I had always liked Charlie. He was funny, sincere, and reliable. His presence made me happy. I couldn’t say why, but it just did. Lately, there was also a tension of a sexual nature between us, something I couldn’t deny. I had more feelings for Charlie than I had cared to admit. I had refused to believe it was love at the time but now realized the truth. It hadn’t been love at first sight, but what we had was definitely love.
I had no doubts Charlie loved me back. He’d spelled it out for me in the motel room. He couldn’t have been any clearer. I hadn’t wanted to choose between him and Caleb then, but even after I had chosen Caleb, Charlie had still continued to stand by my side. I hadn’t seen what I meant to him, who he really was, what he really meant to me.
All of a sudden, emotions washed over me like a tidal wave, and I dared to kiss Charlie softly on the cheek. He opened his eyes, looking pleasantly surprised. His reaction made me smile, and I kissed him again, this time on the lips. As with the first kiss, I had closed my eyes and now hesitated to open them, afraid of Charlie’s reaction. When I did open them, I saw him smile. I was so happy I could cry.
Charlie propped himself up on his elbow. He brushed some hair out of my face, moved his hand under my chin, and leaned closer to kiss me more intensely. I put my arm around him, never wanting to let go of him again. I had finally found my fairy-tale prince to give all my love to.
His kisses were soft and sweet, and he ran his fingers through my hair. It fueled my passion, making blood flow into private places, arousing me. His every touch made my skin tingle, and goose bumps rippled over my body. My senses all went haywire. It felt like I was getting drunk with love, and it made my passion become less romantic, harder, more urgent.
“Kate,” Charlie said in between his kisses, trying to get my attention. “Kate…”
I didn’t reply. I kept kissing his face, my hands going through his hair, over his back, moving to the front...
“Kate, no,” Charlie said again. He grabbed my hand and stopped kissing me back.
Tears began to flow over my cheeks. I wanted to make love to Charlie so much.
Why are you saying no? I want you, Charlie. Isn’t that what you want too?
I continued to kiss him.
Charlie pushed me away from him.
“Kate, I can’t do this,” he said, “not like this.”
In an instant, the passion that was flowing out of every single pore of my being turned into anger, from top to toe. It was like somebody had pulled a switch. I yanked myself from his grip, grabbed his arms, and flung him from the bed. I had no idea where the strength came from, and I didn’t care. Looking down on him, I could smell his fear. It made me feel amazing. My eyes went to his neck. I could hear his jugular calling out to me. Drink me, drink me!
Charlie’s pupils dilated. A split second later, he scrambled up and ran out the door. Instantly, I was up and on his heels, chasing him into the living room. I craved his blood more than I had wanted anything in my whole life.
Rhona had been lying in Harry’s embrace on the couch. They both sprang up when Charlie and I dashed into the room. Harry was still taking in the situation as Charlie grabbed a chair and held it between him and me. Rhona, however, seemed to know exactly what was going on. She threw herself in front of me.
“No, Kate!” she yelled. “Not Charlie!” She pushed me away from him, throwing me against the wall.
I felt my pulse thumping in my head as my anger redirected itself from Charlie to Rhona. I scrambled back up, lunged forward, and pushed Rhona. She fell back toward the window, clutching at the curtain in an attempt to stay upright. It tore from the rod. Light flooded the living room. As sun rays fell on Rhona’s skin, she went into a seizure. The sight was horrible and yanked me brutally out of my rage. I just stood there, watching her move erratically, and I blinked against the light, feeling stupid.
Harry was the first to act. He moved Rhona away from the window, out of the sun’s rays. He then tried to put the curtain back up again. Seeing him struggle, I got out of my shock and moved to help. Charlie grabbed a cushion from the couch and put it under Rhona’s head to stop her from injuring herself. To my relief, Rhona's seizure ended as soon as the light was blocked from the room. Harry lifted her up and laid her on the couch.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I cried, standing in the middle of the room. Charlie had gotten up from the floor, but stayed clear of me, watching me like a hawk. I felt more alone than I had ever felt before.
Running into the bedroom, I threw the door shut behind me and flung myself on my bed. I wrapped my arms around my knees, rocking myself to and fro. Tears were flowing again.
I was a walking disaster, causing pain to everyone around me. I couldn’t stop biting my knee. My teeth hurt, and it was sort of soothing to bite on something, anything, even if it was my own body. I heard their voices in the living room but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Suddenly, one sentence stood out.
“She needs to feed.”
It was Rhona who’d said it. The voices went quiet.
Offerings
Not much later, the bedroom door opened. Charlie stood in the doorway. He held a mug in one hand, the other hand held onto the door handle.
“Can I come in without you attacking me?” he asked.
“Yes, of course.” I wiped the tears from my face.
Charlie let go of the door handle, but I noticed he left the door open, just in case.
I can’t blame him.
He sat on the edge of the bed and offered me the mug.
“Here, drink this.”
“What is it?”
“Blood, you need to feed.”
“Where did you get it from?”
“Don’t you worry about that. Just drink it before it congeals.”
He put the mug in my hands. As he did, I noticed his bandaged wrist.
Oh my god, he is giving me his own blood.
A shiver went through my spine. I looked into the mug and noticed it was only half full.
“Smudges don’t give a lot of blood, do they,” I said, immediately regretting my words and hoping I hadn’t offended him.
Charlie smiled.
“Well, no, they don’t. Just drink it, will you?”
I lifted the mug to my mouth. The rim touched my lips. The idea of drinking blood from a mug was not appealing to me at all somehow. The blood looked like black slurry. I hid my mouth behind the mug.
“It’s not blue either,” I said. I didn’t know if he remembered that time in the cabin when I’d almost compared him to a little, fictional, blue character.
