Note: Please let me know if anything in any of the chapters is confusing or not very well written or just plain confusing. Mysteries are hard to write considering I think I'm trying too hard. Just let me know when you /REVIEW/ at the end of this chapter.
Chapter 7 – Jealousy
A hot feeling ran up into my cheeks, a flush of anger and embarrassment and surprise. I glared towards him for a moment but then turned to continue setting up the equipment. He wanted me to start a scene, I could hear the provoking in his voice, see it in his eyes. But I knew better than to fall for that.
Leon came over by us now. I was fully ignoring Luke, silently praying Leon would take him away. Thankfully, he did. "Now, we want the girls to be the main part of the picture, since this is a woman fragrance practice ad... so try not to outshine them. You're just going to be a prop..." Leon was explaining to Luke as they walked back over to the set. I waited until the blond male had walked away before turning around and piecing together my equipment.
We were ready to start after I had done this. Lucy padded up to me with a grin after making sure the lighting was perfect; I tried to ignore her by sticking my face into the lens of the camera and checking to see if I had it set up right, though I know I did.
"Fine Ally, ignore me. But I'm not the one who's going to be looking at him for the next three hours."
I boiled under the skin after she said this and walked away. Glancing to Luke, I could tell he had heard what she said because he glanced directly at me right as I looked up. Defeated, I did my best to concentrate on my job after that, which Leon had come over to explain to me the point of the shoot and what he wanted me to capture; he handed me a clipboard to write my notes on about each model. "We're exercising each female model with our new line of fragrances for the fall line coming up... Luke is just going to be a prop, but he might try to steal the light so try to focus on the girls."
"I understand." I replied sweetly, listening to his instruction. And the shoot began. The point was to center on the girl, catch bit of the Calvin Klein shirt and the bottle of perfume in her hand. Luke was supposed to stand behind the girl, smelling her neck or hair or something to accentuate he was intoxicated by the fragrance. 'He does that well enough.' I thought bitterly, watching him draw the tip of his nose along the peachy flesh of the girl's neck. She was trying too hard to pose and kept forgetting the bottle in her hand was supposed to be a part of the picture. I was honestly worried for the model's well-being, but I knew the vampire wasn't foolish enough to try something here and now, or so I thought. I saw the hint of desire in Luke's eyes as he stared at her neck, but he would draw his gaze away gracefully and concentrate on what he was doing again. I wondered for a moment what he saw when he looked at a humans neck compared to what I saw.
Leon was constantly shouting to the girls within their 80 frames, "Liz, this is a fragrance picture, try showing off the bottle!" "Toni, you're a model, not a porn star." "Doutzen, get with this! You look like you're spacing out, not posing." He had warned me they were fresh, but I didn't think he meant brand-new-off-the-street fresh. It was hard not to have Luke the main focus of the shot.
Even with the skimpy tops and thin anatomy of a beautiful female model, Luke was a sight to top it all. Even though his body was blocked by the female model in the pictures, the open shirt revealed his well-toned abdomen and the pants clung dangerously low on his hips, which was so...inviting. The short blonde hair that usually hung neatly in front of his unique eyes was all messy, gelled this way and that (like mouthwatering sex hair). He did his best not to look directly into the camera with that die-hard intense stare, but every now and then I would capture his cold eyes on film when the timing was just right. His pale skin seemed slightly tanned under the light, but I knew it was only makeup done by one of our artists to make him appear like more of a human than a god.
All of these things I noted mentally. On the photographer's comment sheets on the clipboard, I made a few notes about habits of the models and things that actually pertained to my job rather than the immortal. I tried to be nice and truthful at the same time because I knew my comment could very well decide if the person had a future in modeling or not, but sometimes that was difficult (especially for some of these girls).
After Leon had given up on coaching, it was Luke who had taken charge to whisper genuine hints into each of the girl's ears. His smooth voice guided each female through the last few frames of their shoot; and these frames were the best of the bunch.
I did my very best to focus on my job, but tonight it was so unbearably difficult. I was concerned for the safety of the models, the crew, the coaches. I was so uncomfortable about being in the same room under influence of Luke and the physical attraction he easily demanded. And worst of all, I felt a tiny hint of a certain emotion I'd never felt very strongly before, every time Luke wrapped his arms around the girls waist or playfully placed kisses on their necks to help lighten the mood, I felt jealousy. After realizing I was even getting jealous, I was angry with myself and him! But I couldn't let any of it show through.
Finally the agonizing photo shoot had ended. I chatted nonchalantly with Leon and the other spectators about what I thought about the turn out of the shoot, finished writing comments about each model, somewhat quickly. I was in a hurry to put the camera carefully back in its case, file the paperwork for this and then get out of the building away from him!
