Sanctuary

Part 3

I went back to looking for dinner in my pack, and realized I was tired of jerky, crackers, and dried fruit. "Hey, you wanna trade?"

Andy's eyes brightened a little. "Sure! You go into the cities, you have any good veggies?"

I shrugged noncommittally. "I have some dried apricots, if that's close enough. Why, you can't go in the cities yourself?"

Andy curled his upper lip by way of an answer. I got the message. With fangs, he'd be dead before he got through the gates anywhere. "What do you have to trade?"

Andy held something out on a long arm, "Cookies, from a woman whose life I saved. They've got real chocolate, you can smell if you don't believe me."

Real chocolate? I could smell it clear from where I sat, and it was true! "I'll give you six apricots for one cookie."

Andy grinned handsomely and handed me a cookie. "I'll take five, thanks."

Excited, I handed over the apricots before taking a bite into the cookie. It was heavenly! I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a real cookie! I waited until I swallowed before talking, I didn't want to lose a crumb. "What did you do to get something like this?"

Andy gulped down an apricot before responding, "I killed three vampires that were-"

My eyebrows shot upwards, "-You killed your own kind?"

Andy shook his head, "They're not my kind. I'm constantly trying to get away from them; they're always trying to recruit me. But I'm definitely not interested."

I cocked my head at him, curious, "So why don't you, like, ally with other dhampires? Make your own city?"

Andy scoffed. "Keep in mind that dhampires are raised by vampires. Most of us are perfectly fine with the idea of becoming vampire and snack on a human the first chance they get, once they come of age. I'm unusual, I ran away."

How weird... "Aren't you lonely?"

Andy rolled his eyes, "Aren't you? You're out here, alone, too. I take it you're a scavenger?"

A fair point. "What was it like, being raised in a vampire den?"

Andy frowned. "Bloody."

We spent a good few hours talking, and it felt strangely relaxed and natural. Gradually, I let my guard down. Andy seemed like a sincerely nice guy, if a little melancholy.