Caine had donned a plain attire - black pants, a purple button down, no tie, his boots - and, of course, his travelling coat, hat and gloves. He entered the dining room and held his arm out to her.
"Shall we?"
She looked up from her coffee, "How's your knee."
"It feels like a small entrance to hell has opened up inside my knee but no matter, shall we go?"
"The bodies?"
"Later."
"Are you feeling alright?" she asked.
He nodded, "Absolutely, the wolfsbane helps with the pain. Not much but it helps."
"Are you..."
"High? Yes, a little bit. It does that too. Are we going or not?"
Evelyn rolled her eyes put the newspaper she was reading down and grabbed her bag, "Okay."
Caine led her out the door and stood on the street and they walked a good distance before she spoke.
"Caine? May I ask you something?" she asked.
"You may," he replied.
"My dad, what was he like as a child?"
She looked at Caine, he was frowning, "He was a lovely boy," he said, "always tasteful and well mannered. He was very passionate about music, hence my teaching him to play the piano."
"I'm sensing a but."
He nodded, "He changed. For some unknown, to me, reason, he got it in his head that I didn't love him. I came back from a trip to Romania and he'd changed so much. He was seventeen at the time. Your grandmother noticed it too, we worried about him."
"What happened?"
"I have died a thousand deaths and know, all to well, the cold of the grave but to this day I do not know what turned your father against me. Vlad says that's when he started changing but I would've seen it in his blood. Lillith says it was a territorial thing but Vlad and I have lived in peace for many centuries. Evelyn, I couldn't tell you what it was that turned him so bitter."
She shoved her hands in her pockets, "You knew he was bitter but you didn't expect him to betray you?"
Caine shook his head, "No, his hostility only lasted a year or so. I assumed it had all to do with adolescence and nothing to do with actual resentment but I was mistaken."
"What about my grandmother? What did she think?"
"She was worried about him especially towards the end when he turned. We didn't really expect that."
They entered the small park gates, there weren't many people there as silver clouds loomed overhead. A few joggers bobbed up and down and an old woman in a headscarf, that obscured her face, threw seed to the pigeons at her feet. There was something off about her but Evelyn couldn't put her finger on what. Caine noticed it.
"Evelyn?" he said, "Is something the matter?"
She shook her head, "No, it's probably nothing."
If he hadn't picked up on the strange vibe the old lady was giving off, it was probably nothing.
"Don't look at her," he said, "just ignore her."
"Why? What's wring with her?"
"She's a sorceress," he said, "she has no ill intentions but she is aware of our presence."
She was only a few steps away and Caine told her to walk on the other side of him so that when they passed her, he'd be closest to her.
"Why?" Evelyn whispered.
"She seems more fascinated by you than me," he said, "just stick to that side."
They approached her and were about to walk past when she grabbed Caine's wrist.
"You're a long way from home, vampire," she said, her voice a gentle whisper.
Caine shook his head, "I am closer than you think."
The woman - the witch - snorted and nodded her head to let them pass. Caine didn't take his eyes off of her until they'd passed completely.
"What was that about?" Evelyn asked.
"Nothing," Caine said, "she knows who I am."
Evelyn tilted her head, "Is that a good or a bad thing."
He sighed, "It depends on what she intends to do with the information but I doubt it's an entirely bad thing."
"How can you be sure of that?"
He smiled, "She looked friendly."
Evelyn stopped walking, "You're basing your opinion entirely on the fact that she looked friendly?"
Caine sighed again, "Of course not, clearly humour is not a strong point of mine."
Evelyn blinked, "Oh. Alright then."
Their walk led to them passing an ice-cream vendor that Evelyn had known since she was a little girl. He'd been there almost every single day ever since she could remember.
"Hello Evelyn," he said.
"Hey Dan," she replied.
"Who's your friend?"
"He's my g... umm... cousin from Romania."
He squinted at Caine's greying hair, "Your cousin?"
Caine nodded, "Her second cousin."
Dan nodded, "Your usual?"
Evelyn smiled. She hadn't ordered a cone from him in ages yet he still remembered. She nodded, "Caine?"
Caine raised his hands, "No thank you, I have... sensitive teeth."
She almost giggled at the statement and she saw his mouth twitch a little. Dan was still squinting at him suspiciously.
"You're wearing an awful lot," he said, "it isn't that cold yet."
Evelyn saw Caine roll his eyes under his dark glasses, "Yes, I'm rather sun and light sensitive."
"You aren't, by any chance allergic to silver too are you?" Dan joked.
Caine put on a dry smile, "Why yes, I am. I suppose you could say I'm rather delicate."
Dan started to smile, he thought Caine was joking, "Well I'll be keeping my stakes and crosses on hand, if you don't mind, sir."
That eerie dry smile was still plastered across Caine's face, "Good idea."
Dan laughed as he handed Evelyn her cone, "Only playing."
Evelyn thought Caine's fangs would slide down any second, "Indeed." Caine produced the necessary amount and put it on Dan's cart, "Good day to you, sir."
"And you."
Evelyn thought it was really creepy that Caine had just admitted to being a vampire and Dan hadn't really suspected a thing. He began walking and she followed.
"That fellow should be careful," he said, "other vampires aren't as... hmm, what's the word? Tolerant? Yes, other vampires aren't as tolerant as I."
Evelyn nodded, "Other vampires also don't wander around in broad daylight."
