Transcendent Thirst

💉8

"You look happy."

I look over my shoulder, Oscar smirking up at me as I watched him put some blueberry muffins in a takeout container. Began to wonder if Achille liked blueberry muffins...a little curious.

"I have always been happy. When have I not looked happy?"

Oscar shrugged, handing me the container full of muffins. Intriguing me I wondered if I had to pay for it. Didn't want to walk out of here without paying and lose my job.

"There's a difference between real happiness and faking happiness. I've lived long enough to learn that." He stated, leaning against the counter and nodding at the broom." Can you hand that to me?"

I nod, walking to it and grabbing it. Once I handed it to him he began to sweep the area.

"I have a question." I say, rest my elbows on the counter and folding my arms. Watching Oscar sweep as I already took care of the counters and wiping down tables.

"Depends on what the question is. I may or may not answer it."

"At least you're honest. How long have you been alive?" I ask, not afraid to ask these questions since we were the only ones in here.

Oscar cocked his head, thinking about the question.

"I have been alive for a hundred-and-six years."

"When were you turned?"

"When I was twenty. My owner changed me as compensation for Achille, since he wouldn't let my owner help him in any form or way. Completely despised him and hated his guts."

Raising my eyebrow, I stand up more straighter. I didn't know this at all. I haven't asked Achille much about his past, but I'm coming to the realization that I should.

"Your owner made you a vampire...as compensation for Achille? Doesn't that infuriate you in a sense?"

I watched him stop sweeping, eyes staring at the ground and then he started again.

"It angers me at times. I can tell he wants me to be like Achille. But I can't be. My owner is infatuated with him and Achille had no interest or any liking towards him. My owner even offered him his own blood to help him survive, and Achille denied it!" He growled, shaking his head and looking up at me." I guess I hate Achille just a little. He could be at the top of the vampire pyramid...but wants to mope around by himself. Like a loser-."

"I won't let you talk about him like that. I don't know if you know this, but it was not voluntary for Achille to be turned."

Oscar raised his eyebrow, shrugging at my revelation.

"Even so, it wasn't my choice either. But I went with it and learned to just go along with what my owner says. Denying him will only get me pain, pain of being alone in a growing world. While I stay the same."

I frown at his words, not liking that thought. It broke my heart to hear such a thing from him. It'd break my heart to hear this from anybody.

"You and Achille have something in common. Neither of you asked for this."

Oscar freezes, seeming to not have thought of that. The guy he calls 'his owner' sounds like a conniving man who tries to manipulate others. It's clear to me he manipulated Oscar already.

"I met my owner in 1933. Born 1913, so I'm sort of old...no, I am old. It was illegal to be attracted to anyone other than the opposite sex. So it was done in secret, behind closed doors, it wasn't talked about.

"Met my owner in France in a bar, he was just so alluring and charming... I followed him after we drank some alcohol and he wasn't reacting to any alcoholic beverages. Even when we got to his house we had sex. Towards the end he began to get...rough and was pinning my neck down.