Lost Without You

~17~

"Hmm... Anne, so how is this Mark of yours?" I whispered to my friend when she arrived, late as always, and hid herself behind the bookshelves.

She was trying to become invisible, as Mr. Turner, who took over the till, was glaring reproachfully in her direction, informing her mutely that he did not approve of, and would not tolerate much longer, her belated arrivals.

"Oh he's amazing, so gentle and romantic... I really do like him, Samara." She half-whispered, her eyes glazed over with infatuation.

"That's great," I said carefully. "But is he... hmm... does he seem completely... normal?" I probed, earning myself a puzzled, if not an affronted look from her.

"Of course he is normal! He is not at all like that Lucas. Now that guy is weird."

Right. So you weren't wrong, even Anne sees that there is something odd about Lucas... I thought as the sound of the front door opening, followed closely by Mr. Turner's voice welcoming a customer, made us jump away from each other and pretend to do what we were supposed to be doing.

"What do you mean? How weird?" I whisper-shouted at her from the other end of the long bookcase, unable to keep my curiosity at bay, while I moved a couple of books around unnecessarily.

She paused slightly, in an obvious attempt to choose the correct words to express her thoughts and feelings -- How well did I know how difficult that was! -- before saying, "I've never seen him eating, but he drinks a lot. When I asked Mark what it was his friend keeps drinking, he said it's wine, and I shouldn't worry about him. But I never saw him drunk, not even tipsy. Lucas is always very serious and polite, and so... I don't know Samara, if you are interested in him, I'll tell him, and you two can meet. He definitely gives me creeps, though." Anne said with an ill-concealed shudder in her voice.

"So you and William are really over, then?" She continued after a while, changing the subject. "Like, definitely? It's a shame, you were such a nice couple..."

"Miss Marlowe I need you over here, please!" Mr. Turner called from the till.

I had never felt so happy to be interrupted before, I didn't want to discuss William, ever again. So I only shrugged at Anne in response and left her to reorganize the books alone.

As the morning progressed, I let my thoughts ramble and stroll back to what my friend had said about Lucas. Anne's words only confirmed what I had been thinking, he wasn't completely 'normal'. Is it possible that he is a vampire, then? He was different, somehow, from Vlad, and Junior, or the others I had met so far, I could feel it. If I had to guess what he was, I'd go with a 'perfectly self-controlled... half-vampire', even though I've never met one of those.

Whatever he is, he is innocuous, I concluded, seeing that his flatmate, the most probably perfectly human Mark, despite apparently knowing his friend's secret, seemed relaxed and undisturbed by it. That was the most important thing at the moment. Mark didn't consider his friend dangerous, and so I did not think he posed a threat to Anne, or any other human being, either. Still, I'd try to dissuade her from moving over to their flat, just in case, I promised to myself while I jubilated inwardly at having met, maybe, my first half-vampire. Lucas might become your best source of information, after all.

But there was no point in ruminating about it until the next time we would meet and I would pluck up my courage to ask him directly. Your speculations could be as wrong as they could be right, I warned myself.

Lia arrived just before my lunch break, to pick up my box. She made sure that I had brought enough food to eat, then made me write down the date of my first appointment with the midwife who would follow my pregnancy. Thank heavens for Lia, I thought, watching her tick off points written in her notebook as she talked me through them. With all the things happening around me during my days, and nights, I kept forgetting about the most important.