by A. M. Hudson
“Yup.” He grinned, hugging his knee.
My mind is getting lost in information. “How?”
“Rapid cell regeneration. It’s responsible for immortality as well,” he answered with a hint of humour in his voice.
“Okay, Mr. I-have-an-answer-for-everything. So you’re not a demon, then?” I looked at him, my own tone light and quizzical.
He shook his head.
“Guess that’s true, since I watched you walk into a church.” The memory of the smile on his face as he stepped over the threshold, suddenly has so much more meaning.
David laughed. “Yes, it’s kind of a private joke among my kind.”
“Why? Is there some truth to the demon myth?”
“None whatsoever.”
“But, then…why do people think holy water can burn you and stuff?”
“Rumours.”
“Rumours?”
“Yes. Powerful things, those gossip circles.” He grinned mischievously. “The whole story started out, originally, when a vampire was found sleeping in his bed. The townspeople believed the man to be dead.” David tapped his chest. “No heartbeat, you see. So, they buried him—alive, and when he finally woke and dug his way out of the grave, he retaliated with murder.”
“Retaliated? But, they didn’t know he was alive, did they? It wasn’t deliberate, right?”
“No.”
“Then why did he want revenge?”
“Same reason any claustrophobic, which woke to find themselves buried alive, would?”
“Claustrophobic?” I touched my neck. “How can a vampire be claustrophobic?”
David laughed. “We carry over many human traits when we change. We can be moody, thoughtful, arachnophobic, afraid of heights—many things. We’re still mostly human in so many ways.”
“And this guy was afraid of enclosed spaces?”
“Right. And even if he wasn’t, imagine for a second, being trapped in darkness, compounded by a force you cannot see—not knowing which way is up or down, and unable to scream.” He studied me thoughtfully. “I told you our emotions are stronger as vampires?”
“Yeah.”
“This claustrophobic vampire woke in darkness, terrified. As he clawed at the soil for three days, his fear became anger, and his anger became fury. When he finally took a breath, he vowed revenge on all who ever laid eyes on him. Then, he stumbled into town and obliterated every soul.”
“What a bastard!”
David laughed again. “Well, he did leave one alive—a small boy. Does that make him more likeable?”
“Depends,” I said. “Why did he leave him alive?”
“The boy, who reminded him of his own son, attacked the vampire with the jagged edge of a broken branch. Amused by the fearless bravery of the boy, the vampire took the spike and jammed it through his own heart, faking his death to satisfy the boy’s hunger for revenge.”
“How noble of him.” David smirked at my sarcastic tone.
“Anyway, from then on,” he continued, “the human race decided, since the wood the child used originated from a tree on consecrated ground, that these Demons of the Night could be taken down by all things holy. Word spread, and like a disease, the rumours grew into the myths you still hear today.”
“Hm.” I considered his tale, sceptically.
“And do you know what the name of that small boy was?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
He nodded, smiling. “Van Helsing.”
“And that’s a true story?” I asked, still unconvinced.
“True story.”
“Well…if that’s true, why wouldn’t you just correct them—the humans, I mean—tell them the truth about the whole demon rumour thing?”
“Because, the lies assist with our cover.” He shrugged. “Those who can walk in the day, go to church or wear a cross can’t possibly be one of these demonic creatures, and so, we can remain secret—live in peace.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. You’ll find most of the myths about my kind were started in much the same manner.” He smiled nostalgically and looked away. “We do love our grapevines, we who walk in the night.”
“Grapevines?” My brow arched.
“Ha! Yeah. Borrowed that one from your dad.”
“That was so not cool that you would’ve been better off saying we do love a bit of intrigue.”
David paused and studied me with soft eyes. “My God, you would have fit well in my time, girl.”
“I fit fine here, thank you.” I folded my arms. “So, why didn’t he wake up?”
“Who?”
“The vampire. When they buried him—why didn’t he wake up?”
“Oh. He was drunk.”
“You can get drunk?” My words burst out in a gust of incredulity.
David shook his head as he laughed. “Of course we can—we can use drugs, too.”
“Really? Do you get addicted, like humans do?”
He shrugged dismissively. “Don’t know. Never met a vampire who used drugs. But I’ll be sure to ask if ever I do.”
“Thanks. Appreciate it.”
“Any time.” His sarcastic smile spread the corners of his lips widely.
“Okay, so, on with the interrogation.”
“Be my guest.” He motioned a forward hand to me, as if ushering me through a door.
“All right, myth one-oh-one—a crucifix won’t burn you?”
“I hope not.” David reached into the collar of his shirt and pulled out a heavy gold chain with a cross on the end of it. “I wear it whenever I go to church.”
I doubled back internally. “So, you are religious?”
“A little.” He smiled and dropped the cross to his chest.
“But you’re also…dangerous?” I concluded.
“Very.” He smiled malevolently; a shudder crept up my spine.
I hate to think of those who’ve come to learn that as their last lesson. Slowly, I started my questions again. “How can you believe in God—and then go out and murder?”
