The corners of his lips curled up with satisfaction. “So you believe me?” he asked, his gravely voice somehow retaining a degree of seduction that left me mildly breathless. The rest of the restaurant melted away as his presence pulled me into a fantastical world of magic and mystery.
I shivered then shrugged. “I’ll entertain the thought,” I said, “but I just don’t see how it would be possible to feed on people in today’s world. You’re always on video.”
He let the grin fill his whole face with charm and he sat back in his chair, obviously delighted with how the conversation was going. My heartrate quickened. Had I made a mistake? Was I next? As though he could read my thoughts, he purred, “don’t worry Emma, I am not going to feed on you.”
“I…” I had to gasp to catch my breath. “I didn’t think you would.” I paused. “Well, maybe.” I looked around. There weren’t many occupied tables around ours. We had just ordered a bottle of wine when I asked him to explain how vampires could be killing and feeding on people without being caught on camera now that everyone and their grandma had a recording device on them at all times.
He laughed. I had known him for a few years and I had never heard him laugh like that. It was debonair. It was sophisticated, refined. It put me at ease effortlessly. “You are my friend. A vampire never feeds on his friends. It’s bad form. When you live forever you notice all the little ways karma catches up with you. Feeding on friends brings bad karma.”
I snorted. “You believe in karma?”
He shot back, “you believe in vampires?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Unbelievable,” I chuckled. “You’re too much. But you still haven’t answered my question.”
“Tell me,” he said, “what do you know about vampires?”
I paused and thought. “Well, all the usual stuff I guess. Silver bullets, crosses, stakes through the heart, garlic… Wait, do you not have a reflection?” I reached for my purse to pull out the little compact with a mirror.
His charm rang out over the din of the restaurant as he let out a hearty laugh. “Fiction has not been kind to us,” he said. “I always get a laugh out of the garlic, but not having a reflection… I always forget about that one.”
I squinted at him as I opened the compact and slowly maneuvered it until I was looking across the table at him. He waved at me smiling, his reflection as real and clear as the rest of the crimson curtains and crystal chandeliers in the restaurant. I sighed, “so you probably show up on camera just fine too.”
“It would be pretty strange if I didn’t. I’m sure I’d be in some government lab being dissected and studied by now if I could somehow hide my image from mirrors and cameras.”
“So how do you do it then? How do you get away with…” I hesitated, realizing the weight of my words before I said them.
As if to rescue me from my own mouth, he swooped in with, “first you should know that there are very few active vampires in the world. We prefer it that way. Too many and it becomes statistically inevitable that one of us will be discovered. We work together to ensure we can all blend in as invisibly as possible, brainstorming ways to stay hidden and helping each other start a new life in a new place whenever we feel that we’ve been in any one place too long.”
“A group effort,” I offered.
He smiled. “Yes. And I’m afraid the answer to your question is far less interesting than you might think. But it is also sad, and perhaps a bit… how can I put it? Embarrassing? Private?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there is polite conversation, and then there is the discussion of how one goes about identifying and hiding… prey.” He was sulking as he said it, then suddenly he perked up. “Let’s talk about something else. I’ve been alive for several hundred lifetimes. Surely there are more interesting things to talk about?”
I eyed him carefully, scanning his face for any sign of deception or cruelty, but all I could find was sincerity and… pain. Anguish. I choked and swallowed hard, feeling short on air. “Alright,” I said softly. “We can talk about something else.” I looked around the restaurant and laughed. “If you don’t eat food why did you want to talk at a restaurant?”
He shrugged. “I like wine,” he said, smiling.
Mermaid Pirate Dispatch 
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