[Blood Diary Entry]
The seats of the car were incredibly comfy, more so than my own bed, but that speaks more of my bed than of the seats themselves. The engine's soothing hum made the exhaustion from the day sneak up on me, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.
When I did wake up, the sun was already setting, the sky drenched in an orange hue.
Mother and Rebekah seemed to have become quick friends; the previous nervousness and reservation had entirely gone. They chatted merrily, moving from one stray topic to another, most of which centered around current fashion and beauty products.
I never took Mom for a fashion enthusiast, but I guess every woman is into that stuff—or a lot of them are—as for Rebekah… well, being asleep for nearly eighty years, I suppose she has a lot of catching up to do.
When the two noticed me stirring, they smiled warmly. I could see them from the rearview mirror.
"Had a good sleep, Darian?" Rebekah asked, focusing again on the road.
"Are you well rested, sweetheart?" Mother, as always, was brimming with motherly aura.
I stretched lazily like a cat and yawned myself awake.
"Yeah, best sleep I've had in a while."
"You're welcome!" Rebekah giggled.
"For what?" I asked, a bit confused.
"Well… you're sleeping in my car, so it's kinda thanks to me you rested well."
"Geez, Rebekah, are you starved for compliments or something?"
"You slept in my car, so you ought to be grateful!"
"Yeah, yeah, thank you, oh so very much your Majesty." I made a jest bow, or at least as much as I could inside a car. Spacious as this SUV could be, it was still a car at the end of the day.
"You are welcome, my dearest subject." I chuckled a bit at her antics and decided to throw in one more jab before closing our playful exchange.
"'Dearest', huh?" I said with as much playfulness as I could muster, and much to my surprise, I noticed the faintest blush painted her stunning face. I raised one eyebrow at that, and Mom was entirely oblivious to all of it—she was more focused on watching the scenery.
Rebekah coughed on her hand, trying to regain her composure. I decided to spare her the embarrassment, but only a little bit.
As I smiled, I asked in a nonchalant tone while staring her in the eyes. "Where are we?"
"Middle of nowhere." She responded a bit too quickly.
"Any specific middle?"
"Idaho."
"I see… Thanks, Rebekah."
"Don't mention it."
"Say Rebekah…" I started, earning a faint hum of recognition. "One of the terms of our 'deal' is that you would teach us about the supernatural side of the world…" I trailed off, and she gestured with her hand for me to continue. "So, I was thinking about having a little class to pass the time."
Her eyebrow rose, and Mother's attention snapped back to the car.
"Now?" Rebekah asked.
"Yeah, what better time than now? Because I suppose we will be a long time inside this here vehicle. Or do you have something better in mind?" I shrugged.
"No, nothing else comes to mind…"
"So?"
"So, yes, I suppose I could start tutoring you in the intricacies of the supernatural."
"Fancy words that mean very little."
"Let me have my moment!"
"Suit yourself…"
Rebekah cleared her throat and started her little class.
"To start, I will just talk about the two main breeds of supernatural beings that roam this world, and their different bloodlines and lineages.
Firstly, the vampires, we know of three different bloodlines, but there may be more that were lost with time or are just really good at hiding themselves.
The oldest is the one you two had the most contact with, I believe, as Seattle is one of their domains. They call other vampires of their bloodline 'Kindred', and they branch into different clans with diversified abilities. The one you killed should belong to Brujah or Banu Haqim, judging by his physical abilities."
Mother spoke up before Rebekah could continue. "Ms. Thorne and Safia said they were from Tremere, if I am not mistaken." Rebekah just nodded, though she didn't quite know who these two were.
"They call themselves blood mages, though what they do isn't actually magic, but that is for a later discussion. The Tremere use their blood as a catalyst for their own abilities, hence the acronym. The vampires of this bloodline are quite sturdy, as they only 'die' if exposed to the sun or if they are decapitated—though you can just smash their heads to smithereens if you are enough of a brute." Rebekah teased me as she looked at me through the mirror. "If you stake them, they just enter a paralyzed state.
Their origin is kind of ambiguous, as no one really knows from where or whom it began. Some fanatics among them believe they come from Cain, son of Adam, and the father of murder. Yes, the one from the bible. But my brothers and I found some old text that pointed to a much younger, but possibly far more famous figure being their progenitor. One Wallachian prince. Vlad Dracula Tepes, Lord Impaler, Son of the Devil."
Mother's eyes widened at the news, effectively fulfilling Rebekah's constant need for drama—I refused to act like I was struck by the news, even if I was, as I would just feed into Rebekah's enormous ego.
"After that comes a strain that I know little of. Mostly because no one in my family was really interested in them, as they are quite unremarkable. The only thing I can say is interesting about them is that their origins seem to stem from biological sources, rather than magical ones, which makes them remarkable, but also remarkably weak as well. They have the most notorious of our species' weaknesses, such as sunlight and blood thirst, but they have very few of our benefits. They are sort of eternal; they are faster and stronger than humans. The only thing that sets them apart is their impressive reflexes, which surpass most other supernatural breeds, even those much stronger than them. Another curious thing about this is that we found evidence that their lupine enemies—that they have been waging war against for at least a thousand years—may have the same origin as theirs. Currently, they are stranded and confined to Budapest and France."
Well… that was kind of underwhelming.
"Next comes the most recent bloodline. Our bloodline. The Originals from the Mikaelson family. Our family arrived in America from Europe, and there we lived for a long time. The only problem came from our neighbors, a pack of werewolves. We had a peace pact with them, but after an accident, our mother, Esther Mikaelson—a very powerful witch—took drastic action and made her children immortals. Due to the magical nature of our turning, we are the most powerful vampiric bloodline in this world. At least until now…" Rebekah gave me a knowing look through the mirror. "We pushed the other vampires into confined territories and ruled over the rest of the world. The progenitors, meaning my family, are essentially indestructible; even the sun doesn't kill us, though it burns and hurts like a bitch."
Mother interrupted again. "Then how...?"
"How did I not burst into flames in front of you earlier today?" Rebekah completed Mother's unfinished question. She then raised her hand, signaling a beautiful silver ring. "Thanks to this. A handy piece of magic made for me by my mom. It lets me walk in the sun without consequences. We all call it and others like it, 'Sun Rings'. And yes, more can be made if you know a witch who knows how to craft them and is willing to do so. Other than that, our spawn, the vampires turned by us, do not boast of the same indestructibility, but they are quite potent. Faster and stronger than any other vampire breed, capable of easily compelling weaker minds. But remove their heart or head, stake them in the heart, expose them to sunlight, and poof, they are gone. Other weaknesses shared by the entire bloodline, Originals included, are that we may not enter a house if we are uninvited, and we are weak to a certain herb, vervain."
Now done with the vampiric knowledge, I suppose she will go on to their lupine counterparts.