Halfling

What Is It Like To Be Seen?

'Aren't you afraid of my darkness, my dear?'

Hades asked with mischief in his eyes.

'No,' Persephone replied, 'You haven't even

seen mine yet.'

--- A Mad Girl's Love Song

I had all eyes on me while I sipped away at my milkshake and Dwayne handed me a few fries while eating some himself. Every once in a while we would all collectively glance at the opening of the cave wondering if we had seen what we'd seen or if he was coming back. I didn't mean to hurt him but there are times when I can not control my anger. It is getting worse and worse with each passing year I do not turn. I calmly finished my food and all their attention weighed heavy on me.

"I am sorry that I caused a riff in whatever relationship you have with my uncle. I will go now. Um thank you for not leaving me outside."

Dwayne: "I would like to know a few things and I think we all can agree we are curious about what just happened."

The three other boys nodded.

"I am a weird one at that. I still have some vampiric powers and some I do not. For instance, I do not heal quickly. I heal like any other human and yes I do still get sick. I crave blood but do not need it to survive. Though the craving has gotten much worse these past few years and as you just witnessed, is affecting things like my temper. My face still changes which you saw and I do have fangs. I also have that weird ability to control minds but I seem to be the only one who can control other vampires as well. Which would be what I just did to my uncle."

Marko: "Wait so if you eat regular food and do not drink blood, then what was the passing out for? That was a little freaky. Dwayne carried you in here and we had not clue what had happened. I think we can all agree we thought we had something to do with it."

"Oh you did. You ate the only friends I ever managed to keep around. Thanks for that. I quit hanging around most humans when I was fifteen and tried to eat my only friend. That shock mixed with the shock of whatever the hell a mate is let alone having four of them kinda sent me into a panic attack. It did not help I did not have my scheduled food for the evening."

Paul: "Scheduled food?"

I kind of set there for a second. It is times like these when the urge to get rid of anything I had just eaten comes back. I had told them everything that semi related to them or vampirism in general but this was all me. It was my past and how I regulate my present. I felt Dwayne lean closer to whisper in my ear. This man was so calming to me and his voice had a soothing affect.

Dwayne: "You do not have to tell us. We just do not want you passing out again. We only want to help."

"When I was thirteen, I developed an eating disorder. I barely ate during the day and lucky me started getting the craving for blood. That is why I almost ate my friend. Max had noticed something was wrong but knew for sure when he stopped me from tearing her throat out. Together we learned that if I eat at certain times during the day then the craving is lower unless I am around fresh blood."

Dwayne started rubbing my back again. I leaned into his touch while the boys seemed to share a silent conversation with themselves.

"That, I can't do that. I can not mind link or talk to anyone like that. I know it is what you are doing. Just say it aloud."

David: "You seem awful attached to Max. Why?"

"You have a very rude tone of voice by the way. But he is my uncle. Much like you are blood brothers, his blood brother is my father. The man who found my mother and turned a one night stand into the only born half vampire. Max found out about me when I was six. He came about once a month since I seem like a normal human child. When I started showing more of a vampirism side, he came about twice a month or so to check in on how I was handling things. After I tried to eat my friend, he stayed in town for a week to get my eating schedule down and then came once a week to make sure I was following it."