Chapter 277 - Last Rites part 8

I am not sure when he began to suspect my true nature, but I knew when the certainty struck him. I think the truth began to penetrate him the moment that I did. The cold hard truth. His body stiffened and he scrambled away from me. He reached the end of the mattress before the end of his panic and tumbled onto the floor, pulling the blanket off the bed with him.

"You're one of them, aren't you!" he gasped, his eyes wide, the stink of terror exuding from his every pore. He tried to crabwalk away from the bed but got tangled in the blanket. "Are you going to kill me?" he wailed.

"Yes, and no," I said, standing there on my knees.

"Yes, you are?"

"Yes," I said, sitting gently back and putting my legs over the edge of the bed. "I am a vampire. A verdilak. One of the Biblical strigae." I put my hands on my knees, awaiting his reaction.

"But… you don't mean to kill me?"

"Of course not. Not unless you make a fuss. And then I might have to do it, to conceal my true nature from the other mortals here. But I don't want to do it. The last thing I want to do is harm you, so I beg you, please, do not force my hand, Justus."

For a moment his terror and curiosity warred, and I was not sure which of the two would win out, but then slowly his fear abated, the muscles of his body relaxed, and he began to breathe more evenly.

"Are you all right?" I asked quietly.

He nodded. "Yes. Yes, I believe so."

"I apologize for my deception," I said. "I do not ordinarily engage in such behavior with mortals, but I found myself uncharacteristically drawn to you."

"Is that so?" he said. He rose, wrapping the blanket around his body. Now that he knew I was a vampire, he'd become shy. It was an amusing response. He went to sit on a chair, legs wobbling. Collapsed into it. He was quiet for several minutes, thinking furiously. "Will I become a vampire now?" he finally asked.

"From what?"

"From… lying with you," he whispered fiercely, flipping his right hand toward me.

I laughed. "No. That is not how it works, Justus. Well, actually, it can happen that way, but it is rare, and I would have to… you know… which I didn't."

"So how does it work? Will you tell me? And will you tell me what you're doing here in Getvar? Are you the source of the vampire attacks?"

"I will tell you all you wish to know, but you must swear one thing to me. You must swear it on the names of the gods that you worship."

"God," he said. "There is only one."

I cocked an eyebrow, smiling at him dubiously. Oh, yes, their Trinity. The Catholics worshipped three-gods-in-one. A good deal, that.

"What is it?" he finally asked.

"You must never tell anyone of the things that I share with you. You must take our secrets to your grave. For your sake, and for the sake of all mortal men."

"I swear it!" he said, with hardly a hesitation. His eyes blazed with excitement and curiosity.

So I told him.

I did not tell him all, for that would have taken more time than we had remaining to us that evening. Already, dawn was peeking through the slats of the window shutters. I told him of our nature, our strengths and weaknesses, and how we are mortal men before we're changed. I told him how we become the way we are, and how we strive to live unnoticed in the world of mortal men, not so that we can feed upon the living with impunity, but to protect the world of living men from the curse that has befallen us. If mortal man were ever to learn of the Strix, I told him, all mortal men would want it for themselves. They would hunt us unrelentingly, steal the secret of our immortality, and use it to dominate their brethren.

"So you protect us from ourselves?" he said. "That is why you hide in the shadows."

"Some of us. As I said before, there are good among us just as there are wicked. We are no different than living men in that regard."

"And the creatures tormenting the people of Getvar?"

"Degenerate things," I said with a sneer. "A breed of foul offshoots. My kind destroy them whenever they rear their diseased heads."

I told him of the Court of the Night's Watch, and how I had been sent to Getvar to discover if deviant blood drinkers were indeed plaguing her inhabitants. Usually such tales were superstitious hysteria-- sometimes even hoaxes. If there were indeed degenerate vampires at large in the village of Getvar, I told him, I had been charged to hunt them down and destroy them.

"I would have gone to hunt them tonight if I had not fallen under your spell," I confessed.

"So you can love," he said. "You feel passion, lust."

"Yes."

"What of guilt, remorse?"

"More keenly than mortal men feel such things. Or so it seems to me at times."

He looked at me almost desperately then. "Can you tell me of heaven and hell?" he asked. He seemed fearful of my answer, but hungry for it, too. "Is my god the true god? Are there truly angels and devils?"

I smiled sympathetically. "I cannot tell you that, Justus."

"Cannot or will not?" he countered. His eyes went wide. "Is it forbidden?"

"It is not forbidden. I cannot tell you because I do not know the answer. I do not know what lies beyond the veil of death any more than you. I think there is a god. I believe there is a life that awaits us after this one, but I do not know for certain."

He looked heartbroken. "Then your kind fumbles in the dark as blindly as the rest of us."

"I'm afraid so," I said.

"Will you allow me to examine your body more closely?" he asked, looking back up at me. "Your flesh has a strange texture to it. I did not notice it at first, but now it seems obvious. I would like to have a closer look."

"Of course."

He rose and crossed the room, kneeled before me like a squire awaiting his knighting. I held out my hand and he took it in his. He frowned, turned up the lamp, and returned to my side.

"So curious," he said. "It is like stone, but pliant. And so cold! I don't know why I didn't realize what you were sooner."

"We are very good at hiding our true nature from your kind," I said.

"How many of you are there?"

"I do not know. Not many. Not compared to mortal men."

"Fascinating!" he murmured, examining my nails. He looked up, eyes bright. "Your teeth! May I see your teeth?"

I laughed. "Enough, Justus!"

"What? But you promised--!"

I pulled him into the bed with me, allowing him to feel a fraction of my strength.

"We have unfinished business, you and I!" I declared.