The Thirst Within

by Johi Jenkins

  Time for vampires must be so different than for a human. My seventeen years suddenly seem like a mere trip to the mall. I mean, the guy is two hundred and eight years old.

  “Gross,” I say, making a slightly repulsed expression.

  “You don’t like my mac and cheese?” I hear June behind me, her voice sounding a little surprised. Whether surprised that I’m complaining about her food, or surprised to hear me talk to myself, who knows.

  I turn around and laugh embarrassedly, my mouth full of food. I swallow hastily. “No, I do. This is… great.”

  She raises her eyebrow and shifts the laundry basket she’s carrying, presumably full of Jack’s or her laundry, since everyone else does their own laundry around here. Even Fiona. “Good. Don’t want to hear another person complaining about food they didn’t make.” Her eyes narrow and she looks up the stairs.

  I’m about to apologize before I realize she probably means one or more of the other three people in this house. Instead I say, “I can’t believe anyone would complain about this,” and take another forkful.

  June sort of smiles, that bitchy smile of hers, and moves as if to turn around. But she changes her mind and faces me again. “So what’s gross?”

  “Really old people,” I say.

  She laughs. She actually laughs. The sound is downright unnerving. She turns around to climb the stairs and mumbles as she walks away, “Damn right they are.”

  ***

  As promised, Thierry comes back the next day, which is Saturday, and texts me that he’ll call me in the evening to take me to his apartment.

  I had the early afternoon shift. After work I went to the mall to wait for Thierry’s call, accompanied by a willing John. John said he needed to buy a new shirt, so he just invited himself when I told him I was going to the mall after work. We loitered for about an hour before Thierry finally called. In the meantime, while John was busy buying his shirt, I bought a bikini, my very first one. Before this one I only owned one swimsuit, a forest green one-piece I used in school for swim lessons when I went to North Scott, the high school in Eldridge. This one isn’t anything fancy, but it’s solid red, which I thought was very forward of me, with a halter top and simple bikini bottom. It was on sale.

  Thierry says he’ll pick me up in ten minutes, so I have five minutes to get rid of John. I tell him that “my friend Thierry” is picking me up. I’m embarrassed for some reason, but I don’t lie because I’m pretty sure John has seen me getting in Thierry’s car after work. John just shrugs okay and says he’ll see me the next day, since we’re working together again. Ah, friendships with guys you’ve kissed. Always so awkward.

  The sun is lowering on the horizon but hasn’t set when Thierry pulls up to the curb outside the food court. Aha, the sun question. I never asked him if he indeed has a weakness to the sun, the whole vampire night creature thing. I tend to hang out with him at night, but I think I’ve seen him awake during the day as well. Pfff. Myths.

  “Hey,” he says, coming out of his car to greet me. He hugs me warmly.

  “Hey you,” I reply, melting as usual in his presence.

  “Did you have to wait long for me?” He asks.

  “Nah. I went shopping,” I say. “With John,” I add, in case he already knows with his vampire senses, so that he doesn’t think I’m trying to hide it from him.

  He opens the door for me. “John Schmidt? How nice of him to accompany you,” he says with mock disinterest, closing the door behind me. As he walks around to his side I see him moving his lips as if he were mumbling, and making childish faces. He gets in the car and looks at me with an innocent face. “Did you have a good time? Oh, I see you got something.”

  “Yeah, I got a swimsuit,” I say, fighting a smile.

  “A swimsuit!” He snatches the garment from the bag and holds it up. “John Schmidt went with you to the mall to buy this?” He shakes the bikini bottom in the air.

  I finally laugh and push it down, since it probably looks like underwear to the passerby. “No, he didn’t go with me to the store. He doesn’t even know I bought it!”

  He smiles, satisfied. “Maybe you can show me,” he says wickedly.

  “Sure,” I say, like it doesn’t faze me, but inside I’ve become a sack of nerves.

  We drive to his apartment and he parks in his garage. As we exit the garage I stop at the blue-tiled hot tub, which looks perfect as always. Thierry grabs my hand, pulls me closer and kisses my cheek.

