=D I wrote this fanfic for the Writing Contest...for the moment, only the fist chapter is ready...but the others will arrive very soon! =D I hope you will enjoy it!
In the first chapter, to tell the truth, nothing about Summer and the "wish of humanity" happens yet..but in the next chapters it will definitely happen!



~ Wish of humanity ~

Chapter 1 – Three vampires, three pals

My name is Darren Shan, and till not much time ago I used to be a boy like many others. I used to have the interests of all the teenagers my age: football, comics, music, movies and, naturally, girls. But, more than any other thing in the world, I used to adore spiders. Yeah: when it happened to me to see one of these splendid eight-legged creatures, I used to stop watching it and admiring it, charmed, it didn’t really matter if it were a common little spider or a poisonous tarantula, ready to bite! And I was even able to remain watching its legs and little eyes movements, so slow but graceful, for hours and hours! Now, I’m not so keen on them anymore…and it isn’t hard understanding why. You would hate spiders too, if one of them had changed your life for ever. And for the worse, much worse!
I sigh, thinking once again about how incredible everything that’s happened to me is, and I put down my makeshift pen that I hold among my fingers. I ask once again if, in someway, it might be only a terrible nightmare, and if so, I hope I’ll wake up soon. But I know perfectly well that it isn’t so. Whatever happened to me, it doesn’t belong to the dreams world, even if I wish it ardently.
Even I find it hard to believe, but it’s so.
I feel a burning sensation in my fingers, and I notice they’re full of little pointed wood splinters. They sting and burn like mad when I move or bend my fingers, in the attempt to make them come out, but the more I do it, the more the fragments penetrate in depth.
I clench my teeth and I try to remove them, using the points of my nails and my teeth, like they were thorns . It doesn’t seem working very well: many break in the attempt and at the end it seems even that they’re more in depth than before!
I lay a series of imprecations, and I look again at the paper sheet I’m writing on. It’s a page of my diary, striped, just a bit spattered of yellow in the corners (maybe because of all the humidity it got during the journey) and very far from the original white colour. But it’s already great luck having a piece of paper to write on, here at the Mountain. And what about the pen? Well…I had to build it by myself, with a small hollow wood stick and some juice of soft fruits , found in the little wood in the vicinity.
Maybe the ink is a bit too fluid and it tends too much to the red, but it answers the purpose. But I have to always pay attention to not let it come out too much, and not to loosen too much the piece of string that tightens the extremity of the pen. It’s quite uncomfortable, but unfortunately I have to adapt. My last pen with true ink ended many weeks ago….how much I wish I found the way to make a little of it!!
With these thoughts in my head, I bend down, I hold again the pen and I start to write again. Here it is again the scent of juice coming out from the point, following my hand’s movements, and I write quickly, following the flow of my thoughts. I’m so concentrated on the writing, that I don’t notice anything that’s going on around me , I forget where I am, about the humid and cold walls that surround me, about the dusty floor, I continue dragging my feet involuntarily on and about the two torches hung above the ramshackle table I’m leaning on.
- Darren? What are you doing sitting there?
I literally make a jump from the stool, and I turn with my goggled eyes and a confused expression. Even if, judging by the voice, it seemed to me it were…
- Larten! I didn’t hear you arriving! How the hell have you…
- He he… - he giggles. – At least you should know that we vampires can be silent and agile like felines, if we want.
- Yeah – I say, calling myself silly because I had been so afraid.
Yes, you’ve understood well…it is what I am. Or rather…what we are…all of us, here at the Mountain. A vampire. Or rather, a half-vampire, I mean, how it says even only the word, vampire only for a half. I can still go out at sunlight without any consequences, but I need blood to survive on. Oh, no…don’t form strange opinions! We vampires aren’t at all like legends paint us. Most originated from our blood cousins, the vampaneze, that, unlike us, always kill their donators. And it is also for this reason that there is bad blood between us…in the true sense of the word!
- What’s the matter? – I ask.
- Nothing…I was only wondering where you were, you disappeared for a while.
- I was there, in Kurda’s studio, where he prepares maps...I fancied updating my diary a little. I don’t think he minds if I use his old worktable, right?
- Why should he? – he smiles. – Kurda is even too kind, he is not annoyed even from things he should! Your diary? – he adds, coming up to me to have a look.
- Yeah…do you remember? It’s a notebook where I note down what happens to us, my thoughts and my emotions – I say, turning it again to show him better, paying attention to not bring the pages too close to each other so as not to smear the still wet ink.
- What does it say? – he asks.
- Wait, I’ll increase the power of the torches, so you can have a peep of it. – I say, standing up to regulate it.
- Erm… - he says, becoming suddenly red. I can notice that perfectly, despite the semidarkness. I halt, looking at his eyes.
- To tell the truth…I cannot read, Darren. – he reveals to me, looking away.
- What?!? – I answer, gaping in amazement.
- It is so.. You know…when I was your age, reading and studying was not considered essential. Only few had the luck to being able to do it, and to afford learning. – he answers, with a touch of embarrassment in his voice.
- But…but – I stammer. – How is it possible? You can sign! You can understand the road signs, and…
- Yeah, but understanding a more complex test or writing one myself is all another story!
I continue to fix my eyes on him, amazed. He never told me about that before! I’m literally astonished.
- And…if I teach you how to do it? It isn’t all that hard, after all, it’s only a question of practice and… - I start saying, with excitement.
- Do not worry about that, Darren. These are things you have got to learn when you are very, very young. And it will always come naturally to you…but you do not imagine either how much is complicated at my age…and I have already found out at my own expense. I thank you, anyway. It is really kind of you…but maybe we vampires do not really need knowing how to read, after all. Only few of us can do it. But till one of us will be able to, we will be OK. It is always useful, most of all for the relations with humans. – He says. But then he sighs.
- Really I wish I had learnt….I feel a bit silly for that, sometimes. – he sighs again.
- If only you would have insisted a little more… - somebody else says behind us. This time it’s Larten’s turn to have a start! I nearly had a start, too.
- Kurda! When will you learn to knock? – I giggle.
- It’s a bit hard knocking, seeing the lack of doors! – he answers, with a radiant smile.
- Don’t tell me that…it was him your teacher? – I say, surprised by how much this possibility is incredible. (Kurda and Larten can’t stand each other!) and smiling at Kurda’s joke. He always manages to put me in a good mood, with his optimism and his wish of living. Sometimes I wonder what does a person so…sunny like him in a world so gloomy like vampires one! And why he decided to join us…it seems being so…out of place, sometimes!
- You have always been perspicacious, Darren – Larten confirms.
- But…not!! Is it possible? – I say , giggling, and casting an incredulous glance at Kurda.
- And why didn’t you insist? I mean…the willpower of a vampire is incredible, if I’m not wrong?
- You aren’t – Kurda answers. – We tried…but it wasn’t easy since the beginning. First of all, I didn’t have the impression Larten was all that so anxious to learn, after all. It seemed he always had his head in the clouds…and…distracted? – Kurda says, casting a malicious and allusive glance at Larten.
- He he… - Larten giggles, and his face becomes red, even more than before.
In the meantime I’m more and more astonished. I believed they couldn’t stand each other…but now they were acting like they have always been friends!
- He…yeah, they were glorious Arra Sails’s times! Awww, what a couple!! You should see them, Darren! They shined, in the true sense of the word! – Kurda smiles.
Larten returns the smile, embarrassed. But he says nothing.
- I know, it seems incredible…but the vampire so sage and sensible you see know, Darren, used to be one of the most impulsive and bungling of the whole clan! And you can’t imagine how many things he did , how much he had a great time when he was young! - Kurda says, smiling even more.
We all burst out laughing. Me more than the others! I never lingered over thinking that even my mentor, so wise and calm, might have once been young and unskilled, like everybody else!
I imagine him chasing Arra, with a bunch of red roses of bramble in his arms, and with many little hearts around his head, like in the comics! And I burst out laughing again, I almost double up with laughter. Doing it, I put a hand on my belly, but I immediately withdraw it, grimacing with pain. The splinters still hurt.
- What’s wrong, Darren? – Kurda says, stopping laughing and looking at me with a solicitous expression.
- Ouch…yeah, to tell the truth, I’ve some wood splinters stuck in my hand. – I answer, shaking both of them, trying to mitigate the pain, and clenching teeth to not shout.
Kurda bends down to examine them better, the long light blue cloak on the dirty floor.
- It’s an ugly affair…how did you get them? – he asks.
In the meantime Larten comes up to us.
- Writing… - I say, with a bitter smile. – The pains of we cultured men! – I say, blinking at Larten. He answers with a bad glance.
- It seems you’ve been in a carpentry class, not that you’ve written! – Kurda says, perplexed.
- Can I know what pen have you used? – Larten adds.
- That. – I say, indicating with my head the worktable I left it on.
Kurda stands up and goes getting it.
- Is that a pen?!? Where did you get it? – he asks, casting an amazed glance at me.
- Yeah…well, to tell the truth I made it by myself, here at the Mountain they aren’t very common objects… - I sigh.
- But you could ask me, Darren! I have a drawer full of them, look! What do you think I draw my maps with? – Kurda says, going near a dark wood desk and a moment after holding in his hand at least ten ball pens!
- Do’h! I can’t help exclaiming, looking at Kurda’s hand! It seemed as if he had just come out of a stationery shop!
- Eh…Darren, Darren…all that nice raspberry juice – Larten says, - Who knows how delicious…
While I go closer Kurda to choose some pens, I hear him saying:
- But go on, Larten, Darren shouldn’t be reprimanded. On the contrary, he preferred managing on his own, it would be only to praise. An initiative and an independence fit for a true vampire!
I’m flattered…really!
- Maybe… - he limits himself saying.
In the meantime I go off, holding the pen among the creases of my cloak, to not get other splinters, and I return a while after with three glasses full of juice. To tell the truth, the pen is enormous, it almost grazed my chin when I was writing, so the juice it contained was a lot.
- Do you want some? – I ask, with my lips already red.
- Of course! – Larten and Kurda answer at the same time.
For we vampires soft fruits, so warm and juicy, are a delicacy, almost as much as blood. But we would avoid with pleasure drinking it, if it weren’t necessary.
We bring the glasses closer to our mouths and, when I drink from mine, I make out though the glass Larten and Kurda clinking glasses.
- Your health! – they say. And they drink.
I smile seeing them getting along so well, for once, and I join the toast, shouting with joy.

Here it is the second chapter! ^^ Hoping you will enjoy it!

P.S. I should still look for some mistakes =P But I hope you'll understand it anyway!

