Colder

From that moment onward, Jasper and I spent every spare moment we could together. The only times we were apart was when we were both at work, and at night when he went home so we could both sleep. He started coming back to the diner for 3 meals a day. The following Thursday, he was sitting at his usual spot at the counter once the rush had died down. He was slowly working on finishing a plate of fries with gravy as I rolled silverware and chatted to him. It suddenly hit me that he was actually eating food, human food. Keeping my voice down, I whispered, “Jasper… how is it that you can eat food? Real food?”

He smiled at me, always happy to answer my questions about his nature, “Food tastes just as good to me as it does to you, it just doesn’t satisfy me at all or provide any nutritional value. My body burns it off almost instantly so there is really no reason for us to eat human food, though many of us do. To keep up appearances you know.” He winked at me playfully.

That night when Jasper was walking me home after my shift a thought occurred to me, “Do vampires sleep?” I asked curiously.

Jasper chuckled at this, the arm around my shoulder shaking with his laughter “No. We don’t.”

I nodded slowly and a few seconds later I asked, “So what do you do at night? When you leave me here?”

Jasper glanced at me warily, wondering where this conversation was going, “Well that depends. A couple of nights a week I’ll go hunting. That usually doesn’t take very long though so I spend most nights reading books, listening to music, studying different things. I’ve learned a lot in my long life.”

“Oh.” I said “don’t the guys at the logging camp notice that you never sleep?”

Jasper tilted his head curiously at me, “What made you think I lived at the camp?” a grin in his voice.

“I don’t know” I answered, “Most of the guys do, so I just assumed…where do you live?”

“I bought a small cabin just outside of town.” He shrugged “I’ll take you there sometime, if you like.”

“Tomorrow!” I said quickly, he had seen my apartment and now I wanted to see where he called home. I couldn’t imagine a place that would be good enough for him. Every home I pictured him standing next to always seemed dilapidated compared to his exquisite and timeless features.

He chuckled at this and shook his head. “I already have something special to show you tomorrow and it will take a while to hike there. Maybe I can show you Saturday.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to my apartment and smiled down at me.

I bit my lower lip slightly and nodded, “Saturday it is. Do you have to hunt tonight or,” I paused nervously, “would you like to come in?”

I saw a frown flicker briefly across his face and he started to say no but something stopped him. “Yes,” he said, “I’d like to come in, for a few minutes at least.” He flashed me a nervous smile and I led the way upstairs.

He followed me as I headed into my tiny apartment and I kicked off my shoes, “Have a seat, wherever.” I said, gesturing to the living room. “I’m just going to go change.” He nodded stiffly at me and pulled his shoes off as well before taking a seat on the couch to wait for me.

I ran into the bedroom and pulled open the top drawer of my dressed. What was I going to put on? All of my pajamas were so not sexy. Finally I settled on a pair of fuzzy black pajama bottoms and a green tank top. Next I headed into the bathroom to brush my teeth vigorously and run a comb through my hair. I splashed some cold water on my face and rubbed my cold wet hands over my neck to hoping to soothe my nerves.

After I was in control of myself and came out of the bathroom and headed into the living room. He was sitting on the couch like a statue. His hands resting at his side with his knees pressed tightly together. I wondered if that was a vampire thing or if he was just nervous and a smile crossed my face.

I walked over to him and promptly sat down on his lap, wrapping my arms about his neck. His arms slipped around my waist, his wrists resting against my hip and his eyes instantly locked on mine. A mischievously happy smile on his face. “So…” I began casually, “I have been thinking about it this past week and I have a few questions about being a vampire? If you don’t mind, that is.” I fluttered my eyelashes slightly and gave him the sweetest smile I possibly could.

His lips split into a wide grin that he failed at hiding and he laughed out loud. “Like what, exactly?” He said with amused curiosity.

“Well, “I started, keeping the same tone of casual curiosity in my voice, “Let me just recap for a second if you don’t mind. Because I’m thinking… Hollywood got you ALL wrong.“ He would have doubled over in laughter if I hadn’t been sitting on his lap. I waited patiently, a grin on my face, until he quieted down.

