Please do not be scared. I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.”
And with that, he looked up. His eyes were blood red and he opened his mouth to reveal extremely sharp, unbelievably white fangs. In that moment, I learned several things. First, vampires do exist. Despite what anyone tells you, they do. Second, they can apparently pass for normal humans quite easily, as I’d known Steven for several months and had only the tiniest inkling that something was off. Third, vampires do not pass out the moment the sun rises, as it was nearly ten in the morning and the sun was definitely up outside. Fourth, a vampire’s fangs are not the human canine. They are the lateral incisor, which looks just like a normal tooth when it is not extended. And lastly, I knew Steven loved me unequivocally and would never hurt me. I could see it in his eyes and feel it in his hands when he touched me. I was as safe with him as I was with my own family, perhaps safer, considering his ability to protect me from physical harm.
A thousand and one questions raced through my head. I searched desperately, trying to determine which the most important one was. Steven could see the turmoil on my face.
“Please do not hate me, Jane. I wanted to tell you sooner, but the timing was never right. I didn't want to lose you. Please, love. Please give me a chance to prove to you that I’m still the same guy you knew before.”
Finally, I found it. I looked him directly in the eyes and squinted a bit. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes, anything. Please, ask me anything.”
I paused a moment.
“Did you really meet Marley? Like, the real Bob Marley?”
Steven visibly relaxed and laughed. “Yes. I met him a couple times. The last time I saw him was in New York in 1980. If you could have met the man… he was amazing. Everything the stories say and more. I still see Rita from time to time. She’s an angel.”
“Does she know what you are?”
“Yep. He did, too. He helped me out a couple times when others got a bit too close for comfort.”
He spent the next several days answering all the questions I could think to ask. The first question after the Marley discussion was, “So, I take it you don't drop dead asleep once the sun comes up?”
“Not at all. In fact, we can stay up for days. We just can’t go out in the sunlight. It's like getting a sunburn, magnified by a thousand. It doesn’t necessarily kill us, but it will definitely put us out of commission for awhile until we can heal.”
Then the next extremely important question, which probably should have been the first, “Have you ever killed anyone?”
“Yes, I have. But not from drinking their blood, which is probably what most people would think. I have killed people in war, and I have killed people who have tried to kill me. But we do not kill people when we drink. We only need a little bit to sustain us for awhile. I can drink someone’s blood while they’re sleeping and by the time they wake up, the wounds will be healed and their blood will be nearly replenished.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Have you fed on me?”
“Absolutely not. You mean too much to me. I admit, I have thought about it, about how wonderful you'd taste, but you are just so beautiful when you sleep, I can’t imagine doing something like that to you. At least, not without asking first.”
That was our first awkward moment, but it did not last long. I had too much to learn.
“I've seen you eating and drinking coffee. I thought vampires couldn’t handle human food.”
“It is not that we can’t handle it. It just doesn’t provide us with any sustenance. It offers no nutritional value at all. But it still tastes good. So we can eat human food and keep up all appearances that we are human. Actually, one food does have a bit of an effect. Caffeine gives us a bit of a high. Kind of like pot to humans. Which is why I sip my coffee slowly. I wouldn’t want to get toasted and let it slip around the wrong people that I’m a vampire. That wouldn’t be fun, now would it?”
“Coffee makes you high? Now that's a new one. I don't think I’d find that in any vampire history books.”
“Probably not. Caffeine is so readily available that we keep that little secret under wraps. Imagine what would happen to all the vampires out there if everyone knew they could mess us up just by brewing an extra strong pot of coffee? It would not be pretty.”
“How many vampires are there?”
“Oh, quite a few. I would say nearly a tenth of the world’s population is made up of vampires.”
“Holy crap. Seriously? That's a metric shit-ton of people.”
He laughed, the skin around his eyes crinkling in a way that made my heart skip. “Yep. And you wouldn’t have a clue if you weren’t one of them, or really close to one of them. Vampires are in all walks of life. Most of them stick to jobs that don't require them to be out during the day, such as third shift work, or work from home stuff. A lot of them are artists of some sort because they can set their own hours. Some of the more famous authors, painters, and musicians are vampires. And some of the more successful prostitutes, as well. Prostitution is really tailored to vampires. It happens at night under the cover of darkness, the risk of disease isn’t there for the vampire, they can drink from their clients without the clients ever knowing, and they get paid to have sex. Not something I would do, but I know several who are nearly as well off as I am, and they work a whole lot less.”
“Why aren’t you pale?”
“That, my darling Jane, is a myth. We start to get a little pale if we haven’t drank for awhile, and if it goes on for too long, our color will start to drain significantly, but the moment we drink, it comes right back. I think the myth must have been started when a vampire became so thirsty he, or she, got desperate and exposed themselves.”
“Can you die from thirst?”
“Yes, but it could take years. That all depends on how old and strong the vampire is. Newer vampires need to drink every couple days. An older vampire could go for a very long time. Even longer if they can get hold of an animal or two to drink from.”
“How old are you?”
“That is a very long tale to tell. And we have to be at work in five hours. Let’s get a few hours sleep, then we can come back here after work and I will tell you everything. Just to forewarn you, though, it might take me several days to cover everything.”
“That's fine. I want to know everything. I want to know all about you.”