In My Veins (20 page)

Once we got out of the airport and into
town, he put on his sunglasses again and a beanie. It wasn’t cold but it was
chillier than Los Angeles so he got away with the beanie. It’s not that he
needed it. Black hair isn’t a rare thing, but something about his hair just
stood out.

We got into the city and wondered how
exactly we’d be able to find someone that wasn’t even registered and possibly
not even in the country anymore.

“Why don’t we find a gypsy and ask?” I
asked.

“How exactly are we going to find a
gypsy? It’s not like there’s a sign.”

“Maybe there is a place they reside the
most?”

“There are rumored villages in almost
every country but the chances of those rumors being true or still existing are
slim.

“Let’s act like tourists and see if
there’s a fortune telling place?” I suggested.

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” We
went into a farmer’s market and browsed around. An old lady stopped us. She was
selling garlic. She spoke in Romanian. We shook our heads letting her know we
didn’t understand. “You must be newlyweds you’re such a beautiful couple! You
should get garlic to prevent the evil eye!” she smiled kindly and said with a
thick accent and broken English. I’m sure everyone could tell we were tourists
but it was kind of her to humor us before.

“Um… no thank you.” I said. What are we
going to do with garlic here? He put his arm around me and was about to pull me
away so we could find someone that might know.

“I give to you free.” She said again.
Why does she want to give us garlic so much?

I looked at James trying to read him but
he looked just as confused as me, “You look like my daughter”, she said
cheerfully to me, “I make her eat garlic every day and she has a very happy
marriage and three strong sons.”

I giggled and took the garlic from her
gracefully before paying her anyway. “Um… I was wondering… do you by any chance
know of any fortune tellers?” I asked.

The older woman looked at me
questionably, “You don’t need fortune teller. They tell lies and they make bad
things happen.”

I laughed, “True, but we just want to go
for fun. See if we’ll have two or three boys in the future. My husband wants
only two but I want to prove to him that three would be better.”

The older woman laughed, “Yes there is
one in this town. You go straight down this road make a right and keep going
till you see a small house made of grey brick.”

“Thank you so much.” I said as the old woman
hugged me.

“See. You just got to know how to talk
to people. Older women in villages of any country just want people women to
have babies. Especially sons.”

He put his arm around me and squeezed me
tightly as we walked together, “That’s my girl.”

I looked down at the bag of garlic I had
and started laughing. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Nothing…” I said trying to make him
drop it.

 “What is it?” he said lightly shaking me
as we continued to walk.

I still laughed, “It’s just…  I
thought it was funny that they gave us garlic of all things.”

“You’ve got to be joking. Baby I’m not a
vampire!” he laughed.

“I know but still…” I laughed.

We continued walking quietly just
enjoying the new environment. Totally different from Los Angeles. It was
beautiful. The buildings we saw in the city had gorgeous architecture but in
the village it had beautiful scenery. I’m sure we should probably find
something to eat soon too. James was probably starving.

We walked quite a distance and we turned
away from the busier part to a more quiet area. We finally reached the grey
brick house.

We stopped in front of it nervously. I
really hoped they had answers. Not trying to get my hopes up but it would be
amazing if Andrea lived here.

We knocked on the door and a young
blonde woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, with light green eyes opened the door.
She had gorgeous big eyes that were impossible to miss. She smiled at me and James
and paused when she really looked at James.  He was wearing glasses and
his mouth was closed. But if she’s a good fortune teller I’m sure she can sense
things.

I squeezed his hands, trying to reassure
him.

She said something in Romanian. James
and I looked at each other, neither of us knew any so we both shrugged with a
smile and shook our heads. The international sign of… ‘I have no idea what you
just said’.

She smiled and put her pointer finger up
indicating ‘one moment’ and went back inside the house.

Another gorgeous blonde woman who was
even younger than the other, maybe eighteen or nineteen, with similar eyes came
to the door. “Hello, how may I help you?” she said in perfect English.

“Hi…I was told there is fortune telling
here?” I asked. I’ve been doing all the talking so that James wouldn’t have to
risk people seeing his teeth. I think that’s the most significant feature that
tells what he is. I still refuse to call him a monster.

“Oh, come in.” she said and opened the
door wider for us.

We came into the house that was
decorated with traditional Romanian décor. It was simple but homey. She sat us
down on the low couch, “Would you like anything to drink?”

