• • • Kesed remained silent. After all these years… he was still so naïve. Cain had no idea just how he smelt to a vampire. He could be eaten up within a second—Kesed was actually slightly surprised he hadn’t been touched yet, but maybe it was the protection of God or something. Or maybe vampires were just avoiding this town because of what happened so close by that time ago, they weren’t over it yet and that was understandable. Some things were just hard to move past—that’s something that brought Kesed back here as soon as it did.
      Kesed could feel himself getting slightly irritated on the inside he was almost brought to grit his teeth because of the way that Cain was talking about him otherwise. He was trying to get a less than positive light shone on him, but the idea that he would think that Kesed didn’t care about him just pissed the vampire off on so many levels.
      
      ”But isn’t that to be expected? I guess… kids always look at their caretakers as if they’re God. Even if they do bad things, they don’t even realize. He probably wasn’t as good as you remember him being because the feelings you got as a kid convinced you otherwise.” Kesed theorized out loud, though he really didn’t have too much proof if that really were the case. ”Did you ever possibly think that it was just a dream? Twenty years ago is a long time, and around that time, things weren’t exactly peaceful, and he disappeared so suddenly as if he never existed—or let me guess, the nuns never even tried to fool you like that. They just proved that it wasn’t a dream by hitting you. He theorized once more out loud. Somehow he could so easily imagine that now he was getting information on the ’family’ that he’d so kindly left his ’kid’ to.
      
      Kesed listened to the excuse and laughed just a little bit. ”Ooooh~ That again. Well; if all else fails, you can go and scope up a nice—girl.” Almost said snack there—woops. How many ways could that be interpreted? Hahaha. ”I really don’t understand the point of going anyways—if you can’t focus.” C’mon Kesed… at least try to not piss him off again. His favorite part about something like mass would definitely be the large variety of people he had to look at to get an idea of his snack, and sometimes it wasn’t too hard to convince someone to come with him for a little game—which meant more than that.

"They hit me when I mentioned him, yes, but I knew he was real. I used to see him in my dreams... but in time, I forgot his face, and the dreams faded with the memory. One thing I will not forget is the one time I saw him smile. His teeth were like fangs. They were huge too! But..." he thought aloud and laughed, "maybe that's because I was three, and everything seemed big to me back then. And anyway, maybe he would have been able to hurt me if he had wanted to, but if he had wanted to, really wanted to, I imagine he could have. I mean, three year old little boy with no family? If he had wanted to kill me, he had the perfect chance to." Cain wanted to give the man the benefit of the doubt. He honestly didn't believe he could have hurt Cain, and no matter how hard anyone tried to convince him otherwise, no one would ever be able to sway Cain's belief in the man. Not a nun, not a priest- even Father Thomas, not that he tried, not Kesed, no one, "No one." Cain repeated, accidentally out loud.

Cain laughed at the idea, "A girl?" he laughed again, "I highly doubt it my friend. There are not many around here that go to this church that would be interested in someone like me. Plus, the ones who would be, their mothers and fathers would not allow it. They are all too good for working trash like me. If this were medieval times, they would be royalty, and I would most definately be the lowly peasant trying to work to stay alive." He laughed again, a little less this time. There was only one girl he ever dated from aound here, and that was the one girl he dated ever period. Of course, he did have this crush on that one girl... But she was another princess whose parents wouldn't allow her to love.
"What do you mean 'can't focus'? What I am focused on, is finding out whatever you can tell me about the man." he paused a moment then added, "We are almost there, it is just up this road."

They turned down a road wider than the main streets. From here, you could see the church on the road perpendicular to the one they were turning onto. This particulary block was actually triangular. At the end of this road, was the house, which would be mostly empty, since there was only one family that lived in the house at the point in time, and they would be- should be in the church getting ready to aid Father Thomas with the mass.
They were almost there; so close. Cain's heart had sped up and was now a quickened, yes steady pace. Inwardly, he smiled. He was finally going to get some answers.... He hoped, sincerely hoped, anyway. It was up to Kesed what Cain found out, and Cain was more than hoping Kesed would tell him everything he needed to know.

• • • You’d think that the fact he appeared in dreams would just make it seem even more like a dream than reality. Especially over time—especially as a child. Kesed couldn’t be any more happy that he’d paid attention earlier in the restaurant and not openly smiled at the boy now that he mentioned that was the only thing that he could really remember well. Even with all those other theories that were inside of Kesed, now he was sure the gun would be jumped if that evidence was presented. ”Did you ever wonder why you remembered his teeth like that?” Kesed asked, just a little bit curious as he now saw the boy recline from his previous excitement of the idea into the new one that was, he was just a child and everything seemed big at that time. ”Your religion teaches you to believe in things that you can’t see, right? So if you had your pick of anything that would make him make sense to you, what would you say?” He asked with a slight grin on his face, ”Would it be an angel?” He added a bit of an upper pitch sound to his voice as he teased. Blood sucking angel—God! It was like one of those scifi shows that way~ But it sounded so lovely, didn’t it?
      
      ”That’s true, actually… Right now you make it sound so convincing~ Maybe he really missed out on something he shoulda taken advantage of.” The raven haired man said with the kind of laugh he was glad that he was behind Cain when he laughed. It was only funny to him because he knew all the details behind him, but maybe it sounded strange to someone like Chris—so maybe he should have stopped himself from commenting, but there were just those times.. those times when he felt he had to go there. It’s not like he wasn’t going to be interrogated soon anyways, right? Might as well have fun with it.
      
      Kesed perked an eyebrow at first when he heard the rejection to the idea of a girl. Really? ”So you play for the other team then?” He asked while the boy laughed, at least, that’s the impression that he received just then. It wasn’t exactly what he’d expected, but he was catholic… so maybe he should have… Stupid stereotypes. Jeez. Kesed wanted to kick himself, really, but he’d actually just found the idea too amusing, even after the other had started to explain. It would have been too perfect, really. ”Seriously? It’s still about status? I thought for sure everyone had moved onto ‘if they look the part’. That’s how it was in America at least—for the most part.” Kesed admitted. Suddenly he felt like he moved to a place that was behind the times. Focusing on money—well damn. Now he’d have to be more careful considering how loaded he actually was—not that you could tell by how casually he dressed. Haha. He just tried to fit in.
      
