“So, are you ready to talk?” he asks, flashing me a smug grin. “Like I said, I’m in a situation, and I need you to tell me how to get out of it.”
“What’d you do?” I ask. I don’t know who or what this guy is, but I’m pretty sure it takes some serious hulk-like strength to break the lock on a window with your bare hands, and if he has something to do with whatever is going on with Piper I definitely need answers.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Well, that makes this easier,” I say, nodding my head reassuringly. “Piper hates liars. She has no patience for them, and you, my friend, are obviously a liar, so there is no hope of you getting back into her good graces, ever. And I really do mean, not ever.”
He takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly. I can see the muscles in his jaw tighten, dark, eerie eyes bore into mine, and for a split second, I wonder if I’ve made a mistake and closed the door on this guy’s idea of redemption.
“Alright. Fine, you want all the answers, Kit? Here it goes,” he says, relaxing into the chair. “I’m a vampire. Piper’s a vampire. Yes, vampires are real, and I’ve spent decades lying and deceiving people to get and hold a position of power in the underworld. Hiding the truth from Piper was a mistake. I hurt her and I’ll do anything to fix it.” He pauses and holds up a finger, the muscles in his jaw tighten again. “And before you even think about going there, I’m going to tell you most of the myths and legends are wrong.”
My mind flashes back to the night Piper almost attacked me, the night she couldn’t take her eyes off my neck and warned me that she was seconds away from tearing my throat out even though she knew the guilt would kill her. I couldn’t figure out how she disappeared without a trace, calling me calmly a few hours later- making me doubt what I saw. It turns out, the how is more of a who, and he’s sitting in front of me, telling me that monsters are real and my best friend is one.
I know what I saw that night, and I remember the bitter metallic taste of the blood in my mouth before I blacked out, but connecting the memories and the theories with reality feels impossible. I had drinks with Piper last week. We ate fries and drank zombies, how can that girl be the same monster that threatened me with her fangs, cold and disconnected like her hunger mattered more than anything else in the world? I can’t make that connection.
“Ok, good,” Bane says, nodding his head. “So, if you don’t have any questions, I’ll start with mine. How can I fix things with Piper? I omitted key details about who I am until I was forced to tell her. And then my ex made it sound like we’re still together, further damaging Piper’s fragile trust. As much as it pains me to say this, Kit. I. Need. Your. Help.”
“Of course, I have questions!” I snap. “It’ll probably take me more than forty-seconds to figure out what the hell they are, though. So sure, let’s start with your problems.”
“See, we already agree on something. Now, go on.”
I roll my eyes.
“Alright, well. Let me guess. When Piper found out you were lying to her, she told you whatever you two had going on was over, and then she completely erased you from her life,” I say.
“Basically, yes. I tried to talk to her after everything happened, and she shut me out. She doesn’t answer my calls or respond to my texts. I went to her place to try talking things out, but it’s like she doesn’t hear what I’m saying. She’s distant, uninterested, completely detached.”
“That's Piper, alright. Why not just move on? It seems like she has. Why go through all of this,” I say, pointing a finger between the two of us. “There must be someone else you can put this energy toward, dude.”
“No. not an option. I knew the night I met her, Piper’s different. There’s something off about her that just clicks with everything that’s wrong with me, and I know she feels it too. That’s why she’s trying so hard to shut me out. She opened up to me, and I deceived her, she's afraid to get hurt again. All I need is a way to get her to hear me out.”
“Look dude, I’ve known this girl since we were kids. When her mind is made up, nothing can change it, and if you hurt her or made her doubt your loyalty, I can guarantee her mind is made up. Unless one of your vampire tricks is forcing people to give you a clean slate, you’re shit out of luck. But I mean, don’t let reality stop you man, shoot your shot,” I say with a shrug. I don’t know the whole story here, but I can tell this guy cares about Piper, and that’s like ten steps above the guys she usually goes for. I'm pretty sure she was with a guy in high school that called her Paige for three weeks. The point is, if he wants to fight for her, for another chance at proving himself, I’m not going to give him a hard time. Unfortunately for him, Piper will. She's stubborn, and getting her to hear him out with an open mind is a long shot at best.
“Maybe I do have one card left to play,” he says suddenly, standing up and running a hand through his hair.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“It’s not a vampire thing, but you did give me an idea,” Bane says, patting my shoulder as he walks toward the door, stopping as soon as his hand wraps around the knob. “Did you think of that question yet?” he turns to face me.
“Just one?” I ask
“For now.”
I nod my head, turning a few questions over in my mind before settling on the big one. The one that started it all.
“Why’d you turn her? There are thousands of girls in this city. Why choose Piper?”
He takes a deep breath, exhales slowly, and says the one thing I didn’t see coming.
“I didn’t choose her. I just finished what another vampire started.” He pauses, and I notice every muscle in his jaw is tense when he continues. “I couldn’t let her die.”
He walks out the door without another word, leaving me standing here with my mind blown and a list of questions that is growing by the second.
Piper
* * *
Now: November 29th
It’s been almost four weeks since Bane left my apartment. One month later, I still have to remind myself that I’m the one who told him to go. Whenever I find myself longing for his company, his touch, him, I pull up the memory of the last underworld meeting. I was there for one hour, and in that short time everything I thought I knew about Bane and the connection we shared went up in flames. Clinging to that painful, humiliating flashback keeps me from picking up the phone, giving him a second chance like he asked for and falling back into his arms and bed.
I’ve spent the last month doing everything possible to keep him off my mind, but two things seem to work the best. Running six miles every night with music blaring through my earbuds takes up a few hours, drinking whiskey usually gets me to dawn. The hours between sun-up and whenever I finally pass out from exhaustion are the hardest. When I’m too drained to distract myself anymore, but not tired enough to drift off- that’s when his memory haunts me the most. In those hazy moments just before I fall asleep, I could swear he’s actually here. I feel him, tracing circles on my bare arms, and I smell his cologne all around me. But every evening when I wake up, it’s the same. I’m alone, nothing but old memories and faded dreams to keep me company.