Born or Made

Chapter 8: Home at Last

When Capry’s home came into view, she groaned loudly, glancing at the clock on the dashboard. It was a little past seven in the morning. She was disappointed to see that her father's car was parked in the driveway. She assumed he was there to take her brother to school, which was strange.

“Would you like me to stop?” Athanatos asked.

“I don’t know why he’s here,” Capry said, the frustration in her voice evident. “Go ahead and go around the block, please.” Athanatos did as she asked.

“Who is it?” he asked curiously.

“My dad,” Capry said begrudgingly. “But he isn’t much of a father. He’s never been there for me. He’s kind of the last person I want to see right now.”

Athanatos sighed as he watched the sorrow leak into Capry’s face.

“Once they had my brother, Eric, it was like I didn’t even exist anymore,” Capry said, wiping at her eye. “He made it clear that adopting me was a mistake. Because I was different, and they didn’t understand why I was having so many problems in social settings.”

“It is a hard thing to process when they expect you to be human,” Athanatos said, trying to soothe her.

“I got kicked out of daycare for biting,” Capry continued. “They put me in counseling and made me take medication. But nothing helped. There wasn’t a reason that the doctors could pinpoint why I was the way I was. They’d had me since I was a baby. So no trauma. Mike just decided I was crazy and wrote me off.”

Athanatos remained silent as she vented. Capry finished off her blood bag and placed it carefully in the cup holder.

“Our infants and toddlers do bite,” Athanatos said after a few minutes. “It’s actually how our kind makes friends.”

“See? That’s all I was trying to do!” Capry exclaimed, exasperated. She giggled a little. “Imagine my confusion when it had the opposite effect.”

“I can,” Athanatos agreed. He pulled onto Capry’s street again, stopping a few houses away. Capry sighed and stared at her home, clearly dreading the idea of walking inside.

“I guess I better just face the music,” she said. She looked as though she were carrying a significant weight on her shoulders.

“I can wait if you’d like,” he offered. “It isn’t your fault that I took you,” he added, feeling a bit guilty for complicating an already difficult situation. “But since you want to tell your mother what’s occurred I can help explain this predicament if you need me to.”

Capry didn’t know how her parents would react if she came home after missing for two days with a strange rather large tattooed man. Or how they were going to take the news that she had been a vampire the whole time. She felt like the villain in a Scooby-Doo cartoon.

“You can wait,” she said. “If you would like to go and give me some time that’s fine too. But you should probably stay close in case I need to make a quick exit.”

Athanatos nodded. He didn’t know what kind of man her father was, but he was hoping he knew how to keep his temper. “I’ll be right around the corner,” Athanatos said. “Just reach out and I’ll come.”

Capry nodded and hopped out of the car. He watched her walk down the street until she reached her home, before pulling around the corner to park.

Capry paused at the edge of her yard. The front door was open. She was surprised that she could hear her parents talking in the living room. Capry slowly approached the bushes that surrounded the porch and sat down behind them, as to not be seen. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on their voices, jumping slightly as they became amplified.

“I think you should consider it,” she heard Mike say. He was already in a mood. She could tell by the condescending tone he was using while he addressed her mother. Capry used to hate how he would talk to Kathy when he still lived with them. He would treat her like she was an i***t .

“If she’s even still alive, Mike!” Kathy snapped. “What part of she still hasn’t come home do you not understand?!”

“I’m sure she’s fine. She just ran away because she assaulted somebody. She’s probably staying with a friend or something.” Mike said dismissively.

“What friend? I’ve called the Wilsons and they haven’t seen or heard from her. They’re it! You would know that if you tried to have a relationship with her. Brent wasn’t too happy to hear from me either. He hung up on me.” Kathy said.

“I would have too after what she did. You need to relax. She just doesn’t want to face the consequences of her actions. You should be relieved. She’s been a massive burden on you. She's completely changed who you are,” Mike said accusingly. “This school is your opportunity to start over.”

“She isn’t a burden, Michael!” Kathy yelled, outraged. “And that’s rich coming from you. I did the best I could with none of your help! The moment she wasn’t perfect, you checked out. We don’t all decide to leave when things get hard! We made a commitment to her the moment we brought her home. I won’t give up on her like you did!”

“I wasn’t happy anymore,” Mike said unsympathetically. Capry scoffed at his selfishness.

“Yeah, well we can’t all go move in with our secretaries! I guess maybe I’m the only one who knows what a true commitment really is,” Kathy snapped. “The Lord knows things got better around here once you stopped coming back.”

