Romano x Enchantress!Vampire!Reader Part 8

The next morning Romano woke up to the feel of a familiar cold hand combing through his hair. The coldness of the hand immediately gave you away as the culprit. He had long ago gotten used to the coldness of your body and wasn't disturbed by it anymore, so he gave slight sigh of satisfaction at the feeling of having your hand weaving through his hair.

“I acknowledge that you are awake, my dear.” Your voice cooed from beside him. He tiredly forced one eye open.
“Sì, buon giorno, [Name]...” he mumbled and received your normal tender smile as a response. You always gave him that smile when he woke up – the smile that only spoke the language of kindness and affection.

“Feliciano is cooking in the kitchen if you are hungry.” you said as Romano sat up and yawned.
“Are you-a...?” he said while he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
“I have already fed, and as a vampire I do not crave the food humans feed on. To vampires human food tastes the same as dirt.”
Romano nodded sleepily in confirmation, then he shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of his sleepiness. You chuckled lightly at this.

“How about this, Romano. We have a small talk after you have had breakfast, are we in agreement?” you suggested with a light laugh.
“That sounds-a good...” Romano felt that he wouldn't be able to hold a conversation anyway in his sleepy state. He forced himself out of the settee and started walking towards the kitchen.

You just continued to chuckle and followed him as he stumbled his way over to the kitchen where his brother was cooking for the two of them. You had made it a habit to sing to Feliciano the moment he woke up in the morning. You felt it was safer to do it before he was fully aware of his surroundings.

Romano sat down by the table in the kitchen and you quickly took a seat beside him. Feliciano finished his cooking and set a steaming plate of food in front of his brother, then went to his own seat with his own plate and sat down.

“Buon giorno, fratello and [Name]...~” he greeted.
Romano nodded his acknowledgment and started eating, Feliciano quickly following suit, while you just sat there and observed them.

~*~*~*~*

After they had had breakfast Feliciano took care of the dishes and then left the room, leaving you and Romano, who had freshened up after having eaten, alone to talk.

“As the opportunity to converse did not arise last night, I shall let you have that opportunity to ask questions now. So, is there anything that is troubling you?” you asked.
“Sì, a few things-a...” Romano mumbled.
“I am listening.”
“Well-a...”
“Yes, go on.” you urged.
“Well, I saw that you've-a had many human 'guests' in-a your home, but never once did you-a turn on any of them, or-a bite them or change them. Just-a like with me. Why? How come you-a have such good control of-a your thirst? I've read that-a vampires are usually driven by-a their blood lust, but you are not.”

You gave a light chuckle. “Humans always goes and exaggerate everything. Clearly they have only met with vampires with very low self-control. The blood lust differs from vampire to vampire. Our character and emotions determines our blood lust the most, my dear. However, those who are given the choice to become one of us and accepts of their own free will, usually has a slightly better control of their thirst, although perhaps not the all that great the first year. Those who are turned by force usually turn out for the worse.”

“And you are-a one who were-a given a choice...” he mused to himself. That would explain your unnaturally good self-control, in comparison to what he had heard.
“Yes, that I am indeed.”
“When and-a where were you-a born?” he asked suddenly.
You were slightly taken aback from the sudden change in questions, but recovered quickly. “[Date of birth], 1342 in [place of birth].” you responded. “In other words, that means I have recently celebrated my 670th birthday. Quite an old lady, I am.” you lightly joked, but Romano didn't even crack a smile. You looked at him with a slightly worried expression.

“Is something the matter, Romano my dear?” you asked him.
“I don't get how-a you can joke around and-a still be happy in your own way after all-a you've gone through. How do you-a do it? You're-a better than me, I can't even-a fathom all the pain you've-a gone through.”
“When you have lived as long as I have, you learn to live with it.” you said and turned your gaze towards a window with slightly solemn look your eyes. Romano easily caught it. He had learned to read you somewhat during the time he had spent with you, but after seeing your past he picked up the signs easier.

“But you-a haven't, have you-a? You aren't used to-a it, you haven't learnt to-a live with it-a. I can-a see it, [Name].”
“How can you tell?” you asked skeptically.
“I can-a see it. Your eyes. They shimmer with-a an underlying, and unprocessed sadness, they speak of-a the sadness you have lived through-a and haven't quite processed yet. You haven't-a even cried your miseries out yet, have you?”

You didn't answer, but that itself was answer enough. No, you hadn't – you hadn't cried all your miseries out. You had cried when you lost your parents, and you had cried when you lost Archí, but after that you hadn't shed a single tear. Not a single tear for 600 years.

