Cursed Blood |Lesbian Story| - Chapter 28: Chapter 28

When I got home the next day, Mom was already there, reading on the kitchen table. I went to open the fridge and took out a carton of milk to drink.
"Did you have a good day, honey?" she asked, putting a bookmark on the page she had read and placed the book on the table. I could hardly make myself look at her. I hoped I didn't have this I'm-going-to-sneak-out-tonight written all over my face. Somehow I managed to act normal and said, "Yes I did. Can we have our dinner early today?"
"Oh, you're hungry?" Mom asked with concern. "Of course, we might just do that."
At the dining table, I couldn't stop peeking at my mom. I already felt guilty about my plan tonight, but I had to finish what I had started.
"What is it, honey?" Mom asked when she caught me looking at her.
"Nothing," I said awkwardly.
Then just out of the blue, Mom said, "You know, you look just like your father."
"Oh?" I said, smiling. Normally, Mom never volunteered to talk about Dad, "I thought I looked beautiful like you."
"So was your father," Mom said and let out a quiet laugh.
"Mom, can you tell me how you met daddy?"
"We met at the medical school," Mom spoke softly as if she was talking to herself. "Your father and I, we both were students at that time."
"Dad attended medical school? Why?"
"He wanted to be a doctor, honey," Mom said with a smile. "He'd always dreamed of becoming a doctor, helping people- except one little problem."
"What was that?"
"He had trouble staying around blood."
"Oh," I breathed, nodding understandingly.
"At first, I thought he was just afraid as medical students sometimes are," she said, "Never had I known the real reason of that."
"So how could Dad handle it?"
"I helped him overcome it," Mom said and laughed. "He followed me home every night, making sure I was safe like he was afraid I would fall into a sewage or something." She laughed again, but this time, I saw tears glittering in her eyes. I could guess the rest of the story.
"And when did you know what he was?" I asked, hoping the question wasn't too difficult to answer.
"Shortly before we got married," she said and managed a smile.
"Really?" I asked.
"Viv, when your father told me he was a vampire, he was intending to go away from me."
"Why?"
"He thought I would be shocked, become hysterical and stuff like that,"
I took a deep breath. "And were you?"
Mom just smiled, reaching her hand over the table and put it on mine. "You know the strangest thing when I finally knew what he was; it's the moment I realized I was in love."
After dinner, I went to my room, I told Mom I was tired and wanted to go to bed early. But once I got inside, I dialed Cammie's number and the next thing I knew; our secret espionage was set in motion. I put some pillows on my bed and covered them with a blanket so that it looked like I was sleeping in. My hands were shaking with both anticipation and uncertainty.
Was it crucial? Yes.
Was it stupid? Maybe.
But I knew the drill and understood the risk. I had been dying to find out about what happened to our parents as much as Octavia had. And this might be the only chance.
Again, was it dangerous? Of course, if the person who had helped Priscilla turned out to be a traitor, both Octavia and I would be as good as porkchop. But we were also looking for the guy who might as well be the key to unlocking the secret about the prophecy and our parents, or even our future. On top of that, Octavia was going there alone- without any kind of help. So I had to come to her aid (undercover).
A moment later, I heard the car engine roared from a distance. When I peeped out of the window, Cammie had arrived in the black Benz, which means Alyssa also came along. That didn't make the tension less unbearable for me, but I really needed all the help I could get. Cammie and Alyssa stepped out of the car, they jumped over the fence and skirted around the edge of the garden. They came toward the house, trying not to get seen. I opened my window like a desperate Juliet.
"Everything's ready?" I whispered to them from above.
"All set," Alyssa replied, pointing her thumb toward the car.
"Good," I said, but as much as I thought I was ready to go- as much as I thought I had prepared for the odds-I hadn't thought of how I could get down from my bedroom window.
"Ohmigosh!" I exclaimed. "I need a ladder!"
Cammie and Alyssa groaned.
"Viv, you don't need a ladder!" Cammie said. "You're a vampire!"
"Oh, right," I said. "I almost forgot that."
I came to stand on the window and looked down to the ground. I kind of wondered if my best friends were somewhat insane to think I could survive the fall.
I balanced myself before croaking my body and leaped off. The winds whizzed past my ears as I flipped myself a few times in the air and landed on the ground again. Good thing that I didn't crack any bone in the process. I turned around to find my best friends staring at me with open-mouthed.
"Vivienne," Alyssa gasped. "You can win an Olympic gymnastic doing this stunt."
