The Naughty Box (9 books in 1 box set)

by Davis, SJ

  I grabbed the towel and started to dry off and then a knock came again and I stopped moving. I seriously do not think I have ever had so much fucking interruption while eating before, it is goddamn ridiculous and will so bring my review from a 5 star visit down to a 4 if they don’t stop being so attentive. Then a knock came again, only this time it sounded like Morse code and I stepped out and listened to the knocks closely. It started to form a pattern in my mind, something I had not messed with in forever. In fact it was a game, between me and that guy, the dude with the fangs. He used to do it at the dinner table and my Father would look around and I would giggle covering my mouth, of course this was before I learned to suck dick and say the word “fuck” with absolute flawless accuracy in any given situation. I tilted my head and listened in as the letters came through.

  S…..U….C….K I….T.

  I laughed involuntarily, then ran to the door and swung it open to be met with a face I needed to see. The smile on my face said everything I could not as Hunter leaned in the doorway with dead roses in his hand. I shook my head at him and he handed them to me, pedals dropping off and hitting the carpeted floor. I had to get my shit together, I have to. I left on my own and because he is the super dick, cape and all, he left me to wander, which is my right to do but damn, he looks like a pool of crystal blue water in a god damn desert of fuck this.

  “So,” he said, as he looked me over. I stood up straight and shook the flowers in my hand causing even more pedals to drop to the floor.

  “So what’s new with you?” I said as if nothing mattered.

  “Shit…as always, and you?” he asked me, as we awkwardly stumbled into chitchat territory.

  “I just killed two people,” I said without blinking, he smiled…I knew that he would, he is a cocksucker.

  “Anything left?” he asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.

  “Doubt it, I was hungry I guess.”

  “Fucking?” he said as he stepped in and pushed the door closed behind him, he leaned back and looked me over, I have to control this. I have too.

  “Yes, actually I fuck a lot, all of the time and it’s just awesome.”

  He laughed and cleared his throat.

  “Really?”

  I looked at him and tossed the dead flowers onto the bed, they rolled off of poor Taylor who I had at least covered up with the sheets.

  “Yes, like this one for instance, he was all about me.”

  “He was all about vampire pussy I would assume.”

  “Don’t cheapen me.”

  Hunter paused and I could see the chess pieces moving in his mind.

  I walked into the bathroom and Mr. Rude as shit followed me of course.

  He stopped and looked at the mess in the shower.

  “Well, do tell bitch.” he said and I held back the laughter and turned to him.

  “She was knocking, a lot.” I said and he shook his head, running his hand through his hair.

  “Period?”

  I snorted and turned back to the mirror.

  “You bitch,” I muttered and he flashed up behind me and I closed my eyes as I felt his body against mine. How many times did I think of him? How many moments did I succumb to his will? Memory can be just as devastating as real time. It hurts, even a vampire can feel pain, I mean, we spend our time searching for feeling in so many ways, be it sex or torture of some sort. What a life to live. I looked up and he was gone. In fact he was never there at all and I ran out and no dead pedals on the carpet, no bouquet on the floor. Fuck me.

  ***

  “I think that it looks so good on you.”

  I looked back at the girl and grinned. I turned to see the blue dress, clinging in the right places to my body and ran my hand down and over my hip. She watched me, she had no choice. My charm is far reaching and I have no filter on it anymore. In fact I just let my charms fly like a radioactive leak all around me. I attract everyone and everything to me and yet I hate the fucking attention. It is boring. I don’t give a shit about anyone anyway. Not even myself so much anymore. I flipped my arm over and saw the light white lines on it. I had cut a line in my arm for each month without him in my life…Hunter of course and I had just dug a new trench in my skin, number 13, a new year and 13 months Hunter free. I feel like a fucking drug addict all proud of my cutting out the bad shit, but truth is I would take him back in a heartbeat if I could fucking find him or any of those god damn vamps. But, I cannot smell anything, feel anything at all and I am starting to think that my mind has cracked into hundreds of shards and is just rattling around in my head now.

