She walks down the dark, silent road in oblivion of the shadows that lurk around her. She was never scared of the dark or anything that wandered in it. Her name is Scarlett Angelo, the daughter of Elijah Angelo and Natalia Angelo and unlike any other being, she is half human and half vampire whose after school practices include learning wizardry from her grandfather in which she would concoct spells from his spell book and create confetti and glitter out of thin air and make potions that would be a kaleidoscope of different colors dancing together till they merged and formed a uniform and unique color.
She stands at the edge of the road and looks up at the moon, her burnt orange pupils light up brightly as she sees a red moon. The cool wind brushes against her snow-white skin, she could smell the blood of a small animal against the teeth of a vicious animal in a distant but she ignored it. She had learnt to suppress her vampire instincts as she was growing up surrounded by humans. The air had now gotten colder and felt sharp against her skin, but being half vampire had its perks. Since I was the first of my kind, everything happening to me was new for my parents. Like a human I could feel all sorts of physical stimuli; the cold stung, the warmth burnt, the paper gave her cuts but like a vampire all her injuries would heel in seconds. She felt the cold but it would never make her shiver, she felt the warmth of the flame against her skin but it would never injure her. So, since her peers were pure humans who were not accustomed to a 'mythical' creature being amongst them, she had to bluff a bunch of stuff. Pain being one of them.
Other lessons besides wizardry, included learning how to be a human. As a child, Grandpa Luke would hit her with a stick and she would just look up at him with her auburn red hair tied in two braids and big, bright orange curious eyes not knowing what was expected out of her in that instance.
"My dear child, you're supposed to say 'OW'!"
"Why Grandpa Luke?"
"Because that is supposed to hurt!"
She did not understand what the word 'hurt' meant and what it was supposed to feel like.
One day Grandpa Luke heard Scarlett yelling 'ow' after every few seconds, delighted that his grandchild had finally learnt how to perceive pain, or at least 'pretend' how to perceive pain he rushed out to see Scarlett skipping rope in the backyard while yelling 'ow!' every time her feet stomped on the ground.
Grandpa Luke shook his head in dismay.
Grandpa Luke walked over to little Scarlett and held her by her shoulders and looked in her eyes.
"Grandpa Luke, I finally know when to say OW!"
Grandpa Luke shook his head and that is when Scarlett saw the disappointment in his eyes.
"You say ow when something hits hard against you"
"Grandpa Luke, if somebody pushes me, I say ow?"
"Yes, my child, you will learn with time"
Still confused, little Scarlett could not comprehend when or when not to express her pain.
The other thing Scarlett needed lessons for was controlling her urge to drink blood. Since she was half human, human blood was not what she craved for. But animals would often be her prey and those would have been disturbing sites for her peers.
On her 6th birthday, her parents got her a hamster, mostly because she was home schooled and her humanly emotions and sentiments made her feel quite lonely at times.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCARLETT!" screamed mom and dad as she got back home from her walk with Grandpa Luke in the woods.
Little Scarlett's eyes lit up with joy as she saw the entire sitting area decorated with black and red balloons. There was a giant, three-tiered cake sitting there on the table with red and black frosting. She could tell it was red velvet by the smell of it, her favorite. She was overjoyed to see the food and cake on the table but the scent of something else made her nose tingle. She couldn't tell exactly what it was but it smelled very attractive.
After cutting the cake her parents announced they had a little surprise for her set up in her room, she was thrilled. She ran towards her room and pushed the door open, that is when she realized where the new olfaction was coming from. Across the room, she saw a golden-brown hamster sitting in a cage all by himself. What she saw was completely different from what her parents anticipated her to see. They had brought this hamster for her to learn compassion and be able to start school soon and merge with her peer humans, but they were quite wrong. Scarlett had long ways to go. All Scarlett could hear, was the blood throbbing in its veins, blood that was calling Scarlett's name. Within a few seconds Scarlett leapt across the room, broke the cage and pulled out the hamster and shredded it into pieces with her vampire teeth painting the wall behind her red with blood. Her parents' happiness converted into fear and disappointment at that as they realized that Scarlett wasn't even aware at what wrong she had done.
"Thank you, Mom and Dad, this is the best birthday gift ever!" said Scarlett ever so cheerfully.
"She will learn with time" whispered Grandpa Luke to her parents.
The next morning, her lessons began getting longer and more confusing.
Scarlett was told that she was not supposed to eat the hamster, it was supposed to be her companion. How is such a meek animal supposed to be the companion of such a creature like her? She was upset and her brain was muddled. That is when she began questioning her existence. What was wrong with her? Why would her instincts tell her to do things that she was not supposed to do? Why did blood attract her so much and not her mother? Why did her father not eat with them on the dining table? Her mind would flood with questions as she then started observing closely what was happening around her.
"You're half human like your mother and half vampire like your father, my child" said Grandpa Luke when they were out on one of their walks in the woods.
"WHAT?" said Scarlett in shock.
