Recap: Vlad goes into Leila's room to apologize. Leila gets a call for an audition and gets into a playful game of kiss tag with Vlad. Leila stands up for Jean and Vlad convinces her to go back to Samoilacry for the audition. Are we clueless? You know the drill: go back and read.
(Leila's POV)
I love chocolate. How I survived the stay at Vlad's castle, I'll never know, but when I got back home in Samoilacry, I went nuts. I supposed that it was "heat" since vampires don't have periods, but the craving for chocolate drove me insane and I knew that it would get in the way once auditions got underway. To get my mind off of the chocolate, I busied myself with learning all the music to Miss Saigon before the auditions.
Vlad, thankfully, stayed out of my way, choosing to remain on a mostly nocturnal schedule. Jean was happier than a clam to be away from the castle, though I think the city atmosphere in Samoilacry kind of scared him. He opened the window and he practically jumped through the ceiling when he heard all the cars honking and people shouting. Granted, I don't live in the best part of town, but he'd have to get used to it.
I was practicing when I heard a thumping noise. I turned off my karaoke and turned to see Vlad standing in the doorway.
"You're really rather loud, my dear." He said tiredly.
"Sorry. I just don't want to have dragged you and Jean out here for no reason." He laughed.
"No reason? Have you see Jean? He's having the best time of us all."
"Speaking of Jean, have you seen him?"
"No. He probably went back to that... what did you call it?"
"The club?"
"Yes, that's the one." I laughed.
"No. That club only operates after sundown and closes after sunrise. Why do you think they call it the Vampire club? People still believe in that stuff."
"Then I'm at a loss. Did you give him your cell phone?"
"Oh, good idea." I picked up the landline and called my phone. No answer. "Jean, it's Leila. Just wondering where you are. Give me a call. Great..."
"Well, I suppose we should just wait for him, then."
"Sure and bore the heck out of myself."
"Well, do you want to do something? There's no rule that says that waiting has to be boring."
"Only when it's you, me, and the computer. I don't even have a TV in here. Hmm, I think I'll go practice hanging upside-down or something." I said, kind of rudely.
"Oh, that's nice."
"Isn't it? I'm sorry, I'm just really moody right now."
Vlad's eyes grew wide. He pulled me to him and inhaled my scent. He shuddered as he exhaled.
"Have you been craving for sweet things?" He asked.
"Yes, why?"
"You, my dear, are in heat." His head was at the crook of my neck.
"Vlad, I don't know if you remember, but you've already bitten me. That's no use."
"Who said I was going to bite you?" He looked at me, his black eyes hypnotizing and lulling. I had to pull away, but I couldn't.
"There are so many other things you could do to me. I don't trust you."
"I thought you did the first time you let me do this."
Vlad kissed me full on the lips as an example. He stared at me despite the close contact, waiting for a reaction. A reaction I refused to give, and yet I found my body complying. I started to quiver and he pulled away.
"You're shaking."
"I know. Can't help it. Sorry."
"First time. It happens."
"Not if I can help it."
I closed my eyes and pushed him away. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Jean walking in through the door. I jumped at the chance.
"Jean, where have you been?"
"Getting this for you." He replied, holding out a bar of chocolate. I smiled. "I had a little bit of a hard time finding the convenience store."
"Oh, how sweet. Thank you, you have no idea how much I need this." I hugged him.
I had recently discovered that he was only fourteen and it had changed my entire temperament toward him. I had originally thought that he had to be in his twenties at least because of the bags under his eyes and his very proportional build, but was proved wrong when he pulled out a birth certificate. Of course, Vlad wasn't too happy with how affectionate I was toward him because it took away my time. Living in the apartment made it more difficult to get time alone, too. He came up behind me.
"My dear, would you like to come to dinner with me?" He whispered in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"What kind of dinner?"
"Like human dating. We don't get a moment alone. If we leave Jean here and go out for a while, I don't think he'll mind. Besides, it seems we need some time to really get to know each other."
It was then that it hit me how much I didn't know about him. It had only been a month and we still didn't know anymore than the glimpses of each other's minds that we had seen.
"Where are we going?"
(Vlad's POV)
I was happy when Leila accepted my invitation to dinner, though I knew I'd need to find a place to go.
