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Kier
I watched the cottage from my perch on a nearby redwood, my view of the building unhindered. My excellent hearing told me that Calla was accompanied by her parents, who were preparing to leave on their trip. I saw a motorized vehicle in the driveway and was impatient for them to leave so Calla could invite me to the small guest house, where I could be safe from any prying eyes.
I felt guilty for involving her in my drama, but there was nothing to do about it.
I had to survive.
Luckily, a vampire had amazing capabilities and I was able to fly down and materialize in the shadows beside the house, listening in to the family as they finished their preparations.
The scent of their blood was intense, especially to one who had been denied it for so long. I could have, if I'd been less ethical, killed them all, drained their blood, and become far stronger but I didn't want to harm Calla or her family. They were innocent – unaware of the existence of my kind or our power over them.
That lack of knowledge saved their lives and kept the peace between vampire and mortal.
I listened to Calla speaking with her mother and heaved a sigh of relief. My compulsion had been successful and she said nothing about meeting me or my existence.
Not all mortals were as susceptible to compulsion. Some resisted it better than others, and a very few were completely immune. Those, the ruling council destroyed as soon as they were discovered. It was the price humanity p
aid to keep the truce. If those immune were to learn of each other and band together, they would be a formidable force. One that could threaten us and that could not be allowed.
I lingered in the shadows outside the cottage, standing beside the windows, my extreme senses picking up every sound in the building.
I heard the vehicle arrive long before I saw it, attuned to the strange sounds of the internal combustion engine – something so foreign to me that I couldn’t help but notice it.
It was a strange vehicle, small compared to some I had seen on my trip up the coast.
The young woman – Chelsea -- squealed when she saw Calla, waving out the window.
"Hey, girlie!" Chelsea said as she stopped the automobile in an empty spot beside a much larger vehicle. "I missed you so much!"
She climbed out of the driver's seat and ran to Calla, throwing her arms around the smaller woman and picking her up in a hug.
Chelsea was dressed in strange clothing, her blond hair unruly and tied back with a colorful scarf. She was also tall -- almost six feet.
They hugged and laughed, began speaking about the trip from Sonoma while she removed her luggage from the back seat.
The two women went into the building and I moved closer, standing in the shadows beside the window, invisible to all but the most attuned eye. I listened with interest as they talked, learning more about this world as I did. I felt like such an outsider as I lurked in the shadows, waiting for my chance to be with Calla alone, and drink some of her blood to revive me more fully.
While the two young women spoke, the parents were finishing their own packing. I learned that they were taking their vehicle to Portland where they would take an airplane for the trip across the ocean to Europe.
This new world amazed me and I was shocked at how fast people could travel compared to the last time I was a free man. Back before I was imprisoned, we traveled only via train and ship, the few motorized vehicles used for local travel.
When the time came for Calla's parents to leave, I watched as they hugged, kissed and said their goodbyes. Watching Calla with her parents made me feel a deep melancholy for my own family and my past. How long had it been since I felt the touch of a loved one? Felt their embrace?
It had been so long, I ached for it.
"If you need anything, you can charge it at the grocers on our account.," Calla's mother said. "If any kind of emergency should happen, I have all the numbers on the refrigerator. We'll call you once we get into our hotel room." She brushed a strand of hair from Calla's cheek and smiled. "This is the first time you've ever stayed alone."
"I know," Calla said.
"You two will be fine."
She kissed Calla and then her father kissed her and they were gone.
At my first opportunity, I’d get Calla to invite me into the guest house.
I needed shelter.
I needed blood.
