In Dreams: Bleed Out

Changes

The vampire hesitated for a moment.

"Wait, back up, I can't keep referring to you as 'the vampire' in my head.  What's your name?"  I asked.

"Alexandre."  He replied promptly.

"I bet there's a story behind that name."  I said, my eyes gleaming.  "I'm Carys by the way."

"You are easily distracted child."  Alexandre replied.  I tilted my head and realized he was right.  My mind felt like it was running in a thousand directions at once.

"Where's our fangs?"  I respond curiously.  "Wait, do I have to drink blood now?  Can I still eat food?  Will I still have to pee?  Oh no-is the sun off limits now?  Ugh, do I have to stay away from crosses and churches and things now?  Oh my god, do I have to sleep in a coffin?"  Questions continued to occur to me and I couldn't stop them from pouring out of my mouth.  Alexandre looked at me with an expression somewhere between amusement and exasperation.

"Child stop."  He commanded.  My mouth snapped shut.  But I mumbled into my cheeks, rolling my eyes.

"What did you just say?"  Alexandre asked imperiously.

"I'm not a child.  I'm in my thirties, or at least I was I guess."  I answered, crossing my arms.

"Dear, I have been alive since 1898, you are a child to me."  He said with exasperation.

Damn this guy is kinda old.  I snapped my mouth closed again after realizing it was hanging open.

"Now, to answer some of your many questions...  No, you will not have to sleep in a coffin, nor flee from the sun, crosses, religious emblems or religious sites of any kind... unless you want to.  Again, these things are based in myth or religious superstitions, mainly from Christianity, that is grounding these ideas on the belief that vampirism is a pact with the devil or some such."  Another wave of his hand in a bored manner.  "I don't know about you, but I signed no such contract.  Vampirism, according to my own personal research, is more of a virus, being passed from carrier to carrier.  It requires an exchange of fluids, much like many viruses, for example Rabies or HIV."  I flinched, that was kinda harsh.

"Concerning the sun: You may or may not go out as you choose.  Vampirism causes increased sensitivities, most of us prefer the dark because our vision becomes too sensitive to daylight.  Extreme cases may produce a rash or sunburn, if you will, after lack of sunlight over many years.  You'll also find that you're naturally inclined to sleep during the day and be active at night.  You CAN walk around in the daytime and sunlight, but you may feel lethargic and tired, since your bio rhythms are now set to be more nocturnal."

"As far as food... Your body will crave and require blood now.  You may abstain for lengthy periods of time, but it's like depriving your old body of essential vitamins or minerals...there are...side effects.  You will feel very little drive to eat solids."

My head was spinning, and a yawn suddenly burst from my mouth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even realize I was tired until now."  I apologized to Alexandre.  His face gentled.

"Your body has more healing left to do.  Think of it like recovering from a long illness.  You'll need rest and to work back up to your normal strength.  Please, lay down and sleep.  We can discuss more tomorrow."  He said kindly.  I nodded and yawned again.

"Thank you Alexandre."  He nodded and stood, I grabbed his hand before he could leave the room.  "No seriously, thank you."  I said earnestly.  Alexandre gently removed his hand from mine.

"You are welcome child, though I feel this is going to be quite an adjustment for both of us."  He answered and turned again to leave the room.

I crawled onto the huge bed and snuggled up in the center.  The door shut quietly and I start to feel my muscles relax.  I jerked back awake remembering the needle with the blood pouring my life out.  It had felt a lot like going to sleep too.  I didn't think I would ever sleep well again.

After dozing in and out fitfully for a few hours, I finally gave up on sleep and got up.  I had not even been out of this room and I really had no idea where I even was.  I headed out into a long dark hall, or what I thought was a hall at first, but then realized it was more of a walkway or landing with a railing preventing anyone from tumbling down a story into what could only be described as a large ball room or dining hall.

Jeez, this guy must be loaded.  To my right, the walkway seemed to end with a staircase running down against an adjacent wall to the bottom level.  Ornate double doors were in the middle of the wall on the bottom floor on each end of the room.  I was sure the one by the staircase lead outside, though I wasn't really sure how I knew that, but I turned to my left and walked the length of the landing, passing through a doorway near the end.  What was on the other side of the doorway looked like the main house, it was ridiculously fancy.  A grand curving marble staircase led to the main floor, in which there were several doors leading to different locations.  Immediately opposite the staircase was another set of double doors, which must be the 'main' entrance.  They were the cliche large, white, ornate doors trimmed in gold you'd see on a TV show.  On the level I was on there were other doors as well, this place must be huge!

"Very cliche."  I mumbled to myself as I walked down the marble staircase.  I picked the first door on the wall to the left of the double doors.  Opening the door cautiously, I found a completely empty room, very long with many large windows.  I had no idea what it was used for, but I could easily imagine an office, or personal family banquet area set up here, or maybe just a room to entertain visitors.  I shut the door and went to the next room.  It opened onto a very large library.  Score!  I eagerly walked inside.  There were two floors worth of books, with other entrances and exits on both levels.  Another cliche within the room was a large fire place with a small table and two comfy chairs settled beside it.  Other chairs could be spotted sporadically amongst the shelves.  There were ladders leaning against the floor to ceiling book shelves.  I grinned.  Where to start?

Wandering around the room, I was surprised to see a rather eclectic collection of books, dating from the 1800's to today.  I was absolutely tickled to find a section of tiny vintage hard back 'pocket' books that I opened gently and reverently to browse through, inhaling the smell of the well kept dry old pages.  There were textbooks dating through the years, a wide collection of mystery and horror novels, and even a large shelf devoted to my favorite, Steven King.  I laughed out loud at the thought of a vampire interested in horror stories, but wait, so was I now, right?  I shuddered a bit at the thought.  Upstairs, there were books on myths, religions, sciences, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and all kinds of other educational texts that I found intriguing.  There were several book on learning new languages, and then I stumbled into titles in languages I couldn't read, but had interesting covers to say the least.  I sighed.  If I now had an incredibly long life span, maybe I should learn a few new languages.

Discarding the idea for the present, I raced back down the stairs happily, nearly stumbling over my own feet.  I stopped abruptly and stared back at the staircase, deciding to test a theory.  I raced back up the spiral wrought iron staircase and again almost tripped as my feet moved almost too quickly for me to register.  I stopped, startled and decided to try another crazy idea.  I went down the stairs a bit and leaped over the railing to the bottom floor.  It wasn't a graceful landing per se, but the fact remained, my reflexes seemed quicker and my body a little stronger, even if my mind needed a little time to adjust.  Crazy test number three, I climbed up the spiral staircase on the outside of the wrought iron railing, just to see if I could, jumping and pulling myself up to the second level in ways I never could have before.  I sat down on the stairs, shaking my head.  Maybe I really had died and this was the afterlife or something.  Or maybe I was just looking for things that weren't there.  I bit my lower lip and tasted the blood before I felt the puncture.  I yelped in panic, licking my lip, but the wound was already closing.  Enough of this, I jumped from the staircase again and shakily walked towards the section that caught my eye before.  There were so many books I hadn't even looked at yet, but I needed an old friend.  I ran my hand along the spines of the Stephen King books, picking a random title I had never read, then grabbed a comfy chair by the fireplace.

"Cliche."  I grumbled again before settling in to read.

I don't know when I fell asleep but a soft voice woke me from my awkward position.

"It seems you found my library."