The Last Corvus (completed)

Ch. 10 Isadora

Chapter 10

Isadora

After driving about five blocks Linden stops the car in front of one of my favorite corner markets. After a quizzical look on my part he reminds me about the whole I'm-the-only-human-living-in-the-Complex thing. A.K.A. I'm the only one that needs food. I threw away what little there was still in the fridge, and the vamp woman really did a number on my pantry, making most everything unsalvageable.

It's not my fault that fact is so easy to forget, they all seem so normal. That is, if Linden is anything to go off of. The woman... not so much.

Deciding to mostly stock up on fruits and veggies, I walk to the small fresh foods area in the back and snatch a pack of Twizzlers when I pass the candy rack; one of my guilty pleasures.

I wonder... "tell me about vampires. How much of the stuff in the media is accurate?"

"Less of popularized vampire fiction is based on truth than you might believe. For instance, vampires aren't dead."

"Then why do you never age?"

"What we've been able to figure out so far is that vampire's telomere cells are hyperactive."

"Wait. Vampire whats?"

"telo..." seeing my confused look he seems to realize he has to dumb it down slightly for me, which I surprisingly appreciate, "oh, okay. In the human body there are these things called telomere cells that excrete an enzyme that keeps the other cells young and able to replicate. Those cells in vampires overproduce that enzyme so..."

"...You never appear to age."

"Exactly. Unfortunately, for those cells not to die, they need an exponential amount of iron. As you know, blood is largely made up of iron and readily available, which could partially explain why we're so dependent on it. They also help us heal extraordinarily fast."

Making it to the produce section, I start perusing the meager selection of bananas. "But what about..."

"Iron supplements?" He sees my nod and answers his question, "they don't work. We've tried at least a hundred different brands, doses, ways to administer; none of which ever worked, it just made all the test subjects seriously sick and we had to stop."

Oh, wow. I would hate to be one of those test subjects. Wait, WE had to stop? "Were you one of those subjects? The ones that got sick?"

He chuckles half-heartedly and continues, "yes. One of the few disadvantages of being friends with the man that could possibly rival Dr. Frankenstein. To get others to volunteer I had to first, and then I always ended up stuck doing it."

"That's horrible! You could have died!" I interject, horror stricken.

"Thank you for your concern. May I continue now?" I nod and he does, "luckily we recently met a vampire that breeds guinea pigs and we've been experimenting on them ever since. Now that we're completely off topic; do you have any more questions?"

Think... Oh. "What about sunlight, doesn't it hurt you?"

"It only makes our skin itch. The older the vamp or the longer they've been without blood, the less they can stand."

"Speaking of which, how long can a vampire generally go without blood?"

Finding a good bunch of bananas, I go in search of Golden Delicious apples (the only kind I can stand not actually in a dish).

"It depends on what we do. If we continually engage in strenuous activities we need more than, say, if we just hung out all the time." At the mention of 'strenuous activities' the fight in the alley comes to mind, making me shudder at the remembrance of the maggots.

"Makes sense. What about garlic? Is it poisonous?"

Rounding the corner onto the same aisle as him, I see him scrunch his nose in disgust. "It's not so much that it's poisonous, it just smells gross. I've never liked the smell when I was human but now that I'm a vampire it's made even more revolting by my heightened sense of smell. But yeah, even though it's not toxic it's still a good deterrent; except if they're, say, an Italian vampire."

"That's stereotyping, you know."

"You caught me."

I can practically hear the smile in his voice as he turns and pretends to look at something. My arms already full of fruit; I walk back to the front and grab a basket. Turning, I almost walk into Linden, who smiles and holds up my pack of Twizzlers.

"What about crosses? Are you afraid you might get splinters?"

"Well, I know it's definitely not the splinter aspect; wood can't pierce our skin."

Seeing my bemused expression, he continues, "that might sound weird, but it's true. The only known thing that can pierce our skin is gold. It makes our skin feel like it's boiling, and, if left untreated for too long, can kill us. Luckily we can still wear it, as long as we don't get poked by it or anything. Otherwise Marie Antoinette would have died long before she was guillotined."

"Oh, okay, that's an unexpected twist."

He chuckles before continuing. "Yeah, tell me about it. Anyway, crosses. They don't do anything to us, and neither does holy water, before you ask."

He just read my mind. Wait, can he actually do that? Psh, no he can't, that would be preposterous. Then again, so is the fact that vampires exist. Along with the fact that this entire conversation hasn't even been spoken out loud.

After grabbing a bag of oranges, some cut up pineapple, and a pear, I go to check out. Looking for my wallet I see Lin give the clerk a fifty. A fifty!

"You know, I have money."

"Don't worry about it. I got it."

"I can see that; but why?"

He seems almost confused, "I'm... just trying to be nice. After all, it's my fault you had to move out."

Oh, how sweet. "Well, um, thanks."

"No problem. We need to hurry, I don't want to unpack in the dark."

"Can't you see in the dark?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I'd like to."

"Touché."