Love Demands

Henry smiled as he thought, "Another successful night of feeding without getting caught." Just a few seconds before, his bite had opened a vein as she arched her back in pleasure. He wondered, "How much longer will I be able to do that with this woman?"

Deep in thought, it took him a moment to realize she was talking. He shook his head and said, "I'm sorry. Repeat that."

With green eyes snapping she said, "I thought so. You weren't listening. We've been seeing each other for over two years and it's time we took our relationship to another level don't you agree?"

Henry closed his eyes and thought, "Here it comes. The commitment statement."

Sylvia looked intent as she said, "I want a commitment from you. It's either we are a couple with a future or we're not."

Henry thought, "It's always the either / or statement." Out loud Henry said, "I'm never going to commit to one woman. If that's what you want, I'm afraid you'll have to find someone else."

Sylvia sat up and said, "You bastard. I've wasted years on you and now you say I should find someone else?"

Henry picked up his clothes saying, "I've never said I wanted more than what we have now. You're a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent woman, but I'm not in love with you. Sorry if I've left you with the wrong impression."

Sylvia reached for something to throw when his eyes darkened and he said, "Sleep. You've decided not to see me anymore. You haven't seen me in weeks and you've already forgotten what I look like."

Sylvia's eyes closed without another word. Henry pulled the covers up to her chin and kissed her forehead. He reinforced his commands and left. Safe in the cool night he sighed, "Good bye and good luck."

***

Henry unlocked the front door and entered his condo. He threw his keys in the general direction of the sideboard and stomped into his bedroom. Vicki noticed the scars left by the thrown keys on the wall behind the sideboard as she silently picked them up and placed them on the table where they belonged. When he came back into the living room with a towel wrapped around his waist Vicki said, "My aren't we in a pretty mood."

Henry looked at her and said, "Sylvia demanded I make a commitment." He sat on the edge of the couch and shook water from his hair, "When will I ever learn not to see a person more than a few times?"

Vicki sat down beside him and ran her fingers threw his damp hair and asked, "Aren't you listening to yourself? Don't you think it's strange talking to me about your troubled love life?"

"Actually no. You're the only one I can talk to."

Vicki went into the bathroom, brought back the hair dryer that was tethered to a long extension cord and started drying his hair while saying, "Vampire, it's a damn good thing I love you."

Henry helpfully turned his head from side to side as she worked on his hair and said, "I like when you do this for me."

"I know, Henry." She finished with his hair and he headed for his room with her following close behind. As he slipped under the covers she asked, "Is it time for us to move?"

"Not yet, but it's getting close to time for you to decide whether or not you're joining me as vampire."

A thousand objections ran through her head and a thousand reasons to say yes followed close behind. Changing the subject she said, "It's getting late."

"You're avoiding the issue."

Vicki kissed his lips and whispered. "Rest well."

That evening Vicki found a way to keep Henry from talking about her becoming vampire. By the time he realized what she was doing, another night had come to a close and as the sun rose he said, "Very well, but we can't go on like this forever."

"So, Mr. I'm not going to commit, you want a commitment from me?"

As his eyes closed he said, "Yes!"

He had already passed away for the day and didn't hear her say, "You win, Henry. I'll join you."

***

A week later, Vicki looked into the angry green eyes of the woman sitting across from her and asked, "Why are you so determined to find this man?"

Sylvia Linden clenched and unclenched her fists, "He jilted me. He took up two years of my time, only to walk away when I asked for a commitment. He tried to make me think it was my idea that he leave. No one does that to me!"

Vicki frowned in suspicion and said, "Tell me why haven't you looked for him yourself?"

" I tried everything even Google, Yahoo, and Facebook. I can't find him on my own."

Vicki warned, "I don't come cheap."

Sylvia pulled out an envelope and said, "How much will three days cost?"

Vicki said, "Five hundred a day, that makes fifteen hundred for three days."

Sylvia handed over half the amount and gave Vicki all the details about her former lover.

***

Henry woke up knowing that an unhappy Vicki was sitting beside him. He opened his eyes and raised on eye brow in question.

"Well bright eyes, I've been offered fifteen hundred dollars and you have to figure out away for me to earn it."

Henry hated having to think before getting out of bed, moaned and turned over, "I'm not liking this."

Vicki pulled back the covers, admired his firm, well shaped buns, gave in to her baser instincts, and gave one cheek a quick bite.

"Ouch! That hurt." He turned back to her and said, "I'm the vampire here. I do the biting!"

Vicki smirked and said, "Bite me."

His eyes turned dark and he pulled his lips back from his sharp fangs, "Oh I'll do more than that, Victoria Nelson." He reached out and before she could step back, snagged her shirt, tugged her forward and ripped it off. Vicki gave back as good as she got, but she was no match for his strength and soon she was naked lying face down on the bed with him over her. He kissed the back of her neck as he forced her legs apart, "Say you're sorry for biting me."

