“A… A-A graveyard?” I asked, nearly speechless. “All of them are buried here? All of the O’Sangs? All of our… ancestors?”

“Yes,” she answered solemnly. “All of them are buried here, in the garden. It may not be the most pleasant thing to be aware of… but it is something you need to know.”

“I… see,” I said, going quiet and taking it all in. I looked down at the tiger lilies… at Tiger O’Sang’s grave. I wasn’t sure what to think or say, but… this person seemed important to mother. “How did he…? I mean, um, when did…?”

She took a deep breath. “I suppose I can’t hide it from you forever…”

I fidgeted in place, slightly worried by her words. “What do you mean?”

Turning to face me, she wore a faint, bittersweet smile. “There is a natural restriction on royal vampires known as The Rule of Two. It means that there can only ever be two living members of a royal bloodline at any given time. Right now, you and I each share a half of the original O’Sang’s… essence. Before you, I shared it with father. Before me, he shared it with his mother and so on. Each half can only be passed on once every century when The First’s Comet-”

“W-Wait,” I interrupted. “Are you saying that he died when you turned me? Because you turned me? Then-”

“No,” she firmly responded. “You are not to blame for his death at all. Please, do not burden yourself with that idea. I told you before on the first day you awoke: never ever blame yourself for what happened to him. He was going to die no matter who became the next heir.”

It was next to impossible not to feel at fault. “B-But… if I wasn’t-”

“Please… listen,” she pleaded. I looked up at her, teary eyed as she continued to explain. “His death arrived months before I first met you when you were human. When the comet nears after a full century, the exact time it will pass is never the same. It is during this unsure time that an heir must be chosen and made ready to be turned when the comet fully comes to pass. So… do you understand? Whether you were or weren’t turned had no effect on father’s passing. It was simply his time.”

“I…” paused for a moment, and then… slowly nodded as I came to a depressing realization. “I understand, but… but doesn’t that mean you’re going to… t-to die one day? When the comet passes again?”

She maintained her glum smile. “Yes, it does mean that. Almost a century from now, I will die. The comet will grow near… and you will find an heir just as I found you. It is the cycle of life for us royals, but you do not need to worry about this for an entire lifetime. I tell you this because… I feel you deserve to know.”

Learning this was… just sad. “I… see…”

She placed an arm on my delicate shoulder. “I am sorry if you feel a sense of… inevitability looming over you now, but in truth it is still much longer than the majority of humans get to spend with-”

“It’s not that,” I interrupted, to her surprise.

She blinked. “It’s not?”

“No,” I continued. “It’s, well… isn’t it scary for you? To know how much time you have left?”

She seemed speechless for a moment, but her smile deepened into one far more sweet than bitter. “No, honey, I’m not afraid. Are you?”

I shook my head, smiling in kind. “I’m not. Even if you said I only had a year to live, or even a week or day… I’d still be okay with it. You’ve already given me so much to be grateful for, I-”

“I would not be okay with that,” she interrupted, suddenly embracing me in a gentle hug. “You will live a long, fulfilling life, and I will have it no other way because I am not yet done giving you all you deserve in life. As your mother, that is the least I can do.”

“I…” had no words for the bottomless amount of love I felt. I simply hugged her back, enjoying the affection she was giving me so often. “Ok. I’ll… I’ll make sure to do exactly that. I’ll live as long as I can and as happily as I can. The full 200 years!”

She lightly ruffled my hair as she spoke. “That’s my daughter.”

I felt really warm and fuzzy. “Hehe…”

“Now then,” she started, “with the dreary parts taken care of, I’d like to tell you a short story while we are out here. Walk with me.”

We broke our hug, and I nodded happily as I started to follow her on the path through the garden. “Okay!”

As we passed the first few bushes of colorful and diverse flowers, it was hard not to think of how many people were buried beneath us. There were millennia of history in this garden, and that gave it this air of importance. Even so… it was oddly beautiful that death gave way to life, and… oddly comforting to know that I was surrounded by family in this place. Either way, mother started her story and I was happy to listen.

