Thomas walked through the park one rainy afternoon, black umbrella poised over his head to block the cool droplets. Thomas had nothing to do, which was why he'd stooped to spending his time walking around in a rainy park on a Saturday. Thomas wasn't just any normal person, however, who would usually have something to do on a day like today, even if it was just watching TV or work.

You see, Thomas was a vampire.

Born in 1451, he'd grown up in a world that lacked modern technology, a world where the clergy and nobles ruled and governed. Things these days were so different from how they used to be. For example, the majority of his lifetime women hadn't had the rights they did now. It had been less than a century since they'd even gained the right to vote, and Thomas had lived well over a century. He was only about forty or so years away from six hundred, after all.

After living for so long, Thomas thought he knew everything. He had degrees in medicine, graphic design, and just about every other field of work you could think of. Since colleges had opened up in the nineteenth century, he had frequented them, with an eager desire to learn. The fact that he didn't change from the age at which he'd been turned, which was nineteen, helped somewhat in this matter.

Because he never aged, he had to move quite often, or people would notice. Thanks to how young he appeared, however, he could fake any age as young as sixteen, and as old as twenty six. Thomas had learned, lived, loved, and prospered throughout the centuries. He thought he'd learned everything he could, and that he'd seen everything the world had to offer.

From the rainforests of Africa, to Big Ben, to Mt. Rushmore, he'd experienced every bit. He'd watched history unfold first hand; the slave trade; the Alamo; the Indian Removal Acts; the Civil War; Pearl Harbor; everything. He'd been there for every presidential election to date. Most would have loved to experience, see, and live through all the things he had- with the vampire bonus of youth, immortality, enhanced abilities and mind control powers for hunting. There was just one problem for Thomas, though.

He was growing incredibly bored with it all.

After living so long, he'd run out of things to do. Nothing interested him anymore. All of his passions had dwindled, until now they no longer existed. He no longer knew what to do in life. He was bored with mortals, and lonely without another of his kind to spend eternity with. There were very few of his kind, maybe ten or fifteen in all the world, and he'd only met one over the years; the one who had turned him. She'd been burned at the stake soon after.

So now, he was getting bored with everything. And that was a vampire's worst enemy, boredom. When a vampire started losing their will to live because of boredom, they began to act more reckless: feeding off an abnormal amount of people, forgetting to wipe their minds, performing inhuman feats in public. This type of behavior could get you killed if you weren't careful. Thomas hadn't yet begun to do these things, but he was still bored. Dangerously so, to the point where he could potentially start doing these types of things at any time. He knew this, but still didn't care.

Thomas stopped suddenly in the middle of the path, as laughing reached his ears. Thomas had dazed out during his walk, and was just now noticing his surroundings. That was dangerous, too. A vampire must always be aware of what was around them, lest they wish for death.

Remembering that, Thomas took in his surroundings now. The path he was on curved around the base of a hill, which he recognized. There was only one hill in the park, at it's center. Trees surrounded the hill on all sides, and up ahead he could see where the path forked-one path to follow the hill around, and the other to head off into the woods beyond. The sky was still grey, and no sunlight could escape it's thick clouds. Rain dripped in a constant flow from these clouds, not as heavy now as it was earlier, but still enough that it wouldn't be considered a drizzle.

Laughing reached Thomas's ears again, and this time he followed the sound with his eyes, so he looked to the top of the hill. Standing there was a girl dressed all in black, with her unnaturally black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had no umbrella, no jacket, and wasn't even wearing shoes. She had her arms outstretched on either side of her, black-nailed fingers spread wide. Her face looked up to the sky, eyes closed, with lips slightly parted. She was soaking wet with the rain, but didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't care.

The girl let out another squeal of laughter as, out of curiosity, Thomas made his was up the hillside to join her. He watched, curious and fascinated, as the girl spun in cirles, laughter still bubbling from her lips. He coughed into his hand, to make his presence known to her. She stopped spinning, turned to face him, and opened her eyes.

"Hello," Thomas said.

She laughed again, green eyes dancing. "Hi."

"What are you doing up here?" He looked her over, noting that she couldn't be more than seventeen, maybe younger.

She shrugged, arms still spread out to her sides. "Nothing much, really. Just enjoying the day." She said the last wistfully, spinning around once before stopping again.

He cocked his head at her. "What do you mean? Why are you standing outside in the rain, spinning around barefoot?"

She smiled. "I'm enjoying the day!"

He gave an exasperated sigh. "I get that, I mean why?"

She cocked her head at him now. "Do you need a reason to enjoy the day? To enjoy life? I'm doing this because I want to, because it's fun."

"Spinning in the rain is fun?"

She blinked at him, her eyes narrowing. "Are you a close-minded person?"

His mouth gaped as he looked at her. "Close-minded? What do you mean? What does that have to do with anything, anyway?"

"Hmm." she peered at him thoughtfully for a moment, letting her arms drop to her sides. "Come here," she said finally, walking to the far side of the hilltop.

Thomas followed, almost wary, though he knew he had nothing to fear from this mortal girl. She couldn't harm him, and if anything, she should be afraid of him. When he reached her, she took the umbrella from his hands, setting it on the ground. He started to protest, but shut his mouth when she raised her eyebrows at him, as though daring him to speak up. He chose not to.

"When you look out from this hill," she said, gesturing, "what do you see?"

Thomas followed her gesture, looking out himself over the treetops into the distance. "I see a grey horizon, and the faint outline of houses and small moving cars past the park. It seems almost as though it's all moving in slow motion."

She nodded her head, not seeming surprised. "You're close-minded."

His head snapped around to look at her. "What makes you say that?"

