Chapter 2

     I used to think Helena and I were in love. I thought I knew everything about her. I knew things that weren't in her report, which I was given so many years ago. Her report had her birthday but it didn't say how she wanted to be a ballerina and not a Hunter. Her report had her primary weapon, a red pistol, but it didn't say how she would wake up every morning and pray for the sun to come back. The report told me that she had already killed fifteen Vampires in her five years of Hunting. But the report didn't know that she would pray every night that her grandfather died peacefully.
     There were so many things that her report could have told me. But it could never have told me that I would let her go free. It never told me that I would fail that mission or that I would fall in love with her. The report could never tell me that if I failed that mission, Helena would become the greatest Vampire Hunter of all time.
     Yes. I used to be naïve enough to think that Helena and I were in love. But after she had gone free, came across many more Vampires and shot them with her red pistol of serum and killed them, and I had gone off on other missions, procured other Hunters and lead those Hunters to their deaths, I convinced myself that Helena was just another mission. I tried my best not to think about the fact that she was my only failed mission. Most of all, I tried not to think about how much I had forgotten about which side of the war I was on when I was with her.
     But when I saw Helena there in the middle of the conference room table, I felt like she and I were in love again. When I looked in those eyes, I didn't see the slight joy in them like I used to, and it pained my long ago stilled heart. When I saw her posture, it did not have the same confidence I had grown to love. When I saw her fear, I knew I had made a mistake, letting her get away from the Vampires' torture so many years ago.
     I felt a lump form in my throat as Helena's eyes darted hopelessly around the assembly of Vampires. She was looking for some solace. Some sort of reassurance that she was going to be okay. For a brief moment, I felt our eyes meet.
     In that split second, I felt a burning sensation like her eyes were searching my soul. It almost hurt to have her gaze upon me. I immediately put my head down, praying to a non-existent God that she did not recognize me. If she did, she would point me out as the Vampire that didn't turn her in. Vampires might torture Humans, but what Vampires do to Vampires that don't complete their mission is so much worse.
     While I stared down at the leather bound chair I was in, I heard Mama make a grand announcement for our newest victim.
     "Well, well, well. If it isn't our guest of honor, our lady of sorrows!" she exclaimed, the smile on her face spreading to her tone of voice. "I must say, you are not what I expected."
     Helena's watchful eyes stopped darting around to stare at Mama. That look of complete fear in her eyes, it could make me fall into a million pieces. But I couldn't do a damn thing about it as I bit down on my tongue to keep myself from launching myself at Helena and grabbing her and holding her close to me.
     Mama stared back at her. Her smile was evil, full of poison. Her eye brows raised, as if expecting Helena to answer with the gag over her mouth.
     Mama waited patiently for an answer that would never come. After a few moments of agonizing silence, Mama clicked her tongue, shaking her head.
     "My dear, you are not what I expected at all. I thought you would suddenly break through your bonds and stab me with a wooden stake or one of your pretty little so-called vaccines." Mama paused, as if still expecting such an occurrence to happen. Then, Mama shrugged. "You seem like a tough cookie to crumble. Perhaps drowning lessons are in order. How does that sound, my love?"
     In response to Helena's scared, blank stare, Mama drew away from Helena and turned towards Vlad. Vlad's body suddenly became very tense. I knew that Vladimir, no matter how much his kissed up to Mama, was still deeply afraid of her.
     "Vladimir, my son." Mama held out a hand to Vlad from atop the table. Vlad hesitated for a moment, but ended up grasping it firmly. Mama pulled him onto the table top, where he almost stumbled, but managed to regain his composure. "You know what to do."
     Vlad nodded to Mama. Mama gave him a smile that a mother would give to her newborn child. She touched his shoulder and then lovingly caressed the back of his head, as if to give him confidence, then she took his seat.
     All I was thinking was, "No! Mama's done it. She's finally done it."
     The Mother has the power to transfer her powers to one of her children. She could bestow this unlimited power to any Vampire. Any Vampire she chose. Instead of giving her powers to someone like me, Ray, Bob, Mikey, or Frank, she gave them to Vlad. Mama, the strongest Vampire anyone has ever known, relinquished her powers to the weakest Vampire I have ever known.
     I felt a small anger grow inside of me as I watched Vlad take gingerly steps towards Helena. There was no way that Vlad, a mindless kiss up with no self respect or self confidence, would be able to run this trial. If he didn't run away from the conference room in fear first, Vlad would surely get himself utterly humiliated or possibly killed. I must say, the latter option sounded like the better one to me.
     I looked to Helena. Now she had a different kind of blank expression on her face. She seemed to be wondering whether or not Vlad was a person to be feared. I'm sure that even she, a complete stranger to almost everyone here, could tell that Vlad was not a man to be respected or feared.
     "W-w-what is your name?" Vlad stuttered. I started to see beads of sweat form on his brow. I smirked, and saw a number of others doing the same.
     Helena raised her eyebrows at him. I breathed a small sigh of relief, seeing that at least in her last dwindling hours of life, she was not scared of Vlad.
     With the sudden burst of relief, I wanted to yell, "You moron! Take off the gag!" But I couldn't. If I drew any attention to myself, Helena would notice me. She would recognize me, and Vlad, with his newly found powers, would realize that I had let Helena go free all this time. Earlier, I said how Vampires treat the Vampires with unfinished missions worse than Hunters. Well, I forgot to mention that traitors like me are treated even worse than the unaccomplished. If Satan was scared of anything, it would be the torture traitors went through. Mark my words, Satan would shit his pants if he were to see what we could do.
     Fortunately, I did not have to draw attention to myself. Mikey did it for me.
     "Yeah, like she can talk right now, you idiot!"
