The Prophecy
Training

“RUN TRINITY!”

Run? Why was I running? How couldhe expect me to run after the high I felt? Who could come after us whom wecouldn’t defeat? Alex always said to keep a low profile but now he wanted torun through town! It was a rash decision on his part – I could tell by lookingat him.I could see he was uneasywith the possibility of people seeing two people running much faster thannormal, with blood everywhere. It would be a terrifying shock. I hoped thatnobody could see us anyway. What would they think if they did? Once the murdervictims had been found, and the crime got on the news, people would rememberseeing two – things – running through town, with blood everywhere.

“Why are we running? Who’s coming? Isit Daniel?” I questioned.

I was shocked at the way that name rolled outof my mouth. I never wanted to speak that name out loud. But there it was,clear as day: Daniel. Hearing it from my own ears was a wake up call. Irealized he was real and he was somebody I had to replace. Either that, or hidefor the rest of my existence. Hiding didn’t seem like an option to Alex, andsince I was going to be with him, I guess I wouldn’t be hiding either.

“No, it’s not Daniel. I don’t knowwho it is, but it’s another vampire. He wasn’t there by mistake. He’s lookingfor us. I just…” he tried to smell the air. “I can’t tell who it is.”

“What… How… How would you know whoit is without looking at that person? How can you just smell and know?” Ifigured it was a reasonable question. But apparently he didn’t, because hebecame angry.

“Use your senses, Trinity. That’swhy you have them! You’ll never survive in this world if you don’t!” His yellwas loud and mean.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” I unlocked hisgrip and stopped. “You must have mistaken me for somebody who knew all thesethings about being a vampire. Did I disappoint you, my master?!”

He looked like he might haveunderstood me, maybe even sympathized with me, but you can never tell what avampire is thinking. They’ve got a twenty-four hour poker face. Or do they? Itwas another question that I didn’t have an answer to. But if I asked him, Imight upset him even further. And who wanted that?

“What senses?” I said, irritated.

He walked back to where I was,lowering his head and letting out a sigh in defeat. Just by his body language Iknew he didn’t want to talk, but he answered my question anyway.

“As a vampire you don’t need to breathe tostay alive. But if you’re in search of something or someone, the answers willbe in the air around you. Human senses are dense; ours are magnified. We candistinguish differences in many things around us, especially a human versus avampire. You can smell a human’s blood pulsing through his veins.” He lifted myarms by my wrists. “You can tell how far away they are and how many there are.You can smell a vampire by the blood they recently drank. It seeps throughtheir skin. They all smell a different way. Just like one human smellsdifferent from another, even if they wear the same perfume. You have to openyour senses to it.” He dropped my arms, almost tossing them, and smelled theair once more.

“You don’t have to be so rough youknow.” I rubbed my wrists.

“I don’t smell him any longer.We’ve either lost him or he gave up.”

“I guess that’s a relief,” I said sarcastically.I looked down at the clothes I was wearing, now drenched in blood, and lookedover at Alex. We were a matched pair. I thought to myself: There has to be a cleaner way of doing that. I couldn’t bringmyself to say feeding or any otherword remotely close to what just happened. The blood on our clothes made itevident that what we did was wrong on all levels. And no matter how many moretimes I did it, and regardless of Alex’s excuses that we have to, it wouldn’tbe justified.

I looked around where we were standing. Not ahuman in sight; just trees and dirt and the road we stood on. I felt sad. Iwanted to go home. My heart felt just as deserted as this town. I wanted towalk in the door and see my daughter on the bed coloring and my husband on thecouch watching TV. I wanted all of this insanity to end and my perfect life toreturn.

“There’s a coven not far from here.We can take refuge there. There’s more you need to be taught and the ones therecan help you.”

I was getting frustrated: more crapI needed to learn, more abilities I need to know – or, as Alex put it: ‘I wouldneed to embrace it.’ It just seemed too hard for me to know or learn any ofthis, and so quickly. It always brought me back to the same question. Why was Iso important? Who the hell was my family? Why couldn’t Alex tell me anything?He was there with my mother. Surely she had told him something. He was holdingsomething from me that he thought might hurt me or anger me. I didn’t knowwhich, but I needed to replace out.

If Daniel was too strong and timeproved that nobody could kill him, how the hell could I? How could somebody whohad only been a vampire for what – forty eight hours? – do the impossible? Evenafter more training and learning, how could it be done? Who gave that prophecyto me? It was a joke!

