Only Two Of Us

by Cassandra Russell

  In fact, I was dismissed an hour earlier, strangely at Dora's insistence that

  showed concern for my visible depressive state.

  And it was not for less.

  I could only think of putting everything together and walking away, it seemed to be the right attitude to

  take in the moment. The sooner I left, the better it would be for my head. Very difficult, in the current

  financial condition I was in, having to refuse a job, but worse would be to suffer from

  destructive manner. The only problem was that I could not get away for once without even

  money for the passage and the rent of the pension, and that would only have to be resolved the next morning,

  officially signing my resignation.

  Cutting off my thoughts, the sound of the cell phone vibrated inside the bag. I was not willing

  even looking at it, only when I checked my mother's number on the LCD screen, I answered. That

  was at least suspect. We always talked exclusively over the internet, so I ended up

  getting worried.

  What more would be to come, Lord?

  - Stephanie?

  - Hi, Mom, how are you? What happened?

  I was waiting for the next bomb. One more, one less, would not make the slightest difference.

  - There was nothing. I'm just calling to wish you a happy birthday. Congratulations, baby!

  Today is my birthday? I was surprised. How wonderful! I'm going to skip around there, so happy! And the

  celebration will be the desperate escape of a love for a vampire ...

  - Thanks Mom. My words were strangled.

  "Anne also said that she tried to call and failed. He told her to open his e-mail and

  read the message she sent.

  "Hmmm, hmmm," I agreed, urging God to control me.

  "What is it, daughter?" Is crying?

  "No." I swallowed the tears. "I'm just ... touched by the surprise they gave me, that's all."

  Why leave my mother worried? If it is to suffer, let it be but one. In addition, the

  which he had said was not entirely a lie. I was surprised, was not I? Who knows in another one or

  two days could not receive her hug in person?

  - How nice! I was worried that you would set the date alone! He exclaimed, withdrawing his grief.

  Imagine! I'm never alone ... And the emptiness by chance of my foot?

  "To see you," I blurted out.

  "Then I will not get in the way." A kiss and have fun!

  And I had scheduled to leave with him at the end of the file ...

  Nice day to lose your life. Happy birthday and bye.

  Good bye, baby!

  I needed to stop and take a deep breath to hold the wave and not cry in the middle of the street. Afraid to be

  assaulted again and made the painting even worse, I put the cell phone in my bag and immediately afterwards

  To think about this possibility, a black car stopped next to me, opening the door of the caravan suddenly.

  I jumped back, startled.

  To my surprise, Ava emerged from within.

  - Come in, please. I need to talk to you, "she said politely.

  How did Ava know I'd be passing by now? I was surprised. What would she have to

  important to tell me?

  Do not.

  I do not want to hear anyone else. Enough of suffering in life, enough what happened

  with me at dawn, "I concluded.

  "I'm sorry, I do not get into strangers' car," I said, still walking.

  "Stephanie, it's only a few minutes," he insisted. "Then I swear I'll leave you alone."

  I stopped for a second and watched the woman to see if there was truth in her countenance. I decided,

  finally, accept the request and get into the car. Immediately after, the doors were locked inside,

  leaving me scared. However, she was soon reassuring me:

  "I'm just doing this so there's no way I can not hear myself." I can not take that risk -

  justified.

  Again I took a deep breath and took courage to dump the avalanche that formed at the

  language. He would not let me intimidate him.

  - It's all right. So, starting ... Do you know what he is? I asked, raising my courage.

  "Of course I do. So am I, "he admitted, looking me in the eye to see what my

  reaction, and I instinctively cringed, frightened.

  - Not to be afraid. We do not bite people, "he said quietly.

  "That's not what I saw this morning!" I shrugged, changing my voice.

  "What you saw was not exactly what you imagined, Stephanie.

  "You think I'm crazy, by any chance?" Of course, this whole vampire story is already a clue

  of insanity, but I was not drugged no! I saw very well when he bit that patient! -

  I screamed.

  "Right," he said slowly, wanting to calm me down. "I'll tell our story from the beginning to

  that you can understand, okay? Just ask a little patience on your part.

  I glanced briefly at a lady walking with a puppy on her leash through the glass of the car,

  wondering whether or not I should agree with that absurdity, and opted for the yes.

  It was already in the rain ...

  "Okay, I'll let you talk," I said.

  She positioned herself more comfortably in the car seat, turning as much as she could

  to face me.

  "Let's see ... I met Richard in 1943 in London, and by that time he was already a vampire

  relatively old. I will not tell you how it became so because I do not know if he would like me to

  said This is no longer the case either. He made a gesture with his hands, undoing the subject.

  "I had been recently transformed by a vampire who yearned for my professional services.

