Nadine Book 4

51. Apple Pie

Johen is sitting at the desk when we come through.

"I told them. I think they want to believe me. But maybe they don't yet. I don't know. I've tried for 2 and a half hours."

Omar nods. "That's understandable. It is very hard to believe. You did what you could. They did what they could. Now let's go show them the whole truth."

We follow Johen to a little cabin. It's got a porch with a couple of rocking chairs on it and a huge garden area. It has a place for a fire to cook outside. There's a big barn. My eyes fill with tears. This is perfect.

"Baby."

Omar glances around. "It's the garden, I bet."

"What?"

"This is how she has always described home. It's a lot for her to see places like this."

Tre picks me up, and I wrap around him. "Is it the garden baby?"

"Rocking chairs."

"Rocking chairs on the porch."

"That would have been my second guess."

Tye winks. "We'll get you some rocking chairs for your porch babydoll."

We pile in and Omar puts his eyebrows up.

"What?"

"Nothing." He says it so fast, I know it's something.

I take a deep breath. It smells like apple's baking. I grab on Tye. He picks me up and I cry.

Johen's mom smiles. "What's wrong sweetie?"

I can't talk.

Omar says, "It smells like apples in here."

Tre nods. "Were you cooking something?"

"I'm cooling an apple pie."

I hold Tye tight.

Omar sits down. "Her mother never cooked anything. This is extremely overwhelming for her. To see an actual home with a pie and rocking chairs. It's a lot for someone like her."

Johen's dad comes from somewhere and sits down without saying anything.

"Why is that?"

Tre takes me from Tye. "It's everything she ever dreamed of."

"This is the princess or queen my son told me about? A vampire?"

I nod at her.

She smiles. "You don't look like a vampire."

Tye puts me back down. "Do I smell different to you? I can smell you, and you smell different."

"You can smell me?"

"I can smell your blood."

"You don't smell any different to me."

I draw my fangs.

"Look at that, Rick. She's got fangs."

I show Rick. "My boy told us an off the wall story about how vampires are real and that he knows some. That you are immortal."

"I'm 387 years old."

"You look so young."

"I was born a vampire. We age differently. It takes us 400 years to be adults."

"And you can turn humans into vampires?"

"Yes."

Mary looks at them. "I was turned from human a long, long time ago. I was turned when I was 24 years old. I will always look like a 24-year-old. Once you are bitten, your body will stop aging and the human issues go away. But it will not reverse your age."

"All vampires appear young then?"

"No. The only vampires who look like they are 20 are the ones who were born vampires. The rest appear the age they were turned. I am the only one here who was not a born vampire."

"Between 20 and 24 is not much aging. You look the same really."

"Thank you ma'am. But the ages of vampires appear to be all over. The man who works in the barn, looks like he was about 90 when he was turned."

"Is it bad or odd that he appears old?"

I smile. "No. He lives his life like everyone else. He's always so happy. He takes care of my horses for me."

"Everyone in the village works for you? Or is somehow in debt to you?"

"Most people in the village I've never even met. Our village is like yours. We have a market for anyone to trade or sell in. People live in it and go on with their lives. It's my job to try and make it better and safer for them. But they are not in debt to me, no."

"Johen was telling me when he's there people will bring you water and things."

"Those are my servants. They live in the castle. There is a special area for them. They are not villagers. They have taken a vow to my family to serve us."

"Would we be servants?"

I turn to Mary, very confused. "No."

She shakes her head. "You would have to vow your life to the queen if you wanted to be a servant."

"We thought you take humans and make them vampires to be servants."

I give Johen the dirtiest glare I can.

"I don't know where they got that. I didn't say it."

She smiles. "Rumors. People will be threatened with death. The only way for them to not be killed would be to be made into a vampire's servant."

"I don't know who does that. I will check into it. That is not the way we do things. If you choose to become vampires, you will live in the village for a while. After you get in control of everything, you will be free to stay or live somewhere else. That choice would be yours."

"In control of everything?"

"Blood intake basically. We have to have blood, we can't get around that. It would not be safe for you to be in a human village until you get in control of those urges. Understand them more. Know how to deal with them. There's also certain powers we have. Like speed. We can go superfast. But when you use a power, your blood level will drop faster. You need to be able to understand and feel where your blood level is before you would want to be around humans again."

