by Martha Woods
The man that stole a loaf of bread was guilty of theft, the man who donated to charity was giving something back. On their own they seem cut and dry, good and evil, but if we question why they did these things we might find ourselves surprised at what we find. The thief is a homeless man, stealing bread so the teenage runaway that joined up with him can at least have something to eat that night, whereas the charity donor is only using it as a convenient way to get a tax write off at the end of the year, with not a second spent caring about the cause it was going towards.
A binary thought system, black and white, good and evil… it held us back so much, and it allowed both truly good and evil people alike to slip through the cracks disguised in the grey. There were very few people who were truly good or evil, though they certainly did exist, why should it be any different for vampires? Who’s to say that the defenseless man they drained dry was not a truly despicable human being, whose blood was able to give them enough strength to defend the members of their family that were in danger?
While I couldn’t defend every action that they took, I’d seen enough that I just couldn’t personally moralize, maybe I could understand enough to be comfortable to say that I didn’t understand why they were taking them. Rather than think that I knew enough to instantly condemn or condone whatever it was I saw them do, there was more responsibility in admitting that I had no clue what or why they did anything. Maybe instead of assuming, the best thing to do would be to just… ask them. How else do you learn anything in this world?
“Amy?” Joseph snapped his fingers in front of my eyes, smirking when I jolted back into my chair. “Sorry about that, but you tend to go somewhere else sometimes, did you know that?”
“Sorry, sorry…” I blushed, not realizing that I’d been thinking to myself for that long. “I was just thinking about… how little I actually know about vampires.”
“Not surprising, you’ve been asking a lot of questions that many of us hardly ever hear more than once a century.”
“Really? Like what?”
“Oh, you know, ‘how are you today?’, ‘are you doing alright?’. Mostly it’s just a scream of rage followed by a scream of pain from either them or us, not much room for information gathering in there.” Joseph leaned forward, twirling his finger dramatically in a circle before pointing at me. “But you, on the other hand, I can hardly go a day without hearing about you making waves with the other species, always asking how they do something, or why they do something, everything is all so… fascinating to you, though I suppose that’s not to be unexpected from a woman of science such as yourself.”
“It’s my job to ask questions, what kind of investigator would I be otherwise?” I hung my head. “But… I only just realized that recently, before that I… in some ways I really didn’t think that much differently from Tristian and all his hunters. If a vampire wasn’t Vincent then what did it matter what I thought of them? They were probably dangerous, right?”
“You fell back on the thinking that only those that you considered to be family were safe, everyone else was an enemy, refusing to consider any alternative.” Joseph shrugged. “You’re hardly the first to do it, I remember there was a whole cold war over it, and it was just as pointless then.”
“We’ve seen many people do similar things, human and vampire alike, but the difference between them and you is that you’ve seen the error in that way of thinking before it killed you or someone close to you.” Mika dragged Ivanka down for a quick kiss, smiling back up at her. “We struggle with those thoughts sometimes as well, vampires being untrustworthy, humans being little more than cattle, it’s a constant questioning of your beliefs.”
Joseph rested his palm on her shoulder, rubbing circles into her skin. “A transformation like we’ve gone through, it changes you quite fully, you are exposed to parts of yourself and forced to ask questions that you never thought you would even have to consider existing. Some make the transformation with their faculties intact and others… do not.”
“We were almost in the ‘do not’ category,” Ivanka giggled, “But we didn’t come fully through on the other side if you know what I mean.”
“I… noticed.” I grimaced. “I hope I haven’t insulted you or anything like that.”
“God no, we like you too much for that!” Joseph smiled, no malice or ill intent behind it, just… a smile. “I’m sure you know that considering a vampire a friend is a… risky proposition, given what is in our nature, but I hope you believe us when we say that we consider an offer of friendship from you to be a very flattering offer. You’re one of the first to not come to us out of a desire to escape and to… truly see us for what we are. I would say that you treat us almost like we were human.”
“You’re powerful and incredibly cunning… and you’re my friends, you deserve to have someone treat you with honest respect.” I shook my head, smirking at the ridiculousness of the situation. “If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be saying that to someone without blood running through their veins…”
“I imagine you would think it just as absurd as the thought of someone with blood saying it to us,” Joseph said, “The last year has been illuminating for both sides of the line, I wake up at night sometimes and I have to check that I’m not still in some bizarre dream, the concept of going to a meeting with a hunter attending and not having to go planning for a fight was… not something that ever entered my consideration.”
“Things are a lot more interesting since you came along, that’s for sure,” Mika said, “Even though we’re all disappointed that you won’t share yourself with us… we’re glad that you can share your trust with us.”
“Well, don’t count me out yet, you still have a lot of alcohol and you’re still all very beautiful…”
“Really?” Mika perked her head up, almost drooling at the thought. I almost felt bad when I smirked and took another sip of my drink.
“No, but the thought will definitely keep me up at night. What a shame that’s all it will be.”
