Young Adult / Tell Me a Secret (Analysis)

Tell Me a Secret.

Preface

I folded the piece of paper in my hands to fit the size of an envelope.
I heard a scream coming from down the hall; I dropped my letter and ran to my children’s room.
“Are you both okay?” I asked as soon as I was in their room.
My six year old daughter ran up to me to grab hold of my legs crying.
“No! D was telling me about the ghosts that come into our room at night. It's not true. Is it mummy?” Lizzy looked up at me desperately, fear in her eyes.
I glared at my twelve year old son, “no. There is no such thing as ghosts Lizzy; Dan was just trying to scare you. Don't listen to his stories.”
“But mummy it is true! And she asked anyway, she wanted to know a story! I can't help it if I only know stories about ghosts!”
I knelt down to cradle Lizzy to my chest.
“You know very well your sister is afraid of ghosts!”
“Will you tell us a bedtime story mummy?” Lizzy asked hopefully.
“Okay, but what do you want to hear a story about?”
“Vampires mummy!”
“Yeah mummy, vampires!”
“I know your brother loves these stories, but Lizzy, your scared of ghosts and you want to hear a story about vampires?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes mummy, you know I'm not scared of vampires, I know that there not real.”
“But you believe ghosts are real?”
“Yes, ghosts, but not vampires.” Lizzy was definite.
“You might feel differently in a few years Liz.” Dan informed his sister.
“Daniel! You can't talk like that in front of Lizzy!” I shot him a warning look.
Lizzy looked from Dan to me before asking, “Talk like what? What will I think differently about? Mummy, what are you talking about!”
“Nothing Lizzy, now go lie in bed and I'll tell you and your brother a story.”
“Yay!” Lizzy cried, jumping out of my arms and into bed.
Dan was slower in getting into bed, allowing me to whisper in his ear, “You sister doesn’t know anything about our families secret, she cannot know until she is ten, and you will not tell her.”
“Yes mum, I know it's to dangerous for her to know now, I wont tell her until she's of age.” Dan stated with the wisdom of a child.
“I still think ten is too young.” I muttered to myself.
Dan laughed as he clamed into bed.
I went and sat in the chair between their beds.
“And you’re sure you want to be told a story about vampires? What about something happier? A better suited bedtime story?” I knew that it was a fruitless effort to try and change their minds, they where as tourney as me.
“Yes mummy!” They shouted together.
“Okay, okay, but stop shouting, you'll wake the maid! “
“Yes mummy, start.”
“Okay, well this story is about a young girl,” Lizzy and Dan looked as though they where going to interrupt then, to demand a story about vampires again, “and she was a vampire.” I assured them, “and the story starts, in a time, well much like this...”

Chapter One
Make Believe/Vampire

My eyes felt heavy as I tried to open them. I could feel that I was lying on something soft, I could hear voices around me but none of it made sense, it was just a faint murmur in my ears. My eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. I was in a small room, surrounded by unfamiliar people. Slowly I sat up.
“Where am I?” All the muttering stopped when I spoke.
“Look at her eyes!” A male voice shouted from the back of the crowd.
I shied away from the bright light that was suddenly on my face.
Then there was a terrifying noise, screaming erupted all around me, and people where shouting.
“Run!”
“It's one of them!”
“A Vampire!”
I screamed at the mention of the mythical creature, for some reason, the fairy tale creature filled me with fear. This seemed odd, I was pretty sure I was one to laugh at the mention of ghost stories.
It was now that I realized that I wasn’t sure exactly what I would think.
I couldn't remember anything.
“What’s my name?” I asked the room of screaming strangers.
That’s when I noticed that the screaming had stopped, the room was empty.
What had they beamed running from? A Vampire? I shuddered, and then laughed. Yes, I was defiantly not one to fear something fictional, but even just thinking the word made me want to run. But from what? The though of running from a fairytale made me laugh again.
It was now that I looked around the room, it was small, and everything was made of wood, a cottage, there were three beds in the room with white sheets, and I was on the bed in the centre.
There was a lot of unfamiliar looking equipment, equipment that looked out of place in the wooden cottage; the room also had a small bench, covered in medical supplies.
My body felt stiff as I stood, and I also felt oddly strong. And there was something else that seemed unfamiliar to my body, something new, I was hungry. No, not hungry, I was thirsty. I was unbelievably thirsty. I had an undeniable craving for something, but I couldn't tell what.
I walked out of the cottage and saw that it was night time, but the bright full moon allowed me to see the pure white snow stretched out ahead of me. Odd, I didn't feel cold. In the distance I saw a forest. This place looked beautiful.
I looked back to the cottage, and I saw the word 'infirmary' printed in red on the door.
I was in the infirmary. But why? I felt fine.
I looked down at my body for the first time and felt myself gasp in horror.
My clothes where ripped and covered in blood, I was wearing a black dress. It looked like it uses to be pretty.
I heard some noise coming from behind the cottage; I walked around to see what it was. At first all I could see was more of the beautiful snow. Then I saw something red in the distance, it was moving. Fire. Villagers where coming with torches and pitchforks. But what where they coming for? I could hear them shouting, but I couldn't make out what they where saying. As the villagers got closer, it suddenly dawned on me that there was nothing else here but me.
They where coming for me.
I broke into a run, heading for the forest I had seen before.
I barely looked where I was going as I ran, I was just trying to work out why they where after me? What had I done? I remembered the blood on my clothes then, but shied away from how it got there.
It was then that I noticed that I was moving faster than should be possible, this realization distracted me, and I felt myself fall. I landed with my face in the snow. I lifted myself into a sitting position with a groan. I had run to the edge of the forest. I looked back and glared at the stray branch that had tripped me. When I looked around I saw a small lake. I crawled over to the edge and looked into the dark water.
The girl looking back at me was beautiful. Silky black hair, perfect features and ruby red lips, but the things that stood out most, the only things that looked familiar on my own face, was the glorious pale skin and the deep purple bruise like marks under the dead, black eyes,
One word ran through my mind and I screamed.
“Vampire!”

