If it's possible, your reviews just keep getting better and better. I am not good enough for the reviews you are writing.
I have a review from yesterday by green eye girl that I want to share, just to give you a better idea of Simmons: "I love the mental picture of a tall, sad but gorgeous blond looking at the sea, looking like he was posing for a Calvin Klein Ad. With his pants rolled up and his white shirt loose with his hands in his pockets. *sigh*" I got her permission to let you all read that.
See ya at the end . . . . . . .
Chapter 10 - VAMPIRE
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I woke up the next morning to the sound of a seagull nearby. I tried to focus, but my eyes wouldn't open properly. They were full of sand. So was my mouth. I turned on my side and began spitting out the tiny rocks, but my teeth kept crunching on gritty sand. I reached for the large bottle of vodka and found there was just enough left in it to rinse out my mouth.
The seagull squawked again, and the noise made my head feel like it was splitting in two. I threw the now empty bottle in the direction of the sound, and heard the flapping of wings. Satisfied, I lay back down on the cold wet sand and concentrated on breathing slowly in and out. I don't think even in college I'd had a hangover this bad. Of course, in college I wouldn't have been able to get my hands on 100 percent proof Russian vodka, either.
Images of the night before swam in my mind. Despite how I felt, all I wanted to do was grab another bottle and make myself forget all over again. I winced as a memory of a furious Smina standing at the bottom the stairs came to me. Her arms were folded and her eyes were smoldering. I winced again as I remembered that I walked away and left her there. I had driven aimlessly for a while, then I'd seen a liquor store. Apparently, I'd ended up at the beach.
Damn stubborn vampire, I thought angrily to myself. There was now one more thing I had learned about Tanya. She was incredibly stubborn.
Through squinting eyes, I could tell the sun was straight up in the sky. It was the middle of the day then. Good to know. I tried to swallow and cringed. My mouth tasted like seaweed, sand and alcohol. I cautiously rose up on one elbow and used my sleeve to wipe the sand out of my eyes. I wiped a few times, and through the blur I looked out at the ocean. A large wave hit the shore and the rising and swelling motion of the water did me in. My stomach heaved and I rose onto my knees and vomited.
"Nice vacation," I thought sarcastically.
I took off my jacket and did my best to clean myself up as I slowly rose to my feet. An older couple walked passed me suspiciously. The woman apparently caught a whiff of me and grimaced as she turned her head. Wisely, they gave me a wide berth.
"Oh, yeah," I wanted to yell. "Let's see you fall in love with a vampire. I'd like to see how well you handle it!" But I thought better of it and kept my mouth shut.
Good-bye Sochi. I thought.
Good-bye and good riddance.
Then I turned my back to the water and tossed my jacket on the mess I'd made and began half crawling, half climbing my way up to my car.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Driving can clear your head. So can a hot shower and four cups of strong, black Russian coffee. Those three things together proved to be a good combination. As I drove, I came to a conclusion.
I had to accept that I was never going to find her.
If I went out searching for her, I realized at some point I might actually go insane. But only after I had wasted my whole life looking.
I knew I would never find her, but that didn't mean I was giving up. Tanya told me that she loved me. Before I left the night club the night before, I repeated the word that Tanya had said to me to the bartender.
"What does "subda" mean?" I demanded.
He looked at me curiously. "It means destiny," he had said.
Somehow I had always known she had felt it. We would find our way to each other. There was no way I was living my life without her.
We were going to see each other again. Hopefully very soon.
I had a plan.
On the drive back to Moscow, I began to work out exactly what it would take to make my plan work. If I was brave enough to do this, or maybe crazy or stupid enough, there was a chance that I would succeed. There was a chance that I would see her again. Just what was my plan?
I was going to flush her out.
If this didn't work, I knew I might see a few more vodka filled nights in my future. If I survived that long.
I had been missing Bella. But now, I was glad that she wasn't around. If she knew I was doing this, she would be furious. Judging from the last time I saw Edward, and how protective he was of Bella and their secret, he would be far beyond enraged if he knew.
Someone looking from the outside in, may see my acts as suicidal, I preferred to call them deliberate.
It took several hours to get back. Even when I drove around 90 -100 miles per hour. With this car I bet I could keep up with Edward. I thought about what Bella had said about the vampire police before she left. What had she called them? It was the Volturi, I think. I wondered if they would get involved in this. She had feared them, and said that even Edward would not be able to stop them. I'm sure I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that I had to try.