“It’s not murder.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s not. It’s nourishment—necessary for survival. Does a farmer murder a cow?”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because a cow…” I bit my lip. “Because they…well…” I threw my hands up. “I don’t know. What do I look like, a priest?”
David laughed. “I love it when you know I’m right.”
“You’re not right!” Anger forced pulsing blood into my cheeks. “You believe in the Ten Commandments, pray at church, read the bible—but you can kill the man sitting next to you without so much as—”
“Uh-uh, hold it right there, missy.” He held up a finger; I snapped my gob closed, encasing my rant. “I said I believe in God, not the bible, not the ways of the church. They are not the same thing.”
“How are they not the same thing?”
“Live as long as I, and you will see. Now…” he folded his arms, “We’re not having a religious debate. There are more important things to discuss at this moment.”
“Fine.” But I don’t want to talk. I’m too mad.
“Can you remember anything I’ve told you so far?”
“No.”
“Yes, you can.” He smiled, rolling his head a little to one side. “Recite it for me or I’ll read your mind just to check that you were listening.”
I looked up at him, fury turning to rage in my eyes. “Fine.” I took a deep breath. “You’re…a…a God-fearing variation of normal human makeup, caused by a hidden polarity in the genes that is activated when vampire venom mixes with your blood after being bitten?” I think I have all that right.
“Wow! You’re a very fast learner, Ara-Rose.” His face lit with surprise.
No, I’m not—I just hang off your every word.
David grinned. I looked away. “Sad thing is, though,” his words came out in a sigh, “we may be b
ecoming extinct. Well, for the creation of new vampires, that is.”
Good! “Why?”
“As it stands, fewer and fewer humans over the years have been known to have this gene. It seems to be breeding out. Consequently, my kind has been forbidden to create vampires from humans that have no extended family—children or siblings, as such, that share their bloodline.”
“Forbidden? By who?”
“We have a society. Just like you,” he said. “We live in peace, mostly, but there are laws we must follow, and consequences. We can’t just walk around killing whenever we please—or creating new vampires without authorisation.”
“Really? So, the killing’s controlled?”
“To a degree.”
“Oh…” I unfolded my arms as my anger softened. Civility among murderers? “What other laws do you have?”
“Well—” He looked over at the window for a second, then took a short breath, “We’re not allowed to occupy positions of power or fame, in order to maintain cover. And, another rule is if we’re in a situation or accident which would be fatal to a human, we absolutely must be re-born.”
“Reborn?”
“Yes. Start a new human life.”
“Oh, is that why you can’t be famous or anything, ‘cause it would be hard to hide after you ‘die’?”
“Exactly. Especially these days with things like television and photographs. It makes disappearing really problematic.”
“So, what else? I mean…can you fly, do you still grow hair, do you sleep upside down in a cave?”
David scoffed lightly, pressing the back of his wrist to his nose as he smiled. “You really love your myths, don’t you?”
I shrugged.
“Ur, well, we do still grow hair, so…sorry, if you become a vampire…you still have to shave your legs. And as for sleeping in a cave…upside down—” He merely raised a brow to answer.
“What about fly?”
He hesitated. “Like I said…we can manipulate the elements. Some of us have mastered the ability to become completely weightless and move through the atmosphere—suspended above the earth. But not all can, and it’s only for short distances. It takes decades of practice.”
“But, can you?” I prompted.
Uncertainty controlled his smile. “Yes.”
“That is so cool.” It’s the only cool thing—everything else is disgusting and infuriating, but flying is cool. “So? What else can you do?”
“Well, at this point I can officially inform you that we are a secret society—so, much of the information about our laws and abilities, I cannot divulge.” He smiled, his eyes becoming small. “Even though I already have.”
“But you can reveal yourself? People can know what you are?”
“Only on one condition.” He paused, and took my hand. “That is why I told you I must leave, Ara—in the hope that it might come to this—to you finding out once and for all about me, about what I am. Otherwise, I would’ve just left you.”
“Like you did all the others?”
“I never said that.”
“You move on every two years—you must’ve made friends. Am I the only one you—?”
David looked down and sighed. “You’re the first human I’ve ever told, yes.”
This is all too much. I don’t know how I feel anymore. I hate what he is, and I’m not sure if I actually might hate him right now, too. But I know that some part of me doesn’t want him to go away forever. “So, you can tell me that you’re a vampire, but you have to leave if you do?”
“No—” He pulled my face into his chest. “Silly girl. No. I can tell you only if I’m sure that you’re—”
My head whipped up to see his face when he went quiet. “I’m what?”
“I guess the right words are…my significant other.” David almost read over his own words in front of his face, and when he seemed happy with the terminology, looked back at me. He smiled, pressing his finger under my chin until my teeth clinked together as my mouth closed.
Significant other? I don’t know how to feel about that. If he’d said that to me three days ago, I would’ve fallen all over myself, but today…“So—” What did he mean by he can tell me if he’s sure? “You were going to leave me behind because you didn’t think I was the one?” I’m not sure if I’m happy he’s decided he loves me enough to want me with him now, or hurt that he ever had a doubt.
