Sixteen

The same hand he uses to shut up his butler is brought closer to me as he takes my chin in his hand, bringing my face up to his. There its deep blue, fixed inside my eyes in an unusual way, revealing concern, affection and mainly distrust.

"Reds..." he whispers.

"Reds?"

"What happened, why are you like this?"

"One minute!"

My senses are restless and I can't give answers. He notices the strange movement of my eyes, which next to my ears search for something that starts to bother me.

- And you! I sigh pulling away from him.

- I?

Benjamin doesn't understand my reaction, but by the look on Vincent's face when he understands my discomfort, his master is left with no way out, resorting to him in an attempt to solve the mystery.

"Vincent, explain what's going on!"

"She is in denial, my lord!" -It's brief. -You know what she has become, but you don't want to accept it. She distrusts our intentions and -

- Enough! - interrupted him. - Mila, let me explain -

- No! - I veto it harshly. -I remember Benjamin, I remember that he took me in his arms and then he crossed my body like an animal, opening a hole in my chest ...

- What? -he denies it. -That's not how things happened, Mila. I found you in the garden practically dead, I could even count on my fingers the few bones that hadn't broken. My only option was to change you so you could get on with your life. Only when I tried to save her it was too late, her heart had given the last beat. I had to do something I had never done before, pre -

"Did you have to rip open my chest and stick your hand inside me?" - I face it.

"It was the only way to give you my blood!"

"And who said I needed your blood?"

"If I hadn't done that, you'd be dead by now." Is this what you wanted?

We argued at a good volume, like two people who seemed to have been intimate for years. Vincent's presence was barely noticed as the Greek God and I screamed for the valiant decision he made alone.

— I wanted to live, live, Benjamin! -highlight. -I didn't have to die, much less be reborn like that...

— Well, now that you bring it up, please explain to me how you fell off the balcony -

- Does not matter! - I cut it. -I just want to know how to stop this.

- To stop? - he retorted. -There is no way to stop, unless you have contact with a kokio or enter the middle of a bonfire.

"Kokio?"

I shut up to think for five seconds and immediately, Benjamin becomes all uncomfortable squinting his intuitive eyes at me.

- For! - spoke full of assumptions. -I know what you're thinking!

"Kokio and fire..." I repeat. -Kokio is that rare tree with red flowers, right?

Suddenly, he changes his eye color to red, taking my arm in his strong, merciless fist.

"You're not going to do that!" - he said as a protector, face to face with me.

"Y-your eyes..." I gasp.

- You -

- Wait! -again my senses beep.

It was enough to feel his touch once more that same energy reconnected to my body.

"What was it this time?" he asked nervously, letting go of my arm.

"Yes, it's your... your heart!" - I finally understand. -You were the second person.

"Why do you always speak in riddles?"

'Not riddles, sir. She just doesn't know about you yet!

"Now I'm confused!"

— Oh!

"If we're the same, why do you have a heart rate and I don't?"

Smart as ever, Benjamin sees an advantage in getting what he wants.

— I can tell you anything you want to know, if you promise to calm down so we can talk civilly...

I cross my arms and pretend to be thinking just to hide my crazy desire to find out more about him.

- Right! -I agree. -But then you'll have to take me home!

Benjamin "A powerful Goddess and a child at the same time..." -he reflected in silence, curving his lips in a cynical smile.

- Okay... -he said going to the clean sofa. -Come on, sit down!

I brake in front of the white leather piece of furniture, seeing the huge mess I've caused.

"You can sit next to me if you want!" -he sees me fixated on the shit I did.

"Wasn't it enough that I screwed this one up?"

"My mom would hang me if she saw her couch like this!"

“That's why they're leather, Mila!

- What do you mean by that?

I know it can be cleaned up, but the way he said it hinted at something else.

— That makes it easier to clean the blood from -

— VICENT! -he scolds him.

- I am really sorry!

- Well... -I evaluate. -I better stay here! I go back to sitting in the same place I woke up before.

"Let's go..." He crossed his legs, resting his ankle on top of his knee. -What exactly do you remember?

"Hell, how are you supposed to take this seriously with those thick, visibly sexy legs bent in front of me?"

"Yeah..." I huff trying to take my eyes off him. -Why don't we skip straight to the interesting part? - I'm direct.

"I thought you wanted-"

"Your eyes..." I say. -Why do your eyes change color?

