The Embrace

by Jessica Callaghan

  She rose to her full height and came eye to eye with me, a clear show of intimidation, but then she laughed. That sound was so harsh, like the cackle of bullies in the playground, the kind of sound which makes you feel exposed and vulnerable.

  Before I even realised what I was doing I plunged the table leg in to her heart, driving her backwards and pinning her in to the wall. All of the energy drained out of her and she looked at me in a panic, her mean girl persona gone in a flash.

  “What did you do?” She murmered as she lost control of her body.

  I kissed her just as she had done to me. She was so perfect but I hated the way she made me feel, and I couldn’t risk Gabriel see her as a vampire. Although she wasn’t his usual type, I knew she would seduce Gabriel just as she had entranced me. I simply couldn’t live with that competition for the rest of eternity.

  I didn’t know if my attack would kill her. If she was left alone for a long time then it might, but if Gabriel got to her then his rich blood might renew her. I had never seen a vampire die and my mate had never mentioned the process, other than the story of Emma’s suicide, so I didn’t know what to look for. All I knew was that I didn’t want to be there when Gabriel saw what I had done.

  I grabbed a coat from the door and walked out. I knew Gabriel would come back and find his latest protege dead, or just on the brink of death. I could only imagine how furious he would be, but I knew that our bond couldn’t be broken that easily. I would have to return to him at some point, whether I liked it or not.

  I told myself I would think about that later. All I knew was that I couldn’t be in the apartment that night. I had to get out before he came back and saw the state of his new addition.

  I didn’t know where to go. I had spent a long time wondering the streets alone in the past but now it felt different. I was practically on the run so the situation was far more desperate than before.

  I still hadn’t fed and suddenly the pang of hunger hit me. I had to forget about my predicimant for a while and focus on hunting, the thing a vampire is designed to do.

  I tried to follow the heart beats. My mind felt foggy but a couple of rhythms poked through the throng more than the others, and so I followed them.

  I walked for a while and eventually loud music and strong hearts drew me in to a busy area. There was some kind of night club, an underground affair with a narrow entranceway and a burly security guard outside. I wasn’t on top form but I knew I could find someone to feed on in the depths of this heaving building.

  I was still wearing my night gown, and I hadn’t even looked at myself in the mirror since the fight with Dahlia, but I knew I would still have power over the humans. With that in mind I approached the bouncer with no fear.

  I cut in front of the queue. I could feel some animosity towards me but as soon as the people caught a glimpse of who had broken the cardinal rule of queuing, the feeling disappeared. I stepped over the railings as elegantly as I could and pressed my body against the bouncer, stretching up to his ears.

  “You’re going to let me in. I’m not going to pay and you’re not going to question me. Is that understood?” I whispered.

  He nodded, confused by my compulsion. He pulled the corden away and let me into the club and the victims waiting beyond.

  I followed a flight of stairs down into the core of the club. There were dozens of men and women writhing on the dancefloor to the pumping music playing through the speakers. As I took them in, I felt powerful emotions emanating from them: lust, jealousy, anger, confusion, the whole spectrum of human emotion.

  Alcohol has a funny effect on people and the thoughts that washed over me were murky and surreal. I could sense the men and women trying to seduce one another, the lonely ones drowning their sorrows, the stressed figures trying to let off steam. It was fascinating.

  As I stepped further in to the club, I felt as if my burden was lifted. The strobe lights fell over my skin and made me shine in an eerie way. My hair was so light that it seemed to glow under the bright ligts, and as I walked on to the dancefloor I felt all eyes fall on me. I felt powerful again, the way I used to feel before Dahlia walked in to my life.

  The atmosphere was intoxicating. My whole body relaxed and I even started to laugh at some of the more amusing thoughts popping up in my head. If I had been a human, chuckling alone, I would have seemed crazy, but the people watching me were so enthralled by my appearance that they didn’t notice my strange behaviour.

  I had never been much of a dancer as a human. Other than my brief brush with normality while dating Jared, I hadn’t been the kind of girl who got invited to a lot of social functions.

  However, as a vampire I had learnt how powerful I could be. Looking back on my human life it flashed before me in a series of boring moments, the only highlight being Gabriel’s entrance.

  These boring moments were pushed aside when Dahlia flashed through my mind. Her cackle seemed to reverberate around my head and I had to do something to get it to disappear.

  I let the music wash over me and I closed my eyes to block the thoughts out. The powerful bass pumped through my feet, making my body shake just a little. The people around me, though still sneaking looks at me, had returned to their dancing and I could feel their energy swirling around me. Even the salty smell of their sweat was enticing.

  I felt myself being carried away by the music and the emotions as if I was on the crest of a wave. Even with my eyes closed I could sense the changes in atmosphere as the strobe lights made strange patterns around me. I spread my arms out to their full length like wings and let everything build up around me: the feelings, the thoughts, the smells.

  I felt better than I had in months. I wasn’t under the thumb of anyone else while I was in this club. I knew I could destroy everyone in the room in the blink of an eye, and that balanced every blow I had experienced over the past night.

