The Lost Topaz
Chapter 1: The Drifter
I looked up at the couple of sky scrapers as I drove into the heart of Dallas. I'm what you would call a drifter. I go where the wind takes me. I'm a solid believer of fate and destiny. So there is a reason why I am here in Dallas. It was raining outside as I looked outside of my fifteen year old car. I never understood why people didn't like the rain. I love it; it's like natures way of bathing itself. My stomach growled at me; I had forgotten it has been at least twelve hours since I last ate. I started looking around for somewhere to eat. I saw a promising Chinese restaurant up ahead and parked on the road. Did no one like the rain here? Everyone was running like mad dogs! I walked casually to the restaurant door.
"Well hi there," the hostess greeted me.
"Hello," I said in a very upbeat tone.
"Just one?" she asked as her eyes searched around me for company.
"Yup," I replied in a funny tone, rolling on the back of my heels with my hands behind my back.
"The wait will be about half an hour, what's your name please?"
"Aaron Summers"
"Alright right Aaron, I will call you up as soon as your table is ready," she said as she wrote my name in her book.
I sat down and pulled out my iPod as I waited. Twenty minutes or so later the host called my name. She led me through the maze of tables and sat me down at a table in the corner.
"What can I get you to drink?" the waitress asked.
"Just lemon water please," I really didn't have that much money.
"Alright, your server will be right out."
"Thank you." I gave her a warm smile. She smiled back, I had a feeling she didn't get very many nice people in here.
I glanced at the menu, the pork fried rice sounded tasty. The waitress came and took my order. Great, now I'm by myself again. I was bored of music so I decided to look around the room. There was an old couple bickering, some teenagers making out, and then some one caught my eye. It was a man on the opposite corner of the room. He was in his early twenties at most. He was just looking down at his empty table. You could clearly see the pain on his face, he was depressed. I got up quickly with my drink and walked over to his table.
"This seat taken?" I nodded to towards the empty chair at his table.
"No," he said in a harsh tone that was obviously unwelcoming.
"Perfect," I set my drink down as I sat.
"So what's your name?" I asked with my usual big smile.
He finally looked up at me with obvious hate in his eyes, that didn't bug me. I waved in encouragement to tell me his name. My smile never faded from my face.
"Well?" I asked, furthering my encouragement.
"Godric," he sighed, giving into defeat.
The waitress found me at this new table and set down my food. "Is there anything I can get you now, sir?" she asked Godric, obviously uncomfortable.
"Yes," he said with a devilish grin "I'll take some True Blood, A positive please," as he said this he glanced at me with his peripherals. He was obviously trying to see my reaction. Does he really think he can scare me off with a beverage? He snapped his head towards me and glared. Shoot! I must have said that a loud. I'm notorious for whispering my thoughts aloud.
"O-o-ok," the waitress stuttered as she wrote it down. "I'll be right back with that."
Godric continued to stare at me. I decided to break the silence.
"You know the pork fried rice here is quite delectable," I said sarcastically as I ate a fork-full.
"Why are you here?" he demanded.
"Cause I saw you across the room and knew you needed some company," all traces of sarcasm had left my voice. I could tell he knew my words were genuine.
"What's your name?"
"Aaron Summers."
"Well Aaron, I've tried the indirect approach; so now let's try the direct. If you don't leave this table immediately, I will kill you," he said this very menacingly.
"Well," I leaned my chin on my arm and shrugged "I reckon I don't have much to live for anyways," I couldn't keep a grin away as I said this. Where did all this self confidence come from? Common sense tells me to get the hell out of here, but something else is telling me to stay; and it's giving me quite the poker face.
"Your funeral," he exhaled as the waitress came back with his drink. The bottle shook as she placed it on the table. She left in quite a rush.
"Oh please just burn me when you're done. No one is going to pay for my funeral."
This caught him off guard; and I could have sworn I saw him wince.
"What do you mean?"
"No body cares enough about me to spend lord knows how much money on a funeral." I sort of saddened myself now; luckily it never showed on my face.
"So you don't have a family?"
"No I do, just none that care about me. Guess I'm the perfect prey!" I said in a very amused tone.
He winced this time for sure. I let out a giggle.
"If you want to commit suicide do it by yourself, don't use me."
"Suicide? I don't want to commit suicide! I love life!" I giggled some more, not because it was funny, but because he was drawn to that conclusion.
