As she’d pleaded with me, the loft began to fill with other vampires. There would be a blur, as if a ghost, or the flash of a shadow, and then a human body would appear. Still trembling, this didn’t help, to be startled repeatedly. To add to it all, they each started talking at once, introducing themselves to me as if I were someone famous. Each of them were just like Nira, not in appearance, but as in that their hands were slightly cool. So, I figured this was a vampire thing rather than her just being cold at that moment. Plus, each wore her same skin tone, a pale that had become popular among the goth type or health crowds these days, so no one would notice, or think it out of the ordinary.
Overwhelmed by the sudden crowd, oddly, my breathing seemed to calm. My thoughts regulated, as did my heartbeat. Maybe it was the blessing of distraction, but it seemed something more. They had a way about them, friendly, genuine, not at all scary or intimidating, just real people, and quite a diverse crowd, at that. They appeared to come from all walks of life, various incomes and jobs, maybe. A few I’d have called teachers or maybe librarians, having that casually dressed, smart look about them, along with that look in their eyes that said they wanted to help.
Others had more of a business attire, from suits and dresses, screaming that they had money and resources, but none felt unapproachable or conceited and standoffish. Beyond that, there were those in workout attire or jeans and t-shirts. There was even a woman in front of me that looked rather hippie, in vintage clothing, a warm smile on her face that lit up her eyes. I couldn’t have felt out of place, over or under dressed, no matter what they’d put me in.
Not catching a single name in this state, I shook hands and mumbled greetings until they fell silent. I got continual glances, though no one stared. Still, I got the impression they had something to say to me, or that they waited for me to say something. I attempted to move my lips a few times, but nothing came out. Instead, a buzzing sound grew in my ears, formed cotton in my head instead of thoughts. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it all stopped. In that silence, information came to me. Thoughts, one by one, burst into my brain, ancient truths about the people surrounding me. I would swear that proximity alone had unlocked information stored in my brain that I hadn’t realized was there.
I didn’t think that they were giving it to me, but they appeared to sense that I needed time to process. No one spoke. No one touched me. They just let me be with wayward smiles, occasional glances, giving me time to think. It was odd, as in that tingling you get in the back of your neck, telling you something is off, to stand there, to have people in this day and age stop, give someone time to think without prying or walking away. So, I let each thought grow, emerge into my consciousness, catching and returning looks as they came my way in the meantime.
They did not burn in sun as lore would have one believe, or even TV which had them sometimes smoldering from sunlight through a window, and other times bursting into flames once they walked outdoors. Their skin tolerated what nature threw at it, but obviously they lacked something that would make them tan. Maybe in coming back to life, melatonin no longer was produced, but still, they weren’t deathly pale, not corpse-like at all. The sunlight streaming through the room didn’t make them sparkle either, but then, that wasn’t lore, but Hollywood ridiculousness to let the teeny-bopper crowd in, to profit from that market, as well, in this new craze in fiction.
They didn’t feed on human blood either, but gained nourishment from rare meats mostly. Although, as I’d seen the other night, they did indulge in all the other food groups, as well. So, I didn’t have to fear their hunger, or even a younger one suddenly being overwhelmed with the urge to feed off of me. Bloodlust was another myth. I had nothing to fear from them outside of a fight and their beyond-human strength. However, apparently their blood held some magical sort of healing properties for humans.
This made sense in the fact that their job in the world was to protect. So, they were the walking dead, just ones chosen and created for a specific purpose. Rather than fierce predators, they were misunderstood saviors forced to keep to the shadows due to an ill-informed world. They were the ones that. when bad things happened, kept the world from turning upside down.
They’d been brought back to life with a purpose, imparted with important missions, to save those like me in dire straits, put into situations hard to explain to a regular law enforcement officer who would have been no match for werewolves, probably not even with guns, at least not the ones they carried in a holster. I couldn’t imagine that one small bullet, or even a round of them, could take down wolves that size, even if the police could manage to get a bullet in them with the speeds at which the wolves ran. Whoever had created them, in my new world, they were needed.