Chapter Three
Myth and Law
We have been together for over twenty years out of those I can only remember the last ten, turns out, I was a little catatonic or that is what William keeps telling me.
We are constantly on the move, hardly ever staying at the same place, unless there is an opportunity of an abandoned house and we stay there for a week or so. This time we have stayed a whole month, but it has not been easy convincing William those last two weeks, it helped that the house is near enough to town so William can feed in town and far enough as to not bring suspicion upon us.
Being early in the year in Montana has also helped us spend more time outside and the town people to stay inside their houses.
We have been keeping a low profile, hardly ever going to town, but William was getting thirsty and he needed to hunt. I on the other side have been able to enjoy the lovely fauna that the area has to offer, but as usual with William I have to tag along, I don't want to, but I don't have a choice, the dragging works every single time.
I try to distract myself with whatever I can while he does his feeding but it is hard, knowing what he is doing. However this time something caught my attention; I was waiting out the alley where William was feeding and across the street there was a house in the middle of town. Through the window, I was able to see a man, he was reading a book and it had his complete attention, even with the dogs barking inside the house he wouldn't put the book down. My attention was on him, I didn't realize that I was walking, crossing the road getting closer to the house, until I felt the fence stopping me.
“What are you doing?” William startles me, I was so focus on the male human that I didn't hear him come closer.
“Something caught my attention.” I turn and look at him. One would think that after ten years I would get used looking at him, but he still has that effect on me.
But he is not looking at me, he is now looking at the man that is inside the house, I can hear the barking of the dogs getting louder more desperate than before, but the man is still fixated on his book.
“Do you want to feed?” He looks at me, but I don't understand the question ”you know.” and he points his head towards the man. I look back at him in horror, he knows I don't drink human blood, I can hardly make it through his feedings, why would he think that?
“No.” I give him a stern look.
“Then let us go.” he starts pulling my arm, but I am not able to pry my eyes off of the man, there is something alluring about him.
“There is a storm coming; we need to leave.” I sigh and start to follow him. I glimpse back at the house after we cross the road, the man is no longer in his chair reading the book, he is at the door of the house and he is looking straight at me, I can feel his mind calling me, telling me to turn back, I stop momentarily.
“Are you coming?” I hear William, I slowly walk towards him, but for the first time ever, his voice does not have the effect that it has always had, the look on the man’s face is more appealing. William comes next to me, I can feel him gently pulling my chin so that I look straight at his face.
“Come Maya, we need to get home.” he is using his sweeter tone the one that always takes my breath away and makes my inside feel tingly. ”just don't look at him.” he says so silently he knows that I heard him, but I highly doubt that anybody else did. I nod to him; he releases my chin, and tangles his arm with mine, a more normal attitude for a human couple.
When we arrive to the house I notice that he is different, he looks worried, but there is something else... I try to put my finger on the feeling but I can't quite put a name to it, he is angry but not necessarily at me.
I sit on the sofa in the living room and I can't stop thinking about the human. He was calling me and I wasn't next to him when he wanted me to, why didn't I obey him?
William is putting a fire in the chimney from the living room, we don't have many neighbors but for appearances we light it up. He is the expert on doing this kind of thing, I usually see him trying to memorize how he does it, but I know that I will never be able to do it, especially with no hands.
I think of the man in the house; he wasn't even good looking, considering that my set point is William nobody comes close to him; it is clear that he was no longer a teenager when he was changed, the shape of his body and the lack of baby fat is evidence of that. His face is also a sight to see, it is hard to define what trait is my favorite one. Between his light caramel colored hair, his beautiful crimson eyes, his straight Roman nose, his square jaw, a perfect bone structure and symmetrical face, not to mention the small amount of stubble that he had prior to being changed that gives him a more manly, handsome look. The whole package can make any females breathing speed up, I have seen the effect his smile has…. not only on myself. To top things off his beautiful tenor voice mixed with his English accent.
“Hello? Anybody there.” I finally snap from the trance to see William right in front of me, kneeling so that my eyes are at the same height as his. I notice his face is worried.
“Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts.” I say smiling back at him. I hear him sighing in relief.
“I thought that you lost it again.” he tries to smile at me.
I just shake my head.
“Good, I get bored without you around.” he starts to get up. I just roll my eyes. “So what were you thinking that you didn't hear me calling you several times.” he sits in the chair in front of me.
“Still trying to figure a way for me to light up the fire, without….”I look down where my hands are supposed to be.
“I would rather you not try it, I can only imagine a thousand things going wrong and ending with the house burned down.” He is no longer smiling, I know that he is not worried about houses safety, he is probably thinking of the dangers of me destroying him by setting him on fire.
“Don't worry I don't think that there is any danger of it.” I look straight into his eyes. “Before setting fire to the house or you, I would probably set myself on fire”.
