Where's Amelia?

The sun was up, and we walked towards the village. I felt uncomfortable walking directly under the sun, so we took a path inside the forest where the sun wouldn’t hit us directly. Castiel explained how humans think vampires burn up in the sun and that is why they think we are creatures of the night. Truth was, our skin gets bothered, like a constant itch, our eyes will be sensitive, and we will be weaker in all aspects during the day, but the sun will not kill us. He promised to take me to see a witch and explained all about the gemstones and how vampires can have their full strength all day and night and how the itchiness and sun sensitivity will disappear completely. Vampirism sounded better each time… with a gemstone, of course.

Castiel taught me to control my speed before he put me center stage around humans. He held Amelia tightly and away from me. I can smell her blood and I feared I would hurt her. My emotions were running amuck and being near Amelia didn’t help. Castiel had mentioned that I would need to focus on one thing that matters most, and to focus on that emotion. I focused on my love for Amelia. So far, it’s been helping me to not lose control and tear her away from him.

We reached the village limits and people filled it, parading around on a beautiful Sunday morning. Now that we were away from the trees and the sun kissed my skin, the itch started up again. I tried to remain calm and not look crazy trying to stop the itching. As I had expected, all eyes were on me. I couldn’t help but feel a little paranoid when they watched my every move. Can they tell if I’m a vampire? Did I somehow become a beautiful creature like Castiel? When I had thought about Castiel, I wondered how he looked when he was human. Did he change too, or was he always this handsome?

“I would like to think that I was always handsome, but yes, vampires are naturally beautiful creatures. If you were beautiful as a human, then your beauty just becomes enhanced. If you were ugly, well, then you would be beautiful now. For you, Anastasia, vampirism just enhanced your beauty, and no, humans can’t tell the difference between a vampire and a human.” Castiel replied to my thoughts.

I had forgotten that he can read minds and suddenly I felt myself blush uncontrollably. It embarrassed me for forgetting his ability, but also extremely flattered that he considered me beautiful. I kept my eyes on him, imagining this new life with Castiel brought peace to my mind, like knowing that I can survive through this new process easily. I turned to look away from him and inspect the village square, trying to find the perfect first bite, but then in a blink of an eye, Castiel disappeared with Amelia.

My heart dropped. I panicked, looking for Amelia. I wanted to run, but I knew I hadn’t gained full control of my speed and would expose myself to everyone in the village. I walked to the center of the town square where there was a tall and beautiful water fountain. I stood upon the rims of the water basin, stretching up as high as I could go to see all around me. Then, for just a second, a split second, I had lifted away from the rim for about a few inches. I was floating straight up! I panicked and grabbed hold of the middle basin and forced myself back down. SPLASH! I fell straight into the water fountain, missing the bottom basin rim by inches! I am such a pathetic excuse for a vampire.

“No, you’re not. You still have a lot of things to learn.”

I look up, squinting my eyes to see clearly. There he was, Castiel, and he was still holding Amelia. I quickly got up from the fountain, ignoring all the chatters and stares from the townspeople, and made my way to her to check if she was all right.

“Don’t you ever take her away from me like that!” I tried to grab Amelia from Castiel’s clutches, but he simply turned his body to the side, positioning himself between us. “Castiel?” It shocked me he would do such a thing.

“You need to calm down; she is fine. I just had to run to get the rest of our family. I couldn’t leave her alone with you while you’re still a new vampire.” he said calmly.