by Ava Lore
She'd expected the sensation to jar her, jerk her out of the easy, dizzy dream his mouth inspired in her—vampire saliva must have some sort of narcotic effect, Chloe-the-librarian suggested from far away—but instead it heightened her curiosity. He didn't feel dead at all, as she had distantly feared. Instead he almost hummed with energy. The coldness of his skin suggested something alien and out of the ordinary, something not-quite-human rather than a reanimated corpse. Intrigued, Chloe dreamily let her hands explore his body as his tongue stroked the inside of her mouth in a sweet, insistent rhythm.
Strong arms, hard biceps, broad shoulders. Firm, quivering muscles beneath his smooth, chilly skin. Her fingers wandered to his back, discovering the gentle undulations of his personal geography, and when she flattened her palms against him she realized she had pulled him even closer. Her breasts collided with his chest, and the contrast of his cool, hard planes against her soft, heated curves stole her breath away. She made an appreciative sound in her throat. She could have spent hours just discovering the secrets of his body with her fingertips, and it wasn't entirely due to the drugging effect of his kiss.
He made a soft, urgent noise in response. She barely heard it, but she felt it echo in her mouth. Drugged and lazy, she couldn't quite understand what it was he wanted from her, and as he pressed harder and harder against her she struggled to comprehend what he sought.
Abruptly he broke their kiss—up until now languid and unhurried despite its soft urgency—and his fingers in her hair crooked and dug into her scalp. His blunt nails ran down the curve of her skull, dragging shivers in their wake. Her whole body responded, shuddering in anticipation, dread, and remembered pleasure as his mouth found her throat.
He didn't bite her. Instead, he opened his mouth wide and dragged the tips of his fangs against her skin. Lightly they scraped over her throat, gentle enough not to draw blood, but hard enough to promise it. His hands on her shoulders grew insistent, strong, delving and smoothing over her curves, the soft flesh she had grown to hate, but the drug of his kiss made her concerns far away. Irrelevant.
He slid his palms over the lush mounds of her hips, then slipped them beneath her and lifted her from her seat.
Chloe wasn't so drugged that this seemed like a good idea. A tiny flutter of panic flared up—the quarters in this car were too cramped. What if he forgot his strength and broke her as he scooped her towards him?
She needn't have worried. Even vampires sometimes take the path of least resistance.
The seat behind her bent as he reached over and pushed against it. It curved into a backwards arch, the metal frame inside the foam groaning in protest, and if she'd had more blood in her brain Chloe might have protested right along with it.
But his other hand dug into the soft mound of her buttocks, long fingers curling and probing the soft folds hidden between her legs.
Chloe moaned, her wrecked car forgotten. She spread out into the new space he had made, turning to face him fully, her legs opening for him. Desperately she tugged on him, urging him closer, and she heard him laugh.
“That's more like it,” the vampire said. His voice rumbled against her drug-addled ears, velvety and dark, a sensation almost too intense to endure, and she writhed at the sound. His hands returned to her body, running up and down her legs, the cold of his skin slicing through her thin tights and stealing the thundering heat of her blood in her veins.
He hovered over her, kneeling in his seat between her parted legs, looking for all the world like a cobra about to strike. He was almost completely nude now, and the lights of the parking lot fell on the hard planes of his body, outlining him in harsh highlights and inky shadows.
One of her feet found the dashboard while the other lodged against the back of his seat, bracing for an impact she knew was coming.
Again he crooked his fingers and rain his blunted nails over her thighs, this time ripping her nylons without a second thought, scoring her flesh, and her arms, already shaking, gave out. Her head hit the window of the car with a thud as his hand found her panties and slipped them aside.
His cold fingers met the immense heat of her pussy with a strong, sure caress, probing and curling in her hot folds. Chloe gripped the steering wheel as her body responded to him, fire rising up to meet his ice. In the dark, his eyes glittered down at her, a predator's gaze, watching her intently as he slowly parted the folds of her labia and dipped an icy finger inside.
