It was nearly time to get off work and I headed to Nikolaus's office to drop of the day's report. The DOW & NASDAQ had dropped again. It was the second week in a row, but it was good for us because we traded on foreign markets as well. I walked in and heard voices in the boardroom. The meeting must be running late. It always does with the new accounts he takes on that run the longest.
Sitting the paperwork down and leaving the office, I could feel his eyes on me. I shivered slightly knowing where that look could lead too. On the desk, his hands on me, mouth trailing my neck, my clothes almost gone, he in nothing but his unbutton shirt, taking me, making me his, sinking his fangs into my neck as my orgasm hits me.
Gathering my stuff, I closed my door, locked it and walked down the hall to the elevator. Stepping in, I ignore the looks from the other vampires in the elevator. None of them ever bothers me. They know I belong to Nikolaus. Checking my watch, I noticed that it was already dark. Sighing, I took out my phone and sent a texted to Marie asking what she was doing.
Stepping off the elevator, I walked through the foyer and stepped out of the building. I walked to my car and dropped my keys before I could even reach the door, "Damn it," I mutter. Crouching down, I reach under my car and feel around for my keys. Hearing them jingle as I touched them, I grabbed them and stood up back up. I turned to put the key into slot when someone from behind grabbed me and spun me around.
"What the…" I started. I look at the man. His face was all morphed and fangs showing. He stood there as if he wanted to devour me. Putting on my brave face, I tried to not actually be afraid of him. He grabbed my head and turned it. I braced myself for a bite but he never did. He was looking at my ear. Unsatisfied, he growled and let go of my head.
"Who is your vampire?" he snarled.
"My who?" I asked him.
"Your vampire. Where is your marks? I do not see them. Who is he? I want to know," he demanded.
"Why should I tell you that? You want his number or something," I asked sarcastically.
"Stupid human. You should know better than that. If you belonged to me, I'd whip you for your insubordination and your smart mouth," he said.
"Excuse me, who the hell are you to say something like to me? You don't even know me," I said to him. By now, I was seething.
"Shut up", he yelled, "Next time I see you, I want to see you marked and make sure your vampire knows about it."
He pushed me up against my car and he disappeared. Blinking, I looked around and walked back into the building. Feeling a bit shaken, I got onto the elevator and went back upstairs. Thoughts were running through my head on the way up. Who the hell was that guy? What did he mean about a mark? Why did he want to know about Nikolaus? The elevator pinged and I got off and walked toward Nikolaus's office. Maybe he could give some explanation.
I stopped at the door and hesitated. Before I could knock, Nikolaus opened the door, took my hand, and led me in. I let him lead me to the couch and we sat down. I do not know how he knew that something was wrong. I turned to look at him and smiled.
"So what happened?" he asked.
"How do you know that anything is wrong," I asked him.
He gave me an unconvinced look, "Isabel, I know normally when something is wrong."
Huffing, I gave in, "I was walking to my car when I dropped my keys; I reached down and grabbed them and when I came back up there was this vampire right in front of me. He grabbed my head and turned it as if he was going to bite me but he never did. He was looking under my ear…."
"Under your ear?" he asked.
"Yes, under my ear. Whatever he was looking for, he did not find. Then he asked me who my vampire was and where my marks were. I smarted off to him and he told me that if I belonged to him he would whip me for my mouth and insubordination…" I said.
Nikolaus stood up, "He said what? That he would whip you. He almost bit you?"
"Nikolaus calm down," I said standing up, "It was nothing. He just scared me, that's all."
Looking into his eyes, I could see his anger build as we were standing there. I had to calm him down before he destroyed everything. Standing on my tiptoes, I kissed him hard. He blinked and relaxed into my kiss.
