by Atha, DL
5:10 p.m. I sat down in the middle of the living room floor, the ceiling fan turning lazy circles over my head. I could smell the coagulated blood in the corner of the room, the ceiling fan blowing the foul scent around the room, making the bile rise in my throat. It wasn’t the blood per say that was making me sick. But it smelled like death, which I had smelled many times. Only this time the stench belonged to me.
If I survived tonight, I made up my mind to clean it up tomorrow. I couldn’t convince myself that he actually meant to keep me alive for a week. I wasn’t sure that I even wanted him to. It reminded me of being on death row. Was there any point to being given a few days to live?
5:12 p.m. I could see the digital clock from where I sat on the floor, its red light glittering in the dark reminding me of my date with the devil. As if I could forget. My mind kept asking the strangest questions. Should I meet him at the door? What should I wear? Would he want to talk and what would we talk about?
5:15 p.m. Gold and red rays from the setting sun caught my eye out the window. The sliver of sun that remained shimmered behind the mountains off in the west and I could see the moon beginning to take shape in the dusk.
One lone star just barely visible on the horizon to the left of the tallest mountain peak caught my attention and I watched it get brighter and brighter as the sun completely set into the horizon. The walls of the living room that had been awash in the gold and red hues of the sun were now dark and I realized I had forgotten to turn on any lights, but I couldn’t convince myself to move or to care.
5:28 p.m. I sat there in the dark still focusing on the one star I could see out the window. It helped me to keep my breathing steady. “Starlight, starbright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight,” I whispered into the dark. The childhood rhyme played over and over through my mind. I finished it with a silent plea for Ellie’s life every time.
5:42 p.m. Still nothing. I would go crazy, I was sure of it. The house was now completely dark with only the light of the moon shining through the windows yet still I sat there.
I brought my knees up and laid my head in the circle of my arms on them. My blood pounded in my ears pushed by a heart that had been racing ever since I had stepped back into the house. The roar of blood proved I was still alive, but I had no confidence in how long it would continue.
5:50 p.m. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and my heart paused for what felt like an eternity before it began to pound all the faster, blood pumping harder than I would have given my heart credit for before now. The same terrifying fear I had experienced the evening before came over me and I felt like an ant under the microscope in the sunlight. Sweat was beginning to form under my arms and breasts and my hands were clammy. Feeling a slight breeze rustle past me, I knew he was there.
Fingertips, cool and smooth, lightly traced circles up and down my neck. I didn’t move, didn’t say a word, scarcely breathed, until cool lips replaced the fingers then I involuntarily jerked back. I didn’t get far for I was quickly caught in the grip of his left hand holding me steadfastly in place while he moved his mouth up my neck. Stopping at the base of my jaw, he parted his mouth to let his teeth graze lightly against my skin. Involuntarily, I tensed up expecting those fangs to slice through my skin.
“This will be nice, I promise,” he whispered into my ear. “I am pleasantly surprised you did not run. I thought it likely I would have to track you and Ellie down. Instead, I find you are a lady of some honor. Tell me, did you do exactly as I told you?” His voice, soft yet rich at the same time, held no hint of anger.
Panicking for a moment, it occurred to me I wasn’t to have left the house but I did when I buried Samuel and when I ran. He had to have noticed Samuel was gone. Would that break our agreement? He continued to stroke my neck with his face, lightly nipping as he moved.
“You are making it very hard for me to take this slowly with your heart racing like a jackrabbit. Again, did you do exactly as I said?”
I hesitated briefly again. “No… no. I buried my dog. He was beginning to stink. What you said didn’t cross my mind when I found his body this morning.” My voiced strained with the attempt to keep it from quivering.
“Is there anything else you need to tell me? Remember, my senses are much more accurate than yours and I will know if you are lying. Be careful with your words, Annalice. They determine your fate.”
Again, I hesitated. “I did think about leaving but turned around in the garage.” My breath rushed out with the words and I left out the part about driving to the road. I didn’t think he could read anything else from me since my heart was already hitting nearly one-eighty. My skin tingled with icy fear as I waited for his reaction.
I was essentially blind in the dark, but I could feel him all around me. The fine hairs on my arms stood up in response to his presence. It was also as if his coolness was in such stark contrast to the warmer air of the house that it provided a line of demarcation between him and his surroundings.
His breath cool against my neck, his hands began to retrace the circular patterns over my upper arms from my shoulders to my elbows. I started to relax in spite of myself and he laughed quietly in the dark.
Wondering what he found funny, it occurred to me he could feel my muscles becoming slack in his hands in response to him, or maybe he thought my terror over Samuel was funny. Either way, the laugh had a mocking edge to it and I could feel myself tightening up all over again.
“Since you have been honest, I will honor our agreement. But do not make another mistake. I would consider that willful disobedience.” Without meaning to, I exhaled in response to his words and, feeling relieved, I nodded my own agreement
In the next second, he was gone and back. I barely had recognized his movement before he was leaning over me, bathed in the soft light of an old lamp whose shade was off-white and muted by the low wattage of the bulb that lit it.
The room had always appeared cozier in this light and almost as if he had willed it, I looked up into his face. The mood of the room suddenly took on an entirely new feeling as his intent was clearly written in his expression.
