Kongpob's Pov---------

I awoke slowly...my eyes adjusting to the dim light.

Where was I ??

Oh Yes !!

I was in my bedroom in Oregon .

I let myself take in the soothing colour of the walls and carpet, the deep red of the bedspread and the black leather furniture. When I was 15.... I had asked my mother if I could have a new look for my room. She laughed when I suggested RED, lots of red. Then she sent me to stay with a friend for a couple of days. When I came back, my room had changed, for the better. It looked bold, but classy too. There were lots of red touches in the bedspread and the drapes, but it wasn't gaudy. I still loved coming home to this room that my mother had created for me.

While I stretched and continued to wake up, I thought back over the last week.

The kidnapping.....

The shooting.....

The breaking of my hand...

And then...... Arthit.

Arthit...who rescued me...

Arthit...who could calm me...and yet make me quiver with anticipation...

Arthit...who filled my dreams...and then was there with me each time I awoke...

Arthit...who made me laugh and think and want...

Arthit...Arthit.....and just Arthit

I was really tired and I hated feeling so weak. All of the doctors assured me that this was normal, that I would start to feel stronger in time. But I had to follow their orders to get better. The only bright part of that thought was that Arthit had promised to help me, to be here for me.

And here we are, in Oregon........

In Oregon where he had promised to answer all my questions. There were so many of them stirring around in my thoughts.

How had he found me at that beach house ??

How had he broken that chain ??

I have never seen Arthit eat or drink anything, or any of them do so for that matter. What was up with that ??

So many questions...but was I ready for the answers ??

I already knew that he was something else..... something otherworldly.

Was I ready to find out exactly what Arthit was ??

I thought so..... I hoped so......

During the past week his entire family had been to the hospital to see me, some of them more than once. Their eyes were all same charcoal shade, but with Arthit that changed Sometimes..... sometimes Arthit's eyes were a shade of amber, sometimes deep black. They were the deepest charcoal shade on the morning of our flight to Oregon. Everyone was in his family was so beautiful, extraordinarily so. They mostly communicate with their eyes or shake or nods of their heads.... like they could telepath.

I knew that I could have asked at least some of these questions during the week. But Arthit said that he would answer all my questions when we got here. Maybe I was afraid of the answers to questions that I could barely even fathom.
All I did know for sure is that all my thoughts seemed to be revolving around Arthit. My recovery was important, but the thought of playing some music for him was what kept my spirits up when they were flagging. Music just wasn't as important as it had been before...before Arthit.

We would be talking and laughing with Bright and he would move somewhere in the room. Without even thinking about it, I would find myself angling my body to be closer to him. It was gratifying to see him turn towards me too.

When I fell asleep, his hand would be tucked beneath my cheek or his long, strong fingers would be running through my hair. It was incredibly soothing and filled my mind with calm and peace. When we kiss..... our lips touched, which was just as often as I could make it happen, it was usually soft and sweet...but I felt this spark, this current that ran between us. That was one reason why I wanted to be better now. I wanted to take those kisses deeper. The way his lips lingered on mine and his eyes burned with desire.... I know that he felt the same way.

With a sigh, I sat up. This was the first time this week that I would be awakened and not had Arthit right here beside me. I wondered where he was. The light was fading, the sun setting when I left my room to look for him.

"ARTHIT......??"

I called as I got halfway down the stairs. He answered from the dining room, the room where the painting similar to him, was hung. He was standing in the last rays of daylight as it slanted through the wide window, beside the painting that I had remembered in the hospital. His onex eyes were searching mine. A small crease of worry was disturbing the usual smoothness of his brow. As I stepped before him, I looked from his face to the painting and back again. I gasped at the similarities between them. Arthit's face was much finer and attractive, but it was still his face on the canvas. His hair was somewhat shorter now, smoother and not as brown. The look on the face in the painting looked annoyed, while Arthit's face, as he stood next to me, just looked worried.

