Distant Lands

Damon walks in smiling, carrying boxes. He sets them on the coffee table in front of me.

“Where did you go?” I ask.

“I left to go buy you some gifts. I thought it would cheer you up,” he says. He begins to open the boxes.

Gifts? I don’t think anything can make me happy right now, not after I learned about the fate that awaits me; it’s terrifying. I feel like I’m on a line for execution. Nothing can cheer me up.

Damon takes an item out, “Women use this device to put on their makeup. I’m not sure how it works, but I’m sure you can figure it out,” he says, showing it to me.

I look at it but don’t say anything.

“No?” he asks, putting it down.

“How about this? This is a flashlight,” he takes out a marble-looking device and turns it on. It glows bright; he holds it in the palm of his hand and taps it up in the air.

“It floats and follows you around, giving you light,” he says. I look at it and begin to get intrigued, but I resist showing it.

“I know you will love this one,” he says. He takes out a sphere the size of a grapefruit. He holds it in the palm of his hand.

“Turn on,” he says to the sphere. It glows.

“This is a computer and projector. It can also follow you around,” he says. He places the sphere on my palm.

“Make the room dark,” he says.

The windows begin to darken, turning black, blocking out the sunlight. The lights in the room dim and turn off. The only source of light is the sphere I’m holding.

“Lightly bounce it up in the air,” he says. I do as he says. The sphere bounces up and floats in the air. I smile.

“Show me the Earth’s moon,” he says.

The sphere begins to glow and the appearance of the sphere changes, showing the craters of the moon. The projector projects tiny dots of light out into the darkened room, making it seem like stars surround us. I smile, I look up at it, and imagine I’m on Earth looking up at the moon.

This made me happy. This vampire that I feared made an effort to cheer me up. It’s adorable, but that doesn’t mean I should trust him. I still need to remain guarded around him.

“Show me Earth,” Damon tells the orb.

The orb changes again, and it shows the blue planet, with the outlines of the continents, then the continents begin to glow with tiny orange lights, coming from all the cities on Earth.

“It’s beautiful,” I say.

“I knew you would like it. This way, you can always be close to Earth, even though you are so far away,” Damon says, smiling. His words provide me a sense of comfort, and they make me tear up. Damon looks at me.

“Lights on,” he says. The lights turn on, and he looks at me, confused.

“Are you crying? I thought this would make you happy,” he says.

“I’m crying because I’m happy,” I say, wiping my tears away.

“You are strange, little human,” he says.

He goes over to the bar area and grabs a shot glass. He comes back to the couch, and he sits down and pours whiskey into two shot glasses. He hands me one.

We sat side by side on the couch—the orb floating in front of us. I raise my shot glass.

“Salud,” I say, touching glasses with Damon. I look at Damon’s questioning look.

“I’m making a toast to health,” I say.

“Oh, salud,” he says, touching my glass with his. He drinks it all at once.

“Careful, little human, this whiskey is stronger than what you are used to,” he says.

“I’ll be fine,” I tell him, taking the shot. He leans back on the couch.

“So tell me, how did you cross the doorway to this world? What were you doing in the middle of nowhere?” he asks. I sigh.

“Oh, it’s a long story,” I say.

“What? Do you have somewhere to be right now?” He asks, smiling, and I laugh.

“I was kidnapped by my wealthy grandfather, who only wanted revenge. He was going to kill me, my father, and my brothers,” I say.

“Wow, and I thought my grandfather was evil,” he says.

“What did he do to you?” I ask.

“After my father died, the old man wanted to mold me into the person my father was. I resisted, so he beat me,” he says.

“That’s awful,” I say and pour him another drink. He drinks it.

“But continue, then what happened?” he asks.

“My cousin helped me escape. The plan was for me to hide out in the nearest town. My cousin was supposed to find me and help me go back home. But I fell down a mountain, getting lost,” I say, pouring myself another shot and taking it.

“All of this is my fault. I thought my life was so boring, I dreamed of traveling the world and meeting new people,” I say.

“Oh, you traveled alright,” he says, laughing. I busted out laughing.

“I wanted to travel around the world, not out of the world!” I say. We both laugh hard, finding it so funny.

“Oh god,” I say, drying my eyes. I grab the bottle to pour another drink, and Damon grabs my wrist, stopping me.

“No more, little human. If you get sick, Ivan will kill me,” he says.

I sigh. Maybe I should stop; I’m feeling the effects of the alcohol now. I put the bottle down and leaned back on the couch.

“Damon, stop calling me little human. Call me Elizabeth or Liz,” I say.

“Liz, okay,” he says, leaning back on the couch as well. I feel sleepy and lean my head against Damon’s arm. I’ll just rest my eyes for a bit...