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I shook my head and held out my hand. “Not so fast. I want some company. I’ve been alone for a very long time after all. I need you to explain everything to me, so I have some questions of my own.”
“Like what?”
I pointed around the room at the devices whose purpose I was interested in learning. “There are so many things that rely on electricity. I’m at a loss for most of this.” I gestured to the device on the wall and then at another in the kitchen. “I understand about electric lights, but these other devices…”
“This,” she said and took a small device off the table, pointing it at a large black device on the wall, “is called television. It’s like a moving picture except the device receives the pictures from the Internet and—.”
“Internet?”
She sighed, a hint of exasperation in her tone. “I have a lot to explain.”
For the next three hours, we sat together and I peppered her with my own questions about her world – the world in which I must now exist. She explained to me all the developments since 1906 – a revolution in technology that I still could not quite grasp or appreciate. Suffice to say that mortals had succeeded in using electricity to make many devices that assisted them in daily living. The internal combustion engine, communications technology that surpassed the telegraph and telephone.
It was a lot to take in, but what surprised me the most was flight. Mortals had mastered the sky and had even developed machines that could leave earth completely, travelling to the moon, landing on it, and sending other rockets to the distant planets.
“The moon?” I said when she told him about the Apollo missions.
“We’ve sent a rocket out beyond Pluto.”
I stood by the television and examined it up close, touching the surface gently. She held the 'controller' and moving images flashed on, people's faces, their voices. It was the most amazing spectacles I had seen since I escaped my prison.
I turned to her, unable to hide my awe. “It’s an amazing world.”
On her part, Calla yawned and tried to hide it behind her hand.
“Poor dear Calla,” I said and came to the sofa where she sat. I reached down to take her hand and lifted her up so that she stood before me. “Staying up past your bedtime to tell an old vampire all about the modern world.”
“What choice do I have?”
I nodded. “I know. It’s difficult to lose control. Haven’t I felt that for the past century? I promise I won’t detain you for very much longer. You should go back to the cottage and sleep. I have a few hours left before dawn and think I’ll go in search of someone to feed on.”
Her mouth opened in shock at that. “You’re going to kill someone? Someone from here?”
“Not kill. Just feed," I said quickly, not wanting her to think me a monster. "I’ll only take enough so that I won’t be too tempted to drain you dry.”
Then I led her to the door. When we reached it, I opened it for her and bowed low.
“Sleep well," I said and my gaze moved over her pretty face. "I’ll spend the day in the dark, waiting for nightfall. When the sun sets, I want you to return and spend some time with me again, after your friend goes to sleep. I need to know more about this modern world. I may need your help co
ntacting some of my associates.”
I bent down and kissed her knuckles and then I turned my hand around and pressed my lips against my bite mark affectionately. She was mine now, and even if I was honorable and wouldn’t kill her, that meant something special to me.
“Until tomorrow night.”
She stepped out of the guesthouse and went down the path to the cottage. Before she was inside, she glanced back and saw me standing in the shadows of the door.
I smiled, but I doubted she could see me in the darkness, for her eyes would not have adjusted yet. Mine, however, could see her in minute detail – her flushed cheeks, red from excitement and lingering fear. I could hear her heartbeat even from where I stood in the doorway, hear the blood pulsing through her veins. I could hear her breath in her lungs, and practically hear her hair rustling against her gown. At night I came alive, my senses enhanced. I would know where she was at all times when I was this near to her, now that I had claimed her and tasted her blood.
It was the vampire's curse – to need mortals and to desire them – sometimes even love them at the same time.
I intended not to hurt Calla. I wouldn't, if I could help it.
I'd contact my brother and leave as quickly as possible and Calla would be just a memory on my way to freedom.
Before I went to sleep for the day, I went to the house and stood outside Chelsea’s bedroom, intending to compel her obedience so neither she nor Calla could resist or go for help, in case Chelsea discovered me with Calla.
As luck would have it, she went out of the sliding door to the patio, standing and looking out at the night sky. I used that opportunity to compel her, coming up behind her using my stealth, touching her before she could resist or cry out in fear.