On a whim, I reached my good hand out to try and take the painting from the wall. I seemed to remember that there was writing on the back of the canvas.
In silence, Arthit quickly took it down, not wanting me to exert myself in any way. I asked him to turn it over. In the lower right hand corner of the canvas were some words. Together we moved to the table where he set the painting down. I moved to turn the overhead light on and then stepped back to the painting. The light shone down brightly on the words..... A name and date were written there. I read them in amazement and turned to look down at Arthit. He ran his finger lightly over the words, a bashful sad smile hovered on his lips as he whispered the words quietly:

Arthit Perawat Sangpotirat

August 1660

"I didn't know he was going to write my name on this when he finished. Mr. Srimus was a wonderful artist. He made me laugh sometimes. But he told me to keep pouting while I sat for him, that it would make the painting more interesting. He knew that my father wanted me to look attractive for this, so that Jacob Anderson would want to marry me"

He sighed deeply before continuing,

"He finished it just before my 22th birthday and my father sent it off to Mr. Anderson before the paint was totally dry. The week after my birthday I was changed..."

"I don't understand..."

I said. Confusion filled my mind. I had wondered if maybe this painting was one of his ancestors, but the way he was talking made it sound like this was actually his.

How could that be ??

It was painted in 1660 !!

Before I could formulate any type of question, Arthit took the painting and placed it back on the wall, making sure that it hung straight and even.

"I know you don't understand this....Kongpob,"

He said as he turned back to face me. The crease was still apparent on his lovely forehead.

"Let's get you something to drink and then we will talk"

He hesitantly held his wide and strong hand out to me. I took it immediately and let him lead me towards the door. I paused for a moment before I left the room to look back at the painting on the wall. Now I had even more questions.

Arthit tugged my hand gently and we continued to the kitchen. He asked what I would like to have, and when I chose coffee, he quickly made me a cup. We both remained silent as it brewed. Once the coffee was ready, he held it in his hand and said

"This will take some time. Shall we sit in the living room ?? There are fresh logs in the fireplace ready to light"

I nodded my head and followed Arthit down the hall to the living room. He sat my mug down on a coaster on the coffee table and quickly moved to the fireplace. He started the fire while I just stood and watched him. His movements were sure and precise. When the flames began to lick higher, they reflected the slight red in his hair.
Once it was going well, he stood and came slowly towards me.

He stopped with his hands resting on my chest and looked into my eyes. In a gesture of nervousness, he bit his bottom lip gently.

"Kongpob, before I start answering your questions, can I kiss you ??"

His question startled me, just as I had known mine did him, that first day in the hospital. My lips curved into a smile as I lifted my head up and rested my lips lightly on his. Arthit's hand was suddenly at the nape of my neck and he pulled me closer, our lips crushed together. I felt desperation in the kiss along with something else, something sweet and full of longing. Using my good hand and arm, I pulled him closer to me, resting my uninjured side against his hard torso.

Our lips moved together as he ran his fingers through my hair. That was usually a calming thing for me, but not this time. I felt an electric charge run through my body where we touched as he pulled me closer to him.... harder, where his fingers touched my scalp, where our lips were melded together.

When we finally allowed our kiss to end, I rested my forehead against his jawline. Our breathing was ragged and it took me a couple of minutes to get mine under control. I looked up and Arthit's eyes were closed, his long lashes swept softly against the light shadows that lay below them. He slowly lowered his arms from my shoulders and gave me a gentle hug before stepping away from me. I immediately felt a sense of loss.

"Let's sit here"

Arthit motioned to the comfortable leather couch before the fire. As I sat down at one end, he moved my coffee mug closer to me. Then he settled himself in the other corner of the couch, tucking his feet beneath him as he faced me.

"Kongpob, I want to tell you the truth....... all of it. I want to answer all of your questions"

His face was earnest as he looked into my eyes.

"I just don't know where to start"

Arthit's shoulders lifted in a shrug. he let them fall and twisted his hands in his lap.

There were so many questions swirling through my head. I finally settled on one, related with the painting.

"Arthit, how old are you ??"

That should at least answer, if he really was the man in the painting because he certainly couldn't be.

Arthit took a deep breath and began

"I am twenty two, and.......I have been twenty two for a very very long time"

That took me by surprise. I took the last part of his sentence and tried to put it into perspective.

"Arthit, how long have you been twenty two ??"

I asked quietly.
He closed his eyes and then he answered,

"Kongpob, I have been twenty two for more than 300 years"

He kept his eyes closed, like he was afraid of what he might see on my face. If his eyes were open...... first he would have seen confusion, then amazement... and finally, he would have seen wonder.

