Her ability to form rational thoughts dissolved. She walked out onto the terrace and as she stared at the sand and rocks, she wished for a jogger to come by. One lonely jogger. One foolish jogger out for a night time run. That’s all she wanted. The more she imagined the unfortunate runner, the happier she became. It wasn’t much. It was only a little want. In her mind, she could smell their sweat, feel their racing heartbeat, and most importantly feel their blood rush…. She stopped her racing thoughts and dug her nails into her arms until blood appeared. No sooner had the blood welled up on her arm, the tiny half-moon cuts started to close.
She shook her head and walked back inside. “No! No! I am not going to do it!” She looked at the wall dividing the living room and his study. She could hear jazz music through the wall and suspected he was enjoying her agony. He couldn’t see her but he knew. He had to.
She walked out in to the hall and stared at the door to his study until the oak grain lines blurred together. She could feel him, like he was pulling her to him. She tried to steady her hands, which now shook with coarse tremors. For a moment, she didn’t think she’d be able to turn the brass handle so she kicked it a couple of times. When Eamon failed to respond, she forced her hand to be still enough to turn the knob.
Lauryl took a few tentative steps into the room. The air was lighter and cooler than in the living room. She hugged herself and took a few more steps toward him. He didn’t acknowledge her. He remained engrossed in the document in his hand. She forced herself forward until she was in front of him. Eamon still didn’t look up at her.
“Eamon?” She shifted her weight from foot to foot while she waited for him to answer. “Please.”
“Please what?” he asked.
“Please?” Her heels clicked on the floorboards.
“Please what?” he repeated.
“Oh God, Eamon. Please make it stop! Help me!” Suddenly, she darted around his desk and dropped to her knees in front of him. Her fingers squeezed his thighs and she climbed up into his lap.
“Help me,” she whispered into his neck.
“I’m going to.” He moved her hands away from his belt. “But you need to listen to me and do as I say.” He tilted her chin up. “Look at me. If you do as I say, you’ll feel better.”
Her arms circled him and she nodded. “I will. I’ll do whatever you say.”
“Remember that,” he said as they walked out to his black BMW 750i.
* * *
“Why are you stopping here?” Lauryl asked when Eamon pulled the car over. The sketchy neighborhood was all too familiar. Drummond Commons was where her dealer worked. Hookers and homeless people also populated the seedy area. Two gunshots rang out but none of the people on the street appeared to care. She sank down in the seat and covered her face with her hand. This is bad, she thought. All I need is for somebody to see me. She fidgeted for a second and then relaxed. The dark window tinting would shield her from curious stares.
Eamon noticed her fidgeting. “Lauryl, no one will see you or remember you. You have complete control over this situation.”
She glanced back at him. “Are you reading my mind?”
“Yes,” he answered flatly.
“Why?”
“Because I can.”
“You’re a prick.”
“Perhaps but I’m not the one who is hungry. Now, pick one of these girls and I’ll help you.”
“You pick,” she said as she watched two prostitutes on the sidewalk start to fight. They kicked and scratched at each other like two cats. One caught the other girl’s face with her nails, leaving a slice along her cheek. The wound opened and blood trailed down her face. Lauryl sat forward. “Forget it. That one.” She stabbed her finger against the car window several times toward the girl.
Eamon followed her finger to the girl with the bloody face. She was a petite blonde who probably was a minor. Her black miniskirt snugly followed her shape, skimming the bottom of her butt cheeks. The tops of her vinyl, thigh high boots started a few inches below the skirt’s hemline. Her top had the smears of blood from where she wiped her face clean. She pulled the white half-shirt off and put it back on so the stains were in the back. Eamon pulled the car over to her and rolled down the window.
Their presence irritated the girl. She gave them the finger, but after she noticed that the BMW, she became interested in them. “Hi, honey,” she said and popped her gum. She leaned against the car and looked in. When she saw Lauryl, she pointed her finger at her. “I know you, right?”
