Just Starting Out
1.24 - The Truth
As Cassandra and Kayla prepared to go to bed that night, Cassandra kept bubbling on excitedly about how cool she thought her mom was now, about how she totally understand why she had to keep her status as a Blue Jay a secret…
“It must have been so hard for her not to tell Alexander and I! She had to spend all that time being such a firm mother, then at night, she went out on missions, then had to come back home with a believable story about why she was so tired the next day! It all makes so much sense now, Kayla, I can’t even begin go explain how excited this all makes me, I-“
“Cassandra,” Kayla said firmly, cutting her off.
“Huh? What is it, Kayla?”
“To start, I just want to say that I’m really excited that you’re excited, but… when you think about it, don’t pieces of her story just not add up?”
“What do you mean?” Cassandra laughed nervously. “I’m sure being a Blue Jay comes with a lot of responsibilities she has to take care of, and any weird behavior can totally be attributed to that!”
“Cassandra, no. Come on! You’re the woman who took on a job as a secretary to the president just because you knew something right wasn’t going on there, you have got to open your eyes.”
“Okay,” Cassandra said, sitting down on the bed next to Kayla. “Open my eyes, then.”
Kayla could sense the clear hostility in Cassandra’s voice, but she had to speak up now. She was already in too deep.
“Well…” Kayla said quietly. “To start, Bella’s explanation would explain her disappearances, but they don’t even begin to offer an explanation for where Mortimer has been, or even where is he right now.”
“No, I- I can’t accept that. My father has always preferred to keep his business life private- he’ll leave on trips to towns halfway across the world without telling a soul. I’m… I’m sure it’s just that!”
“Okay, well, then how about that letter we found? Bella sure was quick to throw it in the fire, wasn’t she? And what was her excuse for the contents? It was a mission she’d forgotten, because she’d been on so many. That seems awfully convenient. And I can’t say I know Bella as well as you do, but to me? She doesn’t seem like the type to easily forget something.”
Cassandra closed her eyes, and the two fell into silence for a good minute. When she finally did speak again, it was in a quiet voice. “Alright. I’m listening. Talk to me about what you’ve discovered.
Kayla took a deep breath. “This is going to be hard to believe, so bear with me.”
Cassandra nodded.
“When I met up with my friend, Melody- who’s also Bella and Mortimer’s therapist, by the way- she came up with one clear answer that checked all the boxes. Your parents… they’re vampires.”
Cassandra burst into laughter. She laughed so hard that she started to cry. “Kayla, come on. You can’t be serious. Vampires? What kind of sick joke is this?”
“Just- just look at the evidence Cassandra. All you have to do is think about both Bella and Mortimer’s weird behavior- the stuff you personally took note of and took the time to email to John- and compare it to the behavior of a stereotypical vampire. It becomes all too clear that all those myths and legends about vampires are based on very real behavior.”
Cassandra got up and stormed over to her window. “That’s just not realistic, Kayla. If vampires were real, more people would be aware! They wouldn’t be relegated to the stuff of legends. Similarities aside, you cannot deny that.”
Kayla got up, and walked over to her. “Cassandra, please, you have to at least consider the possibility!”
Cassandra shook her head. “I’m trying and it’s not clicking. My parents? Vampires? Come on.”
Kayla sighed, but out of the corner of her eye, she got a glimpse of something moving around in the Goth’s back garden through the window.
“Hey, isn’t that…” she muttered. She climbed up on the bed to get a better look.
“What? Vampires?” Cassandra snorted.
“No, it’s John and Malcolm… believe me, we’ll get right back to that because I need you to understand me, but this is… weird.”
Cassandra looked where Kayla was looking, and the two looked as John and Malcolm pushed their way through the bushes, and wandered into the backyard.
“There’s absolutely no reason for them to be here. This is bizarre,” Cassandra muttered. But she joined Kayla on the bed.
They watched as John and Malcolm’s eyes moved upwards, and they started to have a conversation with someone standing on the balcony overlooking the back patio.
“Who are they talking to?” Kayla asked. “Bella?”
“I guess it has to be… if dad came home, I would’ve heard the front door. That thing is obnoxiously loud when it closes. But mom… it’d be weird for her to talk to someone from a balcony. No matter the situation, she always prefers face to face communication.”
Before their eyes, they watched as the strangest, palest looking man they’d ever witnessed seemingly materialized in front of John and Malcolm, and started to cast some sort of spell on the two of them. Yet, somehow, he seemed strained- pained by what he was doing. At a certain point, John and Malcolm collapsed, and the strange man turned into a bat and soared up into the night sky.
Kayla immediately turned to Cassandra. “That man was definitely a vampire. There’s no denying that.”
“He… he may have been… a vampire?”
