Robyn reached home around dinner time. Jack, Damien and Stella stayed for dinner and left before 9 o’clock. After switching on every light in her room, including the bathroom light, she unpacked her belongings and took a nice warm bath while being careful with her bandages. As she sat in the bathtub, she could see that the mirror she broke was removed, but it hadn’t been replaced by a new one yet.
After that, she decided to do at least some of the homework that Stella brought her before she goes to bed. She was almost finished with her calculus exercises and French essay, despite having to write slower than usual because of her injuries, when Ashley came into her room with Nelly.
“I have to be over my colleague’s place. There seems to be some problems with the company’s file. Would you be all right on your own?” Ashley asked, a little worried.
The thought of being alone at home in the middle of the night made Robyn’s skin crawled. But she knew she couldn’t be selfish. And so she answered, “Yes, I’ll be fine.”
She had tried hard to hide her fear and nervousness and it seemed to have worked because Ashley was relieved and left. But the moment she heard Ashley drove off from the driveway, it became harder to control her nervousness. She had Nelly stayed close to her and she put on her iPod and listened to songs that could make her forget about her anxiety. It had always worked and she felt more relaxed after a few songs.
It was almost twelve at midnight before she decided it was time to go to bed. Although reluctant and afraid to do so, she still tried to force herself to sleep. After packing up everything in ready for school and bringing Nelly to her bed in Ashley’s room, Robyn sat on her bed, getting ready for bed.
Right when she was to lie down, she felt the presence. She was sure he was in the room with her. She turned to look around her room, and to her horror, a man was standing at a corner, staring.
She jumped up and grabbed a pair of scissors from her desk swiftly. “How did you get in here?” she asked with a shaky voice. Her heart was pounding madly against her chest. She was terrified.
The man closed in to her. His malicious, reddish pupils stared fiercely at her. That was when she noticed something peculiar.
Red? I was sure it was greyish blue. Or was it green?
Yes, that’s it, she thought. That was why she thought something always changes every time she sees him — his eyes.
She couldn’t bring herself to believe that the mysterious young man had been the charming boy with jet black hair all along. Even though Leroy hadn’t been giving much of a good impression, she didn’t believe he could be the ruthless killer that had murdered those three girls. And she couldn’t believe that he was the young man that she dreamt about, the young lad she had had visions of.
As he got closer, Robyn took a large step backward. “Come any closer and I’ll scream,” she threatened while pointing the scissors towards Leroy. Her hand was sweaty and shaking and stinging. She was holding on to the scissors so tight that her hand was in pain.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said gently. It didn’t sound like the bossy, violent Leroy that she knew. He sounded sincere.
She looked into his eyes. They were a deep orange now. He kept telling her that he wouldn’t do her any harm and came closer with each step he took. And before she realised it, she had dropped the scissors onto the floor. She no longer felt she was in danger even when Leroy got closer. She felt nothing. She was in peace.
His voice started ringing inside her head, and she couldn’t pull her gaze away from him. Deep down inside she knew he did something to her. She couldn’t run away, or maybe she didn’t want to run away. He started talking in French, inside her head. He kept repeating the same words, “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.”
He was right in front of her now, caressing her cheek and looking at her in a way that she didn’t understand. As he leaned closer, he whispered, through his mouth, “Je te désire.”
His lips pressed on hers gently. She didn’t push him away as she stood there, not doing anything. She closed her eyes as his last three words resounded inside her. And she kissed him back.
Robyn could hear her heart racing as the gentle kiss turned passionate. Leroy had put his hands on the back of her neck, pulling her closer in. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek and the skin of his palms against the back of her neck. The feeling of those lips of his against hers, somehow, felt familiar. The feeling resonated at the back of her mind. It was as if it wasn’t the first time they kissed.
Before she knew it, his hands pushed her hair away from her shoulders and traced her neck with his fingers. His lips moved down towards her neck and kissed on it. She could vaguely hear him whispered “Eliza” in her ear. As he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, she felt a slight sting on her neck where his lips touched. It felt like two tiny needles were pressing on her neck. But the sting got more intense and it felt painful.
All of a sudden, she and Leroy were pushed down by a strong force. Robyn fell on her bed and opened her eyes. It felt like she was awaken from a trance. She touched her lips with her eyes widened. Why did I do that?
Robyn turned around to see two bodies rolling on the floor, one on another. Leroy was pressed against the floor, strangled by another man. It didn’t take long for her to realise that it was Jack. His seal brown hair gave it away. He must’ve come to check on her, she thought.
However, she couldn’t understand one thing — how did Jack get in? She turned to look in the direction of the force that pushed her down. She could only see a wall and a window, and it was firmly and safely locked with the glass unbroken.
Jack, who was still on top of Leroy, punched his knuckle right into Leroy’s face. “YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” Jack shouted in a hoarse voice before he gave Leroy another punch in the face.
