phone. Honestly Rodger, sometimes I wonder about you.” Chuck shook his head.
We walked to the center of the playground and stopped. Chuck stood motionless as I turned in a circle, looking for the visiting vampire.
“Would you stop acting like a weather vane and stand still,” Chuck said in a low voice. “He’s right over there.” I turned to look in the direction he was looking, but I could only see the darkness that was the wall of the school. A shadow separated itself, and moved towards us. It covered half of the distance before shifting into human form. That scared me and caused my heart to start beating faster. I glanced at Chuck, but he hadn’t moved a muscle that I could see. I suddenly wondered if Abarran, as Chuck’s master, could cast a spell over him. The second thought I had was that maybe this vampire-meeting business wasn’t such a good idea for me if I couldn’t think of something that important until it was too late.
Abarran stopped about ten feet away from us; thankfully well outside of my comfort zone. He was short, on the thin side, with a balding head. He wore glasses and had a protruding Adam’s apple. In short, he looked like a nerd.
I glanced at Chuck, starting to think of a funny remark about the geek that had scared me so badly just a few moments before. But he still had not moved, and actually had a furrowed brow that hadn’t been there earlier. I decided to keep my mouth shut.
“My son,” Abarran said. “I am happy to see that you have survived the Gift, and appear to be flourishing.” His voice was high pitched and weak. Why was Chuck so cautious of this guy? “Thank you for the gift, but I have already fed for the night. I do appreciate the gesture, and I applaud you for showing such old-world manners.” Abarran nodded his head once to show his pleasure.
I shot a look at Chuck. What did he mean by gift? Then it came to me: he thought I was a gift! My heart rate accelerated and both vampires looked at me.
“Please stop that,” Chuck said to me. Then turning his head back towards Abarran, he said, “You misunderstand. He is not a gift. He is with me.”
“Ah, a ‘neck’ as the younger generation calls it. But it is rude to only bring one for yourself.” Abarran showed his displeasure with a frown.
This guy thought I was Chuck’s next snack! My fear gave way to anger. I was not a McVampire Happy Meal!
“I’m not anyone’s neck, Dracula!” I all but yelled. “My name is…”
“NOT important,” Chuck said, while giving me a dirty look. “Abarran, I think we are getting off on the wrong foot here. I welcome you, and thank you for the opportunity to ask you some questions.”
Abarran turned to look at me for the first time. His eyes showed no humanity whatsoever. Black eyes, like a doll’s eyes, the quote from Jaws, came to me. My anger evaporated, and I took an involuntary step back. I thought I could restrain myself for a while and let Chuck do the talking.
Abarran returned his attention to Chuck. “Yes, my son. I expect you do have some questions. But first, if I may ask one of you: Why are you wearing a tuxedo?”
I could almost see Chuck blush. “I had thought to dress in a manner fitting for the meeting of someone important,” he ground out in a low voice.
“Maybe you have watched too many movies, my son.” Abarran’s lips twitched, which I assumed was his idea of a smile. “Now, what would you ask me?”
“Are you my master?” Chuck asked.
“Yes, I am,” Abarran responded.
“What does that mean, exactly?”
Abarran rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. “Please answer a few questions for me, and I will then answer yours.
“Did you hear me calling to you with my mind?”
“No.”
“Did you sense my presence in the area?”
“Yes.”
“Does my presence fill you with…completeness, or some other emotion?”
“Actually, it is an irritation, no disrespect intended.”
“None taken. Thank you for your honesty.” Abarran crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m afraid we do not have the appropriate master-underling connection. I thought this might be the case when I could not contact you mentally.”
“What has caused this?” Chuck asked.
“When I gave you the Gift of Blood, I was called by my master, as you may remember.” Chuck looked annoyed as he nodded his head. “I have an appropriate connection to my master, and I was unable to disregard his summons. The unfortunate timing of this has meant that I could not complete your transformation.”
“So, am I a vampire or not?” Chuck asked.
