The False Vampire

“Are you sure? No more secrets?” I bit my lip softly, wanting to know nothing more then what the Folk were. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about it until he brought it back up again. Now, I knew it would not leave me alone until I figured it out.

“No more secrets”

Closing my eyes, I counted to ten. This better not be a joke. If it was, I was going to strangle him.

“Alright”

Watching Trinnean, his lips pulled into a grin, almost as if he were smiling as if his face would shatter.

“Follow me!”

He seemed almost as excited as a child would. He led me through the halls before pulling me into the driveway. In the distance, I could see a small silver car come rolling up the driveway.

As the 2009 Mazda in silver rolled to a stop in front of us, we threw open the doors and clambered in. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I realized that I had been slowly burning out there.

Looking into the front seats, sat Trinnean and a girl that I had never met before. Trinnean seemed to feel the awkwardness in the air.

“Adrienne, this is Nadia. She is my roommate” he seemed to smile absently, though I could see the muscles of his lips twitching.

Don’t pry. The words became a silent mantra, and desperate to think of a reply, I went with the first thing that left my mouth.

“Oh” Way to go Adrienne.

The rest of the ride was awkward, I felt like I may as well be sitting there twiddling my thumbs. Silently, I watched the world outside pass by, my blue eyes bouncing around from house to house.

It seemed as though the drive took forever, when in reality, it was only about five minutes away from where I lived. Glancing around at my surroundings, I could feel my lips pull into a tight line. This wasn’t the best part of town to be caught in.

Regardless, with a deep sigh that I managed to make at least somewhat quite, I tugged on the door handle and opened the door. I looked up at the plain gray building that towered above me. Almost squinting my eyes, I began the short walk up to the building. Pushing open the door, the first thing that registered in my mind was the smell of cigarette smoke.

Now, not only was my eyes squinted, but to accompany it, my nose was definitely scrunched up. Idly, I wondered if my face resembled anything like that of a pug’s.

We continued the walk until we arrived in front of a cream door. Briefly, I heard the sound of jiggling keys and then the scraping of a lock as Nadia pushed open the door. Glancing at her, I admired the way she used the chopsticks to hold up her ponytail, reaching up to touch my own frazzled hair. Continuing to watch her, I realized that an uneasy feeling had settled in my stomach – almost as if I was stepping in forbidden territory.

With sure, confident steps, Trinnean strode over to the small wooden kitchen table. A quick glance around the apartment assured me that it was rather open, only three doors in the entire apartment, the rest consisting of open arches that held some things away from each other.

The scraping of the wooden chair across the floorboards pulled my out of my slight reverie. Trinnean gestured towards the chair that he had previously pulled out, and waited until I had sat down to begin his story.

“Once, long ago, there were five aliens that crashed on Earth. We know that at least one of them was human, and that the others contained latent magical abilities. These aliens had crossed the inter-dimensional barrier that separated the newly formed Earth from a much more populated world.

The interbreeding of these five creatures lead to thousands of varieties of creatures, and once these started breeding amongst themselves. This lead to even more strains of beings, some with magic, and some without. Magical abilities died out, and what we call ‘human’ was formed. But for every human, there were still at least a hundred magical creatures.

In rebellion, the humans decided to slaughter the magical creatures – the folk, and make them kneel to their wrath. You would’ve called these the witch-hunts, but these were not the first time that it had occurred. The 18th century witch-hunts were the most chilling, men were following their religions, and had forgotten the ways that it once was. Most of the Folk ran away, and these were generally the peaceful ones. The Folk that stayed were vicious, killing to get their way.

It was from this that the Hunter’s were formed, humans who were raised since the age of seven to fight these beings.” Trinnean stopped for a long moment, glancing over at me with sightless eyes. I could feel shivers run up my spine. It seemed he had years more experience than was ethical, tucked away in a corner of his mind that reflected through his eyes. In the distance, a clock chimed, once, twice, and four more times. He turned his eyes back to a spot in the bare walls. I liked to imagine that he was looking at the hideous wallpaper that was there, with its worn canary-yellow damask pattern.

“There is so much I would like to tell you, but I do not yet have the time. As it is, it is already Anthesteria, and I must go, as must you. Adrienne, it is vital you stay away from them. Vital. You are in danger as it is, I sense there is something wrong. You are welcome to come anytime you want, and next time I see you, I shall give you a key. But you must go, and now.”