Vicki eyed the phone as it rang. She wasn't going to answer, she wasn't going to answer. Let his Royal Highness stew a little bit. He only wanted to yell at her for wounding his precious pride, after all. He'd be all self righteously affronted that she dared to question his statement. Or worse yet, play the part of the poor wounded and misunderstood creature of the night.
What, the poor little Prince couldn't stand his motives to be questioned? Well she was damned if she was going to let him get her on the phone and use that sweet sexy voice of his to get around her.
I'm not going to watch every word I say for fear of offending his delicate sensibilities. I am who I am and I am not changing that for anyone. He can take it or…leave it.
The phone continued to ring, and she counted the seconds between each of the rings, small silences, that seemed to stretch out longer and longer as she waited hands clenched for the ringing to stop. When the phone finally went quiet, the silence in the office was so thick that Vicki felt like she couldn't draw in enough air.
A painful sense of abandonment swelled up inside her chest, and she clamped down on it unmercifully, shaking her head and flattening her lips. He left me behind, He left me behind, her internal voice wailed, and he wouldn't wait for me. I just needed a little time, to take care of…to take care of…
She reached for anger's comforting warmth to push away the soul freezing sense of insecurity and unworthiness that chilled her heart.
Well, I'll be damned if I am going to tell him that I'll be in Vancouver now. I can just imagine that self confident and knowing smile. I know he will be thinking, "Just another conquest, come crawling back to me begging for my attentions."
I'll just go to Vancouver, find out what I can on Gaelan and then get out of his territory just as quickly as I can.
***
Henry lay with his arm over his eyes, listening to the short silences between the ring tones of her phone.
He already knew that she would not answer. He knew that those small intervals of silence would expand to a longer period of silence that would once again threaten to swallow the night.
When he heard the pause that indicated he was going to her voicemail, he gently closed the phone and placed it on the bedside table.
He was being punished; he knew that, for some infraction of the "Nightwalker Code of Conduct" as written by Victoria Nelson. She would punish him with her silence once again.
Almost five hundred years ago he had made a choice that had altered what he was. He had traded his life for what he thought was love and had been made a Vampire. He could not undo that choice.
She could not truly accept him for what he was, he knew that. She feared his unchanging nature, and though she outwardly accepted him, even cared for him, she feared the passion of his spirit.
She sought the shelter of her silence.
A painful sense of abandonment swelled up in his chest; with a low growl he embraced it.
She doesn't understand what it is to be Vampire, he thought. To be made to stand amid the raging torrent of humanity and human history and watch it flow past you. You are the boulder in the midst of the stream. The water divides, flows around you and rushes onwards in its course, leaving you behind, abandoned.
Her life rushes on, so brief, so quickly gone. I might have her with me for a few decades and then she will be borne away in that rushing stream. The time is so short. She will not give me what I desire; she will only give me the silence of her absence.
The hunger, for the blood of his prey, budded inside his body. He would hunt this night, bathing the wound on his heart in blood. He would bring them to himself, compelling them to surrender that which was HIS!
He would hunt this night, and in the passion of the hunt he could put away the soul freezing sense of insecurity and unworthiness that chilled his heart.
***
The elevator doors opened with the hiss of the hydraulics, and Henry emerged through them into the lobby.
He was actively hunting, with a hunger that he willingly inflamed, a hunger which he was capable of satisfying. His face was resolute and his eyes narrowed in the coarse artificial light as the scent of the human seated behind the desk reached him. He strode across the brightly lit space, questioning himself.
Was this one suitable prey? The guard was seated with her back to him, and her nose in a magazine. No, too easy. I could feed and be back alone in my apartment within twenty minutes. Where is the challenge in that?
He approached the desk and the human looked up. He saw it, he saw the fear flitter across her eyes and he schooled his face. At the sight of her fear he reconsidered for a moment his decision. He put the slightest power in his voice as he suggested that she had seen nothing in his appearance to alarm her.
Tanya nodded amiably under his influence. Leaning over the desk he reached out a finger and lifted her chin, stretching out her throat. He considered the tracery of glowing sustenance that lay just below the surface, his eyes dark and brooding. There was no fear in the human's blank gaze.
Perhaps…
Abruptly he leaned back and then whispered, "Go back to your magazine…Tanya. You haven't seen me this evening." He turned and stalked towards the door and the waiting night.
***
Marc grabbed Evelyn's hand as they exited the Teahouse Restaurant into the cool fragrant darkness of the Stanley Park. For a second date this had gone really well, he thought. She was beautiful, charming and witty, everything he liked in a companion, and her physical attributes were far more than he had expected when Susan had set them up.
She smiled at him and allowed him to link his fingers with hers as they walked across the parking lot towards the stairs to the seawall.
She was so glad that, when she was returning from the ladies room, the handsome young man with the long hair had suggested that she and her date might enjoy a walk on the seawall. Once he had said it, in that smooth as silk voice, she couldn't wait to feel the cool night air on her skin.
