Short Stories

The Letter

Dear Elizabeth

I love you. I love you more than you will ever understand, which is why I must go. I know you will not believe a word of this, and that each word will cause you trait pain. For that I am truly sorry.

I'm afraid I can not explain to you why I must leave. If I did you would not believe a word I write.

I don't want to leave you. It breaks my heart to do so. I can see myself spending the rest of my life with you. Growing old together and sitting on a front porch in rocking chairs watching our grandchildren play. Sadly that is not possible for me.

These past two years have been amazing. Every moment with you was a joy. I only hope one day you can forgive me for the pain this letter will cause you.

Love,

Blair

5 Years Later

It was a peaceful afternoon. The sun was out, but it was balanced by a cool breeze. I was sitting at a small cafe in Rome, sipping on coffee and blood. I flick my sunglasses down and looks out at the town square. The area was mostly filled with tourists with their cameras and sunglasses.

I take a sip of my drink and my face scrunches up. The longer the drink sits the  worse it tastes. I thought adding the coffee would mask the staleness of the blood, but it doesn't. It just makes it taste bitter. Oh how I missed fresh blood.

The clock tower at the center of the square chimes. I look if to find the time to be 4pm. With a sigh I down the rest of my drink and set the cup back down. I set a tip on the table and stand up. The scent of fresh blood catches my attention. I turn towards it and end up knocking into someone.

"Oh pardon me. I should really look where I'm going." I quickly turn to look at who I ran into. My body turns to ice and my throat dries up. They found me.

"Well hello Blair. What are the odds of running into you here." Santiago says as he flashes be a grin, showing off his fangs.

"Careful Tiago." I warn. "You don't want anyone seeing." I straighten up, at my full height I was a few inches taller than her.

"Aw how sweet of you to he concerned about me. Though you should really be concerned about your own safety." Tiago says as his fangs disappear. "You're a hard man to find."

I cross my arms over my chest. "Kind of the point." The scent of blood comes back and I narrow my eyes at him. "What did you do?"

Tiago shrugs his shoulders. "Had a mid-morning snack."

I clench my jaw. Many years ago I had sworn off drinking humans for blood. I got my blood from animals or blood from blood banks.

"Oh get off your high horse." Tiago says flatly. "We both know you miss it."

"I don't." I snap back. "What do you want?" I knew why he was there, what I didn't know why he hadn't made his move yet.

"You know why." Tiago says and lowers his voice. "You have something that Rosetta wants. She sent me to retrieve it."

I hold my hands out in front of me, palms up. "I don't have anything."

Tiago's eyes flash as his hand jerks out. He grips one of my wrists, nails digging into my skin. "Rosetta said you might have hidden it. If that was the case, I was instructed to bring you to her."

I laughs dryly and shake my head. "And how are you going to do that?" I ask and look him dead in the eyes.

Tiago's eyes darken and his body tenses. His fangs slip out, but before he can lunge at her I rip my wrist from his gasp. He snarls at me as I spin away from him.