Deacon's trying on a jacket right in front of me, with an unconvincing and definetely unconfident look on his face.
"Oh shut up, it suits you! And didn't that girl at the Boogie tell you she liked military jackets? Maybe you'll meet her again tonight, who knows."
"Yes, but I wanted the other one!"
"You look good with this one, too! Vladislav, tell him"
"Yeah, you look good in this" Vlad says, putting on his vest "the other one made you look fatter."
Deacon stops before turning to Vladislav a murderous look.
"What do you mean with...'fatter'?"
"No, no...Deacon, he's just messing with you!" I try to intervene while his eyes become flaming "Remember, that girl came to talk to you last time. Not to him. He's just jealous..." I add quietly and winking.
He seems to calm down a bit, dampening the flames that were about to come out of his ears and taking a deeper breath.
"You're lucky your human pet has this ability to calm me down...otherwise your head would already be hanging from that dusty chandelier."
"It's dusty 'cause you never clean it!"
"Wait, wait...excuse me? What'd you just call me?" I ask again interrupting their bickering one more time.
Deacon gets even closer to me looking at him with eyes wide open, he lifts my chin a bit with his index and then attach his blue eyes inside mine, trying to give me his best bewitching look.
"...but a very sexy pet."
I slap his hand off my face, trying to hold back the anger and frustration that I'd like to vent right now.
"You're obnoxious."
The sweetness of Viago’s eyes manages to appease my anger, approaching me as he puts on his brown coat.
"You sure you're not coming?"
Last time we had a really good time together but tonight, despite their invitation to go with them, I kindly declined the offer preferring to stay home to relax, maybe reading a book. Petyr has now forcibly accepted my presence in his house and, although I'm aware that the risk is never zero, I think he has now given up the idea of eating me...or at least I hope.
It's the second time this week they're going downtown. I know that Wellington is a pro-vampire city and that their presence has been accepted by now, but...I don't know, I just don't want them to exaggerate with this nightlife and I'm a little worried. As a human I know well that there's still a good chunk of the city's people who see them as a plague to be eradicated, as monsters to cast out.
"Yes Viago, I'm sure. Have fun...and be careful!" I say it out loud, waving as I watch them walking down the driveway. If I don't stop thinking about the fact that I'm saying bye-bye to three vampires who are going to find someone to eat, well...it would all seem pretty normal. I close the door making sure it's really locked and find myself alone in this large hall, looking again into the eyes of that stuffed ibex that every time seems to wonder what I'm doing here. I wouldn't have an answer, actually.
I really feel like to lie down and read a good book, have a glass of wine and begin to feel this house...a little bit more mine. I want to try to relax and not think about this involuntary unease that I feel inside of me. Is that really jealousy I'm feeling? Towards some poor, unaware girl who's gonna be a vampire dandy dinner tonight? Damn, I feel so stupid.
I'm about to go up the stairs when suddenly someone knocks on the door, startling me and getting my heart pounded down my throat. Strange things happen in this house, I never know what to expect.
"Who is it?" I ask, wary.
"It's Viago!"
Viago? I thought he was on the bus downtown by now. I open the door and he's right in front of me, smiling in a clumsy attempt to hide his fangs.
"Viago, what...did you forget something?"
He seems to get a little nervous, like he was looking for the right words.
"I was thinking, maybe...I could stay here with you and keep you some company, tonight"
The shy sentence ends with a subtle questioning tone and his big dark eyes look at me before they lower, waiting for an answer.
"Sure, I'd love to."
I open the door even more and step aside, letting him in. Viago remains silent watching me close the door again, when I look at him his mouth stretches out again in a shy smile.
"So, what were your plans for the evening?"
"Oh, I didn't have any" I reply "I thought I'd just relax reading a book, listening to some music..."
"Cool!" he says with his usual enthusiasm. "We could stay in my room and read some of the poetry books I showed you last time, if you want. I even fixed my gramophone!"
"That sounds nice."
With a gesture of the hand Viago invites me to follow him and we take the long corridor. He looks tense, turns nervously a few times to see if I'm still behind him and then stops at the door of his room, opening it in a long creaking.
"Just wait here a second, okay?"
Viago moves in the pitch dark without any problem, as if the room were brightly lit. I can barely see him approaching the fireplace and light the numerous candles scattered above it, carefully moving the match in his hand. When he turns on the others on the bedside table and at the foot of his coffin, he happily smiles at me again.
"Please, come in!"
With a certain timidity I pass the threshold and enter his room, looking around with curiosity. I'd never entered Viago's room and no other's except mine, they have always been forbidden and off limits to me. Inside Viago's the first thing I notice is the mahogany coffin, dark and with some beautiful carvings along the lid, made of a nice sturdy wood. It looks somehow comfortable between these walls adorned by many painted white flowers. He quickly passes over it a flap of his shirt sleeve, rubbing it a bit before inviting me to sit.
"Sorry, I'm not used to having guests..."
The light of the candles makes the atmosphere around us so relaxing and intimate, my fingers tighten the edge of the wood near my thighs while watching Viago tinker with his gramophone, turning to me from time to time to give me a reassuring smile.
"Do you like classical music?" he asks me continuing to turn the handweel on the side of that thingy. I nod.
"Here we go..."
The music begins to spread inside the room and Viago comes up sitting next to me on the coffin.
"I don't see any papers or towels around here so I guess you're not gonna eat me tonight" I tell him sarcastically looking around as he smiles timidly and looks down.
"Could I ask you something?"
I nod.
"Vladislav told me that you want to be a vampire, and...I was just wondering..."
"You're wondering why."
"Well...that's quite unusual."