“There was once a girl named Ruth Vines. She came from a well-off family and was spoiled from an early age. She never went hungry, and she never went thirsty. She had plenty of friends, and her family quite loved her. For a time, Ruth was your average upper class girl. For a time…”

I maintained my interest as we passed bunches of amaryllises, asters, and azaleas.

“Once she became a teenager, she slowly realized she was not like most girls. Her relationship with her family grew strained, and those privileges she enjoyed soon felt more like weights placed upon her, for they were only given when met with obedience… for when she followed the expectations set on her as the only daughter of the family.”

My eyes glossed over roses, violets, and lavenders as I listened to her words.

“One day, when she turned 18, the tension came to a climax. Her parents had arranged for her to marry the son of some rich, pompous family, and she was certainly having none of it. She tried to explain and reason to them why she didn’t want to marry; why she couldn’t. In the end, they believed her to be irrational, and… it unfortunately became clear that they did not care about her or who she was. They did not accept her… and they never would.”

I frowned, continuing to listen as we progressively circled the garden.

“So, she ran away. She abandoned her family because they didn’t deserve her, and she never regretted her choice.”

She stopped walking, looking at me with a pleasant smile. I spoke up, feeling both a sense of pity for what happened to the girl but also a sense of curiosity. “What happened after that?”

She smiled and turned to look off in the distance. “On one fateful night, she met a man. He had this oddly smug, playful look on his face, yet an undeniable warmth underlying the surface. He changed her life, and over time she learned what a parent was supposed to be like.”

She kneeled down, looking fondly at a flower of pristine white. The petals were bowl shaped and surrounded a purple center in a star pattern. She gazed upon it, caressing one of the petals with the back of her finger. She took in a deep breath to savor the lightly fruity aroma.

“So…” I started, even more curious than before, “what happened to her?”

Maintaining her eyes on the flower, she spoke to finish the story. “Ruth Vines the human died, and right here, at this very magnolia shrub, Magnolia O’Sang the vampire was born. I no longer wanted anything to do with my life as a human, so I tossed aside my old name, and I never looked back.”

I gasped, looking back and forth between her and the magnolia flowers. “Your name used to be Ruth Vines?! You ran away from home? But then, and you were a human, and then you, but why did, and-?!”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, yes it’s all true. I can’t say that my parents were anywhere near the lowest possible level your parents stooped to, but… I would like to think I can relate to some degree. Enough to understand what it’s like to desire… moving on, in a way. To look forward to a bright future and march towards it without looking back.” She looked over at me with a knowing smile. “Am I right?”

Once again, I felt understood. My face warmed into a smile, and I lightly nodded. “Mmm! But, I’m still a bit curious… You said that you weren’t like most girls?” I tilted my head. “What did you mean?”

“Ah, that’s… I…” 

She seemed conflicted on answering. With a drawn out breath, she looked up to the sky and seemed to come to some kind of decision. Her scarlet eyes locked with mine. “Alright, I… will be honest. I am a lesbian, and by that I mean I am both romantically and sexually attracted to other women. My human parents would not accept me as such, and even tried to arrange a marriage with a man for me. It is why I ran away… and it is also why I backed out of the marriage I, regrettably, consented to with House B’Krov at the last minute. The world has slowly but surely changed this past century, and I believe it has been changing for the better, so… starting with you, this is a fact concerning myself that I will no longer hide.”

“Oh,” I oh’d. “Um, well, I don’t see any problem with that! I don’t really understand why there would be any problem, actually, but um, uh…?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. I mean, I really didn’t see what the problem was, or why that’s something you would need to hide. I just know that I could feel that there was a certain weight to her words… and that it was not at all easy for her to say that.

Her dazzlingly proud smile was enough to tell me that I said the right thing. “I wish it wasn’t something that I had to hide all these years, but… as a royal vampire,, there was a certain level of reputation I had to maintain, and, well… while I admit I had been willing to tarnish it decades ago, my wife was of a different mind.”