“And that is exactly my main concern, so for my peace of mind, just don’t try it.” I can hear some concern on his voice.
“I won’t. “but it doesn't comes out as convincing as it should. We become silent again and I start thinking of the man, he is probably concerned of why I didn't go to him.
“There is something else on your mind, why won't you just tell me?” he is sitting next to me; I can feel him touching my arm to get my attention. “You are not usually this distracted.”
“It is nothing.” I say trying to get him off my back.
“Is it really?” seems that I am not fooling him. “Because I could almost think it was something that you saw in town…” he waits for me to reply, but I don’t say anything. “Or is it someone?”
He caught me off guard, his last phrase makes me holds my breath, I know that he noticed this and he stops looking at me, he looks at the ground. He has his hands together and I can see that he is putting force on them, he is mad, but I can't see his face, he is looking the other way.
“I’m sorry, there is something about that human” I start trying to explain myself to him, I don't like seeing him like this
“Don’t.” he sighs and gets up. His voice sounds sad. “He is dangerous.”
“He is just a human, why is he dangerous? Even I could easily kill him.” this makes him chuckle a little bit, but I see that there is no joy in it.
“Would you kill him, if it comes to it?” he turns and looks straight into my eyes.
I look straight at him and start thinking of the way the human looked at me, how I was feeling him calling me, telling me that I needed to be next to him. He is a strange human that I have never crossed a word with but somehow I needed to be next to him.
I shake my head.
“Then we need to leave, he will cause trouble.” I see him walking away, but I can't accept that answer, I follow him.
“Why do we need to leave?” I start to follow him, he increases the speed of his stride, but not full force, so I cut him off before he reaches the stairs. “Why is he dangerous?”
“There are several reasons.” he tries to go around me, but I don’t let him, he sighs. “the first one, did you notice the book that he was reading?”
“No, did you?” I was so distracted with the man’s face I didn't pay attention to it.
“I haven’t read the book, but I heard comments about it.” I look doubtful at him. “From humans, okay? The book is called Dracula and it seems that is about vampires.” I've also heard them.
“So, what is the book going to tell him, look in the house near the village, and surprise!!! Vampires?”
“No, but he has the idea in his mind now, he might put two and two together.” he is getting mad. “second, you can't stop thinking about him, so at some point you will go and look for him.”
Was I really so obvious about that fact?
“And third, I could feel the pull from his personality as well and believe me, the last thing I want is to feel that way again. So we better leave, I’ll start packing.” he takes advantage of my distraction and goes up the stairs, I start to follow him but he uses his full speed and I hear him closing the door of his chamber.
If he thinks that I plan to stay put waiting for him so that we can leave town he is wrong. I turn, grab my coat and put it on, I am about to leave through the front door but I stop, he will be expecting to hear the door opening and closing and he will easily catch me. I start thinking the different exits that the house has, there is a small window in the basement, I know that I am small enough to fit through; I tested it the other day when he was distracted.
I go down to the basement, I am hoping that this doesn't raise his suspicion considering that in the time that we have been in the house I've spent some time down here when I get mad at him. I open the window and crawl outside.
The storm is about to start soon, and from the looks of it is going to be a long heavy one. I run towards town at first at full speed hoping that William has not figured out my escape, the closer I get to town I start to slow down.
I am in front of the house, I didn't realize that it was very late, the first snowflakes start to fall from the sky, but the storm is getting strong. There is no light in the inside of the house anymore, probably the stranger has already gone to sleep and my expedition was completely pointless. I can't go back to the house, William will probably take advantage of the storm to get away from town making sure there is no track left behind for anybody to follow us; but I can’t go, not until I see the stranger one more time.
I hear some barking coming closer, from behind me, I turn around and see the stranger, he stops walking and is looking straight at me; his pull is stronger the closer I am to him, he walks towards me, the dogs barking louder trying to get loose from their leashes, but their master has them under control.
“Madam, are you lost?” his voice is very appealing, I take one-step closer to him, and I shake my head.
“There is a big storm coming, you should go back home” his words are telling me something, but the pull that I am feeling is telling me to stay where I am. I don’t move one inch from where I am standing.
The snowflakes start to pick up the pace as the wind is whooshing in my ears, and my hair is everywhere. He looks up to the sky, there is a big cloud coming closer.
”Do you have a place you can take refuge?” he doesn't look at me.
“No.” he turns when he hears my voice, something caught his attention.
“I would offer you my place, but my housekeeper disappeared a couple of weeks ago.” I remember William feeding from an old woman that passed near the house around that period, probably his housekeeper. “Wouldn't want to ruin your reputation.”
“My house is too far away, I won’t be able to find it with the storm.” I start shouting the wind was too strong.
