Under the Pale Moon

I had turned eighteen today and had spent most of the daylight hours with my grandmother and grandfather. They had taken me in when I was very young after my parents had vanished into the unknown. Their bodies were never found and had been assumed dead, though my grandparents would often say that those two were harder to kill than a cockroach.My family is a little strange, but I love them even so.After birthday celebrations with my family, my friends and I had decided to go to one of the local clubs to enjoy the first night of officially being an adult - being the youngest in the group, we had elected to hold off on any club-going until I was able to legally drink and with growing up in the United

The morning sunshine came through the small gaps in my curtains, easily stirring me awake. The memories of last night felt like little more than a foggy haze for the first few moments as I looked at the clock to see what the time was: the dial read eight-thirty. Still fairly early for a day where I did not need to do anything. Then slowly I remembered meeting Rakesh.My grandparents would be up by now, so I slowly got out of bed, showered and dressed without much fanfare. Of course, I wanted answers, but part of me felt utterly anxious about bringing up the subject. Slowly, I made my way into the kitchen where they were having a cup of coffee. They were a wonderful couple, being in their seventies but still spry enough to take care of themselves.“Look what the cat dragged in honey,” came the fond taunting of my grandmother as she spotted me

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, that is how thick it was. Rakesh sat on the sofa next to me while my grandparents stood across from us. It had taken some begging on Rakesh's part to convince my grandfather to let him into the house to talk things over. Of course, my wanting to know the truth helped smooth things over as well.“It was supposed to be a quick trip,” Rakesh was trying to explain in that slightly off northern English accent he had. “Things just got more complicated than I expected. I tried to break them free, but I can't do so on my own.”“So they're alive still?” I asked him, shooting a glance at my grandparents. They glanced back at

I wondered where the end of the journey would be. Rakesh had only told me not to pack too much or else I would be tied down and that should I need anything, he would buy it for me. I wondered how he had the money for something like that but he just assured me that it was of little concern."Are we going to be walking all night?" I complained, I was exhausted and tired. I wasn't used to being out all night. I wasn't an early bird, but neither was I a night owl.Rakesh seemed to mull this over before he looked at me. "I prefer to travel by night, it is quieter," he said with a tilt of his head."And not because you'll turn to dust?" I asked harshly. I didn't mean to come across that way, but I was tired and cranky."I won't turn to dust, though I might burn harshly," Rakesh replied with a small smile to me. His skin was fairly pale, I noticed. I wondered if he had a skin condition. I knew there was one that some people had which caused them

After a little more sleep, I was up and dressed just in time for room service to bring breakfast. A full English breakfast which I wolfed down hungrily. I left the tray just outside of the door and then lazed about on the bed for a while longer, looking over my grandfather's notebook for lack of anything better to do. I could have put the tv on, but I knew there wouldn't be anything of interest on there.I glanced over at Rakesh who was sleeping peacefully, then to the closed curtains. I was half tempted to see what would happen if I opened them, even for a little bit. Then out of curiosity, I flipped the page to the notes on vampires. Some of it felt like it had come out of a movie or book but other bits were a surprise to me. For example, it was a lie that vampires couldn't be near garlic and that this was a lie told by them to prove they were not vampires. This apparently came about due to the odd vampire who, in their human lives, was allergic to garlic and not becaus