"Then why are you taunting a vampire?"
"I'm not taunting you. I'm trying to be a cure to your depression; am I failing?"
"Cure?" the word surprised him.
"Well yeah," I started to blush. I've talked to this guy for all of fifteen minutes and I'm already starting to give him tidbits of my secrets. This is new.
"Interesting…" he was clearly confused.
"So what's your last name? I told you mine,"
"Um, Aylwin."
"Aylwin…" I made myself look like I was pondering it "I like it!" I had that huge smile on again. I could tell that Godric was starting to ease up a little now.
"So why do you think I am depressed?" he asked me.
Uh oh, I didn't want to tell him anything from my past. But that is what the answer contained. I suppose I could just tell him a little bit.
"Trust me," I had to look away when I said this "I know depression when I see it."
"Please elaborate," I think he realized he had found the weak chink in my armor and is trying to exploit it now. I laughed in my head; if he really thought my past would scare me away he was clearly mistaken.
"Well I've been through a lot, and I've been down that road. So when I saw you here with those sad eyes just looking at the table… I guess it was instinctual for me to come over." I liked my choice of words as I said them.
"So your instincts tell you to come over to a vampire that may or may not kill you because he thinks you're annoying?"
That stung a little. "Oh please, I can tell that even though you've been with many people for however long you have been around, secretly, you are really alone." Did I really just say that? That was so mean. I placed my face in my hands in regret. I felt so horrible. I even started to cry a little. "I'm so sorry," I finally said.
"Why are you sorry for stating your observations?" he asked curious "especially when it's true," he whispered in a very low tone.
"Because it doesn't matter whether or not it's true, it was completely uncalled for!" I felt sick to my stomach with what I had said to him.
"Yes, but I had offended you, and you were merely trying to get revenge. That's only human nature," he tried to calm me now, that wasn't going to work.
"I don't care if it's in human nature; it's not in my nature!" I really did need to calm down, people might start looking. "Godric, I am terribly sorry for saying such rude comments, please forgive me."
His mouth opened in astonishment at this last statement.
"I'll leave your table now," I got up with all traces of my cheerfulness gone.
He reached out for arm but quickly stopped before he did. "No," he pleaded "Stay."
I couldn't believe this! He actually meant it; I could see it in his eyes that he really did want me to stay. I sat back down and looked at the table; I didn't want to look in his eyes.
"Please look at me," he said.
I looked up into his eyes. "In all my years on this Earth," he said "never have I once encountered anyone who has asked for forgiveness let alone actually meaning it. Of curse I will forgive you, and may I ask the same from you for my earlier remarks?"
I had to smile now, this meant a lot. "Thank you, and of course I will."
"Let's get back to questions," he proposed.
"Sure, why don't you go first," I suggested.
"Ok, why did you come to Dallas?"
"I'm a drifter; I go from city to city."
"Ok, but why come to Dallas?"
"Why not," I shrugged. He seemed to get a little annoyed by my smart alec remark. I sighed "I don't know really, I just start driving and choose random turns and next thing I knew here I am."
"Why are you in Dallas?" I challenged.
"My job is here," why did he emphasize the word job?
I didn't push the subject. For the next few hours we asked these kinds of questions. He asked me where I originally came from, which is Oklahoma City. Whenever I asked anything about him he always sidestepped the question. I didn't mind though. For some reason, I was intrigued by him and loved talking about anything. Finally, it was starting to get light out. Wait, is this restaurant really open twenty-four hours. How the heck did it get light out so quickly? Did I really just stay up till 4 AM? I grabbed a to-go box and paid the new host. We walked towards my car as he was asking some more questions.
"So do you like the Dallas?" he asked. I was glad to see that curiosity on his face.
"It's my favorite city so far," I didn't realize that I could smile that wide.
"Why's that?
"Cause I've met some great people," it was starting to hurt even to grin!
I went over and unlocked my car. I threw the leftovers in the back seat.
"So what city are you going to next?" he tried to hide that curiosity in his voice but I could still hear it.
"I think I'm going to stay in Dallas for a while actually."
"Oh, what hotel are you staying at," he made a quick grin at me. Obviously pleased by my answer, that was the first sign of happiness I ever saw him make. Guess I didn't fail.
"Hotel a La Aaron," I said as I motioned my hand at my car like Vanna White.