     Frank and many other Vampires suppressed giggles. I saw smiles pulling at Ray's and Bob's faces. Mikey looked utterly triumphant and I gave him a good appreciative pat on the back. That was my brother.
     Vlad looked at us, still sweating profusely. He tried to give us an angry glare, but he was so utterly frightened, it looked more like he was constipated, if anything. He was like the little brother of Satan who had shit his pants so many times he had just run out of shit. Frank and Mikey and others laughed out loud at this newfound expression on Vlad's face. Ray and Bob were shaking with silent laughter. It also seemed as if the conference room itself was laughing at Vlad.
     I, however, was not. I was too busy staring at Helena. Even from her position, she was able to see the hilarious expression of Vlad's face. Her eyes were crinkled and I could clearly see her smiling with the cloth in her mouth. This gave me a bigger relief than you could ever know. The fact that Helena was well enough to even laugh right now helped me get over the fact that she was also captured.
     After the laughter died down, Vlad turned back to Helena. He took a few more steps towards her. Soon, there were only a few inches separating the two. Helena had an amused look on her face as Vladimir untied her gag with shaky fingers. As soon as the gag was off, Vlad jumped backwards, his arms over his head, as if Helena was a time bomb.
     More giggles erupted from the rest of the Vampires. I allowed myself a small chuckle. Then, I quickly glanced over to Mama. She was the only one not laughing. There was a clear reason for this.
     Mama's face was livid red. Her eyes were a horrible scarlet, not like her usually calmly knowledgeable red. The expression on her face was enough to kill a mountain lion, to make Satan's mother shit her pants. I could tell that Mama was starting to regret this decision.
     Vlad eventually dropped his hands from his face to look at Helena. The gag still in hand, he made his way closer to Helena once more. Helena had not said a word, and was simply smiling mischievously at Vlad.
     Vlad was once again a foot away from her…
     Ptooey!
     A line of spit made its way from Helena's lips to Vlad's forehead. The room exploded with laughter as Vlad screamed a rather girlish scream and quickly wiped his forehead with the gag. It was enough to make even Bob laugh so hard that he started choking.
     I saw Helena laughing, but it was drowned out by my own laughter as well as the other Vampires' laughter. But as soon as I saw Mama, I quickly shut my mouth.
     Her eyes were bulging so that they looked as if they would pop out of her head at any moment. Her nostrils flared so large, I thought that the person sitting next to her might just be able to see her brain. Her teeth seemed sharper than ever. And her skin tone was a new shade of red that would make a ripe tomato look white.
     "Enough!" she screamed. The mirth ended at once. All eyes were on Mama now. Vlad looked about ready to cry, while Helena looked completely and utterly terrified. In all my years of knowing Helena, not once had I seen her this scared. For the first time in my life, I had never been this scared of anything. Mama had had the final straw, and even the unrealistic heaven did not know what she might do.
     Mama stepped onto the table with such strength, she might have broken the grand table in two. She took meaningful steps towards Vlad and Helena. Vlad's eyes grew wide. For a moment, I thought he would wet himself. Helena's eyes grew wide, too, and I gripped the arms of my chair to keep myself from trying to protect Helena.
     Mama grabbed Vlad by the collar and lifted him a good two feet into the air.
     "You!" she screamed at him, their noses less than an inch apart. "You are a complete disgrace. You call yourself a Vampire?!"
     I shrank into my chair, fully afraid. I saw those closest to Mama and Vlad flee from their seats.
     "How did I not see this before?" Mama demanded to no one in particular, still holding Vlad. "Well, as of this moment, I am completely disenchanted! You are an utter disappointment and an embarrassment for Vampires everywhere." She dropped Vlad, who fell into a shaking pile of flesh and bone. "Get the hell out of my court!"
     Vlad scrambled to his feet and fell off the table to Run towards the door. As he got his hand on the knob, Mama screamed at him, "And don't you dare let me see your face around here ever again!"
     I watched Vladimir Run as fast as his Running ability would allow. Before the door shut, he was gone. All I could think was good riddance. At the same time, in spite of everything I knew about Helena and her vigor and bravery, I started to fear for her. If I was trembling at the sight of the newly transformed Mama, I could only imagine what Mama looked like from where Helena was seated. Mama was breathing deeply, looking ready to kill something. And if anything, she would kill Helena. I grew weak at the sight of the panic in Helena's eyes, the quivering of her lip, and the look on her face that showed that she knew that Mama was not someone that she wanted to piss off.
     "And you!" This time, Mama rounded onto Helena, who nearly stumbled backwards in fear. "Is this how it's going to be with you? Are you going to stay feisty to the end? Because if so, I might as well just kill you now! And I would love to see you dead! Better yet, I want to watch you die, slowly and painfully."
     At this point, I was ready to Fly out of there if it hadn't been for the fact that I wouldn't leave Helena there. I thought that Mama would do something rash and kill every last Vampire if she wasn't careful. You might think that I'm exaggerating, but you also have no idea what Mama is capable of.
     "And once I'm done with you, I'll torture the ghost of you! But before you die, do you know what I'd like?" Mama lowered her head so that she was face to face with Helena. "I would love nothing more than to have you watch as I kill all your friends. And maybe after that, I would have you tied to your bed and have you watch as I burn down your little house on Cemetery Drive. That's right, Helena. We know where you live!"
     Helena's eyes started filling with tears and I felt my fingernails dig deeper into the arms of my chair. Mama was glaring angrily at Helena so she saw the fear in Helena's eyes.
     This seemed to be a wakeup call for Mama. Mama's eyes returned to their normal red color. Her posture stooped. The angry look in her face changed to a look of frustration in herself. Mama normally kept her cool in these situations. She was supposed to keep her cool in these situations. After staring at the ground for quite some time, Mama snapped her head back up, her red eyes flashing. The same old Mama was back.
     "Let's get back to having a trial."