I began to clamor back, struggling to gain my footing, a handhold in the plush rug. I made it about six feet before I realized he hadn’t come after me. His lack of movement brought me up short.
I studied him for a moment from where I had stopped in my escape. He was sitting in a relaxed position on the floor; his face was smooth and emotionless, appearing to be uninterested in whether I ran or not.
And then I realized that there was no reason for him to chase what couldn’t get away from him. He had all night and knowing that in order to save Ellie, I would eventually come back to him. I had nowhere else to go
He was looking at me, probably enjoying my terror and the play of my emotions on my face. Getting up on my knees and then standing, I walked purposefully back to him and dropped back down again in front of him.
For a couple of minutes, we sat just like that, no movement, no words. It was then I decided there would be no more tears, no more cowering. I was doing this for Ellie and my mom. I would do it right. Whatever he had planned for me, I would take it. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my terror. If I had nothing else, I had my pride and with my mind made up, I looked up full in his face.
If he noticed the change in me, he didn’t acknowledge it. His eyes were dilated and it was extremely difficult not to stare into them. So I decided not to try. What did it matter either way? And so I let my gaze get caught. Maybe it would make what was going to happen easier to bear if I was taken in by him.
He stared back at me with eyes that I suspected had seen thousands of moments just like this one, his face softened by the muted light. With exaggerated slowness, he took a long lock of my hair and spiraled it around the fingers of his left hand. It stood out dark against the white skin of his hand.
Rising up on his knees, he leaned in over me. I stared now at the sculpted
muscles of his chest outlined through his soft blue t-shirt and followed the sharp line of his muscles down. His hips were narrow and his legs long and corded.
Looking up from his body just as his lips brushed mine slightly, I saw him pull away. In a slow sensuous movement, he pulled his shirt off and dropped it on the floor next to us.
Dropping his face closer to mine again and with more intensity, he kissed me a second time. Re-wrapping his hand in my hair, he jerked my head back rather forcefully until I was looking up at his face.
He was beautiful yet masculine; I could see that more clearly tonight and I didn’t try to look away. His features couldn’t have been more perfect except there was no warmth in his eyes.
There was a lust, however, clearly evident in every feature of his face that could not be denied. It emanated from him like a hunger. I wondered then if he was as attractive as I thought he was, or if I was responding to the sexual heat radiating off of him. It didn’t really matter, I knew, the end result was the same, but I couldn’t help but be curious.
Taking me by surprise, a wave of heat radiated out from deep within my core. Ashamed by my reaction to him, I rationalized that it was impossible not to react to the combination of his beauty and his evident desire.
But something wasn’t right. I’ll admit it had been a while since I had felt any great passion, but now in a matter of a few minutes I felt like I was on fire from the inside out. The heat had changed to a mild ache and a hunger that I simply couldn’t put into words. Hunger for everything. Everything that I had ever craved seemed to be running through my mind. Food, alcohol, sex, money. I wanted it all and I wanted him.
Motionless, I sat in front of him, not really knowing how to deal with what I was feeling. His mouth was on mine again, his lips were hungry for more than just blood. Reaching up with one hand, he pulled my shirt away with a single motion of his wrist.
Still not moving except the heaving of my chest, which I couldn’t stop despite my best efforts, I felt his arms reach around my back. The cool skin of his chest grazed mine for a millisecond as he unhooked my bra easily before pulling the straps slowly off my shoulders as he leaned away from me.
I felt totally exposed and I tried to look away from him, but he grabbed my face, holding it in place. Feeling a deep flush start at my cheeks and spread down onto my neck and my chest, I could do nothing but stare back at him. His eyes were so piercing that I couldn’t even shut mine. I had never felt so ashamed as I both hated him and wanted him at the same time.
His hands grasped my breasts, kneading them harshly and I watched as he leaned down and lightly licked my left nipple. I jerked and my back arched, pushing my breast farther into his mouth. I felt a slight sting as he lightly bit, his eyes never left the single thin line of blood as it ran down my body. I felt its warmth tracing down the contours of my abdomen and I tried to brush it away, but he caught my hand in his first.
Pushing me back into the carpet, he started where the blood trail ended on my lower abdomen and used his tongue to follow its path back up to the wound on my breast. Wrapping his tongue around my breast again, he gave one long draw before he moved on to the right side. Again he bit me lightly and then began swirling his tongue around my nipple until it was hard and firm. I continued to arch to him against my will. Lacing my fingers through his shoulder-length hair, I tried to hold him where he was and he didn’t fight me.
My entire body ached with desire for him and the knowledge that something was wrong didn’t change how badly I wanted him. I shouldn’t have been responding to him like this, but I couldn’t stop. Worse yet, I didn’t try to stop.
When he pulled his mouth away, I gasped and arched my back towards him again, begging him to help me. To put an end to this hunger that was eating me from the inside out.
Dropping his full weight on me, he fanned my hair out around my head, exposing both sides of my neck. It seemed his mouth was everywhere simultaneously. I couldn’t keep track of where he was or where he was going to be next. He alternated between soft kisses and sharp nips as he touched every part of my skin. He drew blood many times, but could have only taken small amounts since he moved on so quickly.