Lauryl sank back into her seat again. “No, you don’t”
“Guess not,” she said. She turned back to Eamon. “What do you want, handsome?”
“My wife and I are wanting something a little different; a threesome.”
The girl shrugged. “C note”
Eamon nodded and unlocked the back door. “Get in.”
She climbed in the back of the car and tapped Eamon on the shoulder. “There’s the payment thing. You pay in advance.”
“Of course,” he said as he handed her the money. The one-hundred-dollar bill disappeared down one of her boots.
“My name’s Jules. So I’m guessing you aren’t a cop.”
Eamon laughed. “No, I’m not.”
She popped her gum again and turned back to Lauryl. “Are you sure I don’t know you?”
“Yes I’m sure.” The snap of her gum caused her to jump.
“It’s cool if I do. I mean, who am I telling, right?” She laughed and leaned forward. “You just look like someone I used to see…around.”
Lauryl cut her eyes at Eamon, who appeared to concentrate on the road.
Relax, he said in her mind.
She did a double take, unsure if she’d heard him or not.
This will be over soon, he continued.
She turned to Jules and then to him. So he could use telepathy. She stared at him for a second and hoped for some sort of confirmation but he didn’t look at her. He watched the road.
“There’s a place we can go right up here,” Jules said. “On the right.”
“Fine.”
They parked and followed Jules to a room. While they waited for her to unlock the door, Lauryl took several deep breaths, breathing in the smell of this girl’s life. She could smell the dried blood on her face, the sweat from the earlier fight with the other hooker and something else; a faint, rubbery smell. Cocaine. That was where the girl knew Lauryl. She must know her dealer. She took another breath, this time so deep that Jules turned around. Lauryl covered her embarrassment with a shrug and walked in the room. Jules closed the door behind them. Eamon positioned himself in a corner, leaned against the wall and put his hands in his pockets. Lauryl remained in the middle of the small room, in front of the bed.
“Are you okay? You look like you’re ready to freak out.”
“She’s fine,” Eamon said “Just a little shy.” He walked over to Jules and pulled her shirt off. “I’ll start and then she can join us when she’s ready.” Eamon fondled Jules’ breasts and licked along her neck.
Lauryl’s mouth opened in shock. She didn’t know if she was shocked by her ‘husband’ groping another woman or by how delicious the girl smelled. She watched Eamon continue to kiss Jules’ collarbone and neck. He looked up at her and his eyes shifted some in color. The amber shade morphed into a deeper brown.
The cut on the girl’s face re-opened and a thin stream of blood ran down her face. Jules wiped it away with her fingers and Eamon took her fingers into his mouth. All of a sudden, a quick, piercing pain stung in Lauryl’s mouth and she tasted watery blood. She probed the area with her tongue and felt two fangs at the source of the watery blood. Her head pounded with greater intensity as she watched Eamon and Jules. She moved forward and touched her. Her skin was hot. Lauryl pulled her hand away and looked at Eamon. He continued to caress the girl’s firm breasts. He whispered something in her ear and she laughed before sliding her skirt up to reveal her red thong underwear. The sound of bl
ood pumping roared in Lauryl’s ears. It died away and all that remained was the sound of a heartbeat; Jules’ heartbeat.
“Don’t you hear that?” she asked him, her green eyes bright with excitement.
He shook his head and turned Jules so that she faced him. The eager girl unbuttoned his shirt and kissed his chest.
“What do you hear?” he asked.
The soft, sexual sound of Eamon’s voice distracted Lauryl. An inexplicable wave of jealousy passed over her and she wanted it to be her that Eamon was caressing. “Her,” she said. She now stood so that Jules was in between the two of them. The heat rising off the prostitute was tangible. Beads of perspiration appeared on Jules’ neck as she undressed Eamon. Lauryl took another deep breath of her.