The kiss was supposed to be short but when he deepened it, I could not resist. His hands ran over my body and he backed us toward the couch. We fell ungracefully on it, still kissing. His hand ran down the length of my body and slide up my skirt. Moaning, I let my hands travel his body. I could feel every muscle in his back, so taut and strong. His hand came up and started unbuttoning my shirt. His mouth left mine and trailed kisses down my neck; lower his mouth went to my breasts. My body was on fire. It did not matter if Nikolaus kissed me or touched me; my body would fire up.
We needed to talk about the vampire and what he said. I knew this was Nikolaus's way of avoiding talking about the vampire. He knew I would have questions. I opened my eyes and looked down at him. He looked at me and changed. I groaned softly. Kissing my breasts softly, he moved his lips toward my neck. Kissing it, I could feel his fangs when he rolled his tongue over my pulse point. Arching my neck, he ran his tongue gently up my neck, sank his fangs in, and suck hard. Gasping, I closed my eyes and reveled in the sensation. I tangled my fingers in his hair and held his head there. I loved being bitten. I do not know why I did, I just did.
He was still feeding when I heard someone knock on his door. "Mhmm, Nikolaus, there is someone at the door." I groaned. The door opened anyway and all we heard was 'Oh damn. Sorry guys.' This time Nikolaus looked up and saw Shayne walking out of the room.
"Eh, oh well," he said moving back to my neck.
"Nikolaus!" I exclaimed, "Go and talk to him." I heard him groan lift his body off me. I sat up and started buttoning my shirt back up. Did not want to scare the man when he came back in. Sighing, I headed to the bathroom and cleaned up. Heading back into the office, I heard their voices.
"Man, I'm sorry for walking in. I knocked, but no one said come in…" he started.
"Its fine, Shayne. There's no need to apologize," I said coming up to sit on the couch.
"Isabel, you're kind of here late, aren't you?" Shayne asked me.
"Yes, well, Nikolaus and I were talking but as you can tell…the talking didn't last to long," I said smirking.
I knew Nikolaus was getting impatient. I could still feel his desire and it was causing me to become impatient. I shot him a look and I felt him calm down. I did not know how I felt these things. They happened sometimes; especially when we were at close contact or on the phone. Nikolaus and Shayne kept talking while I zoned out. I was still thinking about the vampire and what he wanted of me. I do not know how much longer they talked until Nikolaus touched my hand. I nearly jumped off the couch.
"Jumpy?" he asked smiling.
"No," I said, "just zoning out. I am here. Nikolaus, we need to talk about what I told you earlier."
I could see that he did not want to; I never pressed him for information until now. His face never showed any emotion or doubt. He just did not want to talk about it. I took his hand and gave it a squeeze, assuring him that whatever he told me I would not be afraid.
"Okay, we'll talk about this," he said, "what do you want to know?"
"I just want to know what he meant about 'my mark'?" I asked.
"You have to understand Isabel that times were very different than they are now. There used to be blood issues between vampires and their human donors. Most vampires do not like to share their donors and that became a problem. A donor could be bitten two or three times in one night and not by their vampire. If, and when, their vampire found out he or she would go after the ones that bite the donor. Many times, fights ended in bloodshed. One or both of the vampires would end up dead and their lands, donors, and money would be up for grabs. It was a twisted way to live. Finally, a newly turned vampire saw this idiocy and decided that each donor should be branded or marked with their vampire's initials. This would stop the confusion of whom a vampire could feed on. Soon after, each donor was marked. At the turn of the 20th century, many of the vampire elders abolished the branding. I have not heard of a case where it involved a donor being branded since then. This is what the vampire was talking about. I remember there was a gathering of vampires who did not want to stop the brandings; he might have been one of the followers," Nikolaus said turning to look at me and saw the worry in my eyes.
"Hey, don't worry….nothing is going too happened to you. I promise," he assured me.
"Its not that…it's just that wow," I said.
"But what about what he said. He told me he wanted to see me marked," I asked.
"Do you want to be marked," he asked closing his eyes.
"I'm not sure. I mean he sounded very serious that he would come back and check. Although, I do not see why it would make a difference if I was marked or not. He must have seen me walk out of the building," I said.
