From Slate to Crimson (7 page)

“Because it’s wrong,” I said. “If there is one thing that my travels in this world have taught me, it’s that right and wrong do indeed exist. We all strive for either darkness or light. And those who deny the existence of either, serve the darkness in ignorance.

“Lothos gives in to the passions that drive us to kill, and thinks little of it. But under normal circumstances, my clan has been able to tame the beast. And this means that there is a better way than the path that Lothos has chosen.

“This is one of the things that define my existence. I will not kill my hosts, unless the circumstances drive me to it. And this is what I have trained all my clan to do. We strive to be more than what we have become.”

“Talante…” Amelia whispered, and I knew my words had touched her heart. I felt her admiration for me swell as her hand clasped mine. Reflexively, my fingers curled around hers. I read her thoughts before she could even act.

“I…shouldn’t…” I stammered.

“You look like you’ll burst without me,” Amelia whispered with a grin. The same as when her fingers touched my cheek, the gesture was soft, motherly…and at the same time almost seductive. “And there’s no one else here but us.” She craned her neck, inviting me to what she wanted–-what
we both
wanted. And I could no longer deny her.

I pulled her to me and embraced her, bringing her artery in range. I heard her lilting sigh as my lips touched her neck. My tongue settled upon her skin. It was delicate and sweet to the taste, like a ripe plum. My fangs made the wound, and the upwelling of blood was devastating.

I shuddered in the beginning swoon. Her large, soft breasts pressed against my chest, and her arms slid onto my back. I heard her utter a sharp cry of pleasure, but little else, as the euphoria consumed us.

I
sated my ravenous anticipation and thirst, while Amelia rocked against me, her mouth hung open in wordless cries.

The sun had set when I at last released her, but I wanted her no less.

The owners of the downtown Italian restaurant where I had brought Amelia to that night were a couple whom I had rescued from Lothos’ clutches years ago. Though they never accepted my money, I always tipped their waiters handsomely, and they were always eager to serve. When they saw my company, they were especially excited, and treated Amelia like royalty, much to my amusement and her delight.

“I’m surprised this place was even open this late,” Amelia remarked as she wiped a bit of spaghetti sauce from the side of her mouth. We had stopped at her home before coming here, and she was now dressed in a one-piece dress of blue-gray that nearly matched her eyes. She held the white napkin close to her breast as she ate.

“My clan knows this place well,” I said, “and our human friends tend to adjust their hours to suit us. It helps to have a few places open all night.”

“With the hours I pull doing grades, I think I could benefit from having a place like this open,” Amelia said. “The food here is wonderful!”

“At my home, there is a spread of food always open to humans,” I said. “The restaurant owners trained some of the cooks there. One day, I’ll show you.”

“It’s a date then,” she said with eagerness. “But I think you’ll find that it was a mistake to make that offer. I can eat a
lot
when I want.”

I could not help but laugh at her words. “Then you’ll have your fill,” I said. “You’ll find that there is more food there than you could ever eat.”

“You’re making this sound better and better!” Amelia said. “Anything’s better than the crap the cafeteria serves. It’s never enough.” And with that, she took an entire meatball and placed it in her mouth.

“It seems that food holds a close second place in your heart next to children,” I said after taking a small bite out of my very rare steak. Your love for them is written all over the classroom.”

And that was where I learned the depth of the love that Amelia had for her job. I listened to her myriad of stories, both of her good students and unruly ones. Though she repeatedly remarked at how “bad” she was at it, she absolutely delighted in her work; despite her self-deprecating demeanor, her zeal was evident in her every thought and word.

“You shouldn’t think so little of yourself as a teacher,” I said at last.

“But I
am
bad,” Amelia said. “I can’t hold a candle to the other teachers I work with, and the principal is always on my case about this or that, and…”

“Do your students love you?” I asked.

“Well, yes. I mean, I think they do,” Amelia said, after a moment’s pause to think, “If the gifts they gave me before Christmas are any sign.”

“And do you love them?”

“Mom always said that I wished they were my kids,” she replied. “She was always really perceptive.”

Her thoughts conveyed more information than her words. Instantly, my heart swelled with sympathy. “How did she die?” I asked.

“Car accident.” Her wistful smile trembled as she bit her lower lip. She sniffled once, and a tear rolled down. “It was two years ago in October. Damn it, now I wish you couldn’t read my mind.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It was near the surface. You were close to her, weren’t you?

