Mortal Agent of a Vampire - Chapter 16

I almost rushed to hug him, but there was an understanding between us that we didn’t show our true emotions too much, and I stopped in front of the steps, mimicking the cool expression from the man in black, “I didn’t say yes.”
“You should have said yes.” Vince rested his glass on the railing and stepped down, “Ruiz was ready to round me up, I had to get out of the way.”
“You beat him.”
“It was a total loss.” Vince winked at me, “Boyfriend said no losers.”
“Who’s the unlucky one with you?” Another bad joke, I played dumb.
That was the end of the conversation, Vince pointed to the vineyard, “Let’s go for a walk.”
“Okay.” We walked back and forth towards the ridge.
The grapes had already been harvested. I thought back to the day Vince had invited me to dinner at Moonlight Falls. The evening breeze was so pleasant, too, mixing the dry heat of summer with the coolness of fall and the scent of the land and blades of grass.
“How much did he tell you?” Vince asked.
“About you being the other of the other?”
He shrugged.
“Not much,” I stop between two rows of vines and tug on dead leaves to play, “He said you have a complicated background. Coincidentally, that’s what I can see.”
Vince was silent as he gazed at the sun sinking in the distance. A lot of questions kept popping into my head, as if there were a school of tropical fish spitting bubbles underneath, and I phrased them carefully, “He says you’re a fringe element.”
“Muhammad must have looked up a lot of dictionaries to invent that word.”
I laughed, “But from a human’s point of view, it’s him and his tribe that are more like fringe elements, they live in pristine forests and aren’t into luxury cars.”
“They’re the Puritans of vampires.” Vince summarized, turning to me, “Isn’t it open mind time again?”
I felt my face get a little hot, “What?I haven’t asked anything yet. ……”
“Every time you try to pry into my privacy, you get all stilted and beat around the bush like this.”
“Hey, don’t forget, I’m your agent, I have the right to ask about your business.” I defended desperately, “I just didn’t want to embarrass you in case any of the questions poked into the beehive.”
Vince waved his hand, “Running around naked at a New Year’s concert in Vienna wouldn’t even embarrass me. If I keep quiet, it’s purely because I don’t want to tell you.”
“Now then, tell the nation what pried your mouth open, Mr. Keep Your Mouth Shut?” I handed over an imaginary microphone, “Hint, the standard answer is that my agent’s loyalty moved me.”
He stared at me with, You’re not serious, are you? written on his face.
“I’m sorry, that’s not funny.” I threw my hands up in surrender and got serious, “Let’s start with this, why are you …… well …… not part of any clan?”
Vince laughed a little, he must have expected me to ask that, “I used to belong to one.” He took a step and I followed him, the sun had sunk completely, leaving only a sliver of orange color under the dark blue sky.
“But ……?”
“I don’t fit in with the other members.” Vince picked up a section of vine and played with the curling shoots, “They’re like demons in a gothic novel, stereotypical, and I was afraid that in the long run I’d become like them, so I made a decision to break away.”
“Like a rebellious teenager?” I asked, “When was that?”
“Late 1800s, maybe.”
That’s a long time ago, “Wait,” I put up my palms, “I want to make sure, is your name in history?”
“No,” Vince shook his head and I dropped my heart, but it wasn’t over yet, “but I think if you look hard enough you can find a few pictures of me.” Vince said gently, “I know some people, Nietzsche, Wilde, that sort of thing …… you know?”
“Wait …… what?!” I paused to digest, “Is it who I think it is?”
Vince looked back and I let him invade my consciousness, “Exactly.”
“I’ll ask you more about this later in the house.” I said, grasping at straws, “And then what, did you meet Muhammad?”
“Good guess.”
“He tried to convince you to join his tribe, and you learned from him how to control your hunger and thirst?” I paraphrased Muhammad.
Vince inclines his head for a moment, “Replace trying to convince with kneeling.”
“Chutzpah.” I comment, “Why don’t you say yes? ‘Oh wait, let me read your mind for a second,’ I closed my eyes and pressed my index finger against my temple, Vince didn’t say anything, letting me perform to my heart’s content.
A moment later, psychic Lyle looked up, “Got it, you like luxury cars and don’t like living in the woods.”