I rolled my eyes at Alex as wecontinued walking slowly through the open lands that surrounded us. The sun wasgolden in the sky and I felt warm inside. I could feel my veins pulse, but itwasn’t because I was hungry or angry. It relaxed me. Maybe this was what Alexmeant by the sun making me stronger. I felt like I could walk forever, nevergetting tired or needing a break. Just walking.

Further along, I noticed that thetrees had all disappeared, and there were fields and fields of yellow grassesand snow-capped mountains in the far distance. It reminded me of a postcardpicture. The label would read: Wish you were here. It was beautiful andquiet.

Alex and I didn’t say a word toeach other. He looked like he was deep in thought, about something that hedidn’t want to share. So I kept to myself. I thought about all the things I’dbeen through the last couple of days. I wondered what all my dreams could mean.I thought about what Alex told me about my senses and I tried to catch hisscent. But all I could smell was blood. Nothing special or different. Just deadblood.

After hours of walking, we finallyreached our destination. I was relieved when we reached an open farm. It wasbeautiful to see anything other than open land. There was no evidence of humansor vampires and the surrounding silence told us there were no animalseither.

The sun was high in the sky andshone down on the property, making the distant mountains seem so close youcould almost touch them. The scent of the snow covering the peaks was so strongthat it was hard not to smell it. There was a slight chill in the air butneither of us could feel it.

As we got closer, I couldn’t see ahouse, but there was an old barn made out of rusted steel. What must have oncebeen silver was now turning to a yellowing, reddish-orange due to the rain andage. It was larger than any other barn I’d seen. It was two stories tall withwindows at the top. Next to the barn were two round water towers made out of steel,the top coming to a point. Behind them was an old, rotting, wooden look-outtower. There were no horses, no cows, and no animals to indicate that this wasa farm. To anybody passing by, it just looked abandoned.

As we walked passed the decaying farm,we finally came upon a house. It was an old, cottage-style, two-story home madeout of stone. It was completely out of its element. It bore two chimneys; oneon each end. The top floor had three round windows, and all were blackened out.The house didn’t exhibit the abandonment of the farm. It looked like it wasbuilt years after the farm fell apart. The large, wooden door was embellishedwith an old, rustic, doorknocker, which we didn’t have to use. The door flewopen, making me jump back behind Alex. A woman stood in the doorway, wearing anold maiden dress, with long flowing black hair and eyes as cold as ice. She wasbreathtaking.

“Alexander! We’ve been waiting foryou.” Her voice was even more beautiful than she was. She stood in the doorway,impatiently tapping her foot against the ground and seeming to be very angry.

“I’m sorry, Mary. We were delayed.Somebody was tracking us.”

“Were you followed!?” Her tone hadurgency. She looked me up and down like she had a grudge against me.

“No, and I couldn’t tell who itwas. Daniel must have recruited more soldiers.”

“Get inside – the two of you. Wehave a lot of work to do!” She half shoved me through the door.

She moved to the side so we couldget past and enter into the living room. It wasn’t very big. It had stone wallswith nothing hanging on them, and wooden floors with a circular rug. There werefour Lazy Boy chairs in a half circle with a torn-up brown couch against thewall completing the half circle. But before I could sit down, let alone lookaround any further, four men came walking down the stairs in front of me. Theywere all wearing blue combat gear and stood like a small army, with noexpression on their faces.

“Is that her?” the taller of thefour, obviously the leader, said to Alex while looking at me. His voice wasdeep and resonated with authority.

“Of course…” Alex said.

I tried looking over Alex’sshoulder to see, but he was taller than me. I moved to the right of him and sawfour vampires. I couldn’t help but wonder, with the way they stood and the waythey had no reaction, no reflexes to anything: Was this a trap? Was I beinglied to only to be lured here? Was this my fate: to die at the hands ofstrangers?

The four men were strong in build;the shirts they wore seemed a little too tight; I could see the definition oftheir many muscles through the fabric. They all had dark brown hair to matchtheir dark features and all had the famous vampire glowing blue eyes. The onlyfeature that I could see that distinguished one from the other was theirheight.

“Is she rested…? Fed?” The leaderwalked down the stairs and rounded the banister to where Alex was standing.

“Yes Marcus. Do you think I don’tknow my obligation and my duty?” Alex seemed confused and cross about howMarcus was talking to him.

Was I wrong? Was Alex the trueleader? Both stood at the same height and both were fierce. I felt like I wascaught in a rumble with the Outsiders.

“Watch your tone, Alexander. We’reall here for the same purpose.”