I leaned towards him and cupped his cool smooth cheek in my hand.

"How is this possible ??"

Was the only question I could think to ask as his eyes opened and his striking gaze held mine.

He pressed his face into my hand and began speaking.

"I was born in 1638, in Seattle, Washington"

Arthit told me about his life, how his father wanted to find a rich family for him to be married, A powerful family which would give him something in return for the privilege of marrying his amazingly handsome son. He told me about Jacob Anderson, how he had tried to force himself on Arthit and how he had ridden away from his home on Mr. Anderson's horse. How the horse had thrown him into a fence, the pain that had made him black out.

"When I awoke in a beautiful woman's arms, I thought that I must be in heaven. She was so beautiful, but then the pain returned and I passed out again. I was near death, just minutes away from never waking, when Noor reached Knott with me"

Arthit paused to look into my eyes again. He took a deep breath and continued

"Noor and Knott changed me...... to save my life. I had no idea what they were saying to me . I knew I was dying, and then an even deeper pain began at my neck, a pain that spread like a fire to my entire body"

Arthit's fingers touched a place at the side of his neck. He turned a little and I could see the faint outline of something there. I leaned closer, moving his shirt collar aside so that I could see clearly in the light from the lamp. There was a very pale scar. A shade lighter. Raising my fingers, I traced the shape of a long tear in his perfect skin. Leaning back, I dropped my hand and asked him to continue, mesmerized by the story that he was telling me.

"I felt the pain and fire for few days. It was hotter than anything I could imagine. Through it all, Noor and Knott talked to me, telling me about their way of life. Their cool hands would stroke my face. They held my hands as I shuddered on the bed, kept me still as the pain in my body drove me nearly insane"

Arthit twisted his hands in his lap again, clearly agitated.

"I had felt my heart slowing down to a very low but steady rhythm and the fire slowly left my body. I opened my eyes to a new world, a very beautiful world filled with colors and scents that I had never seen or smelled before. It amazed me and I was nearly overwhelmed by the intensity of it all. Then Noor quietly called to me, and I turned to see them clearly for the first time"

Awe filled his face as Arthit recalled those first moments.

"They introduced themselves, even though they had been talking to me nearly non-stop for few days. They knew my name and who I was, as a search had been conducted to find me around the area, They told me what I had become, what Knott's bite to my neck had made me..."

Arthit's voice trailed off and he looked at me again, swallowing hard.

I nodded at him to go on as I took his hand in mine. I was enthralled by the story. It was like a screenplay for a movie. It was hard to believe, but he was so sincere. I just had to know the rest.

"Say it. Tell me what you had become"

I urged him to continue in a quiet voice.

"VAMPIRE....

I had become a vampire, just like Knott and Noor"

Arthit's eyes were wide as he looked at me. I am sure he was wondering what I was going to do.

Hell..... I wondered what I was going to do, what I thought about this tale, he was telling me. It all seemed so farfetched. Could this be real ?? Could He really be a vampire ?? The world as I knew it, tilted just a bit.

I looked into his gorgeous face, staring deeply into his onex eyes. My mind wandered over what I thought I knew about vampires.....

All the Vampires I have known, were in books or movies...

They could be killed by a stake to the heart...

They would run from garlic...

A cross could keep them at bay...

Some could turn into bats or fly somehow...

They had fangs...

Some of them slept in coffins...

They had to sleep during the day because they can't come out in sunlight...

And, lastly, they drank the blood of humans...

Somehow none of this added up to what I could see in Arthit, Knott and Noor. They had been completely different from the Vampire version of book's and movies. What about the rest of his family ??

I asked

"Bright ?? Jenny ?? Wad and Prem ??"

Arthit reached over to the table and picked up my forgotten mug of coffee.

"Drink this first. Do you need any more pain pills ?? It's time, if you do"

I sipped the lukewarm coffee as I shook my head NO, for pain pills and asked him to continue with his story.

"Bright and Jenny.... They had been wandering around for a long time and were searching for a different way of living their vampire life"

The look on Arthit's face was intense but not scary

"They became my best of friends like Knott and Noor, Jenny was turned by a lonely vampire searching for some company, she stayed with him for some time and then left on her own way after few months. She was wandering alone when she saw Bright and fell in love with him right away. She told him about herself and asked him to be with her...... Bright agreed and they are together since then"

Arthit's face has a little smile as he talked about Bright and Jenny.

