Jacques looks at his brothers in question. They don’t get it either. “So why are you laughing?”
“To keep myself from crying.” I shake my head. “I’m fine, really. I’ll order the food.”
Going into the kitchen, I take my jacket off and hang it on the back of the chair and order the food online.
“The other vampire—Gavin—had been to the bar,” I start, pointing to his photo. “I talked to his girlfriend and she said they’d gone to Delirium a few weeks before he went missing. Can just anyone be turned into vampires?”
All eyes fall on Jacques. “If the sire is strong enough, yes.”
“And if not?” I ask.
“They’d die. The actual process of going from human to vampire is full of dark magic, and I don’t know exactly what happens. There’s an exchange of blood, and the sire has to bury himself under the earth during the three days of the new moon.”
I blink. “I was not expecting that. And we have like what…ten days until the next new moon?”
“You keep track of the moon cycles?” Thomas asks.
“Yeah, well, kind of. Crime rates go up around the full moon. Even before, when I didn’t think magic was real, there was no denying something about the full moon made people crazy.”
“At least there’s one thing that hasn’t changed.” Gilbert picks up a full-page photo of the body found in the ditch. “This is a very impressive drawing.”
“It’s a photograph.” I dig my phone from my back pocket. “Watch this.” I lean in next to Gilbert and take a selfie, then flip the phone around to show him. “Don’t worry, I’ll delete it. Though if anyone saw it, they’d assume it was fake.”
“Delete?” Gilbert asks distantly, enamored by the picture.
“Get rid of.” I rack my brain trying to think of the best way to explain this and come up short. It’s confusing enough to explain it to elderly folk who at least already know what a phone and a camera are. “The phone has memory and can store things like photographs. But don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll get used to everything.”
Hasan scowls at the phone. “Is it magic?”
“The opposite of magic.”
“Technology,” Jacques quips.
“Right.” I stifle a laugh. “But back to the vampires…how do they decide who to, uh, eat?”
“From what I understand,” Jacques starts, “they go for what is easiest. Which is basically any human. You are no match for a vampire.”
“Yeah.” I subconsciously bring my hand to the side of my head. “I know.”
“Are you still in pain?”
“No, but I still feel drained of energy. If I really am using magic, how long will it take to get used to this?”
Jacques shakes his head. “I do not know.”
“Why do you know so much about vampires, but know nothing about magic?”
“I didn’t typically deal with magic.”
I wait for him to elaborate. He doesn’t. “But you typically dealt with vampires?”
“No, not often.”
“But sometimes?” I press, not sure if he’s purposely ignoring the shock in my voice or if he really doesn’t understand the rarity dealing with vampires is.
“Yes, sometimes. Mostly, we were called upon to handle demonic possession and assist with exorcisms.”
“Exorcisms,” I echo. “Was this before or after you were cursed?”