“She was my best friend,” Amelia whispered with a nod. “I looked up to her in everything.”

“She was a teacher, like you.”

Amelia nodded. “I wanted to be just like her. I never grew out of it. She was the perfect mom…the perfect woman, I thought. You name it, she could do it. I couldn’t hold a candle to her.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, suddenly ashamed. “I shouldn’t have brought it back up. Those thoughts are private.”

“No, it’s okay,” Amelia said, sniffling back the remainder of her tears. Hurriedly, she wiped her reddened eyes and smiled at me. “It was close to the surface, like you said, so I’m guessing you couldn’t help seeing it, or hearing it, or…whatever. And besides, you don’t know this, but the reason I’ve been feeling so good as of late is because of you.” Her smile broadened as her hand reached for mine.

“I’d been in kind of a funk since she died. And come to think of it, that’s probably why the principal’s been riding my ass so much. But then, I met you –or rather, you met me. Talante, as crazy as it all seems, you’re quite possibly the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“You truly are special,” I said, with an almost instantaneous inward cringe of regret. I had understated my feelings horrendously, but nevertheless, I smiled, and Amelia smiled back.

“Words can’t express how glad I am to have met you, despite the circumstances of that meeting.”

Amelia blushed, a tangle of emotions sparking from her mind, quickly suppressed as she sighed. She removed her hand from mine and returned to her meal, but a wistful look remained in her eyes. “The nicest guy I have ever met happens to be a vampire,” she said at last.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I replied, glad for the humor that released the tension of the moment.

“No,” Amelia said, completely honest. “It certainly isn’t a bad thing. I learned that on day one.”

* * * *

We lost ourselves in the downtown crowds after dinner. Feeling once again myself in the fullness of the night, I used the opportunity to teach her more about my kind.

“It may be easy for
you
to tell, but how can someone like me tell who’s a vampire and who’s not?” Amelia asked. “You’d think that with your skin, hands, and eyes, it’d be easy to spot you. This city can’t have
that
many albinos, after all.”

“It’s not easy,” I said. “You see us, but our mental abilities aren’t limited to reading minds. We can influence thoughts, either towards our will or away from it. We may walk past you, and you won’t notice us because we don’t want you to; we distract your thoughts. And then we can draw you to us with our thoughts. Also, feeding from you lowers your inhibitions somewhat. It’s how I was able to get you to tell me about what happened here.”

“So let me guess,” Amelia said. “The way I tell your clan from Lothos’ is that you won’t force yourself on us?”

“Not unless we have no other choice,” I admitted. “I won’t lie to you; there have been times that we have had to control humans against their will. But we only use it as a last resort in extreme circumstances, such as when a human becomes, or is in danger of becoming violently uncooperative. But in all, your assumption is correct, after a fashion.”

“I see.”

“Look around closely enough and you will see our kind, and the vast network we have with humans,” I told her as we passed through the throngs of people on the sidewalk. Streetlights and neon lit up the downtown street we travelled. “At the club, you peered that closely. Few mortals have such insight.”

“I guess I’m just weird, then,” Amelia remarked with a wry grin.

“Not so much weird as inquisitive,” I said, correcting her, “but you're definitely a fascinating one. Going out alone, and at night, to spy on a spooky old house is
something most people your age simply would not do, and, if you don’t mind my saying, especially not most women.”

“Call it insatiable curiosity, then,” Amelia said after a thoughtful shrug. “It’s gotten me into plenty of trouble as a kid, let me tell you. And I’ve always been braver than most girls. Well, that, and then there’s the fact that my friends were teasing me the day before about my so-called ‘boring’ life. I guess a part of me just wanted to show them up, and then got the opportunity.”

“Is that all?”

She nodded.

“You do have depth of strength to you,” I commented. “Perhaps in time, I will see just how deep it is.”

“What do you mean?” Amelia said with a note of suspicion. And then she noticed the route we were taking. It was neither the way back to her home or to my safe house. “Wait, we’re not going where I think we are, are we?”

“Yes, we are,” I said, and instantly met with resistance.

