Godric's Propensity - Chapter 2
It had been two nights since Briony had been saved by Godric. She stared at the card on her coffee table, her phone next to it. She figured she should at least send Godric a text message like she promised she would. She had a habit of overthinking many things, and the tiny two by three inch piece of card paper with italicised finely printed script with his name and contact details was glaringly pale on her short rosewood table.
'He gave it to me because obviously he didn't want my number. Meaning, I have the choice of not contacting him, right? That means, quite possibly, highly very likely, it was a hint not to stay in touch, right?' she chewed on her bottom lip absent-mindlessly as she picked up the card and sank back into her couch, putting her feet up on the coffee table. 'But, if he didn't want to stay in touch, he wouldn't have given me his card in the first place.. and maybe he didn't want to come off as too direct or anything. Yes, that must be it. Wait a minute. He's a vampire. He isn't like some human guy, right? His brain probably functions differently. Very differently. Vampires are different... just how different though? He's still made from humans right? He wears modern trendy clothes, meaning at least he's kept up with the times. So that means I have the choice to contact him.'
She was positively sulking. She stared at the number yet again, the digits almost burned into her memory by now. 'Doesn't that make me the overly direct one then? Gods. This is hurting my brain.' She rolled her eyes at her own thought process and sighed loudly, "Just fucking get it over and done with, Briony Mae Keyson. Jeez."
Finally picking up her phone, she punched in a quick greeting and shot her question on his availability three nights from tonight and sent the message, tossing her phone on the couch next to her while placing the card back on the table right where she picked it up from a few minutes prior. Not expecting Godric to respond at all, convinced that he'd probably not want to stay in touch - after all, what vampire wants a chatty friend who wasn't there for the sex, nor giving him blood? - she grabbed the TV remote and started flipping through the channels, looking for something to dull her brains away from her impending migraine. Her head still throbbed from the less than pleasant smack she'd gotten during her attack. She supposed the concoction of happy candy pills were helping somewhat, or she might be throwing up whatever was left of the chicken broth her cousin brought that afternoon.
Her aunt had called her yesterday evening upset that her darling niece was stood up on, and was about to promise her three more blind dates to make up for it, when she croaked out sorrowfully about what had actually happened that evening. Her aunt, no matter how annoying she was with trying to set her up, was rightfully horrified and had her older cousin, Darla, bring over a pot of chicken broth, along with a box of twenty bottles of pepper spray that was laced with silver. To work on both humans, and any other kind.
She pondered over the phone call with her aunt. She was practically raised by the woman and her husband, her parents having died in a freak car accident when she was twelve. Her parents had been wealthy enough that she could get through her sad childhood all the way through to any college of her choosing, and still have enough to purchase her current apartment when she'd come of age to be independent, and still have wealth in excess. Her father's sister, Sandra and husband, Chris, had always been there for her even before her parents died. They were a close knit family, decidedly took her in when the police dropped her off two hundred miles from her childhood home, and at her aunt's door, and for that she was extremely happy and content about. She could ask for nothing and they would still give her the world.
"Aunt Sandra, it's fine, really. I'm feeling better already. I was really lucky this vampire guy happened to be hanging out on the roof and he saw everything and saved me. He's not too bad... He's oddly very quiet for a vampire, actually. I didn't really get too many bruises although I think there's a really bad bruise on the side of my ribs." Briony had sprawled out on her bed, filling her aunt in on how bad a night it was for her, but to be alive was a blessing in itself, she told her aunt.
"Oh, hon! I'm so sorry that had to happen to you, are you sure you don't need me over at your apartment? Perhaps I could place a bodyguard with you whenever you leave home? No? Then, promise me you'll get yourself that bottle of pepper spray!" Aunt Sandra's worried voice starting to sound increasingly shrill as she talked,"I'll have Darla bring you a whole carton of it, yes? Promise me, Bree! You've got to have at least a bottle with you wherever you go! I don't know what to say when I face your parents when I finally meet up with them if anything worse happens to you. You have to be careful, alright?"
"Yeah, I will Aunt Sandra. Thanks.. but I don't think I'll need a guard, I'll just stay home at night if I can help it."
