Page 46 of Those That Don't Exist
“Really? But he's well known, at least in academia. He’s been subtly pushing for the governments to apologise officially for the war for years.”
“He has to be careful, of course, but he has been trying to shine light on the truth for a while. There are several vampires who want to reverse the damage those egotistical Fae dictators did, so we can eventually reveal ourselves again without fear of execution.”
“But several of the Fae who sat in power during the war are still in the governments.”
“Yes, but change is always slow, and it needs a catalyst. Weren’t you planning on writing a pro-vampiric dissertation?”
“Yes but I’m a student, no one is going to read my work. And I don’t know if I should now…”
“We’re going to have to keep you hidden Red.” I don’t sugarcoat my words. “You need to stay hidden from the world and from the vampires in the city, it doesn’t mean you can't continue your paper.”
She nods, letting that sink in.
Outside, the sun disappears as thick clouds gather in the sky, sinking the room into dimness. She reaches to switch on the lamp which is precariously stacked on top of a pile of books on her desk. It causes a soft light to spill across the room; it also creates pockets of darkness in the nooks and corners. My shadows start begging to play. They creep across the wooden floor and wrap around my ankles as if checking on me. Their embrace is comforting, and it gives me an idea to lighten the mood again.
“Want to see something truly vampiric?” I ask her, suddenly excited I get to share this with her.
She cocks her head at me, and spins round in her chair so she’s fully facing me.
“Are you going to turn into a bat or something?” Her face lights up at her own joke.
“That was a myth started by the damn wolves.” I narrow my eyes at her, adding scowl when she laughs.
“Sorry, what is it?” she asks with a little hesitance in her voice but I can see she’s curious.
“You never asked if I had magic.” I relax my face into an easy smile. Reaching out an arm into the shadow cast by her body across the bed, I let them free. The pale darkness becomes fuller until a trail of thick night swirls around my arm. It coils like a snake.
“You’re a shadow wielder,” Aurora breathes out in astonishment.
“Correct,” I answer as I step further away from her, towards the door, crouching where the lamplight doesn’t reach as strongly. I pull on my magic more, rising the shadows from the floor, sinking myself into obsidian black.
I can see clearly through their inky embrace but to Red, I’ll be almost invisible. Like a black cat on a dark night, if it moves you’ll notice it but sitting still and your eyes lose focus on its form.
“Incredible.” Aurora’s gaze is fixated on me as I stand, bringing my upper body back into the light. The damn shadows almost preen under her praise. “Are they real? Are they sentient? How do you communicate with them?” She fires questions at me without pausing for me to answer in her enthusiasm, it's adorable.
I smile at her inquisitive mind, a small part of me had worried this would terrify her, showing her how true of a predator I am. Nope, she’s fully captivated.
“We don’t communicate through voice or language. It's more of an instinct. I feel for them and they emerge. They seem able to know when I need protection, and I pick up on emotional tugs from them too. It's hard to explain, I can just tell.” I fumble for a good explanation. The shadows at my feet seem to know I’m struggling, however, and move over to Aurora’s legs. They caress her, winding thickly around her bare calves and up to her knees.
They’ve never done that before.
I can hide others with me easily enough if I’m touching them but they’ve never formed their snake-like essences around anyone but me.
I watch two of them play up and down her legs as Red wiggles her toes. She’s positively enamoured by them. She leans down and tries to touch one as if she can pet it but her hand slides straight through.
“I can feel them against me, it's so strange. Wonderful but strange,” she muses as I stare on, lost at them acting this way. Another one flies up behind me, coating my back as if to reassure me they still fall to my command.
Aurora sits back up and looks at me. “You must be born then, not turned,” she says it as a statement but I answer like it was a question.
“Yes, both my parents were vampires. You’ve clearly been doing your research well.” I go to sit once again on the bed. Aurora joins me, although walks gingerly across the floor like she could step on a shadow now and hurt it. I huff out a laugh.
“Hey, they feel real!” She shoves me as she crosses her legs under her. It’s not hard so I quickly regain my balance.
“You won’t harm them. They move pretty fast when they wish too.” I watch as several recede into the darker spots in the room and settle.
“Your parents must’ve had powers too, did one of them pass the shadow wielding onto you?” Red swings the conversationback to my parents, and whilst the grief roils in my chest I want to try sharing this part of myself with her. These are details about their life, not their death.
“My mum was the shadow wielder. My father controlled light energy. They were a powerful couple. They both died in the war.” I take a deep slow breath as the guilt tries to overwhelm me.