"What?" he said in a disgusted tone.
"Well yeah, I don't have much money and why stay one night at a hotel when I have a perfectly fine car seat."
"No! You will come to my house for the night, or day rather."
"Oh, well I appreciate the offer…"
"It wasn't a question," he interrupted.
Before I could even think he was in the driver's seat of my car with it turned on.
"Get in," he said.
I didn't really like this much. I've never been one to accept such an offering. But when he was a hundred times stronger than me, that put things in a different perspective.
"I like you better when you wanted to kill me," I teased.
"Why do you think I'm taking you back to my house?" he teased back.
I tilted my head to the right so he could see my neck. "Just make it quick please."
"Please don't do that," all teasing had left his face and I could see that I had upset him.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry," I felt so bad.
That was just me, I don't know exactly why I apologized for; but I did anyways because I had hurt his feelings. I think that he understood that I was confused, that look in his eyes.
"Aaron," he sighed "I've killed a lot of people in my life time. And when you joke about that, I'm not sure exactly how I feel."
This was different. "Ugh," was all I managed to get out.
"Does it upset you when you think of me dying?" this gave me butterflies when I asked; no one had ever cared about me like that.
"Yes, it does," he replied.
I guess I should have been concerned about the fact that he had just confessed to me that he was a serial killer. Somehow, I just couldn't be frightened of him. I could tell that was in his past, but yet the thought should scare me. Why wasn't I frightened of him? The way he looked at me, it just made me feel safe.
I decided to change the subject. "How old are you?" I purposely put on a tone that I do to lighten the mood.
"Um," he bit his lower lip.
Was he ashamed of his age? I didn't really care much. I just wanted to change the subject.
"I don't know exactly but what I do know is that I was born over two-thousand years ago." he spoke it so quick I could barely understand him.
I felt my jaw drop; I may have even heard it. I thought that only happened in corny movies.
"Ugh," I repeated myself before, "Where?" I finally spit out.
"Present day Finland, in a tribe that I don't even remember the name of," he seemed upset by this.
"Who turned you?" I was very curious now. What I wouldn't give to see what he has seen!
"I don't know, I woke up out of the ground alone."
"Ground?" I asked, what did that mean?
He bit his lower lip again. Did he just tell me a secret or something?
"Well…" I said pushing the subject further.
"I'm not allowed to say," he looked out the window nonchalantly. Did he really expect me to give up that easily?
"Not allowed?" I asked another question. His fist tightened a little I saw from the corner of my eye. Without realizing it he has been giving me some vampire secrets; and I just happen to ask the right questions. But I could see that this was not my place. I didn't want to be a menace to him. He was taking me to his home as we spoke.
"Don't tell me anything," I finally said breaking the silence.
He snapped his head at me with his moth partially open. I couldn't resist asking this time.
"How is it possible that I keep surprising a vampire; and a two-thousand year old vampire at that?"
"I don't know but before I met you, I thought that I had seen and heard everything."
I blushed and took that as a compliment. We were pulling in a driveway now. "Wow," was all I said. His home was beautiful.
"Well c'mon," he said. He waved his hands toward me as he unlocked the door.
"Unless you're afraid!" he yelled at me.
Weird his voice sounded different when he yelled somehow.
"Oh please I've had steaks tougher than you!" I yelled back teasingly.
When I caught up to him at the door, he was just staring at me with one eyebrow up.
"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that," he said.
"Can't handle the fact that bovines are tougher than you," I went to lightly punch him on the shoulder but he dodged it. The next thing I knew he had my hands around my back with his mouth by neck.
"Care to take that back now?" he asked.
"Nope," I said with my smile. I had just realized that this was the first time that I had touched him, let alone a vampire! My body had always been weird; I was always cold. My friends used to yell at me when I would leave the windows up in my car on an eighty-five degree day. So when our skin met it didn't startle me. He was still colder than me though. It's strange, I loathe the cold, but with him it was like he was igniting my insides on fire. So that one point that was cold was lost in my burning insides. I was lost in thought right now. It only broke when he ever so gently let go of me.
"What's wrong?" he asked concerned "Did I frighten you?"
"No, not at all. It's just…"
"Just what?"
"I'm not allowed to say," I twisted up a smile and he looked at me confused.
"So are you going to invite me in or not?" I asked as he was staring at me blankly.
