Page 55Slide

The sounds of the city, few though they were, carried over the water well with interesting acoustics. It was like the sound of the sea, but by humans and much darker. There was an undertone of the water itself as it hit the rocks in front of us, mixing in gently with the rest.

It wasn't nice to question all of this beauty but my track-record in gifts wasn't too great. Part of me felt a little pushed towards intimacy here. Even though I never had a date before I was who I am now, but I'd heard about the places guys took girls to seduce them. And this one looked even prettier than some of the places they described. Did she take me here to seduce me?

Would I allow it if she did?

The question rose accidentally. "Do you take many guys here?"

Esmeralda sounded slightly offended in her reply. "No! No guy's ever been here. The only other person here was a really good friend of mine. She and I did hit it off later... But it wasn't my intention. It's just a place of peace."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

She smiled. "It's alright. I know how this would confuse you. And honestly, finding out you were... you know... felt wrong for me somehow. You don't really feel like a predator."

I giggled. "Perhaps that's why it works." I felt the thirst for blood rising again but suppressed it. It was much more uncontrollable since I'd woken. I could easily feel it if I didn't feed.

She smiled. "Perhaps. Amy, will you tell me something?"

I blinked. "Like what?"

She sat down. "How did it happen? Who were you before?"

I sat down next to her. "I don't think I was a terribly interesting person. Perhaps a little weird, an outcast in school. God, school, that seems ages ago. That reminds me... Don't you have to study?"

Esmeralda looked into the distance. "Perhaps next year. I'm actually allowed in the university, but I didn't want to spend all my youth studying. But tell me more. Did you enjoy school?"

I smiled. "Mostly, yes. I liked learning new things and was quite surprised to learn some of the things I knew were wrong. I've always loved reading though." I breathed in for a moment. "It's been so long since I read a good story. It's ironic really, since my life is more exciting than most of the books I've read, I've hardly read at all."

Esmeralda. "I've never been one for books, really." She talked into the distance, but had waited patiently until I was finished. "Even at school, everything was easy and mostly boring. So against the wishes of my parents, I started travelling around and doing some drugs. I'm glad I didn't get addicted to them."

I looked up. "What did you try?"

There was a grin on her face. "Quite a few interesting ones. I've seen a few things that I don't wish to repeat as well." She took a deep breath. "If you've ever seen the drunk scene of a flying elephant, you'll know what I mean."

I giggled. "I think I know what you mean." It was getting harder and harder to concentrate. Dark thoughts of killing her and letting her drift away, some of her blood mixing in the ocean, but the rest of her blood in my veins.

"Where are your thoughts, Amy?"

Again I shocked awake. "Oh, nothing."

"It's fine if you need to go for... You know. I don't think I can handle another time."

"You know, I kind of did the same thing you did. After meeting so many people, doing so many things, I never felt I had a grip on the world around me. I slept for a year underground and when I woke I felt I needed to go somewhere else. To find my own way of being in the world. But since then..." I took a deep breath.

"Since then the hunger is so much stronger. At first I just thought it was because I'd slept for a year, but it wasn't. It was only a little less in the month I'd worked, maybe because I had so much on my mind at once. But now... It's almost like everywhere I look I see blood."

Esmeralda kissed my cheek, a shiver went through my body. "Go then. I'm staying here for a little longer."

"I'm sorry." I smiled meekly.

She smiled back. "Don't apologize for that. Just make sure you don't hurt someone."

I nodded and headed back to the city. When I glanced back, she was staring at the water again with a faint smile on her face and a pleasant glow around her. I exited silently, hardly displacing a leaf, like the ghost I felt I was. But it wasn't a bad thing. Slowly I was finding my place in the world. And I had my own room!

With a smile and feeling better, I was going to hunt.

Blessed are the meek, for they will fall prey to Amy?