Desire_Her Two Rivals

by Ally Miller

  But this screaming was coming from someone who didn’t belong in a place like this. As I looked down below, I could make out three men and a woman. They were attacking her relentlessly, but she was fighting back, screaming so loud I was sure some other human must come to save her. But I didn’t have much faith in their race anymore, even though I was once one of them.

  I didn’t make it a habit of saving humans in peril unless they were children or innocents being attacked by new, bloodthirsty vampires. But there was something about this woman as I zeroed in on her racing heartbeat as she fought for her life against her three assailants. She wanted to live.

  Getting closer, dropping down into the alleyway with nothing but the sound of an extra whisp of wind, I could see her fearful eyes. They were a light grey like an old black and white film and her hair was made up of short blonde curls. Something about her struck me in a place I didn’t know was still within me.

  I had felt little beyond boredom and some guilt for what I was and what I had to do to survive for quite a long time. So, I was surprised, almost to the point of pain, as an attraction welled up in me at the sight of this woman. My attraction had nothing to do with the blood that ran through her veins, and I could almost remember what my heart felt like when it used to beat. There was nothing else to do at that point but to save her and risk revealing what I was to her.

  I came up behind the men. They had no idea I was coming. Being a vampire meant that I made little to no noise, and I could move faster than a human eye could detect if I wanted. I was not constrained by human illnesses or rules. I was nothing but the perfect evolved predator that only another creature like me could ever stop or put to rest.

  The three men were easy. I picked them off with little effort or time, thrashing them against the walls of the buildings that lined the alleyway and drinking their blood to quench my thirst. I would not have to eat for quite some time, their thick, evil essence making me bloated with plenty of sustenance.

  The woman I had saved stood there in shock, watching the whole thing transpire. She didn’t run and she didn’t scream. I had expected at least one of those. Her grey eyes just watched me as I finished and stood before her with barely a drop of blood spilled onto my jacket or hands.

  There was a chill in the air, and it began to rain, which was odd for a place known for vast deserts with tumbleweeds rolling across the busy streets at all hours of the day. "Are you alright?" I asked the woman, not knowing what else to do now that she didn’t seem to fear me at all. I hadn’t figured on her sticking around. But maybe she was badly injured and couldn't run.

  The woman turned her grey eyes away from me and surveyed her own body, coming up with a small spot of blood on her arm from where a knife must have gotten her. The rest were tears and bruises it seemed. "I think I'm alright," she said, just as if she were talking to a regular human being. Was she in so much shock that she didn’t realize what I was? In that case, she was probably going to faint, and I couldn’t leave her out there to get attacked once again.

  I scooped her up into my arms, cradling her. "Is there any way you can tell me where you live? I'd like to make sure you get home safe," I told her, hoping she could give me anything, if only a description of her home.

  "I live in the South Sutter Apartments. Do you know where they are?" I actually did know what she was talking about, and for me, they weren’t very far.

  "Close your eyes," I told her, knowing my speed would make her ill if she kept them open. I watched her close her grey eyes and felt a twinge of sadness that I couldn’t see them anymore. There was something about them that made me feel grounded; that made me feel like I was human again.

  I took off in the direction of her home, the city flying by me as if I was in a plane, or like I was a bullet shot from a gun. It was the best way to travel, and one of the only things I still found fun anymore.

  I slowed as we approached the entrance, letting her direct me to which unit she lived in. They were not the nicest apartments to live in, and I was even more surprised to find that inside her unit, there was almost no furniture. It wasn’t the way I expected a woman like her to be living.

  I took her into the bedroom and laid her down on the mattress that sat by itself in the middle of the floor. It was the only comfortable place I could find in the whole unit. It served to make me even more curious about her.

  "Thank you," she said softly. "I'm Rhea." Her name was so unique, it surprised me. The world had become obsessed with Heathers and Sarahs over the past three or so decades.

  Her eyebrows raised as she tried to sit up, and she studied me. I felt strange as she did, but I couldn’t put a name on the feeling. I was too far removed from such things to remember what they were called. "You're a vampire." It wasn’t a question. She knew it, and yet she didn’t scream or try and find a Bible or cross to throw at me. It was the most interesting reaction I had ever seen.

  The right thing to do was to make her forget about me. Humans couldn’t handle the information, but I didn’t know if I could stand for her to forget about me.

  "Yes, I am," I confirmed for her. "My name is Maurice."

  Chapter 3

  ***Rhea***

  There is a vampire in my house. That was my first thought as I surveyed the man who had saved me from my attackers. I was trying to navigate the situation very carefully because I realized that vampires obviously didn’t go around just saving anyone, otherwise, humans would know they existed. But I couldn’t deny that I was more than grateful; I was fascinated.

  His speed was otherworldly, and he had a beauty to him that no human did. His hair was a deep red, coming down to his mid chest, and his eyes were a brilliant green like a cat's. His nose, lips, eyebrows and chin were arranged in perfect symmetry and were the color of skim milk. I knew it was crazy, but I was attracted to this creature who didn’t exist in my world until moments ago. I also knew he could easily dispose of me if he wanted to, and instead, he had chosen to bring me home to safety.