I returned to Moscow at 3:00 in the afternoon. I could have just waited until tomorrow morning to begin implementing my plan, but I intended to start right away. I made a phone call to the chief detective of the case involving Olivia Conner's death. When I told him I had new information that could help in finding her killer, he asked me to come into the station immediately.
I walked in with purpose. I knew there was a chance that he was going to think I was a lunatic. That was a chance I would have to take. I was led back to his office where he shut the door behind me. I had to give him credit. He sat there and listened to everything I had to say. The longer I spoke, the more disbelieving his look became, but he allowed me to speak without interruption until I was done. When I finished, he looked at me through narrowed eyes for at least a full minute without saying a word. He began speaking in a heavy accent. His first question was expected.
"You are telling me vampires killed Olivia Conner?"
"No, I believe it was just one vampire," I stated matter of factly.
He ran his hands slowly over his weary face.
"Where do you suggest we look for these vampires?" He asked sarcastically.
"Well, I would start at houses that are far away from large groups of people. There is one family of vampires that I know that are extremely wealthy. That might be one characteristic to throw in the mix."
They were the only vampire family I knew, but I had to look like I knew what I was talking about. The detective just stared at me.
"I would also check out the university for students that are not originally from Moscow. A transfer student, perhaps. A vampire can't live in any one place for very long because they are immortal and do not age."
One eyebrow went up as stared at me again. I think he was trying to determine if I was really trying to be serious, or not. He leaned back in his chair and said, "Wouldn't these vampire college students be easy to spot with their fangs and claws?"
I knew he wasn't buying any of this, and I knew this was just how he would react. My job was to treat this conversation as seriously as I could without getting upset. After all, I knew how unbelievable it all was. I went through everything I could tell him about the characteristics of vampires. I listed everything from pale skin to eye color to their unearthly beauty. But it wasn't until I mentioned how they sparkled in the sunlight, and therefore would probably be signed up for night classes, that his head suddenly jerked up. I saw a light of recognition on his face.
He reached for the file of Olivia that was sitting in front of him on his desk. He quickly began filing through the thick pile of papers looking for something specific. I inched closer in my seat, and asked him what he was looking for.
He searched quietly for a few seconds longer, and then he suddenly stopped and pulled out a single piece of paper. He read it silently, then he looked up at me with an incredulous look on his face.
"What?" I asked expectantly.
"Olivia's roommate," he began, "She remembered an incident during the courtship of Olivia and her boyfriend Nikolai. She stated in a report that she was looking out the window one morning as Olivia ran out the door to meet Nikolai who always picked her up for school.
She said that the sun was just coming up and when Nikolai got out of the car to meet her, his arms and face began to glitter as if he were covered in diamonds. When Olivia saw his skin, she became very anxious, and quickly told Nikolai to get back into the car."
I stared at the detective as he read through the statement again. When he did finally look up at me, his face no longer had that weary, please-get-this-crazy-man-out-of-my-office-look. He pulled his chair up close to his desk and asked me to go over everything again. This time, he took notes.
When I walked out of the police station, I felt exposed. Thoughts of the vampire police ran through my head. I knew it was my imagination, but I felt like I was being watched. There was no backing out of this now, I reminded myself.
It had worked for Zach Conner. He got too close to the truth and Tanya walked right into his office one night. Okay, so Conner was still missing, and presumed dead, but I wasn't about to split hairs at this point. This plan would work, I was sure of it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
I had been back at the office for two months since my unforgettable "vacation", and putting my plan into effect. I had been working twenty-hour days. It was easier for me that way. I now understood Bella's drive to work the crazy hours that she did. But there was one difference. Bella's pain came because she mistakenly believed that Edward didn't love her and that he wasn't coming back. My pain came because I knew that Tanya loved me, and still, after two months, she'd hadn't returned.
There were posters up all around the city. Nikolai's picture was everywhere. It wasn't a great picture. It was one that Olivia's roommate took one night a club. The police were hitting this investigation hard. My receptionist, Karli, said that there were posters all over campus as well.
Every time I saw a poster it was like it was mocking me. Telling me that she didn't care. That she wouldn't be coming back to me. The pain had a way of eating right through my insides, slowly burning away the lining of my stomach. It never ceased to amaze me how missing one person so much could actually cause physical pain.
