Inhuman Among Humans {Evina and VampireByte}

[Evina]

Once the door was closed behind them she threw the keys on the sideboard, took off her jacket and hung it on a peg on the wall. "The living room." She said as she took off her shoes and then led the way to the living room. "Want anything to drink? Or don't... your kind drink?" She asked, remembering the full bottle of beer.


She went out into the kitchen to get some water for herself and went to stand in the doorway, with a glass of water in her right hand, waiting for his answer.

 

[souled]

"No thank you..." Alex trailed off with a slight grimace as he settled himself down on her sofa, trying his best not too look around too much, not wanting to invade her personal space. Well, despite the fact that Alex had been keeping tabs on the woman for the past week. And clearly, it was a good thing he was, or otherwise she would have ended up dead today.


"So, it seems I really don't have to tell you what I am, seeing as you possess the ability to see through our Masquerade..." Again the man trailed off, an unreadable expression in his dark ruby red eyes as he turned his gaze to watch out the apartment window.

 

[Evina]

As he turned down her offer of something to drink she shrugged and went to sit on the sofa on the opposite end from him. Setting the glass down on the coffee table she turned around on the sofa, sitting cross-legged, facing him.


“Are all the myths true then? About the sunlight and all that?” she asked, a curious smile on her lips. She couldn’t get herself to say the word ‘vampire’. It seemed silly. At least until he confirmed it.

 

[souled]

Despite the fact that the vampire had been anticipating those very questions that Iliana just asked him, Alex couldn't help himself from rolling his eyes at her and waving a hand as if waving away a pesky fly.


"Hardly..." But then, Alex trailed off with a frown. "Iliana...You have to promise me that you won't divulge whatever I tell you here and now...Otherwise there will be penalties, for the both of us..." The man raised a blonde eyebrow at her. "Swear to me you won't breathe a word." His voice was serious as his coal red eyes locked onto hers.

 

[Evina]

"Of course I won't tell anyone. I swear I won't." It wasn't her secret to tell. Even if she tried, no one would believe her. They'd probably think she'd been watching too much tv.


"What is true then?" She asked, her curious smile back in place. Then something occurred to her. "Oh, wait, how old are you really?" What if he were over a hundred? That made her think about how life was like back then, if it was better than how it was now. "No, wait. Just tell me everything." She said excited, forgetting her manners once again.

 

[souled]

The vampire could understand the girl's excitement, but a deeper part of Alex still wondered why the young woman hadn't run screaming from him. "I am not going to discuss my age miss Iliana." The man said in a serious tone, blinking his blood red eyes at her slowly.


"However, what most of the books and movies paint us to be is quite...incorrect...to say the least..." There was a slightly bitter tone in Alex's voice as the vampire rolled his eyes again at the thought of books like Twilight. Yes he had read them all, just about every book containing a vampire within them, mostly for his own amusement. "Sunlight however, does effect us as they say. We cannot step under the bright Sun..." His voice trailed off and a soft sigh of longing escaped from the man.

 

[Evina]

Iliana sighed when he wouldn't tell her how old he really was. Oh well, it was his choice and she would have to respect that. Based on what he said earlier about a penalty if she told anyone, she was guessing he hadn't told anyone about him before or maybe it was just a long time ago. It had to be weird in some way to talk about yourself like this. Especially when he wasn't human.


"I'm guessing you're strong and fast too. What about... the fangs?" She asked carefully, though she was sure he wasn't going to hurt her. If that were not the case, then he would have done it already; he'd had plenty of chances to do it.

 

[souled]

Indeed the vampire had no interest in harming the young woman. If he had wanted that to happen, then why had Alex saved her from nearly being crushed by the van instead of stepping in and taking the heat for her? Come to think of it, his back was still aching to kingdom come, and stiffly, Alex stood, striding over to the small window, folding his arms and gazing out at the bustling city.


"My kind was made to hunt humans. Just as humans are the top predators of the world, my kind was created to balance it out. Not one full species can dominate one full planet. Something must eat another...It is just the way of things..." Alex trailed off, turning his blood red gaze onto Iliana, wondering if he was making any sense at all to the young woman. "But yes, we do have 'the fangs' as you put it, and yes, we are incredibly strong and fast. More so then one could imagine..."

 

[Evina]

She wasn’t sure she understood what he was saying. “If you exist to balance things out, why did you save me?” she asked, her head turned slightly to one side.


