Two for tragedy. Volume 1 - стр. 3
– Who knows, maybe in the future this book will be a success among mortals! – I said with a laugh. – But now make it clear: who is the lucky girl?
– Do you remember Mroczek family? – my brother asked me instead of answering. – The Polish clan?
At the mention of the object of his affection, Markus's eyes warmed.
With a slight smile on my lips, I nodded.
"One of the Mroczek girls, then?" – I thought.
– Mariszka. – Markus exhaled the name with such favour that I could barely keep from laughing derisively. It was entertaining to watch him – had love really changed him that much?
"Mariszka. Ah, yes. The thin beauty with hair the colour of ripe wheat," I remembered and smiled.
– Well, congratulations to you: she's really good," I congratulated my brother, deciding that Mariska Mroczek was indeed perfect for a serious vampire like him.
– She's gorgeous," he corrected me.
– You know better," I smiled.
Despite my fair prejudice against love, I was happy for my brother. He'd believed in love, and he'd looked for it, and waited for it, just like people do. And at last he had found what he longed for.
I neither sought nor believed. The words "love", "seek", and "wait" seemed disgusting to me. Only humans can be so naive.
– I hope… No, I'm sure you'll find your life partner soon," Markus said with a smirk.
– Don't start a comedy," I grinned wryly.
– You know what, I'm willing to bet," my brother said insistently, holding out his hand to me. – I'll put the blood cup on the line.
I grinned, but shook his hand firmly.
– You'll lose," I warned him
– We'll see. – Markus glanced at his watch and smiled. – I've got to go!
– To her? – I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
– I had invited Mariszka to the cinema.
"To the cinema? Like children!" – I thought, but kept my thoughts to myself.
– Good luck. Fly," I said instead.
– Good luck to you, too. And whatever you say, your approval means a lot to me. – He gave me a friendly clap on the shoulder and flew away. And I was left standing by the cliff, watching the beautiful evening sky and reflecting on the drudgery of my life.
Everything I was once passionate about had long ago ceased to interest me: hunting, entertainment, music, books, philosophy, studies, history, science… Now I was living simply because my life was stretching. To put it more precisely, I was living my life without any meaning, and at times I thought that eventually I would dawdle from boredom and tedium with the current. The university and the system of institutions of higher learning that I had once idolised had become intolerable to me. These institutions had become to me a concentration of stupidity, and it was funny to watch professors trying to pass on knowledge to a younger generation whose goal in life would be to pass that knowledge on to the next generation of fools. An endless chain. And, although I, without boasting, had a profound knowledge of all the known sciences of the modern world (for the sake of interest I had finished all the known universities of the globe, and now, sitting in lectures, was exhausted from boredom), to discover something new became for me a duty, ceased to be a pleasure for the soul and mind.
After my conversation with my brother, I felt something strange, inexplicable. It was a new feeling for which I did not know the name. It was different from anything I had ever felt before. It felt like emptiness. Emptiness and disappointment. But what am I disappointed in? I have no reason to be trapped in black melancholy. And to get my mind off these thoughts, I decided to fly to the bridge where I liked to meet the sunset. But this time the sunset had already gone: I would have met it if Markus had not so unexpectedly wished to speak to me.