- Our eyes change color according to mood, hunger, danger... -he implies that he has several reasons. -But with time you will know how to control it!

- I? - I'm surprised. -Do I also have red eyes?

- He has! - he laughs lightly. -His a few minutes ago were like this...

I try to remember if I felt any strange sensations in the views, but all I remember is his butler, running after me.

"Didn't you feel it when your eyes lit up?"

— No... - I stare behind Benjamin, staring at Vincent, who was leaning against the bookcase. - I was too scared to pay attention to that!

He unhooks his leg and places his right arm on the back of the sofa, turning his body to assess his employee's expression.

"I see..." he said with an arched eyebrow. -You talked about my heartbeat... -she commented turning to me. -How did you manage to hear them?

"The question should be another..."

— I don't know... -I reflect.

"Have you done this before?"

"What an idiot!"I sighed, shaking my head.

- No! -I say. -Of course not, Benjamin. Do you happen to think I was a human with stethoscope ears? - mock with rudeness.

- I know! she said. -But it's very strange that you know how to do that when you've barely gone through the transition.

My memories start to float, hoping I can explain.

— It's a strange energy, it suddenly appears as if all my senses were turned off, giving way only to sounds... -I explain. -The first time was in the hospital, when I touched the patient -

- Calm! she asked. -There, standing in the doorway, you said I was the second person. I thought Vincent had already told him who I was, but I ended up not understanding his reaction. Now, I'm even more curious as to how you heard me, when I wasn't even in the library, or even near the door...

"Wasn't he near the door?"

— I explained the step by step to her, sir! - she replied.

"Are you telling me that she managed to direct all her energy to a single point and even capture two types of heart rates without even touching the person?" -he asks with a haunted tone, looking at me and Vincent at the same time.

"Weren't you near the door?" - I'm scared, still stuck in that part.

The way Benjamin spoke suggested that I was a bug with a defect and that I certainly needed to be studied.

- Yes! she confirmed. -I just told her what to do and in a few seconds she could hear both of us.

He ignores my question and gets up off the couch even more shocked than before.

"Did you train her those three hours I was gone?" she asked, weighing her feet up to the servant.

"Fuck, what's going on?"

"She's awake practically now!" she explained. -There was no way to train her in such a short time.

"That's it, I'm going to turn into a lab rat!"

"Are you lying to me, Vincent?" -face to face, he gets more nervous.

- No sir!

"God, is he going to kill the poor man?"

"What do I do, run away, or get in the way?"

"Vincent..." he said, closing his eyes.

- FOR! - I come to them, I defend the innocent man. -He's not lying! - I place myself between the two. -He asked me to concentrate and that's what I did!

— Mila, touching someone and listening to that person's heart is completely normal for a newly turned. But listening to two hearts, without any training or physical contact, is practically impossible for someone who has only been in transition for two weeks.

"Two weeks?"

“I was on the other side of the mansion, there was no way you could hear me. Not even vampires with even a year of experience can accomplish this feat!

"T-two weeks?" -whisper.

— I have friends over three hundred years old who even today have trouble doing what you're saying you've done!

"Why am I only finding out about this now?"

"I was out for two weeks?"

- Like this?

He was so focused on the mutated beast that I was, he wasn't even listening to my distress.

"Was I in a coma?"

"I thought my lord had already told you!"

— Did you imagine? - I retort with sarcasm.

“You don't have to worry, Thomas and everyone else is well aware of your situation. - she told. -However, why don't we focus on the part where you explain to me how you did what you did, so quickly?

- I DON'T KNOW! - I lose patience. - I DON'T KNOW DAMN IT! - I scream again. -You're the one who should explain to me why you're a bloody undead. - I talk walking from one side to the other in the middle of the library.

Out of nowhere, Vincent lets a laugh come out of his mouth.

"What are you laughing at, Vincent?" - I question furiously.

"The part that calls you a 'zombie'!" - he laughs.

I take a deep, well, deeper breath and suppress all my urge to punch him in the face.

—Benjamin... -I surround him, returning close to him. -Are you going to tell me what you are, or not?

- Calm down! - he asked worriedly.

"I don't want to be calm, I just want a goddamn explanation!"

- Thousand -

— TALK SOON! -shout.

"Better give her what she wants, sir...

— There's no mystery, I'm like you, but the difference is that I'm the first!

"He even said there would be no mystery..."