Dangerous Love

by Stephanie Radcliff

  “We should go check it out,” paintbrush girl said as they turned right, going opposite the way that Vayna and Sage were going, “It’s been a while since we had a decent place to work on our art…”

  Vayna was ready to dismiss the entire conversation from her mind until she saw the look on her human’s face. Sage had a far off look on her face, almost as if she were remembering something. She murmured softly to herself, “Café Scarab…”

  “Do you remember something?” she asked her as they stopped moving. She turned her human lover toward her as she gazed down at her. They were forced to move off to the side of the walkway as others tried to get around them as they made annoyed remarks at being stopped.

  “Maybe… it sounds familiar. Like I’ve been there before,” she replied distantly as she tried hard to think about why that name sounded familiar. She shook her head when nothing came to mind, only the nagging feeling that she knew that place.

  “Why don’t we go there tomorrow?” Vayna suggested as she nodded thoughtfully. It would be a way to verify if Sage did indeed know the place and they would hopefully find more clues to her identity that way. It was a shot in the dark, but they didn’t really have much choice. They didn’t have any clues right at that moment and it wasn’t like they had anything to lose.

  Sage nodded her head at the suggestion, thinking that was a great idea. There was nothing else for them to go on and it wasn’t like it’d hurt for them to go check the place out. If anything they’d attend an awesome party at the very least. At the most… they’d find out more about who she was, “Let’s go home.”

  Vayna hummed softly as she wrapped her arm around her human’s shoulders and the two began to walk again. They finished the walk to her apartment in silence lost in their respective thoughts. If the ancient vampire wasn’t paying attention when she did, they would’ve walked right by the entrance to her apartment building. She quietly led Sage back up to her apartment and let her into the darkened interior. The young human gave off a very tired scent and she smiled lightly as she steered her toward her bedroom as she said, “Get changed and I’ll meet you there in a few moments, okay?”

  Sage nodded as she padded off to her vampire’s bedroom, leaving Vayna behind. Said vampire stood and watched until she disappeared before walking over and pouring herself a glass of blood. She sipped it thoughtfully for a few minutes, using the sweet liquid to clench her thirst before placing the empty glass in the sink and heading toward the bedroom. She walked in on silent feet as she gazed upon the tired figure on her bed. Sage had already changed and was lying there waiting for her.

  She changed quickly and slipped into bed with her, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead before gently pulling her pant leg up. Sage gave a small noise of annoyance at being bothered, but didn’t stop her vampire lover from checking her leg. Vayna slowly pulled the bandage off and hummed thoughtfully, “You were right, petite amour. It seems the moon did heal you.”

  “Huh?” a sleep laden Sage said as she struggled to sit up and look down at her leg. She frowned tiredly when she saw that her leg was completely healed. She ran her fingers over the spot as she said, “I have no idea what the heck is going on. That’s never happened before. At least, not that my short memory can recall.”

  “I am at a loss to explain it as well,” Vayna said as she neatly folded up the bandage and tossed it into the small garbage can that sat next to her bed. It was unusual for a human to go through the same thing a vampire did. Perhaps it was because the human was now her lover… but that never happened before. She shook her head tiredly. She was too exhausted to try and figure it out now, “Let’s get some sleep. We’ll try to figure it out in the morning.”

  Sage nodded as she snuggled back into her vampire, sighing softly when she felt the softness of the vampire’s blankets close in around her. Within moments she fell fast asleep pressed up against Vayna.

  The ancient vampire took a little longer to fall asleep, staring down at the conundrum that was her new lover. She couldn’t understand what was happening either. It all seemed to strange… the more she tried to think about it, the more she gave herself a headache and finally resigned to sleeping the problem away. It wasn’t like she was solving anything by staying up. Resting her head against her human lover’s, she slowly drifted off into Morpheus’ land not too long after Sage fell asleep, joining her in dream land.