The models, including Luke, returned to the dressing rooms and Lucy approached and engaged me in light conversation. "So, isn't he divine?"
Knowing who she was talking about would only prove I held an interest for him. I decided to humor her. "Sure, if you like that narcissistic model type." I felt her glittering smile without looking at her. "Did Daniel talk to you yet?" I quickly changed the subject while scrambling to put my equipment away.
"Yes, actually! He wants us to go on a date this Friday."
"That's good to hear." I replied brightly, glancing at the sparkling grin on her cute face. Too soon to look up, Luke was crossing the room towards us, somewhat more normal and less inviting-type clothing than before. I closed the case and looked for the closest excuse to leave the room. Luke was stopped by Leon before he reached me so the agent could talk to him. "Gotta put the equipment back, have a good night, Lucy!" I told her before I hurried off.
I put the all equipment of mine away and filed the paperwork at my desk quickly and was heading home before anyone else could talk to me. In my rush, I'd forgotten all about taking a cab home because of the dangers at night with those peculiar wolf attacks. I hadn't realized this fact until I was already over halfway back to my apartment. I kept on, my thin jacket wrapped tightly around my body and the streetlights there to guide me home.
As soon as I felt a paranoid feeling wash over me and cloud my calm demeanor, I knew he was there, watching or following. His presence was what lingered in the air when I didn't see anything. Coming to a part of the street no one was in, I stopped and turned around. Nothing was there. This worked my nerves further and made me even more apprehensive. I wasn't a fool and I knew he was more cunning than I could handle. I broke out into a jog. I wasn't scared but I wasn't fearless either, I just wanted to get home and hopefully he would stop tormenting me in such ways!
If only it were that simple.
As I ran, alleys to my left and right would echo out footsteps. I knew he was easily keeping up with me. I stopped and turned around again, nothing out of the ordinary was there.
When I faced forward again, I was confronted by a building wall with one of my missing posters clinging to the brick. I stared up at Felicia's gorgeous face. 'Why? Why are you doing this?!' I thought harshly, turning around. If he could read my thoughts or make me see dreams and feel things I wouldn't normally feel, dammit he had better of heard me now. 'Where are you? Show yourself! SHOW YOURSELF!' I thought hard of what Luke looked like and what he would look like if he strolled up to me now...
And then he suddenly appeared.
He surprised me by his entrance, but it didn't last long as I dared to look up at his stern face. His strong gaze easily overpowered my nervous one. His entire presence was entirely different than when we were in a public place surrounded my witnesses. There, he acted witty and human like. Here, now, when it was just him and I, he was who he truly was. An immortal being, a cold hearted vampire. I waited for him to say something to me. He was following me, after all.
His hard mood softened the longer we stood, but the intensity of his gaze did not falter. I felt nude again as I did after visiting the seer, I felt as if he could see right through my mind and read me like an open book. He took a step closer and involuntarily the last days' events flashed through my mind; I saw the party, Felicia's body, Luke defending me from the vampire Taylor, myself making the posters and hiring people to hang them up around the city, and then the vase and the rose.
After seeing all of my own memories flash across my mind, I felt very light headed. Luke's entire demeanor changed again. He became angry and grabbed my dizzy body by my shoulders and spun me around to look at the poster I made.
"This isn't a joke." His voice was like ice. He motioned toward the poster by shaking me. I regained a clear mind as he held me and bit my lip to keep from making a noise. "No one is laughing." The succulent voice softened. I looked up at my words 'Her body lies in ashes sprinkled over the blood of the Dark Children.' I read this line clearly in my head. "Why would you care about one victim? You didn't know her well enough to remorse. Why put yourself in such a danger to expose vampires?" He hissed on the last word.
I couldn't bear to answer him. I had my reasons, even if they were selfish or ignorant. Overwhelmed with fear and torment, I desperately clawed my hands at the poster and ripped it from the wall and threw it around over his face. It wasn't much of a distraction or a good barrier, but it was enough for him to let go and give me a head start. I sprinted to my apartment building, up the stairs, but found the door to my apartment unlocked and open a jar when I arrived.
I didn't even have to see for myself to know he was here. My breaths were hollow and my blood raced with my pounding heart making a erratic rhythm in my chest. I swallowed my fear and caught my breath as I pushed the door open; Luke was standing in my living room with my personal journal in hand. He didn't even acknowledge I was there, only kept turning the pages to my book as he rapidly read my notes. "You haven't even scratched the surface of darkness and yet you still try to expose us."
