My Vampires

Chapter 18

I couldn't stop staring at it. Because although it was a portrait, the person had no face.  There was something strangely magnetic about it that pulled me in.

Carlos
"Oh, are you looking at the painting?"

Kira
"Yeah... I was just wondering why the person didn't have a face. Isn't that the most important thing about a
portrait?'

Carlos
"I thought the same thing at first."  "The painting's kind of sad, isn't it? I asked Lord Vlad whether he'd want to display a more cheerful painting instead."

Kira
"Haha. Sounds like something you'd say."

Carlos  grinned and then murmured,

Carlos
"But that painting is super important to le Voivode."

Kira
"It is?"

Carlos
"Yeah. I saw him gazing at it alone once."  "Most of the time he always notices me when I come near, but he just kept staring and had no idea I was there."  "His eyes looked so sad as he gazed at it that it started to make me feel sad, too."  "Like he was in love with the person in the painting or something."

In love with them...? Suddenly I felt a sharp pain deep in my chest.  As I wondered why I felt that way, Carlos  studied my face.

Carlos
"Hey, Kira. Are you in love with Lord Vlad?"

Kira
"What...??"

Me, in love with Vlad? I couldn't answer right away. I kept asking myself that question over and over again. Charles smiled softly at me.

Carlos
"I love le Voivode. Because I was all alone in the dark night when he reached out his hand to me and saved me."  "Oh, and I love Docteur and I love you too, Kira!"

Kira
"Haha. Thanks, Carlos."

I guess he was just asking if I love Vlad as a friend, like he loves everyone. Now I'm embarrassed I took it the wrong way.

Carlos
"That's why I want to live with them always like this. But sometimes Lord Vlad feels so far away from me."

Kira
"What do you mean?"

Carlos
"Well, he always has such a kind smile on his face. But when you look closely...is he really smiling?"

He shifted his gaze back over to the portrait.

Carlos
"Sometimes I can't tell. I feel like he bottles up his emotions a lot and keeps them all to himself, deep inside." "But when I try to reach out to him, he just gives me that kind smile. And then I find it hard to bring it up."  "It makes me so sad. And I wonder if he's really sad, too."

Kira
"...Carlos."

Carlos
"Ahaha, sorry! I guess I was just rambling because you're being so nice and listening to me!"  "Let's go see Docteur right now. I bet he's in the middle of a really interesting experiment or something. C'mon!" 

Kira
"Waaah! Carlos, don't pull!" 

Carlos pulled me out of the room, but before we left I turned around. I took one last glance at Vlad quietly sleeping in bed next to the portrait on the wall... and for some reason I just felt devastatingly sad. It was a crushing, overwhelming feeling, like drowning in an ocean.

~~~~~~

By the time a crescent moon hung in the sky again, my ankle was much better. I told the guys I'd be leaving tomorrow. Vlad said he wanted to show me something and invited me to come with him.

Kira
"Wow!!"

He led me to a beautiful flower garden. It looked like paradise on earth.

Kira
"This is so gorgeous. Did you grow all these yourself?"