~ Wish of humanity ~

Chapter 2 – Wish of humanity

Here I am again. This time I'm writing lying comfortably in my hammock, on my stomach and shaking my legs in the air frenziedly. And with a very handy ball pen. Well, red. Who knows why, since I had...changed, I adore this colour. I miss a little that delicious scent of soft fruits that used to spread all around each time I wrote, but I console myself casting a glance full of gluttony at the glass of juice leaned near me, that seems to be waiting only to be drunk and tasted.
I scribble some words, then I read them again, and I turn the page, lazily. I don't fancy writing, not now.
I turn on my side, and in the darkness I see two green small lights: Harkat's eyes, my roommate.
I can't get to sleep. I'm confused.
I don't understand what's happening to me. I'd like to make a note of something else in the diary, even if I don't feel a lot like writing, just to kill time and hope that in the meantime I feel sleepy.
But it's like the pen offered a strange resistance, and only after a while, having a look at the sheet, I notice that it's like I didn't write the last lines at all!
Instead of the usual red trail, only deep ruts. I press uselessly the point against the yellowish paper, with strength, holding tightly the plastic pipe full of ink to warm and dilute it, but doing it I let slip a groan of pain. The splinters!
Kurda, eventually, forgot to take them away. We were distracted by joking and laughing, and even toasting, and it completely slipped our minds.
Pressing the wounded fingers a little more strongly was enough to arouse the pain, as intense as fire and implacable.
I shake my hand, trying to get rid of it, appealing to all my willpower to keep myself from shouting. If I had done it, I would awake the whole Mountain!
I curl up, waiting for the pain to be over, with a grimace of pain on my face and trying to concentrate on something else.
- Darren...are you...OK? - a croaky voice says in the darkness.
I start, silly and surprised, but I immediately recognize it.
- Yes, I am, Harkat...about. - I lie. At that moment waiting for that piercing pain to ease it's my only worry.
- I don't...think...so... - he adds.
And he's right. The grimace my face is still twisted in speaks by itself.
- No, indeed. I don't manage to sleep, and I hurt my hand recently, too. - I say to him.
Harkat stands up from his hammock, and he comes up to me slowly. Then he bends down, with still his hood on, he examines my hands, without touching them, only skimming and looking closely at them.
- Ouch...they must...hurt...to death...right? - he asks me. - It was...because of...that...that you...were groaning... before...is that...so...?
- Well, yeah. I hope to have them removed, tomorrow. - I add, shaking again my hand.
- How did...you...stick them...in your...hand? - he says, surprised.
- In a sense, it was because of my love for writing.
- What...?!? - he adds, with his big green eyes even more wide-open than usual and full of amazement.
I tell him everything.
- If you...had known...from...before...that Kurda had...what you...needed...
- Oh no...don't tell me it! - I add, thinking again about it.
But now, even if only a few hours later, I cannot help finding the whole thing funny.
We both laugh our heads off. In the end, Harkat goes to bed again, he says goodnight, he turns on his right side and he falls asleep almost immediately. Even if his eyes are always open and lighted, even when he sleeps, I notice that easily: his breathing has become slower and more regular.
I turn over too in the hammock, trying to fall asleep. But it's useless, after I had turned over a dozen times at least, I don't feel the need for sleeping yet. On the contrary, I'm awake like a cricket! But not because of the splinters pain, that has already eased, there is something else that worries me.
I decide to stand up and going to take a stroll through the Mountain, maybe also to get a breath of fresh air. Once I've stood up, I look round to remember where I left my stuff before to go to sleep, and I prepare myself. I throw my light blue cloak on my shoulders, then I join the two edges on the chest, closing them making a bow on the front. I also find my boots, still a bit muddy and damp. Some days have passed since our arrival in the Mountain, but I had never taken care to give them a clean. I decide I would have seen to it as soon as possible.
After that, I leave the room, moving quietly to not wake Harkat up, and I set out through the corridors. I carry on tiptoeing, because also the other vampires are sleeping. I can hear even the slight snoozing of some of them, the only noise that disturbs the silence of that moment. Waking them up would certainly not be a good idea!
I try to remember which side the entrance of the cave was situated, and, even if I'm not totally sure about it, I take a humid and tortuous tunnel. After some minutes, I find out I was right: that tunnel really leads outside! But it wasn't the same I had walked down with Larten and Harkat when I arrived there, that other was much longer and broader.
This other, on the contrary, it's so low that I fear I might have to crawl, at the end, but fortunately by bending my head slightly, it is enough to not knock my head against the rough and dropping ceiling.
After that, I bend down to the ground and I slip though a little opening, with a rather disquieting shape, like a mouth ready to swallow me, but broad enough to allow my passing. And here I am outside!
I glance around: I'm on a rocky projection, very high, slippery and rather humid, but it shouldn't be all that hard getting down from it. Holding on firmly to the rock, and relying upon my nails, I climb down slowly, looking over my shoulder and trying out carefully each move. I hope I don’t lose my hold suddenly, because of the splinters, that burn again like pins, but I manage to resist.
And, after a while, here I am ashore.
I'm a bit tired (even for a half-vampire like me climbing with my bare hands isn't a simple thing!) and I let myself fall on the grass, soft and wet, to get my breath.
Laying down, I'm covered in icy little drops: it must had rained recently. Feeling them gliding on my face and on my arms, cool and fast, it's pleasant, it gives me a sense of freedom. The air is fresh and bracing, and there is also a slight breeze. I breathe deeply. But it isn't very cold. Or, at least, I don't feel it. The clouds run fast in the sky, pushed by the wind, and brightened up by the red and golden reflections of the sun that’s going to set. Also those nearby mountains reflect the colours of the sunset.
With my arms crossed behind my head, I watch the sun going down, till the only thing that remains of it isn't anything more than a reddish reflection in the night sky.
And, looking at the sun, suddenly, like a flash in my thoughtful mind, here it is flash of inspiration: I understand at last the reason of my unhappiness.
The smile I had on my face since a moment ago immediately disappears, and another look, serious and disconsolate takes the place of it.
It must be very similar, if not even the same, to the one I had when, some years ago, I left for ever my family, my city and my friends, to follow Larten through the world.
Here they are again the memories, I feel the painful memories re-emerging, cropping up again, crowding themselves on each other in my mind. And also a feeling of chill in my heart, of solitude and sadness. But also remorse, and, most of all, nostalgia. But I don't totally understand yet what I'm feeling: I believed I had already got used to my new half-vampire life. But evidently it isn't so.
In the distance, probably not further than a few kilometres, I hear some howls. How much I would like that Streak or Rudy were beside me now...I wouldn't feel so lonely, with them by my side and the humid Rudy's nose, always active.
I would like to join their chorus, howling like a wolf to give free play to my emotions. I'd probably feel better, after. But I don't do that.
I sit down on a rock among the grass, my knees in front of my face, and I put my arms on them, bending my head. Suddenly, a gust of wind stronger than the others sends a shiver down my spine, and I cover myself better with the cloak, shivering. A lot of little seeds fly in front of me, at the mercy of the wind.
An image crops up again in my mind: I imagine my mother covering me with a protective gesture, to avoid me catching a cold. And then also Annie, my sister. How many times we had been together in the country, playing with butterflies, chasing crickets, or being after ants to keep them away from the foodstuff for the picnic! I shut my eyes, and, with a groan, I realize with terror what I miss so much: a little of normality. A little of...humanity.
I would give everything to spend again some days like a normal boy: playing football without being afraid of breaking someone's bones, enjoying the sun without feeling that sensation of extraneousness, having again some friends without fearing that they find out that I'm a vampire and they hate me for that.
But I know that it isn't possible, it would be too risky for everyone. I can only limit myself to...dream. To wish it. My life has taken a turn that divided me definitively from the humans world, and there is no way of coming back. The die is cast.
A tear of impotence, silent and hot, flies with the seeds, falling on the cloak and leaving a dark blur. I move my legs slightly, under the point where I fell, in the attempt to get a little warm. Now that even the last daylight disappears, it's once again terribly cold, like during our journey to the Mountain.
Neither do I know what I believe anymore, what's best for me and for everyone. The outward cold is the same in my heart. Despite the fact that I've found some new friends, I continue feeling...empty.
And, immersed in my thoughts, I bend again my head, and I remain steated on the rock, letting the wind ruffle my hair and raise my cloak, I shiver with cold.
Suddenly, I feel a warm and reassuring touch on one of my shoulders. Somebody is touching me. It's good feeling something, something tepid amongst all the iciness that surrounds me. I turn, and I see the bony and wrinkled Larten's hand, leant on the cloak, and slapping me on the back in a reassuring way. This time I don't start. On the contrary, in a sense his presence takes me away from those gloomy thoughts, even only viewing him I already feel better. But how could he know where I was? Did he hear me getting up? Or maybe it was simply time to get up and he decided to look for me, because he didn't find me in my room?
Anxious to find answers to these questions, I try to turn towards him and standing up, resting on my hands, pulling them on the rock and forgetting once more about those damn splinters. Ouch! I clench my teeth, but I manage to not shout. I decide to remain seated, for the moment.
- Darren... - he starts. - What are you doing out here? I thought you were still sleeping.
- I...I couldn't get to sleep. - I answer. And, doing it, without being able to avoid it, another tear glides silently along a cheek. I can't prevent my voice shivering. Maybe because of the cold...or the sadness.
Larten, hearing these words, sits down beside me, with a worried expression on his face, putting an arm round a shoulder of mine. He's wearing his cloak too, dark red and dusty like usual, and he offers me it so that I cover myself.
I nod to him, to tell him that it isn't necessary that he does that for me, but he limits himself to nod. So, I throw it on my shoulder.
It's much heavier than mine, and I immediately feel better. But Larten remained in his shirt-sleeves and I see clearly that he shivers, despite the fact that he forces himself to hide it.
I'm surprised by that gesture so generous and paternal.
- Thanks... - I say.
- But it is nothing. - he answers, modest. - But tell me...there is something that worries you, Darren. I noticed that from the tone of your voice, and from how you react when I arrived. - he says. - What is wrong?
- Nothing. - I lie.
- Yes, on the contrary. Would not you feel ashamed in the least of talking to me about that, right? - he says, pretending to be scandalized and smiling with a smart expression.
- No...I mean. - I say. - To tell the truth, there is something...it isn't worth talking about it...You can't help me...
- How can you be so sure about that if you do not try?
- I... - I add. I swallow. And, at the end, I make up my mind, and I tell him everything. I was reluctant to talk about it, because I didn't want him to think I was a nostalgic whiner, but I can't keep it to myself and eventually I find myself sharing with him all my thoughts, emotions and sensations of a while ago.
He listens without batting an eye. And when I've told everything, he answers, with his usual calm and imperturbable expression.
- Darren...you must not feel ashamed of it. It's a very normal thing. Even me, even after so much time since my blooding, sometimes I feel nostalgic thinking again about the good days spent as human. There is nothing strange, on the contrary, it would be freaky, even worrying, if you did not miss them at all! Believe me, you do not have to worry about it. It is a problem common to all the vampires.
I look at him, astonished.
- But it's so...hard - I add. - What I would give to return to humanity for a while...
Larten then scratches the long scar on his cheek, like he always does when he reflects upon something. Suddenly, a discreet smile lights his face, and he says to me, with a cheerful expression:
- Maybe we may do something for you. It is not totally true that you can never again those little human pleasures you miss so much. Most of all because you are still a half-vampire and...
I prick up my ears, anxious to hear the continuation. A gleam of hope rekindles in my heart. Suddenly, I'm not cold anymore. On the contrary, the warmth under the two cloaks I have on is marvellous.
- Come inside, before - he stops. – Out here, in a while everything will be frozen. It certainly isn’t the best place to discuss it- he says, standing up with a shake.
I follow him, although I don't feel cold anymore. We climb up again the rocks, and we return to the Mountain along the same way we entered though the first time, escorted by the sentinels. The way through I went out from was probably too narrow for Larten.
- What, what? - I ask, impatient, while we walk through the tunnels, with the only guide being the bright moss.
- I was thinking... - he says. - The Council will start in only a few days. In the meantime, we might even go on a trip round here. In the vicinity, much nearer than you believe, there is something really special, and I bet you will like it a lot!
Hearing him talking in that way doesn't do anything other than increase my curiosity! I'm anxious to learn more, and I follow him merrily, like a dog that wags his tail would do.
- What? - I repeat, like a parrot, with the voice full of morbid curiosity.
- We have arrived. - he says, almost ignoring me.
- But...what?! - I insist, unable to wait even only another moment.
Larten doesn't turn a hair in front of my insistence, even if thinking again about it now, I believe I had been rather annoying. But it's normal being it, when the question is something of so important. Everybody would be!
- It is a bit complicated to explain. - he makes up his mind to explain, at last, sitting on a bone chair in the common hall. - I am not an expert about climatic changes and things like these, but each vampire knows that the Mountain is so high to have a huge influence on the climate of the whole region. Like you would have noticed, on this side the cold is intense throughout the year, and it is not exactly a comfortable place.
I nod, shivering at the thought of the cold on my skin. If even we vampires shudder so much, out there, that cold for humans must be simply intolerable! If not mortal! I remember I still wear Larten's cloak, I remove the buckle that keeps it closed and I give it back to him, with a thankful smile.
He nods, returning with a kind smile, and he continues from where he was.
- Have you ever wondered what there is on the other side of the Mountain?
- No... - I admit. - On the contrary...there is another side?!? - I say, opening my eyes wide.
- Like I have already said, the cause of this icy climate, I would dare say almost polar, it's just the Mountain. If it weren't, we would overlook directly on the ocean.
- The ocean?!? - I say. I'm amazed. I would never have thought that there might be something else, behind that Mountain so massive. It was so high and stately that it seemed that the world ended there. It never even crossed my mind!
- Yeah. I know it seems incredible, and only a few vampires know, but not so far from here ocean waves are shattered continually against a very sandy beach, almost tropical.
My amazement rises.
- And beach means... - I add, with bated breath.
- Sun...life...humans. - he ends for me. - Everything you lost, all that you miss so deeply.
I hold again my breath. The idea to go to the beach, to enjoy again the sun like everybody else and maybe also swimming makes me euphoric. The thought to take a little holiday at the sea is so incredible that I don't dare even believe it's really possible. I open my mouth, with a smile full of joy. I try to add something, but I stop, coming back to the reality.
- But...how to get it? Are you willing to come with me? Alone wouldn't be the same thing...but you can't stand the sunlight... - I say - For you it would be a regular torture!
- We will talk again about it in a few hours. Don't worry about it, for the moment. Now rest. You're almost ready to drop.
I realize he's right. I didn't notice I was on the verge of falling asleep standing up, and that my eyelids were so heavy. I'm surprised once again by how Larten always guesses my mood and my condition. For him I'm like an open book. I have no secrets!
- Ok... - I say, calm. Then, suddenly, I throw my arms around his neck, in a transport of joy, leaving him astonished. I'm incredibly happy, it's wonderful having once again something to hope for, knowing that your own situation isn't all that desperate, after all.
I sink my face in his velvet cloak, rubbing my chin against it, like a purring cat.
Larten returns caressing my back and hugging me too, with affection. When we tear our selves away, I greet him and I return to my room. Harkat is still sleeping, and I pull off my boots silently, to not disturb him.
Exhausted, but happy, I lay down on the hammock, that never seemed to me as comfortable and relaxing as at that moment. I don't take even the trouble to take off my cloak, although it's a bit wet: it will be my blanket. And I feel asleep at once, holding the cushion with a sweet smile and, at last, happiness, on my face.

