A Turn of Events

When we arrived at my home I told Elijah to pull up along the curb behind my car, he shut the car off and the soft purr of the engine was gone, sending us into silence. When my eyes swept over to him he was already gazing at me. I straightened, not having expected to be caught trying to steal a glance at him. To think, one day I would be sitting alone in a car with a vampire who was not a slave, one who radiated power and confidence. He pulled a hand through his dark hair, pulling it away from his face, “your heart is racing, I suppose it has something to do with me.”

His observation made me very aware that my heart was in fact beating very fast. It was petty but it upset me that he could hear that. I also detected an accent. French? How could I not have noticed that before? Possibly the near death experience had something to do with it.

“I am sure you wish for me to explain everything to you, if we could perhaps go inside?” His words lingered in the silence of the car. I nodded my head, he was right, I did want some answers. Before I could open the door myself he was already out of the car and opening it for me, holding his hand out for me to take. Such behavior was never seen by a vampire, laws prohibited any of them to use their powers. It was unnerving to see him use them so nonchalantly.

I took his hand and he helped me from the car, he kept my hand in his for a moment, searching my eyes before letting it go. He made a motion for me to lead; I lifted some of my skirt and hurried up to my front door. As I unlocked it I noticed that his eyes searched every shadow around us. Once inside he was quick to lock the door once more, he sighed deeply. I stood watching him, things had changed so much. Earlier this evening I had been getting ready for this party with Juliana, and now I stood here with a vampire.

My manners kicked in, “would you like something to drink?”

“Are you offering a vein?” His voice was challenging, he turned away from the door with an eyebrow raised, his eyes trailing down to my neck and then back to my eyes. He began to walk towards me.

My cheeks flared a bright red, “that is not what I meant,” I said, stumbling across my words as I backed up for each step he took forward.

“You really have never taken a slave before have you?” He asked, stopping when he was only a few feet from me, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I believe I should be the one asking questions, seeing as I did save you back there,” I said, pulling together as much courage as I could.

A grin pulled across his lips, a small flash of his fang showed, “You do have a point; however, I do believe that I was the one to save you first and then once more. This would mean you are in fact indebted to me.”

I opened my mouth to snap back at him but he closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye. I lifted my hands to press against his chest, he planted his hands on either side of my head – I was trapped. My eyes felt trapped by his, my crystal blue eyes drowning in the deep red of his. My heart began to race once more. Was he going to bite me? Had I been so ignorant to trust his word? “Even though I can smell the fear on you, you still do not back down from me,” he mused. Elijah dipped his head down and I felt his cold breath on my neck.

No, I would not let this vampire bite me, or continue whatever game he was playing with me. With every ounce of strength I could pull together, I shoved against his chest. It was like trying to move a building. “Get away from me right now!” I shouted.

He pulled away only slightly, dropping his arms so that I was no longer trapped between them. I pushed against him once more before giving up on that and just slipping away sideways, stumbling on my dress. He reached out to catch me and I pulled against his hold. “Just get out!” I yelled, turning to face him when his hand dropped from my arm.

“I can’t, they will be looking for you and I must protect you,” He said, his eyes following me as I stormed away from him. He followed as I hurried up the stairs.

“Well you seem to be doing more tormenting than protecting,” I snapped, turning and facing him once I was on the top step. I was angry and it was helping me be as brave as I was doing. Never in my wildest dreams would I picture myself shoving a finger into the chest of an obviously dangerous vampire. Yet here I was, doing just that. It seemed to surprise Elijah as well, his unsettling eyes widened slightly and he seemed at a loss for words. Good.

“Just let me have some time to myself, I want explanations but I also need time to digest everything that has happened,” I turned away from him once more and stopped at my door, “and you need some time to recall some manners, if you even posses any to start with.” And with that I slammed my bedroom door closed and leaned against it. I had no idea if he would actually stay to explain or if he tried to break down my door and attack. God knows he would be strong enough to do that. I heard the soft sounds of pans hitting each other and the fridge being opened. Was he raiding my kitchen? But vampires could not eat human food. I opened my door slightly, peeking out into the main room which was open to everything. I spotted him in the kitchen, messing around with various ingredients, the moment my eyes rested on him his snapped up to mine, his dark ones meeting my light eyes. He raised an eyebrow as if daring me to question what he was doing; I decided against giving him the satisfaction and closed my door once more. He could do whatever he wanted to the kitchen; I never used the damn room anyways.

