I had explained to Alexandre what was going on with the camper and now we were standing outside his door.
"Please! Can anybody hear me?!" He yelled.
"Are you ready for this?" I asked Alexandre.
"Are you?" He replied.
"Nope." I answered, popping my lips on the 'p'. "I hope he chooses the virus." I mumbled.
"Hello? Is that you? Is someone there?" August yelled again. There was a hint of pleading to his voice now.
"Well here we go." Alexandre said somberly, unlocking the door and letting us inside.
"Oh thank God, I was afraid.. well for a moment I thought I might have been institutionalized." August visibly relaxed in front of us and I looked at Alexandre in confusion. But I guess August did have a point, the room was stark white, only a bed, no other furniture, stripped of everything except the mattress. It had an attached bathroom, also empty except some toilet paper and hand soap, also painted white. I could see it I guess. I sniffed the air. I smelled fear, but it was old, now all I smelled was.. calm, happiness, relief?
"You're not scared of us?" I blurted and the man's attention was drawn to me and then down to my stomach again.
"No, I uh, figured if you wanted me dead, I'd already be that." August shrugged. "The fact that I'm not has to mean you don't really want to hurt me, right? Let's face it, it would have been a whole heck of a lot easier to kill me when I was unconscious." He shrugged again and looked at us with a spark of hope in his eyes. Alexandre walked around August and sat on the empty bed.
"You're right August, we don't wish to harm you." He said with a sigh, his posture was slumped, defeated. "However, because you've discovered our secret, we have a set of unwritten rules, passed down from sire to sire we must follow." I jolted, it was the first time he'd ever mentioned them around me.
"You see, we are to give you a choice. Join us or die." Alexandre grimaced. I watched August carefully.
"Well uh, that seems like a pretty clear choice. No choice really. Who wouldn't choose to join you? Especially after that one.. encounter..." August licked his lips, looking from one to the other of us hungrily. Alexandre sighed again.
"But do you understand what that entails, exactly? Truly" Alexandre asked. August ran a hand through his hair, but his gaze never left mine.
"Maybe not, but it's looking pretty good from where I stand." He commented. I rolled my eyes.
"You'd be a vampire." I cut in sharply. "No more food, no more drink, just blood. You'd have to give up your old life. To everyone you knew, it would be like you died. Your body will change, you will become more nocturnal, your emotions, your drives, your needs, your lust, they're all turned up to ten and you can't shut them off. You'll live a very long time. Long enough to watch everyone you love die. Possibly even over and over. But you're not immortal, you can still be killed, and injured, badly, but you might survive, suffering, craving blood while your body slowly knits itself back together. You'll have to choose your victims with care, because vampirism is like a virus, a disease. One that can be passed on to the ill, immuno-compromised, terminal. And the last thing this world needs is rogue, out of control vampires attacking people and exposing the rest of us. And generally speaking, others of your kind will be territorial, we don't seem to get along very well, which leaves you, in the end, usually lonely. Do you understand?" My voice was sharp, but August had begun to move towards me. The sway of his hips indicating that my intended message was not getting through.
"So, I would get to be with you, forever?" August asked. Alexandre let loose a light growl that didn't deter August in the slightest. "Experience the bliss you two showed me... forever?" August had clearly skipped over everything I had said except the long life part. I sighed, covering my face with a hand in defeat.
"You sure it isn't mine?�� August laid three gentle fingers on my stomach. Alexandre was next to me in a heartbeat, snatching August's wrist.
"It's mine." He snarled.
"How can you tell, unless you've done a DNA test?" August pressed.
"I can tell." Alexandre's snarl deepened. I pushed August back a step.
"A vampire's sense of smell is very accurate, and improves with age. Let's just say that Alexandre can 'smell' the genetic makeup of the child. Or at least the patronage, general health and sex. It's very much his." I elaborated.
"You make him sound like an animal." August made a face and Alexandre's growl rumbled through the room again.
"There's no question about it. The virus does make one more animalistic, in may ways. We call it a more evolved form of humanity, but perhaps what we really should say is devolved, in the end." My hands were still on August's chest. He reached up and clutched them in his own.
"But you never answered. I would get to stay? With you? Both of you?" August pinned me with his gaze. I pulled my hands free and crossed my arms to remove them from temptation.
"You would stay with us for a time, yes." Alexandre answered, hugging me around the waist possessively. "One of us would be your Sire, and would be responsible for teaching you and keeping you under control, at least at the beginning."
"But there's no guarantee that you would want to stay after a while. The Sire bond or the virus itself tends to push the vampire and their creator apart, perhaps to help spread the virus, who knows." I added.
"But not you two." August looked between us. I hedged, looking at Alexandre for guidance.
"It seems we have a mutated form of the virus, which enables us to stay together. Demands it, in a way." Alexandre responded softly.
"Well that's great, you would be giving me that version, right? So I would want to stay?" August enthused.
"That isn't necessarily true..." I murmured. "We had two others that were staying with us, sharing the virus, that chose to leave." Alexandre squeezed me tighter against his side. August's face fell slightly.
"I see... But that was them, I'm different." August sounded like he was trying to convince himself just as much as us. " So when do we do this?" He asked as he rubbed his hands together. I gaped.
"Just like that?" I asked incredulously.
"Well I don't wanna die!" August exclaimed. I had to concede he had a point.
"Are there any loose threads in your old life you'd like to tie up? Family, friends you'd like to contact? A job you need to quit? Assets you want moved or liquidated?" Alexandre asked softly. August laughed.
"Family, not really. I mean when I moved out here they thought I was nuts, we don't really talk much. And we don't even see each other. The occasional Christmas card is about it. I suppose that will still be allowed? A few friends that I can call and say I'm moving off for my job for a bit again. That's normal, they're used to it. As far as the job is concerned, I don't suppose I'll actually have to quit that, I test camping gear." August laughed. "Which is why we met in the first place. All I have to do is send them a quick change of address. This close to the park, testing equipment will be easy enough. Heck maybe you guys would like to come with me even." He eyed us speculatively.
"But yeah, assets, pfft. Nope. Bank account, small apartment, nothing really in it. I can get a moving company to pack it up and have it moved here if that's ok. I don't keep much there because of the whole camping thing. So all of that can be done in a few hours, a day, tops. So when do we do this?" August looked at us both again. I looked at Alexandre expectantly, who sighed yet again.