  “Would you like shoes?” she asked me and it pulled me out of my internal conversation yet again.

  “Yes please. Black”

  “Are you sure? White would…”

  I cut her off. “Black, high as you can find,” I said and she left me in the fitting room. I looked at my face and studied it for a moment. I wonder when it will happen. What day I will look into a mirror and not know who I am or what I am. What a fucking trip that will be! I will constantly be all freaked out about killing people and waking up in strange…

  ***

  “How much?”

  I pulled myself out of crazy and looked up to see a man and focused in on his black tie and suit jacket. I looked down and saw the blue dress and black heels and then the reality him me, it was Taylor sitting before me and I stood up quickly, playing with my hair and looking around the hotel bar room.

  “Ahhhhh.” I said all confused and shit.

  “Vanessa?” he said and I looked at him.

  “I have to go,” I said and I started to walk away from him but he followed me of course. I stepped out onto the curb and waved a taxi down and he caught up to me, snapping an umbrella open. It was raining, but I didn’t even notice.

  “Have I upset you?”

  I looked at him and shook my head.

  “I am not a prostitute, but I don’t care that you asked me, I am sure I came off like one,” I said.

  “I am sorry,” he said as the cab pulled up and stopped. I shook my head and swallowed.

  “Taylor, go live,” I said as I got into the cab alone and he stood there deflated. Truth is he will never know that I just gave him a gift, a gift of survival. Now if his card was supposed to be punched then something else would fucking get him, but not me…no, not me.

  The cab stopped and I looked out of the window and up the side of a large building, I sighed when the word “library” glared at me in the etched stone. I leaned up and the cab driver sat still and said nothing but his eyes caught mine in his mirror.

  “Twelve fifty,” he said and I handed him my card and got out, leaving it with him. He jumped out and chased me up the steps and I almost knocked him down when my hand involuntarily snapped back. I grabbed his shirt a foot from me and I turned to him, the apex predator that I am. His eyes looked sad, like he was a human enduring loss and I felt his heart beat speed up a bit but nothing like it should. This one did not care, so much like me it was eerie to witness.

  “You want me to wait?” he said as he watched the rain droplets roll down my face, I nodded and let him go and walked back down the steps and got into the cab, shutting the sign off on the hood and cutting the engine. I turned back to the library and did not remember telling him this is where I wanted to go but I guess I had. I am starting to just accept my loss of memory and lack of sanity. It is much easier.

  I stepped into the library and the smell of history overtook my senses for a moment. What an unexpected pleasure to my senses. I know I must come here often but never have I remembered it mattering before. I looked up and tilted my head at the ceiling, looking at the beautiful painting and then I felt it, a bump from behind and I turned to see a boy, blonde hair…dark eyes and full lips. He honestly reminded me of Riley for a split second.

  “I am so sorry,” he said as he dropped all of his books onto the floor and caused a huge amount of echoing in the large room. I leaned down after hesitating for a few sec
onds and helped him collect his stuff. Then the cover of one of his books captured my attention.

  “Vampires, past and present.” I fingered the cover and then snatched it up, standing up as he rose too and smiled at me.

  “I didn’t mean…”

  I interrupted him.

  “What is your fascination with vampires?” I asked him as he studied my face. I know I may look too serious, I have a tendency too from time to time now.

  “Ummm. I just, I find them fascinating, sexy,” he said. I laughed and it echoed, promptly followed by a loud shush from the tight assed lady behind the counter. I glanced at her and then back at him. I extended the book to him and grinned.

  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I said.

  “Margaret Wolfe Hungerford is credited with coining the saying ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ in her 1878 book Molly Bawn,” he said and I looked at him with wonder.

  “Yes, it popped up in Greece in the…”

  “3 century first, but she made it a household saying,” he added.

  “Yes,” I said as he actually intrigued me.

  “I am sorry…I have a thing, ahhh, a photographic memory I guess. I remember everything,” he said.

