Only Two Of Us

by Cassandra Russell

  would not have let him carry the certificate to the hospital. Thus, at this time

  working and distracting the head. However, Richard had been impulsive and

  did not give me the time to think about it.

  Going against the direction of the wind, the best thing to do was try to figure out a way to kill the hours

  idle, which has never been easy for me, even before we were together.

  I spent the whole afternoon reading a book, feeling a little tired. I was very anxious and did not

  had slept well at night. The possibility of meeting my father would not let me relax, much

  on the contrary, the mind was constantly processing, asking many questions.

  Did we find the right path or was it just a vain hope?

  And if it were true, would he still be found alive and hypnotized?

  What about Richard? Would he be safe even if he was facing millennial, century-old vampires, or did he say that?

  just so I would not worry?

  Finally, I thought of one last possibility: if Richard really found and saved my father,

  probably had his identity as a vampire discovered. Would it be accepted as the love of his

  daughter? Daddy always turned out to be averse to any kind of prejudice, but that ... That seemed fine.

  different, no?

  Of course nothing would change my decision to live with Richard, though

  sure, this would bother a lot, creating

  coexistence.

  ***

  On Friday of the same week - two mornings later - I woke up feeling that same tiredness

  of previous days, as well as slightly nauseous. Also, I slept without eating anything since the afternoon of

  yesterday ... "I bathed. What could he expect after so many hours chewing acid in his stomach?

  The solution was to make a light snack and pinch some toast to see if the situation improved.

  I forced the bar a bit and decided to take a walk around with my good and beloved machine

  photographic, trying to relieve the head of the anguish that persisted in tormenting me. Until some

  I managed to distract myself by observing the children playing sports in a square. They reminded me of

  Juninho ... I clicked until very interesting times. The sun came up unexpectedly strong and allowed

  get incredible images. I just did not stay longer because I felt a bit of vertigo, possibly

  due to his predisposition to low blood pressure. So I chose to return soon.

  And just put your feet at home for the cell phone to start vibrating.

  - Stephanie?

  Richard!

  - It's good to hear your voice! I exclaimed softly, still with the sensation of seeing stars

  bright on the horizon. - Any news?

  I gathered some clues. I made a map of all the blood banks in that region and got a

  story of a person who saw a man he thinks is very much like his father's picture in a

  of these establishments, in a neighborhood away from here. I know it's not a certainty yet, but I stayed

  hopeful. If he's alive, I'll find him, I promise. I'm going there now. Cross your fingers! -

  he said, sharply excited.

  It took me a while to respond, then he promptly asked,

  - Stephanie, is everything okay?

  - Yeah, I just got a little nauseous. I think I got too much sun today. My voice sounded weak.

  "Drink plenty of water to hydrate, take a shower and go rest," he ordered.

  - Yes, sir, doctor! I pretended obedience.

  "Do not play with your health. I want you all when I get back, "he warned,

  serious manner of speaking.

  - I will be.

  "I'll call you as soon as I know something concrete." Take care!

  "And you, idem," I finished.

  I barely hung up, the phone rang again. Only it was not him, but Iris, inviting me

  for his birthday, which would be celebrated at his house, a few blocks away.

  It seemed like a good opportunity to fool thoughts, listening to some zucchini.

  And I had to listen.

  I was the party's most targeted target. After that celebration, days ago, when we danced, we

  almost neither of them returned to work, even more asking for dispensation - and with the

  there was not a single soul in that room who would not come and ask if

  we were together. That is, I even went back to work wanting to quit, but it was a day when

  main galley was not on duty or missing. Also due to the state of shock, on that occasion

  I was in the habit of avoiding contact with anyone.

  In addition, I was a mockery, jokes and even explicit envy.

  Women should ask themselves what was so special about me to grab the most difficult cat in the world.

  planet, arriving at the height of asking me details of our intimacy, which obviously

  I hid it and did not answer.

  Men, I believe, should be judged as the "lord of competence," and therefore would never think that he

  he would get involved with someone, except with medicine itself.

  I took the opportunity to apologize to Dr. Luciano for leaving him at the party without warning and also

  I thanked Dora for convincing me not to leave the hospital when I needed her most. In addition, I had

  to invent any excuse to justify Richard's absence. To say that he went to London

  trying to save my father from vampires would not be viable, would it?

  However, it was not too difficult to find a convincing excuse. It was enough to mention the word work.

  That's all he ever did before ...

  Perhaps the only person who had not been surprised by this news was Dora, who,

  for working directly with us, revealed that he was quite suspicious of our reaction. Incredibly,

  it seems, his suspicions were more in him than in me, since she lived a long time the

  assisting. The fact that nurses change jobs because they do not support such stiffness

  his first contact was considered banal, however, the change in his behavior

  usual after the departure of one of them intrigued it as an unpublished episode.

