The Stage

by Catherine Russell

  “It’s our fate. We’ve been linked, you and I, since the day I found you, so many years ago. Do you remember that day?” He now spoke aloud.

  “Yeah, I replay that scene over and over in my mind.” I hesitated. My mind was still fighting the evidence that sat before me. I tried my best to control the fear that wanted to creep back in, the trust and love that was growing, fighting an inner battle with it. It felt like I was strapped into a roller coaster car, going from highs to lows in a blink of an eye.

  He saw my struggle and reached for my hand. My body betrayed my heart as I cringed a little.

  “I’m the same person I was last night, Megan. Nothing has changed, but how you see me. I’m still in love with you, just as I was years ago and this morning. That’ll never change.” I pushed away the negative feelings until they cowered from my desire to be with him. I had to smile at the situation.

  “I have to say, you know how to make me grin. Just now, when you were talking, it sounded as though you’re coming out of the closet. But in your case more like coming out of the coffin.” I smiled, relaxing in the humor. His shoulders gently laughed as I took his hand, holding it between my own, the texture like silk yet cold as solid ice. My curiosity was beginning to grow, and of course with that came more questions. How do I ask this politely?

  “Just how old are you?” I waited, watching his eyes tighten just a smidge around the edges. He sat back, looking at me, and placing his arm along the back of the couch.

  “It’s impolite to ask someone their age.” His eyebrow raised in sarcasm. He played with a thread on my shirt, seeming relaxed.

  “That’s just women!” I quipped back.

  With a calculating look he leaned toward me. “Don’t you have a more important question to ask me?” he stated so calmly, yet there was a warning there in the tone. I knew what he was hinting at, but it was his turn to say it aloud. If he knew me so well, could hear my thoughts, then he knew I was more fascinated with him as a person, his history. As a child I always thought that vampires were misunderstood people, not creatures as legends normally called them, but real people that got dealt a bad hand.

  “Like what?” I played stupid.

  “Like what my diet is, perhaps.” He moved closer to me, delicately tracing my neck with his cool fingers. A small thrill of fear ran through me.

  My lack of reaction seemed to disarm him. Maybe it was because I’d already decided it didn’t matter, food was food. Who cared if he had a liquid diet, right?

  “Blood is a vice I have—the one vice all of my kind have in common.” His words were dark, yet his very presence acted as a shield to any fear he was trying to convey.

  “So, you drink blood, then?” I quipped, flipping my hair back, acting like I didn’t care. His eyes bore down on me in that instant. I held absolutely still.

  “Why yes, are you offering?” He suddenly pulled me closer, his breath washed over my face, and the feeling of flying high hit. My own defenses kicked in as I jumped back, pushing him away with my arms, which was pretty useless since he was as solid and unmoving as a cement block. His calculating grin returned as his warning sank in. I finally exhaled, knowing the moment had passed.

  He sat shaking his head with his eyes closed, a small smile pulling at one corner of his lips. He seemed perplexed, ran one hand through his hair, and said, “You

  continue to surprise me, you know that? Do you have any idea of just how tempting you are, just how easy of a target you could be right here, right now?”

  I found his choice of words interesting yet confusing. Me? Tempting? I had no fear of being with him; I didn’t see myself as a target.

  “There you go again with me being tempting. I just don’t see it. I’m not that interesting.” I looked down at my very dull, boring self. Tempting wasn’t a word that I ever envisioned anyone using to describe me.

  “Clearly you don’t see yourself as others do.” He shook silently with a laugh. “Let me see if I can explain it. In my eyes you glow, you radiate such energy and warmth. I’m drawn to you and only you. I don’t see anyone else anymore. I don’t have a choice and am happy to give that up. Besides…” He pressed closer, his body against mine.

  “My heart hasn’t beaten for centuries, yet when you’re with me I remember what it was like to skip a beat or two. For my kind that is truly a miracle.”

  I didn’t know what to say to his compliments, so I just blushed as usual, looking down at our hands intertwined together.

