Carolina watched as Nikoli smiled in triumph. “Gentlemen, would you escort the lovely Carolina to the car?” He asked the group of men without breaking eye contact with Carolina. “I have to speak with my family…alone.”

“You promised—”

“Relax, my dear Carolina. They will not be harmed.”

Carolina looked over at a defeated Jonathan Alastor who looked at her and Nikoli in a daze.

“Please, my dear Carolina. Why don’t you wait for me in the car?” Carolina didn’t respond as she was being led to the 1930 Stutz Monte Carlo. Carolina stood there looking at the car with deep sadness for several minutes thinking about the latest events.

“What’s wrong?” Nikoli asked causing her jump slightly in fright.

“Nothing, everything’s fine. Are you ready to leave?” Carolina asked as she was about to open the car door.

Nikoli stepped in front of her before she could touch the car, “My dear Carolina, lying is something that I will not tolerate. So… you need to tell me what has you so sad.”

She took in Nikoli’s appearance; he was standing in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs slightly apart.

Sighing in defeat she answered, “I have no control over my life.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to you, I was never going to be in control of my life. I’ve been promised to you before I was even born! I’m sorry if I’m not grateful that you’ve enlightened me but I liked my life. I just realized that I’m never going to be free to do what I choose!”

Nikoli nodded, uncrossed his arms and opened the passenger door. “Get in,” he simply stated. “We have much to discuss.”

Carolina nodded and entered the car. She watched as Nikoli turned to one of the men, and he then got into the car. “My dear Carolina, we are going to my favorite restaurant and during our drive you can ask me anything you want.” 

Carolina agreed and Nikoli started the car and began driving.

“What are you?”

Nikoli laughed, “Well, you’re jumping right into it. My family is gifted with immortality.”

“Immortals? Your family is immortal?”

“Yes, it was a gift. My grandfather saved a warlock’s daughter and her cousin from being raped during a Viking raid. The Warlock was grateful and honored by grandfather and his family immortality.”

“Why?”

“Well, it was a time when many Vikings were dishonorable. The warlock was being forced into slavery and one of the high ranking warriors was taking advantage of his family.”

“Why would he give your family immortality? That’s a tremendous gift to give an entire family.”

“You were not around during Viking times, my dear Carolina. If you would’ve been a slave during that time, you would be passed around a Viking dinner table of twenty. To find a Viking warrior with honor was a rare thing. So the warlock wanted to preserve that honor.”

Carolina shook her head in denial. “There must be more to the story, I mean immortality? That’s a huge gift! No one just gives that away!” She looked over to see that Nikoli was smiling, “What? You know it’s true.”

“There could be more to the story, especially since I’m no longer an immortal.”

The news shocked Carolina, “What do you mean?”

“I have five younger brothers, and I had one younger sister.”

“Had? Did she pass away?”

“No, but she hasn’t been her normal self in centuries.”

“What happened?”

“When we were in Britain my sister was quite popular. One day my brothers Mikael, Kalien, Viktor and I went out to swim in a nearby river. We told our sister, Talia that we would take her into town so that she could pick up this dress that was custom made. She grew impatient and went into town by herself. When my brothers and I went back home and found that Weston was the only one there we were in a panic. We searched for weeks and I was the most passionate. One day I received a letter with an address with a room number. It was an old lodge, when I walked in there was this little old lady. When I told her about the letter she burst into tears, she kept saying that she didn’t know what they were doing and if they knew about the letter she would end up dead. After I told her that no harm will come to her, she led me up to the room. When I opened the door I was greeted with my sister tied naked to four bed posts, while the room smelled of sweat and semen.”  Carolina gasped in horror causing Nikoli to turn his attention toward her for a second, “I’ll spare you the old lady’s testimony. When I got home with my baby sister my mother was distraught, I told my father about the culprits and he did nothing.”

“He did nothing? Didn’t he go to the authorities?”

“He did, but that proved to be worthless. The men who kidnapped and raped my sister happened to be of ‘elite status.’ ”

Carolina looked at him, “You took matters into your own hands.”

“I did. I decided that those wealthy little boys who hurt my sister should be punished and that the world would benefit from their deaths. I killed all thirty of them.” When Carolina looked at him with horror in her gaze, he nodded once, “Yes, thirty paying customers to take my sister whenever they wanted. I left the one who took her innocence first live after I have finished killing his friends.”

“Why?”

“I watched him live his life as if he never took my sister. It was on his wedding night that I killed him while his bride watched.”

“What happened to his wife afterwards?”

“I killed her. After I was killing each man I was feeling weaker with each death. I would be sleeping throughout the day and staying up at night. It was after I killed the last one that I felt different. When his bride tried to run, the only way out was through the window. She smashed it open with her hand, and the smell blood was so strong. I couldn’t help myself, I ended up draining her and that’s when I became…different.”

“So…you’re a vampire?”

“It would appear so.”

When Carolina opened her mouth to speak no words came out. “Close your mouth you look crazy fish. To answer your question the warlock’s spell was a gift to honorable men and I did something that was dishonorable. I killed people instead of doing the honorable thing, which was turning them in to the authorities.”

“What’s the difference between an immortal and vampire? Well, besides the blood thing.”

“They are similar. An immortal is incredibly strong and fast. They have good hearing and smell. A vampire has all of those except their senses are weak during the daytime and need blood every week.”

Carolina faced the front windshield and became lost in thought. Ten minutes passed by in silence until Carolina asked another question, “Where is your sister now?”

“Living with me, my father turned his back on my sister as well as myself. My sister felt safer when I killed the men who hurt her and for that my father shunned her.”

“She didn’t do anything. Your sister was raped and your father shunned her?”

“In her attempt to feel safer she was condoning my dishonorable behavior.”

“So…your family disowned you because you killed thirty men who kidnapped and raped your sister?”

“No, they disowned me for different reasons.”