His face was full of indecision, but he made up his mind. He comes closer and offers me his arm.
“I believe we can work on something to save your reputation then. Besides what good will it be to have a reputation but not a life to keep on.” he smiles at me and I start to follow him.
We walk into the house, it feels warms when we enter, and all the lights are off.
“Wait here, I’ll need to lock up the dogs, they are not usually like this.” he climbs the stairs to the next flight and I hear him locking the dogs somewhere inside.
I start looking around, I try to fix my hair as best as I can, without a mirror and no hands, it is dark inside but with my vampire eyes, I can see perfectly.
To my right there is a small library, inside there is a chimney in the far end of the wall, although it has been turned off I can still feel some of the heat coming out from it; on top of the chimney there is a beautiful picture of a landscape. I come closer to the door and push it open a little bit, I see the armchair where he was reading when I saw him outside, next to it there is small table and on top of it, there is the book that he was reading and sure enough, William is right, is Bram Stoker book. I turn when I hear that he is coming closer to the stairs, I don't remember being this close to a human for a long period of time, but I remember some of William’s teaching of not being too fast, blinking every now and then, I hope that they are enough.
When he comes down he has a lamp in his hands, he starts lighting some of the candles that are on his way making sure that I can see the way. I look up the stairs; the barking is still going on.
“You should excuse me for the noise.” he looks towards where I am looking.” I don't understand what has gotten into them, they are usually very tame”.
“Dogs are usually not very friendly around me.” I shrug my shoulders; I realize that this might be a potential mistake from my side if he has his mind on the book, so I correct myself. “probably they can smell my fear.”
“That might be it.” he smiles at me. “Where are my manners you are probably cold, let me light up the chimney so that you can warm up yourself.” He walks towards the library with the lamp in his hand; I can feel his mind telling me to follow him.
Once I enter I am amazed by the quantity of books that are on the wall that is opposite from the chimney, it is covered with them, from top to bottom, there is a ladder so that the ones in the higher shelves can be reached.
I start to read the different titles on them, and start walking from one end of the bookshelf to the other, some are in some alphabet that I can't understand, others probably in a foreign language. The ones that I can read make me hold my breath “The Vampire” by Heinrich August Ossenfelder, “The Vampire Mistress” by Elizabeth Caroline Grey, “Varney the Vampire”, “ Carmilla” by Sheridan le Fanu , others from Marie Nitze “Le Capitane Vampire”, “La Ville Vampire”.
William was right, this is not safe at all, I look at the window outside, the storm is now at full force. I can hardly see the fence that is in front of the house.
I turn, the fire on the chimney is already on and it starts to light the room, he is looking at me. I don't know how much he was able to see, but I realize that I just did my third mistake since I walked inside the house:
First, the dogs he is probably aware based on all the literature that animals don't like us.
Second, it was obvious I was reading the book spine trying to make out the titles; the room was very dark a human would probably be stumbling on his way and I was reading the book cover.
Third, I am certain that he saw my reaction when I saw the titles of the books.
I need to make sure that I fix whatever is salvageable from this situation.
I look amazed at him and put a big smile on my face.
“So many books!” I put as much excitement on my voice as I can. ”I got blown away by the quantity.“
He smiles back at me, but I can see that is not a sincere smile, he is suspicious.
“I am a vivid reader.” he comes and stands next to me. “I really enjoy it, you know.”
“I can see.” my best shot is going to be playing dumb.” I probably haven't even read one single book in my life.”
“You should try it, might open your eyes to a whole different world.” he is not smiling anymore; I detect a double meaning in his words.
“Really?.” Change the subject, change the subject. “I am sorry sir, I just realized I don't know what to call you?”
“My name is Mr. Helsing, nice to make your acquaintance.” he nods towards me, looking at my face expecting some kind of reaction; I am not falling for it.
“Nice to make your acquaintance Mr. Helsing.” I smile back at him. ”And what is your name Madam?” I look straight at him, if I remember correctly nobody refers to each other by their first name in the human world, but I don't remember ever having a surname, I say the first thing that comes into my mind.
“My name is Miss Kaster.” I try to make a courtesy as I have seen some of the girls in town, it comes out perfectly….I think?
“Nice to make your acquaintance Miss Kaster” He makes a bow. ” May I take your coat?”
“I would rather keep it on if that is okay? The house is still a little bit chilly.” I might not feel cold, but for a human it should be.
“No problem at all.” he didn't expect my answer, so he IS trying to trick me.” just let me know when you start feeling warmer.”
I just nod, he leaves the room and I can hear him going to the front door, he returns and he is no longer wearing a coat. He looks at me, his face is not revealing much.
“I don't mean to pry Miss Kaster, but I was wondering what a young lady such as yourself was doing outside alone at this time of the night and with a storm so close by?”