My skin tingled wherever his mouth touched me and soon there was a tingling line all the way down my belly. My skin burned with desire for him; wrapping my legs around his body, I tried to force him to me as the hunger continued to gnaw away at my sanity.
When he returned to my mouth, I wrapped my tongue around his. I wanted to consume him, so strong was my hunger. His desire seemed much more urgent now and I was dizzy with lack of oxygen when he finally lifted his mouth from mine.
Grabbing my hair once more, he pulled my head to the side. His mouth was hot from the heat of my blood and I felt his fangs serrate my skin more deeply this time.
With each bite and each beat of my heart, the hunger surged through my system more strongly than before. I could feel it spreading across my breasts and then down my abdomen and into my legs, all the way to the tips of my toes.
Bucking against him, I begged him again to finish this, to help me, but instead he pulled himself away from me and my grasping hands. Taking my neck in a firm hold, he lifted me slightly off the ground. Arching my breasts up to him again, I struggled in his grasp.
He was laughing now and although it registered he was laughing at me, at that moment, I simply didn’t care.
“What is it, Annalice? What do you want?” His voice was mocking but did nothing to stop my desire.
Breathless, I tried to answer. “You, please. I can’t take it anymore. Please.”
“Who do you belong to?” His full lips smiled down at me as he asked.
“Why are you doing this to me? I’m yours. Please just end this. I know you can.” I was breathless after only a few words.
Reaching for him, I pulled his mouth back to mine. I could taste my blood on his tongue and I bit him in return, grazing his tongue with my teeth. He pulled away abruptly as a small drop of his blood hit my tongue.
Still holding me slightly off the ground, we stared at each other for a millisecond before I was suddenly shoved back down into the carpet. Pushing my thighs apart, he pushed into me so hard that I thought my hips would dislocate.
Wrapping my legs around him, I pulled him in to me as deeply as I could. He was hard and thick and I struggled to pull him in further. His strokes were long and slow to begin with, but quickly became harder and more rhythmic.
I orgasmed at least three times before losing count. Sinking his fangs into my neck, he came forcefully into me. With his culmination of pleasure, I lost all rational thought as my mind floated in a haze.
I felt no pain at all from his bites, it was as if my body was under the control of some stimulant and every sensation had been converted into pure pleasure.
My hands were on his back and I could feel the muscles contracting along the length of his spine before he collapsed onto me. As I lay there underneath him, his chest against mine, he drank slowly from my neck. I could hear and feel each swallow. His lips were soft against my skin and the intimacy of it was almost overwhelming. This was singlehandedly the most erotic moment of my life and the muscles of my legs shook with the after-shocks.
Opening my eyes with the cool rush of air against my bare skin as he pulled away from me, I found him staring at me, an amused expression on his face.
“I told you it would be nice,” he observed as he rolled away and then was gone.
Not moving for several minutes, I lay on the carpet as the high slowly wore off and the shame at what I had just committed came over me. Like a crackhead coming down, I thought to myself as I ran my fingers through my very disheveled hair. I had behaved just like a crackhead. And the sensation hadn’t gone completely away with the orgasm. Hunger and thirst still hovered at the edge of my thoughts along with the desire for him.
Reaching down to grab my clothes, my eyes took notice of his clothes lying beside mine. Dropping my t-shirt back onto the floor, I sur
reptitiously grabbed his while glancing over my shoulder to make sure he was nowhere around. I could hear the shower running from my bathroom and so I turned my attention back to his clothes.
His thermal t-shirt was soft like it had been worn many times, but it was clean and the tag was from a very expensive store. Grabbing his jeans next, I hastily ran my hands down into each pocket finding nothing except a couple of hundred dollars bills and a ten. There was no identification of any kind. No license and no wallet. No keys. Not even any scraps of paper.
“Find anything interesting?” His voice unnerved me and my hands flew up slightly causing me to drop his jeans. The money floated down to the floor.
I could feel my face flushing with embarrassment as I turned to face him. He was standing in the door of my bedroom, water running in rivulets down his naked chest and abdomen to catch in the very low-slung towel.
“J…just trying to find out your name,” I stammered back at him. Looking down at the floor so my eyes wouldn’t hang up on the dark hair trailing down to parts of him that I couldn’t get off of my mind, I grabbed my clothes and walked towards the bathroom, feeling the need for a shower as well. He was gone from the doorway when I made it there and I was again wondering where he was and how he could move so fast.
Opening the bathroom door, I was brought up short at the sight of his pale skin through the glass shower door. It's just not every day you find a vampire in your shower.
It was the first time I had truly seen him, without his clothes on that is, in normal lighting. He seemed oblivious to my presence so I took the opportunity to study him
From where I stood now, he looked human. His skin was most definitely pale, but not such that it would stand out in casual passing. Physically he was in great shape and had the appearance of a man who had been accustomed to hard work, with tight muscles and essentially no body fat. He appeared to be in his late twenties as there was not a touch of gray in his hair and his skin was unwrinkled. Remembering his body on mine, I could feel the flush of shame crawling across my face again.