Chapter Two
History

I fell back away from the lake, I tried to stand, but fell back down, and I was so dizzy. Vampire. That is what my reflection showed me. I didn't even know why those features made me think of Vampires, they weren’t real. But my mind was screaming at me, that my reflection was showing me a Vampire. I was a Vampire.
“No” I couldn’t accept this, Vampires weren’t real. I don’t know what I was, but there was no such thing as Vampires.
“There she is!”
“Kill her!”
“Kill the Vampire!” The shouting villagers had caught up to me now, and I could understand there yelling now.
I stood up, horrified. They knew what I was, what I though I was. But it still couldn't be true.
“Who am I? What am I?” I shouted at the villagers.
The man at the front -leading the mob- stopped, when he did so do the others.
“You do not know who you are?” The man shouted, standing just twenty meters away.
“No, please tell me, what is going on. Why are you chasing me?” My voice was pleading.
“You are a vampire, and you must die.” He sounded so calm, speaking of my death.
But he was just confirming my fears, I was a Vampire, the craving I could feel, the thirst that was about to over come me, was for blood.
“Why are you talking to this animal? Kill it!” Someone from the crowd shouted.
“No stay away from me!” I shouted, I turned and ran into the forest.
Why did I believe any of this? Vampires arn't real, why did it seem so possible that I was one? How could I believe that stranger? My reflection came back into my head, and though I couldn't remember anything about who or what I was, those features looked so familiar, and all they made me think was vampire.
I ran for about ten minuites, until I smelt something so beautiful and delicios that I stopped running to look for where it was coming from. Looking around me I could see the beautiful brown of the tree trunks, and the snow on the ground that had fallen off the trees. I followed the smell, until I heard the crying.
“Help me, please -ouch- someone help me!” A voice called, just ahead of me.
I walked towards the voice, the smell getting stronger, and then I saw the little girl, about nine years old, she was blond with a white dress on, and her leg was dripping blood. As soon as I saw this, I was over come. It was like I wasen't even in controle of my body anymore. I felt like I was watching from the back ground as my body walked over to the girl, she looked so relieved to see me, she started so say somthing, but that was cut off by her screeming. Because, I had knelt down beside her, and put my lips to her throat. It felt wrong, I tried to stop myself, but I still had no control of my body, but after her blood had touched my lips, I didn't want to stop. Some part of my mind knew this was wrong, but the rest of me was lost in the glorious taste of blood. It was nothing like I'd ever had before, and I never wanted to stop, I could feel her blood coursing through my body and down my throat when I swallowed. What kind of monster was I? There was a nine year old girl dyeing in my arms, and I couldn't stop. Eventually the delicious blood stopped coming, I had killed this little girl, and I wanted more, I wanted, needed, more blood, I was still thirsty, I could tell I would always be thirsty.
There was a noise behind me, a crunching sound. Someone was coming, I stood up to run again, but I made the mistake of looking back to the little girl, and after I did I couldn't move. I was filled with grief for the little girl I had not known, looking at her cold dead face. I was an animal, a monster, a vampire. I couldn't deny that now.
“Lilith Marks?” A male voice asked me from behind.
I turned to look at the man, he was tall, beautiful, with dark brown short hair that was sticking up in every direction and still managed to look good, he also had black eyes and a pale, beautiful face. He was a vampire.
I screamed, and turned to run from the vampire, forgetting about the girl. He was in front of me in seconds, he stopped in front of me and grabbed my shoulders, hard enough so that I couldn't more, but not hard enough to hurt me.
“Shh, I won’t hurt you.” He tried to calm me.
“Who are you?” I screamed at him, still struggling to get free.
“You don't remember me?”
“Remember you? Why would I remember a vampire?” I spat the word.
“You appear to be a vampire too Lilith.”
“Lilith?”
“You don't remember your name?”
“Who are you?” I ignored his question.
“Look, there’s no time for that now, come with me, and I'll tell you everything.” He grabbed my hand as he was talking and he started to walk in the opposite direction from which he'd come. I pulled my hand out of his.
“I'm not going anywhere with you, vampire. Not until you tell me what is going on and who the hell you are!” The venom in my voice surprised me, it seemed like, in the back of my mind I knew this person, and he annoyed me greatly.
