New Beginning

"Oh, honey, I'm still not sure what's gotten into you."

"What?" I looked at my mom in confusion, not understanding what she meant. I had noticed her looking at me since I walked into the kitchen that morning. She hadn't even touched her breakfast. "What do you mean?"

"You seem a lot happier than I've ever seen you. At first, I was very happy to see you like this, but now I’m worried. You’re not still thinking of running away, right? Not after all that's happened?"

"Mom, relax. I'm not planning on running away." This felt like the third time I was telling her this today. She must have assumed my good spirits were because I had found a way to get away. Sure, I would have to leave, but only because there were things I needed to find out for myself. I needed to locate my dad; he was the only one who held the answers to all my questions.

'You are not as human as you think.'

I still didn’t understand what he had meant. For all I knew, my mom was 100% human. I had assumed Dad was too. But then he had left early in my life, and there might have been things I hadn’t noticed. Silas had promised to help me find him. Even if I were to leave, I wouldn’t be going alone. Silas would be by my side, always.

"There is no need for me to run."

"I’m glad you think that, baby." Mom beamed at me, her eyes twinkling in delight. "We should all go on a vacation. I know I haven't been around much, but this would be an opportunity to spend more time together. What do you think?"

"Sure, that sounds good to me."

"Alright. Hurry up and finish your breakfast, don't make Silas wait up for you." I nodded and went back to eating. Mom said she had something to do, so she went back upstairs to her room.

Bill came downstairs not long after. "Good morning, Kerina," he greeted cheerfully as he took a seat opposite me. I smiled at him, doing my best not to cringe at the use of my full name.

Apart from the discomfort I felt about him calling me that, there was no sign of anger. The old me would always get so worked up whenever Bill called me Kerina. That was because only my dad had ever called me that, and I had refused to acknowledge the fact that Bill would replace my dad. I was an emotional mess back then. But now, I had made peace with everything. Bill was amazing, and I appreciated him for everything he did for Mom and me.

"Morning."

"How do you feel?"

"Fine." I looked down at my plate once more. "Mom sent you to talk to me, right? I already told her I’m not planning to run away."

"She’s just worried." Bill didn’t even try to deny that it was indeed the reason he was here. He was just too soft for that woman; no wonder he didn’t forget her despite having his memories wiped. "You’re graduating high school in two weeks. You've always said that school was the only thing keeping you here."

"Gosh, it’s not like people don’t change. Even if I wanted to leave, I wouldn’t be doing it alone."

"You mean..."

"Yes, Silas agreed to come with me. I don’t want to go to college in Elthon; I’ve been living in this town all my life. I want to see the world, live life, or something like that. But I assure you, I am not running away. There’s a huge difference between wanting to experience new things and going AWOL altogether."

"It’s quite alright," Bill said. He gave me a complicated look. I could see that he wanted to say something—maybe he really didn’t believe me. I almost wanted to tell him to read my mind to prove that I wasn’t lying. But then, the fear of him knowing more than he should stopped me from making that proposal. Even though I did want to attend college elsewhere, and I didn’t plan on never coming back to Elthon, the main reason I wanted to move was to find my dad, to know who he was and why he had left all those years ago. If I wasn’t as human as I had believed, then Dad would know something about it.

Approaching footsteps broke the silence. I looked up to see Silas entering the kitchen. He was already dressed and had his keys. "Good morning, Dad, and Kerry, wow, you look gorgeous today," Silas said with a grin as he walked toward me.

I opened my mouth to give a snarky response, maybe say something like, "Don’t I always?" But my words froze in my throat as Silas loomed over me and then kissed me passionately without a second thought. My entire body froze in shock as I felt his lips moving against mine. When he pulled away minutes later, there was a satisfied smirk on his lips. He didn’t look at all like a brother who had kissed his sister in front of their parent! What the hell was this guy thinking?!

I looked over at Bill in horror, expecting to see shock and disgust on his face. But I was surprised to see that he wasn’t even looking at us; he was scrolling through something on his phone. I was stupid enough to think he hadn’t seen us. He wasn’t blind, and I was sure even blind vampires could sense things like this.

He must have sensed my gaze on him. Bill raised his eyes and looked at me. He sighed and glared at Silas. "Don’t make her uncomfortable, Silas."

"I only kissed my girlfriend good morning. How is that making her uncomfortable?"

"Wait... I... this is not... oh God!"

"Calm down, sweetheart," Bill said, giving me a soft smile. "I already know."

"Y... You do? Since when?!"

"Since the first day I married your mother. Silas is bad at keeping his feelings hidden."

"And you don’t have a problem with this?"

"No. I love you both, and I only want you to be happy. It would be unfair of me to keep you two apart for my own convenience."

"Besides, he owes me." Silas chipped in. "I was the one who introduced him to your mom. He wouldn’t have fallen in love and gotten married to her without me."

"Wait, what?!"

"I sorta knew you would never give me the light of day. So, I asked my dad to befriend my mom, hoping we could become friends. But dad here fell in love, so here we are."

"God, this is so unbelievable!" Why was Silas telling me this now?! Was it his plan all along? He was willing to go as far as getting both of our parents acquainted just so he could talk to me? I didn’t know whether this was love or simply obsession. Or maybe it was a mix of both.

"Let’s get going, babe. You’re going to be late for school." Silas reached out to pull me out of my seat.

"I know the both of you are dating now," Bill said before we could make our way out of the kitchen, "but it would be wise to practice safety while indulging in sexual intercourse..."

"Oh my goodness!" I exclaimed, bringing both of my hands to cover my ears. I ran out of the room. I could hear Silas laughing hard as he walked after me. I got into his car and crossed my arms. "I can’t believe that just happened."

"Don’t worry about it. I won’t get you pregnant, not unless you want me to," Silas said, whispering the last part in a hoarse voice that sent warmth through my body.

I cleared my throat and didn’t dare look directly at him. "Let’s just focus on getting me to school."

"And then?"

"Then you come pick me up when school is over."

"And then?"

"Silas, what else is there?"

"It’s been too long since I tasted you."

"We had sex just last night," I said, feeling my entire face heat up at the recollection of last night. In fact, I barely got enough sleep because of that. The only reason Silas hadn’t done me until morning was because our parents had come home.

"We should do it again, maybe a quickie before we get you to school."

"Silas!"

"Alright." He laughed. "School it is."