Obfuscate

by Killion Slade

  “Blimey, Cheyenne, not at all. Don’t be so bent.” He grabbed my hands and eased them down to my sides. “You’ll need to come to grips with this. These emotions are perfectly normal.”

  I grimaced at the thought and tried to remember my promise to myself to make this work.

  “I’m sure you’ve heard the old horror stories of Elizabeth Bathory bathing in virginal blood to keep her beauty? She was acting out on her vampyric hormones. They’re natural instincts.”

  Heat flushed my face. “I must be sick. A blood bath sounds sensual and arousing to me.”

  “Bathing in vats of blood isn’t something we do as much now, but there are niche spas where you can immerse yourself in human blood. I think Torchy has one of those spas at The Super Market in Orlando.”

  I reached for Khaldon’s cheek and noticed the snow falling once again. Shrouded under the trees, the blanket of snow veiled us further, offering complete privacy.

  “That’s good to admit your instincts. It’s okay—you haven’t exactly had the opportunity to explore and get to know your new self. You’ve been surviving on the bloodwines, which is fine, but doesn’t quite satisfy. There’s nothing comparable to hunting your own prey and feeling their adrenaline surge, evoking your primal forces. Their emotions fuse the blood and the taste is simply intoxicating.”

  “Wait—what? You mean I can taste their emotions too?”

  His eyes danced with electricity. “Oh yes, that’s the best part. You’ll begin to gain a specific taste after you hunt for awhile. Some vamps like the gamey, adrenaline rush a human will dump into their bloodstream after being chased and run down. Others prefer the heightened emotions of foreplay during sex. Whereas, others prefer their meals spiced with a heated argument or bellowing with laughter. Each emotion dumps a different brain chemical into the bloodstream and it changes the taste.”

  “Wow, I never thought of anything like that before. So it’s not just the blood itself, it’s the desired flavor. Man, if Briggs were a vampire, he would totally groove at making emotion flavored recipes for cocktails.”

  We both laughed at the possibility of seeing Briggs tending an emotion blood bar.

  Fever spiraled up my legs and rollicked at my core. Realizing this was getting ready to go do, I flushed feeling an awakening within me. Khaldon’s strong hands guided mine to the girl’s neck. I placed one hand on her cheek and one hand on her shoulder, stretching her throat on display.

  “Now, embrace her and allow your fangs to slowly descend. Control the break through and relish in the sensations. Breathe her essence and then puncture her. Drink and ingurgitate her life force deep within your very core.” His words were mere whispers. “There’s nothing equivalent to fresh, sumptuous human blood coursing through you. Feel the electrifying animation absorbing into your cells and let it spark new life through your veins.”

  Khaldon stepped behind me, his body pressing tight up against mine as I inhaled her fragrance. Even though this girl had been enthralled, she must have been sexually stimulated because she gushed in the scent of sex. It drove me into a frenzy. Licking her neck, my tongue vibrated against the pulsating, rhythmic beat. Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump.

  My fangs dripped with anticipation. I turned my head and punctured through to the breaking point. Her skin melted under my bite as though it were butter softened by the stove.

  “Drink her in, m’lady—imbibe in her spirits. Intoxicate in her crimson liquors.”

  I removed my fang and her arterial fountain flowed. Her heartbeat grew louder, surging through my ears while I drank her deep into my soul. My eyes kaleidoscoped around and round as my thoughts filled with sex, pleasure, comfort, warmth, and peace. Her blood tasted of mother’s milk, manna from heaven. I never wanted to stop bathing in this euphoric moment. No wonder rogues lived the way they did. How could I ever go back to bottled bloodwines after tasting this magnificent bounty?

  More … I want more!

  Khaldon gently nudged my mouth away with his tongue. I moved over and allowed him a morsel of my delicious feast. But instead, he licked my puncture mark and lowered the girl to the ground.

  Khaldon raised Ponytail’s neck and pointed to where I bit her. “Now, Cheyenne, what do you see?”

  I studied the mark and turned her chin back and forth to get a better view in the light. “It looks like any old red mark, or a mosquito bite. Maybe she scratched herself with a fingernail?” I mused.

