WitchBite

A Choice

 The hours seemed to roll by like minutes. It was filled with the constant distraction of the company at my disposal; Elizabeth and Simon. They regaled me with stories about the many years of their lives. Or rather, Elizabeth's life. For I discovered, or at least put the clues together, that Elizabeth was at the very least: decades old. Her mannerisms and overall style spoke to me again of that Victorian era, or maybe just at the tail end of it. Despite this, she seemed to have seamlessly adapted into the modern world, and I'd wondered if all Vampires were so naturally capable. I've known elderly in the mortal world who take great issue with how the current times are not what they know, and are therefore bitter at it and themselves. That's the way the world works I suppose. You adapt or you get stuck; forever doomed to thrash in the inevitable throes of death, cursing the environment for changing without you.

She told us both of bawdy tales involving Aristocrats and the glistening nobility of that era. Those were my favourite. Especially if it involves murder, debauchery, and inter-personal politics. It made everything sound juicier.

My favourite one she told; was about a particular Aristocrat who had a taste for girls of the working class at the time. He was rich, powerful, and influential, so of course he could have anyone he wanted. All but one who denied him, over and over again. Most wouldn't dare deny him at the promise of wealth, or an easy life. But she didn't want that, she didn't want any of it. Even when he took more forceful means: she managed to slip away and escape, just ever so slightly out of reach. Forever unobtainable. It supposedly drove him mad, and he delved into all manner of dark dealings. Seedy underbellies of criminal empires, bribing of police constables, and even occultism, a supposed "dark-witch" and murder. Can you imagine? Going through all that just because someone told you no?

Elizabeth definitely should write a book one day. I'd be the first to buy a copy. What was even more curious, and constantly pervaded my thoughts; was that despite how intricate her details were, they seemed particularly practised as to not reveal anything about her own past. Her many stories, each one wildly different from the last, and not a single one seemed to involve her directly. I didn't want to pry, or dig. Someone who has lived that long, if she has indeed lived as long as I think she has, is bound to have scars. Painful ones too I'd imagine. She's too kind to have lived an easy life.

Simon was either a social chameleon, or is definitely about as old as I am. He's not as traditionally poetic in his language as Elizabeth is, and is closer to my own speech patterns and mannerisms. I learned that he was, in fact, one of the turned. He had been turned into a Vampire but a few years ago. I learned that he also used to be deaf when he was human. An accident involving an exploding gas tank robbed him of his hearing, and his family, for most of his life. Until Limbani found him. He refused to go into details, which was fair considering I could tell it was probably a painful experience for him to talk about, but I did learn of something else.

When I asked about Casper, the small Vampire boy I had met in the woods, I was given a small lesson in the "types" of Vampire there are. Also that it's considered very, very, rude to ask about what type they are. A hideous social faux pas, as Elizabeth called it. They didn't explain why that was; but, as with a number of things lately: I thought it best not to press any further.

The first, and supposedly the most numerous, are "The Turned". They are, as you can probably guess: mortals who have been turned into a Vampire. Apparently Vampires in their own society, went through simultaneously a voracious gluttonous period; where they fed and turned like crazy. Correlating with a massive drop in their numbers; and then a very restrained, selective period; where they were very particular about who they turned and why. So much so that there are apparently still laws about it to this day. Because of this careful selection; it's arguably the reason why Vampires are so influential and still a secret to the majority of the world. They're embedded everywhere they're needed to keep it so.