Chapter 8
We showered separately, but I had the feeling Auris did that more for my benefit than because he wanted to.
“You mentioned food?” I said when I walked back into the kitchen and living space, my hair still slightly damp.
Auris had taken the time to use a hairdryer on his tresses, and I had a small urge to snap a photo of how they cascaded over his back. He sat in the same spot as before, just as immaculately dressed as he had been, his laptop open again.
“Absolutely. I’ll also happily take you to a restaurant if you prefer. There are some here that I hear are rather good.”
“No, that’s fine.” I walked along the other side of the kitchen island and pulled the fridge open. “You said you have a housekeeper. Does she know what you are?”
Auris closed his laptop to give me his full attention. “In a sense. I entranced her so she would be aware but would keep the knowledge from others.”
If the woman disliked him for it, it didn’t show in her thoroughness as far as stocking the fridge went. There was everything I could want in there and some stuff I didn’t care for. There was also more than I would be able to eat in a week.
“How does that thing work? The entrancing? It felt like the server in the restaurant last night was still acting weird even after you were gone.” I looked over at Auris as I pulled out some wholegrain bread and apricot jam.
It seem natural that he was watching me with such undivided attention, good, even.
“Oh, it has nothing to do with proximity. Although you can cut off the connection if you submerge the human in water. Especially a body of water that is deemed holy. It can easily remove all traces of a vampire’s influence. But in a pinch, a swimming pool will do. It just might take a few repeats.”
“What’s a holy body of water? And won’t crosses do anything?”
“No, crosses have no effect. As far as sacred waters go, those are usually ponds, rivers, or springs that have been regarded as special places over a long period of time. It need not even be religious. I would imagine Niagara Falls would do the trick. Oh, and wells will work in general. There’s a special magic in wells. ”
I closed the fridge and pulled the overfull fruit bowl on the counter toward me.
“Magic wells. Okay. You mean that?”
“I do. They sustain a community, so it makes them special. Special enough to break a vampire’s compulsion.”
“Right. What else is real?”
He shrugged. “Probably less than you think. I have only ever seen a werewolf once, for example. Witchcraft is real, but the skill has become very rare over the centuries. Some practitioners develop highly uncanny divination skills, but again, very rare. Find what you like?” He looked at my bread and jam selection uncertainly, almost like he wasn’t sure what all of it was good for.
“Plenty. Your housekeeper wasn’t wrong. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat all this food.”
“Good. I’ll make sure she takes care of any leftovers.
Do me a favor and let me know when you prefer to eat and what kind of meals.
For some reason, even when I’ve been close to humans for long periods of time, it’s always been something I’ve found difficult to keep track of.
There are so many more foods these days than there used to be.
” He shook his head in bewilderment. “It baffles me how people manage to keep track of it all and how it fits together in all these dishes.”
“Do you mean processed foods? I guess those’re nothing anyone really wants to keep track of.”
He shook his head. “Not just those. The nightshades: potatoes and tomatoes and peppers. Corn. I enjoy the smell of tomato plants, and there was a time when I grew them just for that. It made me feel both whimsical and frivolous to keep such a sought-after new commodity just for its scent.”
My mouth fell open. “Right. You’re from Europe. Those only came there…not that long ago. If you’re a vampire.”
“Yes. At times, when something is bred in a new color, I’m still amazed, just like when I first saw potatoes.”
I could barely imagine what it must’ve been like to see something new come into the world, then go from being new and scarce to ubiquitous.
I shook my head. “I guess that’s… I guess.” I took some fruit from the bowl and rinsed everything in the sink.
“Do not worry too much over it. But the other request I would ask you to keep in mind. Tell me when you take your meals, and tell me what those meals should consist of.”
“You can tell when a person is lying but not when they’re hungry?”
“Oh, I can tell when they show symptoms of hunger physically, I just forget it’s something that people also enjoy, something they should do at least once a day. Likely more. Philosophies around that have changed.”
There was a toaster, and I filled it with two slices of the bread then searched the cabinets until I found a plate and a cutting board.
I sliced my pear and orange and put them on the plate along with the grapes.