      Kesed confirmed with the boy that he heard and actually looked beyond where they walked to see the building. Sweet salvation they would be inside soon! He could feel his skin getting a bit too hot for his own liking. The hotness and irritation meaning it wasn’t holding up too well against the afternoon sun anymore and starting to deteriorate. Though it was salvation, it was also like walking towards a guillotine… but you know what they say; ’IF even one of the vampire’s bats gets back to his burial site, he will return in no fewer than seven days and seven nights.’. ”Be gentle with me, Chris.” He had the urge to say with his serpentine like voice and it came out as they approached. He probably should stop calling him that to be less suspicious and less familiar, but the fact he’d already heard him seemed to soften inside of Kesed and made it easier to actually.. Um… say it.

Cain pondered the question posed to him, "Would he think it was weird if he answered honestly?" Then he realized it would be silly not to answer honestly. After all, they had talked about serial killers in the reasuraunt... "Honestly, they kind of made me think of vampire fangs. That's why I said he could have killed me if he wanted to. They were sharp, I remember that too. I think that's the reason I have a thing for vampire bats too, actually." he laughed, he sounded silly and he knew it. "Vampires; who really believes in vampires." he thought, then added, "His teeth may not have reminded me of one, but he was my angel. So to speak." he smiled.

"Oh, I know. He very well could have, but he didn't. The most I remember him doing was bonking me on the head one time, not too hard, but hard enough to make me go 'waaah?'", he laughed, "I deserved that though, I said something stupid." He couldn't remember what he said, maybe it was even something he did, but he remembered he deserved it. He laughed again at the memory, as vague as it was, then added, "That's how I know it wasn't a dream. I remember the feel of it; of him."

His eyes grew wide at the accusation, "No! I do not play for the 'other team'!" he wasn't sure what he could say other than reminding Kesed that, "Besides, I said I had an ex-girlfriend, remember?" Weak, very weak, evidence. It was still something though... He just couldn't believe someone suspected he could be gay. He came back from the horror of that, "No, not all of it is about class. Just most the people who go to that church, which does not make sense, seeing as how modest everyone there actually is."

Cain laughed, "Is that what you are going to call me from now on?" Honestly, he didn't mind being called Chris. It gave him back his connection with the man from the past... And he liked it. "Here we are. Looks like no one's home." he said, walking up to the door and taking out a key to it. He unlocked it, and stepped aside to let Kesed by, "After you." he smiled.

• • • So he had his ideas in the right place. Just when did Cain start thinking of him as a vampire? Had Cain actually seen him feed back then? Kesed was almost positive that he would only go and feed when Cain wasn’t up to see him wonder off—those are were the times that he would go and see if he couldn’t find food for the kid as well. Normally it wasn’t anything fresh, but it fed the stomach, and when a kid is hungry, it normally isn’t.. um.. picky—not unless it’s vegetables. Now—supposing he was telling the truth and only saw his fangs once, Kesed felt a bit confident that Chris never actually saw him bite a person, but it was probably in his memories somewhere that he also never saw him eat—but to kids that might not be obvious, not like it would be to older people who hadn’t just been through that kind of trauma. ”You know, it really sounds like something that would make him happy to hear. The way you turned out—that is.” Dear god he was adorable! Could Kesed really not jump on him right now? The only thing that really went wrong was he wasn’t for the dudes—apparently… At least that left Kesed less people to be jealous of.
      
      Kesed listened to yet another thing that the boy had remembered over the years. It was amazing how much of it had actually stuck with him. Most people didn’t remember so many things that happened to them when they were so young, even traumatic things—those were usually blocked, but not always. The fact that it wasn’t was just so… it was.. well it was damn impressive. That’s what it was.
      Kesed lightly bit his lip from the inside of his mouth. Chris—Chris was this part of your plan? You were going to lure him out with all of these cute things. All of these cute little memories that just made your almost papa want to hug you and squeeze you and answer everything as if at your beck and call? That was so cruel and smart at the same time—maybe he was over thinking this. ”Yeah. Haha. I’m sure he wouldn’t have hit you if you hadn’t done something or another to deserve it.” Kesed replied, though at the same time he was trying to think back to the time. There were few times that he actually bonked the kid—and right now, it seemed like such a small deal he’d forgotten about it slightly. Not as if it weren’t important but… recall of memories was hard sometimes…
      
      Kesed’s eyes widened a bit and he just about laughed out loud once more with how quickly and instantly the boy denied homosexuality. Really? It was a simple mistake then, but Cain made it too easy to wonder that. ”Ya never know. Some ex’s are just so crazy insano you just don’t want to touch their kind ever again.” Kesed stated, one of his eyes shut and his tongue peeked out of his mouth momentarily. He brought it back in quickly and relaxed a bit, he needed to watch it for his tongue was not normal, had a natural curve at the end with a triangle-like-shape in the middle, much like a lizards tongue. Damn vampiric genes.
      
      Now Kesed listened with interest as it just seemed most church goers were the old fashioned ones which both made sense and didn’t at the same time—but Kesed didn’t really question it. He gave up on being seriously religious a long time ago. A long time ago. Now it was just fun to pretend to get what he needed. ”Well, don’t let ‘em treat you like that or you just might settle down with someone of the same sex. Not that it would be a bad thing.” He smirked quite a bit as he said that.
      
      Kesed’s eyebrows rose a bit at first when he was called on calling Chris by his name again and Kesed shrugged it off. ”Only when I can’t remember that name that they call you now, I guess.” The vampire shrugged as he said that. He then stopped at the door as they arrived at the place that Cain had been talking about before and only moved on in after he had been invited. ”Why thank you.” He said, ”With an empty house; we should just have loads of fun, now shouldn’t we?” The grin stayed on his face—not that he was making passes at Cain—well… maybe a little bit, but he didn’t seriously think that Cain would bite. Besides, he wanted answers out of him, so he wouldn’t get pissed and throw him out… right?
      

Cain's heart lept, 'He'd be happy about how I turned out?' Cain still didn't know anything about him, but to know he'd be happy about how Cain turned out, it made Cain proud. He smiled, and instead of expressing his joy about what Kesed said, he simply said, "Well, I'm glad he would." It was true enough, and didn't make him sound completely weird. Kesed couldn't understand just how important the man who too care of him was to Cain; Cain himself couldn't completely understand it either. He didn't think anyone could.