I take a deeper breath, in silence. What should I answer? Should I give him an honest answer or should I tell him what I think he wants to hear?
"Have you ever felt like...in the wrong place? As if you were in the wrong time, in a place where you just don't belong?"
Viago looks at me with his big dark eyes but remains silent.
"I've never been able to adapt to this kind of life. To this life, to...life. And just as I thought that death might give me relief, Vladislav offered me eternal life. I figured it was a sign."
Did I really just tell him I thought about killing myself? Gee.
"...plus I've seen 'Interview With The Vampire' at least ten times, not to brag." I add quickly in a pathetic attempt to play down and focus the conversation on something else. If there’s one thing I really don’t want to do it’s be heavy and petulant with my dark thoughts.
"Ten times?"
I proudly nod, puffing myself up.
"You know, somewhere I must have a book you might like."
Viago gets up and approaches his library, looking for that mysterious book he was telling me about. I observe his movements in silence, so graceful and delicate in everything he does. His finger runs along the many backs of his books bound in leather as if it were a breath of wind and his white skin stands out in the darkness of the room. I suddenly feel something in my stomach. Trying to distract myself I look away down on the small wooden table next to the coffin. Just right by the alarm clock I see a necklace with a pendant in what appears to be silver, so beautiful and shiny even in this darkness.
"What is it?" I ask taking it in hand and Viago turns to me, freezing.
"Can you please...just..."
He gets close to me so fast I didn't even notice, but not so fast as to stop me before opening it. Inside there's a photograph in black and white, the portrait of a beautiful girl with short and dark hair. Next to it the portrait of Viago, so serious and proud in his gaze towards the horizon, depicted in a beautiful photograph that looks like that of a nobleman. For a moment I feel my heart skipping a beat and then picking it up right away: so he's in love.
He gracefully takes the pendant from my hands and observes its contents for a second, without saying anything while from his fingers begin to come out a stream of smoke.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." I say feeling a little guilty about my cheek, I shouldn't have pried in his things like a nosey kid. Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong is always dangerous, you can find out things you don't want to know and that’s just what happened tonight. I definetely did not need to know that.
Viago sighs and then smiles at me gently.
"Don't worry, it's no big deal. I'm just a little touchy about this."
"Is that your girlfriend?"
He puts it on the table again.
"No, not anymore."
"What happened?"
He sighs.
"I came to this country for love. I fell in love with that girl, a human girl...and...I was smitten, totally into her"
The pit in my stomach tightens even more, I continue to listen in silence and with attention as he sits again next to me.
"Her family emigrated to New Zealand and I decided to chased her, wanted to tell her how I felt. So I told my servant Phillip 'Send me to New Zealand'...but he put the wrong postage on my coffin so the whole journey took about eighteen months. When I got here she had found someone else. She had fallen in love and she was married."
His eyes remain low and I can hear a little melancholy in his tone of voice.
"I'm sorry, Viago. Must have been tough."
"Yeah..." he sighs "well, it was a long time ago."
I look at the profile of his face and can’t help but wonder where his facial features come from. They seem someway exotic, framed by two beautiful dark sideburns. I can’t tell if it’s because of his delicious German accent, or because of his hands adorned with those lace sleeves peeking out from under his jacket...or 'cause of the cute curve of his nose or that black tuft of hair that falls on his forehead...but my heart's pounding in my chest and I speak without thinking, coming out with the first thing I have in mind.
"So you fell in love with a human."
Viago seems to get tense but nods quietly. He moves a few inches closer to me, slipping on the shiny wood of his coffin.
"If I might ask, does your heart belong to anyone or...?" he asks me gently with a barely trembling voice, fearing he’d crossed the line.
I smile embarrassed, looking down to my feet and feeling my cheeks coloring a bit.
"Well..."
When I look up again for a moment I'm out of breath. His big dark eyes look at me curious and waiting for my words, tenderly and patiently. For a while I lose myself admiring their special cut that so many times have caught my attention, so sweet inside mine.
"...it's a hard question to answer."
What a liar.
Viago, as if he had read something inside my eyes, smiles shyly and then lowers his in turn. Without even realizing it I moved my hand just a few millimetres to his, touching his fingers with the tip of mine. He looks over my hand without saying a word, only by gently reaching out even more and leaning his slender fingers on mine. A shiver runs through my body from head to toe, I slightly open my lips in search of the oxygen that seems to be missing when I realize that for a second I just forgot to breathe. Time seems to stand still and it’s like everything’s in slow motion while the tip of his fingers begin to softly touch my burning skin, hesitant and soft as velvet.
"So..." but his sentence is abruptly interrupted by the door of the room opening wide, making Vladislav appear on the threshold without any warning.
"Hey, what are..."
He remains motionless, staring at us as Viago withdraws his hand in a shutter and I quickly do the same, nonchalant.
"Vlad...! Back so soon?"
His gaze get tougher and he keep looking at us, frowning and trying to figure out what was going on.
"Yes." His voice is firm, deep, authoritative. "Viago, can I talk to you for a minute?"
I stand still while Vladislav’s eyes judge me by the edge of that door, I can feel them, they're yelling at me as if I were the little girl who deserves to be grounded.
"I better get back to my room now. Thanks for the company, Viago." and without looking back I walk out of his room, barely touching with my shoulder the massive body of Vlad, motionless as a rock. When I reach my room I close the door behind me, sitting on the bed and thinking that it's better not to be around during their discussions, whatever they are.
I lie down and hug the pillow, with the look lost outside the window that gives me the view of a beautiful full moon, bright and lonely just like me.
Can love, which makes you feel so alive, make you even more wish to join someone in death?
