The Listening Mind

A second encounter

Beams of sunlight filtered into the house through the curtains. My eyes fluttered open and I groggily sat up and stretched. Slowly pieces of the night before entered my brain again. The man was definitely looking at me through the slits in the curtains but when I blinked he was gone. I sat here for a moment thinking about it and then shook my thoughts from my head. “Maybe it’s my mind playing tricks on me” I kind of snorted to myself before rolling out of bed. Beans was at the end of the bed glaring at me for disturbing her beauty sleep. “Come on stinky head I’ll feed you” I teased as she stood and did her little cat stretch. 

In the kitchen I scooped some kibbles in her bowl and grabbed myself some cereal. It dawned on me mid pour into the bowl that I have absolutely no groceries. “f**k me” I sighed. I ate a few hand fulls of dry cereal before starting to get ready. Makeup and hair took about an hour. A cute smoky eye with a banging highlight and my hair I just put some product in to make the natural waves pop a little better. I threw on some comfy black pants and a cropped T-shirt and black nike running shoes. A plain look for the town I don’t want to come off too strange just yet. After getting dressed I have Beans a smooch and grabbed my purse and headed out to a small grocery store just a few miles away. 

The town was beautifully littered with old architecture. A large cemetery just a few blocks from my house, it seemed to garner a lot of attention and quite a few people were in and around it. Lost in thought I pulled up to the grocery store and parked my car. It’s tough to be out in public with my gift, it’s hard to control. I don’t want to hear people’s thoughts all the time but it takes a lot of energy on my part to keep it from happening. I locked my car and made my way in grabbing a cart from the parking lot. 

“Should I get green grapes or purple” “milk,eggs,toothpaste..” “this line is too damn long can’t they open another register”  the store patrons thoughts invaded my head like a plague. After a grueling 30 minutes I managed to get what I needed and get out. I rode home in silence trying to recoup from the blast of invasive thoughts. It’s exhausting having to listen to people’s inner monologue, especially in such a confined space. 

Pulling into my parking space I was struck with a memory of the vampire from last night. “I wonder what happened to that girl” I thought to myself before starting to collect my bags. I bought too much at the store and was struggling to get it all in one trip when a voice behind me scared the hell out of me. 

“Do you need any help miss?” I froze and recognized the voice immediately. I slowly spin around to be face to face with the vampire from last night. They really are beautiful up close. Iv never actually been this close to a vampire iv only seen them in the distance. His eyes were a golden honey color that seemed to glow in the light. His dark hair was a dark brown slightly longer in length. His skin was flawless and pale he looked like a living statue. He didn’t blink or breathe like a human which was intimidating. I idly studied his features before shaking my head and responding “U-uh no I uhm I think I may have it” I let out a nervous laugh before half a bag of canned goods splattered on the road. “s**t” I did not have it. 

He chuckled at me and grabbed the bag and a few others from my hands. All I could do was stand there and stare. “Are you okay? Do you feel okay do you need to sit down?” He asked while stepping closer. Iv never felt so small in my entire life. 

“Yeah no I’m okay I just... you caught me off guard” I sheepishly replied while breaking eye contact. I could feel my face getting flush and even worse I could feel he was still looking at me. I closed my trunk and headed for the stairs vampire man close behind me. We made it to the door way “you can just set those on the table” I said as I unlocked the door and stepped in. I heard him chuckle behind me

“You don’t know much about my kind do you? I uh can’t come in without an invitation” he smiled while standing tight outside the door. “I’m an i***t” I thought to myself as I began to flush and get hot again “I’m so sorry uh” I stammered while he chuckled at me.

“It’s okay a lot of people think just because the other myths are fake that this one is too. It’s true we need permission to enter a home and you can revoke that permission whenever you want as well.” He smiled at me and I relaxed a little. 

“Uh uhm do you want to come in?” As soon as the words left my mouth he was standing directly in-front of me in literal seconds. The bags he was carrying were on the table as he stood looming over me. A small gasp left my mouth. 

“Be careful of who you trust witch.” he projected into my head before disappearing out of my front door. “Was that a threat?” I sent back but he was already gone. I shut and locked my front door and put my groceries away while replaying that scenario over and over. “I mean really who the f**k does he think he is” I scoffed as I closed the pantry door. It did make me wonder more about vampires. I mean I have basic knowledge but there’s more too it than some garlic allergies and a wooden stake to the heart. I decided to sit down and take to the internet for more answers. As always you can’t trust everything on the internet however there were a few studies done and papers published I could go through. 

Through research I found quite a bit of information. Turns out not all vampires are made equal. There’s some that are originals who are born vampires or created by witches from ash and blood. And then there are the ones who are turned or the copies as they’re called. Original vampires are usually hundreds of years old. Only a few are not sterile and are actually able to conceive however an original vampire hasn’t been born in at least a century. Same goes with witch made originals. The vampires and witches haven’t been on good terms in a good hundred years or so. Originals are the only ones who can make copies as well. A copy cannot turn a human as their venom is less developed and less lethal. They can both be killed with a wooden stake, that is if you can manage to outsmart and out move one. They are faster than the human eye can even register. They also have little mind tricks. Apparently each one can have different types of gifts as well as some standard like the compel I saw the vampire use on that girl last night. They can compel humans to do whatever they want for a short period of time. They can also use it to wipe a short amount of your memory away if they want. Sometimes something happens to humans when they are being turned and they turn into rejects. Some call it a witches curse to make it harder to make a ton of new copies. For some reason instead of turning into vampires they turn into awful gnarly creatures that terrorize during the night. They had some pictures on the internet of what people say they look like but no one for sure has a real picture of one. Probably because it would eat you alive.

I sighed and stepped away from my computer. By this time the sun was starting to set and the crickets and frogs were coming out to sing their night time blues. Beans and I settled into the couch to watch some Netflix and shortly both of us passed out. 

Midnight rolled around and I woke to a thump in my apartment and Beans hissing her brains out at something in the kitchen. Alarms blared in my brain. “What the f**k was that” I thought as I blinked my sleep from my eyes. From where I was sitting I could see her or..it? I tried to wrap my brain around what I was looking at. A large leathery mass stood in my kitchen with its back to me. Blonde nasty hair draped down from its head. It was y’all and lumpy and absolutely terrifying. Was it that girl? One things I did know was it’s a reject. In my home. “What the f**k” before I could even move a flash of movement shot through my balcony window and the creature let out a blood curdling scream before being dragged out of my window. I jumped up to investigate and was met with glowing gold eyes on my balcony. I gasped before realizing it was the vampire neighbor. But the reject was no where to be found. “Am I dreaming what the f**k” was all I could manage before everything went dark. “Just sleep now I’ll protect you.” rang out in my head in that familiar voice before I lost consciousness. 

Morning rolled around and I woke up in my bed. Parts of the night before popped into my head. “Did that really happen” I laid there thinking and trying to piece together but it all happened so fast did I really even know what happened in the first place? 

I sat up and shook my thoughts from my head. “I need to finish unpacking” I forced myself out of bed and into the shower to start my day.