THE LAST VAMPIRES (inspired by The Scholar Who Walks the Night)
The people around the café would probably think that the young couple in the right corner of the room near the window were normal. They were facing at each other, talking with hush voices, there was nothing wrong with them except for the fact that both looked like they belong to a museum. Their faces were what renaissance artists would paint in their masterpieces and what musicians of today would write their songs about. They were terrifyingly beautiful, the kind that makes any human understand the concept of a god. But the world of today was different, customers in the café were too occupied by their phones, the only one who noticed them was the barista who took their orders. People would not admire you in real life unless your photo was posted on the internet gathering a thousand likes and shares. This was the kind of anonymity that they enjoyed living in this new world, the perfect place for this conversation to take place.
“I always knew that you would catch up on me. What is it this time? The cameras installed in the building where I live or the bank accounts under my new name?” She had been called by many names; in this life she was called Eva. Eva had been running away from the man in front of her, but apparently living in a small town with a new identity was not enough.
“I always knew where you were a long time ago, I don’t need any modern technology to find you” Shin answered. Unlike Eva, Shin lived by tradition. He still carried the same name he had thousand years ago.
“Why find me now?” Eva looked at the untouched coffee mugs in front of them, it was still burning hot. She liked how it looks and how humans were able to craft such drink. It was such a pity that both of them could not actually take a sip and taste it.
“As much as I want to leave you and your make-believe life, you’re not safe.” Shin raised his voice for the first time. This frightened Eva, Shin was never this serious.
“When was I ever safe with you? Did you assassinate another president again?” Eva tried to joke referring to that accident when a stray bullet killed a famous president. It was Shin’s fault of course.
“Somebody wants to hurt me.” Shin said.
Eva had to laugh, “Oh please you can’t be killed.” She tried, a lot of times but nobody can kill the great vampire, the creator of all monsters. The kind of monster that books and movies could not even write properly.
“There are other ways to hurt me.” He stared at her intensely, reminding her the times he lost control. She remembered the first of his many outbursts. She could still picture the bodies of the villagers, piled up as he drank all their blood, it was not out of hunger it was for revenge. The villagers accused her of witchcraft and planned to burn her. When he heard their plans, he led the village into a massacre. Every sin he had committed and every person he had to kill; she was the reason behind it all.
“You can’t be that overdramatic, we’re older now.” She shrugged trying to ease up the situation.
“It’s been a thousand years since you’ve become a vampire and your measurement of time, still amazes me, I am still the same person you have met a long time ago. Nothing’s changed. We’re frozen with time.” He took a deep breath and said, “The moment that they try to hurt me through you, you would know how I would react.” This was his other way of saying that he wanted to protect her. Vampires had a different sense of protection.
“When did you know where I was hiding?” She wanted to change the subject, she had left that life of chaos and his words of warning would not stop her from doing what she wants.
“5 years ago, but I saw you with a guy. You were happy.” There was a long pause. “Do you still like pretending that you’re human? Are you still happy?” Shin was disgusted with humans; he could not stand their petty problems and lives.
“I am. We got engaged.” She answered firmly. Shin then raised his eyebrows, looking at her ring finger. None of her words mean something since she was not wearing any ring. “Then I told him I can’t bear him a child, he left.” She added as she tried to cover her left hand with her right.
“This is a new world. Isn’t it okay to not have a child?” Shin lifted the mug in front of him, he examined the drink, smelling the fragrance.
“Like you said, what I was before is what I am now. I was born a lady, I was the crown princess, with an obligation to provide an heir.” She recalled her past life; this was something that still hurt. The kind of pain that stings time to time.
“Does it change anything? Your worth as a woman does not change if you can’t produce a child.” Shin returned the cup to the table, looking down as he talked. If there was anything that he could do to ease the pain that Eva felt he would have done it, but he was the reason of all of it.
“Unlike those girls, they have a choice. I have none.” Eva said, if she was a human, she would have been in tears by now, but she was not. She was a vampire, a fact that she still could not face. “How about you? What were you doing these past years? Did you find a problematic girl and broke an engagement?” She said trying to lighten the mood.
“You know there’s only you.” Shin stared at her again, this was the truth even how many years have passed, his heart was only for her. “But I roamed around the world finding the reason of our existence and I found a cult who worshipped me as their god.” He added seriously.
“But?” Something was wrong, Eva could sense it. This was not the first time, Shin was worshipped as a god, as a deity, as an emperor, or as a king. She was with him during those times as his partner, as his queen, her absence could make a great difference.
“They wanted more power, and they want to become like us. You’re my last creation, I have killed everyone in our kind, there’s only the two of us. They will find you and hurt you and push you to turn them and we both don’t want that to happen.” Shin finally explained and for the first time in a long time, fear slowly creeped into Eva’s heart.
