I spent the next several days reading and learning from Alexandre. There was so much that happened during this span of time that I can't really relate it all, but a few things are still very fresh in my mind. Like the first time meal time came up.
"It's time for you to go out for your first meal on your own." Alexandre said as we stood by the ornate front entrance.
"But I can't." I replied. Alexandre began ticking things off on his fingers.
"Why are you hesitating? We have gone several times together, you won't have any trouble with this. We've discussed how much blood you need and contrary to popular beliefs, it's very little, which means you need not kill anyone. And as long as you can remember to use your senses to avoid anyone that smells terminally ill you won't have to worry about accidental turnings. You can easily mesmerize anyone until they are compliant, and make them forget what has happened, I've seen you in action myself, your mouth never stops. You also know my weekly allotment has run out." Alexandre was referring to his bagged blood that was delivered via FedEx for 'prescription transfusions' through some medical service that I wasn't entirely sure he didn't own himself or hadn't convinced some doctor to supply him with. Or hell, maybe he even forged them, who knew.
"It's not that." I answered him.
"Then what is it child? Speak up!" Alexandre demanded sharply. I looked at him with a semi-pained expression on my face.
"You told me I couldn't leave." I choked out. I was nearly in hysterics. The bond between us ensured I would follow his directions, and so, when he told me to follow him out the door I could, but the standing order he had issued the first day still took effect should I try to leave on my own. This wasn't the first time he had forgotten. I was, quite simply, unable to leave the house without him rescinding his earlier mandate or giving me permission each time. A fact that I found hilarious to tease him with in situations like this, because of his confounded reactions to it, which were absolutely priceless to behold. On the other hand, it terrified me. No one had ever had so much power over my will, and I wasn't really sure about Alexandre yet. So here I was somewhere between fear and busting a gut laughing, with the seriousness of the situation making it all the harder to keep a straight face as Alexandre stood there with that look of bewilderment, trying to work through what I was saying. I let him puzzle on it for a moment, biting my lips, enjoying his expression change from confusion to understanding to exasperation. Normally rather unflappable, Alexander had a mild fit this time, cursing the bond and his inability to out-think it. He paced across the large foyer and yelled back as he left.
"You have my permission to leave the house." While stalking off down the hall. I bit my lips trying to suppress a laugh as I heard him slam a door.
"But you didn't specify if that was for just this time or for all times!" I yelled. I heard him throw something while exclaiming "goddamn bond!".
"Thank you anyway!" I screeched at the top of my lungs, knowing full well I didn't need the volume, but that it would cause Alexandre further annoyance. I heard a book slam onto a desk and fled the house before I let out the laugh I had been holding back.
Then there was the day we discussed Dracula.
Alexandre picked up the book with a dissatisfied sniff.
"Why have you not read this one?" He asked stiffly. Busy with another book, I only spared him a quick glance before replying.
"I did." I shrugged.
"This book has not been read by you. It bears very little of your scent." Alexandre barked. "Do not lie to me." My head whipped around and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Don't take everything so gd literal." I replied. "I have read the book, just not this particular copy. It's actually one of my favorites." Alexandre looked flabbergasted.
"That's why I wanted to know if you were actually using this book as a history of vampirism. There seem to be a lot of miscalculations in it." I continue. "Like the mirror thing, sleeping in consecrated earth, being afraid of religious emblems, turning into a bat..." Alexandre's flabbergasted look became worse by the second.
"You...are very strange, child..." He said to me quietly. "Who were you in your past life, exactly?"
"Just a nobody in a small podunk town." I shrugged returning to my book.
"Do you not have any questions for me then?" Alexandre asked, and then we discussed true vampirism compared to a cummulation of myth, legends and books.
"Stoker was very close in his description of vampires. He collected and collated a large amount of mythology from around the world, but then he unfortunately let his own religious views, or at least the religious views of his era, taint his work." Alexandre told me.
It turns out the things Stoker got right were:
1) Vampires require very little blood to survive, and could actually go long periods of time without any. However, as Alexandre had informed me before, there were side effects. It would cause the skin to begin to dry out and lose elasticity, there may be hair loss and pigmentation changes, tooth decay, basically the body became malnourished and seemed to "age" over time without blood. Fortunately the virus made it a recoverable situation, should you once again imbibe in blood, your body would revert to its healthy state. However tooth loss can be permanent, so Alexandre stressed the importance of never letting this go too far.
2) Draining a victim could actually take weeks, if you chose to do it correctly. Again, very little blood needed per meal.
3) Day walking is ok, not preferred due to sensitivities, but we definitely won't burst into flames.
4) Vampires can in fact use a sort of 'mind control' if you will. Although Alexandre says it's more like hypnosis, and it doesn't work on everyone. Doing this allows you to convince people of nearly anything, even that you have power over the elements, or can change shape for instance, or turn into a bat, if that's your thing. Alexandre had used it on me the first day to look more imposing than he actually was. He didn't really have an explanation on why this worked, but he felt it was just an 'evolutionary advantage that we currently didn't have the scientific knowledge to explain.' A nice, easy way out there, but then again, I had once read an article on some theorum that we might one day communicate using our minds? Maybe vampires just got there first. Alexandre also said that he thought the bond might be related to this ability in some way.
5) Vampirism is like rabies or another infection in one way, and can be transferred with a fluid exchange. Note I said fluid, not necessarily blood. Other bodily fluids could work too. *hint hint* However, the body's immune system had to be severely compromised for the virus to be able to take effect. In other words, the person needed to be nearly dead, or have a serious medical condition that would inhibit their ability to recover. Otherwise, the body just treated the virus like any other infection and battled it off over time. Blood loss was an acceptable way to introduce the virus, since the body would be too weak to fight back, and the virus' specialty was a healing factor.
6) Sensitivities. Some scents, sounds, lighting, etc, are rather unpleasant. Especially strong ones. Vampire bodies are finely tuned: better hearing, better sight aimed for vision at night, better sense of smell. A bright day can be a little hard to handle since the virus pushed the body to be nocturnal. (Apparently humans are easier to hunt while they rest?) A very strong odor like garlic, onions, well you get the idea, it can be a little offensive. We're not afraid of it, but if you're cutting one near us, expect us to cover our nose and breathe through our mouth. Also, you guys and gals out there who choose not to bathe for a week and cover it with cologne or perfume, please, please, for the love of all vampires, stop. And dear God how loud you people can get.
7) And yes, we are slightly stronger/faster. We're supposed to be hunting humans, right? For goodness sake, some of you guys and gals can run, what 30 mph? Nature had to give us some kind of evolutionary advantage here, come on! Ok, so we got several.
9) We also do heal quickly, but as with any living creature, you destroy our heart or brain, then we die. Period. So yeah, removing our heads will kill us. Don't try the stake to the heart thing, it's embarrassing for both of us when you miss, and it's really messy and takes forever to heal from. Plus, that's a lot harder to actually do than movies would have you think.
10) Food is not really a necessity. The virus's whole point is to spread itself via body fluids. So it drives us to consume blood, and ramps up other, primal, urges, like anger, and lust, hoping that a bite or other fluid exchange will infect the victim. And if they're immunocompromised, it just might.