Eric

The pain is irresistible.

I try to scream – the pain looking for a way out, trying to escape from my body in any form possible – but I´m unable to. The hand that was at my neck now travels further down my body, feeling every part of me. He cups me around my legs and suddenly my legs are off the ground as he lifts me. His arms retrace their journey back up to my body until they stop at the bottom of my spine. His fingers spread out and his legs begin to move. I can´t see where he stops or where he drops me, but its soft. All this happens whilst his fangs draw more and more blood from me, every sip leaving me weaker than I have ever been before.

He climbs over me, each of his legs at either side of mine restricting my struggles. His free hand travels up my legs; then moves softly but unexpectedly under my sweater. But above all these sensations, the pain is the one touch of his I feel the most. It's vivid. His lips, still drinking from me suck the life out of me as his fangs rip my skin into shreds.

Then…

it´s over.

He releases his hand from my mouth, letting me groan a molested response. It aches. I ache. Every part of me aches. The pain; it´s like a burning hole in my neck. He pulls back, his touch leaving my body and its absence leading my eyes to blink up in response. He's still above me, admiring the mess I am.

As my eyes begin to flutter tired and weakly, he drops his head back over me again and before I can flinch a refusal at him, he plants a soft kiss on the open wound at my neck, cooling the fire that´s erupted within me.

Bringing his hand towards his lips, he bites into his wrist, creating a small wound on himself. His blood – evident from the sheets around me – begins to pump out, leaking onto me and making its way to join mine on the sheets, creating a bloody pool that surrounds us. He then brings his hand down to my lips.

"Drink," he orders.

I do as he says, unable to put up the least of a fight with him. I think about the poison he'll feed me but I am weak and the facts about our meeting that flutter quickly through my mind, reminds me he is old.

However, the minute I feel his blood slide down my throat I feel healed. I am healed. It tastes so wonderful that I forget everything: the situation, my father, Kyle's worry, my worry… I can only feel myself, this vampire and his blood.

His other hand makes its way up my face, his palm settling over my cheeks that come to life the more I taste of him. He begins by brushing the hair from my eyes, but then moves to caressing every inch of my face. He smiles and then takes a deep breath, enjoying the moment. How does this feel to him? I wonder.

"That's enough," he whispers. He removes his hand away from my lips slowly, holding my face still with his other hand. I lift my arms, wanting to grab onto his wrist for one last taste but he yanks it out of the way, settling it on the bed beside him. From the corner of my eye I see as his wound slowly heals, closing the path to his rich blood, my life elixir. I blink up at him.

He leans over me and immediately grabs something from behind me as his legs still straddle me. I do not attempt to move, fearing that the wound in my neck will burst and ache like it was aching before. When I can see his body again, I realize he's holding a rope.

Brushing all my fears aside, he startles me by simply grabbing my two hands as he ties them together with the rope. Then with another rope he ties my hands to one of his, forming a bracelet around his wrist. I notice that the wrist is the very same one that he fed me from. Nevertheless, there is no evidence in it to prove that only seconds ago it had been open, gushing blood out to save me. He ignores my stares and grabs a third, smaller piece of rope, and this time puts it through the rope at my hands, so that I am then tied to the bed, as well as him, making my escape even harder.

"As much as I'd like to stay up all day and feed from you, a guy needs his beauty sleep," he says as a-matter-of-fact and smiles. Then his mood changes and a serious glare forms. "I hope you don't try to escape. If you do, you will be punished human."

I look up at him, and believe to see the return of his heart-warming smile on his face, as if he doesn't entirely mean what he's just said. He then leans back down, kissing my wound with his lips one last time, hovering by my neck long enough to panic me. I feel his breath tickle below my ear and though he doesn't even touch me, sparks erupt within me and the electricity between us shocks my body, bringing it back to life. He lies back down beside me, and pulls me round, so that we both lie on our sides facing each other.

His free hand grasps my hips and pulls me closer towards him, so that he is able to rest his chin on top of my head. He puts his arm around me, and with his index finger begins to draw circles on my back. He breathes in, inhaling the smell of my hair, and I can't keep myself from mirroring him, by inhaling that sweet scent of his chest.

"What's your name?" He asks firmly.

I pause for too long, afraid. I don't know whether or not to answer him, but when I do, it's in my head. My lips betray me and a quiet sound erupts.

"Ronnie," I whisper with fear.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen," I whisper again. I clear my throat.

