I reached the entryway to the office and placed my hand on the door. I gently pushed it open and met Rhett's dark eyes. He was leaning against the desk in his snug blue jeans that rested just below his hips. There was rip in one knee and several more in the fabric on the other leg. His dark gray t-shirt hugged his chest and biceps and the only thought that was going through my head was how much I wanted to sink my fangs into his taut skin again.
I stepped in the office and left the door open. He pushed himself off the desk and sauntered over to me. I held up my hand and backed away from him. "No, please don't."
He stilled and I could finally take in a deep breath. It was so hard to breathe around him at times. The closer he was to me the more I felt like I was being suffocated by his intoxicating scent, which made it difficult for me to concentrate. I needed to focus on the task at hand. I quickly recited the speech in my head again for the hundredth time before I spoke. "Rhett, sit we need to talk." He grinned, flashing those pearly white teeth my way. I instantly felt myself begin to melt, but quickly recovered.
He moved toward me again. "I'd much rather kiss you."
I side stepped him. "Rhett, please this isn't going to be easy for me to say."
"This must be serious." He walked over to the chair beside the desk and it squeaked a little under his weight. "Okay, I'm sitting. What's on your mind sweet cheeks?"
I never knew how much I loved hearing that endearment come from his lips until I knew I would never hear his voice say it again after today. There's only way I can tell him and that's to bite the bullet and blurt it out. "You're not welcome here anymore. From now on, you're banned from entering this club."
He nonchalantly rose from the chair. "Fine."
"I'm so sorry...wait, what?"
"I said fine."
"That's it? Just fine. You're not going to argue with me or ask me why."
"No, I'm not, because I already know why; you're scared. You're scared of the way I make you feel. I don't know why you won’t let me in, but I can't force you to. I'll leave for now if that's what you really want." He closed the distance between us and cupped my cheek with his hand, soothing his thumb over my skin. "If you change your mind you know how to find me. I'll be here whenever you're ready to talk and tell me the real reason why you're chasing me away. It's not going to be that easy to get rid of me because I'd wait for you forever." He slowly rubbed his lips against mine and kissed the tip of my nose. "I love you sweet cheeks."
Then, he was gone. I don't know how long I stood in that exact spot, but I needed to snap the fuck out of it and stop being soft and weak. I was doing fine for the past few hundred years without him and I was going to be fine without him from now on. Only, I wished I really felt that way deep down. All I wanted to do now was crawl into a hole and live out my eternal life alone and in complete darkness.
Chapter Four
I awoke to pounding on my door. My head felt as if it were going to explode and my stomach ached from not feeding for the last three days. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t bear the thought of sinking my fangs into another person after I'd had Rhett's sweet addicting blood. No one would ever come close to satisfying my insatiable appetite.
Another loud knock and I jumped to my feet, stomping over to the door. I swung the door open meeting Noah's frustrated gaze.
He pushed a small vile into my hand, spilling some of its contents on the floor. "Take this. Drink it."
Ugh. Just what I don't want right now, fake blood. Caressa had contracted an out of state molecular scientist to produce a substitute for us if we ever ran out of food or if there was some kind of emergency. I've never ingested the stuff before and I'm not going to now.
My insides burned with hunger, but it’s just what I need. I need to feel the pain. I am going to embrace my punishment for everything I did wrong to Rhett. I deserve every moment of agony for allowing it to go as far as it had with him. I pushed it back into Noah's chest, spilling some of it on his shirt. "I don't want it Noah. Just leave me alone so I can rot in peace." I attempted to shut the door, but his foot blocked me from closing it. "Noah!"
He pushed the door open and shoved the vile back at me, speaking in a hushed tone. "Drink this now or I'm going to tell the others what's been going on with you and that you haven't eaten in three days."
"Don't threaten me Mr. Sheppard. You don't scare me one bit."
"Oh no? Then maybe I'll just give my good friend Rhett a call and explain to him that you refuse to eat because it's his blood you crave."
"How did you...you wouldn't dare!"
"Yes I would. Now drink!"
I threw my head back and poured the ghastly liquid into my mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. My stomach lurched in disappointment at the contents I had ingested. It was cold and uninviting. I wiped my mouth as my upper lip curled of its own volition. "That is the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted in my life."
"Well, it's not meant to be a permanent solution. So, as I see it, you have one of two choices. One, you haul your ass upstairs and feed on the customers, or two, tell Rhett the truth before I do."
"I'm not telling Rhett anything. He's gone. He's never coming back Noah."
"Fine, then I'll be expecting to see you upstairs tomorrow night."
I slammed the door in his face. "The Hell you will." I whispered against the thick wood.
"I heard that!" Noah yelled from the other side.
Damn our heightened senses, they can be both a blessing and a curse, right now, they were a curse. That still wasn't going to change my mind about not feeding. I refused to feed from anyone but Rhett and since he's not an option any longer, I'll just have to starve to death. It really doesn't matter to me because the one thing I thought that could finally make me happy was gone from my life forever.
Before I had a chance to go back to bed another knock brought me out of my stupor. Fuck. Can't a girl die in peace? I rushed over to the door. I swung it open, fully expecting to see Noah on the other side and ready to go to battle with him. "Noah, I said...Oh, it's you."
