Conversation...with dinner

Good evening, glad you were able to find the place. Yes, I know it is strange...someone like me sitting in a quiet Italian restaurant, but I happen to like pasta and a good chianti.

Forget what you've heard or read, we like to eat the same food you do. It just doesn't have the same....benefits....for us as it does for you. No, there is only one thing that will sustain us...and we know what that is, now don't we?

Don't worry, I'm not hungry. You are safe here with me. I just wanted someone to talk to and, from what I've read in your articles in the paper, you've come pretty close to figuring out who I am...or rather what I am.

What am I? I am the apex predator, the top of the food chain. We are the ultimate hunters. No, we didn't crawl out from a grave in some middle European country. We are...how can I put it? We are a mutation of the human race. We have existed since man first walked upright and we will continue to exist...period.

No, we don't travel in packs...we aren't animals, dammit. We are very solitary beings, picking areas to....exist. Hunt has too many negative connotations and we want this to be a pleasant evening. This solitary lifestyle, however, leads to loneliness that you couldn't begin to understand.

That is why you are here. I just wanted someone to talk to...at least for awhile. Someone who wouldn't be judgemental or overly curious. From your articles, you didn't seem to come across as either. I want to be able to talk about the past several decades I have walked the earth, alone and cursed.

What is that in your handbag?? A recorder?!?!?! I asked you not to bring such devices, that our conversation was to be just between the two of us!!!

Sigh...

Well, I see you are no different from anyone else. No, don't try to get up. You are caught in my gaze, like a mouse caught in the stare of the cobra. You will do exactly as I say, which is to get up and go outside in the back alley.

I should be angry that you tried to deceive me, but I have grown accustomed to deception over the past 100 years. I use it myself from time to time. I have even used it tonight.

I said you were safe; you weren't...

I said I was not hungry; I lied....

I just enjoy a little pleasant conversation before dinner....