Path of the Vampire forum

Posted: **07 Jun 2018, 13:37**

Harrison presented his phone to her without question, agreeing to send a text her way so that she could add his number to her own. Taking the device in hand, she quickly pulled up a contact list and opened a ‘new contact’ window. Rikki glanced up at Harrison as she input the number of her cell phone, surprised that he had offered to meet up again with her so soon. Tomorrow. That was hardly the worst idea she had heard, and she wasn’t so unaware as to admit that the thought of seeing him the following night sent a wave of excitement crashing over her every thought. It had been three days of social isolation since her arrival. Things had been lonely with no one else to talk to, lest she subject herself to a long lecture from her family or questions from friends. Talking to Harrison had been...refreshing. Just…nice. The opportunity to do so again the the following night was too good to pass up.

Then he seemed to backtrack, questioning his own suggestion before she’d really had a chance to offer an acceptance or denial. She didn’t interrupt him as he spoke, but her head tipped toward her shoulder, eyebrows furrowing into a vague look of confusion. She’s wasn’t a mind reader, and she didn’t know Harrison well enough to make a judgement call on his character, but it would be a fairly easy way to get out of having the conversation, at all. She didn’t have phone number, yet, and if he walked away, he had the option to never text her, at all. Effective way of cutting off any future communication with the girl that had apparently seen too much.

“If that’s how you would like to tell me, then I’ll wait for your text. Whatever will be the most comfortable for you…” she trailed off, watching quietly as he ran a hand through his hair. “You already seem to be uneasy about telling me.” She could remind him that he was under no obligation to tell her anything, to try and ease his mind, but she couldn’t ignore her burning curiosity. She wanted to know what it was that had caused his reaction before. Rikki liked to think she was understanding person, open-minded. How bad could it really be?

Rather than push the issue any further than that, she found they’d reached the transit station. It was, apparently, much closer to the university than she thought it might be. But then, with students in a constant state of coming and going, it only made sense for the transit to be within a short walking distance. Feeling safe enough to continue that track on her own, Rikki stopped at the sidewalk before the transit, the corners of her mouth upturning into something of a unassuming smle. The kind of smile that conveyed no expectations of the follow-through, but hopeful for it, nonetheless. “Looks like this is my stop. I’ll have to remember the name of this one…” she mused aloud, glancing around them to create a mental map in her mind of where she was in that precise moment and how close she was to the HR Campus.

“Anyway...I look forward to hearing from you.” Rikki’s smile grew as she took a step back from Harrison’s side, closer toward the transit. “Have a good rest of your night, Harrison.” With that, she turned and headed for the station without glancing back in order to check over a map of the city and find the stop closest to where she needed to be. It was all still so foreign, she figured she would probably have to ask an attendant for help, but...oh well. At least she was going home in a better mood than she’d left in.

Posted: **12 Jun 2018, 00:46**

Harrison was aware that the future of this friendship rested in his hands. His phone felt heavy with the responsibility, and for now he kept it that way. He could have immediately texted her, or called her so that the missed call notification would show up with his number. Then she’d have it too, and the responsibility would be shared. They’d play that age-old game of who would contact first. Whose court was the ball in? But Harrison had never been good at that game. In fact, he couldn’t ever remember having played it.

The decision lay on his shoulders, and it was one that he would consider on the long walk home. He could have caught the train, but he liked to walk and, given his new immortality, it didn’t fatigue him. It helped him learn the city, too, its many streets thick and narrow, its darkness and its glimmering lights. He learned where the spirits gathered, where there were more of them, where he should focus his energies. Even while he thought about the night and its events, he still stopped every now and again, still communed with a spirit out of earshot of anyone living, helped them find their peace.

Eventually his feet scuffed the dirt leading to his front door; the little abandoned church had been renovated, and it was as if fate had intervened on Harrison’s behalf. Fate, or God. As soon as he’d decided he was staying in Harper Rock for good, the little church had come up for sale. Cheap, as the owners were leaving in a rush. The religious sort, they couldn’t stay now that they realised the devil was running rampant in their streets. Harrison had won them over; they left anyway. The little church was his.

His home was modest and small; the bedrooms weren’t grand, the beds were simple. There were no built in robes, no floating benches in the kitchen, no five star appliances that he would never use. The fridge was empty aside from a couple of blood packs every now and again, the microwave used only to heat said blood to a less-than-chill temperature. The oven was there to gather dust.