  Chapter 6

  The day dawned bright and early for the vampire and her human lover. Vayna was already up and standing in the doorway of the living room leaning against the doorjamb as she sipped on a cup of blood. She had no idea why she was up so early. Sure she slept for several hours through the night, but she figured she still would’ve been back in bed with Sage sleeping. After all, her human was still blissfully unconscious in her bed. Her thoughts went over the events of the past few days. Less than 2 days before she was ready to end her undead life. It was still a rather tempting idea. Once Sage got her memory and left, there wouldn’t be anything else for her to live for.

  Part of her tried to argue that Sage wouldn’t leave, but she knew better. Everyone left her in the end, and if she didn’t leave, Death himself would claim the young human in what would feel like a blink of the eye to her. She was not blind to the limitations of morality, and while she may have forever, Sage did not. With a frown, she remembered what happened to Sage’s leg and how it healed just as if she were a vampire. But Vayna tasted her blood. She knew with absolute certainty that Sage was not a vampire.

  There had to be an explanation for why her leg healed the way it did. Something like that just didn’t happen to humans. At least, not in the real world. In stories and movies she watched, Vayna knew that humans could have strange healing powers like that, but this was the real world. Not some made up world of make believe where anything was possible. But then… that didn’t explain what happened.

  She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t hear the light footsteps come up behind her. She jumped slightly when she felt warm arms wrap around her waist from behind. Sage nuzzled her face into Vayna’s shoulder as she said sleepily, “Good morning. What time is it?”

  “Little after 7:30,” she replied as she looked over her shoulder at Sage. The young human stood behind her wrapped primarily in nothing more than a sheet.

  “Ugh… why are you up this early?” Sage replied as she pressed her forehead against Vayna’s shoulder with a groan. 7:30 was way too early to be up in her opinion. Only people who like mornings got up at that time of day and she was not one of them.

  “Just thinking,” Vayna replied as she leaned back into her mate’s arms. Sage was entirely too amusing when she was half awake like this, she thought. While she wouldn’t consider herself a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, she didn’t mind it when she did wake up that early. Especially when she caught the few rare times when the moon set. Usually she was crawling into bed at that time of the night.

  “About what?” Sage asked as she gently nuzzled her vampire’s back. She wasn’t entirely sure she was awake enough to be talking about anything serious, but she wanted to know what the ancient vampire was thinking. It still secretly sent a thrill through her to think the word vampire in relation to Vayna. She never imagined her life becoming this wild. Course, she wasn’t sure what she imagined her life turning out like when she had her memory, but she was certain it couldn’t be anything as strange as this.

  “You,” Vayna replied as she lifted the cup of blood to her lips and took a sip. She winced slightly, not expecting the coldness of the liquid. She forgot how it was to drink cold blood first thing in the morning. Especially after she got a taste for warm blood again.

  Sage lifted her head and walked around her vampire and looked up into her blue eyes, a soft frown on her face as she asked, “Me?”

  Vayna nodded her head as she looked down at her human. It was true, she was thinking about her. Her and how she wanted to end her existence before she met her. Not that she was
going to tell her that, of course. The young human girl was dealing with enough on her plate, let alone worrying over a vampire. That thought made her pause for a moment. A human worry over a vampire? She almost scoffed out loud. There was no way a human would worry over a vampire, let alone her. She moved around Sage and headed into the kitchen, intending on another cup of albeit cold blood.

  “What about me?” Sage asked as she turned and followed the ancient vampire into the kitchen. She was curious now about what Vayna was thinking about her. She halted for a second when the thoughts of the night before popped into her head and she blushed as she coughed awkwardly and took a seat at one of the various stools near the kitchen counter.

  “No, I was not thinking about that,” Vayna replied with a wry smile as she turned around and gazed at the young human with a playful look in her eyes. Now that her human was thinking about it, it of course was now on her mind as well. She opened her freezer where the blood was and poured a fresh glass as she continued, “And no, I can’t read your mind.”