I started to get irritated. I don’tlike when people ignore me and figure its okay not to talk to me personally.“Hi,” I said. I pushed my way through to the vampire they called Marcus. “Hi,I’m right here. Can we all talk as if I can hear, because I can assure you thatI can, and as of a few days ago I can hear a hell of a lot better. I don’t likebeing talked around!”

Marcus gave me a half smile; as ifmy annoyance gave him pleasure. “Okay, Trinity, since you’re so eager to know, to…begin. Get changed.” He looked at my blood-stained clothes. “If you’re going tofight, those’ll never do.”

The others laughed. They knew whatMarcus meant. But it was all a secret to me. I was nervous and I had to bealert. I didn’t know what Alex had brought me into. I had to be able to trustpeople that I didn’t know and believe that Alex had brought me here to train todo what was expected of me. But I was still scared that I wouldn’t seetomorrow.

Mary grabbed me by the hand and ledme upstairs. She led me into one of the rooms closest to the stairs andvirtually pushed me in. The room was almost bare. There was a mattress with nopillows or sheets, a mirror hanging on the wall, a closet with the door closed,and three windows that must have been the only ones in the whole house that letin the light. Obviously they didn’t need the room, since they didn’t sleep andthey didn’t want to make it appear nice in anyway. Comfort was not what thishouse was here for. It was meant for some kind of training and soon I wouldreplace out what that training was.

I stood next to the door notwanting to enter any further. There was just something about Mary that didn’tsit well with me; she didn’t seem as genuine as the others. She seem mad thatshe was there helping me or whatever it was the rest of them were doing. Shegave the impression that hers was an unwanted chore, not a survival mission andshe could have been doing something that was more meaningful to her.

Mary walked to the closet andgrabbed the clothes that were waiting for me. Maybe she would be open to alittle conversation. Maybe she was so pissed off that she would tell me thesecret that everybody else wanted to keep from me.

“’Mary,’ is it?” She nodded. “Can you tell me what’s going on? I mean, whyam I here?”

She turned to look at me with anapprehensive look on her face, as if she didn’t want to talk to me. “You’rehere to save us.” She smiled sarcastically.

“Huh?” I was taken aback just bythe way she said ‘to save us.’

She crossed the floor and handed methe clothes. “I can’t say much, but you’re the one. The Almighty gift from God.You’re the last descendent and only you have the power to end this war. Hurryput these clothes on and meet the guys outside.”

“Yeah, but why?” And before I couldturn around to look at her, she was already gone. I stood in the room for amoment, looking around. They really didn’t care much for the finer things, Iguess. Everything was all basic, like I was at boot camp. Even the clothes theywanted me to wear.

MaybeI should just give up with the questions, I thought. They won’t be answered anyway, so it is just a waste of time. Idecided to do what I was told and just deal with it. I was dressed in almostthe same gear the men were wearing. Blue cargo pants with pockets on the legs,a blue tank top, and black combat boots. I put my hair back. Yes, they gave mea hair tie. They must have known I needed one. I looked at myself in themirror. Is this what was in store for me,being a fighter? All I needed now was a big gun and green and black painton my face. Is this who I am now?

I hurried downstairs and walkedoutside. I saw that the four vampires were waiting in the field in a halfcircle with their arms crossed as if they were getting mad that it was takingme so long. I didn’t care. They could wait longer if need be. Alex stood on theporch waiting for me.

“Don’t be scared, Trinity.” Hewalked in front of me. I felt the brush of his breath on my face. “They’ve beenfighting for a long time, many alongside Daniel. They know what it takes tobeat him; they know his moves and his strategies. But you’re going to need toconcentrate harder than you do with me. Let them teach you. Don’t beintimidated by them and don’t let them see you get nervous. And whatever youdo, don’t let them defeat you! If you get knocked down, get right back up withmore determination. If you stay down, they will use that against you. Trust me.You’ll be taught well.”

He walked away before I could sayanything. But oddly enough, I wasn’t scared. I wanted to learn. Whatever thesemen were doing had to be working. If they had fought beside Daniel and now theyhad nothing to do with him, wouldn’t he have killed them? Wouldn’t they bedead? But here they stood ready and willing to teach me everything they knew.

“Are you ready, Trinity? Are youready to learn how to be undefeated?” Marcus yelled from the distance. And eventhough he seemed daunting from where I was standing, and the sound of his voiceput a chill in the air, I found myself getting drawn in with interest.

As I approached, the other threemen were starting to play-fight – laughing and high fiving – betting on whocould throw me down first. I started to see past their soldier images. They remindedme of three children at play.