The toaster spat out my toast, and I spread the jam on it, which made my little selection of breakfast favorites complete.
I looked from my food to Auris. “You don’t have to drink blood every night, then?”
He laughed. “That would be noticed very fast. I can comfortably feed once every month or two.”
No wonder keeping track of eating wasn’t something that came easily to him. I took my plate and rounded the counter, sitting next to him on a bar stool. I put a slice of pear in my mouth and chewed.
“Do you miss food? I think I would miss food.”
He considered that. “At the beginning I remember that it was odd, not eating. There’s a lot of habit that goes with it, a lot of social connotations. The preparation, the community, the way it structures a day. I think I was still very attached to that, at least for a time after.”
I nodded and took a bite of toast while he patiently watched. “What happens if you try to eat food?”
He shrugged. “Nothing much. It is very unpleasant because a vampire body is made for liquid sustenance. Other than that, I either expel it very rapidly by throwing up, or my body treats it like a foreign object and just dissolves it.”
I nodded while I ate another piece of pear.
“What, no more questions? I’m almost disappointed.”
“It’s a lot to absorb. The world seems different today than it was yesterday.” I finished the pear and continued with the orange.
“People are still people. There is no reason you can’t go on living like you have.”
I stopped eating and looked into his silver eyes. “What if I don’t want to go on living like I have?”
Auris gave me a hard look and ran a hand through his long hair. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what if you made me a vampire?”
He stared at me with his shining silver eyes. “I wouldn’t. Or at least, I wouldn’t yet.”
I straightened. That smarted like a rejection, even if he hadn’t delivered it to hurt like one. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means simply that you have to be able to survive being a vampire. Physically, yes, but even more so mentally. It’s not all driving sports cars and seducing beautiful people like the movies would have you believe.”
“Are you saying I’m naive?”
He sighed. “I do not wish to argue with you. All I’m telling you is that this is not something suited to everyone.
The one who made me told me the exact same.
If you are not ready, you are as likely to murder yourself as you are those around you.
I should mention that if you want to have children, it’s not something you can do as a vampire. Vampires only procreate through blood.”
“Do I really look like I want to settle down with some girl so I can attain the heteronormative gold star of two kids and a dog?”
He reached for my hand, and his fingers twining around mine calmed me.
“My sweet, I truly do not wish to argue. I want you to know these things. You have to know these things. I’m telling you so you will be better able to decide what you want your life to be.
One more thing you must know: All humans around a vampire eventually die.
That is abstract, and it is easy to shrug off in the abstract now.
“In the concrete, your father will die. All the relatives who have known you since you were little will die. Friends will die. And because it becomes a thing of some frequency, you sometimes find yourself forgetting names, even of the people who were dearest to you at one point in your life. You can find yourself alone and adrift, a ghost ship on a too-big ocean.”
I stopped eating altogether. “Is that where I’m headed? Some forgettable fuck you spent a few nights with because he was right there and willing?”
His silver eyes could pack a punch. His glare was almost worse than a physical slap would have been.
“If anything I did led you to believe that, I owe you an apology.” He took a measured breath.
“I lied to you last night at the restaurant when I said that if you left I would never see you again. I’d have found you.
I spent that hour worrying you wouldn’t stay and planning what I could do to convince you to talk to me again if you left.
So no, you were never forgettable, not in the slightest.”
I shifted in my seat, uneasy. His hand on mine steadied me. “Why?” I asked.
He didn’t answer for a long while, but his expression softened as he looked into my eyes. “I’m not sure I can explain it well or without you hating the explanation.”
“Well, try.”
“As you wish. But will you give me your word before I do that you won’t storm out of here? That you’ll spend the night, at the very least?” His voice was near pleading, and that pulled on my heartstrings. I’d only known him for a short period of time, but all the same, these emotions were real.
“Fine.” I nodded. “I promise.”
He got up off his stool and pulled me with him. “Come on. Let’s go sit on the couch. I’ll light a fire.”
“You can’t just tell me?”
“I could, but allow me to build up to it. It’s…very personal.”
I sighed. “Fine.”