When he was in control of himself finally, he looked at me once more and waited politely for me to continue. “Creepy but awesome eyes. Super strong and fast. You usually drink animal blood, but once every so often you are compelled to drink human blood by a force you cannot stop. Your skin is….weird.” It was the only word I could think of to describe his skin. “Weird but beautiful none the less. And you don’t sleep. This is about the extent of my knowledge. So what else is there? Let’s start with something simple. You have a lovely smile, Jasper but I would hardly call any of your teeth, fangs. They seem slightly more pointed than most, but not fangs by any means. Where are the fangs?” I tilted my head and stared at his mouth with mild curiosity for a moment.

Jasper did an excellent job of trying not to laugh through the entire question. He cleared his throat to stifle a laugh now, “Well, unlike hollywood would like you to believe, our fangs only come out when we are feeding, and we cannot make them come out at will. It’s an instinctual thing and all that happens is our incisors descend about a half inch or so.” He flashed me a pearly white smile and asked, “Does that answer your question?”

I pondered what he’d said for a moment before nodding, “Yes, it does. Now how about your eyes, do all vampires have eyes like yours?” I peered into the depths of the Ameythst Sea and melted at what I saw there.

He smiled a little softer and nodded, “Yes, we all have the violet eyes. We do not all have the same shade of violet, however. Some are lighter, more muted like the colour of a lilac. Some are darker, like pools of raven hued black. Mine happen to be a very vibrant colour.”

“Amethyst.” I interrupted him. “I always thought your eyes look like Amethyst.” And I could live in those Amethyst Seas forever. I thought to myself.

The corner of his lip twitched knowingly, “Mine tend to be more vibrant than others. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know. Most vampire’s eyes tend to be better able to blend in, they’re close enough to other normal colours that unless humans were to sit there and stare into them for a while, they’d never really notice the different. Many scientists have passed it off as the Violet Eye theory. Elizabeth Taylor was famous for her violet eyes, she was actually a vampire. I’ve never met another vampire with eyes quite as bright as mine, though.”

“Ok. How do you do that? You knew what I was thinking just a second ago, didn’t you? What is that all about?” I eyed him with playful suspiciousness.

He chuckled at me again, “It’s not quite like that. I don’t know exactly what you thought, it’s more like I know what that particular topic made you… feel. I can sense your emotions. I can tell when you’re sad, happy or angry at me and when you’re… wanting to tear my clothes off.” He said with a seductive but playful wink.

I blushed at that and buried my face in his neck. That was incredibly embarrassing but at least he didn’t know what I was thinking. After a few minutes I looked sheepishly into his smiling eyes, “Can all vampire’s sense emotions?”

He gave his head a slight shake, “No. Some vampires can do other things though, some can read minds, some can control one or more of the elements, some can fly, some can shape-shift. Really we can do all sorts of things. From my understanding it is generally believed that whatever abilities a vampire has, they had some sort of talent for in their human life. I, as a human, was likely very sensitive to the emotions of the people around me. Now I am able to feel them very clearly and while some other vampires might be able to manipulate or control the emotions of people, I can only feel them as they are.” His lips twitched downward with this last admonishment and I got the idea that he has felt a lot of pain over the years. I decided to change the subject.

Grabbing his hand and bringing it directly below my eyes, I studied the back of it very carefully as I said, “What’s with the skin thing? Why do you glow? Do all vampires glow?” I dropped his hand and smiled at him.

He shot me a half-grin and I was stunned for a moment before chuckled, “Maybe we should save some questions for tomorrow. We have all the time in the world, honey and I’m happy to answer them all. But you, angel, need to get some sleep.” With that he slipped a hand around my neck and pulled me into him, pressing his warm lips against mine for a few moments before pulling back, “So I should be going.”

I gasped at the thought of him leaving and wrapped my arms tighter around his neck. I pouted at him playfully, “No, you can’t go. Stay with me, please? At least… until I fall asleep?”

