Elaine's POV
His words struck me deeply, and I wouldn't lie, it had me thinking that he overheard the conversation I was having with Cordelia. It made me feel so transparent to the point where nobody needed to aid his or her vision to be able to see through me. It really made me feel bad, so I summoned the courage to speak. To ask, even though I might not be given an answer.
"Tell me about yourself, then," I blurted out, making him snap his head towards me in shock. I don't know… I kinda regretted my question immediately because the last thing I wanted was to block my access to Damien when I didn't have access at all to Kai.
"Me?" he asked back in disbelief.
"Yes. I mean, you just said it yourself that if I must ask, I should ask the right question, and since the basis won't be given to me, I have to ask for it."
"I see," he murmured, turning to the other side of the bed so that he wouldn't have to look at me.
"Or you can tell me about that night yourself."
Maybe my last line made it worse because this time around, he wasn't just turning his back to me, he wasn't talking too. I tried to think of words to get him to talk or maybe a gesture that didn't include offering my body for sex again.
"My name is Damien Voss," he spoke up with a sigh.
"I don't mean your name, Damien," I pouted. "You know I need way beyond that, and please, I need genuine answers here."
He didn't talk. He just stood from the bed and walked a little to the left so that he was standing directly in front of me. I watched as he stood up, and sincerely, I didn't think about him showing me his real form to expose anything about him. He grew his sharp fangs and claws. I took note of how his eye color darkened and his skin looked paler.
"This is what I am," he announced while avoiding my gaze, making me grow curious. Really, it was silly that he was avoiding my gaze when he didn't even know the amount of dirty thoughts dancing around in my head.
"A vampire?"
"She has spilled a lot already," he cursed under his breath, and I didn't have to ask to know that he was talking about Cordelia.
"It's not like you'd believe it if I say that she didn't tell me as much as you're thinking, but she actually didn't," I tried to assure him.
"I'd find out myself, and when I do, it better not be different from what you just said."
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes before standing up from the bed to cover my nakedness. "How old are you?"
"That is such a ridiculous question to ask," he scoffed, shifting back to his human self.
"Well, I'm asking it already, and I want answers," I said gently, looking him in the eye.
"Fine," he breathed out. "Because we tend to live very long, we don't count our age like humans do. A century makes up one year for us, so if I'm five, that means I'm five hundred years old," he took his time speaking while my jaw literally dropped open.
"So…"
"I am a hundred and twenty-five years old," he said simply.
No way. I sat on the bed, trying to process what I just heard, but it was as if the more I tried to understand, the more senseless it was to me. The sound of Damien's laughter brought me back down to earth. It was the first time I heard and saw him laugh freely, and trust me when I say this—it was so melodic.
"You can't blame me for acting the way I am. I mean, I'm sitting next to a creature which might be as old as earth itself, and I just got to know in the most casual way ever. Don't expect me to act like everything is okay," I ranted, making him laugh even more.
While he enjoyed the moment of my ignorance and sincere reaction to knowledge, my mind drifted to Kai, remembering what Cordelia said about Kai being one of the oldest. Does it mean he was much older than Damien? Damn! I didn't even want to think about the sex part.
"What's your biggest worry?"
"I don't know… I just wasn't expecting to hear the actual figure. It's a lot for a creature who roams around the earth. I feel like one day I'd be so bored that I'd have to ask death to come and take me," I just gave him my honest opinion, which he nodded in agreement to.
"Sometimes it's the other way around. We age, but we don't even look old in any way, that's in both strength and physique. We can still do the things a very active youth can do, and it just sums up to living your youth as the longest phase of your life," he replied.
"Was there a time that vampires had to live with humans…? Maybe that's also the reason why you're a year plus after a century."
"The answer is yes, and then, everybody lived under one rule, which made us adapt to their standards, especially because they didn't have to feel so intimidated by my kind or feel like our presence would drive them out completely."
"I see," I murmured. "I think I'm done for today, and I want to ask one more question."
"I'm listening."
"Tell me about your family. How you were born… Were you born human or vampire?"
I had a lot more to ask so that he would dive deeper when answering the question, but the drastic change in his aura made me shut up. His eyes were turning to a darker shade, and I just wished that there was a way for me to vanish.
"Why would you ask such?" His voice was deep, clearly not in a happy mood as he was a few moments ago.
"Maybe I was just being curious. I got here, and I was supposed to carry out an investigation, which I haven't even started. Kai gets to have sex with me, you get to have sex with me, and the least I'm expecting is just to know the basis of your family."
"Your intention may be clear, but I'll plead with you concerning this," his voice kept growing deeper and colder. "Please never ask me such a question again."
I swallowed hard, sad about ruining the day that was already going well. I think it was funny how I grew up thinking about my childhood story to be the worse of them all, but from Damien's reaction, I would say that his was nothing compared to mine.
"I apologize if I said or asked something wrong, but I honestly thought that it was okay to ask," I quickly explained.
"I know where you're driving at with all these questions, and I'd give you the basis. Unlike me, Kai is a Lycan, except that he's currently facing a lot of deep shit, and honestly, you don't even want to be in his life. However, there is something about Kai, and that is the fact that he always kept on surviving."
"Why was he apologizing that way?"
"Because he is currently a danger to himself, and maybe he didn't want to hurt you. He is also terrible at explaining himself so yeah, you have to give him a little time for you to know what exactly is going on," he shrugged.
'Maybe' wasn't a good answer for the level of sincerity I wanted, however, I felt that it was something that was not even in Damien's place to spill. Maybe I would just have to speak to Cordelia and Kai later about it.
I put a small smile on my face, deeply appreciating that Damien wasn't as bad and awful as I thought that he was. I appreciated his sincerity, even though I was sure that I wasn't going to rely on only it completely to be able to get what I wanted. Still, it meant a lot to me.
"We'll leave the rest for another day since you love to visit," I joked.
"I think what I love is sleeping within the same closed walls," he smirked. "Really, I never thought that having a conversation with you was going to be that good," he admitted with a small smile.
"Me too. I think I appreciate your honesty in everything you just said."
He pulled me into an embrace after he pulled me to stand before me.
"Maybe someday we'd talk about the ritual, and when the time comes, I might let you know the intensity of what we did," he sounded serious again.
"Maybe," I smiled.
"Also, never forget that Kai is a danger to himself and to anybody in contact with him."