Dinner was now in the trash and a second one was in the microwave. Constantino was not easy to deal with in the sense that we couldn't understand each other, but in terms of what he was, it was a breeze. He didn't seem interested in pinning me down and sticking his fangs into me. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that he was more intrigued by everything in the kitchen.

He leaned over and watched the microwave, his eyes narrowed at it. When it binged, he jumped with fright and then started babbling at me with a heavy frown. Pushing the door release button, I guided Constantino to the dining table and made him sit down.

"Why don't you look at the pictures in this magazine?"

He looked at it with curiosity, then gestured to the woman on the cover. Then he motioned to my legs. I looked down at them and wondered what he was saying. I was wearing cargo shorts and a standard work shirt.

"Let me guess, women never dressed in shorts wherever it is that you're from? And we never showed this much flesh, right?"

Constantino opened the magazine a few pages in, gasping in minor shock.

"Oh, yeah. You're probably not used to seeing women in bikinis either. Maybe I should find something better for you."

I tried to take the magazine away, and he tugged it back, scowling at me.

"Fine, pervert," I muttered.

Taking my second dinner out of the microwave, I put it onto the counter to cool. Finding the vampire a few more magazines to read, I hoped that we could start to form some kind of understanding. Taking everything to the table, I picked up the brochure for the local pet supply place. On the front was the cutest Labrador. If I didn't work the odd hours and strange locations like I did, I'd have a Labrador. This dig was the only one that I'd had that was close to my home, and I'd wager I'd never have one this close again.

Then again, looking at Constantino, I wondered if there were more of him down there. A legion of vampires waiting to be woken from the death-like sleep, ready to unleash a wave of destruction upon the weak, unsuspecting humans.

Constantino looked at the brochure when I put it on the table.

"Dog," I said, pointing to the golden fluffball.

"D-oh-g?"

"Yeah."

Slowly I picked my way through the meal when something occurred to me. Holding out a forkful of lasagne, I watched as he sniffed it and then shook his head swiftly.

"Okay then."

Flicking the page over, I pointed to the next animal.

"Cat."

Constantino began sounding the word out, frowning at the pamphlet. Every animal was pointed out, and he tried to sound out each of the words. When I found a picture of a family in another flyer, I pointed to each of them. Man, woman, boy, and girl. I tried not to be confusing, but it wasn't easy considering that I could have gone more in-depth like husband and wife, brother, sister, children, parents.

When my meal was done, I cleaned up the kitchen and returned to the table. My resources were limited, I didn't have children, I didn't even know anyone that had them. So, I had to rely on the internet. Doing an image search, I showed him a lot of pictures and told him each of the words.

Curious as to his thoughts on what he was, I searched pictures of vampires. Constantino frowned, almost smiling. He looked at me and flicked his hand out at the screen, muttering something at me.

"I'm not a fan of horror or gory movies, but I liked Dracula when it came out. Mostly because I'm a big fan of Keanu, so, I had to see it. Ever heard of Dracula?"

Constantino looked at me, plain-faced.

"Didn't think so. Guess you've never heard of Bram Stoker either. Probably after you went down for the big sleep. I really wish you could speak English and tell me how you ended up with a stake in your heart. I can't even pick the era of your clothing. Speaking of which, let's do a history check to see how far back we can go."

The middle ages, the Tudors, Anglo-Saxons, and even the Vikings, I got nothing from him. Homo neanderthalensis, Homo habilis, nothing. Egyptian, Macedonian, Roman. Zip. Showed him Cleopatra and Tutankhamen, he didn't flinch. King Henry? Nope. Queen Victoria? Shakespeare? Mozart? Not a single damned thing.

Dejected, I sat back in the chair and looked at Constantino.

"Are you even from this planet?"

I couldn't understand how this was possible. Constantino was in clothing that was reasonably modern. It wasn't current, but it's not like he was running around in Tarzan's loin cloth or a toga. Flick the dust off, and he could walk down the street. Yes, he would get looked at, but I've seen a whole lot worse out there. This was modern life, and people wore some amazing but seriously crazy things.

"You're not from Earth, are you?"

A lot of people believed that Ancient Egypt was the work of aliens. Was it possible that they weren't that far off the truth? Opening another tab, I searched for Egyptian hieroglyphics.

"What about them?"

Constantino said something to me. With a deadpan face, he looked at me and said something that was probably derogatory to my intelligence.

"I can't understand you!" I snapped.

As my phone began to ring, I opened the images and searched Ancient Greece.

"What about them, eh? Seen them before?"

Being horrible to him wasn't fair, but frustration was setting in. Getting out of the seat, I found my phone at the bottom of my bag and answered the unknown caller.

"Hello?"

"Professor Harrington?"

"No, not a professor, just an employee," I muttered. "How can I help?"

"This is Doctor Epstein, I'm one of the consulting doctors to the group of people that you work with. You were listed as the contact for the campsite, is that correct?"

"Yes, I am the campsite coordinator. How are they?"

"Not well, I'm afraid. Unfortunately, we've already lost Professor Thomas."

My hand clasped to my mouth, tears rolled down my cheeks.

"My condolences, Miss Harrington. His last words were that I call you and inform you of his passing when it happened."

What an awful fate. Nelson would not have his moment in the sun. No moment of glory, showing the world his fantastic find.

I gulped, feeling the hard and painful lump slide down my throat.

"That's terrible," I whispered.

"It is, we held a lot of hope that we'd be able to help them, but I'm afraid that the others are fading too. I also rang to see how you are feeling. Are you noticing any of the symptoms?"

"No, I feel fine. What's the issue with my co-workers?"

"It's quite odd, almost like they're infected with a toxin or a disease of some sort."

I looked at Constantino and wondered if he was the toxin.

"We don't hold much hope unless we find out what is wrong with them. I can keep you updated if you like."

"Of course."

Ending the call, I put the phone down and wiped away the tears. Constantino watched everything that I did which didn't help at all. Sitting back at the table, I opened the university website and found the page that had the faculty staff pictures on it. Finding Nelson, I clicked on the image of him and showed it to Constantino.

"Do you recognise him?"

Warily, he nodded and lifted the picture of the drawings.

"Yes, he was the one that discovered your sarcophagus. He died."

Constantino didn't understand me, so I opened yet another tab and searched images of gravestones. Pointing at the headstones, I changed tabs and showed him the picture of Nelson again.

"He's dead. Do you understand me?"

Slowly, he nodded. His mouth opened and he pointed to his fangs.

"Is it a toxin?"

Getting no response, I searched for the skull and crossbones image used for poison.

"Is it poisonous?"

Constantino frowned, shaking his head slightly. Taking my arm, he tapped his finger against the underside and then pointed to his fangs. He could see that I wasn't getting it, so he picked up my glass, running his finger down the side until he got to the bottom.

"You drank their blood?"

Flicking back to the pictures of vampires, I pointed to the blood around their mouths. Constantino nodded.

"All of their blood? That's not possible."

His fingers moved to a pinch gesture, probably indicating that there was a little bit of blood left in them. That would explain the lethargic bodies that looked anaemic.

"There was ten of them in the tomb when you were discovered. Did you drink nearly all the blood of ten people?"

Maybe even two more if Hannah and Roger were victims too. I held up both hands, wriggling my fingers.

"Ten? Ten people?"

An eyebrow raised as Constantino nodded slowly. That was one hell of an appetite.