As I walked over to the small love seat that was across from my bed I took the pins from my hair so that the parts I had pulled up fell around my face. The zipper of my dress was a slight struggle but I managed to slip out of it and kick off my heels before getting into the shower, thankful that my bathroom was attached to my bedroom. The hot water was very welcome against my skin. I stood under the water for a few minutes before finally going through the basic shower rituals. With my hair clean of hair spray and product and the make-up washed from my skin I stepped out and wrapped myself in a towel.

As I finished drying off I went back into my room and pulled out a pair of dark jeans and a loose, deep blue, silk top. I had been torn on what I should wear when I got out. Pajamas? Sweats and a t-shirt? I was worrying too much. Barefoot and with damp hair I left my room. The silk was cool against my skin, and I had a moment to regret the choice in shirt, my hair was still wet and if the silk got wet it would be ruined. The moment I was out of my room I smelled something that made my mouth water, as I looked over into the kitchen I saw Elijah cooking. A vampire that cooked? I descended the stairs quietly and slowly for fear I had lost my mind.

“What are you doing?” I asked, leaning against the kitchen island tentatively. I tucked a piece of wet hair behind my ear and stared at what he was doing. He had mushrooms and peppers cooking in one pan, as I watched he added some spinach leaves. Another pot had a sauce cooking in it and the other pan had chicken.

“Cooking, of course,” was his dry answer.

“Why?”

“I figured you’d be less hostile if you were fed, hunger can control a humans emotions just as thirst can effect a vampire’s,” he spoke calmly, taking a plate out of the cupboard above the stove and preparing a plate of food for me.

“I was the hostile one?” I said, my tone proving his point just a little.

“I was at fault, I should not have pushed you so quickly, but as I said, thirst can affect a vampire’s emotions,” he said, and this time I understood him. My cheeks felt like they were on fire as I blushed.

“Oh,” was my short reply.

“But I am under control once more, and I apologize for what I did,” he set the plate in front of me, watching my expression change.

“So you’re not… thirsty anymore?”

“Never said that, I’m controlling it is all,” he gestured at the plate I had yet to touch, “eat before it gets cold.”

I sat on one of the bar stools by the island and began to eat the food, it tasted as good as it smelled. My surprised eyes shot up to his and a hint of a grin stretched over his lips, “I was a cook in my human life, I prepared the finest meals for kings a queens,” he said, speaking of a time very long ago.

“How old are you?” I asked without thinking.

He chuckled, and the sound touched my skin like velvet, raising goose bumps on my arms. “812 years.”

I nearly choked on the food, coughing a few times before I was able to speak, “812 years?” I asked in complete shock, I had never met a vampire older than 300 years old. Elijah merely nodded, pouring me a glass of water and pushing it towards me. I took a long drink and set the glass back down. He was obviously waiting for another question. “When you touched my forehead tonight, I saw a jumbled mess of images and feelings, why did that happen?” Silence followed my question; at last Elijah sighed softly and sat down on a barstool next to mine.

“May I demonstrate?” he asked, he caught my eyes and raised an eyebrow. The more he spoke the more I noticed his accent, it was very subtle, not like an annoying foreign film.

“Alright,” I said softly.

“Think of someone you know, think of what they will be doing tomorrow, what decisions they will make,” he said, speaking carefully.

I was about to question him but thought against it, he obviously knew what he was talking about. No matter how silly this was starting to sound. I thought of Juliana, what she would be doing tomorrow morning when she woke up.

“Close your eyes,” I listened and shut them. Then I felt him press his hand to my forehead and the breath rushed from my lungs as images flashed before my eyes so quick it made me sick, I felt a cold hand grasp mine and Elijah’s voice trickled through my mind, “focus.” I tried, and the images slowed down, I could decipher words now: Juliana asking her driver to take her here, to my place. She wanted answers for what had happened at the ball last night, it was obvious from her expression. The images rushed by once more and I struggled to slow them down, squeezing Elijah’s hand. The images slowed down and I watched Juliana hurry up the steps to my front door, knocking, and then hurrying in without waiting for me to answer. I could see the shock on her face when she saw Elijah. The thought of him made the images change; I could see him stalking down an ally. The moon was high in the sky and he was still wearing the clothes he wore now, his eyes zeroed in on a woman making her way down the street. His mouth opened slightly to reveal the sharp canines he hid and he began to stalk towards her. The clarity of the images vanished the moment he tore his hand from my grasp and the other from my forehead. Within moments they were gone completely, not quick enough for me to miss him lunging at the women.

