Stories
Ring ring.
What? Oh, curse that phone. If this is that demented fan again I don't know what I'll do, I thought as I picked up the phone. This call had best be worth stopping my story.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Hello, Ms. Tiova? This is Ralph Smith."
The agent person. Why is he calling?
"Hello Ralph. I thought I had asked you to call me Irene." I've had quite enough formality in my life already, thank you. "Is anything wrong?"
"Nothings wrong, M- Irene. We have an idea to help promote your books. Would you like to have a tour?"
A tour of what? "What do you mean, a tour?" I asked.
"A tour is when a writer travels around the country doing interviews and book signings to promote their books. The publishers would pay for travel and accommodations. Would you be interested?"
He didn't mention food. So he remembered my little eccentricity about only eating food I prepare myself and eating alone. Even my imagination failed to predict how Ralph, the meekest agent in the publishing industry, would react to seeing what I really eat. Hunting down a deer or few in the forest and drinking their blood... what a sight his reaction would be. "Where would I be travelling?" Lets see if he remembered my other quirk about staying out of direct sunlight. I had a good excuse for that. A medical condition that required me to stay out of the sun for my own safety. False, of course. That would be another interesting reaction, if Ralph saw my skin sparkle. That was my real reason for staying out of the sun. Direct sunlight makes me look like I'm made of diamond dust.
"It's not final until you agree, but the plan is to visit Seattle, possibly Sacramento, Detroit, New York and maybe other cities between them." He remembered my quirk.
"How long will this trip last?" I wanted to know.
"Two, maybe three months."
"I'd like some time to think about it, I'll call you back."
"Thank you very much, Irene." He said and hung up.
I spun my chair around, ignoring the writing on the computer screen in front of me. A tour. It could be interesting. I haven't done one before.
Interviews and book signings though, could be a problem. It wouldn't do for someone who saw me decades ago to see me now, unchanged by time. Being a vampire makes me immune to time, but the humans couldn't know that. The last few decades I've spent in my various houses hidden in the forests, away from people. No recent witnesses. Before that I was in Canada. A sixty-year-old Canadian is hardly likely to be at a book signing for a recent popular American writer.
There are other vampires that know my face. The Cullens are near Seattle now. They're not likely to raise a fuss, if they even come. Like me, they feed on animals. It doesn't hurt that I have been a friend of their's for years.
The nomad vampires I've met do not share my views on food for the most part, and aren't likely to stop at a book signing. They wouldn't be a problem.
There was Annalee though.
I first met Annalee when I was human and my name was still Elizabeth Copper, in England about 300 years ago. Her brother, Anthony, was the leader of their coven of vampires then. Anthony changed me. I hated him for it. My life wasn't great, but I had been happy living with Father. Once I was changed I could never see him again. He would have seen the difference in me.
I had never been pretty. My hair and eyes were plain brown; I had freckles and a tan, a snub nose and an almost unnoticeable figure. I had been taught to read, write, business, and basic fighting by my father, an eccentric, ex-soldier/scholar. Those unforgivable signs of unladylike behavior had made me extremely unattractive to the local matrons seeking brides for their sons. I had made it to thirty years of age without marrying and was quite content to live out my life a spinster.
After my change my skin was pure white and I was beautiful. I escaped from their coven as soon as I could. They didn't stop me. My
gift, writing, was useless to them. I can¹t say what attracted their attention that Anthony changed me in the first place. It wasn't my newfound beauty. All vampires are beautiful, next to Annalee, I looked commonplace. I left England and began feeding on animals instead of humans. I had killed enough for one life before it occurred to me that there was an alternative. After I died and left England, I began learning to fight. I took lessons from people who would keep their mouths shut on some of the stranger things about me. When I felt I had learned enough, I went back to England. I killed Anthony. It wasn't as hard as I had expected. He didn't count me a threat. When I asked to meet him, he came alone.
Killing a vampire is difficult. They need to be torn in pieces and burned to be truly killed. That rules out suicide for the more depressed.
Annalee has hated me ever since I killed him.
She had gathered a new coven, last time I saw her. She didn't attack me then, she has no idea how far my fighting skills go. She roams, and I never know where I'll see her next. She might see me on the tour. If she has gathered a large enough coven by now to make her brave she might attack me.
It's a small chance, I think. For all I know, she's still in Europe. I'll meet new people. At least some of them should be interesting enough to use as characters. I'll do it.
I pick up the phone. "Ralph, its Irene. I'd like to do a tour."
"You would? Great!" I hear over the phone. Poor boy, does he have
anything else in his life? "I'll tell the others. I'll call you back when
we've finalized the dates and places."
"Perfect. Thanks."
.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
Author's Note: This is simply the first chapter. If anyone is interested, I will post the rest of it. Many thanks to my beta ver, a.k.a. vvchan.
Disclaimer: I have no legal rights to Twilight. Anything you recognize from that is not my invention.
