Chapter 4 ~ What are you?
With practiced movements, Isabel cut Ava's hair and then brushed it thoroughly. It was the first time in a very long time that she had been able to cut hair for someone other than Godric, and it was a welcome change. Certainly, she liked to do her job as Godric's personal hairdresser, but it was not a challenging task – he always wanted one and the same haircut... Now she had an innocent girl in front of her that awakened Isabel's protective instinct and had wonderfully long hair.
In a way, the girl reminded Isabel of her daughter, whom she once had long ago, until she witnessed her death. Even as a member of a noble family you could not always conquer death. She herself had then defeated the end with the help of a handsome stranger who had promised her a life of everlasting infinity and never recurring pain. At that time, she would have wished that he had entered her life a few weeks earlier to save her daughter as well. Today she was glad that it had not happened. Her Elena had been only eight years old when she closed her eyes forever and Isabel knew several vampires who had been trapped in ever-young bodies for centuries, with no chance of ever growing up physically. She knew that many suffered because of that. For just in this modern age, in which adolescents were increasingly denied responsibility and spiritual maturity, life was not easy for them.
When she was done, she held up a small mirror so that Ava could also look at her hair from behind. Isabel had cut the hair in a v-shape and the longest tips fell down now to Ava's shoulder blades. In the large mirror, which stood on the dressing table, she could see that Ava's eyes were big with excitement.
"Thank you, Isabel..." the girl whispered softly as if to herself and Isabel smiled contentedly. With human speed she then swept the cut hair aside and into a garbage can. Then she took a small stool and set it down next to Ava's chair, which she turned so that Ava could put her legs on it.
"Come, Ava, up with your feet." The girl looked at her questioningly and Isabel gave her an encouraging smile.
"After a quick shaving your feet will get a pedicure now and then-"
"Pedicure?"
When Isabel looked up, Ava had her head tilted thoughtfully to the side.
"Yes," Isabel said, taking Ava's right foot in her hands. "Pedicure is the care of the feet, which means shortening and rasping the toenails, the removal of the cornea and dead cuticles..."
"Oh, ah okay." Isabel saw Ava nodding eagerly and started her work.
"So Ava, what else do you know about vampires except that they exist?" Isabel asked in a chatting tone.
"Um, nothing really? Although, when I was little, my mother once read a book about vampires to me in which they turned into bats."
"Well, I am afraid that this book was not true to reality, my dear child. Vampires can do many things, but turning into bats is not one of them."
"Godric and you have such cold skin and... Godric could move without a heartbeat, is that the same with all vampires?"
"That is correct, Ava. Vampires are supernatural beings that stand between life and death, meaning that we live without needing to breathe oxygen in. Our bodies no longer function like those of humans. We do not have to eat anything organic so that we can gain strength and that our digestive system works."
Isabel glanced up from her work to see how Ava had been taking this information up so far. The girl had her arms loosely crossed over her chest and was obviously thinking.
"But you have to live on something? Even if you are here in this sphere by a supernatural force, there must be something to… feed this force and to ensure that your souls can still move your bodies. And when you say that you are standing between life and death, do you mean one has to die to become a vampire?"
Isabel smiled approvingly at her.
"That is correct, too. What vampires need to survive is blood," Isabel said as casually as possible, starting the pedicure when she finished shaving Ava's legs. Nevertheless she also continued to watch the girl out of the corner of her eye.
But so far, Ava just seemed to be listening to the explanations Isabel gave her. She did not seem to be as scared as most people were when the talk came to the existential theme of vampire life. Nor showed Ava the opposite feelings that usually lead humans to become fangbangers. Although Isabel could understand this sort of people quite well, after all the vampire myth had been maintained and revived over the centuries and was even more and more romanticized. But she did not like people clothing themselves in garments that barely covered their skin and literally threw themselves at their feet. Even during her lifetime, Isabel abhorred slavery, and nowadays some of these fangbangers behaved as if they would love to be the slaves of vampires. But like the humans and other supernatural beings, vampires were part of society too and did not want to be treated as superior beings! Inwardly sighing, Isabel shook her head imperceptibly for Ava. Unfortunately, in this case again exceptions confirmed the rule... But such people would always exist. Beyond the history of mankind, there had always been people who thought they were better than others and wanted to take the lead of world powers and governments.
When Isabel realized that her thoughts kept on wandering away, she turned her attention back to her explanations within seconds.
"Do you mean the blood of humans?" Ava asked her just now and Isabel nodded.
"Yes, but not just human blood. For pure survival, vampires can also drink animal blood, but for some reason, it is not very nutritious for us. It keeps us alive for a while, but for our bodies to function normally, we need human blood in the long run. But some time ago, scientists were also able to produce synthetic blood, so that today we can resort to it and no longer have to drink directly from humans.