My mind goes blank, why was I able to create my whole escape plan from William in a second, but I didn't think of a logical explanation for my wandering outside of his house.
“My cat.” I put my most sheepish face that I can. “When we returned home and opened the door it managed to escape. I got worried and decided to go and look for it.” I don't like to lie but this was a very small lie for a good cause and something that could happen, if I had a pet, which salvages my first mistake.
“Won't your family be worried sick about you?” he comes closer to me.
“Probably, once William sees that I am not home.” I try to stop looking at him.
“Who is William? Is he your husband?” My mind is not thinking very clearly. I can feel his internal voice commanding me to tell him the truth,
“He is my guardian.” I am able to regain some kind of control; but not enough to tell him that he is my husband, which is our usual story. It would be the most logical thing considering that we don’t look anything alike to be related, we are living in the same house, and the age difference will be more appropriate for a husband. Then I realize that I was about to make my fourth mistake, I told him I was a Miss, not a Mrs., so it was a close one.
“Your guardian? “He looks at me doubtfully.
“Have you met him?” I smile at him but I stop focusing on his eyes, it’s bad enough the force of his calling this strong, I realize it’s worse when I look him straight in the eyes.
“No, I haven't had the pleasure of making his acquaintance.” I hear him chuckle. “But I have seen him once or twice around town. Why aren't you living with your parents or any family member?”
“I am an orphan and somebody decided that he should look after me” I know this might be true at some point so technically I am not lying through my teeth to get away from this situation.
He looks at me thoughtfully, I don't know if he’s buying the story or not.
“How long has your guardian been in charge of you?” I am surprise by his question, why would he care about that information. I can feel his pull again.
My mind wants to tell him the truth, but that is out of the question, how a 10 year old would be in charge of a newborn if William and I were human? At least that is the age difference I calculate between William and I, he has never reveal that information to me.
“Not very long.” This is the closest thing to truth that I can tell him without raising an alarm, and after all, as a vampire is seems that 20 years is not that long.
He smiles at me, I don’t know if he has figured out that my vague answers are to avoid telling him the truth.
I try to change the subject; I can feel the room has warm up enough for a human not to feel... chilly, as they like to put it.
”It seems that the fire in the chimney has done its job.” I start removing my coat as best as I can.
“Let me help you with that.” he comes behind me and helps me remove it. I can hear him sniffing me and letting a small gasp come out, he is finding my scent very appealing, which I am not sure is a good thing.
He takes my coat and leaves the room, I can feel his minds pull weaken as soon as he leaves the room. I sigh in relief, I am tempted to make a quick run towards the window and see if William is out there, but it is safer to stay put, the last thing I want is to make him more suspicious than he needs to. I just turn hoping that with my vampire sight I am able to see a little bit further outside, but nothing.
I hear him returning to the room and I slowly turn trying to imitate human speed, when he is in the door I hear him gasp, I follow his eyes and I realize that he has just seen for the first time that I don't have any hands.
“What happened to you Miss?” His tone is full of surprise and he is pointing towards my hands.
“Excuse me!” Honestly, I am not feeling very comfortable that he is not even trying to avoid staring at my missing limbs.
“You know.” seems that he forgot the basic rules of propriety; he is still staring and pointing. I stand up as straight as I can and give him my most despicable look that I can.
“I don´t remember.” my tone is regal and has an authority that I don't remember ever using.
“How can you not remember?.” he turns and looks at my face, he might be taller than me, but there is something in my eyes that makes him back away a couple of steps, but I know that he is intrigued. “Was it something that you were born with?” I can feel the pull of his mind stronger, demanding me to tell him the truth, but what he doesn't know is that I am telling him the truth.
“As I already informed you Mr. Helsing.” my tone is coming out with more authority.” I can not remember, sir.”
“So it is not a birth defect.” he ignores my not so subtle tactics of me being uncomfortable about talking about it.
“I would kindly appreciate if you drop the subject.” my voice is not kind anymore. “As you can imagine it’s kind of a sore issue for me”.
“Was it in an accident?” he actually comes closer to me. He grabs my arm and pulls me closer to him, I can see some surprise when he touches me feeling the cold through my sleeve, and probably even how strong and hard it feels, but it only distracts him momentarily, he focuses his eyes straight on me not even trying to hide his mind power.
“I already told you the truth.” I pull my arm from him, which doesn't take a lot of strength from my part, but I realize that for a human female of my size it would not have been possible, my fourth mistake, I need to get out, NOW. “I will not be treated in this way.”
I start walking towards the door trying to keep up a human pace; he already suspects way more than what he should. I can see him running towards the door, his mind is commanding me to stay where I am, I try to ignore it as much as I can, I look down the floor, and keep walking but it is slowing me down.
