Blue Eyes

Blue Eyes

Chapter 1

She was standing on top of a sky scratcher. Should she really do it? What would happen if she’d do it? It wouldn’t change anything. Well, maybe, if somebody would see her. What if? Would they kill her? No, she was too important, she knew too much. No. They would kill the human, who would have seen her. They would never risk loosing her knowledge, right?

Carefully she stepped back when she felt somebody else’s appearance. Bastet was here. The wind blew through her long, black, wavy hair. “I knew you wouldn’t do that. You would never risk a human life!” the tall man in a black coat said behind her, “Why ever… human are so… stupid, so weak, so useless. A human life is forced to end as food for our kind. After more than 4000 years you should finally accept that. The human are our food since time begun, and you should know that the best, you are one of the oldest!” “Shut up Bastet! You know how I think about that!” angrily she turned around and stared at him gloomily.

Bastet lifted his hands, “Peace, Magenta! Peace! I did not come to upset you, Magenta; I just wanted to tell you more about what’s going on.” Magenta looked at him still angry, “You have permission to speak!” Bastet sighed. “We know you are mighty. In fact, you are the last of the first generation. But, and you seem to forget that all the time, if you go on refusing to tell them the knowledge the first generation owned, they have other possibilities to make you talk! You might be mighty, but you’re the only one on your side. They are not alone, they have many followers. Magenta! What ever you do, be careful!” he explained worried and glanced at Magenta’s small and breakable looking body.

The angrier the black haired lady got, the taller she seemed to be. Bastet had always feared her, and he still did. Magenta was the last of the first generation. She was the last keeper of the knowledge. But she was more than just a gigantic living library; she also kept the old secrets about the art of magic and fighting. Once she had told him, the knowledge she kept, was too powerful to share. If somebody would know what she knew, the world as the human knew would die. Deep in his heart he knew Magenta was right. He didn’t like the human. But if the human were gone, there wouldn’t be any food for his kind.

“There is another way. You don’t need it. We don’t have to kill them.” The small woman started to explain. “No! Stop! I don’t want to know! I already am the first to be killed, so don’t give them what they want just like that! And stop reading my soul!” Bastet shouted. Magenta nodded, “Don’t worry, Bastet, as long as I am alive, they won’t dare to harm you. They know you’re the only one I’m talking to!” The tall man nodded and Magenta saw understanding in his eyes.

“There is something else!” he said and didn’t know how to start. For Magenta it was the first time in about thousand years, that Bastet didn’t know what to say. The last time he told her that they were coming to ask for the knowledge of the first generation and they wanted to arrest her. “They want me to tell you… to tell you that they have… They can do things to you, terrible things, to make you talk!” Bastet was really worried about it. But Magenta wasn’t at all, “I have ways to avoid that. I would kill myself before I would tell them about anything!”

Magenta really planned to kill herself before they could make her talk through pain or what ever method they thought would work on her. It wouldn’t be like dead, it was more the loss of all memory. More like loosing the soul. Like a jar of biscuits, but after that it was just an empty jar. That would be her, just an empty jar.

“Are you sure, Magenta?” Bastet asked worried, “I won’t ask how, but are you sure it’s going to be good for you?” Magenta smiled weakly, “It is the only way.” Bastet stared at her with wide eyes and couldn’t say a word. “But,” Magenta smiled again, “I don’t think it is going to be that bad. They are many, but they never met anybody of the first generation! You can believe me; you don’t have to worry about me.”

Bastet nodded slowly, his soul was more calm now, even the scared part, that was scared of Magenta was quiet. She seemed to be so weak, so breakable. How could she stop that disaster? The tall man wasn’t sure how to handle Magentas plan to die. The black man had no romantic feelings for her. It was his job to communicate between them and Magenta. But still, he felt a kind of sympathy with Magenta. They thought, after thousand years of prison, Magenta would be weak and she would tell them about the secrets. She loved her freedom; she needed it like a fish needed water. After thousand years she still didn’t think about talking a single word about anything, just that the secrets were too powerful, too mighty. She didn’t try to escape. The black man was sure, that Magenta knew that it was impossible to escape.

“I want to go back into my room. You can leave, you don’t have to share my mood.” She said and seemed to be sad. She was sad, and it started to rain, as if she was controlling the weather with her mood. Bastet nodded and opened the door to step in after Magenta.

Chapter 2:

When Magenta was alone, she fell onto her sofa and started to cry. Her situation was so desperate! She could bet she had always been the only one of the first generation, who never wanted to kill, no matter what! But she had to do something! She couldn’t stay here any longer; she needed to be free again! Thousand years of prison just had been enough!

The last of the first generation had been a bit foolish to hope they would give up after a few hundred years. For all the years she had believed there would be at least one good thing inside of them. She could still remember her first day in her personal prison, as if it was yesterday.

Bastet had come to warn her. He had been scared, and he still was. The black man told her to run, to escape, to hide. But instead of leaving, she prepared some tea for everybody and packed her stuff. A little while after Bastet had leaved a group of men arrived. Although they spilled the tea and broke everything, Magenta grabbed her bad and came with them peacefully. 

When she met Bastet in the gigantic building, that had been created to be her prison, he had been really shocked to see her, he had hoped she would have followed his advice and escaped. 

They created many protections to keep her inside her prison, like high protection doors out of steel and stone and in an extra gigantic wideness or spells. She could feel that there was something, like a soft breeze, but it couldn’t stop her. Magenta pretended to be locked up. 

Otherwise somebody would get hurt because of her, just because she wanted to leave. That’s why she had to stay. 

From time to time, somebody came to talk to her. They asked questions, but she wouldn’t answer. They wanted to know about a holy secret! She couldn’t just tell them about it! Never ever in her long life she could talk about her secrets! 

