"Mel, I can tell something is wrong, tell me what it is. Look at me, please look at me. You’re scaring me. Did I do something to upset you?" Ella was quickly becoming hurt and confused by Mel's strange behavior.
"No!" he answered vehemently, but still faced away from her. "You are perfect! I don't see how you could think you'd upset me! It's me. I don't want you to see me, to see me for what I really am. I have taken advantage of you and for this I am sorry. You deserve so much better than me. I should take you home and leave you to your life."
He tried to rise, but Ella had latched herself to him as hard as she could, refusing to let go. "Look at me! What are you talking about? I'm not perfect or even close, but look at you! You are gorgeous. I have already memorized your face. You're not taking advantage of me. I want you more than anything in the world. You are more than I have ever dreamed of, let alone more than I deserve. That you find me attractive and worth something just blows my mind. No man has ever made me feel wanted the way that you do, and in such a short amount of time only proves that this is right. What is wrong, Mel? Look at me now!" The last command came out somewhere between a fierce demand and a frightened plea.
Something in her voice must have gotten through to him; Mel immediately turned to make sure she was ok. She could tell his movements were a reflex and were out of concern. She could feel his strong emotions for her and knew that she was likely falling in love with him. However, that didn't stop her from gasping and flinching in fear when she saw his face.
Ella looked up into his eyes, darker than usual and showing shame yet still filled with caring for her. Of that, she was sure. Yet there was something off with the rest of his face, a ferociousness that was overtaking the beauty that was normally there. The veins in his face and neck all seemed to be pulling out of his skin. All of this frightened her, but his teeth scared her the most.
As she stared at those two long teeth, she remembered the ripping of flesh from the attack the night before. But the creature above was no mindless ghoul. He was what she had first feared last night. A vampire and he cried blood red tears as he stared down at her and her fear.
"See? You think that I am a monster. You flinch away from my true face. And you have every right to; I am a monster. But not one that would ever harm you. You have to believe that. I will never hurt you. I am sorry. I am so sorry for being what I am." Mel now begged for some sort of understanding, begging for her to accept him for what he was.
Somehow Mel's tears and pleading calmed Ella down. She took a moment to see past the veins, the black eyes, the fangs and really took in the expression on his face. She had never seen a face hold so much emotion. Mel seemed to be scared, hurt, defeated, loving, and lonely all at the same time. Suddenly, all the fear evaporated.
This man had saved her from certain death. They had made love in spectacular fashion more than once. He genuinely cared about her. He was ashamed of what he was. Something in her clicked and she knew that no matter what, Mel would never harm her and that she had been foolish for ever being scared or ever considering a life without him in it.
She was meant to be with him. She just knew it in her core that Mel was the man, and the only man, for her. She couldn't let herself screw this up for a moment of shock and fear. Everything was at peace within her and she smiled up at Mel. The inner searching took only a few moments and Mel still cried while looking down at her in such emotional pain. She reached up and gently wiped away his bloody tears. His face looked startled by her reaction. "Don't cry, everything is okay. Don't ever be sorry for being the wonderful man that you are."
"You aren't scared of me? You don't hate me for being a monster?" Mel appeared genuinely perplexed. He didn't seem to comprehend that she wasn't going to call him names and run away.
"No, I am not scared and I could never hate you. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. The way you took care of me in the shower last night, the way you make love to me, how could I ever be afraid of you? Was I slightly taken aback to find out that my lover is a vampire? Yes, but I certainly don't hate or fear you. How could I hate you when I think that I am falling in love with you?" She rose up and gently kissed Mel on the lips.
He pulled back. "But I am a monster. Just look at what I become when the bloodlust takes hold of me. I want to drink your blood. I drank some of your blood last night after we made love. How can you not be disgusted by me? How can you possibly love something like me?"
"I can feel that you are a good person that cares about me, that you aren't going to hurt me. Yes, you bit me last night. But if I recall correctly, I bit you first. You didn't do any harm." Ella leaned up and kissed him again, this time intertwining her fingers in his hair making it harder for him to pull away.
Mel still looked troubled. "But you didn't take my blood when you bit me. You acted out of sexual lust. I acted out of blood lust, out of a need to feed on your blood, on your very life force. Don't you see how disgusting that is? How I am using you?"
"That is not true. If you were acting out of blood lust as you call it, you would have taken more blood. Biting was just a natural instinct. Something we both did after reaching our climaxes."
Something suddenly occurred to her. "And you found a way to give me some of your blood after I fell asleep didn't you? That was the salty-sweet taste in my mouth this afternoon, right? That is why I feel so good and that the wounds are itching and healing already, isn't it? You gave me your blood to heal me and to make up for drinking from me."
Looking guilty, Mel answered. "Yes, I gave you some of my blood. I didn't want you to be in pain today. Also, I didn't want there to be any sort of infection. I am sorry I should have never done something like that without your permission."
"Sorry?" Ella exclaimed. "Why are you sorry? You should not be apologizing to me. I am healing. I feel wonderful. I should be thanking you."
