ADRIA’S POV
His eyes held a malicious glint when I made that statement, and I spotted the little upturn in his lip.
“Teach you?” He asked, slowly, turning to face me, and although I was a little hesitant there, I eventually nodded.
“Yes. I… I would like to learn to use those skills.” I replied, and he gave a wide smile.
“Then let’s meet here again tomorrow night.” He said, walking towards me.
“Tomorrow night?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Tomorrow night, I will show you a bit of what we can do. We will take it little by little. Remember, a giant jump makes you skip all the little details, and I’ll teach you how to love yourself just the way you are.” He assured me, with a hand on my shoulder, and at that moment, I felt a connection to him.
He had said he was lonely. Did people avoid him because of what he was? Was he like me? Did he suddenly wake to find himself a vampire?
He was going to teach me to love myself just the way I was. How had he known I had been hating myself for being a vampire? Could I really love being a vampire? Could I really love what I was?
Those were the words Lucien was meant to say to me. He was meant to love me just the way I was. He knew me, and he knew I couldn’t harm a soul.
“Who cares about what they think of us? We’re going to spend the time thinking about only ‘us’. We will be our best selves, and no one would make us question our being. We will love ourselves, regardless of what they say.” He continued, and a little smile lit my face.
His words were very comforting.
“It’s been hard hating myself, and I can’t help but imagine how mind-lifting it would be to love what I am.” I replied, and bit my lip.
“Trust me, It’ll feel like a burden was lifted off you.” He said, lifting his hand off my shoulder. “Run along now. I’ll be here around the same time tomorrow. We’ll meet again.”
With one last look at him, I turned and started to walk away. I looked back a few times, and he was still there, watching me with a smile.
When he was out of sight, I ran because I was all alone, and didn’t want to encounter anything that wasn’t human.
As I ran, I realized I had gone really far, and chuckled. If I hadn’t gone too far, then I might not have met Derek.
When I got back home, I was only able to change my clothes before I fell asleep on my bed. I hadn’t even been able to take a shower.
~
The next morning, I woke up with a smile on my face. It felt nice having someone who could relate with you. It felt really pleasant having someone who was the same as you.
With time, I felt I could actually tell Derek about the things bothering me. Sure, he was a little spooky, but I guessed it was all part of the vampire charm.
I went to school, happier than I hadn’t been in days, and when I saw Lucien, I actually smiled.
In a few days, when I had become stronger, and was able to break through the barriers of people’s minds, I’d be able to see through his, and decide for myself if I was still going to be heartbroken, or secretly happy.
“What with this contagious happiness?” Stacy asked with a smile, as we walked into History class, and I giggled.
“Nothing. I just woke up feeling really good.”
“Oh, tell me. It’s Professor Lucien, isn’t it?” She urged, nudging me with her shoulder, and a smile spread on my face. “Look at that smile, Adria!” She squealed, touching my cheeks, and I smiled.
Lucien walked into the class, and started his lecture after taking the attendance, and he didn’t look my way except for the time I answered a question he had thrown to the class.
When he saw me reply cheerfully, his eyebrow twitched, and I knew he was wondering why I suddenly switched from being dull, and gloomy to being bright and cheerful.
*Just wait a little longer. I’ll break into that closed mind of yours.* I thought to myself, and smiled when he told me my answer was correct, but had a flaw in it.
He explained better to the class, and Stacy leaned in.
“He really is something else. He doesn’t have a case of favoritism. He’s still pointing out the mistakes in your answer, even though you are both lovebirds.” She whispered softly, and I smiled, wanting to ask her to be careful, since he was probably listening.
I couldn’t wait for night to arrive, and literally paced around my room, waiting for Ten PM to stand boldly on my phone, so I could explore what being a vampire had to offer.
Soon enough, it was ten PM already, and I was running along the streets, wondering if I was going too fast, but I guessed not, since no one was staring at me.
I got into the forest, and walked quickly, breathing hard, as my breath had already been spent on running.
Twigs snapped, and dry leaves crumbled into dust under my feet, and at a point, I stopped, and placed my hands on my knees.
“Feel tired, Adria. In no time, you’ll never feel tired anymore. Just… just bear with it now, and try to remember what it feels like to be tired.” I said to myself optimistically, and continued to walk.
Finally, after minutes of trying to remember things I had seen the previous night, I got to the spot… our spot.
Our moonlight rock spot.
Derek was there already, and a smile lit his face as he saw me.
Then he walked to me, and pulled me to where he had been standing earlier.
“Welcome. By the time you leave here tonight, you’d be ten times faster than any other human while running, so I guess you would have to be more careful, and would have to slow down for those slow humans.” He advised, putting his hand on my shoulders to stop me from walking further.
“Okay, I’d love that. It was a real hassle for me to get here.” I replied, smiling, and he laughed.
“Meet Jessie.” He introduced, and a girl came out of the dark.
“Who’s…”
“Watch carefully.” He said, going to stand behind her, and his eyes were on me as he bent to her neck, sniffing it, and at once, he bit into it.
I hadn’t even seen his teeth pull out, instead, I saw the blood run down her neck.