The Tribrid

Vampires

 
  Emily's POV
  I jerk awake from my dream. What was that? Where was that? And what were those animals. Liam is asleep next to me. I carefully slip out of bed. I pick up the only clothes I have and get dressed. I use the bathroom before heading out of the bedroom. It is still early, but I'm surprised to hear voices coming from down stairs and a glow of light. I head down stairs where I hear four distinct voices. One of which I recognize as Cyran, the others I do not know. I walk down the stairs and stand outside the room.
  "Come on Cy, you simply must tell us more about her." I hear a woman's voice say. I wonder if I should walk in there? Cyran did say that there were other vampires here, and I'm very interested in learning more about that part of me. I decide I am going to enter, I'm going to have to meet these people sooner or later.
  I walk into the room, there is no door to open, but my presence is felt immediately. Everyone's eyes turn towards me as if I rang a bell for their attention. It was almost intimidating. I immediately freeze, worried I just interrupted them and shouldn't be in this room. The room was very grand. It had high ceiling, wood floors and pilars, large rugs, and beautiful Victorian furniture. There was a beautiful girl draped over a couch, she looked like she belonged in a painting. There was a man standing with a drink in his hand behind her. Samson was in the room, but quiet as always. There was a blonde girl sitting in a chair and another man standing close to Cyran.  They all look like they could be standing for a painting. Cyran smiles at me and makes me feel more comfortable. The blonde girl puts her drink down.
  "This must be her. Oh Cyran, she is lovely." She gets up and comes over to me. Her long blonde hair frames her young face. I wouldn't be surprised if she had turned when she was seventeen.
  "Hello Emily, my name is Mia. It's so nice to finally meet you." She says bubbly and wraps her arms around me. She squeezes me tightly.
  "Mia that's enough, you will kill her like you did the pet rabbit you had." One of the men say. She lets go of me and shoots him a hateful look.
  "That charmer is Benedict, and I am Peter." A man with light brown hair comes over to me.
  "And this beauty who looks like she is being staged for a telenovela is Ashleah." This gets a chuckle from everyone.
  "Please join us." I walk in closer to everyone. I stand next to Cyran. "So tell me how are you doing after such a traumatic event?" Ashleah says, trying to move past the comment. 
  "Um, Thank you. I'm ok. I just wish I had anything else to wear." I say honestly.
  "You don't have a change of clothes? Well I'm sure Mia would love to help, lord knows she has enough clothes to fill a mansion." Benedict says.
  "Oh yes, you simply must let me help. We get so few visitors. Here come with me."
  "Now?" I ask.
  "Yes now. You will feel loads better." Mia has a accent, but I can't place it, almost like Cyran.
  "And you can tell me all about yourself. Ashleah, would you care to join us?" She asks, but takes my hand and she starts walking away, not waiting for a response.
  "I would love to, but I fear I will only be a burden, I've grown so tired. Perhaps tomorrow." By the time Ashleah finishes her sentence, we are already out the door. We walk up the stairs and to the right. We walk down a hallway to a white door.
  "I love how every door is different." I say.
  "Me too. And it always tells you about what the room will be before you open it." Mia says.
  We enter into her room and it is huge. The walls are a crisp white and the ceiling was high. It is so bright in here, but there is not one window.
  "It's the lighting and white of the room. I'm not in the bloodline so this is the closest thing I can get to daylight." I guess she noticed me looking around.
  "Well I love it." I tell her. She smiles at me and brings me over to her closet.
  "This was actually another room, but I took it over." She says.
  "Oh wow. How do you pick what to wear? Everything is so beautiful." I say.
  "You are very nice. We are going to make fast friends I believe." She says. She scans her fingers through the hanging clothes. Then she stops like she has an idea.
  "I think I know just the thing." She takes me to one side and pulls out a few options.
  "Here, go try this on." She points to a curtain.
  "Thank you." I say.
  "So are you guys the only vampires here?" I ask her as I change my clothes.
  "No, there is Milton and Fredrick. But they are really old and they keep to themselves mostly. You know vampires can get really odd the older they get." She says.
  "How old are you, if you don't mind me asking."
  "Umm I'm around one hundred. The older you are, the less you keep track."
  "When do vampires start acting odd?" I come out in a peach and yellow flower dress. It is very pretty.
  "I'd say three to four hundred. Hasn't Cyran taught you anything about vampires yet?!" She asks.
  "A little bit, but definitely not enough." I say. She turns me to face a mirror.
  "Well don't worry. I'll answer all your questions while you keep trying on clothes." She giggles and hands me another outfit.
  "Thanks." I smile and take it behind a curtain.
  "How did you end up here?" I ask.
  "Benedict turned me." She says it so naturally.
  "What?" I ask.
  "Benedict turned me into a vampire."
  "How? Why?"
  "I drank his blood. I was dying, I had the Spanish flu. He was offering me eternal life and I took it." I came out in some jeans and a T-shirt.
  "Wow. How old were you?"
  "Sixteen. But that was a long time ago." She says. I decide to drop the topic.
  "Have you uhh, ever seen a dragon?" I ask her.
  "A dragon? No never. Cyran told us about the battle though.. Milton and Frederick might know something about them."
  "Can we go ask them?" I ask her.
  "We can. But prepare for weird behavior. They also live in the basement." She says.
  "Ok, am I safe?" I ask her.
  "Why don't we take Cyran and Samson with us?" She suggests. I nod in agreement. We walk out of her room and we meet Marcus at the top of the stairs.
  "Morning Marcus."
  "Morning E."
  "And who is this." I practically hear Mia purr.
  "Marcus St. Ives at your service." Mia giggles.
  "Is he your boyfriend?" Mia asks me.
  "Sadly no, the lady turned me down." Marcus answers for me.
  "We're going down to meet the elder vampires to see what they know about vampires. Care to join?" Mia asks.
  "I would love to."
  "Ohh and brave. I like you." Mia says.
  "Enough flirting you too." Cyran says from the bottom of the stairs.
  "Let's go." He adds. We head down the stairs and through a hallway, and then down another set of stairs. I need to learn this house or I will definitely get lost. We get down the stairs and I see a faint glow of light coming from under a door. Cyran knocks on the door and opens it slowly.
  "Fredrick? Milton?" He calls out.
  "Yes. Come in." The door opens and the smell of damp paper fills my nose. There are books everywhere and a man sits at a table.
  "Milton it's good to see you." Cyran says.
  "Yes yes. What do you want?" He says shortly without turning to look at us. He seems to be writing something.
  "Go on Emily. Ask your question." Milton drops his pen and turns to me. It was so surprising to see such a young face on someone who I know is very old. He looks me over but doesn't say a word.
  "Do you know anything about dragons?" I ask. His eyes grow big and then narrow. His eyes dance around the room, like he's looking for the perfect flower to pick. Then his eyes land on a book. He gets up and pulls it out of the stack. He thumbs through the pages before handing me the book.
  "Dragons. Fierce and difficult to defeat. But still a creature. A creature with a weakness." He points to something on the page. A purple pink crystal.
  "A crystal. Like the one from my dream." I say.
  "What dream?" Cyran asks.
  "I had a dream last night about a crater full of these crystals. But it was guarded by some kind of creature."
  "Gruler" Milton says. He turns the page, and there drawn out is the animal from my dream. It has the body of a dog with no fur, teeth as sharp as a shark, and oddly it has no nose.
  "Can the crystal kill dragons?" I ask hopeful.
  "The crystal can conduct the fire. If used correctly, it will use their own fire against them." Milton says boredly.
  "We have to get these crystals." I say.