Mortal Agent of a Vampire - Chapter 27

I ran toward him and half-kneeled in front of him. I saw a dagger running through the left side of his chest, the blood drying up around the wound.
Oh God …… a gripping pain assaulted me.
I pulled out the dagger with trembling hands, and he frowned and looked at me in silence. Brave, I can’t even look at the syringe when I take a vaccination.
“You don’t look surprised.” I said, doing my best to keep my voice steady.
The wound caused by the silver dagger gradually healed and he looked up, taking a long time to build up his strength, “I’ve already been surprised, I smelled you when you came into the castle.”
“Only surprised?” I said sourly.
He gazed at me, a smirk slipping across the corners of his mouth, “You’re not going to suggest a hug, are you?”
I shrugged with concern, “Men don’t do that with each other, but I can’t say no if you want to.”
We faced each other, a stone’s throw apart, a distance that can be misleading, and after a long moment, “You’re right, men don’t do that with each other.” Vince snuffed out my tiny bit of anticipation and we laughed together. In that moment, watching the light in his eyes, I suddenly felt like I could read his mind too.
As the sun rose and moved downward over the walls of the deep well, my attention shifted to the chains that bound him.
Good lord, those chains were enough to hoist a sea anchor. Even with specialized tools, it would take some effort to open it.
I tried to pry it open with my dagger, but apparently, I wasn’t cut out to be a thief, and in no time at all, I was panting with exhaustion while the rusty lock didn’t budge, and I sat down on my butt, “Seriously, why don’t you use your strength to break free, in front of you, all this crap should be as fragile as spaghetti.”
Vince shook his head, “I lost a lot of blood and now I’m weak.”
His tone was calm, but it made me feel my heart skip a beat, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Vince bristled, it was the first time I had ever seen him so hopeless.
The sun had risen higher by then, half of the ground in the deep well was exposed to the light. Probably because I was in a hurry, I felt the heat steaming up, which was strange because it was late fall and the temperature should be very low in such a deep place.
“Hey, don’t you think it’s getting hot in here?” I unbuttoned my shirt.
“It’s going to get hotter in a little while.” Vince said.
“Why?”
Vince poked his mouth towards the sky and I lifted my head and looked upwards, which was difficult because the top was a blinding glare, but I managed to make out some outlines, “See? That’s a glass dome, we’re like ants under a magnifying glass.”
I was horrified for a moment, “They tried to burn you?!”
“It’s the only way to kill vampires completely.”
Remembering what he’d said before, I suddenly let go, “But ……”
Vince interrupted, “I’m just saying, I have a certain tolerance for sunlight, but this is noonday, focused sunlight …… Do you remember Lutz?”
That is to say ……
“You’ll die?”
“I’ll go up in smoke.”
I looked into his calm gray-green eyes, and for the first time in my life, there was not a trace of the teasing I knew so well in them, only total solemnity, as if he were paying homage to death, and I suddenly felt the sky spinning.
That Vince would fade from my life was a possibility I had never imagined. I always envisioned that maybe one day I’d get married and have kids, or say something unlucky, or get some kind of acute illness, or something, and I wouldn’t be able to act as his agent anymore, and then we’d go our separate ways.
But at some point, like Christmas, I’ll look out the window at the snow and the twinkling lights on the holly and remember our experiences, from the Aurora Borealis in Lapland to the rain of banknotes in Las Vegas …… year after year until my hair is as white as the snow, until I’m very old, very old.
Even though we didn’t see each other again, I’ll know that he’s walking somewhere in this world, perhaps remembering me too (a little self-serving), and that’s the kind of ending that will make me smile, not …… watching him dissolve into a pile of splinters twenty feet under the ground without being able to do anything about it.
“Come on, Lyle,” Vince interrupted my sad thoughts, “your sentimentality is unbearable. I’ve lived two hundred years, that’s more than enough, see? The only thing you’ve lost is that you won’t be receiving commissions in the future.”
I have to say, I was even more melancholy after listening to him, yeah, and the hundred thousand dollars, “You’re so comforting.”
Vince smiled, the sun was closing in on him bit by bit, “Come on Lyle, you can’t imagine how glad I am that you’re here, but I don’t want you to see this, you’ve got to save me some dignity.”
I wasn’t happy about it, we’d come this far.
I shook my head, “You know, just now, I realized one more difference between us.”
“What?” Vince raised an eyebrow.
“Human life is short, but we’ll do anything to survive.” The next words seemed to automatically pop out of my mouth, “Never give up. You were a human once, everything else you can forget, but don’t …… please don’t forget this.”
Vince gazed at me, “You’re starting to amaze me.” I knew he meant it, in his eyes I saw my own determined expression, even I didn’t know I could be so inspirational.
There are times when you just have to listen to what your heart is urging you to do and not think about the minutiae.
I tried to open the chain with Vince, his hearing was much sharper than mine and under his direction I managed to pick the lock on his right wrist, when it was the turn of his left wrist we had some trouble, the lock was rusted shut.
“Damn it!” The dagger bounced out of my hand because of the force, I picked it up and realized that the blade had snapped off, which definitely snuffed out our last glimmer of hope.
The sun had spread over Vince’s body, his pale skin appeared as if he’d been burned, a shocking red patch appeared, a burnt smell emanated, I lunged over to block him with my body, the focused sunlight making my back roll and sweat.
“Get out of the way, Lyle! This isn’t working, you’re not helping!” There’s a tiny tremor in Vince’s voice, “If you keep this up you’re going to get lit up too!” He shoved me with his arm, he was so strong that it took me a death grip on his neck to keep him from pushing me away.
“No, there must be some way! There must ……” Suddenly a stray thought illuminated my mind and I practically yelled, “You said you lost a lot of blood?!” I can’t believe it took me this long to think of such a simple solution, I’m such an idiot!
“Yes, I don’t understand ……” he said, coming to a screeching halt. Of course, he understood! I’ve never been so glad he’s in the habit of using his mind-reading skills on me.
“Come on!” I poked my carotid artery at him, “It’s time to eat a compressed cookie to save your life!”
“No, I can’t.” He flatly refused.
“Don’t be a picky eater!” I urged him, “You’re in such a hurry!”
“No, it’s not that,” his voice suddenly lowered, “You can’t …… hunt your friends ……”
I froze.
“Lyle, look,” Vince continued, his voice like a stream, stumbling over the gravel, the first time I’d ever seen him so wanting to say something, “There were several times I wanted to tell you …… but this …… this is so hard to say…. but I’m afraid that if I don’t say it now, I’ll never get the chance again ……”
He paused briefly, “Lyle, my friend, my only friend, I love you.”
I almost choked. During our time together, he was always iffy, building a wall around his domain. Though a few times now and then, he would open up to me, say something ambiguous or make some harmless joke, I never thought he would say those three words seriously, and about me.
A choked sob escaped me, and I felt my nose turn sour as my eyes grew moist. For the longest time, I was finally learning what he really thought of me, and I suddenly felt that it was all worth it, even if I was going to be in a world of trouble.
I wiped my eyes, “I don’t know what your vampire world is like, but in the human world,” I said solemnly, “friends make sacrifices for each other.”
There was a flash of shock in his eyes, “Maybe …… you would actually sacrifice.”
I thought about it for a moment, even though I knew he was going to suck my blood, I still felt safe in him, “I trust you.”
He looked at me deeply.
The flood of sunlight obliterated us at that point, and in a trance, I felt him cup the back of my head and lean down to me ……
The memory breaks here.

