Chapter 3

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I found myself out in the lawn of all places, sitting cross legged on the soft, spectacularly green grass like I owned it. Jannosh was setting up an umbrella beside as I stared morosely at the thick wall of trees that surrounded the property in an almost perfect circle.

It turned out Jannosh was a man. He was a tall, burly individual with ashy blonde hair and a bristly beard. He literally looked like a lumberjack, down to the red plaid shirt and wide, calloused hands. The remarkable thing about him though, was his light violet eyes.

It was obvious he was like Myrnah, whatever her condition was. They were both so normal looking except for those crazy eyes of theirs. Admittedly, Jannosh looked far less alarming than Myrnah did – he hadn’t spoken a word to me yet, but I already liked him. There was a quiet certainty in everything he did, as if he knew exactly what he was doing and liked doing it.

I looked up at him as he opened the umbrella up, and I was swallowed in its shade from the hot sun. He caught my eye and smiled at me.

“My name’s Lilah.” I told him matter-of-factly. It wasn’t the best opener, but I already felt so comfortable with him.

“I’m called Jannosh.” He replied. His voice was rumbly, like a storm, and heavily accented like Myrnah’s. I smiled up at him from my seat on the ground. He was standing with his hands behind his back, his feet shoulder width apart. I had a nagging feeling that he was some kind of servant, like Myrnah was. It was really confusing, because the two of them obviously weren’t related to Apollo.

“Are you Myrnah’s brother?” I asked.

His responding laugh was as deep and rumbly as his voice, and I found that I liked it. “Myrnah is my wife.” His eyes looked amused.

“Oh.” I replied lamely.

Jannosh lowered himself so he was crouched down beside me. His actions were hesitant, and his eyes met mine uncertainly. In response, I moved over under the umbrella so he could sit next to me. He smiled again and settled beside me comfortably. He obviously liked me too.

“How do you know Apollo?” I asked casually.

Jannosh shrugged easily. “He helped me and Myrnah when we needed it. We are both very grateful for his hospitality.”

“Are you like… his servants, or something?” I asked curiously. I knew I was being extremely rude, but it was so easy being around Jannosh.

His eyes were amused again as he glanced at me. “I suppose that would be the correct term for what we do here. We work around the house, and we like it. We refuse any payment Sir Ambrosia suggests to us.”

“Ambrosia…?

“His last name.” Jannosh told me. “His full name is Apollo Ambrosia.”

I mused this in silence. Even his damn name was beautiful. He sounded like a movie star, or some hero in history.

“You know that he is a vampire, am I correct?” His tone matched mine in casualness, but his shoulders were tense for the first time in the time I’d spent with him.

“Yeah.” I looked away from him to the forest again. The trees stared back at me, their boughs waving in the wind as if to tell me to elaborate.

“And?” Jannosh asked for them. I could feel his eyes on my face.

“And what?” I squinted back at him.

He tilted his head as if it was obvious. “And are you afraid?”

I was silent for a long minute. “No, I’m not.” I sighed.

After Apollo had told me, he’d breezed out of the room as if he had suddenly remembered something and had to attend to it, leaving me and Myrnah to avoid eye contact with each other. She finally offered to get me some tea, but I politely turned her down before wandering out of the room and out the front door.

I’d stared out at the trees for what felt like an hour. It would be so easy to walk out into the forest, find the nearest highway and hitchhike the hell out of there. But my feet wouldn’t move, and I eventually sat down hard on the grass and continued staring at the foliage.

The thing that had me bewildered with myself was that I believed him. I believed Apollo with every ounce of my being; if he said he was a vampire, then a vampire he was. It was such an outrageous and crazy thing for someone to say about themselves, that in any other situation I would have burst out laughing. Vampire? You? No, you’re just psycho.

Apollo wasn’t just anybody, though. Besides the fact that he was probably the best looking guy in the world, his eyes were so solemn and bitter and honest. He had the eyes of an old man in his face, and I knew that his sense of humour didn’t include telling people that he was a mythical creature. That, plus the stunt with Myrnah closing the curtains – I guess that myth about sunlight wasn’t completely unfounded.

