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Giulia leaned over the edge of the boat to trail her fingers in the water, the lights reflecting in her eyes and glossy hair. The gondolier watched her with soft eyes and a smile to match hers. “Be careful not to lean too far over the edge, Miss Giulia. I wouldn’t want you to sully my gondolier reputation by falling in.”

“I know better than that, Augustine. And you’ve known me long enough to know that.” Her laughter floated over the peaceful water and dissipated into the coming night. She looked up at Augustine, who shook his head yet smiled.

“I’ve known you long enough to know that someday you’ll be the death of me! You’re just lucky you’ve always had me to watch out for you. That you’ve always had me to love you.”

He looked pointedly at Giulia, but she rolled her eyes. “No matter how many times you hint or propose, Augustine, we are not going to end up married. I love you, too, but-”

“But there’s someone out there looking for you, you can feel it,” Augustine cut in with a sigh. “I know, I know. How long are you going to hold out on a vague feeling and allow your life to pass you by? You know your heart isn’t going to last forever. The last thing I want is for you to die before tasting everything life and love have to offer.”

Giulia fell silent and pulled her hand back into the boat. “You know I hate it when you use my heart against me,” she whispered, refusing to even look at Augustine. “Let’s go home. I’m sure our parents are starting to talk.” Tears began welling up in her eyes, but she furiously blinked them away.

The scene froze and Sebastian stood to sit next to Giulia. The pain of betrayal was carved in her features and a tear sparkled on her perfect cheek. From the moment he painted this image, Sebastian had hated it. Getting the context of the scene had only made things worse, and many times he had considered burning the painting.

But he never did, because his paintings were part of him. Besides, nothing he could do would erase the moment from her timeline. Sebastian exhaled and allowed his magic to pull him from the painting, his hand passing through his love’s cheek before she faded away.

* * *

Vernazza, Italy. 15 August, 2006

“This is the last trip,” Sebastian promised himself. He pulled on his cloak and raised the hood before stepping out into the final rays of the evening sunset. “If there’s no letter today, I’m not going back to town for at least a month…”

Yes, going to town was becoming an exercise in disappointment. But Sebastian also couldn’t help noticing the residents staring at him through their windows in increasing numbers. In such a tiny town, his increasing presence was the gossip of the town. More than once his sensitive hearing caught whispers of ‘the cloaked stranger’ from alleyways and ‘Babao’ from open windows.

Such things only served to make the weight on his heart heavier. Hewasa monster. A vampire. A blood thief who fed from the surrounding towns, despite doing so as infrequently as possible. He had centuries to get used to the idea, but sometimes the truth hit him like a block of marble to the head.

Sebastian finally reached the post box and fully expected it to be empty. However, to his delight, a small envelope waited inside. He snatched it up and greedily examined the front, joy growing as he discovered it had, indeed, come from Isabel.

With treasure in hand, he hurried into the darkness where no one from the town could see him, then used his vampiric speed to cover the remaining distance to the castle in seconds. His hands trembled as he lit the torch at the top of the dungeon stairs and continued to do so all the way down. The torchlight danced and skipped joyfully around him with each step, reflecting the light he felt inside.

Safe in his bedroom, he cut open the top of the envelope with a small knife and began to read.

July 31, 2006

Dear Sebastian,

I managed to return home safely from France, despite the airline attempting to send my bag to Romania instead of the US. I say attempting, but they succeeded. Thankfully I didn’t have anything massively important in there, because it won’t get here for a couple more days. Apparently.

Anyway. I really haven’t written a letter since I was a kid, so this feels kind of weird and a little awkward. I don’t even know what to write in a letter to a practical stranger! Or a non-stranger. But it seemed like you wanted me to, and my best friend Melody insisted, so here it is. A letter!

Don’t think I’m too stalkerish, but I looked your address up on Google. Cool old castle! How did you manage to live somewhere that neat? Can you just…buy castles in Europe? There aren’t any here in the states, or I’d definitely try to buy one. Does it have electricity and plumbing and stuff?

That’s about all I have to say, so I guess I’ll end this and put it in the envelope. It’d be cool if you replied, if you wanted to. Or you could email me. It’s less like a movie, but it’s much faster.

Isabel

Sebastian read the letter three times, chuckling all the way through. The phrasing of her speech may have changed with the current norms, but he could feel the familiarity of his Muse in the letter. Her personality, the core nugget of her being, never really changed.

Comparing the date on the letter to the current date, he wanted to waste no time replying. A month between letters was long enough! Deep into the night he wrote, crumpled, restarted, burned, rewrote, threw, and began again. How familiar should he be? Should he start trying to win her over now, or allow a few letters first? Hours slipped by before he finally managed to sign and seal away a page.

“Looks like I’m breaking my promise to myself,” he chuckled as he addressed the letter with care. “But I’ll happily go into town for you, my dearest.”

Sebastian tucked the letter into a pocket of his cloak and looked at the clock. 4AM? He nipped at his cheek as he considered. The need to feed had been growing with each passing day, and now that he was no longer feeling depressed, the need hit full-force. Perhaps he could venture south to Corniglia and find prey, then mail his letter there? It would be preferable to Vernazza with all the rumors flying.

Yes, there should be enough time if he hurried.

Five minutes later he headed back out into the darkness, letter in his pocket and every inch of skin covered. Blue Trail was his target; it went directly from Vernazza to Corniglia, and the probability of finding another hiker in the darkness was high.

The late summer night air was crisp with sea salt that Sebastian could taste on his tongue. With sunrise still two hours away, only his night vision allowed him to traverse the trail without issue. While he could feasibly finish the 2.2 mile hike in about five minutes, he chose to stick to a human speed for now.