Hope began to shine in Mel's eyes. "You really aren't disgusted by me, are you? Can you really accept me taking blood from you? You don't mind I fed you my blood without your knowledge? You can accept that I go out and feed on other human beings in order to survive? How can you be so accepting of something like me?"
Smiling at him, she stroked his cheek lovingly. "Not only are you my savior, you are the only person who seems to see me. I am in the background for most people, but when you look at me I can feel the spotlight shining on me and only me. Something clicked between us. We are meant for each other. I feel it deep inside of me that this is true and I know that you feel it too. If you wanted to harm me you would have done it last night. Instead, you healed me. What do I mind about a little biting? I already like that in case you didn't notice."
"But I want to bite you every time we make love. I want to drink your blood at other times as well. You can accept that? You can stand seeing me like this" He gestured to his veins, his teeth, his glowing black eyes.
"You are still the most gorgeous creature I have ever seen." She leaned up and kissed him, letting her tongue dart out and run lightly over his fangs. She smiled broadly as a shiver ran through his body. "And darling, as long as you make me come like crazy every time we make love, what are a few sips of blood?" She then began kissing him in earnest once more, determined to not let him pull away again.
Mel hesitated for a fraction of a second, clearly still amazed by her acceptance of him, of the real him. However, a moment to think was all Ella would allow. Soon it was obviously that her ardent kisses and the way her body was moving beneath him brought him around to her way of thinking. Evidently, now that he was no longer afraid of Ella seeing the real him, Mel pulled back, pulling her onto his lap so that they could stare at each other as she rode him hard.
Ella could see the ecstasy in his eyes and it made her feel powerful to know that she could inspire such a creature. Mel tightened his hands on her hips and forced her to move faster up and down his shaft. As they both neared their finales, she dug her nails into his shoulders and arched toward him, stretching her neck, offering what she knew
would send him completely over the edge.
As Ella screamed in pleasure, Mel bit her and then he let out such a sound of pleasure that he pushed her even farther over the edge.
"Oh wow, wow, wow, wow, that is all I can even think of to say," Ella panted, completely collapsing on Mel, her mind barely functioning.
"I agree, wow is correct. You are the most amazing woman I have ever met, the most amazing lover," Mel panted.
"I bet you say that to all the girls who let you bite them," she teased.
Taking her face in both his hands, Mel stared at her very seriously. "No, I don't. I have never said these things to a woman before."
"I'm just joking. No need to get so serious." Ella laughed.
"Shh." Mel placed a finger over her mouth. "Let me finish. I want you to know that there has never been anyone like you. No one has ever accepted me, loved me despite what I am. You alone are special. You alone are the only woman that I believe I can love and that can love me in return. I love you Ella. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. I never even uttered those words to a woman when I was alive, but I say them with all my heart now. I love you."
"I love you, Mel. And believe it or not, I have never said that to anyone else before either. See? We are meant to be together, we have just been waiting for each other, though maybe you have been waiting a little bit longer." She snuggled in, just wanting to be close to him, to breathe him in, to feel loved in his arms.
****
As they lay on the couch, intertwined with each other Ella found herself already wanting another round, but Mel became a little distant, both physically and emotionally.
"We should talk about what happened last night. About why a ghoul might be attacking you and why there are more waiting outside your apartment tonight."
That snapped Ella right out of the mood. "What? There are more ghouls at my apartment? How? Why? Are you sure that they are after me? Why on earth would ghouls be staking me out of all people? They have to be after somebody else. I am not the kind of girl that would have ghouls following her."
Mel grew very serious. "I thought it wise to go by and check tonight. In case you decided to go home, I wanted to make sure all was safe for you. There are two ghouls in the alley you were attacked in and there appears to have been someone in your apartment as well."
Ella felt confused. "But you don't even know which apartment is mine. How could you tell that they were in my apartment? Maybe they are staking out someone else? Maybe I was the only one stupid enough to stumble past ghouls in a dark alley in the middle of the night?"
"I followed your scent. It was definitely your apartment and someone was definitely trespassing," Mel admitted as if reluctant to tell her.
"My scent?" Ella fought the urge to smell her hair, but then realized she was going to have to get use to supernatural senses. "So someone is waiting in my apartment? You know that for a fact?"
"Yes, but I do not think that it was a ghoul. The smell was distinctly human. Plus, the door was still intact and ghouls are not known to pick locks," Mel answered. "If I had to guess, I would say that there is some sort of sorcerer or witch behind all of this. Though they usually raise and control zombies, creatures that cannot do anything without a direct command from their controller. Yet, I am positive that you were attacked by a ghoul and that it is two ghouls waiting for you even now. I have never encountered such a thing before. This is all very unusual."
"You can say that again," Ella answered, bemused. "I am just a bartender. I take classes when I can afford it. Until last night, I never knew that ghouls even existed, I didn't believe in vampires either for that manner. Why would ghouls be after me or have been sent after me by someone? I don't understand what I could have done, who I could have offended, to deserve this. I don't have any enemies, I don't think I do at least. I doubt that there is anyone out there who cares enough about me to hate me."
