reverberation

“Don’t worry,” Henry replied. “The blood lust becomes easier to manage. I haven’t had an incident in 300 years. Not that I haven’t wanted to, mind,” he added.  “I think it’s like what they say with alcoholics. You never stop wanting a drink. At least vampirism cured my alcoholism!”  He laughed. “Sorry, bad joke. Yet, not entirely untrue.”

“Understood. The blood bank it is. Lets head that way, it’s not far.”  He started off in the direction of the blood bank, back toward the street and out of the park.  “Would you like me to accompany you, or are you sick of me yet?” He rather hoped Irene would let him come, not because he didn’t trust her, but he actually was enjoying the company. And also, well– maybe it would be best to keep an eye on her just a bit longer.

“I hope so,” Irene confessed, “Some days it’s so bad I can hardly manage, but I do have to agree that it is getting better.” Lately, she’d been able to handle herself, but something about today had thrown her off her balance. She laughed at his joke despite not quite understanding it. While she had never really had much of a chance to drink alcohol as a human, excluding the occasional drink of wine with dinner, but she had an idea based on Henry’s comparison.

“I’d love your company,” she said earnestly. Despite the little hiccup, which was completely her fault, she had had a lot of fun talking to him about not only his life but also her own. Being so secluded most of her life had lead to her bottling up a lot about her past, and talking to Henry about it gave her an opportunity to get some of it off her chest. “Also, I don’t like drinking alone.”

“You’re welcome here any time or day or night so you can’t possibly intrude” He can’t help it, the dazzling smile is back in all it’s blinding brilliance as he takes her in “besides all the shirtless action is going on out back so you’re safe from any embarrassment.” He missed her a lot more than he should probably admit to, their relationship so far was brief and so probably wasn’t appropriate to go in quite that hard already which would only serve to scare her off “The place has seemed lacking without your smile in the mix.” Pulling his shirt back over his head he hopes it at least hides the expression on his face lest it reveal to her how much deeper his words went, for now they should just remain as the light jest their conversation was taking. “I do have something amazing to show you though” His face lights up as he remembers their surprise gift, motioning for Irene to follow him into the kitchen so he could show her the cheque himself, practically bursting with state of delight the entire Prattes family had been in since it’s arrival.

Irene’s smile widened at his compliment, her cheeks flushing at a combination of his kind words as well as his bare chest, which she did her best to avoid looking at out of fear for getting caught. “I don’t know how anyone could miss my smile with yours hanging around,” she pointed out, feeling herself getting caught up in the dazzling feature. She felt mild disappointment as he tugged his shirt back on, but she immediately disguised it with a charming grin as he motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen. Seeing the check, which she had written and had delivered earlier that morning, she did her best to act surprised. “Wow! August, that’s amazing,” she said enthusiastically, resting her hand on his shoulder as she leaned in to get a better look. While she wasn’t the best actress, she hoped that her feigned shock could be convincing. 

It was the fifth time August had checked his watch in the last five minutes, while he thought that he was being subtle he was sure that his siblings also on the building site of the extension would probably disagree. Though they had no idea of his motivation for the repetitive action. He wasn’t exactly in a rush to admit to them he was eagerly waiting Irene’s arrival when he was still totally unsure if the connection he felt had been a two way deal, he’d been out of the game for a while now so admitting any crush right now would lead to endless amounts of teasing. Of which he would gladly take on, once he knew exactly what he was dealing with. With the help of the enhanced senses makes it inside to the front door just after one of the other volunteers opens it, revealing the radiant vampire that had been hogging most of his thoughts since they met, he really was like a teenager all over again. “You don’t have to knock, it’s always unlocked so just let yourself in.”

Irene tapped her foot anxiously as she waited outside. The place was still as beautiful as when the day she had toured it the first time, but it had lost some of its attractiveness as August was absent from her side. As the door swung open, she felt disappointed that the face behind it wasn’t his. However, he did run into the picture shortly, causing a beaming smile to spread across her features. “I didn’t want to accidentally intrude,” she blushed, stepping inside next to him. Her senses were quickly overwhelmed by his scent and the warmth radiating from his muscular frame. “Did you miss me?” she asked jokingly, but secretly she wanted him so badly to say that yes, he did miss her. 

Henry let the tension run out of his shoulders as Irene said that she was okay. He believed her; her body language spoke louder than her words. She was still anxious, but it appeared that the danger was over.  He felt bad for her, as he knew all too well what the irresistible pull of the blood scent could do.

“Don’t be silly,” he replied to her self-depreciating comment. “You’re still quite young, and your self-control is still impressive, considering you were a bloody combat nurse.” He chuckled.  “It happens to everyone from time to time, even to elders. But Echo is unusual in that many vampires haven’t lived among humans, and now they’re everywhere. It takes getting used to. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”  He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Now then, are you up for continuing, or should we pop into the blood bank for a nip?”  Henry winked.

