text: Who would have thought that a 1000 years old vampire, by the name of Vengietta Bloodmoon, could be so... charming. The dinner was fun and we are talking for 4 hours already. My sword and dagger are somewhere in the dining hall, my armor I took off next to this astoundingly comfy sofa. And we are so close to each other I can feel the warmth of her skin. I never knew vampires would have warm skin. I always thought - being undead and all - they would be ice-cold, just like zombies. She told me, laughingly, as if to let me in on an intimate joke: "Yes, that is a common misconception. We may be undead, but we drink so much blood, and that blood still circulates through our bodies, it does make sense for us to be at least somewhat warm, doesn't it?" I still feel awkward for asking, even though that was over an hour ago. Oh, and her reasoning for this invitation is the cutest and saddest thing I've ever heard: "It's just been so long since I had a normal conversation with someone from the living world. I miss learning about the outside. The technological advancements, the changes in social constructs, new cultural phenomenons, everything. But because of the stupid curse of a past pope, I have no chance to escape this old castle." "You want to know about the outside? Anything specific?" "Oh, just in general. The last time someone talked to me normally, the world was about go up in flames due to a war with... Nazis, I believe they were called?" "Oh, wow, that was *over 70 years ago*. You really had noone to talk to for this long?" "Well, I can talk to animals in their language, but they don't understand half of what is going on between humans." For over 3 hours I just told her about the world - about what happened in the last 80 or so years. The curiosity and fascination in her eyes and her body-language was so adorable. Now, we are talking about music and art. I told her about Progressive Rock. To someone that never heard about Rock in general, I had a hard time explaining it. The best I could come up with was "Traditional music with hard and dirty sounds, and heavy rhythms" - god, that is one horrible explanation. "I will bring something the next time I visit." "You want to visit *again*?" her red eyes shine so bright I can see the dark green spots in them. "Yeah, of course! We have so much fun talking with each other, why wouldn't I come again?" "Oh, thank you so much." it looks like she was about to cry, but there are no tears. "This is so nice to hear from someone alive. It means a lot, even just the thought." "It's not just a thought. People are hard to come by that are actually engaging to talk to." With that, she throws herself into my arms and we are now just sitting there, in a deep embrace. I have the impression, love doesn't discriminate between the living and the undead. ***Is There A Future?*** Over the last year, I've been spending a lot of time with Vengietta in her castle. I really do like her. She knows my parents, I know her world. Her real parents died when she was still a small child, killed by her progenitor, and she killed that vampire herself the first chance she got. Her friends were wary of me - being a monster hunter and all - but they came around, just like my parents did with her. They like her I think. Her very intellectual and... royal attitude is very much what my parents would want me to be as well. And *her* friends are... fascinating, to say the least. They are very 'physical' with me, always challenging me to friendly duels. I think I have yet to have a meeting with any of them that doesn't at least turn into a short brawl with some monster. And Mindflayers are hilarious. The ability to make everyone drunk or high without any long-term side effects is amazing. Vengietta seems so happy all the time. Despite being over 1000 years old, she never lost her appreciation for the beauty in life. Despite having suffered so much, being cursed to stay in this castle forever, she never lost her trust in humanity. Instead she developed a strong faith in the possibility that humans and monsters can co-exist some day. And, having gotten to know her and her friends, I now share that believe. And her appreciation for any form of art is beyond anything I have ever seen. She finds beauty in everything. In the literary descriptions by Süßkind or Lovecraft just as in movies like 50/50 or - completely different - Event Horizon, or music of any kind. And the way she dances! To say 'ethereal' doesn't even match the smallest aspects of her dance. The ability to shapeshift into crows, bats, snakes, a cat or a hound ads so many options to her movement, it is amazing to watch. Very difficult for a human to keep up though. I think I have to correct myself. I don't 'really do like' her. I love her. But... it is difficult, sometimes. There is of course the aging process. As long as she feeds on animals, she won't die or age, but I will. And I am not sure if I want to become a vampire myself. It would of course bring a lot of advantages with it, the most important one that I can spend a long life with her. But not every vampire can control their hunger with only cattle and wild animals. If I am not strong enough to control it, I will become a problem for humans. I wouldn't want that, not at all. I don't want to endanger innocent people - or innocent monsters for that matter. But the worst is... I pity her. I want for her to be able to see the world herself, not just through tellings of others. I could never tell her that I pity her, that seems... cruel. But it doesn't change the fact that I feel that way. The current pope is more open-minded and maybe he would be willing to lift the curse, so Vengietta can be free... I think I should try that. I will talk with Vengietta about it.