into Darkness a Vampire's tale

Chapter Eighteen

I lead her to our old, yet beloved plantation, on which only one of our former slaves had stayed. Thomas, the one whom we had met under the big willow tree in the back yard so many years ago, had stayed as our servant and much beloved friend. Helios had given him a sort of half life. Somewhere in between humanity and immortality. Meaning he was not a vampire, nor was he human.

This was not done out of spite, for Thomas had asked to stay with us and wished it upon himself to be eternal. He was waiting outside as he always had for my return.

"Hey suh. Who did?" He asked, pointing towards the beautiful, yet dangerous woman accompanying me.

"This is Maylana. She wishes to see Helios."

"Yes suh."

As we entered the house, I led her to the sitting room. She sat down waiting for my return with Helios. I went down the hall to his room and knocked.

"Come in Erin." I went in quickly.

"Helios! I have a surprise for you!" I said, excited. But he just stood there in the most calm of stances I had ever seen.

"She's alive." He whispered.

"She is! And she's asked for you!" He smiled. Though he didn't seem pleased, angry, sad, nor excited that his maker was indeed living.

"I shall be with you in a moment. Will you please give me time to be more presentable?"

"Yes, of course."

It only took a few minutes after my return for him to enter the room. His demeanor was calm and collected. And I became confused by this. I watched his expressions, which did not change. He was always calm and collected. Never flinching a muscle nor unsure as I would have been.

I would have thought he would have at least went to greet her but, all he did, was bow slightly.

"You're looking rather well, Helios," She said.

"Thank you. As do you." He replied calmly.

"I see you have a companion now. Two, in fact. You could almost create your own coven." Helios smiled.

"I would need more than two, as you well know, to have such. And you? Are you without a companion? Have you suffered so as I have in my absence? You must not forsake me for having such companions. For your loss was devastating for me."

Helios had his way with words and did not speak babble to anyone. And sought to scold those who caused harm to him and the ones he cared about. He was not one to waste words on anyone, including his maker. Even if it caused him grief and made for an unpleasant conversation.

"Well..." She said. "You haven't changed a bit," She stated.

"You taught me well." He replied greavishly.

"As I did. I had hoped you would be glad to see me. As you are not, I will leave you to your newly formed wellness and bid you farewell." She said, getting up.

"I am not eager for your departure, Maylana. I am, however, interested in hearing how you escaped the hunters' stake. For, I had it on good authority, that you were diseased from such." She sat back down.

"So you are angry with me."

"Not angry. Just curious and a little confused." She sighed in anguish.

"I thought it better to leave you to your new-found love and..." he interupted.

"So you left me all alone?! To let me learn my own ways without help from you...?!" He rose to his feet. And, for the first time since her arrival, he showed his true feelings.

"I can't believe you! You waltz in here, into my home, after all these centuries expecting a warm welcome?! Expecting pity and forgiveness?! Your death devastated me! I blamed myself! I mourned you for centuries! And you come back now?! Expecting all this from me?!" His anger became overwhelming. His eyes became red with such fury that I thought I may have had to restrain him. But then his features softened and tears replaced the redness in his eyes.

"Why would you let me mourn you for so long? Why? Why would you do that? What is it you truly want from me?"

She looked at him so sadly.

"I don't want anything from you. I only want to say that I am very sorry. I don't blame you for being angry with me. You have every right to be..."

"Damn right I do!" He added. She continued as calmly as she started.

"I just wanted to see you once more before saying goodbye. You may not find it in your heart to forgive me but, before I leave you, I have one last lesson to teach you..."

"And what is that?"

"Love hard. Take care of yourself and your companions. You were always my favorite, you know." Helios huffed.

"I always have. That lesson I learned a long time ago. On my own!" She smiled with tears in her eyes.

"You were always a fast learner. Goodbye Helios. I do hope one day you will forgive me. I shall go and bother you no more." And with that, she kissed him on the cheek, and left; never to be seen or heard from again.

My heart ached for Helios. Though he showed no emotion until almost the last part of their conversation, I knew very well that his heart was breaking. He mopped around the plantation grounds and said, not a word to any of us. As his thoughts grew of the conversation so to did his depression.

I know it may sound strange to you that a vampire could become depressed. But as I have explained, we have just as much feeling as a human does. I felt such sorrow for him. Rose, too, felt his anguish and tried to cheer him up as best she could. But nothing seemed to extinguish his anguish. If I didn't know him better, I would have thought he was contemplating suicide. But he was a sensible man and it wouldn't have worked anyway.