When I reached Marcus, the onlyword I could say was “…Yes…”

He smiled, almost a full smile thistime. I must have just peaked his interest. “Then watch closely, they have atendency to move quite… quickly.” He turned his head to look on. “BEGIN!” Heyelled.

I was completely absorbed in whatthey were doing. Two of the vampires looked as if they where going to team up,as Marcus and the last vampire walked to the side. In a split second, the twopulled out swords, from where I have no idea, and started swinging them at eachother. Their feet moved in rhythm; they could have been almost dancing. Sparks flew from how hardthe metal clashed. The sound could be heard for miles away. It was no wonder wewere out so far from civilization. One would slide to the ground while theother tried to step on him. Then the first one would jump to the back side ofthe other and kick him to the ground.

I looked over at Marcus; he wassmiling and nodding his head in approval. I had to ask him. “Who are they? Imean, where did you guys come from?”

And without looking at me, heanswered, his arms crossed and his feet firmly on the ground. “The taller oneis Jessup.”

I looked over at the one he calledJessup. He was strong and handsome, but he was disfigured with what seemed tobe a blade mark going down the right side of his face. Could it be from thistype of training? He had a tattoo on his left forearm, but I couldn’t tell whatit was. Some design that seemed ancient.

“He was one of Daniel’s captains beforehe conspired against him. That’s where he got that scar: Daniel’s mark ofbetrayal. Jessup, like Alex, couldn’t stand for the injustice that Danielinflicted on others. One night, Daniel asked Jessup to kill a child of onlythree months because he thought she would make for a good snack. And that wasit for Jessup. When he turned his back to Daniel, Daniel gave him something toalways remind him of that night. And that’s why Jessup is here now. The otheris Cyrus.”

Cyrus was slightly shorter thanJessup but just as well-built. I couldn’t see a tattoo on him, unless it washidden and he was scar-free.

“I met Cyrus years ago when he wason the verge of death. His maker left him with no knowledge of how to hunt orhow to survive or even who he was. I think he meant to kill him, but before hecould do it, something happened and he wasn’t able to finish. We trained himand formed him into the soldier you see before you…”

“I’m Jimmie!” The last of the fourvampires spoke, excited to even be heard. “I’m the newbie.”

“Ahh, yes. Jimmie. We just acquiredhim from Daniel’s army. He was a low-ranked soldier; a soldier to do Daniel’sbidding without question and to put it simply, he didn’t like his purpose andso he found us.”

Jimmie stepped to the side of Marcusand smiled at me. He was also well-built and beautiful just like the others,only shorter and more childlike. He seemed like he didn’t want to be caught inthe middle of the chaos of this war and was trying to see the humor in it. Hetoo had the tattoo, but it wasn’t on his forearm, it was on his neck.

“What’s with the tattoos? Are theyfrom an initiation or something?” I was curious as I pointed to Jimmie’s neck.The sound of breath, harsh words and swords were heard from the distance. Iknew I should be watching and studying, but my curiosity was stronger than thestudent in me.

“They’re to show rank. In Daniel’sworld he needs to keep track of who are his best and worst. If you bear thatsymbol on your neck, you, as Jimmie, are low in rank and are basically thegophersfor everybody else. You dowhat you’re told when you’re told with no questions. You have no authority andno authorization. If you do not comply with your orders, the penalty is death.”

I studied the symbol. There werethree snakes forming a circle, entangling themselves in a weird looking crown.This was no crown I had ever seen. It was majestic looking; it had no color butjewels everywhere. Even the snakes had jewels for eyes.

As I looked at Jessup’s armthrashing around with his sword, I wondered about the meaning of forearm. “Andif it’s on your forearm?” I kept my eyes on Jessup.

“Then you’re one of his captains.You do all his fighting with no question as to why you’re doing it. Your goalis to have Daniel live, and if that means you die then so be it. And if youfail and an assassination attempt happens on your watch, then the penalty isalso death.

“And if you have one on yourchest…” He lifted up his shirt. I could see every muscle and every line, notone impurity was visible. His chest was nothing less than beautiful. “…then yousit alongside his throne and those men that bow at your feet will die for you.”

I looked at the strange symbol thatwas in the middle of his chest. It looked familiar. I knew I had seen itsomewhere before; I just couldn’t place it. Maybe it was something I saw in adream? “What is it?” I asked curiously. I reached out to touch it but hebrought down his shirt faster than my hand could reach. I could tell he wasashamed to have such a mark that followed him around.

