The Realm of Truth (Book 1) [In the process of editing]

Chapter 18: Old friends

(Odette's POV)~

Salem, Massachusetts. Never thought I'd come back here... I thought wistfully during the car ride. It took Damien about an hour and a half to get here. I knew it was risky, bringing him with me. Right now, it feels like there's a million things running through my head about killing humans left and right since drinking his blood. I didn't know if I regretted it, but Damien really didn't seem to mind, except for the fact that he loves me, and I didn't know how to respond to it.

He drove around the small town of Salem, which was filled with old buildings from the 17th and 18th century. I saw small groups taking guided tours along the pavement and taking pictures. Small groups full of families and small children...

I suddenly thought about Celeste and half of her family dead because of me. If I had left before it got worse in town, maybe things wouldn't have happened this way. If I hadn't been so weak, I could've saved everyone.

I started snarling to myself, raising a fist in the air. I wanted to smash it against Damien's window to break it until he grabbed it. "Don't." He said, making me look at him. "You don't have the money to pay for that." I rolled my eyes in response, and snatched my hand back. He relaxed back into his seat and I looked outside the window again, pouting. "Look, Odette...We're on the run now. We might not be able to go back home, but if we're going to take one step forward right here, right now, then you've got to use your legs. You keep dragging yourself down with just a couple of incidents. You have to remember, life's not easy. Maybe one day you'll understand, but right now, this is your plan and I'm riding along with you on it."

He stopped talking for a moment and I turned my head to look at him with confusion.

"So...Uhm, what exactly is your plan?" Damien asked, smiling innocently.

I sighed. "When I was a young girl, I lived in Exeter my whole life." I started to say and we both started getting out of the car. We decided to take a long walk after Damien locked his truck. "I didn't have a home until the Browns took me in to live with them. I was a part of the tuberculosis outbreak. I was dying, coughing up blood and some mucus, until a witch named Esme Murphy, came by from Salem, using whatever power they had to keep me from dying. I didn't have long though. In that moment, I had my eyes closed to rest. It was Mercy Brown who ended up drinking my blood that night when everyone went to sleep to turn me and gave me her vampire blood. When I turned, Esme knew. She still stayed because she was in alliance with the Browns, and everyone was after the family, accusing them of current deaths in town. She was highly against me turning, but she was also the one who told me I had a purpose to live."

We moved to the side to let children run past us. I was smiling as they looked at me and waved. They hurried off afterwards, and then their parents followed. Damien heard this story before, when I first met him. Since then, all he wanted was to be a part of my story. It seemed foolish to me. For someone as human and stupid as him to embark on a journey to death was suicide. I didn't get it.

"We're here because I wanted to go to the site where Esme died after she left us." I said. Then I perked up a little bit to make him smile. "It seems like a good place to visit an old friend and pay some respects."

Actually, the plan was to see if she was still around, considering witches could live up to 1,000 years tops. We went to the Burying Point off of Charter Street, and saw an old white building in the back. I started to go ahead inside the area after a group who was doing tours passed by.

"Esme?" I called out from inside the building. I'm sure that the building was off limits unless you paid to go inside. They did some revamp a while ago but they still acted like the property was off limits. "Are you here?"

"Nobody's home, I guess." Damien mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Hey, I thought you wanted to go to her burial site. Not inside a creepy old house." I ignored him, and carefully walked around the building. We heard some creaking sounds above and a door closing. I was glad to know Damien and I weren't actually alone.

We walked upstairs together and saw some dust settle, and stuff covered in cob webs. Finally, I stopped moving and my eyes narrowed. "After all these years, Esme." I said, smirking to myself. "You haven't changed at all." I turned around to see Esme standing there smiling at me.

"Odette..." she said, "God forbid, I was really good at sneaking up on you when you were 16-17." We both giggled and gave each other a hug. She looked at me and then back at Damien. "So...Who's the human?"

Damien waved off to the side nonchalantly, as if to say he was still here. "Hi, Damien Carter, best friend of Odette of two years, at your service." He said, introducing himself before I could. Damien bowed and I rolled my eyes.

"Please, this is the 21st century, now." She turned to look at me. "Never thought you'd be the one to be with a human." Esme muttered. "Are you two-?" I started shaking my head and I gave her a signal to stop. She nodded. "Well, anyways, welcome to Salem! I'm here helping out with the guided tours and haunted ones too, at night. I've been here for years and everyone here still thinks I've been here for quite some time."

"They say witches can live up to about 500-1000 years." Damien mentioned, and I sent him a glare. Esme wasn't going to like what was coming next. "So...how old are you?"