I never thought that I would ever see a vampire pout in my life, but the three of them were seemingly dedicated to shattering every idea that I’d ever had about vampires. But what are friends for other than challenging your expectations fully? Joseph at least seemed to appreciate the joke, laughing fully as the other two sulked and fell back into each other, but I didn’t miss the subtle way he crossed one leg over the other in an effort to hide the effect my mock promise had on him.
“Very cute Joseph,” I said, “But don’t think that I’m not always watching.”
“Oh, we know,” He replied, flicking his head over at Mika and Ivanka. “We’ve seen you watching us very closely, we know where your interests lie.”
“Hmm…” I finished off my drink, placing the glass down gently and standing. “Not bad Joseph, I don’t think you give your own wittiness enough credit.”
“Trust me, Amy, I do.” He stood as well, picking up the half empty bottle of bourbon and handing it over to me. “I believe I promised you this? Share a glass with Damon, let him know that we wish him well.”
“Really?” I asked, “I understand wanting to patch things with a witch but… he’s a hunter, isn’t there something deeper there?”
“Of course, there is, I’ve likely had friends that he personally killed, spent some months living in a state of terror that he or someone exactly like him will kill me and all I hold dear. But I imagine that the same is true of him, how many of his brothers in arms have we killed, whether in self-defense or sport?” He tapped the label of the bottle, nodding resolutely. “Someone has to be the first to extend a proper olive branch and speaking with you has… inspired me. I’ve already shared a drink with a witch, it would be quite an achievement to share one with a hunter as well I imagine.”
“He’d consider it an achievement as well, he’s really made a lot of progress in… not wanting to kill all of you, which is good for me,” I laughed, “I wouldn’t hold my breath on that drink but I would
n’t count it out either, just... expect him to be surly when it does happen.”
“You’ve seen some of the characters that I associate with, belligerence is something that I am very well versed in deflecting. As long as we can agree on no knives at the bar I think we’ll get along famously.”
“I hope so, he’s already had a hard-enough time spending time with one vampire, imagine what two will do to him?”
“Well… four, actually. Mika, Ivanka and I are a package deal.” He held his hands up in appeasement. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure that they keep their hands off of him.”
“Well… good,” I said, “Nothing happens between him and anyone else without my say so… and I know how hypocritical that sounds, so don’t bother pointing it out, because I already know.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it dear, now I think it’s time for you to head on out. You didn’t drive, here did you?”
“No… I walked.”
“Hmmm, no matter how competent you are I’m not comfortable sending you out alone to walk across town after a few drinks. I’ll drive you, the others can hold the fort here.”
“Wait, you have a car?” I smirked. “Why do you even have one of those?”
“While myself and my two loves are vampires, some others who live here are not, it would be rude to force them to try and keep up with us on foot.” He shrugged, picking up a pair of keys from the table and twirling them around his finger. “Also, I can still appreciate the finer things in life, a nice car is no exception to that.”
I was about to politely decline once more before Mika interrupted me, tapping her fingers on the back of my shoulders. “Don’t worry, he’ll keep his hands to himself. He might be the boss but even he knows there would be consequences if he didn’t share.”
Joseph rolled his eyes, pressing a quick kiss to the tip of her nose before snatching up his coat. “I can assure that was not a worry of hers before, but it likely is now.”
“Oops,” Mika smirked, lips brushing my cheek and hand pushing me lightly towards the door. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, we’ll see you in a few hours anyway. Toodle-oo!”
“One day they’ll stop with the innuendos, right?” I asked Joseph once we were outside. “Right?”
“Absolutely not. They are even more insatiable now than before their rebirth, nothing short of Armageddon is going to stop that. And given that you’ve made it your personal mission to prevent that…”
“Ah. Right. My own fault then.”
“In this situation? Yes, I would have to say so.”
* * *
We sped along through the streets, the engine of his very expensive sports car purring pleasantly around me, the world outside muffled to a dull, muted roar through the blacked-out windows. I’d always dreamed of riding in a car like this, sure I’d driven in expensive cars before but that had always been out of necessity, or with a bloody crime scene waiting for me at the end of the trip, or back in college when I’d been spared the walk of shame by some of the less dickish hook ups I’d had in my time.
It was rare that I got the opportunity to just lean my body back into some expensive leather seats and feel the world rush by, without worrying about the driver making a move or trying to steal my wallet. I wasn’t an idiot, I knew he wanted to make a move on me, but he still had that sense of chivalry from… whenever it was he’d been born. That seemed like something that I needed to know.
“Joseph?”
“Hmm? What is it, Amy?”
“How… old are you?” I pulled myself upright, fixing my attention on him. “I just realized that you might be my closest ally in the alliance but I don’t really know that much about you.”
“How generous,” He said, “Giving me an opportunity to talk about my favorite subject. What is it you want to know?”
“Well… where were you born? Where did you grow up? Those sorts of things.”