"Another feature of vampires is that our bodies can no longer produce life, but otherwise we have the same needs as all adult humans experience from time to time when being together with each other…"
"What do you mean by that? Does that mean that you cannot have children?"
For the tiny fraction of a second, Isabel felt a deep sting in her heart and she looked at Ava seriously, nodding.
"I cannot have children and male vampires cannot father children. We-"
Before Isabel could go on, Ava had suddenly thrown herself into her arms. She really had not expected that.
"I'm so sorry, Isabel," she heard the girl sob and when she gently pushed her away to look at her, Isabel saw that Ava had tears in the corner of her eyes. That made Isabel feel like she had not felt for a long time. A wave of motherly pride rolled over her and she cupped Ava's face with both hands, wiping away the tears that were about to roll over her new protégé's cheeks.
"Ava... my dear child, it is okay. I may not be nearly as old and wise as Godric, but I have spent more than four hundred years on this earth and believe me when I tell you that even if there is nothing more satisfying than seeing children grow up, life still has a lot more to offer. Before I died and became a vampire, I had a daughter and really enjoyed that feeling back then. And even though my current life is completely different than that as a mortal woman, it is no less fulfilled and I am happy. That is why you do not need to shed tears for me, my dear child."
Isabel pulled Ava back into a hug and held her tight for a moment.
"But now to you, dear one. Would you like to tell me what happened to your mother? Why were you out there all on your own?"
This time it was Ava who broke away from the embrace and looked at Isabel uncertainly. When she hesitantly nodded a few moments later, she sat back on the chair again and buried her hands in her lap.
"Godric had asked me how I knew there were men at the marketplace who wanted to attack him. Um, that's also part of my... personal story. Maybe we should wait for him?"
The girl looked at Isabel with such innocent-clear eyes that Isabel could not help but love her. At the same time she swore that she would protect Ava from now on – both from the human monsters outside of this house and those of her own race.
"Unfortunately, Godric does not have time to come back for the next few hours, but if you do not want to talk about it at the moment, it is okay and we will do that tomorrow."
"Didn't he say that he'll see me again later?"
"You must know that Godric is a sheriff, Ava. You certainly know that the United States of America is divided into states?" At Ava's nod, Isabel continued her explanation. "This is the division of people's policies. Our vampire government has also divided North America into states, but these are not congruent with human ones. And every state is subdivided into smaller areas, which are governed by the sheriffs. Godric now is the sheriff of the Dallas area, so he is always busy. I am his deputy, his second-in-command. That means, whenever he is prevented for any reason, I take over the business. The dealings with our policies unfortunately take up most of the night, so he usually has not time until early in the morning."
"I understand," Ava nodded, and then frowned at the same time. "But why does he work at night? Why not during the day?"
That elicited again a delighted smile from Isabel.
"Oh dear one, okay..." At first, she now took Ava's left hand to start the manicure, as she was satisfied with her work on both of the girl's feet. "We vampires have many advantages: we can move super fast if we want, have very good senses, which means we can not only hear the quietest sounds and see very far, but also have an infallible visual and auditory memory. For example, it would be easy for me to verbally rewrite every little word of our conversation later on to Godric. But vampires also have a limitation and that is that we are creatures of the night. As soon as the sun rises, the magical force of the day, of life, pulls our bodies to sleep, which we can barely resist, if at all. And since our bodies do not have a heartbeat, as you noticed, we call this sleep our day's death."
Isabel almost expected Ava to pity her for this occasion, but instead the girl had bright eyes wide with excitement.
"That means you can always look to the stars without getting tired, because the day was so exhausting? Oh Isabel, that's so wonderful! I cannot imagine anything more beautiful..."
Isabel watched in disbelief as Ava sighed and closed her eyes, sinking against the back of the chair. She really had not expected that. This girl was really one-of-a-kind. But this suddenly opened up completely new possibilities.
"So you like being in nature? Or could you imagine also working indoors?"
As expected, her question brought Ava back into the here and now and the girl looked questioningly at Isabel.
"Work?" Clearly interested Ava leaned forward, and again Isabel felt maternal pride towards the girl. "What are you thinking about? But yes, I love being outside. Not so much in the city, but in the meadows and forests. There is always enough food to find. Actually, I'm constantly only in a city in the cold season, as the buildings give more warmth and people sometimes donate some money to me when they hear me singing and playing guitar." Here she paused, biting her bottom lip in alarm. "Um, Isabel? Do you know what happened to my guitar?"
"Do not worry, dear. When Godric brought you here, I took your guitar and stowed it in the big closet over there in the room."
