Benedict the Vampire Centaur (special preview)

As a child I began developing a rash all over my body. It was painful and horrible, and it caused me to cry at all hours of the day. It strained my parent’s both mentally and physically, as it seemed nothing could placate me.  It seemed that only at night did my screams quiet and I was able to find some semblance of peace.

My parents were worried, for more than just the obvious reasons. They feared some sort of curse had been placed upon the family, especially when my mother became pregnant with my brother. They became frantic to find out what was wrong with me so hopefully they could combat it before my brother was born.

I remember very vividly a priest standing over me when I was about five. He was so tall and thin, and clad in all black he looked quite the fright. He threw holy water in my face and shouted incantations while I screamed from fear. This gave them credence to the whole ‘curse’ thing and they leaned into it. I was kept in a room all by myself under the strictest of instructions from the priest. My rashes began to go away, and my parents were relieved.

Unfortunately, my brother was born with the very same affliction as me. Which caused them ever more grief due to the fact that this was their heir, their glorious male child. I heard talk of them sending me away, but luckily, a doctor came and changed their minds.

The doctor explained that what was afflicting my brother and I was an allergy, not a curse even though it would feel like that. And the priest had accidentally stumbled upon the best treatment for us, not saved me from the clutches of a demon. He discovered it was the sun that my brother and I were allergic to, and from there things grew both easier and harder for us.

My brother Dane had a lot of expectations to uphold as the heir to the family, which was all well and fine while he was still young. But the older he got, the more apparent he would be hindered by our common allergy.

“They dress so strangely!” We heard that quite often when we had to leave the house.

Of course we dressed oddly! If any of our skin was touched by the sun we would be as inflamed and in pain as Satan himself. We dressed head to toe in bright, bloody red clothing. When we first tried this method we wore black, but it sometimes grew too hot for us. Neither of us liked white, and we discovered bright red worked just as well. Irony, considering we could be bright red without it. Dane and I were known as the Bloody Twins because of this. Although we were not twins, nor were we bloody as long as we followed basic safety precautions.

“No one will touch them. I am not sure sure that priest wasn’t right before and that this is a curse upon us!” We heard our mother lamenting this one evening to our father.

Dane and I preferred to sleep during the day and spend most of our waking hours when it was dark out. So often, we over heard things we weren’t supposed to.

“Do you think they’re talking about you getting engaged or me getting engaged?” Dane whispered to me.

“Good question,” I murmured. “My extra cookie at tea says it’s you.”

Dane rolled his eyes with a smile. “Mine on you then.”

The two of us hunkered together, listening to my parents continue to lament ‘their’ rotten fortune at having two defective children.

“I don’t see why we can’t just find someone with how much we’ve added to the dowry because of this,” our father tutted.

“Who would want her?” My mother whined.

Dane shoved me. “Ha! It is you.”

I shoved him back. “Oh goodie, that makes me feel grand.”

Mother moaned loudly. “All these responses so far have responded in the negative. No one wants her! She will be useless in a few years. I don’t want Dane to be saddled with such a burden.”

Dane squeezed my hand. “I’d rather be burdened with you than anyone.”

I put my arm around him and hugged him. “That soothes the sting a little. Thank you for carrying such a heavy weight.”

“Now, now, surely there must be one amongst them who could be persuaded.” I heard my father walk across the room and then stop. “You’ve not even opened this one.”

“What’s the point?” Mother continued to whine.

There was silence in the room as father opened the letter. “Well now, our luck might be changing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dr. Von Tettingen seems very interested in our little Lili.” My father sounded so pomp and smug.

“He is!”

Dane looked up at me with a panicked expression. “Whose this doctor?”

I recognized the name, although it felt so far away and distant in my memory. “That’s the doctor, I think, who diagnosed us.”