The Purity of Blood: Volume I (33 page)

“I’m kind of
surprised you haven’t asked me about him before now,” he started with.

“Why is that?”

“When I said I
had a mentor who taught me how to be the kind of vampire I am, who did you
think I was talking about?”

That was when it
hit me.
 

“The
Professor?”
 

My mouth dropped
open as he nodded.

“You’re telling
me that Professor Walker is a vampire?”
 

WHAT!
 
How many of them were there roaming the streets of New Paltz?

“Yes.
 
He found me right as I was being attacked by
the one who made me and scared him off before he could finish what he’d started.
 
The Professor took me in and raised me like a
son.
 
I think he was lonely; he’d been
alone for a long while.
 
We’ve been
together ever since.
 

“I’ll be honest;
I’m not exactly sure where he is right now.
 
He took off suddenly that night and wouldn’t tell me where he was
going.
 
He calls me every now and then to
check in, but he’s being very mysterious.
 
And to be honest I don’t like it.
  
I get the feeling there’s a lot more going on than he’s telling me.”

I could see he
was worried.
 
He was frowning.
 
As he did, it created a small crinkle between
his eyebrows.
 
It fascinated me and I had
to fight the urge to reach up and delicately trace it with my fingers.

“Wow.
 
I’m sorry, but I still can’t get over that
he’s one too.
 
How many of you are there
in New Paltz?”

“Usually it’s
just the two of us.
 
We have some friends
that visit from time to time, but none have been around for a while now. – And
then there’s the blood hunter.”

I was beginning
to see that there was a whole other world out there that I’d never realized
existed before.
 
It was a world populated
with mythical creatures that weren’t quite so mythical to me anymore.
 
I had to wonder what else lived in this new
world.
 
If vampires existed, what else
did?
 
At this moment, I didn’t want to
ask.
 
I was afraid of the answer, afraid
that even more of what I perceived of my world before Daniel had been an
illusion.
 
I knew he wasn’t giving me all
the details of the story, that what he had said was its broad strokes at best,
but that was fine with me – for the time being.
 
I think it was all I could handle tonight.
 
The rest would have to keep until I was ready
to deal with it.

I looked at my
watch.

“I should
probably be getting you home.
 
I think
I’ve been keeping you out late and you need your rest,” Daniel said, rising
from the bench.

He walked me
over to the front of Capen Hall and stopped on the paved flagstone area in
front of the entrance.
 

“So … your
friend Ryan.”

“What about
him?”

“He likes
you.”
 
There wasn’t even the faintest
hint of humor in his voice.

“Of course he
does, we’re friends.”
 

I was
deliberately being obtuse and praying he wouldn’t notice.

“He wants more
from you than friendship – much more.”

“What do you
mean?
 
He’s a buddy, I enjoy his
company.”

“I mean, he
wants you – in an ungentlemanlike manner and I don’t like it.”
 

I couldn’t help
but smile.
 

“It’s not
amusing, Sara.
 
I have half a mind to –
”
  

“To what?
 
And yes, it is kind of amusing.
 
One guy
might,
and I stress
might
like me while you
have most of the female half of the student body lusting after you.
  
And you choose Ryan to be, I don’t know –
jealous of?”

“Jealous?”
 
He said the word as if he hadn’t considered
it before.
  
“Well, I don’t like it.
 
I’ve seen the way he looks at you and I –
well, I don’t like other men thinking they can have what’s mine.”

“Yours?”
 
I practically choked out in surprise.

Again, he
thought about his words as if they’d said themselves without his consent.
 

“I suppose so,”
he finally answered as if he was coming to terms with something in his
mind.
 

Now it was my
turn to think about his choice of words.
 
But my ponderings would take much longer than his
had
.
 
He looked at me as if expecting some adverse
reaction, but I just stared up at him blankly.
 

His?
 
Is that how he thought of me?
 

Dating?
 
I think we’d just left dating behind in the
dust.

