He’s not hurting anyone—unless you ask him to
It took four days before I could so much as open the blinds during the dead of night and gaze at the city lights below. Even then, the havoc of downtown was too much for my sensitive eyes and could only be tolerated in small doses.
I’d learned that distraction was the key to overcoming any single one of my senses. So, much like I’d used Riftan’s touch as my distraction in the first few moments of this new, tumultuous experience, I was finding other ways to distract from the more demanding of my senses.
Listening to music was one of the most suitable distractions I’d found. Though some genres were still too raucous, there were many kinds of music that, when played at a low level, could offer me some tranquility. A pair of noise-canceling headphones and a Loreena McKennitt album were enough to get me through any kind of sensorial meltdown—even when it felt like everything was caving in on me.
Aside from those more reasonable tactics to soothe the dishevelment, I’d found other methods to use when music wasn’t an option. Touch, as I’d learned early on, was a sense that was just as strengthened as the others. The difference was that it wasn’t as overwhelming as sight and sound could be. For this reason, pain—such as a pinch—was helpful in pulling from those other senses when short-lived relief was necessary.
Luckily, Riftan was gentle with me, like he had insisted he would be. He let me cling to my safety net of headphones and the soft blanket that was never far away—though I could tell he was bored of how slowly I was adjusting. He insisted my senses would equalize once I started to reincorporate myself with them. But I still loathed the idea of venturing into any crowded place.
He’d often raise his brows and stare at the ceiling when forced to make concessions to my sensitivities, but he’d always assent. His patience never ceased, and he was generous in sharing a comforting embrace when that was the only thing that could soothe my aching nerves.
I depended on Riftan, looked up to him as I might a mentor, and while he referred to me as a “worthy companion” I didn’t think that quite did justice to how I felt about him. Riftan had rescued me from a life of dreadful monotony, and for that, he was more like my savior. If anything, he was closer to my knight in shining armor than a companion—despite how ironic and cliché it may have been that he once actually was a knight. And though being stuck in a studio apartment, only the two of us, had its own level of monotony, I now had a whole eternity to look forward to. An eternity that would be free of Roufes and completely mine and mine alone. I would be free to live a life in the shadows as society raced by. I could watch empires rise and fall as many times as this earth would sustain. That, in itself, was a beauty I’d only just begun to consider—and every time I doubted its appeal, Riftan was there to assure me how wonderful it’d be. I was thankful for that, thankful to him for giving me this new life.
However, granting him that kind of blind admiration wasn’t something I took lightly. I was wary of my feelings for him—or maybe wary wasn’t the right word. Riftan was unafraid of moments when I needed his touch and tender when I needed his care. That left an apprehensive sense of hope settling in the part of my heart that was softening toward him.
So, in the end, curiosity may have been the best word to describe how I felt about our future—a tense but curious interest in how things could unfold in this first new chapter of my life.
Car engines were an absolute assault to the eardrums, and it was nearly two whole weeks later before I could ride in one. I had a sneaking suspicion that was the final test before I had to fully reincorporate myself into society. However, I still went into panic mode at the thought of going into public. As if it wasn’t bad enough as a human, now there were so many more reasons to fear a mass of bodies.
It would be so loud and hectic, not to mention I had no idea if I’d crave human blood—which I’d already come to appreciate the taste of. Though Riftan assured me that wouldn’t be the case, I could hear an element of doubt in his voice indicating maybe he wasn’t sharing the whole truth.
By the third week, I entirely expected Riftan to drag me onto the streets of Creswell, but just when I thought I was ready to handle such a task, he threw me a curveball. “We are leaving tonight. I’ve arranged for us to stop by your apartment so you can pack up anything you want to bring. Everything else will be staying here.”
“What? What happens to everything that I leave behind?” My lease couldn’t be renewed if I wasn’t living there, so where would all my things go?
“I’ll have everything else packed into storage under your name, but I don’t have any idea when or if we’ll be coming back. That’s why you need to only leave the things you don’t care about.”
My chest ached at leaving my stuff behind but, quite frankly, I knew I shouldn’t need those belongings anymore. Some clothes, a toothbrush, and a cell phone were all I needed to start a new life, and a new life was what I wanted… right? “Where are we going?” I’d known we would be leaving as soon as I had a handle of my senses, but the time being upon us sent anxious jitters through my spine.