"Well, Ronnie, my name's Eric and I'm 1024 years old, today," he says. I can feel the proud smile on his face. The age doesn't shock me. A strong and old vampire like him would be able to wrestle any threats away. Most wise hunters, knowing of his age wouldn't even take the risk.

His casual chit-chatter relaxes me and I find myself brave and conversing with him.

"Sorry to have crashed your party," I smirk sarcastically. The minute the words are out however I regret them. I have just been tortured beyond repair and I hate to think what he could do to me.

Deep down I know this is wrong. This should never be allowed. When have I ever paused to chit-chat with a vampire? My father would never allow it and I feel betrayed... by myself. I hate Eric. I hate him because he is just like the rest of them – he's keeping me prisoner, feeding from me, and he probably knew the monster that killed my mother.

He laughs, obviously unaware of the thousands of escape roots I am planning in my head. "Trust me; you're the best birthday present ever. Your blood tastes perfect, Ronnie," he says. My name on his lips sounds perfect.

I don't answer, and we lay quietly and thoughtfully for a few minutes. When I think he's asleep he speaks again.

"Why do you and your friend hate our kind so much?" he asks, his voice an interesting tone. "I mean, you're beautiful. You could have the ordinary life of a seventeen year old girl. The parties, the guys, the alcohol - "

"Being taken or killed by a vampire. Sure, that's the life I want for myself." I interrupt him before he can continue to praise me.

"Come on Ronnie," he moans. "Something must have happened for you to choose this life."

I decide to give up and tell him the truth.

"My friend and I, we both lost our mothers because of your kind," I say darkly and emotionless.

"I'm sorry," he says, as I feel him freeze besides me and for a second I believe he means it. Of course he does, "I lost my mother to a vampire as well. Then my maker, he turned me on my 20th birthday, 1004 years ago. He said he was giving me the gift of eternal life."

I gulp, guilty and sad for him because he had no choice. Do any of them do? "Of course, I've learnt to deal with what I am and right now, in this moment in time, I'm pretty damn happy I never died a thousand years ago." His comment knocks me off balance because it's odd. "I've gotten to meet you. You're the first human I've been interested in."

His flattery tricks me, and suddenly, a small portion of me begins to 'like' this being. How can I feel this, about the one creature I most hate in this world?

Time pauses, but as he begins to hum a lullaby, I fall asleep in this stranger's arms. I run out of time to question everything I've ever thought right.

I wake up, nestled in between Eric's arms. He's holding onto me tightly and as I look down at our hands, they are still entwined together. He's still. I could be huddled by a stone statue for all I knew if it wasn't for his bare chest beside me. His stillness leads me to believe he is still asleep but when I look up at him, he disproves my theory. He is wide awake – his bright red eyes are open staring down and startling me. His smile however, and the soft brush of his fingers over mine does the opposite and relaxes me.

"I could watch you all night," he whispers, ceasing the sweet caresses and beginning to untie the rope around my hand. I flinch when his cold hand once again brushes my fingers, and then give him an apologetic smile. He smiles back.

The smile touches my heart, and I find myself blushing. Yesterday's question flashes in my mind again. How can I feel this? How can I resist this man, if that's what he is? Statistically I weigh him up - the good and the bad. Though he might have protected me from his friends, he didn't save me from himself - his fangs ripped my flesh and took all the blood he needed to soothe his thirst. Why must he be so different from the others that I have to question myself around him?

"Just so you know," he interrupts my thoughts. "Thanks for not escaping," he says jokingly.

"You made it too hard to escape," I mutter, because it is true. Even if I had managed to escape from the cuffs without waking him, how would I have sneaked from the compelled human. "I trusted you," I reason with him, but his eyes quickly shift from me to the rope. Guilt floods the room. "You´re going to let me go anyway, aren't you?"

I expect a reassurance to calm my doubts, but his eyes still don't come to mine. The silence that follows answers the question for me, and I find myself retaliating. All the niceness of this unusual vampire disappears and I find myself once again wrestling against the kind I hate.

"Eric!" I shout. "Eric please, you promised!" I exclaim, begging for my life again.

He just grabs my wrists, ceasing them once again as the rope unravels its way off. I manage to sit up against the bed's headboard, but he just sits cross legged in front of me. His head hangs low and for a second I think that he's not going to give me an answer. Then, his lips mutter the simplest of words. "You´re of importance. I can´t let you go."

