Darien

“Tell me something,” she began, walking away from the kiss he was about to plant on her lips. “Is there something going on that I need to know about?” she asked.

“Whatever do you mean?” he asked her, trying to sound innocent. It didn’t work.

“Don’t play games with me Darien. We have been seeing each other for weeks and not once have I been able to see you in the daytime. Now there are many reasons that there can be for that, but I think only a few qualify for consideration.”

“I have told you why I haven’t been able to see you,” he continued.

“How stupid do I look?” she asked, now getting infuriated. “It is not normal for that to happen and it can’t be that every single time that we are to meet something else happens. You must be hiding something and I would like to know what it is. Is there someone else?” she asked.

He spun around to face her now, surprised that she had even thought of that. “No. There is no one else.”

“It has to be something.” She folded her arms now and began tapping her feet. Darien only stared into space and furnished no reply. This only served to get Rose angrier. She walked to the door and held it ajar. “Get out!” she said.

“You don’t understand. This is not something that I can just tell you,” he said softly.

“I think we have gone beyond that. Had you said something earlier like, hey Rose, I am leading a secret life that I can’t talk to you about, then I might have been more understanding. You can’t expect me to be as understanding now after having suffered so many lies.”

He walked to her and reached out his hand to touch her cheek, but she recoiled and walked away from him. “I said get out,” she repeated.

He raked his hand through his mane of black hair and heaved an exasperated sigh. “This is not easy,” he said, walking after her.

“I don’t care. You need to go.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he began. “Please, have a seat,” he urged her when she remained rooted to the spot. She didn’t budge.

“Or you can stand there.” He rubbed his hand over his face, trying to build up the nerve to tell her the one thing that would drive her away. He had never had to tell a human this before, so he didn’t even know where to begin.  She stood there watching him sweat, the first time she had ever seen him do that. She was about to head back to the door when he grabbed her hand.

“I am not like normal men,” he started.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He sat down on the sofa and she closed the door and moved closer to him.

“I do not walk as humans do, nor talk, think or act, because I am not human. The reason you haven’t seen me during the daytime is because I cannot go out during the day.” He paused to give her time to absorb what he had just said.

She had heard about nocturnal creatures or persons having skin conditions that rendered them incapable of walking in the sun, so he may be affected. But the way he had said he wasn’t human rang loudly in her head. “What do you mean you aren’t human?” she now asked. “You look perfectly normal to me.”

“Do not be fooled by that. I was born centuries ago. Does that sound human to you?”

She began to back away from him now. “Centuries? Not being able to walk in the daytime?” she asked.

He watched the light in her eyes die at the same time her complexion paled as she began understanding what he was saying.

“Y-you are a v-v-v…” she could barely speak the words. She looked like she was about to faint, so he rushed over to catch her. “Don’t!” she commanded. “You have been a vampire all this time and you didn’t think to tell me this?”

“How could I just tell that to you or anyone? This isn’t something that we do.”

“We? So there are more of you?” she asked.

“Only a few in this city, but I can’t vouch for the remainder of the world.”

Rose finally dropped onto the sofa. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Right now, you really need to go,” she said. “You have had my life in danger since we met and you didn’t even bother to mention it.”

“And now you can see why. Had I told you about who I am weeks ago, you wouldn’t be here today and I couldn’t risk that. I could have told you many things right now to justify my not being able to see you in the day time, but I chose to tell you the truth. Had I meant to do you harm, then I would have done so already. Don’t you see Rose? I only want to be with you.”

“And how am I to be with a vampire?” she asked, tears now streaming down her face. She turned her head away from him and he felt the tug on the strings of his heart. He could feel that he was going to lose her and he couldn’t bear it.

“Please Rose, we can make this work.”

“Tell me, how often has a human and a vampire ever gotten involved?” He remained quiet. “I thought so,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t do it just because I have never heard of it.”

“Vampires mostly kill humans for food, as far as I know. How many have you killed Darien?”

Darien stood there staring at her, not knowing what to say anymore. He could feel the life draining from his body as he watched the love of his life fading in the wind, and like mist, he was unable to grab hold of her. He took a step closer to her, and she flew from the sofa and leaned against the wall. “Stay away from me,” she begged. The tears were flowing endlessly now and the only way he could think of to ease some of her pain was to do as she asked and leave. As much as he hated it, he was forced to oblige.

“I am truly sorry that I have deceived you, but I would have never hurt the woman I have come to love. I am not the dangerous kind as you would think, but that is not something I can convince you of. I just hope in time you will come to accept what I told you.”

She faced him still and the emptiness in her eyes made it unbearable for him to remain. He turned and walked to the door. As soon as he stepped outside, she followed him and looked out. He had already disappeared. So that was how he was able to do that. She thought that she had always attracted drama in her life before, but boy was she wrong. She held her heart in her hands as she fell against the sofa and passed out. It was all too much for one heart to bear or one soul to understand. At least, so soon.