Fire and Ice Ch. 03

Hope you're enjoying this so far—the characters seem to have a mind of their own; I think that I know what is going to happen as I write, but Emma and Adam have other ideas. Keep up with me as I get to know them better—we're still introducing ourselves. This chapter has a lot of explanation as to why Adam is the way he is. Bear with me as we get through the technicalities so that we can get to the juicy parts! Other than that, enjoy, and send feedback or write comments with anything you'd like to know, that you think I should include, or that you didn't like (or that you did), etc. I feel like an explanation is owed to you for this chapter, so I'm giving you fair warning: No sex yet, and it's a rather abrupt ending. I apologize for that, but I always find that sex is so much more titillating if you know the motivations and emotions behind it. Keep reading!

Chapter 3

I shut my eyes, reminding myself to take deep breaths, leaning against the wall heavily.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit...

My mind had abandoned me, retreating into itself. I couldn't think, I couldn't feel. My vision seemed to turn to pinpricks. I tried to calm myself, struggling to breath gently and deeply, but I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate.

Oh shit! I'm going to die...I'm going to die!

Adam had started walking towards me, slowly. His hands were held up, palms out, as if he was surrendering to something. But I knew better. It was all a façade. He was going to kill me. I'd seen the fangs. I saw his eyes. I saw everything!

"Please! I don't want to die! I won't tell anyone what you are, I promise! Just let me go...I just want to go home...let me go home..."

I slid down, my back leaning against the wall, and pulled my knees up to my chest, hugging them to keep them there. I felt tears trickle from my eyes and start running down my cheeks, and slowly, I began to rock back and forth.

"I don't want to die...I don't want to die...I don't want to die..."

Adam had started walking towards me, and a thought occurred to me: I should pray. I hadn't talked to God for a while, but we might be getting to know each other extremely well pretty soon, so I might as well re-introduce myself. I gulped, he was getting closer.

How had this happened? Why couldn't I have just continued on with my life as it was? I probably would have failed my microbiology class, but what the hell. I would have survived. I was too young for this! I was planning on going to medical school; I was going to be a pediatrician! I loved kids, they loved me, I liked science enough—it was perfect! I hadn't told my mother that I loved her, hadn't told my father 'Thank you', hadn't been able to mess up my brother's hair one last time.

They say when you're going to die, your life flashes before your eyes. It doesn't. Death itself is way too scary, and it kind of blocks everything else out.

Adam stopped directly in front of me and held out his hand. I winced, shrinking into the wall as much as I could, squeezing my eyes tight. I didn't want to see myself die. That would be too much.

"Emma?"

I didn't say anything. I just kept my eyes shut—he wasn't going to trick me into watching this. Fuck him! Who did he think he was? What gave him the right to take my life away?

"Emma...come on. Get up."

Anger consumed me. Just because he'd been around for so long, I was supposed to die? To hell with that! It was his turn—he had said so himself, he was ancient!

I turned my face upwards and opened my eyes. He was standing there, in front of me, holding out his hand, just waiting for me to take it. His hazel eyes were soft, filled with pain. I wasn't buying it. He was a vampire! He was evil! And fuck it if I was going to stand by idly while he killed me!

I sprung to my feet, refusing to touch him. He took a few steps back, his hands up in that surrendering motion again.

"You can't kill me, Adam! I won't let you! I have things to do, you know!"

I watched as a small grin played across his lips. Oh hell no! He wasn't going to laugh at me!

"I'm serious! You let me the fuck out of this apartment, and don't ever come near me again! Or else..." my mind searched frantically. Vampires had weaknesses, didn't they? Stakes! And garlic! "Or else I'll marinate a stake in garlic and shove it through your heart!" His eyebrows drew together, concerned. Ha! I had him now!

"That's right, I swear to god I'll do just that, Adam, if you don't let me go now!"

Adam kept his hands up, just looking at me sadly. "You can go whenever you want, Em. I won't talk to you anymore. Not if you don't want me to, anyways."

"I don't! I don't want to talk to you ever again!"

Adam took a breath, "Figures." His head dropped, and he pointed to the door. "You know the way, Emma."

It was that easy? I took a deep breath and actually felt my heart stop pounding. He was letting me leave?

