My Surprise Vampire

Rebecca Yaman

Dylan’s Point of View

“Where’s our friend!?” Two belligerent guys were yelling at the top of their lungs in the middle of the market. They were so tall compared to the Indonesian men that they looked like they were standing on something. I wondered to myself if enough time had passed that the animals that he was fed to had s**t him out yet, because that’s exactly what he was. Dewi hid behind Rowan, her little body trembling with fear.

“What’s going on, your friend is missing?” Bastien acted concerned, he was the only one of us that could feign worry for any of them. Were they as terrible as their friend, I had no idea, but you know what they say, birds of a feather.

“Yes, he went for a walk last night and he never came back” one of them said.

“Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that. What does he look like? I’m staying not to far from here, I’ll look for him on my way back.” They described him and Bastien promised to help them look for him, he asked them where they were staying and even went as far to tell them he would come by the hostel later and check if they had found him.

“Damn, he’s good, even I believe him” Rowan said under his breath.

Rebecca lowered herself to Dewi’s level and whispered to her, “Bastien knows their friend is a bad man, he doesn’t really care if he’s okay. He’s just trying to get them to go away.” Dewi smiled at her, I think she liked being in on the secret and Rebecca gained a little more of her trust. “Wow, what’s that over there? That looks delicious” Rebecca pointed to the stall that made coconut ice cream right in front of you and served it in a young, green coconut.

“It’s ice cream! Sometimes they give me the leftovers at the end of the day” Dewi said happily. Bastien, being the ever-attentive husband that he is to Rebecca heard the whole conversation and of course, got Dewi one of her very own.

“I’m sorry they scared you Dewi, I got the biggest one they had, just for you” Bastien stood far enough away from her, as to not make her uncomfortable. “They have so many toppings, I didn’t know which ones to pick but they said you could pick your own.”

Dewi looked up at Bastien in disbelief and then at Rebecca, “thank you sir, I never got special toppings before.”

“The toppings look like the best part! But how about you call me Bastien” he smiled and handed her the coconut full of ice cream.

“Will you call me Rebecca?” Rebecca smiled at her, Dewi nodded her head yes and quickly hugged her around the neck before she took the coconut from Bastien.

She headed over to the stall, she stopped and turned around, “Ms. Dylan, can Jones have a little? It’s nice to share with friends, that’s what nenek says.” Nenek means grandmother in Indonesian, and in Dewi’s case that was Eka. Her great grandma, at least.

“That’s very nice of you, I guess he can have a little bit” I didn’t have the heart to tell her no. “I know I tell you every day, but you don’t have to call me Ms. Dylan. I like Dylan much better.” She smiled as she carefully used the spoon Bastien gave her to give Jones his first taste of coconut ice cream. His eyes got big and wide “mmmmmmmmm mmm mm” he babbled as he wiggle kicked in his carrier.

“He likes it!” Dewi’s face erupted into a huge grin.

“I guess so!” Rowan laughed as he looked down at Jones trying to process the cold and the flavor at the same time.

“Do you want some Ms., I mean Rebecca?” Dewi held out a spoonful to her.

“No thank you sweetheart, that’s very nice of you. Maybe next time” Rebecca smiled.

“Okay Rebecca! Bye!” Dewi grinned and ran off to get her toppings.

“Isn’t she so sweet? It makes what happened to her that much worse” I said as we continued through the market.

“She’s very sweet, she’s also a shifter” Bastien casually mentioned, like it was no big thing.

“WHAT!?!” I yelled, not meaning to.

“I knew she was special” Rebecca added.

“You did?! Did you know?” I turned to Rowan.

“NO! Are you kidding? You don’t think that’s something I would’ve mentioned?” He looked as shocked as I was.

“What exactly is a shifter? I think I know what it is, but I need someone to explain this to me” I looked at all of them.

“A shifter is a person that can shift into other forms, sometimes it’s just one thing, like werewolves only shift into wolves. Other shifters can shift into whatever they want. Like the Faye’s, only that is something they learned to do and not all of them can. Shifters are specifically given that gift.” Bastien explained quietly.

“I don’t think she’s shifted yet; I can’t be sure because I’m only going on knowledge not my powers, obviously” Rebecca added.

“I think you’re right, which is problematic, to say the least” Bastien’s face was pinched with concern.

“Why is that problematic?” Rowan asked before I had a chance.

“Because she’s very young, shifters usually don’t start shifting until they’re much older than Dewi is. Unfortunately, because of what happened to her, that will probably cause her to shift before she’s ready” Rebecca looked very sad.

“Am I missing something? I feel like I’m missing something” I started to panic for Dewi, going by the expressions of the two of them.

Bastien ran his fingers through his hair, “because she’s so young she won’t know how to control it and she could shift anytime, anywhere.”

“Oh s**t” Rowan sighed. I didn’t say anything because my jaw was on the ground.

“Yeah” Bastien agreed, “anytime she gets excited, surprised, upset, she could shift.”

“So, basically what you’re saying is anytime that little girl has an emotion, because of what that fucker did to her, she could shift right here in the market, in front of everyone?” I asked, finally able to form a thought.

“That’s exactly what we’re saying” Rebecca said sadly.

“We have to try and get a hold of Danny and Boom, Eka is very fond of them, maybe they can talk to her about this” Rowan suggested. “I have no problem with doing it myself, I just think she trusts them more.”

