Blood Roses | #ONC2022 ((ON HOLD))

I

The world went dark on my sixteenth birthday.

But there wasn't a party. No celebration. No cake or presents or balloons.

There hadn't been in the fifteen years prior so it wasn't expected, but the reason that year was entirely different.

Because I was cursed, and everyone knew but me.

I don't think they would have told me even if I asked. I just assumed a third mouth was one mouth too many for my grandmother, and my sisters would have been better off without me, if given the chance.

Because my mother died while she was giving birth.

My grandmother said it was because she knew she needed to give me her life to begin my own.

My sister Delia said it was because Mom would rather die than face my father.

Mira, my oldest sister, said I stole it from her.

Whatever the reason, my mother was gone the day I was born, and my father was nowhere in sight. I don't know if they expected him to show his face, or if they were aware if he even knew I existed. Whatever the reason, it was unceremoniously on my grandmother and my sisters to raise me, to keep me safe.

I wouldn't fault them that burden.

Because it was on my sixteenth birthday that I discovered what I truly was.

It was on my sixteenth birthday that I discovered I was dhampir.