Chapter 10- Hole

David felt the hole again. Isabel had really left her mark on him. But no more. She no longer had any claim to him. He felt so lonely. He had his boys, but his boys were no there for him to hold. What David had was not loneliness for company, but loneliness for a woman. Where was Evelyn, the stranger in the night?

Evelyn wanted to look good. She always thought she was pretty, she was blessed with good self-esteem, but she wanted David to know how pretty she was. She wanted him to think she was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous and how he would never leave her. Evelyn always like to be the one doing the leaving, not the one being left. She still didn't have David's number. She couldn't believe she still wanted to go out with David, after he had proved himself such a flake. Why would she trust a guy who she had a memory blackout with? 'Cause she was crazy and curious, that's why. Evelyn put on a plain black dress that poofed out at the skirt. She put on boots and a velvet ribbon round her neck and looked like a combat ballerina. It was a bit cool, so she took a velvet cape. She hoped David liked capes. She still didn't have David's number.

She waited at the boardwalk. She road the carousel over and over again. 'Find me, David,' she thought. She had his gloves, but she was wearing her own. She went up and down and up and down on her unicorn, waiting for David. She gave dollars and dollars to the attendant and felt dizzy when she got off. She stumbled into the crowd. Suddenly she felt like a freak. She was alone and dressed like a crazy person. She felt self-conscious. Ugly and stupid were the words that kept racing through her mind. Ugly in her clothes, stupid to wear them, and stupid to think David would come back.

And then there was Alice, her small pale frame reflecting the lights of the attractions. She had put silver glitter in her hair and over her eyes. Her lips shone with the same shade of silver, strange and fairy-like. Alice took her hand. David wasn't coming.

"What do you want to do?" asked Alice?

"I—I want to go home. To the hotel I mean. I wanna watch a movie." Evelyn had always love movies.

"I think I saw—"

"Yeah, you did. I did to. Max's Video. Let's go."

They walked, two pixies, into the garish lights of the video rental store. They saw a man, a rather benign looking specimen, smiling at them. He noticed Evelyn's heartbroken expression and Alice's inquisitively blank expression, staring at the world with wide, bright eyes.

"What do you want?" Alice whispered to Evelyn.

"Can I help you, ladies?" asked the kindly man, who clearly worked at the store.

"A familiar one," Evelyn whispered back.

Alice knew Evelyn's favorites. Interview with the Vampire, the Virgin Suicides, Queen of the Damned, Donnie Darko, Bram Stoker's Dracula and a slue of other vampire films. "Ah, you're horror section, please?" asked Alice. Strange that Evelyn and her looked to horror movies for comfort, or movies where all the main characters died.

The kindly man pointed them in the right direction. Evelyn looked for Queen of the Damned first, a simple plot, easy on the eyes, easy on the mind, but couldn't find it. She looked for Underworld, she really didn't feel like a vampire romance, but it, too, was missing. Interview with the Vampire, Dracula, all of them were missing. Evelyn didn't think you could have a video store and not have Dracula. Frankenstein and the Wolfman were all there, but no Dracula.

Alice asked the kindly man if they carried Underworld, being the most recently released on their list.

"No, I don't believe we do," answered the man, Max, by his nametag. "Can I assist you with something else?"

"Yes, ah, what about Queen of the Damned or Interview with the Vampire?"

Max shook his head.

"Not even Dracula?"

"I can order these titles for you if you want," said Max. Evelyn was giving him a strange look. How could you have a video store with no Dracula? It was like having a music store with no Beethoven, he was a classic.

They ended up getting Donnie Darko, but not before Evelyn had checked the premises for any fang flick at all. There were none. It was awful. It was terrible. She was in a town with a distinct lack of vampire movies. Oh, what a tragedy! Where was her beloved Lestat and Louis? Where was Prince Vlad cavorting around with Mina? Where was Selene, warrior of the night?

"Impossible," whispered Evelyn as they walked out the door.

Alice looked at her. She knew.

Suddenly a bright light blinded them. Evelyn put her gloved hand in front of her face and squinted. She could hear the motor and smell the gas: a motorbike. The light switched off, a lighter flicked on. A cigarette burned in the night. Pale hands raised the cigarette to his lips, hands that lacked their usual riding gloves.

"Gonna spend the night in, huh?" asked David motioning to the DVD in the shopping bag.

Evelyn was so happy to see him, but if he felt the same way about her as she did about him he should have come running to meet her, not left her hanging. "I waited for you?" David smiled, a man of few words. Evelyn thought his smile was sexy and devious, but she wouldn't let him know. Evelyn was at a loss. She didn't know what to say. She decided on bluntness. "I like you, David. I like your eyes and manner and the way you smell, but you left me in San Francisco, and when I came to see you again at the place we'd met before, you weren't there. You didn't even pass by. I waited till midnight. I'm not one for planning, but I wanted to see you. I thought you wanted to see me too. I was going to give you another chance, but there's things you're not telling me and right now you just seem flakey. So speak. C'mon. Tell me."

"What do you want to know?" asked David.

"Start answering my questions, David—"

"What? What? Your not even asking anything? 'Speak, speak,' is what you say but what do you want to hear?"

"Just—everything. Look, start with… San Francisco… or where you were tonight—"

"Hey, hey, hey," David said softly, walking up to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. 'Calm,' he told her mentally. 'Chill.' "I'm sorry. I said I'd see you tomorrow and to me it still seems like tomorrow. I'm sorry. Cool?" David wasn't in the habit of apologizing. He was, though, good at calming chicks down who were freaking out. "Hey," he whispered, stroking her face, "you wanna go somewhere?"