"I saw Cammie did that," I told her, maybe being a vampire means you have a movement adaptive memory, too.
"That's my girl," Cammie proudly said.
"Okay, now, off we go,"
As Alyssa drove along the highway, Cammie was helping me with the makeup. At that point, I guessed putting on a dress and makeup in the car should be considered as survival skills for every girl. Cammie tends to be a perfectionist when it comes to it. Then she decided that I looked best in a natural disguise, meaning as I should look at myself. And I had to agree with her because she could dress you up as good as she could pulverize you. And if you were the top IQ scorer like Cammie, you could learn a lot just by flipping through a bunch of magazines.
When we arrived at the hotel, the parking lot was already occupied by rows and rows of fancy cars. The Mountain View Hotel was the biggest one in the town. It wasn't far from the mountain and the beach. But right now, all I concerned was how I could get out of the car without tripping over my high heels and die.
"Alyssa," I said. "This dress is too much!" I looked down on my sparkling empire-waisted silvery dress.
"You're lucky," Cammie told me, "In fact, she wanted the one in polka dots, but I talked her out of it."
"Polka dots?!" I couldn't help complaining, "Are you serious?"
"But that one was also cute!" Alyssa protested.
"Alyssa, I'm supposed to go undercover!" I told her.
"Well, that's why I figured this dress is a good cover for you," Alyssa shrugged.
"She has a point," Cammie said. "Besides, you need to blend in."
"And also stand out," Alyssa added.
"Why do I have to stand out while I'm supposed to blend in?" I asked them.
"Because..." Alyssa said with a mischievous grin. "Someone might want to dance with you."
"Oh, please!" I groaned, knowing who she was referring to. But before I could say anything else, she handed me the pass ticket.
"Alyssa, do I need to know how much the ticket costs?" I asked her.
Alyssa pursed her lips as if to think for a minute then she shook her head, "No."
"I don't think you should waste any more time here," Cammie said. So I finally nodded and gathered up my big dress before opening the car door.
"Wait," Cammie stopped me as I was about to step out.
"Huh?" I turned back.
"Your eyes are acting up," she told me. "Here put the mask on. It'll shade them a little." She handed me a matching-silvery mask.
"Break a leg!" Alyssa called out as I got off. Considering my high-heels, I wonder if she meant it literally, but I just thanked the two of them and walked toward the hotel.
The masquerade ball started at seven o'clock. I entered an enormous marble-floored foyer of the hotel. The doorman asked me for my ticket and I showed it to him. He ushered me to another part of the heavily decorated building. I could hear piano music tinkling from the other side. There was a queue of formal-dressed people waiting at the door. When I finally stepped inside, I had to gawk at the fluky world of the rich and famous. The hall was dimly lit and full of silk-clothed tables with heavy red curtains. Everyone was talking and laughing, some were dancing to the slow music.
I had to keep my head low as I went through the sea of people. Everybody looked like anybody else behind the masks. Then it was like the spotlight just flicked on me because everywhere I turned, I felt eyes watching. This was no good. I was supposed to be a chameleon!
Then I heard a woman in red feathery dress with a glass of champagne in hand talking, "Do you know the richest person in this country is coming tonight?"
I froze behind the pillar, pretending not to eavesdrop.
"He's very successful at a very young age," a man in a black tuxedo said.
"Where's he from?" another man asked.
"Russia," another guy said. "He might be a mafia king."
"No wonder why,"
Then a burst of laughter erupted among them. I frowned and moved on to the food table. And just out of thin air, a force of electric sparks radiated from the crowd. The feeling was so palpable, it made me gasp in recognition. Someone was pushing through the dancing floor. Someone was heading toward me.
Oh, snap! Octavia was coming close!
I had to avoid her. Quickly elbowing my way through the crowd, I moved toward a pillar. But on the slick marble floor, these impossible high-heels were making my escape as slow as a nightmare. And I could sense her as solid as she could sense me.
When I looked over my shoulder again, all I saw was people dancing. But as I turned around, I was gripped by the most dazzling presence of a young woman standing in front of me. She was in a half-sleeve short dress with golden lace trim and full front lining. Octavia could shame all the women in this room even in a simple outfit.
"Does your mom know you are here?" her voice was throaty smooth. I stared at her golden masked face, not knowing the expression behind it.
"No," I said in a guilty voice. "But I told you I had to come."
"Yes, you did," Octavia sighed. "So, as you are already here, shall we dance?"
"What?"
"Mingle," she said, "Act normal. Do some dancing."
