Dear Alex A.

Chapter 3

"Then we ended up here and you know the rest..." Zulie had finished story-telling, taking advantage of the fact that Damien had taken the kids out back to play. There was no need to remind them of the horrors from the previous night. I remained motionless in the barstool, staring at the food that had gone cold once again. There was no way I could bring myself to eat; this was my fault.

A friend had invited me to this themed party, of course she also extended the invitation to my family. But shortly after arriving, she had disappeared into the crowd. Zulie actually managed to find someone she knew and before long, had also drifted away from us. The moment she saw us leaving she said her goodbyes as well; we were their ride.

"Fay! What about your friend? Do you know if she's ok?" Mom whirled around to see me nearly jump from the stool.

"I...I don't know. There's no way for me to reach her." My phone had disappeared during that massacre and there was no other way I was going back there to find it. With all this newfound knowledge though, I had my suspicions that she was alive and well, well fed that is. Luke leaned against the fridge with all-seeing  eyes; he knew exactly what I thinking.

"I'm sorry you had to experience that, but it has a silver lining. Now you are aware of very real dangers most tend to brush off as nonsense and fiction. Nightwalkers are, as their name suggests, mostly active after sundown. Attacks during the day hardly ever happen but it's still something you should be cautious of. Within the next few days you'll begin to See them. You'll see their natural form more clearly. Do not ever let them even think you can see them." Evelyn took a deep breath, shifting a translucent burden on her shoulders to make it easier to bear.

"What are you talking about?" Mom turned her attention back to the blonde.

"Vampires, were-creatures, etc. All those monsters you once believed only lived in fairytales. They're real, at least some of them." Luke spoke up, those emeralds still frozen on me. "Most kids can see them up till a certain age, then only a few are able to See after that."

"Nightwalkers have a special talent when it comes to hiding their true forms, making it easy for them to roam in the daylight as well. Last night there were vampires, wolves, and ghouls. You'll notice them more from here on out. But it's not like the fairy tales; holy water, sunlight, crucifixes, those don't work on vampires. We'll teach you how to properly defend yourselves. Of course you need to be able to keep your wits if you want to face them." Evelyn added holding my gaze, she knows too.

"This is ridiculous!" Zulie threw her hands in the air. "We're supposed to believe you all? You sound like nut cases! Ya vamonos Maria!" She stood, waiting for her friend to do the same. Before I could open my mouth, Mom sighed.

"Zulie, they're not lying." The short woman's body went rigid as Mom turned to look at me, everyone else's eyes followed. "They are real."

"You know?!" My turn to look like an abandoned nutcracker. Mom's eyebrows turned up apologetically. "Since when?!" My voice became shrill.

"Your father, knowing what he was. Before he left, I got pregnant, so there was no doubt."

"You've known all this time and you didn't tell me?!" Forget shock, my body trembled with anger. My whole life I felt like freak because of my blackouts, never knowing when they would happen or why. Even last night, she knew what was about to go down but didn't bother to help or at least warn me!

"The more aware you are of it, the more it shows. I was trying to protect you." Laughter bubbled up inside me until it burst through my lips. Of course she would say that! That's so typical!

"Please don't make this sound like a freaking soap opera! Protect me?! Don't you think it would have been better to let me know from the get go?! Hey Fay, you're a werewolf, if you start feeling hungry come eat before you blackout and possibly attack some random person!"