Should Have Walked Away | Aarmau Vampire AU

𝔱 𝔥 𝔯 𝔢 𝔢

I was looking at the water.

It had turned to night since I got back to my camp, and I've been just sitting here with a calm blank mind.

I got up off the tree and crawled to the sky-blue water.

I slowly took off my mask, as I had taken my hood and cloak off not too long ago. Peaking into the water, I gazed at my fanged lips, frowning, and watched my eyes turn purple and swim with tears of something I couldn't describe. Frustration, maybe.

My eyes were a bright violet and purple, and my fangs were different from most vampires.

Most vampires have just the top two. I have longer ones than the average on top, and I also have two bottom ones a little behind where the tops are. They aren't big; they aren't small.

My face swam in the water and shaped me into a monster - something not completely false. I reached up and touched my lips.

Then I retracted my fangs and suppressed my vampire-vision. I looked so normal. Raven black hair down almost to my waist, tiger and gold eyes, pearly white teeth, tan skin, and a flush of dark red on my cheeks - reflecting my dark red blood.

Sadly, that's not me.

I'm a monster with my fangs, and they are what I really am. I hate it. (Purple eyes aren't my normal.)

I hate my fangs, I hate my purple heat vision (seeing heat signatures in purple), I hate my race, I hate it all.

A few distraught tears dropped into the water as I looked at my fangs again.

Only this time, it was too much and I splashed my reflection out of the water, wiping my hand across it. A few more tears escaped but one dropped down my cheek and I wiped it away.

I took a few deep breaths and splashed my face with the water to clear my head. Afterwards, I dried off my face and leaned back against the tree once again.

Until the prince came, I was fixing the fire - which didn't need to be fixed - and put my mask back on.

It oddly only took a minute or two and I didn't even hear him coming. Probably my mind wandering.

"Hello, again," he didn't seem like I've met him before - he seemed confused; beside himself in worry. Quiet.

"Hey." I continued poking the fire with a stick. It went awkwardly silent and I suddenly hated it - weird because normally I love it; it's less social interaction.

I grabbed a small wooden bowl I carry with me and scooped water from the pond into the fire, putting it out.

As a vampire, one who grew up in the cold environment of a damp cave, I'm highly resistant to hypothermia. Fires are comfort, not necessary.

Once I did, I felt him slightly tense. I don't think he liked the silence either and I noticed his careful eye on me - something much more noticeable now than it was before.

"Didn't mommy and daddy ever teach you that staring is rude?" I questioned flatly without looking up from the moon's reflection in the pond.

"Yes. I'm just simply trying to figure you out."

"We already established you figured out as much as I'll give away."

"Okay. Let me ask you this, then. Something we didn't establish. Are you an assassin?"

"I don't kill people if that's what you're talking about."

He didn't reply and sat where he had the night before. He didn't believe me, that was clear in his face.