The Undying Truth. C J Higginbotham

the touch. The door starts to close, and I hear my mom’s words slipping through.

      “Wait. I don’t understand. I thought they were half and half.”

      “Ma’am, that is not the case. I don’t know what happened, but just by seeing his strength, he is more than half human and half—”

      The door closed before I could hear the rest. After a while, a guy comes in, sits across from me, and says, “Do you know what you are?”

      “What I am? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

      “You’re lying. I can hear your heart. I assume you have a guess.”

      “Vampire…” I say under my breath.

      Chapter 4

      “Do you know what kind of vampire?”

      “Just a vampire. What do you mean? I’m starving. Can I get some blood?”

      “You will get blood once you answer my questions,” the man says with a stern voice.

      “I won’t talk unless you give me blood.” I see him look up at a camera then nod.

      He looks at me and nods, then exits the room. He comes back, hands me a bottle of blood, and watches me drink it all. He starts writing something on paper. He tries to make small talk to get me feeling comfortable. We talked about school, my brother, and my sister. Once he thought I was comfortable enough, he asks me about my father.

      “Tell me about that night.”

      “It was dark, and I wanted to find my dad.”

      “Did you know where he was?”

      “I knew where he was supposed to be.”

      “What happened when you got there?”

      I try to speak, but my throat tightens up. I can hear my dad screaming and the flapping of the wings that flew away as if I’m reliving in that moment again. I start feeling really light-headed, so I put my head down.

      “Please you have to try to remember what happened that night.”

      With my head down, I say, “I went to his workplace, and I heard screaming.” I take a second to fight through the tears and my heavy breathing. “I heard screaming and saw he was being attacked. I showed up too late.”

      “That’s good. What happened next?”

      “Why? He died, and now I’m here. I don’t get the point!”

      “Did you walk up to your dad after the attack?” he asked. He was a lot gentler than before.

      “Yes,” I reply.

      “What happed as you got closer to him? Did anything strange happen?”

      “I said my last words. Then he…he bit me!”

      Immediately after I say this, the man’s eyes widen. He walks out of the room almost instantly. I sit in silence, thinking about the questions and the memories of my dad. Blood, pain, and sadness flood my mind. After a while, the door opens. The man and my mom come in and sit down. We all sit in silence as the man looks through a stack of papers. We do this for a while until he looks up and closes his hands, takes a deep breath, and says, “Rich, or Richard Porter, is in the system as a small breed. DNA data consists of vampire and human. Blood count is two cups per day. Taylor Porter’s DNA data consists of strictly human. Also, Ezra’s, Cara’s, and Leviticus Porter’s DNA data consist of human and small breed. Blood count is a drop every two days.”

      “What is a small breed? I’m confused. We aren’t dogs. What do you mean by breed?”

      The man looks at my mom as confirmation to answer my question.

      She nods, and he says, “Breed as in race. We are all animals. Mostly everything you have ever heard about vampires up to this point is a lie. We can determine breed by multiple ways. The easiest way is how much blood is consumed. As for you, Leviticus Porter, you are not the same breed you once were. It seems you have extra ‘genes.’ So we can do some tests to find out exactly where you are breedwise. From what I have seen by strength and blood count, you are more of a medium to medium-high breed.”

      My mom chimes in, “So is there a way to reverse it?”

      “I’m sorry, ma’am, but there isn’t. For the safety of you and on behalf of the humans, you should consider letting us take your son—either to the sanctum or to Ardeal.”

      “I can’t go. My husband and I were banned there years ago.”

      “I have checked the system. Normally, it comes up as an alert if they wanted you all dead. It was just a sin. Rich had to pay with his life.”

      “So we all can go there because Richard has died, correct?”

      “I don’t see why not. But I must warn you. They will kill you just for being around them. Leviticus Potter will be the only one that really succeeds. Ezra and Cara Potter will have some difficulty in school. The adjustment alone will be the hardest. I strongly suggest letting only Leviticus go. And get looked at before you go.”

      She nods. “How long will that take, for all the tests?”

      He responds, “Only two days, three max.”

      “So what? We are supposed to sit here and wait for the answer? You claim the adjustments are hard, so we should move as fast as possible.”

      “Ma’am, I can get new IDs and location for you and your kids. Leviticus is the only one who needs to leave, only because he broke the only law here—do not kill humans. Either he leaves or we kill him.”

      “With all due respect, these are my children! Leaving Levi by himself is a death sentence. He just lost his father. You expect me to lose my son and him to lose his whole family and letting his brother and sister lose him?”

      “You would rather risk your other two kids’ life, just to help Levi?”

      “All they have to do is keep their head down! My children will be fine. Just expect to take all of us.”

      The man nods and opens the door. He signals us to go with the others. I drop my head and walk to Cara and Ezra, looking at the ground. I don’t sit by them because it would hurt too bad if they moved away from me. We all sit in silence until my mom kneels in front of Cara and Ezra and looks them in the eyes.

      She says, “Hey, I’m sorry it took so long to talk to them, but we have to move away from here.”

      Ezra protests, “What? We have to leave? Why? Because Levi is a freak!”

      “No, we have to leave because it’s not safe here anymore,” Mom replies. I can tell she is about to cry. I bite my tongue. I don’t think anyone wants to hear anything from me.

      “Fine! Can we please just get this day over with? I don’t care where we go. Can we just get out of here?” Cara says.

      She stands up and hurries to the car, and everyone follows. I sit there, trying to make myself move. All I can think about now is how the car ride will be so quiet and it’s all my fault. I make myself move, knowing that the longer I sit, the more I will be making everyone mad.

      In the car, my mom and Ezra are sitting up front. Cara is so close to the door. Her face is practically on the window. None of us talk the three days on the road. The whole trip is too uncomfortable. I am so used to talking to Cara about everything. Her shutting me out just makes the pain sink in more. Each time I get the urge to feed, I tell Mom I have to use the bathroom. I can feel the awkwardness and tension growing every time I come back. I have to be particular about wiping droplets of blood off my mouth before entering the car.

      No one catches on, but I think Mom knows, given her nervous glances at me in the rearview mirror. I feel guilty hiding all this from my family, but I must feed on someone so I don’t attack Mom again. I won’t forgive myself