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“That makes sense,” Diana said, thinking it over.

They voted there and then, and no one disagreed.

“One thing. Maurick, you’re not wanted,” I stated.

Maurick narrowed his eyes, and everyone went silent. “Why?” he demanded.

“The reason is quite clear. You have betrayed us once. I’ll not give you another chance.”

“Too far, Jacques,” Maurick snapped.

The others had my back, and Maurick took in all the determined faces and understood he wasn’t wanted, so he backed off.

“Just one more thing. I have a name for us, courtesy of Inka’s mother. We are to call ourselves Vam’pirs.”

There were a few gasps, and someone muttered, “Oh, poor thing,” but no one challenged me.

Let me explain.

A Vam’pir is a small rodent, similar to a squirrel. The vicious animal has sharp fangs that it uses to drink its prey’s blood. Then, it rips the heart out of its victim and drinks from that. Sadly, we knew Vam’pirs could bring down a man or a woman, so we had hunted it to near extinction.

The Vam’pir emerge at night like us. It lived on blood, the same as us. And we would resort to cruelty if necessary. Vam’pir was a fitting name indeed. Only no one would be hunting us down to kill us. As a group, we would be invincible.

???

Now you are aware of the circumstances that led to the creation of the Vampire myth. You’ve learnt the truth behind it. I have told you of my birth and rebirth. As time went on, we discovered other abilities, too.

Vam’pir’s are indeed dangerous. Not dark, evil creatures like the modern Count Dracula, nor were we the Devil’s children. We did not worship at an altar or sacrifice people. Vam’pir’s didn’t have any rituals, and we are not frightened by holy ground or garlic.

The cross has no power over us in reality. Sure, we spawned vampires, but Vam’pirs are the most powerful and I know now I could survive the sun. I have the blood of two Vam’pirs inside me. Nobody else alive does. Vam’pir’s don’t hug the shadows and hang around graveyards. Vampires might, but nota Vam’pir. Vampires are the much-weakened version. Vam’pirs are a power unto ourselves.

We built our home, and Father finished teaching me the gold trade. At night, when we woke, we drank the blood and went about our jobs. D’vid and Eduardo set up a trade link through my brother and father, and we exchanged for what we needed.

Which, in all honesty, was minimal. We traded for books and tapestries, items like this. Vam’pir’s made our own clothes, as we had weavers and tailors amongst us. Food and drink were unnecessary. For added protection, my sister Julia carved us stone coffins to sleep in. We didn’t really require them, but they did make us feel that little bit safer. My mother and father took to sleeping late in the morning so they could stay up later.

We never saw Inka’s parents after that night, and they stayed away from my family. Inka healed, but sometimes she would drift off into memory, and I know she thought of them—and their cruelty.

Our lives were certainly not idyllic, but they were settled, and we were happy. The others who had family they visited, or they came to us. Everybody was welcome as long as they came in friendship, and we often held parties at night, and everyone was invited. There was biasness against us all, but we tried not to let it bother us.

As the story of my creation comes to an end, I hope you are still reading and will finish my tale.Are you awake, or I have I bored you enough to put you to sleep?

???

One last thing… I did get my revenge on Maurick.

The hospital room had one window, and a dark cloth covered it so the sun couldn’t get in.

For added security, we had all moved our stasis chambers away (we didn’t get our coffins till we moved into the villa) from the window.

One night, when the others were out, I unnailed the cloth and tied a string to it. When I tugged, the cloth would fall down, and sunlight would stream in.

I pushed Maurick’s chamber under the window, as I know he usually left, arriving to the very last minute to avoid everyone.

Then, I scratched little holes out of the protective glaze on the top of the chamber. Hundreds of tiny pinpricks. The light would stream in and torture him.

I was determined to cause Maurick deep pain; I wanted him to suffer—needed him to suffer. This was incredibly nasty, as Maurick had suffered the same as us. But you don’t betray your friends, no matter what happens.Let that be a warning!

I would remind Maurick of that lesson as he died his final death.