Chloe cried out, her hips bucking into his hand. “Ah!”
“Yessssss,” he hissed, his other hand sliding up her body to her breasts. She thought he might stop there, might linger on her softness, but instead his hand traveled higher, to her breastbone. The chill of him seeped through her clothing, and she gasped.
His head tilted, his heated eyes studying her as if he were distant from the proceedings, engaging with her out of purely scientific curiosity. He wasn't, though. He wasn't nearly as detached as he tried to let on: she heard his ragged breathing riding in tandem to her own.
“Would you like to come, Chloe?”
His voice dragged her attention to his mouth. His words were obscured, and she caught the gleam of fangs against his lips.
“I, ah...” She couldn't form a cogent thought. Yes, she wanted to scream. Yes, please! But underneath it all she knew it was madness. She was under the influence, drugged into complacency and stoked into incoherence. The vampire was a dark figure above her, a vicious creature who could end her life without a second thought—and he probably would. If his glamour didn't work on her, what would he do to ensure his tracks were covered?
He didn't give her time to think about it, because he placed his thumb on her clit and flicked it with his thumbnail.
Chloe shrieked and tried to sit up, to writhe away from the intensity of his thumb against her hypersensitive nub, but the hand on her heart held her fast, kept her anchored against the car door. Not enough to hurt her, oh no, but if she tried to surge up too far, struggled a little too much, his hand held her down like an anvil.
He was an immovable object, restraining her with the barest of touches, and between her legs his hand played, dancing and flicking, thrusting into her hot, wet core and dragging pleasure out of it.
“Oh...god...”
Her eyes rolled, her head tossed, and when his hand moved up to her throat, Chloe groaned.
The vampire held her immobile as he stroked her pussy. “You smell divine,” he said conversationally as she thrashed below him. “Your sex is soaking wet. The blood beneath your skin is hot and sweet. I want to devour you whole.”
His fingers, embraced by her core, began to warm, responding to her heat and desire. Flames of need flickered up and down her body, igniting and catching in places she hardly knew existed. The vampire watched her with glittering eyes, his breathing ragged and tattered.
Release came upon her suddenly and without warning. The iron-cold hand around her throat held her fast as streaks of lightning bolted through her veins, her pussy quivering and clenching around his hand. Pushing hard against the dashboard and the seat with her feet, Chloe's back arched like a bow drawing taut. Her fingers clawed at the seat and steering wheel, groping for something, anything to hold on to as his fingers plunged and circled inside her core, intensifying her orgasm to the point where she thought she might explode if she didn't somehow hold herself together. Straining, caught in throes so intense she thought she might pass out, Chloe arched and quivered, struggling against the hand at her throat. Black spots bloomed behind her eyelids.
Suddenly the pressure at her throat eased and she dragged a tortured gasp into her lungs. Light returned, and she thought, if she had any sense, that she would turn and open the car door and try to escape. Her orgasm was receding, her senses returning. She should run.
Then cool lips alighted on her pussy and his cool, flat tongue stroked against her pulsing clit once, twice, three times.
Chloe came again.
When it was over Chloe collapsed, limp,
against her door, her white-knuckled holds on the steering wheel and seat slowly releasing as satisfaction and contentment swept over her. She had never felt so right with the world. Bad day? What bad day? The worst part about this day was that she seemed to have misplaced her bones.
The vampire slipped his fingers from her pussy and moved up her body. Hard muscles moved over her softness, the contrast delicious and maddening. Her body, still lax, responded to his hardness, his maleness, his possessive posture, and when she reached up and ran her fingers over his cold skin, he shuddered slightly. His mouth found her ear and for a moment he seemed content to worry it with his lips.
Then he bit her.