Despite my acceptance of it, I wasn’t afraid. Which was dumb, to put it simply. I was a human being – a human being that pumped blood and probably shouldn’t be hanging around vampires. I should have run out screaming the first opportunity I had and taken my chances with Ted Roscoe finding me with my thumb sticking out on the highway.

I couldn’t banish one redeeming fact from my mind, though. I’d been bleeding heavily after I’d crashed Macy, and Apollo had pulled me out of her without killing me. My blood was probably within inches of his face as he picked me up – hell, it probably got on his shirt or his face- but he hadn’t bitten me or eaten me or whatever modern day vampires actually did. He’d resisted, and I was still alive.

Despite what he was, he was by far one of the kindest individuals to enter my life – and there weren’t a lot of those present. Even though being here was so crazy and surreal and dangerous, I still wanted to stay. Even knowing what he was, I still wanted to stay with Apollo.

Jannosh was silent as I contemplated my situation again. His fingers absently twiddled with a couple blades of grass as he stared out at the forest with me.

“You’re not afraid either.” It was more of a statement than a question.

Jannosh shook his head. “I have never trusted anyone more than him.” He said quietly.

I nodded, and we were both silent again.

“Are you and Myrnah vampires too?” I asked suddenly.

His loud, boisterous laughter made me jump. Jannosh’s face was stretched in a wide grin as he looked at me – like his wife’s, his smile was surprisingly beautiful. “Miss Lilah, do we look anything like Sir Ambrosia?”

I looked away too fast, and he laughed again.

“No, we are not vampires,” He was smiling as he turned to face the front again, “We are shifters.”

“What?” I yelped.

“Shifters.” Jannosh repeated patiently. “We can change our form at will.”

I just stared at him, and he lifted a giant hand to point at his eyes. “These are an obvious sign. If you see anyone with unusual eyes, they are like Myrnah and I.”

I continued to gape at him.

He sighed, and right before my eyes, he began to change. It was like his features were shimmering; Jannosh was literally a mirage, a blur of colours and shapes melting into each other. I cried out and half crawled, half dragged myself away from him and the shade of the umbrella. However, it was over as soon as it started. And sitting where Jannosh had been mere seconds beforehand, was Apollo.

Even though I knew it was only Jannosh, my breath was still taken away. His bright green eyes met mine seriously, and his features were so perfect it was ridiculous.

“You understand now?” Even his voice was the perfect imitation. “Myrnah and I are a rare occurrence, and it is why we have been shunned.”

Jannosh casually stuck his hand out, leaving the comfort of the umbrella’s shade. In the sunlight, Apollo’s ivory skin looked like marble – smooth, flawless and cold. “You’ll know it’s not him if he walks into the sun – the rays cause him physical pain, and he would never do it on purpose.” He said it absently, as a side note.

As he spoke, he shifted back into his own form. I breathed a sigh of relief and scooted back beside him.”How did your clothes change too?” After the initial shock, his ability was probably the coolest thing I’d ever seen before – and like the crazy person I was, I was fascinated instead of scared out of my mind.

Jannosh suddenly smiled mischievously. “My clothes are part of the form I took – I am not technically wearing clothes right now.” He winked at me, and I burst out laughing.

After I quieted down, he turned serious again. “You aren’t afraid of me?”

I glanced at him. “If I’m not scared of a vampire, what makes you think I’ll be scared of you? That wasn’t that cool anyway.” I bluffed.

Jannosh chuckled, and it fell silent between us again. I wondered for the millionth time why I was here. It was obvious now that I was the only human around, and either I hit my head too hard when I crashed or I’d died and was now in some imbetween place before I went to heaven, but this was really happening. Vampires and shifters and magic really existed – and I’d accidentally drove headlong into it, literally.

“You should speak to him.” Jannosh suddenly stated very quietly.

“Who?” I was bewildered.

I could tell he really wanted to roll his eyes. “Sir Ambrosia, Lilah.”