He reaches one book of the bookcase, it is big and thick, and I read “Holy Bible” but when he opens it there is container of water, he throws it to my face and it breaks when it hits me. I can feel the water dripping from my face down to my dress; I close my eyes, trying to keep control of my mind.
When I open my eyes, I look at him, at first he looks surprise, he was expecting something to happen, but he is just looking at a soaked girl.
“Your manners are far worse than I thought.” I restart on my path towards the door, but he is in the way, not budging an inch from it. “Can you please let me thru?”
“What are you?” I avoid his eye contact; I can feel him commanding the answer from me.
“Let me thru?” I don't want to push him, it would require more force than a girl of my size could muster.
“You are not human, that crystal bottle just smashed into your face and you don't even have a scratch on it? You might not be what I thought.” he is trying to make eye contact with me. ”Or…. maybe the stories that I've read might not be entirely true.”
He pulls out of the book a piece or garlic and a crucifix.
“Back away evil creature from the night.” he puts it in front of me, hoping to make me back away, this is really getting on my nerves.
“Sir, I don't exactly know what you are looking for with a cross and some garlic, but I would appreciate it if you remove the items from my face.” I don’t look at him, but my tone is reflecting my current state….Annoyance.
“Do you feel the burn from the Holiness of it?” he chuckles he thinks he is achieving something.
“No. I smell the stretch from the garlic and frankly I am not appreciating it.” I look at his hand the one that is holding the crucifix right in my face, is made out of wood with a silver Christ embedded on it; the tips are square except the bottom part of it which is sharpen.” is such a beautiful piece, you should hang it to display it and not hide in it a book.”
“I command you to turn me into one of you.” he pulls my chin up with his other hand trying to get me to look him in the eye, but I just look up into the ceiling.
“Turn you?” I give a small chuckle; I ignore the pull of his command closing my eyes, thinking of William’s warning. “Whatever do you mean? “ I shake my head.
“You will do as I tell you.” he brings his face closer to mine, but I still look up to the ceiling. ”Turn me into one of you.”
“Sir you are crazy, so if you excuse me, I rather take my chances with the storm than keeping up with all this nonsense that you are talking about.” I can feel that he is pulling his face away from me.
I look down avoiding his eyes, he steps to one side, I walk passed him, towards the door that lets me out of the house.
I am standing in front of the door, there is a chain locking it and a doorknob, I am in a dilemma, with some trouble I can open the doorknob, but the chain that is locking it I would have to break it, but that would be quite obvious. I hear some laughter behind me.
“Is something wrong, Miss Kaster?”
“A gentleman would help a Lady in distress, sir.” I control my temper, he is testing me.
“Well, I am a gentleman madam, but I am not certain if you are a Lady.” I am feeling the anger rising inside me.
“You sir are nowhere near a gentleman, and I am certain that you are as crazy as a goat.” I don't dare to turn and look at him, I keep my stare straight on the door.
“Well, let us see if I am as crazy as you think I am.” I don't need to look to know what just happened, because immediately I feel the burn in my throat and the intoxicating smell of blood surrounding all my breathing air, making it hard to ignore it. I bite my lip and close my eyes. I can be stronger than the call, so far I have not drink human blood in the time that I can remember, I won't ruin all my effort all my resistant for this human that thinks can control me.
I turn and look at him, he made a cut on his finger with the sharp point of the crucifix, I look away from his bloody finger, and make the mistake of looking at his eyes.
His mind is commanding me to drink from it, to taste the sweetness of his blood, and to make him one of my kind; I don't need to lie to him anymore he knows I am a vampire, all the evidence is pointing that way:
The disappearances that have been going on lately in town, he probably even sacrificed his own housekeeper sending her for an errand close to the house where William and I were staying.
My skin so white, hard and cold, if he was observant enough he would have even notice the snowflake not melting when we were both outside.
The strength and speed that I was able to display considering how small I am.
The fact that I was able to survive such a trauma of losing my hands, but above all my face when I saw his bloody finger.
I think of his finger and that breaks the spell, if there is something that is calling me stronger than his mind is the scent of his blood, I look again at it, trying to regain control of my mind and my will.
“You should take care of that, it might get infected, and believe me, if there is one thing that you don't want is to lose a limb.” I smile at him as innocently as I can, careful not to look into his eyes.
I hear him sigh.
“You are right.” I feel relieved, maybe I am off the hook and can go home to William. “You should stay; the storm might take a long time.”
I shake my head.
“I am tired of listening to so much nonsense, so if I could have my coat I will be on my way.” I see him turning around and grabbing my coat from the hanger, he gives it to me, and I start putting it on as best as I can. I am about to get one arm inside the sleeve when I see the man running towards my chest with the crucifix in his hand the sharp point straight into my heart. I quickly step into one side and see the man passing me by, falling to the floor. I am in shock; did he just try to kill me? What if I was an actual human, would my death be proof enough that I was not a vampire? What is wrong with him???
