Hello Love

Vicki woke to find Henry lying on top of her with his lips pressed to the right side of her neck. The last thing she remembered was that he had gone to his attic bed after an enthusiastic round of lovemaking very early this morning. She wondered how he got back into her bed.

She felt him start to move and then his vampire bite pierced the delicate skin of her neck and he started to feed. She lay quietly as he took only a sip and sealed the wound with his tongue. She grabbed a handful of his hair and lifted his head, "Care to explain?"

He looked both guilty and very pleased with himself. "No." He rolled off of her and headed for the shower. She called out, "Fitzroy get back here." He turned, flashed his most charming smile and continued to the bathroom.

Vicki yelled, "I'm going to strangle you. Get back here!"

"I'm not coming back to get strangled. Join me in the shower." He left the bathroom door open.

She got up and slammed the door shut. "No!" He was playing games again and her vampire was pleased? She stopped in her tracks to focus on her vampire. If possible it actually hummed in satisfaction.

She opened the door and watched his body move behind the frosted shower curtain. "Henry?"

"Hmm, what?"

"Does your vampire feel odd?"

He pulled the curtain back and stared right at her ignoring the soap bubbles that fell into his eyes. "Their in love." and closed the curtain.

She sat on the closed toilet seat. "Who are in love?"

He ducked his head under the running water and rinsed the suds from his hair, grabbed a conditioner and repeated the process. He stepped from the tub and wrapped a towel around his waist as he took a second towel to dry his hair. "Our vampires are in love with each other." He walked on by her and up the attic steps to find clothes for the evening. When he returned he found her right were he had left her. "Are you going to take a shower or sit there all night? I can hear your agents setting up for the nightly meeting."

She yelped, stepped into the shower, closed the curtain and proceeded to get the job done at vampire speed. As she stepped out he kissed her cheek, "We'll talk later. Time for Royce and Nelson to join the meeting."

Vicki had a hard time focusing on the night's meeting. After asking Lana to repeat herself twice Vicki gave up and sent everyone home early with the understanding tomorrow night's meeting would be longer than usual. She made a few quick entries in the nightly log, checked for new clients, then closed up shop. Henry started out the back door just as Vicki caught up with him. "No you don't. We have a conversation to finish."

Henry turned and gave her one of his most charming smiles, "It can wait. Let's go feed. You taste wonderful, but you don't fill me up. Your hungry too."

"You win. Where are we hunting?"

He headed for his car and held the door open for her to get in. "I haven't a clue. Is there something special you would like to do that will lead to a meal."

Vicki thought for a minute. "Let's go to the movies."

Henry shook his head no, "Too many teens hanging around movies this time of night. How about the local lover's lane?"

Vicki laughed, "You think movies have too many teens. Just imagine lover's lane. Let's go down town and walk around. There's something lurking in almost any alley. As long as the neck or wrist is reasonably clean I don't care. Bug and disease free would also be nice."

"Vicki I'm shocked. What about the romance of feeding. Getting lost in the passion of the moment."

Vicki was rapidly developing a bad mood. Henry seemed to be trying to irritate her on purpose. "That's your style not mine. I feed to live. You live to feed."

Henry realized he pushed her just about as far as he was going to be able to get away with. He found a little strip mall that had a bar at one end and a convenience store at the other. He parked in the darkest corner. "Bar or store, you choose one I take the other."

Vicki snarled, "Both go into the bar. In and out. We meet at the car."

Henry placed his hand behind her neck and gently pulled her lips toward his, "Feed love, then we'll talk." He kissed her and reached over and opened her door. She got out and walked into the bar. He followed a few minutes later. When he went through the door he could not feel her heart. He looked around and discreetly sniffed the air. Her scent was fading fast. He followed it through the room and on out to the back of the building. Three rough looking men were pushing her around and taunting, laughing and betting who was going to be first. Vicki kept her vampire and her cop skills hidden as she waited for the perfect opening. Henry's first instinct was to defend the woman he loved, then allow vampire hunger take its fill, but he stood back knowing Vicki was in control. Vicki felt Henry's vampire as it began to rage. Her eye color deepened and her fangs became visible, "Enough with the teasing boys. Let's start playing for keeps." The first man lunged for her and was slapped to the wall for his efforts. The second reached out to slap her in turn and his arm snapped audibly as she twisted it behind his back. The third man pulled a switch blade and started tossing it from hand to hand, "Come on bitch, baby wants a drink of blood." Vicki laughed, "Now your talking my language. Let's drink some blood." She dove into the man, batted the knife away and bit into his neck making him feel the pain of a woman being raped. Henry walked over to the one that leaned against the wall rubbing his bruised face and spitting out teeth. "I guess I get sloppy seconds." Henry's eyes turned black and his fangs were revealed as his lips pulled back. He took the man's hand from his face and bit down into the wrist willing him to sleep. The one with the badly broken arm huddled in the darkness with his face away from his former partners in crime , trying disparately not to believe in vampires. Vicki used her power to make broken arm forget everything but the bad fight the three so called friends had over a woman and a six pack of beer. In turn she gave each man the same memory.

Vicki looked at Henry's face and wiped a small drop of blood from his chin, and Henry readjusted the collar of Vicki's coat. They walked back to their car as the sounds of moans came from the alley behind the strip mall.

Henry opened the door for Vicki and as he closed it he said, "That went well. Plenty of passion and lots of fresh blood. I hope your neck was cleaner than my wrist."

As he got in on the driver's side Vicki asked, "What do you mean by saying the vampires love each other?"

Henry pulled out of the lot as the first of the three staggered into the light. "Home, in the attic, we talk for the rest of the night. I promise."

Doors locked, lights out, the two lay side by side on Henry's bed in the attic. "Talk Fitzroy."

" Vampires are territorial. They can't stand each other once the transition from human to vampire is complete. I know this from my own experience and what I have been told by others. You know about Christina, my feelings for her. Christina and I tried over the centuries to be lovers, it would only last a few nights then we would try to kill each other. Delphia was a close friend that begged to be turned. At a distance we could remain friends, but never in the same city. Now you enter the picture. It has been well over a year since your transformation was completed and we are still together."

"Are you complaining?"

"No never. I'm grateful. Everything inside me feels different. The vampire feels different. There is a contentment that was never there before. It's calm when you are close. The hunger, the anger, the need for passion are all there, but it's directed toward you and your vampire. Where ever you are my vampire wants to be there."

"Henry I don't know what vampire should feel like, all I know is as long as you are near I can live this life. Without you I would cease to be."

"Vicki that's why I say our vampires are in love, and that love is forever. When I take a sip of your blood my vampire is comforted and feels peace."

"Take a sip every night. My vampire craves you. I'll take my sip now please." Henry laughed deep in his chest and said, "Bite me."

The silver eyes glowed in the darkness as her teeth poked out from smiling lips, "With pleasure." He lifted his wrist to her mouth, allowed her tongue to travel the pulsing artery near the base of the thumb before breaking the skin. Henry had taught her how to use passion to make the experience pleasurable, She used her every skill and Henry's eyes closed as he trembled with pleasure. When her feeding ended he took possession of her body, bringing them to physical satisfaction.

He rubbed his chin on her cheek, "Where does vampire love end and physical love begin I wonder. With you Vicki there is no end or beginning. With you love is always."

Vicki's vampire pulled the taste of Henry and Henry's vampire close. It felt complete, satisfied, and at peace. "Hello love."