the box. I trail my fingers over a leather-bound journal. It’s held closed with leather strips, tied in a loose knot by my father. I remember walking into his office and seeing him secure it. What secrets does it hold? I think about the hand that wrote it being the same hand that tucked me in at night. It’s almost like he’s here with me now.
I spread out various documents and begin studying them. Most are notes that don’t seem very helpful, more like observations of vampire ruins. Dad looked through ancient castles, the older the better. Especially the cellars, where Old Family vamps might’ve hidden during the day.
After half an hour I find something interesting. In a plastic protective sleeve is a very, very old piece of paper, yellowed and brittle with time. It’s filled with symbols and characters from a language I couldn’t even begin to decipher. But beneath it is a stack of papers labeled “Ancient Vampiric Text.” I begin reading it, placing my father’s voice over my own:
Carbon dating puts this document back at least two thousand years. The ink itself is strangely advanced and well preserved, leading me to believe that the vampires who created this knew it would need to last. I found it kept in a cool, dry room, high above the ground in case of floodwaters. The placement was purposefully careful....
This Ancient Vampiric text is the most complete I have ever found. Unfortunately, without more characters, or a direct translation into ancient Latin, it will be impossible to make any meaningful deciphering of it. However, I do believe that this may be a document of great importance, by noting what appears to be fourteen signatures at the bottom....
This could be the Genesis of the Fourteen Families. I gather that from the unique, single characters, spaced in such a way to make it appear as a contract. These symbols are repeated throughout the document, and I believe it may be some kind of agreement. Perhaps, and this is just speculation, an agreement regarding where each of the families’ domain of influence will be....
Also of note is a symbol that appears to be very similar in complexity to the unique fourteen signatures. However, it is not in line with the signatures. This leads me to believe that the symbol in question is not an Old Family, but rather a single notation for the Fourteen Families as a whole. Perhaps they used this complex symbol whenever referring to themselves as a single collective....
He drew the symbol, and my hands begin to shake. It looks exactly like the one I have in my pocket.
Dad thinks it was the collective signature of the Fourteen Families. I’ve never seen it on any other vampire documents. Then again, I’ve never seen this language. Vampires adopted whatever language the humans who surrounded them used.
Maybe, then, this symbol is just something deeply buried in my subconscious. Dad worked on this before I was born, but if he kept his notes in the house, it’s quite possible I looked at them as a child. Could this symbol, which he painstakingly drew, have burned itself deep within my memory banks? It’s possible. While I was in a coma, my brain was “sorting things out,” as Dr. Schwartz said. Maybe it found this symbol lurking somewhere and brought it forward. It doesn’t mean there’s any reason to its being, just some misfiring neurons scattered throughout my mind.
I’m not sure whether I’m more at ease or not. But at least I have something to go on.
I look through the box again, and at the very bottom, find something that calms my hands instantly: a picture of my mom and dad. They’re young. I don’t see wedding bands on their fingers. This must’ve been while they were dating! They’re sitting at a table outside a restaurant; maybe a friend took the photo. They seem so happy.
I used to gather the photos of my family, take them to where we once lived, and burn them one by one. It was my method of letting emotions out. I never told anyone
I spread out various documents and begin studying them. Most are notes that don’t seem very helpful, more like observations of vampire ruins. Dad looked through ancient castles, the older the better. Especially the cellars, where Old Family vamps might’ve hidden during the day.
After half an hour I find something interesting. In a plastic protective sleeve is a very, very old piece of paper, yellowed and brittle with time. It’s filled with symbols and characters from a language I couldn’t even begin to decipher. But beneath it is a stack of papers labeled “Ancient Vampiric Text.” I begin reading it, placing my father’s voice over my own:
Carbon dating puts this document back at least two thousand years. The ink itself is strangely advanced and well preserved, leading me to believe that the vampires who created this knew it would need to last. I found it kept in a cool, dry room, high above the ground in case of floodwaters. The placement was purposefully careful....
This Ancient Vampiric text is the most complete I have ever found. Unfortunately, without more characters, or a direct translation into ancient Latin, it will be impossible to make any meaningful deciphering of it. However, I do believe that this may be a document of great importance, by noting what appears to be fourteen signatures at the bottom....
This could be the Genesis of the Fourteen Families. I gather that from the unique, single characters, spaced in such a way to make it appear as a contract. These symbols are repeated throughout the document, and I believe it may be some kind of agreement. Perhaps, and this is just speculation, an agreement regarding where each of the families’ domain of influence will be....
Also of note is a symbol that appears to be very similar in complexity to the unique fourteen signatures. However, it is not in line with the signatures. This leads me to believe that the symbol in question is not an Old Family, but rather a single notation for the Fourteen Families as a whole. Perhaps they used this complex symbol whenever referring to themselves as a single collective....
He drew the symbol, and my hands begin to shake. It looks exactly like the one I have in my pocket.
Dad thinks it was the collective signature of the Fourteen Families. I’ve never seen it on any other vampire documents. Then again, I’ve never seen this language. Vampires adopted whatever language the humans who surrounded them used.
Maybe, then, this symbol is just something deeply buried in my subconscious. Dad worked on this before I was born, but if he kept his notes in the house, it’s quite possible I looked at them as a child. Could this symbol, which he painstakingly drew, have burned itself deep within my memory banks? It’s possible. While I was in a coma, my brain was “sorting things out,” as Dr. Schwartz said. Maybe it found this symbol lurking somewhere and brought it forward. It doesn’t mean there’s any reason to its being, just some misfiring neurons scattered throughout my mind.
I’m not sure whether I’m more at ease or not. But at least I have something to go on.
I look through the box again, and at the very bottom, find something that calms my hands instantly: a picture of my mom and dad. They’re young. I don’t see wedding bands on their fingers. This must’ve been while they were dating! They’re sitting at a table outside a restaurant; maybe a friend took the photo. They seem so happy.
I used to gather the photos of my family, take them to where we once lived, and burn them one by one. It was my method of letting emotions out. I never told anyone
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