"True, but I employ a lot of vampires and you could have been bitten by any of them. Not just particularly me," he stated.
"Nikolaus, there is something else. He did not just say a mark. He said 'marks'; as in plural," I reminded him. I looked at him and he went all quiet. This was something serious. Something he did not want to tell me.
"Nikolaus, what did he mean?" I questioned.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," he said waving it off.
"No, Nikolaus. I want to know. What did he mean by 'marks'?" I said standing up to face him.
"Isabel, don't start," he warned.
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and gave him a hard stare. I was not going to give up that easily. If it concerned me, I wanted to know. There was probably a lot of information about me that Nikolaus knew and would not tell me. This was the one thing he could spare and tell me. He looked at me and gave me his famous glare. Others could shrink from it, but I was immune to it. Both of us were stubborn and neither would back down. This could take all night. That was fine with me. I had clothes in the office.
Seeing that I was not caving, he sighed and walked over to his desk and leaned back on it and crossed his arms, "A vampire has the ability to mark humans they are very close too. There are three marks. The first is for pleasure, the second for pain and the third for trust. It is only done rarely. A vampire may mark a human once during his/her lifetime. Some never do. The only time a vampire will do this is to protect or save the human he/she is with. There is a downside to the marks. When the human is marked, there is a connection; like a bonding. The vampire can feel the human's emotions based on how many marks the human has and vice-versa," he said.
"Nikolaus….you didn't, did you?" I asked quietly.
He bent his head and looked at the ground, "Yes I did. The first time I didn't mean too...and well the second…."
"You marked me more than once?" I asked bewildered.
"Yes, the first time was when we first made love and the second was the day your family disowned you. I, honestly, did not mean to do it the first time. The second time, however, I only did it to protect you. You were in so much pain that I knew this was the only way," he confessed.
"What about the third one? The one for trust?" I asked.
"I haven't marked you with that one. Do not get me wrong. I trust you. More than I ever have any other human. I'm just not sure I want to do that right now. The 'bond' between us would be complete and would be harder to break," he explained.
"What do you mean it would be complete? How would it be harder to break?" I demanded.
"You know how we can feel each other? How I know when you're upset or feel your desire?" I nodded. "That's because of the first two marks. If I marked you the third time, we would be able to feel everything about each other. It would complete the 'bond' and make us inseparable. Even if one dies, it would make it impossible for the other to fall in love again and to connect with someone else. That is why the third mark is rarely done. Most vampires cannot stand to lose someone they love and not able to find someone else later on. It is a commitment," he said.
I sat down feeling a bit shaken. I did not know how to take this. I could not even look Nikolaus in the eye. My world was spinning. Why couldn't he have told me earlier? Of course, there was nothing he or I could do about it now. I had always wondered why I could feel him; feel his desire, his happiness, his sadness, his anger. Or that he could feel all those things about me.
We sat there for what seemed like forever. I closed my eyes and I saw the night we first made love. How sweet and wonderful it was. Then to the day that my family made me choose Nikolaus or them. How I chose Nikolaus and the devastation of their loss, as they disowned me and exiled me. Nikolaus had been there for each time and each time he had bitten me. I knew it was dangerous getting into a relationship and life of a vampire, but I never understood it until now.
My life had changed the day Nikolaus held me in his arms and exclaimed that I had been bitten. I would not be the same person I am now without Nikolaus and Shayne. They both held my hand while I made the transaction from my old life to this new one.
"Isabel, I would have never done this to you unless I truly cared about you and I do. More than I know. You are all I have. All I will need. Please do not hate me. I only did it…" he could not even finish the sentence before I jumped up and kissed him.
Startling him again, he leaned into the kiss. We stood there kissing for a while before I came up for air. Smiling at him, I felt his happiness. Happiness that I was not angry or that I hated him. I do not think I could ever hate him.
This is what I have waited for. This was the price of being in love with a vampire.