“Wow, how did you know that, that’s amazing.” Vince looked indifferent.
There was silence, the blue night outlining his silhouette, and after a moment, he continued, “Actually, I don’t agree with his philosophy.”
I listened.
“He thinks he’s noble, but it’s not right, you know? The desire for blood is in a vampire’s nature.”
I thought about that night, the look in their eyes when I walked into the forest.
Vince must have caught my thoughts, he laughed softly, “Yes, you can refuse to admit it, but it will never change. Far from humanity, hiding in the barren land, what do they want? Mourn their lost humanity? They should know full well that no matter how much you want to go back, it will never come back. Hiding from the world doesn’t solve anything, it’s just an escape, and cowards escape, and I ……” he shook his head, “don’t want to be a coward.”
I kind of understood him, “So, you’re trying to find …… how do you say,
a balancebetween that?”
He gave me a quick look.
I was a little puzzled, he never looked at me like that, as if I had surprised him, “What’s wrong?You said it, you don’t like the traditional set and you don’t like veganism, so I’m trying to ……”
“Yes ……” he said slowly, “I’m trying to find a balance.” He looked off into the distance at the high and low rolling fields. He didn’t seem to be talking to me so much as self-affirming.
At this point in the conversation, I stepped away to leave him alone.
I don’t want to point out the hole in this, though it’s so obvious it’s almost like a little sun. Vince, perhaps he’ll never admit it, is living a complete lie. I mean, he despises Muhammad. But if Muhammad was just mourning his humanity, he was in total denial. He stayed away from his own kind, went to great lengths to control his desire for blood, just to be among us, to live like a human being. Over and over again, he watched those around him being born, growing up, having families, growing old, and dying, while he himself remained the same. It was like, a swan thrown in the henhouse, binding his wings to deceive himself and others.
After all this time, I sympathized with him for the first time. If this is all a beautiful dream for him, I hope he never wakes up, because it would be very painful.
I cleared that out of my head and turned back to him, “Tell me how you were expelled from Muhammad.”
“Expelled?” Vince frowned, “He used that word?”
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
“All right.” Vince bristled, “Didn’t I say I used to belong to a clan?”
“Your dear father came to take you home?” I thought of Luz.
“More like a debt collection, I guess.” Vince said, “I didn’t want to get Mohammed in trouble and he didn’t want to interfere, so we parted ways. That’s when the European war broke out and you know the rest.”
That picks up the trip, and I nod.
There was only one box left, I took a deep breath and asked that question.
We stood in an open field, the sky so long it was scary.
Vince stared at me, his green eyes so deep, “You really want to know?”
“May I?”
He turned around, wrapping his arms around himself, thinking for a moment, then he turned back to me, “I can show you.”
He walked towards me, his palm resting on the side of my face, and then leaned down, our foreheads resting together ……
And just like that, I knew this whole story.
I knew how Vince had transformed.

“Are you hungry?”
“Starving.” I said.
We strolled back under the stars. It’s no exaggeration to say that I haven’t had a proper meal in days.
“How about some real foie gras?”
“Merci beaucoup.”
“As bad as ever.”
I knew he was speaking my French, “And you?”
“O-negative, a timeless classic.”
We came to the front porch and I stopped walking, “Well …… I wanted to thank you, Muhammad told me about the marking.”
“Couldn’t help it,” Vince sighed, “I forgot to get you workers compensation insurance.”
I laughed out loud, he could be funny at times, “Have you thought about this, what would you do if I ever retired?”
“Not even a year on the job and you’re thinking about retirement, you humans ……”
“Get serious, will you?” I protested, “We get old fast.” Compared to him, uh, if he’s going to age.
“Okay, okay ……” Vince waved his hand impatiently, “When do you want to retire?”
“Sixty.”
“Good. Then wait another thirty-five years and I’ll tell you.” He pushed the door open and walked in.

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