A sharp sting cut through the fog and Chloe squeaked. Reflexively she shoved him away, but it was like pushing against a wall. In her ear, the vampire snarled and his teeth came down harder as he lapped up the dark red drops of blood from the soft lobe. Again the narcotic effect, but it was muted this time, as though she were growing immune. Squirming, she brought her legs up and between them and shoved as hard as she could with her feet. The pain in her ear became excruciating for a quick, blinding moment, and then she was free.
They parted, both of them breathing hard, coolness and warmth mingling together in the chill air of the car. The world spun around her, and not just from lack of blood pressure.
Chloe could hardly think. “What... what the hell was that?” she managed to say finally. The thrill of his drugging kiss was fading fast, and she was coming down hard from both her orgasm and the chemical high.
He raised an eyebrow. “The pleasure, or the pain?”
She wanted to hit him, but she knew all too well that he had let her go only because he felt like it. “Both!”
He tilted his head. “The pleasure was to remind you what I may do for you. You may be immune to one charm of mine, but not all. The pain was a reviving snack. A woman like you is almost a vampire in her own right. The passion you hide...” He smiled and spread his hands. “Well, let us just say that a man can be wrung dry by a woman of such... appetites.”
Chloe had no idea what to say. She didn't know if he was making fun of her or not.
She struggled into a sitting position, turning away from him and closing her legs so she wouldn't feel so exposed. Readjusting her clothes, she tried to think of something—anything—to say. The silence stretched out.
“I still require clothing,” the vampire said suddenly. “Now more than ever.”
Chloe stole a look at him. Yes, he did need clothes. He was practically naked now. The dust of his old clothes was all over her car. Her broken car. She felt the gap where the headrest should be yawning behind her.
She took a deep breath. “You need to fix my car first.”
He said nothing. Her nerves began to tingle.
“You will buy clothes for me,” the vampire said at last, “or I will do something dire.”
He must be used to fainting Victorian females, because Chloe was not going to just roll over and give it up for a good fingerbang, no matter how much it had just blown her mind. She whipped around. “Like what?” she snapped. “Not kiss me again? There are plenty of fish in the sea, mister.”
A faint smile crossed his face. “No,” he said. “I will kill someone.”
Chloe froze. “What do you mean?”
He gave her a dry look, as though she were stupid. “Exactly what I say.” Sitting back, he put his hand to his mouth—the one covered in the juices of her pussy—and began to lick his fingers one by one. "Who should I choose?" he asked her between licks. "A young mother of two? A man trying to feed his family? A servant whose mother is solely dependent upon her small income? An old grandfather waiting to bring in his last harvest in the fields? I shall sit here and choose, and if you have not returned in a quarter hour, I will be happy to sate my hunger the way I am meant to." Dated references, but very real threat.
Chloe swallowed. "You... you haven't killed anyone yet, have you?" she asked him.
He shook his head. "Corpses are so messy," he said. "Leaves a trail. But I would welcome the chance to drain someone dry, feel the last pump of their heart on my tongue..." He watched her as he spoke and she felt her own blood—what was left of it, anyway—grow as cold as his hands.
She turned and bolted from the car.
His laughter followed her into the store.
Chapter Three
Up until her credit card was declined, Chloe had been making barely-decent time. She'd spent far too long, however, hopping from foot to foot in the checkout lane, wondering why so many people had to be at Walmart at almost ten o'clock on a weeknight. Not that it would have been any better if it were a weekend, but she needed to get through the line fast and back out to the car where the vampire waited, scoping out victims and no doubt counting down the seconds.
Fighting through the spinning of her head, Chloe had ripped the first clothes to come to hand from their hangers: a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt in the colors of Iowa State. Socks and a pair of shoes were next—she had to guess the size—and then she'd sprinted back to the front of the store, her heart hammering in her throat. The self-checks were all down for some reason, so she had raced along the long line of counters, frantically searching for the one with the shortest line. When she'd found it she'd hopped into place and began to dance impatiently, staring at the huge clock that hung high on the front wall.
Ten minutes and fifty seven seconds, she thought. Her jaw clenched tighter and tighter.