She smiled to herself as she rubbed at the bruise on the side of her head in an attempt to make the swollen lump size fade away, wincing at the tenderness, and settled on a re-run of some rom-com drama and watched absently through two episodes back to back. Darla had positively freaked out when she'd arrived a few hours ago with the chicken soup. She'd seen the ball of pain, as she called it, on her left forehead, and her split upper lip in the corner when one of the men had backhanded her. There was an angry hand grip imprint left on her forearm where the same guy had gripped her at. She rubbed the back of her neck where it was still sore from the whiplash of the slap.
"Bree, this looks really bad, are you sure you don't have to be in the hospital for this?" her cousin's eyebrows furrowed so much it was almost a mono-brow.
"The doctor said no bones were broken, and the head bruise was just superficial, but he said if I blacked out that I should go back to the hospital. I haven't blacked out, so far so good.." Briony tried placating her concerned cousin, grinning at her, "Battle scars, so they say. They will fade off in time, Darla, don't freak out on me, please?"
Darla pulled her in for a light hug, "Next time mom decides to put you up for a blind date, we're going to make it a double date. I can't stand the idea of you getting hurt like this. That jerk stood you up and then you almost got raped!" she felt her cousin's tears wet her shirt in her pent up emotions of not having been there.
"Okay. Yeah, I would look less of an idiot if you would come with me next time.", she smiled into Darla's neck, thankful for her cousin's presence and comfort.
A buzz and loud ping from beside her startled her out from her thoughts, Briony grimaced at her body's sudden jolt in reaction to the sound. 'He actually replied?', she picked up the phone and stared at the reply from the young-man-lookalike vampire.
G: *Splendid. Would you prefer to spend the evening at your place? Alternatively, I could arrange for a suitable location should you feel uncomfortable about it.*
B: *My place is fine. I still feel too sore to walk beyond my apartment, I think.*
G: *We could postpone this till you are better. This is of no issue to me.*
B: *It's ok. We're just chatting, no?*
G: *Indeed, we are. See you in 3 nights.*
She smiled to herself again, this time goofily as she put her phone away for a second time. While he spoke little, she found he was very concise with his word choices. She couldn't wait to see what he wanted to chat about. Perhaps it could be philosophy, a detailed thesis and debate on world history, or maybe something mundane as her food choices and lifestyle preferences? Or maybe the study of human behaviours? Vampires were an odd bunch after they're turned.
'Almost as if they've forgotten they were once living and breathing, how hard can it be to actually remember it though?', the thought floated up to the top of her musing.
She stifled a yawn and decided to sleep on the couch that night, it had been a warm night, and the living room is usually cooler with the windows open. Punching the remote, she rearranged her body to stretch out on the couch, careful not to lie on her injured side of her ribs. It was highly uncomfortable, given it was the right side of her ribs, and her left forehead sporting a ping pong ball shaped bruise. She stifled yet another yawn, and as she drifted off to a yet fitful sleep filled with men groping at her body and raining kicks into her back.
Godric had been in a long video call with the King and the other sheriffs when his phone lit up next to him, a quick glance informed him that it was from an unknown number. It could wait.
An hour had passed before the conference call ended, and Godric rubbed at his eyes out of sheer mental tiredness. The King, as usual, had been long-winded and preferred dwelling repeatedly on hundred year old tales. He sipped at his bottle of cooled off true blood and picked up his phone, and found out the unknown number had been Briony. He had not expected her to message him, thinking that given the choice, most quiet humans would rather not have anything to do with vampires. His kind were well known to be unkind to humans, preferring them to shut up and be willing blood bags. Briony had made the impression on him that she was the type to keep to herself and not seek out trouble as if it were a drug the way the humans he was used to seeing, behaved. Perhaps he had been convincing enough in requesting her company just to chat.
Her reply, soon enough, explicitly mentioned just that. He smiled inwardly and responded in kind that he would meet with her in three nights. He wondered if she was truly feeling better, and decided he would see for himself when he met up with her. Not that he would offer his blood to the human, his belief that the vampire blood is sacred is still very much a strong one within him. He was most upset when Eric had given his blood to the were during WWII. He still hadn't gotten over it and pursed his lips at the memory.
