Sanctuary's Fiend

I was lying on the couch in my living room.

I tried to sit up, but my mom’s hand stopped me. “Shh, lie down, don’t you worry.”

“You’re the one worrying. Really, I’m fine.” And I was. I felt better now than I had all week. The hunger was gone. I didn’t know why, but once I’d stopped crying and my face stopped hurting, I felt great!

It was annoying that I had no one to ask why, or what that meant, but I guessed I still had a lot to figure out.

For now, I was twiddling my thumbs while grown ups did grown up things in the other room.

Mr. Anderton appeared by the front door, and was about to say something to me, probably another apology, when my dad rushed him out the door.

He shut the door harder than necessary, and muttered to himself as he came in to check on me.

“Dad, you know I’m all right. Why are you mad at him?”

“’Because I have to be. Of course a normal human isn’t going to hurt a Draugr, but I can’t just pretend everything’s okay. I have to react as if you were a human. And let’s not forget that you haven’t discovered any abilities yet. Apart from being hungry.”

I hadn’t told them about my experiments in the bunker and what I thought I could do.

He slumped into a chair.

“’Yeah, but you’re not pretending to be mad.”

“I just thought… no, nothing. How are you feeling, honey?”

My mum leaned in and whispered, “He thought he’d made a new friend.”

I threw my hands up in exasperation. “This doesn’t change anything! Accidents happen. He thought we were a gang of thugs who were going to attack him! Would you have rather a stranger did it?”

“Yes!” I think that for the first time I could remember, my dad was sulking. “Then they could have mysteriously ended up dead.”

‘Tom!’ my mom shouted. “Don’t talk like that.”

My dad hesitated for a second, but then shook his head. “Sorry. I’m just upset at seeing my little girl hurt, when I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”

“What were you going to do?” my mom asked. “Be with her for every second of her life?”

He ran his hand through his hair. “We could borrow a werewolf cage. Ground her till she’s… I don’t know, what’s a good age?”

“You’re not doing that,” I said. His face fell.

Until my mum joined in. “Forty two.”

“Ooh. Good age. Yes. I’ll give Lucas a call, I’m sure he’s got some spare cages.”

“Guys. No.”

“Never say never,” my dad said.

“We’ll put a pin in it, sweetie. Come back to the idea when you feel better.” Mom patted my hand.

I rolled my eyes - the most activity they would let me get away with right now.

“It’s a good thing part of your abilities have begun,” my dad said. “He could have really hurt you.”

“About that,”’ I began. “I’ve tried some stuff. To see what I could do.”

My parents both leaned back in their chairs, faces schooled to neutral.

“And?” my mom asked.

“Well, I can see in the dark. And I’m fast. Really fast. I’m not really sure about anything else yet.” They didn’t say anything, so I continued. “But I can’t control it. I’ve got some theories about what triggers it.”

“That’s about normal,” Mom said. “Most supernaturals struggle with controlling their abilities when they first start. Some find them completely overpowering and irresistible from the second they manifest. Others don’t show any abilities until much later. But you seem to have what most of us have. Intermittent bursts of power, punctuated by cravings.”

“Your mother’s right. Succubi usually have a very explosive awakening.”

“Not now, Tom.”

“Sorry,” my dad said, suitably scolded.

“How did it work for you guys?” I asked.

They both puffed their cheeks up and did a long sigh.

“Well,” Mom started, “if you believe my friends, then I was a late starter at the ripe old age of thirteen–”

“Fourteen,” my dad butted in.

“Was it fourteen? Okay, I was fourteen. I’d just met a lovely young boy called–”

“Bullet point it for me Mom.”

“Good idea,” my dad agreed. “She does love to go on about that guy.”

My mum gave him a wink. “It came over me out of nowhere. I didn’t know what was happening. Your grandma had warned me about it, so I was prepared for it mentally. But there’s a big difference between thinking you’re ready for something, and actually being ready. Luckily, my brain had disengaged, and I was running on some stupid instinct. My abilities started working right there, in a public place. I lured the boy away. I remember now that I didn’t know how I was doing it, I just was. But someone felt my power, and managed to stop me.”

My dad polished his fingernails on his shirt. “Your hero, always.”

They shared a smile that made me wish for Rick.

“And then a long series of almost mistakes, and narrowly avoided mishaps ensued. My abilities took years until I could control them reliably. And during that time, my need to feed as a succubus was a constant threat.”

“That sounds sooo perfectly calculated to make me feel like we all go through the same thing so I can totally relate,” I muttered. Perhaps I was too cynical?

She shrugged. “The specifics vary wildly, I’m sure - but yeah, the general feelings are the same. So far, you’ve had a pretty human childhood. Well, you’re about to see a lot more of the supernatural side of life. Most of us are pretty normal, but there will be small things that humans just don’t have to deal with. For you, obviously it’s needing to drink blood. For others, it might be that they turn into rampaging beasts once a month, or start to miss a life they don’t remember having.”

“Umm, life they don’t remember? What?”

“’Ghosts, darling.”

I had to ask. “How do ghosts have children anyway?”

“The same way the rest of us do. But I think your mother’s story makes my experience pretty obvious,” my dad said. “I wasn’t any more experienced than your mother, but luckily for both of us, I managed to sense her power, and know that she was about to make a mistake. The important thing is that we helped each other through it. We had support. Thanks to that, we never hurt anyone.”

I clenched my eyes shut. My hopeless crush on Rick was the closest thing I had to what my parents had, with the small caveat that Rick was the one who first triggered my hunger. He was the one I almost hurt. “Except I don’t have anyone of my kind to tell me what to expect.”

“That’s true,” my mom agreed. “But we heard back from Mrs. Raich, and she said she’d come here as soon as she could.”

“Who?”

“The woman we know from a long time ago that knows the most about Draugr of anyone we’ve ever met. We already told you about her.”

“But she isn’t one?” I asked, just to make sure.

“No. She’s actually a human.”

I sat up in shock. My mum pushed me straight back down. “You’re bringing a hunter here?!”

“No, no. Not all humans who know we exist are trying to kill us. They’re a rare breed though… Most just think we’re all mindless monsters trying to eradicate all humans.”

This was completely new information. “Why don’t we just… tell more of them about us?”

My dad nodded at my curiosity. “Have you heard of a large city called Centralia in Pennsylvania?”

I shook my head.

“That’s why. Thankfully that experiment happened before the internet. Needless to say, that city is now a few ramshackle buildings that survived it.”

This was a lot to think about. So some humans could know about us. Some humans being Rick, and us being me. If I could just control myself, then maybe…

That did it. I’d have to push myself. If it was stress that triggered my instincts, then I’d have to get stressed. It would need something a bit more than just my poor grades this week.

I just needed to think of how to really let myself go without putting anyone else in harm’s way.