World of Monsters

31. Time Out Everyone!

     Alyssa and Pablo sat at the table and traded a few shots while Gabriel drank from his bag, all not saying a single word for several minutes. After finishing his bag of blood, even Gabriel was feeling better as he strolled back into the kitchen and sat down at the table with the two humans, who were both looking at him. They both had that look your parents would give you when you're in trouble or just got home late past curfew, like they were very disappointed in you.

     "What?" Gabriel asked, even though he had an idea and was just playing dumb.

     "You haven't been up front with us, Gabe." Pablo replied. "There are more than a few things that need to be clarified tonight."

     "What he said," Alyssa concurred, before taking another shot.

     "I'm sorry," Gabriel said, realizing he'd be caught. "I tend to keep my secrets close to my chest. Vampires cannot afford to be too loose with our vulnerabilities. It's not that I don't trust you, quite the opposite. I've told you guys far more than I have any other human I've ever interacted with before."

     "But it appears some lies actually hold truth," Alyssa said, pointing to his hand. "It turns out sunlight is a little more harmful than you suggested."

     "It can be," Gabe finally confirmed, "But it would take hours in the sun to cause this kind of damage. That light Diane projected was more intense because that specific spell was created to detect creatures and harm them. This prevented vampires from spying on witches whenever they met to discuss things. Once they knew we existed, they had taken great measures to make sure they were ready for us."

     "Fair enough," Alyssa said, "But you need to be up front with everything."

     "Shoot." Gabriel said, sitting back in his chair. "What do you want to know?"

     "How about your age?" Alyssa started, "It appears you've been telling everyone different numbers. When were you born?"

     "I was born in the year 473." Gabriel answered, "BC."

     "BC?" Pablo repeated, his eyes as wide as saucers. "That means you're almost twenty-five hundred years old!"

     "Why did you lie to us about that?" Alyssa asked.

     "Everyone lies about their age," Gabriel said, "I just stopped saying BC a long time ago because I got rather tired of being asked questions about Jesus and the Roman Empire."

     "Well I guess that would be annoying," Pablo admitted, "But that's quite a difference from what you were telling us."

     "I also didn't want to intimidate you," Gabe replied, "I found over the years that shortening my alleged time on Earth make people less intimidated. I was just doing it to make you guys more comfortable, well, as comfortable as you can be with a vampire."

     "Fair enough," Alyssa said, sitting back and folding her arms. "But you don't need to do that with us. We can handle anything."

     "Even Gargoyles?" Gabriel asked.

     "Okay, that was a tad freaky," Pablo admitted, "We could have used a heads up on that. I almost shot at one off the cats a few days ago. It would have been nice to know they were powerful, mythical creatures so I wouldn't mess with them."

     "You can't harm them," Gabriel informed him. "Bullets would have no effect. You'd just piss them off, nothing more."

     "Nice to know," Pablo said, sighing. "Any other creatures we should worry about?"