Jasmine entered Anna's room, and she was hugging herself while looking out of the window. She approached slowly and stopped next to her. The moon seemed so close to the earth that night that the impression was that if she reached out she could touch it.
"Have you come to tell me everything?"
Jasmine understood that she must have overheard the conversation with Max.
"I think you might already have something you want to know first."
"Yes. First I want to know about your friendship with my mother. I want to know everything."
"I met your mother when she was engaged to Dester, but at the time, we didn't have the opportunity to get close, and anyway, after our meeting, she didn't take long to run off with Henry."
"Why were you interested in becoming friends with her?"
"Because she was a Bruma, and they're rare."
"Did Mom know what you were?"
"Yes. I revealed the secret of Allister and the vampires to Brianna."
"Why did you do that?"
"Because I needed her help. I needed her to do something for my son."
"Max? What was wrong with him?"
"I'm a vampire, Anna. A vampire who married a werewolf and, despite everyone saying it wasn't possible, I got pregnant. But... What would my child be? His mother might know the answer. And I had spent years of my life looking for a Bruma before I got pregnant, because of its ability to free werewolves from any outside influence on their minds, but then my son became the priority."
"Max was a vampire and a werewolf?"
"Yes. He was both, inside me. But Brianna, you said he wouldn't survive. They are two opposite creatures. They can't exist in the same body. And your mother helped me."
"What did my mother do?"
"She managed to use the magic of one of the creatures, to suppress the other, but the one that was suppressed remained in Max's body, it couldn't be separated from him and the werewolf's magic made Max have exceptional gifts. It made Max able to control us, making him the strongest vampire. But we still didn't know what he would be. He could be a vampire, or a werewolf... And that's not all about what Brianna's magic has caused. Maxwell is the only vampire who was born. All the others are transformed. And to make matters more complicated, he's the only one who can turn a human, or a werewolf, into a vampire now."
"But... you were turned. And that means that someone else could turn humans into vampires, right?"
"Yes. But it disappeared, many centuries ago. Vampires became rare because of that."
"They didn't seem rare to me when they attacked Nevada."
"Yes. There are many of us now. Maxwell made sure that our species didn't go extinct."
"If vampires don't die... Why have they become rare?"
"We don't die of disease, Anna. But we can be killed. There are human hunters who live exclusively to find and kill us. E... Vampires don't inherit intelligence, like werewolves who are born superior in everything. What we learn is from the letters in the blood we drink. But it's a cursed knowledge, the moment you use it, it ceases to exist, and you have to look for another professional if you want to continue a project, or study..."
"Werewolves are superior. They have the healing water, but they refuse to share it with humanity. If they agreed to distribute it to vampires, we could cure our victims. They wouldn't have to die after we fed, and we could feed on several people... Werewolves are selfish. But they're still stronger than vampires."
Jasmine smiled.
"I still have hopes that you can get this water to us Anna. As you yourself concluded, we need it."
"Why me?"
Jasmine looked at Anna's beautiful profile watching the moon, thoughtful. She would never agree to do what it took for them to get that water. Not at that moment.
"You'll know when the time is right, Anna."
She seemed to be thinking of something else and didn't even hear Jasmine's vague reply.
"But... Allister hated Brianna long before that, right? E... If werewolves are enemies of vampires, why did Allister marry you?"
"He didn't know I was a vampire, Anna. Nobody knew. His parents, and his whole family, believed I was just a human."
"Because he hated my mother?"
"Why? Anna, can't you imagine? Allister wanted Brianna the moment he laid eyes on her. That's why you're alive. It doesn't matter what reason they spoke to you before. That's the truth. But it wasn't just that. The Brumas are witches who don't need spells to perform magic. You are the magic. And you can stop the supernaturals manipulating humans. The werewolves fear losing their natural authority, which is one of the secrets to their success, just by you blowing a few words in the wind. Allister wished to put an end to this threat."
"He preferred to be indebted to witches?"
"He... He didn't like them, but next to a Bruma, a witch is harmless and, besides, the witch who prevented him and his family from becoming werewolves permanently, had several uses for the brothers."
"Sarah was Allister's lover, too?"
"Sarah passed through the bed of all the werewolves in the family, and also, in the bed of the werewolves who worked for the family, Anna."
"Didn't Allister kill me because of my resemblance to Mom?"
"Yes. He wanted you to be humiliated in the green house. He planned it for many years, but it seems that fate had a surprise in store for him, right? Allister didn't expect you to fall in love."
"I hate Allister."
"Do you, Anna? I think Allister, to this day, is your true love. You can't look at other men who aren't faithful copies of him. You don't have the slightest interest in other men. It's no coincidence that you've fallen in love with two men who are almost identical."