“The symbol is his families’crest.” He wasn’t able to finish his answer.

My concentration was interruptedwhen I heard something shatter loudly. Cyrus and Jessup had broken the swords.There was nothing left but broken metal at their feet and the grips in theirhands.

“You broke another one, Jessup! Doyou know how long it takes to make these freakin’ things!” Cyrus seemed angrybut there was a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Well, maybe if you make thembetter they wouldn’t break so easily.” Jessup sounded arrogant.

It was hard watching them argue butfunny just the same. They were loud but childish. They reminded me of twobrothers fighting over food or something else just as stupid. It took all I hadnot to laugh at them.

Cyrus walked up to Jessup andpushed him. Jessup didn’t move an inch. “Maybe if you didn’t have to showoff….”

“ENOUGH!” Marcus cut him off.

They both froze looking at theirleader. The two men backed away from each other, lowering their heads like adog that had just been scolded. They would have to fight each other anotherday. Apparently, when Marcus barked orders you needed to listen.

Jessup cracked his neck, stretchedout his back muscles by rolling his arms and looked me. Cyrus didn’t stay. Hewalked over to where Marcus stood.

“Trinity, the sooner you learn tofight, the better off we’ll all be.” Marcus said looking over at me.

“Huh? Err, you mean I have tofight… him?” I pointed toward Jessup. “Why not, umm… Jimmie? He looks like hecould use some exercise.” I pointed to the eager vampire standing next toMarcus. He was rocking back and forth waiting for the possibility that Marcussays yes. “I mean come on, look how eager he is.”

“Since Jessup has more experiencefighting with Daniel’s army than Jimmie does, he knows what moves they’ll useand how they’ll attack. Jimmie’s never had the opportunity to fight withDaniel.”

“But…” I couldn’t get another wordout.

“GO!” He yelled baring his teeth.

I mumbled under my breath andwalked toward Jessup. He stood there motionless, like he was waiting for thehunt and I was his prey. I felt very intimidated and he didn’t care. How was Igoing to defend myself against him? I was actually shaking when I reached him:when I got closer to my doom.

My feet stood firmly on the groundwaiting for him to do something. I wasn’t going to be the one to make the firstmove. He could forget that. Even if I had to stand there all day and wait, Iwouldn’t make one move toward him. I tried to prepare my body for the worst. Itensed and let out a growl; where it came from I don’t know. He leaned in,right up close to my face. I pulled my head back just a bit in case he wasgoing to try and hit me.

“This is going to hurt.” His lipscurled as he spoke.

I wanted to say something mean oreven tough, but before I could give him one of my sarcastic remarks he wasright in front of me slamming both his hands into my chest. I flew across thefield and landed on my butt. I was a little disoriented and I had to shake myhead to bring back my focus. I really didn’t expect that to happen. But morethan that, I didn’t expect what happened next, and honestly, I don’t think hecould have imagined it either.

I felt a surge of energy and ragethroughout my body, something like twenty cups of coffee would give you. I gotup and saw that he was looking at Marcus and the others laughing at my expense.I remembered what Alex had said, not to let them knock me down, and so I got upwith no hesitation and I ran over to where he was. I grabbed his arm then swungmy leg under his feet and dropped him to the ground. I sat on top of himholding his one arm above his head and another around his neck.

He looked up at me. “Very good!” hesaid with approval.

“AGAIN!” Marcus yelled from thedistance.

Jessup was my teacher and I was hisstudent. I tried to mimic his gracefulness and authority. He showed me whatmoves to do and what moves they’d be expecting. He taught me moves that wouldtrick my opponent, making them defenseless against me, even if I didn’t knowwhat I was doing. I picked up his skill quickly, especially for somebody whonever fought a day in her life. I had to say there was perfection, evenflawlessness, to everything he did, from his arm work to the way he casuallywalked. I only hoped that I mimicked him well.

Night had fallen upon us without usrealizing it. The stars were shining and looked yellow. Because we were so farout in the country, the moon seemed very close. It was bright and beautiful. Itwas silent and the trees were still. Blackness surrounded us and the onlysounds we could hear were the shuffling of our feet as we moved across theground.

“Tell me more about how to defeat avampire… please. I mean does garlic do anything, does holy water melt our skinor do crosses scare us?” My voice was low and sincere, with a bit of humor.Trying to make him laugh was like trying to make it rain in the desert.

He let out a low laugh to mysurprise and shook his head.