I blinked. “You have a wife? Wait, does that mean, like, I have a second mom or?!”

Her pained smile shattered what little hope I managed to put together… and guilt replaced it. “No,” she said, “she was the very dear person that died very recently. I am sorry you could not meet her.”

“Oh… I… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she said, trying to comfort me as much as herself.  “I have already made my peace. Perhaps one day I will tell you more about her, but let’s focus on us for now, okay?”

“Mmm…” I nodded, looking up at her and letting a moment of silence pass. “Thank you. For… telling me all this. For making me feel less alone, and n-not that I did feel alone, just um… thank you.”

She smiled, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I understand what you mean.”

I beamed with glee as I felt us connect. “Heeeee!~”

“Cute as a button,” she laughed, walking towards a nearby bench to take a seat. She patted the spot at her side, beckoning me over. I followed, practically humming as I enjoyed the fresh garden air.

“So,” she started, “you’ve learned the secret of the O’Sang garden as well as my old identity as a human. You know that this is where our second lives begin… Do you understand what I am trying to ask you?”

I looked away from her, scanning across the garden’s vibrant colors and shapes to take a moment to consider. “I… think I do. But, well… What if it ends up being the wrong one?”

She held an arm around me, holding me closely. Her voice was kind, clear and affirming. “Then if that time comes, choose a different one. It is up to you, after all.”

“Right… Right! Then…!”

By now, the choice felt clear to me. I gently lifted the flower out of my silver hair, holding it delicately in the palm of my hand. I smiled, looking up at mother eagerly.

“Lily! I want to be Lily O’Sang!”

“Very well,” she calmly yet so lovingly started. “It is most pleasant to meet you, Lily O’Sang, my daughter.”

That…. That was it. I felt whole. I felt complete.

I felt like me, and it was the best feeling in the whole world. “Heh… hehe…”

“May I?” she suddenly asked as I was lost in happy bubbly thoughts.

“Huh? May you…?”

“Your lily. May I see it for a moment?” she clarified.

I blinked, noticing her hand held out for it. “Oh, sure!”

I happily let her borrow my lily, and once she had it, she held it aloft in the palm of her left hand.

“I once learned this simple little trick,” she explained as she clutched her right hand above the lily. “All you need to do is watch.”

I silently nodded, watching in wonder. Her right hand squeezed just a bit tighter, enough to draw blood. It built up large enough for a single drop to fall… right onto the lily. I wanted to speak out for her in worry, but I found myself far too intrigued. Once the red drop hit the lily, I watched as it was absorbed into the petal, and then… the whole flower started to glow a faint crimson. That glow started to become more and more sharpened and defined, but not throughout all of the lily, only parts of it. In fact, it started to look as if it was drawing a pattern. With each second that passed, it seemed as if scarlet strings were weaving themselves upon the surface of the snow white petals before melting into place. It was… mesmerizing. Yet a few seconds later, the sanguine marking finished etching itself as a near invisible thread of blood reconnected itself with mother’s right hand and then… faded away.

“And done,” she said, holding up my altered flower. The final appearance left it with the same lovely white base as before, freckles included, but it now had a thin red pattern visible. It seemed to branch out from the center, working with each and every miniscule detail on the lily to bring out the finest details.

“It’s… beautiful,” I said, completely amazed.

“It is, isn’t it?” she agreed. “This flower is now connected to me. For as long as my heart beats with life, it is practically indestructible.”

“Could I… C-Could I wear it?” I hesitantly asked.

“Of course,” she tenderly smiled, placing it back in the palm of my hand.

I stared at it, literally feeling the new connection it now had with mother. I could feel it all within this single flower. All the happy memories I’ve made so far, all the happy memories I will make. The feeling of love and life, and the feeling of sheer joy. As I moved to nestle it back into its silver throne upon my head, I realized it was more than that. It was family, and it was…

“My Blood Lily.”