He laughed a bit before he replied, "Well, I was quite an annoying child. I am surprised he only hit me the once." At least, the once Cain could remember, "Probably did it more than once, but I do not remember it, so they do not count."

Again with the gay accusations, Cain sighed. Maybe Kesed was just hoping Cain was gay, so he kept accusing him of it to try and convince the both of them it was true. Hmm, 'accusing' isn't the right word. It's not like it's a crime- 'except against God.' Cain thought. He was religious enough to know that and agree with it. Oh what Catholic brainwashing did to Cain that he didn't even realize... He rolled his eyes, "If I were gay, I would not be in love with a girl." he replied. There was a girl, and he did like her- a lot- but he wasn't so sure it was actual love. He wasn't about to tell Kesed that though. "And I am not going to settle down with another guy. I do not swing that way." he added at Kesed's other comment on the subject, "I'll find a girl; there's one out there for me somewhere." At least, Cain hoped so.

There he went again, subtle homosexuality. Maybe Kesed was gay... Or, maybe he was just trying to convince Cain that Cain was. Either way, it wasn't going to affect him. He wasn't gay. To the name comment, he replied, "Well, alright. I can see how Cain is so hard not to remember, being so close to Chris and all." As for the seemingly noto-so-subtle pass at him, as Cain interpreted it, "Depending on your definition of fun, yeah, we should." was all he could come up with. He mentally kicked himself for not being able to respond with something more conversation-closing.

• • • Haha~ Oh maaan… Cain was too cute! A slight sigh was released from the vampire’s lips. If he’d have kept him, he would have become too much of a pet. Three year olds are soooo easily influenced and with that face that he had back then—how could he not take advantage of that small mind and shape it like he would have wanted it? That—among a few others things. He would have been such a little papa’s boy, so to speak. ”You’re a bit strange you know.” The man commented. ”Getting a smile like that because of a man you knew for three months would be proud.” Kesed stated, ”Though… I don’t think he would have been happy that you tried to walk out on me during lunch… That name of his was never made to sway you into anything.” The raven haired vampire said as he pursed his lips a bit.
      
      Since they had already made it inside, his walking slowed to be much less specific to if they had a destination. Since the place was already empty, he didn’t know if Cain still wished to go to that office or not. Who knows… maybe sir priest would come looking for Cain the moment he realized that he wasn’t at mass and then guess who he would find—so maybe the office was a good idea.
      ”I’m sure if he hit you it was always for a good reason.” Damn. He still couldn’t remember… Maybe Cain had said something that he really hadn’t wanted him to say—not like it was bad, but maybe it was something he just didn’t want the other to know, but at this point in time, who really knew anymore? His memory wasn’t entirely what it used to be…
      
      Now it came as a bit of a surprise to the vampire when Cain went and took the next step to defend himself and told him that he was in love with a girl currently. He kept any of his thoughts from getting out onto his face and actually rose his eyebrows in surprise. ”Really? Isn’t that cute! Who is she? Who is she?” He questioned eagerly as he hurried stopped completely until he was along side of Cain. One of his arms came up and wrapped around Cain’s shoulder and he pulled himself closer to the catholic male. His lips came close to his ear. ”What’s she like? Is she cute?” He asked before his tongue had snuck out and licked his lips with just a bit of pleasure. He just wanted to scope her… like a good person should… to make sure she was good enough for him…
      Kesed took his arm from back around the other and backed off enough to fall behind him as he had defended himself once more about being.. not gay. So he said he wasn’t going to settle down with a guy… well fine. Chris could do what he wanted… It wasn’t like Kesed had a bunch of plans to seduce him anyways. ”Wait—you’ll find her? So this one you spoke of isn’t her?” Now that was just ridiculous… you don’t fall for someone and then think you have no hope with them… If you’re like that, you really wont have any chance with them.
      
      Kesed was then brought to cross his arms and push out his lip a bit as to pout. He didn’t know if it was what Cain intended, but it sounded like he didn’t like the name that Kesed gave him anymore. That’s the impression he got. He’d rather be called Chris—and there was even that story at lunch that said didn’t want to have a different name…. The lies! ”I’ve just always heard it as ‘Chris’ and the fact that you replied made it easier—I didn’t know you disliked it so much now.” Oh yeah, that’s right. He was going to be pouty about it. Maybe Kesed wasn’t so happy with how he turned out anymore. He didn’t appreciate the name that he gave him anymore…
      ”Do we really need to get into specifics of just what is fun?” He asked a bit slowly to the other’s following reply. He wasn’t going to work in another innuendo right now. He was too stuck on the fact that the church brainwashed him out of liking the name Chris. Stupid people.

Oh yeah, Cain knew it; he'd always known he was strange... Why change things now though, right? Cain just laughed. "What things are meant to do and what they actually do are two different things." he smiled, "Come on. We can sit in the family room." He led the way through the foyer into a slightly larger room with a couch, two recliners and a decent sized television. The carpet was blue and the walls were white with kiddy-crafts all over them. There was a bay window looking out to the side of the house, where you could see a large tree blocking most the sun.

Cain nodded, as he sat down on the end of the couch near the window, "Like I said, I was pretty annoying. I probably would have smacked me a few times too."

Cain smiled, "Her name is Marie, and she's very cute. The problem is, she one of those modest princesses who could be into me, but her mother is an evil bi... witch. Her mother hates me, but Marie is a total sweetheart. But, cause of her mother, it doesn't look likely... And believe me, I've tried." Cain sighed, "I like Marie, but, I do not think it's possible."

Cain was taken off guard, "Oh, no! I don't dislike it! What gave you that idea?" Then he laughed, "But no, we don't have to specify 'fun'."

• • • Kesed smiled and nodded a bit. The kid had a point. There were numerous things in this world that had their purposes and sometimes did everything but that purpose nowadays because of how people manipulated those very things. ”True, and I believe that this is one you shouldn’t try to fix.” He said with a bit of amusement in his voice. He believed so—or at least let it only affect him when Kesed called him Chris. It was special. He was probably the only one to ever call him Chris since the church changed his name faster than a pit team changed a racing cars tires and at that time…. There weren’t many people left. When a place is reduced to war and broken buildings, there aren’t many people you can leave a kid with, and he had to work for the first while to keep the other vampires from sniffing out the blood that remained in the area until they moved on. The thing that hid it the most was all the corpses that were already sprawled out on the ground. It was a perfect feeding ground for a little while.
      