  The song that was playing blended into another and I snapped back to reality. No-one would approach me, they were too scared. Like always I would have to make the first move to find a victim.

  I scoped out the crowd around me. A group of tall, athletic looking men stood nearby. They looked uncomfortable and out of place on the dancefloor, but they were intently staring at something. I followed their gaze and saw one of their group, a handsome but timid young man, trying to flirt with a beautiful young woman. Perfect.

  Moving in time with the music, I made my way over to the couple. I didn’t need to say a word. I pushed her out of the way and locked on to his gaze. I felt exhilirated and this obviously had a strong effect on my already impressive abilities. My skill was so strong that I didn’t have to open my mouth, he was already under my control.

  We danced together, moving rhythmically in sync with the music. It was almost tribal, limbs moving and bodies dancing in time to the beat. More men started to drift towards me and I allowed myself to get lost amongst them.

  We became a tangled mess of arms and bodies, lost in a power deeper than the music itself. Even the women who surrounded us could feel the energy sweeping out. It was probably a strange sensation for them. I could picture them leaving the club later that night and having this experience play on their thoughts for hours as they tried to work out what made me more desirable than them.

  As I danced something else crept up on me. My eyes had been tightly closed to allow me to get lost in the moment, the feeling of the sweat and the sound of the heart beats swirling around me, but then the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end. I felt a cold chill run through my body. The feeling was unmistakeable, but it had been so long since I’d experienced it that I had almost forgotten.

  It meant only one thing. My stalker was somewhere nearby.

  I slowly opened my eyes and tried to act as if I hadn’t noticed anything. I knew my dancing would look stilted to my vampire observer but I couldn’t do anything about it. I tried to use my strong senses to pinpoint the location of this other vampire.

  He was on the periph
ery. I could sense the empty space where a human would normally be. Instead of their life and vitality, I could feel the cold energy that only a vampire could have.

  I turned my head to look for this mysterious figure. I wanted to put an end to this. I had gone through so much over the past few days. I knew my relationship with Gabriel would change forever when he found out what I had done to Dahlia, so I didn’t need my stalker adding to the long list of misery I had to think about.

  I knew my stalker was powerful enough to hide himself if he didn’t want to be seen, but there he was. I could faintly make out his shape as he walked along the edge of the large crowd forming around me. His figure was shrouded in darkness but I could see that he was tall, probably taller than Gabriel. Although the humans were unable to see him, they instincitvely shivered as he passed.

  I was frozen to the spot. The men in my circle were still dancing and writhing with the animalistic force running through them, but I was transfixed by my stalker’s new found willingness to be seen.

  I watched him walk over to the stairs and make his way up them. I realised in a moment of panic that he was leaving the club. I had to go after him. This was too important a chance to miss.

  I pulled myself away from the grasping hands of the men around me. As I left they regained control and returned to their girlfriends or friends, bemused by their unexplainable behaviour.

  I had no time to think about them. I had to find this anonymous follower. I made my way up the stairs, hoping he would move at a pace slow enough for me to keep up with.

  As I reached the exit, I pushed my way past the bouncer who I had charmed just before. His smell was attractive but for the first time that night my hunger was pushed away by something more important.

  My feet moved quicker than they’d ever moved as I ran through the alleyways around the club. I could sense the stalker’s presence nearby but I couldn’t quite pinpoint him. As I reached one alleyway I was forced to stop. I couldn’t feel him anymore.

  As I tried to find his presence again, some unseen force threw my body forward in to a brick wall next to me. I tried to move away but the power pinning me to the wall was too strong for even me to break. It had to be the stalker.

  “What do you want?” I choked out, desperately trying to free myself from his grip.

  I didn’t know what this creature planned to do with me, but he seemed hostile. He turned me around with a violent force and threw me back against the wall, making me hit my head against the bricks. For a second I felt dazed, almost like a concussion, but I shook it off.

  Standing in front of me, pinning me to the wall, was my stalker. I had come face to face with him for the first time. After months of being followed and tormented, here he was.

  The things I instantly noticed were his strong features. His jaw jutted out just enough to seem manly, while his rugged facial features looked authoritative. His hair had a soft sheen, but it lacked the sweeping, high maintenance look Gabriel sported. He was taller than I had anticipated, and more muscular, which just went to highlight his impressive appearance.

  My fear was now mixed with intimidation, and yet somehow I felt a twinge of attraction. I tried to bury it but there was no denying my stalker was handsome, even for a vampire.

  “Nice to meet you.” He said with a wicked smile on his face.

  He still had me pinned against the wall. I hardly felt like being friendly when I wasn’t even free to move my arms.

  “Get the hell off me.” I shouted, hoping my voice had enough venom to show him I was serious.

  I felt like a weak little girl, reduced to human vulnerability again. It was frustrating more than anything else. There was nothing I hated more than feeling powerless.