And...here it is the third chapter! =D

~ Wish of humanity ~

Chapter 3 – Preparations

I open an eye of mine, slowly, but I immediately shut it again, sinking my face against the cushion again, and pressing close to it with a groan of pleasure. Even just only opening an eye seems to have required an incredible effort…and what sleepiness! It’s so good indulging against something so soft and relaxing! Am I really so tired yet? How much time has passed since I fell asleep?
During that short instant, I had glimpsed some dark shadows around me, grey and confused, like if they were shrouded in the mist of a dream. Maybe there was someone beside the hammock? Or it was just a dream?
I’d like to sleep a little more, the warmth of the cushion and the cloak I got entangled in during the night is marvellous, but what time is it? And who was there (or still is) near me?
So, fighting against the weight of my eyelids and the sleep weighing upon them, I slowly open one eye, very cautiously.
But, as soon as I start to see something again, I open it wide, and then the other follows.
I immediately let out a scream of fear!
Something bright and shapeless, with an unreal phosphorescent green colour and was a little less than two centimetres far from me!
- Aaaaaah! – I shout, recoiling by instinct, pushing behind frenziedly with my feet and wriggling among the folds of the cloak. My eyes staring, the stare terrorized, the back against the rough and rocky wall. My feet are still moving, in the attempt to make me move away even more, even if I’m already with my back against the wall, and they can’t push me behind more. Unless I’m a ghost…and so I’m able to pass through walls as if they didn’t exist…but unfortunately half vampires can’t do it! But neither can adult vampires, to tell the truth!
I hold the cloak tightly with my nails, as if thrusting them in it could be useful somehow to defend myself from that mysterious assailant.
My sight is still blurred, and I realize with dread that I’m totally defenceless, at my aggressor’s mercy!!! I feel the panic starting to clamp me in his vice, my heart hammering at my ribs.
- Aaaaaah!! – the mysterious thing says, with a surprised tone, and I glimpse it running away from me.
Hey…wait a moment. – I think. – If that thing really wanted to hurt me, why did it shout? Why did it run away? For the surprise, maybe? Didn’t it expect me to react? Or…
I start to breathe again. I blink again, making an effort to bring into focus what I see. And, as it becomes more distinct, I slowly let go of the cloak, and open my mouth in a smile of amazement and relief.
- You are…always…on the alert…like all…the vampires, eh…Darren? – Harkat says, peeping out from behind a brown rock, not much far from here.
It was only Harkat!!! How could I not think about it? After all...how many phosphorescent green things I had seen since that moment, apart from his eyes? Not many...or rather, none!
I sigh with relief.
- You gave me a start!!! - I answer without drawing breath, giggling like crazy, a little because of the relief, a little for relieving the fear. My heart's beat start to slow down, my breath is returning slowly to its normal rhythm.
I run my hand over a naked arm, but I'm still having the creeps!
- Me?!? - Harkat says. - You...in case! Have you...any idea...about...how long...have you...slept? - he adds.
- Actually...no - I admit. - How long? - I ask, even already guessing the answer.
- I'd say...so!...More...than a day! - Harkat says, panting. - I had came...near...to look at...you...and check...if you were...still...breathing...I was...very worried. I had also...told Larten...and Kurda...they...know a little about...medicine...to come...immediately and... - he adds, by now out of breath.
What?!? Did I really sleep so much? What the hell did I do to get tired that way?
I sit on my bed, trying to remember. I strolled out of the Mountain while all the others vampires were sleeping...Larten had came to look for me...and...the holidays at the sea!
Thinking about them, a happy smile appears on my face.
Was it only a dream? It was too wonderful to be true.
Yes, it must be necessarily so. How can it be otherwise? The smile of a while ago turns to a disappointed and sad expression, resigned to the harsh reality.
I'm going to get up, helping myself with my arms, when I feel the cloak, still humid, rubbing against my skin. Humid? So...I've really been outside! And if I've really been outside, probably...
Only the thought is enough to wake me up completely, to make me realize that in reality I'm more rested than ever!
I leap to my feet, euphoric. I take the cloak and I fold it, putting it near the flame of a torch so that it gets dry faster.
- I'm sorry I made you worried. - I say, with a sorry tone, turning my head to look at Harkat. - But...the fact is that...wow, if only you knew! - I add, changing totally the tone of my voice, beside myself with joy, and turning round.
- What...? Can I know...too? - Harkat adds, coming up to me with his step slow but decided, curious.
- It's incredible, you will never believe it! Larten told me that...
And I tell him everything. When I've finished, he's literally beside himself with amazement, too.
- A tropical...beach...just a few...steps from...here! Who would ever...have imagined...that? - he comments on.
- Maybe, a good climatologist! - someone says, with a cheerful tone, behind me.
I make a jump, so high that I almost touch the ceiling, still afraid from before. Harkat has the same, natural, reaction, even if his jump isn't as high as mine.
We both suddenly turn round.
- Kurda! The doooors! - I say, shouting, seeing him just a few steps from me, smiling like usual. Harkat smiles too, displaying his irregular and sharp teeth.
- You're alright, then! - Kurda answers, with a relieved tone. - Listening to what Harkat had told me, it appeared that you had fallen in a state of lethargy or kinda of!...
- Darren has always liked sleeping...is not that so, sluggard? - Larten adds, behind him, with an allusive tone.
I cast a withering look to him, pretending to have taken offence at it. If there is someone really lazy, that one is he! I perfectly remember how he mumbled when he had to get up before the sunset and how much he would have liked continuing to sleep all the night!
But I smile, glad to see him again, passing wisely over it.
- Good morning! - I say, cheerful.
- Good night, in reality...but for we vampires it's like it were day, don't forget about it! - Larten corrects me.
- Phew, what a pedantic! - I rebut. - As far as I know, when you get up you always say "Good morning", or I am wrong?
- Yeah, but if you could have a glance outside, you certainly would not see the sun shining high in the sky! - he insists.
- So...I said it properly... or not? - I say, confused.
- Yes, you did. - he answers.
- And then...why did you correct me? - I add, even more perplexed than before.
- To see if you were paying attention. - Larten says, smiling with an astute expression. - And to see if the thought of that great trip is already keeping you miles away from here.
- Hey!!! - I say, resentful. - But what...!
- What was the matter with you? - Kurda says, interrupting me and nipping a possible back answer of mine in the bud. - Harkat was very, very worried, he told me that despite the fact he has shaken and called you repeatedly, there was no way to wake you up and...
- I've always been a heavy sleeper... - I say, blushing.
- Heavy sleeper...is an...euphemism! I believe that...neither...an atomic bomb...would have woken...you up! - Harkat says, intervening playfully.

- And I know something about that... - Larten says, with a subtle tone. - If only you knew what hard work waking him up to go round at night, sometimes is!
- Erm...nothing more interesting to talk about? - I say, trying to change the subject, blushing more and more.
- Wait a moment, thinking about it better, there is something. Did I hear well, before? Beach? - Kurda says, looking at Larten with a perplexed expression, opening his light blue eyes wide, that shine with perplexity in the gentle light of the torches.
- Yes, you did. You know what I mean, right? - he answers, blinking.
- What? That one...? - Kurda says, beside himself with surprise.
- Do you know another one?
- You'd like to bring Darren there? But it's impossible! As far as I know, nobody has ever attempted to get to it from here, everybody has always bypassed the mountain, even at the cost of losing weeks and...
- Are you not the expert of maps, alternative ways, roads and so on?- Larten says, pulling his leg.
- Yes... - Kurda says. - but I...
- You have understood well...would you like to come with us? How would we do without your guidance and your incomparable experience? We would ended up by getting lost though the snow-covered steps or by slipping in precipices hidden by the snow! Or who knows what else! - Larten adds, flattering him.
I can't help a silly smile. Kurda smiles too, and he answers:
- I know you're only pulling my leg, but I don't know...I've been rather busy recently, you know. The ceremony...and all the rest...
- Ceremony? - I say, without managing to hold back my usual curiosity.
- Yes...Kurda will be soon one of our leaders, a Prince! Didn't he tell you? - Larten answers me.
- Now that I think about it...yes, he did, but I forgot. - I admit. - So...you can't come with us? - I say, looking at him with a sad expression.
- Mmmmh...thinking about it better. - he says. - It might be one of my last opportunities to have a great time, before I become a Prince. It's a big honour, but it isn't certainly the greatest of fun! Many years may pass before I get out of here again, and before I put away the crown and the royal cloak for a while! - he adds, smiling.
- Hooray! - I say, tripping round him. - I bet you know a short way to get it, isn't that so? You must know it! - I add, more euphoric than ever.
- Maybe... - Kurda answers me, smiling at my enthusiasm.
- What about you, Harkat? The sun isn't a problem for you, right?
- No...if you want...I can come...too...if I don't...disturb you... - he answers me.
- But...are you joking? Disturbing? Quite the opposite! - I say, bending to hold him in a warm hug.
- He is really happy. And who can blame him? - Larten says, turning to Kurda.
- I know how he feels...believe me, at that age a little is enough to get carried away. We went through it too, do you remember? - he answers.
- Of course...even if it seems that centuries have passed! - Larten laughs.
- Isn't that so, maybe? - Kurda smiles!
- He, you are right! The time flies!
- I was wondering if Gavner would fancy to come with us, too...can I go and ask him? - I interrupt them.
- Go, if you want...but be careful, he's even lazier than you! He gets violent if you wake up in a bad way...and too early! - Larten warns me, blinking.
- Hey...!
- Go on, Darren, don't take it badly! You know he isn't serious! In the meantime, I'll try to find the map we need for the journey. OK? Who knows where I've put it...actually, I haven't the faintest idea, but I suppose that digging it up is only a question of patience! And we vampire’s patience is proverbial, but it will take me a while anyway, I fear.
- Hurrying doesn't help! - I answer him, happy, and I run to look for Gavner.
- I'm starting to talk using proverbs too, like Larten does? - I ask myself, perplexed.
My steps resound in a sinister way in the almost deserted corridors, it must be still early, but I don't mind it. At that moment, I feel as if the Mountain were always my home, nothing seems to me strange or abnormal anymore. Neither the bats that every now and then flit above my head, nor their shrill cries or the webs as thick as curtains in the corners. After some minutes, here I am at Gavner's. I peep inside his room.
The lid of his coffin, dark and shiny, is open, and he's already awake. He's stretching, yawning soundly.
- Hey, good morning! - I say, joyful.
- Hello Darren! Is everything alright? - he says, with his mouth still wide open because of the yawn and his eyes shut.
- Of course! What would you say to a trip to the sea? - I say.
Gavner open his eyes wide, and he glances at me in a strange way, like if he thought I went crazy.
- To the sea ? Are you sure you're fine, Darren? - he answers, perplexed.
I expected that, so I get my breath and I start to tell him:
- Yeah, let me explain...me, Larten, Kurda and Harkat had decided to pay a brief visit to the beach near the Mountain, before the Council begins.
Then I add, with a sadder tone:
- You know...I miss the world of humans a lot, and even if for Kurda and Larten facing up to the sunlight definitely won't be easy, they decided to do it anyway, just to not let me down...and to see me smiling again. - I say, thinking again with emotion about the huge sacrifice that my friends were going to make for me.
- Do you know about the beach? - he interrupts me.
- Sure! So...do you fancy that? - I say, impatient.
- And...there is need to ask it? Of course! - he says, smiling with pleasure and getting up.
- It's just what is needed, after all this intense cold. And for the sun...well, we'll try to do something. You can't get everything from life!
I smile, and I hug him tight, leaving him out of breath.
- Hey...go on, Darren, it isn't necessary...
- Well, let's prepare! I can't wait! - I say, very excited, tripping round him and coming back to the cave that is supposed to act as my bedroom. Gavner follows me, infected by my enthusiasm.
For all the rest of the night, we see to the preparations for the journey, and also to obtain everything necessary, not only for me, but also for the vampires. Larten and Kurda offer to help us, and we agree with enthusiasm. Harkat gives a hand as he can, too. While I was at Gavner's, Kurda came back, with a heap of maps held in his hands.
- Here they are, the damn! - he says. - They had slid behind a piece of furniture, I almost went mad finding them!
- Your studio looks like a bazaar, sometimes! - I giggle, thinking again about that little room with rolled up maps placed everywhere, and with pens, white sheets and instruments abandoned all over the place. The first impression you had when you enter there, was that someone had turned a fan on at the greatest power, and he had created that mess on purpose, making the sheets fly all over the room!
- He, being tidy has never been my forte! - Kurda says, giggling too.
Larten, in the meantime, has got five small haversacks, similar to bags, to bring on our shoulders. He has also some mats and coloured towels, a bit worn-out, but big enough to be able to wrap oneself up in them or lay down on them comfortably.
- Where did you find them? - I ask him, curious.
- I've my resources - he smiles. - Or rather, Seba has them.
- Is it a crowded beach? - I ask Larten, while he's thrusting a coloured towel in a bag.
- Not really. - he answers. - But someone will be there, no doubt about that. It's better trying to go unnoticed, then.
- And don't forget about these! Without them...it will be a mass barbecue! - Gavner says, laughing, entering the room suddenly. He holds in his hands a couple of little white bottles. I take one, and read the label, curious.
- "High protection solar lotion, for newborns with sensitive skin. 50." I read.
- You can never be too careful, right? - Gavner says.
- And where did you find those, Gav? - Kurda says, amazed.
- Eh, God forbid that because I'm only a vampire in the human world I remain the whole day shut up in a coffin sleeping! I've never accepted this slavery of ours! So, when I felt like going out, I smeared little of it all over myself, and I ventured outside. Of course, you're in a bit of pain anyway, but for a short time it's perfect...
- You've always enjoyed impossible ventures, you dare-devil! - comments Larten.
- Why, this one isn't? - Kurda says, bending down to his bag.
- I'd say...not - Harkat adds, while he pulls the little lace of his haversack.
- But we vampires are born for challenges, right? - I say, smiling and looking at them, happy.
- I see you start to understand thoroughly our lifestyle, Darren. - Larten adds. - Of course, as a rule, when we say "challenges", we mean much more than that, but also this one might be considered like a venture not to undervalue.
- And what about these ones? - Gavner says, flourishing something under our noses.
He has in his hands five pairs of sunglasses, all very dark, and as smooth as glass. In the latest fashion!
- Cool! - I say.
- Gavner, you're a strolling bazaar, or what? - Kurda says, more and more astonished.
- He he, I stocked up on them. It's better if we vampires are never lacking these sorts of things, right? - he smile, with a sly expression.
- I imagine so! - I smile.
Knowing that Harkat and me are the only ones that don't suffer at all from the sunlight gives me a strange feeling. The worst thing may happen to me is burning myself a little or fainting because of a sunstroke, like everybody else, even if I've never had a sensitive skin, while on the contrary vampires would risk even death if they stayed in the sun too long, and the direct light is a terrible pain for their eyes, too. From the expression of his green eyes, I understand that Harkat agrees with me, and he feels sorry for them.
We continue to prepare ourselves, playing and making jokes, till everything is ready. I check again the haversacks, making sure not to have forgotten anything. Towels, caps, solar lotions with a very high protection power, sunglasses, even an inflatable ball that Kurda had found abandoned in a store, that now sticks out with a bulge from my bag.
- What about the beach umbrella? And the clothes? And the swimsuits? Won't we need all these things? - I point out...
- Sure. But it's better buying them there. We certainly aren't the only "tourists", if we can be called tthat. It isn't the first time I go there, and, if my memory serves me well, there is a little store that sells all these things. Let's try only to not look too eccentric. - Larten says, taking off the red cloak he cares about so much. I do the same with mine, even if grudgingly, and Kurda imitates us. I take a glance at what we're wearing: me a sandy long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of jeans a bit worn-out and full of stains, Larten a checked white shirt and dark trousers, Kurda a shirt with a blue tie and light purple trousers, Gavner a yellow shirt and a pair of trousers at least two sizes bigger than his. Harkat, who before had on his usual tunic, has put on a shirt Gavner gave him, a cape completely let down on his face, and a pair of shorts. He looks almost normal, only if someone had looked closely at him he would have noticed the strange colour of his skin.
We all have open sandals, and we all wear the peaked caps (that Gavner had given us)
- I'd say we look all right! - I say. - If we get changed there, nobody should notice how we look a bit...like foreigners. - I giggle.
- May the luck of the vampire’s be on our side! - Kurda says, playfully.
- Let's go, then! - Gavner says, eager, slapping Kurda on the back and throwing the bag on his shoulders.
We're off!
We set off towards the exit of the Mountain. Larten ahead, Gavner by his side, Kurda and Harkat follow them, with a slower step, whistling cheerfully. I'm the last, skipping happy behind them, and reaching Larten with one leap, casting once more at him a glance full of thankfulness and enthusiasm, that he returns with a warm smile, ruffling my hair jokingly.