  “Righto! You were able to feed discreetly, and now she’s left with a bite that looks like nothing. She’ll either get drunk or high tonight, or sleep it off over the next couple of days. I usually offer a suggestion to take their vitamins and get a good night’s sleep.”

  I stood up and gestured to the girl. “So by using the one prick method, vampires have flown under the radar for centuries?”

  He gave me a sheepish grin.

  Hmm … I wonder if I had ever been bitten and not known it.

  “Are you ready for dessert, my love?” Khaldon offered me Beer Guy’s limp wrist. A wrist at odds with his upright posture and his full-on erection.

  I pointed to Beer Guy’s pants. “Is that normal?”

  Khaldon’s eyebrows shot up with an evil enticement. “Just as you can sense the arousal from her, he too has the same reaction. So yes, quite often, men will reward you with an erection. What you choose to do with it, of course, is your choice. Many vampires will take full advantage of a human’s sexual arousal. Not that I want you to, my dear—just saying.”

  I winked at him.

  Again, I performed the piquant controlling the blood flow and giving me time to suck down mouthfuls of deliciousness without causing a mess. Tonight, I was the apex predator. I could have easily ripped out this guy’s throat, but for the first time, I was empowered to do what I wanted. Just knowing I could destroy this man’s life sent heady, intoxicating passion shooting through my neural pathways leaving me panting for more.

  I’m going to be all right. I can hunt and still be the same me.

  Khaldon whispered in my ear as I continued to fill my belly with live human red blood cells. “Move to his neck just as you did with the woman.” Khaldon pushed the man up against the tree, and I sank my controlled fang into his throbbing artery. Revitalizing fresh, carotid pulses gushed straight from his heart. The vital dynamics of the exchange ignited the kindling desires deep within me.

  Khaldon consumed a small amount from the comatose woman and brought his attention back to me. His smile revealed a mouth stained with the beautiful elixir. “Had your fill, m’love?”

  One seductive leer from Khaldon, and I knew what I wanted. I craved him. I hungered for all of him. Inside me, filling me to the brink of this eternal ecstasy.

  “Are you ready to let our prey go on their way?”

  I nodded several times in enthusiastic accession.

  “Then release their enthrall and give them the mind messaging you desire, be it what may.”

  I gave him a devious, wicked grin. “Could I tell them to rob a bank or something insane crazy like that?”

  “You could, but I always live under the laws of three. What you do will come back to you thrice. So unless you want someone to steal from you three times, I’d reconsider your temptation.” He cocked an eyebrow at me seemingly to say, it’s your choice, but I wouldn’t.

  I couldn’t absorb enough of how Khaldon’s verdant green eyes shone with the reflections of the soft snow light.

  “Harm none, but take no shite—that’s my motto. Or at least that’s how I try to live my life now, anyway. There was another time when I wasn’t as kind as I am now—but that was centuries ago.”

  I elbowed him in the ribs. “I’m sure Vhalencia and Chuck have a few sordid tales about you. It would be nice to get to know them one day.”

  “Indeed, not sure when, but as soon as we can, I’d love to have you visit my home in Dubai. Let’s plan a vacation over there as soon we can. Would you like that?”

  “Indee
d, I would, Mr. Seters.” I grinned ear to ear and I could feel my eyes sparkle with excitement for traveling abroad for a real vacation.

  I turned to Beer Guy and Pony Tail and considered what I would want a vampire to say to me if the situation were reversed. I didn’t want to disappoint Khaldon and awaken these people to have them run screaming out from under the tree, so I did what seemed natural.

  I pulled the couple close to me and wrapped my arms around them whispering, “Thank you for a lovely chat. Tonight, you will remember having a wild tryst under the pine tree together. You will walk away feeling satisfied, happy, alive, and very thirsty. You’ll walk to the first drug store and purchase water and vitamins. You will have no detailed memory of us. You will always look upon this tree and smile to yourself. Now, go.”

