Oh Adonia, you are such a fuck up sometimes, I think to myself. I walk to the freezer and grab a pint of ice cream and drop to the sofa digging huge spoonfuls and shoving them down my throat.
The phone wakes me and I look around realizing I had dozed off with the ice cream still sitting on my chest. I look at the clock—4:45.
I contemplate answering figuring it is my mom. It rings two more times and I groan as I shove off the couch. She’ll just keep calling until I answer.
I pluck the receiver from the wall. “Hello.” I murmur.
A musical male voice vibrates in my ear, “Miss, Kostas?”
My eyes widen. “Yes?” I whisper.
“This is Khai Garai. You interviewed with me earlier today.” He says amused.
“Uh…yes, sir. Of course.” I mumble barely able to retain coherency.
He clears his throat but I can sense his smile. “Yes, well reviewing your file and my notes from the interview I’m pleased to offer you the position.”
My throat closes and I nearly drop the phone from shock. He is offering me the job after the horror show at the interview. My mind is in a current state of mush.
I must have checked out because he clears his throat again. “Miss, Kostas? Hello?”
“Yes, sir! I’m here, sir. I’m just—well… I’d be honored, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.” I stammer on every word.
He chuckles and it is such an amazing sound. “Very well then. Amanda will brief you on the specifics. You start tomorrow, Miss Kostas, I hope that is amenable?”
“Oh yes, sir. I’ll be there.” I squeak.
“Until then, Miss Kostas.” He says. “And welcome aboard.”
“Thank you, sir.” I say and the line goes dead.
I stand in the kitchen with the receiver glued to my head staring at the wall. What in holy hell just happened? Did I just get a job at the most coveted company in Manhattan?
Oh. My. God. I did just get a job and not just any job, the holy mecca of jobs! I jump in the air and scream at the top of my lungs. Finally, I will be able to breathe a little easier knowing my bills will be paid and I can have a little room to buy myself a few things.
Smiling like a circus clown I pick up my cell and blast a few texts with my good news. Moments later a ding alerts me and I glance down.
A text from Tiffany:
“No fucking way! OMG! Drinks on me—Grove—one hour.”
I chuckle and text back I’d be there. I actually feel like going out and celebrating. I walk to my closet and pull out my slinky graduation dress and put a few curls in my hair.
The cab pulls in front of Grove and I step out, head high because I am now a fellow working class Manhattanite.
Tiffany has amassed a small army to celebrate. Her skills are incredible. She screams and everyone joins in when I round the bar. Half of the people I have never met and the other half are just acquaintances. But then I see Benton and I sort of freeze up inside.
He likes me in a way that I can’t reciprocate. My mind is consumed with the man that I now know is Khai Garai, my current boss.
Fuck.
That thought had sort of slipped my mind until now. The only man to have ever affected me and made me wish for something more is completely off-limits. But like he would have ever wanted me anyway, I scold myself.
I sigh and walk forward taking the proffered drink and toast to my good news. Only inside I am sulking. Heavily. Karma sure is a big ole’ bitch sometimes.
A few hours later I am ready to call it a night and walk to the restroom where I stand frozen in my tracks…again.
He is here.
I look around the room and spot him sitting at a corner booth—alone. He smiles and holds up his drink.
I blink several times taking in his absurd beauty; he smiles and waves before I hurry to the restroom. Once inside I lean against the wall and calm my breathing. The things that man does to me.
I just can’t believe I am seeing him again. And tomorrow I start to work at his company! I wonder if I will see him while I am there, I know I will be working way under someone else probably on another floor.
Then I realize the odds of seeing him are probably zero. I walk over to the mirror and stare at the hurt look in my eyes and realize I should be jumping for joy and ecstatic.
I sigh heavily and walk out. Just as I enter the bar room a tall shadow covers me.
“Miss Kostas, we meet again.” He muses.
I gulp and I am pretty sure he hears it because a wicked smile flits across his face. “H-hi Khai—I mean, Mr. Garai.” I stammer in horror. I just addressed him by his first name like we are good old buddies or something more.
I hang my head in embarrassment.
He laughs once. “I see you are out with your friends for the evening.”
I look up. “Yes, sir. We are actually sort of celebrating my good news.” My voice is barely a whisper.
“Ah, yes. Well, I’m certainly glad you find the news worth celebrating.”
“You have no idea, sir.” I say sincerely and watch the amusement in his eyes turn soft.
He tilts his head to the side and regards me for several minutes. I am like a snake in a trance; I can’t peel my eyes away.
Finally he smiles. “Well, do have an enjoyable evening, Miss Kostas.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Please, call me, Khai.”
And with one more smile he turns and disappears into the crowd. I realize my jaw has dropped open and I am staring in his direction. I shake my head and test the word on my tongue—Khai.
It sends shivers through my blood.
I walk over to Tiffany dazed and say my goodbyes. Benton offers to take me home and I sigh defeated and follow him out the door.