At first she told them the secrets were well hidden. So they went off to look for them. In caves, graves, pyramids, books and chests, everywhere! They studied the human history for some hints as well. But they couldn’t find anything. They couldn’t find what they were looking for. 

After that they started to be mean. They tried to torture her. No air. No food. No water. Pain without release. Nothing helped them. Her only reaction had been silence. She would just talk to somebody friendly and someone who wouldn’t talk to her like this. So she chose Bastet as the person she would talk to. He was polite and he had been the one who tried to help her.

But that was long ago. Now Bastet tried to survive. That was her fault. He hadn’t been pleased to hear about her decision, because now his long life was in danger to end abruptly and earlier as it should. It was just so silly of her!

But no matter what they tried to do, no matter how hard they tortured her, she didn’t tell them about the secrets!

Now the time had come to leave. While she thought about Bastet, she started to pack her stuff. They wouldn’t hold her back anymore. She had to leave. Thoroughly she brushed her long black hair, and braided it into a complicated braid. One last time she looked around in her room, did she have everything? She grabbed her bag and leaved the room. On her way out she had to face a few of the guards and send them sleeping. She hated violence. Soon enough she left the building and stepped out on the road. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and no clouds covered the sky. Happily Magenta walked down the road, without looking to the sides. The human world was just too beautiful to destroy.

All the human creations were different and always changing, some of them could get an update everyday. Others changed weekly. And some were still the same as many years ago. Sometimes, when Magenta had watched them from the top of her prison, she wandered why. Why did they change their things? Why did mankind develop new things every day? Didn’t they have everything already? And now she was free to explore all the things she had seen.

With a sigh she turned towards an empty road and walked all the way to the end, where the houses disappeared and little gardens and fields started to cover the view. In the west, where the sun started to set and all the trees and sheds turned into dark red, there was a lonely house. It was light blue with a fiery red roof, dark blue framed windows and doors and the closed bright orange curtains were waiting for her.

Carefully she entered the small room, fresh flowers stood on the drawer next to the door, in front of the flower pattern framed mirror. The oval carpet was as clean as it had been before she had left and no dirt was anywhere to be found. But that wasn’t the only hint for somebody’s presence, somebody’s care. Magenta felt the scent of an elderly lady, mere human, cat and fish and lot’s of cleaning liquid. But there was also the smell of new things.

Quietly the creature opened the door, slid through the thin space and explored the rest of her house. Everything was clean, decorated with flowers from the garden, except her bedroom. Her bedroom was the only thing that was exactly the same as before. The wide high bed still had the same bed sheets and linens and duvet, the same book beside her bed, the same order of books in the sideboard and the same orange curtains, which shielded the room of the bright sunlight and people’s stares. The only difference was the smell.

Not directly of course, but it smelled fresh, like flowers and some perfume. Surprisingly there was no scent of dirt or dust, only the freshness of her old and new room. With a relieved sigh she dropped down on her bed and just enjoyed the silence, the dim light through the curtains and the distant sounds of cars on the far away streets, and the animals in the trees and the garden. Magenta felt so good, so good that she fell asleep immediately.

The next morning she went to the bathroom and explored all the new things that had changed in there, all the modern bathroom equipment like the bath tub, the shower, the toilet and all the other things that had changed in the last thousand years. The towels in the white sideboard smelled like roses and the sea. When she opened the little cabinet behind the mirror, she found assorted make up utensils and creams and nail varnish and nail varnish remover and so much more. It was almost like her housekeeper had known she would come home. With a sigh she took off her long dress and went for a shower.

After Magenta had explored every corner of her cottage, she went out onto the sunny terrace to sit down on the bench to read. She hadn’t had the chance to read in all the time away from home.

Chapter 3

When Magenta opened her eyes to see the sun change the sky’s colours, she heard a rattling sound at the door, a key in the front door and the familiar sound of an opening door. Quickly she closed her book and stood up. Who was that? The steps wandered into the kitchen and a cupboard was opened and closed again. Curiously she stepped into the kitchen.

A tall man with dark brown tousled hair, dark jeans, black converse chucks, a white shirt and a leather jacket stood in her kitchen as if it was his own. In his hands he held a beautiful bunch of flowers and a knife to cut them into a good length for the vase. When he heard her enter the kitchen, he turned around in surprise and smiled a charming smile. His face was beautiful with the slim lips, the straight nose, the blue green eyes and the cute smile around his lips and eyes.

“Who are you?” Magenta asked cold but curious and looked at the flowers in his hands. “My name is Wyatt McCaffrey and I bring over flowers from my family’s shop. My grandma is the housekeeper here.” Wyatt said still smiling and put the flowers down on the counter, “And who are you?” “I own this house. My name is Magenta.” She replied calm, using her magic to know if he said the truth and asked, still looking at the flowers, “And who upgraded my house like this? Don’t take me wrong, Mr. McCaffrey, I really appreciate this, but I’m curious.” Wyatt nodded and said, “Well, my grandma told me the owner would come back soon. I thought that most of the stuff in here was quite outdated and not really usable. So I took the liberty to modernize everything here.” With his light eyes he looked at her thoroughly and added, “Except for the bedroom.”

Magenta nodded as well, “Thank you very much, not only you, your entire family. All these years they looked after this house and everything. I am really grateful for this loyalty.” “Don’t bother, I guess, my grandma loved this house and her task here since she was a small girl.” Wyatt shrugged his shoulders, “You know, her mother told her that it would be her task to look after this house someday and that her mother had given her the task before and so on. They kind of passed it down from generation to generation.”

Magenta smiled about this loyalty, and sighed, “I have to thank your family, I guess now your family’s task has ended, I am back and I intend to stay. From now on your people shall be free again.” The magic in her voice left a soft breeze behind and Wyatt looked around her if the door or a window had opened. He still seemed to be a little bit irritated by her words as he said, “Thanks, I guess. So anyway, now that you are here, what kind of flowers do you like? I mean I didn’t know so I just brought what ever I thought would fit in here, but I don’t know… maybe you want some different flowers, or no flowers at all?”