  “Then how did you…”

  “How did I know what you were thinking?” Vayna interrupted and finished for her. She put the blood bag back in the freezer carefully before turning around and taking a sip. Leaning against the counter, she said, “Your pheromones changed when you thought that.”

  “Oh…” Sage said with a sheepish look on her face. She forgot that her vampire had a very enhanced sense of smell. It must get annoying trying to ignore all the different subtle scents that she could smell that humans couldn’t.

  “I was thinking about how your leg healed,” Vayna said as she gazed down at the dark red liquid in her cup. It was almost black and had a consistency close to syrup. After 3,000 years of living, she thought she’d get used to the sight of blood, but now that it came conveniently packaged in a bag, she found it a bit weird. Maybe it was because she was used to having her meals fresh, as that was the only way to get blood for quite a few centuries. Bagged blood was not something she was used to drinking from. It had a stale taste.

  “Do you really think the moon healed me?” Sage asked as she stood up and opened a cupboard, rifling through for some cereal. If she was going to be up this early, she might as well eat something while she was up. It looked like she wasn’t going to be going back to bed any time soon, so she might as well put some food in her stomach while she had the chance.

  “Do you have any other explanation for it?” Vayna asked as she watched her human lover find food. She mentally winced when she realized she forgot how it was to have a human living with her. She really was going to need to get more food besides what she had. She couldn’t let poor Sage starve.

  “No,” Sage said as she took a bite of her cereal. She chewed thoughtfully for a moment as she considered what happened the night before with her leg. She really didn’t have any idea what was going on. This lack of memory thing was making it very difficult for her to remember if something like this ever happened before, “Still, there’s got to be a logical explanation for what happened.”

  “Like being a vampire?” Vayna questioned quietly as she stared down into her cup.

  Sage looked up with a startled look on her face. Her a vampire? She set her bowl down onto the counter and faced the ancient vampire as she said, “Come on, you’ve tasted my blood. You know I’m mortal. You of all people would know if I had any vampire blood in me. Not that being a vampire is a bad thing, I mean…”

  She trailed off, unsure of what all to say. She would know if she were a vampire, she thought. Fangs and a craving for blood was pretty hard to ignore. As far as she knew she didn’t have either of those things.

  Vayna chuckled as she set her cup down and pulled Sage into her arms. She gave her a small smile as she said, “I know what you meant, petit amour. I don’t know what I was thinking. You’re right, I would know if you were a vampire and it’s quite obvious that you’re not.”

  “See? So it’s got to be some other explanation,” Sage said as she leaned up and kissed her vampire’s lips briefly before slipping out of her arm and grabbing her bowl. She quickly finished off her cereal before continuing to speak, “But it’s much too early for me to be thinking about anything like this. I’m going back to bed for a few more hours.”

  “I think I’ll join you,” Vayna said as she drained the last of her blood and put her cup in the sink. She followed Sage into the bedroom and the two climbed back into bed, settling down in each other’s arms, “After all, the party isn’t until tonight anyway.”

  “Exactly,” Sage said as she sighed softly and slowly fell asleep in the darkened room of her vampire. The last thought she had before she drifted off was that she hoped they would find something later that night that would help her find her memory.

  Chapter 7

  The café made Vayna feel like she stepped out of the modern world back into her past. Everything from the walls, to the chairs, even to the sarcophagus standing in the corner with a fake mummy in it seemed like it came straight from her time. She stopped short in the doorway, much to the annoyance of people behind her, and simply stared. For a moment she almost swore out loud.

  “What’s wrong?” Sage asked from beside her. She was staring up at the dark haired vampire with a look of confusion on her face as she waited for her to respond.

  The sound of the young human’s voice broke the memories that threatened to overwhelm her and she looked down at her. Blinking a few times, she remembered where she was, and what time she was in and shook her head, “Nothing, I’m fine. Let’s get a table to sit at.”

  “Sure,” she replied with a nod. She followed the vampire further into the café as she kept an eye on her for a few moments. Vayna still had a dazed look on her face and the only thing Sage could figure that made her that way was the way the café looked. Once they were seated at a table near the back, she asked, “It reminds you of Egypt, doesn’t it?”

