THE SAINT
725 Words
“Close your eyes, Symla.” Old Hermosora whispered, and she obliged. She inhaled and lay comfortably. She closed her eyes afterward and waited. She stiffened when Old Hermosora’s cold, rough hand was placed on her forehead. Symla tried to calm herself.
“Try to feel your body so I can feel it too. My hand will automatically feel what you feel,” Old Hermosora whispered. Her voice turned cold and drifting, like the old woman was too far away.
Symla swallowed hard and focused. She felt her body. She took a deep breath until everything went blank. She suddenly stopped breathing. Time and air seemed to freeze. Everything became silent… until she suddenly heard a loud heartbeat.
She was so shocked and scared. She immediately removed the old woman’s hand from her forehead. Then she realized where the heartbeat came from: it came from her own heart. She was a vampire, and her heart had stopped beating the moment she was transformed. She couldn’t believe that after so many years, her heart had started beating again.
Symla looked at Old Hermosora. The old woman was sitting quietly, staring at her intently. Then she held Symla’s wrist. Symla was too shocked to even react when the woman started touching her navel.
Her heart beat again. Symla was surprised and overwhelmed. The old woman felt the same. Both of them were gasping for air. A hundred years had passed, and she felt… again, she still had a heart. Both of them just stared at each other, shocked. The old woman was in awe until she finally started asking questions.
“Do you drink plenty of blood?” she asked.
Symla thought for a moment and shook her head. She didn’t have much of an appetite. She could only drink a half glass of blood, though she did crave human blood. The blood of animals was not appealing to her.
Old Hermosora sighed. “You feel tired, aren’t you?”
Symla nodded. She knew her strength wasn’t normal compared to humans, but she could still admit that she was weak compared to other vampires.
The old woman stared at Symla intently again, then finally called her parents. The old woman and her parents spoke privately. Symla sighed, worried about what they had discovered. She didn’t dare ask them. The seriousness of the conversation was clear from their expressions.
She swallowed as everyone turned to look at her at once. After a few minutes, they all walked toward her. Mayilda sat beside Symla and looked at her keenly. “Let me smell you,” she whispered.
Symla closed her eyes and let her mother sniff her scent. Again, her pulses reacted. Mayilda was shocked and pushed her slightly. Symla felt cold all over. Seeing her mother’s stunned face frightened her.
“I am right,” Old Hermosora whispered and walked toward her father, who was watching Symla intently. “Don’t be scared, Symla. You have a beautiful power. You are our answered prayers…”
Symla stood and held the old woman’s hand, worried. She felt as though she was transforming into a human. Are they going to drink all my blood? she thought. “Tell me. W-what did you discover?”
Old Hermosora smiled and gently touched her hair. She smiled at her parents before answering. “We need to protect you. You are the only vampire who can continue our kin. We cannot transform other humans into vampires because we cannot hunt humans, right? It’s too dangerous for us to hunt them. Wolves are out there. We are outnumbered.”
“Right. But what did you find, then?” she insisted.
“You can bear a vampire child, Symla. I felt it in your veins. You have the capacity, and we need to protect you. Wolves must not find out about this. You are slowly changing. You smell differently. It took a while before your body changed. You may be noticing it because you kept thinking about other abilities. You have all the signs, Symla. You are the Black Saint. You are the salvation we have been waiting for…”
Symla’s jaw dropped. The old woman said so many things, but she was too shocked to react. There was only one thought her mind kept playing over and over: she was a vampire… who could give birth.
- Writer