"Isabel, is that all for the night?", he pocketed his phone, and shuffled a few papers on his desk together, handing his second a stack of folders that he'd read through and signed off on.
"Yes, sheriff. There is a gathering in the front living room. Makingday celebration for one of the younger ones." Isabel smiled as she gathered the folders from him.
Godric glanced up at her, deciding he would spend a few minutes with his nest, and head on out for another night venture. "Of course. I will head out in half an hour. I need to clear my mind. The King can be... detailed. Tonight was no exception." He let on a small smile at his confession as she nodded in agreement.
He'd flown over to the building that Briony resided in, and watched her from across the road, sitting precariously on the railing of the external emergency staircase of the building facing hers. She was on the couch, which faced the windows, and he had a full view of her sleeping form. He took in the sight of the female, noting a tattooed script on the inside of her forearm that he didn't pick up on due to her jacket sleeve covering it. He observed as her face slipped into a frown, sweat beading on her forehead, and limbs twitching. 'A nightmare? From the other night?', he thought idly, his face impassive towards her unconsciousness. He sat still as he continued watching her as she eventually roused herself out of the dream, gasping awake for a moment before her eyes fluttered close again, slipping back into a dreamless sleep this time. He listened as her racing heartbeat slowed down, and her breaths calming after a while. His eyes the only thing on his face that softened as he watched her sigh in her sleep.
He pushed off from the railing, and floated over to the window closest to her proximity, and inhaled a lungful of air, tasting her scent, it was pleasant and light, almost like fresh dew on a cool morning and sun dried linen, and altogether womanly. It wasn't the most enticing of scents the way some other creatures may have enticed his senses before, but it was still an attractive scent of a female human all the same. He inhaled deeply this time, committing her scent to his memory, and allowed a boyish smile on his face. The human was his food source, and his quiet defiance at not dropping fang and slurping her jugular dry made for a sort of rebellious streak against his own nature. Besides, it wasn't like he could just swoop into her apartment uninvited.
Floating up into the sky, and taking to a high-rise building close to the busy highway that never seemed to stop flowing with car lights, his interest in Briony now carded to the side, now a past time, Godric watched the vehicles on the traffic arteries zoom by, as he'd done two nights prior.
Three nights later...
Briony shuffled around her apartment slowly, trying to put her living space into a semblance of habitable presentation, at least for a couple of hours while Godric was here. Her back ached from her injuries, and her head an almost dull throb. If she didn't have to attempt any sudden movements, she swore she almost felt normal again. She'd been to the supermarket the day before to stock up on her weekly shopping, and had added a six-pack of the red goo the vampires seemed to stomach to her shopping cart. She'd gamely tried a sip once, when Darla bought a bottle back much to her parents displeasure. They had all took a taste and unanimously agreed to discard the leftover goo. It had tasted like edible food dye and something altogether metallic and nauseating.
A quick rap on her door noted the arrival of her guest and she shuffled over stiffly, her legs sore from inactivity. She smiled as she opened the door, inviting the vampire in and apologising for the slight mess here and there. She would clean it up if she could be bothered enough, she commented with a chuckle, and asked if he would like a bottle of true blood, to which he accepted one if she could zap it through the microwave. She pointed out that she had his jacket sent to the dry cleaner's and would return it when she got it back - some of her blood had dried out in it the other night.
"How are you feeling, Briony?", Godric asked as he took the bottle from her, and followed with a quick thanks. He sat on the arm chair facing the couch she'd sat in, facing him. He studied her closely, the bump on her forehead now half its previous size, the split lip healing and scabbing. A hint of a hand print where Joe had grabbed her now upper arm fading into a sort of yellowish brown hue. She was healing well, he noted, satisfied with his conclusion, he gave her a warm smile.
"Sluggish, and frankly, a bit lazy." She grinned back ruefully, "nothing some pain medication can't deal with though. I should be out and about tomorrow. I'll go stir crazy if I stayed home another day, I think." She picked at an imaginary piece of lint from her shorts and glanced up at him, and saw that he was looking at her while sipping on his drink.
"Um.. how about you? Out saving another damsel in distress? Is that what you do on a nightly basis?", she really couldn't figure out what vampires did in their spare time. Granted, her knowledge of them are stereotypical - blood and lust, both in spades. She wondered if they bothered to have hobbies to spend eternal life with. 'Must be weird hobbies.'
