[M] She Ran

Tom's eyes widened when she said that. So they were not only real, but they weren't as friendly as some would make them seem.

He remembered watching Peter Pan as a little boy, and how rude those mermaids were to poor Wendy. Seems they were on the right track to the truth.

He quickly paused the documentary and stared at her.

"You've met them?" He asked, suddenly much more interested in Fawzi's stories then some documentary.

Fawzi pursed her lips at the question.

"Unfortunately. A few times too many."

She'd met them a lot. She'd lived in areas where they were rather common back in the day. Now they were much more scarce and that was how Fawzi liked it.

Merfolk were the one creature that Fawzi truly hated with a passion.

Tom looked like a small child when hearing about Santa Claus for the first time. His eyes were big with wonder and his face as curious and captivated by Fawzi and the life she had lived.

"Don't be so greedy with your words Fawzi! Tell me everything!" He pressed, really eager and exited to hear.

The woman shook her head.

"You don't want to know everything. Not about those beasts."

They were cruel little fuckers that were better off dead. Fawzi hated them more than anything else in the world.

"They kill for fun. If not their own kind then children that live on land. Ones that are small enough for them to drag away."

Tomaso frowned. He was truly interested in Fawzi's experiences, but that did sound terrible.

"How dreadful" He said, his voice forlorn. Something like that, well he didn't even want to think of it.

He wasn't the most paternal person on the planet, and he didn't have much of a desire to be a father. But the idea of an innocent, vulnerable child getting dragged away was nightmarish.

If he thought about things like that too long, he'd find himself very depressed. And damn it all, he was supposed to be helping Fawzi not be depressed.

"Lets not watch a documentary on merpeople. Instead, I have one on vampirism." He suggested, switching recordings. "You know I've yet to meet a vampire." He said to her.

"I doubt the humans would suggest they were like they really are. Humans still see them as beautiful sirens."

She highly doubted they would make a documentary on the real nature of merfolk. Human merfolk were nice creatures; beautiful even. She enjoyed seeing those types of merfolk greatly.

"Rai's a Vampire," Fawzi murmured, turning her bright gaze up to him. "She's a hybrid. Part Lycan, part Vampire."

The woman gave a little smile. "We've got some Vampire friends. I'm sure Aeker would answer any questions you have if we ask him." Aeker was a kind, pleasant man.

"She is now?" Tom asked, surprised to find that out. He hadn't realized she was half vampire.

"Does that make me a vampire or a lycan then?" He asked, suddenly confused.

There was still a lot he had to learn about this word.

As for the documentary, the merfolk one was gone and he'd all ready pulled up the one on vampires. The mermaid one did not depict the creatures as beautiful, but instead more like alienistic sea monsters. It was very creepy, and hearing what Fawzi had to say, he realized they were probably on a close track to the truth.

"Mhmm."

Rai was quite an interesting creature. She was such a strange hybrid creature nowadays. Lycan and Vampires rarely mate with each other nowadays.

"Lycan, i'm pretty sure."

Fawzi moved to kneel next to the man. She pressed her thumb to his lower lip and pulled it down slightly to see his teeth.

"If you were a Vampire, your fangs would have grown in." Fawzi leaned forwards so she could see his teeth more clearly. Her tongue ran over her lower lip slowly in thought. "It doesn't look like they've grown in. Definitely a Lycan."

Tomaso's cheeks reddened when she touched his lip, but once he realized she was simply checking to see his teeth, he relaxed.

Still, he found himself enjoying the feel of her fingers on his lips far more then he should have.

Once she let go he subconsciously sucked his bottom lip into his mouth to lave his tongue over it. It was a subtle motion, Fawzi probably didn't catch it.

"Right then. Shall we?" He asked, reaching to press play on the documentary.

Fawzi settled down next to him again.

"We shall."

She'd enjoy laying around watching documentaries. Doing while cuddling with someone would be even better.

And she knew that she wouldn't be disturbed. She could cuddle and watch the documentary and not worry about a hand being pushed into her pants and distacting her so much that she couldnt watch it.

Tom was never one to understand why so many people fooled around while watching movies. For him it just didn't make any sense. Why put it on if not to watch it?

He did, however, understand the need to snuggle. It felt so right to be cuddled up cozy next to someone.

A part of him felt guilty, knowing that she was in a relationship with another man. He didn't like feeling guilty though, because the man she was with was a real jerk in his eyes.

He tried to push those thoughts back and just focus on the documentary.

"Tell me what they get right and what they get wrong Fawzi, please?" He asked with a small grin.

