Chapter 5

Vampire

Will didn't talk to me all the way back, but I knew he was glad I was returning. He looked over at me a lot, as though he wanted me to say something, or wanted to have something to say, but neither of us talked.

"Will? I'm dizzy." I told him, just as he pulled up at the house.

"Well, we're back. Just make it inside, and you can go up to bed. It'll be better to sleep through it." He reassured, going to open the door.

"No, Will… I'm really dizzy." I slurred, and once again, took a break from the world.

When I woke up again, I was back in the hall, lying on a luxurious chaise lounge. I was in a flood of senses. The sun had risen underneath my closed eyelids. The trees bristled inside my nose, and the birds had made nests in my ears. Everything was so… alive. I winked an eye open tentatively, and was blinded by the light. Before I had a chance to sit up, search for someone to help me, a voice rang in my ears.

"I see…" Alexis sighed. "She saw you?"

There was silence in the room. For a second, it struck me that he might be on the phone, but then Will spoke. "Yes." Did I detect a hint of bitterness in his tone? "When do you think she will wake?" He asked, and I guessed he was talking about me. I carried on pretending to sleep.

"Oh, any moment." Alexis's voice seemed sly, and I worried he knew I was eavesdropping.

"You're very lucky she came back." Will said quietly, perhaps picking up on the knowing in Alexis's words.

"Yes, I suppose it would be an inconvenience, having such a powerful, yet young thing loose in the world. Especially with all these hunters around."

Will snorted. "I didn't mean like that. I meant, you're lucky to have her, specifically."

"I guess I am," He sounded pensive. "You can have her, if you want. If you're going to leave again soon, take this one with you."

"Don't. Don't say things like that."

"You cared for her," He said, and Will groaned exasperatedly. "She cared for you, too. If you had stayed, rather than be a petulant child…"

"I didn't leave because of him." Will growled, "I left because… it was the right thing to do. He should have left too."

"If you'd stayed, she could have been sat with us now, rather down there in that… shack with all those children, and wretch of a husband,"

"I couldn't. I'm not like you."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Alexis snapped. "You speak as though I was wrong, wrong to clean up the mess the two of you left behind. Wrong to be charitable to the woman you both hurt, wrong to welcome you back-"

"You know I didn't mean that." Will soothed, "I only meant, I was too afraid to change her. I worried she wouldn't… she'd want to stay human."

"Well. Humanity has worked out well for her. Happily, she should soon die of hunger, or from the chill of the coming winter."

"Stop. Please don't torture me so."

"I suppose you're right. If things hadn't worked out the way they have, I would never have Imshi. And neither would you. Don't you think she looks a lot like her Mother?" He purred teasingly.

"I'm leaving." Will said abruptly. "You're not going to leave me be."

"Oh, I will, don't you worry." Alexis laughed. "How does it feel, seeing the daughter of your enemy, and the woman you love?"

The door slammed shut, and I assumed Will had left. Alexis didn't talk to me; maybe he didn't really know I was awake. I heard him sit down, and carefully, I opened an eye to peek at him. He sat with his head in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. His voice seemed loud in the settling quiet, sharp, yet his words were gentle. "How does the world look, Imshi?" He asked.

My throat was dry; I coughed a few times before I felt I could answer. "Bright." I stated, and he looked up suddenly, his mouth twisting into a smile.

"Bright indeed," He chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "I presume you heard it all?"

"I don't know about all of it… I heard some." I shrugged, deciding honesty was best, if I wanted him to talk to me honestly.

"Yes. I thought so. So now you know?"

"…Not really," I said sheepishly.

"Will had a… crush on your Mother. But he didn't act on it… for some silly reason. Instead, your Father – whom Will told you about – wooed her." He stated, like he was telling me the time.

I blinked, then shook my head quickly. "Who is Will?" I asked.

"My son." Again, with the simple responses. "My real son, not a son in the way you are my daughter… I never changed my own son."

I nodded blankly, "About that… 'daughter' thing…" I started.

"After all this, the things Will and I have told you, after all the new gifts that have been bestowed upon you this morning, you still don't believe me?" He raised his eyebrows sceptically. And then he lunged at me, drawing a short sword from his sleeve. And before I knew it, I was straddled on his back, wrenching it out of his hand with one of my own hands, scratching at his face with my other. After a moment of struggle, he dropped the blade, laughing. "You're like a little tiger cub." He chuckled. "A moment ago, you were lying on that chair – you've moved half way across the room! Look!" He remarked, shaking me off his shoulders. I dropped down onto my feet, and looked around. I found the chaise I'd been asleep on, and spotted the pretty pale purple of it. It really was quite far.

"Adrenaline," I wheezed, trying to regain my breath, despite the fact that I didn't need to. "You pulled a fast, knife-y one on me before, there's no way I was letting it happen again," I snarled. He just laughed.

"So you don't believe in the undead? Vampires?" He asked, tilting his head to an unusual angle.

"Maybe," I sighed, sitting back down again.

"You have fangs." He commented. "And you know that you're not breathing?"

To prove him wrong, I took a big gulp of air, but didn't feel the relief it normally gave me. Then, with increasing trepidation, I put a finger to my teeth, searching. I felt nothing abnormally pointed, and was about to call his bluff, when I felt over one of my canines. It's hard to explain, but it felt… strong. It felt like a bunched up muscle, waiting to pounce, waiting for action.