There were three bedrooms, strangely, but Harrison took the one that wasn’t the biggest nor the smallest, but the one with the least amount of windows. The one single window he painted with blackout paint, and proceeded then to board up, and then cover with heavy curtains to make it look less… well, grim. At least, then, if the window were smashed for some reason, he wouldn’t suffer the wrath of the sun.

When home, Harrison showered and dressed, and went into the room, locking the door behind him. He plugged his phone in on the bedside table, and stared at Rikki’s number for a good five minutes before promptly falling asleep with the phone in his hands. And because he was a slave to the sun’s whims, he did not wake, did not even stir until it had sunk below the horizon.

And when he woke, the phone was still in his hands. When he unlocked it, it was to find Rikki’s number – to recall the night beforehand. With a sigh, he slipped out of bed and wandered, barefoot, out to the lounge. He dropped down onto one of the couches, and, there, he initiated the conversation he was not sure he wanted to have.

_____|*|_____

‹Harrison›[t] Hello. How was your day?
‹Rikki› [t] Hello to you, too. My day was spent...shamelessly spent filling out an application. How are you?
‹Harrison› [t] I'm good. I say with all honesty.
‹Harrison› [t] A bit nervous.
‹Rikki› [t] Nervous...to tell me about last night?
‹Rikki› [t] Or is something else on your mind?
‹Harrison› [t] To tell you. You'll think I'm insane.
‹Rikki› [t] I must not have given you a very good first impression, then.
‹Harrison› [t] Oh, I have no doubt you'd be nice about it. But I guess... no, I'll wait. Here goes. Rip off the bandaid, right? To quote a really cheesy movie -- I see dead people.
‹Rikki› [t] You see dead people?
‹Rikki› [t] Like...ghosts?
‹Harrison› [t] Yes. And sometimes they seem so real, and solid, that I think they're right there. Like last night. I stepped aside to let her pass. I thought she was visiting, like us.
‹Harrison› [t] Yup. You think I'm insane, don't you?
‹Rikki› [t] No.
‹Rikki› [t] I'm just...processing.
‹Rikki› [t] It's not my place to judge your reality based on mine. If you are telling me that you see dead people...then, I believe you.
‹Harrison› [t] By the sound of that, I feel like you believe that I believe I see dead people, but that you don't necessarily believe they're there.
‹Rikki› [t] I wouldn't say that.
‹Harrison› [t] Now I wish I were face to face with you. What are you thinking?
‹Rikki› [t] I'm thinking...that I wish had told me face to face, but I understand the hesitation.
‹Harrison› [t] It's why I'm here. Harper Rock is... a violent city, with many unexplained and unresolved death. I want to help as many spirits as possible, so they can find the light, so they can move on. So they're not stuck here.
‹Rikki› [t] Somehow, that nothing less than what I would have expected.
‹Rikki› [t] Which is silly, because I can't have expectations of a man I don't really know like that.
‹Harrison› [t] And I guess while I'm throwing it all out on the table, you know why I can only see you at night, right?
‹Rikki› [t] Assume I'm clueless.
‹Harrison› [t] Oh gosh. Okay. Here goes. Vampires. Heard of them?
‹Rikki› [t] Who hasn't?
‹Harrison› [t] Okay. You know they're real, though?
‹Rikki› [t] You're about to tell me that you are the real world's Edward Cullen, aren't you?
‹Harrison› [t] I don't sparkle, thank you very much.
‹Rikki› [t] You didn't deny it.
‹Harrison› [t] Nor do I think I'm quite as sullen, do you?
‹Harrison› [t] And no. I didn't deny it. I understand if you have second thoughts about seeing me again.
‹Rikki› [t] For a man I've known for about 24 hours, no. I suppose you aren't.
‹Rikki› [t] I'm not sure what...predator would answer this truthfully, but...
‹Rikki› [t] Would seeing you again pose a significant danger to my well being?

