Hello, you can call me Steven for security reasons I don't want to tell you my real name, we might meet one day and I can't have you know what it is I'm up to.
I would however like to tell you my story, as best as I know it, what bother me the most growing up was that if I could remember I only knew 2 types of people. The ones I got along with and always wanted to hang out, and the ones who hated me for some reason or another and never left me alone finding any reason to cause me trouble. For one year however, I learned something that would forever change how I saw the world and my place in it.
My dad had died when I was 13 and my mom had taken it hard, I tried my best to make things easy on her, focusing on school, getting good grades, and not causing any trouble. I never met my dad's side of the family and for all I knew they were all dead, they never showed any concern for me if they were alive. Even after I graduated I came back live with my mom, she needed help around the house and I think she was just happy to have company. My mom had never really dated after my dad died, while there were a few guys they never lasted more than a week. One day I was in my dad's study that was just the way he left it, my mom said it was her way of remembering him. I was looking for a flash drive I could use for my job, I got a job as a software designer and part of the uniform was a 4GB flash drive. I was looking through the desk and in the top left cabinet I found the flash drives and a blue envelope. I reached in and the envelope fell out, I grabbed a few flash drives and picked up the envelope. I looked at it and say my name on it so I opened it and say a phone number with the word umbrella under it. I took it to my mom to try and see if she knew anything about it.
"No, I don't honey. I've left everything in there just how your dad had it" mom said.
"Then do you know what this number is or what Umbrella means?" I asked.
"Why not call it and see? It was obviously meant for you." mom answered.
I had nothing other than the number to go on so I called it with the phone on speaker. It was answered right away and a very pleasant women's voice came on.
"Welcome to Starlight Security. Can I have the name of the spouse or holder of the account?" The voice said.
"Starlight Security? What's that?" mom asked.
"I've heard about them. They are a global security agency, they will protect anything you give them for the right price. Some celebrity's use them to hide sex tapes and secrets they don't want the news to get a hold of." I explained.
"Can I have the name of the spouse or holder of the account?" The voice said again.
"If your dad was keeping secrets he wouldn't have left it under his name. Try Samantha." mom said.
"Thank you, checking accounts under Samantha." the voice said before we could react.
I forgot it was on speaker and could hear mom, I knew mom's name was Sam something but everyone called her by a different name so I never knew it was Samantha.
"Account found, there are 2 items secured please say the key word per-item." the voice came back.
I looked at mom hopping she had an answer. She just shrugged and pointed to the paper I was holding. I looked down and say the word Umbrella, and as it was the only other thing on the paper I guessed it was worth a shot.
"Umbrella." I said.
"Thank you."
"This file is marked private, please turn the phone off speaker and hand to a Steven for further access." the voice said.
I looked up at mom and took the phone off speaker, no idea how they could tell it was on from their end.
"Maybe it's something your dad left you, his will didn't cover all the things we had talked about making sure you got when we died." mom said with sadness in her voice.
I put the phone to my ear.
"Yes, this is Steven." I started.
"Hello Steven, please stand by."
There was a strange sound and clicks, then I hear my dad's voice, I hadn't heard it in such a long time my eyes started to water.
"Hello son, I have to be quick. There is so much I want to tell you, want to teach you. About Life, Love, and where my family comes from, but if you're listening to this then I might not be around." my dad's voice wavered.
"However, that doesn't matter, what matters is that you are safe and you learn this secret. After you do, you can never tell anyone other than your son's because if you do they might find you and all that I have done to keep you from them would be wasted." he said, the seriousness in his voice focusing my mind.
"Right now, this message is coming to you on a special frequency only the males in our family can hear, it has to be this way, not even your mother can know."
"The male members of our family have the ability to control others mind. It has been passed down in our genetics from a time the world thought Vampires and Wear-wolfs' were not only real but outside and hunting them."
"The power to control other people depends on the how well we can control our presence, if you can keep to yourself and other people don't notice you the power will stay dormant and no one will ever know."
"If instead you make yourself known and draw attention the power will let you connect to other minds, you could then control them to do anything that you want short of killing."
"The people you connect with don't lose them self or anything, there mind will just take the control as a louder than normal voice in the back of their head and have them feel like it's their idea."
"However, you should know we are not the only family with such powers and the others are always looking for signs of us so be careful how you use the power. I don't want you to be a part of that world, that's why I hid you, over the centuries the others have killed our family and we have killed them. Right now, there should only be a handful of any of us left and some have lost their power all together."
"We are the only family left that can control peoples' minds and after your grandfather is gone you might be the only one left. You don't need to know the other family's powers as long as you keep your power hidden it won't matter, if you do decide to use it I want you to promise me 2 things."
"One you will protect your mother even if that means you never see her again, she is the only good thing in my life other than you."
"The other is that you control the power and don't let it control you, if you can get a handle on it then you can protect yourself from the others and even control them that's why they fear us. If you can find your grandfather he can teach you how, but I don't know where he is and it might be up to you to learn alone."
"I'm sorry I can't be there to help, but you're a good kid and I can already see how much talent you have for this power. Shit I'm almost out of time, this is not a joke from the grave so don't ignore your father. Hand the phone to your mother and tell her to say Sunshine."