The last few days have been very sunny in the small town. The sun literally burned my skin as I lay with Liss on the large, lush green meadow of the school and enjoyed the warm rays on my face. I was surprised that Liss could withstand this heat despite her black and pink clothes. Sara sat next to us and was absorbed in a book with the title "The Downfall", not exactly a happy title, but Sara read something like that, although you couldn't tell from the outside.
Liss talked to Sara, at least tried to wake her out of her nondescript trance, and didn't even pay any attention to me, which was fine with me. With the thought that I didn't know anything about my past, I now came to terms with it. Kyle was especially helpful with this, who kept his eyes on me for ten minutes. I was thinking something about the dreams, or rather the dream that I kept having for the last few nights. I kept seeing the dark-haired man hand over a brown-eyed baby to an old woman. As I thought, I played with my fingers on my long chain, which I practically never took off.
Because of the nice weather, the whole school was probably outside, as it looked. I raised my head slightly and saw Cassandra, Gina and Ayumi sitting on a blanket about a hundred meters away from us. All three wore shorts and different colored T-shirts. They paid no attention to anyone but themselves and giggled cheekily.
I sat up straight and saw Kyle, Holmes, and Tucker approaching from a distance. Smiling happily, Kyle took my hand and pulled me up.
"Come on, we're going home," he said to me. I pulled my hand away.
"We still have English."
"Don't worry," he said with a laugh. "The principal has given the whole school a heat freeze, we can go home."
"Bye Takara!" I heard Liss call from the side. She and Tucker headed for the parking lot together, and Tucker also waved to me cheerfully and with a less piercing stare. Reluctantly, I followed them with Kyle.
Ann was waiting for us in the car. When I got in, the air in the car was stuffy and dry, which made it difficult for me to breathe.
"You don't look good," Ann said, looking at Kyle, who was sitting loosely next to me. He wasn't smiling anymore. "Are you sure it wasn't too much sun for you?"
“I'll take it and I'm not thirsty, don't worry.” Ann shook her head, switched on the engine and drove off. I looked at Kyle. He looked out the window and ignored me, which I wasn't used to. We were silent the entire drive and I was slowly starting to worry about Kyle. For the first time since I've lived with him. Most of the time he tried to stop me, but now I hardly mattered to him.
When we got home, he stormed into the bathroom without paying attention to Strike, who then came to me insulted to be petted.This behavior didn't fit the Kyle I had met over the past few days. It was like an exchange. Ann put her hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry, he's fine." She went into the kitchen with the words, "I'll get you something to eat now."
I followed her and sat on a chair. I tried to blow the thought away, but it didn't work. Maybe I knew Kyle too badly, I thought to myself. Or it wasn't his normal behavior that Ann was trying to play away.
"Don't worry about him now, he probably just has sunstroke," Ann said to me. When I looked up at her, I realized I was biting my nails.
At that moment Kyle came down to the kitchen and sat in the chair across from me, but he looked at Ann with a smile. I noticed that it wasn't a normal smile, that smile looked played, and it must have been played too. His hair was a bit wet, as was his milky white face.
Strike sat down next to me and ignored Kyle, but he didn't mind at all.
After we all ate, Jake came home. He didn't seem to notice, or even ignore, the poor condition of his son.
All afternoon the three of us, me, Jake, and Ann, watched football while Strike slept on my lap. I didn't really care about football, but I enjoyed watching it because it distracted me from Kyle's weird behavior. I didn't even know where he was because he wouldn't show up until dinner. I didn't dare ask Ann what was wrong with him.
The next day at school I only saw him driving and during the first lesson, when he ignored me. When I asked Liss in math where he was, she said that he had just gone home with Lucyanna and that I should take the bus with Liss. Concern for him grew even stronger.
Slowly I started to really like our principal, Mr. Jins, because, as luck would have it, after the fifth hour we got heat-free again. Liss and Tucker then pulled me through the old parking lots towards the bus, where I sat down next to Liss. Tucker sat in front of us. He turned around while driving and spoke to us, or rather to Liss, because I didn't even notice what he was saying.
The next stop was a little further from the house and I was lucky Kyle showed me the way. I was home quickly and was just opening the door when I heard Ann cry out. Without thinking, I ran up to the bathroom where the scream was coming from and saw Kyle and Ann leaning against the bathtub. Both actually looked quite relaxed.