  “Do you feel like trying on your new bathing suit?” He asks lazily against my ear, sending a light shock up my neck.

  “Sure,” I repeat my one-word answer, and it’s a miracle I can even say it without stammering.

  “How about you join me in the hot tub?”

  “Yeah, but I need to….” I can’t finish the sentence because I’m staring at his lips.

  “You can change in the bathroom upstairs,” he says, smiling that perfect smile of his. I’m having a meltdown and he looks like he just stepped out of a fashion magazine.

  “Thanks,” I say.

  We go upstairs and he takes me to the main bathroom. He opens the linen closet inside and hands me an open wicker box containing all sorts of lotions, soaps, hair products, toothpastes, even brand new toothbrushes, razors, hair caps… even nail polish remover. Really? Why would a vampire in a house with no girls need nail polish remover?

  “Wow,” I say, examining the contents.

  “Help yourself to anything you need. The towels are here,” he says, pointing to different shelves of the linen closet, “and there are robes up here. Pick whichever one you like.”

  “Thanks,” I say, relieved to have a mini-pharmacy at my disposal.

  “Take your time. I’ll prepare the water,” he says, and leaves with a wink, closing the door behind him.

  I do take my time and stay locked in until I feel I’m perfect, although my hair is held up with a clip, not loose about my shoulders. With my hair down I’d probably look better but I don’t want to deal with wet hair. When I leave the bathroom I’m wrapped in a robe and I also carry a towel. I look around but Thierry’s nowhere to be seen, so I leave the apartment and look down from the porch. The sun has already set, and there’s little light left. The porch lights are on and they give off some light below, but no light is on directly on the courtyard. It’s cloaked in the dusk, minimally lit. Muscles tighten somewhere below my abdomen.

  I see movement across the courtyard, and Thierry emerges from his bedroom onto his smaller balcony shirtless—ohmigod—and carrying a towel. I don’t ogle only because he’s far away and I can’t see him properly.

  He closes the door behind him, waves at me, and jumps over the railing. I jump back a little, scared for a split second, but then he’s standing perfectly upright on the stone tiles below.

  I smile at him and lift a leg over the railing in front of me, pretending I can do the same. He suddenly disappears, and I hear him below me. “Go on,” he calls. I look directly down and there he is, his arms outstretched as if to catch me, the towel spread between them. I’m grinning like a fool because he moved faster than I could follow, showing total vampire prowess.

  Trusting him completely, I bring my other leg over and let myself fall backwards. My heart jumps in my chest and a second later he catches me easily, absorbing the energy with a simple swig of his arm.

  I pretend that my hand that rests on his bare arm doesn’t feel amazing.

  “Woo! Thank you,” I say, my heart racing. “That was awesome.”

  “If you think that was awesome, you’re dating the right person. We can do that any time you want.” He kisses me softly before setting me down.

  “It was! Next time I jump from the roof.”

  “No, next time, we jump to the roof.”

  “Whoa.” I look up, imagining the jump.

  He takes my hand and guides me to the water. I stare at his back and it’s so perfectly chiseled that I have to look away for fear that he’ll hear my heart go
crazy. I distract myself; I see the water moving, the bubble jets making a muted hum. Also, I notice that he added the same type of satiny foam that he dropped in my bath the night I found out he’s a vampire; I smell the rose and lavender infusion. I inhale the sweet scent, while he takes my towel and sets it on the glass top of the nearby iron table. I try not to gape at him. Even in the dim light I can still see his perfection, covered only by blue swimming trunks. I had never seen his chest or his legs, and they are better than I imagined. I’m doubly embarrassed to remove my robe, because I’m ordinary, and because I know he can see much better than I can in the darkness.

  Since I can’t move, he takes the few steps back to me, and grabs one of the strings of my bathrobe. I don’t stop him, only look at him. While looking into my eyes he undoes my knot, and slowly removes my robe behind me. He turns and throws it casually on top of the other towels.

  Then he places his cool hands on my waist. “You’re so beautiful, Tori,” he says, admiring me.

