Chapter 9 - A Secret coffin

Nico silently left to his room after that. he did not even bother to ask. He knew he will only get radio silence for his questions...

Laying on his cold bed, he peered up at his ceiling. The paint was peeling off and hanging by a small bit. ‘that’s my life right now. It’s hanging by a thread. So many lies and so many hidden truths. I don’t know..... dad doesn’t have to complicate things. He can just tell me the truth. I can handle it... I can...’

But his father only treated him as a baby boy.

It was so unfair.

He silently hummed a song waiting for nighttime to arrive. By then his stomach started to growl. He tottered over to the small mini-fridge in his room and drank some goat blood his father got from the local butcher. It was tasted grassy and kind of different. He was not used to the taste.

Grimacing, he placed the bottle in the fridge.

‘Pancakes. I saw pancake mixture down.’ He decided to give up on blood and chose human food for dinner.

As he walked down his nose was assaulted by the delicious scent of fried chicken. He ran to the kitchen to only see an empty room.

His dad was nowhere. Only a plate of fried chicken covered in cling wrap was on the dining table. Besides that, there was a note saying ‘eat well. Will be back’

He picked up the note and placed it to the side.

He wolfed down the chicken in just a matter of minutes. His growling stomach finally calmed down.

‘Hmmm... now I have a lot of energy. What to do.. should I go check out the garden area?’

The garden area was just layers and layers of frozen ice. Thinking of that, he gave up on that deed.

Instead, he chose to explore the house a bit more. This castle was built in the 19th century. The walls were comely made up of rocks rather than bricks.

He curiously touched the walls as Walked around.

Suddenly, he saw the basement door.

He had never explored this part of the house. He curiously walked close.

The door that was usually locked was left open.

Nico frowned a bit. He silently walked down the stairs. The temperature dropped below minus. He was just in his nightclothes.

‘Fuck why is it so cold down here? Didn’t the thermostat work here?!’ he rubbed the Goosebumps off his skin and he walked further in.

It was dark and cold and dingy with a subtle scent of blood in here.

There was also a small sound coming from inside.

He held his breath and slowly walked closer to that disturbance. To his surprise, he saw his father standing there fiddling with what looked like a coffin.

The stench of blood was overwhelming down here.

‘Coffin... blood... is he feeding someone! Who?’

The vampire elders usually go through a small phase called the ‘doze phase.’ they fall into an internal sleep. Their bodies shriveled up but they won’t die. They will just be sleeping until someone feeds them blood and wakes them up.

‘Who is it? Is this the reason why he wanted to come to live here? To wake this person up? but why keep it a secret...’

“All done.” His dad said, tossing the empty blood bag down.

Nico stepped forward to take a glance inside the coffin, but his shoe rubbed, against the ice creating a small screeching sound.

His father’s head snapped his way.

He silently hid behind the rock formation holding his breath.

“Shifting ice... they really create such creepy sounds...,” he mumbled and closed the coffin up.

When he got the chance Nico ran out of there and up to his room as swiftly as he could. He did not know why he did that. Subconsciously he feared who that person might be.

Only vampire elders or elder blood follow a ‘Doze phase’. There are only seven elders in existence.

"What is there was an eighth.. What if... it was someone I used to know?,’

He took out the photo he secretly stashed inside his drawer. ‘What if it’s mum?’

There were so many hints his dad threw about. First was the class schedule. He said someone close to them chose it. Next, he said coming to this place was his mother’s last wish.

He gently caressed her smiling face.

Everyone said she was a human, and that she died in childbirth. But what if that was not the case? What if she was turned after he was born?

‘But dad has no reason to hide her from the committee though...’

‘Is it became she was a human? Was the committee against their change?’

His little mind looped up a story of its own. He was still speculating. He did not know the truth.

Yet still... the possibility of his mother being alive.. Made him excited.