I looked at James and he shook his head,
“No thank you.”

“Okay, Taliya will be with you in a
moment.”
Darn not Andrea.

An older woman with dyed black hair
brushed back into a tight bun and bright blue eyes came to us. She sat on the
chair next to the couch and smiled at me. The second blonde from earlier came
with her, I’m assuming to translate. 

The older woman spoke and the blonde
woman translated, “This is Taliya. She’s asking how she may help you.”

Taliya, clearly could not take her eyes
off of James. Was it because of the glasses or could they sense something?
Would it be rude to just ask? “Oh… um… we were looking for someone. I was
wondering if she can help me find her.”

The blonde woman looked at me curiously
and told Taliya. Taliya nodded, “She will try. Does she have a name?”

“Andrea. I was told she lived here
twenty some years ago” I said simply.

Taliya’s expression showed recognition.
She started saying something to her translator who I’m starting to think is her
daughter because of the similar eyes.

“She says she moved from this village
last year. She heard she went to Paris. Paris, France.”

I felt a rush of disappointment. “Does
she have a phone number or an address?”

The translator spoke to Taliya; Taliya
looked at me apologetically and shook her head ‘no’. I smiled and James and I
stood up. “Okay… thank you.” I gave them the money for fortune telling even
though we technically didn’t get our fortunes read and went out. James was clearly
disappointed as well.

“So… are we off to Paris?” I asked cheerfully
hopefully helping him cheer up as well. He smiled at me, but his smile wasn’t genuine,
“Baby… cheer up. We’ll find help.”

I walked in front of him and held his
hands as I walked backwards slowly with him. “You’re going to fall…” he
mumbled.

“Will you catch me?” I said trying to be
playful. I faked that I was going to fall but he quickly wrapped his arms
around my waist bringing me closer to him. “I’ll take that as a yes.” I said
ignoring the feel of being pushed against his body, “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

“Me. too.” He said quickly letting me go
so that I could stand next to him. We found a small local restaurant and went
in for some stuffed bell peppers. He got on his phone and got us a flight for
Paris that night. I was bummed that we couldn’t explore Romania more but we had
to get rid of this curse.

I really hoped Paris had our answers.

James and I flew to Paris around midnight. We did a
little research and found out some gypsies reside about four and a half hours
south of Paris.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we made
it to the small city by train. We ended up losing track of time by looking
either at the pretty scenery or looking at each other. While getting off the
train I stretched out my legs and felt wobbly. James chuckled at me, “What it’s
my first time on a train. That was… different.” I shrugged.

He smiled as he took my hand and we went
towards the destination.  France was beautiful and romantic just as
everyone said.

Who was I kidding, wherever I am with James
is romantic.

We took a taxi to the area of the
gypsies. The taxi driver looked at us funny for asking to go to that area, but we
shrugged.

“Are you hungry?” I asked him while we
were in the cab. I noticed he was tensing up again but we had a meal in the
train so I didn’t think he’d get so hungry soon.

“No… just nervous. I hope we get some
answers.” He said sorrowfully. I squeezed his hand for reassurance and smiled
at him. Not sure what to say. I don’t know the rules. He doesn’t either. It’s
possible that nothing could be done to make him normal. Or it could be as
simple as drink some sort of potion.  It could also mean that the fortune
teller lied to us and Andrea is not in France.

When the taxi driver stopped we paid him
and got out. He drove off quickly making me feel uncomfortable. Now it was James’s
turn to squeeze my hand and smile. We walked into an area that did not look
like the other parts of gorgeous city. This place was dead. Dry dirt, long
dried up grass. Just…dry. There were a handful of trailers that modern gypsies
use as caravans.

I unconsciously got closer to James’s
side and he smiled, “It’s ironic how you’re getting closer to the monster.” He
winked.

I elbowed his side, “Don’t call yourself
a monster.”

He smiled sadly and kissed the top of my
head. We saw a young girl, maybe fourteen, with a folded up tent walking in our
direction followed by two little boys. I looked at James and he nodded.

“Excusez-moi” James said to the girl. I
looked at him in shock, he knows French? “Can you help me? I’m searching for
someone.” He said again, in French. He sounded so hot in French!

The girl eyed us both and walked closer
to us, “Oui. Who?” I glanced behind her and noticed a man walking towards us. James
glanced in his direction too and back to the young girl.

