Nosuë: The Wandering Vampire

The change was more than noticeable. From Taneka’s frightened cordiality we moved to absolute friendliness.

There was no longer fear when she saw me, not even nervousness. She actually seemed happy. Even Ronald was happier now that his wife did not seem uncomfortable by my presence, and our talks became more cheerful and… informal, much to my surprise.

I felt quite overwhelmed.

And not just because of the ‘see you around’ and ‘welcome home’, of course. What probably overwhelmed me most was the way Taneka took an interest in me when I left the attic to go hunting.

“What’s it like to be you?” she asked three nights after I decided to stay ‘one more day’. “I don’t mean… the technical stuff. How do you feel? Emotionally, I mean, what’s it like to be a vampire?”

Ronald was interested precisely in the technical aspects of vampirism. How our organism works, how we live our lives. Taneka, on the other hand, was much more emotional.

“Different,” I answered at last.

“How different?” As she spoke, she was preparing a delicious-smelling cherry pie.

“Different. We are not bound by the same rules as you.”

“Nosuë, I am not asking you about the rules.”

She turned and touched my chest with the tip of the wooden spoon, smearing me with cake batter.

“I’m asking you how you feel about it.”

She handed me a rag to wipe the smear and went back to her cake.

“Being a family vampire means that things don’t change too much,” I explained after a few seconds. “When I was turned, I still saw my parents and siblings, though we weren’t very close. I had been raised to be a vampire. I watched my nieces and nephews and grandchildren grow up.”

“That must be hard.”

“I don’t know. It was the way it had to be. The herd has indirect ancestors in the vampires they serve, and those vampires have offspring in the humans they care for. It’s so… natural. I know it’s hard to understand.”

“It can be. I can’t imagine… I don’t know. Staying the way I am forever.”

“It’s not forever. Vampires die of old age.”

“But you don’t grow old.”

“Physically, no, but that doesn’t mean that eventually the body stops sustaining us and turns to dust.”

“But it takes time.”

“Yes. Hundreds, sometimes even thousands of years. It depends.”

“It must be sad to be alone that long.”

I felt a growl vibrating in my throat. I stopped it at once, but I feared Taneka had heard it. And she had, because she was looking at me, not with fear, but with compassion.

“Yes,” I murmured. “It’s a bit sad. But circumstances are what they are, and you have to live with them.”

“It was the vampire hunters, wasn’t it? The ones who left you alone.”

“Yeah.”

“Why do they hunt you, the ones who keep your laws and don’t kill humans?”

“For the same reason you are afraid of me.”

I noticed that she tensed and her heartbeat became erratic. She blushed in a way that was… delicious, I would say. It made me want to nibble at that flushed cheek.

“I’m not afraid of you, Nosuë,” she replied. “Not anymore, anyway. I used to, it’s true, I can’t deny it, but…”

“But you think I saved you and your husband, and therefore deserve your respect.”

“No. I think you fought for us as a friend, not as a monster, and I admire you for it.”

I looked back at her, a little uncomfortable with her frankness. No, not because of it… Because of the sentiment in her words. Because she was saying it from the heart.

Taneka smiled.

“Well, apart from drinking blood, vampire, what do you like to do?” she asked cheerfully, returning to his cake.

“Like?”

“Surely you must like something.”

I kept quiet, thinking about it. Like… I couldn’t remember anymore. That must have caught her attention, because she looked at me again as if she was worried about my silence.

“Nosuë?” she called.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember the things you like?”

“No.”

“But… But how is that possible?”

“I’ve been a wandering vampire for four hundred years, Taneka. It’s hard for us to do the things we like if we don’t have a place to do them.”

I noticed she covered her lips with one hand, looking at me more sympathetically now. I didn’t like her looking at me like that.

“Look, Taneka...” I started, and she interrupted me.

“Music?”

“What?”

“Do you like music?”

“Well… I guess I do. My sire tried to teach me to play,” I remembered suddenly, “but I was never very good at it.”

“Clarinet?”

“It’s a bit annoying to play wind instruments when you don’t need breath.”

“Yeah, right. I love the clarinet.” She smiled. “Come on, let’s find out what else you like, eh?”

“Taneka…”

“Reading? Do you like reading?”

“It’s fine.”

“Maybe writing?”

“Never interested me, no.”

“Dancing? Ronald used to take me dancing before we got married.”

“Why doesn’t he do it any more?”

“Because we both have jobs, a vampire sleeps in the attic, and my husband has a half-written book in his hand.”

“Hm, right. The vampire is an impediment.”

She smiled and put her hand on my arm, affectionately. It was a very nice gesture, really. She wanted me to understand that she was joking, that I certainly wasn’t the reason he wasn’t taking her dancing. Everything else? I’m sure it was.

“Come on, there must be something,” she said. “Something you enjoy. Think about what you did when you… When you were with your family. What did you do to pass the time?”

I frowned and tried.

“Painting,” I remembered suddenly. “I really liked painting.”

“Really? Painting?”

“Yes. My sire often posed for me, and I painted her on my canvases. There were many of my paintings in the house. Many of them.”

And they were all reduced to ashes.

“I see,” Taneka murmured, and then, surprising me, she hugged me.

When they came home from work that night, the Littyans had an easel, ten canvases and a set of paints with them.

Funny fact: right now we are re-reading, correcting and connecting again with the main character, and thinking that he maaaaay be liking the writing stuff. Next time we know about him —this is not his last time in our universe—, he may have two little artistic talents.

Thank you for reading! Next Friday we will publish the last chapter. Do you want to see the final conclusion of this story?