"Where do you want to go?" I asked her. She smiled.
"I have a little place in mind."
She had me dress in nice/casual clothes and took me to a restaurant called "The Lamp." It was a very nice place but, according to her, fit a tight budget. It was dark lit with lush transparent draperies in reds and purples, the seats covered in velvet of similar colors. All the wood was dark and it smelled of spices that reminded me of the Middle East. The floor was covered in hard wood an dark carpet with gentle gold vines weaving the design. In the center of each table was an old oil (genie type) lamp and a bud vase with a "black" or red rose despite the season.
Leila had decided to wear a long, angel sleeved black dress with subtle beading around the waist with black, sparkling high heels. She had put her hair up which skillfully displayed a tempting amount of her neck, though I knew I would need to behave myself in public though the restaurant was so dark that most people probably wouldn't have noticed.
When we walked in, the seating hostess seemed to recognize Leila and immediately got us a seat toward the back of the restaurant by a window with a view of the forested area just over the hill that the place sat. She went through her normal "waitress" schpiel (1) and then whispered something to Leila.
"Be nice, Luce." She said. "And no."
"Luce" shrugged and left us alone. Throughout the following conversation, I tried to get Leila to tell me what she had said, but she dodged each attempt without breaking the flow of discussion. We got our food (which wasn't much since neither of us had come here to eat and we both knew it) and continued talking. I discovered that, though I had been able to see into her head for a long time, I knew almost nothing about her.
Leila was a rather neglected girl. Though she had a father, stepmother, and a half brother, no one was ever really around. She got through her necessary schooling almost unnoticed by her parents who were too busy with their own lives and careers to even have problems in their marriage. Once she got into college, she realized that she could get recognition and, more importantly, money through her talents in the arts. She got a major scholarship, became a professional actress when she was 19, and broke into the musical theatre business at 21. Now 25, she had never dated seriously and, as I had teased her about, never had sex.
"You've had some amazing luck." I said.
"Not always so. I just had a little bit of rope to help me out of the hole, but I had to work just as hard to climb out." She replied. I smiled at her metaphor. "So what about you? I know what all the stories say, but what was your life really like?"
I told her everything; Lydia diving to her death, my denunciation of the church, and the ruining of the chapel. When Ilona, my second wife, came to marry me and when I went into battle in a forest, died, and woke up surrounded by soldiers, completely unharmed. I had no idea why I was still alive, though I later found out that I had been turned.
"I still have no idea what happened." I told her.
"You just... woke up?"
"Yes. Years later, I was supposedly killed accidentally by one of my own men. I was buried in a church and replaced myself with animal bones in the coffin. I thought that would make them leave me alone, but, obviously, that didn't work when they decided to open my grave."
"I always thought that was rather rude of them. Disturbing a grave. What ever happened to rest in peace?"
"I suppose."
Just then, a woman sitting at the table next to us turned around with a rather sour look on her face.
"Look, if you want to role play, you're free to do that but, please, not in a restaurant." She huffed. "It's just rude to those around you."
"I beg you pardon, ma'am, but neither of us are role playing." I replied. Leila caught my hand, as I opened my mouth to say more.
"Vlad, please. Just don't." She said.
"If that is the case, which I doubt," The woman said. "Don't discuss it here."
"Since it is the case, please refrain from eavesdropping on a conversation you don't wish to be a part of." Leila said politely, turning back to me. The woman stared at my back and turned around to continue talking to her husband.
"Very nice, my love." I said.
"Thanks. We should probably get going. I'm sure Jean is wondering what's taking so long."
We paid and left, getting home at nearly 9:30. Jean was asleep on the couch as I had expected and we just went to sleep. I slept with an unusual peace of mind knowing that I actually knew more about Leila than the fact that she was a beautiful descendant of mine.
Of course, it struck an interesting point that I felt for her as I would for a lover. Is that considered incest?
(1) Pronounced like "peel" with a "sh" in front. I'm not completely sure where this is from. It's probably some Yiddish word that's worked its way into my vocabulary. It loosely means a story or sales pitch. Basically, it was her scripted "hello, my name is," and "today's specials are" thing.