He chuckled, “You’re just as pushy as ever. I will explain everything, but for now, the villagers are coming, and we have to leave!” After he finished, he didn't wait for me to respond, he picked me up and draped my body over his shoulder and started running, it was odd, I could see that we where moving, but I couldn't feel the movement at all, I was screaming and thrashing with all my strength, I started hitting the strange man in the back, but I stopped because it hurt my hand, he didn't seem to be able to feel my beatings at all, we ran for half and hour before we came to a sudden stop. We where now in a very large place that looked like a cave, the walls where made of a brown stone, the place was lit, but I couldn't see where the light came from, there was a large bed next to the far wall, and nothing else. The vampire sat me down on the bed where I continued screaming and struggling for my life. Which I feared might be over.
He let me scream until my throated felt horse, and then I sobbed and begged, “Please don't kill me.” Though I was begging, I was still thrashing, trying to get myself free from the monster holding me to the bed.
“I'm not going to kill you! You’re safe with me, Jayne.” The name sent a shock of familiarity through me, and I looked into the eyes of the vampire pledging my safety. His deep black eyes looked oddly light and sincere.
“You know me?” I asked, finally stopping my fruitless struggles. He loosened his grip on my shoulders, but he didn't let go, afraid I would try to run again.
“Yes I know you, your name is Lilith Jayne Marks,” He laughed at my expression when he told me my name, “Your parents are vampire hunters.” He voice had turned hard when he finished.
“My parents? But I'm a vampire...” I struggled to get the words out.
“Yes well until very recently you weren’t. I didn't know that barsted had really already done it.” He finished in a growl; his face looked fierce and hard.
“I wasn’t? But.., ugh I'm so confused. Who are you? How do you know this? How do you know me?” By the time I finished my voice was hysterical.
He hesitated before he answered, deciding which of my frantic questions to answer first.
“My name is Daniel, as you've already noticed, yes I am a vampire, your parents hired me to protect you, I failed and I'm sorry.” When he finished this, he let out a sob of pain and took me in his arms and held me closely to his chest, his hands rubbed my hair and my back as if to comfort me, but I was terrified, I stiffened, and I couldn't move, to some of me, this seemed familiar, but the rest of my wanted to get away from the monster embracing me.
He seemed to notice my reaction, and he slowly pulled away, the shame from his thoughtless move creased his perfect face.
“Sorry, I forgot that you don't remember me...” He didn't try to conceal the pain that coated his voice when he said this.
I shook my head to get rid of the sudden fear that coursed through my body.
“Umm... you said that my parents hired you to protect me, why?” My voice shook when I finally spoke.
“Yes...” He seemed reluctant to talk about this.
When it seemed he wouldn't reply I spoke, “well... if they where vampire hunters, why would they ask you to protect me?” The idea of being protected by a vampire was comical.
“Yes, I had helped your family before, many years ago, so they trusted that I wouldn't hurt you, and they had no choice anyway.”
“Had no choice? What are you protecting me from that was so bad that my parents would put my life in the hands of a monster that shouldn't exist!?” My words seemed to hurt him where my fruitless beating could not before.
He laughed, the sound was strangled, “you said that the first time you met me as well, glad your black humor is still there-”
I cut him off, “I don't see how that’s funny.”
“Neither do I.” He smiled without humor, “anyway, before I tell you why I'm protecting you, I probably should tell you your family history.”
“My family history?” I noticed that it was oddly easy to talk to this stranger, this vampire, Daniel. If felt comfortable, familiar, natural, even though he could just be making all this up, I still believed what he was saying. He seemed aware of this, and it seemed to make him happy, he continued with confidence.