  “Thank you,” I mumble. I shiver, because the evening is cool, and because I’m also very much aroused for the first time in my life. I feel parts of me responding to him that have never been this interested in anything before. He notices the goose bumps in my arms, and climbs in the hot tub, taking my hand and helping me in.

  “Ah,” I say as I take a step in. The water is perfect.

  “Good, isn’t it? Have a seat,” he offers.

  I sit on a surprisingly comfy built-in bench that follows the entire perimeter of the little pool. Inside, the floor and walls are lined with four-inch-square tiles, except the top foot or so, where the tiles are smaller, round one-inch-diameter with a glossier texture, creating an attractive pattern. When I’m settled in, the water reaches just above my shoulders, and I recline back with a huge smile on my face. The wall behind me is slightly sloped so my back rests against the smooth tiled surface. The lip of the hot tub is rounded, with the smaller tiles conforming to its round profile. I lay my head back slowly over the edge; the curved profile cradles my neck comfortably. I’m in heaven.

  Thierry sits across from me, his toned arms resting on the outer rim. With my head bent back and eyes half closed I can still see him, and he looks delectable. I’m having trouble staying where I am. The jets of hot water and the tantalizing scent are only further stimulating my senses. I bring my arms to my chest and grab my breasts underwater, circling slowly over my bikini with the palm of my hands. I close my eyes fully and take in the sensations assaulting me, enjoying the pleasure currents that run up and down my body. I don’t recall ever feeling like this. My lips are parted; my smile is still in place.

  I don’t feel him move, but his lips are suddenly on my neck. I possibly moan softly; I can’t hear over the thrashing of my heart. He’s sitting next to me and I lean to him, freeing one of my hands to touch his muscled chest, his arm, his back. One of his hands replaces mine over my breast, and he squeezes softly. With the other he pulls me towards him and I end up straddling him. He’s so warm, warmer than I’ve ever felt him. He brings my face to his and kisses my cheeks, my chin, my lips.

  “Tori,” he breathes. “You make me feel things I haven’t felt for so long.”

  His words reverberate in parts of my body I didn’t even know I had. “You make me feel things I didn’t even realize I could feel,” I respond. I wrap both my arms around him. “Thierry, this hot tub is amazing.”

  “Definitely. But only because you’re here.”

  “If I lived here,” I say, looking down at him, then around me, “I’d come out here every day.”

  “You know, I thought so at first, too, but it’s not really that nice if it’s just me in it. If you lived here, well, certainly, I’d come out here every day. Even if it was just to see you in that red bikini.” He leans forward and kisses me on the collarbone, right next to the halter strap of my top. “It’s a fantastic color on you.”

  I look down, hoping he can’t notice me blush. “I can barely see the color in this light,” I say.

  “I wish I could show you what you look like to my vampire eyes. You’re a vision, Tori.”

  He clasps the back of my neck and brings my lips down to his. He parts my lips with his tongue, and I return the kiss eagerly, my passion finding an outlet as my lips move over his. I press myself against him with a trace of agony. Because it’s not enough. I want to get closer.

  His hands find the knot of my bikini top at my lower back, and slowly, while still kissing me, he pulls on the strings. The knot comes free, but the triangles still cover my breasts loosely, pressed between us. My heart is beating in overdrive, but he’s taking all the time in the world. After another small eternity, a hand finds the top knot at the back of my neck, and he undoes that one as well. He grabs the small piece of fabric and fully removes it, placing it off to the side. I exhale audibly, a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding.

  The feel of my bare chest against his is excruciating. It fills me with a delicious combination of pleasure and dread, dread of the unknown, and desire to discover it. He holds me back a few inches, and as the cool air reclaims my skin my nipples harden. Thierry cups my breasts, and caresses me with his thumbs. He leans down as if to kiss them, but I feel his teeth grazing my skin tenderly instead. I moan, and I wonder if he’s about to bite me, when he suddenly lifts his head.

  His eyes travel to his apartment behind us, and then back at me.

  “Is something wrong?” I ask.