  And precisely because it offers this understanding and even demonstrates a sense of

  relationship, I accepted that she would accompany me to my new address, after having witnessed

  one of the vertigo crises I had had on the day.

  "Stephanie, did you talk to Dr. Richard about this?" I know you've been asking for a

  But he traveled and you were alone at home, "Dora argued.

  "I told him I was sick today," I said. - No need to worry, it should not be

  nothing more.

  - It's better to see a doctor. Why do not you go to the hospital tomorrow?

  "If I have to, I will."

  "Wait-you're not pregnant, are you?" He suspected.

  What a joke! Pregnant from a vampire?

  "Of course not," I said, thinking of the impossibility of the thing.

  "Whatever you want, then ... Anything, just get in touch, okay?"

  "Thank you," I said.

  I went to bed extremely tired. The joints started to ache a little. The feeling was that

  I had done some kind of sport too much and now I was suffering from overexertion. I believed that

  had a good night's sleep these symptoms would pass, but that was not exactly what happened.

  ***

  Ding dong!

  I woke up the next morning with the sound of the bell ringing. Who would it be at this time of day? -

  I muttered intimately. Richard did not usually receive visitors, let alone give the address

  from there to no one but Dora, who brought me home the day before.

  - Just a minute! I shouted from the room.

  I changed my clothes as fast as I could, impressed by the amount
of sweat that

  my body on a cold day, running down the stairs. I soon discovered that it was not so early

  so it was past eleven. It had been a long time since I had slept so much!

  I hurriedly opened the door and ...

  Ava? "I was surprised by your visit.

  - Hi, Stephanie. I can enter?

  - Of course, come in!

  - Are you all right? She asked suspiciously.

  "Everything," I lied.

  - It's not what it looks like. Her eyes were on me.

  Did my appearance look so bad? Also, you just had time to brush your teeth and nothing else ...

  You should have your hair in for help, dark circles, and the wrapping-paper-like face.

  kneaded

  "It's nothing, I think I'm on TPM," I said, tired of explaining it to everyone.

  She spent a few seconds reasoning on the tenor of the acronym, completely alienated.

  - Ah! She exclaimed, amused, finally seeming to understand. - Wow! It's been so long since this

  it does not occur to me that I even forgot that it existed.

  - Lucky you. I rolled my eyes.

  Ava giggled again, saying again,

  "I came here at Richard's request." He called early today, worried. He said that you did not

  phone and feared that he was ill.

  - Oh, no! The battery in my cell phone must have unloaded! - I regretted that I wanted to punch

  for having forgotten such an important detail. "But do not worry, he's exaggerated.

  "That's right, get used to it.

  - Any news? I interrupted, eager for news.

  "I think so, but he should call you later."

  "Can not you bring it up?" I insisted.

  "Stop being anxious. Wait for him to say it himself - he suggested somewhat irreducibly, implanting

  an atmosphere of suspense in the air.

  He managed?! Or was it very close to that ?!

  Wow! How to tame the anxiety until later to know?

  Anyway, sometimes I wondered if it was all a dream. The vampires

  of the stories were not cruel, terrifying, dark? It is certain that when I met him he was quite

  rusty, bossy ... Yet he knew thousands of humans who would be as angry as or even more angry than

  he. My vampire looked more like a blue-eyed guardian angel who had fallen from the sky to

  my life and show the real meaning of the word happiness.

  "Well ... I was curious, Stephanie. What kind of brainwashing did you do on my brother? Nor the

  I recognized Ava said, laughing.

  "You have the gift of hypnotizing," I said.

  - No, really! I've never seen Richard happy like this! It's unbelievable! - she said in a way that

  made me blush with shame.

  "I'm feeling the same way," I admitted.

  "I wish something like that could happen in my life," Ava said dreamily.

  "You never liked anyone?"

  "I've loved a lot. Really. He was human like you and accepted me the way I did.

  I am I could enjoy many years of deep love until the day he died in an accident

  automotive. This happened a long time ago.

  "Did not I want to change you?"

  "I would never do anything against your will," he denied. - I thought that decision could only be taken

  by him.

  "And he chose to remain human?"

  "Yes, he had strong religious precepts, difficult to change. I do not judge him either: who

  Would you like to be like one of us? To this day I wonder what I would do if I were in his place.

  - AND...? - induced.

  Ava took a moment to respond. I suspect you understood the implication of the question and

  he did not want to show any influence.

  "I do not know," he confessed. "I just know it was too hard to see Albert leave. I suffered the worst pain ever

  I felt, but at least I had your love.

  She smoothed her hair behind her ear. I saw a sad flash in his eyes.

