Claire got up, still a bit confused from the night before but she knew that she had to focus on her normal daily life.
So she went to the bathroom and took a long, steamy shower to wash off the the strange memories from yesterday while the cd player on the shelf played Joy Division. Claire enjoyed the tingling feeling of the hot water on her back and closed her eyes. But soon she saw that face again. That beautiful face with those piercing eyes that made her knees shake back in the park and let her forget everything around her. As much as she wanted to, she could not forget the face that seemed more and more attractive to her. As she sat in her small kitchen afterwards and ate cereal those eyes stared at her before her inner eye. When she choosed the clothes for the day they stared at her and when she got dressed they stared at her. Claire sat down on her bed and let out a sigh. On one hand she would be really glad if she would not have to meet the man, that scared her like nothing before, again but on the other she slightly began to understand she couldn't forget him either.
Sunken into her thoughts, Claire laid down on her bed. She came to the conclusion that she simply had to force herself to forget him because there was basically no other option. She looked at the clock. There was still one hour until she had to get to work. So she turned on the TV which she usually barely used to get some distraction.
Claire laid on her white sheets and a breeze came through her open balcony door, making her shiver. "How is my little human?" Her heart stopped for a second because of her surprise to hear this voice in her mind again. She turned around to get rid of her thoughts only to get an even bigger shock. The man laid there, right next to her on her bed. Claire was not scared at all. Her eyes widened but no scream left her mouth. The man didn't wear the same strange clothes as the last time they met, he just had on a black v-neck shirt and black jeans. The simplicity of this outfit underlined his sharp facial contours even more and Claire stared into those red eyes that were finally right next to her. He grinned at her. Claire finally had the guts to simply say "Hi" and smile back a bit shy. This behavior was not typical for her, not even slightly. He said nothing, just smiled widely and laid his hand on her cheeck, stroking her face with his thumb very lightly. His touch felt cold on Claire's skin but her cheek heatened up nevertheless. "You didn't tell me your name yet", said Claire, her voice shaking. "It's Alucard, if it matters to you" came the reply in Claire's mind. He smiled at her with his pointed white teeth. Claire just wished he would kiss her or talk to her more, she just wanted to feel or at least hear him. Of course he knew what Claire was thinking about and laughed quietly. She couldn't stand it anymore and leaned in to kiss him, Alucard didn't seem to refuse it and didn't move. But before their lips could meet, Claire's phone rang.
She roused and answered her phone out of breath. "Hello?!" "Claire! Where are you! Your shift already began and the Grill is full! Anna is alone and can't handle it on her own. You know that she is new!" Claire looked through the bedroom window, the streetlights were already on. "I'm so sorry! I'm coming immediately!"She stormed out of her flat, only taking her cell phone, keys and leather jacket.
On the train she thought about what she just dreamed. Was his name really Alucard or was this something her mind just made up? Well, it was just a dream so it could not be his real name but at least the face had a name referring to it in her mind now. Claire arrived at the Grill, headed to the dressing room directly and changed into her working clothes. She started her shift to the relief of her boss before the Grill was totally crowded. It was Friday so a lot of people were there. Claire had always gotten a lot of compliments and stupid pickup lines but tonight she decided, she would just go with it, she deserved a little bit of fun after her day had been a complete mess.
The shift was very busy and Claire didn't stand still for a second. But every time some jerk that she would usually have refused offered her a drink or liquor, she took the offer and drank to keep those eyes out of her mind and worked on. The shift passed fast because Claire had drunken quite a bit over the evening and didn't realise she was really drunk until she got out of the Grill to go to the train station and had struggle to put her jacket on. She walked towards the park, with a tiny bit of hope to meet Alucard, if that's what he was called, again. She walked along the street quite straight but a stone let her stumble and she almost fell when a pair of strong arms would not have catched her from behind. With those arms around her waist Claire had struggle to breath so she tried to get out of the arms and wanted to thank whoever saved her from falling on the ground. But instead she heard something. "Don't even try it. You're drunk and I'm stronger than you anyway, darling" The voice was back in her mind! And now she understood whose arms those were.
Claire didn't know what to say, she was paralyzed like a young deer in front of a car. The man stroked her neck with his index finger and lowered his face to breath into the point where her shoulder met her neck. "You smell so good, Claire"
-Song of this chapter: Gemma Ray- Touch Me I'm Sick:
"Gonna give you, boy
Everything I've got.
Touch me I'm sick "-