“Get off me!” Leroy demanded and flung Jack onto a wall with just a wave of his hand. The part that Jack hit on was cracked and dented.
Robyn thought her eyes must’ve been playing tricks on her, because no human could ever flung another human onto the wall with just a wave of its hand, destroying the concrete wall in the process, and then disappeared in a flash of red light. But that was what she saw Leroy did. With another flash of red light, Jack disappeared, and returned a second later with Leroy in his arms.
As they wrestled around the room, Robyn had noticed both Leroy and Jack’s eyes were sheer black. It weren’t only the pupils, but the entire eyes were black. Their beautiful faces turned into a beastly expression — eyes staring at each other fiercely; lips stretched from ear to ear, being pulled back to reveal two long canines. They were humans no longer. They had turned into fearsome predators in a matter of seconds.
Leroy swung his hand across Jack’s chest and four bloody scratch marks appeared on Jack’s shirt. He was about to hit Jack on the face but Jack grabbed his hand immediately and hurled him on to the wall. Another dent appeared on it.
Leroy, who fell on the floor, stood up and shaped his hand into a claw. Robyn thought he was going to scratch Jack again but she knew she was wrong when she saw a dim light coming from his palm. The dim light turned into a large ball of fire with bright red flames, flames that were oh-so-familiar. It was the same colour of flames as those she saw in the news. And she knew it was the same fire that burnt the forest in Riverdale.
Robyn’s eyes widened and were unblinking when Leroy threw the fire at Jack, and Jack, without much effort, made an ice wall out of thin air and blocked the attack.
As they continued on their fight, Robyn could hardly believe her eyes. She was too dumbfounded to even breathe. She tried to convince herself that she was dreaming. She must have fallen asleep on her desk while trying to finish her homework and now she’s dreaming, she thought. She literally slapped herself on the face and blinked very hard to try to make what she was seeing to go away. But it didn’t work at all and she had become very frustrated. Even more so when she saw Leroy bit into Jack’s neck, causing blood to ooze out like water, but the wound closed in just a second and was gone by the next second. That was when she noticed that, despite being in such a violent brawl, both of them had no serious wounds at all.
The scene of two of the boys she knew turned into beasts was unbearable. Jack’s shirt and jeans were torn and ripped with blood on them; the corner of Leroy’s mouth was dripping of Jack’s blood and onto Leroy’s ragged coat.
Then, a piercing scream resounded in the room. The boys stopped, their fists frozen in the air. Robyn’s throat felt sore. It was then that she knew it was her who made that scream.
Robyn had clapped her hands on her head and closed her eyes. She had wanted everything to go away and make herself wake up from the nightmare.
The boys looked at her in shock. Jack was utterly speechless. Evidently, he had forgotten that Robyn was still in the room, wide awoke.
Robyn sat on her bed, hands clapped against her head, eyes closed, crouching her body. “It’s not real, it’s not real,” she kept telling herself in her head, despite knowing that it was. She knew no dreams could be so crystal clear and real, not even her usual nightmares felt this real.
She felt a hand touching her shoulder, and she reflexively slapped it away.
“Robyn?”
By hearing the voice, she knew it was Jack. She opened her tightly closed eyes and looked up to find the usual pair of amber eyes staring at her. They weren’t sheer black anymore, and there weren’t any canines. Leroy, who was standing beside her, had returned to his normal, arrogant-looking self. But his eyes were of ash mauve.
Yes, she knows these faces, she thought. But I don’t know these two persons.
Remembering the scene a few seconds ago, she jumped off the bed and moved away from them. Her limbs were shaking too much to let her run away and she was too horrified to speak.
“Robyn, it’s all right now. You don’t have to be scared,” Jack said softly while approaching her.
Even though she was afraid, deep down she knew she could still trust him. That was why she stayed where she was and didn’t run away as Jack closed in. Jack stretched out his hand and put his palm on her forehead. “You don’t have to remember any of these.”
Robyn felt dizzy and her vision was blurred almost immediately after Jack placed his palm on her head. However, all of a sudden, it stopped. Her vision had returned to normal and she wasn’t lightheaded anymore. Leroy had seized Jack’s hand and pulled it away from her.
“You’re not going to use the charm on her,” he demanded imperatively while still had Jack’s hand in his grip.
Jack shrugged off Leroy’s grip and looked at him in incredulity. “If they find out that she knew, they’ll kill her!”
“Or recruit her,” Leroy suggested matter-of-factly.
Jack let out a bitter chuckle. “One, does she look like she can protect herself against people like us? They’ll only recruit people who are useful to them. Two, and the main point, I don’t want her to become one of us.”
There was an awkward pause. Robyn could only gape at them as she didn’t understand a thing they were talking about.