Now it was Magenta that looked a little irritated, didn’t she just release the spell that had let his family know what to do in this house while she was absent? Why was he still under this spell? Why did he still want to bring her flowers? She had given his family a fortune and when the progress brought online banking and everything she had used her mind to transfer a monthly payment to his family’s accounts. “I like all kinds of flowers.” Magenta said confused, “By the way, how much do I owe you for the modernization of my house?” Wyatt shook his head, “Nothing!” “But who paid for all this? I didn’t know this was done, otherwise I would have done something earlier!” she said still confused and looked around the modern kitchen. “My family kept money aside from the house owner’s wages for the house and repairs and all that stuff. There is still a lot of money, so if you need anything to be fixed or if you want to change anything, give me a call and I’ll look after it. I’m an electronics engineer, well, that’s my hobby anyway.” Impressed Magenta looked around the kitchen again, “I hope you’re aware that there is no need to keep money for the house and the repairs. If I ordered you to get me a bill for all the repairs and improvements you have done in here, would you do it?”

Wyatt shook his head, “Not a chance. If we would have had a way to contact you we would have told you that you transferred way too much money every month, but we didn’t even know your name, so we kept it aside to tend the house and the garden. Your family gave us quite some secure life for a few generations.”

Magenta sighed, “I am not aware of the worth of things at the moment, so I apologize if I had caused you and your family any trouble.” The young man shook his head, “Don’t worry about us. Thanks to your family my family too became quite rich. Anyway, after so many years, what made you come here? I never heard a word of anybody coming here to live not even any other relatives or something like this. Can I ask why your family kept this house over the generations without even visiting once?” Magenta laughed, “This has been my house for the last thousand years, and this is where I grew up. Why shouldn’t I want to come back here? Don’t misunderstand! I was taken prisoner for the last thousand years. I couldn’t return because I feared my kin might harm others for my disappearing but I just had to leave.”

His mouth dropped open a little and his eyes stared at her big and wide opened, his muscles were tightened and his fists trembled. “Who held you prisoner? You have to call the police!” he pressed through clenched teeth, but Magenta only laughed, “I don’t think so. You see, the problem is, that I could have left the first day if I wanted to. But if you would send poor policemen over to them, they would just take them as hostages to threaten me. They will probably still try to do that, but I can look after myself.” After a few seconds of silence the young man shook his head, “Did you just say you were taken prisoner for the last thousand years?” Magenta nodded. “How is that possible?” he asked irritated again.

“I am what you would call a vampire.” She shrugged her shoulders and looked out of the windows. The man’s face turned white and he didn’t look confident anymore. “Are you all right?” Magenta asked worried. Maybe she shouldn’t have told him the first time they met. But who said she would meet him ever again? “Are you joking?” he asked uncertain and looked at the flowers on the counter beside him. “No. But if you feel better, I won’t bite you.” Magenta said with a smile, “I don’t drink any blood.”

Uncertainty disappeared and suspicion appeared on his face, “Why… no, don’t, it’s actually none of my business. I just want to say welcome… back. And feel free to call me anytime you need something. My phone numbers are pre-programmed in the phone. If you need a computer I’ll get one by tomorrow and install everything. Do you want anything specific?” Magenta laughed, “No thank you. I presume you know better about computer and what ever is on the market right now, so if it wouldn’t trouble you too much I would be happy if you could get a computer for me. It doesn’t have to be by tomorrow. I have plenty of time.”

Wyatt shook his head and nodded after a while, “I guess you’re right. I’ll get a computer for you. Do you need anything else? I can get you a car, a bike, a motorbike, anything?” “I don’t even know how to drive a car!” Magenta laughed and watched the colour return in his face. “I can teach you!” he suggested quickly. The last of the first generation shook her head in disbelieve. These humans were really fun, she just didn’t understand why these power obsessed vampires wanted to destroy them. This one especially, just a moment ago he was stiff and pale fearing she had either lost her mind or was actually telling the truth about being a vampire and now he wanted to spend time with her.

“Maybe you could teach me how to ride a bike.” Magenta finally said with a happy smile, “I’ve always wondered how people did that. Driving a car on the other hand didn’t seem so hard and you are locked away. If you wouldn’t mind, maybe you could teach me when ever you have some of your precious time to spare for me.” “It would be my pleasure!” he said with a smile again.

“So!” she said curiously changing the topic, “Who chose all these things, all the furniture and everything?” “I did.” Wyatt said quietly blushing, “I can change it within a week if you don’t like it!” “No!” she protested quickly, “No. I really like it!”

Chapter 4 

After a while Wyatt looked at her seriously again, “But if you were held prisoner, how did you get away? Did they just let you go?” With a sigh Magenta looked at him for a while, should she tell him? Wouldn’t it endanger him and his family if he knew? On the other hand, she could cast a spell on his family to protect them from them.

“Would you mind changing location? To tell you the truth it might become a long story.” Magenta said when she heard a quiet rumbling from Wyatt, “Or maybe we could talk about it over dinner? Or I could tell you the next time you’re here?” “I’m sorry, it’s actually none of my business either!” he apologised quickly. “No, it’s ok; I think it is ok if you know.” Magenta said with a bright smile, “Besides, I think I’m a little hungry now.” Wyatt’s eyes opened a bit further again, and he stared at Magenta, as if expecting to see fangs in her mouth any second now. The last of the first generation burst into laughter.