As I stood there, silently, a couple of thoughts occurred to me.

1. I wasn't dead. 2. Adam hadn't touched me except for that small kiss on my neck, even though his fangs were out. 3. Adam was a vampire! 4. I still wasn't dead.

"You're not going to kill me?"

Adam looked up, his eyes meeting mine, "God, Emma, no! I just...I needed...I thought you would understand, I guess." He took a deep breath. "I know what I am, Emma. I know it's hard to accept. And I realize that it's freakishly creepy. So..." He paused for a moment, seemingly struggling to say the next phrase, "...you can leave whenever you want. I'll never talk to you again, I swear."

I stood there confused for a moment, thoughts rushing through my head. He's not going to kill me? He thought I would understand? Understand what?

I took a deep breath and puffed up my chest a bit, "I'll leave when I decide I want to leave, thank you very much. As long as you promise you won't kill me."

Adam gave a sad little smile and held up his right hand, "Scout's honor. I promise I won't kill you."

He was a vampire, which meant he couldn't be trusted, but still. The promise made me feel better. I relaxed, ever so slightly. I shifted my weight, still too uncomfortable to sit down, eyes locked on Adam's. As I looked at him, I realized he was telling the truth. He wasn't going to kill me. Weird. But as we stood there, looking at each other, another problem arose. This was really, really awkward.

"So..." I took a deep breath. "You're a...a vampire. And you're notgoing to kill me."

Adam nodded, "Right." He was still keeping his distance, like he was afraid that I was going to freak out again.

Anger started to bubble up from some unseen place inside of me. "Then why the hell did you even tell me this!? I liked you just fine, before you were a vampire. Now, I'm freaking out, and how am I ever supposed to act normal around you again? You're a vampire, Adam, for Christ's sake!" I paused to take a few breaths, but before Adam could speak up, I continued, "And now I'll probably fail micro!"

I looked at Adam, and to my surprise, he looked like he was struggling not to laugh. He calmed himself down slightly, then managed to say, "Micro...yeah. That's a pretty big problem."

The stupidness of it hit me, and I felt a smile tweak my lips. "Shut up, Adam. Micro's important."

He nodded gravely, "Hell yeah, it is."

I felt a giggle coming on, probably one of the side effects of my freak out earlier, and tried to stifle it. But Adam had a little grin on his face too, and I couldn't help it. I started to laugh wryly. He chuckled a bit too, and then I spoke up,

"Sorry. That was a stupid thing to say."

"It's better than 'I don't ever want to talk to you again.'"

I cringed, then sighed. "I'm sorry, Adam."

He took a few steps closer to me, but stopped before I felt uncomfortable.

"Actually, your freak out was shorter than I expected it to be, Em. It's a little strange how normal you seem now."

I didn't feel normal. I felt like crying. My best friend was a vampire. What did that say about me? But I swallowed my feelings and sighed, "This is still weird, Adam."

He nodded, "I know. I'm sorry. If I could change it, I would."

I made my way around him and went over to the couch, sitting down. If he could change it, he wouldn't be alive right now. So...who would I be talking to? If Adam wasn't a vampire, would I still have been studying alone in my apartment? As strange as it was, I started to feel slightly happy that he was a vampire, with that thought. He came and sat at the opposite end of the couch and we both were silent. He was staring straight ahead, his eyes emotionless. I studied him quietly.

His profile was sharp. He had a strong jaw and a cut, Grecian nose. Imagine the statue of David, by Michelangelo, but better. His nose was stronger, and his hair didn't curl. It was closely cropped to his head and laid flat. Even the wind, that first day that I met him, hadn't ruffled it. His eyes were gorgeous, and I was jealous. That beautiful, strange hazel color dominated them now, not like when they had dilated. They had been almost completely black then.

I felt myself shiver—he had looked so...menacing. Not like Adam at all. That trademark grin, always so readily available, was nowhere to be found. That was probably what had scared me most—the Adam that I thought I knew so well was nowhere to be found when he had transformed. Truly, it scared the shit out of me.

I gave a little sigh, and he looked up, meeting my eyes. All traces of the vampire were gone. He looked human—approachable, harmless, and even a little sad. This awkward silence had to stop. I took a breath and spoke up, "So...how old are you, then?"

