by Noah Harris
“It’s obvious that you’ve been hurt in the past. You do everything you can to keep people at a distance. I don’t think that you’re ever going to allow anybody that close again. I hope that I can show you that love can conquer all. I know how stupid that might sound, but I’ve always been a big believer that the heart knows what it wants. I’m also a study of human nature and those other cultures that you speak of.” I showed no shame by standing in front of him naked, as the day that I was born.
“I don’t know what exactly you are; Duncan, but I sense from what was being said that you are older than what you appear. I don’t think that you are the same, as what I am, so what exactly does that make you? You have my undivided attention. If you want me to change, then you need to make that first move. Trust me and I promise that I will not betray that trust.” It was a hard pill to swallow, but for the first time in my life, I was going to reveal myself twice in one day. It wasn’t just going to be the façade of what he saw, but the true version of the man that I had become several years ago.
“I don’t know if you really want to know, Derek. You think that by being a werewolf that you scare most people, but I’m not like most people. I will admit that I didn’t think that your kind existed, but I think that you’re going to say the same thing about me. I do this under protest. I only showed Hiroko, because he needed to see the reason why I left him. He needed to know the reason was not trivial and was for his sake. I may have been able to back him down, but that one week is going to go by with the snap of my fingers. We have very little time, and you have a lot to make up for. I’m not even sure that you’re willing to do that, but maybe I can convince you that life doesn’t have to be about walking over people.”
“I think that your stalling, Duncan. I’m a big boy, and I can handle just about anything that you throw at me.” I turned my back on him, arching my shoulders and then turning with the menacing glare of the vampire. He stared at me, but I could tell that he was not hiding his emotions well. At that first look, he backed away, but once again he proved to me that he was not going to allow this to change anything. “I knew that there was something about you, but I had no idea that you had that thing lurking underneath the beautiful package. We both have our secrets, and I suppose we are going to have to get used to the fact that we can’t be together. I understand now why you bolted from the room. Those of my kind and your kind were never meant to find one another.” I could still feel the heat between us and the fact that we were in the position of being this close and physically available was making it very hard in more ways than one.
“I know deep down that we are forbidden to touch each other, but I’m not sure that I care. What we have already done would be frowned upon. Can you honestly say that you can keep it in your pants and not want to take things further?” I touched his arm, and he shied away like he had the power to keep his libido in check. “I went into the bathroom, and not even the cold water could douse the flames of my lust. That feeling is hard to describe and what we are has only enhanced that.”
“I’m going to make this easier for you, Duncan. I want you to leave before I forget that this is wrong. I don’t know what you plan to do in one week, but I shudder to think about it. I guess from this moment on you will be my conscience. You’ll sit on my shoulder like that of the angel while that other part of me speaks to me with forked tongue. I hope that you can fight that other side, but I doubt that even you can do that. I will square things with your boss, and you have just been given an upgrade. I might even be able to give you an education in life that you’ve never had before.”
Chapter nine
Seeing Hiroko again after all of this time had brought back memories that I had thought were dead and buried. I came to his father out of a need to get away from hunters. At that time, I didn’t have much control over the beast inside. I had the tendency to strike whenever that need to feed came over me. I didn’t like myself, and it certainly didn’t help that those impulses had gotten me into enough hot water that I didn’t know how to get out of it.
I sat there in my small room in this hotel and went through the various meditation exercises that I had been taught by Hiroko’s father. I didn’t even know how I could pay back that kind of debt of honor. He was dead. At the moment of his death, I panicked and decided that it would be best for everybody to leave and never look back. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about Hiroko and how he was dealing with the loss. There were times that I was tempted to stop in and check on him, but I figured that his anger by my leaving him would be too much for me to handle.
I still couldn’t believe that he was here. What were the odds of him showing up in exactly the same place that I was. The world was vast, and the very thought that he could materialize out of nowhere was astronomical at best. I didn’t sleep much, but the solitude and the feeling of being at one with myself were exactly what I needed to smooth those troubled waters in my mind.
I had the capability of losing myself in what I considered my happy place. The waves crashing up against the shore with the salt spray tickling my bare toes was where I found the most peace. Tropical trees and the sound of nothing, but nature was my idea of paradise. I felt the heat on my face. I opened my eyes to find that a new day had slipped past the old one. I got up completely naked and not at all ashamed of my appearance.
I could hear Derek outside my door breathing heavy. He hadn’t knocked yet, but he was there. I made my way over to the door and placed my hand on it. In my mind’s eye, I suspected that his hand was exactly where mine was on the other side. I put my cheek against the door, and there was a momentary desire to fling it open. I wanted to grab him in a passionate embrace. What we could have...couldn’t be, even though I think deep down we both knew that fighting was useless.