He hummed in thought, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel. “This is going to be a very disappointing answer but… I don’t actually remember where I was born, the entirety of my human life is all just a big blur. I’m from somewhere in Europe, but I never stayed in one place long enough to call it home.”
“Did you have any family? Like a cousin or a… brother or anything like that?”
“I did have a brother, but not by blood. We travelled the world together, swept up to the highest peaks of Russia and down to the then-unexplored depths of Burma. After a few centuries of that, we got bored with what we knew and decided to come to this brand-new country known as America.”
“Brand new?” I whistled, “Jesus, how old are you? When was this?”
“It’s not very polite to ask someone’s age, Amy, I thought you knew that by now. But this was around… 1820 I want to say? We came in at the port in Boston and struck out from there. Looking back on it those days were absolutely ridiculous, the words ‘vampire’ and ‘cowboy’ should not be in the same sentence.”
“You were a cowboy?” I laughed, almost jumping in my seat. “A real, honest to god, cattle rustling train robbing cowboy?”
“My brother got more into the role but… yes, that was me, a regular Val Kilmer. Who played the role perfectly by the way, Holliday was every bit the gentleman that he seemed in the film, I didn’t meet him during my outlaw days but it was a good throw back for me,” He sighed, “But that wasn’t to last, unfortunately, the allure of the cities got to us before too long and we set out again. Which is how we ended up in Chicago.”
“When was this?”
“1870. We didn’t anticipate that it would already have a sizable hunter population, and by the next year, my brother would be dead. Staked in an alley while I was too weak to do anything.”
“Oh.” I covered my mouth. “I’m so sorry Joseph I… I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“Don’t be sorry,” He said, “How were you to know if you didn’t ask? Besides, it pales in comparison to what I did.”
I lowered my hand, narrowing my eyes at him. “That’s ominous, what did you do?”
“I was in a very emotional volatile position after he was killed, I considered attacking their base one night, but quickly realized it would be a suicide mission. I killed one of them in a duel when he was drunk, but there was no way I was going to get all of them that way.” He shrugged, tone far to casual for what he said next, “So I set Chicago on fire.”
“Oh ok…” I snapped my head up, that sentence finally hitting me fully. “You what?”
“Don’t act surprised, surely you were expecting something horrible to come up? Either way, it worked, the hunters who killed my brother all perished, as did most of their brotherhood, to the point that even thirty years afterwards they would have difficulty reestablishing a hold in the city.”
“And let me guess, you took advantage of that?”
He grinned, nodding in approval. “Absolutely I did, under my control, Chicago became something of a safe haven for our kind, the confusion, and anger from the fire disguised any actions that we took as regular rioting, not even the hunters that were left could be sure it was us. Fast forward forty years and I move on, going from city to city and establishing more of our control wherever I went. And here we are, in both senses of the word.”
I looked out the window, seeing my apartment building looming in front of us. Joseph turned the engine off, waiting patiently while I came back to myself. “But… wait,” I said, “What about what you were telling me?”
“That can all wait until another day, for now, you’ve got a fight to prepare for.” He leaned across me, pulling the handle on my door and pushing it open. “Now go on, maybe you and Damon can share a drink before the war.”
“So dramatic…” I stepped out of the car, hand on the roof while I considered what I should say next. “I’m… sorry about your brother Joseph.”
He shrugged, but the frown that crossed his face was unmistakable. “It happens in lives like ours, not much that can be done about that. Every
now and then I think of him and I remember what I lost, and a hole opens up in my chest that I just can’t fill with anything.”
“I’ll do my best to prevent you from feeling that again Joseph, I promise.”
“I know you will Amy, you’re a woman of your word, just do me this one favor.” He leaned over, taking my hand and squeezing my palm. “When you get Vincent back, you need to hold him close and not let go. Life is very fleeting even for us, you saw how easily he could have been snuffed out, so we need to enjoy every moment we can get, do you understand?”
“I… yes I understand but… but why are you telling me this?”
“You’re not the first human that I’ve seen fall in love with a vampire, and he won’t be the first whose heart I see shatter when you’re gone. If he offers to turn you I strongly recommend you take it, for both your sakes.”
While the thought had occurred to me that it might be a good course of action, I definitely wasn’t in any state to make a decision just yet, nor was I able to properly weigh up the pros and cons with everything going on around me. So instead of saying yes or no, both of which were heavy answers and neither of which I was prepared to say any time soon, I just nodded my head and said, “Ok Joseph, I’ll… I’ll think about it.”
“Good,” He said, letting go of my hand and leaning back into his seat. “Good. Don’t forget your bottle, give my regards to Damon.”
“I will dive safely.”
Joseph laughed, “In a car like this? That’s a mortal sin.”
I didn’t get a chance to respond before he peeled out of the parking space and started racing down the road away from my building, barely making the green light before it flicked to yellow then to red. “Good thing I’m not on the clock,” I said, “I don’t want to be the one who has to investigate a horrific car accident that doesn’t have a body.”