Godric's eyes crinkled in amusement, "Not quite, it's been a busy week. My job doesn't allow me much time to go search for damsels to save, unfortunately."
Briony nodded, but was surprised, "Vampires have jobs too?" He affirmed her questioned and briefly mentioned that someone had to keep them in line and she dropped the subject when he said his duties were similar to that of a county sheriff's, only not quite.
He looked around her apartment slowly, studying the place with interest and his eyes finally rested on the large photo frame on the wall next to the TV, it was a split frame, on the left, a picture of Briony when she was younger with a young couple, and on the right, a recent picture of her with an older couple and a young woman. He nodded to it, "Family?"
She glanced up at the frame and her face lit up with a genuinely happy smile, "Yes, on the left was one with my parents, they died in a car accident just two weeks after that photo was taken. The other picture is with my aunt's family. They took me in after that. They're the best people in the world. Most loving and kind."
Godric gazed from the frame to the woman several times while she told him of her life and her current family members, and how she was brought up with the belief that dwelling on the bad parts in life was as good as throwing perfectly good shoes away just because you stepped in a spot of mud. He enjoyed her chatter, likening her voice to a gentle sway in a field of soft grass. He closed his eyes in appreciation, his lips quirked into the tiniest of smiles, his face was not schooled into his usual stoic impassiveness. He felt relaxed in her presence, and found that he should enjoy it while it lasts.
"Am I boring you? I do apologise, I'm told that I ramble a lot. You should stop me if I do drag on for too long." Briony's voice quickened in nervousness as she realised the vampire seemed to look like he was... napping. Almost. His eyes opened slowly as he shook his head, "No, no. Your voice is rather nice and soothing. I rather much enjoy listening to you, little one."
He tilted his head in her direction, maintaining his eye contact with her as her cheeks flushed at his compliment, "I find it rather intriguing, little one. I'm a vampire, are you not afraid of me? Humans have often, and rather stupidly, assume that they are on top of the food chain through their evolution, yet here we are, vampires. We outsmart, outrun, out do everything that you can do, and feed on you. Are you not aware of the dangers in having me here within these four walls?"
"Well, now that you've mentioned it, I probably should be worried about that." She blushed slightly, a nervous girlish giggle escaping from her lips as she fidgeted in her seat, "But if you don't mind me saying, and I know the likelihood of increasing my chances of survival to be slim.. If you wanted to suck me dry, you would've the moment I'd invited you in, and not be sitting right there looking like you could appreciate a nap."
Godric looked on with his continued amusement, placing the bottle on the coffee table and clasping his hands together, elbows on his knees, "Perceptive of you, child. I'll give that much to you."
She shifted about in her seat, trying to find a new comfortable spot, and fidgeted unnecessarily, while he sat in his position stock still, like he was a frozen statue. It made her uncomfortable just looking at him, but she figured all vampires would be that still, but his entire personality really did not match up to his nature. "You're not very vampire-like for a vampire. How old do you have to be to be like you? Are all old vampires like you?"
"To be like me? In what context did that question come to be, little one?" Only his lips moved, his lack of breathing was quite unnerving to her, and his steady gaze was a little less than what she was used to.
"Uh, do all vampires sit so still like you? I thought they would be like extremely hyperactive duracell bunnies, zooming and zipping everywhere and moving from one attention to the next all too quickly.", she lowered her eyes away from him as she confessed quickly, felt a little rude having to point out the obvious - at least, it was obvious to her, "Also, aren't vampires supposed to be a violent race like you so pointed out just now? The preference to slaughter and in a cruel fashion isn't lost on me. You.. aren't projecting that nature the way the rest of them do. I was wondering why you're not like a snarling pit of anger, or lust, people have described vampires to be."
