Chapter 75 - Healing

Delia was feeling especially tired and achy. She thought she might even have a fever. It was a full moon but she didn't think that had anything to do with it, however strange things do happen on the night of the full moon. The girls were hungry and she probably needed nourishment as well, so she went into the kitchen to prepare supper. 

She decided on spaghetti as it would be the fastest to prepare so she got it started. Then her stomach lurched and she thought she was going to be sick so she just put the bowl down and starred at it while she waited for the uneasiness to go away.  

As she stood there, she could feel her skin becoming red hot and it took her breath away. She barely managed not to scream aloud in pain. Then it lessened for a minute before starting again. Suddenly she realized what must be happening and that only made it worse. The attack by the two vampires must have infected her. She was turning. 

The transformation eventually completed. It was painful, but she managed to stay in the kitchen until the pain subsided. She knew that was indeed what happened because when she looked at her skin it was pale as if the blood had been drained from her and her senses seemed heightened. The spaghetti made her physically ill just to look at. 

She was exhausted. What would she tell Victoria? She didn’t know about vampires yet as she was only 12. But she would have to be told when she turned 16, maybe before. Valerie would know immediately. Poor Valerie, she thought, one more thing to add to your stress.

  

Delia forced herself to finish preparing dinner for the girls and called them to eat. She sat down as the dinner table and just hung her head looking at the food. Victoria walked by her and gave her scathing look. She and Delia were not getting along. Victoria seemed to blame Delia for her father's death. 

Delia wanted to cry, but that wouldn’t help the situation.

Then she saw her oldest daughter looking at her with such a sad, sad expression on her face. Delia knew that Valerie was aware of what had happened to her. It ripped Delia’s heart out to see her daughters so unhappy. She needed to talk to Valerie about it. 

Delia went over to where Valerie was sitting.  When she walked over, all Valerie said was, “Why Mother. You didn’t have to do this. You should have talked to me.”  That shattered Delia’s heart into a million pieces.  Valerie thought that she had turned on purpose.   

Delia sat down and began, “No, no, no sweetheart. I didn’t. It was the attack. We have so much to talk about. I haven’t even told you exactly what happened. It’s time I did.”

Delia proceeded to tell her about the two men that kidnapped her and had likely intended to kill her when Vladimir came and rescued her. She said, “Those were likely the same two men that later attacked and killed your father. But no one saw them, so we have no idea if they are or not.”

“Oh, Mom!  This is horrible.  Will they come back? Are we safe?” asked Valerie.

“I have been in touch with Elvira, your father’s co-worker,” said Delia, “and it appears they were only after him so we should be safe. Please don’t worry about that. God, you are so young to have these burdens.  Val, I love you, I am so sorry.”

“But, why would they want to hurt Dad? I don’t understand. He didn’t hurt anyone…did he?”

“No Val.  Your father was a good, decent man. The people that hurt him wanted to take over.  They were evil and corrupt. Go to bed now.  Please don’t worry. What we need to be concerned with is Victoria. She is so unhappy. Do you think if we have a birthday party for her that will help? We can ask Pierre and Hope to come and their children.  It will do us good to have something happy going on around here.”

“Sure mom,” replied Valerie as she quickly turned around and walked to her room so her mother wouldn’t see her crying.

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After Valerie went off to bed, Delia went downstairs to the basement. It was a full moon and ghosts had a tendency to make an appearance. She could use a friend and figured she would see Francisco again and he would be able to comfort her. She wouldn’t admit to herself she really hoped that she would see Vladimir.  Maybe it was better she didn’t.

As she stood there staring at the picture of her and Vladimir she felt the slight chill in the air that usually signaled that Francisco had materialized. 

She turned to say hi and her heart skipped a beat. Vladimir was standing there watching her. Delia wasn’t sure if it really was him or if she was just dreaming.  She ran to him before he could vanish and threw herself into his cool arms.

When they kissed, she knew it wasn’t a dream. She also knew this moment was fleeting and he would soon be gone. She wanted this moment to last forever. 

When they finally separated – she told him she was sorry for all that happened. She recalled Elvira’s words that it was her fault. He would have none of it. “No my love,” said Vladimir, “you and our girls made my life worth living. You had nothing to do with my death.  Those wheels were put into motion before our paths ever crossed.  You know this. It was retribution for Anastasia. So please, don’t take responsibility for it. Remember, I will always love you and even if you can’t see me, I will be here in your heart. What we had was special and I love you for that.”   

He pulled her into an embrace as she cried on his cool shoulder. “I miss you so much,” said Delia in between sobs, “Please don’t go.”

“Delia, darling, you know I can’t stay”, whispered Vladimir, “Take care of the girls. They need you now more than you know. You should leave Bridgeport. Take them far away. Get them and yourself away from this turmoil.”

“Leave Bridgeport?” she asked surprised, “How much time do I have? Can we stay until Val’s graduation? It will be soon. And Vladimir, I found the last ingredient for the cure and it is growing. It needs to mature before I leave it.” She was talking as fast as she could knowing he could vanish at any moment. 

“Promise me Delia that you will leave as soon as it matures whether or not Val has graduated. Otherwise you may be in danger and Elvira won’t be able to protect you.”

“No,” sighed Delia, “She probably won’t. We will leave as soon as we can, I promise. I love you more than you could ever know.”

 “Goodbye love...I have to go now,” Vladimir said sadly as he disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.

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The next morning when Delia got up she realized she was hungry – for blood. She wasn’t quite prepared for that. She thought about what Vladimir had told her. The one thing they didn't discuss was her current state. She wondered why.