He face came to life as a huge grin started to form on his face. He got a kick out of what I just said, I could tell.
"Yes, please come in." he opened the door for me and signaled me to go ahead first.
Shouldn't this be more… awkward? I've only known this vampire for all of a few hours yet here I was, alone with him, in his house! But I felt no fear; and if he wanted to kill me, he would have done it by now, right? I remember my friend who had dated a vampire. I was the only person outside who knew, though. I never even met the guy. But one day she just came to me crying and saying that he had left. He had just used her as a pet, as a walking fountain.
"Before I go in I need to ask you something," I was never the subtle type. But his grin just widened.
"What might that be?"
"I'm being serious this time," his face immediately hardened. Not in defense but in concern.
"What," he asked again, this time with nothing but worry. That made me feel a little bit of the fire I had experienced earlier.
Everything came out in a rush. "I know from other people that sometimes vampires keep humans as a novelty, as a way to have a food source always nearby. I want to know if that is what you have intended for me."
His face immediately became full of disgust. "Aaron, I would never ever do that to you. I promise you that. I like your company as a person, not a novelty.
I could feel the sadness on my face as I was about to become partly vulnerable to him. "Please just don't ever hurt me, I've had enough of that to last a life time," I breathed out; I don't even know if he heard it.
I was still looking down at the ground; he reached one finger over to my head and raised it so we were eye level. I looked away towards the street. How could I have given this complete stranger secrets of my past that I've locked away.
"Look at me," he said.
I sighed and looked into his eyes.
"Aaron Summers, I promise you that as long as I live, I will never hurt you." He came in to give me a hug. I accepted it without any form of a fight. Maybe he was my cure. I've been holding a lot of bad things for a long time. But I wasn't ready for that kind of commitment just yet. As we stood there with arms around each other, my insides were burning again. This was a good burning, it felt nice.
"Thank you," I whispered.
It started to get light blue outside, dawn was approaching.
"I had better ground for the night," he said "You can go ahead and sleep the bedroom."
"Wait, you sleep underground?" that was never said on TV.
"Um, yeah,"
He led me to the bedroom and I dove on the mattress. I couldn't recall the last time I had slept on a bed, a year, maybe more.
"Okay then, see you in the night," I yawned; it felt funny to say that.
"Good morning," he punned back. He shut the door behind him and I never heard his footsteps. I don't remember anything after that, next thing I knew I was being lightly pushed.
"Aaron, wake up," the voice said.
"Ugh," was all I said.
"Don't make me get my fangs," he teased.
I had to laugh to that. "Ok, I'm up." I said as I rolled over to face him. He just grabbed my arm and led me into his garage. I noticed we were going to his one of his cars; it was red and sporty, cool.
"Where are we going?" I asked, still a little dazed from waking up thirty seconds before.
"Where ever you want. No, wait, what's your favorite place in the world?" he asked me.
"Um, the beach," I said with a yawn.
"Which beach?"
"Any beach on the ocean," coming from Oklahoma City the ocean was always a treat. There was always something magical there, especially at night. When the moon hit the water just right…
"Okay," he pulled out of his driveway like a bat out of hell. Somehow we ended up on the highway going so fast that I didn't dare look at his speedometer. The car ride was full of questions that we never got to ask each other. I shied away from the vampire questions cause I knew their was some form of laws against them. We got off some exit and I rolled my window down, I could already smell the ocean.
"What are you so anxious about," he had been jumpy all night.
"You'll see," he teased. Can't I ever just get a full answer?
He parked and we both walked down to the beach. I took my flip-flops off and carried them in my hand. It was perfect, there was a full moon out and it was gleaming off the ocean surface.
"Aaron," he said "there is something that I have wanted to do for a long time."
"What's tha…" he cut me off with a kiss.
As our lips intertwined my whole world froze. I took all of my surrounding in, the moon, the calm waters, the sand between my toes. My whole body was burning hotter than I had ever felt before with that mere hug. How was I not melting? He slowly wrapped his arms around my back and I his. I felt so out of it. I fell backward into the sand. After he released my lips, I gasped for air.
"Wow, I was not expecting that," I breathed. It felt like I had run a marathon.
"I never expected how much I would like it," he smiled.
"So you've wanted to do that since we've met; even when you were being a complete douche bag?" I asked. Could that have really been last night? It felt like so long ago. In fact, it feels like I've known Godric my whole life.