“You’ve been watching too manymovies, Trinity. Garlic has no effect; in fact, some vampires use it asdecoration. And many of us visit churches as much as we can. It’s really theonly place for us to confess our sins and hopefully not be judged. Holy wateris really just a myth. In regards to crosses: we hold them very close to ourheart. We do believe in God and pretty much everything that goes along withHim. If we didn’t, then how would we explain you?

“Now, umm, things that will hurtus… Well, what you’ll need to know, and what everybody seems to forget to teachis that our skin is as easy to puncture as any mortal’s. But just because wecan get stabbed or hurt doesn’t mean it’ll affect us. It will heal instantly.If you break a bone, hurry and put it back into place or it will heal wrong andyou will suffer. Unless you break it again.”

I stared at the deep-voicedvampire, but he was looking away towards the darkness surrounding us. Itsounded like he might be hiding something from me as he spoke. Or maybe itpained him to talk about these things, considering Daniel almost killed him.

“There are only a few ways to killa vampire. Drive a sword or some sharp object through their heart and it’ll bean easy dying process. You can set them on fire. If you do, they will not beable to put it out. Our skin is very flammable. You can put out the flames ofour burning clothes, but our skin, well, it is very hard to. It’s likekerosene. That’s the only way I can describe it. Some vampires are easy to killin that respect because they smoke. I mean, it’s okay to smoke. Really, what isit going to do to our lungs, right? But some vampires are careless. If oneburning ash hits our skin we could go up in flames. It is a slow and agonizingdeath.”

I cringed at the thought ofwatching a vampire burn; the smell alone must be horrible. “Yuck.”

“Also, you can tear their head off.Obviously, without a head, the body cannot work. But you will replace it will behard to do. Not only are we fast but our heads are pretty much well-attached.”He laughed. “If you’re able to, that is the fastest way to die. No pain will befelt. As for you….You can bite them in the neck…”

“Why ‘for me’?” I wondered.

“Your acid will kill us. Didn’tAlex tell you?”

“Well, yeah, he told me I had somekind of acid. But that’s about it.” I lied.

“The acid – the minute it hits our bloodstream –starts to eat away at the veins, and continues all the way up throughthe skin. Then, once it travels through the body, it melts away what’s left.The only way for you to control that acid is through your anger…Acid is theonly way for you or Daniel to die. That’s why all who’s tried to fight againstDaniel have failed. Nobody seems to be able to kill him and trust me there havebeen many that have tried. That’s why he’s after you. He knows you are the onlyvampire that can and will kill him.” His voice got lower along with his head.He looked sad.

“Is that where your scar camefrom?” I asked, hoping it wouldn’t upset him.

“…Yes.” He paused. “I tried toleave and he got in my way. At the time I didn’t know objects were defenselessagainst him and I tired to throw a sword through his heart. It hit its mark alrightbut it didn’t puncture anything. He stood there laughing and slid it out of hischest like it was nothing. Then before I could get away, he ran to me and slitmy face with my own sword. He could have finished me off right then and there.But he didn’t. For some reason he took mercy on me.”

I let out a long breath, as if Ihad just been defeated. “Who is he?” I needed somebody to tell me.

Jessup looked at me. “Only few knowand I’m not one of them. You need to rest now.”

When we reached the porch, thelights were on in the house. Everything was quiet inside as far as I could tellbut Jessup stopped me before I could reach the first step. He put his hand onmy wrist.

“I hope you’re all you’re supposedto be, Trinity, for all our kind’s sake. You hold a lot of power – maybe poweryou don’t realize or maybe power you don’t want to realize. Either way you needto give this all you’ve got.” He let go slowly and then he disappeared in thedarkness. His manner left an unexpected impression on me, one I tried to ignorebut without success.

I stood on the porch for a coupleof seconds trying to let all that happened and all that was just said to mesink in. That was a lot of pressure to put on somebody on their first night oftraining. When I walked into the house, Mary was sitting at the table, writingin some journal. Her hair covered the side of her face and her legs werecrossed. She wouldn’t look at me or talk to me even after I said hi. I staredat her for a second, wondering what she was writing. Was she writing everythingthat was happening in case something happened to all of us? Maybe somebodywould replace it and want to finish what we started?

I turned to walk away and saw thatAlex was waiting, sitting on the stairs. Every time I saw him, he seemed to getmore and more beautiful. His head was down, pieces of hair were hanging overhis face, and his hands were crossed. He seemed to be thinking intently. I wishI could have read his mind.

“Did you learn much today?” Hisvoice was so welcoming.

“Yeah. Not to fall on my ass.”

