Accusations

When she wakes up, she finds herself back at Alaric's house. Olivia jumps up, backing away towards the wall.

“You bit me!” She accuses, pointing a finger at the man who is watching her from across the room. Alaric looks at her shocked, shaking his head.

“Look, I’ll tell you what really happened, and then hopefully you stay the hell away this time! Let’s grab a drink, I can’t do this sober.” Without waiting he strides out of the door, Olivia rushing to catch up with him. Alaric doesn’t stop, remaining silent as they walk to the bar. When they get there they order drinks before sitting down opposite each other. Olivia admits that she would rather talk about things here, where she is at least surrounded by people and therefore safe.

“You bit me.”

Alaric shakes his head.

“I didn’t touch you, Olivia. What I said the other day was true. You just wanted to laugh and mock the fact I said it.”

Olivia remembers the last time they were here, how he had said it as if vampires were real.

“Are you really saying that man is a- a vampire?” She stares at him; surely he can’t be. Those things are just in dreams and stories, aren’t they? Surely if they were real, more people would know about it.

“Yes, Olivia. Things aren’t what they seem. I know it sounds crazy, I thought it was crazy at first too, but it’s real, it’s all real. Everything from your nightmares, everything you were scared of when you were young; it exists.” His earnest expression does nothing to convince her. I won’t fall for it; she insists to herself, I won’t let him get to me. Maybe it’s some sort of a cult or something, she knows there are some people out there who’d believe anything. Either way, she might as well have some fun with Alaric.

“So, what- witches exist? Like real witches with magic spells and everything?” She blinks innocently, keeping a smirk off her face and watching as he nods.

“And werewolves as well?”

He nods again. Her mind goes back to the wolf she saw tonight. It was so different from a wolf, but then again she’s never seen a wolf in real life, so how can she be so sure?

“Angels?” She presses further, and once more he nods his assent. He tilts his head slightly, looking at her confused. How many things is she going to list?

“So you’re telling me that everything in storybooks, all the stuff we were taught isn’t real, actually does exist? Like gnomes and trolls and leprechauns?”

He splutters, chuckling. “No, those things really are just stories. But there are a lot of things you see so often in films that do exist. It’s just that people never survive to tell the tale.”

She nods. She can tell he’s being serious but there’s still a part of her that wants to laugh at him. “You’re crazy, you know that right? To think I’ll believe all of this? So, tell me, what exactly is your friend then? Is he some sort of crazy psychopath that tortures people for fun, part of a cult, something else?” She’s had enough of his games; he’s clearly friends with the other guy. He obviously gets kicks from hurting people, and for some reason Alaric just didn’t want him to kill her.

“I’m telling you the truth, Olivia. Whether you believe it or not, it is the truth.”

“And yet every night you survive. You said you’re there to protect people, but why doesn’t this vampire just kill you as well? Let’s be honest, if that really was a vampire we'd both be dead right now.”

He swallows, looking at the ground before flicking his eyes back up to her. He may as well tell her: hell, if it makes her believe him and stay out of that graveyard it’ll be worth it. He thought she would have already worked it out, seeing him stood in front of her, but apparently not.

“I’m… different. That is why he hasn’t bothered touching you; it’s because I’m constantly on your tail.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Then why did he attack me last night and the time before?”

“The first time was because I got sloppy. I was too distracted to check everywhere, I let myself relax and that gave him a chance, one he knew he could get away from.”

She nods, unsure what to believe anymore. “How were you distracted?” Had someone else been there as well? Maybe he was trying to watch them both and it got too much for him to handle?

“It was you, Olivia. You distracted me. I was thinking about why you would put yourself at risk like you’ve been doing over and over again. You didn’t seem to care if you lived or died and that intrigued me, so I wasn’t thinking right because my mind was firing questions at me like you are right now.”

Olivia knows he’s right. She didn’t care if she died; she just wanted answers for Dan. Or, she did until now. With Alaric standing imposingly in front of her, his gaze boring into her soul, she felt powerless. “And tonight? How did that happen?”