“I haven’t completely decided yet, but it’s time for you to get out and experience some new things. I don’t want you doing that here in a town full of people you know and who know you. We will be starting fresh someplace else. Luckily, the world is our oyster. I was initially thinking of Prague, only because I know several contacts there, but we can go wherever you would like. Do you have any other suggestions?”
“Prague? You mean, like, Europe, Prague? As in the most beautiful city in the world?” I nearly choked on the excitement of such a proposition.
“Well, the ‘most beautiful’ is debatable. But yes, Prague is a city in Europe, Czech specifically.” He answered as if such a vacation weren’t nearly as tantalizing to him as it was for me. “The nightlife there can be good for those like us, and I suppose it’d be a good place to cultivate a newborn vampire. We can go there if that sounds like something you’d want to do?”
“Would I ever!” I was already jumping up to grab what few belongings I’d acquired in Riftan’s apartment. Such an adventure couldn’t wait—so it was good I didn’t have much to pack.
Riftan’s smug grin signified that he, too, was eager to get going—or at least as eager as I’d seen him get. “We’ll leave tonight after sunset, okay?”
“Okay! I’m so excited! You know, I’ve never—”
He interrupted, “Left Creswell. Yes, so you’ve mentioned a few times.” The tight little smirk over his lips grew into something more genuine that showed his glossy white fangs.
I still didn’t have any of those, but when I questioned it, Riftan told me that they’d come with time. I guessed that meant they’d grow in? They definitely hadn’t yet. I also asked how he hid them since they were abundantly obvious every time he smiled, and his response was, “You don’t. We are mystical creatures brought into this world by magic. We aren’t exactly designed for blending in. Regardless, the world is strange enough these days that it doesn’t matter. People walk around with fangs all the time; nobody would think to believe those with fangs are a real vampire unless the person observing them knew what else to look for.”
That was information I took in stride, as was everything he shared with me. I was constantly learning something new, all of which would become an aspect of my everyday life as a vampire. That was another reason I was grateful to have Riftan by my side. Most specifically when it came to the dreadful new things—which reminded me: “Wait, Europe… So, we will have to take a plane? Isn’t a jet engine, like, the loudest thing in existence?”
“Ah, yes, but I got you a present.” Riftan held up a box that had previously been none of my concern.
My curiosity heightened, though I was already full of excited jitters. “A present?” Taking the box, I quickly deciphered that the contents were a pair of noise-cancelling headphones—high-quality ones, at that.
“You’d probably be fine without them since you’ve come so far, but this way you don’t have to stress about it, and they’ll be more effective than the lousy old ones you’ve been using.”
“Thank you!” I admired the box, and my worries about flying faded away.
Now waiting would be the hardest part, since sunset was still three hours away. It was, however, a necessary wait, since I couldn’t safely go out into the daylight. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever get used to the whole inability to go in the sun thing, but that was another one of those things Riftan assured me I’d adjust to. It also wouldn’t be forever, as he promised me an eventual tryst into the sunlight with the help of witch’s magic—whatever the hell that meant—and I was sure that it didn’t mean getting the spell thing like he had. I was supposed to really earn that—as he’d told me—but supposedly there were lots of other magical options for safely venturing into the sunlight as a vampire. Any of those were more likely the method he’d offer me when the time came. That is, if he truly did plan on keeping his promise. I couldn’t imagine never seeing the sun again—the idea was melancholy.
That evening, we stopped by my apartment to pick up some stuff before we were off to the airport. I felt a little forlorn to be leaving everything I knew behind—both my belongings and life as I knew it. I was certain, though, the adventure ahead would be greater than any life I could have had in Creswell. For that reason, I didn’t have to look back, and that liberated me from all the weight on my shoulders.
When we got to the airport, I was surprised to pull into the far left terminal, where they departed private planes. Instead of asking a million questions like I usually would, I simply gave Riftan a curious look.
“What? Did you think we were going to be flying in a cramped municipal plane with a hundred wretched humans?” His tone was more humorous than the anger his words might have denoted.
“Well, yes, to be honest. What else would I have thought?”
We pulled through a large metal gate and were all the way on the tarmac before Riftan parked the car. Mere feet ahead waited a sleek private jet, its lights illuminating a set of steps poised for boarding at the entrance door. On the top step, several men in dark suits filed out and down the stairs. They then stood idle, limbs straight and attentive like large, mysterious bodyguards in waiting. Riftan exited the car and one of the men advanced to open my door. He remained motionless until I stepped out into the night, only then closing the door behind me. Silent but gesturing, he directed me toward the boarding stairs.