The forth =D

~ Wish of humanity ~

Chapter 4 – The journey and the arrival

The walk inside the mountain, crawling bent down along the galleries seems to go on for ages. I had forgotten how many tunnels were involved!
- Are you there? - I say.
- Yes. - Harkat answers, out of breath.
- Let's say so. - Larten says.
The others nod, I can barely see their faces, in the darkness of the gallery, lit up by only a few torches on the sides of the walls.
During the path, we run into guards, too, motionless like usual and with the weapons in their hands. As soon as they see us got up that way, they immediately burst into noisy laughter!
- Hey, where do you think you’re going? - one says, the voice broken by laughter.
- To the sea, I suppose! - another one answers before we can say a word.
- You aren't too far from the truth. - Kurda answers, with a haughty tone.
- Oh, hello, Smahlt General, what are you doing there? And what about you, Purl? - one says, making a curtsey and biting his lips to avoid laughing again.
The others bow faintly.
- Exactly what you've said...we're going to the sea. - Gavner answers.
- Of course! You've drunk too much! - the one who had spoken first answers, and he starts again laughing raucously.
- It's so. - Kurda says, serious.
But his words, said so seriously, obtain the opposite effect: all the guards by now are rolling on the ground, holding their sides laughing!
So, we decide to ignore them and we get over them, paying attention to not trample them.
- Do we look so ridiculous? - I say, when we're by this time distant.
- Who knows! - Larten says, appalled.
- Is that the way the others respect us Generals? - Kurda comments.
- They thought we were joking... - I say, serious.
- Well, going to the sea certainly isn't a favourite activity of us vampires...and it isn't true that everyone knows about the beach. - Gavner explains.
- Certainly not. I can't blame them, if they didn't take us seriously. - Kurda agrees.
- Here it is, the exit! - I say, making out a huge opening in the distance, quicken my step to reach it, coming that way back to the head of the row.
Here I am outside, I breathe deeply the bracing night air. The moon is high in the sky, with heavy clouds, and it makes them shine with pearly and mystic tones. I glimpse also some nocturnal birds flying quite far from here, lit by the moonlight.
The others reach me immediately, Kurda stops to contemplate the beauty of the night sky for a while, too.
We get our breath for a while, after which we set out again, starting again the dangerous descent of the mountain.
- And...if we took the same path we have already taken on our ways there? - Gavner suggest. - We already know what we have to expect.
- For me it's OK. - I say.
- Yeah. There is a way that leads to the beach we can take just from there. - Kurda agrees, starting to act as our guide.
Also the others agree, so we decide to go that way.
Gavner was right. This time we know all too well where crevices and precipices are placed, so we know how to avoid them and we proceed fast, leaping from one rock to the other and holding firm to the rock with our nails. Neither is Harkat inferior to us, and he jumps with agility, despite his little build.
After a while, on the way down, Kurda takes the maps from his bag, and he sets about scanning them, absorbed, trying to understand where we are. But, to not waste time, while he does that we don't stop walking, so Kurda is forced to proceed blindly, without watching his steps. I give him a hand, coming back and guiding him with my arm.
He thanks me with a look, then he once again bends his head.
His light blue eyes are very wrapped up, busy to work out that spaghetti-like mess of twisted lines.
- Let's climb this way - he says at once, pointing at a mass of rocks, that look impregnable.
Gavner stares at them, panting.
- Kurda, isn't there a smoother path to climb over them? I'm already...out of breath.
- I'm afraid not. - he says. - But it's the faster one, no doubt about that.
So, we start another dangerous climb. The rocks are pointed and angular, and I scratch many times my ankles and my wrists climbing, but I don't mind. More than once I miss my footing, and I manage to stand and to not plummet only thanks to the quickness of reflex and the agility given me by the vampire blood that runs in my veins.
For the others it isn’t easy either, I hear them panting and sweating behind me, despite the fresh air of the night. But eventually we manage to reach the top, a point with large smooth and flat rocks, probably made that way because of the erosive action of the strong Mountain's winds. Larten is the first to arrive, and he stops to get his breath, exhausted. I sit down by his side, and I notice with relief that on the other side the rocks aren't so pointed any more, nor is the climb so steep, then coming down will be a child's play.
- Wow! What a spectacle! - I exclaim, all breathless, looking at the horizon.
There is really a beach! Despite the fact that it's very, very far from here, from that height you can see very well, in the distance, a strip of golden sand and, beyond it, something black and menacing. The ocean, without doubt! But then I look at the vampires, worried. The sky is already lit by golden reflections, and the dawn isn't distant. If we don't hurry up, we'll arrive during the hotter hours of the day, the most fatal, for them!
-Goodness, we're still far from there, eh? - Gavner says, still out of breath.
- I'm afraid so, we have to hurry up. - Kurda answers, worried.
- The dawn...is almost here...by now... - Harkat pants.
- And...if we flitted? Do you think you can do it? - I suggest.
Larten looks at me, then he nods.
- Of course! That is a good idea, Darren! Go on, climb onto my shoulders, there is no time to waste! - he says, cheerfully.
- After all, this one isn't the journey to the Mountain, or not? - Gavner asks.
- No...nothing to stop us from doing it, I'd say. - Kurda smiles.
While they talk to each other, Larten sits down, bending his knees, to let me climb. I catch hold of his neck, then I settle myself down better, while he gets up again. I push aside his haversack, so that it doesn't bounce against me during the run.
Gavner offers to bring Harkat, and he puts him on his shoulder. Kurda gives a hand, too, bringing the bags, and he puts them all on his shoulders.
- Let's go!!! - I shout
The three vampires start at the same moment.
Larten starts at once to run, his legs move at a fantastic speed on the rocks. Up and down, up and down, jumping every now and then to avoid the obstacles, till we reach the base of the mountain. We stop there for a while, to make sure that the others are behind us, after which we resume our crazy run. The landscape flows round us at a terrific speed, flitting is always so exciting! I don't know what I would give, to be able to do it!
After a very short time (probably not even five minutes!) Larten starts to slow down, and, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, he says, imitating the voice of a steward:
- Dear passengers, we inform you that we have just reached our destination. Now you can unfasten your safety belt and leave the vehicle. We wish we'll have you with us again soon.
I giggle, struck by that joke. Larten didn't joke very often.
I turn my head, and I can't help being surprised once more at the incredible speed a vampire can flit at. The mountain seem very far away, now, you can just see it, a pointed silhouette against the night sky. I can't believe that judt a few minutes ago we were over there. We totally stop under a scrub of trees, leafy and closely-planted, just a stone's throw from the beach.
Kurda has arrived with us, and Gavner reaches us after a few seconds. His breath is heavier than the others' ones, but he isn't the only one that has found flitting tiring.
I jump down from Larten's back, while he massages it, and I run to Harkat's, to help him to get down.
- How was it? - I ask, holding out my hand to him.
- I'd prefer...not to have...to do it...too often...I feel...a bit dizzy. - he answers, holding my hand and getting down from the mighty Gavner's shoulders.
- I find it fantastic! Better than every racing car! - I smile.
- Question...of points...of view. - he smiles, putting his mask up and straightening the cap.
- Here we are, guys! The hot tropical beaches are waiting for us! - Kurda says, with enthusiasm.
I turn round, and I observe the immense sea of sand near us, broken every now and then by some little pebble or white shells, lit by the golden reflections of the sun, that's going to rise behind us, still hidden by the mountains. The waves break against the shore, the water has some glittering reflections and it looks very, very limpid. I already feel like diving in it headfirst!
The vampires stare worriedly at those golden glows, and the ones behind the mountain, a sign their most terrible enemy is going to wake up from its sleep.
- These clouds are a big help. - Larten says. - The solar radiations are weaker, when the sky is cloudy. - he comments on, not too self-confident.
- It's already a very good thing. It's better being optimistic! - I say, encouraging him with a pat on his back.
- What about that store? Go on, let's look for it, it's better hastening. - Gavner says, touching the gaudy yellow T-shirt he wears.
- Is it that one? - I ask Larten, indicating a wood shed, very battered, not very far from here.
- It is supposed to be. - he answers, not totally convinced.
I stare at it, surprised.
- What did you think it would be, a shopping mall? - Kurda says, laughing.
- Not exactly...but... - I say.
- What's the problem, then? Go on, let's go nearer, if we're lucky, maybe it's already open.
I get closer, trotting, with the others that follow me. Not very far from where we are, there is a man that's sitting by the sea's shore, with a fishing rod. Possibly a fisherman, or a peaceful retired person probably.
Seeing it, I can't help feeling a bit nervous. Many months passed since I had last seen a human being and now I am afraid he can notice the strange sun sensitivity of my travelling companions, or something strange in our looks. I know it's silly, but I can't help getting nervous at this thought. But when I notice that he doesn’t even raise his head to look at us as we pass next to him, I slacken and I go up the little wood footboard in front of the shop. There is a little door chain, similar to a bell, that I immediately push. Larten is by my side, and he observes, intrigued.
- It's closed. - I say, disappointed. - There is nobody here.
- So it seems... - he agrees, staring at that barred door, dismayed.
- What now? Shall we wait for it to open? - Gavner says.
- Maybe it won't necessary: have a look! - Kurda says, looking behind us.
We all turn round to look, and we see the old fisherman getting slowly up from the folding chair he used to sit on and coming towards us, with a bunch of keys in his hand. He takes his time: his step is very, very slow, and it seems to take him an eternity to arrive.
- The shop must be his. - I comment.