Marc had given in easily to her request, that they take a slow walk along the water in the dark, and perhaps sit in one of the benches and look out to the city lights. They passed their car and out of the lights of the parking lot. She drew her sweater a little higher on her shoulders as the night's breath was cool.
Hand in hand they descended the steps to the seawall walk, just a few feet above the rocks of the shore. The water lapped quietly against the wall, as the tide was high. They strolled slowly along the walk, enjoying the night and the light of the moon illuminating the way. Up the forested hill to their left the occasional car would pass by on Park Drive, the headlights flashing amid the silent tree trunks.
The voice that emerged from the dark was impossible to resist. A single word had them stopped still hand in hand on the walk. A moment later, Marc was drawing Evelyn through the trees, until they came to a small space in the brush. Here the voice bid them stay. They stood side by side, their eyes wide and frightened as a figure emerged from between the trees.
Their scent was full of fear and as Henry approached, their hearts began to pound. He tested his compulsion over them as he circled them where they stood. He moved closer to the female, and dropping his face to the hollow of her throat, he drew in a long breath. Her scent was ripe with her fear. It called to him.
He could feel the male struggling in his grasp and strengthened his compulsion. He ran his cool fingers down their arms to where their hands were clasped.
At his instructions the humans separated to stand a short distance apart.
He turned first to the female, her scent the most provocative, full of fear. Her lips quivered but once he had caught her gaze she could not look away. He circled her once more allowing her to follow him with her eyes. Once he was in front of her again he lifted a hand to push aside the edges of her sweater, easing the sleeves down her arms until her shoulders and chest were bare under her low cut dress.
He heard a low groan emerge from the male and cast a glance over his shoulder commanding him, "Silence."
He turned his attention back to the female, trailing cool fingers along her clavicle, the flesh of her arms and chest pebbling with gooseflesh in response. He cast aside the masquerade and allowed his eyes to darken and his fangs to drop. As he brought his lips to her mouth he breathed, "Do you know what I am?"
Against his own lips, he felt the tip of her tongue extend to moisten her upper lip and then she sucked her lower lip under her teeth in trepidation.
"Yes," she sighed in response. He turned his head to the side and nuzzled close to her ear, reveling in the sound of her heart's frantic beating and the pulse of her blood just beneath her glowing skin.
"Tell me," he whispered as he tasted the salt of her skin at her throat.
"Vampire, you are a vampire," she said slowly. Henry nodded his affirmation silently against her throat.
He turned her by the shoulders until as she faced him, her back was to the male. His eyes were black as he uttered the command, "Watch."
Marc could not look away as the vampire eased his fangs into Evelyn's flesh, at the point where her neck and shoulder met. She didn't move or cry out and Marc could see no blood, as the vampire locked his lips tightly to her flesh.
When he began to drink, Marc saw the vampire close his eyes, in pleasure. Released from the black gaze, Marc could not move, but his mind was free to observe the scene unfold in front of him. He watched as after a moment Evelyn brought her arms up to encircle the vampire's neck.
Instead of struggling to free herself, she pushed her body up against him, rubbing herself against his thigh as the vampire lowered his hands to grasp her waist. She tightened her grasp arching her back and throwing back her head and she gasped aloud as her orgasm took her. The vampire opened his eyes and caught Marc's gaze as he withdrew his fangs. He turned to Evelyn and pushed her hair back from her face with an almost tender gesture. "Wait," he commanded as he stepped away from her side.
***
I made her tell me the name of her fear, Vampire, the thing that I am.
The female was fearful up until the point that his fangs pierced her skin; as soon as he was physically linked to her the fear had melted away.
Now as he turned to the male a new scent of fear assaulted his senses and the hunger rose in answer. The vampire made no attempt to shield his prey from his truth. When he stood in front of the male, he lifted his compulsion slightly and he saw defiance and hatred bleed into the human's eyes. He allowed the male to struggle in his grasp for a moment and then phrased the same question displaying his fangs and watching his prey with obsidian eyes.
"Do you know what I am?" he asked again. The tone of his question was almost plaintive.
"You, you're a monster, a nightmare come to life, you're a fucking vampire. Christ! What do you want?" Mark sputtered.
"I want, I want..." his voice trailed off and the vampire glanced down and then back to the human's wide and frightened eyes.
"I want you to feed me."
"Fuck you," the male ground out as he struggled in Henry's control.
"Mmmmm…Perhaps another time."
The vampire smiled and then sharply tightened his control and the hunger was inflamed by the increase in the scent of the male's fear.
He strengthened his compulsion as the male fought his control. Marc's eyes widened in terror as against his own will he raised his arm towards the waiting vampire.
"Bare your wrist," Henry whispered, his eyes on the human's face.