“I know that you’re out there, Derek.” I think I scared him because his footsteps started to recede down the hallway. Using my vampire power of speed, I was in front of him with my hand up on the wall. He stopped short, but he did not seem like he was terrified or even slightly taken back by my behavior. “What’s the hurry and where’s the fire? I’m supposed to be your shadow from this moment on. For the next week, I’m supposed to be your conscience.” I didn’t know how I could say that, especially since I didn’t know the meaning of the word.
“I was having second thoughts and being near you is like tempting a dog with a raw steak. We know that we can’t be with each other, so placing us together in close proximity is only asking for trouble.” I saw him biting his lip, and he was literally bouncing back and forth from one foot to the other. He actually looked like he was about to have an accident, but I knew that it was just nervous energy running through his veins.
“I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been struggling with this all night, but I’ve come to a decision. I can’t allow my raw animal instincts to rule me, especially when your life hangs in the balance. I don’t have much use for computers, but there are times that I find myself delving into that particular kind of technology. I only had to Google your name, and I came up with several different companies that might have an ax to grind. You’re not exactly well liked and I would say that it’s not something that you have given much thought.” I heard a gasp and a giggle from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder see an elderly woman with a cane and who I could only assume to be her granddaughter.
“You will only see something like that in Vegas, Honey…only in Vegas.” They weren’t exactly subtle about their attention. Their eyes were traveling up and down my naked back and the contours of my sweet ass. I had no problem flexing those cheeks and giving them a cheap thrill.
“Why don’t you take a picture, it will last longer.” I was only joking, but then I heard the click and felt the flash behind me. They moved on after getting their memento from their trip to sin city.
“Duncan, I have a reputation to live up to. I don’t need my ‘conscience’ to be seen as some kind of pervert. At the risk of making things that much
harder on the both of us, I think that we should go back into your room for a moment. That way, you can get dressed. You have no idea what you’re doing to me like that. I want to…never mind; you really don’t want to know what I want to do. Let’s just say, that I have a lot of naughty thoughts and the erotic dream that I had about you last night didn’t help matters any.”
“I don’t know if you know this about vampires, but we don’t dream. I don’t think that we do anyway. I know that I have never remembered even one of them, but that is primarily due to the fact that I don’t sleep that much. An hour a week is enough to fuel me. I spend my time meditating and last night, my mind was overwrought with images of you taking me in every position that I could think about. I’ve tried to keep my thoughts PG rated, but it’s tough when I have this desire to reach out and touch a certain someone.”
“I’ve always wondered about whether or not you have a reflection. To be honest, I didn’t even know that your kind even was out there, except by pure rumor alone. The one that made me told me of such tales, but I really did think that it was his way of keeping me trapped and alone. I escaped, and there hasn’t been a day that goes by that I don’t look over my shoulder to see if he has found me. I suppose, I should be living a more quiet kind of lifestyle with very little public scrutiny. I do my best to stay underneath the radar, but sometimes my business makes it necessary to announce my presence.”
I got back to my room and found that the door was locked, and the key was inside. It didn’t matter. A little bit of brute force and I broke into the very room that I was staying in. The lock was now busted, but it wasn’t like I was worried about security. If somebody was stupid enough to come into my room, then they were in for a rude awakening. I was definitely not the person that you should try to rob unless you had a death wish.
“I think that is one thing that we do have in common, Derek. That heat that we feel between us makes it almost impossible not to grab you by the throat and pin you up against that wall. I’m doing everything I can to force those tendencies down where they can’t do any good. Anyway, the one that made me told me of some stories about shifters that turned into wolves. I thought that he was exaggerating, but he did make a point to clearly inform me that any relationship with one would only end in doom. He never really went into detail, but those stories have always stuck with me.”
He wasn’t exactly hiding the fact that he was staring at me with a salacious look on his face. I wasn’t making anything easier on him. I was taking my time getting dressed, bending this way and moving that way, just so that I could entice the look of desire from his eyes. I could’ve easily gotten dressed in the blink of an eye, but this seemed almost too delicious to pass up.
“Don’t think for second that I don’t know what you’re doing, Duncan. This is a very dangerous game that we’re playing, and I think that it would be a good idea that we get out of this room before we do something about it.” I could literally hear his heart beating quicker. I could also see this little bead of sweat on top of his forehead making its way down the bridge of his nose. He pulled at the collar of his blood red shirt with black tie to accompany it. His gray suit made him look important, and I suppose from everybody’s point of view…he was.
“I found your gift waiting for me when I got back to the room. I don’t know how you could possibly know my measurements.” I wasn’t referring to the suit and that sexual innuendo kinda hung there in the air waiting for him to say something. “This definitely is better than the monkey suit that I had to wear, as a valet. I’m not usually one to dress up and being casual is more to my liking.” That feeling of wealth surrounded me and like driving that sports car last night; it reminded me that I had all the tools to make this happen for myself.