  He leaned in, carefully kissing my cheek. I heard him inhale, his face so close to my own.

  “And your scent is so… intense. Absolutely delicious. Just as unique as you are.” He sat back just a bit, leaning to one side.

  “May I?” he asked, now tilting his head slightly toward my neck, playing with my hair hanging down. His cool hand softly touched my skin.

  My mouth seemed stuck, so I just nodded my head slowly. He leaned in, his cool breath caressing my skin. A shiver ran the length of my spine and his ice-cold hand found the small of my back, locking me in his steel embrace.

  Be very still, I heard inside. I closed my eyes, trying to hold my breath, not

  moving, I felt as though my heart was pounding to get out of my chest.

  His lips touched my skin, kissing along my neck down to my shoulder and back. He slowly rose back up, his eyes meeting mine as they simmered.

  My own eyes were wide with wonder. Geoffrey, I silently thought, pulling back slightly. He stiffened in response, sitting back with one arm still lightly wrapped around my waist.

  I’ve upset you, he said without words. He looked worried, his mouth pulled down at the corners.

  “No,” I answered automatically. “It’s just a lot to take in. Give me a moment, all right?” I half smiled, taking his hand in mine. His hand felt like soft silk over hard cool granite.

  He took a deep breath, and sat back, relaxing only a small amount. He looked closely at my hand, examining the healing scar. Since the explosion, it had mended nicely, though was still tender.

  “How’s the hand today?” He was trying to distract me.

  “It’s not bad, just a little sore.” He placed it between his own, the coolness relieving the slight ache instantly. I rubbed my eyes as the morning sun cut across the room. That’s when it happened. Once again my body betrayed me. My stomach roared to life, not having been fed for almost two days. I’ve never turned so many shades of red, blushing to the tops of my ears.

  “It’s time for breakfast.” He smiled, showing his very white teeth. For the first time I was startled, swallowing loudly. Trying to play it off, I covered my neck in mock terror and chuckled when I couldn’t quite hold it long enough, giggling under my breath.

  “Not me, goose, you. Your stomach sounds like you could eat a horse.” He hugged me, standing up, offering his hand to me.

  We made our way toward the dining room and Andrew appeared. I now saw him clearly, and understood why he resembled Geoffrey so much: he was a vampire as well.

  “Andrew is one of the most loyal people you will ever meet. And you get to benefit from his superb gift; he loves to cook.” We walked into a full-size industrial kitchen with every amenity you could think of.

  “Seriously, he’s a vampire chef?” I asked as the aroma of scrambled eggs and

  cinnamon rolls made my mouth water. On the huge buffet counter sat trays of jumbo blueberry muffins, breads, rolls, and scones, along with platters of bacon, thick ham slices, and sausage links and patties.

  This was definitely not what I’d expected. Gore, blood, guts, screams of terror; yeah, that was on the list, basically made up from the many movies and books I’d enjoyed. But here was this very nice, clean-cut gentleman who was happily puttering around the kitchen. At the moment he was laying out what looked like an assembly line of to-go boxes. He made cooking look so easy. My cooking skills extended to the
use of a microwave and McDonalds. He leaned on the counter, causally looking on. I chose my words carefully, trying to make them light, not too serious. For it was only for curiosity’s sake that I had questions, not out of fear.

  “Oh my God. What’s with all the food?” My look of utter confusion made Andrew and Geoffrey chuckle.

  “We’re all reborn with gifts of our own. Andrew’s gift is a very giving heart, always wanting to take care of people, no matter their status in life,” he said as Andrew respectfully bowed.

  “You see, Ms. Megan, I believe in the old adage, ‘waste not, want not.’ Therefore I use my life to give back to those in need.” Now the to-go containers made sense.

  “Where are these going ?” I asked.