As Henry visibly relaxed, so did Irene. She felt more trusting of herself knowing that Henry trusted her to keep control of her impulses, even though the smell of blood still permeated her senses. However, the intensity was wearing off and she inhaled and exhaled deeply to finish fully grounding herself.

“I haven’t had an issue since the 50s, after the war,” she admitted, “I think its because I had suppressed my blood lust for so long that I had to let loose, you know? But I’ve been straight ever since.” Even though he continued to reassure her, Irene still had doubts. She had prided herself for so long on her ability to keep her shit together that any slip-ups hit her hard. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“Maybe the blood bank,” she said, “I need to get out of this park...not that its not beautiful, its just, well...” She figured he would catch on to her referencing the blood. 

Henry new the signs. It was an impulse that he had felt, and often given in to, many times during his long life. Irene had the blood scent, and depending on her self-control–which admittedly seemed very good– she could go berserk.  Henry instinctively stepped between Irene and path of the scent, and held out a hand. “Stop. Don’t move,” he said. She was, after all, a rather young vampire, and impulse control could be dicey. Lord knows Henry’s was in the earlier days.

Henry quickly stole a glance behind him but couldn’t see the source of the odor. Irene was pale, not breathing, holding her nose. It could have been slightly amusing if the situation wasn’t so serious. When she apologized and said she wasn’t prepared, Henry relaxed a little. It did seem that she had a greater hold of her faculties.

“Are you alright?” He asked it kindly, but forcefully. It was necessary for Henry to ascertain the seriousness of the situation quickly, before anyone got hurt.  

For the most part, Irene was in control. After getting over the initial shock, she managed to calm herself down enough to regain stability. “I’m okay, I’m okay,” she said aloud repeatedly, mostly to self-soothe herself, but partially to reassure Henry that she wasn’t going to go berserk on some kid who had just scraped their knee in the park. 

Despite the thoughts flooding her mind and masking her ability to focus on anything, Henry’s voice cut though and appealed to her rational side. Every inch of her body was screaming at her to pursue the source of the blood, but as Henry told her not to move she listened. 

“Yeah, I’m just embarrassed mostly,” she laughed shakily, “You’re never going to invite me out anywhere again.” While she was only half-kidding, Irene still wouldn’t blame him if he actually never wanted her to hang out again. She knew it could be annoying to babysit an out-of-control vampire, and she would never want anyone to have to take care of her. Deep down, she knew it would be best for her to stay locked up in her room.

“Ha, I never considered the possibility of finding a vampire nurse to help me.· I was pretty solitary; I had a few vampire friends, but in those days I tried to mingle with humans as much as possible. I went through a bit of a self-loathing phase.” Henry said, rolling his eyes.·“I think I sort of forgot that there were so many of us around.”

Henry listened to Irene’s field experience with fascination. He’d never seen battle, and wondered how any vampire could stand to be around that much blood without snapping. Preparation did make sense, however.··

When Irene mentioned her period of blood lust, Henry understood.· “Yeah, mine was in the beginning–”· He was cut off when Irene said suddenly,·“Is that blood?”

He froze, and smelled the air. There it was, the unmistakable coppery-sweet tinge of blood, and it was fairly close.··“Yes, it is,” Henry replied.·“I wonder if someone is injured nearby. We should take a look.”

She couldn’t reply to anything Henry had just said because her mind had focused solely on the smell of blood filling her nose. While she had been able to control herself when it was necessary as a nurse in the war, it had been more difficult than ever lately to do so, especially when she had little to no warning that there would even be blood. 

“I, uh...I don’t know if that’s the best idea,” she said, all the color draining from her already pale face as she struggled not to breathe in the scent. She was counting back from ten rapidly, like that would help her at all, and had pretty much stopped inhaling at that point. 

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, holding her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose in both an expression of same and also to further block the scent from reaching her. “I wasn’t, uh, prepared or anything.”

“Oh how fascinating,” Henry responded, after Irene finished talking about her past volunteer efforts. “I may have lived through the revolution, but I wasn’t in the thick of it like you were for the World Wars.  In fact, the Great War was the reason I left London; It was getting bombed like crazy, and there was no place safe to go to ground during the day. For years the Germans bombed the city and surrounding areas, killing thousands.” He shook his head. 

“I wanted to join and fight, but a friend cautioned me against it, saying the army would notice some alarming symptoms of death during my physical examination. The funny thing was– I never would have even thought of that in my eagerness to assist.” He shrugged. “So I left, and bought a mountain retreat in the Catskills, far from prying eyes and bombs. You must tell me more about your battleground experience, if you don’t mind talking about it.”

Henry stopped walking at the entrance to the trail head.  “Do you want to keep going?  I haven’t been down this one yet.  I think there may be a map posted somewhere nearby, otherwise I don’t know where or how far it goes,”

“The Blitz,” Irene recalled aloud, nearly shuttering at the name. While she hadn’t been stationed in London at the time, she did hear the stories from people who had survived it. Hearing Henry’s account so many years after it happened was still horrifying to even think about. 