“No, please!” Amelia said, and felt fear spike within her to near panic. “Don’t make me go there! Not right now! I’m not ready; I just can’t…”

I paused, deftly maneuvering us out of the traffic of the crowds. “Calm yourself,” I said in a gentle voice. I looked into her gray eyes, and touched her face, smiling with confident reassurance. “Remember, I said that you would not do this alone. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

“How can you say that so easily?” Amelia said, wresting her emotions back into control.
Good girl
, I thought. She was already trying to fight her own fear. “What about Lothos? What about his clan? Aren’t you worried at all?”

“In all honesty, I can’t completely guarantee that nothing will happen with Lothos,” I said. “That is one of the reasons that I woke up so early. I was worried about you, and more so than I had ever been for anyone. But I
can
guarantee that I’ll be here for you.”

“You know, I can’t help but think that you’re avoiding something,” Amelia said.

“There’s a lot about us that you do not yet know,” I answered, “but you’ll learn with time. Besides, am I not interesting with all my secrets?”

Amelia pursed her lips. “Frustrating is more like it,” she said, but did not mean it. Despite the circumstances of our first meeting, she was as fascinated by me as I was captivated by her blood.

“Well, another secret is that I can out-dance anyone in this club,” I said with a wink and smile.

“You?” she said in a cynical tone. “Seriously? You look more like a priest than a dancer in that…” she searched for the right words, “…that frock, you know. You were wearing that same thing the night we first met. Is that all you ever wear? Solid white frocks?”

“Normally,” I said. “It gives a distinction, and it’s what my people wore.”

“Newsflash, Talante! Ten thousand years have passed since then! It’s the 21
st
Century.” Her voice shook with laughter as she tugged on my sleeve.

“I guess
I’m
just weird, then,” I said with a grin that spoke volumes more than my words.

“Well, it’s a good thing for both of us that I happen to like weird.”

“You still don’t think I can dance?” I inquired as we reached the club’s entrance door. The name
Pink’s
glowed in hot neon light that was the same color as the name. above the glass door.

“Let’s say that I’ll believe it when I believe it,” Amelia answered as the bouncer opened the door for us.”

“Oh, I do love a challenge,” I said, her words and scent shunting a thrill through me as I led her by the hand to the dance floor.

* * * *

For a time, we danced, and we were drunk with happiness. With over ten millennia of experience, I put everyone to shame, despite the oddity of my attire. I knew many dances, and mixed their moves with my own to make a style none had ever seen before, but all enthusiastically appreciated. Even the others of my kind among the crowd could not help but be impressed, and a little surprised.

Amelia shared their sentiments and as we danced, her fear went ever further from her mind. In its place, however, were increasing thoughts of me. I should have distracted her mind from this, as I knew what it entailed, but I had been enjoying myself too much, and I admit, was happy to have her for once, genuinely desire me. Human though she was, the attentions of a female had been distant from my life for too long.

We at last stopped to refresh ourselves in the karaoke room. Amelia had been about to order a drink when I felt a sudden, sharp surge of excitement from her. Before I could say anything, she abruptly took me to the side.

“That’s him!” she whispered, and then pointed discreetly to the tables centered around the stage area. The crowd was sparse tonight, and more interested in their own private conversations than in the man on the stage who sang (rather badly).

“Where?” I asked, and then immediately after I said it, saw a very familiar face. “You mean the one near the front row, with the sunglasses?” I watched as he engaged in lively chatter with two women: one blond, the other redheaded, both scantily dressed and utterly transparent in their thoughts.

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. He’s definitely the one.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Roland.”

“You know him?”

“I know all my children,” I said. And I knew Roland best.

Roland did not possess the knack for leadership that Justin, Aiko, or my other lieutenants displayed. Instead, his talents lay in gathering information, as he played human better than most among my kind. I had turned him after saving him from the torment of a member of Lothos’ clan in a lone London flat in the late 1800s. Born to unfortunate circumstances as he had been, and keeping the company of petty thieves until a job had gone horribly wrong and ran him afoul of the enemy, I gave him a new life and purpose. His philandering ways and indiscretion, however, were vices that remained a constant cross for me to bear.

“I had hoped that it was anyone but him,” I told Amelia.

“Well, I could’ve been wrong, you know,” she said, her words rushed, as if in apology. “I said that my memory wasn’t—”

I tapped my forehead and smiled familiarly, and she flushed with embarrassment. How easily humans forget our power to detect lies. Still, I was impressed by her sympathy to protect the harmony between friends, even those she did not know about.