Thyra Dane

Dead in Denmark

Chapter 2

EPOV:

I hated the fact that I had to rely on a human being. Humans had burned down my club, driven me out of my home and killed my child. My beautiful child, Pam. The only vampire I trusted and the only vampire around me who dared stand up to me.

I took my revenge on the fucking FotS, but that also meant I had to leave the country. Pam always claimed that one should “go back to one`s roots”. Dear Abby had written about the subject. Pam herself went back to England from time to time. Now it was my time to go back to Denmark. A country I hadn`t been to in the last century or two.

Getting back to one`s roots apparently meant that one had to put one`s life in the hands of a human being. A good-looking human being, a human being who smelled most intriguing, but still a human being.

In my book there are only three kinds of human beings. Vampire haters, fangbangers and the goody two-shoes that came out after the revelation and claimed they only wanted to help, when they were just trying to score brownie points among their liberal friends.

There was no doubt which group this blonde belonged to. She obviously didn`t hate vampires and she had no fang marks or the trademark anemic look of fangbangers.

I would have preferred to stay by myself or at least with some vampires, but this woman was the one I had to trust my undead life to. Ain`t that ironic. Driven out of my home by humans made me have to rely on a human.

SPOV

The next day, I checked the newspaper to see when the sun would set. It would set pretty early since we were in November. I figured I would have time to check on my new house guest before I went to the bar.

I hadn`t explained the Danish rules on vampire feeding (only volunteer donors, no glamouring) and I wouldn`t want him to get in trouble with the law so soon.

I took out a bottle of blood from the fridge, heated it and went over to the vampire section of my farm. I knocked on the door, but since I didn`t hear anything, I decided he was probably “sleeping in” and figured I would tip-toe in and leave the blood by his bed. I thought that would be a nice gesture.

I didn`t notice that he was wide awake, before I was half way into the room. Seeing his blue eyes staring holes in me, almost made me drop the bottle. I turned red like a Danish mail box and started to stutter.

“Oh, sorry. I hmmm I just wanted to bring you some blood, mmm, didn`t expect you to be awake, sorry. ” I was really articulate which irritated me. Where did that come from?

I put the bottle down and ran out of the room. What was I thinking walking in on a vampire? I was so embarrassed I just wanted to get far away fast. I hit my forehead with my knuckles and swore a little to myself. I knew I had been staring at that great looking body of his, and I knew that he knew.

Why was this vampire affecting me like that? I have had hundreds of vampires living with me. Some of them I still consider my friends. Some of them looked great and were sweet, at least as sweet as a vampire could be, and they still didn`t get to me like this Erik did. And I hadn`t even talked to him.

I went to my kitchen. I needed to sit down with a cup of tea. I actually needed something stronger, but tea was all I could drink before driving to work. I was trying to get my heart to beat at a normal rate when I suddenly heard a voice behind me.

“What are you?” He asked.

The question surprised me and I forgot my embarrassment.

“What do you mean, what am I? I`m Danish, I own a bar, I rent out rooms to vampires.”

“Why do you rent out rooms to vampires? What do you gain from that? ”

All my discussions with Sam came back to me, all his questions about why I had to rent out to those “damned vampires” burned behind my eyes, and I must have looked sad because Eric`s eyes turned milder and he continued.

“If you don`t mind me asking? ”

I wasn`t sure what to say because honestly, I don`t know why I rent out rooms to vampires. I decided to be honest.

“I don`t really know why I rent out rooms to vampires. It`s not like I`m making a profit on it and I`m not some kind of vampire lover or something” (I didn`t want to use the word fangbanger – I just hated it). “I just started renting out rooms when the need for vampire rooms was high, and I continued doing it even now when most foreign vampires prefer the luxuries of the new vampire hotels. I only rent out the rooms a few times a year now. ”

“So you`re no vampire lover?” His mouth curled up to a little smile and my face regained it`s previous redness.

“I don`t hate vampires”, I started to stutter. “I`m just not one of those women who find every vampire attractive just because he`s a vampire. I`ve met nice vampires and not so nice vampires. ”

I felt I was becoming a little too politically correct for my taste, so I ended my speech before I started lecturing about the importance of seeing the individual behind the fangs, or whatever those rich do-gooders north of Copenhagen would say to their friends when they were trying to convince the world that they “didn`t even notice he was a vampire”. Vampires were in fashion and apparently a lot of people needed to have vampires among their friends and at their parties, to claim some sort of moral superiority.

