Talisman 01 - The Emerald Talisman

would you think that?”
    “I could have stopped him if I was sooner. I was only in time to save you. She’d been bitten and . . . it was too late to save her.”
    I closed my eyes. The scene was still alive, replaying like a bad movie in my head and the tears began again. The urge to run stiffened the muscles in my legs, but the adrenaline rush had zapped all my energy.
    “How could you know?” I said to ease his guilt. “It’s the animal-who-took-her-life’s fault. He should get the blame.”
    Nicholas hung his head. I sensed his hesitation to agree.
    “He didn’t get away, did he?” I asked with gritted teeth, ready to become a vampire hunter too if the filthy beast still roamed the planet.
    Nicholas’s eyes tightened into a scowl.
    “I gave him what he deserved.”
    “Good,” I said, with a hard edge to my voice.
    Finding out Nicholas avenged my mother’s murder strangely comforted me and made the pain soften for a bit. But after my anger subsided, I found myself even more worn out. In the last two hours I had discovered vampires were real, the truth of my mother’s disappearance, why Nicholas avoided me and why he was there in the first place. My head felt like it was going to implode.
    “But wait a minute,” I blurted out. “How could that be? You’d be only, what—“ I counted on my fingers. “Like eight-years-old?”
    He paused and looked like he didn’t want to answer.
    “I wasn’t eight,” he said sheepishly, “I was eighteen.”
    “But how is that possible?” I said slowly.
    “It’s because I’m not what you think I am.”
    My stomach dropped and I leaned away to study his face. Could he be a vampire and just learned to control his bloodlust? He did have unexplainable super human strength and amazing agility.
    “Are you one of them?” I whispered.
    I cringed in anticipation of the answer. If for some reason he was, there had to be an explanation. He waited before answering and nervously shifted in his seat.
    “I’m half actually,” he finally muttered out, his stern face avoiding my eyes.
    “Half?”
    “It’s a long story,” he said with a sigh. “I was born this way.”
    “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I said, afraid to pry.
    “I don’t see any reason not to tell you, now that you know the truth.” He took a deep breath and the pain came close to the surface.
    “My father is a vampire and my mother, a human. Most of the time, when a vampire falls in love with a human, the human wants to become immortal so they can be together forever, but my dad refused to turn my mom and insisted they try to have a normal relationship.
    “Vampires don’t procreate by having babies, so when my mom found out she was pregnant with me, my dad assumed she cheated and left her. When she went into labor, she refused to go to a hospital and had complications, so—my dad raised me.”
    “Oh,” I said, feeling insensitive for dredging up his past. “That’s horrible. I’m really sorry.”
    “Yeah . . . so, to answer your question, I age slowly.”
    “That’s good, right?” I said, in an attempt to recover my blunder.
    “Well, until you show people your driver’s license,” he said, joking to cover the hurt. His mouth curled up at the corner. “You don’t know how many times I’ve had it confiscated as a fake.”
    “And you’re super strong and fast.”
    “I do have all the vampire abilities, plus I can walk in the daylight—a very nice bonus.”
    He flashed his white teeth and the next question slipped out of my mouth.
    “Do you drink blood?”
    Nicholas turned with an inquisitive smile and I became horrified at myself.
    “Questions, questions,” he said teasingly, “No. I don’t. My father believes if I ever did, the vampire side of me would take over and I’d lose the ability to control my thirst. I don’t care to find out.”
    I was relieved Nicholas’ vampire traits were more of a blessing than a curse and that he indulged my silly questions.
    But Nicholas emanated a new found freedom and the guilt melted. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been the last ten years—to be near me, but stay anonymous and invisible, unable to share the truth or the grief. I felt more connected to him than ever.
    “So, you followed me after my family moved?” I asked.
    “I did,” he said. “She didn’t deserve the fate she received, so I’ve protected you ever since.”
    Tears welled up in my eyes again. I was grateful; not