Every day seemed to melt right into the next with nothing out of the ordinary. I would get up early, work out in the hotel gym, and then head to work until I dropped into bed again in the wee hours of the morning. In the back of my mind a thought kept fighting its way to the surface. It had started small, but lately it had grown annoyingly large.
What if I never saw Tanya again?
What if I lived to be ninety years old and truly never saw her again? I did the math, and it was sixty-five more years. I couldn't do it. I really didn't think I could. Would I really spend my life alone? Did I have a choice? Just how exactly, was I supposed to spend it with someone else when I knew Tanya loved me? She wasn't only a stubborn vampire, but she was also selfish. You don't tell someone you love them unless you plan to stay and see it through. She had to know she was dooming me.
I tried to imagine myself married to someone else. I tried to imagine children. I tried to imagine myself lying in bed at night watching another woman sleep. I tried to give her any face but Tanya's.
It wasn't working.
If I did end up alone, I would carve out a life, but I decided right then that if I wasn't going to have Tanya, I wouldn't grow old with anyone else. It wouldn't be fair to that person. Second choice was not going to fill my life.
That afternoon, as if the fates hadn't already shown me how much they hated me, I received a call from Sterling Hathaway. He was calling to tell me that I had exceeded his expectations on turning things around and making the branch profitable, and he wanted to "reward me" for being so faithful to him. At first I got a horrible feeling he was going to put my name on the building right after his, but what he offered me was much worse. He was giving me a new assignment. He informed me that I was only needed at the Moscow Firm for another week, and then he was sending me to Greece.
As he continued speaking, I learned that my home office would be in Greece, but I would be overseeing the whole Mediterranean Coastline. He was not sending me there with the same title I had now, he was making me Vice President, of his whole Western International market. I would be second in command to him on everything on the European Continent and the African Continent, which included Egypt and Libya, two of our biggest markets.
He said he had my replacement, and my mind had to work fast to come up with an argument that would keep me in Russia longer. I convinced him it would be better to go with a Russian native. it would go a long way to making this firm more profitable with local businessman who were ready to invest. I told him that they would be much more trustful of someone from their own country. He bought it. I now had three weeks left in Moscow.
After I got off the phone I was numb. I truly did not know what else I could do to find Tanya. My plan didn't work. It didn't work.
Over the next week I sat through exhausting interviews. They were made all the more tedious by the fact that an interpreter had to be there for us to communicate. After interviewing several candidates, I felt that so far there was just one or two that might be able to handle this job.
Now, It was late. Everyone else had left the office hours ago. There was much to be done before I left Moscow. My bleary eyes fought to focus on the computer screen as I tried to endure one more hour at my desk. I had just sent a lengthy email to the office in Cyprus when my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number.
"Hello," I said.
"You are in danger, Mike." The voice was breathy and desperate. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"Who is this?" I demanded.
His voice lowered an octave as he breathed out, "It's Zach Conner, get the hell out of there, man."
I shot up out of my chair. "Zach!" "Where are you? We all thought you were dead."
"Yeah, and it's gonna stay that way," he replied obstinately.
"Where are you, Zach. Are you still in Russia?"
"Listen, to what I'm saying, Mike. They know everything. Just get out of there, now!" He was talking through clenched teeth.
"What are you talking about? Who knows everything?" I asked impatiently. I heard a click, and the call was disconnected.
It took about three seconds for my head to catch up with the conversation. Zach Conner, vampires, know everything, get the hell out of here.
My cell phone was still in my hand as I tore out of the office and raced down the hall to the elevator. Without stopping, I quickly decided in my head that the stairs would be faster. I wasn't going to stand there waiting for the ding of the elevator as it reached my floor. As I pushed open the door to the stairs, I heard the window shattering in my office. The office was on the seventh floor.
Adrenaline can make a person do amazing things. How long it would take the vampires to realize I wasn't in the office, I didn't know. But, I was going to make it as hard as I could for them to catch me. I was diving down the stairwell taking 7 or 8 stairs at a time. I didn't try to be quiet. They would hear me regardless. When I reached the lobby, I ran for the back entrance that we used for deliveries. I pushed open the door and ran out into a dark alley. My car was on the roof at the parking garage, so my only option was to keep running. I had no idea where I was going, I just knew I had to get somewhere public where it would be harder for them to drink my blood without someone noticing.
