Chapter 2
By SuzsPetals ©2015
Provisions
Garrett strolled through the aisles, suppressing an amused grin that threatened to draw attention from other shoppers. He hadn't been in a grocery store in quite some time, simply taking the meager provisions he required in his travels when the need arose. The products humans consumed were baffling.
Count Chocula.
Twinkies.
Dr. Pepper.
Rock Star.
Poppycock.
The names were ridiculous enough but what on earth did people put into their bodies in this era? What kind of rubbish sustained them? Garrett could recall the simple and vital supplies provided at markets and mercantile businesses throughout the centuries of his existence and these bright, obnoxious venues of greed were offensive by comparison.
Garrett winced when he realized none of the grocery store customers would likewise understand his diet or particularly the way he consumed it. Yes, the moose he drained several days earlier would surely raise some eyebrows.
More than two hundred years of living in a rapidly civilized country meant that the former patriot — circa 1776 — had mingled among humans well after his change to immortality. He had bought supplies for his years of nomadic life and of course had hunted the mortals when survival called for it. He was an intelligent man who quickly realized a balance was necessary to live like a man — not an animal, even when he killed like one.
Of course everything had changed when he happened upon the mystifying Russian earlier in the year. At first he was sure Kate was a madwoman, killing and burying a bear in the remote wilds of Alaska. He had never heard of, much less met, an immortal who bucked their true nature and sated their thirst with animals.
He had never asked for this life but wars were prime feeding grounds for vampires and he still remembered clearly waking with a thirst far more powerful than his appetite for independence and freedom from England's tyranny. Eventually Garrett mastered his blood lust and explored the spectacular nation he had fought for, feeding when he needed to. Quietly, discreetly, but necessarily.
Until he met Kate.
The attraction was instantaneous. The way she lifted her chin in challenge when explaining about her family and their unique choices. Garrett had seldom seen more than two of his kind travel together in all of his time, so five living together; settled in one place for years. Unprecedented, to be sure.
By time he had passed one day with Kate he knew he would take the challenge. And in time, it was easy and oh so worth the look of satisfaction on her face. There was even a lightness to his spirit that he couldn't articulate to her, but then again she probably understood better than he.
So it was as a result of his new life that found him in this too-bright, mind-numbing shrine to 21st century American consumerism. Since the coven kept a residence — and kept up appearances when the situation called for it — there were occasional trips to the supermarket for toiletries, and even some human food to keep on hand.
Tanya, Kate's sister, was being particularly churlish — or bitchy — as today's kids would say, so Garrett volunteered to make a run for provisions. He found them easily enough and then amused himself by trying to figure out what the product was by its name. After Preparation H tripped him up, he paid for his items, pretending not to notice how nervous he made the cashier. It was familiar territory with humans.
He kept an easy pace across the lot, planning to run home at his true speed once he was swallowed by the forest across the street. A battlement of clouds were approaching from the north and cars at the store were scarce as everyone raced to beat the storm. Garrett would be pressed up against Kate well before the first snowflake hit the ground.
Looking around to see if anyone would be curious about a shopper without an automobile or one who simply walked into the wilderness with his purchase, Garrett's attention was drawn to the lone person in the lot. A young woman was struggling with two overburdened grocery bags while digging in her pocket book, presumably for keys. Her situation wasn't improved by her precarious balance on a pair of shoes that resembled horses hooves.
Two and a half centuries walking the earth and he still didn't understand women's fashion.
It was easy to see that gravity was about to exacerbate the poor lass's situation and Garrett glided over as quickly, yet humanly, as possible. As he arrived she pulled the keys from the confines of her hand bag while the two sacks of cans, rice, produce and more slipped from her hands.
Garrett easily snagged the bags before anything tumbled out or they hit the ground. He must have been a bit faster than he planned because she bent to retrieve them, confused by her empty arms.
She rose and gaped at him.
The girl's brow furrowed in confusion. Her expression was distant, her mind seemingly muddled. Garrett could tell at once that it had nothing to do with his sudden appearance. The girl had troubles apart from scattered groceries or impending storms.
She smiled uncertainly.
"Uh, thanks."
Her hair was several different shades, some natural, some not. Hazel eyes took in Garrett's appearance and there was the typical flicker — the instinctive flinch masked by good manners. She fiddled nervously with her keys and hitched her hand bag higher on her shoulder.
"Of course," he replied, offering a smile he hoped would put her at ease. She fluttered like a bird preparing to flea a predator, and he acknowledged that her reaction wasn't that wrong. He took a step back. "Where's your car, Miss? I'm sure you want to get these home before the snow arrives."
The young woman's eyes tightened at the word 'home' and Garrett absently wondered what caused her so much tension.
"Yeah... yeah. Good idea." Her head bobbed nervously as she headed toward one of the few cars remaining in the dimly lit lot. She tottered on the platform shoes so precariously that Garrett feared he would need to save her from a tumble as well as her groceries.
Just then the wind shifted and a cruel gust swirled around the girl, whipping her jacket open and her hair flying in several directions at once. As though orchestrated by a devious poltergeist, it blew her heady scent right at Garrett.
He faltered. Why had he not noticed it before? She had been standing much closer than this.
It was a miasma of sandalwood and fresh air. Tinged with a breath of desperation, it was intoxicating nonetheless. Garrett's eyes widened at the observation and he clenched his jaw and stopped breathing. He had been around plenty of humans since following Kate into a new life. Why would this one lost soul trigger such a reaction?
