Chapter 22

Tessa’s POV

I stared at Joseph with an open mouth, shocked that he had just admitted to me that he was in fact a vampire.

He seemed so calm and casual about this whole ordeal too. I must have looked like a deer in headlights in comparison.

“Do you wish to ask me any questions?” Joseph finally asked, breaking the silence between us.

I realized I had been staring at him dumbfounded for a long while, unsure of what to say. But I nodded. I had a million questions surfacing in my mind. I was between the stages of being utterly terrified, and extremely excited.

A real vampire.

I believed him too.

That’s what was most absurd to me.

“Tell me about your life as Christopher Moore. That would mean you are actually hundreds of years old, right?” I finally managed to ask, recovering myself.

“Something like that,” he answered. he answered plainly and simply. “Chris was actually my main identity. I was born Christopher Moore.”

“His identity has always been such a mystery…” I breathed. “Just like Joseph’s. No pictures or anything. But I knew Christopher was abandoned by his family at a young age. He was also married and had children… you were married and had children…”

He nodded but said nothing as I processed these thoughts.

“Then you all died during that plague…or at least, it was listed that you did.”

“My family isn’t really something I talk about. I lived in an orphanage in a small village for a long time. I basically raised myself until my mid-twenties when I got sick. I was probably around 26 years old when I was infected with the Bubonic Plague in 1855 and nearly died. Most in my village had already died. Including my wife and children… are you’re correct.”

“But you lived?”

“If you call this living, then yes,” he answered. “I was infected and nearly lost my life. However, a neighbor of mine came to me on my deathbed and managed to successfully turn me into a vampire. I had no idea they were vampires until I turned. It was a blessing and a curse.”

“How so?”

He was quiet for a moment as he thought about how to answer that.

“I watched a lot of people die,” he finally answered. “It’s not something I wish on anyone.”

“So, is it true that vampires don’t age?”

“Do I look like I’ve aged?” He asked in return, leaning back on the couch.

“You certainly don’t look like you’re in your forties,” I observed. “In your biography, it’s listed that you are 42 years old.”

“I’m much older.”

“Hundreds of years, right?”

“How old do you think I am?”

“At least 200 years old,” I said, almost with excitement in my voice. An excitement that I wasn’t sure where it came from.

“I was born in 1829,” he confirmed. “I’m 196 years old.”

“Holy shit,” I gasped, staring at him in disbelief. “So, you’re like, really old…” I blinked at him a couple of times and his face had no trace of amusement.

“That’s offensive,” he said in return.

“Sorry, I’m just in shock,” I said, still trying to wrap my mind around everything.

But I still had so many questions and I was growing more eager to ask them.

“What kind of things do vampires do? Like do they have special abilities?”

“We have exceptionally good hearing, we are strong, and we have teleportation abilities,” Joseph answered. “The night that you were attacked, I teleported you further away from those hooligans so you wouldn’t get hurt.”

My eyes widened at his words.

“So, you admit now that you were there?” I asked, raising my brows. “You stopped those bikes with your hands alone…”

“Yes, I did.”

A flash of anger went through me.

“Then tried to tell me I was hallucinating,” I said, furrowing my brows together. “You gaslighted me.”

Joseph said nothing. He just observed me silently for a long while.

After another breath of silence, I decided to just change the subject.

“Do vampires burn in the sun?”

“The sunlight makes us ill,” he explained. “It won’t burn our flesh, but it will make us sick. Almost like the flu. Sometimes it could be fatal.”

“That’s awful…” I breathed.

That also explained the night course and all the closed window curtains in his house.

“What about blood?” I then asked. “Do you need to drink blood to survive?”

“That’s a myth,” he said, shaking his head with dismay written all over his face. “Blood acts as an addiction to us. We don’t NEED blood to survive. We just WANT it. We can get the same nutrients and nourishment from regular food. The vampire community created a school where new vampires go to learn how to be proper vampires. Which also breaks them from their bloodsucking habits. But unfortunately, there are new vampires being created and they aren’t getting the proper education and training.”

“You mean another vampire killed those hooligans?” I asked, my heart falling into my stomach and making me feel queasy.

“Yes,” he answered. “There’s been a string of vampire attacks recently in this city and because I’m a trusted and well-trained member of the vampire community, the Nightwalker police enlisted my help to track these new vampires and bring them to the learning center.”

“The Nightwalker police know that you are a vampire? That’s how you are connected to them?”

“Yes, they do,” he answered.

The whole thing sounded insane to me. I couldn’t believe I was having a real conversation about the existence of vampires… with a vampire.

My mind almost didn’t want to believe any of this at first, but Joseph’s calm demeanor silenced the doubts that surfaced in my head.

“Can the Nightwalker police be trusted?” I found myself asking.

He raised his brows as he met my eyes.

“Yes, they can,” he said with certainty in his tone. “They have the necessary tools and training to protect humans from cases like this.”

I knew the Nightwalkers worked on special cases that the normal police couldn’t handle, but I never expected them to work on cases concerning mystical beings like Vampires.

It was a relief to hear that they could be trusted.

“So, you don’t need blood to survive?” I asked, changing the subject from the Nightwalkers.

“It’s not necessary to survive, no,” he answered. “I weaned myself off at a ‘younger’ age. I don’t even drink animal blood anymore.”

I raised my brows at his words.

He doesn’t drink blood at all? But then what about that mark that he left on my neck?

I reached my hand up to my neck and traced the spot where he had bitten me during our night of passion. My entire body warmed at the memory, and I had to shake my head to get the thoughts to go away.

“That night we spent together…” I began to ask slowly and cautiously. “When I woke up with that bite mark on my neck…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Did you drink my blood?”

Joseph nodded.

I felt like I was just punched in the stomach. I was back to being frightened. At least a little bit.

Joseph had sucked my blood and I let him do it.

“Why?” I found myself asking, glad that my voice didn’t give out.

He stayed quiet for a moment longer as he thought about how to answer that question. Eventually, he leaned closer to me, so he was only inches away from my face.

I was worried he would be able to hear the sounds of my rapid heartbeat. My breathing had gone shaky, and that fear had crept its way back into me. But I didn’t back away from him. I remained seated beside him, staring into his eyes as he stared into mine.

“Because…” he began to answer. “Your blood, for some reason, is incredibly difficult to resist. I find myself hopelessly attracted to it.”