by Liz Strange
Giovanni was at my side, his shoes also removed. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his body tightly against my own. “You are such a curious woman, you know that? You’re a child, a vixen and huntress all wrapped in one delicious package.” His mouth was hot against my ear, a state that would pass as the blood was absorbed. I felt his hands travel up my back and begin to tug at the zipper of my dress. All too easily the garment fell in a pile at my feet, and I stood in the sand naked except for a pair of red panties.
“What about you?” I asked playfully.
In a blur Giovanni’s clothes joined mine on the beach, and his hard, lean body was exposed to the soft moonlight. “Better?”
“Much.” I took his hand again and led him into the water. When we were about thigh deep I stopped. Off in the distance I heard the low moaning of a ship’s horn. The water was cold, too cold for a human to enjoy, but it didn’t bother us a bit. Then, without any warning, Giovanni grabbed me and threw me far out into the water. I had barely broken the surface again, when he was already at my side. His speed alarmed me, sometimes. No matter how quickly I moved, he was always quicker. Sometimes it was as if he hadn’t moved at all. He was simply in one place one moment then the next instant in another.
Together we swam far out into the ocean. We could go for miles without being fatigued in any way. It was powerful to be out in the dark water, the only two creatures for miles. Those were some of my favourite times, coming back from the kill and diving into the cold, dark water.
Back at the beach, we tumbled into each other’s arms. Our bodies rolled across the wet beach, the grit digging into my skin. The discomfort of the sand was lost to the burning of Giovanni’s skin touching mine. His need was urgent, his mouth and hands greedy for my body. He pushed himself inside of me, though my body was still tight. I reacted with a violent rush of excitement. He pounded into me, over and over, as the gentle sounds of the water meeting the shore mingled with my whimpers of ecstasy. I wrapped my legs around his, forcing him deeper into my body.
“God, you feel wonderful,” he whispered in my ear.
After we were done, we lay on the cold sand cradled in each other’s arms. The stars above us twinkled, our silent witnesses.
“What are thinking about?” I asked.
“Lots of things.”
“Like what?”
He turned his position until he was looking directly into my eyes. His face was so intense, yet hard to read. “Rachel, you worry too much. Every time that you can’t see my thoughts, or experience my feelings, you panic. Just because my mind might be closed it doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong. If there were something to worry about I would tell you.” His words held a harsh tone that he had never used with me before.
“I’m sorry.”
A look like shame flashed quickly over his face. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. I just want you to be happy, and enjoy the gift of us being together that we have been given.”
“All right, let’s change the subject. Tell me more about your family, about your brothers and sister.”
He groaned softly. “That was, long ago. Why do you want to know these things so badly?”
“My life is an open book to you, but there are so many holes in what I know about your life. I want to know. Isn’t that enough to try to remember and to share with me?”
“All right, I give in. What can I tell you?” He paused briefly as he thought back to a time so long ago. “My sister became a nun, and she lived in a convent not too far away from the town where we were born and raised. As far as I know, she had a good life, and of course my mother was very proud to have one of her children who dedicated their life to the church. She lived to a nice old age, and I was fortunate enough to see her just before she died.
“As for my brothers, Raphael, who was the oldest, married a nice girl we had known growing up, sired eight children and joined my father in the family business. After my father passed on he took over and made it even more successful, and some of the original land from my home is still owned by his descendents. He was always very strong and serious, not like me at all, and he made an excellent businessman.
“Fernando also married, but his young wife died in childbirth, and my mother ended up helping him raise the child. He eventually remarried, but not for many years, and never produced another child of his own. He also helped out in the family business.
“Xavier, who was only two years older than me, had somewhat of wanderlust. He accompanied the uncle I was named after on several purchasing expeditions, and followed other business opportunities. He even came over to America looking to establish himself in a large country looking for adventurous men. Unfortunately he caught some type of infection on the voyage over, and died a few weeks after he arrived. He never married, and never had kids. I too was in America at the same time, and was informed by one of my contacts that he was coming over, so I went to see him. He was in a hospital, and was very sick. I doubt he knew I was there. Of all my brothers, he was probably the most like me, and the one I have missed the most. There are relatives alive today whom I can trace back to my brothers and cousins. I have kept close tabs on my family and later descendants, from shortly after my change. If I couldn’t be a part of their life, I at least wanted to know that they were well.”
I closed my eyes as he talked, trying to imagine what it would have been like to live during those times. I was familiar with their faces, as they often flashed through Giovanni’s mind, especially when we lay down to slumber for the day. All the brothers had some variation of his features, all nice-looking men in their own right. What would it be like to meet a relative born hundreds of years after when you should have died?
“There’s a boat coming.” His voice was soft.
I decided to change the topic, as he obviously had trouble reliving his human past. “What are we, Giovanni? I mean we’re not exactly dead, and yet we’re not really alive either. We have feelings and thoughts, but we have to kill to survive. Do you have any ideas? Don’t you want to find out more about where we came from?”