  “To the mission and homeless shelters in town. It doesn’t matter what era we’re in, there’s always a need to help those less fortunate than we. So I do what I can to help out.” What an amazing concept, helping those who couldn’t help themselves. On more than one occasion mom and I had found ourselves in that very situation, trying desperately to escape the stepfather from hell. I didn’t want to go down that path, so I turned to Geoffrey, who was silently smiling at me.

  Andrew put a plate with scrambled eggs, scones, and jam in front of me, offered a glass of squeezed orange juice. I accepted it all gratefully. Geoffrey looked at the food, crinkling his nose in disgust. The last thing I wanted was for him to be uncomfortable around me.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Is this bothering you?” I quickly wiped jam off my chin.

  “No, don’t be silly. It just doesn’t smell very appetizing, that’s all. Besides, you need to eat more often than I do.” I put that last part in the back of my head for future reference. I took my empty dish to the sink, though Andrew did his best to take it off my hands.

  “The food was delicious, Andrew, thank you. You don’t need to do my dishes though, I’m a big girl.” We walked back into the front room, Goth décor and all.

  “Wow, you guys go all out. I mean, I love Halloween and all, but this is like… huge.” I felt the little girl in me wanting to come out and play in the make-believe world I stood in, but this was reality, not fantasy. I swallowed down the little doubt that worried me.

  “We celebrate life, all of it. We’re a family, just like anyone else’s…” But we both knew that wasn’t quite right.

  “…but a family with one major difference. You don’t eat food.” I jokingly thought, They just eat the neighbors.

  He looked at me, shocked.

  “Oh God, did you just catch that?” I now felt like an official jerk.

  “Actually it’s all right. Our ‘neighbors’ out here are our dinner, but we don’t feed on humans. Life is too short for your kind. We respect your right to live it as you should, no interfering. We choose to use our darkness, our gift if you will, to benefit others.”

  “But you still need…” I hesitated on the word.

  “You can say it. Fear of a word only increases the fear of the thing itself.” He sat patiently while I looked at him, totally perplexed.

  “Did you just quote a Harry Potter movie to me?”

  “Don’t change the subject.” He raised his eyebrow.

  “Blood.”

  “Yes, we do but we have our sources.”

  “What, like a dealer?” Great, I pictured back-alley exchanges totally differently now.

  “No, not like that.” Instantly an image flashed before me, exactly what I thought of his idea.

  “Holy crap, warn me when you’re going to do that, all right?” I shook off the creepy image. And suddenly felt his hand, lightly upon my own, and a new image came. Slowly at first, so I kept my eyes closed: a daylight meeting with what looked like a lab tech or nurse of some kind, holding a cooler.

  “We have our sources everywhere, we’re in every aspect of life, and we have jobs, families, and careers.”

  “I take it they work at the blood bank, then?” Just then I felt like we were being watched. I turned to see the others passing through. They briefly glanced at him and me, Pepper in particular.

  “Hi, Megan,” her perfectly pitched voice carried through the room. She hesitated, entering the room. She eyed Geoffrey, and he turned to me.

  “Megan, this is Pepper Montgomery.” We stood up.

  “We’ve met already, at work. Hey…” I said as she approached.

  “Hey, Meg. It’s nice to see you. We wondered how long it would take.” She reached out and I heard Geoffrey’s surprise. I returned her hug easily. She was about the same height as me without heels.

  “Pepper? What are you doing?”

  “What, can’t a girl give her friend a hug in this house?” she said sarcastically, with her hands on her hips.

  “It’s all right; she gave me some good advice. And I’m glad I listened.” I winked at her as she beamed back at him.

  “So are you going to give her the grand tour or am I?” Pepper chided him. She reached for my hand, but he was faster, so fast I actually didn’t see his movement and I jumped in surprise. Okay, I think I’ve had enough for the moment, I said to myself. They both looked at me and he spoke up.

  “Why don’t we take a rain check on that one, Pepper?” he said, slowly taking my hand this time.

  “Sorry, it’s just a lot to take in.” I glanced down, suddenly feeling nervous.

