Chapter 4; Book about Tatsumi

The first thing I did once I got up, was run straight to the mirror, I had changed, but not too much, I noticed, relieved. My features looked the same, but my skin was shockingly pale, like Leo's –same plump lips, though, but now they seemed to have a rosier tinge, compared to my seemingly translucent new skin and underneath it: dark veins seemed all too visible. My dark lashes seemed longer, thicker and curvier, intensifying the effect of my hazel eyes; my heart shaped face seemed slimmer –more sophisticated. My long dark hair: black as a moonless night. Yes, it was still me, but only more beautiful. Just as I’m about to walk away from the mirror, I realized that I forgot to check for the most important change. I froze and took a deep breath before I hesitantly bared my teeth, curling my top lip upwards to reveal them: they were there, their size and shape immediately catching my attention, contrasting the rest of my teeth which were now perfectly straight and white. I had two sets of fangs: in the first set, the two in the top row, beside my two front teeth, were small with sharpened edges hanging a millimeter lower than the rest. The second set replaced my previous top canines. They looked dangerously sharp and were hanging four millimeters below the other fangs, slightly curling inwards, giving them a predatory edge. They overlapped the bottom row of teeth, slotting perfectly into the spaces between my lower (normal-sized) canines and the two teeth beside them. How the hell am I going to explain this? I thought. And my nails, they were long and sharp-pointed at the tips. At least my mother knows what’s really going on, so I won’t have to lie to her. This reminded me…
My mother nearly fainted when she saw me. It was to be expected I guess. She stared at me, dumbstruck and it became kind of uncomfortable when she didn’t say anything after two whole minutes. I had to break the ice.
“It happened this afternoon.” I said –it was dusk by that time. She simply nodded calmly and took a seat at the dining room table. I sat on the chair opposite to her.
“H-How do you feel?” She asked hesitantly, reaching for my hands across the table. I pulled them back, hiding them on my lap before she could touch me. She stared at me –her eyes wide with shock.
“Shit” I cursed; realizing how fast that action must have seemed to her, she probably couldn’t even see it. “I’m sorry; I just think my skin might be a bit colder than usual.” She nodded, understanding, and pulled back her hands and lays them facing upwards on the table.
“I’m sorry too.” My mother started, staring at her palms, “I should have told you.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked, aware of my mood shifting again.
“I was afraid; I didn’t want you to hate me and I didn’t think it was necessary for you to know since there wasn’t anything good that could come from the truth anyway.”
“Now look where we are.” I said bitterly.
“I’m sorry Tatsumi.” Her voice was desperate, “I didn’t think it would turn out like this.”
“What –you mean, me turning into a monster?” my temper was getting worse and out of control. I took a deep breath to calm myself.”
“I didn’t say that!” she shouted.
“You were thinking it.” I could feel aggression trying to make its way to the surface again. I took another deep breath. Looking at her pathetic face wasn’t helping either, so I leaned back and stared at the ceiling, keeping my breathing slow and steady. “So, when did you find out Leonardo’s a vampire?” I asked, to divert my mind, though it actually was an interesting question, I realize soon after I voiced it. I looked at my mother again, all traces of anger gone, leaving pure curiosity.
“I guess… when you were already conceived.”
“Well, there’s a big surprise.” I said in a sarcastic manner. My mom smiled for the first time, I couldn’t help to smile back.
“I always knew he was different from normal people.” She started, “He had this, enchanting aura about him: so soothing and comforting that I couldn’t help but trust him completely.” She smiled absentmindedly. “He was beautiful and mysterious and–
“Shall I leave you to your fantasies, mom?” she looked at me and, guess what: blushed. OMG, Leo is like half her age! Well, more like over 10 times her age, but you get the picture: imagining mom with Leo is just… wrong.
She cleared her throat, pulling herself together and continued: “Right, point is that he was fascinating and my curiosity always had me going back.”
“But, the fangs, the cold skin and he never ate, right? Didn’t you find that a bit freaky?”
“I didn’t think about it –didn’t want to, I kind of saw past it. I was too in love to think–
“Rationally –Tell me about it.” She laughed. It sounded nice.
“Exactly, anyway, I snuck out every night I could and rode to his house –or rather: mansion –on horseback. One of the servants was always ready to receive me.”
“I’ll bet.” I said, smiling slyly.
“Oh stop it, I was young too, you know.”
“Yeah –yeah”
“One night –or morning actually, I had a nightmare and was trying to go back to sleep afterwards when I felt him move. I pretended to be asleep as he gently lifted my head from his chest and snuck out.” I made a face and she smiled. “He returned a half-hour later, and I thought nothing of it. I stayed awake purposely the next night though, to see if it will happen again –it did. When it kept on happening –I couldn’t stop myself, I followed him.”
I laughed, “So that’s where I get my curious nature from.”
“You’d be surprised how much like you, I used to be.” She said, smiling.
“So what happened next?”
“Well, I followed him two nights in a row, but kept loosing him. He’d be there, and then the next moment –he’s gone.”
“He probably knew you were following him, vampires have very acute senses, you know.”
“Probably, because after that, I could never stay awake anymore –didn’t matter how hard I tried.”
“He probably drugged you.”
“He did, so I never drunk the wine and started sneaking the food to the dog under the table.”
“Hah! Oldest trick in the book” I laughed.
“It really is. So that night, when I woke up, he was already gone, but the sheets were still cold beside me, so I figured that he couldn’t have gone far. I snuck out, seeing as it wasn’t a very unusual thing for me to do. Sneaking”
“Aiyaiyai, but you were persistent.”
“Yes, yes, like you’re any different. Anyway –I looked for him and as luck would have it: I found him, flirting with some whore on the street corner of East London.” Her face screwed up with disgust, and she shook her head slightly to get the images out. “Then,” she continued, “She dragged him into the alleyway. By that time I was fuming, I marched in, right behind them… but, what I saw wasn’t what I expected to see.” Her face twisted again, this time with pain. I could see how hard it was for her to recall the next part, already having a good idea what it might be.
"She was struggling against his hold, her screams muffled by his grip on her mouth; I didn’t know what was going on until he looked at me. His mouth was dripping with dark liquid –the same liquid that was running down her neck –blood.”
She looked at me- coming back to the present again. “I knew exactly what he was, it’s not that hard to figure out once you’ve seen that.” She tried to keep her tone indifferent, but her attempts couldn’t fool me. I sighed.
“He came after me, you know? He wanted to explain, I didn’t want to know. I told him to leave me alone, and he did. That was it.”
“Just like that” I asked.
“Yes”
“So when did you find out you’re pregnant?”
“When I skipped my period the second time, and started with morning sickness.”
“And then what?”
“I came home and told your father the good news. The pregnancy lasted five months, so it was believable.”
“Did you believe it?"
"There was a time I convinced myself that it was so… but when I saw you’re black hair and pale skin and those cat-like eyes… I knew that I’d only been fooling myself.”
“Damn”
“Uh-huh”
“That’s hectic shit… and now I’m a half-vampire. Mom, you’ve been a very naughty girl.” She laughed once again.
“Can you ever forgive me for not telling the truth?” she asked sincerely
“I guess I could.”
She smiled and reached for my hand again, and this time, I took it.
“Honey” she gasped surprised, I looked at her apologetically.
“I told you –
“No, Sweetie –you’re not cold! You are a bit, but you’re not as cold as Leonardo is.”
“Like, not abnormally cold?”
“Not at all” she said, and I beamed “but what are you going about those frightening new sets of pearly-whites?”