The heavy bag made a satisfying sound as he hit it. The sound was solid, almost tactile, letting him know that the punch he threw had scored true. Aidan hit it again and again, each strike hard, fast, and true. He could feel the anger coursing through him, making him wonder if all of the blood lust he had felt in his former life was due to being
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"You... okay?"
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"Martha... decided that what I used to be was something she couldn't get over," he said. Aidan reached out with his left to gauge the distance to the bag before hitting it hard with his right three times in quick succession.
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"Pardon my French - or, you know, don't - but that's bullshit. Martha is aware that what you used to be hasn't changed since the two of you got together, right? You're human now." And wasn't that supposed to mean something? Back home, they would have given anything to be able to say that again. "Whatever you did before was... in the nature of what you were. Instinct."
No, none of it was pretty, and Josh wasn't making excuses for him because Aidan was his friend; those were just the facts. And if this supposed 'blank slate' came with any kind of exceptions or stipulations whatsoever, then they should really consider changing the name.
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"It's not that simple, Josh. Yes, it sucks that we broke up, but she's not being irrational about it," Aidan said. "Think about everything you've seen and experienced since becoming a werewolf. Now imagine experiencing 225 years of that and how that might affect you. Even if you suddenly became human, who you are is shaped by what you did and saw."
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"I do think you can fight it and change," he said with a smile. "But that doesn't mean you I can ever be back to how I was before becoming a vampire. I've- I've killed thousands of people, Josh."
He thought the words should have stuck in his throat more, that they should have been harder to get out, but they weren't. Josh wasn't stupid, he had probably already figured that out before. If Aidan had killed only two people per month for his entire time as a vampire, that was over 5,000 people.
"And that changes you. It doesn't mean I can't turn my back on that lifestyle or at least try to. But you can't be around that much death and not have it change your outlook."
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Aidan sounded less like Aidan and more like... well, him.
"So don't go back to how you were before you were a vampire. That guy probably talked funny and had bad hair, anyway." He'd seen plenty of period films to know he wasn't wrong. "I'm sure he was a stand-up guy. Vampire Aidan at his... vampire-prime? Probably not so much. But you're not him anymore, either."
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"But I can accept that some people just aren't going to get over my past. I'm not just going to give up, but it doesn't mean they're wrong or that I'm not going to be upset about it."
He paused a moment before adding, "And for the record, Bostonian accents are far more ridiculous now than they were 225 years ago."
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"But that's fair enough. Just don't beat yourself up over it too bad each time it happens. You're not that bag."
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"And I promise I won't get all broody vampire about it, okay? Some cliches are best avoided at all costs."
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