She held her hand up with her palm opened, and I didn't know how to reject that, so I placed mine on hers. Then Octavia led me to the dance floor. All heads turned, or at least almost all. At that point, I didn't know what normal really was, especial not when you were in the middle of your dangerous mission, dancing with the most gorgeous girl in the party.
Octavia put her delicate arms around my waist and pulled me close to her, and I gingerly wrapped mine around her neck in return. Our slightly shimmering eyes gazed through the masks at each other. After a while, people started wriggling around us again and before I knew it, we were actually dancing.
I tried to think of something to say, "Um...you're not mad at me?"
Octavia sighed. "I should've known you're not going to sit back anyway. I would have done the same thing if anyone put me behind. And I'm sorry for being so selfish."
"Selfish?"
"Yes, I'm selfish. I never wanted anything like I wanted to keep you safe," she said, and my heart was threatened to burst.
"I want you to be safe, too," I said softly.
In her gorgeous dress and glittering golden mask, she looked like a fairytale princess. Then she seemed like she wanted to say something, but before Octavia opened her mouth, her head shot back up sharply, like she was sensing something or someone.
"What's going on?" I asked, sensing the unease in her eyes.
"Someone is coming," she told me. Just like that, I felt the chill of alertness ran through my bones. It was like suddenly there was a cold mist forming around the hall. The air was thick with strange scent. It was the first time I got so keen on my extrasensory. That, someone, was indeed, a vampire.
"So what are we going to do?" I asked.
"Keep dancing," she said without taking her eyes off the entrance. There were about four or five men in black suits walking into the hall. I could see that one of them wore an expensive tuxedo, another three of them were all equipped with com units like they were bodyguards. But the one in the tux was a tall man with dark hair and smooth pale face. He was handsome for an older guy yet younger than I had expected. The man looked like one of the ivory wax models in the Ultara art class. I guess living for four hundred years did that to him. The vampire lord shook hands with the people around him with a bright smile.
"Is that him?" I asked Octavia to make sure.
"Yes," she said. "One of the most powerful vampires in the Underworld."
Surprisingly, Octavia didn't break our dancing. And the girl in me didn't want to either, but the vampire in me was enthralled with adrenaline. Although, as the half-bloods, we can stay undercover to avoid all kind of mental detection, it still made my stomach turn into a knot. I guess if you were suddenly surrounded by a bunch of vampires for the first time, and only you knew it, you would feel uneasy too.
"Are we going to go up to him?" I asked Octavia again.
"I think we should wait," she told me, and I nodded, knowing that a perfect partner in crime has to be extra-patient, testing the water before making a splash. After a song or two, we walked away from the dance floor and wandered around for a few minutes. We still kept an eye on the lord. All of his bodyguards wore black masks. They stood guarding their master at the walls as if trying to spot any strange moves from the crowd, but also occasionally eyeing the necks of young women around them.
"Are you thirsty?" Octavia asked. I had to look at her to see whether she was joking, but then she giggled and restated. "I mean, as a human, are you thirsty?"
"Oh, well," I breathed, "As a human, I think a fruit punch would be nice."
"Okay, you keep watch on the subject," she said, "I'll be right back."
There must be a hundred people here, but I didn't know any of them even without the masks. I dimly recognized a few odd faces here and there. Then I saw the mayor and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Schell. And when they turned to my direction, I ducked away.
A bodyguard eyed me suspiciously, so I pretended to look at some paintings on the wall. Unfortunately, when I averted my eyes back to where Dimitri stood, he was not there. I froze on my feet and realized I had lost our trial.
My eyes started scanning the throng, but my heart was pounding wildly. Octavia returned with two glasses of green stuff that I didn't even think they were drinkable. I quickly rushed to her side.
"Something wrong?" she asked alarmingly.
"They're gone!" I told her. We searched the crowd together, but there wasn't a single vampire left in the hall.
"I think we better split up," I suggested.
"Good idea," she said. "Get back to me as soon as you spot them."
"Okay." Then we went separate ways.
Octavia headed out to the front hotel. And I walked toward the back exit, in case they took private leave there. But as I was walking along the quiet archway, a stifled cry floated into my ears. It echoed from a small passage lit by classic lamplights on the ceiling. Then the wind blew past my nose and the scent of a vampire came along. Something was not right over there.
I marched forward and found a guy pinning a well-dressed girl against the wall. It was the second time I saw that kind of scene and I didn't need to be told they weren't having a love chat because the girl was wincing while the guy buried his face into her neck.