As she set out for the kitchen, she heard sobbing coming from the girl’s bedroom and peaked inside. Poor Victoria was bawling her eyes out. Delia started to go in, but Valerie was already up and going over to soothe her. She quietly closed the door and continued to the kitchen. She had to get this over with.

Delia opened the refrigerator and pulled out a box of plasma juice that they had stored for Vladimir – and his vampire contingent that came by every once in awhile.  She sat down and forced herself to drink it. It was disgusting, but at least her thirst for blood was sated.  

While she was forcing the plasma juice down, she knew she had to call Elvira again in light of the turn of events. She needed to know what else, as a vampire, she needed to know.  

Vladimir never talked about his supernatural powers. He tried to protect her from that side of him other than when he would drink from her instead of drinking the juice. It was usually a precursor for making love and very erotic and personal. But she knew he had other powers and Delia needed an education. 

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Amazingly, Elvira agreed to come over one more time – but only out of respect for Vladimir she said. Elvira probably was prepared to ‘suck her dry’ as she put it last time.

When Elvira arrived, she never stepped a foot inside the house. When she saw Delia she burst out laughing and exclaimed, “Holy Shit!  What have you done Blondie? How? Did William….”

“It was the guys that attacked me in the museum,” said Delia, “They infected me during the attack. I transformed yesterday. That is why I needed to talk to someone. I don’t know how to BE a vampire, what I am capable of and what I shouldn’t do. I need your help.”

Elvira backed off now angry, “You called me for that? You selfish bitch! Blondie, let's get this straight, I owe you NOTHING. Stop calling me for yourself. I have no pity for you. I despise you. I only came for Vlad. Figure it out yourself. I only came because I thought you may have seen his attackers.”

“Elvira, he trusted you. Please…” begged Delia.

“No – you don’t get to use Vlad as a bargaining chip to get me to help you. You got him killed. Don’t call me again, ever, for anything. We are done.”

Delia watched helplessly as Elvira got into her car and drove off squealing her tires for effect.

Delia went upstairs to her bedroom and got ready for bed.  Elvira exhausted her.  Delia wasn’t sure why she really thought Elvira might help her except that Elvira had loved Vladimir. Maybe it was cruel to keep calling her for help. Delia had learned her lesson. Elvira is one vamp she did not want to cross again.  

As Delia sat down on the edge of the bed, she saw the picture they had made at the Festival. They had so much fun. He played with little Victoria that day. Victoria thought her Daddy hung the moon, no wonder she is having a hard time losing him. Delia hung her head and tried to think what she needed to do. Vlad told her she must move and she believed him. If he felt like there was a threat, then there must be. And Victoria, she was so worried about her. Her birthday was in a couple of weeks. Maybe that would lift her spirits.

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A few weeks later, Delia was working on one of the laptops while the girls were in school. Valerie got home before Victoria and walked in where she was working. Valerie asked her mother if they could talk. She had a lot of questions and things she wanted to discuss.

“Of course Val,” said Delia, “I always have time to talk to you.”

Delia got up and went around to the chairs in front of the desk and sat in one of them.

“What is on your mind baby?” asked Delia.

Valerie sat down in the other chair and said, “Victoria, Dad, You, Me…the basement,” she joked, “Nothing much.”

“Wow,” said Delia, “Where should we start?” 

“How did you and Dad meet? I could never figure out how two totally different people could cross paths.”  Delia just laughed. This was a pleasant memory for her, “We met in a bar. He didn’t pick me up or even dance with me.  We just talked until closing time. I wasn’t looking to ‘hook up’; just to get out of the house and maybe meet some people.  I went with my boss to promote our restaurant.”

“What is it like being a vampire?” Valerie asked next.

“Whew, baby, that is a tough one. The biggest difference is some of the enhanced senses that I have, I am faster and maybe stronger. There may be others. I feel best during the night time hours and staying out in the sunlight for too long drains me and begins to burn my skin. And I don’t eat. I drink plasma juice.”

I am frightened of it Mother,” said Valerie, “I don’t want to want to drink blood or plasma juice, I want to eat cake and your wonderful French toast. I like to swim in the pool during the day.” 

“I understand. There are definitely trade-offs. But honey, one of the things you mentioned, the basement. Remember when your Dad told you there were powerful potions there? I can conjure them. I don’t know why they work for me, but there are many, some good and others very evil and even the good ones in the wrong hands can be used for evil.  That is why it has to remain a secret.  However, one of the recipes is a cure for vampirism.”

“Then why haven’t you used it.  Why didn’t Dad?” asked Valerie.

Delia got up and continued, “As you might imagine, there are very rare ingredients that are required and I was missing the final one.  But sweetie, I have found it,” said Delia with a smile, “It should be ready by the time you graduate from school.  This is my gift to you and Victoria, a cure. You won’t have to live life as a vampire.  Dad wanted that for you so badly.”

“But you wanted to turn – Dad said so,” said Victoria confused.

“Because I hadn’t been able to find the final ingredient, I needed to become a vampire and also, because of the threats from the evil vampires that killed your father and kidnapped me. Seems like they did the job for him,” said Delia as she rolled her now ice blue eyes.

“Victoria will be home soon and we have a party to plan and I think this is enough for one sitting. We can talk more later.  I won’t lie to you Valerie.  But you do need to know that as soon as the mushrooms for the cure are mature and ready to be picked, we are moving.  I expect it to be just about the time you graduate.  Please, don’t tell Victoria this yet. I don’t want to upset her more.”

“Moving?” asked Valeria at the same time she realized why without asking, “I understand mom,” and then she threw her arms around her mother and hugged her.

“We are going to be all right Val,” whispered Delia as she was warmed by her daughters embrace. 

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