Marc's opposite hand came up, fumbled with his cuff button and then pushed his suit jacket and shirt sleeve back to his elbow. The vampire waited, bathed in the scent of the human's terror, hatred and arousal. Stimulated, his hunger rose again in response to the intoxicating combination.
The vampire moved a pace forward as Marc held out his arm, palm up.
Marc watched as the vampire stepped closer. He wanted to look at Evelyn to see if she was all right, but he couldn't turn his eyes away from the dark gaze of the monster that approached him.
Is this a nightmare? he asked himself. This must be a nightmare. Fuck! I can't help myself, why am I offering my arm to him, just put it down. Just put it...His fingers are warm now, Uhhh…
Marc watched as the vampire took his proffered wrist in one hand. Marc slowly clenched his fist in the vampire's grasp but this only had the effect of causing the branching veins to stand proud of his skin. The Vampire circled a smooth thumb around and around over the blue veins that pulsed at the human's wrist.
Jesus Christ, he thought he's going to bite me. Those fucking fangs are huge, no!
Marc felt the warmth of the vampire's tongue on his skin and then a sharp pain at his wrist. As the vampire began to feed, Marc watched the ebony eyes grow softer and the lids slowly drop over their moist surface. Marc felt his sex tighten with the stirrings of arousal and then he was flooded with a sense of pure pleasure so intense that within a few moments he felt himself slip over the edge of the abyss of his release. His own eyes had tightly closed and when he opened them with a sigh, he saw the midnight gaze of the vampire watching him over his own flesh. Where a moment before he had been ecstatic in his pleasure, now, he shuddered under the depth of loneliness and despair that he glimpsed in those black depths. The weight of that endless agony brought tears starting in his eyes.
The vampire withdrew his fangs, incongruously laving the site of his bite tenderly with his tongue.
As he stood back, Marc heard the whispered question, "Tears for the monster?"
***
They strolled slowly along the walk, the light of the moon illuminating the way. Up the forested hill to their left the occasional car would pass by on Park Drive, the headlights flashing amid the silent tree trunks.
Marc turned to Evelyn, drawing her slightly closer, and lifting his arm around her shoulder. He was oblivious to the four small puncture wounds visible at the neck edge of her sweater. "Would you like to sit for a while on this bench and watch the night?"
She smiled and lay her head on his shoulder, "Yes, yes I'd like that."
***
The brilliant lights of the lobby pained his eyes even though he had squinted them nearly shut, in an effort to shield them. The door of the building had not swung closed before he was across the space and pushing the elevator button. The scent of the cool night air flowed by in his wake.
"You have not seen me this evening," he said over his shoulder in a commanding tone, as Tanya lifted her head. She had settled back in her seat as the elevator doors slid open with a sigh to admit him to the dark paneled cubicle.
As the doors whispered closed he leaned his forehead against the wood above the buttons to collect himself for a moment, then reached down and pressed the button for the top floor. He paced in a tight circle in the close confines as the elevator began its ascent.
I cannot remember the last time I fed that way, treating my innocent prey so, he thought. I toyed with them, taking as much pleasure from their fear as from the sustenance they provided.
It is something that a newborn would do, glorying in one's power over the helpless.
And in the end the human male shamed me into recognizing my folly.
As the door swung open at his floor Henry crossed quickly through the atrium to his own door, and a moment later stood inside his apartment. The night was clear and beautiful and as he crossed the room to drop his keys on the console, his eyes were drawn to the lights of his city.
He glanced toward the door of his inner sanctum, but he knew that it was hours until dawn. Restless, he started towards his work table, but paused partway there. His hands dropped to his sides. He knew that all his Muses had flown; he was unfit company this evening.
In the end he took the spiral stair to the roof, pacing the perimeter of his garden around and around until finally he forced himself to sit on an antique stone bench under an arbor overgrown with moonflower vine.
He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned over to cover his face with his hands. He knew he felt warm and alive from the blood he had taken. He stared down at the graveled path at his feet, seeing nothing but the dawning horror and compassion that had filled his prey's eyes at the last unguarded moment they were linked.
He drew in a long breath and the fragrance of the white blooms surrounded him. He raised a gentle finger to touch the satin white of the petals.
He had often watched in wonder as the furled blooms of the moonflower unfolded gracefully under the lunar radiance in less than a minute, adapted to the night, forever separated from its cousin the morning glory.
Henry returned to his apartment and picking up the remote, closed the metal shades. He crossed to his sanctum and closed and secured the doors. Again he picked up the remote and as he settled on the edge of the bed he pressed the button, watching with unfocussed eyes as the shades lowered to block off the night sky and the city below.
Slipping off his boots, he lay himself fully clothed on top of the bed. Turning on his side he pulled the pillow to him and curled his body around it. The dawn was still more than an hour distant. This night, the vampire composed himself to wait, for the thoughtless and painless oblivion of the dawn.