      The black haired man followed after Cain as he led the way to the family room. Kesed took a moment to look at it once they entered with a bit of interest. He hadn’t been in this place before, even though he’d visited the church. It felt… nostalgic though. This was the place where Chris had grown up. It brought a slight smile to his face to see it. The vampire then continued into the room and set himself down in one of the recliners that was nowhere near the direct sunlight that stretched itself through the trees and into the room.
      
      Kesed chuckled a little bit and shook his head. What kid at some point wasn’t a bit annoying to an adult? They were always so energetic—it was almost like they were vampires when it came to energy for it always felt they sucked it out of other people. As the adults got tired, children always seemed to get more energetic. Strange, but true.
      
      Kesed listened as Cain spoke about the girl he currently had a crush on. Somewhere inside of him there was a twinge of irritation while at the same time that need to encourage him. That need to say something—that evidentially came out. ”I could always take her mother out for a little bite. It could give you the perfect chance to meet with this girl.” The vampire suggested before he swallowed a small lump that had come up in his throat. Psht… Cain wouldn’t mind if the mother disappeared…. She was a bwitch…
      Now after he’d encouraged him to go for the girl, his opposing thoughts also forced themselves out verbally in a very subtle way. ”And if all else fails, you can give up and search for a new soul mate. There are other people with angel-like qualities I’m sure you’ll run into.” Now that both pieces came out, he could be at ease. His parentalness and his…. Um… attachment part as well.
      
      Kesed was pleasantly take back when he heard Cain’s disagreement with his prior statement. He nearly smiled big once more since he was so relieved to actually hear that. ”Just checking.” He replied playfully before he leaned back comfortably into the recliner. He chuckled then to himself. They could take ‘fun’ their own way. The other most likely considered this interrogation on the ‘fun side’, but then Kesed would make it fun for himself, in a controlled manner. He wasn’t gonna bite or jump anyone—he was just.. going to play with Chris a little bit.

"What do you mean 'this isn't one I should try to fix'?" he asked. He wasn't talking about getting to know the man from his past, was he? Try not to figure out what that figure that's been stuck in his mind for twenty years was like? How could Cain not try? That was like asking him not to breathe.

Cain laughed, "I would take you up on that offer- if it had a chance at working. Marie is nineteen and her mother still leaves her with a babysitter. Poor girl... She can't get away. Part of the reason she has to stay with the 'nanny' or be followed by one is because of my sneaking in to see her." He laughed, "Not that she had any complaints about it. She said the visit was worth the tail." He sighed as he smiled, "If things were meant to work between me and Marie, they will. If not, they won't. God has a plan for me." he said.

"Alright," Cain said, "So, what can you tell me about him? What was his name? When did you see him last; is he alright?" Cain started off easy, wanting to get the basic idea before he went in a little further. He had to remind himself, 'Take it easy, Cain. One question at a time...' He was too excited though, he could barely contain himself.

• • • Kesed laughed inwardly. ”When you’re called Chris,” By him, ”You should always respond. If you didn’t, it’d be like losing a part of yourself anyways, right?” Kesed stated to clear up the question. The man could really appreciate the fact that he was the only one that actually called Cain that. He felt that it made it all the more special. If they’d kept the name Chris for him… it probably wouldn’t mean as much, it probably wouldn’t have stuck in Cain’s head that the church hadn’t given him that name. No, it was probably inevitable if the church had gone on and called him Chris, but the fact that they didn’t and he still responded to it brought a certain feeling inside of the vampire. He left so he wouldn’t be a part of Chris’s life, but when he came back after being absent, he still was a part of it and that made him happy.
      
      Kesed’s jaw nearly dropped when he heard the situation that Cain was going against with the girl that he liked. ”Nineteen?” He said in disbelief. She was legal. She could rent her own place and yet she still lived with her mother? She could have her own rules and she still lived with her mother who didn’t allow her any elbow room? Kesed had stuck with his parents a while longer than people typically do when they grow up for more reasons than slow aging, but damn—he wouldn’t have if they were like that. The worst they ever did was told him not to play with his food, and that’s only when they were in dangerous territory. ”She needs to get her ass outta there if she wants a life.” He stated his honest opinion. He knew of the guys that lived in their mom’s basements at 40 back in America. He wasn’t buddies with them, but he knew some—and he couldn’t believe that someone would just waste themselves away like that because of—god knows what reason…. But the fact this girl was under such close guard just… made it better for that other part of him. ”Yeah, maybe God has someone else in mind entirely.” He said with a smile that grew so big on his face he turned his head away and subtly brought his hand up to cover his mouth in a natural way—that same, ‘use the hand as a chin-rest’ sort of way.
      
      Then came the cannon fire of questions which brought Kesed to quickly wonder just what he was supposed to say. Name—name… what was he supposed to say? Richard! Yeah~ Yeah right… What if this kid figured it out. Vampire bats, the dreaming, the names, the voice—He didn’t have a myspace or anything for the very reason of hiding his name—and if he updated it in forty years and it looked the same some people would bit shitting bricks… ”He goes by Mizrachi and last time I saw him he was doing alright, but he’s getting to that slightly senile age about now. Ya know?” He laughed at the thought of it. Senile—Wouldn’t be the first time someone called him senile.
      

"Oh," Cain smiled, feeling silly for jumping to conclusions like he did, even though Kesed had no idea how far they had gone, "Yes, you are right." He smiled again, looking at the floor. Kesed was right; he actually understood what Cain thought himself. It would be like losing part of himself...

Cain sighed, "She's tried to leave her mom and get out on her own. I even told her she could come stay with me- in the spare room, of course. So long as her mom didn't find out, we'd be golden. Her mother's horrid though. Guilt trips her about leaving every time she tries. He mother just won't let go. And Marie isn't one to hurt someone she cares about for anything, even her own happiness." He sighed again. He was intentionally ignoring the fact Kesed repeated her age back to him- for a moment, at least, then he had to defend, "She's turning twenty next week. What's your point? And yeah, maybe he does have someone else in mind, but I guess I will find out eventually."