"What would happen if it gets to low?"

"It's called frenzy. Your body will take over to get the blood it needs. It will go to the first fresh living blood source available and drink its blood."

"How long does it take to learn it?"

Kane answers, "It's usually 2 weeks to 4 months. It depends on how fast you want to learn. How much effort you put into learning. And how badly you need a vacation before you begin learning."

They laugh. "Yes. Yes, for that last part."

"It's still so hard to believe you are a vampire."

"I'm a dragon too. That's for kings and queens though. You won't be dragons. But I could show you to prove it."

"You're a dragon?"

Kane nods, "Yes she is a dragon. That is not part of vampire. It's something extra. Neither of you will ever be a dragon."

Rick turns to Johen. "She's a dragon?"

"Show them."

I turn to a dragon. They stare at me. I waddle up to them and hold out my wing. They touch it and I turn human again. They are touching my arm.

"You're a dragon."

"I am sir. You would not be a dragon. But do you believe me that I'm a vampire now?"

"Yes I do."

"Oh good. At least we've gotten somewhere."

"Do vampires eat food?"

"Yes. We eat like humans."

"Do you have allergies?"

"A... what?"

Kane chuckles. "No, nothing like that."

"And you can never die?"

"Oh we can die. Generally, cutting off a head will kill a vampire. But it won't kill a dragon, we can grow new heads. There are a few more ways. I'm not going into that. But yes, we can die."

"You can grow a new head. So you can grow a new arm or leg?"

"Yes, vampires do regenerate missing limbs. I would show you, but it is slow to regrow them and painful to cut them off."

"How long does it take to regrow an arm?"

"1 day."

"If we turn to vampires, do we become someone else?"

"No, still you. You'll have your memories, feelings, everything. Everything will still be yours."

"So we could come back here?"

"Yes, after you got full control of your powers and understood your blood energy levels more. Trust me, you would not want to go into frenzy around your son."

"Would he die?"

"Yes, a frenzied vampire would kill him."

"Can he turn as well?"

"Not yet, he's to young."

Kane looks at his mom. "We can't turn children, he would remain in that body forever."

"He's 18 in a matter of weeks."

I shake my head. "Human adult age is not the same as vampire adult age."

Omar nods. "As best as we can tell, it seems that humans are mature enough somewhere between 18 and 22, depending on the human. It does vary between them."

"What would happen if he turned early? Other than being stuck in that body? I don't see it making that much of a difference in 2 years. He's almost there."

Omar takes over with a bunch of statistics no one cares about.

Kane cuts him off after 20 minutes. "And he may not be able to get his mate. They have to be of age to do that."

"His mate?"

"Soulmate."

His parents stare at me with their mouths open.

Omar takes over again. "Vampires have soulmates. They don't pick someone and get married like humans do. These souls actually connect. It's very intense. There is a very strong bond between them. Tye and Nadine are soulmates. They do not have the bond in place yet, but it will be in place after she comes of age. They can not feel the full bond until they are both of age. By turning Johen early, he would never come of vampire age. He would never feel the bond."

"What if we're not soulmates?"

I smile at them. "Do you want to be?"

They nod. "I couldn't imagine living without my Rick."

Omar sits back. "It's possible you are soulmates. Humans can have them. They don't feel the bond."

"We can get a potion made for the 2 of you. You drink it and it connects the soulmate bond. We don't use it a lot. Most people want their real soulmate and will settle for nothing less. But you 2 have already spent one lifetime together. I think you earned the right to make that choice."

"Could I have another child?"

I glance at Omar.

"The body stops aging. If you can have a child now, then yes. You could get pregnant. If you have passed the age for humans to have children, then no."

"I WANT TO."

"You should know that vampire pregnancies last 20 years, and we can only get pregnant once every 10 years."

"I don't care. I always wanted a little girl." The mom sobs into Ricks shoulder.

"What will we do about Johen? We can't leave him here alone. And we would be in the village for possibly months."

"He can not be in the village. Or also the castle. Having a human around that many vampires is not smart. It would only take 1 vampire going into a frenzy to kill him. But you said yourself he's nearly an adult by human age. Why couldn't he stay here? He could keep the farm and the shop going until..."