He let out a faint laugh, but itwas enough to make me unstable. I had to hold onto the banister to keep mybalance. I loved to listen to him laugh. Just one word made me weak in theknees.

“Come. I’ll show you where we’resleeping.” He put out his hand for me to grab a hold of it. I stood there for amoment and looked at his open hand. The thought of him walking me to a roomgave me butterflies in my stomach, like I was a school girl and my crush saidhi to me.

I took his hand, grabbing ittightly. “Where ‘we’ll’ be sleeping?” I made sure to emphasize the word‘we’re’.

“They don’t sleep, remember? Theyonly have the one room available. Yes, I’ll be sleeping with you, if you don’tmind? I can always sleep on the couch, but that might not be too comfortable.”I could tell from the sound in his voice that he really didn’t want to sleepout there with Jimmie and Cyrus hanging out. I really didn’t mind. In fact, Icould use the company.

“No, Alex, it’s all right.” I triedto be reassuring but not too aggressive. I didn’t want him to hear in my voicehow excited I was to sleep next to such a stunning vampire.

He led me back to the room I hadchanged in earlier. But this time the mattress was not bare. The bed was madewith sheets and pillows; there were curtains on the windows and candleseverywhere to light the way. Everything was shimmering. This time around, itactually looked like a room I could enjoy.

He walked to the closet, grabbedsome clothes and handed them to me. “These are for you to sleep in. I thoughtthey would be better than what you have on. I’m sorry if they’re not stylishbut you’re just sleeping in them, right?”

He handed me a baggy white shirtand some grey sweats. Really not my style but he was right: I didn’t want tosleep in what I was fighting in. I was dirty and I smelled bad. I smiled andgrabbed the clothes and went to take a shower. I wished I could feel the heatof the water on my skin. After the day, I thought it could actually feel good.That would be one thing I would always miss: letting the heat of the waterloosen my muscles. As a vampire, my muscles are always tense, as if I have astiff neck and want to crack it but I can’t. And now I would have to live withit that way.

I got out of the shower and almostslipped on the wooden floor. I wanted to dry off quickly and get back to Alex.I brushed my hair with my fingers and made sexy faces in the mirror. I couldn’thelp but laugh at myself. I would never make those faces in front of Alex! Iwas so glad nobody could see how stupid I was acting.

When I returned to the room, Alexwas already lying down in bed. He had taken his shirt off and was half coveredwith the blanket. He had more muscles than I thought. I had to stand back andstare. He had a look of romance, a masterpiece waiting to be discovered, notone scar or one impurity marked his chest. And I was going to sleep next tohim.

I got into bed – almost jumping innext to him – but he didn’t move or even turn. I laid my head on the pillownext to him, my wet hair soaking it. I pulled the blanket up to my chin andclosed my eyes slowly. Lying next to him, I hoped I could fall asleeppeacefully.

I opened my eyes and I was standingby myself. It was bright, but there was no sun. Blinding white shone around me.The only sounds that could be heard were wind chimes, but there was no wind. Istarted walking slowly, but it didn’t seem like I was getting anywhere. Walkingforward or backward: it was all the same, like I was using my feet for nothing.I couldn’t see anything in front of me or behind me. There was no ground andthere was no sky – just white. I heard Michael’s voice somewhere in thedistance, yelling at me, yelling for me to stop and walk the other direction.But there was no direction to go, there was nothing around me. I kept walkingstraight.

I didn’t know how long I waswalking. It could have been minutes, maybe hours. Without being able to seewhat was in front of me, I reached a body of water. It wasn’t an ocean or ariver, but a lake of red water. Large rocks covered in green moss circled thewater, except for a small path that led you in.

All of a sudden, trees formed frombeneath the ground, they were everywhere. I tried to steady myself but theground was shaking. It felt like an earthquake. My bare feet were surroundedwith grass and pebbles. There still was no sun, and when I looked up the whitethat was once blinding turned into nothing more than darkness, except for afaint white fog that spread across the field.

I turned and looked at the riverand saw a woman standing ankle-deep in the water. She ran her hand up her armwith the water, than took a handful of it and splashed her face with it, as ifshe was bathing. Why would somebody wantto bathe in red water? As I got closer, I saw children all around her. Somewere lying in the water while others were lying on the rocks. They didn’t seemto be moving, just lying still. What did these children signify? All dreamsmean something and the fact that the number of vivid dreams that I was havingwas increasing also meant something.