Evelyn wanted to go somewhere. She really, really wanted to go somewhere with David, 'cause it was Daviddaviddaviddaviddavid. Whoohoo! She looked at Alice. Her words turned doughy in her mouth. She didn't want to abandon Alice. "Go," said Alice. "I've got stuff to do." And Alice walked away.

Evelyn looked at David and started nodding her head.

David led Evelyn over to his bike. "We're going on that?" she asked.

"Yeah," said David. He searched her for apprehension; a lot of girls didn't like bikes, but Evelyn just hopped right on.

"My daddy used to have a bike. This one's smaller though," Evelyn said.

David raised his eyebrows. "What kind of bike did he have?" he asked.

"I dunno. It was a little shorter than this one in length, but it was a lot wider. We used to have two little mo-peds that looked like this." Evelyn was teasing him, insulting his bike.

"Did he ever take you on it?" David asked, already on the front part of the bike, looking back at her. He kicked up the kickstand.

"Yeah, sometimes," Evelyn answered.

"Bet he never went as fast as this," David said before taking off, rocketing out of the parking lot and into the street. That would show her David had a better bike then her father.

Evelyn shrieked a little bit when David took off so fast so suddenly. It was like when you were at the top of a rollercoaster and suddenly you tip over the highest part and go racing down. It was just a little scream, short and high. She had her arms around him and squeezed him so hard she thought he would have to tell her to stop because he couldn't breathe, but he didn't. She could feel his abdomen muscles tightening underneath his two coats.

They pulled up at the back of a movie theater. The midnight movie was playing and passing by she could see it was Night of the Living Dead. David got off the bike and pulled Evelyn off and kissed her roughly on the mouth. He pulled her along towards the movie theater and they went in the backdoor. Evelyn had never been moved with such force by a date, but David moved gracefully. He was moving so fast… he was weirdly strong for someone with such a slight frame underneath all that clothing. He turned and smiled at her. His smile was cool and gentle and didn't match up with the quick way he was moving. He was holding her hand and he seemed to shoot up the steps the back row without making a sound. He moved with such grace, and Evelyn was clunking up the stairs after him, her movements jerky from being pulled.

"You went so fast," Evelyn whispered when they had sat down.

David looked concerned for a moment, his cool sly smile faltering. "Did I?" he asked. He was looking right at her again, his smile back. Evelyn pushed the armrest/drink holder that was between them up.

Then they were kissing, and not gentle kissing either. David kissed her roughly, beastly. He held her tightly and she liked feeling so loved to be held so tight. But he was so surreally strong; it was like he could break her in two if he wanted. He didn't seem to be straining though… funny.

David hadn't meant to go so fast up the stairs. He was just going and he was excited. David liked kissing. He realized in mid-kiss that he was probably squeezing too hard. Usually when he had some girl in his arms he was trying to prevent them from escaping. She was surely noticing his vampire strength now.

Oh, how he wanted to taste her blood again. It had been so sweet like sugar. He had to concentrate very hard to keep from slipping into fang and accidentally massacring her sweet face. Suddenly David had a feeling he hadn't had in a while: danger. There was hardly any danger to him so he hardly even sensed danger, but he realized now that he was a danger to her. They finally broke apart for air and as Evelyn laid her head on his chest, her arms entangled around his neck, David realized his vampire instincts wouldn't let her go. Too many nights of practice kept his arms locked around her. She seemed too much like prey.

Evelyn was going to sit up and watch the end of the movie which had already started before they came in and realized she couldn't move David's arms. She sat up but he was still holding her, not as tightly as before in terms of pressure, but she couldn't break free. David was staring straight at the screen. He seemed to be watching the movie awfully intently. She wasn't too alarmed that David wouldn't let her go, so she turned and watched the movie. David was surely an odd fellow. Most guys just put their arm around your seat back, but David had both his hands planted firmly on her, his arms encircling her. She laid her head on the seat back. She hadn't realized how sleepy she was.

'Sleep,' David had told Evelyn's mind. 'Notice nothing,' and so she did. She slept on the seat amidst the screams of the zombie victims.

David carried her out to his bike. He was going to have to do something about this. 'Bite,' his subconscious told her. 'Just a taste, remember? Remember how delicious she was?' David tried… but it was the only thing he could think of to do. His vampire nature had a hold of him; convincing him the only logically choice was to have a snack. That would appease his vampire instincts. He'd let go of her, heal the wound with his blood, and who would ever know? No one.

David smiled. He knew what he had to do. He laid her out on the motorcycle. He was already morphed, fangs and all. He wondered when that had happened. In the theater? Walking out into the back parking lot? He didn't care just now. With a practiced motion he took her head in his hands, moving her hair away, and tilting her head sideways. He covered her mouth, just in case. 'Don't wake up,' he instructed her, and then he bent over and chomped down. He didn't take a piece out of her, just punctured the skin. The blood flowed out quickly, as it always did, as if it were all clamoring to get into his mouth.

Evelyn's face twitched, and that was all. David pulled himself away. It was always so hard to do. He bit into the pad of his finger and smeared the blood, his blood, onto the neck wound. It healed within a minute. He smiled. He felt much better now.

"Evelyn?" he asked, trying to seem quiet and gentle.

"Mmm," was all she said.

"You fell asleep, Evelyn," David said to her, softly.

"Did I?" she raised her head and made a funny face. She rubbed her neck. "I must have. God, my neck is sore."

"C'mon, Evelyn. You gotta stay awake so I can get you home. You can't fall off," said David.

"Mmm, okay," Said Evelyn sleepily. She was soooooooo groggy. She looked at David. Her face faltered for a moment. Groggy. Groggy again. But it was much more likely that she had just fallen asleep in a dark room.