“I told you I don’t drink blood!” she said still chuckling, and shook her head, “No, I was thinking about some normal food. After all, I want to test my new kitchen!” “Oh, ok, well, if it’s like that, I guess if I just told my family that I would be home later, they wouldn’t mind, I mean, I’m an adult and I can decide for myself.” He said with a smile, “And I’m working for you anyway, so I’ll cook something for you and you can relax?”

All Magenta could do was to laugh. This human was just so funny! In human years and compared to other human he was an adult, that was true, compared to her, he was a baby, probably not even considered a baby but a foetus. And still, he was there and acted all grown up, except for when he opened his mouth.

“Do you need anything from the garden? There should be some fresh herbs and such things there.” Magenta asked and looked out into the sun. She really missed her garden and her cottage. “Maybe some rosemary, if you can find it. I’m not a good gardener unlike the rest of my family, so I couldn’t tell you what to look for!” he said and shrugged his shoulders. “Rosemary used to be there at least before I left. I’ll be right back!” she said, turned around and went back outside and around the house to her herb garden.

The rosemary smelled lovely, so she picked a few twigs and inhaled the scent for a while, but quickly returned to the kitchen to give Wyatt the rosemary. “So, Wyatt, tell me about your family. Don’t you have a sister to do stuff like flower arranging in an empty house?” she asked after praising his lovely dinner. “I’m an only child, so there wouldn’t be a sister to do that. I mean it’s not that I don’t like to do that, it’s just that I am better in building and fixing things than in arranging flowers and naming flowers and knowing what they mean.” Wyatt said, “I still like to help out in my parents shop, but I prefer my own job and to take care of this house.”

“Is that what you do as a job as well? To repair or rebuild old houses?” she asked curious about her housekeepers’ family, especially about Wyatt. “You can say that, I’m mostly working as a freelance worker to do repair work and to build up furniture and such things and sometimes also as an interior designer. But I guess my main work is the flower shop and your house!” the young man said and smiled, “I’m sorry, but over the years I have grown to like it and it has been really fun to imagine how someone would live here. And now you’re here and you’re living here now again. It is almost like a dream come true.”

“Feel free to come by when ever you want.” Magenta said with a smile, “I’ll be busy these days, trying to find out who of my friends is still alive, although I think the list will be very short by now.” She shook her head and smiled again, “But that doesn’t matter, since I like to make new friends and I know that parting is really painful and hard. But this is the flow of life, especially since I lived for so long.”

“I’m so sorry!” Wyatt said sadly, “Loosing friends is always a hard thing!” Magenta looked at him amused, “Listen, Wyatt, that’s really cute, but loosing friends is hard, I could sing a song about that, but unfortunately you get used to it. If you live imprisoned, watching humanity for years and years, you get the chance to actually see everyone die. Time passes and you have no chance to make it slow down or stop. Everything just rushes past.” The last of the first generation sighed and shook her head, “Don’t think I don’t care, about humanity. That’s the reason why I decided to not kill humans anymore.”

“Wow!” Wyatt sighed, “That was deep. I guess I understand, well… not really, but I guess I get what you mean.” She chuckled and shook her head, “It’s complicated, but it’s ok.” “Luckily my friends and family are still alive!” he said and smiled.

When the sun had set, Magenta and Wyatt looked outside the window and sighed. “I guess I should go, I have to work tomorrow morning, but if you want I’ll bring over the computer, if I can get it and a telephone and that kind of stuff so you’re online and up to date.” Wyatt suggested and stood up. “Sure, I’ll be here, but you don’t have to rush, I’ve lived all my life without a computer or a telephone, so I’ll survive without it for a while.” Magenta chuckled and walked him to the door, “What time will you be done tomorrow? I might want to go visit an old friend of mine.” “I’ll be back here around seven I presume. Do you think your friend is still alive?” he asked curious now. “I hope so, I couldn’t tell for sure, but I wanna try.”

Chapter 5

Magenta sighed and got dressed. Wyatt had been really kind and friendly; he and his family had looked after her house so passionately. How could she repay that? With another sigh she got herself some breakfast and left the house afterwards. She used to have a couple of friends relatively close by, so the first ones she tried to find where the close ones. Naturally she didn’t have any horses anymore, so she had to walk and use the public transport. It was really exciting, since she had never used any of it before.

The little cottage her vampire friend Camille used to live in had disappeared. Instead there was a great modern mansion with security cameras and all kinds of things she didn’t know and around the mansion was a garden with lots of flowers and bushes and little rivers and bridges. Carefully she looked at the gate; a name plate announced this was the house of a Mister James Hudson. Magenta felt he was human and so was everyone else in the mansion, so she walked back to the subway to reach her next destination.

Magenta was not surprised to find the house of Lady Rosalie of England, an early princess of the United Kingdom through marriage, who moved into the depth of the neighbouring island after her husband had died, long gone and replaced by another mansion. This time she didn’t even look at the sign at the gate and just walked in without hesitation, since she felt the presence of the vampire.

Lady Rosalie of England was not as old as Magenta herself, not even half as old, but she had been a good friend during the last years before she had been imprisoned. Politely she knocked at the front door and waited. “Magenta!” Rosalie herself opened the door and looked at her old friend in surprise. “Rosalie, I’m glad to see you alive!” Magenta said with a smile. Rosalie through her arms around Magenta, hugging her tightly, “I thought you were dead!”

The last of the first generation chuckled, “They cannot take my life away from me. They cannot keep me imprisoned for their advantages.” “Oh Magenta, come in! Quickly! I have so much to tell you and to show you and to ask you! Where have you been all these years?” Rosalie blubbered excited and pulled her into the house and into a comfortable seating area.