Suddenly aware of Lauryl’s presence, Jules turned as Lauryl took a predatory lunge for her. Lauryl clamped her hand over Jules’ mouth and pushed her down to the bed. Jules kicked with desperation but was no match for Lauryl’s new agility and strength. With a free hand, Lauryl pushed Jules’ head to the side exposing her neck.
“Stop wasting time and do it,” Eamon said as he buttoned his shirt.
She opened her mouth and saliva trickled down on Jules’ neck. When Jules saw the fangs in Lauryl’s mouth, she kicked and struggled with more ferocity.
“Do it now,” Eamon told her. “This is what you wanted!”
Lauryl gave in to Eamon. She sank her teeth in Jules’ neck and blood spewed into her mouth from the artery. The delicious metallic taste was like nothing she had ever known. Not even the rush of coke compared to this. Her eyes rolled back into her head as the warm liquid intoxicated her. She sucked harder on Jules’ neck to make the blood come faster, but the fragile flesh tore in her mouth.
“Not so fast!” Eamon tried to separate her from the dying girl, but Lauryl smacked at his hands. “Enough!” He grabbed Lauryl by a hank of her hair and pulled her off. She tried to scramble back to her but Eamon stepped in front of her. “She’s dead. You’re probably going to be sick from draining her so fast!”
Lauryl sank back to the floor. “What did I do? What did you make me do?”
“I didn’t make you do anything.” He paused a moment. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” She looked over at Jules’ lifeless body. “She knew me. I can’t believe I did that.”
“Don’t pity her. You probably did her a favor. The only one who’ll miss her is her pimp.”
She stared at him, stunned by his lack of care.
“Now, let’s go.”
* * *
Lauryl got in the car and rubbed her hands together. She had killed someone and took pleasure in it. The entire horrendous event replayed in her mind.
“I…” She broke off and retched a few times.
“I told you that you’d be sick.” He rolled down her window. “If you’re going to vomit, do it out there.”
She leaned out of the window and did just that. Each horrible retch tore at her insides. Lauryl clutched at her stomach and moaned. When it stopped, she dropped her head against the door frame and closed her eyes.
Eamon tapped his finger on the steering wheel with a rapid cadence and waited for her to finish. “Better?” he asked when she leaned back in the car.
“I guess so.” She wiped her mouth with the handkerchief he’d thrown at her.
He didn’t say another word to her on the way home. When they got to the house, he walked around to her side of the car. Not to help her out or make sure she was all right. He checked to make sure she hadn’t thrown up on the side of the car. He scowled at her, shook his head and then went inside, slamming the door behind him.
She followed him inside but stopped at the stairs. Her eyes darted around the foyer as she pieced together her thoughts. Lauryl raced down the hall into his study.
“You knew! You knew how I would react. You enjoyed watching me be controlled by that.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” he said. He checked his phone and then sat down.
“Liar! How did you think an addict would react? I—”
Eamon shot up from his seat, cutting her off. “You chose what happened this evening. Through your defiance, you chose those sensations you experienced. I would think the experience would have humbled you but it didn’t.” He leaned across the desk toward her. “I’m sorry your experience was uncomfortable and unsettling. I’m sorry I can’t control that. It will happen again unless you accept what you are and the needs you have!”
Drugs, she thought. This is just like drugs.
“No, you’re wrong. You can control this.”
“And you can control me,” she said, ignoring that he was in her mind again.
Eamon sat back down. He rocked in the chair a few times and a grin appeared. Her anger keyed back up at the sight of his smile so he scaled it down. “I don’t want to control you. I just want—”
“I know what you want,” she said, interrupting him. “And it’s not what I want.”
He laughed. “That isn’t what I meant. What I was going to say was I want to help you so you can adjust to life with me.”
She studied his face for a moment. Was he serious? What reason could he give her that would make her want to let him help her? Or even stay in the same room with him? She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off.
“The reason I can give you is I’m all you have,” he said. He folded his hands in his lap.
