This Bites

Around Italy

I went to my room and got dressed. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and added just a little bit of makeup. When I had finished getting ready I heard a knock on the door and opened the door to find Ash standing there. "Ready to go?" he asked me. I nodded and followed him down the stairs. We walked out the door and a black Italian sports car, or I guess since we're in Italy, its just a sports car. Ash opened the door for me and I slid into the sleek car. When He got in on the driver side I looked over at him. "Where are we going to go?" I asked. "Well, if you wanted to go historical we could go to the Piazza del Popolo, or we could go to a great cafe not to far away," he said thoughtfully. I looked at him like he was crazy. "The cafe!" I nearly screamed. I was not into history like at all!

We drove at an extremely fast pace and got to the cafe in only a couple of minutes. When we got there Ash got out and walked over to my side of the car at an inhuman speed. "This is the place, your going to love it," he said while pulling me from the car. We walk in and the whole place is a cream color. We sat down on a brown leather love seat. "Okay, well I can't eat and your just sitting here. What now?" I asked him. "Give it a minute!" He laughed, "You are so impatient." I shrugged. Suddenly all of the lights dimmed except for the stage. A thin man with a beret walked onto the stage and started to mess with the microphone. "Ciao, Benvenuti , questa sera è poesia notte , il nostro primo poeta è Jean." I looked at Ash as to say 'what the heck does that mean?!'. "It means 'hello, welcome, tonight is poetry night, our first poet is Jean,'" he translated. I nodded slowly as a short man walked up to the mic and started to speak in Italian. I had no clue what is was but it sounded overly dramatic. I looked over at Ash who was staring at him like he had just said the he was the queen of England. I gave him a questioning look and he chuckled.

We sat through about five other poets, Italian and English, before Ash pulled me out of the cafe. When we came out we were laughing. "Why the heck did you bring there?!" I asked between laughing fits. "It's the worst poetry in Italy, that's why!" He said slowly calming down. I started to laugh again as we made our way to the car. We got in and finally stopped laughing. "Where to now?" I asked him. Ash looked at the clock. "Well it's noon, and I know a place owned by vampires. Salon de Vampire, the vampire lounge. It's specifically for us," he said, starting the car.

We drove off to a busy street where every store was packed. "This is a vampire hang out?" How don't humans know about it?" I asked Ash. He rolled his eyes at me? "You ask too many questions," he said, parking the car. We got out an he led me to an ally. Half way through the ally was a door. Ash knocked and a slit in the door opened. "Who?... Oh, uh, Elder Ash... Um, just a minute," said a pair of deep brown eyes. I looked up at Ash questioningly. He smirked. The door opened to reveal a tall slender man who wore baggy jeans and a tee shirt. Ash pulled me in and the door snapped shut. "Damian, this is Zarianna, she with me. Let her in whenever she wants. Okay?" Ash ordered in an Elder like voice and the guy, Damian, nodded and smirked at me. "Zarianna," he said with an Italian accent, "pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand and I took it tentatively, expecting him to shake it, but he brought it up to his face and kissed it. He kissed my hand! I looked at Ash, who seemed to be a little bit irritated by the action. Damian released my hand and Ash tugged me away. We walked down the hall to a large Gothic style club. I followed him through the nearly empty club to a smaller kind of diner/bar thing. We sat down at a table and Ash handed me a menu. I looked at him. "What?" He asked. "What am I going to get on this menu, all I can eat... Drink is blood!" I said dramatically. Ash rolled his eyes at me. "Girls, never do anything right by them, God," he said. It was my turn to roll my eyes. A waitress walked up. "What can you, Mr. Elder?" She said in a flirty tone. "The usual for me and just a glass of blood for Zari here," Ash told her. She quickly glared at me and touched Ash's arm. I growled at her, wait a minute! Why did I growl? Both her and Ash looked at me wide eyed. The girl ran off and Ash sat back in his seat. "What was that?" He asked me. Quickly changing the subject I said, "Zari? The only person who ever called me Zari was Triston!" The smirk on Ash's face changed into a scowl. I laughed. "Is somebody jealous?" I asked him. He looked at me. "If I'm jealous then so are you, that was the best growl I've heard since I don't know when," Ash said laughing. I glared at him until the waitress returned with a glass filled with red and a nearly uncooked hamburger. We ate and talked about stuff like Italian lessons and parties that the elders got invited to every year. When we finished we walked back to the car. "Home?" I asked. Ash just shook his head and started the car.