Adam looked at me and smiled slightly, "Pretty old. I'm not exactly sure of the year that I was born, but I was turned to a vampire when I was 25 human years. That was when Marcus Aurelius was the Roman Emperor. They kept track of time differently then. It wasn't until the late 1500's, when Pope Gregory institued the Gregorian calendar, that the Julian calendar went out of date." He shrugged, then retreated into himself, thinking deeply. "That puts my birth around 155 BC, and it's 2010 now, so..." he went silent as he did the math, "...I'm about 1855 years old, I guess. That sound right?"

My eyes must have been as wide as saucers, "1855? Seriously?" I shook my head; I couldn't even imagine living that long. "And you're the only vampire?"

Adam shrugged. "I was changed by a vampire. For the first millennium of my life, there were vampires around. We had a coven. That's what they call a community of vampires. Our headquarters were in Europe, in Greece. That's where I was born as a human, and where I was sired, as a vampire." Adam sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Vampires have always been evil, according to humanity. I was sired by a woman known as Theoris. About 150 years after I became a vampire, a prominent Grecian senator known as Demosthenes became aware that she was inhuman, and denounced her. She was tried publicly in Athens and burned for 'necromancy'. Many vampires said it started later, but I believe it was then that vampires began to be hunted.

"It's strange to me that humans were able to so completely eradicate our race. Vampires are the stronger of the two species. But humans are numerous, and when they have a goal, they are almost unstoppable. From the 14th to the 17th century, a time in your history books known as the Witch Hunt, every single vampire that I had once known vanished. I went into hiding as my friends and colleagues were tied to stakes and burned alive for charges of 'witchcraft'." His face had visibly paled, and he gave a shudder.

"I survived because I fled to the east, to the island of Cyprus. It was a small island, so consumed with it's wars that it failed to notice the vampire living in its midst. I stayed there until World War I, when it became a part of the United Kingdom. At that point, vampires had been forgotten, and what remained of us was in fictional stories. They told of how we could change into bats, how we dissolved in sunlight, how we were repelled by garlic and could only be killed with a stake to the heart. I remember reading Dracula and laughing—the vampires portrayed were so pathetic, so weak—if they were real, I would have been dead long ago.

"The one thing that humans always have gotten correct is how we feed. On blood."

I could feel the blood running out of my face as he spoke. "That's disgusting, Adam. Can't you eat, erm, drink, something else?"

Adam gave a sad grin and shook his head. "I've tried, Emma. While I can physically chew and swallow, I can't seem to digest anything except for blood. Most of our vampire records have been destroyed, but to my knowledge, vampirism can almost be described as a disease of the blood. Vampire blood has small, inhuman proteins in it that attach to the red blood cells. These proteins significantly enhance the bloods ability to carry oxygen, to flow, and even to allow the body to heal itself rapidly. However, these proteins come with a cost: the vampire red blood cell itself has a much shorter life span than that of a human red blood cell, or one without extra protein. To compensate, my diet consists entirely of human blood. When a vampire blood cell dies, the protein attaches to a normal cell and continues to survive. I can't tell you much more than that, except that a side effect from these proteins seems to be agelessness, as if my body has been frozen in time."

Thanks to my major in biology, I could follow everything he was telling me. Vampirism seemed to make sense with that explanation—a disease. One that grants you immortality and superhuman qualities. The only thing that he was lacking was how the disease was transmitted.

"So how do you become a vampire, Adam? How is it transmitted?"

Adam clasped and unclasped his hands, "Much like any blood-borne illness, such as HIV. It's passed through specific fluids—blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. Even then, just coming into contact with those fluids won't do the trick; they must come into contact with damaged tissue, or a membrane, like your eyes, or be directly injected into the system."

"You seem to know a lot about this for someone who hasn't been able to find any vampire records," I commented.

Adam just gave a small grin, "I've had a lot of time to study the differences between myself and humans. The proteins in my blood are visible under a light microscope. I've done a few tests and come to all of the conclusions that I just told you."

I shivered slightly, then rubbed my hands up and down my arms. "So have you sired anyone?"