  As though someone turned on a light, the couple awakened from their trance. They exchanged slightly embarrassed glances with us. The guy slapped Khaldon on the back and the lady kissed my cheek. Ponytail interlaced her hand with her boyfriend’s and they scampered out from underneath the boughs of the trees. I heard Ponytail giggle while they headed toward the dime store across the street.

  Khaldon put his arm around my shoulder as we watched the couple meander away. “Well done, m’lady. Well done!”

  I kissed him on the cheek, allowing my lips to linger.

  He turned his face to me and whispered into my mouth. “Did you enjoy the celebration of your vampyric virginity? The first step of your training is complete now. Now you’ll need to do it on your own and alone to fully master the technique. Each hunt is different and challenging within it’s own right.”

  Why do his eyes always seem so hauntingly familiar—like I’ve known him, loved him, all my life?

  I listened to his words and realized I still had a lot of training before me. But tonight, Khaldon had taught me not only how to hunt humans, but he gave me style and panache with which to do it well. As we kissed for a few minutes longer under the tree, I realized the town had grown dark all around us. I broke our kiss and pointed toward the store. “Look, the lights. They’ve gone out. The music stopped too. I think we’re in a blackout.”

  “Then this is a perfect time.” He broke our embrace and reached into his jacket pocket.

  “Time for what?”

  Khaldon handed me a velvety crimson box about the size of my palm.

  “What’s this? A little something before the world ends tonight?” I shouldn’t have laughed at the world’s dire issues, but right at this perfect moment, under this romantic moon, it was my turn to finally find a slice of paradise.

  For the first time in a long time, I didn’t care what was going on anywhere else. My sights were laser-focused on Khaldon, and nothing would deter me from having the best sex of my life with the man I loved.

  Khaldon gestured with his head toward the gift box. “I hope my gift isn’t pretentious.” He pulled me in closer and lifted my chin. His eyes bored deep into me. “But I wouldn’t have this night commence any other way.”

  * * *

  Puzzled at Khaldon’s gift and not quite sure what to say, I decided to answer him with another kiss. I seductively slipped my arms around his shoulders and clasped them behind his neck.

  My nervous laugh betrayed me again as I could sense the jittery anticipation of our coupling. Neither able to—nor wanting to—control my vampyric pheromones, I sensed our eager potency as our collected scents perfumed the hot, moist air between us. I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him and he lowered his mouth to meet my hunger.

  Khaldon’s lips were smooth and inviting. He was no slouch in the lip-works department. Most guys either choked you with their tongues, or painted-by-numbers with drool, but not Khaldon. He had the fine art of kissing down to a perfect science with a gentle nibble here, a tongue teaser there.

  The best part was how tightly bound he held me. As though he didn’t intend to allow the very air to escape from between us. His transfixed attention confirmed in my heart that I was the center of his universe and nothing else mattered to him at this moment. My heart knew I would never have to put up with another guy who kissed me with his eyes open watching a sports game.

  Nothing would take his attention from me. Tonight it was us, and only us.

  Our feverish pace picked up and instead of apprehension and embarrassment at my own clumsiness, I stepped up and pulled out all the stops determined to choreograph a night we would cherish forever. We threw ourselves into one another, and I reveled at the weight of his body next to mine.

  “I hoped, perhaps, after tonight, you’d always stay with me. I can’t tell you how long I’ve fantasized waking up with you in my arms.” Khaldon nuzzled my neck, continuously kissing up my hairline with every breath.

  Speechless, I swallowed down the emotion stuck in my throat.

  Khaldon urged me to open the little box again.

  I stole a glance up at his face and his features seemed to mimic my own emotions.

  Is he biting his lip? Am I?

  I took a deep breath and pulled the white satin ribbon. It was real satin fabric, not that cheapie stuff you get at the holidays. Taking the ribbon from me, he then tied it around a lock of my hair.

  I paused and then looked in his eyes.

  “It’s all right, it won’t bite.” He urged me onward. “No spiders, I promise.”

  Opening the lid revealed an antique, ornate ring garnished in gems and hieroglyphs.

  Khaldon’s voice shook with emotion while he gently took my free hand and said, “Cheyenne, I have known you for two years, eight months, four days, twenty-two hours, sixteen minutes and…” He looked at his watch. “Eight seconds.”