In the meantime, the sun has risen, and the three vampires haste to put themselves in the shade of the little wood lean-to roof in front of the store. They haven't smeared the solar lotion yet, so they're extremely vulnerable to the rays of the sun. It's a really poor shelter, but it's all that they have at their disposal. They make an effort to seem at their ease, even if it isn't easy, and they remain to observe the old man coming near, at a snail's pace.
- Good morning, sirs. - he says, with a spry tone, arriving at last in front of us, going up the few steps in front of the shop and turning the key in the keyhole. The wood door immediately opens, creaking in a sinister way. I shiver, despite the tepid air of the morning.
- Hello. - I say. - Do you have beach wear? - I ask.
- But of course, son. Come in.
I hesitate for a while, then I enter the little humble, wood cottage, followed by the vampires and Harkat.
Inside, the light is faint, but for the vampires this is definitely a good thing!
- What can I do for you? - he says, placing himself behind a wood counter.
- We need five swimsuits. And a beach umbrella, too. - Kurda says.
- Preferences, about the colours? - the old shopkeeper says, casting an intrigued and sly glance at Larten's scar, clearly visible despite the poor light.
- A red one, if it is possible. - Larten says, with a refined tone.
- Mine blue. - Kurda says.
- For me light blue. - I add
- Yellow - Gavner says.
- Green... - Harkat pants, with his head just a little over the counter.
- Foreigners, eh? - he says, fumbling among the goods to find what we had asked, and casting a cunning glance at us.
- Yeah. And as regards the beach umbrella, any colour is OK. - I say.
- Come, Darren, in the meantime let's choose the clothes. - Kurda says, putting an arm round my shoulder.
We all approach a shelf, choosing shorts and light singlets as we like from it, and then we put them on the counter, in front of the shopkeeper. I notice that Larten, as usual, doesn't renounce wearing his favourite colour, and neither Kurda, despite his clothes have also gold shades. On the contrary, I opt for a white T-shirt and some jeans shorts.
In the meantime, the old man, with the phlegm typical of his age, has put everything we asked on the table, including an enormous beach umbrella with coloured stripes (perfect!!), wrapped up in a plastic length and he's preparing the cash slip.
- It's thirty pounds. - he says in the end, ripping it, and inserting everything, except the beach umbrella, in a big translucent shopper.
- Here is the money - Larten says, taking out from one of the many pockets of his cloak some notes.
- Thanks a lot...and goodbye! - the shopkeeper says.
Then he adds: - You seem to me a bit pale, are you sure you don't need a solar lotion, too? The sunlight is very strong in this area.
- No, thanks. - I say, and I hasten to open the door, to avoid him noticing something else abnormal in how my companions look.
I feel his eyes continuing to stare at us.
I let the others pass forward, then I close it again behind me, making it creak. I clench my teeth at that sound so unpleasant, and I feel a shiver running down my spine.
We haven’t even got out from the shop, when Kurda says, staring at the sky with a worried expression:
- Quick, let’s hurry up!
Larten looks at the clouds irradiated by the light of the morning, clenching his teeth and half-closing his eyes.
I had already forgotten about the great problem of my friends! There is no time to waste!
We rush away immediately, in a crazy run, rushing again under the scrub of trees of shortly before, covering themselves as best they can and shaking their arms in the air, running as fast as possible, to earn the so much yearned shade! If someone had seen us, he would have certainly thought that we were a group of mad people! Larten, with his flapping wisp (running, he had lost his cap), takes the lead in the row, it seems he has the devil hot on his heels! Kurda is just a half meter behind him, and Gavner trots behind both of them, already short of breath. Me and Harkat are the last ones, laughing heartily, slowed down not only by the fact that we can’t run as fast as the vampires, but also by the laughing attack that has seized us! The entire scene was very, very funny!
I stop for a while to pick up Larten’s cap, then I start again running to reach the others, who in the meantime have already reached the destination.
I see them shaking their arms in the distance, holding in their hands something, and starting to take off their clothes. I see Larten putting on his swimsuit, a pair of fire red shorts with some thunderbolts on its side, half-hidden by the massive trunk of a tree, and Harkat giving him a hand, spreading a generous quantity of solar lotion on his almost white skin. Eventually, he seems to be made of wax, he’s even whiter than usual!
- Mmmmh, what a good smell! – I say, coming near him.
- I hope this thing will work. – he answers, looking worried at his arms and his legs, covered with the white liquid.
- I hope it so much! – I say, spreading it better, since Harkat has already rushed to help Kurda and Gavner, not very far from here.
- I do not care if I smell of peaches, or whatever the hell it is, even if it is not gratifying at all, but the main thing is that it works… - he answers.
- I like it. – I repeat, sniffing again fully the air round him, closing my eyes to concentrate on the smell.
- Your tastes are strange, really. – he comments , twisting his nose, probably annoyed again by that odour.
Of course, he must smell it much better than me! But even saying that’s unpleasant…
Larten hastens to wear his pair of very dark sunglasses, the only way his eyes can stand the so much irritating rays of the sun, then he dresses again.
After I’ve taken care of Larten, I keep to myself behind a tree, too, and I get changed.
As a precaution, I smear all over myself a little of the solar lotion, too, even if I know that half-vampires are immune from the sun, and I had never had a sensitive skin. However, only all that is necessary, such vampires have already used most of the contents of the bottles. It’s better keeping a little of it for the next hours, in case it’s needed.
Kurda and the others are already ready, they seem made of wax, too! Even Gavner, with a darker complexion than the others, has totally changed colour!
Seeing them, I can’t help giggle.
Harkat is behind a tree, near the one I’ve chosen, and he’s finishing getting ready.
- Harkat, do you want some? – I say, giving him one of the lotions with my hand and with my other lifting the shorts of my swimsuit and lacing them up, to avoid them falling.
They’re a bit too large, but I don’t mind.
- No…thanks…anyway… - he answers. – My skin…doesn’t…get burnt…fortunately.
- As you like. – I say, placing it on the ground and finishing dressing.
I’m the last to get out from the thicket, and whilst reaching the others, who are waiting for me not much far from here, I have a look at myself, looking at my reflection in a nearby puddle , and I smile, pleased.
I look so…normal! My eyes shine behind the dark lenses of the glasses. I really seem a boy like many others, apart from some scars I have on my body, but I don’t mind about them overmuch. After all…Larten and Gavner have much more visible ones! And yet, they don’t worry about them at all!
- We’re ready! – Kurda says, joyful, when I arrive at them.
- Oh…what do you do…exactly…in a beach? – Harkat says, looking at me perplexed. – I’ve never…been…there…before.
- You’ll see, Harkat! It’s funny! – I say, smiling at him.
- Go on! Who hammers the beach umbrella in? Let’s take advantage of these fresher hours, before we roast!
- Erm…to tell the truth… I don’t know my way about it. – Kurda admits. – I’ve only half a mind about how to do it…so…
- You mean you aren’t able to? – Gavner pulls his leg, laughing. – Go on, Kurda! It’s only a post to knock in the sand, don’t you see? You must have done that hundreds of time with your maps, or not?
Kurda becomes serious.
- The simplest thing are also the most complicated, sometimes. – he adds.
- Go on, let us try! Words do not help. – Larten says, interposing himself and taking the pole away from Kurda’s hands. Then, he makes his way to the beach.
We follow him, going away from the coolness of the trees, looking for a place to settle ourselves.
There are already some others beach umbrellas, rather distant, despite it’s already early.
We look like five secret agents in civvies, with those sunglasses as black as ink!
But they’re necessary, and I’m sure the impression they can make on the people it’s the least of Larten and the others’ worries! Without them, the sunlight would be even intolerable for them, like flames in their eyes, in the true sense of the word!
I go ahead, on a reconnaissance.
- What do you think of that? – I say, after a while, turning towards them, and referring to a point where there is also an abandoned little hut, nearby.
- Great! It will protect us a little. A pleasant help. – Kurda says, reaching me and laying out his sunglasses, that continue to slide on his nose.
- However, it should be stiffened a bit. – Gavner points out, feeling its resistance and withdrawing his hand immediately, noticing how much it creaks.
- I’m afraid so, it might collapse at any moment. – I agree.
- Go on, in the meantime let us knock in this beach umbrella! – Larten says, letting slip an irritated grimace when a ray peeps out from behind a cloud. Among the three, Larten seems to be the one that can least stand the troublesome sunshine.
I was continuing to forget about this drawback!
So, I hasten to give him a hand, keeping the upper part of the beach umbrella raised while he sticks the pole in deep.
- Have you found the petroleum? – I pull his leg, seeing the pole stuck in the sand halfway!
- What? – he says, casting an inquiring glance at me.
- Don’t you think you’ve exaggerated just a bit? You should stick it much less than that in the sand, just all that it’s necessary. We are supposed to be able to stay under it at our ease. – I say, trying to take it out a little.
I pant from the effort, but the pole remains deeply stuck in the sand, despite the fact that I’m already sweating in the attempt to extract it!
- Vampires’ strength…strikes…again…eh? – I say, out of breath.
- What are you…doing? You speak…like me…now? – Harkat pulls my leg.
I cast a withering look at him.
- Go on, I’ll do it, Darren, don’t tire yourself. – Gavner says to me, gesturing to me to move over a little and make room for him. I pull back a little, letting my feet sink in the tepid sand, and I see him, with my eyes popping, taking out the pole as if it were simplest thing in the world!
I stare at him also finishing to tidy up the beach umbrella and starting to undress. I imitate him: it’s starting to be hot, since what feels like forever I haven’t felt that sensation! Only cold, ice and damp…it’s a fantastic feeling again the warmth of the sun on my skin.
- D’oh! – I exclaim, giggling, a bit embarrassed.
- A bit weak, eh? – comments Larten, taking off his coloured T-Shirt.
- Ouch…it’s you! You’re too strong! – I laugh, looking at him.
- Maybe. – he smiles, but I know I’m right.

