"You don't know or you just don't wanna accept it..... or maybe.... you don't wanna tell me!? What is it?" Ian asked with a smirk and a quirked up eyebrow.
Aiden looked at Ian then again outside the window. He stood up and went towards the door but before leaving he said,"Are you coming or should I go alone?"
Ian sighed defeatedly knowing his stubborn brother and got up from the chair nodding his head and said,"Yeah! yeah! alright. I'm coming with you."
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The next day when Adina got up she looked around to find no one. She yawned and got up that's when she remembered last night's events. A shiver of fear ran down her spine just remembering it. She finally decided to get up and do her morning routine. While she was brushing her hair, someone knocked on the door. She answered with a 'come in' and Ian came inside. With a smile on his face, he asked,"Good morning sunshine. How are you feeling now?"
She sighed before replying,"Not gonna lie, I'm a little bit shaken but trying my best to hold up." She managed to give him a small smile at the end which made Ian look at her sympathetically. She made her hair into a braid the again turned to Ian,"Let's get going then. I'm already late."
"We have a day off today ",Ian replied before she could walk out of the room.
Looking at him, she asked,"A day off? What for? If its because of what happened yesterday then don't worry I'm fine now."
"Yeah yeah, you are fine. I get it. I took a day off today to answer your questions."
She gave him a confused look and tilted her head sideways saying,"Questions?"
"Yes, questions. Ask away whatever you wanted to.. about us.. vampires."
She made an oh face,"Can we go to the library then? We can talk there."
"As you wish",he said, getting up and walking towards the door with Adina by his side.
After entering the library she settled on her favourite spot, that was on the broad window sill where her permanent nest of pillows with a blanket was made. Ian also settled down on a chair in front of her and at that time David came inside with a tray and putting it on the table, left from there. "Looks like you breakfast has arrived and... that also with hot coco for both of us", he smiled and handed it over to Adina who gladly accepted it. Nobody said anything for sometime and one could only hear the clock ticking and the occasional sipping of hot coco. "Its awkward",Ian commented.
"It is. Very",Adina agreed with him.
"Would you now start with your questions?" Ian said a little bit irritated with the silence.
"I can't think of a specific question. Start from wherever and whatever you please. I'll be glad to know everything that you are willing to tell me",Adina replied and shrugged.
"Being formal now. Are we?" Ian rolled his eyes to which he earned a dry chuckle. "Anyways, where should I start from? Lemme think",he looked deep in his thoughts. "Uh... what do you know about vampires?"
"They are immortal",that was the first thing that came in her mind and she automatically blurted out then continued, "But you said you aren't?"
"Yes, we aren't and now I think I know where to start" ,he gave Adina a small smile. "Vampires like any other supernatural species that you might've read about have mates."
"You mean like soulmates? One that you have from your birth?" Adina interrupted out of curiosity.
"Yaaahhh! lemme continue and don't interrupt and no.. not like that. It's like a lover. It's not destined or anything like that. We can choose who we love and mark them as our mates. So, about being immortal... the thing is, we die when our mates die. Within 24 hours of it",Ian looked at her expressions and smiled secretly.
"Oh! that- that's.... romantic." Ian laughed at her choice of word.
"Romantic? That's what you could think of?" He commented trying to stifle his laughter.
"I- yeah! it is kinda romantic ... you know ",she said in a low voice, now unsure of her choice of words. "Anyways, will you continue?"
"Ah! ok ok. So, now you know we aren't immortal and stuff. My mom is a human and dad is a vampire. You met them yesterday. Not a memorable meeting but yes..."
"Oh!... and what about your grandparents?"
"My grandma is a vampire".
"And Where's your grandpa?"
"I don't know anything about him".
"Huh? Meaning?"
He shrugged saying,"I know nothing about him. Nobody ever talked about him and even if we asked we never got a proper answer and eventually we stopped asking."
"Ok, Alright. By the way what if you don't mate? What happens then?"
"If you do not mate then that means you haven't completed your transition. I'll explain from the beginning. When a vampire and a human have a child, like me and Aiden, when we were born we were born as human and after reaching the age of 18 we started transitioning and our vampire traits started showing and developing and we can only complete this transition when we mate and if we don't, we'll age like normal people do because a part of us is still human but the thing is we'll live more than average human being, in brief more than 100 years but we'll still die",Ian explained.
"I think I do understand what you mean",Adina said, trying to process all the information.
"Huff. You better do, I'm not explaining it again. So, that was all about mating and immortality stuff and now wha-"
He got cut off by Adina,"No wait! You haven't told me how you mate and why don't you turn your mate into a vampire?"
"Oh no no no no! We don't turn humans into vampires. Even though we are in a small number, it should stay like that only. We can't play with the balance of nature. Just imagine how this world will become with more and more people of our kind. Anyways, to answer your question we can't turn a human not even our mate into a vampire and about the mating process I don't think it concerns you so let's skip this part",Ian smiled at her and put the cup of finished hot coco on the table beside him and again leaned back in his chair. Adina didn't say anything because she didn't want to pry him for any information if he wasn't willing to tell her. He continued,"Anything else you wanna ask?"
"Uh.. what is your dietary habits?"
"You already know we feed on animal blood and we also survive on normal food. We don't drink human blood because we can't risk our exposure."
"Ah! understandable ",she nodded.
"Anything else?",he again asked.
"I guess its all for now. Do you have anything to share?" She said and her eyebrows and shoulder blades went up.
He then told her about his relatives and they just talked. David came and gave them the lunch and after having it Adina asked,"Ian, where is Aiden?" Hesitation was clear in her voice.