Chapter Seven

Jess leaned back against her headboard in an oversized night shirt and skimpy shorts to try to read one of her romance novels she'd bought a week ago. It was your average man meets woman, man wants woman, man takes woman. She hadn't found anytime to read lately and it felt wonderful to sit down and relax. But the minute the characters became involved in a steamy love scene, Jess quickly had to put it down realizing her mind had slipped from envisioning her flamboyant characters in a passionate embrace to imagining herself wrapped in Luke's masculine embrace. And that just wouldn't do. She'd drive herself crazy if she kept thinking like that, or in the least not get any sleep.

It seemed she hadn't had a true nights rest in days. Ever since their date together, Jess hadn't been able to get Luke off her mind. No matter how hard she tried. Mostly Jess kept herself busy with painting, her two jobs and cleaning her apartment over again though she'd just cleaned it two days prior. Things like that. And now she couldn't even enjoy her books, her face was so flushed with desire. What was wrong with her? She'd never responded to a man like this before. She definitely wouldn't call herself overzealous when it came to sex, in fact quite the opposite. From her past experiences with men, Jess avoided the act if and at all possible. She knew some women enjoyed it, but Jess was not one of those women. So she was flabbergasted from her heated thoughts of Luke.

Jess tossed the romance novel down on the nightstand and picked up a non-fiction on Critical Thinking Of Modern Art. That would most certainly keep her thoughts far from a certain built, very attractive man.

She fixed her a glass of water from the kitchen and plopped back down on the bed going over a few chapters that Jess figured would help her in viewing her own works of art. There were always ways to improve and different techniques she wanted to try. That was the beauty about art, there's no specific way one goes about creating it. An artist could use any material, any mediums, media, locations, devices, people, whatever…and it still be considered art because the artist says so. As long as you have a good concept or reasoning behind your motives of creation, it's art.

Finally after another hour of studying, Jess's eyes began to droop, continued to lose her place in the book and almost dropped her head into her chest. She'd successfully taken her mind off of Luke and now she happily turned the lights out to try to get at least a good six hours of sleep before her telemarketing job started bright and early.

Jess curled on her side and dug her face into the soft, clean smelling pillow. She wouldn't think about Luke and she wouldn't think about that creepy man in the store today. Her life certainly wasn't perfect, but she was content at the moment, languorously floating off into a dream of rich colors of paint everywhere and pictures lifting off their canvases coming alive before her. Her head buzzed inside the safe dream, whisking her to different places. She quickly ignored the dark mass in the back of her mind where Luke's face became partially visible. He was such a beautiful man; Jess couldn't understand why he looked so threatening to her. She stepped closer to ask why he'd come, but the darkness around his head and torso built to a palpable thickness and began reaching towards her like fingers. His eyes were glowing red, Luke slowly leaned towards her. A heavy pressure of alarm built within, making her stomach rumble and hands shake. Luke stared at her hungrily as if she were the prey.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why are you doing this?"

All he said was, "You are mine, Jessica." His face receded into the black mass.

When Jess woke up not twenty minutes later, she grimaced looking at the clock; she slowly became aware of the dark shadow lurking at her window. At first she thought it was just the lingering bizarre dream, but her nerves were still on edge.

Normally there was a spot of yellow light shining through her blinds from the street lamp, but a bulky black shape stood outside her window instead making her heart hammer in her chest. She snapped up in bed and froze not sure what to do. Oh God, oh God, she thought. Luke? No, it couldn't be. He wouldn't be lurking outside her apartment. It had to be someone else. The man from the store? Or was it the man that had followed her home a week ago.

Reaching for her cell phone, Jess fumbled over her nightstand knocking over books and her glass of water splattered onto the carpet. The figure twisted around to peer inside again. Jess sucked in her breath, too afraid to do anything to draw attention to herself. Surely, the man couldn't see her through the window. It was completely dark in her room.

