Chapter Twenty One: What's Left Behind

Friday morning came around to find Lorraine having another sleepless night. She was sick with worry. It had been an entire day and a night since her mother disappeared, and they were not any closer to her. Bates had called her and Aiden, who decided to stay with her for the night, to update them about what happened. They had filed the missing report the day before, and the sheriff had assured her that they would find her mother as soon as possible. She didn’t believe him.

“Morning.” She greeted Aiden, who was watching the TV in her living room. He nodded at her, but held a grave look on his face. *“The body belonged to Mike Norman, a seventeen-year-old high school senior. Sheriff Harold Fisher finally gave an official statement.”* Sheriff Fisher appeared on the screen, *“We believe it was an animal attack, after examining the bodies we reached the conclusion that this is the doing of a pack of wolves.” *

Aiden schoffed, “Wolves? That’s the best they could come up with? There haven't been wolves in Virginia for a very long time.”

Lorraine plopped herself next to him on the couch. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she said, “I cannot believe Mike is dead. Why would they kill him? How did he even get into the woods? He was supposed to be out of town.” She let out a short sigh, then asked Aiden, “You never explained to me how this vampire thing works. I mean what are you capable of? What can you do? What can hurt you?”

Aiden wondered if she would view him differently if she knew more. *“She has the right to know.”* He told himself. “We have heightened senses, we heal faster, we have great speed, and the sun doesn’t kill us. Not all of us, at least.” When she gave him a questioning look, he explained. “If your bloodline traces down to a deathless then you walk in the sun like any normal human. Cedric turned Bates, and he turned me, so I can walk in the sun.”

“You know for a moment I thought that the Deathless were the origin. They were first and then came… normal vampires?” She found it extremely strange to call vampires normal. By all means, it was strange.

Aiden shook his head, “There were vampires, then there were deathless.” he shrugged his shoulders, “I don't know how vampires came to exist.” He gave a thoughtful look, remembering what else to tell her, “We get more powerful with age. The older we are the more powerful, so Bates is stronger than me.”

“And Cedric is stronger than the both of you.” She concluded.

He shook his head, his nose scrunched, “It pained me to say this, greatly so.” She believed him, his face reflected how much he hated whatever he was about to say, “Cedric is in another league. You already know that being deathless means they had magic before turning and they retain some of their magic.” Lorraine nodded her head, “The magic they have gives them a wide range of abilities, some are bound to be stronger than others. As far as I know, Cedric is very good with shapeshifting, controlling animals and birds.”

“The crows attack.” Lorraine said with a nod. Her tone didn’t give away any shock or surprise. To Aiden, it seemed like she was accepting all of it really well. However, the way her heart raced in her chest, he knew she wasn’t as strong as she wanted him to think.

He only gave a nod, “He’s very good with controlling the weather too.”

“So, what other abilities can they have?”

“Some are good with telepathy, others are very good clairvoyants, telekinesis, and the list of powers goes on. The powerful ones, and I mean really powerful ones, can master several skills at the same time. They also get stronger with age.”

Lorraine had spent the previous night wondering if she was dreaming or that she had gone mad and it was all in her head. She wished she was crazy. After what Aiden had told her, she wished for it even more. Nothing made sense to her; nothing at all. And she wanted nothing more than to crawl in her bed and cry herself to sleep, but she knew she couldn’t. *“I have a mother to find, school to finish, and a friend to mourn.”* Therefore, she opted to know more, have a better understanding of what was happening.

“And they drink blood?”

“Vampires drink blood, but the deathless are different. They do consume blood, it gives them power, but their bite drains the life force as well.” He tilted his head to the side, remembering something that Bates had told him a long time ago, “I think they can drain the life force of other beings as well, not just humans.”

“What about you? How do you feed?” She asked him hesitantly. Lorraine wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer to her question, but she needed to know. Aiden had stayed with her for the past two nights, they have been friends for some time, and had he wished her harm, he had several opportunities to do so. Instead, he promised her protection. However, the question needed an answer. Lorraine still found it peculiar, the way Aiden cared for her like he had known her for ages.

“I killed someone, when I first turned. Someone important to me.” He said sadly, his gaze turned away from hers. The memory of her still pained him, the way life drained from her face was an image that would never his brain for eternity. “It was then that I decided I would never feed on humans again. So, I go for animal blood, sometimes blood bags too.”

She nodded her head, “Did you love her?”

Aiden smiled, “I was very young back then, and she was exceptional.” The smile had disappeared, “I had a brother, Mark, he was equally enchanted by her. It drew a wedge between us…” When he went quiet, Lorraine decided not to badger him about it, although she was extremely curious as to what happened.

She gave his shoulder a comforting pat, giving him a small smile, “You won’t be sad forever.” She knew he regretted killing her, *“It must have torn him apart.”*

Aiden jolted up, pulling her from her reverie. The disquiet look on his face, made her eyebrows knit together, and she stood up in front of him. “What’s happening?” He looked like he could hear or see something that she couldn’t. He only put a finger on his lips, gesturing for her to keep quiet and she nodded her head. He quietly and stealthy walked to her front door. She followed behind him, trying to be as quiet as he was.

Aiden opened the door slowly, as if anticipating someone to charge at him, but there was no one at the door. When Lorraine looked down, she noticed a yellow envelope, stained with blood at her doorstep. Her eyes didn’t leave it, her heart thudding in her chest, which was what alerted Aiden to follow her eyes. They both stared at the envelope, their dread hanging in the air, as if that envelope held the time of their death.