"Ah, yes. It's becoming less and less common for fangs to be concealed… let me see?" I opened my mouth wide, and he peered at my two upper canines. "You need to be in a heightened state of emotion for them to fully extend. Whereas mine," He opened his mouth slightly, "Are almost always fully exposed."

"Why?" I asked, touching the teeth with my tongue.

"Why do some humans have attached earlobes, and others don't? Why can some humans cross their eyes, or 'roll their tongues'? It's like genetics, I suppose,"

"Oh, ok." I said, not yet content with the whole idea. Vampires didn't exist. I'd been taught not to believe things like that, told they were myths – at least, back in the days we attended school. Vampires, fairies, even Santa Claus were not real. "Are fairies real?" I asked suddenly.

He frowned, and finally nodded, "Yes. I suppose. But they're not the playful, happy sort that live at the bottom of the garden… why?"

"Just wondered." I frowned too, wondering what they were like. "Have you met one?"

"Yes." He said stonily, and as I glanced away, I could swear he shivered slightly, as though remembering a bad memory. I looked back to ask more, but I got the impression the subject was closed.

"What about…" There were so many supernatural creatures to think about, I couldn't decide, "Um. Werewolves… zombies… Ooh! Mermaids? And ghosts? Do any exist?"

"Sometimes," He said cryptically.

"What do you mean?" I pressed.

"There are situations where yes, they do arise. Zombies do not naturally occur – magic, or hexes are required. Often, someone will reanimate corpses to form an army… or to get revenge on the soul after death… but that is a complex explanation that is not required."

"And the others?"

"Werewolves do exist, normally as a curse. They were hunted years ago, so very few still remain. Mermaids… in all my years I have never seen one, but I have heard from many that they have been spotted. Personally, I believe it is nothing but a tale to encourage sailors into a life on the sea. And ghosts are real, but much in the same situations as zombies."

"So magic exists?"

He smiled down at me, an almost genuine smile. "It does."

"So witches and wizards exist?"

"If you them to," He shrugged.

"Do they?" I repeated.

"Yes!" He exclaimed, grinning. "No more questions, now. You'll find out, if you live long enough." Threatening words, I didn't know whether to smile, or worry. "Look, go to the window, tell me what you see," He stood, and walked to the large window at the end of the room, clasping his hands behind his back. "Not just the trees and the houses, tell me about them. The smallest details. Insignificance. Whatever you can see," He said, as I approached. I walked slowly, though it felt like I was moving quickly, fluidly. I felt a little bit like a liquid in movement. I made sure to stand a distance away from him.

It was unusual, being asked to tell him all I could see. Surely, he could see the same? First, I looked out to the houses of the village below. I was trying to look for my old house, but something else caught my eye. "I see a man, sitting outside a house in the village."

"What does he look like?"

"He's stout, balding with a wisp of blond hair. His skin is pale, but not unnatural. The tips of his ears and his scalp are sunburnt. He's got glasses on, but the frames look to wide for his face."

"What colour are his eyes? What is he doing?"

I glanced at him incredulously. I couldn't see that well… I looked over at the stranger again, and realized I could see his eyes. "They're brown, almost green. And he's reading a newspaper."

"What's the headline?"

I squinted, wondering if this 'vampirism' had made it possible for me to understand writing. "'The'…" I started, my eyes burning in concentration. "Um. 'It'…" And then I couldn't see anything; my eyes were blurry with moisture.

"Close," He smiled thinly – a lie. "Don't think these new circumstances are changing your schedule. Today, I will let you off, I'll go to town alone, but over the weekend, I will begin tutoring you. It is not a chore, more of a gift – that will help the two of us – literacy will make the years more enjoyable."

"What time of day is it? When will you leave?" I asked. "And what was the purpose of getting me to look at that man?"

"How far away do you think you are from that house?" He asked. I looked across, trying to judge the distance, but in the end, I merely shrugged. "Too far for human eyes to see," He said, turning and walking away. I spun around to look at him, glowering at his back.

"When are you ever going to say 'I'm going' or simply 'Bye'?" I asked.

"When it is required. It is approximately ten o'clock in the morning, and I am leaving in five minutes, after I have shown you this. Come on," He said, and I followed him out of the hall, into the kitchen. From the refrigerator, he took a large jug full of a dark red liquid. He got out a glass, and poured some from the jug into it. Oddly enough, though it had been in the fridge, steam twisted from the glass, but not from the frosty decanter. His nostrils quivered in an unusual way as he handed me the glass, and realization washed over me.

"For the love of- I am not drinking that!"

Ok, sorry for the delay. For starters, I'm certain someone's been on my computer, looking through my documents -_- Half of the original of this chapter was 'mysteeeeeeriously' deleted D=

Secondly, my internet's messing up. I'm going to try post this while i can, so apologies that it's short, & probably boring.. :/ review & tell me whatever? Thanks (:

Oh, & i think i have some of the characters sorted. Tamsin Egerton would be Imshi.. i know, she's blonde, but that's how I see her, but with dark hair, ofcourse :3
Christian Bale.. I can't decide whether he'd be Will or Alexis - He seems a bit young to be Alexis, though he's not TOO old... Hm.
Tell me what you thinkk! :D

Laterskater! xxx