  "It's nice to meet you Maurice," I told him with a smile. I didn’t exactly know the etiquette for conversing with a vampire, so I stuck to general niceties, though I could easily fantasize about him crushing me into his impossibly strong arms and placing those soft, bow-shaped lips against mine. I had never met a man who made me feel this way, and maybe this was the reason why. There was no man who could satisfy the image in my head of what a man should be. "I don't imagine you get tired or thirsty, but would you like to sit down and have a cup of tea or something?" I asked awkwardly. I didn’t like the way he was just standing there with one foot in and one foot out my bedroom door. I had so many questions, and I wasn't at all ready for him to leave. I had to make sure he was real and not something I made up in my distress.

  "I actually do enjoy tea," he said. I stood up carefully, the shock of the attack wearing off to reveal quite a bit of soreness, and I took his hand. It was cool but not freezing like books would have made me expect. I led him into the kitchen where I sat him down in the corner, at my sad excuse for a table. He looked so strange, sitting in my mostly bare pitiful excuse of an apartment as I brewed tea in my old, hand-me-down coffee pot.

  "How much sugar and milk?" I asked politely, trying not to lose my senses. I wondered if he had the same effect on others, or if I was the only one who felt the need to touch his skin and get to know every story he had to tell.

  "Two scoops of sugar, no milk," he said, with a thoughtful look upon his brow. I assumed by scoops he meant teaspoons, so that’s what I did. I sat down across from him with my own tea, sipping at it as I watched him stir his own with his finger a few times before taking a sip.

  "Why do you keep looking at me like that?" he asked, meeting my eyes with his own. I felt frozen to the spot by his burning gaze.

  "Well, it’s not every day I have a vampire in my house," I joked lightly, causing him to cock his head to the side much like a dog trying to catch what you're saying.

  "I would certainly hope not. That w
ould be quite dangerous," he added, seeming to have no sense of humor to speak of. "You don’t act like other humans, am I right in that assumption?" I was startled by his question, and I wasn’t quite sure what he was referring to. "I mean in regards to your reactions to me," he clarified, seeing my confusion.

  "Oh, I guess I'm probably not. I'm not scared of you, if that’s what you mean. I'm mostly scared you aren’t real," I admitted, not sure as to the why. "I actually have questions."

  "That’s only natural," he stated, sipping at his tea like a proper gentleman. "I suppose I can answer a few.

  Instead of sticking to just a few, I found myself grilling him for the next hour on everything from his age to his weaknesses. I was surprised to find that not only did he answer each question, but he was easily amused by my curiosity. His laugh was like nothing I had ever heard, though. It just made me want to know even more.

  "You know, I should make you forget about me," he finally said. "We have this power called glamour, and we can use it to influence others; humans and younger vampires. We don’t let humans walk around knowing about us, so this is what we do when we make a mistake."

  "Please,” I begged, putting my hand up. "Don’t make me forget. I'm not going to tell anyone or try to hurt any of you. But I can’t imagine not knowing this now." His brows furrowed again, and I focused on those deep creases it made in his forehead. They were like some I’d seen in a painting rather than the imperfect ones I made when I frowned.

  Before I could stop myself, I leaned over the table and kissed him. Maurice's body was stiff at first, but then I felt it relax into me. His hands tangled in my hair, and I knew I had made him feel something.

  "You make me feel more alive than I have in a long time, Rhea," he said in a whisper, as if someone might be listening in. "But I do not know how anything between us would ever work." I didn’t either, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t willing to try.

  "Just don’t make me forget. We can worry about the rest later." He suddenly scooped me up and took me back to the bed, laying me down and giving me a kiss on the forehead. I suddenly felt groggy. I tried to cling to consciousness, but it was fading fast. My last thought was a tiny prayer to the universe that I would wake up and still remember Maurice.

  Chapter 4

  ***Rhea***

  I woke up the next morning, and Maurice was gone. But the fact that I knew he was gone, meant that he hadn’t erased my memory. I remembered every moment about him saving me and about our kiss. I was star struck and wondered when I might see him again.

  As the day dragged on, though, I realized I had no guarantee that I would see him again. As night fell, I found that I was wide awake, unable to go to sleep with the thoughts racing through my head. I hadn’t thought it through when I had asked him to let me keep my memory of him. I hadn’t asked for a guarantee I would see him again, or how I might find him if I wanted to. All I had was the memory of his red hair and green eyes to keep me company, and I began to feel both naive and completely insane.

  This wasn’t something I could call a friend to talk about, even if I had one. This wasn't something I could get on Facebook and share with my sometimes friends. It was a secret I would hold until the end of my days; the secret that I had met a beautiful vampire who saved my life and who kissed me so passionately. And I would never get to tell a single living soul, even if the memories began to fade and I never saw him again.

  A certain panic landed on my shoulders like a heavy weight, and I fell into a pattern of hoping and wishing Maurice would show his face again. As the week passed me by, I had lost all hope of him knocking on my door, or meeting me on the way home from work. Part of me thought I could feel him in the shadows, making sure I was safe after work, but it was the other part of my thoughts that became more frightening. I was beginning to worry I really had made him up. That Maurice did not exist. I was some raving lunatic who belonged locked up and medicated. I was sure of it.