"I don't know about that. For someone to have gone to all of this trouble, for believe me when I say that ghouls are hard to control, there has to be some significant reason. Can you think of anyone you have wronged recently?" Mel seemed as worried and as bewildered as Ella.
Ella sat up, thinking hard. "No, I don't think that I have really pissed anyone off lately. I mean I have had to rebuff the usual number of scummy guys who don't take the hint that I don't date customers, but none of them seemed to be the magical type, more the alcoholic type. I am not taking classes this summer, so work and more work is all I have been doing. Until last night, my life was pretty damn boring."
"Any wronged lovers?" Mel sounded reluctant as he asked.
Ella laughed despite how scared she was about the situation. "I would have had to have lovers to have wronged some and before you, I had been going through a drought of epic proportions in that area. I can't even remember the last time I was out on a date."
"I find that very difficult to believe. You are too alluring of a woman to not have suitors."
"Well it's the truth. Not a suitor in sight. So that cannot be who is trying to sick ghouls on me."
Mel got up and started pacing. "Tell me about your family. Maybe this is an older grudge come to fruition."
Pulling her knees into her chest, sheltering herself as she always did when family was brought up, Ella answered in a deadened voice. "I have no family. I have been on my own since I was fifteen, when I ran away from my last foster home. My birth father died from a drug overdose when I was about nine, I think, I never really knew him and he certainly never tried to get to know me. My birth mother disappeared into Nevada a long time ago. Prostitution was how she financed her drinking and drug habit. The one thing I really remember about her is that she told me I was a mistake and how she wished that she had had money for an abortion. She told me that when I was five. I didn't know what an abortion was until later on but her message was loud and clear. She never wanted me and wished I had never been born.
"I think that I have a half-brother from my mother. Apparently she kept and raised him. Maybe being a boy is what made the difference, or maybe she grew up some, I have no idea. I wonder about him sometimes and hope that his childhood was not as messed up as mine. No one deserves some of the stuff that I went through. Who knows about my father? I could have dozens of unknown siblings out there. Not that it really matters as I consider them nothing more than DNA donors, for neither was ever a parent to me. I was in the foster system from five to fifteen. I never stayed more than a year at any one place. Some pretty horrific things happened, things that I can't bear to talk about, but I would be the one who would have scores to settle in those cases. So I can't think that an old family grudge is behind this as I have never had a family in the first place."
Mel came over and wrapped his arms around her, bringing back the memory of how he cared for her the night before in the shower during her mental meltdown. "You aren't alone anymore. I am here for as long as you will have me. I will be your family. We will figure this out. I will make you safe, I promise."
Ella's heart felt lighter with Mel's assurance that she was no longer alone in the world. That gave her the courage to take charge of this unusual situation like she always did in her day to day life. "Well, I say the quickest way to solve this is to go over to my apartment and find out who is after me. I assume you can take care of the ghouls, right?"
Nodding, Mel answered. "The ghouls are not the problem. I can easily dispatch many of them with no trouble. But it takes powerful magic to raise the dead, even more powerful magic to raise and control ghouls rather than zombies. It is whoever managed that task that worries me, whoever is waiting inside your apartment, whoever wants you dead."
"You're a vampire, surely you can handle a witch or whatever this person is. You must know ways to counteract magic, right? Aren't you magical yourself?" Ella asked full of confidence.
"Yes, I believe magic is what animates vampires, but I am by no means sure about that. I am indeed resistant to many forms of magic, but not all. I am sure that a ver
y powerful sorcerer could harm me, or worse control me. I am more concerned about you, about what I might not be able to shield and protect you from," he confessed.
"Well, I am confident that you can protect me." Ella's mind seemed to be working remarkably well now. "Do you know of any charms or wards against magic? Surely that would protect both of us long enough for you to overpower anyone trying to do us harm."
A light went on in Mel's eyes. "Yes, I might have just the thing! I cannot believe I didn't think of it before!" He got up and ran to the bedroom quicker than she could follow, his movements nothing but a blur. Within seconds he was back with a very old jewelry box in his hands. "This belonged to my mother. I sometimes forget that I even have it, it has been so long since it was given to me."
"It's beautiful," she whispered. The box he held must have been hundreds of years old and if the jewels on it were real, which surely they were, then it was worth a mint. Ella found herself wondering just how old Mel was, who he had been when he was a human, what kind of world he came from, and how he had come to be a vampire.
"My mother was what would today be called a witch. We were wealthy and she was smart, so she was never suspected of using magic. It was always the poor and misfortunate, those with no power at all that were accused of witchcraft. These were my mother's most powerful amulets and charms. She gave them to me after I became a vampire, to protect me from evil. Which is laughable, since I had already been taken by evil.
"She knew that, but still wanted to protect her son if she could. I haven't needed them since the time people still believed in witches, vampires, things that go bump in the night I believe is the saying." Mel smiled sadly. "Creatures like myself are not known to science. Therefore, we are not known to the world anymore. I am nothing but a myth or horror story now."
As he opened the box, Ella expected jewels and riches beyond compare. However, the items inside were simple silver and gold pieces, a few jewels but all very utilitarian.
Blood, Lust and Love Page 8