My Human Luna

21

My heart stops. Or at least it feels like it. My body is frozen in place out of fear of who - or should I say, what - is in front of me. 

"Oh relax, woman, I seriously won't hurt you", he says, giving me a smile. "We're friends!"

I'm still unsure. I hardly feel like I can trust the werewolves I've been around, so to be confronted by a vampire feels worse. 

Still seeing my hesitation, he rolls his eyes and sits opposite me, looking me directly in the eye. 

"I promise I won't hurt you, Mina. And I won't hurt any other being, unless they are a threat to either myself or my friends. Vampires weren't meant to be bad, originally", he says to me gently, knowing that his calming tone and softened features may help calm me. They do slightly. 

"How do you know that they weren't meant to be bad originally? Don't they drink human blood? That's definitely not nice", I asked, curious. 

Joshua sighs. 

"I'm going to tell you the story about the history of vampires. Will you be okay if I tell you about it?", he asks me, and after a second of thinking, a slowly nod. I feel like I should know. 

"Well", he says "a long, long time ago, there was a young couple who loved each other dearly. As soon as they met, they knew they were soulmates and that their lives were meant to be lived together; two souls coming together, as perfectly matched as a couple can be. They married, and soon after found out they were pregnant with twins; a son, and a daughter. When the twins were born, it felt as if their life was complete; nothing could have made the couple happier in their lives than their small family. 

However, when the twins both turned 1 they became quite sick, and it was evident that the two children were soon going to die. Devastated and desperate to save their children, the two parents tried to seek out any solution to cue their children. But nothing was working. 

But there was one thing they could try. There was a myth that deep in the centre of the forest which they lived on the outskirts of there was a well, filled with mystical water that could make the drinker stronger, fitter and wiser. The couple had never sought out this mythical water before as they were content with their lives, but for their children the parents would do anything. So leaving the children at home in the care of a nurse one night, the two went into the forest to seek out the water. And to their utter surprise, they found the well. Apart from the creator of the well, they are the only people to have ever found the mystical water due to the pure intentions they had in wanting to find it. On the side of the well it said:

'If you have found this well, you only have pure intentions on how to use the contents within this well. However, in order for the water to work, you must place something into your cup of water that you own. This will determine who you are destined to become.' 

The couple deliberated on what to do - do they just take some water in a bottle they brought and give it straight to their children? Or what if it was poison, and it would just make their children have to go through an even more painful death? 

Eventually, they decided that they would both drink some of the water, and then if they were well by the time they returned to their children they would give it to them. 

The couple collected two cups of water, one for each. "I will put a dash of my blood in my cup", the male said, and used a sharp rock on the well to produce a slight cut on his finger, and squeezed his finger until a drop of blood landed into the cup. When the drop of blood hit the water, it caused the water in the cup to become dark red. 

"I will put a strand of my hair in my cup", the female said, and she pulled out a strand of her blonde hair and placed it within the cup. As soon as she placed the piece of hair into the cup the water started to glow the same colour as her hair.

And then the two drank their cups. As soon as they had each drank each drop, they looked at each other in hope and smiled at each other. They both reached out their hands to each other, but as soon as their fingers connected they were both in extreme physical agony. They both fell to the ground and withered in blinding pain, causing them both to eventually black out from the immense pain. 

But then, they awoke. But not as who they used to be. By using his blood, the male had become a vampire, and by using her hair, the female had become a werewolf. 

But there was another twist to drinking the water. By drinking the water, the two of them had become spiritual beings. Immortal, to forever live either on earth or in the sky. The well had been set up by the most powerful God, who wanted another within his ranks who was worthy of their title; someone pure of heart, like the couple."

Finishing his tale, Josh looked away from me and at the ground. He seemed to be deeply affected by the story. 

"So you see, werewolves and vampires were not created out of evil; they were created out of pure intentions", he said solemnly, still looking away. 

"But how do you know that this story is true and not a bunch of crap? It just sounds like a bedtime story to me", I say bluntly. I mean, why would Joshua know this story.

"I know this", he says slowly, "because the couple in the story - they're my parents".