Interview with Another Vampire

I Interview a Vampire

And there he was. Dressed in a white shirt and a red ascot cravat under a black coat, black pants, and boots. His frosty blue eyes stood out like reflectors. He smelled like expensive cologne

"Good night Mademoiselle Valentina Alcazar." He said sternly when I opened the door.

"Good night Monsieur Philippe Saint Claire," I said showing off my little French.

He took a step in my apartment and his eyes glazed over the precinct. His gaze lingered on my amateur photography attempts which decorated the muted blue walls. He completely ignored my entirely red furniture and returned to look at me. He seemed to nod, at either me, himself, or the place I'm not quite sure but took another step inside seemingly pleased.

"I have conditions." He said as I closed the door.

"And they are?" I asked with raised brows.

"I get to ask you questions as well," he said.

"Alright, fair enough." I shrugged thinking about what he could possibly want to ask me. "Please sit down. May I offer you anything besides blood?"

"I'm quite fond of tea," he said taking a spot on my couch.

"One minute," I said hurrying to the kitchen and pouring the hot water from the kettle into a pair of cups. 

I came out of the kitchen with two cups of black tea and set them on the living room table. Philippe was no longer on the couch he was closely looking at my photographs. I will confess that I am no artist, but I did like to take pictures of people, scenery, and inanimate objects.

"I have a friend who collects vintage cameras. He lets me use them for free if I buy the film." I said sitting down. 

"Is this what you do?" he asked looking back at me.

"It's more of an expensive hobby," I said looking around and sighing. "So," I took a deep breath, "Is it true that vampires don't show up in pictures?" I asked.

"Only in film. Now everything is digital, so I can take selfies." He smirked slowly making his way back to the couch.

"Oh really? How come?" 

"Its the film. It captures not only the image but an essence of the soul in things. I don't have a soul, so there's nothing to capture. Digital cameras only capture different color pixels, it's very superficial." He said.

"What about mirrors?"

"I can see myself in them."

"Interesting. I'm busting all of the vampire myths." I said to myself. " So what about garlic?" 

"Garlic is pungent even when you're not a vampire, you can't imagine its scent when you have exalted senses. But aside from its fetid smell, it's harmless." He said annoyed.

"Well, its a blessing you don't eat Italian food." I giggled. "So what do you eat or drink?"

"Blood," he said simply.

"What about your tea?"

"It tastes terrible. I only like the smell."

"Oh?" I glared for a millisecond as the wasted tea bag that made that tea. "So then what's your process?" I asked going back to the subject at hand.

"I hunt for suicidal people. The increasing number of people with depression who turn suicidal has really been a blessing. Every year there is so much perfectly good blood that goes to waste every day. Then there are the homeless, petty thieves, the occasional hooker. Then there are organized crime criminals. Those are especially fun, they think they're so bad. The fear that shines in their eyes is especially delicious. And there are medical cases such as yourself." He said. The natural way in which he talked about killing people was chilling. 

"So how often do you feed?" I tried to say trying not to sound worried. I took a good long sip of my tea.

"It varies. In the olden days, I started at small villages but then discovered that the villagers have small superstitious minds. So then it was once a month or so humans and barnyard animals every other day. And then I moved to the big cities which I should have done, to begin with. I could eat humans every week, and rats were always readily available. And then with the Industrial Revolution, the cities were overcrowded with humans dying everywhere. It was a good time, the only trouble was the advancement of criminal investigation methods, so you couldn't be as careless. And then the World Wars were an all you can eat buffet which was wonderful. But after that humans didn't die as well as they used to, not in the western world. I am accustomed to a higher sense of living, I wasn't going to move to Rusia or the forsaken China. No, I dwell here now, but there always had to be a cause and more precise autopsies and crime lowered. So now I'm back to humans once or twice a week and pets in-between."

I nodded trying to take in all of the information.

"Now I ask, why did you invite me here?" 

"Well, I'm dying. But you already knew that. I don't know. I wanted to know more and I guess I just wanted something exciting to happen before you know..." I trailed off. "I just wanted something extraordinary, my life is so commonplace. All my life I've wanted to travel and see the world and do all of these amazing things, but can't."

"Because of your weak heart?" he asked, a twinge of genuine concern in his voice.

"Yeah. My weak heart doesn't even let me go on rollercoasters." I said sighing. "I want to do so much with my life. I want to die knowing that I lived to the fullest, but if I do my heart might just not take it. It all comes down to that I guess, and money. I've never had enough money because it all ends up going to hospital bills, car payments, electric bills, bills, bills, bills. I can barely keep up with my minimum wage job and even then my parents help me. If it weren't for my scholarship I wouldn't be in school right now." I paused and looked at Philippe who was looking out the window. "This must all seem very mundane to you."

"We lead different lives I suppose." He said looking back at me. His expression was almost sad. "I am interested however in your reaction towards me."

"Oh yeah? How so?" I said before finishing my tea.

"I've been discovered for what I am a number of times. I find that most humans react in a similar manner to that information. Most haven't lived to tell the tale, however, I still find your reaction interesting. You named me almost immediately and did not struggle to free yourself from my grasp." 

"I didn't want to believe it at first, but when I saw the blood dripping down your chin,  I knew my eyes weren't deceiving me. Besides I like to keep an open mind, anything is possible. Plus that unusual death would have definitively scored as something extraordinary. Dying of heart problems is prosaic, being murdered by a vampire, now that's something. I'd go out with a bang, so to speak."

"Valentina, you're too aware of your own mortality," he said smirking.

I shrugged smiling, "If I can't travel the world, I'll just have to enjoy what I have while it lasts." 

"For someone so aware of the pessimism of the human experience, you're also surprisingly optimistic human."

"Thanks, Philippe, I try." I laughed.

"I really like talking to you." He said his piercing eye on mine.

"Me too. It's very informative." I said taking a sip of Philippe's tea before it got any colder.

"We should do this again. Soon."

"I would love to!"

"We'll go for a walk tomorrow," he said more as a statement than a suggestion. He then looked at his watch. "I should be going now. It's getting early." He rose from his seat.

I looked at the clock It was 4 am already.

He stood at the door "Meet me at the park two blocks east tomorrow." I could see a slight smile on his face before he turned to leave. 

It would be an eternity wait until tomorrow night.

I felt this would be the start of a friendship.