Crimson

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"Oh, hi! I hope I'm not disturbing," Aideen answered Alair. I was immediately worried that Aideen would shrink back, as she had done the day before, and become uncomfortable. So I was surprised over how normal and happy she seemed.

"Not at all, not at all," Alair answered. "I had just finished my conversation with Crimson."

"Oh, good! And oh, you were right. The B positive taste much better." She smiled brightly at him as if they were very good friends.

"I'm glad. And remember what I said. As soon as you're ready to overcome your worries, come and find me."

"I will!"

Alair turned and gave me a nod in goodbye. Then he lightly kissed Aideen's forehead, before leaving us. I looked at her with my eyebrows raised as she walked over to the table while holding a tray with breakfast for both her and me.

"He's nice, isn't he?" Aideen said as she placed the tray down. "He came and talked with me for quite a while yesterday. He's far from as intimidating as I first thought."

I got off the bed and over to the table.

"So he apologized to you too?" I asked as I sat down.

"Yeah, and then talked to me about how to handle being a new vampire. Lamech has talked to me about that before, but Alair had some other insights to it."

She took up the cup she seemed to always have with her and took a sip through the straw.

"Like B positive?" I asked, watching as the straw became darker while she sucked up the blood.

"Ehm... yeah." She got a faint blush. "He told me that generally blood that has the same blood type as I had, will taste better to me."

"Would the A-blood types then taste the worst for you?"

She nodded and looked very awkward. She didn't meet my eyes and her nails scraped against the cup as if trying to get some dirt off it.

"Aideen, it's okay," I said and reached over. Placed a hand over hers on the cup. "Blood just is your new diet now. It just is what it is."

Even as I said it, I felt weird. It was once again a thing that I had never expected myself to say, but that was how it was. She hadn't chosen this, being a vampire was something she had been forced into and as long as she didn't harm anyone, what did it matter that she had to drink blood to survive?

"I know," she mumbled. "And I'm okay with it as long as I don't think about it too much. It's just when I do that it feels kinda bizarre."

She forced a laugh, that died away as soon as it started. I tried to find something to say, but couldn't come up with anything. To try to just make the conversation have seemed like any conversation, I started to eat.

"How are you after yesterday? How's your arm?" Aideen asked when I was half-way through my food.

"Oh, all good and healed," I answered and showed her my arm that indeed didn't bear any signs of the wound.

"That's good! And how was Lamech? He seemed very angry."

I felt my mood drop. My conflicting emotions towards him came back to the surface again.

"He calmed down eventually," I said and shrugged. Forced my voice to be nonchalant, but I hadn't looked at Aideen as I had answered, afraid that she would see my inner turmoil in them.

We became quiet again for a long time, but as I took my last bite, Aideen spoke again.

"You're really good at fighting."

"Thank you," I said and knew from her voice that more was coming, guessing already what it was.

"Really good. And I was thinking, like I don't know anything about it. But maybe it would be good to, you know, learn a little. And I thought, if you want to, maybe you could teach me?" Though she seemed very uncertain about the request, she held my eyes steadily.

"If you ever are in a situation where you feel threatened, it's better for you to just run. And considering that you are a vampire, you can outrun most," I answered her honestly.

"I know, I know. But still. I mean, maybe I can't run. Like what if I'm stuck on a boat?"

"Then you jump into the water and swim."

She rolled her eyes at me. "You know that's not what I meant. It might not always be possible to run and wouldn't it be good for me to at least know some basics then."

I eyed her carefully. "Promise that you always will run if possible?"

"Promise!" she said straight away and lit up.

"Alright. I'll teach you some. Honestly, it does sound like a good idea."

She jumped out of her chair. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Do you have time now? Can we start?"

I laughed at her enthusiasm. "Sure. Don't know where it's best to practice though."

"There's a gym in the basement. Come on! Let's go there."

Aideen grabbed hold of my hand and started to drag me along with her. It wasn't until then that I realized just how big the house was. That each floor on its own was huge, that I had figured out, but I hadn't known how many of them there was before.

I knew that there was only one floor above the one I slept on and I had spent plenty of time on the floor below. But it turned out that there were three floors below the one I slept on, plus the basement. As we got to the basement, I also noticed a door, that I somehow just knew had a stair behind it that would bring you even one level further down.

I wasn't sure how I knew that. Maybe it was just because the door looked very different from the others. Or it had something to do with the light, or rather lack of, that came from the small gap between the door and the floor. Or it was because I felt certain what was at the bottom of those stairs as well, based on the foul smell that came from the door. A dungeon.

For a moment I got angry over that they had a dungeon. But then I realized how hypocritical that was of me.

I wouldn't call what my coven had a dungeon, it was rather just a prison. But it was creepy and eerie. Damp and cold. And the stench was almost unbearable.

I had, however, never questioned that we had one, so I had no right to be upset over that Lamech had one. For all I knew, it could also be completely unused, in difference from my coven's prison.