Chapter 20: You really have a hold on me

 The two of us, Ferenc and I, are walking around the forest to check our nets. It is winter now, and I rather like the way the forest looks, covered in snow. Like a Christmas postcard.

The hut, with the smoke coming out of its chimney, looks just like one of those dream homes that introverts dream about, during their 9 to 5 jobs. 

Not that I am one. Introvert, I mean. But I can see the appeal. To go to sleep with Ferenc spooning me, or with me spooning him. To wake up when the sun greets me, and not because of an alarm clock. I think back on my days as a knockoff water filtering system salesman. Algeria had its appeal, but snow, it did not have. 

As someone who was born and raised in a mountainous region, I am used to snow from October to March. I really missed that, back in Africa. Yes, it was one great adventure, but I missed home. Not that I don't miss my hometown now, that I am here in the middle of nowhere. 

I often wonder if my friends miss me as much as I miss them. Sure, because of my work, we just kept in touch via Skype, but we still checked in from time to time. Ferenc seems to be noticing my musings because he turns around. 

"What are you thinking about?" He asks, and I smile at him.  

"I ask myself if it wasn't a mistake to fake my death," I answer truthfully because I feel like there shouldn't be any secrets between us.

 Chances are, that we will be the only stable thing in each other's lives, from now on. For as long as they go on for. And, seeing as we are both vampires, they might go on forever. 

"You wouldn't have aged, and someone would have noticed that," he tells me, and I nod. 

"Yes, but maybe I could have continued to do my job? Silently getting to a better position, and working my way up?" I suggest, and he shakes his head. 

"What is the point?" He asks, and I wonder if the melancholy he is feeling now manifested itself at this very moment, or did it stay hidden behind his other emotions all the time? 

"Because humans need to improve," I tell him, and he makes tsking noises. 

"Yes, humans. Vampires are set in stone, kiscica. I have my hut, and I pass it from me to me with the help of bribes every twenty years. I don't need anything else. This forest provides for me," he waves his arms around, to show off the forest. I bite my lower lip. Does he really think that this is enough? Doesn't he want more from life? 

"Don't you want to travel?" I continue, and he looks at me with more interest. "The world is a big place. We can go out there, and meet other vampires." 

"So, they can attempt to do to us, what I nearly did to you?" His expression turns bitter, and I nod. 

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"Ok, maybe we can avoid our fellow bloodsuckers. But do we really need to live our eternity out like the evil witch from Hansel and Gretel? Stuck in a forest, in a small hut, hunting in the woods," I take in a deep breath, when he looks resigned. 

"There is no place for vampires in this world anymore," he sounds mournful then. "Everyone carries a phone with them. They take pictures without permission. It would take one noisy person with a camera, and you are then outed." 

"I have been blogging about being a vampire for months now," I say, and he chuckles. 

"Almost a year," he corrects me, and I blink at him. 

"For real?" I can't believe that almost a year has passed since I came to be a creature of the night.

Sidenote, the expression creature of the night is a silly one, when it applies to someone who can feel sunlight without becoming a torch. I don't know who came up with it, and connected it to vampires, but I want some of what he was having. Or, is it a she? It almost sounds like a horny woman who wanted something to connect to her fantasies. 

"Yes. You have been together with me since March last year," he tells me, and then points at the net. "I think something is inside." 

"I can see something wiggling in the net," I agree. I go, and climb the tree, to cut the net down, without opening it. Ferenc has long since taught me how to climb trees. I feel like a woodsman, but that is ok. I don't have a beard, not even a stubble. As long as I don't look like a woodsman, I am fine.

Now, I don't have anything against woodsmen. I watched some documentaries on them, and the younger ones can look hot. It is just that I can't imagine myself living a life, where I need to get water from a creek in buckets, and then to have to heat it over a fire.

 Besides, I'm still dreaming of being a part of the elite. Or, in other words, of being one of them aristocratic vampires. You know, like Ferenc. 

It is a rabbit. I drink it dry, and then use the corpse, in the hopes that a fox will be caught next. Maybe even that one that laughed at me, all those months ago. I have come face to snout to it a couple of times, but it is smart. Manages to cut my nets, and gets the meat I leave without getting caught. 

I call that fox Frederik. I think that it deserves a posh name. Besides, with a name like that, I can call it Reddy. Reddy's pelt is red, so there. My naming skills surprise even myself. Now, you might be wondering: how petty can you get, to swear vengeance on a fox?

I don't want Reddy as a dinner, a rug, or anything of the sort. I built him a pen, and everything to make sure he is comfy. With Ferenc's blessing, I will keep Reddy as a pet and train him to be as dog-like as possible.   

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