"Prem and Wad were childhood sweethearts. They were attacked by a wild, thirsty vampire when they were into a forest for cutting and collecting logs of wood. They figured out what they have become on their own, after the few days of their change, and they lived quite a wild life for few years inside the forest. I met them when I was passing through the woods one day and decided to help them..... Slowly they became the inseparable part of our family.

I was completely amazed by the story Arthit was telling me.

"Kongpob, there is one question that you surely want to ask above all others, Don't you ??"

Again, the intense look was back on his face.

There were so many questions that I still wanted to ask, but nothing major leaped to the front of my mind. There were still too many to choose just one.

"What ?? What do you think I should be asking Arthit ??"

"Kongpob, don't you wonder about our diet ??"

Arthit asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Isn't that the first thought that crosses a human's mind when confronted by the very idea of vampires ??"

I thought about that for a moment.... But, It wasn't the first thing on my mental list, it was actually the last thing. And with regard to the vampires that I now knew, it hadn't even occurred to me to ask that question.

What a thought......

I know vampires......

seven of them !!

I found myself shaking my head back and forth, maybe trying to clear it.

"Well, Arthit, I have been around you and your family for more than two weeks now, and no one has ever come close to biting me. I never felt uncomfortable with them....The stalker's yes, but you and your family......No.

So, no, it wasn't the first thought that came to my mind. But now that you mentioned it, I would like to know about your diet. What do you eat Arthit ??"

In fact, I was now quite curious about it.

"I have never seen any of you, eating or drinking. And I Don't believe any of you would kill humans for their blood...... Do you guys live on a diet of animals blood like The Cullens in Twilight ??"

Arthit looked at me with wide eyes and started to chuckle, and in no time it was a full throated belly laugh. He buried his head in a cushion from the couch, apparently trying to stifle the sounds coming from deep inside his throat. Finally the sounds subsided and he raised his head.

"Kongpob, you amaze me all the time"

Another chuckle left his lips and he bit the bottom one to help keep his control. He took several deep breaths and continued

"Books and Movies are mostly wrong about Vampires Arthit, We cannot digest animal blood..... but One of the things that Knott and Noor told me about after my change was that.... We don't have to kill people, for their blood"

Arthit looked at me intently....

"Vampires need to consume blood.... human blood to be precise, to live and sustain themselves. But it can be done without killing them. Vampires kill their preys, mostly for the fun of hunt. Though it's not easy to hold back their strength and not to kill the fragile humans in the frenzy of blood feeding but with practice it can be done. And now in the morden medicine time, blood is easily available in blood banks in small blood bags, so it becomes easy now for a vampire, like us, to not to hurt any human to live our own lives. Knott and Noor tought me to value every life, dosen't matter.... Human or Vampire"

Arthit was looking into space, probably remembering the lessons that they had taught him.

"That's the way Knott and Noor lived and the way they wanted me to live, after joining them. I was so grateful to be with them, people who loved me for me, that I gladly took on their way of life. I was just so happy to be allowed to be me, whoever I wanted to be. I wasn't a commodity anymore, I was just Arthit. And they loved me as Arthit"

He glanced back at my face, back in the present

"There's something you have to know about me Kongpob....."

Arthit looked down at his hands again, and his voice lowered to a mere whisper. I had to lean towards him to hear what he said next.

"You said that no one had tried to bite you these last several days and that's true..... But the first time I saw you, I nearly killed you"

I leaned back into my end of the couch and thought back to our first meeting. It was in the auditorium after the practice. Arthit had come in with May, Jenny, Bright and Wad. I didn't recall anything odd about our meeting and said so.

"That wasn't the first time I saw you"

Arthit whispered.

"I saw you the day before, just as your practice with the orchestra ended. Prem had asked me to stop by the University, and pick some necessary items up from Wad's car for him. I heard you playing and made my way into the hall. As You, May, Aim and Victor left the hall, a breeze blew your scents towards me and I was filled with the unimaginable lust for your blood that I had never felt before. Never in my 360 years of being a vampire, had any human's blood called me the way yours did. Wad saw me inside the auditorium and called Bright, they both came in time to stop me from hurting you"

Arthit's voice lowered even more.