She was 12 at that time and she was starting school that year. She had mastered all the hurdles her parents and Grandpa Luke threw at her over the years and she had learnt that if she wanted to get her way, she had to succumb and learn what they were trying to teach her.
"Yes, my child! I thought it was time to finally let you know"
"THAT explains everything! But I don't understand why I can't be a vampire and drink blood like normal vampires do?"
"Because you aren't a normal vampire my child, you are a vampire AND a human, daughter of Elijah Angelo and Natalia Angelo"
She was speechless. She had no more words to construe any arguments with Grandpa Luke.
"You're one of a kind my child, which is why we've kept you hidden and protected all these years. The world is cruel my child, they will not spare you. As beautiful as you are, the humans must not know that a mythical creature walks the earth amongst them!"
With time Scarlett had learnt that Grandpa Luke was full of wisdom, even though she didn't agree with what he had to say, she still listened because she knew that it had some hidden meaning behind it. After all, Grandpa Luke was a human who was elevated to the level of a wizard as he had learnt magic and he knew how to make potions and cast spells. To the humans he was known as Dr. Luke as he would cure people who had been ailing with no known cure for their illnesses.
Scarlett winces as a raindrop falls on her eyelid and the clouds roar above her head, the wind brushing her auburn hair back loosening up her curls. It was ironic that Scarlett couldn't feel pain but she did feel pain, not the kind that bruised you but the kind that made your insides ache and yearn for something that even she wasn't aware of. She knew there was no-one like her, she was unique and different. So different that she felt like an outcaste. Before starting school, she was clearly told by her parents that it was not safe for her to get attached to another human being because being attached meant the secret she carried would be in danger. This secret was meant to be buried in the deepest part of her heart. She never felt pangs of pain but loneliness would stab her in the heart occasionally and she felt every ounce of that pain.
Her father, Elijah Angelo, was a vampire who fell in love with a human and married her. Elijah Angelo had gone to the prestigious University of Yorkshire to get his PhD in Bioengineering. Her mother, Natalia Angelo, who was a very intelligent and beautiful human being, happened to be Elijah's class mate. Elijah instantly fell for her the day he set his eyes on her. Natalia being the daughter of the man who had learnt wizardry, knew mythical creatures very well. She knew there was something about Elijah that he was concealing behind his charming, stone-cold personality.
The day Elijah mustered up the courage to ask her out was the day Natalia asked him if he was a vampire. Elijah was taken aback by her straightforwardness and fell speechless. In that moment, he didn't know what in captivated him more, her spell bounding beauty or her fascinating intellect. He drowned in a sea of confusion not knowing how to answer her question. Stood in front of him was an attractive human being questioning his identity. Was she a vampire too? Or was she a werewolf? He couldn't tell. She smelled like a human…
"Oh, quit looking at my neck"
Elijah was shaken back into reality from his train of thoughts.
"Err, what?"
"I know you're a vampire Elijah, you don't have to eye my carotid artery to prove it!"
"I wasn't… Err… so, how do you know?"
"I followed you when you went hunting last night!"
"You WHAT?"
"I'm kidding, my father's a wizard and thanks to him I am very well aware of the beasts among us" said Natalia tugging on Elijah's collar teasingly.
After a year of dating each other, they both graduated with an honors degree and disappeared without leaving a trace. Elijah and Natalia knew that Elijah's family would never approve of him marrying a meek human being. Her intellect and beauty would not convince them a bit. So, they both got married and moved in the woods about 40 kilometers away from the city of Yorkshire. Some years later, Scarlett Angelo was born; half human and half vampire. Her skin as white as snow, her hair as red as fire and her eyes bright and orange as the Sun. It was fate how the skies were painted in shades of reds the time she was born. Her hair color and eyes gave way to her name. Scarlett Angelo.
Scarlett started walking down the road with her bag pack slumped on her shoulders, her heart was heavier than it had ever been before. She yearned to be with someone, someone who would be like her and understand her.
She heard fluttering nearby about her head. Scarlett smiled.
"I know it's you Jinx; you can stop hovering above me like that!"
A black, furry bat looking creature landed on her backpack.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Because I'm a vampire, duh!"
"I don't like this over-smart attitude of yours Scarlett. Your father will not approve!"
"Oh, shut up Jinx!" said Scarlett yanking him off her back pack, throwing him in a nearby puddle.
After Scarlett's hamster eating fiasco Grandpa Luke decided to get her a unique pet of her own, a unique person deserved a unique pet. So, he got her a black furred, cat looking creature with wings that could talk. Grandpa Luke called it a 'vampire cat'.
"You know you were annoying enough when you could flutter away, why'd you learn how to talk?"
"Excuse me miss, I'm just doing my job!"
"And that would be to irritate me, nothing else!"
"High school is turning you into a snob Scarlett, it won't do you good" said Jinx shaking off the excess water from his wings and fur.
"Okay, hop on my shoulder now, it's about to rain and you won't be able to get far without me!".