It had been the longest night of Junki’s life. His life had changed more in the last 12 hours than it had a right to and it wasn’t over yet. The lights had been out for quite sometime and now instead on moonlight flitting through the heavy curtains rays of early morning sunshine crept through. He listened intently for the sounds of the Queen, whether she was sleeping or like him just lying awake, perhaps listening for him as he was for her. The night soon disappeared and the day was fully upon them and still Junki lay awake, thinking of ways to escape or get a message to the outside world which started to seem the realm of fantasy. Finally, he slid ever so quietly out of his “bed”, he stopped every few seconds to listen for any sign of life or movement from the queen but she neither stirred nor breathed. Perhaps all the movies he had seen as a child were true and vampires did sleep during the day and were allergic to sunlight. He moved on towards the door tucking away that bit of information. Hoping that all the monsters would be asleep and that he would be able to just walk out the door was too much for him to believe but if his theory was right and all the vampires were now safely tucked in their beds then perhaps another breed of demon served during the daylight hours; a demon that had some sort of weakness that he could play to.

An eternity later he reached the door. He grasped the cold handle with a sweaty palm and said a little prayer before pulling ever so slightly. The door glided open a few inches on silent well oiled hinges. Light seeped into the room chasing away some of the black, turning the room into a mass of gray. Again he listened but nothing stirred. Pulling the handle a little more he stuck his head out into the hallway.

Quickly he looked to his left, down the hall towards the bathroom in which he had bathed the night before and also which boasted a gorgeous low hanging window about 10 times the size needed for him to fit through that led to the backyard garden area. All was clear, he flashed a glance to his right and had to squelch the small cry that rose in his throat. Lasil stood glaring at the attempted escapee. Without a word from either Junki pulled his head back into the room, closed the door and went back to his bed.

As he crawled under the covers he heard the sound of someone snickering. “Humans are so naïve.” She almost sang. A few seconds of silence and then, “Can’t sleep?”

How could he sleep? He had so many questions from this haunting night, questions that he feared to ask and have answered. They raced around his mind like spirits in the night, dark, menacing, impalpable and uncontainable. He had the questions and it just so happened that he was in the room with the vampire who could give him all the information he wanted and more, but how to get it from her, that was the biggest question of them all. Going through the night’s events Junki tried to remember something, anything that he could use to get the queen talking. Nothing, nothing, nothing that would work. His best idea was a long shot, guessing that by her earlier jests with Lasil that she likes to play games and hoping that her position allowed her for very little contact with humans.

“Lets play a game.” Junki’s voice cracked and whined like he was going through puberty. There was no answer, was she asleep? Had he said it loud enough? Had he even said it at all?

“What game?” Came the answer.

Junki swallowed hard, “It’s a human game called 20 questions.”  Please let this work! If she had played it before he was screwed.

“How do you play?”

“I’ll start by asking a question, any question I want and you have to answer. Then you get to ask me a question and the first one who refuses to answer loses.” Of course this was no where near how you played the game but he had to try. This even sounds lame to me.

The lights flipped on and to reveal the queen laying on the cusion her face just inches away from his. Junki nearly jumped out of his skin, half because of fear and half because seeing her face so close to his sent fire through his body.

 “Let’s play.” Her face looked way too serious for the words she just said. “You start.”

He thought for a moment wondering what would be the best way to approach, “How old are you?” Starting with a simple question might throw her off her guard and open her up to the harder ones to come.

“ 237” She smiled broadly.

 Junki’s cheeks flushed a deep red as he turned his head away while he collected himself. Were there really creatures so old who defied time and nature to live through the ages untouched and unblemished? Did she know her power over him? “Your turn.” He cleared his throat.

“Hmm,” She pressed her lips together in a most seductive fashion. “Do humans live in fear?”

The boy paused for a moment stunned by her question, “U-um…” It was something that he had never really thought of before. “Some humans do… a lot of humans do actually. I mean we all have something to fear.” I certainly have these last 24 hours. The vampire didn’t look altogether satisfied with the answer she had received but, realizing that was about all she was going to get, motioned that it was now his turn to ask.

“What is a Lisse’ Agar?”

Now it was the queen who hesitated, running the answer through her mind making sure it didn’t contain anything that he wasn’t supposed to know. “A Lisse’ Agar is a fairytale used to put little mixed-bloods to sleep every night. It is a human whose last drop of blood holds the ability to transform a mixed –blood, a vampire containing a human ancestor in his bloodline, into a pureblood endowing the drinker with all the power that goes with it.” She said it so matter of factly, like everyone knew what a Lisse’ Agar was. Her face showed her boredom at the question but lightened when she realized it was her turn again.

“How do you live knowing how delicate your bodies are and how fast and easily death can claim you?”

Junki thought for a long time. It was a question that he didn’t quite know the answer too. It was such a complicated thing to ask and even more so to try to explain. In fact the only thing that came to mind was a quote he had heard growing up, it was a simple quote but one that he felt held the best answer. He hoped she would find it satisfactory, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”

A small smile crept across the queens lips sending excited shivers down his spine. “Friedrich Nietzsche”

 It took Junki a couple of seconds to get over the shock of her actually knowing who the quote had come from. If she knew quotes from famous people was she really as naïve about humans as he had thought?

“Your turn.” She quipped.

There was a debate going on in his mind. Two questions that he wanted answered but he wasn’t sure how much longer this game would hold the queen’s attention or even if one of his questions would press too far and she would not answer. Which should he ask first? There was one question that he wanted to know more than any other though, so he mustered up as much nerve as he could, the answer scared him almost as much as the question.

“Am I going to die?”

The smile on her face vanished. Her eyes held the sadness that he had seen after she had drank from him as she said, “You win.”