3. Rose
Rose
NOW
M y parents gesture to the kitchen table.
My brother and I sit down and my attention is briefly stolen by the clouds on the horizon outside the large bay windows.
Our house isn’t huge, but it’s on the beach just north of Newport, and every day the view seems to change.
I liked to think that I could control the weather with my moods and now, with the ocean roaring, dark gray and aqua curling into a powerful spray of white seafoam, I wonder even more.
With the way the clouds are hanging low and charcoal gray, I feel a thread of electricity between me and the sky, like we are both plugged into the same socket.
Like it used to be , I find myself thinking. When I was Dahlia.
Did that mean that whatever witchcraft she had is still in my veins? God, I hope so.
“Someone tell me what’s going on,” Dylan says, sounding utterly annoyed.
“Rose,” my father explains to him, “has discovered something about herself.”
Dylan looks at me with a dry expression. “That she’s a vampire?”
“I’m remembering past lives,” I tell him, and his glassy eyes widen with disbelief. “But that’s not the point of all of this. It’s that I remember people, vampires, talking about mom and dad before I was born.”
My brother slowly blinks. Even if he isn’t drowsy from a nap, or possibly high, this would still be confusing to him.
“And,” I go on, “I remember that their names aren’t John and Yvonne. It’s Wolf and Amethyst.”
Dylan snorts. “Dad’s nickname is Wolf.”
“That’s not his nickname. That’s his real name.”
“And who told you that?”
I glance at my parents who are hovering near the table, my father rubbing my mother’s back.
“An old friend of mine,” I say carefully, looking back at him.
I don’t want to bring up the whole Valtu/Dracula thing right now, because I know my brother has a fascination with him and all sorts of vampire lore, and I need things to stay on topic.
I’m sure there will be endless questions in the future, and I’m more than happy to divulge them because I know the more I talk about it, the more I’ll remember.
And the more I’ll make sense of it.
The more I’ll understand all the people I’ve been.
Because right now, it’s just percolating beneath the surface, waiting to bubble over.
“Okay, so what’s the danger then?” Dylan asks Mom and Dad. “If what Rose is saying is true, which is just far out, what does that have to do with us being in danger? You literally used the word danger .”
I stare at my parents, waiting for the truth. My stomach gurgles a little, a mild feeling of thirst passing through me, but I ignore it.
My dad runs a hand through his hair, a perfect mix of light brown and dark blond.
I was always told that I got my red hair from his Norwegian side, but now I wonder if that’s true.
I’m starting to wonder if he really is my father.
If what I remembered is true, how is it that they had me?
My mother said I’m her child, but we were always told that vampires that were created by other vampires couldn’t procreate.
“We may have been keeping some stuff from you,” my dad says. “But it was for your own good.”
“Okay…what stuff?” Dylan asks.
My parents exchange another harried look between themselves. Then my mother turns her attention to the window, watching as the storm clouds get closer. Rain starts to splatter against the panes and it’s like I can feel that rain inside my chest, against my ribs.
She takes in a deep breath, brushing her dark hair behind her ear.
“I wasn’t born a vampire,” she says in a low voice.
I figured that, but to hear it is still a shock. And from the look on my brother’s face, he’s even more surprised than I am.
“What do you mean?” he asks. “How is that possible? Those that are turned, turn into monsters. You’re annoying at times, but you’re not a monster. Not to mention they can’t, like, have children.” A deeper look of horror comes across his face. “Are we adopted?”
“No,” my father says emphatically. “You are biologically our children.”
“Really,” my mother says, her eyes full of tears. “You are. I was created by a vampire who is part witch. For whatever reason, she’s able to turn people into vampires and not monsters.”
“Lenore,” I say, wondering if now that I’m a vampire, am I still part witch? Am I the same?
She nods. “Yes. Lenore. I asked her to do it.”
“Why?” I ask.
She looks at my father. “Because I didn’t want your father to go through life without me.”
“I probably wouldn’t have let her, had I known,” my father says tiredly. “We had been friends for so long and had just gotten together…”
“My mother had just died,” she explains. “And I was so broken. And Lenore…she brought back her lover, Solon, from the dead and he was fine so we took the chance. I almost died for good. But when she was done, I was a vampire. Of course, we didn’t think I could get pregnant, but then I did.”
“With me,” Dylan says.
There’s a flash of hesitation on her face. Then she smiles brightly. “Yes. You were born Dylan. You were a miracle.” She looks at me. “And then you were our next miracle.”
I frown, not liking the idea of being a miracle. “So then, why hide this from us? And why change your names? Our last name isn’t really Harper, is it?”
My dad sighs and pulls out the chair across from us, sitting down, his tall frame making the chair seem tiny. “It isn’t. Your mother and I never officially got married. But when we found out she was pregnant, we decided Dylan’s last name would be mine. My real one. Eriksen.”
“So why Harper? Why change?” I ask.
My mother comes over and puts her hand on his shoulder. “Word got out that I was an anomaly. Not only a vampire that was created and turned by another without going mad, but one that could have children.” She takes in a trembling breath, her violet eyes filling with tears again. “We were afraid…”
“We thought it safest if we went into hiding,” my father finishes for her. “It’s not just humans we have to be cautious about in this world. It’s witches. It’s other vampires.”
“Other vampires? Witches?” Dylan asks.
I try not to bristle at the way he said witches. We’ve been taught that witches are our enemy, not vampires. But because Dahlia was a witch, well, I know exactly why vampires fear them. Us. Fuck, this is confusing.
“Not all vampires operate with the same moral codes as us,” my father explains patiently.
“And I’m not talking about the occasional killing here and there in the name of sustenance.
