Gwenaël -Chapter six – Bridge

"Say something… Anything… Please…"

I didn't like to plead like that but I couldn't bear his silence.

"I told you I wasn't going to drink your blood. Anyway I prefer animal's blood. I even eat human food."

He seated back in front of me.

"I knew you were special, he said, his eyes never leaving mine. I knew you were one of a kind. But I never imagined anything like that. Just let me time to… digest this."

His heartbeats were calming down. So focused on his face and trying to read his reaction there, I hadn't noticed his heart racing until it calmed down.

"You are some kind of mythical creature… Right?"

"Yes…"

I didn't see why he was asking me questions like that.

"Your father is a vampire…"

"Was. He's dead, maybe I'll tell you how it happened after."

"Ok. Your father was a vampire. And your mother was a human…"

"Now she's a vampire."

He nodded, acknowledging this fact.

"My father turned her so she didn't die after giving me birth. It's more or less impossible for human women to survive this kind of pregnancy. The only way to survive is to receive enough vampire venom to become one."

"Wait! Vampires are venomous?"

"Well… It's one of their weapons. We don't have blood or saliva. We have venom that runs through our veins, make our mouths, eyes and some other parts moist so they can work. This venom is more or less poisonous. It turns humans into vampires."

"Are you venomous?"

"I am. But I can't be sure I might change a human as I never tried before."

"Are you immortal?"

This question surprised me.

"I don't know," I honestly answered. "That's a part of the whys I want to know if there are other half-breeds like me. I need to know more about myself. I've stopped to grow any older twenty-five years ago, when I reached maturity."

"I have so many questions for you…"

"I know. I have so many unanswered questions myself. But we may try to figure all that out together?"

"I just have one more question for today."

"Okay."

"Why do you prefer animal's blood? Aren't vampire meant to drink human's? It's cool that you prefer animal, I wouldn't want you to desire my blood but still… A bloodsucker who doesn't want human blood…"

"I know that's unusual. With my mother we have a theory. When my mother was pregnant, she needed blood to feed me inside her, human food wasn't enough. But my father already had drained any people within miles. So his only choice was to give my mother animal's blood. That's probably where we took our diet."

"Interesting."

"That's why my father died. When he saw our preference for animal's blood, he tried to kill my mother, saying it was not natural for vampires to feed this way. My mother… she just protected herself and her newborn child."

My jaws clenched. It was still painful to speak about her. Where was she? Was she coming closer to her dreams? Had she found unexpected reserves of love deep inside her cold heart? How was she going to welcome me if we ever met again someday?

"She must be brave, to have faced your father…"

"I think she is. She is gifted, you know? She can heal people's wounds. She can repair people."

"And you? Are you gifted?"

"My gift is her opposite. If I touch someone, I can feel any of this person's veins, bones, nerves. I can break any bone, cut any nerve connection or the fragile skin if I wish to while I'm touching the person. Or I should say living creature, I never tried it on humans. But I think it works on humans. There is no reason why it wouldn't work on humans."

I turned to the window. The evening was bringing a deep smell that reminded me the sea. Corri was going to wait for us.

"Do you still come for dinner?" I enquired.

"Of course! I'd like to meet the woman who had the guts to sleep with a possibly bloodthirsty creature."

"She doesn't know about it yet."

"Do you plan on telling her someday?"

"Maybe… I don't know. I didn't exactly plan to tell you all this."

"But I didn't force you," he objected.

"I know. It just seemed to be the right thing to do. I value your friendship, Tin, and you can't imagine how much."

A faint blush touched his cheeks. It made him look vulnerable.

"I value your friendship too."

A smile played on my lips as we headed to the house I shared with my sweet lover, Cornelia.

Our relationship was evolving in a way I found hard to understand. I tried so hard to keep distant feelings for her, but I discovered a few days ago that I was deeply in love with her. And the changes were so small and discreet that I didn't notice them.

Beside the fact she looked beautiful and smelled agreeably, she was smart, insightful, kind, adorable… I would need days to list some of her qualities, and still have an incomplete list. When her parents were alive, they made anything they could to let her learn like a boy. They paid private teachers and everything influence and money could do to ease her studies had been done.

And now she was free from the second person I've ever murdered, her face completely changed. As pretty as she was before, she was now breathtaking. Her smile, her eyes, the sweet line of her cheeks… Everything was attractive in her, for me. She was like Galatea, the statue of his perfect lover Pygmalion had sculpted in white marble, brought to life by Aphrodite.

When we arrived, Corri was already waiting for us, an impatient smile playing on her lips. She looked so beautiful that I wanted to take her and disappear in our room to make love to her the whole night. The last few months weren't enough for me. I was craving for more.

"Cornelia, here comes my friend Augustin. Augustin, here comes my dear Cornelia."

Tin greeted Corri.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I have to say that Gwen can't stop talking about you everyday."

She slightly blushed.

"Nice to meet you too, Augustin. Gwen praised you so much I felt I had to meet you. You help him so much."

Once the awkward moment of the introductions gone, we went inside and made ourselves comfortable around the table for the dinner.

I felt nearly complete. If I weren't missing my mother so much that moment would be perfect. The man I came to consider as a friend, and the woman I came to consider as my love.