The acknowledgment of his words hit me hard. I knew quite a bit more than the average human did about vampires, thank you. But I suppose when looking at the entire book of vampirism, I did know very little. I clenched my fists as he threw my journal aside in a pile of books I had just noticed he tossed from my bookshelf before I arrived.
"What do you want?" I asked him once again. Did he want my blood? No, it couldn't be that simple for him to torment me in my life and my dreams. But I didn't know any other reasonable explanation than me as a food source.
"I had really hoped it wasn't you." He told me, sounding as if he was a displeased mentor and I his pupil. I had no shallow idea what he was going on about and the confusion showed on my face.
"What are you talking about." I demanded, my last string of adrenaline-induced courage in my throat. He flared his nostrils at the question; I stood my ground as he rushed towards me and circled around me, causing me to look left and right trying to keep up with his speed.
He stopped center of my face, his stone hand on the small on my back so I couldn't cower away. "Darling Allison, you are the one who sought me all along. You've wanted answers, you wanted to find a real vampire to get closer to those answers, have you not?" The light teasing in his voice was more infuriating than anything else he'd done so far.
I was tongue-tied angry and flustered so looked away from his gaze. I had wanted to find a vampire, yes, when I found Luke I thought it was a real break in the case, at least proving vampire existence. I had also considered going back to him after I'd run away to ask him the questions to the answers I wanted. I had wanted these things and I still wanted them, but after he'd starting coming to me and next I found another body connected to my mother's killer and more vampires who were a bigger threat than Luke, I realized I didn't have control. And this scared me.
He grabbed strongly onto my arm and forced me to look up at him again. He spoke sharply and so close to my face I could feel the cold lifeless breath fluttering across my long eyelashes. "You wanted to find me. Well, here I am."
I was lost for words. His penetrating gaze and sharpened words cutting me down was too much. I tilted my head downward just an inch and tried to break the gaze again. "And I'm not leaving anytime soon." I closed my eyes as his icy lips pressed on my forehead before he let my arm go and I could feel circulation again.
He changed after we lost eye contact. "Exposing vampires like you have done will get you killed." he warned in a cold tone. His brows fumbled so tightly together in frustration that shadows came over his eyes, giving him a dark atmosphere. I did my best not to fear him.
"Tell me something I don't already know." I didn't know if I was being foolish or brave at this point.
Luke began to circle to me again, eyes softening while looking me over. I could feel his hand touch my curly hair, running his fingers gently through it. He seemed so fond of me now, he spoke to me as if I were a child. "There's no end to what I could tell you, Allison. About you, about your past, about your legacy..."
My eyes widened with the immediate interest. I let the words slip before I could even think. "Tell me." I turned and his hand drew to my cheek. A cold finger ran across the side so gently it sent a shiver down my spine.
"I could tell you, show you...convey such knowledge." His mouth was slightly open so the tips of his fangs poked from behind the pale lips. His icy eyes looked over me differently than before. When glancing into them, I saw the desire I had seen earlier at the shoot when he gazed at the girls neck, only now it was intensified tenfold. The basic hunger of a vampire. The lust for blood.
I gasped slightly under that destructive desire and his eyes flickered back to mine. I thought of the dreams where he had sunk those fangs into my neck; his face hardened after I thought of this image. All of the tension and intensity between us faded after he'd backed away. I slumped against the wall, feeling suddenly exhausted.
"If you really want answers, if you really want a death wish so badly, seek me out." he told me. "If you wish to live, Allison Lockett, you will forget all about vampires and take down those obscene posters and continue on with you life as if you'd never met us." I blinked and he was in front of me again, he pressed my map of the city against my stomach. "You know where to find me. Hopefully you'll make the smarter decision."
My hands clenched the map and as soon as I did, he was gone.
When managing to stammer to my bedroom, the window was open and the cool night air created a fresh breeze which flowed over my face. I glanced outside and up at the moon; it was full tonight. I closed the window after gazing and locked my front door after; bitterly I thought how useless it was to lock my apartment when vampires could get in away.
Bitterly I lay the map back on the coffee table and put all of my books back on the shelf. And bitterly I looked on my counter in the kitchen and there was another fresh rose in the vase I had tried to hide behind a mess in the living room.
Too exhausted and cut down to care for anything in the world, I fell into a sweet sleep. Tonight the dream was I, walking in a lovely field with Luke, looking at him and up into the night-time moon... and then finding a dead wolf by the stream. "You'll have to come to me if you want to know." he said. I had awoken before I could ask a single question, Luke's offer fresh in my mind.