

“Why you? Why did you…” Kiss me. Was it planned?

I feel sick.

Damien’s green eyes glint in understanding. “It’s nothing personal.”

“Oh really?” I sneer. In haste, I snatch my bag and start trotting down the hill when I hear him call my name.

“What?!” I whip around, glaring at him. He looks like an angel of death from this angle.

“You won’t tell anyone anything of this.”

“And why not?” I mean, he’s planning on killing me. Why wouldn’t I report this?

“Because you love me.”

The words hit me like a bullet and I stare at him in disbelief. Sure, I was growing to like him. Have some feelings. But love? That sudden?

“That’s not a good enough reason!” I yell, turning away and walking off. “And I do NOT love you!”

…

My hand instinctively reaches for my phone and pauses.

“Because you love me.”

I shake my head. What does Damien know? One night of making out and he acts like we’re Romeo and Juliet, only Romeo doesn’t have any feelings for screwed Juliet.

I dial Payton’s number.

“Page! Are you alright? Izze told me about your collapse this morning. Are you sick?”

My eyebrows knot together.

Am I sick? Is that why I collapsed?

“Pretty sure I just didn’t get much sleep last night,” I mumble.

“But you’re better now.”

“Honestly? I don’t know.”

I hear a shuffling sound on the other end. “Page, what’s wrong?”

“Well,” I began carefully, “when you said I wasn’t a vamp-”

“About that,” she interrupts, “I’d like to apologize. What we said didn’t mean anything. We were just talking.”

“Okay but what do you think of half-breeds?”

“Well, I’ve heard of it before,” Payton answers slowly. “In movies and novels. But I’m not sure I’m following, Page.”

“We talked about how I was like a vampire but like a human, too. What if I was both?”

“Maybe. I don’t know where you came up with this idea but there’s still one problem. If you really are a half-breed, then that means one of your parents has to be a vampire.”

“It’s not possible.” I shook my head. “Dad died and Mom, well, you know what she’s like. And wouldn’t Lee be part-vampire, too?”

“It’s all about genetics. Let’s just entertain that your Dad was a vampire. This would mean that you received more of his genetic traits than Lee did.”

“Lee’s nothing like Mom,” I counter bitterly.

“I’m trying to help you here,” Payton reminds.

“I know, I’m sorry.” I sigh. “So you believe me, then?”

“I’ve always believed you, Page.”

“But Saturday-”

“You’re just a weird vampire,” Payton interrupts endearingly. “Or, I guess, half-breed.”

…

I dream of a gray day, my sister and I cloaked in black dresses as we wandered through a cemetery. We were much younger, just naïve children who had lost something so precious much too soon. How lucky we were to have each other to lean on.

“Wow, look how old this stone it!” I rushed to a crumbling rock, trying my best to make out the numbers. “Daisy…Black.”

“I wonder how she died.” Lee whispered darkly to me. “Anything could’ve happened.”

We shivered and continued snaking through the stones.

“MaryRose Lee,” I read. “Hey, sis, she has your name!”

“It’s her last name,” Lee corrected. “But I guess so.”

We looked at the numbers written on her stone. Too young to work with such big numbers without a calculator or paper with pen, we could at least agree that MaryRose lived until she was an old witch.

“I wonder if I’ll live that long,” my sister mused.

“Maybe, and maybe you’ll die tomorrow.” I spun around. “Just like Daddy.”

Then reality officially hit us: He was gone. Dad would never come back. Pat me on the head, eat Cheerios with us in the morning, or sing loudly in the shower just so we could hear how bad he was.

Gone. It was all gone.

I knelt, crushed by pain and wailed.

“Get up,” Lee ordered, sniffling. “Vampires don’t cry.”

I wobble to my feet and bury my face in the crook of my arm.

“Let’s go back. I’m sure they’re all gone.”

As I followed my sister I stumbled over a root and stepped onto the grave of a dead stranger.

“That’s bad luck, you know,” Lee said without glancing back.

“I didn’t mean it!” I whine.

“You still did it.”

“Besides,” I continue, ignoring her, “vampires don’t get bad luck. Nothing bad happens ever happens to us.”

“What about Daddy?” Lee counters.

“Daddy wasn’t a vampire.”