After we said goodnight, I walked
over to the base of the stairs leading up to the second floor.
 
A young couple standing off in the corner of
the small lobby were saying their goodnights.
 
They were kissing and didn’t notice how I paused to watch them for a
moment.
 
Standing there, I experienced a
momentary flash of envy, but it didn’t last long.
 
It was a trade off, and I think I was okay
with that.
 
I had Daniel in whatever way
I could have him, and that was good enough … for now.

SARA

The
week passed quickly.
 
I saw Daniel everyday either in class or for
evenings in the library.
 
I’d rather have
gone out in the evenings and done something different, but he wanted to make
sure I kept up my grades.
 
I had to
assume that went part and parcel with dating a teacher, and really I didn’t
mind.
 
It gave me unlimited hours in
which I could observe him in silence, studying him.

Daniel, the
man.
 

Daniel, the
vampire.

Somehow I felt like he fell in-between these two descriptions
of him.

On Friday evening he came by the
Student Union cafeteria to pick me up after I’d eaten with my friends.
 
When I first caught sight of him coming
around the corner in my direction, I was really hoping we weren’t going to the
library on a Friday night.
 
Hard as I
tried, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking as he approached.

He slipped down
into the seat beside me and whispered in my ear “Hey, gorgeous.”

Oh, that smile …

I glanced around
the room as if looking for the beautiful woman he was talking to, then looked
into his eyes and whispered back “I knew you’d leave me for one of those blonde
bimbos eventually.”

He frowned and
muttered “As if.”

“Hi, Daniel,”
Tabitha said cheerfully.
 

Looking up from
their food, the boys also said hello, maybe a little less enthusiastically.
 
Ryan was getting better.
 
He no longer scowled at Daniel, but he still
didn’t say much without a hint of sarcasm.
 
It had only been a week so I wasn’t too worried.
 
I think he’d come around to an acceptance of
Daniel like the rest of them given enough time.

“Good evening,”
Daniel said back to the table.
 
“So
what’s everybody got planned for the weekend?”

After going
around the table, Daniel turned to me.
 

“What about
you?’

“Well now, I
don’t know.
 
I’m game for anything as
long as it doesn’t involve going to the library.”

“It’s supposed
to be a nice night tonight, how about walking into town and seeing what’s going
on?”

I agreed, but
then again, I’d have agreed to anything he suggested as long as it meant
spending time together.
 

We left them in
the cafeteria then walked back to the dorm so I could drop off my things.
 
As I approached my door, Daniel took my keys
and opened it for me.
 

“That’s sweet,
but I can open a lock by myself you know.”

“Sorry, old
habits die hard,” he replied, handing me back my keys as he followed me
in.
 
He stood in the middle of the room
and looked around.

“Oh, that’s
right, you’ve never been in here before, have you?”

He didn’t
answer, but looked at the disorganized piles of papers and books on top of my
desk.

“Sorry about the
mess.
 
Some of us have to sleep for eight
hours and don’t have that extra time to keep the place as neat as your
house.
 
Have a seat.”
  
I gestured towards Darcy’s desk chair.

He sat down and
watched me fish out a pair of walking shoes and my good jacket from the
closet.
 
After I changed shoes, I looked
up from where I sat on the edge of my bed.
 
He was smiling at me.

“What?” I
asked.
 

“You’re very
graceful to watch.”

“Putting on my
shoes?”

“Yes, but also
most every other minute of the day as well.
 
There’s a fluidity to your movements – like a dancer, but maybe not so
practiced.
 
I can’t quite put my finger
on it, but it will come to me.”

“That’s a
compliment, right?”

“Most
certainly,” he said, standing up to join me at the door.

As I pulled on my jacket, I tried to hide my discomfort with
his compliment.
 
It was meant kindly, but
it only served to remind me of how I’d achieved that gracefulness and the
secrets I was hiding from him.

