"Not gonna lie. I do have questions I want to ask, but I think it's better to stay until Dylan is ready to answer those questions. If I ask such questions, that means I don't trust him."
"What a lady you are," Grandpa Jonathan said with a smile.
"I didn't grow up in a background similar to Dylan, but my mom always told me that for a relationship to last, both the sides must trust each other, sometimes unconditionally, for a relationship to last for a long time."
"You must be pretty aware of this fact, considering how long you have been alive for." Rayme said.
"Your parents have thought you well. It would be an honour for me to meet such sophisticated people like them sometimes. I will ask my kids to arrange me a date with your parents for sure. I am pretty sure they are some good people to talk with."
"Thanks for the compliment grandpa, I think my parents too will be delighted to meet you."
"So, young lady, what are you going to study in college?" He asked.
"I am still not sure, but anything related to science will do. I am especially interested in neuroscience and psychology."
"Amazing indeed. I am looking forward to seeing you as one of the best doctors out there, then."
"Can I ask you a different question instead?" Rayme asked.
"Yes please go on, if it is something I can answer I will for sure answer."
"How old are right now?"
"Around 2000, I lost count as I grew old. I actually wasn't born into a family with this many things. We had to grow everything on our own in the end we ended up earning up a quite a bit of money through exchanges. That is how we moved up the hierarchy and now own this many things."
"I really wish we had a few other grand kids, cause when Dylan was small, even I didn't get to play a lot with him. I kinda feel jealous whenever I see my fellow friends with their grandkids."
"Also, grandpa, is it true that a child born to a vampire and a human will bring destruction upon your kind?" She asked, since she had no other question to ask him.
"Yes, it is true, otherwise people wouldn't have gotten so scared 1274 years ago. There was a couple who broke the rules and had a child. In the end, they got killed while the child survived and lived another couple of years while being subjected to all sorts of violence.
In the end, he too, disappeared and never reappeared. Later on, very recently, we found a skeleton of a man who had vampire DNA but had no fangs. He was suspected of being the child who went missing back then.
"The real reason why we are scared of is because the powers such a child might hold are yet unknown. It is pretty clear our ancestors didn't allow us to be mixed with your kind since the very beginning. No one has lived to tell the reason, but it is not just power we are scared of."
"It is desire. It is said that an offspring born with vampire and human blood will have a hard time adjusting to the environment. Also, their blood cravings will be higher than everyone else's. The more the blood a vampire has in their system, the more he will lose control and get addicted to it."
"After being alive for so long, they have trained us not to go overboard. We only have the blood that is provided to us. We don't go after human preys now. The only day we need blood from a human is when we reach the age at which we become mature enough, develop fangs to crave for blood."
"Interesting indeed," Rayme said.
"I am in no place to put forth my opinions about this. However, I feel that an offspring born with human and vampire will be much inferior to you all cause they won't have what you have. The powers or the craving such a being might have would be very low."
"I get your point, young lady, but well, this is the information that comes along with the prophesy."
"We just kept talking. You should have some food. Not like us. Young people like you should consume some sugar." He said, placing a few macaroons on Rayme's plate.
Rayme ate to her fill and got up to look around the green house. "Grandpa, can you tell me a little about the plants here? I don't know anything about plants and have never been interested in them, but these flowers make me want to know more about them."
"Oh yes, sure thing," he said, taking the lead.
He showed her the flowers one by one. They were all unique, and only a few plants from each were there. It should not have been a greenhouse, but a museum.
"Grandpa, what about that rose? I doubt that's just a normal flower."
"Well, it is not normal indeed. Also, only a few plants are around the whole world."
"Will you believe me if I tell you that the rose over there survives out of blood? Go and take a closer look if you think I am lying." Even though Rayme knew that he wouldn't be joking about something like that, she went over there to take a look. There was a dropper over the flower, every minute a drop of blood landed on the flower.
The flower quickly took in every bit of blood that landed on the petals.
"What an interesting flower. No wonder it is so beautiful. But why is there only one flower in the whole plant?" She questioned.
"That is just how it is. A new flower will grow only if we pick it."
"The flower you are seeing right now is almost 600 years old, and it takes about 5 years for the flower to be fully grown like that."
"So that means this flower has been feeding on blood for the past 600 years, right?"
"Yes." Grandpa Jonathen answered.
The more she kept looking at the blood dripping at it, the more she felt attracted to it. It was almost as if the flower was asking her to pluck it and take it to her hand, but she just stood there without blinking.
She felt as if her head was being picked with small pins every moment, headache she was feeling was so severe that she was afraid that she would faint because of it. Even though she held on knowing that it is not a good thing for her to pass out like a weakling in front of Dylan's family.
"Rayme, my child. Are you feeling alright?" Grandpa asked, looking at Rayme's sudden change of behaviour.
"Grandpa,"" Rayme awakened her voice. "Does to flower call your name when you look at it? I feel like it is asking me to pluck it, but I don't know why." She said.
"That is weird. Hold on!" There was silence.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, holding onto her senses, knowing that she will collapse any second.
"By any chance, did Dylan or any other vampire suck your blood?" He asked.
"Is there a problem with that?" Rayme asked.
"If it was anyone other than Dylan, it will be fine, but if it was Dylan, this is kinda concerning." He said. She could feel the fear in his voice. It was almost as if he was about to tell Rayme when she was going to die.
"Grandpa, I feel like I am about to collapse. I will take my leave now, then." Rayme tried to walk off, but the next step she took she fell on the floor but didn't lose consciousness. It was then she heard Dylan's name calling out to her name and the next moment, he was in front of her eyes.
"Rayme, are you alright? What happened?" He asked, but there was no response from her. She just kept staring at him with a blank look in her eyes. She was so pale, as if there was no blood in her body. Even though she wanted to talk, she could not. Even though she wanted to embrace Dylan to get rid of the fear she was feeling, she could not.
Instead, Dylan kept holding on to her, as if his child was deadly sick. Tears filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, gradually wetting both of their clothes.
"Dylan, take her inside. We only have two choices now, but considering the state she is now in I can't even ask her for what her choice is." It was Grandma Rosalyn's voice.
"Your parents must have known this would happen when they asked her for blood." Those were the last words Rayme heard before losing her coniousnsess.
She felt as if her life completely came to an end, but instead she kept thinking what exactly went wrong for something like this to happen to her.