“Are you still bothered by the explosion a few days ago?”
Thalia Turner asked Rozelyn as the old lady placed a bunch of almond cookies and a teapot of English breakfast tea on the living room table.
“Yes.” She answered. “The sound of it was definitely deafening and haunting.”
Thalia grinned. “You should get used to it. For the next centuries of your immortal life, you should be used to hearing explosions and the likes of it.”
“I know, dear Thalia.”
She poured Rozelyn tea on her cup carefully and with precise manner.
“Milk?”
“Yes please.”
“Sugar?”
“Just three sugar cubes.”
They then drank their tea while enjoying the almond cookies that her former nanny had made for her.
Rozelyn and Thalia’s relationship had never changed. Thalia was the grandmother that Rozelyn had never had. Eku’s parents passed away due to an airplane crash. Visenna was an orphan ever since and she never knew who her birth parents were.
They have talked for a while. Thalia narrated her life in Los Angeles as a defense lawyer and Rozelyn talked about the very moment she found out she’s a vampire up until the recent happenings of her now-immortal life.
“Do you like it?” Thalia asked her as the old woman took a bite from the cookie.
“Like what?”
“Being this. Being a vampire, knowing that you’ll never die unless your heart is cut out or your head is removed from your body.”
There was silence before the raven-haired Rozelyn courteously answered.
“I suppose I will like it nonetheless. Even if I will hate it, I will still have to consume blood for survival and have sex for maintaining my eternal youth.”
Thalia laughed at her last statement. “I guess if I am a vampire rather than a Winnowing Healer, I will be able to tell the difference of being entered from behind and at the front.”
The two giggled, their laughter was each other’s medicine from the recent unpleasant events of their lives.
A heartbeat later, there was a knock. Three knocks from an unknown visitor, or so she thought. Rozelyn can smell from afar that the unexpected visitor was a female…and inhuman.
“I’ll get that. You are very lucky that your stepmother is having a walk in the forest. You don’t need to act as curtsy as you are when around her.”
Rozelyn just smiled at Thalia’s statement. Indeed, it is a relief being able to hang out with people that you rarely talk with, especially when you are not under the peering eyes of your stepmother.
When Rozelyn jerked her head as she finished her black tea, her jovial grin became wider.
The visitor was none other than the other Astral Vampire that she was close with—Rosette Richards.
“Rosette!” She leaped from her seat and gave the woman a wide-armed hug.
“There you go, Rozelyn.” Rosette gently patted Rozelyn’s back. “At least, it’s only the three of us now, aren’t we?”
“Well if you are gonna include our shadows, that will be six.”
The boisterous laugh can now be heard from three people.
“Have a seat, dear. I’ll get you an extra cup for your tea,” Thalia offered.
Rozelyn exhaled with relief again. This tea time will be a memorable one, she thought.
“So,” Rosette started. “Where’s Romaine?”
“Having photosynthesis in the forest.”
Rozelyn and Rosette cackled again. Thalia did as well as she arrived with Rosette’s tea and blueberry muffins.
“I’ve heard that, dear Roz,” Thalia nudged at Rozelyn, who was drinking another set of black tea.
“It’s good that Romaine is not here.”
Rozelyn ceased smiling. She can smell the sudden shift of the atmosphere in the room.
Rosette and Thalia looked at each other. Rozelyn is confused about what exactly is going on here.
“Why is that the jovial spring became a sudden winter?”
Rosette looked at her with such a serious poker face.
“You must use your powers wisely, Roz,” said Rosette.
“And you must also open your eyes to the unseen,” added Thalia.
“What?! What are you talking about? What do you mean by opening my eyes to the unseen?!!”
She could hear that the two women in front of her inhaled deeply and exhaled soundly.
“The world of the blood rose and moonflower is not as innocent and CLEAN as you thought it was…” Thalia said as she poured herself another round of tea.
“Rozelyn…”
She whipped her head to Rosette. Her face was unreadable and she wouldn’t dare to peek at her mind. She’d rather listen to her personally than secretly sneaking into the realm of this woman’s mind.
“You are not just a vampire.”
“Rosette!” Thalia glared with a warning tone of voice.
“She deserved to know, dearest,” Rosette assured the old woman whose silver strands can be seen glinting amidst the light of the chandelier.
“What do you mean ‘not just’?” Rozelyn was growing impatient and confused even more.
‘What the hell is going on in this world again?!’ The emerald-eyed young lady then pondered.
“You are an Amalgam, Rozelyn.”
“ROSETTE!”
“What the heck is an Amalgam?!”
Thalia finally stood, unable to control her simmering anger.
“An Amalgam is a—”
Before Rosette could explain, Thalia shrieked. Not just an ordinary shriek, it was a shriek that resembled a banshee. And as she shrieks, as Thalia lashed out, they are no longer in the walls of the latter’s house.
In a blink of an eye, the three are now in a place that people rarely visit; full of Bermuda grasses and leafless trees. A crow was nestled in the nearest tree to which Rozelyn was situated.
And in front of her is the name of Visenna Caoimhe Byrnes-Zadzisai, adorned with withered flowers and melted candles and smooth stones.
Rozelyn, Thalia, and Rosette are now in the cemetery—to where the grave of Rozelyn’s mother was located.
***
“We’re in a cemetery.”
Thalia nodded, “I know.”
The two looked at their side and Rosette was silently crying. Thalia patted her on the back.
“Hush now, dear child. I apologize for lashing out at you.”
Rosette nodded and wiped her flowing tears from her beautiful face.
“How did we get here? One second, I was drinking tea and another second, I am now standing over Bermuda grass!”
Rozelyn gasped for breath before continuing to talk. “Did I do this?”
Thalia shook her head from side to side. “No. I did.”
Her eyes widened with astonishment. “You did—are you a Thaumaturge too?”
The old woman smiled but shook her head. “As I said, I am a Winnowing Healer. I can magically heal anyone and that I can travel short and long distances—teleport to be precise. I can also send messages from afar through the wind and link of the mind.”
Rozelyn was gaping, flabbergasted to what Thalia just explained. She watched Thalia close her eyes. They, too, shut their eyes and feel the breeze of early winter air.
“And what is an Amalgam?”
Thalia abruptly opened her eyes. Rosette halted crying and stood from where she was sitting.
Rosette opened her mouth but it was Thalia who explained. “An Amalgam is a mixture of a vampire and werewolf. In short, you are a half werewolf and a half vampire.”
Rozelyn was gaping again. This time her unbelieving eyes are blinking and unblinking; hands in the air as if to say ‘I don’t understand any of this anymore’.
Her guess was right. Both Romaine and her father had untold and unraveled secrets that they are obviously keeping. She knew her father had six other journals that are yet to be read by her. But Romaine…what else is her whore of a stepmother hasn’t been revealing to her?
Rozelyn supposed that, if people keep hiding secrets from her, it’s better that she will be the one to discover them herself. Aside from the element of surprise, she will also gain some sort of self-accomplishment as she was able to do this on her own.
“Wha-Why-Since Whe—How?” She was visibly stammering, unable to decide what question to ask first.
Thalia placed a flower to Visenna’s grave. So as Rosette.
“Come. Let’s have a walk home and we will tell you.”