by AJ Tipton
"Alice?" Christopher's voice had been calling to her for the last minute, but she'd barely heard.
"There's so much." Her voice sounded like it was coming from far away.
Dragons, magic, vampires, everything was real.
"It's a lot," Christopher said. "Are you okay?"
Alice nodded. "I never knew the world was so...” She waved vaguely at the woman with wings. “That there are so many amazing things all around us. Will I always be able to see things this way?"
Christopher nodded. "Yes. Once you see this world, you can almost never un-see it. If you were really determined, you could probably convince yourself that this was just a dream, but if you want to continue seeing the truth, you'll see it forever."
A roar went up from behind them. The woman--"a pixie," Christopher whispered in her ear, his breath brushing against her neck spreading goosebumps down her back--had defeated the blue-skinned man in the arm wrestling contest. The pixie jumped up on the table, sending the tiny man riding the butterfly on her shoulder rocketing up into the air.
"Suck it, yeti boy!" the pixie squeaked in a high-pitched voice. "Suck it, everyone!" She threw up both middle fingers, and the yeti laughed. He scooped her up off the table and deposited her into his lap, where they started making out with loud slurping noises and groans. Everyone in the bar clapped and cheered, and Alice found herself clapping along.
"Let's get some air," Christopher said, holding out his arm for her.
She grabbed hold, appreciating Christopher’s help dismounting her bar stool. She turned to pay her tab, but Lola waved her off.
"Come back here after you and Chris have your talk." Lola smiled. "Good luck."
Alice nodded, smiling her thanks as she followed Christopher out the back door to the wide field behind the bar. The field was littered with a series of hay bales and low hurdles like at a horse riding competition. The sound of traffic from the street was almost a whisper, and the low murmur of voices from the bar and the roar of the wind through the trees were the only sounds Alice could hear in the still night.
The moon was bright and beamed down, highlighting Christopher's face into stark contrasts of black and white. He grinned and walked forward, effortlessly hopping onto the top of a ten-foot stack of bales; it was so high his feet swung level with Alice's head. He spread his hands out wide like a magician completing a trick and grinned. Alice noticed for the first time his front canines were two sharp points. A shiver ran down her spine.
Vampire.
He hadn't been lying. The ramifications struck her like a train.
Christopher Dal really is a vampire.
She'd spilled her wine on a vampire the first time she saw him.
She'd given her number to a vampire.
"This is crazy," she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
Christopher jumped down, landing effortlessly with barely a sound. "I know. Not everybody can handle the truth the way I believe you can. The fact that you're not running away is further evidence that I am right about you." He stepped closer. The scent from his body was woody with a slight musk, and it made her long to snuggle up against him and lick along his neck.
This isn't a date, he'd said.
It was hard for Alice to remember why he'd invited her here. With Christopher standing so close, the fabric of her dress brushed against his t-shirt when she breathed in and out. He leaned down and, for a second, she was sure he was going to kiss her. His fingertips caressed along her shoulders, brushing against a few tendrils of red hair which had come loose from her braid.
"You have the flexibility of mind to be a great vampire," he said. "And, believe me, the condition comes with some major advantages."
That’s right! He wants me to be a vampire!
Alice stepped back from him, distancing herself from the intoxication of his scent and the temptation of rubbing her cheek against the scruff of his beard. In the days since her photographs were displayed at Margot’s gallery, she'd barely gotten her head around the idea that she might actually be able to leave her crappy job and be a full time photographer. But becoming a vampire? That was a life change beyond her wildest dreams.
"Immortality is just the beginning," Christopher continued. He leaned back against the hay bale and crossed his arms like a chiseled model at a cover shoot. "You'll be able to smell emotions. With other vampires, they'd have to be cut and their blood exposed to the air, or you'll have to drink it directly, but with non-vampires, you can sense their feelings through their skin just by being close to them." He nodded to her. "Like right now, I can smell your amazement, and a tinge of fear at what I'm offering you."
Alice blushed scarlet. He could smell her emotions?
Christopher smiled. "You don't have to be embarrassed."
He stepped forward and she instinctively pressed closer. He cupped her face between his hands and leaned down until his breath brushed across her lips.
"That desire you feel?" He was so close. The strength of him, the power of him, was a pull stronger than she'd ever felt before. A thrill shot down spine, pooling in wetness between her legs. "I feel it too." His voice was like a purr. "You're so beautiful, I can barely stand it."
Kiss me! Kiss me! Alice hoped her blood was screaming it to him as strongly as she screamed in her own head. She reached forward to grab his waist, but he released her, withdrawing fast like her emotions burned him.
"But there's a few downsides to being a vampire." Christopher turned away, jumping back to the top of the hale bale, far from her. "The most important one is the sire compulsion. The vampire who turns you has absolute command over you. We call it hortari. The origin of the hortari was to protect the population from the strength and hunger of newly-turned vampires. A sire's will is binding no matter what the command, even if the sire didn't mean to issue a command."
"I would have to do whatever you tell me?"
