Chapter 2

SOPHIA

“You're all that matters to me now, Sophia...”, she says in a weak voice, and I help her lie down on the bed to regain her strength. “Happy birthday, Sophia...”, she whispers holding my hand and I feel more like crying now. I leave my mother resting and I go to the other part of the house, I sit on a chair in front of the lit fireplace, and I look at the small cake in my hands, I light the candles and I close my eyes requesting blowing the candles. I want my world back... I open my eyes feeling my eyes water again, my mom always comes home tired, but I see this time is different, she never came home so tired like this. That vampire is going to kill her if this keeps happening, I need to do something to stop my mom from continuing to submit to doing that. I cut a piece of the cake and eat it quickly saving the other half for my mom, she is still resting in bed lying down when I bring her some soup. The hours pass and I watch my mother sleeping, my eyes fixate on the mark on her arm where the vampire bit and I feel a shiver run through my entire body. I love my mom and she made a big sacrifice to make my birthday different and special than other years, I can imagine the pain she felt today just to do that for me, and I feel really bad. She looks weaker every hour, the day dawns slowly and I couldn't sleep because I was taking care of my mother, she looks like she is getting sicker and sicker, her body won't be able to take this anymore and I need to solve this situation. I don't want to do that, I wanted us to have normal lives and normal jobs, but we haven't been able to have that for many years and I need to get used to the idea that we're not going to have our normal world again. Humans have already tried to fight the vampires, but they couldn't, the vampires have taken over this world completely and there is no way to fight it again because too many people would die again. In this crazy world, there are not only cruel vampires, after the world was destroyed, we also learned that there are werewolves in this world, I have never seen a man turning into a wolf in front of me either, but they exist like vampires. Humans are the lowest class in this world, vampires are always going to be stronger than wolves because each of them has a special power. I grew up hating the vampires because they already tried to kill us after my father died, I was a child and I was hiding at home with my mother, but they found us and took us to this place, my mother tried to resist, and she was hurt too much when all this happened in the beginning. Wolves are also very powerful supernatural beings, but they are also on the side of vampires, many of them live in the forest and some work as vampire guards. It means that we are alone in this world, no one can help us, and thinking about it makes my hopes lower and lower. I need to help my mom and that means I need to be inserted into the vampire world, I'm scared of them, but I need to do it for my mom's sake. My father died when I was just a child, I can't lose my mother and be completely alone in this new world. I don't have friends, that's another rule of vampires, they think humans can create a rebellion against them, so it's forbidden to create emotional ties with someone who is not a member of your family. I miss talking to someone, my mom is always away working most of the time and I'm left here completely alone and without someone to talk to or be my friend. There are several types of vampires, the members who are of the monarchy are the strongest vampires because they are completely immune to the sun and have stronger powers than all other vampires. Vampires who stay in the city are forced to wear cloaks and clothes that protect their skin when the day is too hot, and they burn in the sun since when I was five, I heard my father saying that normal vampires only die with a wooden stake in their heart, and the strongest vampires only die if something silver pierces their heart. Of course, humans have fears of vampires now and it's been a long time since a person tried to kill a vampire, that's another important rule, they can hurt us and kill us, but we can't hurt them, if that happens you are sentenced to death in the worst way as it happened to the last human who tried that. There is no way to end all this, my eyes fixate on my wrist, and I touch my skin feeling the device inside my arm, this is forever, many humans tried to escape to the forest and made the sacrifice of amputating their arm to remove the device, but the wolves managed to capture all of them. And everyone who tried to escape is dead now, I sigh closing my eyes realizing that this is our fate now, it's like we're inside a story from a horror and fantasy book, but this is all very real. My mom hasn't woken up yet and I need to leave soon before she sees me because I know she will try to stop me from doing this, but I need to, and I will do it for her. I put on warm clothes seeing that the morning is cold today, I cover my mother's body with the blanket before kissing her forehead lovingly and seeing that she is still unwell. “I need to do this for you, don't hate me please...”, I whisper touching her face and seeing that her skin is starting