At the mention of him again, I turned and looked at the impressive house behind me. As I did, the curtains in the top right window twitched slightly, as if someone has been looking out before leaving suddenly. I had a good feeling who had been watching from the window.

“Who else lives here?” I asked, looking back at Jannosh.

“Just us.”  He leaned back and closed his eyes, as if he suddenly felt like having a nap.

I looked back again. The curtains didn’t move.

“We don’t get guests very often.” Jannosh stated matter-of-factly, his eyes still closed. “Apollo must be a very lonely man.”

I didn’t miss the fact that he’d used his first name, or what Jannosh was stealthily implying. Apollo wanted me to stay, and apparently Jannosh wanted me to stay too.

I got up, smoothed the skirt of the nightgown I was still wearing down, and began to head back to the house. I didn’t say bye to Jannosh, and from his relaxed position under the umbrella, he didn’t expect me too. I wasn’t truly leaving anytime soon, and he would see me again.

---

It was easier to find him than I thought it would be. The peaceful silence of the house was interrupted by the distant sounds of a harp. How I knew it was a harp, I have no idea. The sounds were melancholy and somehow honest, like Apollo was. I followed the music notes up a narrow staircase before arriving at an oak door. I hesitated in the windowless hallway before knocking.

“Come in.” His voice was faint.

I opened it cautiously before peeking in. It obviously a bedroom, similar in set up to the bedroom I had been in, but five times more extravagant. However, it also differed in the fact that piles of books were everywhere – stacked in tottering towers on the desk, on top of the wardrobe and even on the floor. A web of notes was stuck up on the wall beside the desk. From what I could see, the writing on them was extremely intricate and tiny, I couldn’t make out a word if I wanted to. The room was illuminated by several lamps drilled into the walls – the large window was obscured by a heavy drape that didn’t let any light through. It was by this hidden window that Apollo sat; his back to me as his fingers strummed the chords of a simple wooden harp.

“Your music’s beautiful.” I told him as I ventured slowly into the room.

His fingers continued to delicately move, and the responding notes were perfect.

“Thank you.” He responded politely, still not facing me.

I wandered forward until I was opposite him, but he still wouldn’t meet my eyes. His face was solemn and unreadable, and I wondered what he was thinking as he played.

“How long have you been playing?” I asked awkwardly. I had no idea what to say or how to act around him. Despite how kind and gentle he’d been to me so far, I couldn’t act as easily with him as I had with Jannosh.

The hints of a smile played around his lips. “A while.” He said vaguely, and I felt like he was implying something different behind the statement.

I opened my mouth to ask him about it, but he continued speaking.

“I’ve always loved playing the harp.” He said, his voice void of any emotion. “It’s so much more unique than any other instrument I’ve tried.”

“What instruments have you tried?”

“Oh, too many to mention. Saxophone, violin, piano.” He finally glanced up at me, his eyes strangely guarded. “I should be playing piano I suppose; today’s society is under the impression that all vampires play piano.”

It was a test, I knew it was. He wanted to know how I felt about what he’d told me, and he’d done it in a spectacularly clever way.

I could be clever too.

“Well, you’ve never been like other vampires, I’m guessing.” I smiled at him. “You’re too cool, or something.”

He laughed softly, and his eyes were gentle again. I’d passed the test.

We were both quiet as he played. The sounds coming from the harp were now much lighter than earlier – I had a feeling he was improvising his own composition, and that it reflected his moods.

“I’d like to stay here, Apollo.” I finally stated quietly.

His fingers paused. “Despite what I am?” His eyes were focused on the instrument in his hands.

“Despite what you are.” I confirmed.

He smiled at me, a real smile. It was so achingly bright and beautiful I almost swooned. “I’m glad.”

For a second, we just looked at each other. But immediately after, he stood up and set down his harp in one movement, and extended a hand to me. “Would you care to join me for a tour around the house?”

And just like that, I became a part of the house in the woods.

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That's Jannosh to the right! I actually love him (':

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