Page 69 of Burn Falls

I took another step forward, and this time she didn’t retreat. “A vampire. And there are no other vampires that live in Burn Falls except me.”

“How are vampires real?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“It’s a curse that leads back to the Greeks.”

“A curse?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Tell me.”

“Tell you the story of how they came about?”

“Yes.”

“It’s long.”

“Humor me.”

“Okay.” I paused. “An Italian painter named Ambrogio fell in love with a Titan Goddess named Selene, and asked her to marry him. But Apollo, the son of Zeus, wanted her for his own, so he cursed Ambrogio by causing his skin to burn whenever it was exposed to sunlight.

“Ambrogio turned to Hades, the God of the underworld, for help. Ambrogio made a deal with Hades to leave his soul with him as a down payment, and then steal Artemis’s—Apollo’s twin sister—silver bow for Hades in exchange for a wooden bow and arrows for protection.

“But Artemis cursed Ambrogio for trying to steal from her, and she made it so silver would burn his skin. She later took pity when he begged for mercy and explained his predicament, so she gave him super strength, immortality, and fangs to kill beasts for their blood.

“Artemis was a virgin Goddess, and she forced Ambrogio to give up his love because all of her followers had to remain chaste and unmarried. He agreed, but that night he wrote a message to Selene telling her to meet him. They sailed to Ephesus and lived for many years in caves together. Ambrogio never aged because Hades still had his soul, but the years weren’t as kind to Selene, and soon she fell ill.

“Since Ambrogio’s soul still resided in Hades, it was impossible for Selene and Ambrogio to spend the afterlife together. Ambrogio killed a swan and offered it to Artemis, which caused her to make one final deal with him. She allowed Ambrogio to drink Selene’s blood so they could stay together forever and she too would become immortal.

“However, Selene began to radiate with light, and her spirit rose into the heavens and met with Artemis at the moon. Selene became the Goddess of Moonlight, and every night she reaches down from the heavens and touches her beloved Ambrogio and their vampire children, which he creates by a mixture of their blood after he drains a human.”

Calla didn’t say anything after I was done. She just stared at me.

“Sweetheart?”

“So this Ambrogio dude is the only one to turn humans into vampires?”

“No.” I shook my head. “He started the curse, and any vampire can turn a human.”

“Do you … Do you turn humans?”

“No. Never have and never will.”

She was silent for a few moments before she spoke again. “Did Ambrogio turn you?”

“No.”

“Who did?”

“A vampire in Chicago.”

“When?”

“You might want to sit down for this,” I suggested.

“Oh God,” she whispered. “You’re … old?”

I chuckled. “What’s old?”