She glanced at him. "Because nowhere in that description did you include what was right in front of you."

His brow furrowed, confused. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head, sighing. "When you looked out, you saw the horizon, the houses, and cars, moving in what seemed to be slow motion. This shows that you are looking too far into the future, but not living for today, what's right in front of you. Because while the future is faint, and hazy, what's happening today is bright and clear. You live too much worrying about tomorrow, and not paying attention to what's going on today. For instance," she knelt down and pointed to the trees at the base of the hill, and all those beyond, "did you even notice the trees? The way the water clings to them like tiny diamonds? The birds nestled in the branches? The soothing beat of the rain as it hits the ground?"

Thomas stared at her. No, he hadn't noticed. All he'd payed attention to were the things in the distance, not those that were right under his nose. He hadn't cared. In fact, he realized, that's how he'd been in life lately too. He was always worrying about his future, what he would do, what was in the distance. If he should even continue living, too. He'd been bored, uncaring, constantly aftraid of what tomorrow held in store for him. If he would finally lose control of himself, or simply stop feeding one day, just so death would come quicker.

The girl looked up at him, nodding at his expression. "You look young, but in fact, your soul is quite old."

Her words brought him back to the present. He glared down at her. "What?"

She smiled up at him, a soft look in her green eyes. "You've grown bored. You've seen and experienced so much, but it's all starting to seem pointless now. Your eyes say that you're wise and knowledgeable in many things, but when it comes to yourself, you don't know what to do. You have the eyes of someone who has lived through centuries in their depths, in a body that is too young to fully express it all. They don't match. You've forgotten how to give yourself into the moment, to enjoy the simple things. Whether it be the rain," she held out her hands to catch a few of the drops, "or the sky," she raised her hands, the drops she'd caught now running down her arms, "or even the companionship of another," she gestured between the two of them. "You've forgotten."

He stared down at her, shocked, and slightly confused. How had this girl, so much younger than him, analyzed him so perfectly? How had she known exactly what had been plagueing him? Exactly what had been causing him so much distress?

"How...?" he started to ask, but she merely shook her head to silence him. She stood up and stared into his eyes for a moment. Something seemed to flash between them, a bond, a familiarity that he'd never experienced before. It shocked him, but she seemed unsurprised.

"You need something that will bring back your happiness, bring back the kick life used to have for you. I can help you with that." She held out a hand to him, and he warily took it in his own.

When he next looked into her eyes, he saw something he hadn't seen before. Wisdom, fathomless wisdom, and kindness. Her eyes were gentle, kind, loving, and playful, with a slightly mischevious streak to them. But what really stood out, was the age her eyes seemed to have. While her body appeared seventeen, her eyes were that of someone older, far far older. Even older than he was. They were beautiful. When she smiled at him, it was to see two long, sharp white canine teeth.

"I was born in 531 B.C. I saw the Egyptians taken over by the Romans, saw the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, witnessed with my own eyes the Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartan men stood against the invading Persians. I saw the first plays being made, and met many famous figures throughout history, and was alive during the time of Jesus Christ. I have wandered this earth for centuries, searching for the one I could spend eternity with. You, my friend, are the first person I've met who I believe I could be happy with, and who needs me as much as I need you. So, I ask you this now, fellow blood-drinker, will you spend enternity with me? Will you allow me to give your life back it's joy, and will you fill the void that exists within my heart, for want of a companion to spend this, and soon to come, millenias with?" Her eyes had a flash of sadness as she admitted this, and then fear crossed her green eyes, afraid that he may refuse the offer.

He stared at the fellow vampire, the first he'd seen in over five centuries, a woman he'd thought younger than him, but instead had survived countless centuries alone without a companion, and without slipping into madness from lonliness. She needed him as much as he now needed her. For even though they'd known each other for only ten minutes, they had a connection, a similar desire and want, and that was enough.

So he nodded at her, a smile spreading across his lips, and a look of relief and happiness crossed her features before she drew his wrist to her mouth, to perform the ceremony that bound two vampires together for eternity. She bit into his wrist, and he felt the slight sting before pain gave way to a pleasant tingling, and a small sigh escaped her lips as she drank. After taking a few sips, she released his arm, the wrist healing before their eyes.

He drew her wrist to his mouth, and felt the shifting in his jaw as the canines released themselves. He bit carefully into her wrist, savoring the taste of her blood. While human blood tasted simply sweet like sugar, a vampire's was different. He'd only tasted it once before, during his turning, and this would be his second.

Her blood tasted like a cinnamon wine; sweet, spicy, and perfect. He groaned as he released her wrist, wanting to drink more but knowing he couldn't. The sharing of blood between vampires was solely a binding and intimate act, to only be done in privacy and savored.

The two stood there, hands still locked, staring at each other. A slow, satisfied smile flashed on her face, as her eyes took on a look that radiated such joy at her search finally being over that it made his heart ache, and his answering smile all the warmer. They walked down the hill together, as the rain, which had become a light drizzle, stopped.

They walked in silence, glancing at each other every so often, but not speaking. They didn't need to. He knew that she would make him happy, and that she would give him her love. Just as he would give her his. With time, maybe they'd have children. He didn't know, and he didn't think about it too much. All he could think about was how he was going to spend that day, that hour, that minute, that second with the woman whose name he still did not know and that he'd just met; yet somehow fallen in love with right then and there.

Whatever the future may hold he didn't know, because just being in her presence had made him not care as much about the future, and more about the present that she was making all the brighter just by being there, letting him stare into her bright green eyes. The eyes that were his fate.

Thomas never did remember to go back for the umbrella.