He grinned and slid one leg under my knees and the other around my back. He stood up, carrying me easily with him. His Texan accent was thick and rough as he spoke, “A gentleman never says no to a lady so if you want me too, Ma’am I will stay forever.” He carried me into the bedroom and laid me down on the bed, hopping gracefully over top of me and landing on the other side of the bed. He turned onto his side and slid his arm around my waist, tugging me against him. I turned into his body, curling into the warmth he was radiating, “Mmm, why are you so warm?” I murmured against his chest, “You radiate heat like my own personal sun or something.” I nuzzled my face into his chest, brushing my lips against the hot skin.

He chuckled at this and slipped down the bed a little further, pulling me closer against his warm body, his arm moving to wrap around my shoulders. “Hey I thought we said no more questions tonight.” He placed a soft kiss against my forehead, “I promise, it’s a hell of a story and I will tell you tomorrow.” He whispered softly while his hand idly stroked the length of my arm.

I kissed my way up his shoulder before pulling back to look at his face and smile mischievously, “Ok. I won’t ask questions then.” With that Ieaned in and pressed my mouth softly to his.

His lips parted in response and he grinned against the kiss. A playful growl rumbled in his throat as he pulled me tighter into him, kissing me harder. I nestled my body against hips and ran my fingers slowly up his ribcage, fumbling with the buttons of his shirt as we kissed heatedly.

He ran his fingers slowly down the back of my arms, winding their way to my wrists. His grip tightened around my wrists and he slowly pushed me off of him. “Amelia, wait.” He whispered. “There’s some things you have to know. Before… before we can do that. ”

I pulled back to look at him and swallowed, “Like what?” I tugged my hands downward and he let them slide out of his grip. I sat up on the bed and absentmindedly rub my wrists where he’d been holding me as I listened to him.

His face twisted with indecision, “It’s… well the most pressing reason is because. You can get pregnant and birth control doesn’t seem to be effective against vampire seed. But there is more to it than just that.” he gulped nervously, “I grew up in a time where sex meant more than it does today. I do understand that you were raised differently than I am but to me sex is meant for the one person that you are going to spend your life with, in my case that life is an eternity. I won’t have sex with someone who… isn’t my wife. I may damned to this earth until the end of time but if there is the slightest chance I have a soul, I will do what I can to protect it, to ask whatever Divine Being to forgive me for what I am.” His voice choked up slightly toward the end and he smile weakly at me.

I looked into his face and reached out to stroke his cheek tenderly, “No Being that ever denied you forgiveness just for being what you are, can ever be considered Divine. And if you would like to know something….I’ve never actually had sex. But not because I’m concerned for my soul, just because I haven’t found a person I’ve wanted to have sex with yet. I’ve never felt enough of a connection to a guy to want to have sex with him. I don’t care about sex before marriage but I do agree that sex is something intimate and should be saved for a special person.”

A look of mild surprise covered Jaspers face when he realized what I’d just said. He was special to me. “So, you’re ok with that? That’s not a…. a deal breaker for you?”

I chuckled in amusement “Why would it be a deal breaker for me? I want to get married to someone, some day. If that someone turns out to be you, great. I’m willing to wait and see if that’s what you want.”

He nodded and then remembered that was only addressing the one issue. “What about the other thing?” He asked, “What about the pregnancy thing?”

I opened my mouth to answer and my chin trembled. That part scared the crap out of me, I didn’t want to think about that part right now, so I just said, “Well… we have time to discuss it, don’t we? After all, we aren’t getting married tomorrow.” I smiled and gave him a soft kiss on the lips before snuggling down into his shoulder and closing my eyes, “I’m tired just now, though. Good night, Jasper”

“Goodnight, Amelia” he whispered. I drifted off to sleep with Jasper tracing lazy designs on my arm.

The next morning I woke up to the sounds and smells of sizzling bacon and fresh brewed coffee coming from the kitchen. I sat up groggily, looking around small bedroom to be sure I was alone. I opened the door to the kitchen just a crack to see what Jasper was doing and when I was sure he wasn’t looking, I quickly sprinted around the corner into the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair.

