Dana was waiting for them at the castle when they arrived. They landed at the gates and walked to the entrance where she was standing.
“Where have you two been?” She asked them.
“I was just showing Joana how to use her wings,” Derick answered the question for them.
“Excited to be a vampire huh?” she said as she turned to Joana.
“Not at all,” Joana replied. “I want to go back home. Grandma Jen would be worried sick by now!”
“Don’t worry, I’ve talked to Grandma Jen, I told her you’re with me and that you’re safe. Although it did take a bit of brainwashing.”
“You brainwashed my grandma?” Joana said loudly.
“Don’t worry, she’s fine, only that she has no memory of the wedding and the plans you had made the past month. I did the same to all your guests, including your groom. And also, to anyone who could provide information about what happened at the wedding, for a little token of course.”
“Why would you do that?” Joana asked.
“To protect you. I was working all night with the others, wiping memories and making sure that no one had a clue as to whether there was a wedding, or if anything strange happened in it.”
Joana still found it difficult to understand what Dana was saying. Why would she wipe the memory of all her guests? And her husband. She wondered if Andrew was okay.
“Don’t worry, Andrew is fine. I handed him over to his family after removing the venom. Told them he was probably bitten by a snake!” Dana said with a laugh after reading her thoughts.
“He literally was!” Derick said, joining in the comedy. However, Joana was not finding any of this funny.
“Let’s go inside, Joana,” Dana said, noticing her mood. “I know this is a lot for you, you probably thought you would be on your honeymoon by now but here you are, stuck in a dark castle with two vampires.”
Joana didn’t know if Dana was trying to make her feel better or feel worse, but as she thought of what Dana said, she definitely felt worse.
They entered the castle and went into the library, then took their seats at the several chairs and tables arranged there.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come back earlier,” Dana continued saying to her. “I didn’t mean to leave you stuck with Derick here, but I couldn’t come out in the sun as it was already morning when we had finished. I forgot to bring some vamscren so I had to hide away until the sunset.”
“What’s a vamscren?” Joana asked her.
“It’s a special potion that we drink to protect us from roasting in the sun. It’s made from dragon tears.”
“Dragon?”
“Yes honey, dragons do exist the same way as vampires, witches, trolls, werewolves, yetis, centaurs, demons, you name it. We all belong to the world of the supernatural, and the humans have little to no memory of us, and it’s supposed to stay that way. Those who know of our existence either get their memories wiped, or are taken to mental asylums. This is the number one rule in the book of the supreme council. The supernatural world must remain a secret to humans, offenders are liable to be punished by death. That is why I had to go out of my way to ensure that no one knew about what happened on your wedding day. You would have been killed if you were caught by the supreme council, and so would we have been, the members of your coven, for letting things get out of hand.”
Dana was reading her thoughts, so she didn’t need to wait for Joana to ask a question before answering.
“The supreme council, also known as the council of five, are the leaders in charge of the mortals and immortals, the natural and the supernatural, the humans and the non-humans. They are the ones who keep the balance between the two worlds and the number one way to maintain that balance is by keeping the knowledge of the supernatural world away from the humans, and anyone who defies this will be punished severely.”
“As for the reason why you became a vampire, I will now tell you the story of your ancestor, Marilyn Lou.
“Marilyn Lou was a vampire, just like the rest of us and like you now. She was also a member of this coven, and things were fine until she fell in love with a human peasant, John.
Joana leaned forward, eager to hear about this her ancestor, and how she had to do with the fact that she became a vampire. Dana continued speaking as she noticed she had Joana’s full attention.
“Lou’s obsession with this human became too much as she left this castle and moved in with him. She always said that being with him reminded her of how her life was when she was a human before she was transformed by a vampire priest just to save her life. John found out she was a vampire, and he kept it a secret for her sake. But people began to notice when John’s mysterious girlfriend could only be seen at night, and never during the day, and when she dined with his family, she never ate.
“Marylin knew that she wouldn’t be able to hide things for long, as his family members began to suspect that she was probably a witch or something, and witches were not treated kindly in the olden days.”
Joana was never the kind that loved stories but this was an interesting one, and it was probably going to be the deciding factor on how she would spend the rest of her life, so she knew she had to pay attention to every little detail.