“Rachel, you think too much about things you have no control over. I have survived for almost three hundred years now, and I know little more than I did when I was first changed. All I can tell you is that creatures like ourselves have existed for a very long time. How long I can’t be sure, but I have travelled the world many times over, and in almost every culture there is some type of legend or myth concerning creatures who do not die, and who drink the blood of other living creatures. There are variations, but the stories essentially carry the same information. Why can’t you just be content that we are what we are, and even more so that we have each other?” His voice was hard, and I knew he was restraining his anger.
I turned away from his words. I let myself focus on the soft whisper of the water on the shore, and the distant moaning of the boats on the sea. I wound my fingers through the cold, damp sand. Giovanni’s mood was dark, I could feel it washing over me, but I was still blocked from his thoughts. “I just want to know more about how vampires came to be. Is that so terrible?”
His strong arm was wrapped around me, and I allowed myself to be pulled in tightly to his body. I felt his darkness draining away, and as he seemed to relax my body responded in kind. “If it’s this important to you then I will try to help. I just can’t promise you that you will find the answers that you’re searching for… ”
“I know. I just think that if anyone can do it, that together we can.”
He didn’t answer, just pulled me tighter still. I manoeuvred myself so that I was looking up into his beautiful face, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. His eyes were so blue in the darkness. “How did you know that I was the one? I mean after all those years, and all the people you have met, how did you know?”
His exquisite face was soft with emotion. “How could I know? It’s simple. You are the only woman who has ever made me feel the way I do when we’re together. It’s as if I have f
ound my other half, a part of me I didn’t even know was missing until we met. We are meant to be together.”
“I feel the same way, and just as easily and completely as I can believe that, I know the answers I’m seeking are out there somewhere. They have to be. Some day I’ll find those answers, but with your help and support it will be much easier.”
“There are others like us out there. There are some who are much older and stronger than me, and even older than the one who made me, but if they have answers they have not shared them. Some encounters I had were simply too brief to get into topics such as this, and others have made it clear they do not want contact with others of their kind. For the most part, the vampires I have met are solitary creatures, and prefer to remain in the shadows. Their interactions with humans are superficial, and their interaction with other vampires almost non-existent. I can’t tell you why, simply that it is so. If they are lonely, or want some type of companionship or identity, I don’t know. If they are also looking for answers as to the origins of our kind, again I don’t know. Maybe there is some truth in the various legends, it might be a place to start?”
“Sure, that’s a good idea. Maybe we can get to the library at the university soon? I can do some research online.”
“Of course, my love. Whatever you need I will do my best to get for you.” With that we settled back into a comfortable silence. My reeling mind drew comfort from his words. I could understand why Giovanni settled into his way of thinking, and his acceptance of his life over the course of hundreds of years. Anything that might break that way of being would be difficult for him. The fact that he would try and that he would support my efforts touched me deeply.
Together we stood and dressed, our clothing now gritty with sand. He followed me silently up the narrow, rocky path to our home. The windows were ablaze with light, though we could see perfectly fine in the darkness. It was more for outward appearances, because our house was visible to the village from its position on the mountainside. The people were aware, to some extent, of the hours we kept. I entered the front door, and moved through the sparsely furnished interior. Every surface gleamed, all areas impeccably clean. The whole house was like a dream to me, but the one room I cared for the most was the library. It was situated at the farthest end from the front door.
When I entered the space I was immediately at ease. Giovanni had had it decorated exactly as I’d wanted it. It was a massive room, with floor-to-ceiling bookcases on three of its four main walls. The wood was dark and old. The floor was made of massive stone squares, light brown in colour. If you looked closely enough you could see the remnants of shells and other aquatic life captured in the stone. An enormous desk and a top-of-the line computer occupied one corner. A comfortable sofa sat directly beneath a skylight, where I could sit and read for hours.
And read I did, because the shelves were filled with all types of written material, everything from best sellers, to reference books, medical journals and non-fiction. I learnt to read several languages over the years, a necessity since the books he brought to me were often out of print and written in a native language. Some I had to have translated for me, sometimes at a huge expense and headache in trying to locate the required linguist. Giovanni knew the one thing I desired above all else was knowledge. While I could appreciate expensive clothes and fast cars, and other types of luxuries, I could never stop wanting to know more. It seemed that my thirst for knowledge only intensified with the change, as though becoming a vampire had made me more of who I’d originally been. Being in that room, with all that knowledge and information at hand, made me positively giddy.
We parted for a brief amount of time, me to my research and Giovanni to his painting. We both worked until the dawn began to creep in, forcing us to our daytime retreat.
We had a “bedroom,” where we dressed, spent time, made love, but did not rest. The room showed all the appearances of a normal space, and we kept up the pretences for our cleaning staff. They knew that when the door was unlocked they were to clean and change the sheets. What they didn’t know was that there was a hidden entrance in the back of our walk-in closet leading to a secure place that kept us safe from the sunlight, and from those who would do us harm.