He was quiet for a long while, and she sneaked glances at him from time to time. She saw that he went from regarding her to almost retreating into himself, as if he was having his own internal conversation. She fidgeted and stared at her hands. She's usually the one who retreated into herself when conversing with others, her thoughts always overwhelming her sometimes. Usually, Darla would be prodding a finger at her cheek to snap her out of her internal conversations, but Briony smartly decided that poking at a vampire's face was clearly the last thing she wanted to try - tame vampire or not. He is still a vampire. She wondered if she'd offended him and if he was warring within his own mind with what to do with her. She just hoped, rather belatedly, that he would spare her from torture. 'Just don't torture me, please. Oh god, what was I thinking? Chatting with a vampire. What is this, introspective with a vampire? Real smart, Bree. Real smart.' She picked at a fingernail bed.
She was a little startled when his shoulders shook and a chuckle escaped from the statue beside her, and she cricked her neck in his direction and grimaced lightly from the soreness and rubbed at it. He was still laughing lightly as he watched her reaction.
"Duracell bunnies? First I've heard a human regard vampires as such. But I do follow your line of thought. We do figure things out a lot faster than you. I just make an exaggerated effort move slowly where humans are in company for their sake. You're a lot like horses, easily spooked. And I've let go of the need to exact revenge, it was my driving force for the majority of my long.. life. I suppose you could grossly call it a passing of adolescence."
She sighed inwardly, thanking the gods that the imaginary torture was just that, imaginary. She grinned, "How old are you really, Godric? You always call me a child.. I think you must be many centuries old." Briony saw that he was watching her with interest at her musing, 'Shit. No one likes being called old, you idiot!' she blushed lightly at her social faux pas, and fumbled with her words trying to save herself from embarassment, "I-I mean, your name sounds like something from the middle ages or something. But then again, hipsters nowadays call their kids all sorts of weird old names. Goodness knows my friend Rayna would call her newborn daughter Arelle or something really ancient soon. It's supposed to be the new trend. I don't really make any effort to keep up with it, changes too damn often."
"No offence taken, child." Godric smiled, easing her embarrassment. He was used to that question, even the vampires asked him that same question, albeit with more insolence due to the fact that he's usually in the midst of reprimanding them like the old would to their young. He told her so and watched as she let out the breath she was holding.
"I'm only two thousand one hundred years old." he mused lightly, waiting to see her reaction. Most would react with reverence and awe, some would be flabbergasted, and others.. would react badly.
"Only two thousand, one hundred?" Briony asked, her eyes widening, and her lips forming an 'O' before she pursed them together and let her breath bloat her cheeks out, her eyes rolling from left to right and back to left again as she let his response mull around in her mind. He nodded lightly, as he watched her intently, studying her reaction. "That's really old. Like, really, really, really old. Are there many vampires your age?" He shook his head, and she nodded, quiet in thought.
"So, you watched the world go from dragging stones on wooden logs to segway machines?" She asked quietly, and his lips now a wry smirk at her response. He had that similar musing the same night he met her.
"Yes, quite so. I had a similar musing the night I met you, I was up on the roof watching the highway and I thought how in two thousand years, we've went from donkey carts to electric cars."
An amused laugh bubbled out from her. He allowed himself to chuckle along. It seemed that he could keep pace with her human behaviours more than he had expected. Perhaps it was just the type of company his nest keeps with their humans. They must be a weird bunch. 'I wonder if there are more humans like her. There must be, if all humans were like the ones in the nest, it would be so dreadful.' Godric decided that Briony must be a rare chance upon, it was refreshing to chat with a human, or any other being, without them flinging their bodies at him demanding to be fed on, or sexed up with. Just as quickly as his revelation that this human was refreshingly different, a dark thought that he should keep away from her just solely based on the fact that he was, is, and always will be the predator to her kind, wormed its way back to the fore front of his mind.
"But, also, I've seen too much bloodshed and was even personally involved in making some of that happen.. I'm not particularly proud of it now.", his voice quietening into a serious whispered tone. He looked at his hands, imitating her previous fidgety human behaviour, a wave of regret and sadness washing over him. He almost felt contrite at the confession. If that was what it was. He only knew he didn't like having to kill anymore than he absolutely had to when it came to the humans, he couldn't understand emotions. He'd been dead so long, and so out of touch with actual humanity to understand the idea of it.