"No." We turn to Tre.

"It won't be that long, Tre. A few months if that."

"No, I mean. The shop is gone."

"What?"

"I don't see any way to save it. It's to far from the market with the other shops. It's not bringing in near enough money. It can't even pay for itself. It's not paying its own bills. Let alone the bills for here. At this point, it's pick the house or the shop to keep. They are making payments on both. There isn't enough money going around."

"Johen has been taking the produce to the market. He's made some money that way."

"What's the point of having the store if you're going to be walking in the market?"

"This was supposed to be how we lived our lives."

"How long have you done this?" I smile at him.

"Since we got married."

"Wow. It wasn't always hard like this with money?"

"No. We use to be the only shop in the village. Everyone would come for our produce. Now there are so many others, no one wants to walk to our side."

"How much do you have left to pay for the house and the shop?"

"3k on the shop. 5k on the land. We pay 200g each month. They are backed up a month or 2."

Johen shakes his head. "I put the money on the back due bills and I paid this months. They're not overdue anymore."

Tre nods. "That was smart."

"How much is the building worth to sell it?"

"Nothing if people won't visit it."

"No. You don't know what idea the next person has for it. They might want to put an art gallery in there. Your building might be perfect for what they want. How much is the building worth?"

"18 to 20k."

"And farming is hard, isn't it?"

"It takes a lot to turn the land. Grow everything from seeds. Out there every day, watering, weeding, turning. The sun is hot. Then we hope we have a good harvest with everything. After that, we have to haul it into the village every morning and sit in the shop all day. Come home and do it again."

"It's to much, isn't it?"

His mom starts sobbing. "Yes. I don't think it use to be this hard." Rick gets tears in his eyes and looks away. Johen and Tye go outside.

"You are getting older. And the money isn't like it was. That always makes it harder. What do you want to do?"

"What do you think? Do you think we would want to come back?"

"I don't know. But your son will be here. He needs somewhere to live."

Rick smiles at his wife. "Let's sell the shop. We can pay off the house with the money it brings in. Johen can farm the land. Maybe not as much. But he could eat. He could sell some in the market for money. He wouldn't have bills if they were paid off. We can come back in a few months and stay until he's old enough to change. Then we can decide what to do after that."

"Are there animals here?"

"No, we only have what we can grow."

"You grow a lot. I think no matter how capable Johen is, he's not going to be able to get that many fruit and vegetables to the market. I can send some servants over. We can take out half the garden. Maybe put in a chicken coop? I also saw a barn. Maybe put a cow out there? He would have milk and eggs that way. What he does make in the market, maybe buy some different meat here and there."

Omar smiles. "That is a good idea. However, I want to make it clear that we are not turning our backs on Johen. He will continue training at the castle, and he will be checked on here. By adults." Tre clears his throat. "Not him. I meant real adults. No one here."

Tre gives him a dirty look.

"Oh please, you 2 would be out here using those blow darts on people walking by."

Tre laughs. "Yea probably."

"We are in. We need to sell the shop first. Then we will be able to do this."

"Hopefully it sells fast."

"You said 20k?"

"Yes, that's what I would ask."

"It sold."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I liked the art gallery idea."

"That building is huge. You're going to have to paint so much stuff."

"Maybe I can do pottery too. And my soaps. And I'll steal some of Johen's garden. And maybe some old princess dresses and shoes."

"Will it hurt?"

Mary nods. "Yes. Very much. The bite hurts. The toxins entering you hurt. It's essentially killing your body and taking over. Everything that has to heal hurts."

Tre nods. "If you have anything to regrow, that hurts 10 times worse than when you lost it. People would scream for a day."

"Can't we knock them out?"

"Not for about half an hour. The toxin has to enter and take over. Then we knock them out for a day. They wake up full vampires."

"It'll hurt for half an hour. Then it'll be over."

She turns green.

"Are you ready? Johen can come with us. We will feed him and bring him back tonight. With a cow?" Omar gives me a weird look. "And some eggs for the morning. Can you pay off the house tomorrow?"

"Yes, I can do that."

Omar pushes me. "Time is against us here." He makes a door and ushers people through.

Everyone stands up and Johen helps his dad.