I was back in the kitchen, staring at Elijah once more. He had averted his gaze from mine and stood up to begin putting the dishes away. “Did you kill her?” I asked softly.

He stopped with his back to me and sighed, “no, I did not, those of us who roam free have learned how to stay alive without drawing attention to ourselves. Leaving a string of bodies drained of blood would attract undesired attention.”

I nodded slowly, accepting the answer. It was hard to explain, but when I was there with him in that ally I did not sense the desire to kill. I tried to go back to those images, closing my eyes tightly in an effort to do that again. All that happened was that I got were emotions I could not understand, no images, nothing as clear as when Elijah had been helping. I stopped trying and opened my eyes to see Elijah staring at me. “So do you… do that often?” I asked, referring to drinking the woman’s blood.

He shook his head, “no, not very often, ever since the war it became rather risky.”

“Then how?”

“Hospitals carry supplies of blood for medical purposes, it is not what we prefer, but it does what we need and keeps suspicion low.”

“Very… practical,” I said, trying to be calm about all of this.

Elijah chuckled, “yes, I suppose it is, it’s only as a last resort that I would go out to hunt tonight.”

I could only manage a nod.

“Do you not have any questions about what you just witnessed?”

“Back at the ball you called me a seer, I have seen the term in books but I never really paid it any attention, what exactly does it mean?” I asked, straightening and pulling my damp hair over my shoulder.

Elijah picked up a small hand towel and moved closer to me, he lifted my long damp hair in one hand and squeezed the water out of it gently with the towel, “this color blue looks lovely on you, I would hate for the water in your hair to ruin it,” he murmured softly, his gaze on my hair where it once more rested over my shoulder. I felt a slight blush rise up in my cheeks from his touch, my body reacting the the proximity of Elijah. Before I could say anything he went on to answer my question. “A seer is someone who can look into the future, predict outcomes based on the decisions of other. For instance, if I decided instead to steal blood from a hospital tonight rather than from that woman’s vein you would instead see me breaking into a hospital. The future is ruled by our decisions, once one has been made you can see the outcome in the future.”

“Why can I only see it when you touch me,” I asked, remembering his cold hand on my forehead, the other in my hand.

“Because I also have a talent rare among my kind, I can read minds through touch.” He answered my next question before I could even ask. “Except yours, I can only share your visions, I believe my power amplifies your abilities when I am touching you, and in turn prevents me from reading your thoughts.” I felt a little smug about that last part, happy that my thoughts were private. “With practice you would be able to look into the future on your own, when the war between our species was about to break out us elder vampires knew better than to assume we would win, so we sought out one of your kind.” He seemed lost in the memory of it as he spoke, “she foresaw our defeat, knew that we would become slaves to your kind. Even with this proof we could not convince the rest of our kind to not go to war. An elder betrayed us, spreading lies that the seer was on the humans side, they killed her and the war began.”

“Why did he betray you?”

“Because he wanted to die, he was over a thousand years old and he wanted his existence to be ended but could not do it himself. He wanted the humans to kill him and he got his wish.” He said the words bitterly.

“So you were one of these elders?” I asked, standing and helping him put the food away.

“Yes, I was. I was the second youngest, there were only eight of us then, today there are only six,” he paused when we both reached for the container of mushrooms, barely avoiding touching my hand. “It is not a simple matter for an elder to die, we are relatively hard to kill.”

“So a seer, like me, foresaw the vampires losing the war?” I asked, putting away the mushrooms and leaning against the counter, watching him do the same opposite to me.

He scoffed quietly, “this seer was exceptionally powerful, she could see very far into the future, know the moment you made a decision what path you would take; it was like breathing for her, so simple.”

“So what’s that mean? I’m not powerful?” I could not help it, I was jealous even though I had no idea about any of this five minutes ago. Yet here I was, crossing my arms like a pouting child.