As we lay down that morning, in each other’s arms as we always slept, my thoughts were only of him.
Chapter 12
Unfortunately the intimacy we experienced that night began to feel strained. In a very subtle way I felt Giovanni distancing himself from me. He was never a man to express himself easily, but there was something he was holding back. His moments of sharing his feeling were often more like outbursts, a flow of sentiment coming after long stretches of time where he held his emotions in check. I had never felt he was keeping anything from me before.
Yet, as the days turned to weeks, he became quieter than ever. He was withdrawn, almost sullen, as though some terrible secret poisoned him like a cancerous mass growing unchecked. His moods were often dark, and he met all my offers to talk with refusal, insisting that nothing going on. The more he tried to reassure me, the more I worried. His brooding left me raw and feeling rebuffed.
I longed to see his face light up again, and know that I was the cause of that smile. I made every effort to communicate my support, with and without words. He was slowly turning into someone I didn’t know or understand, and it frightened me. Something was eating him up inside, and distracting him from our life.
I played many scenarios through my head, some infinitely worse than others, but none seemed to ring true. If someone had become suspicious of us, I would have thought that Giovanni would have simply shared the information with me. It had happened before and we dealt with the situation quickly. More importantly, and the thing that set off alarms for me, was that he seemed uncertain and afraid. Even in the times when we had to flee at a moment’s notice I had never seen him afraid. He didn’t get nervous, or rattled. He dealt with things head on. I knew instinctively that whatever was disturbing him that way, had to be something very bad.
One evening after Giovanni informed me that he once again had something “to take care of” I decided that I had to find out what was going on. I would follow him, even if it meant betraying his trust. He indicated that he was going to town, but not where, so I made an effort to trail him at a distance. Either he sensed my presence, or bad luck intervened, and I lost him in a busy throng of people.
I wandered about the crowds, keeping my senses alert. I watched the couples and families gathered at the restaurants and cafes, snippets of conversations sailing through my mind. The warm air was alive with aromas of food, flowers, people and the sea. It felt as if an electric current was running through the air, charged by the life force of all the people around me. It was pleasant to be around others like that again. Giovanni and I had fed earlier, so the temptation of blood did not distract me. I looked onto faces full of happiness and satisfaction. There was relief from a day’s hard work completed and for reunions with loved ones. These were as people normally were, not employee-employer type interactions, or people deformed by fear. I saw the people as they were— fathers, mothers, children, storekeepers and waitresses. The music from the taverns spilled out over the layers of laughter and conversations. I had a sudden resolve for Giovanni and me to try to mingle with others more regularly.
After an hour of fruitless searching, I found myself on the path leading down to the town’s main port. I passed the docks where the men were busy unloading, and preparing for the next day’s work. I was still a bit flustered, and must have been acting strangely, as I caught the attention of two men on a boat nearest to where I stopped. I heard their hurried whispers, but was not familiar with the language. It was not unusual to have crews made up of many different nationalities, and these men looked more northern European than Mediterranean. I was familiar with the tone however— fear. I tried to smile reassuringly, but the men remained stock still, one with a coil of rope clutched tightly in his leathery hands. I raised a hand i
n a friendly wave, but this only brought on another rush of flustered words. I turned away quickly, making my way back to town.
The streets had thinned out considerably, making it more difficult to blend in as I continued to search. With fewer people around me, it was easier to concentrate, and perhaps attune myself to Giovanni’s thoughts. Fuzzily, I caught a sense of Giovanni’s mind, but it was as if he was deliberately trying to keep his mind closed from my intrusion. Then, as quickly as it had slipped in, it was lost. I turned in the direction I had sensed it from, when I was overcome with a compulsion to head off in a completely different direction.
I felt drawn along the unfamiliar streets, as if an unseen hand tugged at my arm. I was apprehensive, but seemed to have no will to stop myself. Soon, I was far from any other places I knew, away from the main streets where the restaurants, shops and other businesses resided. The farther from the heart of the city I went, the more intense the feeling became, to follow this unknown and urgent call. Perhaps the answer to Giovanni’s withdrawal lay at the end of this.
I came to a stop outside of a small building that looked like it might have been a restaurant in another life. Now it displayed a large sign advertising “Rooms for Rent,” with a large arrow pointing to a staircase winding up the side of the stone structure to the second floor. The large front window on the main floor was hazy with grime. A dim light shone from inside, and the front door was slightly ajar. The urgency struck me again, like a slap to the face. There was definitely something waiting in there for me, yet I sensed no sign of life.
My feet propelled me forward, and I found myself standing in a small, dingy room. A few tables lay scattered about, with several mismatched chairs, and other assorted cast-offs from the building’s previous existence. I stopped when I noticed the man sitting at a table farthest from the door, all but invisible in the shadows.