The Vampire Girl #Winterfest2020

5

When I came to my senses again, I way lying outside in the grass of one the beautiful gardens, my nightgown was drenched in my own blood, and Jean-Jacques des Étoiles was with me.

"You have done something really stupid tonight," he stated matter-of-factly before I could even begin to speak. "You have no idea how close that was!"

"Why do you care?" I asked and sat up, realising that Zaza would ask me what I had been up to if I came home looking like this.

"I do care because your childish behaviour is putting our entire species at risk," he said through clenched teeth.

"So, what? I'm a child!" I shouted angrily because I couldn't believe his attitude. I had no idea what had happened, but it was clear to me that my passing out had been some sort of a medical emergency which would have required the attention of a professional physician. Instead of getting help, all he seemed to be doing was to put me down.

He quickly put his hand over my mouth and shushed me. I would have tried to bite him with my teeth, but he managed to shock me to the core with what he said next. "Don't get sassy with me, daughter!" When he saw my shocked facial expression, he continued: "Even though I expected that a child of mine would be smarter, you still don't know who you are and what you are. You're certainly not Zaza's daughter as there is no resemblance."

Zaza had always told me that I looked just like my father, and I realised now that it was true: My features were quite similar to his. I didn't know why I had never noticed it before or why I had never questioned the attention he had lavished on me. Perhaps I hadn't wanted to question it, or perhaps I had just been too young. But now I was beginning to comprehend that I was a nobleman's daughter, probably a servant's "bastard" just like so many other boys and girls who lived in Versailles.

"In fact, you're not just my daughter, but you are a vampire as well." And once he had said it, he let go of me.

"You're totally crazy! Vampires don't exist in real life!"

"And little kids don't normally need to drink blood every day, but you need to do that!"

I had known for a long time that something about me was different from Zaza and Chouchou, but I had never been able to pinpoint what it was. But when he said I was a vampire, I couldn't believe it at first. On the other hand, a little voice in my head told me that what he had said about the "juice" was true: I knew nobody else who drank it. So was I a vampire? Was I a monster who would eventually kill a lot of people?

"For the past eight years, I have come to you and put my reputation at risk to help you hide your true nature! Because it needs to me hidden, or there will be consequences for all of us!"

"Are there more people of our kind?" I asked even though I was not so sure whether "people" was the appropriate term.

"There are a couple of vampires at the court," he admitted. "Most of them don't stay here for long. We recognise each other, but we never ever talk to each other because it would be too risky. And we certainly don't hunt together because that would be extremely dangerous. But you see, I am ready to teach you all you need to know now that you are aware of your true nature."

"So there are more things I need to be aware of... apart from keeping away from metal crosses?"

He sighed. "Yes, you've got a lot to learn. There is also a lot I can learn from you because you are the only living offspring of a vampire that I know."

In the years that followed, my father stayed true to his word. He taught me about the history of our species first. It turned out that he knew a lot because he had done some quite extensive reading over the centuries, and as he was able to read books in a lot of languages, he was probably one of the world's leading experts on vampirism. He also told me that he had begun to write a book to teach me about our kind. It was a weird attempt at chronicling the history of the vampire species in Europe, and he let me read it even though he hadn't finished the book. I found out later that some of information in the book was inaccurate.