The fifth! ^^

~ Wish of humanity ~

Chapter 5 – At the beach

I take out the towels from the haversacks we had brought with us, and I spread them under the spacious and fresh shade created by the beach umbrella and the hut. Kurda and the others give me a hand, but the shade, even if enormous, isn’t sufficient for everyone.
- I’m afraid one of us will have to stay in the sun. – I say.
- Darren? – Kurda asks, looking at me with his light blue eyes, already a bit in pain. – Can you stay there?
- Of course! – I say. – You shouldn’t even ask me! I don’t believe it’s recommendable you stay there, or not? – I smile.
Despite the fact that I’d like to stay a little under the fresh shade as well, even though it isn’t all that hot yet, for me the sun certainly doesn’t represent a mortal threat! Then I carry my towel to the sunny spot, and I lie down on it, pulling away the sand with my feet and shaking my fingers to get rid of the grains that have remained stuck on my skin.
Meanwhile the vampires have already settled themselves down in the shade, with only their swimsuits on. Larten is fumbling in his bag, and I notice how he keeps himself away from the edge of the shadow, to avoid the light. The others do the same, moving with the greatest caution and giving the sun a wide berth. It breaks my heart to see them in that state, and it occurs to me once more the enormous sacrifice they’re making for me. A smile of emotion appears on my face.
Harkat come to sit down in the sun with me, with only his swimsuit on.
- It isn’t…all that bad…after all. – he says, lying down and crossing his arms behind his head, as if he wanted to tan!
- Hey…are you going to get a suntan, by any chance? What colour will you become, if you do it? – I ask, curious.
- I don’t believe…I can become…darker…than that…but why…not tryi? – he says to me, smiling as he can.
- Yeah, there’s no harm in trying! – I say, looking for a comfortable position to doze on the hot, soft sand. I close my eyes and relax, enjoying that marvellous quiet.
- I will never understand what is so good in staying there to make himself literally toast by the sun! Will not be Darren hot? – I hear Larten saying after a while, and with the corner of my eye I see him casting a scandalized glance at me.
- If I could, I would certainly do it! – Gavner contradicts him.
- It’s one of the pleasures of humans, I wish I could do it too, to tell the truth. – Kurda says, with a sigh.
- Bah! If he likes it… - Larten says again, a bit perplexed.
- No, on the contrary, it’s very relaxing. – I say, sitting up. – I wish you could do it too…have you ever had a go when you used to be a human? – I ask.
- No, where I lived there were no beaches. The nearest was really distant, and my parents had never had time to waste with holidays. So…
- Oh, it must had been horrible! – I comment, thinking about the terrifying prospect of a life without holidays.
- Not as much as you believe. You can’t miss something, if you have never done it… - Kurda points out.
- Right. – I agree, then I lie down again on my towel, enjoying the pleasant warmth that caresses my body.
Larten lies down in the shade, trying to relax and doze, nursed by the gentle noise of the waves that break against the shore. Kurda likes best sitting, looking round and contemplating the landscape, with a bit of a lost expression. It must be the first time, for him.
After a while, I see him pulling out a magazine from his bag, and immersing himself in reading. Gavner is the only one that seems perfectly at his ease, at the beach. He has already lay down, and, judging by his loud snoozing, he’s taking a nap!
- Incredible! – Kurda comments in a low voice, raising his head up from the magazine. – I bet he could even fall asleep on his feet, if he wanted to!
I giggle, looking at the clouds that run fast in the sky, changing their shapes continually, pushed by a gentle hot breeze. The rays of the sun arrive only every now and then, attenuated by the clouds, that carry on running in front of them, seemingly on purpose. A lucky break, for us! I remain laying down there still for a while, to stare at the sky and enjoying the quiet, then I start to get a bit bored.
- Hey, who feels like having a bathe? – I say, suddenly.
- Me! – Gavner yawns, stretching and getting up, heading for the sea.
- Oh, you’re awake, then! – Kurda says.
- Only a fast nap…what do you expect!
- You sleepyhead! – Larten pulls his leg.
- Go on, I’ll come too! Don’t think I’ll let you go alone! What about you, Larten? – Kurda says, getting up and already going towards the water’s edge.
- A bit too sunny for my tastes, but…wait for me!! – he asks, getting up from his couch and reaching them.
A while after, me and Harkat have our feet in the water too, near them, and the waves lap gently against them, without even making themselves noticed.
- How very hot it is! – comments Gavner.
- Very different from a lake or an icy river, I’d say. – Larten says, surprised.
- I don’t feel…anything. – Harkat says, shaking his fingers in the very limpid water.
- What about this sand, then? It feels like you’re walking on velvet! – I say, entering into the water to my waist.
- Yeah…if I think what my feet had to sustain to get across the Mountain! – Kurda says, shaking his fingers too. The water is so clear that I can perfectly see them, like they were out!
- They deserve to rest a little, too! – I say to him.
I turn towards my friends, they’re all still by the shore, hesitating, as if they didn’t know what they have to do. Only Gavner is by my side, and he’s wetting his shoulders and his arms, to avoid exposing them to the sun too much and to refresh himself.
- Well, are you going to bathe or not? – I ask, playfully. Without waiting for an answer, I dive in the water completely, and when I re-emerge, I shake my head like a wet dog. Then, to stretch my muscles, I dash in a freestyle swim, towards the horizon. And, turning my head, I notice that Gavner is coming behind me, piercing the water with powerful strokes and splashing all round him. On his face, there is a smile that can mean only a thing.
- Keep at it, then! – I say, starting again to swim at full speed.
It doesn’t take long for Gavner to reach me, and we’re soon side by side, engaged in a hard fight. I have no idea what speed we’re going at, but considering our physical talents, and the fact I can barely see our arms plunging, lowering themselves into the water and then coming out from it again, we are supposed to go as fast as an Olympic swimmer, at least!
We arrive ata small white rock, then, with strong leg strokes, I rotate and I swim towards the shore. Gavner does the same, but I don’t manage to beat him! We’re evenly matched, neither of the two managing to get the better of the other one.
But…how far have we gone from the shore? The others seem to be kilometres away! But, in spite of this, I see that in the meantime they have bathed, and they’re paddling near the shore.
Anxious to reach them, I feel a new energy inside me, I quicken, and at last I manage to beat Gavner, leaving him behind by two or three metres. However, he doesn’t drop and does all he can to catch up. He doesn’t manage to, he’s already panting, but he clenches his teeth and he continues to the last.
The competitiveness and the tenacity of vampires are proverbial, and neither Gavner nor I are an exception.
At last I touch the sand with my feet, and I drag myself towards the shore, till I’m almost out of the water, exhausted.
Gavner arrives a few seconds later, even more worn out than me.
- Wow, Darren, congratulations! I didn’t know you were so experienced a swimmer! – Larten says, coming out from the water and helping me to get up again.
- Congratulations to you, too, Gavner! What a competition! – Kurda says, slapping me on the back, and splashing him playfully.
- It’s true, you’re quick, Gavner! Where did you learn? – I say to him, getting closer to him, and complimenting him.
- However…I’m a bit stiff. – Gavner says, trying to lessen the thing. – You’re younger, and fitter than me, without doubt! However, you know, one of my Trials of Death consisted of just that, a swim against the furious upstream of a river.
- Trials of Death? And what are they? – I say, taking my dripping hand out from the water, and looking at him perplexed.
- They’re trials of strength and courage aspiring Generals have to subject themselves to. They aren’t a piece of cake, it isn’t rare that some vampires lose their lives, and I wish you to never have to go through a thing like that.
- Let’s hope so. – I think, moving my legs in the limpid water.
- Hey! Where has Harkat got to? – I add a while after.
I look round, shaking my head so that my hair stops to drip, and I see him under the beach umbrella, intently looking for something in the bags, sitting on a towel.
- Harkat? What are you up to? – I say, running towards him.
- Did you…forget…about…the ball? – he says, turning towards me and holding something in his lips.
- Oh! – I say, surprised.
- I have thought…I could blow…it up…seeing that…you vampires…might make a hole…in…it easily. – he says
- How did you know I adore playing ball? – I say, with my eyes glittering.
- We of…Little People…have…thousand of resources! – he says, finishing blowing it up.
Then, making it bounce with a kick, he throws it to Larten, intent on rubbing the fresh water on his skin, looking for some relief. But vampires’ reflexes are incredibly quick, so, despite he’s distracted, he catches it without difficulty, and he throws it to the others
We throw ourselves into the water, to join the match that’s going to begin.
- Harkat, Darren and me against Gavner and Kurda. Are they ok, as teams? – Larten says, excited. I had never seen him so enthusiastic! A new light shinimg in his eyes.
- Sure! Go a little further one, let’s pretend there is a net, here. – I say, addressing to Gavner and Kurda.
- Volleyball! Fantastic! – Gavner giggles. – I’ll lick you, this time! – he adds then, talking to me, defiantly.
I smile, and I prepare to play.
We start, Larten raises the ball in the air, and he sends it onto the other side, with an incredible speed. But it isn’t enough, since Kurda catches it easily, and he passes it, quick, to Gavner.
The latter passes it again towards us, and I throw myself into the water in the attempt to get it, but I manage only to header it, while my face sinks in the water. I re-emerge immediately, just in time to see Harkat, fast, leaping out of the water and catching it. Then, he throws it again to our opponents. Kurda bales out to get it, but he trips like me and the ball ends up in the water!
Everything happened at an incredible speed! I notice with the corner of my eye a blonde boy looking at us astonished, from far away. He must think we’ve professional athletes, despite being very distant, I can glimpse his eyes shining with admiration.
- One nil for us! – I say, shaking my fists in the air, happy, looking away fast from the boy.
- Ball! – Larten says, preparing to throw it again.
And the match starts again. While I play, and I follow the ball with the glance, I feel a sensation I believed I had forgotten. The happiness, the joy, the pure pleasure of having fun and a great time with the people you’re most fond of. I feel a sensation of warmth inside me, that has no dealings with the outer sultriness, it’s like if my heart was beside itself with joy! Everything seems idyllic to me, I’m delighted at everything, even the silliest things, and I smile even when Kurda and Gavner score against us. It’s marvellous! The world is marvellous! What on the Earth could go wrong?
At the end of the match, me, Harkat and Larten win twenty-one to nineteen.
Even Harkat, despite his little build, has turned out to be an exceptional batter!
- A challenge to the death, eh? – Larten says, looking at Kurda, looking satisfied.
- Yeah, it was hard! I didn’t believe you were so sprightly! – Gavner comments.
- Let’s play again! Let’s play again! – I say, very excited, splashing water everywhere.
- Not here… - Larten says, becoming unexpectedly serious.
At the beginning I don’t understand the reason, then the answer arrives to me by itself, withering me. Larten is looking worried at his skin, slightly red.
At that sight, I start too, and I fall silent, like I was struck by lightning.
- Hey, we want the return mach! – Gavner says, but then he looks at his skin, and he jumps too.
- Yeah, but in the shade… - Larten limits himself to answer.
I seize his arm, there is no time to waste, and we get out from the water like that.
Kurda and Gavner do the same, slowly, to not draw other bathers‘ attention.
Harkat follows us, making himself small, hoping not to be noticed.
Nobody seems to be paying him any attention, fortunately. Or, at least, nobody notices…his particularity.
But in the meantime the beach has become crowded, and a lot, in addition! There are three or four other beach umbrellas, a few metres away from ours, children playing in the water, splashing and running after each other, and girls laying down to sunbathe not very far from there. Every one of them, luckily, minds his own business, so going unnoticed isn’t difficult at all.
The shed of the old man is crowded with Sunday tourists, like us, ready to enjoy a relaxing day at the sea. There is also a booth that sells ice-creams, always his. Everything is so different from the desolation of shortly before!
While the vampires go, running, towards the coolness of the trees, I recover the solar lotion and I reach them.
As soon as we’re behind the trees, I spread them, with energy, another generous quantity of cream, laying it out well with my hands. Also this time Harkat helps me, goings to a lot of trouble as best as he can, and treating Gavner.
- Aaaaah! – Larten says. – What a relief! Thank you, Darren.
- Are you sure you’re spreading on me some cream and not ice, instead? – Kurda says, while I freshen his skin.
- Yes, I am…you’ve got burnt a bit, unfortunately. – I say, looking at his skin as red as a beetroot.
- It was only to be expected – he sighs. – It will be better remaining in the shade, who knows how long we’ve been in the water! It’s incredible how you lose the notion of time when you’re having fun!
- Gavner…is the…least…battered. – Harkat comments, looking at his skin, in comparison with the others, only slightly reddened.
I caste a glance at my arms, but I notice nothing strange. I don’t marvel about that, but I’m relieved anyway, in a sense.
- Fortunately! – I say.
- I bet we have not been in the water more than half an hour. But I am afraid it is enough to have this effect on us. – Larten says, sadly.
- Go on, don’t distress yourself! We know it would have happened. – I console him. – We have to accept it. We’ve had fun, and that’s the only thing that really matters.
- It’s better… if we rest…a little…in safety…and in the shade…now. – Harkat suggests.
- I couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t feel exactly fit. – Kurda says, looking at his leg, covered with a new white layer, and groaning when he touches one of the most reddened points.
We set off again for the beach umbrella, we aren’t running, this time, to not take unnecessary risks. What importance would it have? The sun has already done its damage.
I sit under the beach umbrella with them, in an embarrassed silence.
- I’m sorry…I… - I say.
- Go on, do not worry about that. – Larten says to me. – We knew it since the beginning, like you have already said. It was interesting. It is not your fault, Darren, it is our nature.
- Yeah, we’ve done all that was possible, but it’s better not go too far! – Kurda says.
But, despite their words, I don’t feel better at all. I continue to feel guilty for something I haven’t done, and a new silence falls among us.
- Who can play cards? – Gavner says, all at once.
- What game? – Kurda asks.
- Rummy…what do you think about that, Kurda? – Gavner says, pulling out a little bunch of cards from his bag, and opening it, paying attention to not ruin the fragile box with his sharp nails.
- But of course! – he says, taking up the challenge immediately.
- And you aren’t going to play without me, eh?! – Larten says, going nearer to the bunch, interested. – Can you play, Darren? – he asks me, then.
- To tell the truth…no, I can’t. – I admit. – How do you do it? – I say, coming nearer too.