They were startled by bright light suddenly spilling onto the back patio as someone opened the door in the kitchen that led out into it. And into that light, stepped a shadow that was unmistakably Bella. And nothing about that shadow’s body language portrayed any sort of shock about what had just happened. At that point… Cassandra had no choice but to accept what was happening. What her parents had become.
“Girls,” a male voice spoke up behind them, startling both Kayla and Cassandra.
They turned around, got off the bed, and were met with Mortimer. “What you just saw- it can be explained. I promi-“
His speech was cut short by Cassandra, who’d discreetly picked up a hefty book, and whacked him in the head with it. There was no doubt. He was out cold.
“Cassandra!” Kayla exclaimed.
“He deserves it,” Cassandra spat. “Him and mother both do. For lying to me for all this time. Mom even had the nerve to act like I’d figured out all of her secrets to convince me that there was nothing left!”
She turned to Kayla. “Thank you. Now, let’s go make sure your brother and Malcolm are okay. I won’t let mom- no, Bella lay a hand on them.”
Kayla nodded, and slowly followed Cassandra out of the room as she stormed downstairs.
“Bella!” She said loudly upon arriving downstairs.
“Cassandra,” Bella gasped. “You refer to me by mom or mother only, never my actual name. It’s a sign of respect! I thought you knew better.”
“Exactly,” Cassandra said coldly. “It’s a sign of respect. And after all of your lies, I’ve lost all respect for you.”
“Whatever do you mean, dear?”
“You and Mortimer are both vampires. He’s upstairs, by the way. In my room, and out cold.”
Bella didn’t say another word, and raced out of the room to check on Mortimer.
“You go get John and Malcolm, they’re probably in the kitchen,” Cassandra said. “I’m going to fetch Alexander, and tell him to pack his things. We’re leaving. I’m not spending another moment in the house, not when those two have told me so many lies.”
Cassandra didn’t wait for Kayla to argue, and headed upstairs. Guessing that she’d better do as she’d been asked, Kayla headed into the kitchen. Sure enough, there at the table sat John and Malcolm, both of them bleary eyed.
“Kayla?” John muttered.
“It’s me, John,” Kayla smiled.
“How… how did I get here?”
“You don’t know?”
“Neither of us do,” Malcolm said, seeming more put together than John. “Last thing I remember is John getting to my hotel room at some point when it was daylight.”
“Okay… so clearly, that strange man cast some sort of memory loss spell…” Kayla muttered.
“Spell?” Malcolm asked incredulously. “Are you sure you’re sane?”
“Yes, completely. There’s just a lot to be explained…”
They were interrupted by Bella suddenly reappearing in the room. She looked at the three of them blankly. “Where’s Cassandra?”
Kayla pointed up.
Bella nodded her thanks, and started to head out, but stopped herself before she did. “The three of you… don’t go anywhere. Once Mortimer is awake… I’m going to tell you all everything. It’s time.”
With that statement, she turned around and left, probably to tell Cassandra the same thing.
Kayla spent the next half hour trying her best to baby John and Malcolm, but it was clear that whatever that man had done to them had hit them hard. They were both hardly functioning. Soon enough, Bella had them all seated in the living room.
However, before sitting down, Cassandra and Alexander had placed two suitcases packed to the brim next to the front door. It was clear what the result would be if Bella and Mortimer failed to satisfy the both of them.
“I can’t believe you two are both vampires,” Alexander said, shaking his head. “You really just had to go and fulfill every stereotype about our family, huh?”
“No, that was not our intention…” Bella said quietly.
“Where’s Maia?” Cassandra asked loudly.
“She left to investigate a town called Strangerville,” Mortimer said firmly. “But she’s not relevant to this conversation, so I suggest we all stay on subject.”
“Look at that Cassandra!” Alexander exclaimed sarcastically. “Not every adult in our lives is a vampire!”
“Oh, shut up Alexander. I’ll leave you behind and let them bite you if you keep this up,” Cassandra muttered.
“Before we go any further, is there anything that can be done about John and Malcolm’s memories?” Kayla said, speaking up loudly. “They both have no idea what’s going on, no matter how plainly I try to say it for them…”
Bella sighed, and lazily waved a hand, which released a wave of energy that hit both John and Malcolm. “There. They should remember what I asked Vlad to take away- memories of any secrets I’d told, and any time in my house in the last 24 hours. Any other memories Vlad took of his own volition should return gradually seeing that he failed to complete the memory stealing process.”
Cassandra’s mouth dropped open. “You weren’t even planning on letting Kayla, Alexander, or I remember what you’d told us about your status as a Blue Jay, were you? You knew Aunt Maia was leaving again, so you thought it was okay to wipe our memories so you wouldn’t have to deal with us knowing about that aspect of your life? I can’t believe this!”
