“He bit my neck and drank from me, and then he slashed his wrist and offered it to me. Drink his blood and live, or refuse and die. My choice, he said. So, I drank from him. I wasn’t ready to leave this world behind.”
It was like a thousand scratches on my skin when he said that. My whole body was alive with the sensation.
“Did it hurt?”
“Yes, but not as much as being tortured, I can assure you of that.” He was grinning, even though the memory still clearly hurt. “My body died, and that was a horrific experience, being fully conscious all the way through as your flesh gives up, but bizarrely it was quite liberating. A once in an immortal lifetime’s experience.”
Hans smiled, as though the story was done. Just like that.
“So, yes,” he said. “In answer to your earlier question, I was tortured as a religious knight, crucified in the church grounds for being a sinner, and Lord Edwin Neville, the vampire, came along and saved me.”
I tried to digest it. “When did this happen?”
“1309.”
“Wow, ok. And where?”
There was a quizzical look on his face, as though I was asking the obvious.
“Garway church,” he said, and my stomach dropped to the pit of me.
“Garway? Honestly?”
“Yes, but you already know the exact spot, don’t you? You’ve spent a great many times sitting in that place, listening to the hymns from the chapel with your mother and grandmother inside.”
At the top of the graveyard, looking down at the northern windows.
I could see it vividly.
“That’s right,” Hans told me. “Give your instincts more credit, little one.”
“But I don’t get it,” I said. “How could I know what happened there in 1309? I don’t understand.”
Hans took my hand across the table. His fingers looked as gorgeous as ever in mine.
“One of the most important things you’ll ever learn, is that it’s more often the soul that has the answers. Listen with your soul and not your ears.”
He took his hand away and I took another swig of wine, trying to focus on the orchestral quartet just a few feet away from us. The room was… heavy. The energy in the pit of me was… scared. It felt so horrible – the thought of Hans there, hanging on a crucifix, tortured, with blood pouring down his legs.
He switched the tone. “You can ask Edwin what happened yourself when you meet him. He’ll be able to recount the tale better than me, I’m sure.”
My eyes widened. “He’s still alive?”
“Oh, yes. And he’s still as funny as ever. His sense of humour has never changed. You’ll like him. I’m sure you’ll get on well.”
I jumped in my seat as the waitress appeared with our steaks.
“Anything else I can get you?” she asked, but we both shook our heads. “Enjoy your meals,” she said with a smile, totally oblivious, and walked away.
I looked at the meat on my plate, feeling a bit sick at the sight of it. Blood and flesh.
“Come on, eat up,” Hans said. “You’ll enjoy it when you get started. Don’t let my tales put you off.”
How could they not? The thought of chewing on steak made my stomach churn.
“Believe me,” he said. “You’ll be seeing a lot worse than blood oozing from a steak as time goes on.”
We’d barely even scratched at the surface of the vampire’s long journey, but the initial instalment had me reeling. I tried to compose myself, my fingers jittery as I picked up my knife and fork. I tried to eat, and my body managed it, even though my mind was still twisted in stories.