  Vayna’s blue eyes shot up and looked at her with a startled look in her eyes. She’d been so caught up in her thoughts that she forgot that her human lover knew she was a vampire. She opened her mouth to reply when she said, “Wait… how did you know I was from Egypt? I don’t remember ever telling you that.”

  “You didn’t…” Sage replied as she got a sheepish look on her face. Before she could reply, a girl came over with a small menu and asked them if they wanted to try anything on the new menu. Vayna declined and Sage ordered the café’s special herbal tea. The girl left and Sage continued, “I did the math. If you’re over 3,000 years old, that would put you around the time of the Pharaohs of Egypt.”

  Vayna visibly froze at those words. The word Pharaoh often caused a rush of memories she didn’t want to remember to hit her, and that moment was no exception. She stared wide eyed at Sage as she fought off the memories that threatened to overwhelm her. Comprehension dawned on the young human’s face and she asked, “No way… you were a Pharaoh?!”

  “Not so loud!” Vayna said as she snapped out of her daze. She leaned forward and placed a single hand over her human’s mouth as she hissed softly, “Yes, I was Pharaoh. No, I’m not going to tell you which one, at least not here. I don’t need anyone overhearing about what I am.”

  Sage nodded slightly from behind her vampire’s hand as she stared at her in astonishment. Vayna drew her hand back and the young woman murmured softly, “I promise I won’t say anything while we’re here, but wow…”

  Vayna gently rubbed her forehead as she sighed. She didn’t intend on the young human figuring out who she was. She expected her to figure out what country she came from originally, but Sage was most certainly smarter than she gave her credit for. She ran her hand through her hair as she said softly, “Yeah. So now you know.”

  “That explains why you reacted the way you did,” Sage said as the girl came back with her tea. She was about to take a sip when Vayna stopped her with a hand on her arm and lifted the cup up to her nose.

  “Hmm… Hibiscus, cherry blossoms, rose petals, and…�
� she murmured as she took another sniff of the liquid, “White tea. Interesting combination.”

  “You could tell that all from smelling it?” Sage asked as she took the cup from her vampire lover and took a sip. The liquid flowed over her tongue and she hummed softly from the peculiar taste of it.

  “Heightened sense of smell, remember?” the ancient vampire replied as she sat back and gazed at her human. The young female was dressed in a set of her clothes. It should’ve looked out of place on her, but Sage actually managed to pull the outfit off. She wore one of the ancient vampire’s old button up blouses the color of amethyst and a pair of her old jeans. They went well with the shirt and made the young female’s grey eyes stand out all the more.

  Sage caught the look her vampire was giving her and raised an eyebrow . She was wondering why the ancient vampire was staring at her so intently. If she didn’t know better, she would think Vayna was trying to read her mind.

  “I was just thinking of how good you look in that outfit,” she said as she tilted her head and smiled softly at her. A part of her deep down was pleased at seeing the young human in her clothes, but she wouldn’t admit that out loud. It was bad enough that her inner vampire liked it. She didn’t want to scare the young human away with such possessive thoughts.

  Sage looked down at the clothes she was wearing and blushed lightly. She was wearing some of the vampire’s clothes that she randomly picked out because they looked nice. She didn’t really care how she looked in them until that moment. With a shy smile, she said, “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said as she nodded softly, still gazing at her human.

  It was Sage’s turn to study her companion. Vayna was playing up the vampire part that night, she noticed. The black t-shirt she wore clung to her body and the leather pants definitely made her seem taller. Or that could’ve been the pair of stylish boots she was wearing, but Sage wasn’t sure. Around her neck was a choker with a crescent moon hanging delicately from it. Her black hair flowed down around her shoulders and the entire outfit only served to enhance her pale skin and blue eyes. She almost wondered what it would be like to see Vayna in her vampire form in that outfit…