THE MOMENT
“Oh, he was fine,” Holly shrugged at her best friend sitting across the table. It was their weekly Tuesday brunch to catch up, and she was filling in the details about her date over the weekend. “But, he was a vampire too,” she added.
“Seems like you have a type,” Vaughn chuckled. “What's that, five in a row?”
“It's not intentional!” Holly defended herself. “There just seems to be something about me, I guess?”
“Probably your Unique blood,” Vaughn nodded. “That's how we started as friends.”
“My… what?” It was the first she'd heard of it, and they'd been friends for almost a decade now. He'd revealed he was a vampire during their first meeting, and they hit it off immediately. “What do you mean unique blood? What's special about it?”
“Wait… You don't know what you are?” Vaughn asked.
“You've met my human parents...,” she reminded him. “I know you're not going to say I'm adopted.”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Vaughn shook his head. “Wow, I'm really sorry. This whole time I just assumed you knew… You told me your favorite number is 52 didn't you?”
“WHAT??” It wasn't like her to be so worked up at brunch, but she felt like they were now having entirely different conversations. “When? And why does that matter?
“Boy is my face red,” Vaughn laughed and shook his head. I guess it just happened to come up in conversation. When we met you told me your favorite number was 52, so I told you I was a vampire…,” he said. “I shared a secret because I thought you shared a secret.”
“What kind of secret did you think ‘my favorite number is 52’ was?”
“You're a Unique Soul,” Vaughn replied. “But, I'm just now realizing you don't have a tattoo anywhere, do you?”
“Needles..,” she shuddered and Vaughn chuckled.
“Well it's a good thing we're spending the day together. You're gonna see some sights,” he added. “And learn a lot about yourself probably.”
“V. I need you to explain SOMETHING please,” Holly was borderline pleading. “Every answer is just giving me more questions.”
“Calm down,” Vaughn nodded. “For our entire friendship, I knew something about you that I thought you also knew, and chose not to speak on it. So I respected that, I guess, until it slipped out tonight. The thing is, you are something known as a ‘Unique Soul’. That means you are the only version of you anywhere, across all universes. There are infinite alternate realities in the multiverse, but there's only one of you.”
“Alternate universes are real?” She asked.
“You'll get a full tour today,” Vaughn nodded.
“And…because I'm Unique, that's why I'm attracting vampires?” Holly asked. She was guaranteed to see other realities that day, and it was important to settle that conversation that started everything.
“Kind of,” Vaughn nodded. “But it's your unique Uniqueness,” he added. “You're the only version of you, but you're not the only unique soul. They're all a little different. In your case, you're what's known as a ‘Plant Unique Soul’. You'll have certain Abilities and qualities, and I'm quite sure it's your scent drawing vampires.”
“My smell…?” Holly asked with a sly grin. “What, it's like intoxicating?”
“Pungent would be a more appropriate word,” Vaughn shrugged. “Holly is almost as off-putting to vampires as garlic, and your name is likely a result of your uniqueness as well.”
“Oh god, I STINK!?”
“Oh yeah,” Vaughn chuckled. “That's a good word for it, too.”
“Then why are they asking me out, if I smell so bad?”
“Well, who can say?” he shrugged. “There's all kinds out there. Maybe some of them think it'll kill their appetite. Maybe some of them are into that?” He shrugged. “Vampires are people too.”