"Yeah, but I think even without your help, humanity is fast pacing ourselves into extinction. No need for your services there, I think. Just watch us over the next hundred years, we'll be savages again all too soon. All it takes is a few determined mad men, it seems." She brushed it aside a little lightly, and looked over at his sagged shoulders, 'could vampires really feel regret?' She voiced her question out loud unknowingly, and her eyes widen as she saw his head snap up at her brushing statement and afterthought question.
'Is that what it was? Regret?' His eyes widened at the thought, and jogged his memory back to the seconds before her question, that she thought humans were fast pacing themselves into extinction, that they were receding back into savages. 'Savages? but aren't we all?', He thoughts taking a dark turn.
"I am just as savage as those mad men are, perhaps even more so. I'm much too dead and old to understand emotions, little one. Is that what it is? Regret?"
"Well, when one does not feel positive about having previously done something that's found to be wrong, then that would be regret. To chide yourself for it, and to wonder at another person's negative reaction towards that incident, would be to feel shame." She explained, wide eyed by the fact that this vampire said he couldn't feel, didn't know how to feel, "Seriously, how long have you been living in the woods?" She chuckled at him as Godric mulled over her words and saw that his eyes lost a little of their previous relaxed gleam. She'd seen it before in Peter, her best friend back in high school who was clinical depressed just before he decided to jump off a building on the first day back to school on their senior year. She'd felt upset that she didn't say anything more to him to steer him to get help. She was way too young to know how to guide him.
"You're not depressed, are you? Can vampires get depressed? Is that even possible?"
Godric blinked. He'd extensively read about human psychology in his search to understand emotions, now having been pointed in the direction of his earlier wave of regret, he stared at the bottle of true blood on the coffee table and frowned. 'Depressed?', he easily pulled up from his memory the words that he'd previously read and found that he had checked off quite the extensive list of symptoms. Wanting to meet the sun was akin to suicide, and he'd been toying with that thought for quite some time. As is being unwilling to feed.
His lips quirked into a rueful smile, "I suppose I am quite depressed. I never knew that. I didn't know what regret was until you mentioned it." He heard her shuffle closer to him and watched her kneel down next to the armchair he was in and place a hand on his knee, drawing his attention to her face.
"There's no need to keep it all bottled up though. I haven't heard of vampire psychiatrists before," Briony snorted lightly, "but for what it's worth, I could be your listener if you want. There isn't much else besides talking about it, but I think you've talked too much in your mind and all that, but I hope you haven't convinced yourself that suicide might be the better option." He shrugged slightly, his face neutral, aware of the slight frown appearing between her eye brows, "Trust me, ending your existence is the last thing you'll want to do. Quite possibly the only thing you'll ever regret, even if you feel free in the moment."
She then told him about Peter, granted, he was a young boy with troubles that couldn't possibly amount to the ones a two thousand year old vampire could have, but she reasoned his emotions were exact.
"Depressed people all seem to have a singular thought process. Doesn't matter if they're of a different race, or brought up in completely different cultures or societies. I might be grossly wrong, but given the fact that vampires were made from the flesh of humans, I'm assuming you'll think within the scope of a depressed person", she gave his impassive face a hesitant smile, "You think that the world would be a better place without you in it, and the sooner you make your final fatal statement, the world would be a better place there after. Peter often told me that. I've spent the better part of the past five years wishing I had the wisdom enough to have told him that he's left me with too much regret, and too many what-if scenarios." Briony gripped Godric's knee with a renewed determination knowing he wouldn't feel anything from it beyond a slight pressure, blinking away tears at the thought of her dead best friend.
"Don't, for a moment, think you aren't worth this existence. You'll leave too many people in regret, and the world would be none the wiser of your momentary folly. We'll kill ourselves irregardless of your death and honestly, I think the world could use a lot more of your wisdom and accumulative knowledge." She drew in a shaky breath, wishing Peter had heard this five years ago. Her lips turned down into a pout, she knew Peter would think Godric would be good company to keep for late introspective nights that they used to have under the stars in Aunt Sandra's backyard, contemplating the universe like the wannabe knowitalls they pretended to be.
Godric stared at her with unblinking eyes, unsure why her mood had changed. He awkwardly petted her hair. He'd seen adult humans do that to their young once. He watched from the trees in a park in New York, when a young child had dropped her ice cream cone on the grass and had been crying about it, a full frowning pout had shown up on her face before the salty tears followed. Briony had that same full frowning pout. Instead of bawling, he was intrigued when she took a deep breath and made to get up from the floor. His arm dropped to his lap as she stood up.
