Children of Van Helsing

Chapter Twenty-eight - One Door closes, Another One opens

Ian

Susanna locked herself in her room for two days and mourned alone. That was just her way to deal with things, and she wouldn't even let me in to support her. It annoyed me. We had agreed we were going to try things out, and now she just shut me and everyone else out again and cried alone. Their aunt, Jennifer, tried to talk to her, but Susanna wouldn't let her in. So she just focused on Regina. She was genuinely heartbroken, mostly because she had kind of caused the heart attack.

Other than that, Greg was still nowhere to be found, Helen tried to distract Regina, and Jessica was on her way home. Yes, the death of Christine had been a shock, but everybody had kind of expected it to happen. It was surprisingly calm in the big house - too calm, really. There was a lot of tension. It was the calm before the storm, everybody was waiting for things to really go sideways. And we all knew the uprising was starting. There was an article about strange attacks in dark alleys on the front page of the newspaper. The police suspected it was a gang of murderers who used fake claws and teeth for fun - but we all knew better. Three attacks in the last two weeks, and there were going to be more.

On the third day after the news about Christine had arrived I just couldn't take it anymore. I had nobody to talk to and the silence was killing me. So, even though it probably wasn't the brightest idea, I went downstairs. To the dungeon, where Sacha was.

I sat down with my back against the silver door and listened. Nothing.

"Sacha?"

She didn't respond. She didn't even move, or growl or anything. I knew she was still there - we could all hear her scream out of anger at least six times a day.

"You really need to be able to get out of there soon, Sacha. People are going crazy out here."

Still nothing. I sighed.

"Have you drunk the animal blood we gave you?"

Silence on the other side. She had broken the first two bottles and we had to keep finding more - don't ask how - just in case she wanted to drink it after all. I hoped she did. She could be a good vampire, like many around the world. No killer. She wasn't the murderous type.

"Susanna locked herself in her room." I said. "She won't come out."

I wondered if she was listening. Was she even awake?

"I want to help her. We are together now, did you know that?"

Sacha had always told me we would end up together. I didn't really believe her, but I wanted it to be true anyway.

"So you were right after all. Though Susanna isn't so sure. She's very difficult, you know. She still thinks me and Regina should be together, I think."

I could just as well be talking to a brick wall. Still, the idea that she might be listening was enough. I had to tell somebody how I felt, even though I wasn't used to that, and I trusted Sacha. Even now. Even when she screamed for blood and tried to break down the door. I knew she was in there somewhere.

"But me and Regina, that would just never work." I told her. "She's a very sweet girl and I like her very much, but not like that, you know? She needs somebody else than me. She can be very childish, like me, and she needs somebody who gets her to act her own age more. I would only increase her childishness. We just wouldn't balance. But hey, that's my opinion. What do you think?"

I thought I heard her move inside, but she still didn't say a word. I was beginning to loose hope.

"You know what I like so much about Susanna?" Apparently she didn't, because she was still keeping her mouth shut. "I like that she is so caring for her family. She will always put them before herself. I like that she always acts so tough, but loves to bake heart-shaped cookies. I like that she always bites her lip when she reads and that her eyes shine so bright when she sees something interesting. It's like she sees something nobody else sees, something beautiful. I like how she gets wrinkles in her nose the few times when she laughs. It's adorable. And beautiful. And she doesn't know she's beautiful, Sacha, and I want to help her see that. I want to help her see the beauty of many things, I want to take her worries away. But she won't let me, you know. She's incredibly damaged and hates letting people in. At least I think she is. Oh, Sacha, she is so very difficult! She always looks so calm and preserved, but when I look into her eyes, it's like there's a storm going on inside her."