That was why, when the nice lady running her card through the register told her her card had been declined, Chloe at first didn't realize what had happened.
"What?" she said. "No, that can't be right, I have enough for this."
The older woman, her hair sandy and gray, gave Chloe a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, but your card has been declined."
“That's not possible.” Chloe stared at her. She knew she had at least two hundred dollars left on her limit...
The cashier just shook her head and handed the card back. "I'm sorry," she said. "Do you have another method of payment?"
Numbly Chloe opened her wallet. A flock of moths might as well have flown out for all she had in there in terms of cash, but her debit card peeked out from behind her driver's license. She had maybe fifty dollars in her checking account and she was loath to touch it lest she somehow accidentally overdraft, but she bit her lip and handed it to the cashier anyway. She'd have enough time to worry about her card and her meager bank account after she was no longer in fear of her life or the lives of others.
The woman zipped it through the slot on her register, but her lips tightened when a red message popped up on her screen. "I'm sorry, ma'am," she said, "but this card has been canceled."
"Canceled!" Chloe stared at her. Then she realized.
James.
Their finances were joint. He must have canceled the checking account and the credit cards now that they were broken up.
...What was she going to do?
"I..." Chloe shook her head, unable to process what was happening. "I have to go. Keep the clothes." Her face numb, her cheeks burning with embarrassment, she turned and ran out of the store, the ground seeming to heave and pitch beneath her feet as she stumbled into the harshly-lit parking lot. Dragging cold air into her lungs, Chloe half-sprinted, half-staggered to her car. Her hands weren't working right as she opened the door and fell inside, but when she landed on the ruined front seat and the vampire was still there, watching her placidly, Chloe realized that she was probably in deep shit.
No money. No home. Wrecked car. Vampire.
"My clothes?" the vampire asked.
Chloe burst into tears.
They weren't pretty tears. She wasn't the heroine in some Gothic novel, and Gabriel the Vampire wasn't the heroic tragic vampire who would dry her eyes, so she just let it all out. Huge, ugly sobs spilled out of her, and she covered her face, attempting to stifle her grief, but she just sobbed harder.
She had nowhere
to go. She had no money to take her somewhere. She had half a tank of gas. All her clothes were in the trunk of the car. Her worldly possessions were still back at her apartment, and she had been informed she could pick them up on the weekend, while James and Jenny were out of the house. She had no fiance. She had no best friend to cry to about that fact.
All she had was her car, a job, and an unwanted vampire, and dammit, that didn't seem quite like enough right now.
She was fucked. Really fucked. Next to her, the vampire seemed to go perfectly still, and she just let herself cry, unable to control it or do anything to contain it. Huge gulps of sorrow poured down through her throat, lodging hard in her chest, feeling like boulders pushing against the soft insides of her skin. She was filled with sharp edges; if she moved wrong, she would get cut.
Then something heavy and flat landed on her shoulder. It lifted, then fell again. Then again. The pattern repeated itself.
Scrubbing her eyes, Chloe stole a glance at the vampire from the corner of her eye and found that his hand was on her shoulder, awkwardly patting it.
"There, there?" he said. He seemed uncertain as to whether there actually happened to be there, as if he suspected there had picked up and moved to a new location in the middle of the night.
Chloe was so shocked she stopped crying.
That a vampire who had not fifteen minutes ago threatened to kill whoever he felt like if she wouldn't procure clothing for him was now attempting to comfort her in the most hamhanded way she'd ever seen shocked her so much that she stopped crying and stared at him. The second her sobs quieted the vampire snatched his hand away and tried to look nonchalant. He couldn't hide the relief in his face, though.
Weakness? Or was he just not as big of a prick as he was threatening to be?
“I don't have any money,” Chloe said. “I thought I did, but I didn't. I'm sorry, I can't help you.”
The vampire frowned. “What happened to the money you believed you had? Were you robbed?”
Chloe started to shake her head, then realized that yes, she was. In a way. “Remember when I told you I'd been having a really really bad day?”