“Those power obsessed ancestors tried to get the knowledge of my generation. With that knowledge they will throw every human being into slavery and everyone else as well. Please tell me you do not agree with them.” Magenta paused with a plea. “Never!” Rosalie spit the word out, “Those bastards have killed my late husband before I was able to give him the present of immortality!”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know that.” Magenta said sadly, “I am glad to hear that you oppose them though. Do you know what happened to Camille? I went to the place she used to live, but it was deserted, a human lives there now!” “A human?” Rosalie sighed, “The lady leaves and her diet takes over her ground and house! Well, I have not heard of her death. I cannot tell you where she is though. She deserted only a few hundred years after your disappearing. I fear she changed sides though…”

Magenta shook her head, “That is sad to hear, my friend.” “I know… I was thinking about doing something against them. To get a group of our kind to fight against them! As far as I’ve heard there is only a hand full of them from the earlier generations. I’ve heard they got so mad in the last few hundred years that they executed lots of their oldest lieutenants and generals! Something must have driven them so mad that they killed the ones at fault.” Rosalie shook her head and seemed so much the young woman she had been when Magenta knew her. Full of energy, rosy cheeks and a smile all over her face and in her sparkling brown eyes, that had made all men stare at her. But only a few seconds after that she looked seriously into Magenta’s eyes, “There is another thing I heard. I have no clue if it is correct or not since I haven’t heard a word from him in all those years. Basted is a part of their organisation. He went ahead to get the last of the first generation. One after another! Please tell me he didn’t find you! Please tell me he didn’t talk you into going with him!” Sadly Magenta looked out of the window, “I cannot verify if he is one of them, but he told me to run. He told me to leave before they would come. He had to leave and I waited for them. If it was me who they wanted, so should it be. Nobody should get hurt because of me. I tried to get some sense into them, but all they knew was pain and suffering. All they did was demand. Rosalie, I was in their lair, but I left. I am not on their side, I was a captive in their grip, but I was there because of my own free will. All their magical knowledge cannot hold me there and never will!”

“No!” Rosalie screamed, “That can’t be true! They captured you?” She nodded and looked at her young friend. “Oh Magenta! I am so sorry, if I had known I would have put my plans into action earlier and saved you from them! What if they had murdered you just as the other ones?” fear paled the princesses’ face as she stared at Magenta.

“They cannot kill me.” Magenta sighed and looked at her friend, “They think they possess enough power and magic to tame the first generation! My theory is, the other ones of my generation only wished to die. Think about what happened before they started to hunt down the first generation. Great parts of humanity had passed away and left not enough food for all the following generations. Lots of the elders feared the end of our kind so they put an end to their life with the reason they’d had a long and fulfilling life. Since a bunch of them stayed behind to supervise the later generation’s actions, they kept the old knowledge to themselves. Generations after that the power of the later generations rose and they became greedy, while the first generation became weak with sadness of the loss of their generation and the outcome of their breed.”

Rosalie nodded, “That sounds all too possible… but still, it makes me sad, so sad to know the knowledge has been lost forever. I haven’t heard of a single one of the first generation surviving their greed.” Magenta smiled, “It is true. It is a sad thing.” her friend didn’t know her true age, her true power and her knowledge. And for her safety that was a good thing.

“Enough of those sad words, we have to celebrate your return!” the princess said cheerful again and rose from the couch, “I’ll get some friends to come over, we’ll have a big party as it is called now! There are so many people I want you to know and to meet.” Suddenly her face became a bit shy and she smiled like a little girl experiencing her first love, “And there is one man I really want you to meet. He may not be my first love, but he means just as much to me!”

A smile appeared on Magentas face, “I am so happy for you, my dear! This is great news in a time of demons! I am truly happy for you, Rosalie!” “Oh, well, actually it is not Rosalie anymore; humanity is not really good with the immortals, so my latest name is Rose Sullivan!” she explained apologising, “But it is so nice to hear my old name again. If you need a new identity or anything just tell me; I know whom to ask for that! And they don’t ask questions! But tell me now, do you have plans tonight?” Chuckling Magenta nodded, “I’m getting a computer tonight. And for the next few hours I’m trying to find more of my old friends. Since I’ve been cut off of the world for so long I have to acclimatise to the way things go now and find who is still around of my friends and allies.” “Too bad…” Rosalie said and pouted a little. “Maybe we could have a party at the end of the week? You’ll have time to plan the party and to invite your friends. I would be honoured to be invited, and to help of course!” she said and smiled apologetic.

“Ok, but you’ll have to come! Promise me, Magenta!” she said and the smile returned to her eyes, “I’ll have so much to do the next days! Oh! I’ll give you my phone number and my e-mail address and everything so you can contact me easier as soon as you’re updated! Ok, who are you looking for next?”

For a while Rosalie tried to help Magenta find out more about her friends, told her addresses, phone numbers, everything she knew. And by the time Magenta was ready to go, it was time to go home already. “I’m so sorry for keeping you here so long, wait a second, my driver will drop you home; you don’t have to take the subway! And my dear, I love the way you dress, but nowadays there is a different way to dress. I’ll send you some clothes over tomorrow; you’ll have to blend in a little. I guess you still live in the same cottage you used to?”

Magenta smiled and nodded, “Indeed, I do. That is too kind of you, thank you so much. To be honest, I wasn’t sure where to go to get normal clothes, so I took the things I had that seemed to be as ordinary as possible!” Rosalie chuckled, “Well, your clothes are a little outdated to be honest, but please keep them, for the party I want to have everyone dress in really old fashioned clothes like in the castles and with the king and such things! So please, and if you don’t want to keep them, give them to me, I love your clothes, but I guess you’ll have to keep them anyway!” The two women chuckled and Magenta thanked her friend again for her kindness and said her goodbyes before she sat down in the comfortable seats of the black limousine that brought her straight home.

Chapter 6

When Magenta arrived at home she saw light in her cottage and entered carefully, but was relieved to find Wyatt in her study, working on the electronic device, humanity called computer. On the way she had found two pieces of new technology already, humanity called them telephone, Magenta knew that. She’d seen lots of them on the streets.