The answers he was getting made Cain a bit happy, especially to have a name with the... well, the teeth anyway. "Good, I'm glad he was alright last time you saw him. How long ago was that?" Cain was trying hard to keep it down to one question at a time, despite the flood of them coursing through his mind.

• • • Thank god for small favors. Really; this was a tiny one, but maybe the guy was trying to make up for the fact that Kesed would never see him and the fact that he couldn’t even go and see his kid when he walked the earth. I mean, this would definitely make up for it. At least Kesed thought so at the moment. He could understand Chris only because he would have been pissed off—or slightly depressed if the boy had not answered him when he said the name that he’d given him. Maybe he would have gone into that old-man state of sadness where he would hit people with a cane and complain about kids walking on his lawn that human’s always were portrayed as when they were old…
      
      Kesed wasn’t entirely sure what to say then about the situation with the mom. He had a couple words that floated around in his head, but he had a feeling that it might piss the other off—but seriously… would he really be asked to leave? Would he really ask that? There weren’t even that bad…. As he thought it over, he found that the words just slipped themselves out of his own mouth. ”It sounds selfish to me.” Kesed said, his sapphire eyes moved and look away from the kid. ”She’s trying so hard to please her mother so that she feels good to the point where I think it’s selfish.” He frowned a big. ”I know if I was in love with someone, my mom wouldn’t come first. I mean; what the hell kind of placement is that? No offense, but how can someone have a relationship when that other person puts their parents first?” Kesed asked. He wasn’t attempting to be mean or anything, but he seriously figured, if someone wanted a lover, that person would come first, always, always. At least… he’d treat his lover like number one.
      
      Now Kesed found no reason to continue with a certain play since it didn’t seem like Cain was getting it. He just simply stated, ”Nothing, I just think it’s a bit odd for a girl to live that way at that age. That’s all~” He had a light purr in his voice.
      
      And then there was the next question—goddamn it he’d ignored it for a reason! Why did Chris have to ask it again? Was it that subtly smooth that he didn’t get the ‘I don’t want to answer that’ vibe? ”Don’t remember. Sometime between by when I left my last place and when I got here.” He kept it as vague as he possibly could while he kept it sounding relatively normal. He traveled here on the ground, so long trips… could often make you forget when and where, right?

Cain looked at him a moment, "I never said she loved me." he said simply, "I don't really think she does. It's just, she used to like me, I know that, but with her mother, neither of us ever got to see if it went anywhere... And she's one of the most unselfish people I know." he looked back at the floor.
Cain's eyes narrowed slightly, "It's not abnormal here for nineteen or twenty year olds to still live at home. Not in a town like this, especially."

"So, he's still around... Do you... Do you know if he remembers me?" Cain's voice got low to avoid the lump in his throat from being evident. He was most nervous about this question, but he had to know. He was afraid of the answer, but needed it at the same time. It was a double-edged sword, kind of.

• • • …Chris was right. He didn’t say that, Kesed just assumed, but still, he felt like if two people had the hots for each other to start going out anyways and they wanted to try, then they should break the rules to see what would happen. Who the hell really cares about someone else’s opinion anyways? Obviously Cain wasn’t one of those people. He said that he had pride in how weird he was and how he stood out, so why should it change there? ”I’m just sayin’ Cain. Some people can get to the point of being so selfless that they get selfish about it. I’ve seen it happen. He stated, and still his eyes avoided making contact with the other once more.
      ”And excuse me if I’m not exactly with the culture here. I just came from a completely different one where most people thought you were a pansy if you didn’t move out as soon as you could.” Which was entirely true. He knew that France, and small town France at that, had way different cultural rules than big cities in the US, but he hadn’t quite adapted to it yet, even after a week—mostly because he didn’t hang out with the younger crowd.
      
      It’s why the called him senile~.
      
      ”Is that why you still live at the church?” Kesed didn’t bother to stop himself from asking. His grin grew just a little bit more that made his teeth nearly show. ”Did you ever have the fantasy of wanting to something absolutely sinful inside of the church?” Didn’t bother to censor that one out either. He’d talked about an ex who wanted to have sex in blood, so, why the hell not ask something like that, right? It was an amusing thought to the vampire anyways… To either eat or be eaten upon the alter of God—even better, between the pews while the pastor was praying or something—though it never really was that subtle, it could be…
      
      The next question brought the vampire back out of thought and his grin lowered back down to a smile, ruin the dirty thoughts with stuff like that… It just felt mean. ”Are you serious?” Kesed couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. ”He talks about you ALL the time. Just last night—er, the last time I saw him, he still mentioned a kid named Chris that he used to take care of. He was goin’ on and on about how cute he was and how the next time he saw him that he’d pounce on him or something. Everyone was so encouraging of it too.” He chuckeld. Oh yeah… drunkards really loved to heighten the vampires ego when it came to those stories. It was great.

"I guess you could be right about the selfless thing." he thought, still looking at the floor, "and excuse me for defending someone I care about" he said. Yes, Kesed struck a nerve. Cain was a bit defensive of people, especially Marie. Marie was the only one who ever stuck up for Cain.

Then Cain really got disgusted, " No! Ugh, how could you even think something like that?!" he asked. Defiling a house of God? How could ANYONE even think about doing something so atrocious! "And I don't even live at the church. I haven't for awhile. I have my own apartment."

Cain smiled, "Really? Wow... I was sure he'd have forgotten me by now..." he laughed a bit, "He said he'd pounce on me? What's that supposed to mean? And who was encouraging of it, exactly; who is everyone else?"

• • • Kesed didn’t feel like he should feel like he said something wrong. He didn’t. He was just being brutally honest—which only happened when he was comfortable with someone enough to not lie about everything. When he wasn’t trying to be that charming person that everybody liked, which is what he did nearly always when he was in public. Maybe he should back off a little bit so Chris didn’t grow to hate him from switching all together… ”No, no~ That’s not what I meant. I mean, I haven’t met her or anything, but that’s just what I’ve found in my experience. Not everyone whose being kind is selfish. If she caught your attention, then I’m sure it’s nothing like I’m talking about.” The vampire stated trying to douse the fire, though he really didn’t know if it would work or not. He knew you could only poke someone a certain amount of times before they really let you have it.
      
