Chapter 21: Chapter 21

PRESENT

CHAPTER 14: MEETING MAE

DIANA

I spent the long journey to Romania giddy with so many different thoughts and emotions. Firstly, over what happened when Gualtiero dropped me off at the airport. Had he really told me that he loved me? And…had I really said it back? Not that he heard me, I said it in a whisper, but the fact that I responded at all meant something. It meant that I felt it.

Was this crazy? I barely knew Gualtiero and it was just days ago that I was accusing him of murdering Roman and being a cheater. Now I was leaving him in charge of my cat and quietly proclaiming my love for him. I laughed out loud at myself, which awarded me a strange look from the older gentleman assigned to the seat next to mine. If I wasn’t crazy for loving Gualtiero so soon after meeting him, I certainly appeared crazy to those on my flight, for other reasons. I didn’t care though. It felt good to be in love, to experience this feeling. It was a new one for me.

Sure, I’d liked boys in the past. I’d gone on dates and had crushes that I probably confused for love due to my raging teenage hormones; I even had a boyfriend or two, but it didn’t feel like this. I always knew from the start that what I felt for Gualtiero was something different, but I didn’t know what it was until I heard the words “I love you, Diana,” come out of his beautiful mouth. I didn’t know that it was love. Knowing it now and fully embracing that feeling felt wonderful.

I hugged the notebook Gualtiero gave me to my chest and silently cursed myself for choosing now of all times to go to Romania. While I felt excited to go, I already couldn’t wait to get back and see him again. To really start interacting together as a couple. The thought made the butterflies in my stomach flutter crazily, but I suppose for now texting and calling would have to do.

The other thing that kept creeping to my thoughts during the flight was my parents. The last time I had been on this flight, I had been sitting between them, excitedly chatting away about all of the fun things that we would do on our vacation and all of the beautiful sights we would see. I remember falling asleep with my head on my father’s shoulder and waking up as the plane was about to land. The memory made a tear fall down my cheek and as I sniffled, I gained a second odd glance from the man next to me. From laughter to tears, all in the span of a few minutes. Wow, I really am looking like a nutcase, I thought to myself, stifling the urge to laugh again.

---

As soon as I arrived at Transilvania International Airport, I realized that Romanians were perhaps no strangers to craziness. Near the exit, I was greeted by a man in a cheesy Dracula costume who handed me a brochure advertising Bran’s Castle, the alleged home of Dracula himself.

“Come to my home,” the man crooned in a thick Romanian accent. “I vill suck your blaaaad,” he hissed, bearing cheap plastic vampire fangs. I smirked and continued on my way, pretty sure that same man was there the first time I’d come to this airport. I’d wanted to visit Bran’s Castle, but my parents thought all the exposure to vampire stuff might give me nightmares. I’d laughed and told them it wouldn’t because I knew vampires weren’t real, but they didn’t seem interested in going. Now, at 18, the images on the brochure seemed silly to me and I understood why they thought the trip might be a waste of time and money. I headed outside to find a taxi when I suddenly realized I had no idea where I would be headed.

You really are nuts, you know? Heading to a foreign country because you got a random plane ticket e-mailed to you by a complete stranger.

I thought about texting Gualtiero and asking him if he knew of any good hotels in the area, but as I reached into my purse for my phone, I noticed a man standing a few feet away holding a sign that said DIANA AGUERO on it. What the hell?

I stood there unsure of what to do, until the man’s eyes met mine.

“Diana Aguero?” he asked.

“Erm… yes, that’s me,” I responded hesitantly.

Without saying another word, he walked over to me and offered to take my suitcase.

“Please, allow me,” he said, taking it while I stood there confused and feeling like a total idiot.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” I asked.

“I am Ignat,” he said, taking my bag to a nearby parked car and putting it into the trunk. “Your relatives have sent me to drive you to their home.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Gualtiero was right, the woman on the phone had been a relative. I suddenly felt a whole lot more at ease with this information. Ignat held open the back door of the car and gestured for me get in. I tossed the Bran’s Castle brochure in a nearby trash bin and climbed in, grateful for the ride.

---

“Diana!”

Ignat had dropped me off in front of a rustic home a few miles away from the airport and a pretty woman who appeared to be somewhere in her late 30s greeted me with a warm hug.

“My goodness, you’ve grown so much since the last time you visited. You look so much like your mother,” she said smiling as she looked at my face. “I’m very happy that you decided to come. I wasn’t so sure that you would after you hung up on me,” she continued with a laugh. “Anyway, come in!”

“Wait, you’re Mae?” I asked, following her inside. “You sounded so… different on the phone.”

I had been sure Mae was ancient judging by her voice alone. And in my dream, she manifested as such. I hadn’t expected her to be someone so young and lively. She had mentioned seeing me the last time I came here, but truthfully, I didn’t remember her at all. I mostly remember my relatives from here being older adults, but then my memory was quite foggy.

