Chapter 7 - Dreams
After yesterday’s incident, I dumped both of thieves corpses in the Seine. I’m sure their bodies will be found eventually, but there’s no evidence of me being the killer, so I’m not too worried about that. But I had a pretty hard time explaining everything that happened yesterday to Jean, and he got mad at me for my reckless behavior. We then had a long conversation about me, my blessing, and my bloodlust. Apparently, when I get bloodthirsty I cease to be myself, so Jean will be providing me with a small amount of blood every month, to prevent history from repeating itself. We also spoke about the fake blessing I wanted, to help me convince people that I do indeed have a blessing. And he came up with the ‘heightened senses’ blessing for me, since vampires naturally have better hearing, smell and vision than humans.
This should help me fit in and live a normal life, I’m also really glad that I don’t have to kill people anymore, I may not feel any sorrow killing people while I’m in ‘bloodthirsty mode’, but still, knowing what I did makes me feel really bad, even if the people I killed were thieves.
Speaking of thieves, I wonder why Damian didn’t use his blessing yesterday, or maybe he was but I didn’t realize it? Aaargh whatever, I’d rather not think about yesterday too much, because starting today, I am a normal 16 year old student again. No more killing, no more hiding my blessing, and also no more fear of people finding out what I really am!
I’m currently in the school library, researching the Battle of Blood and Blessings. Listening to Mr. Sebastien yesterday made me curious, was that just his version of the story or is that how everyone views that war?
Unfortunately, it’s the latter. Every book I found regarding that topic all came to the same conclusion, “vampires are ruthless murderers, and poor humanity had to put an end to them,” and even though I wasn’t there during that time, I have a hard time believing it. Because look at me, except for when I’m in bloodthirsty mode, I don’t get any violent urges, so what made those vampires so different?
So I also did research on other countries’ pasts, but I found nothing vampire-related. However, I did find countless of information on wars started by humans, against humans. Just who really is the demon here?
I’ll just leave all this behind me for now though, because what I yearn to know the most right now is what caused my memories from before I lived as Benedict’s lab rat in his lair for three long to just disappear, or were they erased? The possibilities are endless, but I won’t give up, because this is something much too important for me to overlook.
I want my memories back, I want to know who my parents are, and maybe other loved ones I forgot about. Regaining my memories might even give me more information about vampires and the Battle of Blood and Blessings.
“Blanche!”
I snap out of my deep thought and return to reality, where I’m sitting next to Léa, reading a book I recommended her.
“Y-yes?”
“Stop ignoring me you airhead! I asked you to recommend me another book, I really liked this one,” she says, waving the book she just finished reading around.
“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night.” I spent all night talking to Jean after all.
“Jeez, sleep is important you know.” She says, while pouting.
“That face is a lot cuter when you do it, hahaha,” I say, referring to Pierre’s disturbing face he makes when he pouts
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Her face suddenly turns red and she bonks the book she was still waving around in her hand on my head. “Ouch! What was that for?” I moan, as I caress my head.
“Hmph,” she scorns, turning her head away from me, like a child not getting what it wants.
An awkward silence commences, “I had something important to do last night, that’s why I didn’t get much sleep,” I say, putting an end to the awkward silence.
“What could possibly be more important than sleep?” Léa answers, reengaging in the conversation.
‘Well, I needed to drink someone’s blood so I went to the city and did just that, killing 2 thieves in the process,’ is what I’d like to say. But, “Well, I had to attend a party with Jean to celebrate the launch of his new book,” Is what I end up saying.
Léa’s awkward posture suddenly turns more into a more engaging one, “Oh that sounds fun! Did you meet any other famous authors there?” She asks, leaning forward out of curiosity.
Overwhelmed by her enthusiasm, I resort to lying so I don’t disappoint her, “Y-yea, kind of! I didn’t really get the chance to talk to any of them since they all came for Jean, but yea I’ve met them, hehehe.” I answer, now being the awkward one in the conversation.
Her expression saddens, “It must be nice being a member of the Lenoir family,” she says, almost regrettably.
I don’t know if this is appropriate of me to ask, but here goes nothing, “You’re from the Valentine family, right? What does your family do?” I ask Léa hesitantly.
“Huh, you don’t know the Valentine family?” Her mouth slightly dropped, as if she’s never met anyone that doesn’t know the Valentine family before.
“Ah, no. Sorry I’m not that well-informed.” I spent three years living disconnected from the world and one year helping Jean with his book, of course I don’t know your family!
“Don’t apologize, it actually kinda makes me happy meeting somebody who befriended me despite not knowing my background.” She answers, as her saddened expression turns to a sweet smile.
“I come from a family of journalists and my father is the head of the journalism institution, everything you see in the newspaper or hear on the radio are pretty much all decided by my family, we decide the fate of every business’ and politician’s reputation in France.” Léa explains.
So basically, her father is in charge of all the new articles in France? That must mean every important person in this country sucks up to her father, so he can make sure they have a positive reputation.
I can already imagine all the parents telling their children to suck up to Léa, so the reputation of their family’s next generation won’t be put at risk.
“Being a journalist sounds pretty cool though, they seem to have a lot of power in society,” I say.
“That’s until you learn the truth about it. Journalism, it’s all lies. Whenever a family or business goes through a crisis or a scandal, they reach out to us, and hand us a large amount of money, telling us to cover it up,” Léa says.
“I don’t want to grow up to be a liar. I want to become a detective, so I can expose every bit of injustice these rich families keep getting away with!” She adds, while she’s fidgeting with the corners of the paper from the book she hit me with earlier.
Léa must have her own personal problem as well, I guess. “Then do it, become a detective!” I say, trying to motivate Léa to chase her dream, just like I'm chasing mine.
“Fuck yeah I will!” She says, relieving her frustration.
“Oh by the way, you mentioned you want to become an author during your introduction, right?” She adds.
A writer, huh. I know I said that during my introduction because I felt it was appropriate as a member of the Lenoir family, but becoming a writer actually sounds kind of nice. It’s a nice profession to have for someone trying to live a normal life. “Yeah, I did,” I say confidently, with a smile on my face.
“Are you already writing anything?” She asks.
“No, for now I’m just helping Jean with his book, learning along the way,” I tell her.
“Well, when you do decide to write something, I want to be the first person to read it, okay?” Léa says, returning the motivation to me, adding another dream on my list; to become an author!
“Deal!”
“Now, are you finally going to recommend me another book?” Léa asks, as she rests her chin on her palm, and uses her other hand to tap her finger on the table, symbolizing a clock ticking.
A book I can recommend her? I know just the one! “You should try reading ‘Henosis’, It’s one of Jean’s earlier books. It’s a story about a weak protagonist who has to overcome various hurdles to stronger, in order to achieve his dream of becoming one of the king's royal knights. This is the book that motivated me to chase my dreams, I think you’ll love it!” I explain.
Looking back at it, this book is what started it all for me, killing Benedict to finally earn freedom, moving in with Jean, becoming a student in the Royal Academy of Paris, making my first couple of friends, and hopefully much more to come.
“That sounds like a really nice book, I’ll let you know what I think of it after I finish reading it,” Léa says.
Today, I feel like I learned to understand both myself and Léa a little bit better.