Capry’s eyes widened. She had known that Mike had moved in with another woman. This was the first time she’d heard that it was his secretary. She felt anger begin to boil inside of her. She had always thought he had left because he didn’t want to deal with her anymore.

“Please don’t fight,” she heard her little brother say. He sounded so upset it broke her heart.

“Honey, go back into your room,” Kathy’s voice sounded like she might be crying.

“We’re not fighting,” Mike said gruffly. “We’re just trying to figure out what we’re going to do about Capry.”

“I want Capry to come home,” Eric said sadly. “Where is she?”

Capry had heard enough. She stood and walked around the bushes, bracing herself for the hail storm she knew was coming.

“I’m right here, Eric,” she said as she entered her home. Mike rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“Capry!” Kathy cried, jumping up from the couch. She knocked her coffee over as she hurried to pull Capry into her arms. She didn’t seem to care or notice. Eric ran across the living room and wrapped his arms around his mother and sister. He was still in his pajamas. Mike watched judgmental from across the room, a sour expression marring his face.

“You know your mother already reported you missing to the police, right?” Mike snapped. “Must be nice to take off with no regard to other people.”

“Yep , must be nice,” Capry thought.

Both Kathy and Capry ignored him. Capry was crying as she held onto her mother.

“What’s wrong baby?” Kathy asked, pulling away to get a better look at her daughter. When she saw her face she burst into tears. “Oh my God, Capry! What happened?” she asked. She grasped her daughter’s face in her hands and examined her bruises, scrapes, and fat lip.

“You get involved with the wrong boy?” Mike asked sarcastically.

Capry swallowed hard and bit back the obscenities she was about to start spewing.

“I need to talk to you,” Capry said, pointedly only addressing her mother. “After he leaves.”

“You’re mother called me here because she couldn’t find you,” Mike said puffing out his chest, implying he definitely wouldn’t be hanging around otherwise.

“Well, I’m home now,” Capry snapped. “So you can go.”

“You’re not getting off that easy,” Mike scoffed. He grabbed a folder from the ottoman and threw it down on the coffee table in front of Capry with a soft slap. It was some official looking paperwork from the Academy. Capry didn’t know whether she should let on that she already knew or just ride it out until Mike left.

“Okay?” Capry asked. “What?”

“You’ve been referred to a correctional facility because of that little stunt you pulled a couple days ago. It’s a boarding school. And your mother and I think you should go,” he replied smugly.

Capry rolled her eyes. Of course he would jump on the opportunity to ship her off.

“I'm sure you do,” she murmured, calmly unfazed. Mike seemed a little put off by her reaction. She knew he was expecting outrage and defiance, but Capry refused to give him either one.

“We were discussing it,” Kathy snapped at Mike. “Capry, please tell me what’s going on. Who did this to you?”

Capry could feel Mike’s hard gaze beating down on her. But as he examined her appearance his facial expression seemed to soften up a bit. He went from angry to neutral.

“I really don’t feel comfortable talking about it in front of him,” Capry said, averting her eyes to the ground. She was certain it was better if he didn’t know.

“Did someone assault you?” Kathy asked seriously. The way she said the word implied she was horrified Capry may have violated. She thought of the holes in her ribcage. In a very roundabout way, having a strange creature insert its weird tendril like appendages into her body cavity probably counted as a violation.

“Should I call the police?” Mike asked, shuffling uncomfortably. He seemed a little reluctant to come down off his high horse, but knew there was a time and place for everything. “If you need medical attention we should call someone.”

“No,” Capry said quickly. “I’m fine.” The police couldn’t do a thing about her situation anyway. She wasn’t even convinced the Elders could.

Her parents knew she wasn’t alright. She hadn’t just waltzed into the house like she’d taken a vacation. She looked like she hadn’t slept and her eyes were slightly swollen. She was covered in scrapes and bruises so obviously she hadn’t snuck out to party.

“What happened after I dropped you off?” Kathy continued to push. “I came home from your father’s and you were just gone. You scared me to death, Capry. I took off work today to go look for you.”

“I’m sorry,” Capry said quietly, but she didn’t volunteer anymore information. She sighed and sat down on the couch, feeling her tired body relax for the first time in what felt like days. Her sore muscles cried out in thanks.

Mike sighed. “I have to get to work, Kathy,” he murmured. “I guess call me if you need anything else.” Capry inwardly rolled her eyes at his empty offer. He hugged Eric and then turned to address Capry. “We’ll talk more about the school soon. Take care of yourself.”

He then cleared his throat and exited the house. Capry had learned not to retort when he said anything to her. No matter how strongly she felt or how idiotic he was. Whether she ended up enrolled at the Academy or not, it wasn’t his decision to make. Even if he was her legal absent guardian. Nothing he ever said or did mattered. Once he was gone, he was gone.

