CHAPTER 23

AVA CLARKE

I continue sitting, sipping on the hot tea, while Mary begins to recount some of the stories that happened in this small town.

"Something very strange happened to me when I was 16. My parents were very reserved people and didn't like me staying in town late, but I still remember well what happened that night.", she says with a thoughtful expression.

"Ava was almost attacked by a man with red eyes, and no one believes her, Grandma.", Sophia says, and Mary starts to scrutinize me.

"No one believed me either when it happened to me, Ava. It was a night in town, and I was with many friends when I saw a handsome man who seemed to have stepped out of a fairy tale. I had never seen beauty like that; his skin seemed too perfect for a human.", she continues.

"You saw a vampire?", I ask, feeling my body tremble as I utter that strange word again.

"He seemed like a normal person and watched me in town every night when I was with my friends. One day, I decided to talk to the man who couldn't stop looking at me. It was like love at first sight; he was more than perfect, but he wasn't human. I saw things and told everything to my parents, but they never believed me. They didn't believe that vampires could exist.", Mary reveals.

"What did you do? What happened to him?", I ask, curious, blinking my eyes rapidly and still looking at Mary at this moment.

Mary is 90 years old, and Sophia says she might be making things up, but I can see the truth in this woman's eyes, and I know she's not making up this kind of story.

"I suspected there was something wrong with him, so I did something. Garlic and holy water against vampires aren't real.", she says, getting up from the sofa and walking to one of the windows in her house.

I look at Sophia beside me, who is finishing her tea. It's now night, and I can see it through the window. I fix my eyes on Mary when I see her pointing to a small vase with some kind of purple plant.

"Verbena. Verbena is the only thing that protects you from a vampire, Ava.", she says, and I look at the door and all the windows in the house, seeing many plants like this here.

This means that Mary still believes vampires might be in this town after all this time. It's all too much for me, but I need to stay and learn more.

"Verbena? I thought these kinds of things were just stories, like in movies.", Sophia says, and I look at Mary, who hands me a leaf of the plant she plucked.

I held the leaf before smelling its strong scent. Furthermore, I know what verbena is, but I never thought it was bad for vampires.

"This plant protects you from their mind control. Vampires are very powerful creatures, and each of them has a special gift they can use against humans, but this plant prevents you from being controlled or bitten by one of them.", she explains, and I look at the teacup in my hands.

Everything makes sense now, and I smell the teacup, seeing that it has the same scent as the verbena leaf. Sophia also notices this.

"You put verbena in the tea.", I say, and she nods, walking to a bookshelf with old books and boxes in the living room.

"I do this to always protect myself . Drinking verbena prevents them from hurting you. Vampires also can't enter houses if this plant is near windows and doors.", she says, pointing to all the verbena pots around the house.

I blink my eyes rapidly, trying to organize my thoughts at this moment. I'm not the only person who has seen something supernatural, and now I know that.

"What you saw wasn't a human, Ava. I feel like they're back in this town, and you also need protection, dear.", she says, grabbing a box. I furrow my brow when she opens it, revealing a beautiful old necklace.

Mary opens the pendant of the necklace before putting a verbena flower inside and handing me the object. I look at her, not understanding, seeing Mary sitting back in front of us.

"This should keep you safe. The flower inside this necklace will keep vampires away from you, but never take off this necklace, Ava.", she says with a serious expression, and I nod, putting the object around my neck.

"You can also take some verbena leaves to plant in your house."

"Oh, actually, I don't have a house here yet. I work and live at the Fell family mansion, do you know it?", I ask, seeing Mary looking at me with a serious expression at this moment.

"Grandma? Are you okay?", Sophia asks, getting up and touching Mary's shoulders. Mary nods quickly before looking back at me.

I see that she became strange when I mentioned the family I work for, and I furrow my brow before placing the teacup on the table and looking at Mary again.

"What's wrong with the Fell family, Mary?", I asked with a serious expression.

"Why do you think there's something wrong with them, dear?", she asks, and I know she has something to tell me about them.

"You got weird when I said I work in that house. What do you know about them, Mary?"

"The Fell family is very important to the foundation of this town, but there were rumors that this family killed a vampire for the first time in this town. But that happened many centuries ago, and I think the ones responsible were the ancestors of the people living there today.", she explains, and I sigh, thinking about Lucius.

If this is true, it means that his parents or grandparents were responsible for killing a vampire, but I see that no one believes this story.

"I think she's very tired now, Ava.", Sophia says, and I nod, getting up and taking the verbena leaves Mary gave me.

"I have to go now. Thank you so much for helping me, Mary.", I thank her, and she holds my hand.

"Vampires are in Mystic Heaven, Ava. Be careful..."

I nod my head, bidding her farewell, and along with Sophia, I leave the house and walk towards my friend's car. It's very dark now, and after what happened to me, she offers me a ride to the mansion, which I quickly accept. Inside the car, my mind travels back to Mary's words.

It's night now, and I realize that we spent the entire afternoon at that house, and I should have been at the mansion a few hours ago.