Chapter: Rena’s 16th birthday

Rena blinked carefully in the sun when suddenly a voice shouted "Happy Birthday" through the room. It was her friend's cafeteria, she was already sitting at the computer and playing some kind of computer game again.
Mensa was a plump little girl who was Rena's best and only friend. Rena had finally made it out of her bed and replied a sleepy "Good morning, cafeteria" when she was already standing in front of her and presented her birthday present. It was a little Bomko. They lived in trees and jumped at your feet if you stood in front of them for too long and did nothing. Still, it was very difficult to catch one.
Rena immediately refused, because she thought the cafeteria must have paid too much for it. An argument broke out between the two girls.
At the end of the argument, however, Rena accepted it because she had wanted one since she was 10 years old. Suddenly Rena thought to hear a voice that asked her when there was finally something to eat.Rena looked around confused, but when she asked Mensa if that was her, she only said that she hadn't said anything and hadn't heard anything either. Rena just thought that the voice was just imagined.
Nonetheless, Mensa and Rena were about to go into the boarding school dining room when Rena heard that voice again. This time she called: "Take me with you!" Then she realized that it must be Bomko who was calling. That's why she knelt down in front of him and said: "So that's your voice that I hear there. Can you also speak normally like us humans?" The Bomko replied in her mind with one more: "No, but you can also talk to me talk in mental language so that it doesn't sound so strange to other people. "So Rena thought:" Good, but I would like to know one more thing, why can I hear you and Mensa not? " wanted and second only you have the ability to speak in your mind and also: Call me Woodchi.“Okay, Woodchi, I'm Rena and this is Mensa.” And to Mensa she said “Let's go and we'll take Woodchi with us. "" Woodchi is that Bomko's name? " "Yes!"
When they got downstairs, no one asked where she got the Bomko from, although everyone stared curiously at her. When the three of them had finished eating and were actually planning to have a nice Sunday, Florian came to them and handed Rena a book, which immediately turned bright red, because Flo was the most popular boy in the school. Which was no wonder with a clever boy who also always tied his beautiful shoulder-length hair so that it could not hang in his dream prince's face. But before Rena could ask him how she deserved this honor, he was gone again.
Now the three decided to spend a nice day after all and walked across the castle meadow to the edge of the forest. The two girls leaned against trees while Woodchi ran into the woods with Rena's permission and made new friends.This allowed the cafeteria to work on the laptop in peace while Rena looked at her new book more closely.
The outside was beautiful, decorated with all kinds of flourishes, in the most colorful colors. But when Rena opened the book, she saw so many different characters that she did not know that she no longer knew where to look. When she flipped through the book, however, she noticed a letter it contained.
Rena opened it and read that she was supposed to be unaccompanied on the third floor at 3 o'clock that afternoon in front of the picture of Prince Armuter. When Rena called Woodchi at half past two and told him that she had an appointment at three and didn't know how long it would take, but still wanted the Bomko to be back in her room after she was back, he just nodded and disappeared back into the forest. Rena spoke to Mensa and then went to the meeting point. There Flo was already waiting for her, who immediately asked her if she had the book with her.She showed him and immediately asked what it was all about, since she couldn't read the characters. But since Flo didn't answer and just turned around and left, she ran after him and started screaming. But Flo could not be confused and just kept walking. When he stopped, Rena no longer knew where they were and no longer screamed at Flo. Finally he asked quite calmly if she had calmed down now. She answered yes, and he continued.
He said that Rena was expecting a surprise in the room they were standing in front of. She wanted to know what kind of surprise that would be, but Flo did not reveal anything.
But when she asked if they would go in now, Flo said he had to blindfold her because she was not allowed to see the rest of the way that they had to go behind the door. When her eyes were blindfolded, he turned her so that she wouldn't see too much.After they had gone through the door, they went for a while in various directions and over many steps, sometimes up, sometimes down. When they were finally there and the blindfold was removed, Rena could not get out of the amazement.