  I swallowed hard to move that ever-growing lump at what might come next.

  “During this time spent with you, I’ve been the happiest man, even as we have surmounted the challenges and tragedies we’ve faced. I want to get to know who you are in this reality, Cheyenne, as well as I knew who you were as Lady Cazenove in our virtual world. This recent time apart has convinced me of this. I never want to be away from you again. Ever.”

  The whisper touch of his hand sent electricity through me as the very breath in my chest escaped. Khaldon removed the ring from the box and knelt on one knee in front of me.

  “Cheyenne Madeline O’Cuinn, I am asking you to share both my worlds and be mine for as long as we both shall live. Will you honor me and become my wife? Will you sleep beside me for the rest of our lives?”

  In an instant, millions of memories flashed through my mind. Ones from when I was a little girl and dreamed about the man whom I would marry in a castle up in the clouds. Was I ready to make a marital commitment? Was Khaldon the man I knew to be the only man I would ever want in my life?

  The heat in my face blossomed a red flush as my hands shook while I tried to cradle his face.

  I wanted him. I wanted his soul. I wanted to know him more intimately than he knew himself.

  “Yes—Khaldon—I would be honored to be your wife!”

  Khaldon slid the gem-encrusted ring onto my left ring finger. His muscular strength picked me up and twirled me around as though I were a little girl running into her parent’s arms after her first day of kindergarten. I squealed with excitement, at what our engagement meant between us, and the fact that my head hit an overhead branch. He lowered me onto his lips and kissed me most tenderly. He lovingly caressed the place on my head where the branch had made contact.

  The kiss of a lifetime of coupling. Together we agreed to make our lives one until death do us part, and for Vampyre, our agreement truly meant forever.

  “This was my mother’s ring passed to her from our ancestor Sekhmet. This ring was the engagement gift from Ptah, Sekhmet’s husband, and this ring has been passed down each generation since.”

  I gawked at him. “You mean the Sekhmet, the warrior goddess?”

  He nodded. “Yes, Ptah had this ring commissioned for her in his everlasting love. She wore it until the day she died and told her so
n, Maahes, that one day he would find the love of his life and he should honor and laud her with this ring.” Khaldon kissed my hand. “The ring has been bequeathed to me, and you will honor us all if you would wear it as my truest love.”

  I had so many words I wanted to say, to do, to express—but all I could muster without ruining the moment was, “I love you, Khaldon. Thank you for celebrating us.”

  I reached up and pulled him closer, kissing him again.

  The energy between us solidified. Comfortable. Settled. Majestic.

  Khaldon lowered us down onto the aromatic bed of soft pine needles. Our mouths and hands couldn’t stop. Nothing was holding us back as the snow fell harder and our passion grew higher.

  I wanted him.

  I wanted to consume him on every level. It was as if another whole creature leeched out of my skin and I experienced a fever-pitch of need I’d never known before.

  The heat of our bodies created a sort of steam vapor under the tree, and my world, my vision, was clouded over in complete submission and domination. Khaldon took me, and I took him. We rocked the rhythm of the silence until we could no longer breathe. Until we could no longer feel the difference between his skin and mine.

  We were one.

  At the height of our consummation, instinct plunged my fangs into his neck at the same moment his teeth punctured my own throat. The coupling—the bonding by me drinking of him and his consumption of me, became a symbiotic exchange of biblical proportions.

  We shared our life-force energy. We were one in every sense of the word.

  Completely lost within his empowering energy, my insides quaked, filling with every inch of him. Our bodies entangled in a web of arms and legs. I struggled to get closer to him. Simply to become him.

  A dammed gateway burst open, and detailed memories of his childhood showcased in my mind. I watched his life’s fondest memories through his eyes. A young Khaldon playing in the reeds near a pyramid, teenage Khaldon carving his a hieroglyph into a stone. Fast forwarding through the memory show revealed images of his computer monitor while he watched our avatars dancing on the bow of the Titanic, horseback-riding across Irish glades, spelunking in underground caves, and making love whenever we could.