"Hey!" I yelled, "Stop that!"
But the vampire didn't break away from the girl. So I picked up speed and with a desperate attempt, took one of my shoes off and threw it at the guy. The heel hit him on the back of his head.
"Owww!" He cried and turned around, looking shocked and furious. "Who dare threw this!"
He pulled his hand back from his head and saw his own blood. Well, who knew high-heels could come so handy? I recognized the man now. He was the bodyguards of Lord Dimitri, but whatever he was, his blood-sucking needed to be stopped.
"Leave the girl!" I said again. I had never seen a real vampire in the middle of his feeding before. The experience made my stomach churn.
"Witnesses have to die!" he sneered.
"Not that easy, you parasite," I snapped. The vampire looked at me and bared his teeth in anger, showing off his extra-white fangs. I took a few steps back, not very sure of what to prepare for. I wasn't even properly dressed for a good combat, and I might get myself killed just by tripping over my own dress. The poor girl was out cold on the floor. But I still couldn't walk away like that.
Then the vampire crooked his body as if he was about to sprint. And he did lunge forward with a speed that could have knocked me out to the moon. But my reflex was just as quick. I sidestepped him like a bullfighter. He flew past me then skidded to a stop. The guy turned around with a surprised face.
"Just your luck, girl," He growled and charged again, aiming his fangs at my throat, but I dodged and shifted my weight to the side before tossing his body onto the floor.
He pushed himself up with a growing anger. And when he flashed out again, I felt a sensation and Octavia emerged from the corner of my eyes. She kicked him in the gut. The force must have been too tremendous that the vampire flew backward and crushed his back against the far wall.
My mouth flung open in awestruck.
"Are you okay?" she asked me. I barely managed a nod.
"Who the heck are you?" the vampire hissed, coughing off blood. Suddenly the other two bodyguards came out from another door behind us.
"Kill them!" The same guy ordered, and his comrades quickly came at us. Octavia pulled me away and spun herself around, landing one perfect roundhouse kick across their face. The vampires flipped over in the air before collapsing on the floor again, groaning.
"Run!" Octavia yelled as she grabbed my wrist. We turned and raced out of the hotel then into the garden. Although I view women who can run in high-heels with wonder and awe, Octavia was like poetry in motion. But the worst part is I lost one of mine and running with one heel really takes more than just talent.
We heard them following us, so we took another path that led to the mountain wood. The wind blew through our clothes. The darkness made our eyes glow, but we could see a small clearing up ahead. Then our feet had to slide to a halt because after the clearing, there was a cliff overlooking the glittering sea.
And before we had time to make our escape, the vampires had already caught up with us. Where we stood, moonlight bathed over us brightly, causing our eyes to shift back to normal shade.
"Got nowhere to go?" The same guy who tried to kill me said, stepping forward. "Can't believe you girl could run this fast."
"We've been training for the Olympic game," I said, desperately trying to keep our covers.
"Whatever you are," he said. "You'll be our dinner tonight, little babes."
"Over my dead body," Octavia said and pulled out something from her dress pocket. I realized it was her flute.
"Oh I see you girls need a romantic lullaby, eh?" they laughed together.
Octavia did play her music, but it wasn't any song I had heard, the melodies were strange with swaying notes and tuneful pitches. It pierced through the night air and gave me goosebumps. And a moment later, the grass around us stirred. I heard growling sounds coming from the dark. Then I almost jumped onto Octavia, because there were about ten or twenty mountain wolves coming from nowhere. They opened their jaws and growled, surrounding the vampires.
The bodyguards' eyes widened in shock as they squeezed against each other. I had never thought that Octavia could even charm even wolves.
"Aaaghhhhh!" one of the vampires screamed and crumbled to the ground as one of the beasts lunged at him. The other tried to kick the animals and backing away.
"Kill them!" one of them yelled at the other one.
"Are you crazy? There are too many wolves!" His sidekick protested. Now, if they thought their fangs were nasty enough, they would have to meet these canine nightmares.
"Vivienne, go," Octavia turned to me.
"What? No!" I said.
"You have to go!" she said again, "I have to keep them busy. I promise I'll see you at school, now please, go!"
"But..."
Octavia turned back and continued playing the music again. I didn't want to leave her, but I had to trust her ability to take of herself. She was strong. She was beautiful. Besides, Cammie and Alyssa might be worried about me, and with the place where vampires roaming around, I didn't think it was safe for my friends to stay. So I turned and picked up speed, skirting around the edge and away from the clearing.