They were standing in a room that had 7 other people. Suddenly she was approached by the person who was apparently the oldest even though she only looked 36: "Hello Rena, nice that you found your way here. I'm Nightqueen, but everyone calls me Night."
To the right of Night was a young man who Rena wasn't sure whether she thought he was likeable or rather unsympathetic from the start. He said that his name is Jonas and that it was inaugurated 13 years ago. "I'm Veronika and I was accepted into the community 5 years ago", said the lady who was standing next to Jonas and who still looked quite youthful. "I'm Max and it's been 4 years for me."He looked like 20 and seemed like he was only going to speak the bare essentials. Next to him was a boy who introduced himself by the name of Christian and was admitted a year ago. With his shoulder-length hair, he was immediately likeable to Rena. He also said that she should stand next to him. Flo, whom she already knew, stood on Rena's other side. From him she learned that he had been a vampire for half a year. "I'm Dina and a vampire for 2 years" She was standing next to her Flo. Then came Christoffer, with whom it was impossible to estimate his age, he said he had been admitted 7 years ago.
Nice that you now know us all by name. Now we can start: so Rena we came together today to take you into our community on your birthday. But you have to swear that you won't tell anyone about us. Not even your best friend or your pet the Bomko, you swear it? " "I swear! But why do you know my exact dates so well? ""Flo got them for us because he is going to class with you."
"But just one more question, what kind of community is this? Flo mentioned vampires that I thought didn't even exist."
"It's good that you swore that it saves us from erasing your memory. As far as your question is concerned, we cannot answer it precisely, as it has different important aspects for each of us, but we all have one thing in common: we are all none Humans but would be called vampires by humans. "
"Is that a sect? And besides, why should I want to become a vampire? Apart from the fact that I couldn't read the characters in the book when I looked at it and also don't know in which language it is written."
"You have a lot of questions at once, so let's start with the first one: No, we're not a sect." Night couldn't help but grin, "but a kind of race. Besides, you can't decide whether you want to become a vampire or not, because it's in your genes - as with all of us.There are other groups in which there are also people who were first made into them by vampires. But since it's in your genes, you will automatically become a vampire the day after your sixteenth birthday. And the characters in this textbook are runes and written in the language of the vampires. You will be able to read them automatically after you turn into a vampire. But before that you have to know that despite people's beliefs, we can walk around during the day. It's just that most prefer the night. You can eat just like humans, but you don't have to because it is no longer essential for you. You must also take blood regularly - you can drink animal blood or human blood, both of which are not easy to obtain. You might get animal blood at a slaughterhouse, but not necessarily either. If you are a vegetarian, you can also eat blood oranges, but still have to consume blood at least once a year.We will help you and over time you will surely get better and maybe you can help us with our assignments. But first you have to deal with the fact that you will become a vampire in an hour. "
"Okay, that's tough, but again to take notes: I have to live as a vampire now and have to take blood at least once a year if I eat blood oranges that I don't like very much or I have to drink blood more often, which I have as a child tasted good when I had nosebleeds every day- is that so far? "" I can't judge that about the nosebleed - but otherwise yes "
"How did you find out that I have being a vampire in my genes?"
"That's a good question, but if I explain this to you now, first of all we would sit here until sunrise and second, you still wouldn't understand."
"Even good is not so important."
"Your conversion takes place at midnight and you shouldn't necessarily be in your room during that time.""Well what time is it?"
"It starts in half an hour."

She went out of the castle and into the forest, hoping that not too many people would notice her transformation. In the forest she then stood in front of a very old tree, as it seemed to her, and began to think about the future "What would she bring with her? How was life as a vampire? Do I want to become a vampire and drink blood? And what assignments did Night have spoken?"

Now it was almost time - only a minute ... 59 seconds, 58, 57, ... Did she really want to become a vampire? … 20, 19, 19, 18,… Did she really want to live a longer life but have to drink blood for it? … 4, 3, 2, 1. A sudden outcry broke the night's silence! Rena writhed in pain on the ground, then jumped