Riftan was at my side in that instant, stating, “Well, consider this your first formal lesson then: you have the power to get whatever you want now. Be it a private jet, new car, or anything you desire—there is always a way to get your hands on it if you know what you’re doing.” He snapped his fingers at the large man who stood by the car door. The man rushed over to Riftan. When they locked eyes, Riftan spoke slowly and clearly, “See to it that Ms. Cowitz gets anything she wants for the duration of our flight.”
Without a nod or any other acknowledgment of Riftan’s order, the man turned to me, his eyes void of any significant thought or emotion, and asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
I may have thought that this man was taught obedience for his line of work, but there was a look in his eyes that made me think twice. It was the same dead look that each of the suited stewardesses and bodyguard-looking patrons shared.
“No, I’m fine—” I tried to assure the man, but Riftan interrupted.
“Tell him to bark like a dog.”
“Why would I do that?”
“To see that he will do it.”
Riftan was only confirming what I’d come to believe. “You thralled him, didn’t you? Are they all thralled?”
“Yes, of course they are. That’s how you get what you want—by tricking the minds of daft mortals.” He spoke with the same prideful tone he often used when discussing humans.
“Great,” I said with some degree of sarcasm.
Riftan paid no mind to my response and added, “You have to tell him something though, or he’s going to be absolutely beside himself the entire trip.”
Sure enough, the man hadn’t moved from his spot, eyes pinned on me like he was awaiting my every move. “Go make sure my bags get safely onto the plane,” I directed, quickly adding, “Please?” Though he’d already scurried away to do what I’d asked.
Seeing that Riftan had already made it up the long metal stairs and was entering the plane, I jogged my way up behind him. “When do I get to learn how to thrall people like that?”
Ducking inside the private jet, I was struck with a jaw dropping sight. The interior was spacious, as big as I’d ever imagined a passenger plane, yet instead of endless rows of seats, there were two couches lining the walls and a table on the left. Fluffy armchairs were positioned across from the couches, and two more were neatly arranged side by side at the table. The entire space was adorned in a clean and sleek grey tone, making the plane seem more extravagant than any apartment I had ever owned.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Riftan sat by the table and motioned for me to take the seat next to him. The private jet had left me so stunned, I could barely recall what Riftan was telling me not to get ahead on. Raising my eyebrows, I waited for him to continue. “There are a lot of things you’ll have to learn before you can effectively undertake the art of thralling. Be patient with the progression of things, will you?”
“Fine.” I took my seat next to Riftan and watched as several servants boarded the plane. One of them being the large man who’d been thralled to obey my every whim.
While three of our entranced companions took their seats in a separate cabin by the entrance, the large man sat only feet from us and trained his eyes right on me. I smiled, his stare making my muscles tense. There was no response from his blank expression, not even a blink crossing his eyes.
“Why is he so fixated on me?” I whispered to Riftan, avoiding the unyielding gaze.
Riftan shrugged, his errant shoulder nearly bopping me in the chin. “It happens sometimes. Everyone responds a little differently to hypnosis. Given the type of demand, who you’re demanding, and the thoughts and emotions of the one giving the demand, the outcome can be different each time. Some become hyper-focused on the task given, as this gentleman obviously has. He’d also previously been thralled to have little emotion whilst accompanying our flight, as have the others, which aids in altering the memories they have of our interactions, so that could influence his attentiveness as well.”
“Well, can you make him stop?”
“And why would I do that? He’s not hurting anyone—unless you ask him to. Take advantage of this. You’ve got someone who will accommodate your every desire. Besides, I gave his thralling a deadline. He’ll be over it after we land.”
“Ugh.” I wasn’t ready for a nearly twenty-something-hour flight with some stranger never taking his eyes off me.
Doing my best to zone out everything, including him, as we readied for departure, I slipped my new headphones over my ears. Above the unyielding gaze of the thralled gentleman, Riftan was the hardest thing to ignore as he slipped his hand over my jean-clad thigh. He knew I was nervous about this venture, but he had a strange way of showing his vigilance. I much favored his cordial touch over him basically thralling me a slave.
Without sparing him a glance, I dropped my hand over his. I could probably afford to relax a little. With Riftan by my side, I had a feeling there wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.