k_a_webb | Donor House: Kisten: First Visit to the Donor House (part 2)

“Alice will be down to show you around shortly.”

Kisten stared at the receptionist. “She does things like that.”

“Yes, she does, because she takes the safety of our donors personally and no one here know you, do they?”
He shook his head. “No, they don’t.” He bit his lip. “I thought it was okay to just turn up.”

The receptionist smiled. “It is. You aren’t unwelcome, and we’re very glad that word is beginning to spread, but it is very important that we have a chance to get to know you before you’re left alone with our donors.”

“It’s most important for me,” another female voice said and Kisten turned, unsurprised when he found himself facing one of the founders of the Donor House. “Nice to meet you, Kisten.”

“Hi…” Kisten had never found himself speechless before and it was something he wished hadn’t happened, but it had. “I…” He shook his head. “You’d never believe I’ve been alive for five hundred years.”

Both Alice and the receptionist laughed. “I never thought I’d be a celebrity.” Alice grinned. “Come on, Kisten. I’ll take you to the dining room. That’s where everyone I want you to meet is and then we can go from there.” She sobered. “Might there by vampires here who remember you as someone else?”

Even though Kisten didn’t want to answer that question he knew he had to be honest with her, because if she found out from someone else she was much less likely to let him stay at the Donor House. “It’s possible. When I made the decision to come here I also made the decision to leave my old self far behind, because I don’t want to be him any more. Just before I started my journey I chose a new name and that is who I am now.”

Nodding, Alice smiled again. “That isn’t a problem, Kisten, and your honesty is very helpful, so thank you for not hiding things from me. Vampires often aren’t good at admitting they made mistakes and as you have… well, it makes things easier for both of us.”

“Lying might have been easier, but you would have asked me to leave when you found out the truth and I don’t want that.”

“Not necessarily.” Alice started walking. “We have given vampires here second chances. It all depends on how you act here, not on who you were out there, but knowing who you were does help us make the right decisions. When it comes to vampires we know we need to be careful, because it’s easy enough to hide the truth from us, so being able to see you make the choice to tell me that someone here might have known you means you really are willingly to leave him, whoever he was, far behind.” She shrugged. “Being a vampire isn’t easy. That’s something I know from experience. Making the choice to come to the House when you were once one of those vampires is a hundred times harder. I’ve met enough vampires going through that transition to understand and, if you want, we can ask one of them to mentor you, as the first few weeks are the hardest.”

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.