"Tamika and I discussed the situation, and we believe that the best course of action would be to alert the human authorities and tell them that you arrived at the cabin after a hike or some such with Kaylee to find it in its current state, and your sister missing. Then you called me since we knew each other distantly, and I offered my assistance. Or if you would rather claim acquaintanceship with Tamika or Marc, that would work adequately as well."
"Um," Faith chewed her lower lip and sat carefully on the bed. "I–"
She stopped herself and swallowed, then looked around the room.
"We won't stop looking for your sister no matter what you choose as there are more wolves involved, but we feel that the more eyes we can harness in the search, the more chances we will have of being successful," he said. He looked concerned, though about what specifically she wasn’t sure.
"How did you move so fast?" she asked suddenly. She hadn't planned on blurting out any of the questions that were shooting like fireworks through her mind, but, well. Faith didn’t think she could have stopped the question from popping out.
"How much do you know of the paranormal world? You were clearly shocked by the rogue wolves,” Aldric looked almost nervous, now.
"The what?" Faith's eyes snapped to his, and he hesitated.
"I see," Aldric took a deep breath. He shuffled in his seat and seemed to try to shrink a bit, though he wasn't doing a very good job of it. "Well, the paranormal world encompasses a number of species. Most are essentially animals, like cats and dogs."
"That thing wasn't like any dog I've ever seen outside of a movie," Faith said.
"Yes, well. Most paranormal creatures are extremely shy and also fairly rare. Those that are neither are domesticated and kept in secret by their owners. There are, however, paranormals who are, at least in part, human," Aldric took a deep breath. "I, for example, am what is generally known as a vampire."
Faith couldn't have stopped the hysterical giggle that squeaked out if her life had depended on it.
8
Aldric tried to make himself look even less threatening, but he was fairly certain it wasn't working. Aldric was all too aware of how badly humans could react to the news of his kind actually existing. His own father and aunt had been killed by panicked humans. And since they had actually bonded, when his father died, his mother followed soon after.
He was lucky to still have his uncle for council when he needs it. Uncle Eldridge had been simply married, not bonded, so he lived through her death as horrible as it was.
He hoped that Faith wouldn't react that badly, but then he supposed that panic wasn't especially logical.
"Please, I swear to you. You are safe here. I would never harm you," he tried to reassure her, but Faith stood and started pacing the room. “I do not feed from humans or other paranormals.”
"What, why... how?" Faith was sputtering. She spun and stabbed a finger at him. "How can you be a vampire? I've seen you outside in broad daylight!"
"That is a fairly common myth. The idea that monsters are things that can only creep in shadows and under the cover of darkness is fairly pervasive," Aldric tried to smile at her. "I can understand that. It is a terrible thing to be afraid. If the sunlight could keep evil at bay, it would provide a great deal of reassurance to the people who need it."
Faith stared at him. "Reassurance."
"Indeed," Aldric twitched his shoulders in the suggestion of a shrug. "Evil is not dissipated by the sun, sadly. Monsters are not relegated to going bump only in the night."
"Obviously, but what does that have to do with anything?" Faith asked. She sat heavily on the bed, and it did not escape his notice that she put as much distance between herself and him as she could.
Aldric swallowed his disappointed sigh. "I am simply illustrating that the myth of vampires being unable to walk in the sunlight is due to the idea that creatures that are cast as evil must be relegated to the dark only, as the sunlight is too pure for them to survive. We both know that is not true. And even genuinely nocturnal creatures aren't destroyed by sunlight. They simply try to be in bed by then."
Faith stared at him and he looked back, meeting her hazel eyes. They were warm, brown with green streaked through them, and he mentally shook himself out of such distracting observations.
"So what would you have me believe, then?" she asked at last. "Don't try to convince me that you're not dangerous."
"I am simply myself," Aldric truly did shrug now. "Vampires live and die and have children and friends and jobs. I grant you that we live a great deal longer than humans do, and have children less often. I am just over a century old, for example. And yes, I am capable of violence. In part because that is my job. I am the head of security for our clan and I take that very seriously. I must be prepared to take action against things like those rogue wolves at any moment."
Faith swallowed. "I suppose I should be glad of that, anyway. It could have gone very badly for me and Kaylee otherwise."
Aldric felt a tension he hadn't realized he carried release with those words, and sent Faith a smile.
"So, everyone here is a vampire? Is Kaylee safe?" Faith asked, standing again and looking as if she couldn't decide whether to pace again or rush out to check on her niece.
Aldric stood and stepped to the window and nodded at the scene below. Faith joined him, stepping close and proving that she at least trusted him somewhat with her own safety. Together they peered out