“Come to think of it, aren’t you hurting? I know you didn’t get hurt as much as a human would, but you have bruises. Something must have happened to you when that car hit you.” She stated. “Or do you heal faster than humans too?” That ability would be nice to have.

 

[souled]

Annoyance flashed darkly in Alex's red eyes when the young woman questioned why he had saved her, and the vampire's jaw clenched and he shot her The Look. "Do not question my actions." The man growled, but then, his expression and demeanor changed when Iliana wondered if he was hurting, and the vampire sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.


"But yes, my back right now is aching like Hell..." Slowly the vampire rolled his shoulders and then his neck. "We also heal much quickly then you humans do. It is just the way of us."

 

[Evina]

Iliana cringed at the look in his eyes. "I wasn't questioning your actions. I'm glad you saved me. I was just wondering, that's all." she defended herself. Then she sighed. He was already telling her more than he was allowed to. It wasn't fair to demand more of him.


"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked, though she knew there probably wasn't much she could do for him, being a human and all. Maybe there was one thing she could offer him. She held out her arm. "Do you, umm... want some of my blood?" Well, that's a sentence she never thought she'd say. Nevertheless, she wanted to help him any way she could; she owed him her life.

 

[souled]

When the young woman suddenly offered Alex her arm, the man looked like he had seen a ghost or worse. "Certainly not!" The vampire hissed, the man's eyes wide and a look of pure horror on his face. He hadn't taken any blood directly from a human in eons, and he defiantly wasn't going to start now.


"I should go." And before Iliana could protest, Alex quickly snatched up his coat, shrugged into it, and left her apartment without saying another word, and was gone long before the girl even clambered off her couch.

 

[Evina]

Barely had she opened her mouth before he was gone. She hadn't meant to offend him. He was so different from what she had expected a vampire to be. She had thought that giving him a bit of her blood was the least she could do in return for him saving her life.


She got up from the couch and walked to the window, looking out on the street, hoping he was still there. If he was she couldn't see him. "I'm sorry..." she said, still facing the window. Maybe he was still close enough to hear her apology. A few seconds later she sighed and walked away from the window and headed for the bathroom to take a shower before going to bed.

 

[souled]

The vampire felt incredibly uneasy at all this to say the least. What if all of this with Iliana were to be discovered? Both of them would be sentenced to death...But at least for Iliana, it would be a quick and painless death. But for Alex...? The vampire shuddered inwardly at the thought of what would be done to him.


But then, it couldn't really be helped. Circumstances arose and brought them together, and after all, the young woman could see through the Masquerade, unlike any other Human being on the planet. Alex frowned and combed his hands through his hair, making his way to the local hospital, where the vampire had connections to easily get blood, the walking feeling good to stretch out his hurting and bruised lower back.

 

[Evina]

Iliana tossed and turned in her bed, not able to fall asleep after everything that had happened. Eventually she did fall asleep, though not without dragging the day’s events into her dreams.


The next day, Saturday, she woke up early and decided that she wanted to know more and turned on her laptop. She opened the browser and typed in the word ‘vampire’. Many search results came up, but she quickly discarded all of it. Most of the articles and websites were written by fanatics. She sighed. There had to be some way to find some real information.


She looked at her watch; the library would open in fifteen minutes. Her laptop was turned off and left on the coffee table. Before leaving, she made herself a quick breakfast.


Twenty minutes later, she entered the library. She figured that the only information here about vampires would be in the fiction section, more specifically fantasy.


Besides novels, there wasn’t much to find. She was on the verge of giving up until her eyes landed on a book with the title ‘Rituals’. It looked old. Taking it down from the shelf and looking inside it, she found that it mostly consisted of pictures with a few sentences here and there. Some of the pictures were quite macabre.


Coming to the decision that she probably wouldn’t find anything better than this she lent it and exited the library.

 

[souled]

Not sure what brought on the decision, Alex decided to pay Iliana a visit, having recovered from the offer that she had given him of taking blood from her, of feeding from her. With his hands stuffed in his jeans pockets, Alex made the long walk to her apartment, and rang the doorbell after hesitating, letting his finger hover over the button before pressing it, hearing it chime through out the small living space that the young woman called home each day.

 

[Evina]

Iliana had barely sat down on the couch with the borrowed book before the doorbell rang. She put the book down on the table and went to open the door. “Oh, Alex. Hi.” She was surprised to see him after the way he walked out the day before, but she was happy to see him nonetheless.


