"Well what is it sweetie?" The woman, his mom. Asked again, the look of conncern hadn't left her face, it grown and was now joined by a look of confusion.
Damian looked at the two men; they were also watching expectantly.
One thing puzzled him, however. The woman had called him Damian.
How could that be?
Could it be that her son was also named Damian by some coincidence?
He decided to settle for that answer, hoping it was right.
He forced himself to give a warm smile. "It's nothing, Mom."
The truth was that the smile was not warm at all. It appeared weak, but since his mom and the two men knew he had gone through a very painful ordeal, they weren't surprised by it.
His mom smiled brightly and hugged him again. "Oh, my son is back!"
"Of course he is," the stocky man said, his mustache twitching as he spoke. "We did the finest job bringing him back."
"Hmph, fine job indeed," Damian thought.
He decided he needed to know the full backstory behind the body he was in and why his chest hurt so much.
"What happened?" he asked slowly.
The tall man spoke first. "You don't remember?" His tone was incredulous.
Damian shook his head.
"Nothing at all?" the short man pressed.
"Nothing at all," Damian replied.
The two men exchanged looks that seemed to say, This is new.
His mom turned to them. "You two promised everything would go smoothly! My husband paid you a fortune for your services!"
The two men withered.
"Well, ma'am," the tall man started, "this is quite new in our experiences."
"Yeah," the short man added. "Besides, him being alive is most important. He could easily get a refresher on his life; maybe the rest would come back."
His mom sighed in exasperation. It was clear she had no fondness for the two men.
In fact, when her husband first suggested their services, she had refused, unwilling to commit her son to such a procedure. But she soon realized her son was dying and no one could save him. Maternal instinct won, and she agreed.
She scooted back a little. "Where do I start?" she said to Damian. "You were attacked."
"Attacked?" Damian replied, shocked. It would be no good if he now had bloodthirsty enemies willing to stab his chest. "Is that why my chest hurts?"
"Yes," she replied. "The attacker was B, one of your father's enemies.
"He discovered you and stalked you on your camp trip until he found you and T by a stream.
"Then he knocked T out and fought you. He stabbed you in the chest with the silver stake."
Damian didn't know what the silver stake was, but he supposed it was a very dangerous and important artifact.
"What is the silver stake?" he asked.
His mother smiled. "Well, son, your father is Dracula, so you're half-vampire."
Damian's eyes widened in surprise. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"A vampire?" he replied, incredulous.
"Half-vampire, yes," his mother said. "If you were a full vampire, a normal wooden stake would be enough to weaken you so he could kill you. But because you're half-human as well, wooden stakes don't work on you."
"So a silver stake is needed," Damian filled in the gaps.
"Precisely," his mother said. "We don't know how B learned about the silver stake, but he did and attacked you.
"Luckily, T woke up in time to see him trying to strangle you, and he took him out with a tree branch he found nearby."
"Wow," Damian breathed, taking all the information in.
He then called home.
"When he was sure they had completed the ritual, he quickly went to attend to urgent business," she finished and resumed smiling warmly.
Damian wondered if it was a little weird that his father had left his dying son's side to go handle work-related issues. Was it that he didn't care for his son that much, or was the business just unavoidable?
As if she was reading his mind, his mother smiled. "It was urgent business, sweetie. Your father loves you very much. You'll know when he gets back."
Damian nodded slowly.
She stood up from the bed. "Now, it's time for these two gentlemen to be on their way. I'll escort them out and then make your favorite dish—mac 'n' cheese."
Damian wanted to tell her then that his favorite food was actually burgers, but he decided against it. Better not to rouse suspicion.
So he instead kept quiet and watched her walk off, with the men trailing her.
Now that he was alone in the room, Damian got up from the bed to explore where he was.
The rooms had an ancient feel to them, like the building had been constructed hundreds of years ago.
Damian's eyes stumbled across the mirror, and he quickly ran to it, eager to see what his new body looked like.
He was shocked at what he saw.
His body was completely different. He was much taller, his chest was broader and more defined, he had well-toned abs, and his arms were bigger. Even his legs and thighs were more muscular.
Then he looked at his face. He was completely dazzled by his chiseled jawline and brown hair that curled messily around his face.
He was hot now!
Just then, the door swung open, and a boy and girl his age walked in.
They had pensive looks on their faces, but the moment they saw him standing in front of the mirror, all looks of worry dissolved.
They both rushed at him at the same time, shouting his name. "Damian!"
Damian looked at them both with confusion as they rushed toward him.
The two of them reached him at the same time, lunging at him and wrapping their hands around him.
The force of their bodies colliding with his was too much for him to handle, and he lost his balance.
In the blink of an eye, all three of them toppled to the ground.