“It’s supposed to be a surprise but considering the circumstances I think it’s okay to tell you that they are coming here after Boom’s show. They should be here by the morning at the latest” Bastien told us.

“Oh, thank god” I exhaled.

“Why don’t we go home where we can talk about this in a more secure setting” Rebecca looked around at the busy market. Rowan and I sent each other the same telepathic message at the same time.

“Good idea” he winked at me.

On our way back home we took our planned detour, I don’t know if Rowan and I had the same reasoning to bring them to the waterfall that we loved so much but I wanted to bring them there because one, I knew Rebecca was so excited when we left to see the market and I didn’t want her to go home and worry about Dewi like I knew she would and I was hopeful that maybe the witchdoctor or whoever he was would happen upon them like he did me, not that I think he always hung out there because we hadn’t seen him on our many trips in the time that we’d been back. But I figured it was worth a shot, I did know that we both knew that Jones would fall asleep before we got there which would give us a reason to give them some alone time. I also knew as in touch with nature as Rebecca is, there was no way she’d want to leave with us once she saw the most breathtaking sight I’d ever seen, other than Jones and his daddy.

“Where are we?” Rebecca asked when we pulled off the dirt road.

“This is our most favorite spot; you have to see it to believe it” I replied.

“It’ll be easier if you carry her” Rowan smiled. It would be very hard, if not impossible for a someone without powers to get there. We swung through the trees until we got to the small clearing. Rowan crouched down and made his way under the thick branches first, Jones still fast asleep in his carrier. I was next followed by Bastien and Rebecca, their faces when they saw the waterfall, especially Rebecca’s was priceless.

Rebecca’s eyes started to tear up, “it’s so beautiful, it literally brings tears to my eyes.” They slowly looked around, taking everything in. The waterfall was so tall that it looked like it came down from the sky, surrounded by the greenest trees and the most colorful, exotic flowers I’d ever seen. The tree canopy was so dense that the sun shone down like a spotlight over the waterfall and the lagoon it flowed into.

“I don’t… I don’t know what to say” Bastien was taken aback, as old as he was, with all that he’d seen was still rendered speechless by the unimaginable beauty of it all.

“The baby is knocked out; do you want me to try and wake him up?” Rowan asked, knowing that we had no intention of staying.

“No,” I played along. “He had a rough night and an exciting morning; he needs his nap. Do you guys’ mind if we go back home? You’ll be able to find your way back, won’t you?”

“I’m sure we will and if we can’t, I’ll send you a message” Bastien smiled, realizing that we set them up. Rebecca was already walking towards the waterfall.

Bastien’s Point of View

I fully understood that they planned this all along and I loved them for it, but I don’t think even they could have believed what happened next.

I rushed to Rebecca, stopping her from stepping out of the dress she was wearing, “hang on a minute dear, we’ve got company.”

“Wha…” Rebecca stopped talking when she saw him emerge from behind the waterfall.

“I’m glad you felt me, I wouldn’t have wanted to start out on the wrong foot” the witchdoctor said as he came closer, “I hadn’t planned on doing this here, today but your daughter was hopeful that I would show up here for you. She didn’t think I really would, but if I were you, I would want this to happen here” he smiled sheepishly, “I’m usually not so dramatic.”

“You’re not really a witchdoctor, are you?” Rebecca pointedly asked him, he certainly looked the part, with his loincloth and unusual jewelry.

“I can be whatever you want me to be.”

“Please, do whatever you want with me, just please leave me family in peace” she bravely offered herself as a sacrifice. She turned to me, “please tell Dylan this isn’t her fault, she’ll never forgive herself for bringing me here” Rebecca started to cry as she thought of how devasted Dylan would be, that was Rebecca in a nutshell for you, always putting other people’s feelings ahead of her, even when she thought she was about to die, again. Tears stung my eyes, imagining that she pleaded for mine and Rowan’s lives before Joanna killed her, she was absolutely the most selfless, loving, bravest person I’d ever met.

I held her in my arms, “My love, do you think I’d stand idly by and watch someone hurt you? I don’t know what he wants but I can feel his energy, he means you no harm.”

“I didn’t mean to frighten you, Bastien is right, I have no intention of harming you. Quite the opposite, but what you just did is the exact reason I’m here. And to answer your question Bastien, no, the herbs I gifted to Dylan cannot be found. Anymore that is, long ago they could be but as you are well aware there are some in the supernatural community that get power hungry and cannot be trusted with such power because with such power comes great responsibility. They can only be gifted by beings like myself and only when it’s for the betterment. I could not give them with the intention of making someone do my bidding.”

“Who are you?” Rebecca looked at him, trying to figure who or what he was.

“Some people would swear on a stack of bibles that I’m an angel others would tell you I was the devil himself. Both are fair statements. I have turned toeing the line, as they say, into an art form. I don’t want anything from you except for you to stay true to who you are, there is no catch, no price to pay. I am simply here to finish righting a wrong you and the ones you love suffered long ago. No more, no less.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Do you know what is going on?” She looked desperately at me, still fearing the worst. I shook my head no, I didn’t want to tell her what I thought he was here to do, out of fear that I was wrong.

“Rebecca Yaman, the strongest and most powerful of the Yaman bloodline” he said a soft tone, “I’m here to give you your powers back.”