  "You know, for us vampires, it's a lot harder. We are not fickle like human beings, who

  they get to change partners several times during their brief lives. Everything in us is extremely

  intensified: love, hate, jealousy, anguish, suffering ... Love, then, is something practically

  immutable; we can take centuries until we feel it again, a probability almost nil. There is

  a legend among those of our kind that says that recurrence is impossible, that it never returns to

  to happen. I firmly believe in it, for even though I have been away from Albert for over forty years, I can not

  Forget it, my love remains intact. I do not spend an hour of the day that does not remind me of him -

  revealed. "And that's why I'm very happy for Richard and you too, because only one love

  could change the solitary and bitter life he had, bringing some hope to

  that petrified chest. I know very well how much this means to him right now.

  "Has he suffered much, Ava?"

  - You do not imagine how much. It is not easy to try to live among humans by being what we are. We are

  constantly afraid of being discovered, for fear of the panic we cause and rejection

  also. Of course you have reason to feel this revulsion, it is a mechanism of self-defense. Are

  really a class of predatory nature. The few of us out there would not care

  importance to their species. They leave home to feed on humans in the same way that you go to

  eating a hamburger, confusing the police, as if they were ordinary crimes. They think

  who are merely feeding.

  It gave a morbid cold to the spine just to imagine such a thing.

  "Richard," she continued, "from the beginning, he has consistently refused to yield to

  instincts of the species and as soon as he realized that it might be different, that there was

  a more dignified way, did it without flinching. First with the animals; then, inside the banks of

  blood. Still, he was frustrated that he was stealing something that might be vital to someone.

  Only then, much later, when he discovered the skill he possessed, did he use his gift to do

  an exchange: he practically went on to eat of contaminated blood, which does us no harm, and

  left the blood healthy to make the necessary transfusions to his patients. I also live on this

  receiving donated blood for donation, which is contaminated with hepatitis, syphilis, AIDS, and

  other diseases. But I can bet what I want as now he must have taken blood home

  healthy and gone with the discarded ones, for fear that you contaminate in some way.

  I know my brother.

  - Hit the fly. At least the ones I saw in the exam room at his last breakfast were

  healthy.

  - Breakfast? Richard fed in front of him? Her gaze did not deny the astonishment.

  "That's the way it's got to be, is not it?" Like all normal couples. - I made a point of appearing as the

  obvious as possible.

  "Normal couples," he repeated, doubtfully. - I do not believe! He does not do this in front of

  no one, not even me! How did you achieve this miracle?

  - Blackmail.

  "I wonder what it might have been," he teased.

  "Have you fed on the animals, too?" "I've changed the course of the conversation before she

  I would go deeper into the subject and I would be even more embarrassed.

  - Yes, but the taste is to chipping! He said, twisting his nose.

  "What about Richard?" He ... really enjoyed ... the others? I tried to disguise it, but the fact that I had not

  been the only one to be loved by him irrationally bothered me.

  "You do not have to be jealous." Ava fished what I felt. - It was nothing comparable to what

  he feels for you. In fact
, as I said, he had never tasted love, do you? The first

  suffered for having been rejected, hunted, and persecuted in his new condition as a plague, a

  evil or worshiper of evil. It was also a human love, which, believe it or not, is much less

  intense. I can say that, as I already felt in both conditions, "he said. - In front of everything

  what happened, Richard closed to give no chance of suffering even more, coming to believe that

  he had no right to love and to be rendered permanently, and not only by the natural impossibility

  of the species.

  Inevitably, I became distracted and even doubted when she said that human love was little

  intense. I do not know how he liked his fiancée, but he also could not imagine that he could

  something stronger than what I felt for him.

  "Just the second time, it was not exactly love. It was a compassion - she went on. -

  Richard felt responsible for that life, and as he could not heal her, his head snapped. Turned

  a real obsession. It was as if every lost life happened because of him. Then you can

  to understand the motive of that evil humor, the rigidity ... He charged himself all the time! Maybe now

  You can make my brother relax more. By the way, I'm already seeing the change. Love has

  this incredible power, I know that.

  "And how do you do it?" I mean, if they do not grow old, how do they stay in places? At

  people do not realize?

  "Of course you do! This is one of the most boring things to live like this. From time

  in time, we are forced to move from country to state, even in haste.

  we transferred several times, right here, inside São Paulo and to other cities in the south of the country.

  We got to change names, which is not difficult to achieve, although Richard does not like

  change his I suppose he feels as if he's losing some of his identity.

  He currently uses the true birth name. We also have some little tricks, like painting some

  white hair in the hair, wear glasses without degree, makeup to simulate aging wrinkles,

  but you can not fool for long ...

  - This is amazing! It even seems like I'm dreaming!

  "A very real dream," she added.

  "Do you think that if I asked, he would change me?" "I was really interested in that answer.

  - I have no idea. It's hard to know what's going on in his head right now, since he hates to be so

  What is. I just believe that the possibility of losing it someday should also weigh heavily, but that is