Alaric shrugs his shoulders. “He obviously saw you coming. I planned to get there first and cut him off but you were already there and he came up behind you.” He had wanted to stop the attack so badly, but she’d had him frozen where he stood.

“So, this guy, is he the one making people go missing or turn up dead?” With Alaric’s nod, she realises that he could be the one who took Dan, which means there was actually a chance she could find him.

“Why not just kill them all? Why kidnap some of them?”

Scratching his head absentmindedly, Alaric grimaces. “Some are taken to be used as a meal for later. Others… well; others show potential and are changed.”

“So, Dan, he could be dead? Or alive, or- one of them?” She stares at him; she would honestly rather he was dead than the other two right now.

“He won’t be alive, Olivia.” She doesn’t believe that, and how does he know he won’t be?

“He could be; how do you know? You have no idea if he’s alive or not.” He nods. She’s right, he can’t be sure.

“Look, no one has disappeared from that graveyard since I started patrolling it two months ago. They wouldn’t keep him alive for that long; it would be a waste of time and effort. Whoever this Dan guy is, the answers aren’t worth what you’d risk to get them: you’re in far more trouble now that you know what you didn’t before. The only reason I told you is so that you don’t go looking for that guy to ask him!” He pauses for a breath before throwing his arms up in exasperation. “Look, you’re young. You’re what, like seventeen?! Go home, enjoy your life. Forget about all of this.”

Olivia laughs. “I’m nearly nineteen, thanks, and you don’t look much older than me anyway. I won’t come back, don’t worry.” She needs to just accept that Dan is gone instead of carrying on searching for him anymore. Maybe she could try to find out who that other man was…if she knew where he lived, she could perhaps find Dan.

“You’re right, I do look nineteen, but I’m a lot older than you’d think. Look, the graveyard isn’t the only place you need to be careful of.” Sitting down, Alaric explains a few local places she should avoid at night, places she never usually goes to at night anyway so it won’t be much trouble to avoid them.

“I should get going. Look, here’s my number in case you need me. You’re better off staying away from me, Olivia; as far away as you can. Stay away from those places and stop looking for answers or you’ll just end up getting caught up in it all.” Alaric stands and walks out. Olivia looks around her mindlessly before getting up herself and making her way home.

Newspapers still litter her living-room floor forming a carpet of black-and-white, Dan’s face staring at her from a thousand grainy photographs printed under bold headlines. She wants so badly to believe that he’s still alive, but how can she? All this vampire stuff sounds crazy, but it kind of explains it all. She looks down at her arm; she forgot to ask Alaric how it had healed so quickly. She knows she should be bleeding from tonight too, but again there’s nothing to suggest she’d been injured at all. She spends the next few hours looking through news articles of mysterious deaths and disappearances: the more she reads, the more she is convinced that Alaric is telling the truth.

It seems this has been going on for centuries, but given that no-one had an answer they had just chalked the deaths down to natural causes, and the disappearances as runaways. They mostly happen at night – very few during the day – which just confirms Alaric’s story even further. She giggles in the quiet of her house. Why is she even considering believing his story? It’s so bizarre… it’s at that moment that her mind reminds her of that man: the bite, his eyes, everything about him.

Alaric has to be telling the truth. She should run, ignore it all, yet there’s part of her that wants to go back out there right now and look for proof, to be sure it’s real and that he’s telling the truth. It doesn’t change the fact that it’s crazy, but then she can at least say for sure that yes, vampires do exist, and that Dan is gone forever. Having an answer though, an answer she can’t share, an answer that involves vampires, does she want that?

No, she doesn’t. She doesn’t want to know a vampire killed him if she can’t tell anyone, and she knows if she did try to tell anyone they’d think she was going insane. She finds herself considering it before finally drifting asleep as the morning light peeks through the gap in her curtains.