I sat on the window sill, staring out at the empty scene. There was no soul to be seen on the street. The night was silent. Not even the crickets were audible. I was in the company quarters. It was dark out and David had insisted I stay in the quarters until the next morning. I still struggled with the fact that these vampires were discussing about what to do with me.
'We are not going to hurt her!' David had demanded, and everyone had nodded. David had assured me that no one was allowed to lay a finger on me. He had asked me not to be afraid and that I was safe with them. It was a questionable decision, but he had seemed confident, so I decided to believe him. The room I was staying in was gigantic and luxurious just like the rest of the building. The comfy bed looked like it had been stuffed with thousands of cushions. The royal lighting was ambient and relaxing.
The swipe of a key card followed by the opening of the door to my room knocked me out of my daze. Ian abruptly came in and slouched down on the perfectly made bed. Seeing him there made my hands start shaking again. I crimpled the end of my skirt and moved back a few steps, waiting for an explanation.
Ian looked at me and rolled his eyes. 'I suppose you want me to tell you why I'm here.', he said.
I smiled at him sarcastically, hoping to make him realize he was invading private space.
He continued after a scoff, 'The others sent me here to babysit you while they discuss life and death situations.' His casual approach made me relax a little. I was a little annoyed, but his snarky comment made me let out a chuckle. He looked at me like I had done something he had never seen before, but then he lifted up just a corner of his mouth and disclosed a small but pleased smile. It was the first time I had ever seen Ian genuinely smile. It made him look beautiful in a way I had never thought of. I looked at him with fascination which made him return to his normal grumpy look.
'So,' he said. 'What do you humans do for entertainment? Don't you ever get bored of you small lives?'
'We relax' I answered. 'Whenever we have time on our hands, we do things that make us happy, because as you said, our life is short. We work our asses of just for that one weekend in a bar or on a picnic when the only thing on our mind is relaxation.'
He raised his eyebrows whilst letting that sink in. 'Why would you want to work for a good time?' he asked.
'Because it makes life worth living' I instantly replied. 'Vampires may have super speed and strength and you may like immortality, but the shortest stories are always the best.'
He looked at me with a little astonishment and a newfound enthusiasm. I could see he wanted to fight me on it, but he held back. Realizing I had just proven a point to a creature stronger than me, I tensed up again, this time with a little bit of pride. Ian didn't look like he wanted to kill me anymore. He actually looked quite comfortable. I could see his anger for me drift off a little as he smiled at me again.
'I'm bored.', he said after a short while. 'Let's go grab a drink.'
Seeing how I stood there, uncertain about the next move, he went over to the door and held it open.
'Don't worry' he assured me, 'I'm not allowed to touch you without your permission'.
***
I didn't realize how dazzled I was with all the vampire drama until I reached the bar. This was the bar I usually went to. It looked exactly the same as it did before I knew about vampires. It was like nothing had changed. It took some time for me to come to terms with the fact that the world had only changed for me. The things I had seen, the truth I had discovered was not a concern to anyone else because every other soul was unaware of it. As always, I was pulled out of my thoughts by Ian's deep voice.
'What do you want to drink?', he asked.
'Nothing.' I answered. 'I don't drink.'
'Yeah, that', he said, rolling his eyes at me like I was crazy.
As we waited for Ian's beer to arrive, we ran out of things to look at trying to ignore each other, so Ian finally decided to start a conversation.
'So, Olivia...', he started.
'Just call me Liv' I interrupted.
'Alright, Liv', he continued, 'You are different. You ever wonder why that is?'
'I don't.' I spoke. 'Mostly because I didn't know about it until yesterday.'
Ian snickered. His laugh was funny. His eyes gleamed with exhaustion, but his smile was genuine. As soon as the glass of beer was kept in front of him, he picked it up and finished the whole thing in one big gulp. He set the glass back down on the bar and gestured the bartender for another one.
'Relax.', I said. 'I can't carry you back.'
'Oh, don't worry', he said, tilting his head in annoyance. 'Vampires don't get drunk.'
He was wrong. After a couple more refills, he started getting weird. He started blabbering nonsense and kept threatening the bartender to get him more refills. That was my que to stop him from having more. I paid for the drinks with the credit card sticking out of Ian's pocket and got off the barstool. I pulled Ian down and let him lean on me as I led him out the bar.
The empty, dark streets on the way back scared the hell out of me, but I didn't have my phone so I couldn't call for help. I found a bench and sat Ian down. He watched as I massaged my paining neck.
'You smell nice.' He blurted.
'What?' I asked.
'You smell nice.' he said again, befuddled. 'Your perfume. Its nice.'
I breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment I felt like he wanted to eat me. His eyes were fixated on my neck since the moment we had left the bar. A slight, cool summer breeze brought the loneliness along with it. This place could be a perfect vampire ambush. My hands tightened at the thought. I clenched my fists and dug my fingernails into my palm. I didn't realize how terrified that single thought made me until my nails tore the skin on the bottom of my palm and I started bleeding.
Ian fell out of his daze and looked at me with wide eyes. My heart momentarily stopped as he stood up and started walking over to me. Unsure of what to do next, I took off. I ran as fast as I could until I reached a dead-end ally behind a building. I heard a familiar whoosh of air and Ian jumped behind me. Scared from the ends of my hair to the tip of my toes, I tried to run again, but Ian caught me by the wrist and pulled me closer to him. He kept his firm hold as I struggled.
'Stop! Olivia!' he yelled and I stopped moving. I looked at him with intense amount of fear in my eyes as he tucked my disheveled hair behind my ear.
'I am not going to hurt you.' he said, quietly. He took my bleeding hand and wiped it with the end of his shirt sleeve. His gaze still on my palm, he took a napkin out of his coat pocket and wrapped it around the wound.
'It's okay.' he assured me. 'You're safe with me. But there are other vampires around this area who might not feel the same. Let's get out of here before...'