Not Another Love Story

Chapter 9

We sat there, looking at each other, his face so blank that I wasn't sure I would get anything else from him, until he signed and then started talking.

"I'm a vampire, Jen," he said. When I didn't said anything, but looking at him, he continued "not like those vampires in that stupid movie. I don't drink blood. We don't drink blood. That's just a way to keep our existence a secret from the humans. If they are expecting a bloodthirsty monster, they won't suspect us because we seem too normal."

Well, that actually made sense.

"So, what are vampires actually like?" I was more curious than scared. Actually, I wasn't scared at all, which Steven seemed to notice and was glad about that. He was smiling.

"Stronger and faster than humans. We can still compel humans, like in the movie, but for some reason we can't do that to other vampires."

How about werewolves? And others? Should I tell him about me, that the compelling thing isn't working for me? Maybe he could give me some more information on that.

"We don't drink blood, but we have an ability to be aware of the blood. We actually could give you more details than any blood tests could."

"Woah, that's so cool! Did you scare the humans with that and make them think that you need to drink their blood?"

"Not really." he was laughing. "The Goldman family are vampires. You can't actually be turned into a vampire, you are just born one. And they did a great job to create a specific image around vampires so no one would suspect a real one. We weren't fans of being burned at the stake like the witches."

Witches?

"Like real witches? Are those a thing too?"

"They were. I actually haven't seen one in decades. They're probably all dead. We vampires learned from their mistakes and did a better job to hide ourselves. The werewolves too, no one suspected those lucky bastards because they're able to turn into a wolf and people were too scared to start analyzing a wolf. And they are better at keeping together and having eachothers backs."

"Steven?"

"Yes?"

"How old are you?" he chuckled and when he didn't answer I continued. "Are vampires immortal? Or almost dead?"

"No, we are very much alive," he said amused. "And we are immortal. And no, we cannot be killed with a stake in the heart. We heal very fast. And don't experience aging as a normal human does."

My head was spinning with all the new information and I was making mental maps and notes and lists. Was I a witch?

"How old are you?" I was doing my best to take everything as lightly as I could and not fret too much about the stuff he was telling me. He seemed eager to tell me more if I wasn't starting to freak out and run away scared.

"157 years old. My brother Chris is older. He's 298 years old."

I couldn't hide my shock. My eyes were like saucers as I was trying to do the match in my head and completely failing. "Well, holy shit!"

That just made him laugh.

"And how old is the oldest vampire?"

"I am not sure about that. I don't know every vampire, but the oldest I know would be Tom Goldman. He is more than 1000 years old. No one knows the exact number and I doubt that Tom himself knows it either. It just becomes irrelevant at some point." he shrugged.

"That is so cool! Do you have other superpowers? And how about the witches? Did they have some of that too?"

I was feeling suddenly like when I was little and was asking my grandfather millions of questions about everything. And he was so patient with me. So was Steven. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying this.

"We can be great doctors because of our abilities with blood, which are different for each vampire. I developed a great healing ability, while my brother can tell you who's blood is by just smelling it. Our mother can tell you your blood type and give you an exact blood test result. And I heard that Tom Goldman can control the blood."

"Control it, like moving it around?"

He just nodded and I paled. That was fucking terifying and I was making a mental note to stay away from that vampire.

"Can you sense when a person is around by their blood?"

That sounded crazy as fuck as soon as I heard myself asking, but all this conversation was crazy, so who cares?

"Yes, to a degree. If there are lots of people around, like in a city, it just becomes confusing."

That was great news for me if I ever wanted to sneak around any vampires.

"How about werewolves? Are they immortal too? Can they do anything else besides turning into a wolf?"

"They tend to live longer because of their healing abilities, like vampires. But they are not immortal and they don't live as much as vampires. They do have enhanced senses and are really fucking strong, especially in wolf form."

Noticing the irritation in his tone, I chose to leave the wolf conversation for another time or at least until I figured out how well they get along.

"And the witches?"

"We don't know much about them," he answered in a sad low voice. "They might be all gone due to all the witch hunts. It's really fucking sad. I met some witches when I was fifteen and they seemed really powerful to me. I guess that as powerful as they were, they didn't do a great job at hiding and surviving like us or like the wolves."

"Were the witches born from other witches like the vampires, or anyone could learn to be one?"

"They came in random families, and were born witches. A lot of them were killed by their own families."

Well, shit. I started playing nervously with my hair. Was I a witch? Or were they already extinct? Although, now seemed like a better time to be born as a witch than before when they were burned at the stake.

Suddenly, Steven stood up and looked like he wanted to run away. I stood up too and was looking at him, while he was trying to decide to either go or stay. Or something else. Then his eyes started glowing.

"Jenifer, you will forget the conversation we had in this room. We had a great time watching the movie and then I went home." he paused for a few seconds.

This time, I could feel the energy around me. Like whatever Steven was saying didn't matter that much, but the energy around us did the actual job. I started wondering if that was magic. I allowed myself to perceive all that energy around us, and I knew that I could play with it and change it, manipulate it. I chose not to. I wasn't sure what that would do. Feelin grateful that I didn't tell Steven that the compulsion didn't work on me and Kevin, I played my role to look as brainwashed as possible until he left my apartment.

Locking up the front door, I promised myself that I won't open it no matter who else decided to pay me a visit. Then I prepared myself a hot batch, poured a glass of wine and did my best to relax while putting together all the information that I had.

Why did I sense the magic all around me this time when he tried his compulsion trick, but didn't when Tom Goldman did his trick? Or maybe I actually did, but didn't pay it much attention. I was too shocked about his glowing eyes and whatever was happening so I ignored anything else. And if the witches were so powerful, why did they let themselves be killed? Should I be able to do magic on my own, or could I just sense it like when the vampires did their tricks?

The wine didn't do a great job to ease my frustration and when I felt like I might start crying, or better, screaming because I didn't have enough information about freaking witches and because I had a jerk of a vampire neighbor who chose to compel me to forget about our conversation, I finished washing myself and went to sleep.

Was Steven afraid that I might start telling people about vampires? Fucking jerk!