After a few minutes Kathy put cartoons on for Eric and then walked into the kitchen. She made a phone call to let the authorities know she had found her daughter and then she came and cleaned up her coffee.

Capry felt like drifting off to sleep but knew she had to inform Athanatos what was going on. The hard conversation hadn’t even happened yet. Kathy came and sat down next to Capry and set down two mugs of fresh coffee. Capry fought the urge to yawn and sat up to accept the mug.

“You need to talk to me,” Kathy said, meeting her daughter’s eyes evenly. “If you don’t, I can’t help you.”

Capry took a sip of her coffee and then inhaled deeply, trying to calm her nerves. She glanced over at Eric to make sure he was immersed in his cartoons before she began.

“I’m not bad, mom,” she began hesitantly. “I know some of the things I’ve done don’t make sense to you. They didn’t make sense to me either. Until a couple days ago.”

“What happened to you, Capry?” her mom asked again. She noticed her mother’s eyes were trailing over her face and Capry realized she was studying the strange markings on her skin. Her eyes trailed to Capry’s hands that were wrapped around her warm mug. She reached out and ran her fingers over the markings that trailed up Capry’s fingers. They were slightly raised, adding texture to her skin. It didn’t make sense to Kathy. Her daughter seemed different. She looked different. It was still Capry but there was something almost supernatural about her appearance that scared her.

“I’m…” Capry trailed off unable to just spit out the truth. She pressed her lips together and sighed heavily.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” Kathy said soothingly.

“I’m transitioning,” Capry said. She felt stupid blurting something like that out. “I think that’s what they call it. I’m not like you and Eric. I think you’ve known that for a long time. I’m something else.”

“I don’t understand,” Kathy said confused. “Is this about your s****l orientation?”

“I- What?” Capry blinked several times.

“If this is about what happened with Seph, honey. I know you’re… into girls-" Kathy began.

“No, mom. That’s not what this is about. The reason I’ve had such a difficult time throughout my life, is because I technically wasn’t ever supposed to be here. The other night, after I bit Seph, I got really sick. Someone came to help me. And to… stop me from hurting anyone else I love,” Capry explained.

Kathy had gone very still. Capry could tell her mother thought she was crazy. Or quite possibly just had no idea where this was going. As Capry struggled to find the right words to explain her predicament, she began to doubt her decision to tell the truth. It did sound crazy. How could it not?

“I’m not human, mom,” Capry said, her exasperation evident. “I’m something else.”

“What do you mean, Capry?” her mother asked slowly. “Of course you’re human. Don’t be ridiculous. What else could you be?” Kathy’s voice had risen several octaves. Capry knew she was frightened. And it was probably because deep down, her mother knew Capry wouldn’t lie to her.

Capry parted her lips, exposing her teeth. Kathy looked on, wide eyed, as Capry pressed her tongue against the back of her canine to lengthen it. Her fang extended at least two inches out of her gum. It slid out smoothly, the tip looking incredibly sharp.

“What on Earth?” her mother cried, gaping at her.

“It’s ok, mom,” Capry said holding out her hands. Kathy noticed she had more of the strange markings on her palms as well. “Please don’t be scared of me. I would never hurt you.”

“Capry why would you say something like that? You would never hurt anyone!” she said.

“But I did,” Capry said quietly. “I didn’t mean to. But I did. The day I bit Seph, I accidentally triggered a transition to occur. And now I’m changing into something I don’t understand. And I don’t want to. But it’s happening.” Capry reached for the paperwork from Vhladèvara. “This place is a school for people like me. That’s where I was the last couple of days. I wasn’t sure how to tell you. But honesty is the best policy.”

Kathy was stunned into silence. She shook her head several times as she tried to piece everything together.

“You said someone came for you,” Kathy mused. “Did they do this to you?”

“No,” Capry said quickly. “Athanatos didn’t do this to me. There was an accident while I was at the Academy. I did something I didn’t mean to do and got hurt.” Capry tried to keep it vague. She wasn’t sure her mother could process anymore new information.

“What are those? Fangs?” Kathy asked motioning to Capry’s mouth. She had taken Capry to all her dental appointments her entire life. She knew those hadn’t always been there.

“Unfortunately,” Capry nodded. “I haven’t had much time to process it either,” she went on. “Everything’s happening so fast. I ran away from the Academy last night to come home. I probably don’t have much time before they expect me back.”

“Who is Athanatos?” Kathy asked.