“Madam Andrea.” He said as he put his
arm around my waist protectively.

“I don’t know…” she turned around and
pointed to the older man, “He might.” She said. James nodded and said thank you
and started towards them.

“Don’t worry babe, I won’t let anything
happen to you.” He whispered in my ear.

“Who are you?” said the extremely tanned
man with impressive muscles. He had a scary persona though. I was sure that by
the end of this trip I’d be attached to James’s side.

James started talking to the scary guy in
French. I wasn’t focusing on what they were saying because I wouldn’t
understand anyways. I was more focusing on the environment. It looked like it
was getting abandoned. I wondered what was going on.

I looked at James’s expression as he spoke;
he kept his head low as he was speaking, most likely trying to hide his teeth.
I think he was failing though because the man kept his eyes on his mouth. 
I guess they know of the ‘legend’.

Once James said thank you and we started
walking back to the street to get a cab I knew something was wrong. “What did
he say?” I asked him as we looked up and down the street.

“He said that from what he heard she
went to Paris over six months ago to live with her daughter. Apparently she was
sick.”

“Sick?”

“Yeah… she was really old.” he said
looking everywhere but me. He’s hiding something.

Wait. Was?

“What do you mean,
was
really
old?” I asked trying to get him to look at me. He sighed and looked up in the
sky.

“He said… that he heard she got sick
from old age and passed away. But he never went to see… apparently they were
caravan neighbors…”

She’s dead…

James let go of my hand and squatted on
the floor. He threw off his beanie and glasses and buried his head between his
knees and roared. I looked around and thankful no one was near us. Sighing I
squatted in front of him and de-clawed his hands out of his raven hair. Rubbing
the sides of his head where he was pulling the hair I scooted closer to him.

Waiting a moment for him to gather his
thoughts together I snuck my arms in between his and hugged him, not caring
that we’re in the middle of the sidewalk and he has bright pink hair.

“Karina… I don’t think we’re going to
find a cure…”

“It’s okay…we’ll keep looking.”

He pulled me away, “I really don’t think
we’ll find anything else.” He looked at me mournfully. He opened his mouth to
say something and closed it again.

I forcefully smiled at him, “Whatever
happens… you have me. We’re in this together. Let’s just take a step at a
time.”

He stared at me again contemplating what
I said and feebly shook his head in agreement. Noticing his eyes were redder
than his usual I realized he must be getting hungry again. “Let’s go eat?”

I stood up and waved for a taxi. I
looked around and noticed it was starting to get dark. I was about to open the
taxi door when James opened it from behind me. I looked at him in surprise; I
thought he was still on the floor. He smiled at me again, this time it seemed
hopeful.

He asked for a bistro and the taxi
driver didn’t even glance at his teeth or messy hair.
See… not that
bad. 
I said in my head to him even though he couldn’t hear.

It got dark pretty quickly. We at the
yummy bistro and decided to walk back to a hotel nearby.

I could tell his hope for finding a cure
was gone but I still had hope. There had to be a way.

Andrea was his last shot at being normal
in his mind. We took a train back into town and decided to go out for a walk
since neither of us could sleep.

I felt him watch me as we walked down
the Parisian streets.  I smiled and glanced around the historic and modern
European buildings.

Other couples were walking around us. A
specific couple in front of us I was the most envious of. The way the guy was
teasing the girl and she was laughing. He walked behind her and covered her
eyes like he was going to surprise her with something. I wondered if James and
I would ever be ‘normal’.

I sighed and looked away at the
boutiques on the other side of the road. I felt arms suddenly around my waist
and he kissed me on my cheek.  I tensed looking for James and looked to my
right where James was standing before; my heart was racing when I realized he
wasn’t there anymore. I turned my head a little to see if I could tell if it
was James or not and quickly felt better when I saw that it was him.

I looked at him and smiled and quickly
kissed him back. “I got scared… I thought you were gone.”

“Then who would have done this?” He said
squeezing his arms around my waist.

I shrugged, “That’s what scared me. I
thought you were gone and some random person was doing it.”

“Don’t make fun of me!” I whined but
continued laughing at myself as he did all the laughing for me.

He glanced around for a moment and
stopped when he saw an ice cream place. He let go of me and gently grabbed my
hand dragging me with him to the ice cream shop.