“Good evening, good Sir!” she said with a smile as she entered her study, “I see you have been busy.” “Magenta!” he said after settling his heartbeat again, “I didn’t hear you come in!” “I can be really quiet if I want to!” she said still smiling, “I thought there was a burglar in here. I didn’t quite have the time.”

With a deep sigh Wyatt nodded, “I’m sorry, I thought you were still out finding your friends, so I thought I’d start off and install everything.” “That is so kind of you! I’m sorry I made you wait though, and I’ll have to trouble you with another thing.” Magenta smiled apologetic, “I have never used any of those things; maybe you could show me? And I got a few telephone numbers and e-mail addresses’ and I don’t even know what to do with them though…”

This time Wyatt chuckled, “Sure, no problem! You have internet and telephone access now, and your computer is ready for using. I also prepared some dinner, I don’t know if you had anything yet, but it’s almost ready, just have to do the finishing touches and you have something in a minute. Otherwise I can just shove it in the fridge and you can have it tomorrow.”

“Are you staying for dinner?” she asked curious, not really understanding the rest of what he had said. “If you want me to? I don’t have any plans like. Do you want to have dinner first and lessons afterwards? Or the other way around?” he asked. “Maybe dinner first? I was so busy talking I didn’t have any time for food!” she said relieved to do something familiar, “What can I do?”

Wyatt chuckled, “This is your house, you know? You can do what ever you like. As for dinner, give me two minutes and dinner will be served. If you want to do something to help, you could set the table.” “Perfect!” she said happily to be of use. Of course this was her house, but she was new with all the technology everywhere, she still had to get used to everything.

Excited to use her kitchen again, she switched on the light and opened all cupboards until she found plates and bowls, since she had forgotten to ask what Wyatt had cooked, she put everything down as she was used to. First a plate, a bowl on top for a soup or a salad, and glasses and wine glasses next to it; since she only found two sizes of forks and spoons, she ended up with a really tiny version of the table setting she had known from her childhood and youth; one knife on the right, two spoons above and two forks on the left. Quickly she went outside to find some fresh salad in her garden, washed the main dirt off outside and took it inside for a proper wash. With fresh herbs, oil and vinegar she prepared a salad just in time for Wyatt to return from the study.

“Wow, salad, looks really good!” he said with a smile. “I have no idea what you’ve been cooking, but it smells really good, so please, tell me it’s ready to be devoured!” Magenta said in a jokingly pouty way that made Wyatt laugh.

“No worries, it’s ready, just sit down and let me serve!” he chuckled. “Why aren’t you working as a cook? In my times a man as your self would have been called to cook for the king!” she said and sat down on one side of the kitchen table. “Well, the working hours aren’t that good and I like to cook for fun, I don’t think the good restaurants these days would even consider hiring me. Nothing against your kings, but I guess the food standards have increased quite a lot.” “Maybe?” she asked and looked at the delicious looking food.

“About your question from yesterday…” she said and looked at him, if he remembered. “Oh, you don’t have to… I mean, of course I’m curious, but I don’t want to pry into your business… but… those people must be brought to justice!” Magenta smiled, “Yes, they should… but well… they didn’t let me go. Instead I just left. They cannot build walls or doors strong enough to hold me or to keep me imprisoned.” Confused he looked at her, “To be honest, I’m not really sure what to think of your story… You told me you’re a… a vampire. You said you owned this house for more than one thousand years and you grew up here. And now you’re telling me there are no walls that would be capable to hold you?”

“You want to know if I’m telling the truth?” she asked and smiled. Wyatt looked at her unsure, “I’m not sure if I want to know.” With a smile Magenta took her knife and cut her finger a little, enough to keep bleeding for a minute and put her finger into her mouth to lick off the blood. Wyatt’s eyes were wide in shock, he was unable to move or do anything to stop her.

Carefully she pulled her finger out of her mouth and showed him her teeth, longer than the others, sharper and annoying, since she couldn’t really talk with them, without sounding funny. Wyatt’s mouth and eyes were open and it was hard for Magenta not to laugh.

Suddenly Wyatt shook his head, but kept staring at her teeth and leaned forward. His finger reaching out for her teeth, carefully touching them and Magenta held her breath while watching the expression of horror disappear and curiosity appear.

“I’m so sorry!” Wyatt said and jumped back as he realised what he had done and looked down on the table, “I’m sorry, that was so rude!” “No need to apologise,” Magenta chuckled, “You won’t see a vampire’s teeth everyday without being bitten. So be happy you’re still alive because it is me and not one from a later generation. My kind can be really wild when it comes to blood.”

The human in front of her swallowed and took a few breaths and looked at her again, “Still, it is not really nice to just touch your teeth and stare and stuff… but ok, I guess I do believe it now that you are a vampire and that there is a possibility for you to have lived for so long…” “Do you want to hear the story of my imprisonment?” she asked curious if he still wanted to know and Wyatt nodded after a few seconds so Magenta told him the main events, not the details, about her imprisonment. Magenta honestly feared the details would be too much for her handsome human housekeeper.

“And in the end I just felt it was enough. I knew they wouldn’t even consider another possibility, but to get the information I hold, so I left. I know that my decision will cost the lives of many of my kind, maybe even humans, but I cannot do anything in there. I had to leave to change something, to stop their greedy aims!” Magenta said dedicated.