“Are you okay, sir?” I stay rooted in place looking down at him, while he composes himself.
“So I am right.” I hear him from the floor. ”you are not human at all, you just moved unbelievably fast.”
He gets up and starts walking towards me, the crucifix still in his hand waiting for the chance to try to impale me again with it.
“Didn't you just trip? I saw you with my own eyes?” I start backing away going the wrong way from the door; I look at the door hoping that it magically opens and that I have my exit.
“You and I know that is not what it happened, so either you turn me into one of you, or I will kill you.” he opens his shirt and shows me a rosary hanging from his neck.
Is he making fun of me? Did all the holy things that he already tried on me have any effect on me? How is this going to be any different? Obviously I don't even ask it aloud.
He tries to plunge the crucifix again in my chest, I move this time a little slower trying to imitate a lucky move for a human. I slowly run to the door and quickly try to open the door knob; I manage to turn it with my arms, I am about to pull the door and break the chain with my strength but he closes the door before I can put my arm or feet in the gap.
“You are not going anywhere, I command you to stay here.” I move to one side, he must have a backdoor that I can use to escape, I start running at what I assume is a human pace, trying to get to the other end of the house, but he is able to grab my hair and pulls it, not allowing me to go anywhere.
“Let me go“ I feel him pulling me towards him and I scream in pain. He is trying to drag me back to the library, I am tempted to run the other way and drag him instead, but that will be a little too obvious that I am not a human.
“Seems that you are faster than what I thought and stronger.” I am already inside the library and he is pulling me towards the window. The storm has decreased in intensity and I can see dawn is coming soon.“ But you won't be able to go anywhere in a couple of minutes.” he pushes me in front of the window and I see the daylight coming in and touching my arm.
“You are crazier than I thought.” I am tempted to see his face, he was probably waiting for me to go into flames; but then I look at my arm, a small ray of sun that pass the snow hits briefly my skin. I move my arm but not fast enough I was able to see my skin sparkle as if embedded with a thousand of little diamonds.
I hear him gasp; he also noticed it. He releases my hair and starts stepping away from me.
”I might have been wrong, Miss.” he bends down on one knee.” I-I-I- don't know how to …what to...” I take a chance a look at his face, is full of amazement.” I haven't read a lot about your kind…. However, who would have thought of it…. You are an Angel of God.”
Did he just said I was an Angel of God?
“It all makes sense now.” he starts to mutter fast.” I thought of you as an angel of the demon, but I was wrong, no wonder the holy items did not affect you, for they are a part of you, your beauty is way above anything normal, your golden eyes, your sparkling skin…. You didn’t drink my blood! You have not killed me. Are you an angel or a Nephilim.”
I am trying to make it through all the nonsense that he is saying, I could go with this story and ask him not to reveal to anybody the presence of angels in the world, but the best story that I can leave him with is that I am just a mere human with more common sense than him.
“I am nothing of the sort; you have read too many stories to even make any coherent thought. How about trying to live in a realistic world for a change.” I start walking towards the door; I see my coat on the floor and pull it up with my arm. I will need it to cover me when I go home; there is not a lot of sunlight but enough to attract unwanted attention. I manage to put it on and I feel the power of his mind stopping me. Why can't he just drop the subject?
I hear him coming closer, I don't plan on staying any longer in this house, I start trying to turn the doorknob, the sooner I leave this place the better.
“Marry me.” I hear him saying behind me and that takes me by surprise, of all the things that have been going on in the evening, he expects that... I can almost start laughing.
“First you imply I am something… how did you put it…an angel of the Demon, then you think that I am an Angel of God and now you are asking me to marry you.. “ I start pulling the door, but he stops me.” I need to get home.”
“I am not asking you. I am telling you to marry me.” I can feel his mind control full force, it is a good thing I am not looking at him, but the words marry me, only makes me think of William. He worried about my behavior when I saw this man, He was able to pull me from his mind control by just using a gentle tone, He was worried about me when we got home and I couldn't stop thinking about Mr. Helsing. He felt a pull and he knew it was a dangerous thing, something that we needed to run away from.
Would you be able to kill him if it came to it? My answer back then was no, I thought that this stranger could be someone noble, trustful, but I sadly realize that he is neither.
He just tried to destroy me using different methods, something that a human would not be able to survive. What is going to happen if I leave this house and he knows something is not right?, he will keep on looking, taking unnecessary lives just to prove that he met an Angel or a Vampire, and with his mind control any human will be his puppet, heck any Vampire could potentially be his puppet.