  He chuckled and leaned in closer. Feeling his body so close to mine was strange. It was a different sensation from Gabriel and Dahlia’s presence. Gabriel had once been sweet to me, but his love had become unreliable. Dahlia’s interaction with me had been short, but filled with taunts and jealousy. With my stalker, there seemed to be electricity passing between us. I had spent months thinking about him, and so I felt as if I already knew him.

  He bent close to my ear, the automatic connection between us growing stronger as he did.

  He nuzzled close to my skin and began to whisper. “Only if you promise not to run away.”

  As he pulled away I saw that smile on his face again and I nodded. Against my better judgement, something made me trust him and as he pulled away from me I didn’t try to run. I ignored the niggling voice inside my head and decided to stay exactly where I was.

  He leaned against the brick wall next to me in a nonchalant manner which was at odds with the situation. I don’t know what I expected from my follower but it certainly wasn’t this.

  “What’s your name?” I asked him. I didn’t really know what to say, but it was a start.

  He smiled again. This wasn’t Dahlia’s taunting smirk or Gabriel’s manipulative yet beautiful grin. My stalker’s smile changed every time he used it, and yet there seemed to be a similar strand running through each one. It was as if every expression held a facet of his personality and was picked specifically for that emotion.

  With an undeniable French accent he replied, “Robert.”

  Chapter 27We stood in silence for a while, sizing each other up. I had tried to bury it, but the hunger had started to gnaw at my insides. I knew I had to feed before I lost all control.

  “Hungry?” He asked. I hadn’t said a word but Robert was a strong creature and detecting my feelings would be no problem for him.

  I nodded, still too afraid to speak. His French accent seemed to come and go as he spoke, never quite as heavy as the time he said his name. Our name becomes part of our identity at a young age, around the same time as our accent, and so I imagined the two had been linked early in his human life. He must have been French during his first life.

  “I have some blood back at my place, you can feed there. It won’t be as good as taking it fresh from a body but it’ll keep you going.” He said, moving away from the wall and stretching a hand out to me. Despite his initial attack, he seemed quite gentle now.

  I put my hand in his and he ran through the streets, pulling me along with him. He moved at a speed that made even Gabriel seem slow and it took all my energy to keep up. Despite his pace, he moved with a poise I had never seen. He was running faster than I had ever seen anyone run but looking at his face he could have been relaxing on a sandy beach.

  Finally we reached what I presumed was his nest. It wasn’t like the nest Gabriel and I shared. It was more basic, less ostentatious than the place we shared. It was a house, not a flat like our base. The old home gave off a feeling of experience which I had always admired in antique buildings.

  He pulled me through the door after him and as I steadied myself I surveyed the decor. The interior blended with the beauty of the exterior. Every piece of furniture had been picked out perfectly. Nothing had been chosen simply for show or decadence, yet the room wasn’t bare or wanting. Some people would have found the building underwhelming, but I already adored it.

  “Your home is beautiful.” I told him.

  I had no idea why I was complimenting him after everything he’d done over the past few months but I couldn’t help myself. Everything about him, from his looks to his nest, seemed effortless.

  He disappeared for a moment and reappeared with a blood bag in his hand. I had seen them hundreds of times on crime and medical dramas, and in movies about vampires who didn’t kill humans, but I had never used one. I preferred to drink straight from the source.

  He passed it over to me and I tore it open, devouring it’s contents. There was a dull, sterile taste to it, nothing like the exquisite sensation created by Dahlia’s blood. It would have to do. My hunger was becoming unbearable, and I needed to feed before I was too weak to protect myself.

  While I drank from this inferior source, Robert averted his eyes, pacing around the room and gently touching the
furniture in the entrance hall. Gabriel had always watched me feed when we were together, so it felt odd to feed with another vampire without any pressure.

  When I finished I let the bag drop to my feet, savouring the last drops as my strength climbed back to it’s normal level.

  “Why do you have blood bags?” I asked him as he turned to join me again.

  He shrugged. Even that tiny movement seemed perfectly thought out, as if he had performed the different combinations millions of times and selected the right one for every situation.

  “I don’t really get much joy out of the hunt anymore. When you get to my age you can keep yourself going without feeding every day. I still have to drink blood every so often, but I don’t need as much as you. I prefer to hunt more challenging prey.” He was clearly directing the last sentence at me. I didn’t want to think of myself as prey but I didn’t know Robert’s intentions, so for all I knew I was just another victim to him.

  He left the large entrance hall and walked in to the living room. I followed him blindly, although I knew that I shouldn’t let myself trust him as much as I did. He made a soft patting motion on one of the recliners, beckoning me to sit on it.

  “I imagine you have a lot of questions.” He said, the French accent slipping out again. It was a sweet touch to his polished speech, and I already found myself listening out for these little hints of his origins.

  I had to agree with him there. I wanted to know why he had been following me,and if he knew Gabriel. I had asked Gabriel if he knew any other vampires who were still alive but he had always dodged the question. I didn’t know Robert at all yet but I held out hope that he would finally give me the answers to some of my questions.

  “You’ve been following me for months. I think I deserve some answers.” I said, my voice growing in strength. Robert had managed to disarm me without much effort, but I was slowly recovering my confidence.