"If not for them, I would have bit you, may have drained you out of every drop of blood, and wanted something more....."

Arthit was sitting so very still, he looked like he was carved from stone, his eyes cast down towards his knees.

I sat deeper into the couch and reflected on what he had just told me.

First, The Rojnapat's consume blood without hurting humans'. My handsome young looking Arthit was 360 years old ?? That was another thing I had questions about...the list just kept getting longer.

Second, My blood seemed to be very appealing to Arthit for some reason.

Third, He hadn't harmed me, not even a little bit and we had been close...very close !!

Arthit had rescued me from that lunatic M.S. and right now we were alone in my home in Oregon, away from his seemingly very nice family. We had been alone a lot of the time that I had known him. Noor had helped me a lot to recover from my injuries. Surely if she was going to allow Arthit to suck me dry, she wouldn't have gone to take so much trouble for saving me. Surely none of them would have worked so hard to keep me safe if Arthit was just going to drain me or kill me.

Maybe Arthit could answer WHY for me, so I asked him.

"Why haven't you killed me and eaten...wait, that's wrong. Why haven't you drained me yet ??"

How odd, I was asking a vampire why he hadn't killed me, when I should have just been grateful that he hadn't. I felt that there was more about this matter and I wanted to know what it was.

Arthit got to his feet swiftly, almost too fast for me to actually see. He ended up standing next to the window, the darkness a backdrop to his luminous features. He kept his back to me as he spoke.

"I never killed a human in my very long vampire life, and I didn't want to kill you.... after surviving without it for so long"

His voice was stern

" I appreciate that but I want to know why..... and How ??"

Arthit told me how he and his family hoped that by immersing Arthit in my scent he would get some control over his blood lust for me. I asked how they did that and was surprised that Bright and Wad had broken into my house and stolen my shirt.

"Just so you know, Bright really wanted to bring me your gym socks"

He admitted with a hint of a laugh in his voice.

I sat stunned for just a moment and then I started to laugh, loudly and long, just like he had done some time before. Arthit turned and watched me for several minutes before his lips started to lift in a smile, too.

"You do know how much I like Bright, don't you ?? He is like the brother that I never had. My parents thought they had their hands full with me, I can't even imagine how you all managed him for so long"

Another laugh left me and Arthit joined in this time. We were brought out of the laughter by the growling of my stomach.

"Wow.... how great !!"

I exclaimed.

"Here I am learning about wonders that I never even imagined could be real, but my stomach is asking for some attention right now.... "

I carefully stood up and reached my hand out to Arthit.

"Come with me to the kitchen. We can talk there while I get something to eat"

Arthit hesitated then walked slowly to me, taking my hand in his. I felt the coolness of his skin, how firm it was and thought about what I now knew about what he was. I brought his hand to my lips and pressed a soft kiss on the back of it.

"Let's go eat. Well, I will eat and I will ask about a hundred of the million or so questions that I still have for you, okay ??"

As I watched Arthit gorgeous face, many emotions passed across it. I am sure they mirrored the ones I had had earlier...... Confusion, Amazement...and finally Wonder.

He smiled as he took my hand and let me lead him from the room. Did he really think that I wouldn't want to touch him now that I knew what he was ??

It had been very difficult to keep my hands off of him before, and I couldn't imagine to do that now. He was still the same person that he had been before he told me what he was. Except now he wasn't just a person, He was a vampire...... That would take me some time to wrap my mind around, but he was here and that had to mean something.

I was trying to formulate a list of questions to ask...there were so many. I didn't really know where to start, but I would start, just as soon as I ate.

The first question that I was going to ask, which he had just skirted..... Why he was trying to save me so earnestly if it was so hard and painful for him to stay near me ??

Again, it wasn't that I was ungrateful, but I wanted to know. There was another mystery, a mystery beyond the facts of his existence, and I wanted to know the truth.......

All of it.

🌞🌜🌞🌜🌞🌜🌞🌛🌞🌛🌞🌛🌞

A/N: So Arthit told Kongpob about his secret...... He is a Vampire.....

I hope you all will like this chapter and I promise to be back with a new update soon. Till then stay safe and healthy ❤️❤️