The New Day-lighters....Introduction

The New Day-lighters

Introduction


We are a close knit family that now lives between the realms of darkness and light, sharing our experiences, and our lives, or should I say, our deaths, with each other. Although we are joined together by blood we are all individuals. I like poetry and the arts. My brother enjoys music and sports. My mother likes to delve into the realm of black magic. My father and his twin brother, well...they started it all. They are the bread winners of the family. It was their greed that cost us our lives. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love them both very dearly, but our lives would have been much different if they hadn't tried to steal from Bathella.

The rules of being a vampire took a great deal of getting used to. I found that out, the first time the rays of the sun hit my hand. I now wear a highly visable scar where the sun's rays shone through my window and almost seared the flesh off my bones. Not being able to enjoy the warmth of the sun on my skin was the worst part of being a vampire.

The change in hours we had to keep also caused us a problem for awhile. I kept wanting to sleep during the night, instead of during the day. Our new coffins were not nearly as comfortable as our old beds. It was hard getting used to being so confined in the coffin. I am not one to lie down in one position, I am a tosser and a turner. If not for the padding on the walls of my coffin all of my body parts would probably be discoloured and full of bumps and bruises.

For several centuries the daylight paused a threat to our existence, since then we have come to adapt well to the sunlight. Our children are even able to attend school with the day-lighters.

We've discovered a substance the daylighters use to protect themselves from the sun's damaging rays, it's called sunblock. The commercial brands most day-lighters used were of little use to us. However, we had to modify their formula to suit our own special needs.

At first our new formula worked well, but we soon found out it was not waterproof. This, I discovered during a torrential rain storm. The clouded sky, thankfully, protected my delicate skin from any sort of searing sun that just might have shone through the dense rain clouds. In a panic I headed for the shelter of the underworld, the sewers, where we dwell in times of desperate need. This was one of those times.

After adding a waterproofing agent to the formula, we discovered we had more freedom to move among the day-lighters. We now blend in well with the masses and can tollerate the sun as long as we also protect our eyes with sunglasses.

Our pale skin was still a problem, but we remedied that by adding a brown stain to the formula, giving us a not so permanent tan, but then, a day-lighter's tan is not permanent either.

Although, we were still at risk, we could now keep our true identities a secret. With the addition of the total formula to our skin, we now could cast a reflection in a mirror. Any vampire hunters would not be looking for a tanned day-lighter that was able see their reflection in a looking glass.

Since we are dead we cannot reproduce, but that doesn't mean we cannot have children. A final bite is all it takes, we just pick and choose the children we would like to adopt and they are ours, forever. The only problem, is once they become a vampire, they can't age. They remain the same age for eternity. So we move every couple of years to keep our secret and our family together.

Not all vampires have discovered our secret of co-existing with the day-lighters. I myself have almost been bitten by another vampire and mistaken for a day-lighter. We have tried to share our secret with other clans, but not all want to embrace the daylight as we have. They are unsure and afraid of change, so they continue to be hidden away in the shadows of the night. I, however, prefer the freedom of both worlds.

We have come across many day-lighters that look more like us than we do. One evening, while out shopping for our dinner, my mother Janine and I met several young boys and girls just hanging out in a back alley. All were pale of skin with jet black hair, their lips were painted as black as the darkest tomb and their long, black fingernails seemed meant for digging or scratching up the earth.

I noticed that they had many body piercings with chains and hooks attached in the oddest places. I assumed this was some form of self punishment. I guess some people just like pain. They all wore similar black leather clothes held together by heavy chains. The chains must have been very heavy, because everyone seemed to be losing their britches.

At first, I thought this was another clan of new day-lighters, but I felt no familiarity with them as I do when I meet others of our kind. There was, however, something about them that I couldn't resist. I was drawn to them like a magnet. And so my mother and I decided, that we did not need to shop any longer, and had found just what we were looking for...DINNER

**********************