On the whole, Xander was finding that Irma was right... his life as a vampire wasn't all that different from life as a mortal.
Lilith
had insisted that he stay in the house, at least until he developed a
better understanding and control of his new state. So, he took a short
sabbatical from work (which wasn't that difficult... it was his company
after all). He spent a lot of time playing chess and talking with
Lilith, mostly about what it meant to be a vampire.
The biggest thing that took some getting used to was his new diet.
Lilith explained that blood packs were an easy way for vampires to sustain themselves. The Vatore family, she explained, was dedicated to peacefully co-existing with mortals. Caleb lived almost exclusively on blood packs. She and Irma fed from mortals from time to time... but only with their permission... like she had fed on Xander.
"Yeah, but I didn't believe you," Xander said.
"Whether you believed I was really a vampire or not," Lilith smiled, "you still allowed me to drink from you."
Sometimes, she admitted and despite Caleb's disagreement, when the Hunger was great they needed to feed without permission. Those vampires who saw mortals only as food, drank deeply from unwilling mortals and sometimes killed their victims. If she had to drink from the unwilling, Lilith said, she took only as much as she needed. The key was control.
The biggest thing that took some getting used to was his new diet.
Lilith explained that blood packs were an easy way for vampires to sustain themselves. The Vatore family, she explained, was dedicated to peacefully co-existing with mortals. Caleb lived almost exclusively on blood packs. She and Irma fed from mortals from time to time... but only with their permission... like she had fed on Xander.
"Yeah, but I didn't believe you," Xander said.
"Whether you believed I was really a vampire or not," Lilith smiled, "you still allowed me to drink from you."
Sometimes, she admitted and despite Caleb's disagreement, when the Hunger was great they needed to feed without permission. Those vampires who saw mortals only as food, drank deeply from unwilling mortals and sometimes killed their victims. If she had to drink from the unwilling, Lilith said, she took only as much as she needed. The key was control.
"If you are going to return to some semblance of life among mortals," Lilith said, "you need to learn this control... control of mortals and, above all, control of yourself."
After weeks in the house with other the Vatores, Xander was happy to be out in the world again. Lilith had taken him to the old city...
It
was late and the streets were practically empty. Still, for the artists
and poets of the old city it was never too late to go to the coffee
shop.
Lilith was a good teacher. It was easy... so easy... to slip into the woman's mind, to compel her to obey.
The blood... hot, living blood... shaded with the colors of life itself. So much more than the bland, cold blood of the packs. Xander understood now. For the first time, he thought, he really understood what he was.
He was a vampire.
Lilith was a good teacher. It was easy... so easy... to slip into the woman's mind, to compel her to obey.
The blood... hot, living blood... shaded with the colors of life itself. So much more than the bland, cold blood of the packs. Xander understood now. For the first time, he thought, he really understood what he was.
He was a vampire.
"You did well," Lilith said.
"I wanted to take it all," Xander admitted. "I could have."
"But you didn't," Lilith replied.
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