“I agree.” Wyatt said seriously, “It won’t be your fault if anyone has to die. You tried all you can to actually stop them personally, but they made a war out of it. This is not only about the knowledge anymore, but about the entire human and your civilisation! We have to strike back without letting humanity know that people like them exist! Oh… that makes it kind of difficult… If they fight against them, they’ll find out about their existence. But if they don’t fight, they’ll end up as slaves and food… that is kind of a bad situation…”

Magenta chuckled, “I don’t understand why they degrade humanity to food only and there are so many things they just don’t see! I’ve studied humanity since I was born and still, you surprise me with everything you say! And I just can’t get a hold of the entire picture! And every human is like that. Everyone is different, everyone has different dreams, idols, goals in the life and they are willing to protect what they love. Why can’t they try to see humanity as what they are? Creatures created to live. They were not created to be our food. Humanity existed before we were first born. So they cannot be our food! They cannot be worth less than us!”

“Seriously?” Wyatt asked with his eyes wide opened, “How long does your kind exist?” The last of the first generation nodded, “Yes, humanity was created and lived long before my kind. Some say we used to be humans too, but were cursed to live forever. Others say we were blessed with immortality for our good behaviour. And others again say that we were created along the human species. But the truth is we were created long after humanity existed. The truth is that we were cursed.”

“What happened?” Wyatt asked quietly, almost a whisper.

“A man fell in love with a woman, but she was a priestess, she was not allowed to have a relationship or even have feelings for a man. But still, their love grew and even the priestess couldn’t live without him anymore, so they were cursed to live forever, but never able to be together. Being able to live forever seemed not as bad as it should have, so they only waited for a hundred years for their god to forget. When the time was right, the found each other again and had a relationship of love and lust. Before long they had many children. The first generation! But with each child the power of the lovers faded and soon the priestess, still as young as she had been in the beginning, died and disappeared into thin air. Heartbroken, her lover tried to follow her, but he just couldn’t die. He tried to forget about his love through other women, but his love for her grew and grew and so did his power and the power of his children.

“All of them immortal and never ageing, powerful and resistant to anything. The lover murdered the women as soon as he found out his love could not be murdered and his life could not be taken by anything. But he didn’t just murder them; he drank their blood while they were still alive until not even a drop was left. The curse of their betrayal towards the god they believed in and thought them selves more powerful was so grave, that he took the lovers life and cursed his children with the curse of blood, the curse to become a blood lusting monster as soon as even a single drop of blood would be shed.” Magenta sighed as she thought of her parents she had barely known. “But with time passing, the first generation found ways to end their life, they found ways to survive without blood, which made their god calm down and give them the gift of knowledge.

“He would not take the curse away, since the betrayal had been too grave, but with the knowledge he had presented, the first generation was able to life during the ages peacefully. Some settled down and fell in love, had a family and others lived alone, still too ashamed of the betrayal. With each following generation the power slowly faded, but only the first generation realised that. The curse had been only in their blood, since the power and magic of the curse decreased with each generation.”

Wyatt almost stared at her the entire time, so captivated by the story of her family, although he didn’t quite know that little detail.

Chapter 7

Magenta woke early and dressed only in her morning gown, since she was really eager to try out what Wyatt had taught her after her story. She really wanted to send an e-mail to her friend Rosalie, thank her again for her kindness and everything she had done for her. And for the party, the last of the first generation was eager to meet all those new people. She was tempted to ask Wyatt if he wanted to come along, but surely he was busy.

Wyatt had also programmed a number for a taxi service, so she didn’t have to go through all the trouble of finding her way through the public transportations. So as soon as the promised delivery had come, Magenta changed into modern clothes she liked and called a taxi to take her to another friends’ address she remembered, but hadn’t dared to ask Rosalie about since the two of them never had been friends. Jean Dominíc never liked the English and Rosalie was even worse than a mere English man, she was one of his arch enemies so to say.

Surprisingly his house was still the same on the outside as it had been a thousand years ago. The French summer house, bigger than an ordinary house, but way smaller than a mansion, had been redone and repaired at some places, but the main impression was still the same; it was Jean Dominíc’s house for sure!

With a smile she knocked on the door and a few moments later a young boy opened the door. “Hello?” he asked, “Can I help you?” “I’m looking for Jean Dominíc, is he at home?” I asked, knowing he was in the back of the house, “I used to be friends with him a while ago. My name is Magenta.” “One moment please,” he said and disappeared in the house. Only a few seconds passed and Jean Dominíc came to the door a sceptic expression on his face.

“Bloody hell!” he said and stared at her for a few more moments, “That can’t be true! Odette you have to look at this!” “What is it?” the voice of Jean Dominíc’s crush called from inside the house. “Come here!” he called again, not even blinking as he looked at the last of the first generation. “Oh my dear god! Magenta!” she said shocked, her expression changed from happy to shocked and back to happy, “Come in, dear! What happened! J.D. don’t be so impolite and welcome our visitor!” Quickly she hurried in and Magenta heard stuff rumble and clink. “I’m sorry.” Jean Dominíc said, “Come in, come in!” He opened the door wide for her and led her into the sitting room. “Wow! It looks almost as it did the last time I was here!” she said impressed. “Hmm.” Jean said and looked around, “It’s been a while. Where have you been?” “Trying to talk some sense into them…” she said apologetic, “I should have send someone to tell you, but it was a rather quick decision.” Jean Dominíc nodded understanding and sighed, “That is true… you could have sent someone, but whom to trust in times like these? To be honest it has only gotten worse in the past few hundred years. I know I am able to trust you, but it still was a shock to see you after all this time.”

Magenta chuckled, “It is true, I am appearing here quite surprising, but in an urgent matter. I’ve been with them for all this time, trying to convince them of their mistakes, that it is not the knowledge but their bloodline that weakens them. They don’t want to understand. I came here because I’m seeking advice and an ally. We have to do something against those tyrants! They are going to destroy humanity and our kind! They will destroy everything and our curse will become stronger again. You and I won’t suffer as much as they will, but humanity will be murdered in their rage. If my life would end this situation I would gratefully give my life to bring peace to our civilisations!” Jean Dominíc shook his head, “If you gave your life it would not make a difference to humanities end, if you die or live they will die anyway. So don’t be so foolish to believe your death would save them. If you want to save them you have to fight! I will call some of my friends and other third generation vampires, they will probably help us. But by god, you’ll need strong forces to overcome their powers, although you’re first generation!”