      Especially when his simple question set the boy off to actually raise his voice. Kesed winced and didn’t move at first. What could he say? Really..? It was just a simple question of his own~ ”No need to get bent out of shape. It was just a question.” He half mumbled out like a child who was in trouble. ”But what if you ever got hungry during mass? What if you felt like you were gonna go insane because of it? C’mon.. wouldn’t you sneak out then?’ He asked, the other more likely wouldn’t understand what he meant, but it was part of what he was talking about. Sneak into an empty prayer room and just—say all the wrong things. Don’t judge…. He just wasn’t all that religious. He figured, God saw you do it no matter where you did it, so why did it matter so much?
      
      His eyebrows raised from curiosity as the boy stated he had his own place. This took the look of a child in trouble right off of his face. ”Then why didn’t we go there?” He asked almost instantly as he brought his blue eyes back to look at the blonde. He didn’t feel like he should be blamed for making a guess like that, there was a 50/50 chance that it was true—and it would have been a better place for the vampire would not have to think about the nuns or Thomas being nearby enough to spill the beans.
      ”If you hadn’t forgotten, what makes you think that he would have?” Kesed was just slightly hurt by the thought of being given such low regards—he wasn’t offended, but hurt. ”And that would be all the people he hangs out with normally—they’re always so up and ready to encourage him. The pounce—I think it’d be something like—eh, I’ll explain it later.” He chickened out from the idea of physically doing it and turned his head away once more, even put his hand on his forehead. He just let everyone down. He had his chance and he wasn’t going to take it… Not now…
      

Cain half laughed at the 'if she could your attention'. He didn't know what to say really, not about that, he just answered with, "Well, fif you ever meet her, you'll see what I mean." and left it at that. Cain could tell Kesed wasn't looking to make him angry, or for a fight, so Cain figured it would be best to start dropping the subject before someone said something completely wrong... Cain figured Kesed would be the first to do that, and he really didn't feel like getting mad again anyhow.

"And the way you asked said question made it seem like the idea... turned you on." he said, lowering his voice and leaning forward a little, like it was a secret no one else- especially the people who weren't there- weren't supposed to hear. Cain felt a little weird saying the last part. 'Turned you on' was such a weird phrase, but he couldn't think of a better one... Then Kesed's next question confused him. How did they go from doing something absolutely sinful in the church to being hungry? What was the correlation there? He furrowed his eye brows togther and opened his mouth slightly in the ~ what?~ sort of way, but smiled a little at the same time, "Hungry? Uhm... why wouldn't I just eat before mass then?" Cain was hoping Kesed would explain a little in his reply, but didn't get his hopes up too high. Kesed didn't seem to particularly like giving details.

Cain looked back at Kesed, meeting his eyes finally, he looked away a moment, "I wasn't sure if it was a good idea..." he looked back at Kesed's eyes, "Especially after the conversation about serial killers. Plus, since I was a bit pissed, that would have probably looked bad, and then there's the fact I'm pretty much interrogating you..." he laughed; Cain figured Kesed got the picture by now and didn't have to continue... not that he had many reasons left anyway.
Kesed's question about forgetting the man who took care of him caught him slightly off, "I don't know.. I guess I figured since he did not want me enough that he could abandon me, that he wouldn't care enough to remember me either..." the tone of sadness in Cain's voice was evident, he hadn't even thought to hide it this time.

• • •  
      Kesed silently agreed to himself. Sure. If he ever met her he’d probably understand and it probably wouldn’t be in a good way because he’d see all the reasons why he liked her and it would just draw him to want to suck her dry. Call it a bit childish, but Kesed was a bit childish in the way he thought most of the time anyways. He’s faced serious situations, and when it’s not serious, he likes to keep it that way as long as possible. Events like that were just tiring. ”I’m sure I will.” He stated very lightly, and what he meant was meet her at some point or another. He didn’t know how long he would live here now, but if he decided to stay for a while, he’d probably have no trouble running into her. This was a pretty small place.
      
      The blue eyes of the vampire drifted away when the slight accusation came. Yeah… well… maybe it did sound exciting to him, but Chris sounded like it pissed him off… so do you really think that it would be something that he would confirm? At the least it would be really, really fun. ”True, I found it amusing, but that’s just because of the kind of kid you are. I figured something like that might make you flustered, but alas~” He said with and evident childish pout within his voice and some of it traveled onto his face. A pout that wasn’t that strong anyways because he was just playing—and the way that Chris lowered his voice just thing—it was cute. Like he couldn’t say something like that out loud. Though that quiet, sort of shy thing didn’t last long for his next question confused him, as expected. ”Sometimes… you don’t know you’re hungry until you’re in the middle of mass. You underestimate yourself and all you can think about is food, which is what I mean. Then they stand there and tell you to eat the body and drink the blood. Well, I don’t entirely think you’ll understand. You seem like a guy who knows when you need to eat that you don’t wait until you’re tempted to sneak out.” Kesed shrugged it off. He knew it wasn’t anything that important anyways and he was just encouraging the other to figuring things out by saying stuff like that—did he really want him to know..? No.
      
      Kesed actually came to laugh because of the reason given why they didn’t go back to his place. Really? The talk of serial killers all been in good fun, hadn’t it? ”Look bad? Like you’d murder me? I think I have enough confidence that you wouldn’t be the one to end me.” He confidently said very smoothly. ”And as true as that is I could just not answer or even better, walk out if I don’t want to answer. Place has nothing to do with it.” He stated with a small raise of his eyebrow.
      
      This bit a of changed disappeared back into a pair of pursed lips and a chin that sat in the palm of his chin as he looked away from the other. It was always the worst case with humans… Not that vampires didn’t have their moments of being insanely pessimistic, but all of that shit—”What makes you think that it wasn’t a couldn’t, not a didn’t want? If really hadn’t wanted you at all, I doubt he would have kept you for three months and even took the time to take you somewhere that could help you more than himself.”
      

Cain smiled slightly and nodded. Kesed wanted to meet Marie? That was interesting in its self... Cain wondered why, but didn't bother to ask.

Cain wasn't sure how to feel about that; it amused him? Not something he had heard before...
Cain smiled breifly, "It's only an hour, it is not hard to wait... And no, I don't think I totally understand where you are coming from on that. I mean, the evident mentioning of 'eat' yes, but drink the blood? Wouldn't that kind of have the opposite effect? Well, unless you're like, a vampire or something. Are you?" Cain was joking, and he had a teasing tone slightly showing in his voice.

