Oh, this was lovely. I stared angrily at the brawny man standing behind Tia. I wanted to pull my hair out. If only she was a vampire! But she was a human, weak and easily hurt.
I was the vampire here. Tia needed protection. So, snapping out of my thoughts, I snarled, right into Raphael's face. It was a low, guttural sound and I had the pleasure of watching him flinch backward. But his momentary fear didn't last long.
"You dirty prick," he sneered. "Who do you think you are? Tia is mine and always was."
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Tia opening her mouth. I shook my head ever so slightly, hoping that she would take the hint. The dirty brute currently threatening to rape her would not take kindly to whatever she was going to say.
I breathed a sigh of relief when she closed her mouth again. Now I could get down to business. Headstrong Tia was probably going to listen to me. I initiated the forthcoming battle, using a classic technique: I hit Raphael.
It wasn't very hard – I knew how to moderate my power – at least, by vampire standards it wasn't hard. By human standards, it was very, very hard. I half expected Raphael to get up from the table he was sprawled over and walk away. Yet, with typical human pig-headedness, he got up and uncertainly walked to me.
His first punch missed me by a mile. I could smell alcohol on his breath and I wrinkled my nose in distaste. As I sunk my fist into his kidney, I wondered vaguely how he had managed to walk here. He was so drunk that he couldn't see where he was hitting.
"Tia, please leave. I'll join you outside the café in a minute." I speculated randomly whether my calm tone unnerved her, but she didn't comment further, instead just leaving the café. It made me curious – what was she really thinking?
Raphael was well and truly out by now, spread-eagled on the floor. It was an extremely vulgar sight and I quickly averted my eyes, choosing instead to survey the damage. Rubbing my chin, I took out my wallet and left some money on the table, enough to cover the damage to the table and the three chairs. I didn't look at the other customers as I walked out.
I panicked automatically as I looked for Tia. She wasn't anywhere in sight!
"Benjamin!" I heard a voice shout. I slumped in relief as I saw Tia running towards me. Her hair had come out of its neat bun and was splayed all over her back. I felt a strange surge of heat as I looked at her wide brown eyes and I wondered why.
It was extremely odd, I reflected, how of all the girls in Egypt, I had chosen Tia. What had drawn me to her? She wasn't particularly beautiful, and she seemed like the type to average her tests in school. She had a fiery temper and could deal with strange things better than other humans would. Why was this pulling me? Was it just the urge to want to find out more about this strange girl? Was I just following her for the chase? And all these questions went through my head in one second, while Tia was still running towards me.
"What happened?" Tia wanted to know. "Are you all right? Where is Raphael?"
I snarled under my breath. Why would she want to know where he was? Suddenly realised that my anger was irrational and that Tia was simply the kind of person to care about anyone. The sudden flash of jealously surprised me and I felt more than a little confused. Could I be in love with her? No – that wasn't possible. I just liked her a little… that was what I had been telling myself before…
But was it possible? I turned the thought around and around in my head. Could there really be a union between vampire and human? Was it what I wanted? Was I willing to give up anything to get it?
The questions swirled around and around in my head all day. Even after Tia had finished making sure that I was okay and the damage to the café had been covered, not to mention offering to pay for it, after I had walked her home and left, every five minutes turning around to watch her watching me walk away. I was thinking about it after I reached the dingy room that had become my home, and it was making my head hurt so much that I decided to go somewhere where I could think properly. And that was how I found myself beside the lake.
It was very quiet that night. Unusually quiet. The normal flow of traffic seemed to have been stemmed in some way. I liked it that way – it made everything more peaceful, distracted me from the turmoil roiling inside me and helped me think of easier things, happier things. I didn't want to remember things that had happened long ago. They would make the burning, aching pain come back. Instead, I thought of Tia's smile, her silvery laugh, exquisite even to a vampire's ears. I thought of her coffee-coloured skin and dark brown eyes. And I remembered the little curl of hair that insisted on flopping onto her forehead, no matter how many times she pushed it back.
It made me wonder if she was thinking of me as well.
"What are you thinking about?" Kebi's voice sounded from the shadows. It made me jump – I'd been so absorbed in my reminiscence that I hadn't noticed her light, even breathing.
"Sorry," she apologised, laughing. "I thought you and your razor-sharp senses would hear me!" I just smiled, not in the mood for laughing. Kebi sat down beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I leaned into her and she hugged me tightly. Kebi had always been like a mother to me – not like a sibling, as Amun was. I was glad of her company tonight.
Kebi was looking at me expectantly, and I realised that I hadn't answered her question.
"I was thinking about tonight," I said quietly. "And about her. Tia."
"What happened? Did Raphael interfere?"
"Yes," I sighed, "but that's not the problem. Kebi, what did you feel like when you decided that you wanted to be with Amun? Did you feel something inside you? Something which made you jealous whenever he looked at another girl? Something that made you angry when someone tried to hurt him? Something that made you want to sacrifice everything just to be with him forever?"
"Yes, Benjy. We all feel like that at some point or another. You know that Amun was human when I met him, don't you? That I changed him?"
"Of course," I said. "You changed him, and as soon as he had learned how to control his thirst, he assumed control over the coven. And you agreed, because… because… why did you agree?"
"Because of love, Benjamin." She smiled at me understandingly.
"I feel that I would do anything to become human for Tia. An obvious way we can stay together would be to change her, but she can't love me enough for that. Who would love anyone enough to become a monster for them? You had no choice with Amun. He was dying in your arms as you bit him. I'll always have that choice because I protect Tia like a jewel."
"It's a choice she'll have to make, Benjamin. Whatever her decision is, you have to live with it. Would you bite Tia? Even if she wanted you to? And if so, why?" Kebi probed gently.
"Because I love her," I said quietly.
A/N: Ohmygod, I am SO, SO sorry for that enormously late update! I'll try to update with two weeks from now on, promise. Thing is, I can only write In The Candlelight when my parents are out or not paying attention to me. I had the flu, then my mom got it and then she got a teaching job and basically, everything's been so hectic that I've hardly had time to breathe! And of course, me being a girl, I have the traditional boy dramas beginning to prey on me. The details are too complicated to explain, remind me sometime else.
Just for the record, has anyone read the House of Night series? I think it seriously rocks - it's another vamp series and we just love those, don't we? *winks*
I've kinda gone emo/punk/red&black/bad-girl crazy these last few weeks, which had gotten me in trouble a couple of times with my dear teachers (I'm being sarcastic about the "dearest" part, in case you guys didn't pick up on that).
Anyway, don't think I haven't noticed how many hits I have. People are reading this story, and not commenting! COME ONE! Every writer needs some compliments to boost his/her ego! *smiles*
Sampai jumpa!
nt