When I came out of the bathroom Jasper was standing beside the table, one hand resting on the small of his back and the other holding the chair out for me. The table had a plate piled with food, a steaming cup of coffee and a tall vase with two roses in it. “Good Morning, Ma’am. I’ve made you breakfast.” His smooth voice always gave me chills when he called me Ma’am.

I sat down in the chair as he pushed it beneath me and breathed in the array of food. He’d piled my plate with cheesy scrambled eggs, hot toast and thick slices of bacon. There was a wicker basket sitting on the counter as well. I realized I was starving and began to shovel it in, stopping only to speak, “Wow this is incredible, Jasper!”

He smiled and watched me as I ate, his chin resting on his hand. When I was finished I stood up and grabbed my plate to wash it. Jasper was over to me in a flash, he grabbed the plate from my hand, “Let me do that, you go get dressed. We’re going hiking.” He smiled at me and pushed me gently towards the bedroom. I looked outside at the weather and selected a pair of dark blue jeans, a thick, black long sleeved shirt, a light jacket and my hiking boots with thick socks on. It looked like it was chilly outside.

Jasper and I headed out to the west side of town. We crossed a small foot bridge that went over the creek and headed into the forest with Jasper leading the way. I didn’t hike so much on this side of the creek and I wondered briefly where he was taking me. We headed up a trail I didn’t recognize, but I wasn’t paying much attention, I was simply following Jasper and thinking about some of the questions I had for him.

“Jasper,” I said suddenly and he glanced over his shoulder at me, one eyebrow raising in question. “How old are you?” I asked curiously.

He smiled as he took my hand, helping me to climb over a fallen tree, “I was made a vampire when I was 23 years old.”

“What year were you made a vampire?” I asked quickly, not wanting to give him a chance to change the subject. I really wanted to know how old he was.

Half of his mouth turned up in a grin, “I was made a vampire in 1854. I was a first lieutenant of the Regiment of Mounted Rifles during the Mexican-American war. “

On October 1, I was leading 60 of my men from Fort Inge, Texas toward the Diablo Mountains along the Rio Grande, Mexican border. Our pursuit was to investigate the claims of livestock stolen by Apache warriors. On the third day out, just as we were reaching the base of the mountains, we encountered well over 200 of the Apache’s with a herd of various captured farm animals. We came upon them over a hilltop from the east, they were resting by the river while the farm animals grazed on some of the grasses. They had their backs to us and knowing I had only moments to decide before they noticed us, I ordered my men to attack immediately.

We took the Apaches by surprise, cutting down 50 of them before they had time to even grab the arrows from the quivers on their backs. They fought back valiantly, managing to kill about 10 of my men but our horses and guns were much faster than their feet and arrows and we managed to kill another 50 before they fled. Some of my men grew angry with me for not going after them, we could capture them easily. But I saw no point in that, we had won the battle and there was only cruelty to be found in kicking your enemy while he is down. By this time it was twilight, so we made camp for the night, intent on returning the livestock to their rightful owners in the morning. That night a few of my men decided they didn’t like my attitude toward freeing the natives, but I was not going to be responsible for a massacre. It is one thing to kill in battle for a purpose, a reason. It is another thing entirely, to needlessly slaughter an enemy who is fleeing. That was murder without a reason or a purpose.” His voice broke sadly, “I trusted those men with my life. Six of them came into my tent that night and gagged me and tied me up. They took me far enough off the trail, into the desert that my men wouldn’t find me when they searched. They set me down on the ground and began to take turns kicking me in the ribs, the face, everywhere. They crushed my ribs, punctured my lungs and my nose was broken and bleeding. Then they left me for dead.” Jasper blinked away the moisture building in his eyes. “Warren found me…”

He’d said he’d been hunting the desert for coyotes when the scent of blood from the earlier battle had distracted him. When he’d stopped on the top of nearby hill to survey the campsite and my men below, he caught another scent of blood, much fresher than the last. He followed it till he found me. He realized from my uniform that my rank meant I had probably been the one leading the small army of men he’d just seen.

