Recognition

Hi, this is Clare. It's been a busy few days for us. We've had school (well, homeschool lessons, in my case) and Blakeney, Bree, and Summer got home from their trip and are settling back in. It's good to have the whole family together again! We all missed each other while we were apart.

The other busy part is, of course, the other vampire. It sounds weird to call her that, but she wouldn't tell us her name. (We actually found it out, but I'll get to that.) Once she woke up from the tranquilizers, she started talking, but it wasn't much of a conversation. Just that she wanted us to let her go, and she was thirsty.

I took care of the thirsty part - I brought her blood to drink - but it never seemed like enough for her. I remember those days, when I always felt I needed more. She'll get over that. I don't think she's been a vampire for very long, so her body is still adjusting.

Letting her go, though, is not an option. For one thing, she would kill people. She says she wouldn't, and she wouldn't even want to, but she has no control of herself at all at this point. She tried to eat Evelyn on the second day, and didn't seem aware enough to even try to stop herself. (Fortunately she's still restrained, and couldn't reach poor Ev.) For another thing... as far as we know, she has nowhere else to go. There are vampire hunters after her, and possibly other vampires. She can't just go back to her normal life. I think on some level, she realizes this, but it's hard for her to admit it to herself.

We've been taking turns spending time with her... talking to her and reading to her, and just being there so she isn't alone. It's hard to tell if she's doing any better. Felicity does the best at calming her down - using her power - but it's a lot of work and it doesn't last very long. I think she just needs time to adjust, like I did last year when I was turned. At least, unlike me when I was newly turned, she has nice people taking care of her, rather than cruel other vampires who will teach her bad things. I think that will make it easier.

We have made progress in one area, though; we know her name! Felicity had been sitting with her, and when I came to take my turn, she said, "By the way, her name is Tabitha [Last Name]. Maybe calling her that will help."

"Oh, she finally said?" She had to have said, I assumed, because we don't have anyone in our family who can read minds. Kaya can feel what other people are feeling, but a name is a piece of information, not an emotion - so we have no way of finding that out using our powers.

Felicity shook her head. "I remember her. From before. It took a few days for me to recognize her, because she looks so different now. We - me, Kirsten, Molly, Charissa, and Bree - used to play with her when we were little kids. She lived next door to our grandparents, with her elderly relatives who were related to us, too. Last time I saw her was December of last year, and she seemed fine then. You know, normal. I don't mean 'normal,' I mean..."

I chuckled. "You mean, not a vampire?"

Felicity nodded, blushing bright red and embarrassed for kind of calling me abnormal. Which is perfectly fair - I am definitely not normal. Felicity continued, though. "Yeah, and... not feral and injured. When we saw her ten months ago, she was just a regular girl. But her relatives started having health problems, and couldn't take care of her. I'm not sure where she went to live after that."

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but this is similar to my own story. My grandmother who was raising me died, and I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle, who kicked me out when their sons abused me. I was homeless and living on the streets when I became a vampire. It could just be by chance that Tabitha had a background so much like mine... kids with attentive parents can't just disappear to become vampires, so for young ones like us, odds are that the ball got dropped by someone in terms of our care... but I wondered if there was a deeper connection because of the details that were the same. I mentioned it to my sisters later, but at the time I just said, "Thanks. It's good to know."

It really was good. It didn't make a huge amount of difference, of course. Tabitha isn't just magically fine now. I think it helped, though. I don't think it's just my imagination that she seemed to pay a little more attention to what I was saying when I used her name, or that she seemed just a little bit reassured that there were people involved in this who were nice to her in the past. It's not huge, but it's something. And we'll take anything we can get.

Love,
Clare