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I t had easily been a century since Sebastian had spent this much time in town proper.

Despite knowing how slim the chances were, he still made the trek to the post box to check for a letter from Isabel every night as soon as the sun went down.

How long would a letter take to get from Utah to Italy?

Would she even send one at all? He forced himself to believe so, despite having no evidence.

At least finding his Muse again had given him a ray of sunshine in his bleak existence.

She seemed healthy this time. Strong. That was a relief after her last life had been cut tragically short by a heart condition.

This century they may have been able to save her, which only served to increase the ache of loss.

Such thoughts followed him back from town and down into the dungeons in search of a painting.

It was small, but the scene was beautiful.

“I didn’t know if I’d have the strength to revisit you, Guilia,” he whispered.

As his fingers brushed the paint, the water it depicted began to ripple and he felt his magic beginning to stir.

Sebastian placed the painting on an easel in his unused bedroom and sat down on the bed. He took a deep breath, placed his palm to the paint, and closed his eyes.

* * *

Venice, Italy. 8 June, 1825

T he sound of running water faded in gently, encircling Sebastian like a warm blanket.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself floating gently through the Great Canal on a gondola in the early evening.

Lights were just beginning to flicker on in the surrounding buildings like stars waking up for the night.

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

“T his 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. He was a 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.

After a mile or so he paused, catching the scent of a human nearby.

His hunting instincts kicked in and he slipped behind a boulder, using his other senses to pinpoint his prey.

Male, blood type B+. 300 meters ahead and approaching.

Sebastian licked his lips and his throat burned in anticipation. All he had to do was wait.

The closer the man got, the jumpier the vampire felt.

He could use his speed to catch the hiker even if he had to chase, but too much adrenaline in the blood gave him the jitters.

Not to mention it tasted bitter. He much preferred to sneak up from behind and deliver a quick dose of the venom which would put his prey to sleep long enough for him to feed.

Finally, his prey appeared out of the darkness. He was a fit young man, probably in his early 20’s. He wore shorts and running shoes, with his shirt tied around his waist. Sebastian waited until the man had passed him by a few paces before slipping out from behind the rock.

The vampire’s footsteps were silent. He matched his prey’s pace for a few steps before speeding up to a half-step behind.

In one fluid motion, Sebastian grabbed the man’s shoulders and sunk his teeth into the man’s neck, injecting his venom directly into the jugular vein.

It took only moments for the man to go limp in his grasp.

As soon as the man slumped to the ground, Sebastian dropped to one knee and began to feed. The metallic liquid streamed through his hollow fangs and into the vampire’s circulatory system, filling him with warmth and strength. He drank his fill and licked the wound, which immediately sealed over.

“Sorry about that, lad,” he murmured as he stood and brushed the dust from his knee.

“You’ll be fine! Just a bout of anemia, nothing to worry about.

” Sebastian arranged the man in what he hoped would be a comfortable position for him to sleep off the venom and continued down the trail toward Corniglia, feeling considerably better.