gift or curse (A Twilight fanfiction)

Chapter 7

The library turned out to be almost larger than the one in Athens and I had been completely impressed when I had been there years ago. Yet, this library seemed to be much, much older. Immaculate glass display cases showed works that were too brittle to handle. Inside were scrolls made out of parchment or papyrus, their content barely readable. Books with leather bands probably as old as the ancients themselves, lay without gathering dust, on silk cushions. I was sure I wouldn't be allowed to touch those. I wouldn't even dare.

Lucky for me, the walls of the large underground space were filled with rows and rows of normal looking, fairly modern books and enthusiastically I blazed towards the first cabinet. I've always liked to read and five long years I had to do without the stories I loved so much.

For a minute I forgot why I had come here, and indulged in flipping through novel after novel. My reading speed, I soon realized, was incredible, although I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, I was able to do everything much faster now. Walk, talk, think, why not read?

It wasn't until I rounded the corner that I saw Demetri was still in the room. He had taken a seat in one of the comfortable armchairs and put his feet up on a side table. I took a moment to appreciate the view. Broad shoulders, well fitted clothing, bright eyes, although the color gnawed at me. Away from the ancients, he seemed his charming self again. He was looking at me with a funny look and since I had to begin my quest for answers somewhere, I walked toward him with caution and lowered myself into the second armchair, still feeling a bit strange sitting down without necessity.

I decided to ask. "Why do you sit down?"

He misunderstood me. "Do you want me to leave?" His relaxed stance had shifted to a straight posture in an instant.

My hands flew up. "No, that's not what I mean. I meant, why do we have to sit? It's no effort to stand, so ..." The meaning of my words drifted away in a soft breath, which he seemed to inhale with flaring nostrils. For a tiny second I was distracted by the perfect curve of his nose.

"Ah", his frown disappeared and he smiled again. A wide smile, shining teeth that almost made me shudder.

"It's all part of the game. The ruse we keep up for the humans, to be able to blend in."

That made sense. It was the same conclusion I had drawn when I was with the Cullens. There had been no need for me to keep up appearances in the forest, but now this was also something I had to get used to. He seemed to guess my thoughts, and asked: "You were alone? For the past five years? Why?"

Was that so difficult to understand? Did he rather have that I had slaughtered half of Seattle? "I had no choice. I didn't want to hurt anyone."

A look of supremacy brushed over his face and he replied: "A few humans less, where is the harm in that?"

My eyes widened. "You're joking, right? We used to be one of them. I have friends and family out there, I wouldn't want anyone to hurt them."

He eased back from his slightly more interested posture and sighed: "You are so young. In time they will all become one and the same. Merely the blood we need to sustain ourselves. A necessary evil."

Would I really see it that way in a few decades? When everybody I knew was dead and buried? How long would it take me to go from caring to indifferent? It made me sad to think about.

"How old are you?" The question escaped me before I could reel it in.

He chuckled once and then answered: "Do you really want to know?"

I huffed. "That's why I asked. What? Are you a few hundred years old or something? You hardly seem old enough to come close to Aro and the others."

"No", he moved forward again, staring at me intently with those scary eyes, "I'm not that old. I wonder, if it would disturb you to know."

I couldn't look away, his gaze held me captive. My mind went blank and for a moment I forgot what we were talking about. Suddenly this young man, as much a boy in my eyes as I was still a girl: not quite ready to gather myself among the women, seemed ageless. There were no creases in his face, no lines or wrinkles. There was nothing to tell that he was any older than mid twenty. Yet suddenly I could see how, in fact, it were many, many years that had formed this vampire, who no longer measured life by human standards.

"You áre old, aren't you", I whispered and for a brief moment his expression became fragile.

Seconds turned to centuries, and then he finally answered: "I was born into the noble family of the Komnenos in the Byzantine Empire."

I scrunched my eyes. A history book about that era had yet to pass my reading list. "That ... sounds like it's a while back?" I stated it as a question and saw his lips curve into a smile.

"Somewhere around the year one thousand. Give or take a decade."

I did the math. And then I did it again. I blinked. He smiled, patiently indulging me in getting a grip on the enormity of what his answer meant.

He was from Greece, just like me. Only his Greece existed and perished long before my parents great great great grandparents were even born.

Somehow, looking into his eyes, that had seen a millennium of changes, all I could think about was that he was from Greece, just like me.

And so I whispered: "You are Greek."

He threw his head back and laughed. The lovely sound echoed between the book covered walls and made my apprehension dissipate.

"Wow, you really áre old. That is so weird. I must seem like a baby to you. How much you must have seen. Have you traveled the world? You must have. I was on my way to cross the States and Canada, but I got sidetracked."

He laughed again. "You call this, being sidetracked?"

"Well, yes." I hunched my marble shoulders. I suddenly realized I was still wearing the winter coat I got in Washington State. Its a good thing I traveled at night. So many things I needed to remember next time I ventured out into the human world.

"I guess one day I will finish that journey. As soon as I learn all the laws I need to uphold and find a way to get a new passport or something." I shrugged out of my coat, an act that made him raise his eyebrows a fraction.

"Ah yes, the tedious necessity of papers. I must admit I do have a preference for the more elegant ways of traveling. Swimming the ocean feels so ... primitive."

I agreed. That, plus the idea kind of freaked me out. Stories of sea monsters, vague, due to human memories, still lingered in my mind and even though I knew I could probably fight my way out of the belly of a whale, I didn't really want to find out.