Chapter Four

I stared at him in shock; How did he know? Sure, Cirian knew about vampires, as well as other supernatural creatures, it was his passion to study the unknown; But I doubted he could tell I was a vampire just by looking at me, not enough of my appearance had changed. Sure, I was paler, but I had been pale before; My looks were a little enchanting, something about the vampireism had changed me, making me seem more ethereal, making it easy for me to seduce my prey.

The only other differences were unseen unless I wanted them to be; My fangs of course,  and my eyes. Whenever the hunger was too strong, or when I was feeding they would bleed with little red flecks. None of that was present now though, and it made me wonder again how he knew. So I asked.

"How did you know I was a vampire?" I couldn't help the suspicion that dripped from my voice as I spoke.

He gave a lazy shrug, "You told me once, though you were teasing at the time, that if you ever became a vampire, you would tell me. I heard the news, and naturally assumed you were dead. Then when I got online a few days later I saw that your last login  had been two days after you died. Of course, It could have been the police, or your family even, searching for clues as to who your murderer might be."

He pushed away from the love seat and came to stand before me, slowly walking as he continued to speak. "I waited for a couple weeks, waiting to see what would happen, waiting for you to log back online again and give yourself away, I even waited to receive a message from you; Telling me you had become a vampire like you promised, but nothing happened."

He was standing before me now, his words growing more heated with anger, or annoyance, I was not sure. "For three months, nothing else happened, so I had pushed it aside, told myself that you were dead, really dead. I grieved, accepting that I had indeed grown close to you, no matter how distant or shut off I had tried to be, it had  happened. Now here you are, looking as healthy as ever, tracked me down with nothing but a name to go off of, and you came to my door step on foot."

"I guess when you say it like that, it makes it kind of obvious that I am a vampire."

"Exactly. So I ask again, what is the name of the vampire who attacked you?"
I looked away then, feeling like a child before his vast intelligence.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Nope."

"You are telling me that this man turned you, spent time with you and told about what you were, and you never got his name, and he never gave it?"

I made a face at him, scrunching my nose up at the memory of the room I had woken up in. With my heightened senses, I had not wanted to spend another second in that room; Not even for a crash course in Vampirism. It had been disgusting, I did understand how a person could live in such an environment.

"I didn't spend any more time with him than I had too. I knew him long enough from him to tell me what had happened, and what I was, and I left."

To my surprise, Cirian dropped his jaw in amazement; Obviously in shock at something I had said, though I didn't understand why.

"He didn't teach you anything about yourself? He didn't give you advice, tell you how to control your hunger? Anything?"

"I assume he would have eventually, but I didn't give him the chance. I was upset, and he was the reason for it. I didn't want to have to look at him any longer than I had to. So I left, and I have not see him since."

"What do you mean 'eventually'?" Cirian asked, taking a few steps back returning my personal space. Then after a moment, he backed up again until he was gracefully leaning against the love seat as before.

"When I woke up he instantly started crying. He was ashamed of himself for what he had done to me. He couldn't pull himself together, and the more upset I got, the more he cried.  He said that said that he was sorry, that he had just wanted to talk to me because I had seemed so sad; He said that he had been so hungry though, that he couldn't help himself."

Cirian nodded his head, as if he understood. There was a sad gleam to his eyes as I explained it to him, no longer did he seem angry that I had not gotten his name, or surprised that I had not been taught anything about what I was.

"Sometimes that happens."

It was my turn to drop my jaw in exasperation. His words instantly made my blood biol. 'Sometimes that happens' He said it as if he were talking about the weather; Yeah, every now and again it rains here, people get turned into vampires too. I couldn't believe him, I might have accepted what I was, but that did not mean that I liked it.

"How dare you? I understand how strong the hunger is, I deal with it every damn day; But I have controlled it, I have not killed anyone, not to mention turned them. Only three months old and I have control over my urges, no matter how wonderful it sounds to go all the way, to take a life, I have resisted. That man was much older than I was, I could feel it in my bones after I tuned, he should have been able to control himself no matter how hungry he was!"

Tears were falling down my face as I shouted at him. Hating him for what he had said. Cirian did not look sorry for his words though, he only looked to me with something of patients in his eye; Seeming like he was waiting for my tantrum to end so he could tell me something.

"Its not as simple as that, Sarah. I am sure if you would have stuck around he would have explained things better to you."

"Well Mr. Know-it-all, why don't you explain it to me. Since you seem to think I am missing something."

"There are some people in this world that are simply born to be vampires," I opened my mouth to speak but was hushed with a wave of his hand. "Let me finish. I can't tell you why, or how, it just is. When a vampire encounters one of these people, they see a glow surrounding their body, or coming from their body, a golden light that surrounds you and calls them to you."