Wandering in and out of a few
bookstores browsing around, we walked down Main Street where most of the shops,
restaurants and college bars of New Paltz were located.
 
Slowly but surely, the streets started to
over populate with college students looking to start the weekend off right by
drinking far too much as was good for them.

“I could make a
small fortune selling fake IDs in this town,” Daniel said, as we watched a
crowd of obviously under aged students filing into The Gryffon, a popular bar
at the bottom of Main Street.
 
I’d heard
people in a couple of my classes saying it was something of a dive, but a lot
of fun as well.
 
By the decrepit look of
it, I tended to wonder how true that was.

“I was kind of
wondering if you already had one,” I said as we started down South Chestnut
Street back in the direction of campus.
 
“A fortune that is.
 
That’s um …
quite a house you live in.”

He sort of
laughed to himself.

“Yes, I suppose
it is.
 
It probably would have been more
prudent to build something less grand, but we both love architecture too much
to live in a box.
 
Yes, the Professor and
I both have quite a bit of money, more than we could ever spend.
 
It’s not hard to acquire when you live as
long as we do.
 
It’s been my experience
that our longer perspective on life allows us to spot the best long term
investments early on.
 
That, and learning
the benefits of compounding interest when you’re young is always a plus.”

“The house isn’t
the only thing that gives you away,” I said as we continued along.

“Really, what
else?”
 
His interest was peeked.

“Your clothes
for one.
 
You should probably inject a
bit more Wal-Mart into your wardrobe if you want to appear less
conspicuous.”
 

He rolled his
eyes at this idea.
 

“And your car,”
I continued.

“Alright, I get
the point,” he laughed holding up his hands in defeat.
 
“It isn’t easy you know.
 
It’s like knowing the joys of first class and
then being forced to fly coach for the rest of your life.”

“Is it really so
bad back in coach?
 
I’ve been
living
there my whole life.”

“No, I suppose
not, but maybe I’ll let you see what first class is like some time.
 
Perhaps then you’ll understand my perspective
a little better.”

“Perhaps.
 
So I’m left to wonder, why?
 
Why, if you have all this money are you working
as a teaching assistant?”

“Two reasons
mostly.
 
It helps us blend in.
 
We’d be a lot more conspicuous if we were
seen as eccentric millionaires living a reclusive lifestyle.
 

Ah, yes.
 
Professor Walker.
 
I’d almost forgotten about him.

“And the second reason?”

“Work keeps our
minds busy.
 
It helps to keep yourself
focused on a specific task when you’re trying to constantly repress part of who
you are.
 
There’s also a lot of time to
kill when you’re practically immortal.
 
Plus we enjoy teaching, the Professor especially.
 
I’d also add that being what we are, it would
be very easy to slip into a perverted mentality, that we are somehow superior
to humans.
 
If we lived a life separate
from them, it would just be that much easier to believe it.
 
Keeping constant contact with them, helps
keep us grounded in the reality that we aren’t superior, only different.
 
Probably inferior really.”

As we walked
along we reached the boundary of campus and entered an almost empty parking
lot.
 
Glancing over at the far corner, I
spotted his car parked in the shadows.

“I really do
like your car,” I commented.
 

He smiled with
pride.

“It’s very shiny
– even in the dark.
 
How often do you wax
it?”

He stopped short
and looked at me as if that was the worst backhanded compliment he’d ever
heard.

Lowering his
eyes at me, he asked “Do you know how to drive a stick?”

I nodded.

“I think it’s
time you tried some first class.”
 
Then he
began to steer me in the direction of his car.

“I’m going to
try not to take this as an insinuation that my car is coach.” I smiled.

“I’m not
insinuating it, Red, that’s a fact.”

I stopped.

Red?
 
Oh, my hair.

“Hey now, don’t
go knocking my baby.
 
She may not be much
to look at, but she’s never let me down,” I said feigning offense.
 
Heck, I think I was a little offended at his
disparaging remarks about my trusty sidekick.

