In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Forty-Nine

“Is it just me or do they look like they about to eat each other?”

Juno wanted to tell Cedric off, no, what he really wanted to do was to lift the midget by his head and toss him across the room. The only problem was, for once, Juno agreed with Cedric; whatever was unfolding before them was bizarre even by vampire standards.

Juno stole a glance through the glass window of the shop they were in. The windows were misty which made his vision blurry. He even tried to squint his eyes and summon his vampire vision; he still could not see properly. His jaw ticked, his leg fidgeted. Had anyone seen what had happened? Juno imagined that any human that had witnessed his accident would find the scene strange. What human survives such an ordeal? More importantly, why was the vampire who was in charge very indifferent to the fact that they could have been exposed or that they were probably already exposed?

“…But I guess I would eat her too. I mean damn, daaaamn that’s a fine human! You know what I’d do big guy? I’d wine and dine her then I’d take her home to meet my dog-”

“That’s no human.”

“Whatchu mean?”

“I mean that she is one of us.”

Cedric averted his gaze from the attractive dark-haired girl who was seated facing Sorokin aloof from them. The distance between them was not that large and Cedric bet that if he focused all his attention on their table, he would be able to hear everything they had to say. The thing is, Cedric did not want to do any of that. He was exhausted, scared, and confused.

He just wanted to go back home.

“If she is one of us then why hasn’t she given me the stink eye?”

“The what?”

“Stink eye man! The stink eye! Like this.”

Cedric squinted his eye, titled his head, pressed his lips together, and raised his left eyebrow. For a few seconds, the two vampires stared at each other unmoving. Juno tried to suppress the bubble of laughter that had formed in his belly and that was now lodged in his throat. Seconds later, he was lying on a table, shaking violently with laughter. Cedric’s first reaction was shock then a high-pitched chuckle escaped his throat, then another and yet another until he too was lying on the well-varnished, round, wooden table engulfed with laughter. Deep down both vampires knew that this reaction was about more than Cedric’s stink eye. Their stressful situation was driving them to the brink of insanity.

Cedric wiped a stray tear with the edge of his little finger and forced air into his lungs. After he had steadied his breathing, he dragged his eyes to the dark-haired vampires who did not appear to be conversing at all. What did any of this have to do with the mission? Had they not been tasked with finding Lord Sebastian’s daughter and helping her bring down the humans? Also, when were they going to eat actual food? Cedric grimaced at the plate in front of him. Wisps of steam made their way to the air around them and vanished. The dish was an eye sore; so many colors, such a foul smell; what’s the worst that could happen if he grabbed one human and had his own buffet?

“Are you insane?”

“What?”

“Have you gone mad? If you dare touch any of these humans, if you dare attack them, it’s over, you would have doomed us all.”

Cedric’s mouth opened and closed successively.

“How…what…you can hear my thoughts? Cause that thing I said about you and your head and your private parts-"

“No you i***t, you said your thoughts out loud…Wait, what is this about my head and my…private parts?”

Cedric gave Juno a plastic smile before quickly picking up his fork and stabbing what appeared to be a plant on his plate. Weren’t humans supposed to be an advanced species? Why did they eat such awful things? Juno watched as Cedric’s trembling hand moved from the plate towards his mouth. Juno grimaced; he had once tasted human food, it had tasted like cardboard and farts. Cedric gulped heavily before opening his mouth and letting the daunting plant orient itself with his sharp teeth. Cedric had told himself that the food could not be as bad as he had imagined.

He was wrong, it was worse.

* * *

Neither of them had said a single word to the other since Sorokin sat down. They had simply spent that time taking each other in, appreciating the changes they had gone through, appreciating the fact that fate had brought them together again. At least that is how Sorokin felt. After what appeared to be a lifetime, Sorokin cleared his throat to speak but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out.

“It’s okay So’…This has to be overwhelming for you.”

Sorokin weakly bobbed his head while fighting to keep his tears at bay.

“How long has it been?”

“Too long…” Sorokin whispered.

Once again, Sorokin and Diana interlocked their gazes with one another, small smiles gracing their lips.

“You look…human.”

The tattered clothes suddenly seem to fit Diana well and the haggard look? Sorokin had started to think that perhaps he had imagined it.

“Well, I have been in the human realm for a long time. You tend to blend in.”

“Is that why you are dressed like a beggar?”

“Believe it or not, humans perceive this to be fashion.”

Sorokin smiled, Diana mirrored his action. Sorokin noticed that her smile did not reach her eyes. Sorokin trailed his eyes over Diana’s length. He saw a purple bruise on her upper arm. He clenched his jaw.

“Who did that to you? Do they…Diana do they know what you are?”

For the first time since Sorokin sat down, Diana averted her gaze. The tremble in her lips made Sorokin uneasy. When a single tear made its way to the corner of her mouth, Sorokin leaned forward and stretched his hand to caress Diana’s cheek.

“Talk to me Sis.”

A sob escaped Diana’s mouth at the term. She buried her face in Sorokin’s warm, open palm and allowed his scent to fill her with comfort. When she had steadied her breathing, Diana quietly cleared her throat.

“Humans are monsters So’…Monsters who are out to finish our entire species. They came for me, at the school. I tried to fight, I

really did but they had these weapons, these knives that are soaked in something, something that has the ability to kill our kind. And…and when I tried to bite one of them, his blood, his blood…”

She was shaking. Sorokin stretched his other arm across the table and took Diana’s left hand into his. He then proceeded to squeeze it gently.

“Do go on…”

Diana heaved, forcing herself to calm down. When her breathing steadied, she brought her gaze to Sorokin.

“His blood burned…”

“What do you mean?”

“You remember when you were young and you were so in love with the woods that one day you decided to stay behind secretly so that you can hunt some more game?”

Sorokin hissed at the memory. The sun rays had burned through his flesh, he had screamed until his larynx became sore.

“Like that…it burns, like how the sun burns our flesh except this is worse, it burns you from the inside…”

Sorokin was about to ask how this was possible when something caught his eye. Three humans donning matching black overcoats were standing still at the shop’s entrance.

What caught his eye is that those three humans were looking at them with an emotion Sorokin could only describe as hate.