Adam just shook his head. "I won't do what was done to me and sire someone without their consent. Being a vampire is a lonely life. I've always been an outcast, never able to do something as small as go out to dinner with a girl. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

I nodded at Adam, understanding, but still sad. To be alive for so long without anyone to talk to? Christ, I was freaking out because I was 22 and I didn't have a steady boyfriend yet. I couldn't imagine being alone as long as Adam had.

I glanced at him. He was sitting on the couch, slightly hunched over, his elbows on his knees. He seemed to be nervously wringing his hands, as if he was afraid that I would say this was all too much and get up, leaving him for good.

A part of me told me that I should. Adam was no good for me. He was a vampire, he was immortal. He had fangs, and his eyes dilated, and every article of literature that I had read about him told me that he was evil. But his explanation made it sound so normal, like he was just ill, not evil. He hadn't explained everything, though. "So, I get how you can move so quickly, and heal so quickly, and why you drink blood. But that doesn't explain why you have fangs, or why your eyes dilate, or why you emit...pheromones, or whatever you said they were," I was honestly puzzled. I was learning all of this for the first time, and I was curious.

Adam looked as puzzled as I felt when he answered, "I've tried to figure that out. There's nothing in the blood that suggests a physiological change. I'm assuming that it's simply evolution, natural selection at its best. Somewhere along the line a vampire developed fangs to access human blood more easily, and that trait was passed on. Eventually, each trait would have evolved to make us better predators. The pheromones we emit draw humans to us. Haven't you noticed that at all?"

I felt a blush creep all the way up my neck and cover my face. I had most definitely noticed it. I couldn't think straight around Adam. He screwed with my mind. Embarrassed, I thought back to the fantasies that I couldn't seem to stop having about him.

Adam being a vampire changed things. Now that I knew why I felt the way I did around him, maybe I would have a chance at stopping it, because having sex with him was out of the question, unless I was planning on becoming a vampire, which I wasn't. I would just have to get ahold of myself and not let his pheromones affect me.

I hadn't realized that I had been considering having sex with Adam until I stopped considering it all together. That threw me for a loop, like I didn't know I felt that way until it was gone.

Adam was looking at me and I realized that he was still waiting for an answer. I cleared my throat and spoke up, "Oh, yeah. I've noticed. You said you'd noticed that I'd noticed...does that make sense?"

Adam grinned, "I know I turn you on, if that's what you're asking."

I rolled my eyes. He may be a vampire, but he was still a guy. And no matter how old they are, all guys like that confidence boost of turning on a girl. The problem was, most guys didn't know exactly when they were turning a girl on. Adam had potential to become one cocky bastard. Fortunately, I had my defenses as well.

"Hey, you're the one who was talking about how good I smell."

Adam had the decency to look embarrassed, glancing down towards the floor, "Touché."

I felt myself smirk and a tiny bubble of pride welled up inside of me. I had just put an 1855 year old vampire in his place. Damn, I was good.

As we sat on the couch, a thought occurred to me. Adam had drank something after his little 'outburst.' I felt myself pale and forced a swallow, "So, Adam..." I paused, almost unwilling to ask, "...you drank blood a little while ago, didn't you?"

Adam looked at me for a moment and then nodded, "Sometimes it's hard to control myself. Drinking human blood is engrained into my system. Attacking them to get their blood is what I'm programmed to do. So when I saw the blood pooling out of your finger, I snapped for a moment. Just long enough for you to catch a glimpse of what I am. That's when I went to the fridge and filled a mug up with a little refresher, to keep me satisfied. To make sure I didn't hurt you. Back in the day, when I lived in the coven, every once in a while a vampire would refuse to eat. They go insane eventually, rampaging and killing anything in their path. It's actually pretty scary. It would take five or six of us vampires to even slow them down."

I raised a brow, "Why would a vampire starve themselves? That seems stupid."

Adam just shrugged, "Back then, the only way to get blood was to feed from a human. Sometimes, we would let humans in on the secret and they would offer themselves willingly. We wouldn't kill them, just drink from them. But a human can only lose about a quart of blood at a time before it starts to affect them, and even then they need to eat right away to replenish their strength. Most of the time, we would go to the gallows and feed on the freshly hung criminals before rigor mortis set in. But in times when people thrived and crime was low, we had to find other options."