“Humph,” was his
only response.
 
As we approached his car,
he handed me the keys then opened the drivers’ door for me.

“What kind of
car is this anyway?” I asked as I got in. “Is it just me or are there no
markings on it to tell you.”

“It’s a Ferrari
458 Italia.
 
And no, there are no
markings.
 
I had them removed in an
attempt to be less conspicuous.”

“It didn’t
work,” I said completely deadpan.

He smiled and
shook his head.
 

“You’re going to
need to adjust the seat.”

As he closed the
door behind me I murmured “Something tells me you’re going to regret
this.”
    

Ignoring my
comment, he slid down beside me and pointed.
 

“Okay, now back
it out slowly and take South Chestnut out of town.”

I did as he
asked, driving very carefully.
 
I’d
already learned a few spots that the local cops liked to stake out on a regular
basis.
 
I drove slowly past them until we
were outside the town limits and on the long strip of road that led up into the
mountains.
 

For a moment he
stared out the front window as if in a trance, then said “Don’t worry, there
aren’t any police officers around.”

“How can you
tell?”

“
Humm
… it’s hard to describe, but vampires can pick up on
the emotional states of humans.
 
It’s not
like reading minds; you can’t tell exactly what they’re thinking.
 
It’s more empathic.
 
Cops behind a radar gun give off a certain
vibe that you learn to pick up on after you’ve been pulled over a few times.”

“I would imagine
so,” I muttered, trying to picture Daniel being pulled over by a lady cop.

I rounded a
corner leading into one of the straight
aways
and
floored it, effortlessly changing gears to get maximum speed.
 
A few moments later, I looked down at the
speedometer.
 
It was moving past a
hundred.

“Okay, I’ll
admit,” I said begrudgingly, “it’s got a bit more pep than my
Aveo
.”

He just shook
his head and smiled.
 
I think he was
holding back what he really wanted to say.

Approaching a
series of turns I’d become familiar with, I slowed down only a little from the
speed of a hundred and twenty that I’d reached.
  
He didn’t look alarmed at first.

“You might want
to slow down a little,” he finally said.

But I
didn’t.
 
I entered the next curve at just
the right speed to help catapult me into the next curve and continued to do so
for a series of turns.
 
When we reached
the next straight away, I gunned it again and went even faster.

“Alright.
 
You’re not allowed to drive anymore,” he said
with a decided note of irritation in his voice.

“Why?” I asked
calmly as I braked hard and spun the car one hundred and eighty degrees and
started to race back towards town.

“Because I don’t
want you to die in a fireball on the side of the road, that’s why!” his voice
now raised.

“I have no idea
what you’re talking about.
 
You always
drive like this.”

“That’s
different.
 
I have much better senses and
depth perception than you do.”

I looked over at
him considering this.
 
Could be, but I
think he might just be jealous that I was just as good a driver as he was and I
was – only human.

“Eyes on the
road please!” he shouted.

I turned to look
out the windshield at the dark road ahead of me.
 
I should probably tone it down.
 
No need to show off more than I already
had.
 
I wasn’t sure how he’d react if he
knew I’d been subjected to extensive driving instruction well before I was old
enough for a permit.

“The heck with
it.
 
Pull over!”

I did as he said
with no comment, but only because it was his car.
 
He got out, came around to my door and yanked
it open.
 
I sat there staring out the
front window just to give him a hard time, a smile playing at the edge of my
mouth.
 
Suddenly his hand appeared in
front of my face.
 
Reluctantly, I took it
and allowed him to help me out of the car.
 
I think this was part of who Daniel was as a person.
 
He might be mad as hell at me, but he’d still
treat me like a lady.
 
Wow, I couldn’t
begin to describe how very much I found that attractive.
 
I looked up at his face.
 
Yes, he was pissed, but he’d always remain a
gentleman whatever his emotional state.
 
Even I could sense that.