"Alright, we should be heading back too," Kevin said to Sarah after Caroline had gone into her room.
"Are we taking Elena's car back?" Sarah asked, noticing Elena's car was the only one parked nearby.
"No, we'll run back. Now that you've successfully transformed, you should have vampire speed. On the way back, you can get used to the changes in your body," Kevin replied.
"Come on, don't hold back. Let yourself go and run home as fast as you can. I'll keep up," Kevin then encouraged Sarah.
"Okay," Sarah nodded at Kevin and started to run, gradually picking up speed. No matter how fast Sarah went, Kevin maintained his position, following just behind her.
"Strange, why can't I get in?" Sarah quickly reached Kevin's house. She was, after all, Kevin's housekeeper and naturally had a key, but after unlocking the door, she found she couldn't enter.
"Come on in, Sarah. It's a good opportunity for me to tell you a bit about what's different about being a vampire," Kevin said, entering the house and inviting Sarah in.
"I tried just now, but it felt like I couldn't get in," Sarah said, standing at the doorway.
"Just come straight in. It's okay because I've invited you," Kevin said, sitting down on the sofa and beckoning Sarah to come in and sit on the sofa next to him.
"Alright, let me first tell you about the situation with vampires. Firstly, like just now when you couldn't enter the house, that's because this house has an owner. If the owner is still a living human, a vampire cannot enter the house without the owner's invitation. Also, vampires cannot move around in sunlight, so during the day, you can't go out, and even inside the house, you need to be careful about sunlight exposure," Kevin explained to Sarah once she was seated.
"Kevin, can I... drink a little more? After running back, I feel even hungrier," Sarah asked Kevin, a little embarrassed.
"It's okay. It's probably because you used up a lot of energy running back. That will make you crave blood even more," Kevin said, walking over to Sarah, rolling up his sleeve, and offering her his arm, signaling her to feed.
"Now that you've just transformed, it's best not to be around crowds. Because of the changes in your body, it will be very difficult to control your hunger when there are many people around," Kevin continued, watching Sarah contentedly bite into his arm and drink.
"Actually, there are some benefits to becoming a vampire too. Like now, you're immortal, your speed and strength have greatly increased, and your appearance will stay as it is now; you won't get older. Speaking of which, that's quite an allure for girls, isn't it?" Kevin knew he couldn't just focus on the downsides of being a vampire. Having just transformed, her body and mind were already tormented by hunger; pointing out some benefits could be a good distraction.
"Alright, that's about enough. You need to learn to control it. Otherwise, if you ever, out of desperation, bite a normal human besides me, you could easily drain them dry," Kevin said, gently patting Sarah's head with his other hand.
"Okay, I'll try my best to control myself," Sarah replied obediently, releasing his arm.
"Sarah, actually, I'm truly sorry about this. It's because of me that you got dragged into all these things, even to the point of becoming a vampire. Don't worry, I won't restrict your freedom. As long as you can control your hunger in the future, you can go wherever you want. I just hope you don't become like Damon, losing your humanity and doing things like what he did to you," Kevin said, wiping the blood from his hand with a tissue and pulling his sleeve down as he walked back to the sofa to address Sarah.
"I won't. I'll work hard to control my emotions," Sarah assured Kevin.
"Alright then. Get some rest early. Stefan should be over tomorrow to explain things about vampires to you in detail. Oh, and before you go to sleep tonight, remember to draw the curtains tight. Be careful the sun doesn't hit your bed tomorrow," Kevin advised Sarah as he got up, intending to go upstairs and rest.
"Okay, goodnight," Sarah said goodnight and went into her room.
Kevin went upstairs, entered his room, and sat on his bed in a daze. In his previous life, Kevin had been a total宅男 (zháinán - otaku/homebody) and had never really been in a relationship, so Caroline was his first love across two lifetimes. How could he not be heartbroken over the breakup?
But Kevin was, at his core, a straightforward guy with little experience in relationships, making him very passive in such matters. Just as his relationship with Caroline had started with her initiative, it had now ended with her decision.
Kevin didn't know how to win Caroline back because, at present, he also couldn't solve the problem of Caroline's mortality versus his own longevity. Lost in thought late into the night, Kevin, still in his clothes from the day, once again fell into a dazed sleep due to sheer exhaustion.
"Kevin, wake up! Breakfast is ready!" Sarah called, knocking on Kevin's door.
"Okay, I'll be right down," Kevin replied. Stirred awake by Sarah, he realized he hadn't even changed his clothes. He sat there in a daze for a moment, then got up to wash.
"Morning, Sarah," Kevin said as he came downstairs and saw Sarah had already prepared a lavish breakfast on the dining table.
"Morning, Kevin. Would you mind if I had something good for breakfast?" Sarah asked Kevin, her meaning clear.
"Of course, help yourself, don't be polite," Kevin said, sitting down in his usual spot and once again rolling up his sleeve, gesturing for Sarah to come and "dine."
Sarah, as happy as a kindergartener receiving a gold star from her teacher, scampered over to Kevin's left side and sat down like a well-behaved child.
"Go ahead, don't be shy," Kevin said, amused by Sarah's demeanor. He even wiggled his arm with the rolled-up sleeve to encourage her. Thinking about it, considering the age difference between Sarah and Caroline, Sarah was probably just out of university. Indeed, some things just didn't seem childish when done by a university student.
Sarah nodded and then gently took Kevin's arm and began to feed. Kevin glanced at her, then turned his head and started eating his own breakfast with his other hand.
Just as Kevin was finishing his breakfast, there was a knock on the door. It knocked twice, but Sarah, still engrossed with Kevin's arm, didn't budge.
"You seem to be getting a little carried away here," Kevin said, gently tapping Sarah's head to signal her to release his arm.
"Oh, okay," Sarah finally let go, intending to get the door.
"You'd better stay seated. Who knows if the sun will shine in from the doorway at this time," Kevin said, getting up to open the door himself. He found Stefan standing there.
"You're here early. Have you had breakfast? Come on in," Kevin greeted Stefan, inviting him into the house.
"I've already eaten," Stefan replied and followed Kevin inside.
"Then make yourself comfortable on the sofa for a bit. I'm almost done with breakfast here," Kevin said, then returned to the dining table to finish his remaining food. He even very consciously extended his arm again, and Sarah immediately took it and continued her "breakfast."
Subsequently, Stefan explained vampire abilities to Sarah and expressed his hope that Sarah, like him, would switch to surviving on animal blood.
"Stefan, to be honest, I don't have any particular prejudice against vampires. In fact, vampires are transformed from humans. If Sarah can truly control herself, I think she could live on human blood bags. Of course, this is on the premise of not harming humans. And I feel this diet is more aligned with a vampire's natural palate compared to animal blood," Kevin said pointedly. After all, just now, while Sarah was feeding, Kevin could see Stefan's own craving for human blood. Kevin didn't want Sarah to live so miserably, constantly suppressing herself. Who knew what might happen if that suppression eventually broke?
Stefan thought about it for a moment, then didn't say anything more and left. After all, with Kevin around, the chances of Sarah losing control were very small, and Sarah, unlike him, didn't have a pre-existing blood addiction that made her lose control after tasting blood.
"Sarah, let's go check out the Halloween party tonight. Firstly, to take you out and see how well you can control yourself. Secondly, to experiment with your mind control abilities," Kevin suggested to Sarah.
"Um, okay. So, have you thought about what character you're going to dress up as tonight? You know the party tonight is a costume party, right?" Sarah asked.
"Err... do you have any ideas? I've never actually been to this kind of masquerade ball before," Kevin replied, feeling a bit stumped by the question.