- It’s complicated to explain…and then I think you would find it boring. And if you went to take a stroll with Harkat, instead? Take advantage of it, you that can! – Kurda suggested to me, with a touch of envy. I like the idea, playing cards has never been my passion.
- I don’t think…it’s…a good idea. – Harkat says, worried. – It’s already…a miracle…they haven’t…noticed me…before.
- You might put a towel on, and your cap, too, like you did before. – Larten suggested to him.
- Right…I didn’t think….about that. – he says, throwing the towel on himself. I take some coins with me, before I go.
- Let’s go, then! – I say, with enthusiasm, when I’m ready.
- Bye, be careful! – Larten recommends to me.
- I’ll bring you something to eat, is that OK? – I say.
- Hmmm…of course! I’ve just a little pang of hunger! – Gavner says, smacking his lips.
We go off together, leaving the three vampires to play under the beach umbrella, away from the fatal rays of the sun. We walk for a while by the foreshore, with the waves that lap against our feet, till we arrive again at the old man’s shed.
- Hey, Harkat! – I say, all at once. – Do you fancy an ice-cream?
- What’s…this? – he asks, with his eyes popped.
- What?!? You don’t know what an ice-cream is? – I say to him. My turn to be surprised, this time.
- Erm…no, I don’t.
- It’s a fresh thing…and very, very tasty! Have you ever tasted it?
- I believe…not.
- There is always a first time! Everyone likes ice-cream! And I bet that vampires are also crazy about it! – I say, grasping his arm and running towards the little booth.
There weren’t many people, this time…there is only a person before us, the same boy that shortly before was staring at us, incredulous, when we were playing in the water.
When he turns, he recognizes us, and a smile of admiration appears on his face. In the meantime, I come forward.
- Five chocolate cones, please. - I say
- Oh...hello, son! You again is it? - the old man says, smiling at me, from behind the ice-cream counter, and bending down to fill the cones.
- There! – he says, giving me them after a while. – It’s three pounds. – he says, then.
- Thanks, goodbye! – I say, handing him the coins, and starting to lick my ice-cream.
In the meantime, I offer Harkat his, and he looks at it, perplexed, like he didn’t know exactly what he is supposed to do.
- Look at how I do it! Lick it, like that! – I say, hastening to stop a drop of ice-cream that was draining along the cone.
Meanwhile, we set off towards the beach umbrella, and Harkat helps me bringing other two ice-cream cones.
- It’s…tasteless… - Harkat tells me, perplexed. – But it’s…fresh…I like it.
- What? Tasteless? – I say.
- I can’t taste flavours…do you…remember?
- Oh! – I say.
How could I forget about it? I curse once more my short memory. In the meantime, talking, we’ve almost arrived at the vampires.
I immediately think to take them by surprise, to enjoy myself a little, seeing how they’re intent on playing, but trying to catch a vampire is no easy task, so I forget it at once.
- Here they are! – I say, giving them each a cone.
- What is this? – Larten says, looking at me, perplexed, exactly like Harkat had done.
- It’s an ice-cream…haven’t you ever see one? – I explain, looking at him even more perplexed than him.
- Yum…how did you know I adore chocolate? – Gavner says, starting to lick his.
- Go on, Larten! You don’t know what an ice-cream is? You can’t be serious! – Kurda says, licking his with gluttony.
- Erm…no. – he says, blushing. I notice it perfectly, despite he’s already red because of the burns!
- Maybe…at your time they didn’t exist? – I say
- I suppose not. – Larten smiles. – But I have never moved a lot into the world of humans, like you know, or, at least, not as much as Kurda and Gavner. But I am curious, it looks good. – he says, holding his cone and starting to lick it.
- Hmmmm….not bad. – he adds, after he had eaten a little of it, with his lips brown with chocolate.
- I remain…to play…with you…can I? – Harkat says. – Forgive me…Darren…but I feel…a bit….tired. I bet….the sun….isn’t good…even…for me.
- Ok, it doesn’t matter. – I say, trying to hide my disappointment. – I’ll carry on walking a bit longer, then, see you later! – I say, greeting him and the others, and licking away a little ice-cream from my chin.
- See you! – Kurda says, raising his eyes for a while from the cards he holds in his hands. – Ah! I tricked you! – he adds, after, addressed to Gavner, and putting them on the ground.
- Damn! – Gavner says. – You always manage to win!
I go towards a white rock, very flat, that I had already seen before, just near the shore, and I sit there, enjoying the ice-cream and shaking my feet in the water. How long since I had tasted something like that!
I think again about the bat broth, the fried mouse, the raw venison and about all the other lets say.. unusual food… I ate since I had become a half-vampire.
Licking this delicacy, my stomach turns at just the thought!
I look also at the other people, I observe them playing in the water breezy, relaxing, splashing and I listen to what they say. I don’t find it difficult, I hear very well even the furthest conversations. Then I raise my eyes, and I look at the sun and at the clouds. The breeze of shortly before hasn’t stopped, it’s a pleasure feeling it ruffling my hair. I caste a glance at my friends, they’re still playing cards, they’ve just burst out laughing noisily. Then, starting to bite the wafer of the ice-cream, I lay down completely on the rock, staring at the sky.
Taking a stroll alone isn’t all that funny, and I already feel the boredom pervading me again. I finish the ice-cream, licking my fingers with gluttony, then I shut my eyes, dozing lazily in the sun.
I’m going to fall asleep, when it seems to me I hear some steps in the water, just near me, as if somebody was coming nearer.
- Hey…hello! – somebody says behind me, suddenly.
I can’t help a start, I lose my balance and I fall into the water with a belly-flop.
I re-emerge splashing water everywhere, I lay my knees on the soft seabed and I turn round, perplexed.
- Sorry…I didn’t want to frighten you. – somebody says.
The water drips copiously from my hair, but I recognize him immediately. It’s the boy from earlier!
- Hello! – I say, trying to be friendly. – Don’t worry…you’ve only taken me by surprise! – I smile.
- What’s your name? – he asks me, coming up to me and helping me to get up.
- Darren…what about you? – I say, naturally.
- Daniel. – he answers me. – Nice to meet you! – he says, giving me his hand.
I’m going to give mine, too, but I suddenly remember what might happen if I shook it, and I stop in the air.
- What’s the matter? – he asks me.
- Nothing…I’m only hurt a little, falling. – I lie, pretending that my wrist is aching. With the corner of my eye, I notice that Larten and the others have turned round to look at me. Then I decide that it would seem strange not to shake it, so I do, using as little strength as possible. Fortunately, everything goes well. After the handshake, there is a moment of silence. I study Daniel, curious. He must be my age, he has soft blonde hair, that falls in front of his face, in handfuls, and naïve light blue eyes. His swimsuit is the same colour. He reminds me…of Sam.
Yeah, him all right! The boy I struck up a friendship with many years ago, at Cirque du Freak, and who died, horribly murdered by the Wolf Man. The memory is painful, and thinking again of that episode, I feel a sharp pang.
- You know…I was looking at you, before. – Daniel says. – Goodness! Where did you learn to playthat way?
I was sure he would have asked me that.
So I smile, and I limit myself to reply: - Nowhere. It’s only a question of practice, I suppose.
- Practice? To play that way, I should train for centuries! And neither were the people that were with you inferior to you!
- You mean my uncles and my brother? – I say, swallowing at this other lie. It’s certainly the less risky thing to say.
- Yeah, obviously! Are they professional athletes or what? – he asks me.
- Let’s say so. The sport is a family tradition. – I say.
- And it’s evident! You’re fantastic! And what a swim, before! I saw that, too!
- Oh, well…thanks. – I say, thanking him for the congratulation.
- You’re doing very well! – he repeats. – I wish I was so good.
- You’ve only got to get some practice. – I insist.
- If only that was enough! You’re talented, Darren, I have no doubt about that!
- Go on, you’re embarrassing me. – I say. It’s the honest truth, this time.
- But it’s true! – he says.
We continue talking for a bit longer. Obviously I can’t tell him the truth, even if I wish it so much! But what would it happen if I told him: “Daniel, don’t get frightened, but I have to confess something to you, I’m a half-vampire and those aren’t my uncles but adult vampires?”. He would probably run away as fast as his legs will carry him, cursing the day he ran into me! Or he would laugh in my face, because naturally, according to the commonplace, the vampires would melt like the snow, if they stayed at the sun. So, I weight each word of mine, but at the same time I speak naturally.
Daniel is terribly nice, and he knows a lot of jokes! It seemed as if I had known him all my life, and after a while I find myself treating him like I had always done with the other vampires. We also played together for a while in the water, splashing each other and laughing for everything.
How much time had passed since I talked with anyone my age, when was the last time, another human? It seemed centuries to me, even if I’m sure it can’t be much more than a few months, since I left, leaving Evra at the circus.
- Do you feel like having lunch with us? – I ask him straight off, without reflecting upon it, smelling in the distance an odour of grilled meat. There must be a restaurant, in the vicinity, and that smell is so intense that it almost takes my breath away. Only then I notice how very hungry I am. But for Daniel it must be barely perceivable.
- You’re asking me? Sure! I believe my grandpa has nothing against it. – he says, referring to the old man at the booth. – You know, it’s him that runs everything, here. He has a booth, a shop, and even a little restaurant! I’m sure he will be very glad to have you as guests!
- Oh! So that’s why he didn’t make you pay for the ice-cream, then! – I comment , jokily. I had already noticed that, but I didn’t pay attention to it overmuch. – Do you really think that? – I add, immediately after, surprised by such a generous offer.
- Of course, why shouldn’t I?
- Ok, then! Wait for me here for a while, we’ll come immediately. – I say, and I set out on the run towards the beach umbrella, already anticipating a delicious lunch.
- Hey guys, what do you think of… - I say, just arrived.
- We already know everything. And obviously…how could we refuse? My mouth is already watering! – Kurda says, radiant.
- But how… - I say, perplexed.
- You are forgetting our hearing! – Larten says. – We’ve heard everything. That Daniel seems really nice, and I am really hungry! How not to take advantage of it? – he adds, massaging his belly.
- I agree! And then…it’s in the shade! – Gavner says, leaping to his feet.
- Wow! Great! Let’s go, then! – I exclaim, getting into my clothes quickly and running again to Daniel, while the vampires also get dressed again.
- Here we are, Daniel. – I tell him. – These are my uncles: Larten, Kurda and Gavner. And he’s Harkat, my brother.
- How do you do! – he says, smiling and shaking their hands.
- The pleasure is all mine! - they answer, returning the handshake with the greatest caution. Fortunately Daniel seems not to notice anything strange, apart from Harkat’s skin colour.
He starts, seeing him!
- What’s the matter with him? – he asks me.
- A bad skin disease…it’s better not talk about it. – I say, changing the subject quickly. Shortly after, we’re sitting around a wooden table on the veranda of a lovely little restaurant, with my new friend.
- I saw you playing, before, you’re so fantastic! – Daniel says, chatting with my friends.
- Thank you. Like Darren has already told you, we are a family that play a lot of sport. – Larten says. It’s a luck that he has heard the conversation of before, or we would have ended up by contradicting each other! While Daniel makes friends with my “relatives”, I start to turn over the pages of the menu, and Kurda looks at the pages with me.
- Choose also for us, please, I am so hungry that I would eat everything! – Larten says.
- Don’t I know it! – Gavner agrees.
I know perfectly well why he has suggested we do it this way, and I limit myself to smile and to tell him that it’s OK.
I see Daniel observing charmed Larten’s scar and Kurda’s scratches, and I’m sure he’s dying to know how they got them, but he restrains himself from asking it.
- Feel you free to order whatever you want, don’t worry! – he says after a while, smiling.
- What do you recommend as being good? – I ask Daniel, after a while, closing the menu with a single blow, not knowing at all what to choose from that list of delicacies.
- Let’s see… - he says. – Let me think… - What do you think of, just to start, a seafood salad for everyone? Then, as first course, spaghetti with prawns, and as second course a meat grill, with chips as a side dish, and if you feel like it, also a dessert!
- Indeed, we do! – Gavner says, laughing.
- Perfect! My mouth is already watering! – I say.
- I’ve always adored fish! – Kurda adds.
- Ok! Got it! – Daniel says, cheerful, getting up and going towards a waiter to tell him what we had ordered.
After a while, we find ourselves enjoying one of the most satisfying meals of our lives. Everything is delicious, the grill is one of the best I’ve ever tasted, the sweet-and-sour sauce complemented with it was simply exquisite, and the atmosphere was made even more pleasant by Daniel’s funny jokes, and by the friendly climate that seems to have been been created among us. The vampires are perfectly at their ease, they joke and they have fun also with the old man, who in the meantime has joined us. I had never seen them so serene and breezy before, especially while they were among humans!
At the end of the meal, some enormous ice-cream tubs are served to us, very creamy and full of whipped cream, with a lot of wafers and little cookies to accompany it! Such tastiness! What could we wish better? It was an excellent meal!
We eat heartily, happy, continuing to laugh and joke as if we knew each other all our lives.
- Ah, I’m chock-full! – Gavner says, eventually, scratching the bottom of his tub with a little spoon and massaging his belly, satisfied.
- Me too! – I say, hiding mine quickly, that I had grazed with my teeth. It’s a bad habit I haven’t managed to break yet.
- Burp! – Harkat says, making a burp. – Whoops!
We all giggle.
- Don’t worry, did you know that in Arab countries burping at the end of the meal it’s a sign you’ve appreciated the food very much? – the old man says, whose name is Colin.
- Really? – Harkat says, looking at him.
- Yeah!
- Burp! – I say, immediately after. – I’d say HE has appreciated, no doubt about that! – I add, indicating my belly.
We burst out laughing again.
Also Colin has turned out to be very nice, exactly like his nephew! He told us that he had a hard past: in his youth, he had always had to earn his living by the sweat of his brow, and now he runs this splendid beach. He feels himself to be a little its protector, since in past times he managed to avoid a lido being built on it, thus rescuing the flora and fauna from the chaos that too many tourists would have brought here.
- But can you imagine that? Destroying that corner of paradise this way! Only for money!
- Terrible, really. – Larten says, admiring within himself.
In the meantime, he stands up from the chair, dragging it on the wood floor.
- Are you going to stop off here a little more? – Daniel asks, casting us a sad glance.
- You bet! – Kurda says.
- Is it possible to rest a little in the shade, maybe under that good scrub of trees? We aren’t used to the sun very much, as you can see. – Gavner says, showing his reddened arm.
- Oh, but sure! It’s just the ideal spot to take a rest, at this time going round under the sun isn’t recommendable! Do you want some hammocks, too? – Colin says, hospitable as usual.