"Let me rephrase, I've wanted to do that since you started talking to me."
I smiled widely again. We were both on our backs now just looking up at the moon.
"Why did you want to do it here, in my favorite place," I was curious.
"Because I wanted your first kiss to be perfect," he was obviously quite proud of himself.
"How did…" he cut me off again.
"I don't know! It's like I've known you my entire life!"
"I was just thinking the same thing! It feels like last night was years rather than hours ago!"
"I feel the same exact way! I am over two thousand years old and yet I feel like I've known you that long! It is the greatest feeling I have ever felt in this life!"
I couldn't hold it in any more. This time it was my turn. I rolled over on top of him and leaned down to give him a kiss. He laughed behind my kissing.
"I'm sorry, I'm new at this!" I felt the blood rush to my cheeks in embarrassment.
He placed his hand on the back of my head. I felt like a walking oven! Is it possible that I have found a soul mate? Born millennia apart, but yet fate had found a way for us to be together. This burning feeling was nothing more than love. I loved him. I've known him for little more than a day but yet somehow I knew he was the one, my other half.
He must have seen me thinking hard because he pulled my head down to kiss him again, that was fine by me.
As were kissing, I felt his fangs come out. I jumped back in shock.
"I'm sorry, that was an accident," he apologized.
He retracted them back to wherever they had come from.
"No wait bring them back," I pleaded.
He tilted his head to the side a little in confusion. But he brought them back out.
I reached to of my fingers out to touch them.
"Do you mind?" I asked
"Not at all," he replied as he closed his eyes.
As the tips of my fingers rubbed his fangs lightly it was like static. More than static, it was like pure electrocution. He made a slight moan as if this was pleasurable to him too somehow.
"Never be ashamed by who or what you are," I breathed as I leaned back down to place my lips on his.
"I may have thought otherwise before I met you," he said.
He always knew the right things to say, I knew I was blushing.
"Please explain that."
"Well I have dated many people, both women and men, and whether they were human or vampire they were always frightened of me. But with you, you look at me like I make your life worth living. You've never been afraid, even when I was seriously considering killing you." He looked at me for a response.
I was so wrapped up in what he was saying that I didn't have much reaction to the last part.
"You see," he continued "I tell you that I thought about killing you and yet here you are still," he raised our hands up, when did I start holding his hand?
He waited for me to respond but I couldn't think of the right words to say, there were no words for how I was feeling right now.
"Godric," I finally said "before I met you, I felt lost, that was why I was a drifter. But now I'm here with you," I mimicked him from earlier and raised our hands. "I know I'm in the right place. You do make my life worth living."
He reached back over to kiss me again. I don't know how long we did that. We didn't need words so much anymore; we were wrapped up in each others company. All the while as we were kissing and cuddling my body was on fire. It never died out.
A few hours later I looked back at the sky. It was getting lighter. I frowned, "I guess it's time to head back."
"Every day must end unfortunately, no matter how amazing it has been," he slid his hand down the right side of my face as he said this.
"Isn't that usually associated with dusk though," I teased.
He laughed at that. Everything was finally right in the world. All of the bad things that had happened in the past had come to this moment. It's as if the longer you are in the dark, the brighter the light at the end of the tunnel will be. I had a perfect first kiss, perfect soul mate, in the prefect place.
The drive back to Dallas went by way to quickly. Before I knew it we were in his living room.
"See you in a few hours," he said before he went down into what I assumed was his basement.
"Actually, I have to go get some things in town," I yelled down.
"Do you need money?" he asked. Wow I was expecting something more like 'Like what?' That had caught me off guard.
"No thank you!"
I got around to my car and started the engine. The gas gage read full. When did he do that? I didn't like getting babied so much.
From my GPS I found what I was looking for, a tea shop. The neighborhood it was in didn't seem all to welcoming. I got out of the car and started making my way towards the tea shop. But before I could some one grabbed me from the alley beside me. I tried to fight back but I was never very strong, so I tried yell; but the man placed his hand over my mouth. His hand stunk, it smelled like carpet cleaner. Everything started to get all blurry around me, I was passing out. I was still trying to yell but I couldn't find my voice. Everything was starting to go numb. I tried to look up at the person and see his face. Maybe if the cops found me I could help them. He was brown haired and smiling demonically, that was all I saw.