Sanctuary

Part 2

One glimpse, and I had seen all I needed to see. He had fangs. I whipped my crossbow over my shoulder and had it centered on his chest in a flash, "Did you really think you could-"

'Andy' held up both of his hands defensively, "-I'm not a vampire! Look at my necklace!"

He was, indeed, wearing what appeared to be a garlic necklace. "See, I can put it in my mouth too." He leaned forward and tried to put a clove in his mouth, succeeding in only rubbing his tongue all over it. Eeew.

I scowled, "You think you're the first vampire to wear a fake, garlic necklace to try and fool me? Suck on this!"

For some reason I pulled the second trigger instead of the first, launching an exploding garlic pellet instead of a wooden bolt. I was glad when I saw what happened. The pellet hit 'Andy,' exploded, and he yelled, "Ow, dammit! That stinks!"

There was no crumpling in agony, no boiling skin, no vampiric meltdown. Only a peeved man with fangs. I kept my crossbow trained on him, though I was confused. "Why the fuck do you have fangs if you're not a vampire?"

'Andy' scowled, looking sullen. "Because I'm a dhampire, genius! My mother was a thrall."

Suddenly, everything made sense. Vampires liked to take their favorite humans on as pets called 'thralls;' they kept them around, sometimes for years. Though generally it was thought that it wasn't sexual, I had heard rumors of offspring resulting from the pairings. It certainly explained his good looks, if his daddy was a vampire. Dhampires were an urban legend, everyone claimed to have met one, but I'd never come across a real one. At least, not until now.

I frowned, not letting down my guard, "What does that mean for me, huh? You going to try and eat me?"

'Andy' looked resigned, still holding his hands up, though they drooped a little. "No. Any dhampire that feeds on a human becomes a vampire. I'd lose my ability to walk around whenever the sun is out, to eat normal food. I'm not into eating people on the daily, so I'll have to pass."

I had no idea what to do; I'd never been in this situation before. "I should stake you right now."

He sighed. "Well, if you do, I hope you're an excellent shot, because you'll have to hit a vital organ for it to kill me right away, just like a human. I told you, I'm not a vampire. Geez, this is why I spend all my time alone, you humans aren't any more tolerant than vampires."

I decided to go with my instinct and replaced my crossbow on my back. I reached in my pocket for my mirror. I held it up and saw this 'Andy' had a reflection. Confused, I put it back inside my pocket. I shot a glance at him, and he looked irritated. "Hey, man, I let you in. Despite knowing you would probably freak out the second I opened my mouth."

I moved to sit on the other bench, opposite him. "True, and thanks for that. But one wrong move, and I will kill you."

He shrugged in resignation and got up, off the bench, to sort through a pack by the bed. I took the opportunity to drop my own pack and sort through the contents. I was getting a little low on water. I grabbed my two canteens and checked the plumbing and filtration system before filling them both up and having a good, long drink.