Keira walked past me and sat on the sofa. "Good to see you too."
"Please come in and make yourself comfortable." I told her with my voice laced with as much sarcasm as I could muster. "What do you want?"
"You haven't eaten in days. Do you think it was going to go unnoticed?"
I slammed the door and plopped on the couch cushion next to her. "What does it matter? Why does anyone even care?"
"I don't know. You're bossy, mean, and sometimes downright rude, but you're our sister, of course we care about you."
I grabbed a nearby pillow and clutched it to my chest as I slouched in my seat. "Well, you won't have to worry about me anymore."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I refuse to live on this cold cruel Earth any longer. I've seen enough death. I’ve caused enough death and I'm sick of it. It's never ending and it needs to stop."
"What are you talking about?" She turned to me, lifting her knee up onto the cushion. "You love being a vampire. You love the hunt, our powers, the sex...oh wait a second." She drew in a long breath and her eyes lit up as she finally put the pieces of the puzzle together. "It's Rhett isn't it?"
"No, it isn't. Don't be ridiculous. I would never want a human other than to be used as a food source."
She grabbed the pillow out of my hands and hit me with it. "Liar!"
"Keira!"
"You love him don't you?"
"Now that's absurd." I lied as I straightened my back and slightly slid off the sofa, trying to make a quick exit.
"Hold on one minute my poor diluted sister. I know such a feeling is foreign to you, but who are you kidding here? We all know you love him and its time you admitted it to yourself. That man adores you, I don't know why, but he does. Plus, he's hot. What more can you ask for?"
"Let's say I do love him..."
She gave me a sugary smile. "Which you do."
"He's human Keira."
"Caressa may have felt comfortable breaking the rules, but I don't. I won't subject Rhett to our lifestyle. He'd not only be miserable, but he'd be hunted for the rest of his immortal life because of what he was."
"He's a grown man Gia, why not let him make his own decisions. Tell him. What do you have to lose?"
I inhaled a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. "Everything."
Chapter Five
Reluctantly, I went upstairs to the club with my stomach still empty and my heart still broken. The only reason I left my apartment was because Caressa asked me to be a part of a meeting. I did owe her since she saved my life so many years ago when Marcus was killed. Besides, it wouldn’t do any harm to hear what she had to say.
"Well, welcome to the land of the living, or is it the undead living?"
I shook my head and smiled in spite of myself. "You're such a dork Noah." I looked around the room, the whole coven was there, even Luna was sitting in the back of the room. She was slouched against the leather seat of the booth with a glass of water on the table in front of her. I plopped on the seat next to her. She had a thin red straw between her fingers and spun the ice in the cold liquid around and around and around. I've been sitting next to her for less than ten seconds and already I'm annoyed. I grabbed the straw out of her hand and flung it. It didn’t go far, but it was far enough that she wouldn’t be driving me crazy with it anymore. "Okay, why was I forced out of bed?"
"You look like shit Gia." Caressa observed as she planted herself on a stool by the bar next to Noah.
"I hope you didn't call me up here to talk about my make-up habits."
"No, I didn't. I called you all up here because we have a serious problem. Two Hunters were spotted here tonight."
I straightened in my seat, now on high alert. "In the club?"
"No, not inside the club, just outside. I went to sign for a delivery and saw two of them in the alley a few doors down. There were only two..."
I finish her sentence. "But there will be more."
She nodded. "Yes. I've spoken to Noah and he agrees we should hire some security."
"Why do we need security?" Keira chimed in. "We're vampires. We can take them."
Caressa looked at Keira. "Yes, a few at a time, but what if ten, twenty, or even thirty of them come waltzing into the club, then what?"
"Then let's just make more vampires. We can have an army full in just a few nights."
"Keira, you know the rules.” I interject, reiterating the one guideline Caressa hadn’t conformed to. “We don't turn undeserving humans into vampires. New bloods are too unpredictable and need to get accustomed to their special powers."
Keira stood and stomped her foot on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum. "We don't have time for that. If Marcus were here..."
Caressa's hand was around Keira's throat before she had a chance to utter another word. "Marcus isn't here, I am. I am the leader of this coven and I make the decisions and if I ever hear anyone so much as even whisper that man's name in my presence again, I will drive a stake right through their cold undead heart." Caressa let Keira go and very gracefully walked back to her chair as if she hadn't just throttled her sister.
"So, what do you want us to do then? You've already decided on what the plan is, why bother having this meeting and disrupt me?" I was upset, annoyed, and preferred to be in bed. Obviously my opinion wasn’t going to mean anything no matter what I said.
"Because Gia, we all need to start paying more attention to what is going on around here and not be holed up in a room all day and night."
"Are we done here?"
"Yeah, we're done for now." I could hear the irritation in Caressa’s voice, but her attitude wasn’t going to change my mind about any of the decisions I had already made.
I stood and walked towards the kitchen heading back to my apartment. I took the elevator, too weak to take the stairs. I shuffled my feet all the way to my front door and threw myself on the bed again. What was the point of me going to that stupid meeting anyway? If I was feeling like my old self I would have given Caressa an argument, but I don't have the strength, nor do I care anymore.
