The Vampire's little Mate (Sequel)

CHAPTER: 13

Tanya grabbed the cordless phone, sat cross-legged on the sofa, and dialed the familiar number. She had to wait for only two rings this time before her Mom's familiar voice answered.

"Hey, Mom," Tanya said into the receiver. Would she ever be able to stop calling her that? "I just wanted to make sure you were all right."

"I am getting better." Mom sounded better, happier than her last conversation at least. "How was your birthday?" she asked Tanya.

"It was not as bad as I thought it would be." Tanya laughed. "Kiara threw a surprise party, which went okay. Jack got me a laptop!"

"That's great, sweetie." Her mother said.

Tanya then heard a muffled voice in the background. "I have to go; my dinner is getting cold. Go enjoy the rest of your night," her mother said.

"Right, keep in touch. Okay?" Tanya said. 

"I will. Don't worry too much," her mom replied.

"I will try. Bye, Mom." Tanya couldn't call her anything but that.

"Bye, sweetie."

Alex delicately took the phone from her hand and kept it on the coffee table. "You have more questions," he said knowingly.

"Just a couple," Tanya replied shyly. "What happened to the burns?"

"Becoming a Vampire could be seen as a type of cleansing, I suppose. Any illness, wound, scar, or deformity you might have had as a human is healed upon turning," Alex replied.

"Then in a sense, isn't it better to become a Vampire?"

"No!" Alex shouted, causing her to look away in slight regret for asking. "Nothing is worth this sort of existence."

"Okay," Tanya croaked. "One more thing..." She braced herself for anger but instead received a smile from him.

"Ask away," he said with caution.

"It is more of a fact than a question." She twiddled her thumbs nervously. "Your eyes; they change color when you are summoning things or whatever..."

He blinked. "You noticed that?" he asked.

"Yes..."

"I am impressed." He smirked. "You must be very observant."

"Not usually," Tanya confessed. "What else can you tell me about vampires? I want to know everything." She was surprised by her question, but she had genuinely developed an interest in the topic.

"While some of what you have heard or read or seen are definite myths, there are some attributes we do obtain; such as speed. We can run quicker than any human, and drinking the blood of humans make us exceptionally strong." He then looked disgusted for a moment. "Powerful Vampires can possess the ability to share visions and memories with others by a mere touch of their hand. I spent many years experimenting with what I could and could not do after I left 'Ralph,' my 'Sire.' It truly was amazing to me that daylight did not kill me, and so I wondered what else was true and what wasn't."

After a pause, he continued, "I knew that sleeping was no longer necessary, but I attempted to sleep, nevertheless. As Ralph claimed it was impossible, and I was stubborn enough to put it to the test. But unfortunately, he was correct. I cannot even imagine what dreaming is like anymore." He sighed and looked at Tanya. "That is enough Vampire talk for now though, I believe."

"Surely there is more than you can tell me, Alex." She was practically begging. Perhaps it was the Vampire hunter in her that hungered for more information, or maybe she was just a curious girl.

"Well there is one thing," he said with an expression of discomfort on his face. "But I would prefer not to discuss it right now."

Her eyebrows arched upward. "Now you have to tell me."

"I am afraid that it might upset you, Tanya."

Swallowing hard, she tried to keep her face straight. "Why would it upset me?"

"Because I have used this particular ability on you, Tanya."

"What...what are you talking about, Alex?"

"Vampires can persuade mortals into doing essentially anything, without any effort, whatsoever."

Her eyes were firmly locked on him, her mouth agape, and an involuntary shudder rippled down her spine. "That is how you convinced me to agree to stay at your place?"

"That is how I convinced you to come to my house," he confirmed. "The effect was beginning to wear off towards the end of the evening, hence your outburst in the morning."

It was difficult to restrain herself from feeling angry. Tanya felt completely violated, yet at the same time, there was a part of her that was thankful that she had gone with him and learned what she had. She now also understood why she kept having conflicted feelings about it, and the sudden calmness she had felt after wanting to panic and leave. "Promise me, Alex, you will never use it on me again."

"I promise," he vowed.

The room fell silent for a moment, and then Alex glanced up at the clock. It was nearing 11 pm. "Do you need to go somewhere?" Tanya asked, trying to avoid thinking about this new-found knowledge.

"No," he replied. "I was just noticing your birthday is coming to an end."

"I don't mind," Tanya laughed. "Not this year."

"There was one last gift I wanted to give you, but I was not sure how you would react?" Alex looked uneasy.

"What is it?" She asked anxiously.

"It will be much easier to show you than to tell you," he said.

She eyed him suspiciously. "Are you going to summon something out of thin air again or something?"

"No, not exactly." He chuckled. "Tanya, I know it is hard for you to realize the depth of my feelings right now, but you do mean a lot to me."

"Yeah, you keep saying that. Are you ever going to explain what you are talking about?" she asked him.

"In due time." He smiled lightly. "Close your eyes."

Tanya hesitated a moment before letting her eyelids fall shut. Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest as she waited intently for whatever was coming. Maybe he had lied about not being enticed by human blood and was about to bite into her throat; oddly, part of her didn't care. Her eyes almost flew open as she felt his cool breath against the side of her face. Tenderly, he brushed his cold lips against her cheek.

"Happy birthday, Tanya," he whispered into her ear.

She was speechless, breathless "Alex..." She became more focused. "You can breathe?"

"Not quite as literally as you can," he replied, obviously stunned by her unexpected response to his action.

"Oh." Her expression was blank momentarily, and then she grinned at him. "I was wrong earlier when I thought to myself nothing could compare to the laptop Jack gave me."

His lips twisted into a magnificent smile before he stood up. Tanya was uncertain what he was doing at first until he picked her off the sofa and effortlessly cradled her in his arms as he made his way up the stairs. She grasped his arms tightly, afraid with every step that he would drop her. Somewhere deep inside she also still feared for her blood. What if he could not control his hunger around her? Then again...he had been living this way for more than a hundred years. Why would he suddenly hunger for her blood, when human blood had never interested him in the past?

Alex approached her bedroom door, which was wide open and inviting. He laid her gracefully across her soft mattress and pulled the covers up over her. She nearly objected before he put a cold finger to her lips.

"It is late, and you have had a long, tiresome day," he whispered. "Get some sleep, Tanya."

"But I haven't even gotten to enjoy my presents yet." Tanya playfully whined.

"Not even the last one?" he asked with an innocent grin.

"Well, when you put it that way...I enjoyed one of my gifts." She yawned and was more tired than she had realized. 

"Goodnight," he whispered sweetly and Tanya drifted away into a deep slumber, thinking how maybe it was not so preposterous to imagine Alex and herself as a couple.