A dampir's heart

mother's death

Shontel took a smoke of her cigarette as she looked at her mother from her short dark brown hair that was starting to gray to the dark brown eyes, her thinness and the frailness about her, the heavy lids and the bags under her eyes to the wrinkles on her face and neck.
         “How are you mother?” she asked gazing at her mother with the least emotion
         “You’re out” her mother stated
         “Well isn’t that a bit obvious mother, you use to be so much sharper than this or do you not even recognize me” Shontel once bristling gold eyes now looked at her mother lifeless and pale
         “I knew you would be out” she said nodding and suddenly stared sharp at her daughter, “you’re not here for your cousin are you? Leave him be daughter, his living a life he chose for himself, you will only be a disturbance and your obsess…” Shontel held up her hand quieting her mother
         “Frank is of no business to me, I must say though I am quite curious about what he made of his life, do tell, has he married?”
         “No, he never did, he…”
         “I didn’t ask for the details, now I was wondering how you are, from the way you look I’d say you’re very sick” as she said her mother nodded
         “I have chest pains, the doctor think it very unusual, they do not know what is wrong with, the yrs are finally caching up to”
         “You are not old, 54 is young,” she said
         “When life has been hard to you, the yrs seem a long time “ she said sadly
         “I am sorry”
         “You don’t sound sorry, yet again, you sound like nothing of the little girl I knew,” she whispered
         “Life has its bad and goods, what’s bad to you is what is good to me, I love who I have become, I love the life I lead,” she said through lower lids
         “I must say I am happy for you though I am not happy for who you have become, smoking and drinking, wearing cloth that reveal you so…”
         “Whateva, I wear whatever I feel like wearing, smoking is just a habit I started at 10…” she raised an eyebrow to see her mother’s reaction
         “ 10? That school…”
         “ The school didn‘t know, and since I left here I haven’t been sick either, not even a cough, drinking is for excitement” she said again awaiting her mother‘s reaction, her red bleached hair coming to her face, her lips bright red, blush to her cheek, her cloths as red as her lips with dark red boots and naturally very long nail painted red.
         “ All that red…” her mother breathed
         “ I love red, it happens to be my favorite color.” She said as light shined in her eyes
         “ Why’s that dress got to be so short? It’s cold out, winter you know…”
         “ I know”
         “ And you don’t want to act like you can’t feel the cold others are feeling, it ain’t normal”
         “ I ain’t normal you mean” she said cocking her head to look at her mother
         “ Never was and never will be” nodding her head, Miss Donovan coughed her hand to her mouth, coughed a nasty cough took a deep breath and coughed again, Shontel brought her a drink as Miss Donovan pushed it away, “ don’t, it’s just my time baby, can’t nothing cure me now”, she said as her She paled and coughed more, she spat blood which disgusted Shontel, but made her curious nerveless as the scent itched her nose, she felt a strong need for… for what? She didn’t know, her vision turned into a blur of red as her scent was filled with blood, more and more …
         “ Shontel”, her mother snapped ducking her hands as if hiding it, but as she did so she coughed more blood, she strained to talk, “ I been waiting for this, wanting to tell you about you and your father, but when I get the perfect chance I have no time” she said coughing more blood, Shontel looked away, she tried to breath but breathing became so hard, her breath was shallow, Shontel came to her aid worried but her mother pushed her away, she held her chest as every breath she took seemed so painful and every word she said felt like a stab in the chest, “ I-I don’t think I can though” she stifling a smile, “ about yourself, who and what you are, you may be worth a lot to a lot of people who walk at night and sleep at day like your father and his people, but to me you are just my baby” she said holding Shontel’s hands, which was now smeared with blood, “never was normal and you never will be, you may walk the earth at night and day, live a long life but it will be full of danger and those that you love…” she strained as her grip started falling from  Shontel, “those that you love may suffer, be a-ware daughter” she said as her eye lids closed and she held her cheat in pain as she struggled for one small breath, “ you are in grave danger for it is time, you have a responsibility” she said at last as that was the last breath of word she could manage, the breath knocked out of her, she wriggled shaking, Shontel came to her, held her tight as she rocked her crying and screaming
         “ Mama? Mamma please get up, don’t you die on me, don’t you dare die on me” she screamed with terror as bloody tears came to her eyes then suddenly her mother stopped, no shaking, frantic Shontel looked for a pulse, she was not breathing, she was no longer alive, Shontel screamed in horror, she screamed more and more as her face trickled blood, never taking notice at how unusual that was, crying blood she rocked her mother in her arms
Later, after Shontel had called the paramedics to take away her mother, she’d sat in her room to think other what her mother had said and found no meaning to it what so ever, she got up to look at herself in the mirror, her pale brown skin suddenly looked dead to her, her eyes were bloodshot, she stared at her teeth, realizing earlier how the blood had affected her and how she’d felt her canines growing, she snorted
         “ Am going crazy, suddenly I think am a vampire, that’s rich, they don’t even exist, good God am pitiful” she said shaking her head, she looked away from the mirror and went out for a walk.