The situation doesn't sound too dramatic, I know, but Kyle held Ann's forearm in his hands and bite clean. Some blood flowed from the wound, which startled me. But my breath suddenly stopped when Kyle lifted his head.His eyes were red, red as blood, and his mouth was smeared with blood. His gaze was cold and expressionless.
I carefully took a step back, as you normally only do with bears. I was scared, terrified. I wanted to cry, but the sun made me feel dry. I looked at Ann, who gave me a startled and pitying look. She didn't seem to mind that Kyle was drinking her blood. That a monster drank her blood.
"Takara." Kyle whispered, and the cold look turned to sadness.
As if by reflex, I turned around and ran down to the door, but when I tried to open it, I stopped. Where could I have gone? Here, this house became my home. I could have gone to Liss, but I couldn't tell her that Kyle was becoming a monster. Or even been one for a long time.
Somebody took my hand from behind, a touch I already knew. That someone hugged me and Kyle whispered pleadingly in my ear:
“Please don't judge me.” I got tears in my eyes. I tried to leave, but I couldn't find the strength to do so. I didn't want to turn around either. I didn't want to see his blood-soaked eyes. But he made me turn around. I looked down anyway. He quickly pulled me to the sofa and sat me on it. He himself went away.
When an arm wrapped around me, I jumped back, but then I realized that it was Ann who was smiling at me. I looked at her arm, which was so bloody before. She only had a band-aid on, and it didn't look bad either.
"I'm sorry you had to find out.", She whispered. I would have liked to have said well, but I couldn't get a word out of my lips. “We wanted to tell you.” Ann tried to reassure me.
"What are you?" I asked quietly to Kyle, who was standing in the corner and wasn't looking at me. His eyes have now returned to their original bright green color. Ann spoke for him.
“I'd rather start from scratch.” I wasn't really looking at her yet. Her injured arm still gave me a little shudder. "There are many things I could tell you, but I'll start with the simplest. Thousands of years ago, when there were people in the world, people's were born too The dirty bloods are nothing more than people in whom the genetics, i.e. the DNA, has been changed so that you get certain skills. Can you follow me? "I nodded. Knowing that Kyle still had a human side calmed me down after seeing the monster in him. Ann continued, "Filthy bloods with similar abilities have formed groups and expanded their abilities. For example, vampires ..." I gulped at the word "... developed the ability to be immortal and make others their equals ."That made sense. I looked at Kyle, who was looking at me hopefully.
"We suspect that you are one of us too," he said and these words hit me like a blow. He came slowly closer and sat down on the armchair.
"II am a V-vampire too?" Came out of me, trembling. Ann smiled brightly. The mood improved again ... luckily.
"No, you're not a vampire ... at least we think so. Dirty bloods always have an energy that some can sense, and you come from a very strong one."
“Is that why you took me out of the forest?” I had so many questions, but that was the most important one to me. Kyle shook his head but didn't look at me yet.
"I only found out later. Unlike Ann, I don't notice this energy."
“But how does it come about ... that you are you?” I really wanted to know more about them! Kyle started and it sounded like a typical love story.
"When my father met my mother, he fell in love straight away. Love at first sight, so to speak. They married, and Ann was born a little later. That she was extraordinarily strong didn't bother him very much. He had no idea of children and thought it was completely normal. But my birth then destroyed the whole family, because when my father held me in his arms, I got thirsty ... "He looked at the floor, contorted with pain. "Of course I didn't have the will to resist, and of course I bit his arm. My father confronted my mother and she confessed that she was an old vampire. She said she didn't know that I was this part of her ... would inherit. She begged him to stay, but he sent her away. "
"Aren't vampires incredibly strong? She could have just forced him to stay." Stupid suggestion, I know. Ann answered the question.
"Yes, yes, but she didn't want to harm our father. Since then she has sworn to destroy us because we are to blame that her marriage broke up."
"And what skills did you get?" I asked quietly and looked at her sideways. Ann smiled.
"I'm just as strong and fast and have a vampire's sense of hearing and smell. And, no, I don't need blood, don't worry." I looked at Kyle, who immediately answered my question.
“I can only read minds by touch.” I