Chapter 3: The Present

Dana continued walking to the sleeping quarters, still inside her own thoughts, until she was suddenly pulled aside inside a room before the door was quickly closed behind her.

"And? Why did he call you? Did you do something wrong? Did you slack off again? I bet it was somerhing like that, right?..."

She just let Mary continue rambling on about her theories, while Dana continued to think about Father Alexander's words. She already noticed it was her who pulled her aside anyway, so she didn't see the need to struggle against it.

'Was my decision the right one? I honestly didn't know. I still felt unsure about the future but with my friends and siblings, like Mary here, who worry about me and love me for who I am, I will just continue to enjoy this life. I still didn't know if my decision was the right one but I guess only time will tell.'

"Well?"

Mary's voice woke her up from her musing while she looked at Dana, waiting for an answer.

'Should I tell her? But what if she freaks out? What if she starts hating me? I don't want the whole orphanage to know... Screw it, I'll just say it. If I can't even trust her, then who can I?'

"Mary, do you trust me?" Dana began. (What is this, Alladin?)

"Hmm? What do you mean? Of course I do. Why?" she immediately responded.

Dana quite liked the fact that she didn't even think about that. Now though, comes the hard part.

"Mary, it... turns out I'm a vampire." she said. It felt like there was a lump in her throat, it was getting harder for her to breath. She looked at her feet, afraid to see Mary's reaction.

It was silent for a few seconds but those few seconds felt like an eternity to Dana. She closed her eyes, bracing for whatever was to come.

Suddenly, Dana felt a pair of arms wrap around her.

"So?" Mary said.

Never before did she feel so bewildered, yet still be so relieved from a hearing single word.

"Come on, Dana! You're supposed to be the older one here, being timid doesn't suit you one bit. Trust comes from both sides, you know? Don't you trust me" she continued.

Dana laughed bittelry.

"Yeah, you're right Mary. Sorry for that. Still, you're being way too calm about this, you know? Vampires are supposed to be bloodcrazed slaughterers, right?"

"We've known eachother for our whole life, as if you suddenly being a vampire could change anything about that fact! You're still the same person, right?"

Dana almost teared up with that. "Yeah, thanks Mary."

'Man, a lot of tears and hugs today.' Dana mused.

"So, shall we go back?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

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

The next day, in Father Alexander's office.

Dana was sitting across of Father Alexander on the couches in front of his desk. For convenience sake he moved from his desk to here to talk.

"So, what do you want to do, Dana?" He asked after a few minutes.

"What do you mean, Father?"

"What were your plans for the future before you found out about you being a vampire?" He continued.

"Well, I actually planned to just become a member of the Church like you and the Sisters and help with the orphanage, but..." She hesitated.

"You think that's not possible anymore with your 'condition' don't you?"

"Hmm." She nodded.

She truly didn't think it was possible to be a member of the Church anymore although his previous words did puzzle her. 'What did he mean by 'have a seal placed upon me'?'

"Normally," he continued, "the general populace doesn't know about me being a vampire hunter. Otherwise, every vampire or other evil being with even a bit of a brain could just find out by asking around in town and come over here when we least expect it and attack."

She nodded. That did make sense.

"My point is, you can still be a member of the Church. I could just help you to get jobs that you can do while being a vampire, just like you've been doing until now. But, I actually wanted to ask you to do something different."

"What is it?"

"I want to train you to be a Vampire Hunter of the Church and be my successor in the future."

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because I can see you have the talent for it: you stay calm and think rational even under stressfull situations, have a good hand-eye coordination and when you awaken as a vampire you will have superior senses and physique to other regular humans as well as some vampires."

"You are aware that a vampire being trained by the Church to fight and kill other vampires sounds quite controversial, right Father?"

"Yes, I am quite aware about that Dana."

"Then why?"

"Because I believe you can be a great Hunter."

"..."

"..."

"...Fine, I'll become your disciple. So, do I have to call you 'master' now?"

"No, this is supposed to be secret, remember? Not even all the Sisters know about me being a Vampire Hunter."

"Alright. What did you mean with 'placing a seal on me', by the way?"

"Ah, the Church will probably place a seal of obedience on you to make sure you don't betray them and to restrict your movements, but, like I said yesterday, I'll do my best to make sure you're treated fairly and still have free will."

"...Thank you"

He smiled, "You're welcome."

"How are you going to train me, Father?"

"Tomorrow you're going to start training with the other children who want to become part of the Adventurer Association. This is to ensure you have a stable foundation for future growth otherwise your growth will deminish over time or even stagnate and be unable to progress further. It will also ensure you have technique and not only strength after your awakening. At the same time, I'll start training you in the use of throwning knives. They are my specialty and I think they'll suit you as well. You will also be able to use them after your awakening albeit at a longer range and with more power."

"Father, you have been using the term 'awakening' for while now but what does it mean exactly?"

"'Awakening' is the term we use when a vampire draws his first blood and starts into a 'true' vampire. During this process, a vampire's body continuously breaks down and rebuilds itself. They do this because otherwise their bodies wouldn't be able to handle the strain it places upon itself with their newfound powers. It is also at this time their eyes turn crimson."

"When does this happen typically?"

"It depends on the willpower of the person themselves. In your case, since you are a vampire since birth, your body has learned to integrate the foreign powers in your body and made it its own because of some bizarre reason. Normally when a vampire bites a child, or in your case a baby, the body wouldn't be able to handle the strain and destroy itself permanently. Your awakening will probably happen when you're around 15-16 year old, but I want to delay it as along as possible so you can keep sanity during a Blood Moon."

"I see."

"Now, you better go to sleep early because you will need your rest for your training tommorow morning."

"Alright. Goodnight Father."

"Goodnight Dana."