The words have no meaning for me. "Of importance? Eric you promised me I´d be able to go. My father and his pack of hunters will be here in a matter of hours at the latest, expecting you to let me go. They will fight for me."

"I'll deal with them."

I think of my father, Kyle, Kyle's father... of losing them. My hands begin to shake.

"Do you think I could ever forgive you if you hurt any of them?" I shout, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. My voice croaks but his muteness urges me to go on. I know I can go on. "I´m not going to stand around and be your little blood bag, Eric."

"You won't be Ronnie. You're important to me," he says, still unable to look me directly in the eye. A knot in my stomach tells me he is hiding something from me, but then a sense of relief informs me my father and Kyle will be here shortly. I know my dad and Kyle will come for me. I glance around the room; a small clock hanging loosely from the wall unexpectedly still ticks and displays the time to be eleven o'clock. At midnight, they'll be here.

We sit like that for a few minutes, his hands still possessing mine. Though a hateful being, deep down I know that he's trying to protect me again. I mentally remind myself to forgive him. I trust him, for some unknown reason, and I trust that he won´t hurt me. God, I just wish my father could see me now – weak, and sympathizing with a monster. I know he´d rather see me dead rather than in the arms of a vampire.

When I am free, I make a move to get up, but his hands push me down. Then, they travel across my shirt, down to my belly. He grabs the end of my shirt, and pulls it up, pulling it so that it crunches up right under my bra. Oh, Eric!

I let him. Though it seems only a second ago we were fighting, and though I know he is what I've always been destined to kill, I let him because it feels right. It´s as if there´s a tension between us, some electricity pulling me towards him. I can´t resist him, and so I let him.

"I'm sorry," he whispers as he looks me directly in the eye. He then, unexpectedly bends down and begins to travel up my body, depositing soft kisses across my belly and chest. My breathing stops, but then re-emerges, this time faster and shorter. Oh, my! I realize deep within me, that I want this man. Vampire or not, he's making me feel things no-one has ever made me feel before. Upon all my anger and hatred there´s lust. Lust and love.

His hands are at either sides of my chest, looking down at me and then looking up at me into my eyes, his eyes hungry. He licks his lips, and then travels further up to my neck, his body nestling me and pushing me further down into the bed. He dips down into my neck, and once again surprises me. He doesn't bite me; he just kisses my wound.

His lips on my neck are glorious; his cool touch silences the pleading cries in my neck, calming the fire like water. "I'm. Sorry," he repeats, over and over again in between each kiss.

He then lifts his head, placing it directly above mine. Oh, God. He's going to kiss me. I think of excuses quickly… but even the fact that he's a vampire is not strong enough to resist him. We've known each other for hours, but he's said things that have made me think differently of him. What if he is different?

He bends down, and his lips find mine. Like two long lost lovers, we kiss. I don't know how long for. His cool lips and my warm lips meet, soothing each other. He stops, letting me gasp for air, and in that pause he whispers, "I will protect you."

I look into his eyes and see someone, not a vampire, but someone more. He bends down over my neck once more and kisses the wound, but when his eyes return to my face they are golden. Golden like they had flashed when he'd first touched it. He is different, he has to be.

He smiles, taking a deep breath in whilst depriving me of his beautiful eyes. His lips find mine again and his hands scan and search through my body. Knowledge returns to me, and I realize my hands are free, so I reach out to him, holding him, like he is me.

Suddenly, he stops. This time he sits up and disappointment rushes through me as I realize his lips won't kiss mine again. He pulls me up so I sit by him and I stare at him as he does back at me. He smiles a rich and happy smile.

"Let's go," he whispers.

I, still reminding myself of what has just happened, nod to him, unable to speak for my life. He stands up and then reaches for my hand which I happily place in his. This time, I do not flinch from his cold hand, but accept it, accepting him. He opens the door with his other hand, and then lets my hand fall next to me. For a second I think this is because of the other's, surely awake in the other room, but as I think this, he puts that same hand around my waist, pulling me closer so that I can once again smell the sweet fragrance that is Eric.

He bends down and as we walk down the same corridor he had pulled me along this morning, he whispers gently in my ear, "I will protect you," for the thousandth time.

I realize we've stopped outside the large room, and I can hear the others´ laugh and talk. I nod, somehow knowing that he will protect me and then, breathing out loud, take a step and walk into the other room.

The security and protection I had felt moments ago rushes out of me and out the door, as I realize I am all alone, in a room full of vampires.