Veronica
I have memories of growing up in a place where faes, witches, vampires, and all other figures from the supernatural realm were nothing more than tales from books or TV, but that was not how it really was. The vampires, werewolves, faes, witches walked among us like anyone else, they went about their lives like ordinary humans, pretending to be something they were not.
A year later, supernatural beings cast off their secrecy and showed the world who they were. At the age of ten, I can still recall, I was sitting in the living room, watching reports about the supernatural council on eight pm news and we were told not to be afraid of them
Can you believe that? How can you live in a world with supernatural beings without fearing that one day they might kill you?
Beings whose power exceeds the laws of nature.
Holy shirt! They feed on blood. They see us as walking food bank.
Now on the street, I can not stop looking at people who past me without wondering whether they are human, I mean human human not supernatural beings like witches or vampires.
Vampires existed in two separate clans, though. The have the nightwalkers, the one who fears the brightest of the sun. They are vampires who once turned by another, stayed eternally at that age.
Then you have the day walkers; those of pure blood, born as vampires rather than turned. They are the originals. Most are members of the council, because they are more powerful than others.
They aged in the same way as humans, except they have power and hunger of a vampire, yet generally stop growing old once the reach the age of twenty -five. The originals ages just one year per hundred years.
It is now widely accepted as the norm. We all know they exist. Our schools are now populated by all manner of supernatural beings; human blood are now sold in the marketplace. You walk into a bar, and they are serving blood like beer.
I do not judge based on who or what they are but I base my judgment on how they behave. Some of the vampires behave as if they are little gods, believing they are above the rules. They are the kind I stay away from.
I am human, and I own that.
A human with a power, a power that guards both me and my loved ones from the world's evils.
I was once afraid of my power, knowing what I am capable of doing, scared that one day I will be taken away by government officials, turned into a subject of cruel experiments.
But now, I refuse to fear what I am.
I did my best to live a normal life, yet as luck would have it, it all went south, I was left with no choice but to leave behind my normal life into a realm I couldn’t
have foreseen.
"Veronica, you are really going to be working with Beaten Hart? This is unbelievable," Abigail, my best friend, shouts to be heard over the pounding music.
Her words rang in my ears but yet I find myself unable to look away from the men I will be working closely with over the coming months. I love what I am seeing, the men on the stage are handsome.
"You know I am in need of money so I have no choice but to work for them," I respond with a shout. This is very true. I know I am desperate for a job. I do not want to babysit bunch of rockstars but here I am doing what I hate. My house rent will be due next month and I can not afford to pay for it, and if I did not come up with something quickly, I would be given quick notice and I would lose the house.
"Come on Veronica, all I notice is, you are crushing on them like everyone else." She throws her hand out, greeting the ladies screaming in the clubs. Abigail has a long curly hair which was dyed a rich red, and it fell in loose waves, setting off her sea blue eyes and tanned complexion, she has been my best of friends since elementary school days.
She is nothing like me, we are opposite, just like day and night. I have dark long brown straight hair, green eyes and light complexion.
I gaze around the stadium filled with people, and catch sight of ladies shouting and crying as they stand to watch the band perform. I take my eyes to the left; I see a young lady whip off her bra and fling it at the stage. I was in shock, I did not know when I place my hands on my head. Oh goodness, I can not believe I have to keep seeing crap like this all the time. "Yes, I will admit it, these men on stage are dead handsome..."
"Capital D-E-A-D.” She interrupted, giving me a wink.
"But.." I send a teasing glance her way. "No, I will not flirt or fuck them, you know I have to be professional. I doubt if those men would want to date a lady like me," I look at my neat black pants and blouse, suddenly aware of how plain they seem. My intention is to look as professional as I could when I get introduced to the musical band.
"Veronica, you need to stopped talking down on yourself . You are beautiful. I wish you could see yourself the way I do. Girl, your eyes are absolutely beautiful, I wish mine looked like that.”
"Yeah... I know I have sexy eyes and it seems like good eyes are what guys are into now," I added, clearly not meaning it.
Ugh, my brain is not working. The type of music Beating Hart plays is rock pop. I am the type who will belt out a power ballad like it is a personal anthem, but I might love ballads, but a catchy chorus always wins me over. "Should we go check out backstage?" I gesture towards the double doors leading behind the scenes.
"Oh yeah, please let us go," Abigail does a happy little jump.
I reach for her right hand and grab it, and I lead the way through the crowd, when I reach the back door, a sheen of sweat clings to my forehead. I wipe off the sweat from my forehead with my hand, then reach into my bag for Abigail's and my backstage passes.
I spot a scary, huge security guard who looks like he could snap me in half as we walk down the hall. I move closer to him, I try to play it cool with a small smile and lift the passes for him to see. His eyes scan the passes before he gestures for us to go in. But his eyes don't move away from mine.