He kept his arms around my waist as we
stood in line and when it was our turn I tried to get out of his grip but he
wouldn’t let me. He gave me a small squeeze letting me know he didn’t want to
let go. I smiled and melted in his arms as he ordered our ice cream in French.

He ordered one big bowl so that we could
share. He found a cozy table outside of the ice cream shop that had Christmas
looking lights around the trees and plants making it extra romantic. I was
about to sit down when he pulled me onto his lap.

I squealed, “James what are you doing,
people are watching.” I said unwillingly struggling to get out of my lap.

“So? It’s Paris. People expect this
stuff.” He kissed my cheek and took a spoonful of ice cream and brought it to my
lips. “Say ah.”

I smiled and took the ice cream
reminding me of the time he fed me cotton candy. As if he read my mind he
brought his lips to mine and let his tongue slide down them. “You’re a messy
eater with your sweets.”

 He continued to feed me, occasionally
slipping in kisses, each one longer then the last.

“What about you? I’m going to get fat if
you keep feeding me the ice cream.” I said and pouted.

“I like this better.” He said and kissed
me again.

I wasn’t stupid; I could feel his hold
on me getting weaker by the minute. He was hungry. He attempted to cover his
eyes with his hair but I brushed it away from his face but he shook his hair
back to cover his eyes. I frowned and rested my head on his shoulder.

“What do you want to do?” I asked.

“Want to go back to the hotel?” He
asked.

“Sure. But I meant tomorrow.”

“Well… we can spend some time in Paris
if you like.”

“Really?” I asked pulling back to him
with the biggest grin, “Do you want to?”

“If it will get you to smile like you
are now then we could move to Paris if you want.” he laughed.

“Where did you learn French?” I asked as
we held hands and walked back to the hotel.

“College.” He smirked.

“It’s sexy.” I said shyly.

He smirked and pulled me into his arms
before whispering sweet French nothings in my ear. I giggled feeling his lips
brush against my skin and his facial scruff tickle me.

*
*
*

Paris was amazing. James and I went to
the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, and shopped at some boutiques. He was finally
acting normal and I think he was slowly forgetting about his vampire-ness. I
still refused to call him a monster. He still looked like him, just different.

We were sitting in the Parisian park
cuddling on a bench just people watching before we headed back to the hotel to
get ready for our trip back home in the morning. He kissed the top of my head
as I rested it on his chest.

A young family passed by with a baby and
for some reason they reminded me of James and me. I wondered if we would ever
have that. I don’t want it now… totally scares me at the moment… but will one
day. We’ve barely been ‘back to normal’ for a few hours today but I still don’t
know the thoughts that are going through his head. He might have just gotten
better at the acting.

He was idly running his fingers in my
hair and stopped. I looked up at him and he too was looking at the family and
frowned.

“You okay?” I asked reaching up to move
his hair away from his eyes. He looked down at me and had a guilty expression,
“Are you sure you won’t regret being with me?”

“Um…” I tried to think of a way to say
it to finally get him to understand I wouldn’t regret it.

He looked at me with more guilt. “Are
you
already
regretting it?”

“What? No! I do not and will not regret
being with you. I just don’t know how to explain it to you to get you to
realize it. I know what you are and I know what our lives will be like. I
refuse to be without you.”

He smiled and pulled me impossibly closer.
“I’ll try to find something I promise.”

“Even if you don’t. I really like it.
The teeth are kind of hot. I’ve always had a secret fantasy about vampires.” 
I whispered making him smile before I pressed my lips to his.

Back in the States we decided to not let
anyone know we were back. We were still in vacation, just in a familiar home. We
bought some a lot of groceries to make food. I realized James was extra carnivor-ish
so I bought extra meat and tried to find some extra meaty recipes. 

I was making a roast our first night. James
was keeping his distance from me because he was hungry. He won’t admit it but I
know. He’s even doing a puzzle to keep his mind off of me. I’ve never seen him
do a puzzle or even mention that he does them.

I sighed. I really need to do some
research while we’re in hiding. I don’t mind that he’s the way he is, but I
hate that he sees himself as a monster and danger to me.

Deep in thought while cutting the
carrots my knife slipped and I cut my finger. Remembering the rose incident I
rushed to the sink but was slammed against the wall before I could reach it.

His hands were gripping my arms pinning
me to the wall. I’m definitely getting a bruise. He was growling and staring at
me. His eyes were red. Blood red. He had his teeth showing and they looked
sharper and scarier than ever.