Suddenly, it was as if Jack had realised something important. “That’s what you want, isn’t? She, dead.” He pounded on Leroy and grabbed his collar. “Why the hell are you doing this? What did she ever do to you?” Jack asked angrily, his voice raising with each word he spoke.
Leroy chuckled bitterly. “You want to know? I suggest you looking into her ancestry.” He flung off Jack’s hands and turned his piercing gaze to Robyn. “I’ll get back what I’ve lost.” He gave her one last, bitter look before he disappeared into a flash of red light.
Jack was staring at the spot where Leroy had disappeared while pondering over what Leroy said.
“I wanna know.”
Jack was surprised by Robyn’s sudden words. He turned around to face Robyn who was still standing on the same spot.
“I wanna know the truth. I wanna know who or what you are. I wanna know everything,” Robyn said firmly. She gaze was unwavering. She was determined.
Jack didn’t answer immediately. The silent stretched into an awkwardly long pause.
Jack turned his gaze away from her. “You read a lot about myths. And you’re smart. It shouldn’t be hard for you to guess what I am.”
Another pause. Robyn couldn’t find the right words to say.
“Is that why...you asked me if I believe in myths the other day?” She took in a deep breath and gulped. “Vampires?”
He looked at her for a brief moment. He wasn’t brave enough to look straight into her eyes. He put his hands into his pockets and shifted his weight from one leg to another. It was obvious that he felt very uneasy.
Even though he didn’t give her a sounded answer, she knew what answer he was going to give. “Oh my god.” Those were the only words she could say.
After that, neither of them said anything. It wasn’t because they didn’t have anything to say but they didn’t know how to say it.
“No,” Robyn said firmly, more to herself than to Jack. “Vampires aren’t supposed to walk in broad day light, or have reflection, and they don’t feed on anything else but...blood.” Saying the last word had made her felt awkward.
“We...created some facts about us and spread them to the humans to mislead them,” Jack explained carefully. He paused for a bit before continuing. “So, vampires can walk under the sun, we have reflection and we do eat food like humans. Well, even though the food doesn’t really fill up our stomach, we still eat them, for the sake of tasting something else other than...you know.” He avoided using the word which, he clearly knew, would make Robyn uncomfortable.
“So...you don’t sleep in a coffin?”
It felt really strange to ask questions to a notoriously terrifying, blood-sucking creature like it was only natural. But Robyn had somehow calmed down and she wasn’t afraid of him anymore.
Jack chuckled. It wasn’t bitter or sarcastic. He was really laughing. “No. I prefer a soft and comfortable bed.”
“And...garlics?”
“We actually eat them.”
“So what facts about your kind mentioned in the books are actually true?” Robyn asked impatiently. She couldn’t believe everything she thought she knew about vampires was only created by the vampires to deceive humans.
“Well...we do have alluring features...and we’re sort of...immortal,” Jack said with great difficulty, as if he was embarrassed of the things he just said. “We still age like humans do, but the process is much slower. We age like normal humans when we’re kids, but the older we get, the slower we age. And our wounds heal by themselves. So, in a sense, we’re immortal.”
Robyn was quiet. She was in deep thought, trying her hardest to find the right words to say. “How old are you?”
Jack smiled weakly. “I was born five years after Queen Elizabeth I died. You do the math.”
Upon hearing that, Robyn’s jaw dropped. “Four hundred years old,” she whispered through her breath to herself.
“So technically I’m an old man,” Jack said and laughed bitterly.
And then, both of them went silent. It felt really uncomfortable.
“Funny. I’m so calm now. I’m not scared anymore. But I’m supposed to,” Robyn blurted and laughed a little. She only said it for the sake of saying something to break the silence. However, she got herself an unexpected reply.
“That’s because I did something to you,” Jack said flatly. “I’m controlling your emotions.”
Robyn gave him a “what?” look. She was in disbelief.
“We have powers. Well, I guess you already knew that.” He stared at the small pile of water on the floor where the ice wall used to be. “We gain powers as we grow older. The first that we’ll get is strength. Every one of us has that. And then, it’s teleportation. You know, like Harry Potter can Apparate and Disapparate. Only we do that without the wand. And again, every vampire can do that.”
He paused and waited for the information to sink into Robyn. “After that, most vampires would have developed telepathic powers to manipulate and read minds, and communicate through minds, like...Leroy.” He spoke of the name in deep disgust. “But some of us, instead of becoming a telepath, they become empaths with the power to read emotions and control them, like me.”
He laughed to himself. “This power comes in really handy when I’m dealing with that overprotective friend of yours. Without it, I can’t imagine how many times he would have pounded on me.”
“So I’m guessing you’ve also used that on me several times.”
“I can’t bear to see you cry and so exhausted.” He paused and cleared his throat. “And next is the elemental power. Each of us has the power to manipulate either one of the five elements. My element is water.”