Kneeling in the sand beside me he unbound my arms and legs, and removed the gag from my mouth. Reaching for the canteen strapped to his waist, he rested my head on his backpack and tilted his canteen to my lips, “There, there, drink now.” He said calmly.

I drank slowly but gratefully. I had been laying in the desert, screaming into my gag for what felt like hours and my throat was as dry as the sand surrounding me. When I was finished he put the canteen away and looked at me curiously, “What happened to you, Lieutenant?”

My throat still felt dry and scratchy and came out in a hoarse whisper, “Mutiny.” I said simply, “For letting the natives go.” Warren nodded slowly and looked off into the distance, as if he were recalling the images of the battle before his eyes. I studied him while he sat, pondering. He was around the same age as I was with smooth skin, having not yet grown in a beard. His skin had a slightly darker tone to it, like he had spent many hours in the sun, tanning but yet it still seemed oddly pale. His eyes were so dark in colour that they looked almost black. His raven hair was long enough to reach the middle of his back and he wore it tied back at the base of his skull with a leather strap. On his arm he had some strange, tribal tattooing. I would have thought he was one of the Natives if it weren’t for what he was wearing. It was a plain black shirt that buttoned in the front and looked like the sleeves had been torn off and a pair of basic black trousers and matching shoes. I found it an odd outfit but the way his skin glowed in the moonlight made him look like an angel and I wasn’t going to question an angel.

Warren rested his chin on his fist and looked down at me, “I can save you.” He said simply, “but it comes with consequences that I don’t have the time to explain to you because you are about to die. I don’t know how but I can sense there is something special about you, and this existence I have can be lonely. If you are willing to trust me, befriend me and travel with me, for a while at least... Then I can save your life. But you have to choose now, knowing only this.”

He looked at me expectantly and I swallowed hard. A hoarse voice rose from my throat, “Yes. Save me.” Whatever the consequences, it had to be better than death, right?

Jasper had slowed to a stop just before he finished his story and turned to face me. “Warren turned me into a vampire that night and I travelled with him for a while as my brother.”

I stopped in front of him, breathing heavily from the hike. “Where is he now?” I asked him curiously and he chuckled.

“Such curiosity! He still lives back in Texas. I left him to see what I could make of my life on my own. I still talk to him regularly, he is my brother, my family and he always will be. There is no one I would trust more than him, except perhaps you.” He reached out, taking my hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze, “Now close your eyes. We’re here.” I blinked and looked around, not seeing anything familiar in the forest around me. I gave him a puzzled look and he laughed, “Close them!”

I sigh in playful exasperation and closed my eyes. Jasper slid one arm around my shoulder, placing his free hand over my eyes and he and guided me forward. After a few moment we stepped out of the trees and he dropped his hand. I opened my eyes and my jaw hit the ground.

“H-How… How did you….” I gasped out in shock. There it was spread out before me exactly like I remembered, exactly like I dreamed it was. The huge weeping willows branches brushing the grass, the big flat boulder against the willow that was perfect for sitting on and the field of waving bluebells with patches of sunlight poking through the clouds to illuminate the beautiful glade.

Jasper chuckled as I ran into the middle of the field, standing in a beam of sunlight and throwing my arms wide open to soak in the sun’s rays. “I have been searching every time I go out hunting since you told me about it” he said as he moved towards me, carefully avoiding the shafts of sunlight. I noticed the odd behaviour and made a mental note to ask him about it later.

I flashed him a wicked grin, “Race you!” I said and dashed off instantly towards the rock. Jasper won the hundred meter dash easily and when I got there he was already standing on top of the boulder extending his hand to help me up. I took it graciously and he lifted me onto the rock. He sat down with his back against the willow tree and pulled me down into his lap. “Wow, you are faster than I realized.” I breathed softly.

He grinned in amusement, “That was nothing. “