“Yes your family history, you see, the Marks have been vampire hunters for centuries, they where the best of the best, no vampire was safe with them around, the killed many of my kind, so, naturally, they gained a few enemies, but it was impossible to get revenge on this family of hunters, the whole family where fighters, no one person was vulnerable in that family, and the only children born into the family where males, and all are born with the skills to fight vampires. Then, about three hundred years ago, a girl was born into the family. Now they doubted her ability to fight at first, because the only girls in the family had been married in, and all of them where chosen to marry into the family because of skill and ability to fight, and they where taught to fight vampires as well, just so they could defend them self’s, never to attack vampires like the men. But this girl was the best vampire hunter the Marks family had ever seen, lethal and deadly, a prodigy. But then something happened, see though she was the best hunter, she was also too compassionate and kind for her own good, she felt bad for killing so many vampires. And one day, she started talking to a vampire, he seemed different to her, like he wasn’t a threat, and they became friends, and very soon, fell in love. The family, of course, was appalled. They refused to except their love, and set out to kill the vampire. So, she ran away with him. The family did not follow them, or try to get her to come back. They knew she would not come without him and that if they tried to go after him, she would fight them, and she probably could kill them all in a fight, and also they where averse to trying to kill their own family. So they did not follow.
She came back a few years later, asking for help, and they would have gladly helped her, but she came back as a vampire. They refused to help her and then tried to kill her when she went to them, but her vampire abilities where doubled because of her powers as a hunter, so they failed. But, because she could not get their help, she was killed, see a vampire called Damien was coming after her and her partner, she was killed, and her partner was left alive to suffer without her.” Daniel seemed to be lost in his story, and as was I, but I could not see why he would be telling me this love story.
He seemed to realize he had gone slightly off topic, because he concentrated now. “After this, the Marks family vowed that no female vampire hunter would be born into the family again, and if there was a girl born, she would not be told about the existence of vampires, or her family’s mission to hunt them. Because they feared this cycle to be repeated. Then, seventeen years ago, you where born, and never told your families secret. So family had to hide their secret from you, and they had to hide the existence of vampires. You where then made a vulnerable element for your family, and in that one vulnerable element, the vampires decided it was time to get their revenge. Your family managed to protect you themselves while still keeping their secret for seventeen years. But then, Damien found out about you, your weakness, and he decided to come after you. Your family though they could continue to protect you alone, but he got to you, twice, your family got you back both times before he could do anything to you, still keeping their secret amazingly- I don't know what they told you, I think they just stopped talking to you, because I know you wouldn't have believed their lies for long- but they knew they couldn't protect you alone for much longer, so they called on me, like I told you before, I had helped your family previously, so they knew I wouldn't hurt you. But I failed, I left you alone for one day, and Damien got you. And due to my failure, he turned you into what your family hates most. He made you a vampire, and very recently, the transformation takes a week, and he got you away from me a month ago,” the shame he felt from this was not hidden, it was like it caused him physical pain, “I've been searching for you since then, until I heard of a village finding a girl yesterday, her description sounded just like you, they said she was, well, not unconscious, but in a deep sleep, that was three days ago, I've been waiting for you to wake up so I could see if it was really you. I would have gone to see if it was you sooner, but as you know, that village doesn’t take kindly to vampires.” He gave a weak smile when he finished, and he sat next to me on the bed, giving me time to take in his story.
I knew that I probably shouldn't believe this stranger, but I did, as impossible as his story was.
“But vampires aren’t real.” As much as I felt as though what he was saying is true, I was still clinging at straws, like the fact that vampires don't exist.
“Look, you are a vampire,” his words cut at me, “and whether you like it or not, that means they are real. You can’t tell me you don’t remember drinking that girl’s blood, or the way it felt to have the blood coursing through you.” His tone was different from his words, he sounded reassuring, talking about drinking a young girls blood.
“No... Please tell me that wasn’t real….. Tell me I didn’t kill that poor little girl…” I chocked out through a tearless sob.
When he didn’t contradict me I broke down on the bed and curled into a ball. Daniel took me in his arms and wrapped himself around me, and it felt so comforting and so…so... familiar... that I didn’t protest.
“Shh... hey... its okay... it’s natural... it’s reality for us.”
I drifted to sleep in the monsters arms.