“Then, Leroy’s must be fire,” Robyn said weakly to herself. She looked straight into Jack’s eyes suddenly, which surprised him. “Leroy. I felt...needle-like things on my neck. Was he...trying to...me?” Robyn asked while touching the part of her neck where she felt the sting. She couldn’t bring herself to say it. The mere thought of it made her felt a chill down her spine.
Jack did not answer. He simply gave her a look.
“He’s trying to do...what he did to those girls...to me. So that’s what happened. He hypnotised the girls, drunk all of their blood, and kill them in the process. The wounds must have somehow disappeared,” Robyn explained, to herself, frantically. Her breathing became heavy and her heartbeat had become more rapid. “That’s what he was trying to do to me just now.”
Jack grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. “Robyn, calm down.”
“No. He’s trying to kill me, isn’t it? And he said he won’t give up!”
“Robyn,” Jack raised his voice. Robyn immediately looked straight at him. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Trust me. I came in time, didn’t I? I can sense it if you’re in danger.”
She was not sure if it was Jack’s reassuring words that had calmed her, or it was his empathic power in the working, but she had become much more composed, and her heartbeat as well as her breathing were back to normal.
“What does he want? Why is he so determined to kill me?”
Jack gave her a look as if he had remembered something vital. “He told me to look into your ancestry,” he spoke more to himself than to her.
“My ancestors?”
“Does your family keep records? Like a family tree or something?” Jack asked hastily.
Robyn shook her head.
Jack pondered for a moment. “Tomorrow. We’ll visit an acquaintance of mine.”
Robyn agreed to go with him, albeit not knowing the reason to do so.
“And Robyn, you have to promise me you won’t speak to anybody about tonight. You can’t tell anyone about what happened or what I told you. Absolutely nobody. Not even Ashley. Do you understand?” Jack said with a very solemn expression on his face.
Seeing Jack’s expression, Robyn nodded a few times.
“If the council finds out you know everything, they won’t let you off so easily.” He then smacked his forehead. “Shouldn’t have told you in the first place...what was I thinking?” he asked himself repeatedly, pacing back and forth in the room. Suddenly, he stopped dead. “No. I should use the Memory charm now,” he suggested to himself.
“No!” Robyn exclaimed. “You’re going to erase my memories, aren’t you?” She paused to take a deep breath to calm herself. Jack could only look at her apologetically. “You are not going to mess with my brain. I have the right to know exactly what I’m facing and the true identity of my friend.”
Jack laughed bitterly. “You sure you wanna befriend a blood-sucking killer?”
“Yes,” Robyn answered confidently.
“Vampires are beasts created by Lucifer — or Satan, or whatever you’ll like to call it, to bring chaos and catastrophe to humans as revenge to God. We are predators made to be beautiful to lure humans, so we can consume them. We’re cold-blooded and brutal. Don’t you think it’s wise to stay away from me? Or forget about everything I just told you?” Jack looked at her with an excruciating stare, waiting for an answer he’d expected from a sane person.
It began with a quiet giggle, and then a light chuckle, and evolved into a silent belly-laugh. Robyn couldn’t stop herself form laughing. “No offence but...I find it rather difficult to be...afraid of you.” And she burst into laughter once again. She tried to stop when she saw the annoyed face of Jack. “If it’s Leroy, I would have been scared to death; but you?...Hell no.”
Robyn had stopped laughing now. She sat on the bed and smiled to Jack. “Being a vampire doesn’t make you a monster. I may not know much about vampires — well, I thought I knew everything about vampires, thanks to you guys — but I know you. After knowing you for two whole years, you think I wouldn’t know if you’re a bad person?” she said while staring straight into his eyes. “I’m not a genius, but I’m no idiot, either,” she added when Jack gave her a doubtful look, with a tiny hint of irritation in her voice.
She hove a quiet sigh. “Look, I know you. I trust you.”
Jack sniggered. “You’re definitely not a sane person. You’re saying you trust me? Someone who used to kill thousands of innocents just so they can quench their bloody thirst?”
Robyn was quiet for a moment before she spoke. “I don’t know if you’ve killed somebody. And to be honest, I don’t care. And didn’t you just say you used to? That’s past tense.” She made another pause. “The Jack I know wouldn’t hurt a fly if he had a choice. And I know you wouldn’t hurt anybody…especially me.” She looked at him with so much trust in her eyes that it frightened him.
Jack locked his jaws. He looked away briefly and back at her again. But at that brief moment, Robyn thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitched. And there was something in his eyes that said…guilt. A deep, remorseful guilt. He gripped the brass frame at the end of the bed. His breathing became rapid. He looked as if he was struggling inside.
He looked at her with such intensity, frowning so hard that Robyn thought he was sick. “I don’t deserve that trust. And I’m not being modest.”