“And-a also... I-a recognize sadness when I-a see it, and-a I know that-a you do not want my-a pity, I-a understand that too, because-a...” he trailed off and you turned your gaze back to him. “I've-a seen it too many times in myself.”
“What are you implying, Romano?” you asked curiously.
“I've-a lived through my fair share of-a loneliness and pain too, [Name]. I know-a what it feels like to-a get everyone you care about taken away from-a you, and what it feels like-a to be lonely.” he said solemnly.
“I am listening, my dear.”
“All my-a life I've felt I've never been-a good enough. I've-a always been outshone by-a my brother. He's always been-a the best at everything. The better cook-a, the better artist, the better dancer, singer, you-a name it, and he's always so good with-a people. Everyone always-a likes him best – even our-a Grandfather – and I-a can't stand it, since everyone who's-a taken a liking to me has-a left me one way or another. First our Grandpa died, then Feliciano and-a I were left on our own.”

Most of it weren't news to you, but it seemed to have a deeper meaning this time when he told it.

“For some time-a we had it fairly good, considering the circumstances. My-a brother and I became somewhat closer, but as we-a grew older he started looking out for other people, new friends, and-a eventually we drifted apart and I was-a left alone again. Then whenever I-a tried to make friends eventually they all left me-a for my younger brother because-a they were drawn in by his charm and were tired of-a my crap ass attitude, I guess. They all-a got tired of me and-a left, and eventually-a I simply stopped trying, since I-a knew they would-a all get taken away anyway.”

He sighed sadly and continued.

“You are-a the only one who hasn't left or-a abandoned me yet. I won't give you-a pity, because I know how it feels-a, it doesn't feel good. I can't give you-a false understanding, because I truly do-a understand the pain of-a losing people close to you, just not to-a your extent. But I will give you-a sympathy, because I understand the-a underlying pain you carry.” he said and gave you small smile, something he didn't do very often, but he had found himself smiling a lot more since he met you.

He felt you two had a connection of some sort, something that tied you together, before but until now he didn't know what. Now that he knew of your past he knew what it was that tied you together. It was your shared pain of the empty and hollow loneliness you both had gone through in your lives.

“Romano, I--”
“Shh, ragazza, you don't have to-a say anymore. I won't press you, but if you-a feel ready to let it out, I'm-a here.” he said in an unusually gentle tone, one that was somewhat similar to the one you used. The one that spoke of patience, kindness and understanding, and patience was unusual coming form him, seeing as he barely had any.

You were so stunned by his change in personality and by what he had said, that you didn't even notice the lone tear that escaped your eye and rolled down your cold pristine cheek. Romano noticed it however and carefully reached over and collected the tear on his finger.

“I'll wait for you-a, ragazza. I'm-a here, and I'm not going-a anywhere.”

~*~*~*~*

Vlad sat on an old chest up in the attic of Antonio's house, deep in thought, as the others prepared for the search of the brothers in the woods. He knew exactly who they were hunting, and it hurt him that would have to go against her in this.

'I can understand why she took Romano, as he must've been chosen, but I don't see why she took Feliciano as well. She's never taken more than one human before. What changed?' he pondered.

Then suddenly light sprung from the opening of the door to the attic and Lukas joined him in the room. He went over and sat beside his red eyed companion on the old chest.

“What are you doing up here, Vlad?”
“Just thinking, is all.”
“That's very unlike you.”
“Hey! I am very much capable of being just as serious as the next guy, Luka!” Vlad huffed offended.
“What were you thinking about?” Lukas asked, completely unfazed by his companion's outburst.
“Well... Just worried about going into those woods...” he said.
“I know what you mean. It does have an eerie feel about it.”

Vlad sighed. “Hey Luka?”
Lukas hummed in response and turned to him with the same emotionless expression etched on his face.
“Do you believe in vampires? Do you think they exist?”
“Don't tell me you doubt your own words?”
“No, that's not it. I'm just curious.”

Lukas thought about it. It was kind of weird for Vlad to be this serious. Usually he was quite a cheery and happy-go-lucky guy in a way, he was seldom serious. But one look at Vlad's face and Lukas knew that the Romanian knew more than he let on, and wasn't planning on sharing anytime soon. So he decided to simply answer his question.

“I believe in vampires as much as I believe in trolls and elves, Vlad. And that they are there, but they only exist for those who believe that they exist.”

Vlad chuckled a bit at that. 'So typical Lukas.' he thought. “That's true I guess. Then what would you say if you had a vampire sitting beside you at the moment?” he chuckled.
“What are you saying, idiot?”
“Nothing, at all, Luka. Nothing at all.” Vlad laughed. 'Now is not the time for you to know, Luka. - [Name]... Be careful, you will be put to the test again. Don't lose yourself.'

'Unchi [uncle], is this right? What would you do?'