Chapter 85 - Dragonslayer

JJ only sighed and said nothing as we continued to walk. I didn't dare to ask him again, though the temptation was great. Now that he was in the lead of the two of us, I also had no idea what he was up to in general.

When we came to the office and he brought two chairs to a computer, I concluded that he agreed to a movie night at the end. I was just about to get some snacks from the kitchen when JJ slumped in a chair and spoke.

"So you remember a nickname I have amongst other vampires?"

The sound of his voice caused me to stop that instant and turn on my heels. "Yes, of course. It's too cool to forget. Dragonslayer, because you killed some mad vamp called Dragon, right?"

"Yes." JJ nodded, his way too short for my liking hair falling on his forehead. "And at the time, most people who ever called me this way were the ones who witnessed the fight personally. Even then, I felt like the moniker was really… too much."

I raised my brows as I sat down next to him. "You? Being so modest?"

JJ clicked his tongue with a smirk. "I prefer to neither overstate, nor understate my fine qualities."

"And they are fine indeed," I said, as my eyes flicked between JJ's face and the rest of his body before returning to meet his gaze. "How is that related to Dracula, though?"

"Well… the vampire that writer based his book on was a real thing, though the story was anything but. In life his name was Vlad Tepes, but after becoming a vampire, he dropped his old name, leaving only his moniker, Dracula. Now, ma chèrie… Do you know what does it mean in Romanian, his birth language?"

I slowly shook my head 'no'.

"Dracul', or 'dracula' can mean 'devil' or 'dragon', as the two things are really the same in Romanian mythology. In Vlad's case, though, it stood for 'dragon', as it was for his father who was a member of the Order of the Dragon and who shared the title. Now, think, what other vampire had ever breeched the First Commandment so hard that no amount of altering memories could erase that story completely from the people's minds?"

I gasped in shock at the realisation. My hand flew to my chest. It was all coming together, and there result made me gape at JJ in astonishment. "You… Did you really kill Dracula? THE Dracula? The realest real deal?"

"Yes, yes, I did. And ever since the first story about him was written, almost everyone who knew where Dracula's name came from stared at me very similar to how you do now, ma chèrie. My only blessing was that vampires prefer to translate each other's names to the language they currently use if it's possible, and the name Dragon became lost in translation."

I let out a long breath, just letting everything to set in my head. "Amazing." Then I giggled. "One who kills a celebrity… becomes a celebrity. It's like a curse transmitted by killing."

"Curse indeed."

I eyed JJ's long-suffering face. "Does that mean you don't want to watch anything involving Dracula? There are some fantastic movies."

"I… I don't know. How about not tonight, ma chèrie?"

"Sure." I gave him a wide smile. "Let's start your introduction to modern movies with something mild. Oh, I know just what you might like!"

⠀⠀ ⠀

The movie I picked was an old (made in sixties) Russian musical named 'Hussar Ballad'. Besides being a hilarious romantic comedy about a girl dressing as a man to fight in the army (a plot as old as Mulan), it was set during Napoleonic wars. I hoped JJ would like the setting, even if it was from the other side of the fence, and wasn't disappointed.

He was totally engrossed in the story and the action. I, in turn, was engrossed in him. The way he smiled and laughed boisterously at the jokes. The way he pointed out historical inaccuracies. The way he praised how the story showed the main character as strong-willed and brave despite her apparent fear of mice.

As great as the movie was, I already watched it twice before with my dad. It was his favourite, and I loved to see the same excitement in someone else's eyes again. It didn't hurt that these were JJ's eyes, too.

We sat close to each other from the start, as close as two chairs pushed together would allow, with JJ's hand lying over my shoulders, but I gravitated even further to him. I didn't stop until my head was lying on his shoulder, despite the pose promising to kill my neck later.

I tried to breathe him in. If I could, at this moment, I'd just melt into him entirely. A pure bliss of closeness with someone… someone I loved. Maybe loved? Was this really love? If not, it was very close to it.

But when the movie was over and I pulled away, the pain of strained muscles in my neck was so awful that a hiss of pain escaped my lips.

"Ma chèrie?" JJ eyed me with concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just got a case of a very stiff neck." I raised my hands to it in an attempt to massage the pain away.

JJ quickly stood up and walked behind me. He put his hands over mine and gently pushed them down. "You aren't doing it right. Now, let me help you here."

"Thanks a lot," I said, just before JJ's cool fingers began to massage my neck and shoulders.

He started with soothing rubs that made me close my eyes and lower my head in bliss. He pushed the collar of my T-shirt away as he moved, the material of it just stretchy enough to accommodate his hands.

"This will hurt a little, but you will feel better afterwards," JJ said.

His movements intensified, the rubs becoming more forceful. Then he began massaging my muscles with the pads of his fingers alone. Now his movements brought more pain to my neck, and I had to force to stay still.

He was right, though, that I would feel better later. When JJ took his fingers away, my neck felt much more alive than before. I was ready to get up when his lips touched my skin where his fingers were just a moment before, frozen, as JJ put a light kiss there and moved away.

"Thank you for showing me this, ma chèrie," he said.. "Next time, it will be my turn to show you something just as great."