Christopher nodded. "It's not a power to be taken lightly. You'll have supernatural strength, speed, and live forever, looking exactly as you are now, unless someone takes off your head or sets you on fire. You'll only receive nourishment from blood, although you can still enjoy the taste of food and drink. And knowing the emotional states of those around you is helpful in more situations than you'd think."
Alice felt lightheaded with all of the possibilities. Am I really considering becoming a vampire?
Christopher stood up on the top of the hay bale and flipped through the air in a tight somersault to land on tip-toe on the top of the narrow wall ten feet from him. Her heart leapt into her throat, sure he was going to break his neck before she remembered, Right. Vampire. He made another jump, this time landing on his hands and flipping back upright a few yards away with a smooth grace that would put the most experienced acrobat to shame.
That could be me.
The thought was more tempting than she'd anticipated. She'd live forever without aging. Forever with Christopher. She'd never felt so attuned to a man before, his kindness and attention at the gallery like a scene from her dearest dreams. The memory of his breath on her lips, the brush of his chest against her dress, teasing her breasts with that brief flutter of contact, sent new shivers of want coursing through her body. What would sex be like as a vampire? With all that strength and speed, it had to be super intense. If she drank Christopher’s blood while they were making love, she’d be able to feel everything he was feeling, enjoy the pleasure she was giving him. She swallowed to keep from drooling.
"Alice." Christopher's voice had an edge. "Your longing is calling to me. You must know, if I'm going to sire you, we can never be together. Not like that." His words splashed against her skin like a burst of cold water.
What?
"The sire compulsion is too strong. I could never make love to you knowing that if I phrased my words in the wrong way, you would lose your free will to choose."
"But, I want to be with you…"
He shook his head. "I take my responsibility as a sire seriously. O
nce I sire you, no matter how we might feel for each other, we would have to go our separate ways. My other sirelings would be your mentors to guide you through this life without robbing you of your agency. They're good people. I chose them the same way I chose you: I knew that they could make the world a better place if they had more time."
"But--"
Christopher stepped farther away from her. "There's a lot for you to think about. You know how to contact me when you have your answer. Take your time." He winked at her. "We have all the time in the world."
He turned away and disappeared around the corner of the bar before Alice could put the puzzle of her thoughts into something resembling a complete picture. Vampires are real. Dragons, pixies, what else was real out there? Witches? Werewolves? Ghosts? All those magical creatures were really out there. I could be one. She pressed her fingers against her forehead. I have time to decide.
Remembering that she still had to pay for her tab at the bar, Alice walked back into AUDREY's feeling like she was still half in a dream.
The sense of unreality strengthened when she arrived inside. The pixie and yeti had gone off to finish off their evening and the four trolls were singing a drinking song that was off-key, didn't rhyme, and seemed to have four different tunes at once.
At the bar, with her legs crossed to reveal an impressive amount of skin through a slit in her red dress, perched Margot Dal. The gallery owner raised a flute of champagne in Alice's direction and patted the empty stool next to her.
"Hey, hon. I heard Christopher gave you the pitch," Margot said. She smiled, revealing pointed canines.
"Holy shit, you're a…" Alice swallowed the word before she said it.
Margot licked her lips. "Yep, I'm a vampire. Actually, I’m Christopher's first sireling. He turned me centuries ago, back when being black, a woman, and a lesbian was immediately worthy of capital punishment.” She wrinkled her nose. “The world is...better now. Accepting an offer of near-invincibility was an easy choice for me." Margot eyed Alice. "But you have other choices. And there are costs to being what I am."
"Christopher mentioned the hortari whatsit. Does Christopher… has he ever made you do anything?"
Margot shook her head. "Never on purpose. He's always been very careful, but it’s ridiculously easy to slip up. He's a good sire that way; a lot of other vamps get off on the power to make sirelings dance to their tune. Christopher's brother, Rhys, is a piece of work that way. If you accept Christopher's offer, you'll definitely have to meet that ass-wipe, although you won’t be compelled to obey him." She set down her glass. "I don't mean to throw all of this at you at once, but you should have all the details." She held up her hand and counted off the points on each finger. "Becoming a vampire means you'll never get pregnant, but you'll never have your period again so that’s a win. You'll be able to eat all the food you want and never absorb any of it, so you’ll never gain a pound. Picture eating fudge non-stop for the rest of eternity and still looking as delightfully trim as you are right now. The only thing you’ll need to consume is blood."
Alice had never really thought about kids. She'd vaguely assumed it might happen eventually, but she'd never really pursued it. She'd always figured it was one of those things that just happened over time.
But I'd be able to see the world, explore all its beauties forever.
"You really drink blood?" Alice asked.
"Yeah, it takes some getting used to. Some old-school vamps drink directly from the neck, and during sex it's stupid fun, but mostly we have arrangements with blood banks where they give us the old bags that are no longer viable for humans."
"So, let's just say that I decide to become a vampire…" Alice said. It was surprisingly easy to consider once she'd wrapped her head around it. The sire compulsion was worrying, but if Christopher kept his word--and every instinct she had declared that he would--then he would stay away to allow her autonomy. Vampirism was a chance to have the time to accomplish everything she ever wanted. She would be an idiot to turn down this chance. But then...there was Christopher.