William knew something was off and by him informing me; I was able to resist to certain extent his commands.
Keeping the existence of our world a secret is our main priority, I can still remember when William taught me the rules, either I can turn this man into one of us, which I don't intend to or I have to kill him. He is a danger to humankind and to our kind, I don't like what I need to do, but it has to be done
I look straight into his eyes and I feel his orders clear.
“No.” my voice is fill with command. ”I will never marry you.”
His eyes get small, he wasn't expecting me to be able to resist him. But my next action takes him by surprise, I start pushing him with my arm backwards, it is so easy, it doesn't take a lot of force and his face is full of wonder
“You can't control people to do things, there is something called free will and it seems there is a lot that you need to learn in that area.” I can hear my voice not being gentle at all.
“What are you?” His face is full of surprise, he was actually seeing how powerful I was, he wasn't expecting this, but I can't stop thinking of the different ways he just treated me. I push him all the way back to the library.
“Wouldn't you love to know.“ I whisper close to his face avoiding eye contact; I have him pinned against the wall, next to the chimney.
“Tell me!” he is intrigued, he can’t take no for an answer. I just smile at him and shake my head; his face is full of anger. He takes my arm and pushes it backwards realizing that is not doing any good at all.
”Release me!” I drop my arm and go back a couple of steps behind using my normal speed and good enough I did, he just tried to hit me, but he is amazed that he is not able to connect his fist with my face.
“So a woman beater, that is no good.” I just shake my head, another item to add to my Why I should kill you list.
“I am not a woman beater, you are not human.” I can see his bravery is shaky.
“I am a female.” he takes advantage of my small distraction and from behind his waist he takes out the crucifix and tries again to plunge it into my heart, I move quickly and he falls into the ground….again . ”and that is not going to work.”
He starts to stand up, but his step falters, he turns and I see that he the crucifix went into his leg, not a very deep cut, but unfortunately a bloody cut.
The smell of blood starts to saturate the room, my throat is on fire, my every instinct is telling me to go forward and drink from him, I already made my mind up to kill him, he is an unworthy human, a murderer, a controller, a woman beater, and he is a danger to every species. But then will I be able to stop, I will always find an excuse to feed on a human and that is something I promise myself not to do ever again, killing him didn't mean I had to drink from him.
I close my eyes trying to regain control of my conscience, I manage to start resisting the impulse, I stop breathing, he already knows I am not human, and this last display kind of turned the balance towards the vampire theory. I open my eyes; he has taken advantage of my distraction, and is standing next to the chimney, pulling a log from the fire. William once mentioned to me that fire was an element to killing a vampire, I didn't know the details, but I wasn't ready to find out.
I quickly run towards him, he throws me the crucifix and hits me right in the face; it bounces off, and obviously doesn´t leaves a mark where it hits, only manages to distract me briefly. I keep running, but he already has burning log, I stop running and he starts laughing.
“Finally some truth to the myth, right you little monster?” He moves the log from side to side, making me back away.
I don't answer him, I just keep staring where the log is, I keep backing away until I hit the bookcase. He throws the log towards me and I duck and move to one side from where it hit.
“I agree about the monster part, unfortunately, YOU, prove to be a far worse monster than I am” I start walking towards him and he starts to back away from me.
I am briefly distracted by the smell of something burning behind me, I look back and realize that the bookshelf caught fire from the burning log that he threw at me; seems that I need to hurry.
I look back at him and see him running to where I am standing, his hands on the front of his chest ready to push me to where the now burning wall is. I move to one side, leaving my leg in place, which he trips and falls down to where the blazing fire is growing.
I back away in horror; a burning figure comes running out of the fire towards my direction, his clothes have caught fire and his screaming is piercing the silence. I am tempted to tell him drop to the floor and roll over but what would be the purpose of that, I was going to kill him after all, but I can't take it, this is torture, no one should die like this.
I run towards him and hit him as hard as I can on the back of his neck, hearing a crack and knowing that I've broken it. My sleeve catches fire, but with my other arm, I quickly put it out.
I look around and see that the fire has spread to the ceiling and the floor and is moving fast. I hear some whimpers in the floor above and I remember the dogs that he locked up. I run as fast as I can following the barks that have started to reduce significantly, I find them locked up in the second bedroom; as soon as I break the lock and open the door, they run downstairs.
I reach the first floor find a new predicament, the fire has now spread to the lobby area, I am barely able to hear voices coming from the other side of the house, probably town people coming to help put out the fire and avoid spreading to other houses; the door is no longer an option. I start running to the other side, hoping that there is a back door at the end of the house, the dogs are following me, but keeping their distance. I reach the kitchen area I open the first door that comes in sight and unfortunately is the way down for the basement, I move to the next possible door and find the cupboard, Darn it!!.