“He’s my Guardian,” Capry said. “When vampires start turning into-" Capry trailed off. Her mother had suddenly gone very pale when she had finally said it. Vampire.

“I’m your guardian,” her mother stated emphatically, blinking in disbelief. “Is this Athanatos person your biological parent? What do you mean by guardian?”

“It’s a different kind of Guardian. But in a way I guess he is like a parent. It’s his job to teach me what I need to know about what I am. And to make sure I get through the transition safely. Every fledgling vampire gets one, I think. Maybe they’re more like guidance counselors? I don’t really know how everything works,” Capry said, chewing her lip.

“A great job he’s doing keeping you safe!” Kathy scoffed. “Look at your face! How old is this man?”

Capry froze at that question. Her mother looked angry and she had a feeling she knew where this was going. She wasn’t sure she should answer questions about Athanatos without him being present.

“I can do things,” Capry began, avoiding her mother’s gaze. “But I don’t know how to control it, yet. Most of the things I’ve done have been by accident. That’s why they want me to enroll. So I can learn to use my abilities safely. I messed up my face when I transported home,” Capry lied. It wasn’t an entirely false statement. She knew if she told her mother about her run-in with an ancient vampire demon she would probably never let her out of the house again. Or even worse, have her committed to a mental institution.

“Abilities?” her mother asked raising her eyebrows. “Capry, this all sounds so…”

“Far fetched?”

Kathy’s eyes widened, her mouth agape. She had been looking directly at Capry. Her lips hadn’t moved, yet Kathy heard her as though she had spoken. The words echoed in her mind before fading away. Capry pressed her lips together apologetically.

“I’m not lying,” Capry resumed, speaking aloud. “But that’s just one example.”

Capry reached out and took her mother’s quivering hands in her own. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to convey her feelings by touch like the other vampires did, but she was going to try. She focused on soothing her mother. She wanted her to feel the love she had for her. Capry watched as the hairs on Kathy’s arms stood up. Her mother felt calm waves wash over her, like a warm hug.

“Like I said,” Capry continued. “I know how it sounds. They had trouble convincing me too. I told them vampires weren’t real. But from what I gather, at least one of my biological parents was like me. Which is why I’m like this.”

“It’s genetic?” Kathy asked.

“Yes,” Capry nodded. “There’s other ways it can happen to someone but most of us are born this way, I guess.”

“There’s a whole school filled with vampires?” Kathy murmured hesitantly.

“Yes,” Capry confirmed.

“And Athanatos is a vampire?” she asked slowly.

“Everyone at the Academy is,” Capry said. She wasn’t sure if she should go into the different realms and how all of it actually worked. She didn’t know if it was necessary for her mother to have all that information. This seemed to be going far better than she had initially thought it would, but Capry wanted to tread lightly. Kathy could still snap at any moment.

“Why did you run away?” Kathy asked. “Do you not want to be there?”

“I was scared,” Capry said. “And I just wanted to come home. I knew you'd be worried and I wanted you to know I was alright. Athanatos is in town right now. He wanted to arrange a meeting to discuss my options,” Capry breeched the topic cautiously. “I don’t know what’s best for me,” she added. “I had told them this is a decision I would have to make with you.”

“What did you mean when you said you transported here?” Kathy asked. Capry had thrown a lot of information at her all at once. She was trying not to miss anything. Kathy had noticed that Capry had avoided some of her questions. She didn’t feel like she was getting the whole story.

“That’s one of my abilities,” Capry began. “It’s like jumping from one place to another. I don’t know if I’d be able to do it again. I did it by accident the first time,” she said pointing at the scrape on her chin. “I ended up with a mouth full of grass.”

“So Athanatos isn’t just some old guy preying on young girls? It’s not like a cult or something is it?” Kathy asked.

“The Academy is ran by a woman,” Capry said. “And there’s male and female students. More than I could count. I’ve met some of the other kids already. Some of them seem really nice. Athanatos has been really helpful so far. He’s a veteran,” she said, for lack of a better word.

“He served in the army?” Kathy asked.

“An army. Not ours,” Capry shrugged. “It sounds like vampires have their own conflict.”

“I kind of wish you were just going to tell me you’re a lesbian,” Kathy sounded tired. “This is a lot to digest. It doesn’t feel real.”

“Mom…” Capry began. “I don’t know what I am. At all. And I’m not even sure I’m gay. I mean, I don’t think so. I’ve never even dated a boy before. Just please help me get through this. Don’t leave me like Mike did,” she pleaded quietly. “You’re all that I have.”

“I would never leave you,” Kathy said, squeezing Capry’s hands. “I’m your mother. I love you."