Constantino's head rolled against the brick wall; his gaze turned to the dead man next to us. In the dark, dirty alley that was filled with rubbish, we'd murdered a man that was deserving of death. It was then that I had a moment of clarity and I knew how I'd survive this world.
"I want my victims to be people like him."
The dark eyes turned back to me, a nod of understanding given.
"Done."
"What's the deal with us speaking easily now?"
"You're losing your ability to speak your own language."
That was a little startling.
"The more you understand me, the more you lose. By the time your body changes completely, you will struggle to speak."
"Just like you?"
He nodded.
"There will be a certain level of understanding, but I only had that because I spent hours listening to everyone talking. From the second the sarcophagus was opened, I paid attention."
"I saw you in the sarcophagus; everyone else saw a skeleton."
"An illusion brought on by the stale air that was released. It was the air from my world, and the humans were not used to it. You were high enough that it did not affect you."
"You saw me?"
He nodded.
"Already fascinated by the woman that watched over me."
"Were you in the bathroom?"
"I was. You interrupted me and scaring you off was necessary."
"Too long holding it in?"
"That and overfeeding." He murmured with a slight smile.
"We should go, staying here with a dead body isn't a good idea."
Getting up off the ground and his lap, I waited for Constantino to get off the cold ground. Pulling on his jacket, I frowned, struggling with the thought of what's happened.
"Thanks. I'm grateful you came back in time."
He looked like he wanted to say something, then paused. Constantino shrugged uneasily.
"Saw you weren't there, then I heard you. I can't handle things like that; it's why his neck is, you know."
"A great gaping wound?"
With a slight smirk on his face, Constantino nodded.
I stepped back and glanced at the end of the alley. It was quiet; no one saw or heard a thing. Just a lonely night that made me think that staying here might be possible. A bright yellow car flew past, speeding through the street. A second later, a cop car sped past. It was enough to remind me that the law was always around. The cameras watched everyone and everything.
"We can't stay here, can we?"
Constantino shook his head sadly as he grabbed the man's arms to drag him further into the mess behind us. I gathered the flattened boxes to put over the body, hoping it would be enough to conceal him for a few days.
"Where are the others? What happened to you?"
"They are in a land that is a long way from here, and as to what happened, they decided that removing the ruler was necessary."
"What will happen if you go back?"
He shrugged, looking like he didn't care.
"It's a bloodline rule so they won't have much choice. I'm sure they'll carry out another coup and trap me for another century."
"Is that all?"
"It's a long time when you're trapped with the haunting memories."
"Sorry." I murmured. "I just thought it would have been longer."
Constantino offered a soft smile, pulling my shirt to him. Kissing him was better than any of the previous. I don't know why. I could not figure it out. There was something incredible, almost explosive.
"It would be ideal to return, but this place is incredibly fascinating. We don't have things that cook meals like that box."
"A microwave."
I frowned. Hearing the word come out of my mouth seemed odd to me now.
"Vampires do not need such things, but we have a human equivalent that might find it useful. Although, we do not have electricity."
"Seriously?"
Pressing his lips tight, Constantino nodded.
"I'd rather not return."
"We might have to. There is so much about this world that is dangerous for you and I've been trying to tell you."
Clearly, it hadn't gotten through to him.
"The cops are smart; they are tenacious. Murderers get caught, and yes, you are one. They won't care that you need it to survive. In fact, if they find out what you are, there's an extremely high chance that they will kill you."
"They can try, but they will fail."
Yes, the knife again. Like I needed to remember that.
"You know, you might be wrong about that. We have a lot of theories about how to kill vampires and considering that you're real, it's entirely possible that someone in the past has come into contact with a vampire and figured out how to kill them."
Taking hold of his shirt, I hoped that he was listening to me rather than being stubborn.
"The risk that you think is worth taking is not, and you now have to realise that you've dragged me into this world too. Remember that when you make your decisions for the future."
"Lucy," He said softly, running his fingers over my chin.
The blood was dry now, flaking away with each touch.
"What?" I whispered with a smile on my face.
"Don't you want to stay here?"
"The government will want answers as to why those people died. They're probably already doing blood tests. Will they find a toxin in the blood? Will they notice that there was a lack of blood in all the bodies? What about bite marks? You think that this place is great and yes, it has a lot of wonderful things to offer, but there is a dark side that you're not aware of yet, and it's my duty to protect you until you understand the danger that you are in. That we are in. They will be watching me; I was supposed to stay in the house for a week because they think that there was something deadly in the air in the tomb. Out the front of my unit was a van that I've never seen before, I know that it is common for the government to watch those who have been ordered into home isolation after being in a risk zone."
Leaning closer to him, I hoped that it would convey the gravity of the situation.
"I broke their rules to bring you out here tonight. If they find out, they could order guards to stand outside the doors, and if that happens, there is no escape for us."
"Alright but I need to locate the gate, I don't know this land."
"What does it look like?"
"Lucy, I was locked into a stone box during my arrival to this land; how would I know what the gate looks like?"
"I don't know," I snapped. "You're supposed to be their king; how come you don't know what a gate in your own land looks like?"
"Because I was leaving it to the scholars to document. Those that killed me wanted to venture through the gate; I said that a team of explorers would do it. They didn't like my decision, so they killed me and took my body on an adventure. All I have is the key which I found in my pocket and the box, which I have no idea what it is. It stood out to me because it was the only thing that I recognised from my own world; the rest of those things are unfamiliar to me. There would be a reason they were there; I hope that someone had a change of heart and left them for me. But still, I don't know if they are useful or a waste of time. I don't even know if I can open the gate. Maybe they returned and broke the gate, maybe it can't be reopened."
"Do you think they might still be here?"
"I don't know, but wherever they are, I hope that they are suffering."
With the body stuffed at the end of the alley and the garbage lying on or around him, we made our way out into the street. The path home would be a long one because we'd walked a fair distance of it to give Constantino a greater sense of the area he was living in. Taking public transportation was necessary of course, I didn't want to spend hours walking the streets. The only issue was those infernal cameras that recorded everything we did. Maybe going to Constantino's world wouldn't be as bad as he thinks it would be. Considering that I was about to lose the ability to speak English, it certainly sounded like a good idea to leave.