11 CH 11

It took me a few moments to process this revelation Edythe had hit me with, "You are a what now?"

"A mind reader, a bona fide real-life peeker into everyone's thoughts, whether I want to or not." Edythe admitted the last part with a sigh.

"So you have been reading my mind from the beginning?" I asked with a shock. Oh my god, I have imagined things about this girl.

"No, please don't jump to conclusion yet. There is still more to it than that." she pacified me. I calmed down and nodded for her to continue.

"Anyway, yes usually I have the ability to read surface thoughts of nearly everyone in a certain radius around me. Even if they have some hidden thoughts, I can read them through a brief physical contact, even allowing me to browse their memories through extended physical contact."

"But, I recently found out there are exceptions, two in particular. The first is Bella Swan, and the second is You."

"You can't read her thoughts either?" I asked surprised. Wow, who could have known that frail little Bella had such a powerful secret hidden in her.

"Yes, but there are differences" Edythe continued "With Bella its like a steel wall, no entry matter how much you push."

"But, with you its like a bottomless ocean of extremely dense and viscous water. No matter how deep I go, I never reach the end to read the thoughts, and that is while having physical contact too."

"Anyway, this speciality of yours, combined with your attractiveness drew me to you like a moth to a flame. But, the more time I spent with you, the more I began to fall for you as a person rather than whatever uniqueness you have."

"I had just decided that your speciality or uniqueness wont matter to me and that I wanted to try a serious relationship with you. Then came the revelation about your second set of specialities."

"That particular discovery gave me a pause, as this was something more than just being immune to mind reading. Hence despite knowing it was wrong, I continued to visit every night secretly to watch you, from the time you trained till when you finally slept."

"This was extremely important to me, as I had to know exactly what you are and if my family will be in danger because of what we are." Edythe admitted as she looked at my face.

"Your family? Why would they be in danger because of me?" I asked confused.

"Because my whole family and I, are vampires. It was due to this reason that I had to make sure you were not sent here by our enemies, or some other hidden entity." her statement hit me like a speeding truck, leaving me breathless for quite a while.

Seeing my expression, She gave me enough time to adjust without interrupting as she knew it was a lot to take in.

"So, vampires huh?" I finally asked her "Are any of the stories true?"

"We are not some mindless monsters, but we do need blood to live, that part is true. We do kill those we feed upon, but that is not usually due to lack of control, but rather due to choice."

"We can do both humans and animals, both kinds of blood brings different changes in us. You can usually separate the animal blood drinkers from the usual kind due to our golden-topaz pupils." she said indicating her eyes.

"So why kill your blood targets?" I asked

"Because of this" she opened her mouth slightly and for the first time I saw her vampire canines. They were somewhat of a cross between a carnivore animal's canine and a snake's fangs.

"Why are the fangs responsible?" I asked in confusion.

"Well, more often than not we bite our targets to brink blood, since our fangs are some of the strongest and sharpest materials out there." Edythe explained.

"But on the down side, our fangs release a sort of infectious venom whenever they are pressed against anything. It is highly corrosive to all bio-materials, especially any living beings."

"When the venom goes into any living creature, it renders them nearly incapacitated through generating extreme pain in their nerves and muscular tissue. We believe we evolved in this direction to make the 'hunt' easier."

"However, there is a hidden side to the venom. If after drinking the blood, we leave the victim alive, the venom will slowly converts them into the very being that hunted them."

"That is how a new vampire is made, through extreme torture for three days as the venom disintegrates your human cells, while replacing them with vampiric cells. It literally kills you, then rebirths you from the remains."

"That must be incredibly painful to go through" I said sympathetically. No matter if I am upset with her, I cant take pleasure in her pain.

"You have no idea. It is the worst experience of my life." Edythe said, shuddering lightly "Anyway, vampiric cells are dead, or undead, hence they need nutrition in the form of fresh blood, which ironically is the only stuff that can sustain us."

"What about you eating and drinking with me all those time?" I asked her in shock "you even commented on my cooking many times."