Suddenly Garrett wanted nothing more than to get this lass in her vehicle with her bags and send her on her way. Away from him.
Fortunately she was approaching a beat up sedan that appeared to be held together with spit and hope. It was the color of decaying leaves and Garrett thought it smelled about the same. Minus the hope.
She turned and smiled apologetically while fumbling with her keys. The scent continued to come off of her in waves and Garrett gritted his teeth and thought of Kate. Waiting at home. Believing in him. The girl opened the car door and swore colorfully under her breath.
Before he could inquire as to the source of her anger, he knew. Time froze as the first of many delicate snowflakes drifted lazily from the gray sky. He saw where her hand skimmed the torn metal trim lining her car door. He registered the fine rivulet of scarlet blossom from the edge of her palm.
And he inhaled the ambrosia he had forsaken so many months ago for the woman he loved.
Completely unaware of her idiocy and lack of self-preservation, the girl half-turned to Garrett and lifted her hand as though explaining her unexpected burst of profanity. The blood swelled from the wound and she cursed again, still holding her hand mere inches from his face.
Garrett hadn't drawn a breath since her scent first wafted over him but the sight of her blood – so little, actually – awakened the creature he thought long gone. He inhaled deeply, with intention. His eyes hooded and without a conscious thought he placed the bags on the hood of the automobile and reached for the hand.
She gasped, whether it was the quick movement or the abrupt change in demeanor, he didn't know. It mattered not as his tongue darted out, cleaning her hand of any trace of blood.
The animalistic rumble that rose from Garret's chest may have startled the girl, but before she could react she hissed, distracted by the pain. The venom seared her skin and she winced, taking a step back.
Garrett stepped forward.
One moment she was focusing on the unexpected pain and then she looked up at his face and must have seen the monster he used to be. Her pretty face crumpled in fear.
Without allowing himself to process the decision, Garrett looked around the lot and toward the store. There were no prying eyes, no tell-tale heartbeats of nearby voyeurs. He wrapped his arm possessively around the girl's waist and before she could register what was happening he carried her the hundred yards across the road and into the woods. In the next moment they stood in the silence of a heavily wooded glen.
Silent but for her heavy breathing. The speed had flustered her and she looked around in confusion. Her panting propelled more of the damning scent into Garrett's face. As her eyes settled on Garrett's own heretofore harmless amber eyes, a scream began to rise in her chest.
Safe now in the shrouded forest, Garrett instinctively covered her mouth with his hand. The cold skin accelerated her terror and her body stiffened as she tried to struggle. Uselessly.
Kate's patriot was gone. In his place was the creature not claimed by anyone's God.
Garrett was suffused with the animal blood consumed three days prior — and all of the animals he had gladly drank in the past year — for Kate. But this was different. This wasn't about survival or satiating a need. This was thirst for the sake of thirst.
The panic and blood pressure caused the young girl to hyperventilate and the veins on her neck stood out in relief. It was mesmerizing. The girl's self-preservation kicked in and she tried to push him away, gripping his upper arms. From the wild look in her eyes, she surmised just how immovable her attacker was. He held her a little tighter and felt a few ribs crack beneath his hands. Her cry of pain was subdued behind his hand.
Inhaling deeply, he breathed in the blood scent, evoking the thousands of lives he ended. It all but obliterated the soft musky scent of Kate long enough to allow more than two centuries of habit and nature to take over.
Garrett pushed her head back and lowered his lips to the frenzied pulse at her throat. She struggled again, seeming to realize what was about to happen, even if she didn't understand it. The life-force running through her was a siren; full of rhythm and anxiety.
Calling him.
The handsome, deadly immortal parted his lips against the girl's carotid, pausing to relish the sensation before sinking his teeth into her vulnerable throat. He groaned and almost sagged with lust. And satisfaction. The blood flowed down his throat, a sensuous river with primal feeders.
The girl's muffled scream turned to a high keening as the venom hit her bloodstream with a vengeance. Intellectually, he knew it was excruciating and in his old life Garrett would end the life before the pain kicked in. But now he perversely realized that the fear and the agony and even the awareness flooding the girl's senses were all part of the rush.
He hardened with each panicked beat of her heart.
After only a few seconds — that managed to feel like a lifetime — Garrett released her throat and exhaled with a moan. The girl was clearly in shock. Her eyes were unfocused, pupils dilated as she faded. Her hands that had clutched at his arms dropped to her side. He took his hand from her mouth and brushed her hair from her face. One desperate look at Garrett and her head lolled back, her eyelids fluttered.
He had no intention of turning another being into this life so without pause he returned to her neck and drank deeply; taking it all until her pulse stuttered and her blood was gone.
He lingered, remembering how this felt. How euphoric it was to feel a life run through his body. Sustaining him.
As he had so long ago, Garrett — the freedom fighter from a time of justice and principles — felt righteous. He felt the warm blood flow through his inhuman body with a purpose. He was a predator just as the grizzly or the mountain lion, doing what was necessary to survive.
A low, unearthly growl rose from his throat as the life of the girl dissipated into the swirling flakes, invisible to everyone but her maker. Garrett dropped her and she landed like a sack of mismatched bones, her eyes stared unseeing at the sky. A delicate flake landed on her lashes, melting slowly.
With her body desiccated and the cold weather seeping into the surrounding woods, Garrett's senses returned quickly. He looked at the pale corpse in horror — not for what he had done, but for what someone else would see.
Kate.
[[Dear readers, I found this on a flash drive, edited it, and posted without over-thinking. Thanks for reading. And there's more...]]