Elijah seemed to catch on to my mood, “that is not what I meant ma chéri, she was born into a clan of seers, they trained her. Your power is there, but it has been dormant since you were born.”

The French made me pause in my next question, “what did you call me?”

The vampire paused, shrugging his shoulders in a movement that meant everything and nothing, a wicked glint in his eyes which told me that he was not planning on elaborating. Fine, I had bigger questions; Juliana spoke fluent French so I would just ask her when she came over tomorrow.

“So, with training I could learn to use this… power?”

“Oui.”

“I didn’t notice your accent at the ball, or earlier,” I thought aloud. Elijah seemed thrown by the subject change.

“Have you ever heard one of the vampire slaves with an accent?” He questioned, making me think for a moment.

“No, I haven’t.”

“They are trained to have the accent of the country they are in, so as to make their owners more comfortable,” his words were very matter of fact.

“Oh,” was all I could say, training an accent out of them? It seemed so petty.

“So I had to hide my accent at the ball, and I did not want to make you uneasy by suddenly having an accent. I decided if that was what pushed you over the edge then there was really no hope for your sanity,” he had a slight grin on his lips once he was done speaking. I frowned at him, the little sanity remark had not been necessary.

“Can you train me?” I asked, reverting back to the old topic. My subject changes were beginning to become normal to the vampire and he switched with me easily.

“Yes.”

“Why would you train me? What do you have to gain?”

That seemed to be the question he did not want me to ask.

“I cannot tell you that yet, but without you I fear for your race,” he sounded so sincere.

“How can I trust you?”

“I saved you back there-”

“So I am just supposed to trust you immediately?”

Elijah slowly approached me and held out his hand, “look into our future and tell me if you see if I have any ill intent towards you.”

“How do I know you haven’t just decided not to for now?”

“You think so little of your power,” he said softly, “you would see that in my future, you would see the truth.”

I glanced down at his hand and took it slowly in my hand, closing my eyes I thought about Elijah just as I had thought about Juliana. I was no longer staring at his hand in mine; I was looking at images of us in the future. There were flashes of simple things like him cooking or trying to help me cook, we were running down an ally away from something, he was protecting me. I let go of his hand. This was not human, me being able to do this. No, I was human, I was normal. I suddenly realized this power scared me.

“So?”

“No.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to learn any more about this, I want to forget and go back to how I was living.”

“You can’t just ignore it, your power has been stirred to life, you have to learn how to use it or bad things could happen,” Elijah pleaded, trying to make me look at him. He seemed thrown by my sudden change in mood towards this whole seer business.

I brushed his hands away and walked away from him. “Why, so you can use me for whatever plan you’re not telling me about?”

“This plan will help your species,” Elijah said, a sliver of anger making his words feel like the soft touch of a flame: Dangerous.

“I don’t believe you.”

“You looked into my future-”

“Stop talking about that!”

My outburst made him pull his lips into a tight line, he was annoyed. Good. “Why are you suddenly so against it?”

“Because I am a normal human, not some freak fortune teller!”

Elijah was still frowning in a tight line, not even a flinch from my yelling. He crossed his arms over his chest, “I’m not leaving until you agree.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” I muttered, turning away from him and going upstairs to my room once more.

“A vampire does not need to breathe Lydia,” he said, intending for his comment to annoy me.

I let out a noise of pure frustration and slammed the door to my bedroom. He could stay as long as he wanted, I could not very well kick him out without questions being asked. The whole town had seen us at the ball and if tomorrow he was gone there would be dozens of questions to answer and I could be charged with illegally releasing a slave. The thought of turning him in was very brief, I could not do that. He had saved me, and from the way he had watched the shadows I knew I was still in danger. The other vampire knew about this seer thing and he had gotten away.

The sound of thunder made a startled scream burst from my lips, it had scared me because I had thought it was that other vampire crashing into my window, I was being irrational, right?

“Lydia?” His voice came from outside my door.

“I’m fine Elijah, goodnight.” The words were final, an obvious dismissal. I did not want to feel the sudden safety I felt when I heard his voice.

Quickly changing into a pair of light blue pajamas and got into bed, trying to ignore the sounds of the storm outside my window and the ominous feeling that something bad was going to happen.