Holly stood there dumbfounded. Aidan’s hand was extended, and waiting for her answer. He appeared confident. Was she really about to take a vampires hand, and go off into the night? This was madness. In a matter of hours her whole life had changed. There was much more than she knew, and the weight of it all was crushing her. It was almost to much to handle.
Holly slowly held out her hand. Aidan leaned forward and wrapped his pale cold finger around hers and held them gently. A shiver went down her spine. He smiled at her, his fangs visible and told her to hold onto him.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She held her head back some to protect her face from his bloodied shirt.
“Don’t let me go” he said. Then he took off into the night sky. Holly gasped as the cold air whipped against her face, and she gripped him tighter.
Aidan,defying the laws of physics,had leaped up hard and fast onto the rooftop of the building next to them, and let her go. She stumbled for a second gaining her balance, and then realized what had just happened.
Aidan stepped back making room between them. “I understand this is a lot to take in miss. Would you like me to start slow?”
“Show me everything.” she said, hoping she wouldn’t regret what she had just said.
Aidan smirked,and then held out his hand with his palm flat facing the night sky. “I mentioned to you that vampires have different types of abilities. We all have them. Some of us never unlock them, some of us do so at different ages of our lifespan.”
He then held out his other hand in the same position. “I apparently unlocked mine at birth. This was never seen before.”
Holly’s eyes widened as she watched a small orange light appear above his hand. It was as if the air around it was swirling, and suddenly a flame appeared and danced above his palm. He repeated the process immediately after in his other hand.
The light’s orange glow painted his face,the reflection bouncing off of his onyx eyes. The sight was chilling to see against his pale face. Aidan kept his eyes soft,some sort of attempt not to scare her.
Aidan widened his arms, letting the flames grow higher into the darkness above them. Suddenly the fire formed an arc, and connected together forming a shape of a rainbow.
“I can create fire. I can mold,and shape it into any figure. I can manipulate the temperature, and even the color.” Aidan said.The hot orange sparked making Holly squint her eyes,and then it changed to a bright green.
Then the fire dissipated, leaving behind only a trail of smoke. He lowered his arms slowly to his side. “The fire isn’t limited to my hands. I can project it anywhere within my line of sight.” Aidan exclaimed.
He then sticks his arm out to the right of him with his palm facing forward, and turns his head to a cardboard box at the end of the roof laying on the ground. Out of nowhere it becomes engulfed in red hot flames, and burns into the atmosphere.
Holly stands there saying nothing. Her head was spinning. As if things weren’t already unbelievable this happens. This powerful mysterious being stumbled into her life, and now she doesn’t think she can get out of this even if she tried. Seeing this though would she even want to?
“I don’t understand. Why? What do you do with this power? Do you hurt people? Is this how you hunt?” she says.
“No. I never use these powers to hunt miss. Only for protection. Humans are slower, clumsy, and easy prey. There is no need for it.”
“You only hunt killers then?”
“yes.”
“this is incredible. Scary… But… Incredible.” Holly says.
“one thing I don’t understand though. If you are so strong, and have all these powers then why were you so interested in my forgiveness? Why are you so nice to me? Why me?” holly says.
Aidan drops his chin down gently. He doesn’t speak.
“you’re attracted to me aren’t you?”
“yes miss I am. You are beautiful.”
Holly lets out A frustrated laugh. “are you always so blunt? You just say whatever’s on you’re mind don’t you?”
“sometimes.” he says.
“Why me? I don’t understand. I’m just some girl. I’m nothing special. I’m boring. You wanna know what I was going to do tonight? I was just going to go home, put on sweat pants, and watch Netflix.”
“what’s Netflix?” Aidan asks puzzled.
“Never mind.” She says frustrated.
“so am I stuck now? If I wanted to go would you let me? You’re not going to lock me away in some dungeon or something are you? You’re clearly stronger than me.” holly asks
Aidan laughs. “No miss. You may do what you wish. I hope you’ll be my friend though.”
“You want to be… Friends?” holly says.
“yes please.” he says and smiles at her.
Holly sees his childish behavior again. “how can he go from such a stone cold killer toward David, and then turn around and act so childish, and almost innocent like toward me? He’s honest, and extremely polite. He was even on his knees when I was upset, and he listened to me when I asked him to do the things I told him to do. It’s almost as if…”
Holly’s eyes grow wide at the realization of what’s going on.
“Aidan what’s imprinting?” she asked bluntly.
“it’s a special bond each vampire has with his or her human miss. We choose a human, and we imprint. It’s a connection between the two connecting mind, body, and spirit. Once the imprint is completed the vampire belongs to their human.” Aidan says in his child like voice, almost happily.
“what do you mean belong?” she asks.
“ownership miss.” he responds.
“wait… So humans own vampires?
“yes miss. In my world, the chosen humans cross over between worlds, and their vampires are allowed to do the same. Without these bonds crossing over to your world is much harder to do, and it takes a lot of energy. Because of that vampires get one shot to imprint. If they don’t then they never do.”
Holly starts to connect the pieces with his behavior. Why he calls her miss. Why he’s so concerned with how she feels. He’s a monster, and yet toward her he’s so submissive. This makes her feel uneasy. Yet somewhere deep inside it’s almost flattering to her he is so attentive and concerned.
“so what is it you want from me? What would we do if we become friends?” she asks.
“I’d protect you miss. I’d show you my world, and if it were OK… I’d very much like to be your vampire. If that’s OK miss.”