We walked down the hallway side by side. I’m sure that he was hoping that I was going to take a step behind him, but I was nobody’s servant. “Duncan, I’ve been wondering why somebody like you would be happy with the simpler things in life. You’ve obviously lived a long time, and that is damn evident from the experience that I see in your eyes. The world could have been your oyster, but you decided to live a minimalist kind of lifestyle. Is it because you’re afraid of what you would become if you had that kind of power in the palm of your hand?” I got this feeling like he was fishing for information. I was hoping that he wanted to get to know me better, and that was something that I could, at least, play with.
“I’ve been around a long time and believe me the thought has crossed my mind about living with all those things that people need to surround themselves with to feel important. The temptation is always there, but I find that I like being anonymous. It makes it easier to blend in and not become some kind of international sensation. Unlike you, I don’t have to hide from the press. They don’t know that I exist and, to be honest, I would like to keep it that way.” My black suit was a perfect contrast to his charcoal gray.
“You’ve been missing out on the joys of knowing what it’s like to look down on others. To feel the salt air on your face, as you drive a beautiful yacht that is the envy of all of your friends. Men with the kind of bodies that you would want to spend a lifetime getting to know are coming to you and not the other way around. It’s that taste in the air and the delicacies that are not everyday fare. I have no idea how you feel about food, but it is one of my great pleasures.” We walked by Gino. He didn’t say anything, but he did take a step back like he wasn’t worthy of standing in our shadow. I’m sure that it was all directed towards Derek.
My eyes were constantly moving. I was praying to you know who that I wasn’t going to have to act on his behalf again. The darkness was my friend and being out in the cold light of day really didn’t instill confidence. Somebody might capture my likeness on one of their smartphones. Technology had come a long way and doing the things that I did back 100 years ago would never fly anymore. There were too many cameras, and even small towns had the ability to capture something that they shouldn’t see.
I felt his hand in mine. I glanced down to see that there was a pair of keys. He pointed with his eyes towards a black sedan sitting at the curb. It appeared that I was also going to be his driver, along with his conscience and any other jobs he found for me.
Chapter ten
During the day, I would constantly look back in the rearview mirror to see the man of my dreams this close and yet so far away. “I believe that I would like to stop at my favorite restaurant in the city. You have my itinerary. Do make sure that I have the table in the back. I also need you to make contact with the chef and have him prepare my meal exactly, as ordered. There can be no deviation, or I will send it back and give them a yelp review that they will never forget.” He was used to having his way and even that brush with death had not changed his disposition.
“I don’t suppose that you would deem me worthy of dining with you. I would hate to step on your toes and make you think that you were having dinner with the help.” He treated me with nothing, but disdain. Any time that we were around anybody else, he would not even make eye contact. I shouldn’t have taken it personally, as this was just the way that he was.
“I’m very sorry that I made you feel that way, Duncan. I get caught up in my own little world, and I forgot that you were now becoming part of it.” I had been with him for one negotiation that had him slamming his fist down onto the table in defiance. He was not a man that liked to hear the word no. He was ready to fight every step of the way, even if it meant that he was wrong. “Of course, you can dine with me. It would be my honor to have you, as my guest. Just be sure to take off the chauffeur’s hat.”
I felt the rumbling in my stomach and that feeling of my very blood boiling within my body. I needed sustenance. We were definitely going to have to make a pit stop before going to the restaurant. “I didn’t answer your question about food. I find everything tasteless and the only thing that I find any enjoyment in is drinking. I’m not some kind of lush, but I do enjoy experimenting. There are many things t
hat I would like to experiment with. There are several different textures that I want to taste on my tongue. Every drop cannot be wasted, and I will do my best never to take for granted anything that I’ve had in the past, the present or the future.” I wasn’t sure if he understood my hidden meaning.
“I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have the chance to experience different cultures and the foods that went along with them. I’m sure that you miss it greatly, and I pity you for having to live such a dull and mundane life. At the very least, you can control your tendencies, but the full moon is not exactly something that I can hide from. Once a month, I become more than just what you have already seen, and my hindbrain becomes more active, as this primal nature comes over me.” The way that he talked about it was like there were two separate entities living within him.
“I have my own problems being a vampire. Not only can’t I eat food, but that hunger for something that lies within the human population becomes almost too much to bear. I have become very aware that my appetite is more ravenous than that of any animal. I become lost in the different tastes. It doesn’t matter to me what kind, but the one that quenches that thirst the most is a very rare mixture called AB negative.” I drove past the restaurant, and I could tell from his face that he was a little surprised.
“I’m guessing that you have a good reason to keep me waiting for dinner. I’m famished, but I have this funny feeling that you might be feeling the same thing in a different way. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that you were feeling a need to feed. Normally, I would give you your privacy, but my curiosity has gotten the best of me. I need to see you in your true element. I’m guessing that in the old days you attacked anything that had two legs, but being more secretive has made you hide your real face.”