There is a loud bang coming from the last possible door, indicating that someone is coming inside, which makes me stop, it could be anyone trying to aid Mr. Helsing. I feel relief when I see William’s silhouette at the other side of it, he sees me and without a word goes inside and lifts me of my feet and carries me out.
He keeps running at full speed until we are safely out of town and hiding in a nearby forest. He puts me down and starts assessing my condition.
“Are you alright?” There is concern in his eyes; he eyes me up and down.
I can't seem to find my voice. It somehow hits me that I could have died in that fire and because I was not able to ignore an irrational calling. I feel so stupid for not listening to William’s warnings and going along without any further thought.
I give him a brief nod, his concerned look changing from relief to anger.
“What were you thinking?”
I look down and keep quiet, it is bad enough that I killed a man and now I am going to get a lecture.
“You don't get it, do you?” he continues ignoring the fact that I am ignoring him “this is not a game Maya. That is the kind of human you don't want to mess with”
I look at his face while I process his words.
“How would you know what kind of human that man was?” he didn’t expect me to answer back at him “you were there? Weren't you? You heard us and you did nothing to stop him, or rescue me?” By the look on his face seems that the answer is obvious.
“You got yourself in a position where there were only two probable outcomes. It is times like that, that you learn to take care of your own mistakes and understand the consequences of doing something irrational” I know that his words are true, but it hurts that he is the one telling me all of this.
“So what, you were going to let me die, so that I learned a lesson?” I glare at him.
“You were never in any real danger, you could have gotten out at any moment” there is conviction on his words, but not on his face.
“I believe at the end there was a great possibility of me dying, otherwise you wouldn't have barged in like you did” he stays quiet for a time.
“That was probably the moment where there was a higher chance of you getting hurt, I´ll give you that” his voice is calmer “but you had enough time to go outside before you were in any real danger, I don't understand what took you so long” he is looking inquisitively at me. He is not going to like the answer.
“The dogs” I don't dare to look at his face.
“You risked your life for some dogs?”
“They are living breathing creatures”
“You feed on animals Maya! Are those not living breathing creatures as well?” he does have a point there, but somehow it feels different, I can't relate to how they feel when William hunts them, but somehow I know what it feels to die in that form.
“Can you even imagine what a terrible way to die?” My mind starts wandering and I enter to some kind of trance “the heat becoming unbearable spreading through your body, feeling how the fire is eating you alive, consuming every little particle that your body has, while each breath that you take burns your throat and lungs, until your respiratory system collapses and you die of suffocation. Meanwhile wishing with each and every moment not to be saved, but to die fast enough so that the pain stops” I finally look at William and it looks like my speech took him off guard.
I could swear that I see him mouth the words “Jane” but he stays quiet.
“Then why let the human die that way” his voice has now grown serious and he is looking at me. “Wouldn't it have been more “humane” if you had drank his blood”
“I didn't let him die that way” I feel ashamed of what I did, but at least I can feel proud that I didn't feed from him “I broke his neck with my arm after he caught fire” I lifted my arm to show him the burned piece of my sleeve. I see his brow coming together, his face in high alert; he comes closer, takes a hold of my arm and gently starts examining it. His touch sends an electrical pulse that I've never felt before; spreading through my body and making me catch my breath.
“Did I hurt you?” he turns and looks at my face, I am not able to answer him, I just give him a small shake of my head. He continues looking at my arm, his fingers tracing my skin where the fire touched it, it feels tender but there is no major pain.
“You'll live” his hand lingers in my arm a little bit longer than it should, he looks at me and smiles, making my insides fill with butterflies, I return his smile; he lets go and returns to his previous spot.
“So what exactly drove you to kill him?” he decides to return to our previous conversation, killing the butterflies that were fluttering in my stomach.
“You should know, you were there” he just confessed that he was there the whole time.
“I was only hearing what was going on. I couldn't risk being seen” he smiles at me “Plus the storm didn't let me see through the window”
I sigh not wanting to relive the story again. I close my eyes trying to relive the moment.
“He knew too much already, our secret wouldn't have been safe anymore. Plus I got the impression that if I let him live, he would continue searching heaven and earth for someone like us, no matter what the price was, or how many lives it took.”
“You could have turned him to one of us. Would have taken care of the problem, not that I would have appreciated it”
“And become his little puppet, No!” I can see a surprised look on his face. “You were right about the pull, but I think it was….mind control” I close my eyes “I wouldn't like to imagine that kind of power in the wrong hands” I open my eyes and see a look of disbelief on William’s face.
He quickly composed himself but stays thoughtful for a while.
“We should go, we've already stay too long here” his spell finally breaks, stands up “we've overstayed, we need to move on” I follow him, but I can tell that there is something nagging at the back of his mind.
A photo of William.