CHAPTER FIVE
KHAI
I haven’t asked a woman to call me Khai since Mehi and that was over a thousand years ago. What is this girl doing to me? First I come to her aid, which is ironic because there is no greater danger for her than I, then I offer her a job that puts her into my proximity each day, now I have made our odd interaction intimate by conceding my first name.
I’m not used to having all these conflicting…emotions. Actually, I haven’t felt an emotion other than anger since I woke up on that cold floor realizing what I had become.
My feet work on their own volition and steer me right to her apartment. The place I have spent most nights pacing and watching.
A deep growl works up through my throat when I see him place his hand on her back. She is oddly shifting from foot to foot in a nervous gesture. I walk closer.
He is telling her good night but I can sense he really wants to do more than kiss her. Rage burns my eyes as I read his thoughts. The impure visions he has of her naked and beneath him.
Suddenly I want to drain him and rip his body to shreds. Then he leans in and she blocks his mouth just as it reaches her face. His body tenses and I can feel the irritation rolling off his skin. His thoughts now are a mixture of desire and anger.
My own rage is so volatile that I can barely contain the urge to surge forward and slay him where he stands. But the thought of showing that side of myself to Adonia makes me cower.
I never want her to feel afraid in my presence and I certainly never want her to know the monster that I really am.
Mercifully a moment later she says goodbye and disappears through the door. I listen as she climbs the four flights before shutting the door to her apartment. I wait to hear the lock engage but it never comes. Panicked I make me way around the building watching the cab drive away with the boy scowling from the back window.
When I am sure no one is around I drift up the building and peer through her window. I can hear her scrubbing her hair in the shower so I ease the window open and slide inside. The lock is still disengaged so I saunter over and click the bottom then top locks. What was she thinking of leaving herself exposed in such a way? Irritation burns in my blood.
I walk back to the windo
w and before I can climb back through I hear her whisper my name. My head turns in her direction and I feel that pull again. It’s as though every particle in my body draws itself to her.
I read her thoughts and am surprised to see me kissing her hungrily against the wall of her bedroom. It stirs deep desires within me and I begin to feel the urge to be inside her to fuck her hard until she screams my name again and again.
I like the way it sounds coming from her lips. She says it like a prayer… Khai…
The shower stops and I hear her step out wrapping a towel across her body and turning the knob.
The next second I am closing the window and catch her fleeting image as I drift back to the ground.
I watch her from the shadows as she gazes out the window. Her thoughts are of me. I watch as images of my face and hands play over and over in her mind. Never going beyond a kiss and a caress.
She is different, not like all the other women I have been around that think such vulgar things. She’s pure and innocent.
But the thoughts I have of her are carnal. I need to feed so I can keep my compulsion from flying back to her window and taking her in every room.
I run back to my car and head to a bar. Tonight will not be about picking the best flavor it’s about hunger and need so the quickest access is the best. I park and walk into the little pub. The air is stagnant with stale cigarette smoke and musty body sweat.
I scan the room and find a woman with a burning desire for something stronger than alcohol.
She will come willingly.
I order a whisky and tune out the buzzing of the ice machine that is dripping with bacteria. Slowly he pours the half glass and I settle into the chair. She raises her eyes from her glass and immediately takes me in.
Her heart skips several beats before it picks up a faster rhythm. I can sense the chemicals flowing through her system. Her body is riddled with cancer and the alcohol takes the edge off the pain.
She’s scared of dying and is constantly sick from taking the newest and latest experimental drugs.
But her case is hopeless I can see the masses all over her internal organs. She smiles at me and I give her a grin back. That’s enough to have her moving to the chair beside me.
“You don’t look like this is your type of place.” She says peeking over the top of her glass.
I smile wide. “You’d be surprised at my type of place.”
She smiles back but I can sense her confusion. I tap her glass. “You look a little out of place here yourself.”
Blood is pooling around her heart from the lack of muscle function. She has two maybe three months left. I catch the sparks behind her eyes that run thoughts of sex and sedateness. She longs for someone to hold her and tell her everything will turn out ok.
Little does she know I am not that person, but I will take away her remaining miserable days.
I finish my drink and offer her my hand. She takes it and without a word we walk out the door. Moments later we are in between the building hovering in the shadows.
Her fear is growing. She knows my intention is wrong.
I look into her eyes. “I can sense the disease defiling your body. It’s riddled with the growing masses.” Her eyes grow wide and her pupil’s dilate.
“I think you know how this will end, am I correct?”
Tears spring to her eyes as she whispers, “Yes.”
I nod and the next moment I tear into her neck and drain her tainted blood. The cancer is bitter tasting and the various drugs muddle the sweet part of the blood. Her veins are weak and it doesn’t take but seconds for he heart to jerk to a stop and push out the remaining liquid trapped inside the muscle.
I drop her lifeless body to the ground and check my surroundings before I place my hand to her chest then watched her ashes swirl with the wind being carried toward the water.