"Oh that, well first time I was just shooting in the dark. After that I read many cookbooks and watched innumerable cooking shows to learn how to judge the taste without actually being able to taste it. The enhanced sense of smell vampires possess helped too." she said in a dismissive tone.

"You did all that, just to make sure you can give an accurate opinion to me?" I asked. I was both shocked and grateful, my feelings of annoyance at her fading slowly.

"Well yes, it was important to you and I didn't wasn't to diminish its importance," she admitted with a nod.

I smiled at her gratefully at that "So you really cant taste anything?"

"No, pretty hard to when all your organs and muscles are effectively stone." Edythe said with a shrug.

"Hold on, stone? Your whole body is? What happens to the food then?" I asked

"Yes our whole body is made of a bio-material similar to extremely dense marble or granite. Though certain parts of our body muscles expanded and contract, they are all made of stone like material. Our hair is the only exception, but they are some extremely tough fiber like material too."

"As for food, its like swallowing things made of mud. No taste, irritating and uncomfortable texture and it just sits in our stomach until we vomit it out." She said nonchalantly, as if commenting on weather.

"Oh god, I am so sorry Edythe" I said apologetically "I even made you eat so much of it every time you visited. I wanted to impress you with my cooking skills. God, I am such an idiot."

"It's fine Krishna," Edythe said with a soft chuckle "Also we have trained extensively for interaction with humans. So I am not unfamiliar with eating food."

"Still, I feel guilty about it." I said miserably. Suddenly Edythe started chuckling, which soon evolved to loud musical laughs.

"What are you laughing about?" I asked puzzled.

"Oh, you are just so lovable and precious, Krishna. Here I am, admitting myself to be part of the infamous rulers of the night and stars of many typical horror stories. And you feel guilty for feeding me food? Oh god, its things like this that makes me fall for you even more." she said with a full blown grin.

"Well, part of it might be because of whatever I am. Plus you already know my stance on inhuman beings, doesn't mean I am not surprised you are one." I replied.

"But honestly, you have been more 'human', than many others I can point out. Hence I have no reason to complain. Also it does help that your are cute and I like you a lot."

"So you think I am cute huh?" Edythe said with a grin.

"Well I would have said beautiful, but I am supposed to be mad at you. So cute it is." I said firmly.

I then brought her attention back to the subject at present, "Well, we have covered blood and physique. What other myths about vampires are true or false?"

"Well, we have super speed, strength, senses and durability. We do not regenerate if any part of body is taken out and burnt completely. Otherwise, if it is just dismembered, then they can be put back together, like a puzzle." Edythe said.

"All vampires are inhumanly beautiful, the venom's transform takes us to peak human form before preserving us in that state. Due to that very preservation, we can't reproduce like humans. Our senses are very highly developed, we can see and sense things most living beings can't."

"What about your mind reading?" I asked "Is that common?"

"No, it is subjective. But theoretically, Carlisle has a theory how the powers are formed." Edythe admitted, "He says that vampire venom heightens all the attributes we had as a human, to the peak limit possible for us."

"As such, Edward and I have mind reading powers, as we had curious and inquisitive personality before we were reborn, giving us our powers."

"So Edward can also read minds?" I asked.

"Yes, but his talent turned out slightly different than mine. He doesn't need physical contact, but He can only read surface thoughts. On the plus side, he has a much wider range than mine."

"But, I have better control over my powers, as apart from mind reading, I can place weak blocks in my mind to hinder other mind readers like Edward from reading my mind. However, I have to constantly concentrate for that, as my blocks are manual rather than passive ones you and Bella have." Edythe explained.

"Wow, this is really a lot to take in." I admitted.

"I know, and I am not going to rush you. I just wanted you to know all this because I really care about you Krishna, and I am sorry I invaded your privacy like that." Edythe apologized.

"But my family is important to me too, and before committing to a relationship with you I had to make sure of your nature and intentions. But if you can't forgive me for it, then I promise you I will never bother you again. I just request you not to leak the secret of us being vampires." Edythe said as she began to get up to leave the house.