There it was. She knew he was going to ask. He wants to imprint with her. Of all the girls in the world he could have chosen, he lands in that alley, and finds his way to her.
“imprinting is a process miss. Usually the human decides after they see their world. In most situations this is how it happens. Vampires bring them back, and take them to see the scribe. The scribe teaches the human the ways of the marking, and then they decide. If it’s no… their memory is erased, and they return back to their lives.” Aidan explains.
“and if they say yes?”
“then they are marked, and can come and go as they please, and their vampires can hunt as they please.”
“so you do anything I say? You’d belong to me?” holly asks
“yes miss.”
“why would you want that?”
“all vampires want that. We have a need to imprint with our humans, so we can hunt. All vampires pick a human and the bond that forms gives them a strong desire to please. In return vampires form a connection with your world.”
“I see.” holly says.
“so I go with you to your world, and then decide if I want to have my own vampire? If I don’t my life goes back to how it was? Just like that? Like nothing happened?”
“yes miss. Just like that. If you don’t want to I’d understand. But I would like it if you’d come with me, and see for yourself. I promise you’re safe. You have no reason to trust me, but vampires can’t harm those that are chosen.” Aidan says.
Holly takes a step back and looks over the rooftop to the world below. The world that is familiar to her. This newfound information swirling around In her mind. How could she turn away from this? Her very own vampire? But at what cost? She toys with the idea in her head. Life would never be the same. To always have him there when she wants to.
Then again if she doesn’t she can always go back to how things were before tonight. Now that she knows all this it would be hard to just turn away, to not explore this more. Her natural sense of curiosity always got the best of her. A lot of times it got her in trouble. But this seems like a fair choice.
She knows nothing about Aidan, but she has a strong desire to learn more. It feels wreck less, and dangerous. It’s stupid even. She knows this, but she can’t say no. It’s not everyday a powerful vampire wants to belong to you. It’s insane, and flattering at the same time. After all she can always say no.
She’s knew what she was going to say before she even weighed her options. It’s in her nature to want to know more. Her curiosity was burning inside her. She turned and faced Aidan who was patiently waiting.
He was like a child towards her. Wanting her attention. He has this charm about him she can’t shake. She’s never had this kind of attention before. All the guys in her life always wanted to get her in bed. It was pathetic. She’s never had true devotion in her life.
What he was offering felt real. But it was still talk. How could she really know? She looked back over the rooftop to the ground below. She sees the dumpster full of trash bags. Filled to the rim. Maybe she could test him. Maybe she could see if he was as sincere as he says.
She needs to know if her life is as valuable to him as he says. She could jump. The fall wouldn’t kill her. It probably wouldn’t even hurt that bad if she landed on those bags. If he wants her he’d catch her right? He’s so fast. She saw it. It’s a crazy idea. But she has to know. How attentive is he really? She decides to do a few tests before she gives her answer. She swallows hard.What she’s about to do was crazy, especially to a vampire.
“Aidan?” she calls softly but sternly
“yes miss?” he responds.
“stand on one foot please.” she says strongly with more confidence in her voice.
He looks at her confused, and then without hesitation he complied. Aidan stood with one leg lifted into the air.
“he actually did it!” she thinks to herself
“OK, now jump up and down please.” she asks.
Once again he complies. He started jumping up and down, and on one leg. Holly chuckled at how silly this felt. There was a vampire hoping up and down on a rooftop, after just viciously killing a man in the ally below. This night couldn’t get much stranger.
“OK stop.” she says. Aidan put his leg down, and stood there looking at her wondering what she was doing. He looked confused.
Holly took a few steps backwards, and onto the ledge. She peered over making sure she was above the dumpster below.
“miss be careful.” Aidan says.
All her life Holly played things safe. She always made perfect grades. She always had to be the best at any sport she played. She was always early to arrive, and often last to leave. She worked hard, and always did what she was told.
Society teaches us to work hard, study hard, and reach for the stars. Always aim high. Take risks. When you want something you take it because nobody will hand you things. The inside of textbooks, and the bottom of wine glasses were all she’s become to know anymore.
The monotony of her life had become her prison. Constant repetition has drawn out any real emotion in her life. It has stripped her of her identity to the point all she knew was academics, and short term goals that left her hollow and unsatisfied. She unknowingly longed for change, something more, something real.
Holly unknowingly longed for something real, something that she could reach out and touch to make her feel like a human again, and the irony of the situation is it took a monster to to give her a spark of her humanity back. It was hope. He was hope, a hope for something new. She loved the mystery that unravelled before her. He was a sense of danger that filled her lungs with rebellion from the social norm.
Life had become a plague, it was eating away at society for years. So many rules and expectations s**k the oxygen from the air, and chokes out the fire in the human soul. Somewhere down the road she had become numb and complacent. Inside her subconscious was screaming for help. She was dying inside, or maybe she had been dead for years.
But this night on this rooftop, and looking at this magical unbelievable creature that stood before her, was the proof that there was so much more than we are told. Everything around her had become symbolism for something greater now. Aidan was symbolic for change, and risk with the sense of danger that’s often attached with it. The rooftop was the foundation of social norms that gives us a false sense of security, and makes us feel grounded. The dumpster below was taking the blind leap of faith we are all to afraid to do throughout our lives.
All we have to do is open our minds to what we don’t understand, stand on the ledge, open our arms… And….
Jump