My hunger now managed I walk back to the car. I drive back by her apartment and listen for her presence. I finally find her breathing evenly and dreaming of me.
A part of me warms at the thought and I continue driving to my house.
The next morning I dress and stand by the window listening to the lives happening around me. I feel the tiny heartbeat drumming inside the woman beneath me. She’s no more than seven weeks. I drift into her mind and see that she suspected but didn’t really know for sure. Now would not be the best time for a baby. She has a fast track planned for her career and this would blow her chances of becoming partner at her law firm.
I grow bored of the internal dialog and move on. I sense a dark mood in the building across the way. Then I see his release. He is cupping her neck watching the last remaining spark drain from her eyes.
Interesting. He’s a predator and this is not his first time. I look at my watch deciding if I have the time. It’s too late for her, I felt it when her heart stuttered to a halt but him; I could release some of my own rage.
I walk through the house and pass Renita in the kitchen straightening shelves and cleaning the refrigerator. I roll my eyes. What in hell is she cleaning the empty refrigerator for?
Stepping out onto the street I feel the atmosphere change and know there will be a storm in the afternoon. The air is sweet with moisture building for the rain. The rumble of the subway cars beneath my feet tell me the train is five minutes behind schedule and I can hear the rubbing of a cracked bearing in the mid axle. If left unrepaired it could cause the entire train to buckle in the middle and in human terms end in disaster.
I eye the numbers on the code pad for the door. Punching the worn sequence of digits the door pops open and I walk inside. I choose the stairs and once inside I move at my fast pace making it to the twentieth floor in less than three seconds.
I pull the handle and step into the hallway. The wallpaper is peeling and the carpet has a musty odor. I am surprised because this is supposed to be a well-kept sister building to mine.
I hear the dripping of a cracked pipe between the wall of Apt 546 and 545. The material is recycled and illegal to use. I sense for other maladies and find numerous infractions with cheap materials and recycled fixtures. It is a combination of fire hazards and weak structure.
I make a note to myself to check the bearings in my walls upon my return.
I reach the apartment door and feel him stirring around her body. I twist the metal around the lock until it crumbles into my hand. Reaching for the handle I twist it and let the door swing open.
He’s in the next room close to the kitchen thinking of ways to defile her body. He not only savors the control of watching them die he revels in mutilating their bodies after.
I smile at the treat I will have this morning. Watching him swell with terror over his own death will soothe an urge and subdue some of the rage wafting through my bones.
I carry myself across the room and stop in the doorway watching him hoover over her lifeless body savoring the image.
He feels my presence and jumps to his feet. “Who the fuck are you?” He roars.
“Someone you’ll wish you never met.” I murmur.
His face contorts with rage. “I’ll kill you.” He bites through clenched teeth.
I can smell the stale alcohol seeping through his skin. His mind is a dark place full of torment and evil. He can no longer count the many he’s taken.
His depravity enrages me more and I want him gone. I move at my pace and stand inches from his face in a split second. Fear washes through the depths of his eyes as I pull back my lips to expose the weapon of my choosing.
His heart falters and I feel the panic growing inside causing his stomach to clench and the acid to bubble up his esophagus.
With one hand I grip his throat and crush his neck then drop him to the ground next to her limp body.
His eyes are still wide staring at the wall. I step back from the blood pooling on the floor and straighten my tie as I walk from the room and pull the door closed behind me.
Not wanting to bother with driving today I pull out my phone
and called Peter.
“Yes, Mr. Garai?” He answers.
“I’m ready to leave for the office.” I command.
“Yes, sir. I will be out front in two minutes, sir.”
I slide the phone back into my breast pocket and walk onto the street crossing over and landing on the curb just as Peter pulls the car around.
The car pulls in front of the building at 8:15. I climb out and step to the elevators. Several people are waiting fisting their cups of coffee and fighting remnants of hangovers.
Two women chat giddily about random dates the previous evening then flush when they turn their attention to me. Suddenly I am the new player in their heads ravishing them and hungrily taking them to bed.
How wrong they are. Ravish yes but not in the way they
Envisage. I pull out my phone and begin sifting through the new emails. Several are from my lawyer discussing the new fleet of ships we just purchased for a shipping company I own in Sudan.
Then there is one from Amanda informing me of the death of her mother suddenly and that she will be absent for the next few days as they make arrangements.
That immediately sends my mind to Adonia and her briefing for her first day of work.
I have already gotten odd questions and looks from my close staff because I don’t do intern interviews and I most certainly don’t work closely with them. They are staffed in the HR floor on the bottom level.
But with Adonia I want her around me. I arranged for her position to have direct communication with me throughout the day. My strange new obsession has apparently garnered much attention.
I stow my phone back in my pocket and try to drown out the incessant pleas from the two overly sexual women still behind me.
Finally the doors open on my floor and I step out to find Adonia sitting stick straight in the lobby chairs. I smile because she is exuding nervous energy and her thoughts are nothing but incoherent garble.
The Last Vampyre Prophecy Page 5