  “The whole world is perfect, because you’re here, and I’m holding the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen in my life,” he says, as he places me on the bench next to him, holding me by the chest. “But I think it’d be better if I cool down for a bit over here.” He lets go reluctantly.

  “Okay,” I say, and smile at him.

  I don’t know if I’m disappointed or relieved or what, but I’m perfectly okay to lie back to my original position, this time a little bit more naked. The bikini top is within arm’s reach, but the water is foamy and it covers my whole chest, so I feel it’s okay to leave it off.

  After another minute, Thierry groans. “Okay, it’s not working. I think I need a cold shower, literally.”

  I laugh, feeling empowered.

  “Will you be okay for a few minutes? I’ll be watching you. I mean…” he says as I laugh again, “hearing out for you.”

  “I’ll be fine, Thierry,” I say, and I want to thank him for making me feel like a goddess, but I don’t. I just smile, still reclined back.

  Thierry leaves the water with his back to me, and I take the chance to ogle him shamelessly. His body is lean enough to give a supermodel a complex; I wonder if it’s a vampire thing or if it’s just a Thierry thing. He places the towels and my robe closer to me in case I need them, and winks at me; I blush, thinking that he knows I was checking him out. But the next second I realize he was just preparing me for a show because he suddenly jumps to his balcony. As graciously as I could jump one foot in the air.

  My jaw drops and it possibly stays that way for a whole minute. It’s simply mind-blowing to witness him in action, and even more that I’m allowed to. And when I think that this gorgeous supernatural creature had his tongue in my mouth a minute ago, I shiver with pleasure. Life is good.

  I stay another ten minutes in the ridiculously opulent water before I decide that I’m too hot and would like to drink some cold water. I don’t bother putting on my top, since I doubt anyone can see me, it’s dark out, and I’m going to put on my robe right away, anyway. Thierry comes back out fully clothed as I’m wrapping the robe around me. He jumps down next to me.

  “Want a lift?” He asks casually.

  “Sure!” I put my arms around his neck and he scoops me up easily. He walks over to the main balcony, crouches down a few inches, and jumps.

  Ah! I shriek like a coward; my heart stays a floor below as we soar through the air, and then we land neatly in front of the main entrance. The ride is over in two seconds, but I’m shaken, trying to
get my bearings.

  “Thanks; sorry I yelled.”

  “No problem,” he says, and he’s smiling, but something about the smile is off. “Can I get you anything?”

  “Some water, please.” I try not to think about his apparent change of attitude, and hope it’s just my imagination. He brings me a glass of water and I drink it in one long gulp before going to the first bathroom. I hang my bathing suit on the shower door handle. There’s no separate bathtub like there is in his bathroom, but the shower is huge, and handsome enough.

  After I rinse off and change, I join him in the main living space. He calls me from the kitchen and points to the dining table, asking me to take a seat. He brings me more water, crackers and some fancy cheeses to munch on. Then he takes a seat next to mine and watches me eat.

  “This is great,” I tell him. “Thanks, Thierry.”

  “No problem. Sorry it’s not more; I don’t buy much fresh food. Hey, I’ll take you out to dinner,” he offers.

  “Thanks, but nah,” I say dismissively. I want to stay here with him.

  “You should eat,” he insists. “How about I take you to that place you liked on Magazine?” The place on Magazine Street he refers to serves only raw foods. It was pretty good, but it’s not like I asked him to take me back. I haven’t even complained that I’m hungry. Maybe he just wants to go out.

  A dark thought crosses my mind—that he’s pushing the issue because he wants me out of the house. My heart is going down this negative route because I’ve noticed he’s not his usual cheery self. As I sit there eating my crackers, I try to make conversation with him. But after a while I realize he’s actually sad.

  “What’s wrong?” I finally ask.

  “I’m sorry, Tori.”

  “About what?”

  “I feel bad… for letting things get carried away downstairs.”

  “Nothing happened, Thierry,” I say cautiously.

  He scoffs. “I took off your top,” he says.

  I laugh fitfully. “Well, okay, but I don’t feel bad about that. Should I?”