Honest in Lies

Candy woke up feeling more or less like she had competed in an Ironman. She didn’t bother to arouse Gaspard from his slumber, but instead went on her morning or more a weekly run. The sun still hadn’t risen, and she took off down the long road that kept to the side of the cliff she lived off of. Her own personal running trail. An ipod glued to her ears kept the subtlety of the morning from distracting her. It gave her time to think.

Last night she had sex with a vampire. A real vampire. Not the vampire that had fangs glued into his teeth for a movie, or used fake blood to drink the blood of their victims. Blood.

Gaspard had bitten her last night. Stopping almost immediately as the thought entered her mind, her hand crept up to her neck. She was expecting there to be a large scab and a line of puncture wounds. It surprised her, when she felt the smooth flesh before the exchange had even happened. Her breathing left cold clouds of air in front of her, as her body caught cold from the stopped movement. Not one to subject to cold weather, she picked up her feet again.

The thoughts though, didn’t leave her. Her blood had been taken in to another body, by a vampire. The whole concept that vampires even existed was still hard for her to fathom. Was it because of all the book reading about vampires, and the stereotypes they had to live up to? That they were supposed to be barbaric, or just the opposite? From what she knew, Gaspard had an animalistic side, but he didn’t mean it. Did he? How did he even get that scar on his face? So many questions that took a form, but where was Gaspard to answer them?

Candy turned around, only to see a shadow; that wasn’t Gaspard’s. It was taller, more bulky and the hair didn’t wave down but instead stood and looked combed back. Her eyes widened as she looked back again and continued running; though her pace was much more, and her strides were lengthened. Looking over her shoulder several times, she saw that she was being pursued. A strange noise came from within her as she pushed herself mentally to pick up the pace.

It ended up dragging her down though as she tumbled on the pavement. Rolling somewhat, she flipped her head around to see if he was still after her. Kicking to her feet, she burrowed right into another bulky body. Arms wrapped around her and she screamed.

Screamed loudly. A third body entered her peripheral vision. Her screaming continued, until a shushing overcame her. It was soft, and reached her ears slowly and rhythmically. It calmed her, slowly until all she was doing was shaking. Hands clasped over her ears and looking up shakily she saw that it was Gaspard.

“Oh my god, thank god.” She finally wrestled from the captors hold and into his arms, which picked her up with ease and held her tightly. “I was so scared, I thought they were the werewolves and they already found you.”

“No,” he laughed softly. “These….are your new best friends. Theo, Eric and Charles.”

Theo was the one who had captured her. He was over six feet tall, probably the most muscular and built of the other three. He had a wicked crooked smirk, bewitching green eyes and a grown out crew cut. He was eighty three years old. Eric was bald, with a throaty laugh and the next biggest guy of the trio. His skin was light, his eyes a mixture of lightness and dark. He was one hundred and one years old. The last, Charles, was the one who had been behind her and caused her disturbance. He had large, wide and wandering brown eyes, with equally dark hair. The smallest of the brunch, but most agile. There was something sad in his eyes that touched Candy. She instantly wanted to reach out to him. Charles was one hundred and thirteen.

“I really appreciate this, but why Gaspard?” she turned to look at him.

“You need security. If I have to leave I want to leave, knowing that you are not in harm’s way. These three, are personal friends of mine. I know their abilities and the extent of their brutality.” He looked up over to the ocean. “I may not know you on a personal level just yet Candy…but I would like to. And I cannot accomplish such a goal if you’re a dead.” He looked down on her. “And plus, you have a movie that needs put out on the screen,” he smiled crookedly, embellishing the scar.

Candy reached her index finger to trace along it. “I want to get to know you too.”

Eric coughed, laughing a little. “You need us tough guy?”

Gaspard raised his one eyebrow, shooting him a somewhat amused look. “Take to the outskirts, don’t do anything stupid.” He turned back to Candy, his hand waving out to the path back to her house. “Shall we miss?”

“We shall.”