The Vampire Covens

Ch.17 Old Time Problem

Ch. 17

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the structure of this house, I mean every turn there’s a new hallway to confuse me and my mind can’t handle the veering mind tricks. I half expect people to peek out of some hidden doorway and it’s eerie how quiet this place is. There are a lot of people living here and I can hear a mouse chew on a crumb; I just don’t understand.

When I lived in New York I at least had the comfort of the bustling cars and drifting rude comments of wronged pedestrians, but now it’s hollow and cold feeling. I know vampires are supposed to be the night-time, blood sucking, lifeless creatures, but does that mean that they really have to lack the warmth of comfortable laughter or any humanish interactions inside this entire fortress?

I hug my arms close to my chest as I head to the kitchen, which thankfully, is easy to find. My stomach feels emptier than wooden barrels with holes in them and I need fulfillment or I’ll turn into the crazed lady off some horror movie.

I begin to rummage through the cabinets looking for something mildly un-healthy when footsteps rang against the linoleum behind me. I turn like I’ve just been caught stealing and peer at the kind, and human, face of Carter.

“Hey stranger.” He says coolly as he opens the refrigerator and grabs a bottle of some kind of juice.

“Hey Carter.” I say shutting the cabinet and blushing slightly.

“You know if you were hungry, you could’ve just told me. I’d be happy to help.” He says, but something in his eyes told me that it was a contradiction. Should I tell him that I can eat human food? If I do than he’ll know I’m different like Kari did, but I don’t know if I can trust him. I just smile politely and begin to walk out of the kitchen.

He stops me by the arm and looks at me with concern. “Did I say something? I didn’t mean anything by it if I did.” He says in a rush as his cheeks alight with red.

“No no no, it wasn’t anything you said…” I have to make up a lie quick. My palms start to sweat as I look down to the floor… I never was a great liar. “… I just miss human food you know. I … I miss the feeling of being normal.” I say quickly trying to pass it off as embarrassment. Luckily the lie I told wasn’t exactly a lie, it held more truth in it than I’ve even admitted to myself.

He lifts my face so I’m looking straight into his eyes, “It’s ok, there’s no need to be embarrassed. When I was a damphyr it was hard adjusting to human food and everything I ate never measured up to the taste of blood. So I know how you feel.” He smiles and lets go of my chin, “Plus if you ate human food after you’ve ascended, you would just hack it all up in a hideous way.” He laughs and I join in nervously.

“Yea I figured something like that would happen,” I begin to fidget, “but I was willing to take the chance.” I smile.

“Come on, I’ll escort you back to your room and then you can have something to eat that won’t make you want to hurl.” He says as he wraps his arm around my shoulders and begins walking in a mildly familiar direction.

I’m happy that I’ll be getting some substance in my belly, but I’m not happy it’s from Carter’s expense.  “How do you navigate this maze?” I ask to take my mind off of my previous thoughts and because I really need help with directions.

“Well for starters, I was born here, so I grew up in this maze. Exploring it was the best part of my childhood.” He says. Well that’s a lot of help.