The Game of Hearts

4: Curiosity And The Cat

We'd been down there for hours. We danced, we sang, etc. My shoulder didn't agree with the many movements I accomplished.

As we danced, Rowan told me he'd answer my questions later. He made a thoughtful point earlier. How I took it better than most. As a child, I was big on reading. Twilight, Percy Jackson, Witchy books... you name it. I just grew up in different fictional worlds and seeing fiction become reality felt quite exhilarating. I wasn't surprised or affected to a large extent. It was cool.

I also just cope well with change.

Most of the drunks passed out or went home for closing, I stayed behind for obvious reasons. I sat at the bar, drinking myself a glass of water. The coolness trickled down my throat, calming the dry and airy effect screaming at music took on me. "Why don't you just drink one of our beers?" Rowan asked as he made his way to me after beginning the clean-up process at the bar.

"I have my reasons," was my only response. And I had my reasons. Reasons I didn't think I wanted to share just yet. My age was a factor. I might've seemed like a troublemaker, but the only trouble I made was sleeping around- which... perfectly legal.

"If you don't have money... let it be on me, for being such an interesting company" he said, giving me a serious look but telling from the tone he gave me, I knew it was a joke.

"Ass," I grinned, punching him in the shoulder. Hah, I punched a vampire. I doubt he felt any of it. But it made me swell with triumph when he put up his hands in some sort of fake defeat. The rest of his guys finished up the cleaning process before returning upstairs. Rowan and I stayed put. The bar seemed strange with the silence. I glanced around, then asked my first question. "Are they all vampires, too?"

He nodded his response. "All are my friends, they are my... inner circle."

"Do they all live here?" If it wasn't obvious by how they all went upstairs, I just needed the reassurance.

"Yeah, this is our home. There are five connected rooms. I have the one we shared last night. Two share one room, another two share another, then the rest have individuals."

Sounded like an interesting setup. I assumed all the doors connected somehow. "What about weaknesses? Or just... What about how real Vampires are unlike Hollywood?"

His dark eyes shot up to meet mine. Thoughts crossed his mind at that moment, like he was trying to decide what to say. "Well, most of the myths the humans know are fake. We can walk during the day, and we don't need to survive on blood." he paused. Tension hardened his jaw, then he cleared his throat. "We can eat human food, we just can't taste the food. Human food isn't as flavorful as..." he paused. "Even if we try to survive off of food, we end up starving ourselves because it's not what our bodies require..." Rowan moved to run his fingers through his blonde hair and continued. "We can see our reflection, and we can walk into houses without permission. Stakes in the heart won't kill us, however. Strangely enough, we don't have heartbeats. Meaning a stake to the heart isn't necessary," I took this in and felt lost, but I followed as best I could.

"Does that mean you're basically... unable to be killed?"

"No. We can be killed. Humans can't do it often. But, other supernaturals could. Werewolves, witches, fairies, etcetera." his eyes moved away from mine for a moment. My fascination made me scoot closer. "The only thing a human can do to kill us is a nice chop to the head."

"Those are real, too?"

"Most definitely."

————

After a couple of hours of talking to me about all the things unknown to humans, I realized everything else matched the myths and the books.

Witches are women and men with magical qualities, still mortal. Still people. They can live as long as their powers allow them, but past that point they can be killed like anyone else.

Werewolves are sensitive to wolfsbane and silver. Some of the Alphas can turn whenever they want while the rest of their packs have to change during the full moons. And werewolves have life mates as well.

Fairies are an evolved version of Elves. They are more like tree folk that travel through our world sometimes. They don't live as long as the Elves, however.

Elves can live for thousands of years and spend most of their time in a different dimension, which was the weirdest thing I've ever heard. But I wouldn't judge.

The only thing that differed from myths was the Vampires. They seemed to be an oddball. I started feeling tiredness hit me. Again, a cue to leave. I grabbed my jacket and stood from my seat. "Thanks for the enlightenment," I smirked. "I'm gonna head out but-" he cut me off.

  "You could just... stay here," a look in his eyes told me he wanted to do much more than have me stay there. Or maybe he was as curious about me as I was about him. I wasn't sure, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do yet.

  "Oh yeah? Mm, what's in it for me? I rarely do two nights in a row."

  "I am a vampire, I've got loads of experience,"

"Yeah, well your loads sound gross." Something told me to stay, but I didn't want to give him what he wanted yet, and what I wanted. I still needed to process and ask more questions and figure out what else I've been missing out on.