  Meg, I’m sorry if what she did upset you, his silent words said. I looked at him, trying to wrap my head around this strange connection we had.

  “Maybe later Pepper, okay? I gotta get back, get ready for tonight.”

  “Speaking of tonight, we’re all dressing up. You’re more than welcome to join us. Come find me backstage and we can play dress up, if you want.”

  Her enthusiasm was sweet and I actually found myself pondering her offer.

  “I might just take you up on the offer, thanks.”

  Hand-in-hand, Geoffrey and I headed out to the car. I have more questions now than when I arrived. But where do I start?

  “Let me try to answer some of those for you, if you’ll allow me?” He had heard my thought—and he was always giving me a choice.

  “One thing I must warn you about, Megan. What we have, here…” he motioned to our hands intertwined on the gear shift, “… is not the norm. You need to understand our kind have been persecuted, hunted for centuries. We don’t trust easily. My trust of you is because of our link,” he said, touching his temple. “Links are said to be a myth—a fable amongst my kind. How ironic, I know,” he said, rolling his eyes almost in sync with me. “I knew the moment I’d found you in the cave so many years ago. I felt complete,” he said, repeating his words from the past. “That somehow, I was… whole, but what I didn’t know was that I was just a piece of the puzzle. I saw your eyes and I knew that I was home…” His eyes focused through me to another time.

  I recognized his words. He wasn’t talking about himself; he was describing what I had felt for him the moment we met. I had been trying to deny what I knew to be the truth because it didn’t seem possible that someone actually loved me, just the way I am. And with that he drove and I listened, learning more about this absolutely great guy—my guardian angel—who just happened to be a vampire.

  Now what exactly could go wrong, right?

  Chapter 10

  As we entered the city, the clouds broke free of their perpetual hovering. Of all nights to have it happen, Mother Nature decided to give us a full moon, and not just any full moon but a harvest moon, with all the eerieness and wonder it could shine down on us. The dark amber and gold-toned moon seemed ominous, considering my predicament.

  I was not only falling for him, a singer with the whole package to offer—looks, manners, and genuine caring—but also the dangerous fact that he was a

  vampire. I did my best not to think about that little complication. I’d be lying if I said I wasn�
�t nervous, but his very presence was intoxicating enough to override my common sense.

  He made his way through traffic, pulling up to my curb while the creatures of the night became apparent. I did a double-take on some of these as they drove by and walked in groups down the sidewalks, cackling and laughing.

  I was still tense about him; he seemed too smooth, too right. I also knew that my doubts were self-induced, because I’d never had good luck with men of any kind. He opened my door and we headed in. As we stepped into the elevator I noticed he kept staring at me.

  “What?”

  “I’m just waiting, that’s all,” he said calmly as I pushed my floor button.

  “Waiting for?”

  “For you to react.” He took a step closer and I automatically squirmed, a built-in knee-jerk reaction to being in tight quarters. He grinned, having proved his point.

  “Don’t get cocky. I’m not afraid of you.” Then I had a fleeting thought. You haven’t given me a reason to be. His eyes flashed with surprise. He pushed the stop button and I panicked.

  Shh. I would never hurt you. Trust me. His silent words caused my heart to race. Don’t think, feel. His lips crushed mine as I felt his cold hands wrap around my waist, pulling me to him. I couldn’t escape if I wanted to. How did I let this

  happen? I pushed against him and tried to pull down, to go around his arms that were encasing me. Then I realized I did have another option. As loud as I could I mentally screamed, STOP!

  Instantly he was thrown backward, hitting the elevator wall. He stood low, his head tilted to the side, which made him look like a hunter deciding on his next move. NO! I thought as I tried to catch my breath. Instantly, his face changed,

  softening… almost as though it became human again.

  “I felt your fear.” His eyes showed his own guilt. “Megan, I’m so sorry. I would never hurt you.” I could hear the truth behind his words, but neither one of us could deny what we had felt. Yes, it was fear, but there was an underlying current of something I had never experienced before.