He smiled a little, "Well, now you are making me sound just silly. At the time, it was mostly because I was pissed, I think, though, serial killer talk did play a part. I didn't know if you'd think of that, but I didn't want to chance making myself look suspicious.. You see?" Cain laughed a little as he concluded the explanation that made him sound more pathetic, "And, I'd much rather you didn't walk out, but, I guess I couldn't stop you either way, could I?"

"I have thought of that," Cain confessed, "I thought, 'maybe he just didn't want kids' or, 'maybe I was just too much trouble because of how he lived or whatever and he couldn't take care of me'. Then I thought, 'If I mattered to him enough, wouldn't he have changed whatever it was if he cared enough?' He could have, if he wanted to, couldn't he? I mean, what could be more important if I was important to him? I still don't understand, and I don't think I ever will."

• • •  
      Kesed laughed to himself. Really…? It felt like talking to a wall. Some cultures had language barriers, but this was like a fish talking to a bird. Of course a fish wouldn’t understand a bird… The birds pluck down at eat those fish. True; it was only an hour and Kesed… usually didn’t have gluttonous problems, but he’d met plenty of vampires, plenty that couldn’t let’s say… wait as long as they thought? Plenty that over estimated themselves and didn’t eat before they went around a bunch of humans and… hell pretty much broke loose. Mass was the worst... Vampires would go there to ‘shop’ sometimes, but the newer ones or the ones that were hungry and couldn’t control themselves had the issues when they mentioned drinking the blood of Christ—because it was just wine! ”I never found it having the opposite effect.” He stated with something of a shrug. ”But don’t you think it’s a bit odd? That Jesus would hint at something like vampirism like that?” He asked though was then a bit shocked that the other would actually ask him that. Shit. He knew he sounded playful—but it scared the shit out Kesed. ”Do you actually believe that things like vampires exist?” He changed the question rather than answering it with a very light tone in his own voice. ”Or things like ghosts, zombies—the boogeyman?” Okay, now he was clearly teasing the other. Vampires were the closest thing you’d get to zombies and those other two were just—made up. Spawned off of various other monsters that started with the vampire.
      
      ”I never figured it was up to me to make you look silly.” The vampire replied with a grin on his face. With how the boy praised his own strangeness, he couldn’t actually say he wasn’t surprised when he said that—but in all honesty, that kid really had nothing to worry about—but to have such a strange… um.. protectiveness of himself from looking suspicious--”Maybe you really are a suspicious person.” Kesed stated with a bit of question in his voice. ”Maybe I should be scared or something—more appropriate.” He laughed lightly to himself. ”Don’t worry, I’m not planning on stepping out yet.” That was unless Thomas or those nuns randomly showed up. Then he’d be outta here faster than a car on a race track.
      
      Now there were these thoughts that played on Kesed’s mind as Cain spoke his. It was kind of annoying. It felt like an itch.. that was in his brain.. that he couldn’t scratch. ’If he cared enough, wouldn’t he change?’… It’s not that easy. Tell a carnivorous bird to stop eating fish once it decides it likes one—you can only hold yourself in for so long. Kesed opened his mouth but bit his own lip to stop the words from coming out. Don’t say it! You can help him understand, but don’t you dare offer that. ”It’s not that easy.” Kesed pushed out instead. If he kept his mouth busy with other words, those ones certainly wouldn’t get out. ”A lifestyle isn’t that easy to change. His wasn’t just a lifestyle, it is the way he had to live, there are no exceptions. You were important enough that he took special considerations and don’t every think otherwise.” His voice held a bit more of a stern tone to it, but for the kid to say that—there wasn’t a way. There wasn’t a way for him to not have wanted to taste his childish blood from inside that tender body, especially at that time of all times. There was no way he could have kept himself from being selfish and changing the boy into a life that would ruin it.
      
      But now Cain just made him want to do it. With everything he said—how things would have been different if he’d changed him back then. He would have understood now.

Was Kesed serious? It NOT having the opposite effect? How would the thought of drinking blood NOT make anyone not hungry- or sick to their stomach? He wasn't going to question it though, it just seemed weird enough to think about. "Jesus wasn't hinting at vampirism." he frowned slightly, "He was encouraging a metaphor of taking him into onesself, by comparing the bread and wine to his body. He meant to take in his body just as you took in his teachings and love." he answered. He was mostly satisfied with his answer, but he wasn't sure Kesed would be. " He laughed, "No, I do not believe in vampires. Or the boogey man, or ghosts, or zombies. I mean, people might think they are vampires, but the whole undead, bloodsucking to stay 'alive' and turning into a bat and not being in the sun? No, I don't think so."

Cain looked down and scrunched his mouth to the side, "I don't think I am a suspicious person... What would make you say that?" Was he suspicious? More so than Kesed seemed with his cryptic answers?

"Not easy to change? You said it yourself- nothing should stand in the way of you and someone you love. Maybe he just didn't love me as much as you think he did. Maybe he loved the idea of me after I was gone." Cain was getting upset, he leaned forward and hugged his arms to himself. Why was he getting so upset now? He had never thought that before, why now? What made talking about it with Kesed any different? Cain's voice dropped just above a whisper, "You know, I used to think that he just had to leave because he had to. I used to think maybe he would come back for me, I used to hope he would, or maybe he would think of me and write to me or something. He never did either of those, so now I'm thinking, maybe he just didn't want to. Maybe when he thought of me, he remembered why he left me in the first place and thought it was completely worth it, and that in all these years past, he was better off not communicating with me so I would not be entertaining the thought of finding him and going back to see him..."

• • • How typical of a Christ believer to say that now. The guy never met him. Plus—well… there was no need to get into that. Kesed didn’t really think that God cared about the vampires anyways. He figured they were spawned by Satan, of course he didn’t know, but he just figured that god wouldn’t like whatever Satan made. They killed his people as an added bonus. ”Yeah—I’m sure.” He just simply replied. He wasn’t gonna try to convince him otherwise. This guy had probably heard equal amounts of arguments from both sides of that coin. He just thought he’d touch up on it seeing as how they already went down that ally.
      Kesed’s eyes blinked a couple of times at first. People… might think they are vampires? Oh goodness—was he talking about those crazy high school kids that would get obsessed and later in the night just be eaten without a chance of survival? A small smile cracked up on his lips as well at the thought of them. They were the people that made vampires seem nonexistent, but the fact the other didn’t believe in them at all brought a frown back onto Kesed’s face. ”Really? That’s too bad.” He asked, ”How do you suppose those legends got started then?” He couldn’t help but ask. How did people think up vampires, and how had it lasted this long if there was really none? He would love to hear the boy’s theory on that one.
      