“It was never like that.” He clutched me tight. My lungs struggled a bit to draw air under the pressure of his hold. “I was just idiotically following the recommendation of a well-respected elder—doing what was expected of me, that’s all. But I did a lot of thinking these last few days, and—” he released his grip and lifted my face again with his cold fingertips, “I can’t live without you now, Ara. Despite the rules of my kind. You are everything to me. You’re my—my sunlight after a stormy night.” He grinned mischievously.
I am to him, what he had been to me—when he was human to me. Now, he’s a killer, and I’m confused and empty—afraid of so many different things, all at once. “David?” My head rocked from side to side. “I’m glad you told me about this. But I don’t know about eternity?”
He swallowed hard. “You don’t love me enough?” The question was soft, uncertain.
“Of course I do, David. But you kill people in order to live,” a hint of hysteria touched my tone. “I don’t know if I can be a part of that. Not as your friend, not as your lover and certainly not as a vampire.”
David froze in place, like a stone carving. The expression of confusion seemed eternally placed within his eyes, and his chest stopped moving as if he’d given up breathing. He looked up at me—his shattered soul projecting through his gaze. “Believe it or not, Ara—it is kinder to kill them.”
“Er!” My lip twisted up in disgust. “I don’t want to hear anymore, David. Kinder? I—I just can’t even conceive of the idea.”
“Perhaps…you have heard enough, then. I shall leave you now.” A slight nod moved his head, but his face stayed frozen into a permanent frown; the smile I love completely blanketed by pain.
“Wait, don’t go yet?”
He stopped, but didn’t look at me.
“I just—I just need some time to think. Do you think you can give me that?”
“All I have is eternity.” He snapped out of his intensely deep stare, shrugging his shoulders, and kissed the top of my head.
“I won’t need that long. But, David?” I said as he stood up and a cold rush of air filled the space between us.
“Yes, my love.”
“Are you in any danger? Because you told me?” I rested my cheek on my knee to watch him by my window. “Like, will they be mad with you?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On what you decide to do.”
Oh no—no way! I can’t be responsible for that. That isn’t playing fair. I looked down at my clenched fists, and my toes dug into the carpet under me.
A soft, wispy breeze brushed my cheeks and I turned back to look at David, finding only an empty room.
Chapter Eighteen
“Ara, come down and have some dinner, please,” Vicki called from the bottom of the stairs. Again.
“Not hungry.”
“Don’t care,” she responded, borrowing my tone.
“Argh!” I slammed my diary down on my bed and stomped into the hall. It just doesn’t seem right to go downstairs and eat dinner with the family—like a normal person. Nothing is normal now. I mean, I should probably be telling my dad that I may have gone crazy, because I’m pretty sure my boyfriend just told me he’s a vampire. I smiled, stopping halfway down the stairs. That would be pretty funny—to see the look on their faces if I said that.
“Ara?” Vicki rolled her head forward, raising a brow. “Your dinner’s going cold—move it.”
“Oh, sorry.” I started down the stairs again. “I’m just tired.”
“Well, that’s to be expected.”
She walked into the dining room and sat beside Dad.
“Feeling better?” Dad asked.
“Mm-hm.” I forced a smile as I sat down.
“Well, Emily rang while you were resting—” Vicki said. “She wants to come see you—”
Oh no! “What did you tell her—about why I fainted?” Everything around me seemed to rock, then grow larger and wider, before rapidly shrinking back in.
“Ara, it’s okay,” Dad assured. “We told Emily you have low blood-sugar—that you hadn’t eaten. No one knows anything about your mum.”
My shoulders dropped; I let out a breath of tension, and drew back relief. “So, David caught me, huh?”
Dad nodded. “Yes.”
“Did you see him catch me?”
“No. That’s the weird thing. I wasn’t really paying attention.” Dad set the bowl of peas on the table and looked at me. “All I saw was David by the er—well, David was a few feet away. I heard everyone gasp, so I looked over at you, then David was there—lifting you off the ground.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He should join the track team,” Dad said.
“Yeah. He is really fast.” But he’s a vampire. When I think of him, I can’t see it, though. All I feel is love—a feeling, like opening an oven door on a cold day, and revelling in the warmth.
But David was wrong about love, when he said it’s blind because you can love someone no matter what; love is blind because it makes you see things that were never really there, or blind to the things you really should’ve seen. I may love him, but love can’t change what he is—or what he does.
“What’s the matter, Ara?” Dad asked, obviously noticing my gloom.
“I’m fine. I’m just really tired.”
“Honey, you can fool some of the people all of the time—but you can never fool your dad.” He grinned.
“I know. It’s just—David.”
“David? What’s he done?” Dad’s tone trickled with panic and the warm blue of his eyes turned to ice.
“Dad—nothing.” Hm, maybe David was right about Dad not trusting us in the bedroom—alone. “He just. He has to go away soon. I’m going to miss him, that’s all.”