"Thank you for your kind words, Briony." He mumbled, and looked up at her from his seat. She nodded and sat back down on the couch. He felt a dull weight lift off his shoulders for a moment when she said her piece, and was pleasantly surprised that the weight didn't come muffling back like a power possessed.
"Yeah, well, with your vampire memory, just don't file this away as idle banter, alright? It's important stuff. I wish I'd said all of that to Peter. He would've liked you, you know?" She smiled softly. He studied her face as she went through all her emotions. It was fascinating watching humans when he's not having lusting thoughts of draining them dry for his hunger.
His eyes picked up the tattoo on her forearm, and he pointed to it, in an attempt to change the subject, "What does that mean to you?"
She looked down at the cursive script on her arm, "In your own time, you will be. It was something my mom used to tell me. I've always wanted to be more than my little childish self when I was still a girl. My mother would always say, 'In your own time, you will be.' whenever I went to her with talk of being whatever it was I wanted to be." She smiled as she ran her thumb over it, lost in her memories for a moment. "I thought I would have it inked in permanently so that I will be reminded time and again to never fear what I can be. It's positive and hopeful whenever I feel like there's too much negativity around"
Godric hummed his appreciation at the intent of her tattoo. Just then, his phone buzzed from his pocket. Apologising, he moved away to the window to answer the call as Briony went to the kitchen.
"Godric.", he answered, as always, in a clipped tone.
"Sheriff, Leon has created some sort of scene at the park 40 miles from the nest. He'd gone wild on a chase and massacred a group of four humans. You're needed at the scene. Stan has located and taken him into custody.", Isabel's voice sounded over the ear piece hurriedly. He rolled his eyes, exasperated. Leon was a nomadic vampire who was temporarily residing in his area for a year. This was the second time in four months. He had to be dealt with severely tonight.
"Noted. I will be there shortly. Thank you, Isabel." He pocketed his phone again and made his way into the kitchen, where he found Briony squinting at the many bags of medication spread out on her kitchen counter, a tray filled with a handful of different pills. He couldn't understand the concept of medication, having never needed it, and also, it never existed when he was still human. They used to swap spit literally and that was considered a holy act in itself, back then. Why medicines and the supposed tiny pills humans call breath mint candies looked similar, he couldn't understand. As far as the humans in his nest tried explaining to him, breath mint candies were to be suckled on, while medicine was to be swallowed whole and immediate. Yet, they look almost similar in size. Both came in all shapes and colours. He shrugged inwardly, vowing to ask Briony about it on another evening eventually. His phone buzzed. Isabel must've sent him the park's location.
"They gave you quite the lot of candy there.", he commented, chuckling as she grimaced at the sight of a rather large caplet before downing it quickly with a mouthful of water. "I do apologise, Briony. I have to leave you for tonight. Urgent business has called for my attention."
He noted that it took her effort as she got up from the table and walked him over to the entrance, "Sure thing. Hope my company was worth the time though."
Godric nodded and smiled at her, "Absolutely. It has been rather intriguing a chat I've had in a while. If you do not mind, it would be.. nice to be in your company again. Perhaps, I should take you up on your offer to listen." He clasped his hands in front of his body, a habitual behaviour he found oddly comforting as he stood before her, "We shall take you out the next time we meet. Staying at home may make you stir crazy, as you put it."
She smiled back in return, "Of course. You can tell me all your tales and wordly travels, and don't leave out any details. I want to hear everything." She leaned into the door frame as he stepped out of her apartment and saw him grimace at the idea of having to relive his more gory memories. "It'll be fine, Godric. You'll see."
He walked over to the lift lobby this time instead of taking the stairs, wishing her a good night without a backward glance.
"Night!", Briony grinned as she locked the door and went back to the kitchen. He might be one terribly depressed and stiff vampire, but she reckoned Godric had merely grown bored of his time, leading him to over think his life.
a/n: Thanks for reading! Do let me know what you think about the current movement of the story. I do realise I'm stretching it out. A lot. I'll speed it along soon enough. ;)