Me:How are you?
Noor:I have been better. They gave me blood in the hospital, and now I am very weak
Me:Same. I miss you
Noor:I am so happy to hear from you. Did your father change his mind?
Me:No. That’s why I’m texting so late—Dad doesn’t need to know about what happens when he’s asleep
Noor:I was awake in any case
We told each other about our attacks. She’d been walking home from work at about six p.m. Le Bec had attacked her on a side street. Fortunately, someone had seen him, and he ran away. I said he’d been waiting for me outside our neighborhood church.
Noor:I think he planned this. Attacking both of us. I am so sorry
Me:For what?
Noor:It is my fault. I knew he was not a good guy
Me:You didn’t make him attack us
Noor:He would not have known you if I had had the courage to break with him. But I knew that he would make things very difficult for me on the street. I had seen him do that to others
Me:Madame Dupuy says he’s a vampire
Me:Sorry for the whiplash
Noor:Like?
Me:Like that
Noor:She is joking?
Me:She says her grandparents were professional vampire killers in Croatia
Noor:I do not know what to say
Me:Agree. It’s kind of a conversation killer. She said she learned to kill a vampire when she was 9. Who does that to a kid?
Noor:…
Me:She said Le Bec could have infected me, but she didn’t think so, because I had a transfusion. She made me look in a mirror to make sure I can see my reflection
Noor:Is she okay in her head?
Me:I think so. She also told me that silver burns vampires. That night in the catas when Le Bec “pretended” to attack me, when he touched the silver necklace I was wearing, he pulled away quick. He acted like it burned him
Noor:I do not know what to say. It sounds so strange
Me:I know; it’s a lot. You don’t have to believe or take a side or anything. But Mme D thinks he’s an extra-bad guy,which he definitely is. So maybe she has some insight here?
Noor:I just looked in the mirror. I am human. And now I feel silly
Me:Same. I know. Mme D actually breathed a big sigh of relief, though
Me:Are we okay? I need you to know that I don’t agree with my dad. You’re not responsible for any of this
Noor:We are okay.