The fact he was being so cold was one thing, but invading her thoughts pushed her over the edge. “Get out of my fucking head! I can’t stand that. How do you do that?”
“At last, a question of merit even though it’s wrapped in foul language.”
“You can just suck it, Eamon. You can’t expect me to just fall in line with this. I still don’t even know what the f…, heck happened to my life and me. All I know is I woke up tonight after you killed me and turned me into what you are, and then I killed someone too by drinking all their blood. Oh and you felt that girl up and basically cheered me on while I killed her.” She flopped down in the chair across from him. “Have I left anything out?”
“Are you done?”
She nodded.
“I admit that I didn’t give you much say in what happened to you. However, that’s something that cannot be changed. If you let me, I’ll make you happy. If you let me, I’ll teach you how to transition into your life as a vampire.” His serious expression faded and he chuckled. “‘You can just suck it, Eamon.’ That was funny.”
Lauryl relaxed and her mood lifted briefly but then she dropped her head down. “What am I going to do? I have no clue of what to do.” Her chin quivered and she covered her face with her hands.
“Your life isn’t going to change that much,” he began. “You and I will be married or what the outside world thinks of as married and you will now live here with me.”
Her fingers separated and she peeked out. “And?”
“And,” he continued. “You’ll conform to the necessary restrictions I have.”
“Like what?”
“Practicing self-discipline. To live like this, you must control your temper or you won’t last long.”
“What about my life? I’m not as easy to miss as that poor hooker. Don’t you think people are going to wonder why I don’t dance anymore? Or how you and I got married out of the blue?”
“Lauryl, I never do anything without planning. I’ve already informed Martin that you and I were married in a private ceremony and that you won’t be continuing your career as a dancer.”
Lauryl glared at him.
“Is there anything else you want to ask me?”
“Why me?”
“Because I’ve wanted you since I saw you in Seattle.”
“Couldn’t you just bang me a couple of times and then not call me? That’s the normal thing. Why’d you have to do this?”
“As I said, I knew I wanted you. You have a magnificent strength in you. Your will drives you. The passion in you tha
t you have little control over now will help you as a vampire, if you learn to control it. When I saw you in Seattle, I knew that you would be an amazing vampire. You’re beautiful and strong, like a vampire should be.”
His words confused her. She felt pride in what he said but at the same time, she was furious at his selfishness. “Yeah, I didn’t want to be a vampire, though.”
“You didn’t say no,” he said.
“Yes, I did.”
“I believe you said, ‘I don’t want to say yes but I can’t say no.’”
“I also said that I didn’t want to say yes.”
“We can debate the semantics of that conversation for hours but it’s irrelevant now. You’re a vampire and there’s nothing to do but accept it.”
“Okay, I accept it but I hate it. How about that?”
His eyes narrowed at her reply. “Let’s move on. You’ll need to feed at least twice a week. It will become easier for you and I’m sure you’ll develop your own methods for finding blood. I’ll help you until you’re accustomed to it.”
“Does that ever happen?”
“It even becomes pleasurable.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No, I’m not.”
She waited for him to smile, laugh, or wink but he didn’t. He was serious. “Why’d you make me kill that girl?”
“So you would know the feeling of killing someone.”
“Was it necessary?”
“Yes. It was.”
How did you get used to something like this? she wondered. She dropped her chin to her chest and sighed. Lauryl ran her tongue over where her fangs had been. “Do our teeth only come out when we’re going to bite someone?”
“No, if you concentrate, they’ll come out. Or if you become excited.” He watched as she gingerly poked her tongue along her gum line. “Try it.”
She closed her eyes for a second and focused. The sharp canines descended almost immediately. She ran her tongue up one side and down the other of one and flicked the point. Her eyes snapped opened and she covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my god.”
“Let’s see.”
“No.”
“Don’t be shy. Show me.”
Life in Moonlight: The Primigenio Tales: Book 1 Page 7