"Yes?" Margot sat forward, looking excited.
"Um, would you turn me? We're already friends and I trust you. And, uh, if Christopher's not my sire, then maybe…"
"Then he'd consider a relationship?" Margot chuckled at Alice's blush. "Sweetie, your hormones have been screaming at him since I pointed him in your direction at the gallery. But, sorry, I don't sire people. I'm happy to train other vamps' sirelings, and be a good friend to the rest of Christopher's sire line, but having my own sire line isn't something I've ever wanted. Sorry, hon, if you want all of this..." She gestured around at the hubbub of supernatural beings having fun around them. "Then Christopher's your best chance." Margot swung off of her bar stool. "It's all up to you." She pushed some cash across the bar at Lola. "I got your tab. Whatever you decide, definitely hit me up when you're ready for your next show."
Alice nodded, the gallery and her previous life feeling far away. At the end of the bar, a woman with bright red hair and horns coming out of her head cursed at the trolls to "shut the fuck up, or I will wish you into deep space!", and the trolls quieted down with minimal grumbles. A wolf was sleeping under one of the tables, a dish of what looked like beer cradled between his paws. Curled up against the wolf's back was an immense lioness who was chewing on the wolf's ear in a way that looked simultaneously intimate and annoying, but the wolf only grunted in his sleep and kicked his back legs.
"I want this," Alice said. She thought she said it too quietly for anyone to hear, but Lola's silky voice replied behind her,
"Then go get it."
Alice grinned and jumped off her stool. The future looked like it was going to be magical. She just had to find a way to keep Christopher in it.
Christopher sipped from his crystal glass of blood and leaned back against his long Chesterfield couch, the rounded back cushioning his head as he let out a long breath. He'd chosen blood donated by a yoga master to try and drink up a little calm, but it wasn't working.
He set his glass down before his grip threatened to shatter the antique and closed his eyes, willing himself to think about anything but Alice. Or the way the light hit her hair. Or the way the smell of her intense longing had so perfectly mirrored his own that it had taken centuries of self-control to not pull her to him and kiss her until her knees shook.
The world will benefit from her as a vampire, he told his cock, which was already half-hard at the mere memory of her. That growing part of him was hoping she'd turn down his offer, that she'd decide to stay human. It would mean only a few brief decades with her before he and the world lost that light in her eyes, but he'd be able to carry the memory of her touch, the feeling of her lips, with him through all the long years to come.
"It's her choice," he told his empty living room. He'd decorated his home in the 1920s during what Margot laughingly referred to as his Gatsby phase, and never bothered to change anything beyond the crucial updates for electricity, plumbing, and Wi-Fi. All the chairs and sofas were wide and cushioned, grand Oriental rugs covered bold black and white-checkered tiles, and paintings from forgotten masters took up most of the walls. Tiffany lamps blazed color along the Art Deco lines up the wall to the tall ceiling dripping with chandeliers.
Christopher picked up his glass, took a long gulp of the blood, and waited for the yogi's serenity to wash through him. He propped his slippered feet up on the couch and closed his eyes.
Rhys was growing bolder. Christopher's brother was beginning to make public claims that he was going to "clean up" the vampire community and "deal with dissenters", whatever that meant. Christopher had come home to a note scrawled on his fridge from his sireling, Danny, that Christopher's lieutenants-- the four vampires Christopher had turned directly--were going to be gathering the next day to discuss Rhys’s hateful rhetoric and what they were going to do about it. It wasn't as if the king would ever do anything. Christopher took a long sip of blood. His sire's leadership style of using
hortari on his sirelings when needed and then apathetic neglect the rest of the time meant Rhys could get away with actual murder so long as his actions didn't impact the king's immediate comfort. Christopher would just have to be careful. As the eldest of the king's turned, Christopher was his sire’s heir apparent, but vampire tradition allowed for a challenge.
Perhaps now isn't the right time for siring a new vampire.
Christopher pushed down the selfish thought before he began to believe it. There was always trouble, in one form or another; if Alice wanted to become a vampire, his own wish for romance shouldn't hold her back.
The sound of his doorbell startled him so badly he spilled a splatter of blood down his shirt.
"Damn." He tried to brush it away, smearing the drops into gruesome finger painting across his chest.
The doorbell rang again and he called out, "Coming!" as he grabbed a jacket hanging by the door to hide the stains.
He checked the view-hole in the door, and his hand shook slightly as he opened the door.
"Alice," he said.
She looked amazing. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight, and she'd changed into the green dress she'd worn at the gallery which hugged her lean curves. Excitement and fear came off of her skin in waves. He knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth.
“I’m in. I want to be like you.” As soon as she said the words, the smell of excitement in her blood spiked, and she shifted her weight to her toes like a little dance. She was so lovely it hurt.
A small, petty voice in his head reminded him that Alice’s choice meant that she wanted to be a vampire more than she wanted to be with him. He pushed down the feeling.