“Marylin returned to the castle to keep the peace, but for days she couldn’t sleep. She came here to the library, searching if she would find a way or a place for her and her lover to be together without causing any disruption. John had offered to run away and come and live here as a vampire, but Marylin knew that his family would never stop until they found him or even his dead body, as he was the only child. And if they ever came here, this coven will be finished. She didn’t want to endanger our lives by transforming John, so she kept on searching for another alternative and never gave up until she found one. “Luck shone one her one day when she found a book about where she could find the supreme council. Everyone knew about their existence and how they keep the law but no one had ever seen them, except of course for those who had incurred their wrath, and were never seen or heard from again after being summoned to their presence. “In her desperation to be with her
He looked at her eyes again and gave up. He would never say no to the one he loved, even if it meant she would leave him again. “Fine,” he said. “But I am only helping you for personal reasons.” She raised her brow at what he said. He then realized how weird that just sounded. “No,” he said, correcting himself. “I mean that I can’t tell you the reason why I am helping you, but just know that it has something to do with Marylin Lou.” Ok, she said with a small breath of relief. “We will go hunting now as we need to feed and store some blood for later. I will show you how to do it, Dana didn’t come back with the remaining members of the coven, Hillary and Edmund. They should be on their way if they are not already back. I’ll go and check for them and see if they are around, then we will all go together.” And with that, he flew out of the room quickly. He came back about two minutes later with a bowl and a cover. “They are no
Joana never believed that she would have this much fun going hunting with Derick and drinking from the dead body of a wild animal. At first, she refused to let her mouth touch its raw skin, telling him to pour the blood into the bowl for her before she would agree to drink. But as she saw the blood was rushing out from the deer, she felt it call to her. She didn’t know what came over her as she dragged it away from his claws and began to drink from it. She couldn’t believe it, but it felt better than drinking from the bowl as this was coming right from the source, still flowing, still fresh, it felt like heaven to her mouth. She didn’t stop until she finished it, she didn’t mind Derick who was looking at her, shaking his head. After she finished, she dropped the bloodless animal to the floor, licking the few drops of blood that stained her lips, she was still hungry, or still thirsty rather. Derick noticing how she felt, spoke to her. “You’ve got quite an appetite th
“The first thing that you will be learning from me today is how to control your affinity for blood. As a vampire, blood is the same as life for you, you will always desire it and you will always feel as if you cannot live without it. The truth of the matter is that you can, but for an inexperienced vampire like you, it’s impossible as it takes years to control one’s hunger.”Joana sat down in the study, listening to everything that Derick was saying. Tonight, was the first night of her training with him, she didn’t know how long it would take before she would be able to master her vampire powers but she hoped it would be soon enough, as it hadn’t been three days yet and she already missed the sunlight. She turned her focus back on Derick who went to the table to bring the bowl of blood they had gone to hunt for last night.“I will place this bowl directly in front of you, and I will cuff you in handcuffs containing bits of silver; not enough to harm you but to weaken you
“Are you crazy?” Dana said to Derick. “So, in your bid to make her see the importance of patience, you try to kill her?”“Relax Dana, she’s an immortal, she can’t die.”“I expected better from you Derick, you know how important blood is to us as vampires. No vampire can survive without it. But instead of telling her that, you choose to lie to her. What if she had surprised you and tore down that roof? What would you have said?”“I’m sorry, Dana, but you can’t blame this all on me. While you and the others decided to leave her alone because she said she wasn’t joining us, I was the only one who still decided to help her. You know I would never try to kill her. I wanted the best for her, the same way I did with Marylin, and I would never make her go through anything I haven’t been through myself.”Dana tried to shield her thoughts. She didn’t want him to read them, but she hated it when he was right. Derick continued speaking.“No one loved Marylin more than me in this
“Yes Joana, you guessed it right. They were lovers. Derick fell in love with her right from the first day he joined the coven. They went into a relationship not long after. They were still together when Hillary and I joined the coven. Their bond was inseparable, and no one would have ever thought that they would break up; until John came into the picture. At first, she would lie to Derick that she wanted to go somewhere far, but she would go and see John instead. The outings became too frequent and Derick kept on wondering where she would always be going as they hardly spent time with each other anymore. One day, he decided to spy on her thoughts even though they promised they wouldn’t do that to each other, but he couldn’t help his curiosity anymore. He became heartbroken upon seeing that she had been cheating on him with John. He confronted her about it, and she confirmed it. They broke up immediately after and she continued her relationship with John, eventually moving in wit
Joana didn’t need any more explaining to understand why Marylin had chosen John. She missed her human life because she had a husband whom she was happy with; and it must have killed her when she found out that she would have to leave her husband and her family, and live as a lonely vampire for the rest of her life.Dana, upon reading her thoughts, said to her.“Marylin was never lonely here. She had me, Derick, Edmund and Hillary.”“I know she did, but you can’t replace the happiness you will feel when you have a family with that of being in a coven. You probably didn’t know what she had to go through, she had to leave everything she had behind to come and live in a strange world. The same thing you wanted me to do. But it’s never easy to make those kinds of decisions, to leave your loved ones behind. It’s like you’re dying, and you make them think you are dead, but you’re still alive, but you know you can never see them again.”“It’s one of the sacrifice
“Oh, hey Joana come in, you wanted to see me?” Dana said, placing the book on the bed upon seeing Joana at the entrance.Joana entered the room and walked towards where Dana sat.“Yes, I did,” she said. “I went to your room but you weren’t there. Derick told me where to find you.”“Sorry, sometimes I just get carried away and come here. This is the only part of the castle that reminds me of Marylin. It’s like I can still feel her presence here, you know.“We used to hang out here a lot. I would visit her here and she would always read me stuff from her diary.” Dana then picked up the book she was reading and gave it to Joana.“It’s a magic diary, it was given to her by a pixie,” she said. “It’s pages never wither and only the owner can read it. Try and see if you can.”Joana held the book to her eye and turned one of the pages open. There was nothing written there, just blank pages staring at her. Then suddenly, before her eyes, the words bega