I came around the side of the building and quickly turned left. I was on the main road and trying to put as much distance between me and the office as I could. As I ran, I looked wildly up and down the streets and saw no one. I began to panic. If this were New York, I thought, the streets would still be teeming with people at 1:00 in the morning. My throat was beginning to burn. I was in good shape, but I was running full out. This was a lot different than a damned hotel treadmill. I looked back over my shoulder to see if anyone was following me, and all I saw was empty sidewalk. In relief, I slowed down enough just to catch my breath.
I ran two more blocks, never seeing anyone. I looked behind me again, and when I saw that the sidewalk was clear, I stopped and put my hands on my knees and gulped in large gasps of air. When I stood up, I saw a dark figure fall from a tall building in front of me. Then I realized in horror, he didn't fall.
He jumped.
He landed as soft as a cat on the sidewalk and lowered to a crouch staring at me. It was then I understood that he had been following me from the rooftops rather than chasing me from the ground like a normal human would do.
My eyes darted from left to right as I looked for any chance, any help at all that would get me out of this. There was nothing. He began walking towards me in a casual gait as if we were old friends. He smiled at me, and the gleam of his teeth showed in the streetlight. He was 50 feet from me when I could finally see his eyes. They glowed with a dark red that made my bones rigid with fear. It seemed almost impossible to breathe. He was 45 feet away, then 40 feet.
My hands instinctively balled into fists as I took a step backward. I planned to fight my way to death. I wouldn't go quietly.
"Hello, Michael." His voice jolted me even though it was low and velvet.
I swallowed hard and took another step back.
"You are a troublemaker, Michael." He was 30 feet away now. His skin glowed in the darkness and his teeth shone as he smiled at me forebodingly.
I took another step back as I prepared for what was about to happen.
His steps slowed as he momentarily closed his eyes. He clenched his teeth tight and blew air into his mouth. I could hear the whistle as the air passed through his teeth. He exhaled slowly and this time breathed in deeply through his nose. When he opened his eyes again, they were wild. He was salivating, ravenous in anticipation. He snarled deep in his throat and I knew I would try to run. My muscles were coiled and ready to launch, even though I knew I wouldn't even get my feet off the ground before he would have me.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be, I thought frantically. Tanya was supposed to come. I had it all planned out.
He glanced down at my balled fists and then raised an eyebrow at me as he said, "I am glad you intend to fight. It will make it so much more enjoyable for me."
I've heard it said that your whole life passes in front of you before you die. For me, that wasn't the case. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. He crouched low and suddenly crossed the 30 feet between us in a blink. His eyes swam in a sea of red as he grabbed me by the neck and pulled me into the alley. I swung my fists at him, and felt as if I were hitting solid rock. His granite hard fingers tightened as he suddenly spun and hurled me at the building. I slammed into the brick with so much force. I heard my head hit before I felt it. It was a sickening sound. I was at least 10 feet off the ground when I came slamming down to the pavement. I put out my hands to catch myself, and when I landed, I heard a snap in my left arm. I let out a yell of pain, and turned on my back to see him standing above me.
He was clenching his teeth as he angrily said, "You stupid human. How dare you humiliate my family!"
He grabbed me by my broken arm and I screamed. He seemed to enjoy that. I felt his frigid breath as his nose ran up and down my neck. His voice shook with impatience as he whispered menacingly, "I will watch your blood flow before I drink it."
I was in the air much longer this time. I braced for the hit and slammed into the dumspster that was halfway down the alley. My whole body seemed to crumble with the impact. He was there staring down at me. It was hard to focus. I realized it was from the blood running down my face. I could see his white teeth gleaming.
"That's better," he purred.
Then there was a bright light behind him. He turned around and hissed, annoyed at the delay. I tried to wipe the blood out of my eyes, but my arms wouldn't obey. There was a scuffle by my feet, and I heard a horrible cracking sound and high-pitched screams and in my daze I thought it was me. But then, I felt gentle hands lifting me and carrying me. I didn't understand what was happening. I waited to be sent flying into another wall. I prepared for more pain, but instead, I felt myself being laid somewhere soft, and warmth was all around me.
I could hear panicked voices in and out. I realized I must still be alive, but I didn't know how that could be possible. Then, I was sure I was dying. I could hear Tanya. I called out her name. Let her name be my last words, I begged. I tried to breathe, but it hurt so much. I felt everything go black.
"Tanya," I breathed.
Oh no! There will be answers coming . . . . . See you tomorrow!