MIK

Chapter 11

My hair and clothes were still dripping and the blood still managed to stain. We stood in the wild garden of the witch which smelt like burning.

"Torsten," Sylvia said uncomfortably, "why did you try to eat a vampire? I wasn't aware that was part of the werewolf's mythology."

"I didn't try to eat a vampire! I defended myself," I exclaimed.

"That was hardly defence, you ripped it to shreds!" Juno yelled playfully.

I huffed with more playful annoyance.

"Go easy on him Juno, he is still learning," Lalla whispered.

"Lalla is right, we still have a lot to teach him. Though he might have gone overboard, he is still new. It's just more important that we tell him why what he did was wrong. Rather than just scolding him he needs to understand it," Sylvia in all her wiseness explained.

Juno sighed, probably wanted me to get into more trouble. Little cutie.

I was lead back into the house and told to sit down because it would be a lot of explaining. A silence hung in the air while Sylvia thought of what to say first. Her eyes darted around the room looking for some clue. Juno sat beside her staring down at her nails. Finally, Sylvia met my eyes "Torsten, you know the vampires are dangerous. Clearly, the fight you had today proves that. But they are far more dangerous than you could imagine. They threaten both the mythical and mortal world."

"Well, they eat people so yeah..." I muttered.

"There is a lot more to it Torsten. The leader of the vampires merely called the leader," Juno cut Sylvia off with -

"So original right? He's such a wanker."

I laughed and so did Juno but Sylvia cleared her throat. "This is serious. The leader is the most powerful vampire in the world and just one of his bites could kill you. That aside, he had a vision; to create a world for vampires. One were they are the dominant race all other myths dead and humans enslaved. He has been working on it for hundreds of years. Lately, we fear he might be getting close. A vampire war might be coming."

I listened carefully to her, the seriousness of the situation sinking in. Juno was also silent.

"We know we must protect the mortals of this town but what is more important is not drawing attention to ourselves. We have something they would kill for," Sylvia watched me closely, "I can't tell you what it is, sorry it's just too dangerous so don't ask. But this I ask of you. Don't kill unless it's necessary. And for the love of the gods please don't make a spectacle."

I nodded.

***

Juno came with me to show me out of the witch's house. She leant on the rusty iron fence her blue eyes filled with sadness, "I know this is a lot Torsten."

"Yeah it kinda is," I thought for a moment, "William is a vampire isn't he?"

Juno nodded, "He is of purer blood than most which means he is more powerful. We try to keep an eye on him. But if I were you I'd stay away from him."

I smiled, "It's not like we get along at all."

She returned the smile but there was sadness behind it. "See you Torsten, keep your head down."

I gave her a wave and strode down the street. The cracked pavement required all my attention so I couldn't look back but I could tell she was unhappy. She didn't want me to be a part of this world.

But I already belonged.

***

As I walked down the street I thought about what Sylvia had told me. The main message of it being to not get into any more fights and to not rip apart any more vampires.

Despite this, it felt good. So good I wanted to tear into the flesh of another soon. Part of me was excited when Sylvia told me that more vampires were to be sent when they found that dismembered corpse. The vicious beast inside me longed for the blood even though it had only been a few hours.

A opened the front door.

"Torsten, you need to stop getting into so many fights!" My mother yelled at me upon seeing the state of my stained clothes, "you better not be hurt."

She rushed over and inspected me. Thankfully my body had healed itself and I got past inspection. Still, she gave me as suspecting glare. I don't think I'd ever been in a fight before but in her mind one fight was more than enough. Maybe she applied cockroach logic to fights. You only see one cockroach but you could be sure hundreds are lurking around unseen. Maybe to her this was the only fight I had signs of as I came home.

"I'm fine mother," I smiled.

"Your teeth are so sharp you look like a bear," she snarled.

I chucked softly, "I thought more a wolf."

Her face softened into a smirk and she raised an eyebrow, "a golden wolf?"

She ruffled my hair and walked off.

Later on, after a shower to wash the lake water and the remainder of the blood from my skin, I sat alone in my room staring at the ceiling. Had I really just caused a problem for Juno or were they trying to scare me? I hoped for the latter though I wanted the problem. People describe their hearts and their brains as having sometimes conflicting views and they follow either one or the other. This beast, this animal instinct seemed to be a third. One with blood lust. Though it had no reasoning as a brain or a heart would. It wanted to kill for purely killing. And though so foreign and recent, I had accepted it as part of myself nor did I want it gone. Not that anyone knew how to rid me of it. It had so quickly become a part of me and I had so quickly accepted it. Yet no one had pointed out the changes, did they not care? Or were they just too stupid to realise? The latter I'd believe.

Looking over at the clock I realised it was already 1:00 am. I sighed and climbed out of bed to brush my teeth.

The whole house was dark and quiet until I heard a noise. Someone walking. I quickly stopped brushing my teeth and became silent. Had the vampires come for me already?

Shortly, the light illuminated my father's body and he glared at me. A glint of anger shone out from under his thick brows. Growled something about me being stupid and having an attitude in Swedish. I rolled my eyes at him and continued brushing my teeth. He yelled at me, telling me I was such an idiot then slammed the door in my face.

If the light was bothering him he could have just asked.... 

First edited 2/6/2018

Spelling and grammar check 1 - 25/6/2019

Workshopping edit - 5/8/2022