It took a second to slowly slip from the bed onto the floor on her knees, keeping the bed between her and the figure. Her fingers severely shook as she flipped the phone open and started to dial the detective's number. The window groaned as the figure attempted to lift it open. Jess squeaked and punched in 911 instead. Her hands were shaky enough without having to overdo it with a bunch of numbers she could easily foul up.

All of a sudden glass shattered into the room, sprinkling down on the bed and Jess's body behind it. She couldn't help the scream escape. Her legs were jello as she raced and stumbled knocking her shoulder into the door facing from the bedroom into the living room. He was coming for her. Jess had no idea who the man was, but she felt in her bones this man had come to kill her.

oo

The crime scene was surprisingly clean and neat. Sebastian hid in a nearby alley way underneath a cover of shadows from between two tall buildings. None of the flow of human traffic realized he was there lurking, but the moment he'd reached the area his enhanced senses kicked into overdrive. And the first thought that crossed Sebastian's mind was immortal. This was no average killer. He could smell it in the bitter air sweeping across the streets. This guy was strong, brutal and efficient. The bodies were drained completely. Stiff dry to the bone corpses.

There was a major difference between this vampire and himself. If it wasn't for the willing humans allowing him to steal their life force, he'd eventually wither away himself. Slip into a permanent coma state to be exact. Vampires never truly die unless someone decapitates them…the only known way to kill one. But to make a point, Sebastian never tortured his victims or intentionally took their lives just for sport. As much as he'd love to kill some ridiculous humans in this world, he never put his thoughts into actions. His humans he fed from were just that, a means of survival.

This immortal…this vampire thrived in the attention his victims received after the kill and the fear they obviously felt while being stalked and hunted down like rats. It was much more about the actual act of killing these women than drinking their blood to survive. Whoever this guy was spelled trouble with a capital T. And Sebastian knew he had to watch Jess closely if he didn't want anything happening to her. Vampires were dangerous in their own right, but a brutal murdering vampire that thrives on the hunt of innocent women was even more dangerous.

Sebastian had flung himself in the sky like a bullet and landed on a rooftop directly over the crime scene to get a closer look. To his benefit every human in a five-block radius was focused on the chaos around the crime scene. Four different police vehicles flashed along the side streets, blue uniforms buzzing around everywhere from the body to the crowd now forming, medical examiners, even detectives. That wasn't a good sign.

Fortunately for Sebastian, not one person noticed his shot put into the sky, but then again, he hadn't made any noise to alert of his presence either. Humans were known for their oblivious nature to their surroundings. However, he was very aware of his.

The woman sprawled out on the concrete had light brown hair, petite facial features, and skin that had probably once been a beautiful cream before this horrid pasty color had replaced it in death. No blood, no more would this young woman's cheeks redden in a beautiful blush much like Jess's had when he looked at her.

She had been a beautiful young woman. It was sad, but also inevitable. There will always be murderers not only in the vampire race, but human race as well. And unfortunately for all, this murderer happened to be a brutal vampire. Sebastian knew there was no way these humans were going to catch this immortal. Vampires are just fantasy, therefore don't exist. It would take a vampire hunter who is well knowledgeable of their kind or another vampire to rid of this killer. And Sebastian had no intention of going out searching for trouble. If there ever was need to track this vamp down and kill him, Sebastian would, but until then the cops were on their own on this one.

One of the suited men, probably a detective of some sort, lifted his radio he'd been caring around with him since arriving on scene. A fuzzy woman's voice sounded through the black speaker. Her name was Marcy. She informed the cop there had been a break in not too far from the crime scene. A woman, he noticed the detective knew. After Marcy spouted out the address, Sebastian's stomach dropped. It was Jess's address.

Sebastian flew from the rooftop into the night air, jumping on top of neighboring buildings. Never giving thought to who might see, nor did he care. Jess was in trouble and Sebastian could get there well before the cop ever emerged his vehicle from the mass of gathered humans. Oh please let him get there in time. For once in his miserable existence, Sebastian pleaded he wouldn't lose the first person he'd ever come to care for.