  “Oh,” I said as if he just asked me to fuck him.

  He looked down and then back to me.

  “I know, it is a freakish quality, trust me, I have lost many a first date attempt letting it be known.”

  I smiled. “I find it amazing,” I said and he relaxed, as he looked my facial expression over. I am sure I look like a schoolgirl; I truly am intrigued by him and his ability to remember everything, what a dream come true. In my world it would be a miracle.

  “Do you…come here often?” he asked me and we both laughed yet again. He was already in the door, the fact that he felt awkward enough to still back it all up with that lame of a pickup line amused me, and was somewhat flattering.

  “I think,” I said and he narrowed his eyes at me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have a memory thing.” I said as I tapped my head and he watched me.

  “Oh…well, perfect match then huh?” he said to me and for the first time in a year, I felt a tiny sliver of happiness. So foreign I mistook it for hunger for a second until I realized that my teeth had not poked through my gums.

  “Cory,” he said as he fumbled with his books and held out his hand, I looked at it until I just took the leap and shook his hand, knowing I felt cold and not caring.

  “Vanessa.” I said and he took a breath, letting it out and I could smell him, his sweet aroma and his heartbeat thumped on my tongue. I beat it back and bit my lip lightly, feeling kind of goofy like a schoolgirl, of which I am not.

  “So what is your poison?” he asked me and I shook my head.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Poison? Espresso? Latte?”

  “Oh…coffee…ummmm. Sweet. Doesn’t matter what kind, just sweet,” I said and he nodded.

  “I will be right back,” he said and he handed me a bunch of vampire books and I held them with no trouble. This one was curious, this one was different…this one, made me feel like hope could be something real.

  “Oh please.”

  I turned and there he was, my Hunter, but I know now it is all bullshit, he is not here, he is a manifestation in my head.

  “Shut the fuck up,” I said to him and he followed me as I found my way to a large carved table along the wall under a huge stain glass window. I peeked up at it and studied the demon perched on a maiden’s chest and Hunter popped up onto the table and started to walk down the middle of it, dragging his feet and trying to cause distress to the very expensive wood.

  “Stop it you asshole,” I whispered up to him and he smiled at me and placed his hands behind his back.

  “You will eat this one, just like all of the rest of them.”

  I shook my head.

  “You don’t know that, this could be a friend to me…he obviously likes vampires.”

  Hunter laughed and I looked around as if anyone could see his crazy ass except for me.

  I pointed at him and shook my finger.

  “Stop trying to ruin things, you are a dick and you need to go away.”

  Hunter leaned down and into my face and his lips looked so inviting, I wanted to kiss him so badly, I could taste him on my lips, sweet and terribly bitter all at once. He leaned in and I closed my eyes and then heard a throat clear and opened my eyes to see that just as I had suspected, I was alone and Cory stood there with two piping hot drinks for us to devour.

  I sat there for three hours until lights started to be turned off and people left all around us. It all seemed a blur as he talked to me and I remembered everything that he said and his knowledge was vast for his age. He honestly did have a photographic memory and I envied him and it and wished periodically as he talked to me that I could take it from him. I could not tell if I actually enjoyed his company or felt drawn to what he was, something I could never ever be…mortal and completely sane with a gift to consume all memory and keep it organized. It baffled me. I am obsessed with knowing how he does it, how his mind devours like I devour flesh and blood.

  “Well, I think we have to go,” he said and I blinked and looked at him and then around us.

  “Oh…okay then,” I said and he stood up and gathered his books.

  “I will be here tomorrow,” he said to me and I looked up at him and waited.

  “At two,” he added.

  “Oh, I will have to see what is going on. I may be here, maybe,” I said and he smiled at the possibility and then I stood up and followed him as we walked to the doors. He opened it up and I stepped out into the night air and large full moon hanging in the sky over the city.

  “It was a pleasure Vanessa,” he said and then he ran down the steps and onto the sidewalk, disappearing into the darkness. I stood there and then spotted the cab and grinned. The bastard waited. What a surprise.