  You know, I was always proud to be one of the very few women of that time to

  I dream of graduating in Law and have a respectable career, especially in my city. I was born in

  Stockholm, Sweden, and I'm polyglot, but I graduated from London. You must imagine how it was

  difficult for a female to achieve such a thing before ...

  Ava seemed to have gotten a little lost in her memories, and even more so, by making a brief calculation

  concerning their age.

  Immediately after, she returned to what she said:

  "Well, as I said before, this vampire used to surround himself with some professionals, who thought

  important to get everything he wanted without having to leave that dark mansion and expose himself to the

  public - stressed. He kept several humans hypnotized to work at his command.

  made real robots. Unfortunately, I was chosen as one of those, precisely because I was an anonymous

  City. I was an easy target because I had no relatives or anyone to complain about my

  disappearance. And when a professional no longer interested him, it was enough to undo hypnosis or feed himself

  him, "she revealed, looking at me again to see if I would be shocked. "All of us vampires have

  this gift of hypnotizing our prey.

  The statement reminded me of the way the patient in Richard's house was.

  That lady looked exactly like this: hypnotized.

  She did not have time to think about anything else, for Ava continued,

  "At first, I thought I was lucky that that vampire was interested in me, since, instead of

  dead, I ended up being transformed. Except that soon the plug fell: to be a vampire in no way it seemed

  with the stories of power I heard as a girl and much less I could bear to live in that place

  with a despicable being like him. You have no idea how gloomy the

  millenarian vampire. Just remembering ... He was disgusting, his clothes smelled musty ... "He grimaced.

  "And what is worse: for not accepting it, I will become
a sort of slave of him, watched 24 hours a day!

  Unbelievable. It seemed she listened to a live Anne Rice tale, a perfect audiobook.

  "It was then that I met Richard in one of my sporadic outings from that sinister place to

  solve a problem at a local notary's office, "he said. - He was already an experienced doctor and also

  was there to complete the sale of a property. It is logical that he realized without delay that we were

  same species, and after sensitizing myself to my story, decided to help me, even knowing

  risk. After he had drawn up an escape plan, he was able to save me,

  mausoleum and setting up a hiding place, where I stayed for a long time. I had to leave the circuit because

  that disgusting, disgusting man had enough strength and methods to kill us, even if we were so

  vampires like him.

  She paused briefly, intending to summarize as much history as possible without omitting

  important events:

  "Richard came to treat me like a younger sister; he was a dear brother like I've never had before.

  With the greatest patience in the world, he told me the details of his life and convinced me that there was a way

  survive without hurting people. It said that the blood that fed us could be obtained from a

  way, through blood donated to hospitals or animals.

  Bags of blood and ... animals - I repeat mentally

  "Over time, he specialized in hematology. It was so bright that I could,

  through donated blood, identify the abnormal elements contained therein, be they bacteria, viruses,

  cancer cells and deficiencies in general. It was enough to taste some of that blood for after

  prescribe what would lead to the cure of these patients. And you see, not everything was specific to your

  specialty! She exclaimed, showing how proud she was of him. - That's why your hospital

  has a special affection for his work. My brother does not kill people, Stephanie. He saves

  all of them. Even being a vampire, perhaps he is more human in the figurative sense of the word than the

  most of the beings that circulate on this planet!

  Even though she was aware of what she had said, I was still confused.

  "Ava, I saw Richard biting a patient. If it's that way you talk, it would not be more human.

  remove the blood in the conventional way?

  "I fully understand what you mean." His reply was quick, after looking with

  concern for the wristwatch. - The problem is that there are cases in which he can only

  complete cure if all diseased cells are drained, sucking the sick person's blood and at the same time doing

  transfusion by inserting fresh blood. And this can only be done this way, because it will only have

  certainty of complete healing when you taste the clean blood free from these abnormal elements.

  I know that, in addition to this, he also does other procedures related to the bone marrow, but I will not

  to be here describing what I do not understand ... I just want to stress that, for the more serious cases, Richard

  need to perform this act in his own home. Imagine what would happen if someone caught you doing

  this process in the hospital without him noticing ... "He shook his head, denying it.

  "I-I'm perfectly sure," I reflected.

  "Stephanie, you can check with everyone who knows you. How many cases of leukemia, purpura,

  various blood disorders, among other diseases, he managed to cure? The answer is very simple:

  all. Patients often arrive at hospitals presenting an apparently banal problem,

  he detects anomalies and disorders much worse, heals his illnesses, and they leave without even knowing

  who were sick. I can only remember one exception in all my years of existence, and

  Richard suffered greatly from this fact. And because of this we decided to move to Brazil, so that he

  to go deeper into research and get away from the environment that made it worse. Just so

  he could relieve his pain.

  "Was this person very important to him?" I asked, beginning to feel remorse.

  "In a way, yes. And that's all I can reveal. I do not want to get in the way of something

  it's none of my business - made a point of changing the subject.