  The thoughts were getting out of hand, and I knew I had to do something about it. So, I let any rational part of myself go on the way home Friday night, exactly one week after Maurice had taken out three men who had meant to do me harm. I took the most dangerous route home possible with no protection of any kind on me. I was wearing some of the most expensive jewelry I owned under my uniform. It wasn’t much, but it might have been enough to attract more of the same trouble I had encountered just a week ago. The human side of me knew I was being crazy and possibly suicidal, but the part of me that desperately needed to know Maurice was out there waiting and watching had been much stronger.

  For the first time since being on my own in this desert city of debauchery, I wanted someone to attack me. I was counting on it.

  I braced myself as I felt myself fly up against the side of a building. I was sure a bad man had me in his grasp and would pull a gun to try and get me to give him all my money and jewelry. I closed my eyes and braced for the blows that would come if Maurice really had abandoned me or didn’t exist. Instead, I heard a familiar voice in my ear. It was furious.

  "What the hell do you think you are doing, Rhea?" he growled. I opened my eyes to make sure I hadn’t imagined it to find myself pinned against an old building by Maurice. His green eyes were blazing with fury, and he looked like he might be mad enough to take me as his prey. I couldn’t care less.

  "You're real," I wondered out loud. "You're here."

  "Rhea, this is why I wanted to erase your memory; why humans are not supposed to know about us. Your brain can’t fathom a thing like me. You'll go crazy." He shook me in anger before pulling me tight to his chest.

  "I think it's my heart that can't take this," I breathed as he held me there under the cover of night.

  Maurice pulled back and looked at me, a new wonderment in his eyes that matched mine. "You are the most interesting human I have ever met, and that includes those I met when I was human myself," he admitted, a drop of blood cropping up in his left eye like a tear drop. I reached up to wipe it off and examined the drop of blood on my hand. I knew where the blood came from; the blood he needed to survive. He was a dangerous thing, and yet I wanted to get that much closer.

  "What does it feel like to have a vampire drink from you?" I asked, looking right into his eyes. He looked like he was debating something before he moved my blonde hair away from the right side of my neck, bringing his lips down to touch it. Maurice kissed the skin gently before sucking on it. I felt a surge of electricity shoot through my body at the sensation, and then, his razor sharp teeth dug into my skin. It was like needles that went way too deep, but then the pain was replaced by something else. I felt a pure ecstasy in my body that was similar to having an orgasm. When Maurice pulled away, I found that I was disappointed that the feeling had ended. I realized that Maurice could make people die in pure pleasure the whole time, begging for more, but he had stopped. I knew that I couldn’t let him leave me again after that.

  Chapter 5

  ***Maurice***

  I was on a high I couldn’t explain as I returned to my clan. I had Rhea's blood running through my veins, its sweet taste and scent keeping my body going strong in the undead life. What I felt for her was perplexing, even as one of the least vicious of my kind. Vampires did not truly love, not very often. Obsession was a strong and common feeling, and so was attraction, but that didn’t keep a vampire from killing someone whose blood they had a taste of. Yet, I had no desire to drain Rhea. Instead, I wanted to know everything about her. I wanted to please her and give her the world. It was so human that it scared me.

  My boots clanked against the concrete as I made my way through the underground tunnels and pipes that my vampire clan called home. But I was stopped in my tracks when our leader, Lawrence, appeared in front of me. I bowed to him with respect, even though I had little for him. It was often that a vampire would be stuck serving another he or she didn’t get along with every couple of decades. But it was safer to be part of the community and follow the rules, so that’s what I ha
d done.

  "I heard about that little toy you acquired," he said in his snake-like voice. As far as vampires went, Lawrence was probably the most selfish and reckless one I had ever met. I didn’t like the fact that he had seen me with Rhea. Nothing good was going to come from this conversation.

  "She's not a toy to me, Lawrence," I said as calmly as I could muster. I didn’t want to anger him, but I also wanted to make it clear that I would keep her safe.

  "Yes, I suppose we don’t often let toys in on our little secret." He rubbed his hands together and bared his fangs, making me take a step back in shock and worry. Lawrence didn’t know Rhea, and neither did the clan. If he let it slip to anyone there was a human out there running around with intimate knowledge of our kind, they would surely hunt her down and kill her.

  "Now, calm down, Lawrence. We can trust her. She’s different. Let me handle it." I was in a panic, wanting to save her life at all costs.

  "Calm down, Maurice. I don’t want to kill her. Interestingly enough, I find her about as interesting as you do. I have seen these differences in her that you speak of. I have grown weary of my current bride and would like a new one. I want you to get her for me."

  I felt the order come down on me like a weight. Unfortunately, when you made a pledge to a clan, it was with blood. The blood of the clan leader could glamour even the strongest and oldest of his subjects into doing his bidding. The only way out was for his reign to end somehow or for me to die, unless he agreed to release me form the contract. As long as he wanted Rhea, he wasn’t going to do that.