grilled cheeses?” he smiled exuberantly.
“ Make it three.”
He began to reach for my face, but quickly retracted his hand and stepped awkwardly around me and darted into the kitchen.
That night he took me out to “hone my skills” as he called it. We went out past Sellersburg to a very large wooded area where we had plenty of space and no distractions for miles.
Oddly enough, the first thing we started practicing was conditioning. Every night started thi s way. We ran every night for fifteen miles through all of the hills. We practiced my jumping until he felt it was “adequate.”
My favorite part th ough was when we worked on hand- to - hand combat. I would never admit to him though that all of the times I got pinned down were not accidental.
It went this way for several weeks. I was amazed by my speed and strength and the intensity of which I could hear, see and smell everything from impossible distances. I was also impressed by how far I could jump. Now that I was aware of it all, it felt so natural, and I wondered how I lived so long without discovering it all before. Alex said it was probably just because I never had a need for it. We spent hours out there every night, and I never got tired even once.
One morning as dawn approached (we had stayed out exceptionally late that night) Alex stopped to take a break.
“ This is my favorite part, you know.”
“ Favorite part of what?” I asked and sat beside him.
“ Twilight.” He stared out at the sky, glittering oranges and blues as the sun began to rise. “It’s the most beautiful thing to see through vampire eyes. It’s also the saddest part of my life though.”
“ Why?”
“ Until this very moment, I always had to watch it alone,” he smiled.
I turned my head away before he could see the tears welling up in my eyes.
“ Will you answer a few questions for me, Alex?”
“ Anything.”
There were a million questions I actually wanted to ask him. Did he still love me? Did he ever love me? Why had he changed? I knew those questions were pointless though.
“ What were my parents like?”
“ Your mother,” he smiled, “was the most pure and kind human I have ever met—to her kind and ours both. See, your father had his hand in all aspects of the human world, politics, police, real estate—everything—through our human contacts. That is how he met her. She was beautiful, as an understatement, and he fell in love with her. He had never been in love before in all of his six hundred years.
“ It had never been before, a human and a vampire, but as I said, your mother had a way to make people love her, so no one resisted.
“ Your father, I don’t think there will ever be another vampire king who loves his people more. He took such a pride in his work, making our world safe, and advancing us with the times and forging our world with the humans. It had never been done before. There was something about him that people respected and loved. He had been our longest lasting king in history because no one ever tried to overthrow him.”
“ How did he die?”
“ We don’t really know.” He frowned. “We just found him in his room one morning, drained. We still do not know who killed him. Calpurnia searched everyone but found no answers. She blames herself still. If she had been closer, maybe she could have heard… . ”
“ You loved him.”
“ He loved me like a son, and I loved him like a father as well, not just as my king. He chose me to protect you because I’m a day walker, but he once told me that he would never have let anyone else look after his heart.
“ He loved you, Christina. And he wanted me to help you when the time came for you to take the throne. It was his only wish upon his death. He told me that many times. He trusted Damascus, but he does not have Delano blood.” He got up and walked a few feet away.
“ Make it three.”
He began to reach for my face, but quickly retracted his hand and stepped awkwardly around me and darted into the kitchen.
That night he took me out to “hone my skills” as he called it. We went out past Sellersburg to a very large wooded area where we had plenty of space and no distractions for miles.
Oddly enough, the first thing we started practicing was conditioning. Every night started thi s way. We ran every night for fifteen miles through all of the hills. We practiced my jumping until he felt it was “adequate.”
My favorite part th ough was when we worked on hand- to - hand combat. I would never admit to him though that all of the times I got pinned down were not accidental.
It went this way for several weeks. I was amazed by my speed and strength and the intensity of which I could hear, see and smell everything from impossible distances. I was also impressed by how far I could jump. Now that I was aware of it all, it felt so natural, and I wondered how I lived so long without discovering it all before. Alex said it was probably just because I never had a need for it. We spent hours out there every night, and I never got tired even once.
One morning as dawn approached (we had stayed out exceptionally late that night) Alex stopped to take a break.
“ This is my favorite part, you know.”
“ Favorite part of what?” I asked and sat beside him.
“ Twilight.” He stared out at the sky, glittering oranges and blues as the sun began to rise. “It’s the most beautiful thing to see through vampire eyes. It’s also the saddest part of my life though.”
“ Why?”
“ Until this very moment, I always had to watch it alone,” he smiled.
I turned my head away before he could see the tears welling up in my eyes.
“ Will you answer a few questions for me, Alex?”
“ Anything.”
There were a million questions I actually wanted to ask him. Did he still love me? Did he ever love me? Why had he changed? I knew those questions were pointless though.
“ What were my parents like?”
“ Your mother,” he smiled, “was the most pure and kind human I have ever met—to her kind and ours both. See, your father had his hand in all aspects of the human world, politics, police, real estate—everything—through our human contacts. That is how he met her. She was beautiful, as an understatement, and he fell in love with her. He had never been in love before in all of his six hundred years.
“ It had never been before, a human and a vampire, but as I said, your mother had a way to make people love her, so no one resisted.
“ Your father, I don’t think there will ever be another vampire king who loves his people more. He took such a pride in his work, making our world safe, and advancing us with the times and forging our world with the humans. It had never been done before. There was something about him that people respected and loved. He had been our longest lasting king in history because no one ever tried to overthrow him.”
“ How did he die?”
“ We don’t really know.” He frowned. “We just found him in his room one morning, drained. We still do not know who killed him. Calpurnia searched everyone but found no answers. She blames herself still. If she had been closer, maybe she could have heard… . ”
“ You loved him.”
“ He loved me like a son, and I loved him like a father as well, not just as my king. He chose me to protect you because I’m a day walker, but he once told me that he would never have let anyone else look after his heart.
“ He loved you, Christina. And he wanted me to help you when the time came for you to take the throne. It was his only wish upon his death. He told me that many times. He trusted Damascus, but he does not have Delano blood.” He got up and walked a few feet away.
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