“Your friend is very smart. On several occasions, vampires were referred to medical because their superiors thought they were sick or injured,” Irene explained, “I often covered them by volunteering to conduct their physicals and whatnot, but a lot of them barely scraped by.” Despite the horrors she had seen, it didn’t bother her to talk about. Maybe that was because she never feared the possibility of losing her life, but it could also be attributed to the fact that she was proud of the work she was doing. “It wasn’t all bad. The troops were always thankful and kind, for the most part. But that just made it so much harder when we lost some of them.” No matter how sick anyone got, though, she would never turn them into a vampire to save them. She wouldn’t doom someone to this life without being in the right mind to make the choice, just like what had happened to her.

“We turn around; wouldn’t want to get lost,” she replied, before continuing on about her time in the field. “Now that I think about it, the blood didn’t bother me as much. I would say it’s most likely because I was prepared to see and smell it, you know?” She explained, “The 50s, however, were bad for me. I went off the deep end for a bit.” A lot of vampires experienced a time of extreme blood lust, but one way or another, they got through it. Just as she was recounting her experience, she could smell it.

“Is that blood?” 

Henry had to think for a moment about where he was during the French Revolution. “England? Yes, I was in England at the time, so naturally it was all over the papers. The English nobility predictably decried it as an abomination, with the higher classes having the ‘god-given’ right to retain wealth and title and the peasants needing to know their place, and so on.” Henry rolled his eyes. “As a reformed noble myself, I couldn’t really advertise the fact that I rooted for the bourgeoisie, but I did. I just wish it could have happened without all of the bloodshed.”

“I agree, more people should take advantage of the day. You’d think there would be more vampires hanging around, gawking at the sunshine after being given their ring.” They walked a little further into the park, heading toward the border of the forest where a trailhead was located.

Henry was impressed to hear that Irene was volunteering. “How wonderful! And here I’ve been, babbling on about myself. You must tell me more about yourself, like; what sorts of careers have you had?” 

Irene listened intently to Henry’s account of what happened during the French Revolution, extremely intrigued by the events he was recounting. History was already her favorite subject to talk and read about, so she was hanging from every word out of his mouth. “That’s really interesting,” Irene said earnestly, “I can’t believe you’ve lived through all of that. And you’re right- the overuse of guillotines was a bit distasteful.”

At the mention of the rings, Irene began to fiddle with her own. “Exactly,” she agreed, “What nifty inventions these are. Very handy.” Being able to be out in the sunshine was always her favorite thing to do as a kid, and when that was taken away from her it was tragic. However, now she could truly appreciate the feeling of the sunshine warming her skin.

“Well, I was a midwife for awhile,” She started to explain, “Then the first war hit, and I volunteered as a field nurse for the French side and then again for the US in World War II. Since then, I’ve really just been floating from place to place. I do like volunteering, though, and just kind of do it wherever I can.”

Henry nodded in understanding as Irene spoke of reverting to old habits and hiding away. “Yes, I struggled with the same thing in the beginning. But it does get better.”

As they walked, Henry listened to Irene speak with great interest. “Oh I do appreciate Hugo,” Henry agreed. “And what an important novel. It actually influenced policy in France because it brought the issues to the masses. It was a pretty intense time. I wasn’t there for it, but I read about it in the papers.”

When Irene suggested they visit the park, Henry was actually a bit relieved. He loved communing with nature and began to feel its pull the moment he caught sight of it. “Excellent choice, and I don’t mind the slightest bit; I’ve got nowhere I need to be, and the day is fine for the park.”  

They entered the green space and followed a stone walkway to a fountain with a plaque.  “This is a monument commemorating the amendment to the Suras Act that made all of this possible,” Henry said. “It’s a nice spot to come and relax; sometimes people picnic, or just lounge about and read; it’s nice.  Volunteers keep up with the planting of flowers and landscaping. You might be able to inquire about helping out, if that’s something you would be interested in doing.”

Irene perked up at the realization that Henry was alive for the French Revolution; while it was a somewhat obvious thing considering how old he was, it just wasn’t something she had managed to put together until that moment. “Where were you at that time, if you don’t mind me asking?” she questioned. She didn’t want to pry too much, but she had always found the lives of older vampires so intriguing compared to her own.

“It truly is beautiful,” she agreed, enjoying the lushness of the park and the blue of the sky. “I’m surprised more people aren’t out to take advantage of the wonderful weather.” There were a few people here and there as indicated by the low hum of conversations floating around, but it wasn’t anywhere near the volume of what she had expected.

“It’s wonderful,” she said, taking a moment to read the plaque and admire the fountain, “And I do love volunteering; I actually just got involved as one at the Safe House.”