to get very hot. This means that her condition is getting worse, and we have no money to buy medicine, even if I got a job the payment would only be next month, and my mother cannot wait all this time. The only way to get money quickly is to apply to donate blood to some vampire, I don't want to do that, and thinking about that idea makes me much more afraid, but if that's the only option I would do it for my mom, I would do anything for her. “I'll be back soon to take care of you, I love you...”, I whisper looking at my mom for the last time before leaving our small house. As I walk out the door, I hear several children crying and that means they are hungry and the parents can't do anything to help, I try not to think too much as I start down the stairs seeing that many humans are looking at me. I keep walking seeing some armed guards with various weapons around their bodies, I feel a chill run through my body as I keep walking with my hands inside my pants pocket. My boots make noise as I walk down more flights of stairs seeing many humans already leaving for work, the way to the city gates is a bit far and I keep walking trying not to think about bad things. I enter the queue with several humans who are waiting to be identified to enter the gates, my eyes fix on many guards, and I try to distinguish which of them are vampires or wolves, but all wear helmets on their heads and armor protection around their bodies. The wind blows against my face, and I sigh feeling the cold on my body, I have few clothes, and none of them can protect me from this cold today. I don't know how long I've been standing in line when I see guards asking humans to extend their arms and I feel my heart beat stronger. I've only gone through the gates twice with my mom, I went with her, and the other time I went to take food to her at work, but she asked me not to do that since a human was publicly attacked by a vampire and had the blood completely sucked out of his body. I imagined this scene and I was very scared I haven't disobeyed my mom until now, she would be very upset because I'm doing this but I'm 18 now and I need to help her. “Show your arm, human!”, one of the guards twice my size says to me, and I hasten to stretch my arm towards him. The man holds some kind of machine equipment that can scan the device on my arm, the machine makes a sound and I look at the screen next to the gate seeing my name on the equipment. “What is the reason for your entry here?”, the man asks me to see that in my information it says that I am not a daily visitor to this place. “I have come to apply for a job vacancy. “I say and the man nods before asking me to enter through the huge open gates. For a moment I thought that my entry into this place would not be allowed today, but I was wrong, and I quickly force my feet to start walking into the city. It's been many years since the few times I came to this place and everything looks completely different, many people are walking in all directions, many humans working and vampires... Vampires... I stop walking and my eyes fix on a couple coming out of one of the stores, the woman is wearing a long cape that looks very expensive and the man is holding her hand. I would say she is human, but she is a vampire when I see her red eyes, I hug my own body realizing this is the first time I have seen a vampire before me. The woman has skin as if she were made of porcelain, she is looking at the man when her eyes are fixed on me, I keep looking noticing the way she was dressing as if she had come out of another century. The man is also a vampire and keeps walking with the woman, now I can understand a little bit when my mother said to be careful with them because they seem to be like us, but they are cruel monsters with a thirst for human blood and sharp teeth that can kill you quickly. I try not to think about the last part when I see more vampires among the humans, all of them have red eyes and scary expressions on their faces, I'm not enjoying staying here, but I keep walking trying to find the place where humans can try to find jobs in the city. A sign indicates the right place and I enter seeing that many humans are waiting to be served, I take a kind of waiting ticket and lean against a wall waiting for my turn to be served. I wonder if my mom is still asleep feeling sick at home while I'm doing this, I feel my heartbeats speed up more as I look at the man sitting next to me. He's wearing clothes but his body is completely riddled with vampire bite marks, this means he's had to donate blood many times to keep surviving and that makes me feel really bad. There are too many humans, and everyone is too desperate to get a job because everyone needs to stay alive, it's a long time before I'm finally seen. I breathe a sigh of relief as I sit down and look at the woman across the table seeing that she is human, I would feel more than nervous if I tried to talk to a vampire right now. She asks me to stretch my arm and I see the device being scanned again, she starts writing various things on paper looking at the computer, I guess this is the only place computers are allowed. I've never touched one because I grew up in a world where it became too dangerous.