Caine stared straight ahead, his cane tapping rhythmically on the paving, "I wonder what made him think that."
Evelyn raised an eyebrow, "Are you joking?"
"Granddaughter," he said, "I thought we'd already established that humour is not one of my strong points."
It was weird hearing him call her granddaughter like that, it was oddly natural yet slightly unnerving, "The only bit of skin anyone can see is your face and you have a pair of sunglasses and a giant bloody hat covering half of that. Oh, yeah, and everything you're wearing is black."
"My shirt is not black."
"No, it's dark purple."
"Exactly."
"Dark purple."
"Dark colours suit me."
Evelyn blinked in disbelief, "Have you ever tried anything else?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"White shirts."
She laughed, "What you need, is a t-shirt. A light blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans. They're comfortable and versatile."
One of Caine's black eyebrows peaked over the rim of his glasses, "My clothes are very comfortable."
"But they're not very versatile."
"Evelyn, I have killed in clothes like these. A feat, I believe you witnessed just last night."
"And how much is it going to cost to get your pants repaired and the blood stains out of everything?"
He laughed, "Evelyn, I am a Maragi vampire. I am, somewhat, a specialist when it comes to getting blood out of things and who do you think taught your father all that tailor malarkey?"
Evelyn blinked, "B... b... but he told us..."
"His mother taught him? Well, she did. We both did. She taught him how to embroider things. I hadn't the patience to teach him that."
Evelyn shook her head, "Is there anything you can't do?"
"Well, Freya says I'm not very good at being straight forward," he said, "not even remotely decent at it."
Evelyn nodded, "No. Anything else?"
"I'm not very good at speaking in front of large audiences."
"What? Really?"
He shook his head, "No. I fear I scare people when I stand in front of them like that because every time I do, someone's died."
"Oh you don't like baring bad news?"
Caine shook his head, "Alright, never mind that. I am a decent public speaker. Let's rather say that I'm not good a giving good news."
Evelyn smiled as they left the park and started back up the street, "Do vampires actually have any to deliver?"
Caine opened his mouth to speak then stopped for a moment, "No, I suppose not. Nothing that affects the good of our race anyway."
Evelyn remembered something she'd been wanting to ask, "I've been meaning to ask, what is a vampire?"
"A blood drinking monster," his answer was exactly the answer she had expected.
"No, I mean, what is a vampire. Is it an animal or what?"
Caine chuckled, "Is a vampire and animal? Well it certainly isn't a vegetable, nor is it a mineral."
Evelyn rolled her eyes, "You're getting better at humour," he wasn't, "now please answer my question."
Caine nodded, "No. A vampire is not an animal. Nor is it human. A vampire is an intricate combination of animal, human and magic. I don't really know what to classify a vampire under other than maybe... vampire."
"And you're all immortal?"
Caine nodded again, "Yes, as far as I know we're all immortal and near invincible."
"Why does stabbing a vampire in the heart kill it? I mean, it's not like your hearts beat or anything."
"Au contraire," Caine said, "a vampire's heart beats once every night. When he or she wakes. That is why it is recommended that vampires sleep during the day, or they will be weak when they should be strong."
"Oh that's good to know and, finally, are there anymore? Other than the four that I know?"
"Anymore what?"
"Kinds of vampires. Like, Maragi, Nosferatu etcetera."
Caine shook his head, "Not at the moment."
"But there were other kinds?"
"Yes," his mouth became a grim line and she could tell he was remembering something painful, "the only Mist Walker died a few weeks ago. There have only ever been two. There were the Ever Sleepers, vampires that remained in the tomb and fed off the energy of their family members from a distance, hence the myth that vampires sleep in coffins. There were many different kinds of vampires but they were killed off quickly due to various flaws in their hunting techniques."
"Oh."
They were turning a corner and walking past a dark and narrow alley when a hand shot out of the alley. The hand, which grasped Evelyn's wrist, was soft but certainly aged. Evelyn looked up to see the old witch they'd seen in the park. If her face wasn't obscured before, it was in the alley. Shadows fell across her features and the way she wore the headscarf made if almost impossible to see her eyes.
"Come with me," she said to both of them.
"Who are you?" Caine asked.
"Follow me, and you shall see," the witch replied.
Caine nudged Evelyn as an indication to follow the witch. She led them to the dead end that lay beyond the darkness of the alley. There were two large crates on the ground.
"If you will, Mister Vampire?" she pointed to them.
Caine pushed them away to reveal a trapdoor. He arched an eyebrow and opened it. He nodded to Evelyn and she climbed down the ladder into the little room below. The witch followed and Caine landed with a soft thump when he jumped down. He took his hat and glasses off.
It was a dimly lit basement with a few pieces of furniture. There was a bed in one corner, a table and chairs in another, a wardrobe, a fire pit, a bookcase and a desk with an odd assortment of things spread across it.
"Who are you?" Caine repeated his question.
"Who am I?" Evelyn thought she saw a smile spread on the crone's lips, "I'm hurt Caine. You don't recognise me."
She stood right in front of Caine and untied her headscarf. A mass of grey curls tumbled down over her shoulders and down her back. Caine looked into her wrinkled face. Into her bright green eyes and his own eyes lit up with something Evelyn hadn't expected. His eyes shone with recognition.
_________________________________________
Well, sorry that took so long. I've just been trying to figure out a good way to include this mysterious woman in the story. Thank you for your patience.
Yours faithfully,
Raine Chandler