  The car's locks lifted automatically, announcing that the conversation had come to an end.

  "Well, now that you know everything, I can let you go." At least you will have parameters to

  decide what you want to do. I would just like to say one more thing before I leave: since I met him,

  I've never seen my brother in love before, "he assured her. "Richard loathes to be what he is, Stephanie. Such

  like me, did not choose this life and suffered a lot until I got the courage to get close to you. He

  he was afraid of his reaction, that he was considered an aberration, despite having full control of his

  instincts We have lived among you for a long time and I suppose we have been modernizing ourselves, suffering

  mutation, I'm not sure.

  I thought of everything she said and my suffering increased even more. I did not let Richard become

  explain, I heard that agonized cry and I left, even loving it!

  Worse, he had called him a monster, just what he feared most, when in fact he was

  saving a human life. Also, how could I imagine such a thing?

  This looked more like a book of horror stories ...

  - Ava, forgive me ... What do I do now? Where is he? I asked, worried that there would not be

  more time for regrets.

  - At my house getting ready to leave the country. If I run, I might be able to stop it before

  of your departure. Is that what you want?

  "Yes, that's what I want," I confirmed with confidence in my voice.

  "Then put your seat belt on." We'll have to fly! - he recommended, posting a smile

  victorious on the lips.

  We arrived at the front of her house in a few minutes, however, he had already left. Therefore, we were

  direct to the airport.

  Ava knew he would leave Cumbica, Guarulhos, so we went for a short cut she knew for

  we did not catch the usual bottling of the city at the end of the day. For its average speed, I believe that

  he should have taken at least two or three fines in front of the radars along the way. We left the car at

  and run to the booth, ignoring the

  waited in line.

  "I kind of know that I'm being inconvenient, but it's a case of life or death ... Mr. Richard

  Has Hacket shown up at the counter to check in? Ava asked the company attendant.

  aerial

  "Can you tell fate and time?" The attendant was receptive.

  - Paris. On the nineteen-twenty-five flight.

  She checked the computer for her name.

  "He's already checked in." He must have gone to the boarding area. The call for entry into the

  aircraft has started, "he explained.

  - Oh no! I blurted out in an anguished whisper.

  I ran to the escalator in a hurry, not waiting for Ava, and I saw him in the distance, at the eminence of

  enter your industry.

  - Richard! I shouted for every airport to hear.

  He turned his face away, as if it had nothing to do with the story. He had already shown the ticket

  airport agent to be referred to the metal detectors.

  - Richard, wait! "I was barred from entering by security. That was a restricted area.

  Since then, she had understood that I was the author of the screams. I saw in his gaze the suffering contained, the

  bitterness stamped on his face and he was in doubt whether he really should attend to my appeal.

  He shook his head, rejecting his own will, and went on.
<
br />   - Richard, please! Talk to me! - practically begged, facing the warning of the

  oversight.

  His reluctance was evident, there seemed to be no chance of a return.

  Richard took the bag and began to pace, with his head lowered, and avoiding spying for

  behind. She narrowed her eyes and covered her ear with one hand so she would not have to hear my voice.

  However, even though I perceived his deranged behavior, I dismissed the last

  pride that bound me and opened my heart at once:

  - Do not leave me! I love you! I roared with all my might and began to cry. It could not

  believe that he had lost him ...

  He instantly stopped.

  His legs seemed to be pinned to the floor, as if something prevented him. For a brief moment,

  only the movement of his intense breathing could be seen in the distance. Apparently nervous and

  restlessly, he showed through the shaking of his hands how much that decision weighed for him. Was

  before an inevitable impasse.

  To my utter sadness, his balance shifted to a different side of mine: Richard put the

  small handbag on the check-in tray of airport

  metals, crossing to the other side in order to board the plane. In that place I could never

  Therefore, it has completely disappeared from my peripheral vision, putting an end to the hope that I

  had happiness and simply nullifying the only chance of asking for forgiveness.

  The only reaction I had was to look for Ava's shoulder and pour all the

  repentance.

  Ava, initially moved by the tears streaming down my face, comforted me in a hug.

  tight and then, for no apparent reason, began to force me to detach myself from her.

  I, weakened the way I was, could not understand a plausible reason for her to act

  so insensitive to my pain.

  Did not she see that I desperately needed support? Was she devastated by the

  Brother's departure, and after he was gone, he decided to blame me?

  That would be very fair, but not at that moment. Not the way it was destroyed.

  Intimately hurt, I lifted my head from her shoulder in an attempt to find another place to prop

  the body and as I turned around I found out why Ava had done that to me: he was there.

  I felt my legs wobble and I almost fell when I noticed that he had come back, bumping into several

  people on the way to cuddle me in their arms. Richard pulled me around the waist so hard