“Yes, well, some of life’s most wonderful things are meant to be seen and not heard,” she responded with a chuckle. I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but I didn’t ask.

“Come,” she added. “Let’s get you something to eat. You must be starving.”

Mae fixed me a plate of Romanian delicacies and we sat and chatted while I ate. She asked me about my life back home and how I’d been holding up since my parents passed away. I gave her a brief summary of my life and appreciated the condolences she offered over my loss. I have to admit, it was nice talking about it with someone who had really known them. I mean, Anastasia knew them, but not on any deep level. It was different talking to someone who knew them as friends and family members, not just their friend’s parents. Although it occurred to me at some point that I didn’t know exactly how my parents were related to Mae.

“I hope this doesn’t sound rude,” I said. “But I must confess that I don’t really remember you from the last time I was here. How are we related exactly? Are you a cousin or something?”

Mae laughed, as if I’d said something amusing, then let out a long breath.

“Diana, do you know what the word Mae means in Romanian?”

“Someone told me it was a term of endearment meant for grandmothers,” I replied, feeling a pang of longing for Gualtiero as I remembered his words.

She nodded. “‘Someone’ was right,” she said.

I had put my purse down on an empty chair at the table. Sticking out from it a bit were the notebook Gualtiero gave me and Iosif Michea’s journal. Mae reached over and pulled the latter out and laid it out on the table in front of her, a nostalgic smile spreading upon her lips. She caressed the journal gently, as it were an invaluable treasure.

“Do you know who wrote this journal, Diana?”

“Iosif Michea,” I responded, not knowing where this conversation was going.

“Yes. A man you were named after,” she said, smiling. “He gave me my name too, you know. Mae is just a nickname; my real name is Theodosia. Theodosia Michea.”

“Theodosia, like Iosif’s fiancée and daughter? Are you her descendant?”

“No, my dear. I am Iosif’s daughter,” she said.

I blinked a few times, considering this. “But…that would be impossible. Iosif died nearly 200 years ago, his daughter would be—”

“180 years old this fall! Can you believe it? Although I do age quite well, if I do say so myself,” she laughed.

I laughed along at her joke. Mae, or Theodosia had an odd sense of humor, but who was I to judge? I was the same girl who was laughing at nothing on the plane earlier. “You’re very funny,” I said.

“It is not a joke, Diana,” she said, her laugh subsiding. “I have a strong familial bond to this journal; that is how I knew you had read it. My father wrote it when I was a child. I passed it on to my child, who passed it to theirs, who passed it to theirs, who passed it to your mother. Diana,” she paused, “I am your great-great-great-great grandmother.”

I laughed again, but this time she did not join in. I started to feel uneasy. Could this woman be insane? If so, it was very concerning to me, being as I had nowhere else to go.

“Come again?” I asked.

“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s actually quite simple. You see, I am a witch,” she explained.

Oh yeah, that’s not crazy at all, I thought.

“I can transform my image to those who see me through their naked eye, but I cannot hide my true form over the phone or in photograph,” she said, getting up and crossing over to a drawer. “That’s why I sounded so old to you over the phone. You were hearing my real voice. You did in fact meet me when you visited as a young girl, however you don’t remember me because I was using a more mature image back then.” She pulled a picture out of the drawer and sat back down across from me, sliding it over so I could see it and pointing out the different people in it.

“See? There’s you, there’s your mother, and that’s me,” she said, pointing at an absolutely ancient looking woman in the photograph. “Or, well, that’s what I’d look like if I weren’t able to alter my appearance.”

“This can’t be real,” I said.

“It’s all real, Diana,” she replied, putting her hand on top of mine. “Me, the journal, vampires, all of it.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head, although something inside of me, something I couldn’t quite pinpoint, was telling me that she wasn’t crazy or lying. That she was telling the truth.

“My father was the bravest vampire hunter of all time, and he wrote this journal to make sure that his legacy lives on, that every generation carrying his blood would continue on hunting the beasts and ridding the world of their cruelty.”

“You mean, my mom was…” I trailed off, swallowing a lump in my throat.

“An incredibly skilled and fierce hunter,” she finished for me. “She taught your father too. Diana, I do not know this for sure, but I have a strong feeling that their death was no accident.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, somehow already knowing the answer.

“When a vampire hunter dies of a ‘freak accident’ it is usually anything but. And any hunter with ties to my father, well…let’s just say the vampires are thirstier for their blood more than any others’.”

This was a lot to take in. It was crazy, it was impossible, and yet… the more she talked about it, the more it made sense to me.

“Your parents were going to begin training you this year,” she continued. “But since they aren’t here, it’s up to me to make that happen. That’s why I’m here, why I was made an immortal witch. To make sure that nothing stops our family from hunting…”

It was as if by learning of the true existence of vampires and hunters, I suddenly felt that history in my blood. I felt something stir inside of me that I didn’t know was there in the first place.

“Diana, you are not here for a visit, you’re here to train.”

Bring it on.