Melanie's hand slightly tightened around the glass, and feigning innocence, she asked her mother, "What about it, mother?"

  Mrs. Davis's shrewd eyes looked at Melanie, and she said, "Sit," and Melanie did just that. "I want to know what brought that thought in your mind that vampires are good in nature. That they are like us humans."

  Melanie took a sip of the juice and gulped it down as her throat felt dry at her mother's interrogative tone. She shrugged her shoulders, "It was just a thought that occurred to me when I was lying on the bed. That is all."

  "Vampires are not good, Mel. I mean you saw how they are. They are nothing but bloodthirsty creatures, who will kill and take your blood. Worse, turn you. You were there that day, when we were hunting vampires. You saw how one of the vampires tried to turn Conner's father into a vampire too," stated her mother, not holding back her thoughts with her. "And yet you think that they are good?"

  "It is just that……" Melanie's voice trailed, and her mother's eyes narrowed, waiting for her daughter to finish her sentence. "We are humans, and we don't suck people's blood. There are some people who are bad, aren't they? There are serial killers, people who steal things, and criminals. But not all humans are bad, yet, there are some who are good."

  "Melanie Davis, are you telling me that you support vampires and don't want to be hunters?" questioned her mother.

  "All I am saying is, there might be some of them, who want to live life like us. And we hunting them is only going to make things worse."

  Melanie became confused when her mother started laughing mockingly, and she didn't understand what was the funny thing was in what she said.

  "What's gotten you into a fit of laughter?" Melanie's father stepped into the room, wiping his hand on the apron tied around his waist.

  "Our daughter was cracking a joke, which you might like to hear," said her mother, and Melanie sighed. "Melanie thinks we are trying to terrorize the vampires, and they are attacking us humans because we attack them. Can you tell her?"

  "Vampires are nothing but brutal creatures, Mel. Any doubt in your mind about it, you should erase it right away. Your mother's family was erased because of the vampires and she's still traumatized about it," stated her father, "Anyways, this is not the time to explain it. You must be tired. Why don't you go to your room and rest and we can continue this conversation during dinner, hm?"

  Melanie nodded, not wanting to appear suspicious in her parents eyes, and she finished her juice, but before she could step out, her father said,

  "You failed to follow our basic protocol, Mel. Of not telling anyone about the vampires and who we are."

  "Julie is mine and Conner's friend. Instead of hiding, I thought we could use one more help," Melanie replied sincerely. "Also I wanted her to be aware that creatures like these exist so that she would be safe."

  "I hope you haven't told it to anyone else," her father's question was straightforward, and she shook her head. "Go on."

  Once Melanie stepped out of the kitchen, Mrs. Davis said, "Her words are conflicting."

  "Why do you say that?" questioned her husband.

  "Not a while ago, she was defending vampires, and now she says she told Julianne about what we do, to keep her safe from vampires. Something is just not right."

  In her room, Melanie wondered if her parents would ever come to accept the idea of vampires being not as harmful as they thought them to be. Every side of the coin had a different version, and if it weren't for her studying in Veteris, she would have probably had the same opinion. Brainwashed over the years, but at the same time, she understood where her mother was coming from.

  Sitting down on the edge of her bed, she looked at the window. The streets outside were quiet and peaceful. Her phone suddenly beeped, and she pulled it out from her pocket to check the notification. It was from Conner.

  'My father is asking if we found any vampires. I said no.'

  Then another message came quickly from him, and she read it—


  'Make sure you delete the conversation from your side after reading it, and I will do the same.'

  Melanie deleted the message before replying to him—


  'Mum was asking me about the slip of tongue that I had when they came to visit Veteris. Do you think our parents discussed it with each other?'

  'So far it doesn't look like it. But if I find something, I will let you know,' came his text, and Melanie replied with thanks before deleting all messages from her phone.

  When it was night, Melanie sat at the dining table with her parents for dinner—passing the bowl to each other before starting their meal in silence.

  Her father broke the silence at the table by speaking to her mother, "How are things coming along with the solution that you have been working on since the last two days?"

  "I am trying to decrease the temperature, keeping the solution in it, but so far there has been no change in it. I will probably have to check it by using it on one of the vampires," replied her mother, while she cut her vegetables and took a bite into it. "Did you send the last batch to Mr. Rai?"

  "I have. Just sent them this morning, so they should be able to stack it up for the next attack by vampires. Everyone was very pleased with what you created," he praised his wife.

  Melanie, who caught on to it, asked, "Did mom make a new weapon to use against the vampires?"

  "It was the same one that we used in your university dear. There was a vampire frenzy attack three towns away from here and they needed to control the situation. So we sent all the solutions to them," said her mother.

  Did that mean there weren't any left in the house? As she thought about it, while taking a bite from her food, she winced as she bit the inside of her cheek.

  Melanie calmly asked, "Does that mean we don't have any more of them if we have a vampire attack in our house?"

  Her father laughed at her question, "Why would any vampire hunt a hunter in their house. It is nothing less to suicide. Your mother is making more of them right now. It should be done soon."

  "A week," confirmed her mother. "I need to make sure this time the solution is much stronger and I will put it in the silver bullets. Double attack, I would like to see how the vampires like it," the woman smiled before talking to her husband.

  That meant they couldn't get the liquid to Veteris until her mother had prepared more of them, thought Melanie. Suddenly her phone vibrated, and she wondered if it was again from Conner. But when she checked it, the name read? 'Simon Wallace.'

  Did they exchange numbers before? Was her memory turning weak?