“Yes, you are a vampire. But your blood ties have been compromised. For example, I am connected to my master and to my own clan, that is, those that I have created. Those in my clan are connected to each other in a similar but less intense way. But I am not connected to you in the same fashion. You have no sense of me or the others in your…extended family, if you will. This can be dangerous for a vampire.”
Chuck looked startled. “Will it kill me?” he asked.
“No, it will not affect you in that way. It will be more of a mental danger. Vampires are normally a familial group. Our connections provide a sense of togetherness. One’s clan is most important. It comes before all other things. It provides a master with power and the children with support.
“You will not have that. You will be alone, and have to confront any problems on your own. No others will join a clan with you, for you cannot provide any mutual support.
“You will also have to watch out for other lone vampires. A clan is also a claim on an area, and is the strength for maintaining that claim. You will not have that strength to help you keep your area secure. Drifting vampires will sense your presence, but not the strength of a clan. That may embolden them to hunt in your territory.”
That statement jolted me. It reminded me that this was a creature that killed humans to survive.
“Are there many lone vampires?” asked Chuck.
“No. There are not many vampires period. The potential to live forever is a strong inducement to some. But the actual act of living forever is not so easy. Many vampires that survive the Gift find that they cannot take the rigors of drinking human blood for eternity, or they miss the sun. For these and other reasons, not many survive to the century mark. It is not unusual for a vampire to take that last look at the sun.”
“A form of suicide?” Chuck asked.
Abarran inclined his head and extended his hand. “That is a correct assessment.”
“How old are you?” I asked.
Abarran looked at me with those dead eyes. “I don’t make it a habit to speak to food.”
Yikes.
“Yet the question remains, how old are you?” Chuck asked.
“Next year I will be two hundred years old.”
“How have you survived so long? Don’t you miss the light of day or the company of humans?” Chuck looked intently at Abarran.
“No, I do not. Also, I have never had a problem taking human life. I was actually a murderer and thief before I was granted the Gift. And it has been a gift for me, the ability to play God, no, to be a god, for eternity.”
Double yikes. My thoughts of the suave and debonair vampires from the movies were fast departing. This guy was a psychopathic nerd that couldn’t die. I didn’t think the word monster would be out of line to describe him.
I think Chuck could sense my distress, as he cleared his throat and asked another question to keep Abarran’s attention focused on him.
“How much of the mythology of vampires is real? Does garlic work to keep you, um, us at bay?”
“Garlic does not work, unless you don’t like garlic.” Abarran’s lips twitched again. I think it was his version of a joke. I was too busy racking my brain to find a way out of this with my neck intact to find the humor in it.
“Sanctified ground or objects will repel you. You will find that you cannot enter a church or abide holy water. You can be killed by a stake to the heart or a beheading. Fire will also kill you.
Some things are more individual. I cannot be around running water, but some of my children have no problem with it. I have no fear of a crucifix shape, some cannot look upon it. Magic, even black magic such as our existence, is an elastic thing. There are few hard and fast rules.”
“Another question,” Chuck responded. “Is this area yours? I mean, are you the master of the territory I hunt in now?”
Abarran closed his eyes in thought for a moment. “I think the Council would say no, it is not. This territory is not part of a clan. It would be yours until a master claimed it. To do that, a master would have to create another vampire with his own clan connections to take this territory from you, or personally take it.”
“What is the Council?”
“It is a group of the oldest among us, who meet when there are issues to discuss and disputes to settle,” Abarran said. “Their decisions are final, with no appeal.”
“Would my territory be taken by force or by decree?” Chuck asked.
“By force. You would most likely have to be killed by another vampire for them to lay claim to your territory.”
“So my rights are less than a clan vampire? Is this correct?” Chuck stood up straight as he asked this last question.
“Unfortunately, you are correct. Through no fault of your own, you are considered a lone vampire. No one will kill you unnecessarily, and if you encounter an understanding master, you may be asked to move. But where would you go? You cannot join another clan, as I said earlier.”
“Another question, if I may master: why do I lisp when my fangs protrude? It