 “Thank you, Jean Dominíc, I really appreciate your help and your trust!” she said gladly, “The boy, is he your son?” J.D. smiled, “Yes, Pierre, Odette and I thought it was time to have children of our own. She is such a lovely woman. I wouldn’t change her or trade her for anything in the world!”

“I’m happy for you, it is great to see you finally found your soul mate!” she said honestly and smiled. “How about you? Will you accept a man or love at some point?” he asked seriously and looked over towards his son and wife. “I don’t think so. My parents betrayal and the greed my siblings showed in the first years is too grave, I cannot forgive myself for letting that happen! I should have stopped them from the beginning! We decided to forget about the curse and live as good as we were capable of, but the knowledge of that betrayal drives everyone mad after a while, that’s why they decided it was time for the later generations to live without our protection, they knew the rules, they knew the boundaries, what should go wrong?” Magenta shook her head, “I want to protect humanity. Maybe I can make my parents betrayal a little less grave by serving humanity by protecting them from our kind. But I don’t believe we deserve to find true love. Unlike you, we betrayed our kind in the beginning and in the end, when we refused to pass on the knowledge. But as it seems, it was really a good thing we kept it to our selves.”

“Sure thing, my dear!” J.D. said and smiled, “At first I thought it was really selfish that the first generation kept their knowledge for themselves, but I understood with time. So no worries about my opinion, I think it was right to keep the knowledge hidden from us, to only pass on the information we needed. That kind of knowledge is too much, too tempting for us.” Magenta nodded, she had known it was good to see Jean Dominíc and seek his advice.

“If we got an army of our kind to protect humanity, would you join forces with us?” Magenta asked and looked at her old friend. For a while he looked at his family and she regretted having even the nerve to ask this of him. “I think it would be for the best,” he said and looked at her again, “if I joined with you, Magenta. I cannot protect my family by sitting here, hoping they will not come here and do anything to them. I will fight with you to defeat them! We will be successful!”

Magenta smiled sadly, “There is a chance of failure and there is a chance of death. Some will die, I cannot promise none of us will and I cannot say who will live. I will not blame you if you decide to stay behind. You have a family my friend, I shouldn’t have asked…”

“Magenta, it might be, because I’ve been with humans too long, but it is my duty to protect my family. If I want to protect them, I have to fight evil! They are evil, so I have to fight them. If I die, I die in honour! If I stay, I’ll be in shame for the rest of my life!” Jean Dominíc said proudly.

“You’re too noble my friend, but I appreciate your support!” Magenta said grateful and smiled again, “There is another thing I wanted to talk to you about. I have only returned home a few days ago and am now looking for the friends that are still around and alive. I heard that Camille moved away… Have you heard anything about her?”

“Moved away? Are you kidding me?” the French man asked, “She had been dragged out of her house! They did that! They took her because she opposed one of their manoeuvres! Who told you about that?” Confused she looked at him, “Rosalie told me about it, she only lives a few miles off the road from Camille!”

“That English wannabe of a princess?” he spit out her name and looked at Magenta in disgust, “She is the reason for so many of us to be dragged away! She is the one who joined their forces shortly after your disappearance! I know you used to be friends with her, but please do us all a favour and do not trust her with your plans! Do not include anyone she suggests! Otherwise all of us will die for sure!”

“But…” Magenta protested, but sighed, “But why would she do that?” Jean Dominíc did not like Rosalie, but he would never make something like that up, he knew they would need every ally they could get, but he would not risk his families life for something he knew would fail.

“Her new guy is one of their generals, a guy of the fifth generation. She met him around the time you disappeared. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the reason for your imprisonment. If she told them where you live and everything! Maybe you should get that human I can smell on you to get you some surveillance systems around your cottage and some escape route!” he said and smirked, “How was that with no love?”

“I beg your pardon?” Magenta asked, slightly confused, “Wyatt is my housekeeper; he’s been in my house everyday, so my entire house smells like him. He also teaches me those modern technologies everyone uses nowadays. But… Rosalie… she… she used to hate them… They murdered her husband…”

“Did she tell you that?” he asked amused, “Magenta dear, you shouldn’t believe every word she tells you. One of my friends looked into that case, and the one who murdered him was his lover, his wife who was not able to give him immortality, she failed and killed him. At least that was her reasoning, the funny thing was, that shortly after that she had a new lover and was as happy as could be!”

Disgust and amusement showed on his face, “That little bitch really knows how to tell stories to make her self appear as the victim!” Magenta sighed and leaned back in the couch, “At least for the moment I will not include her in my plans. But I’ll look into that and pretend nothing happened. She invited me over to a party at the weekend, kind of a welcome back party, as she called it. If I don’t find any proof, I’ll go to that party. Can you tell me more about our other friends and where they are now? This is what Rosalie told me so far.”

Magenta told her old friend about the other friends Rosalie had told her about. An hour later she had two statements about her friends’ whereabouts, although Jean Dominíc’s explanations were more reasonable and sometimes a bit too blunt for Magenta.

Chapter 8

The following days Magenta was busy with all the research Jean Dominíc had told her to do. Wyatt had explained how the internet and the research worked nowadays and she wished to have books again. She wished to feel the leather cover and the parchment pages. She’d been glad when humanity stopped using stone boards to actually carve in all the words and glyphs they used, but the change to the internet was just too much for her.

Of course it was great to not have to leave home to actually do all the research and find it faster but it was so new, so confusing for her. She had no other choice but to get used to this new way of research for now, so she shook off her thoughts of the past and returned to the future. There were people to contact and tasks to fulfil.