The Vampire and the Goth Ch. 04

"We're very lucky you came along. Who knew that a vampire could have a heart?"

I smiled at him. "I don't know that I have a heart. But I hate stupid cruelty, and hurting children is as stupid as it gets. If you're looking for a meal, they aren't much in the way of food and hurting them only draws unnecessary attention. Besides, your son looks like my youngest brother did the last time I saw him."

"When was that?"

"About three centuries ago."

We were silent for a while. Then he said to me, "You know you'll have to leave, right? They will never let you survive for having helped us over your own kind."

"Yes. I know."

"You could come with us."

I looked at the male like he'd grown a second head. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

He laughed. "No. If you were going to kill us, you'd have helped your friends."

I snorted. "They weren't my friends."

"Fine. The other vampires then. If you were going to hurt us, you would have helped them. Because you didn't, and because you saved us, we will help you."

The thought of traveling with wolves was ridiculous. "I don't run with dogs."

"Do you normally kill other vampires?"

He had a point.

"My mate is almost as strong as I am. We three can protect each other and protect the boy until we figure out what to do next. We can't go back to our home and you can't stay here, can you?"

"No, I can't," I said. Any vampire who caught my scent would know what I did. I was as good as dead the moment I killed Clarisse.

"Well then, it's decided. We'll travel together until we find safety."

I looked at the wolf for a long time. I had to admit, that was better than my current prospects.

I leaned over to shake his hand. "Okay. My name is Stosh."

The wolf shook my hand. "And my name is Mikhail, but you may call me Misha." He looked over at his mate and their pup. "Tonight, I owe you a debt that I will never be able to repay."

We smiled at each other. Somewhere in the night, we heard a rifle shot.

"We should go," Misha said, already rousing his mate and their pup.

His mate yawned. "Where are we going?"

Misha looked at me, as though I should know.

"Well, if we can make it to the docks in Gdańsk, we could take a ship to Copenhagen and get away from this mess for a while," I said, trying to think of something.

The female looked at her mate in surprise that I was still there. "Misha?"

"Stosh, this is my mate, Sonja, and our son, Dmitri."

I bowed formally to the female, who didn't look pleased to see me. I put my hand out for the boy to shake and he looked to his parents. His father smiled and nodded, and the little boy grabbed my leg and hugged it tightly.

I laughed and knelt to tousle the boy's hair. His mother quickly picked him up with a frown and moved him away from me.

"Stosh is in the same situation we're in -- he has no pack. He saved our lives, so we're in his debt. He's our pack now. Aren't you, brother?"

I thought for a moment on this strange turn of events and decided it wasn't too bad.

"I guess I am."

Elizabeth sat silently for a moment. "Wow."

"Yeah," Dmitri said. "I've never heard that story from your point of view. I didn't know you gave us your blood." Dmitri was a little teary-eyed.

"Why did you do that, anyway? Wouldn't that have made them vampires?" Elizabeth asked.

I sighed. "Only humans can become vampires. But our blood can heal anyone, to a certain extent."

"Only a certain extent?"

"Well, it works better on wolves. If a human drinks enough of our blood, they'll become a vampire."

Elizabeth was silent for a moment. Then she asked, "So what happened after that? Did you guys go to Copenhagen?"

Dmitri spoke next. "Yes, we went to Copenhagen. Actually, a lot of us from our old pack ended up there."

"And they welcomed Stosh?"

"Well, not at first. But once they heard about what he did, they welcomed him with open arms, as an equal member of the pack."

"The problem," I said, "Is that they weren't the only ones who were glad to see me..."

Dmitri laughed. "Yeah. Word has a way of getting around, even without phones or the Internet. It seemed like we were always having to pull him out of trouble."

"It wasn't that bad," I said. "But it made it hard to keep a low profile. In the end, it was just easier for everyone if I put a few thousand miles between me and Europe."

As we walked out to the car, Elizabeth walked between us, locking arms.

"May I ask you something, dear lady?" Dmitri asked.

"Shoot."

"Why aren't you scared? Vampires, werewolves... doesn't this seem strange to you?"

Elizabeth laughed. "It's hard to be intimidated by werewolves when your boyfriend is a vampire."

We laughed, but inside, I was struck by the fact that she called me her boyfriend. Me! A boyfriend! Just thinking of the word gave me a silly thrill.

"Okay. Why weren't you intimidated by vampires?"

"I was always fascinated with vampires. I read Dracula and Camilla when I was a kid, and I read Anne Rice as soon as I could."

"Oh. One of those kids, huh?" Dmitri laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so," Elizabeth smiled. "Anyway, you're just different kinds of people. Maybe you have more hair and maybe he has cold hands, but we're all just people."

We had gotten to the car when Dmitri turned to her.

"You know he eats people, right?"

"You know people kill wolves, right? I mean, if we're going to compare shitty behavior, we've done a lot more of that than you guys have ever done."

He seemed to consider this for a moment, then he put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her.

"Stosh, I like this one. She meets with my approval."

I laughed. "I didn't ask for your opinion, but I'll accept it."