As I inched closer to her, Istarted to make out what she looked like. She had long, strawberry-blonde hairthat went down to her knees. She had a beautiful body, but was very pale with freckleseverywhere. She only wore a white slip, and although she looked beautiful, herdemeanor was evil. I didn’t want to talk to her or get any closer but there wasa force drawing me to her. My feet were moving without the consent of my mind.I don’t know if it was my curiosity or my fear of standing there alone thatmade me keep walk.

“You’ve come to destroy my people,Trinity.” My heart stopped when I heard her voice. I wanted to say somethingbut as I opened my mouth, she continued. “You know you’ll fail. You’re notstrong enough for him, not yet.” She ran her hand up her arm with the red wateragain.

There was something about her,something familiar; could it be that I dreamt of her before? Regardless, Icouldn’t think, not with her speaking to me.

“Who are you?” I said in a trance,my eyes fixated on her. I couldn’t look away.

“Lilith.” She paused. “I am yourcreator.” She looked over her shoulder and smiled a malicious smile, one I wasscared of.

‘My creator.’ I thought for a second.I know she couldn’t be my mother. There was no way that I was from this evilwoman. So that only meant one thing – at least I thought so. “You mean you arethe first?”

“Foolish child. I wouldn’t expectanything less than a question like that.” She let out a laugh that echoed. “No,I am the creator. I created vampires but I’m not one of them.”

She stopped with her arm extendedand her other arm on her elbow and tilted her head to the side. Her featureswere finally fully revealed and she was nothing less than beautiful. Nowrinkles or scars. Classic. But I knew it was only a disguise becauseunderneath she all was malice.

“And you’re going to try and killmy pride creation, aren’t you?”

I inched closer to the red lake butshe didn’t move. When I got closer, the children that I had seen around herwere actually dead; she was bathing in blood water.

“What? No!” I said, horrified. Iwasn’t going to kill someone I didn’t know. How could she say such a horriblething? Who was I going to kill? Who was her pride creation?

“Foolish and a liar. Either that,or naïve. Don’t you know that’s why you were made?”

She turned her body to face me, andthen paused for a moment, probably to look me over. She walked up the steps, stoppingfor a moment on each one, as she came out of the water. She walked slowlytowards me, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. As if, in this place, nothingcould harm her, including me. I wanted to move away but I couldn’t move.

She lifted her hand to my cheek.“Has anyone told you, my dear? Has anyone shown you the written words?”

“What?” I whispered.

She looked down on me. My bodyfroze and I was scared of her but enticed at the same time. I wanted to knowmore. What written word?

She grabbed my arm. “My blood. Itruns deep in your veins, my darling.” She squeezed my wrist tight. You couldsee the blood pulsing in my veins as if I had no skin covering them. “You’ll never defeat him!” She hissed. She threwmy arm down, her smile sadistic and mean.

“Yeah, you said that already. But whatyou failed to tell me was who I’llnever defeat. Are you talking about Daniel?” I tried to sound arrogant. “Evenif it was him, why am I meant to fight him? Why is it not somebody else from myfamily that was meant to do it? Why is it that somebody with no knowledge ofall this history is meant to do something that obviously her family couldn’t orwasn’t willing to do?” I knew she wouldn’t answer my questions but I was hopingshe might slip and tell me something worth hearing other than threats.

“So many questions and, surprisesurprise, so many that I will not answer. But you already knew that, didn’tyou? I’m not here to guide you, Trinity.” She crossed my path and the sceneryaround me changed.

A battle was taking place beforeme. Everything around me was blood red and the people were black, but as theyfought, nobody knew I was there. Men walked through me and children ran interror around me. There was no gun fire to be heard, no guns could even beseen. This battle was before my time. There where bows with fire arrows andshields for protection. The men that didn’t need protection flew to theirenemies and killed them by biting them. I could see now that this was a battlefor survival – against vampires and humans – and the humans were losing.

“If you’re not here to answer myquestions, then why are you here? Why show me things I have no control over?” Idemanded.

Her smile faded, she put up herhands and clapped away the battle and then she was gone, taking everything thatwas around me with her. I was left by myself again with only blackness andconfusion to keep me company.

I gasped for air as I woke and I threw myself forward.The name still stuck with me as I sat in the darkness of the room. Lilith. Whowas she really? And why was I so important to her? Somebody needed to answer myquestions and soon! I looked over at Alex but he was still asleep. I was hopingall the activity in my dream would awaken him but he was sleeping peacefully. Iwould have to wait until morning to ask my questions. But this time I would notbe ignored. These dreams and images needed to stop.