Fawzi was the one that should feel ridden with guilt.

She was laying here cuddling with a man that wasn't her parter.

And yet this felt right and good. She couldn't feel guilty about something that felt so right.

"Will do." She was sure there'd be quite a few errors.

The documentary went on, focusing on the different variations of vampires in other cultures around the world.  

In particular it was referencing the aswang, an evil vampire creature that used a pointed, prehensile tongue to drain its victims' blood.

The woman watched the documentary curiously.

There were a few things that were definitely more fiction than fact. But for the most part, it was all right.

A fairly good informative documentary.

"I'm actually rather impressed," the woman admitted.

Tom wasn't sure why, but her approval on his study material made him have a silly sense of pride.

Had she totally bashed it, he would have felt like an idiot for even owning it.

But to have her be a bit impressed was a pretty big boost to Tomaso's self esteem, for whatever reason.

He couldn't hide the stupid grin on his face.

"Are you?"

"They had someone who know what they were talking about giving information, at the very least."

Her eyes flickered up to the man and she gave a crooked little smirk.

"Played some of it up for humans, but most of it's pretty spot on."

"It's interesting, really. I've spent so much time researching things like this, using documentaries and books to gather my information. And now to realize that I don't really need it is well... hard to grasp at the very least. To think that I could just meet a vampire right now and have a conversation with one is mind boggling." The man vocalized all his thoughts, a far off look in his eyes.

Everything had changed so fast that part of him was still the man that lived within the veil of not knowing the truth behind so many of the creatures he shared the world with.

"You've probably done it before."

After a beat she elaborated. "Had a conversation with a Vampire, that is. They're everywhere. In places that you wouldn't even expect them to be."

Vampires were like rats...or cockroaches. Always around, being a pest.

Not that she had too much right to complain. Her species weren't the greatest in the world, either.

Tom smiled. That was so unfathomable. Obviously everything in his life was now. He wondered when he would start getting used to it.

"I always pictured them to be ugly. To have traits that made them stand out as the nonliving. Long nails, hollow cheek bones, dead eyes, pale skin. I'd never have dreamed they could disguise themselves as a healthy, normal human."

The woman's grin curled up into a teasing little smirk.

"I think you've been watching too much Nosferatu," she chuckled softly.

Vampires looked just like everyone else. Humans, Lycan, Necromancers. The Elves were a little different, but not by much. Only their ears.

Most mainstream Supernatural's looked very much the same as humans.

Tom couldn't believe it, but he actually found himself chuckling. How he was able to veil the sadness he felt inside was beyond him. But he had to do it. Not even for himself, but for her.

She needed someone strong, someone who she could just forget her problems with. And he'd be that person.

It didn't matter how he felt for her, how strong those feelings were becoming. All that mattered was that he was able to help her.

"Well some believe that the myth of vampires started when people dug up coffins and realized that hair and nails kept growing, implying that the dead became the living at night in search for blood." He said. "So I suppose that's where I got that theory." He nodded. "Though I must admit I am fond of old-timey films." He added with a smirk.

"One of first perceived Vampires didn't even really have a human form. It was only silly European grave-diggers that came up with the idea that they were humans, risen from the dead in their entirety."

Fawzi's lips curled into a bright grin.

"Some of the first recorded Vampires were the Mayan Chonchon. They were really really weird. It was said that they were the heads of dead humans that had detached from their bodies. In the legends, their ears grew like, really big so they could fly around searching for blood with their ears as wings."

It was one of the most outlandish Vampire stories she had ever heard.

Tom snuggled in closer to Fawzi and rubbed her shoulder tenderly.

He laughed out at what she said.

"That's brilliant." He said, grinning so big he was sure he looked stupid.

"I wonder how that started? Did someone see something? Or do you think it was a prank that was too easily believed?"

He wished so badly sometimes that he could go back to any given moment in history and witness the secrets that would create history first hand.

Fawzi gave a half-shrug.

"I really don't know." How could someone find a way to make it look like a human's ears had grown and created wings?

"I may be old, but I'm not quite that old." Her eyes gleamed as she delved into her research about Vampires.. "I know more about African tribal Vampiric myths, anyway. Now, those are interesting."

"When in doubt, blame hallucinogenic substances." Tom said in a totally serious way. He wasn't even trying to be funny, though it probably came across that way.

"Fawzi you know I could listen to your stories all through the night." He said, and he meant it too. How could he sleep when he had Fawzi here to tell him hidden truths about the more mythical side of society?