"No! I'm not sorry, and if given the chance, I intend to bite you again."

Henry stopped moving and relaxed his arms so his weight was supported by her body, "What are you saying?"

"You heard me. I want to bite you."

Henry licked the back of her neck, "Now?"

"Not yet, there's a little problem that needs to be worked out first."

"Not before I make you pay for that bite on my ass."

Vicki pushed up with her hands and knees, and he shifted his weight to give her room to turn over. They smiled into each other's eyes and got down to the business of serious lovemaking.

***

Henry joined Vicki in the shower as she finished the final rinse of her hair, "Not again, Henry."

He laughed, handed her the bar of soap and said, "If I can't have you, wash my back."

Vicki took the bar and motioned for him to turn around as she worked up a lather, "Sylvia Linden hired me today."

Henry said, "That's a mood killer if I've ever heard one."

Vicki stroked his back with her lathered hands, "Since we both know who the missing lover is, I want you to help me help her."

Henry asked her to leave the shower and worked at vampire speed to get ready for the night.

Vicki had just pulled on a tee as a fully dressed Henry said, "What do you want me to do?"

"I'm thinking you need to see her again and help her understand you're not the marrying type."

"That I can do. It's nothing more than I've done hundreds of times."

"You're being a bit callous this time around."

"Perhaps. Normally I get a sense of what's going on in a lover's head and call it quits sooner. I wasn't paying as much attention to the signs as I normally do."

Vicki studied his far away look, "Being vampire doesn't give you many good choices does it?"

"No. Someone always gets hurt. Most often it's me. After suffering a loss, I pull away from all attachments, then get overwhelmingly lonely and create new attachments only to lose them again."

"Tell me why you're sticking with me?"

"You're different. From the beginning I knew we could have a lasting relationship. We can beat the odds. I'm risking all that I am on that."

Vicki swallowed before speaking, "So, about Sylvia? How do you want to work this? Do I contact her and say I found her missing lover?"

Henry frowned and then agreed to her plan after making a few suggestions and adjustments of his own.

***

Vicki walked into the "Frosted Mug" where Sylvia worked the evening shift as a bartender and noticed that Sylvia had a bright smile and a way of greeting customers that made them feel welcome. Sylvia was quick on the stick, and mixed with practiced ease. Vicki could see why Henry had chosen to keep coming back. She pushed down the ugly twinge of jealousy and stepped up to the rail saying "Whatever you have on tap is good."

Sylvia gave Vicki a glance and pulled on the center tap. When the head was perfect and a single bit of foam drifted lazily down the mug, Sylvia placed it before Vicki and said, "Well? Did you find the bastard?"

"Yup. You just have to know which rock to turn over. He said he'd show up tonight."

Vicki place a white envelope on the bar and slid it over to Sylvia while saying, "It wasn't that hard to find him. Here's a refund."

Sylvia lifted the envelope and counted the money. "That's not right, you only kept a hundred for yourself."

"I had a pretty good idea where was and it only took a couple of calls to track him down."

Sylvia pulled out two bills and put them under the hand that Vicki had resting on the bar. "Let's call this a tip."

Henry stood in the doorway of the "Frosted Mug" and watched Vicki talking with Sylvia. He waited for Vicki to shrug and moved forward to the far end of the bar. Sylvia saw him out of the corner of her eye, made a small squeaking sound, then walked down to where he stood and said to her partner, "I'll take him."

Henry said, "Hi Sylvia, Nelson said you wanted to talk to me." Then he braced himself for the tongue lashing and looked down to see a bottle of Harp beer sitting on the bar in front of him.

Sylvia smiled and said, "It's over Hank, but I needed to see you again."

"Why?"

"We weren't bad together. It's not your fault I read more into it than there was. When I went to Ms. Nelson, I was still mad as hell. Since then I've had a chance to think. You're not right for me. You're funny, good looking and good in bed, but you never gave all of yourself to me. I don't want to be in a one way relationship and I don't need a part time lover. I need a full time man. Good bye Hank, I'm glad I met you, but I'm even happier to say so long." Sylvia smiled, squared her shoulders and laughed in greeting as a customer from the other end of the bar waved and called for a refill.

Henry drained the bottle, dropped three times the cost of the beer on the bar and left.

Vicki was standing across the street in the shadows as he came out. He tilted his head back, caught a whiff of her scent and joined her.

Vicki put her arms around his waist and asked, "Did she bite your head off?"

Henry tested the attachment of his head to his shoulders and said, "Nope. Still firmly anchored."

"Good enough." She held her breath then said, "Turn me into a vampire."

"What?"

"I said, turn me into a vampire. "

"When?"

"Now! Tonight! Don't give me time to change my mind."