Posted: **18 Jun 2018, 15:01**

‹Harrison› [t] No. I promise. Cross my heart, and all that. I would never hurt anyone on purpose.[/font]
‹Rikki› [t] I could name 1,000 reasons why I shouldn't, but...I believe that, too.
‹Rikki› [t] Last night, you were perfectly comfortable being around me until you had a reason to worry I would see you as anything different than what you showed to me. Bad people don't have the time to worry about things like that.
‹Harrison› [t] I do drink blood. I try to get it as morally as possible. I can... I have the ability to heal myself, if that makes sense. I don't have to drink blood to sustain myself. But if I'm injured, if I lose more than I should, sometimes... I'd only ever take it from a willing source.
‹Harrison› [t] And I know the kinds of bad people that populate this city. Which is why I wanted to see you safe.
‹Rikki› [t] Harrison. You don't have to convince me.
‹Harrison› [t] I feel like I do. I should.
‹Rikki› [t] If the intention is to prove that to me, you'll have to count on seeing me again. Didn't I mention I'm the 'see it to believe it' type?
‹Harrison› [t] Hah. Well. I'm not sure how I can prove the ghosts to you. But I'm willing to give it a go?
‹Rikki› [t] That would be a trick. But, I'm okay with just taking your word for it.
‹Harrison› [t] Really?
‹Rikki› [t] Really.
‹Harrison› [t] Okay. Well. I don't know anyone else in this city, yet. Not really. So that makes me happy?
‹Rikki› [t] That was very convincing.
‹Rikki› [t] I'm sorry, I'm just...processing. As cool and collected as I seem, I just had a lot of information come me at once.
‹Harrison› [t] Sorry. It's okay. Let me know when you're ready. I can wait. :)
‹Rikki› [t] Don't apologize, it's nothing you did. I'm just overthinking, as I am notoriously known to do.
‹Harrison› [t] What are you thinking now?
‹Rikki› [t] I'm thinking...in a circle. Mostly about the deeper implications of the 'Harrison is a vampire' epiphany.
‹Rikki› [t] For one, that I need something way more efficient than my keys for self-defense. Since. I assume, you aren't the sole vampire occupant around here.
‹Rikki› [t] And...that not all of them are like you.
‹Harrison› [t] Yes. You should have better defense. And I guess... and this doesn't work out in my favour, but limit the time you're outside at night alone.
‹Rikki› [t] Why would that have to work against you?
‹Harrison› [t] I'm telling you not to go out at night but I only go out at night.
‹Rikki› [t] I know, but...if I was going to be meeting up with you, then I wouldn't be alone. There's nothing to limit.
‹Harrison› [t] I guess, yes. You're right.
‹Rikki› [t] I..want to know more about it. More about you... but I'd much rather be face to face for that conversation. It...doesn't have to be tonight, of course. Just...maybe, eventually?
‹Harrison› [t] Whenever you want.

..:..:..

Whenever you want.

The offer stared back at Rikki like a challenge, begging the question as to how she was meant to respond to that. Harrison hadn't offered much in the way of his plans for the following evenings, leaving it entirely open ended for her. And that was probably purposeful on his part, in that he didn't want to make her feel as though she was obligated to meet with him now that she knew. It was a backdoor, a way out of any future interactions between them. Whether it was his natural inclination to believe that others would view him in a negative light based on his reality (one that she believed, but also felt she needed to see firsthand), or her responses to him that had caused him to offer the escape, she couldn't have said. Assuming that was even the case, of course. It was always hard to tell with text messaging.

Not for the first time, she found herself wishing that Harrison had told her in person. At least, then, she could have seen his face, observed his body language. It wouldn't haven necessarily made a difference in her decision to believe his story, but at least she could have reached out to him. Offered some kind of gentle reminder that she was still there, and not running for the hills. As it was, the longer she sat and stared at the illuminated screen, the longer he may start to think she was ignoring him and making the conscious decision not to engage with him any further. But, the words she sought to type out in response simply wouldn't come to mind.

With a none too quiet groan, she fell back against her bed so that her gaze settled on stars above her. As childish as it might have seemed, one of the first things she'd done when moving into the studio apartment was to place the small glow-in-the-dark stars all across the ceiling. Each one was strategically placed, forming constellations and clusters. They stretched from one wall to the other so that when the sun set and the lights went out, they lit up the space in a comforting imitation of the night sky she so adored. It was a small thing, really, but it allowed her to feel just a little more comfortable in this unknown city.

Lifting her phone up once more so that the bright screen temporarily blinded her, she chewed at her bottom lip in thought. Rikki had no desire to sound over eager, or that she might be looking at the situation as more like a mystery that she was determined to figure out. Regardless of what Harrison was, and whether or not it was all some elaborate persona put in place to being a predator that much easier, she couldn't ignore the fact that she liked being in his company. He had been nothing but kind, and he'd smiled so easily. And while with her, his attention had never diverted elsewhere. For that short time, she was really all that had mattered and that...that was so different. So different from Dylan, in particular.

That thought seemed to settle things, her fingers sliding over the screen until she sent off another text.

[t] Have any plans for tomorrow night?

If he had had any concerns about her avoiding him before, that should all but chase them away.

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