Chapter Text
Astrid had left abruptly upon Daniel’s arrival. She thinks I shouldn’t do this, but generally I was just trying to help this poor kid write something good for his thesis. What better way than to talk about the hero of the universe, my sister, Malachi. I know, I know how it sounds. But maybe just maybe if I talked about her more she’d come back. After all, deities have this thing— when you call them enough times, they come around to answer a prayer or something. I don’t know if it works for others, why wouldn’t it work for me?
I could smell the fear on Daniel. He knows he walked in on a pivotal moment, he could sense the tension between Astrid and I before she left. It’s a thing elves can do, really. I’d watch from the kitchen, making him a cup of coffee as he was nervously setting his things up. The elf kept shifting in his seat, I made my way over and placed the cup on the coffee table, sliding it over towards him.
“I hope you like Liberica,” I stated. “That’s all we have, because that’s all Salem likes. Unless you prefer type O.”
“Oh, no, ma’am,” Daniel shook his head. "Coffee's fine.”
“Good. No need to call me ma’am here. Jinx is fine.”
“O-Okay, Jinx then. Thank you for doing this by the way.”
My shoulders rolled into a simple shrug, giving away a lopsided smile. He was nervous, intimidated even. I’d tell him that wasn’t how a journalist should act but he already seemed like he’d fall apart at the seams. I’d rather he be in one piece by the end of this.
“N-No, really,” continued Daniel. “It’d be an honor to tell the last living daywalker’s story.”
That last statement made me arch a brow. Well considering that daywalkers were de-extinct because I suddenly became one unintentionally. I guess that’s what happens when you take a sip of the goddess of the sun’s blood— or politically correct term being ichor. Not so sure on the lore on that, some say it could be poisonous to vampires or grants us certain abilities depending on the deity. But honestly I’m just glad it’s the latter.
“Daniel, how old do you think I am?”
“I hate to assume but I suppose you’re at least a century and a half?”
A loud laugh leaves my lips as I shake my head. Daniel definitely still has a lot to learn, perhaps I made myself too much of a standard. Then again, everyone in my family learned and mastered a lot of things exceptionally young— except for proper communication that is.
“Ayos ka ah,” I knew he’d understand that, it’s a special ability elves have that translates language to something they understand. “I’m only thirty four and I’ve only been a vampire for roughly eleven years. I’d start that recorder by now.”
“Right,” He staggers to hit record on his laptop. “Wait, so a daywalker bit you?”
“Hindi,” I shook my head.
“Then how?”
I finally decided to take a seat, leaning back comfortably. See, that was the hard part to explain. Because honestly I couldn’t either, how do you even begin to explain that you drank your sister’s blood and suddenly you’re this rare kind of vampire?
“Look, the simple version of it is that I drank ichor in what was a ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t situation.’ If the blood wasn’t going to kill me then Michael’s dummies would. But by some miracle, I got lucky and it ended up giving me a gift. It made me stronger, and at the same time I got to see the sun again. But of course, I ended up surviving.”
“Who’s the deity?”
“My sister.”
“Maude?”
“No.”
“The dead one.”
That stung. It wasn’t right to hear it, he was scribbling something down. I could not make out what it was but something about it piqued my curiosity. I did not want to read his mind, it’s too early for that. There was the choice to correct his statement but not now— maybe later.
“She has a name.” I remarked.
“How is it that two of your sisters are the goddesses then another is an ancient Norse snake while you’re a vampire?”
“Kasi hindi naman kami lahat mythical noong una,” it almost came out annoyed. “We were all born human. Our family was as fucked up as it could be. Si Ate Astrid may anger issues, si Ate Maude pinainom ng dugo ng demonyo non baby pa siya, at si Ate Lucky. . .” I paused at the thought. “She wasn’t as lucky as her name.”
He takes note of the drop in my expression. Admittedly, I was the luckiest among my sisters in the grand scheme of things. Astrid had that whole thing with the vampire when she was a kid, Maude could not feel pain and has a whole issue about understanding a lot of feelings, Malachi's was self explanatory. She was the family shotgun, where our parents pointed her, she shoots and she can't even disagree with it. I was the one who was spoiled rotten, she could have hated me but she was the one who loved me the most.
“So why?” That was the question. “Why'd you all leave humanity behind?”
“It wasn't a choice,” I replied. “Well, Maude had a choice. She only became a goddess during Michael's reign. The rest of us, we just had to live with it.”
“Eleven years, you mentioned. What's the story of your vampire origin? You did mention before you were a monster hunter, your family's made of monster hunters. So how could someone as skilled as you get bit by a vampire?”
“Because I trust my sisters too much.”