She stepped aside to let him in and then closed the door behind him. Now that he was here, she might as well show him the book she had found. “I found this book at the library.” She told him and showed him the book. “Do you know if any of it is true?”

 

[souled]

When the young woman allowed him inside, Alex stepped through the doorway and closed the apartment door behind him, tilting his head a momet when Iliana showed him the incredibly old library book she had found to read through.


Taking the book, Alex could feel and smell the brown leather in his hands, the book marked with a simple symbol on the front cover, nothing else. It was obviously not a book written by a famous author or anything like that. This book that Iliana had found was as old as vampires themselves.


"Where did you get this?" Alex demanded suddenly, tearing his dark ruby red gaze from the book to Iliana, the vampire's tone of voice incredibly dark and serious.

 

[Evina]

“Umm, the library.” She said hesitantly, wary about his sudden change of mood. “Is something wrong?” she asked. It was just a book. It couldn’t possibly make him this angry or whatever it was the sight of the book had done to him.


She took the book out of his hands and flipped through it. Was all of it real? She bit down on her lower lip to hold back her excitement. It had to be the real deal, when he got this upset about it.

 

[souled]

"There's plenty wrong!" The vampire hissed, and before the young woman could begin to look through it better, Alex narrowed his ruby red eyes at the girl and snatched it away in a blur of movement, keeping the book away from her. "You have no idea what you are getting into! Being able to see past our Masquerade, and now this!"


The man was clearly displeased as he began to pace, letting out a growl of frustration as he ran his hand down his face before combing his fingers through his honey blonde locks, not knowing what to do about this girl. "Pack your things. You're coming with me." Alex commanded the girl suddenly, looking over at Iliana with a deadly serious look.

 

[Evina]

Iliana flinched at his voice. "Well, you haven't exactly been hiding what you are very well. How is that my fault?" She honestly didn't get it. It's not like she planned on using any of the information to her advantage. She had promised him to keep his secret, after all. "And what's so wrong about reading that book? I'm not gonna use it for anything." She sighed in frustration as he started pacing. Why couldn't he just be more clear?


"What? Why?" She asked, surprise evident in her voice, as he commanded her to pack her things. Why should she go with him? Why couldn't he just explain the situation to her? "I can't exactly just leave. I have school on Monday." She told him. "Just tell me what's going on... I don't understand why it's so wrong that I found that book. I mean, if it's that important, just take it."

 

[souled]

The vampire took a few moments to close his eyes and take several deep breathes and slowly exhale before opening them again. "Do not argue with me. Pack your things. I will take you to your school tomorrow." Alex told her, really in no mood to deal with any protests that the girl might have. "Now. Pack. Your. Things!" Alex hissed.


And once more, Alex returned to pacing back and forth after setting the book down, clearly agitated and not in a good mood. But then, what he was doing was for Iliana's own good, to keep her from getting into worse trouble with another like him, one that would take no sympathy on the girl...

 

[Evina]

“Alright, fine.” She gave up on arguing and went to pack the most necessary of her things; a few sets of clothes, toiletries and her school things. While packing she wondered how long he was going to keep her from her apartment and where he was even going to take her.


Shortly after, she came out from her bedroom with her school bag and an extra bag for her clothes and things. “Where are you taking me anyway?” she asked as she headed for the door, her keys in hand.

 

[souled]

"I am taking you to where I live so I can better keep an eye on you and protect you better." Alex told her, pleased that the girl finally gave in and did as he said, wondering how on Earth that this book had wound up in the public library.


Once Iliana was packed and ready to go, Alex took hold of her hand with his icy cold fingers, and making sure he had the leather bound book, the vampire left with the woman to his own place. And once there, Alex showed her around, stopping when they were in his kitchen. "Er...I'm afraid however, I do not have any food in the kitchen...I will have to get you some..." Alex grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck.

 

[Evina]

Iliana really didn't understand. Why did she need protection? What had she done wrong? Wouldn't it be just as easy to keep all of this a secret? If no one knew that she knew about vampires, there would be no danger, right?


Once they were at his place and she had gotten a look around she found that she was disappointed. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but it was definitely not this. It was so... normal.


"Guess I should have expected that." she commented on the lack of food. "What happens if you eat normal food?" she wondered. Did they just not need it or did it actually taste different to them?