"So your saying that I am one of those people? That I had a golden light?"

"Yes, I have always known, I have seen it in all of the pictures I have seen of you. Now let me finish. It is impossible for a vampire to resist turning these people. Its not just seeing the light, or knowing that you were meant to be a vampire, its a craving to turn you, a different kind of hunger that is much stronger than anything you have felt before."

"I imagine that this is the first vampire that you have ever encountered, or else you would have been turned long ago. Its uncontrollable, Sarah, once he saw you, as he said, he couldn't help himself."

I sat there hanging my head for a  moment, taking his words into consideration. It made sense, so much so that I couldn't dismiss it for a lie. After I had become a vampire, I noticed that I could pick up on others emotions; I had been a wreck that night, I cant imagine the pain and sorrow he had felt coming from me, if I had been in his shoes, I would have approached as well. Then, according to Cirian, once he saw me it was unstoppable. There was only one thing that was nagging at me.

"You said that you knew I would one day become a vampire, because of the glow from my picture, I have never seen a glow before."

"Thats because you were not a vampire then, and now that you are a vampire, you no longer have it. Only vampires can see a humans glow, because they are the only ones who can make them what they are meant to be."

I nodded my head, understanding; But something about what he said bothered me, something I had missed. I was slowly putting  a puzzle together in my head, only I had no idea what the picture was supposed to be. I did have long to ponder though, because Cirian once again distracted me with questions.

"Have you told anyone, besides me, of course?"

I narrowed my eyes at his questions, studying his face. He was not trying to interrogate me, he did not looked annoyed at the thought that someone else might know, there was not even a hint of fear that my secret was out. He was just curious, simple as that.

"Only one person."

"Boyfriend." He answered, not a question, but a statement. As if it was the only explanation, like there was no one else I would possible confide in. Which was partly true.

"No, my little cousin." He stared at me, shock clear on his face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm sorry, Sarah, but I am surprised you didn't tell him. We talked about it before, when I asked you if there was anyone else you would tell, you had answered that he was the only one. To hear now that you haven't is a shock, unless you two broke up?"

I sighed, lifting my head to stare at the ceiling as my thoughts washed over me. I remembered the conversation Cirian was talking about. I had had the same conversation with my boyfriend a couple of days afterwards.

"The night it happened we had been talking on the phone. For the last few days before we had been arguing a lot, getting on each others nerves and what not. That night we had broke it off, he felt over whelmed, didn't think that he deserved me, and didn't feel like he could give me what I wanted. If you would ask him, he would tell you it was a mutual break-up; It wasn't though, I had just played the part to make things easier for him." I took a deep breath, fighting to keep the tears in my eyes and unseen.

"We had agreed to stay friends, and had told each other that we loved each other before we hung up; If there had been no good bye between us, no final 'I love you' I dont think I could have left him like that. Thinking I was dead and hating himself because he had not had the chance to tell me he loved me, or say good bye before it happened."

"I am sorry." Was all he said, and I didn't blame him. It was obvious that I was hurt by it, and there was nothing that he could say that would make me feel better.

"Its one of the reasons I had gone out that night. The day had sucked to begin with, and then we had broken up, I was a wreck, crying every five minuets. So I had gone outside for a walk, I hated it when people saw me cry, and I just wanted to be left alone; I had needed time to calm myself down, and then it happened."

We were both quiet for a minuet. The house filling with a soft silence, and it felt like we were being respectful of my death; When someone dies, you take a moment of silence, and so we were doing that now, mourning my death even though I still walked the earth.

"One of the reasons I always brought up vampires is because I new one day you would become one. You can only go so long without running into one of the undead."

I nodded, "You saw the glow in my pictures, and so you tried to prepare me for what would eventually happen in the future. Thanks." I gave small smile, staring down at my feet.

In that moment something clicked inside my head, I had a moment of clarity and suddenly everything made sense. Cirian had know I was a vampire probably from the moment he saw the news and heard of my death. He had probably sat here every night, waiting for me to come and tell him. Now here I was, after three months.

From the moment I saw him something had felt off about him, but I had not been able to pin point what it was. I had been surprised that he had known I was a vampire, but he had explained his knowledge so well; He had covered his tracks, but he had let one thing slip.

Only vampires can see a humans glow.

"Oh my god." I whispered as I slowly rose my eyes to stare at him.

He gave me a puzzled look, but then his expression changed. He knew that I knew, and he knew where he had slipped up. He felt bad for keeping it from me, for not telling me; I could feel that he had wanted to tell me, but didn't know how; And now he didn't have to, because I already knew.

"Your a freaking vampire." I whispered in an awed tone, as well as in an accusation for not telling me.