      However from that serious subject came a laugh from simply the look on the other boy’s face. Was he not just the one who said that he didn’t want to seem slightly suspicious? Kesed had just been playing along with him. ”That’s not what I meant at all~ Don’t worry about it Chris.” He said between a couple drops of laughter. Slowly he let the light laughter dissipate into the air and hummed lightly one moment when he breathed out a content sigh. So literal were these French sometimes.
      
      But there was a nerve that Cain was slowly starting to pinch. Every time Kesed tried to defend himself—it was just not something that a human would understand. Asking what the boy asked, it would be like telling him that he should stop breathing once he fell in love. He should—or to fast forever for as long as he’s with someone. To fast until they no longer wish to eat ever again—while there was chocolate cake under their nose. ”You’re wrong.” Kesed spoke strongly. ”Don’t tell me that you think you know him better than I do. Maybe he didn’t write you because he didn’t want you to remember. Maybe he wanted you to move on with your life and grow up and get friends that weren’t anything like him. Maybe he didn’t want you to get into the danger that he’s always in and that listening to you sit here and doubt everything he did is a disgrace and insult to him.” His voice grew a bit stiff with irritation as the raven-haired male put his arms over his chest and his blue eyes looked over to the blonde one on the couch with a very serious look upon his face. How dare he think all of that complete and utter bullshit. The worst part was this church probably would agree with those kinds of thoughts. He was just a carnivore, right? He didn’t care. It was just another meal—even if he turned it in.

Cain was momentarily confused about what Kesed was asking, then thought he meant about how vampire legends got started. Obviously, he wouldn't call Catholicism a legend... would he? Cain mentally shook it out of his head and thought a moment about the question, then he had the realization, "There's a sickness, a disease related to vampirism, which gives the effect that the person is a vampire. The people have to drink blood, or their skin gets all weird. The idea of vampires being undead was derived from the fact that very, very long ago people were burried alive and when someone clawed their way out of the ground, they were thought to be the undead."

He just blinked at Kesed, not totally sure what was going on, "Uhm.. Okay..."

Cain became annoyed. Who was Kesed to be acting like this? Jumping down his throat. He was trying to find answers about someone he knew nothing about- how was he to know whether what he thought was wrong or not? Kesed was being ridiculous and Cain was going to point it out, "Why are you getting so pissed at me? It's not like it's you we are talking about here. And yeah, you know him better than I do, obviously! I saw him for three months when I was three years old twenty years ago! You know what, you're right. He probably wanted me to forget him, so that's what I'll do! Alright? I will move on and find more friends and whatever. Hell, maybe I'll even move away from here! That way I can't 'disgrace and insult' him." Cain stood up and walked to the window, leaning his arm against the window pane over his head and leaning his head on it, "You're right," he said was taunting in his voice, "He cared so much about me that he cared enough to leave because of some super dangerous lifestlye that you don't seem to want to tell me about. Not that I should be surprised, since you don't seem to want to be upfront about anything with all your frickin' cryptic answers." From the taunt, his voice slowly showed the anger he was feeling. He couldn't help show how he was feeling anymore, and he didn't care so much this time if Kesed left. If he did, it might have been better for Cain, since he seemed like he was on the verge of a meltdown anyway. At the same time though, a small portion of him didn't want Kesed to leave on these terms.

• • • Well that was a good excuse. Just how far back did it go to? Not that it mattered. Obviously Cain was wrong. Obviously Cain was a skeptic when it came to things that weren’t his God. God taught you to believe in things you can’t see anyways, right? No… no… He really wouldn’t fight it. He knew he was real enough and he wasn’t here to make the other remember those types of things. Kesed actually felt pretty lucky that Cain didn’t believe in them considering he was surrounded by them, in a sense. His world was more made up of them at that time than human’s since he was the only live one left for miles back at that time. All of the soldier’s had already retreated by that time… They weren’t that great to miss the child and leave him behind.
      
      Kesed considered doing that as well, and maybe he should have. Maybe if he left him behind he wouldn’t have this attachment that he knew he had to the guy now. Kesed closed his hands as he heard the other. It felt like such a stupid question at the time. Why was he pissed? Because he didn’t come here to listen to Cain depress himself by thinking that he thought he was as good as shit. ”Not talking about me? You might as well fucking be! I didn’t come here to tell you about the guy so you could feel like woe is you and that he hated your guts. You know why I came? Because you seemed like you were having a hard time not knowing who he was—at least that’s what you told me. But I guess if you just finally made the decision you’re gonna forget, then I’m outta here because I don’t want to mess that up.” The vampire with the dark hair stated before he rose from the recliner he got in. He checked it. He did, Chris was doing well—he didn’t even plan to run into Chris, but his thoughts could be put at ease, he didn’t have to worry that he was living a shitty life in the gutter or anything. He could just go and eventually leave Marseilles as well.
      Kesed from there started towards the door that they entered in from but stopped at the frame as he heard the male continue to question his motives for leaving him, still. This kid was pushy. He didn’t believe there was such a thing as a dangerous lifestyle for a 3 year old to grow up in? One that made It BAD if the brat grew up in it—if he grew up? ”You want me to be upfront? How about this; he didn’t keep you because there was the possibility he was going to eat you. He left you here so he nor any of the other’s like him would sink their teeth into your tender child’s flesh! Obviously not something you want to proudly spread, around, huh?” He paused and took a breath. That is not something he should have said, but not it was out, there was no taking it back. ”Au revoir.” He stated before he turned and actually went out the door.
      
      He swiftly made his back to the front door but stopped after he popped it open. Shit. The sun had come out from behind the clouds while he was inside and his stamina was getting weak. If he wanted to go out in the sun with any sort of resistance for his skin he needed a meal to replenish it—because waiting for his own blood to fix it was just going to take longer.
      Kesed shut the door and turned around. His back fell against it and he crossed his arms. Looks like he wasn’t going anywhere quite yet. Shit.