Maybe the world would be a better place if we weren't in it. We wouldn't have to prey on innocent people and we would no longer be a threat to society, not that we are now because the humans have no idea we exist. Our kind has stayed hidden for centuries by perfecting our secrets; the only people who have cracked our codes were the Hunters.
For as long as there were vampires in existence, there would be Hunters trained to exterminate our kind. Hundreds of years of animosity between the two beings have led to many wars. It has been over a hundred years since the last one, but they will not stop until every single one of us is dead.
I think it's time for us to fade out. Keira was right; I had loved being a vampire. The thrill of the hunt, the euphoric sensation when I fed, and my immortal beauty all contributed to the fulfillment I always possessed. But all that changed when I'd met Rhett. The moment he stepped into the bar, my senses went on overload. I tried my best to stay away from him and turn down his advances every chance I got, but he wore me down.
Day after day I had to endure the burning desire in my gut because only his blood would satisfy my uncontrollable craving. It wasn’t too long before I couldn't take it anymore and when I finally succumbed to that aching need, my body wanted no other.
Now, I've come to a crossroads. Do I feed on humans simply to satisfy my body's nourishment and stand by my sisters to help fend off the Hunters? Or, do I rid this world of an inhumane monster and starve myself because only Rhett fills that empty hole in my heart? I think the latter is the best choice, not only for me, but for Rhett as well. I need to think of him above all else.
I rose from the bed and shuffled my feet over to the closet on the other side of the room. I flicked the light on and removed the square felt box from the shelf. I wiped the dust off the top and untied the red ribbon that held the tattered box together. I gently laid the worn case on my bed, carefully lifting the garment out.
No matter how many times I've moved or how many times we had to run without taking a thing with us, I always found a way to stash this piece of clothing away and take it with me. This was something I refused to part with.
I've worn it many times in my immortal lifetime, but haven't put it on in a long while; the particles of dust that collected on the box were proof of that fact. I turned the garment around, wrapping the red bodice around my breasts and stomach. I closed the back over the shirt I was wearing and smoothed out the small wrinkles. My fingers skimmed over the tiny beads sewn into an intricate pattern and I smiled. Wearing my mother's favorite bodice always gave me the strength I needed to get through hard times.
All I had to do was put it on and remember how proud, how brave she was on the day she wore it. She'd worn it the day she died. The same day the townspeople waited in the square for her execution and watched her die. My thoughts quickly shifted, just as they'd always done to that one woman who tried to save my mother, but paid with her own life instead.
This article of clothing wasn't just an old piece of fabric; it was a symbol of the unity and bravery two women shared for a brief moment in time. I've always held that memory close to my heart and kept it in the forefront of my mind.
When they'd buried my mother and everyone finally went home, I had snuck out into the graveyard of nameless souls and dug through the mud. I needed something to hold on to, to remind me that no matter what the situation, I could always hold my head up high and be proud of who I was; and since that bodice was my mother's favorite, I knew I couldn't let it be destroyed. She'd felt so beautiful when wore it. Her face would light up instantly the second she put it on, as does mine when I picture her wearing it in a passing memory.
I wished I was as brave as my mother had been that day. I wish I could tell Rhett what I really was, but I'm too weak for that. I have been reduced to a sniffli
ng, whiney brat that has no business being a vampire anymore. Vampires are supposed to be strong, unrelenting, beguiling, and beautiful. I am no longer worthy to walk amongst my kind. Even my beauty has faded to one that is ordinary and bland because of my malnourishment.
My sisters may think that I'm overreacting, but I have always prided myself on being the strong one, the one who all the others could count on to get them out of a jam, the one who would die to protect them. I'd never let anything come between me and my sisters before and now I had. I'd let my heart and desires take control of my mind and my better judgement. Everything that Marcus had taught me about not letting anyone get close went right out the window the moment Rhett stepped into my life.
With him I didn't have to take charge. I didn't have to make any decisions. All I had to do was feel; an emotion that had become foreign to me over the years. My heart, my mind, and my body had been awakened with just one glance into his dark eyes.
I could never go back to being the uncaring monster I had been for centuries. That creature was never the real me; it was just something that had manifested itself into my very soul until it took over me completely.
That monster was who my sisters expected me to be. It was who they needed me to be. At the time we'd been alone after losing so many of our own kind, so the coven looked to Caressa and I for guidance because we were the oldest and wisest. But, truth of the matter was, we were just as scared as they were.
We'd gone days, sometimes weeks without feeding continuously and lived in a place that was strange to us. We didn't know how long we'd survive, or how long it would take for the Hunters to find the remaining few of our coven and eradicate us. Caressa and I had no choice other than to take charge and find a way for us to sustain our existence over time ; something that would keep us thriving.
All that was a distance memory now and if you were to ask me even one year ago if we’d be victorious against the Hunters, without a doubt I would have said yes. I would have clung to that idea until I took my last immortal breath. How things can change so drastically within such a short amount of time.
Fallen (A Club Blood Erotic Short #2) Page 3