(Inserted piece of paper here)
Given that this note is now in my possession, I feel it necessary to complete Lyle’s account. Of course, Lyle and I have very different writing styles, that is to say, his writing is more humorous, tinged with romance, and fascinating to read, whereas I just dryly talk about things, but this manuscript will, and can, have only one reader, me, so this does not present any reading obstacles, I just want to leave a record so that I don’t forget this experience in the years. That happens from time to time when your age can be measured in centuries.
As Lyle’s blood flowed into me, his entire life exploded into a universe before my eyes. A nebula of memories swept by at breakneck speed. I tasted his pain, most of it caused by Mina, his joys, hopes and fears, so vivid, like vibrant new stars.
I wasn’t lying about that compressed cookie theory, at first Lyle’s blood held all the appeal for me, but as you get to know someone and begin to be bowled over by them, things slowly change, and you begin to look forward to sinking your fangs into those warm, vibrant arteries and sucking him into your life.
It’s almost vampire nature to hunt the familiar, it’s like the final piece of a completed puzzle, the feeling is irresistible. I seized greedily, completely dominated by my primal hunting instincts, ignoring everything else except satisfying my appetite.
I don’t know how long that lasted, I don’t remember how I got out of that torture pit, it must have been just a moment. I was mesmerized in the midst of Lyle’s mind, as if a child had brought his eyes close to a kaleidoscope for the first time.
And then I saw myself. Time slowed down like a falling leaf held up by the wind.
Lyle’s feelings for me were extremely complex, and I saw wonder, fear, disgust, pity, adoration, and a touch of exasperation, with new streams constantly merging in, but in the end, all of it, all of it, melted away into a clean and beautiful piece of love.
That cloud of intense friendship surrounded me as if it were a mother’s embrace, and it was heartbreaking, and I was suddenly reminded of a feeling I’d forgotten for a long time. I wanted to weep.
The wildness was washed away and sanity returned to my mind. I remembered that my fangs were still stuck in Lyle’s neck. I opened my eyes shakily to find a barren forest around me. I was kneeling on layers of rotting, dead leaves, Lyle laying in my arms, clouds floating in a long blue sky, the sun shining down on us.
I carefully licked his wound to heal it. His blood warmed my body, but his body was as cold as it usually was for me. I began to worry that he had lost too much blood.
“Lyle!” I called softly to him, he didn’t wake up, his face showing an unsettling pallor that belongs to the dead. The heartbeat was like running water under ice, distant and weak.
What if he doesn’t wake up? My worry turned to panic. Shame on me, to say the least, that it took me a few moments of stagnation to remember to take him to the hospital. Lyle would have scolded me if he knew.
The resuscitation was a hard time, I kept staring at the lights outside the operating room, mentally preparing myself for the worst, if Lyle didn’t make it, I’d make him one of my own, even if he’d hate me later on, I wouldn’t let death take him anyway, never. I didn’t want to go through the kind of pain I felt when I lost Leonie. But Lyle held it together, like he said, never giving up.
He spent two days in intensive care before the danger passed, he regained consciousness, and was transferred to a regular room. Who would have thought it? He opened his eyes and in a daze his first words turned out to be, “Am I still a human now? I still want kids.”
I’m so glad God gave my humorous little fool back.

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