- It’s perfect, I would say. – Larten agrees.
- Ok, let’s start to go then, me and my grandpa are coming in a while. – Daniel says, disappearing behind a corner, followed by his grandpa.
We set off under the sun, whose light at that time is terribly strong. Fortunately Colin and Daniel aren’t with us, or they would certainly have notice the grimace of pain stamped on my friends’ faces, while we walked speedily towards the scrub of trees. The sun is high in the sky, and it shines implacable, it’s a bit a nuisance even for me!
- What a hearty meal, guys! – I comment , to let my mind wander away from the thought of the great heat.
- I wonder why we don’t have cooks like those , at the Mountain. – Larten jokes, still smacking his lips.
- It’s marvellous, I can’t believe our luck is real! – Kurda says.
- Vampires’ luck! – Harkat says, laughing.
- Sssst, lower your voice. – Gavner tells him.
- Sorry…I didn’t…think…about it. – he hastens to apologize.
- Go on, never mind, you didn’t talk all that loudly, after all. – Gavner reassures him.
We all sweat in profusion, while we are talking, everything seems to require an incredible exertion. Here we are in the shade. As soon as the vampires are again sheltered, they sigh with relief. Meanwhile, I go to recover our things, that we had left under the beach umbrella.
After a while, here they are, Colin and Daniel coming towards us, carrying some coloured hammocks, that look very, very comfortable! We knot them round the trunks of the trees, straining the ropes well, and Daniel and his grandpa give us a hand. I had never seen people so cordial and hospitable! They treat us as if we were very close friends, while in reality I had only met Daniel a few hours before!
- Sleep well! – Daniel wishes us, laughing.
- Thanks, see you later, Dà. – I say, flopping into a yellow hammock and getting a towel.
We spend the burning afternoon taking a nap, the noise of the waves and the gentle rustle of the leaves, moved by the breeze, have a soporific effect. And…(unfortunately!), there is also Gavner’s snoring! But it doesn’t matter, everything is so relaxing that I find ignoring him very easy. With the belly full to exploding, I sense a strange sleepiness, turning over in the hammock, groaning with pleasure. I don’t realize how the time runs quickly, and I fall asleep, pressing close kindly to a stuffed cushion, also brought by Colin and his nephew. Also the others relax completely, sheltered from the fatal rays of the sun. What relaxation!
But the awakening isn’t as sweet. I’m the first to wake up, hearing some screams in the distance, and I almost fall from the hammock for the surprise.
- Help! Help! Help me! – someone shouts desperately, from the sea.
I recognize immediately that voice. It’s Daniel’s!
I stand up immediately, to run to see what’s happening, my heart starts to beat faster. Far away, among the waves, I see my friend floundering terrorized, kicking his legs desperately. But the more he kicks them, the more he seems to be going away from the shore! What the hell is happening?
Also my friends stand up, worried. All the bathers, attracted by the shouts, look at the scene, unable to react. I’m astounded, too. Where is the enormous stretch of water of this morning? All that I can see are dark waters that bellow furious, very high waves and black clouds offshore. Is a storm going to break?
- Oh, Daniel! Daniel! – Colin says, desperate, holding his head with his hands.
- What is happening? – Larten says, running near him, perfectly awake.
- The current! The ocean! They change so quickly…Daniel was bathing out at sea…and he couln’t manage to get back ashore!– he says, with the voice broken by the fear. – Oh! He will drown! Danieeel!
I cast a glance at the stormy ocean, and, despite the fact that he’s very distant, I can distinctly see Daniel floundering among the furious waves in the desperate attempt to keep afloat.
My mind hasn’t a moment of hesitation. Despite the threatening bellow of the waters, and the waves several metres high, I immediately throw myself into the water, passing under the crest of a particularly high one, and, as soon as I re-emerge, I start to swim with powerful strokes, piercing the water, before some waves have the time to fling me ashore again.
The noise is deafening, the power of the ocean surrounds me with all its fury.
- Darren! Are you crazy? Nobody can swim against so furious a current! – Colin shouts behind me, in the distance.
- Not me! I must save him!!! – I shout at him, in return, carrying on swimming very quickly, heedless of his warning.
I can’t allow it to happen again. I can’t lose him…like Sam. It’s the only thing I know, all the rest has no importance at all.
It’s true, the current is terribly strong, and it continues to shove me on all sides. It seems to me I’m in a whirlpool! And the waters, black and menacing, all round me, seems to be dying to swallow me and take me down with them. But, appealing to all my half-vampires resources, I manage to resist the strength of the elements, fighting against the current and continuing to pierce the water with powerful strokes and legs strokes, and after what seems to me an eternity, I glimpse Daniel’s blonde head of hair. It almost doesn’t move anymore…there isn’t a second to waste! With a new lash of energies, I continue to fight against the furious current and the terribly strong wind that blinds me, and that makes each of my movements even more tiring! Here I am, at last! I can see it! It’s just beside me!
- Daniel! Take my…hand – I say, panting with the effort, as soon as I reach him, stretching my hand out of the water.
- Oh Darren! Help me!!! – he says, panic-stricken, catching hold of me with all his weight, instead of clinging to my hand.
- Hey, not that way, not…
I don’t manage to finish the phrase, my mouth fills with salt water, and we both end up underwater, submerged by a wave more furious than the others. The current carries us down, down, in the icy and turbid water. I shake my legs desperately, in the attempt to go up again afloat, but Daniel’s weight keeps me down! I see him staring at me from underwater with the look blinded by terror, and moving at least without any energy in his arms.
- I’ll drown! I’ll drown! – I immediately think, too, continuing to flounder like a madman in the attempt to go up again.
Then, screwing up my eyes because of the burning caused by the salt water, my head becomes clear again, the worst of the panic attack has passed. I decide to swim towards the seabed, and trying to re-emerge a little further on, hoping to find a favourable current. I drag Daniel with me, holding his arm, fortunately the water makes him much lighter. I have to hurry up! He has shut his eyes, and opened his mouth, and he barely moves his arms or legs. I feel my heart hammering against my chest, the pure adrenalin running through my veins, the anxiety and the panic pervading me, pitiless.
Kicking my legs with all my remaining strength, I lean on the sandy seabed, and I push upwards, managing at last to re-emerge. As soon as we’re out of the water, we both open our mouths, and we breathe in the air with avidity.
- Daniel, Daniel? It’s me…Darren. – I say, moving my legs with fury to keep myself afloat, among the bellow of the waves.
- Da…- he says, but he’s so exhausted that he doesn’t manage even to speak.
- Don’t strain yourself talking now…hold tight! – I shout, making him slip on my shoulder, before another furious wave sends us once again underwater. That way, all my limbs are free to swim, and to try to resist current that continues to pull us, furious, out at sea. The return turns out to be extremely more tiring than the going, but the luck is on our side.
No more waves send us underwater, and, even if after a while we both risk being shattered against a big rock, fortunately a propitious current pulls us immediately far from there. My heart doesn’t show signs of slowing down…it’s the first time I’ve faced the death that way, and what a terrible death!
Daniel is a dead weight on my shoulders, but he has caught hold of me with all his remaining strength, I feel him shivering, and not only because of the fear.
I start to feel exhausted, too. My eyes are dimmed, and the shore still seems to be kilometres away from us. But I bear up, and I continue to swim, knowing that the salvation of both of us depends on me, only on me. And on my blood, naturally!
At last, after what seems to me an eternity, here I am at my destination! I almost can’t believe my eyes! Seeing the shore so near is supposed to give me a new lash of energy, but on the contrary I’m completely exhausted, and I let a passing wave bring me ashore, with Daniel still on my shoulders. We both roll on the sand, and only that soft sand absorbs the impact against the ground, that is heavy anyway. If the ground had been pebbles, we would have been terrible hurt.
Daniel lies on the ground, fainted, with his eyes shut and his arms in a strange position.
I gather my left strength, and, raising up quickly and splashing water everywhere, I pull him away from there, dragging him on dry ground, safety from waves. After that, panting like a dog, I raise my eyes and I see a lot of people round us, I hear them talking excitedly. Their faces are indistinct, it seems I’m staring at many grey puppets. Then, everything fades away, it becomes darker, than black…and I fall to the ground too, like Daniel. I regain consciousness suddenly, when somebody throws on me a pail of icy water, shortly after. I sit, spitting, with my hair dropping. I feel terribly bad, all my muscles ache and I’ve a heavy headache.
What happened What am I doing here? Where is the Mountain…and…
Suddenly, I remember everything, the awareness takes the place of the dizziness.
My first thought is for Daniel, and I sigh with relief when I see him sitting beside me, and staring at me with a smile full of thankfulness. His stare is still vacant, as if he expected at any moment to be carried away by a wave and to end up underwater.
- Darren…you’ve saved my life! – he says, hugging me and crying copiously for the just felt fear.
I turn towards him and I slap him on the back, to reassure him, like you would do with a young child.
- Cheer up…we did it.
- Nobody can swim with this sea! What a courage! That boy is a prodigy! – I hear an old lady saying, round us.
- A hero! We’ve a hero!
I raise my eyes, and I see we’re surrounded by a lot of people, they clap happily and cheer my name! The enthusiasm is so much that they almost bear me shoulder-high all over the beach! First among all, I see Kurda with an empty pail in his hand, that, heedless of the rays of the sun (however, they aren’t a threat anymore, because they’re hidden by the heavy storm clouds), he gives us aid, bending down to us.
- You’re alright, fortunately! – he says, taking away with a kind gesture my wet locks from my face.
- You are alive, Darren! – Larten says, hugging me with a warmth I didn’t know of him. The embrace is a bit too strong, I’m almost out of breath, but I’m too happy to complain!
- Hurrah for Darren! Hurrah for Darren! – the crowd shouts, around us.
- Daniel! Darren! You’re alright! – Colin says, rushing beside his nephew and clasping him in his arms, wetting him with tears.
- Yeah…I am OK…I…I believed…I was going to die… - Daniel says, sobbing.
- Go on, everything is over now. – his grandpa tells him, comforting him.
- It’s al right, Daniel… - I say, standing up. I have my back turned on the crowd that has thronged round us, and I stare at the ocean, that appears black and menacing, now that every ray of sun has disappeared. I see the waves breaking against each other with a roar, defrauded by their victims, as if they’re contemplating revenge, I feel their deafening noise in my ears. And I ask myself once more how the hell I managed to make a venture like that. It seems really too much to me, even for an adult vampire! And yet, I managed to. But does it matter, after all? Daniel is safe and sound! I’m safe as well! We’re alive! We didn’t drown!
I’m so happy that I run to hug Gavner and the others.
- You’re…the hero…of the day! – Harkat tells me, stretching in all his stature to press close to me.
- Oh… - I say, embarrassed. I try to not appear flattered, but inside I’m proud of myself. And I start to believe that even being a half-vampire can has its positive sides. Maybe, not even an Olympic swimmer would have managed to fight against the fury of those waves. While I did it! Without me, Daniel would have come to a terrible end.
Most of curious people has already gone, lively discussing what they had just witnessed , some are still beside us, and they look at me with all the admiration a look is able to.
A pleased smile lights up my face, when I take Daniel by the hand, and we go to sit not very far from here, drying ourselves with fury with some towels Kurda had brought us and shivering with cold, drenched to the skin. After some hours, and a torrential rain that had forced all the bathers to beat a retreat, Daniel and me take refreshment with a substantial ice-cream and a lot of sweets at the booth to recover our strengths, and I even manage to joke about the matter. I already feel better, under the circumstances. It’s true, my legs are still rather sore, and I thought they wouldn’t have managed to sustain me for a long time, on the contrary they have carried me perfectly.
All at once, while we’re chatting as if nothing had happened, Daniel becomes serious.
- Darren…I don’t believe that many people would have risked their life that way for me…I…I…oh, thanks! Heartfelt thanks! I owe you my life! – he says, with a voice full of feelings.
- You don’t have to thank me…it was my heart that told me to do it. – I say, touching my chest. – I knew it was mad, that almost certainly we both could have drowned, but I had to try.
- And luck was on our side! – Daniel says, with a happy smile.
- Yeah, the luck of v… - I say, restraining myself just in time.
- What? – Daniel says, looking at me.
- No, nothing. I was going to tell a nonsense. – I say, looking away.
The other vampires are still having dinner not very far from here, discussing with Colin what had just happened. It isn’t necessary having the hearing of a half-vampire to hear how many times they’re repeating my name, during the conversation! I’m flattered, and I’m more and more proud of myself.
The red reflections of the sunset dye the ocean red. But now the waters are less furious, and in the sky there isn’t even a cloud anymore! It seems to me I even glimpse a rainbow, in the distance, but maybe it’s only my imagination.
- It’s true, then, after the storm everything becomes clear again all at once…! – I think.
I continue to caste glances at my bag, put down on the ground beside the chair I’m perched on. How quickly this day had passed!
A film of sadness appears on my face, and this time its me who becomes serious.
- Oh no…Darren…please, don’t leave! – Daniel says, as if he had read my thoughts.
- I’d like it so much, believe me, but unfortunately we can’t remain. If only it depended on me… - I say, sighing. A silent tear appears near my eye, but I repel it fast.
”Vampires are used to goodbyes, vampires are used to goodbyes…we have to be strong, we have to be strong…” I continue to repeat to myself, to bear up. But doing it doesn’t help me at all.
- I will never forget you! I hope so much you’ll come back, some day…you will always be welcome here! – Daniel says, throwing himself into my arms, moved like me.
- Neither will I! Who knows…maybe one day we’ll meet again. You know how it is… - I say, trying not to cry, sadly aware of the fact that, on the contrary, in all probability, that would have been our first and last meeting.
- I hope it so much! – he says, looking at me with his sad eyes. – Here, take this shell, so you will always remember about this holiday. – he says, handing me an orange one, comb-shaped, that he had in a pocket.
- Oh, it’s beautiful! Thanks! Hang on. – I say. – I’ve something for you, too.
I fumble into the bag with frenzy, then I pull out from there a shining and coloured star-shaped pendant. It’s one of the objects I’m most fond of, a gift from Annie, but I’m glad to give it to Daniel.
- Here, this one is for