“I just didn’t want you to have to deal with the stress of worrying about me whenever I went on a mission, dear-“
“Oh, come on, we both know that’s bullshit. Enough with the lies, Bella!”
Bella flinched, clearly once again visibly wounded by Cassandra choosing to use her actual name.
“Um. If I could,” John said politely. “I remember now that Malcolm and I headed here because neither of you were responding to any messages or emails we sent you… is that because all of this was going on? I just want to understand a chain of events, I’m sorry.”
Kayla nodded. “Cassandra and I both investigated to try and figure out what was going on with Bella and Mortimer.”
John mouthed a thank you.
“Anyway,” Mortimer said. “Cassandra, Alexander, believe it or not, all your mother and I want to do is protect you. I’m sure that any decision she made was to do specifically that.”
“I don’t care about why she tried to do that,” Cassandra said, shaking her head. “That’s just yet another sign that she lacks faith in Alexander and I. What I want to know is how. How did you both become vampires?”
“I believe your mother can best answer that,” Mortimer said.
Bella took a deep breath. “Very well.”
“A few years ago, as I watched Cassandra enter employment under Mitch and Alexander enter high school, I realized that if anything happened to either of you, our family history, our control of Willow Creek- it would all be threatened. Because Mortimer and I aren’t here forever. And the mere idea of that uncertainty… it terrified me. So, I started to look into ways to attain eternal life.”
“After an extensive amount of research in the local libraries, our personal private library, and the records held by Mitch, I fell upon one suspicious place. A town known as Forgotten Hollow, which had long been ruled over by a series of men calling themselves Vladislaus Straud, each of them looking near identical. I knew then that the man known as Vladislaus Straud had found the secret to life eternal.”
“As I met with him in his parlor, Vlad introduced me to vampires. He offered to turn me, as long as I promised one thing. Loyalty to him and his specific vampire clan. Naturally, I did as he asked.”
“After the transition period of becoming a vampire, I trained to become a master vampire. I wasn’t content with being some lowly vampire under Vlad’s control. I had to be equal to him in power, or even have the ability to surpass him. So, I spent an extensive amount of time in Vlad’s library, reading up on everything about being a vampire. Then, once I felt I knew enough, I’d go out and challenge vampires in rival gains to surpass them in rank. Eventually, I even beat Vlad. He isn’t about to surrender his position as head of his vampire clan through, so instead, he promoted me to second in command. That was when I knew it was time to launch the second phase of my plan.”
“I went to Mortimer, and explained everything to him. He’d noticed my change in behavior, and regularly commented on it, but all I could tell him is that he’d know everything in due time. I didn’t want to bring anyone else in the family into this lifestyle until I was confident that I knew about every aspect, and was the best of the best. Mortimer had put up with a lot, and had even adopted carrying a black umbrella along with me whenever we went outdoors in daylight so I didn’t look as unusual as I would have if I'd been doing so alone.”
“Mortimer understood where I was coming from, of course. So, I sent Mortimer off to Forgotten Hollow, and he’s been transforming into a vampire and training with Vlad. That’s where he’s been as of late.”
Following that statement, Bella turned to Cassandra. “The next phase in my plan was to bring all this up to you and Alexander, Cassandra. Turn the two of you, so our perfect family of four can maintain our position in this town from now until forever. And… I still want that dream of mine to be a reality. What do you two say?”
Cassandra shook her head. “Mom. This is the sort of thing you should have told us from the start. Personally, I want nothing to do with eternal life. I know that’d get so lonely, especially with only our family there to stay. I’d be back to being the sad little girl who reads books alone outside the library because of a total lack of friends due to our family’s reputation. If we stayed looking the same forever, that reputation would get even worse. I don’t want that.”
Alexander nodded. “I still don’t have any friends because of this family. And plus? I know you guys would try to force me to dress all professionally again if I had to spend time with you forever. I know you both hate the way I style myself now, and miss the obedient little kid who did everything you asked. And I sure as hell don’t want to go back to that.”
“What are you both saying?” Bella asked, tears in her eyes.
“We don’t want this perfect little dream life you’ve laid out for us,” Cassandra said, shaking her head.
“Come now, don’t be ridiculous, Cassandra. We’ve raised you, and have always been at the place you called home. You can’t just leave.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Cassandra smiled, looking to Alexander.
“For sure. We’re not the same kids we once were.”
“You two are more than welcome to stay with us,” John offered.
“See?” Cassandra said. “We haven’t isolated ourselves by refusing to forge any meaningful friendships, like the two of you. Goodbye, mom, dad.”
The two of them then got off the couch, and headed over to the front door, where their suitcases were waiting. John, Kayla, and Malcolm hurried over to join them as Cassandra opened the front door. Everyone headed out, and Alexander gave the two of them a coy little smile and one last wave before shutting the door on Bella’s frantic pleading and Mortimer’s disapproving gaze.