  We rolled up to my apartment building and he stopped. I started to get out and he handed me my card.

  “Is there any place you need to be tomorrow?” he asked me and I stopped and looked back at him.

  “Why? Why are you so kind to me?” I asked him and he nodded to me.

  “Death knows death,” he said to me and then he pulled out and I stood there tapping my card on my fingers. Wondering when the memory lapse would occur and who I would kill.

  ***

  I sat on the bed thinking about things all night. Hunter, Cory…the cabbie with the sad eyes. So consuming it all was I forgot to forget. I smiled as the sun broke the horizon and not once did hunger overtake me, not once did I feel so heart broken by Hunter’s absence did I lose it and come too in the middle of some story, I swear to you…sometimes I feel as if someone is writing me, writing my story and just has no control over it whatsoever. Wouldn’t that be some shit? Some bitch, sitting somewhere typing away and just allowing this all to happen to me, how sadistic and almost comical.

  I cracked a smile as I sighed and rubbed my neck, coffee sounded good and what a trip. I am vampire, not human…although I would love to spend some days in a humans flesh. How much easier would that be? I could go to sleep, let my weak and dying body to rest as needed and then wake up with other needs, a need for caffeine, companionship and a burning desire to move forward. It baffles me honestly when I see some of these monkeys just wandering around, accepting things as they are and not making the most of every single day, saying what they need to, loving, fucking and taking all pleasures at will. Why would they not do that? Why would they be fearful or too lazy to try their best to live, or OVER live every single day? They are dying, and who knows when the timer is going off? If I were human I would be taking chances everyday….

  “Oh my god,” I whispered to myself as I realized how human I was acting. Living in this misery and regret and allowing time to just march on as if it was in charge and not me.

  I took a shower, so hot it would
have boiled flesh if mine would allow it, but the steam and heat was a pleasure I needed. I closed my eyes and let the water run over my face and tried to feel it, suck the pleasure from it. I had had a revelation and I promise you I am going to start acting as if every day is the last day, maybe it is the trick to sanity. Keeping focused on the moment, so I am going to try my best. I know I am facing a long life. I don’t think I have ever paralleled myself with an actual life before, so this is an amazing discovery.

  I pulled my shirt on and buttoned it up, sat down and slipped on some jeans, buttoned them up as I laid back and then sat up and slipped some flats on. I felt normal as I pulled my long hair to the side and put it in a ponytail. I grinned as I reached up and let my hand slip into the sunlight. The only thing making me look different than a human is how the sun bounces off of my skin, slightly irregular and making me look paler than a human being. I pulled it down and rubbed it, taking a tiny me moment and then I stood up, ready to seize the day. I had already conquered 11 hours nutball free and here’s to hoping.

  I stepped out onto the sidewalk and the doorman flagged a cab for me and I grinned as I saw the cabbie again. He sat there across the street like he had waited for me and it was almost endearing to me. He must be a magnet to danger and his need to die was overwhelming and would have made me tear his body apart if I was feeling it, but I am not. In fact I feel different today, like a new situation is at hand and I don’t know whether to thank myself or Cory, maybe even the cab driver to a certain degree. I watched as three girls laughed and ran by me, almost in slow motion and they were all three dressed up like day of the dead, with their faces painted in beautiful sugar skulls. It did not occur to me that it is October, almost Halloween and you would think that I would be in my element…it’s a fucking misconception. Vampires do not notice holidays normally; it’s not a situation we care for. Our existence is one long day and then the wind caught one of the girls hair and it blew her sweet aroma in my direction and my teeth extended slightly and I touched my lips as they cut into the inside of my mouth releasing a tiny bit of blood and trying to get me excited. I bent over for a second and tried to control it and then felt a hand on my back. I looked up and it was the cabbie, looking concerned for me and I would have grinned but my teeth were blood stained. I nodded and he took my arm and walked me to the cab. He opened the door up and I slid in, happy to have him here and caring for me. Another new sensation and one I could get used too.