"Thank you, Isabel, really." Embarrassed, Ava wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "This guitar is the last item I still have from my mother..."
"I understand." Isabel had an idea and hoped to put it into action. "My dear, I really like guitars too but cannot play unfortunately. Would you mind playing a little bit for me tomorrow?"
Immediately the girl's face lit up again.
"With pleasure, I-" With a big smile, Isabel watched as Ava stifled a yawn.
"Okay, girl. Just let me finish this quickly and then I will put you back to bed so you can rest. We can talk again tomorrow night."
~oOo~
There was still an hour to go until sunrise when Isabel quietly closed the door to her room. After Isabel had shown the girl the clothes she had bought for her, she gave Ava permission to leave the room and go to the library only two rooms away if she felt the desire to. She also quickly explained how to use the laptop she would find in the library. And since Ava would certainly be hungry when she woke up, Isabel also described her the short way to the kitchen, because Ava was allowed to use whatever she found in the fridge. After that Ava had quickly fallen asleep.
For a moment, Isabel listened once more to the girl's quiet breathing in and out, smiling contentedly. She was looking forward to the next night. While walking to Godric's office, she thought of everything she'd already told Ava about vampires and what she was still going to tell her.
When she arrived at the office, she was perplexed to find the door open a crack. Apparently, Godric was already expecting her, but out of courtesy, she knocked on it anyway, before pushing the door open wider. Her longtime confidant sat behind his desk, eyes closed, almost as if he were asleep.
"Come in, Isabel. Tell me, what is your assessment?"
Involuntarily a small smile stole itself on Isabel's face and as if Godric could see it despite closed eyelids, he looked at her suddenly with a serious expression.
"You like that girl, am I right, Isabel?"
She nodded and sat down on the chair in front of Godric's desk.
"I do not think she needs to do physiotherapy, Godric. When I drew her attention to the possibility of a muscle atrophy, she was a bit cautious about her movements at first. But after a bath it was forgotten; her movements were calm and even, her sense of balance perfect and her eye-hand coordination was excellent too... I think it is better if she can just sleep and then she will be okay."
Godric nodded thoughtfully and then looked at Isabel slightly rebukingly.
"I can understand that you feel the need to explain much to her, Isabel. But you should also pay attention to the safety protocols. You allowed her to go to the kitchen and the library during the day, but did not make a ban on entering the other rooms. But especially you should know that humans with their curiosity tend to go where it is forbidden for them."
Godric had propped his elbows on his desk and clasped his hands together. As he leaned slightly forward, Isabel could see clearly how his hands were tightening, and she instantly knew that she had given the girl too much freedom without asking.
"Think about what I would have to do to her if she accidentally showed up in Stan's or my bedroom without asking for permission first."
"I sincerely apologize, Godric." Isabel hung her head. "But you should have seen her. She is such a sweet girl and-"
"I know that, Isabel. I followed your whole conversation from here. Nevertheless, this is still my home and therefore I am responsible for the safety of all residents."
Amazed, Isabel looked at her sheriff. He had been able to follow their conversation? Even though his office was at the other end of the mansion, with not only two or three normal doors in between, but also the extra-thick security door separating the private rooms from the front, public part of the house? Her astonishment must have been clear on her face, for Godric snorted in amusement and leaned back against the back of his chair.
"That ability is not new, Isabel. How do you think would I always know what happens within my nest?"
"Well, I suppose I just did not pay attention so far."
"Indeed. You should realize that this can also be dangerous for you, if you let yourself be distracted from our world's abilities by your human Hugo. At the moment, it is peaceful in our area and state, but Queen Laclerq not only brings Louisiana off balance with her escapades. Her extravagance and disapproval of a political wedding are already widely circulated, and this could soon be a source of turmoil for Texas. So, from my second-in-command, I expect the highest level of mindfulness, do you understand that?"
His tone was calm and explanatory, but Isabel had no illusion that he meant every word seriously.
"I understand, Godric. If you allow me asking, what are your plans with the girl?"
"I will think about that when we find out more about her. At first she will stay here; tomorrow she will get another room. The capacities are available. You will return to the nest and continue to take care of her. Find out about her knowledge compared to the human school curricula, and then I will decide."
Isabel nodded and knew that she was dismissed. For that day she would look for another room in the nest, realizing that Godric, because of her misconduct, did not want her to spend the day in Hugo's house. When she reached the door, Godric called her back.
"Oh and Isabel? Remind Stan of his job of keeping the younger vampires in control when visiting my home, or from now on he will be personally responsible to clean up after them."
Again Isabel nodded and said goodbye for the day. It would be a pleasure to her to convey this message to Stan.