I know because the less subtle of them would call me to get to the “fresh” vampires before anyone else grabbed them.

“So what am I? Nice or not so nice?” Now he was teasing. I was kind of pleased because yesterday Eric had been one depressed vampire and if he could tease me today, he was making progress fast. That would mean less mothering on my part, which was fine by me. I had done my share of bringing vampires back to life, so to speak, and it wasn`t my favorite task. You can`t just give a vampire a hug and tell him everything will be fine when he`s lost everything.

“What do you want to be?” I teased back. I wasn`t trying to flirt with him, just keep the good mood flowing. Ok, so I was flirting a little with him – sue me. I`m a widow, I don`t date, I have obligations to no one. And I had just seen most of this vampire`s magnificent body. Vampires have this thing for sleeping in the nude.

He looked at me, obviously measuring me. Then he turned serious again.

“I actually want to be nice to you.” He was thinking for a moment. “I guess that`s why I asked you what you are”. He looked at me waiting for an answer. When I didn`t offer one, he said something that made me to thank that I can hide my emotions from my face. Being a telepath does that to you, because you just can`t react on all the thoughts you hear.

“I know you are something more than an ordinary woman. I can smell it. I can`t tell what you are, but I would really appreciate it if you would tell me”.

His “I would appreciate” could probably be translated into “I demand you to”, but I still said nothing. The only extraordinary thing about me was my telepathy, but I had never come across a vampire who could smell that, before. I had met a few who claimed I smelled sweet, but I figured that was just them making a compliment or something.

I was guessing that he could somehow tell that I`m a telepath, but why should I confirm his suspicions? I`ve kept it a secret for so many years and vampires would be the last creatures I would want to know about it.

We went into a staring competition like a couple of third graders. After what seemed like weeks, but really was only minutes, I told him I had to go to work and started getting my coat and boots.

I still had to explain to him about rules and regulations, but I didn`t feel like it right now. Not after all his questions about “who I was”.

I asked him if he had everything he needed and he nodded.

“Do you think you will go out while I`m at work? I have stocked up on blood, so you shouldn`t go hungry,” I told him.

I really didn`t want him to wander about in my neighborhood before I was sure he knew how to behave himself. Not all Eastern European vampires knew how to mainstream. Actually very few of them had ever tried, because mainstreaming could easily mean a stake to their heart. Of course I couldn`t be sure where Erik was from, but Eastern Europe had been the home of most of the vampires I had had under my roof.

“What if I get hungry for real blood?” he asked and I felt I froze a bit realizing I would have to stay home for a bit longer, explaining the basics to him. It was my duty, even if I didn`t want to do it right now. I took off my coat and sat down.

“Eric, you can`t just glamour someone into giving you blood here. It`s illegal to use glamour on someone who hasn`t agreed to it in advance.” I tried to sound convincing even if both he and I knew that no one would ever be able to tell if a vampire had used glamour.

“Oh, I think I can get blood without glamour” he said with a devilish grin.

“I`m sure you can, but I wish you wouldn`t. At least for now. I think it would be wise for you to learn a little more about this country before you meet up with the locals. Things are probably different from what you are used to in your old country”.

To my surprise he started laughing. “Where do you think I come from?” he asked.

“Where does any vampire come from? I mean you have all probably lived in most parts of the world at one time or another. I`m guessing you lived in Scandinavia some hundred years ago and I assume you are one of the vampire refugees from Eastern Europe or maybe the Middle East?” I must admit I was curious to know more about him, but I also knew that curiosity would get me nowhere. Vampires didn`t exactly share. This one was no excuse from that vampire-rule.

“You are right and you are wrong” he said with a smile. He didn`t elaborate and I didn`t ask. Luckily I`m a resourceful woman and I have my ways of gaining information. Tomorrow, during the daytime, I would start my research on Erik the vampire.

We looked at each other for a while and then he said “I`ll stay here and I won`t feed on anybody tonight. ”

I let out a little sigh of relief and put on my coat again. “I`ll be off then. Just make yourself at home here. And welcome to Denmark” I smiled my best smile and was out the door. “And call me if you need anything. You know, even if I`m not a vampire lover, I`ll be glad to help out” I said with a little laugh.

He laughed back. It was a manly laugh that sort of rolled through his body. I liked his laugh. It almost made me want to stay at home with him.