We stopped at what looked like an abandoned, medieval mansion. It was white and huge with intricate carvings. The inside was even bigger. It almost resembled the White House in the States. It was almost as if there were more rooms than there was ceiling. The boy told me that it was their "hideout".
As the three of us entered the mansion's parlor room, I saw something I was not expecting.
My eyes bugged out of my head. "Mom?! Dad?!"
"Kalin!" my mother breathed in relief. She rushed up to me and hugged me tightly. "We were so worried about you! Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah. But," I stuttered. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We found out you were attacked by vampires," my dad said. "Why didn't you tell us yesterday?"
"Well what was I supposed to say? 'Hey, Mom, Dad, guess what? I was attacked by two, bloodthirsty vampire chicks today! Strange, huh?!' Don't think so!"
"He's got a point," the boy that drove the Camaro said.
"Hush, you!" my dad said, more irritated that I was right than angry. "They're the ones who told us. They saw the two female vampires chasing you yesterday. The girl is Choi Mai and the boy is Jeong Taehyung. Mai is half vampire, half hunter and Taehyung is a hunter."
I looked back and forth between my parents and the two I had just met. Vampires and now vampire hunters. My life had certainly taken a strange turn down the road to Fantasy Central. Already, I was thinking of different tracks that this situation may take. One of them being that I was actually related to Van Helsing. Or worse, Dracula. Maybe both. But that was just me being crazy again.
"You're serious?" I said to my dad.
"Yes. Yes, I am," he nodded.
I had a funny feeling... "So...what am I?"
My parents, Mai and Taehyung all looked at each other.
"You're like Mai. Half vampire and half hunter," Dad explained. "Furthermore, your father, your real father, was vampire royalty. Your mother was the daughter of a feared group of hunters, one of which members was Van Helsing."
Damn, I'm good...Well, almost.
"Wait. So, you're saying that I'm a...a prince?"
"Yes, that's right," Dad nodded again.
"Funny. I don't remember craving blood."
Dad sighed. "That scar on your left shoulder?"
"Yeah?" He was talking bout an apparent cross-shaped scar from a burn that I had gotten when I was too young to remember things. They hadn't told me exactly what happened. Not that I cared...up till now.
"It's not a scar. It's a seal that surpresses your vampric qualities. Your mother placed it on you before she died."
That last part was like a blow to my gut. A harder blow, even, than the ones delivered to me by the vampires earlier. Here I was, finally learning about my real parents, and I learn that my mother, the woman who gave birth to me, was dead. It was just completely and utterly unfair.
"How...did she die?" I asked painfully.
"For a human woman to birth someone like you, a damphir, and live isn't as common as you might think or want to believe. Most of the time the child is too strong and its powers are too potent. It puts strain on the mother's body. But what matters is that you know that it was not your fault."
I looked over at Mai. She had a look of empathy on her face. I wondered if she had gone through the same thing.
I looked back up at my dad. "Is my father still alive?"
He opened his mouth then shut it again, thinking something over. He raised his hand and wagged a finger at me. "I should probably tell you this first. You aren't from this era of time. You were born here. However, your parents were from an era of time way before the American Revolution. Before humans even knew that there was land further to the west. This era was known for its times of darkness and the supernatural. This is the era where the mythology of the world was developed in order to hide the immense amount of darkness and evil and ideologies that, now days, is considered ludicrous and impossible."
"So you're saying that there were no Greek or Egyptian gods and what not?" That had to be one of my worst nightmares.
"Not the kind that text books describe. Often, hunters, vampires and other mystical beings have been mistaken for gods and deities. Alongside that, some historians and civilizations mearly made up gods and stories to mask over the darkness of the truth." He noticed my bummed out look and shifted the conversation. "Anyway, back to your question. Your father isn't alive in this era. However, in the era in which you are truly from, he is most definitely alive and kicking and will be for the next few hundred years, maybe longer."
That was uplifting and confusing at the same time. It meant that there was still the chance that I could meet him. However, there was the issue of time traveling.
"Maybe you should tell him now, dear," Mom said to Dad.
"Ah,yes. The most important part." Dad cleared his throat and continued. “You see, there are hundreds of different clans flourishing in different countries back in your time. Each clan of vampires rules and governs a different area of their country. It’s almost as if, by gaining rule over that area, they’ve established their own civilization. The thing is, in this civilization there are only vampires and other mythical beings living within it. The only humans who live there are servants of the ruling clan or some high class household or people who are relatives to a group of beings living there. Hunters are only allowed to live there if they agree work directly for the ruling clan.
Also, civilizations ruled by vampires, as well as other beings, have a monarchical system. Royalty at the top, followed by the Elders, the Priests, military commanders, and commoners. Servants are at the bottom however, they are not treated as ‘slaves’. They are either treated as part of the family or trusted associates. The common people can be split up into three groups: the lower class, middle class, and the higher class. However, they are not usually treated as such. All commoners most usually have equal rights. Class is determined by bloodlines and the like. And the rulers, of course, are the appointed king and queen of the ruling clan. Your clan, Kalin, is the Nightingale Clan of Great Britain; London, if I remember correctly. Your father is the current king’s brother, Alistair Nightingale. Your uncle, the king, is Victor Nightingale. Your mother’s name was Rosaline Lestrade. Your parents were never married. Too many complications. Him being royalty and her being a hunter.”
I sighed. My head was swimming. “That’s a lot to take in.”
“And that was only the beginning,” Taehyung said.
I groaned.
“It’s alright,” my mom said. “Take your time.
My dad continued. “As of current events in that time, your clan is in the middle of a heated conflict with a Korean clan of vampires called the ShangYi Clan; a conflict that has existed for hundreds of years. But there is a prophecy that says that a young male damphir of the Nightingale Clan would be able to relieve this conflict on the coming of his sixteenth anniversary. You were believed to be this child. The ShangYi caught wind of your imminent birth and so your mother, while still carrying you, was sent here to this era and sealed so the ShangYi wouldn’t be to able find you. She had traveled to this time once before and met us, fellow hunters of hers. She trusted us greatly and decided to leave you in our care when she died. Now, the seal is starting to break. The vampires you encountered were members of the ShangYi. They were looking for you; however they couldn’t accurately identify you because of your seal. So it’s safe to say they don’t know that it was, in fact, you.”
“There is another thing,” Taehyung said. “The prophecy is so old that most of your clan has discarded it and labeled it false. The only ones alive who know that you are the child of the prophecy, or even a damphir at that, is your father and your grandfather, the previous king, Julian Nightingale. Other than that, you’re considered the Nightingales’ ‘lost prince’. You’re believed to be dead.”
I gulped. “My birthday is this Friday…” July twenty-first. Why did that date sound so menacing right now? “Why do I get the feeling that the seal my mother put on me is due to break on that day?”
“Good thing you read all those fantasy stories now, huh?” I knew my dad was teasing me.
I shook my head. “So let me get this straight. As soon as the seal breaks all of these vampires from the ShangYi Clan or whatever will come and try to kill me? How do we prevent that?”
“Simple,” Mai said. “We train you in the ways of vampirism and then send you back home with your clan so you can find some way to make peace with the ShangYi. After all, that’s what Lady Rosaline had planned for you.”
“I thought I was supposed to be dead.”
“You just let us handle that,” Dad said. “But for now, all we can do is wait until the seal breaks.”