That happens. It’s not something to be proud of or condone.
But it happens. I’m talking about vampires who kill to kill.
Who want to dominate the human species as a whole.
Keep them as pets. That sort of mentality. ”
And that’s when I remember why I was in Venice.
To get back the book that fell into the hands of Saara and Aleksi.
“The vampires!” I suddenly exclaim. “The ones in Venice. Saara and Aleksi. They had a book, that’s why the guild sent me there, to get it back. What happened to them? What happened to the book?”
“Valtu killed them,” my mom says, and a burst of pride goes through me.
“Well, he thought he did,” corrects my father.
“He killed Aleksi, but Saara is still alive. She managed to survive somehow. We think maybe she had learned some magic to thwart death, we aren’t sure.
She’s now the head of that sect of vampires.
The ones who want to enslave humanity and kill any vampire that resists.
Her and another vampire called Enoch. They’re trying to become the next Skarde with a vampire army. ”
I shudder. “And the book?”
My mother chews on her lip for a long moment. I’m about to ask again when she finally says, “Valtu has the book.”
“What book?” Dylan asks. “Man, this is crazy ,” he adds, slapping his hands on his knees.
“The Book of Verimagiaa,” our father says. “It’s a book of spells made accessible to vampires, rumor has it that it was created by a vampire and a witch together. Very powerful if it’s in the wrong hands…” his words trail off and his tone deepens, as if insinuating Valtu is the wrong hands.
“So, it’s out of their hands,” I say. “And out of the guild’s hands, too. That’s good news. Valtu will protect it.”
My parents look at each other for a moment and something drops in my chest.
My mother clears her throat and looks at me. “A lot has changed since then, Rose,” she says. “Valtu isn’t exactly the same vampire that you…that he was.”
I swallow. “What do you mean? What happened to him?”
“Rose,” my father says gently, “you need to give us some time to come to terms with all of this. It’s one thing for us to tell you why we’re in hiding—”
“But you haven’t really told us why,” Dylan interjects, raising his hand.
“It’s another thing,” he goes on, ignoring his son, “it’s another for you to tell us all about your ex-lives. I’m still not sure I believe it.”
“You think I’m lying?!” I exclaim, pushing my chair back with such force I nearly fall out of it.
“Honey, please,” my mom says, glaring at my dad for a second. “That’s not it. It’s just…maybe your wires got crossed. Maybe you were reading about Dracula, the real story, before the transition, and then all these hormones and chemical changes in your brain, maybe they—”
I get to my feet. “I’m not lying!” I yell just as a giant bolt of lightning hits the sundeck, frying the wood with an explosive bang.
“What the fuck?” Dylan yells, and now everyone is on their feet, staring at the fire as it smolders in the rain.
“Did you do that?” my dad asks me in a hushed voice.
I don’t know what to say. Even as Dahlia I never had the magic to make lightning strike. Now it feels like my emotions are connected to the weather. An elemental witch? Something more? Something…else?
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
“I think we better drop this subject,” my mom says nervously. “Before—”
“Hell no,” Dylan says, pivoting his attention back to them. “You never told us why you changed your names. You said that you went into hiding because of other vampires. Or witches,” he glances at me suspiciously. “Why would they care about you?”
“That’s a conversation for another time,” my father says.
“Another time? Why not now? It’s all coming out, from the fact that you changed your names, to mom not being born a vampire, to us being in hiding, to Rose being reincarnated. Might as well tell us everything.”
“Because of you!” my mother yells. “Because of you and Rose. Because I might have passed down the power that Lenore gave me. That maybe you can create vampires that don’t turn into monsters.
That’s exactly what Saara and Enoch would want.
A way to have vampires take over the earth.
They could do tests on you, force you to create more, add more minions to their army.
Not to mention what the witches might do… ”
“And maybe they want your mother for the same reasons,” my dad says gruffly. “We couldn’t take any more chances…” His eyes get misty and he looks away. Clears his throat. “Anyway. We did the best we could to keep all of us safe.”
He goes over to my mother and puts his arm around her. “Now, if you kids don’t mind, I need to talk to your mother alone. This is a lot to bring up in one go. We thought we buried this part of our past behind us, but I guess not.”
He kisses her head gently and then guides her out of the kitchen.
Dylan watches them go and then shakes his head, going after them. “No way. I have too many questions.”
“Dylan,” I warn, wishing he would leave them alone, but he disappears down the hall.
I exhale, feeling weak and shaky, run my hand over my face as if it will clear the cobwebs.
I stare out at the smoldering deck, the wooden boards charred.
There’s no more thunder or lightning, just rain and low clouds turning the day into twilight.
I don’t know if it’s my witch side or my vampire side, but everything seems so much more alive.
And so much more painful.
There’s more to what my parents just told me. Dylan suspects it too, but they won’t give him anything. I’ve seen my father shut things down before when he gets that cagey look in his eye, and this won’t be an exception.
What a fucking way to transition. My whole life I waited until the day I turned twenty-one, when I would finally step into the vampire I was destined to become.
Now it feels like destiny is fucking me over once again.
I’ve not only become a vampire, I’ve discovered I was and maybe am part witch. And that I am part of a long line of souls that keeps getting reincarnated. But brought back for what purpose? Is it as I promised Valtu, that my heart would always find his? Or is it something greater than that?
Why do I remember?
Why am I here again ?
I close my eyes and a powerful surge of love washes over me, sinking into the marrow of my bones, making me feel borderline nauseous and dizzy.
I loved Valtu, and I still do.
I still do.
But where is he in this big bad world?
What has he done with the book? What has the book done with him?
And how the hell am I going to find him again?
…does he even want me to?