“Just drink it,” Charlie urged me. With a broad smile, he pushed the mug back to my mouth. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It took me some courage to actually tip the mug up enough to make the lukewarm liquid run into my mouth.
To my surprise, it tasted great. With a few large gulps, I finished the drink and licked my lips. I held the mug upside down above my mouth to catch the last drops. I even tried to lick it clean.
“You like it that much, eh?” Charlie said with worry in his tone.
I nodded and gave him back the mug.
“Well, I’m afraid there’s not much more where that came from,” he said and sighed.
“Is Rhona okay?” I whispered to him after I wiped my lips and licked my hand for good measure.
“Yes, she’s fine. Please don’t do anything like that again though.”
How can I promise this? I don’t know if I can control my thirst in the future.
“I’ll do my best,” was all I could say.
I expected Charlie to leave, but he stayed sitting on the edge of the bed. I looked at him expectantly.
“Kate…” he said. He seemed extremely uneasy. “Kate, when the curtain fell…you just stood there…”
I kept looking at him, my expression turned blank.
Are you really trying to rub in how wrong I was?
There was an awkward silence before I realized what
he was saying.
Holy cow. Rhona had gone into a seizure, and I hadn’t.
As I sucked in air with the revelation, Charlie said my thoughts out loud.
“You didn’t have a seizure.” His brows furrowed, his eyes intent on me.
I felt like a student who had to give the teacher an answer to his question, but I didn’t have one.
“I know,” I said slowly, trying to buy time. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m not saying anything,” he said, quickly looking away, trying to straighten a small part of my bedding. “I just noticed you’re different.” His eyes locked on mine again.
I smiled and punched him carefully on the arm.
“But you knew that already.”
Charlie’s face became mellow.
“You try to sleep now, you need to rest.”
He got up, kissed my forehead and left, closing the door behind him.
I undressed this time and slid in between the sheets. I was so tired. Before I drifted into a restful sleep, I heard those words in my head again, the words that Charlie had said.
‘You’re different.’
Harry and Rhona’s Story
Late that evening, Charlie woke me. I supposed he’d let me sleep as long as possible but wanted to wake me before I woke up hungry. He sat on my bedside again and handed me another mug. This one had a substantially smaller amount of blood in it than the one he’d given me earlier. I must have looked disappointed.
“Sorry, but Harry told me I couldn’t give you any more or I’ll get into trouble.”
I realized Charlie’s sacrifice but didn’t know how to express my gratitude.
What do you say to somebody who offers you their blood, literally?
“I… um… You shouldn’t have …”
Oh god, what to say?
I looked this way and that, avoiding his gaze. I had put him through so much, and yet he was offering me his blood. Again. I couldn’t handle such a sacrifice.
Charlie saw me struggle and said, “I’m okay. Just drink it.”
I emptied the mug as I did the first time. As he took it from me, he kissed my forehead and left the room. I couldn’t help but like his kisses. They made me feel loved, maybe even more so than him giving me his blood.
That could just be self-preservation.
I got dressed and walked into the living room. Harry and Rhona were sitting on the couch. The first thing that came to mind was that I needed to apologize to Rhona.
“I’m so sorry, Rhona, for what I did. For pushing you…”
“It’s okay, Kate. I’m fine,” she said. “I understand what you went through. Been there, done that.” She smiled.
It was a load off my mind that she didn’t hold a grudge.
“Yes, but still… I shouldn’t have done it,” I said as my right hand grabbed my left elbow. I felt silly standing like that and let my right arm swing back down.
I didn’t know what else to say, so I let myself fall into one of the chairs. I heard Charlie doing dishes in the kitchen.
“Is it okay for Charlie to be doing this?” I asked Harry, and I pointed at my wrist.
“Yes, but not for long, and it won’t be enough to feed you,” he said. He threw a glance at Rhona, who nodded.
I turned to look at Charlie and sighed. Automatically my hand went to my mouth, and I began biting my nails. Being a sucker didn’t take away any nasty habits.
“You’re not the only one with a supply problem,” Rhona said, who probably had mistakenly interpreted my nail biting as hunger. “I didn’t feed last night, and I’m starving too.”
All of a sudden it hit me I had no idea how Harry and Rhona had come to be here with us.
“What happened?” I blurted out at the both of them, ignoring Rhona’s remark. “How did you guys get here?”
They looked at each other, and Rhona prodded Harry in the ribs.
“You tell her,” she said.
Harry kissed her and began to tell their story.
Ooh, they’ve moved to the kissing stage already.
“We’d done as we’d agreed and went back to Duncan to tell him you two had been killed by a couple of humans,” Harry said.
I didn’t want to interrupt, but I couldn’t contain my curiosity.
“What did Duncan say?”
“He didn’t say much, actually,” Harry said. “He took in the information and dismissed us.”
Jerk.
“So why are you here? Something must have happened?”
“Just hear them out, Ms. Impatient,” Charlie said as he walked into the room.
Images of Sasha flashed through my mind.
“Please don’t call me that,” I whispered to him as he sat on the armrest of my chair and put his hand on my shoulder. “Okay, I won’t,” he said.
Harry continued his story.
“I didn’t know if Duncan would believe us, so before we joined the gathering, I prepared a get-away car.” He nudged his head in the direction of the car in my driveway. “We came across a funeral center, and I hot-wired a hearse, ready for take-off.”
“How in heaven’s name did you know how to hot-wire a car?” I asked.
Harry chuckled.
“My brother taught me. Our father is a military man and very strict with his rules. Tom’s more of a rebel than I am and hangs out with a different crowd. He learned a set of skills Dad doesn’t approve of. Fortunately, Tom taught them to me, as a good brother does.”
Would Harry have another brother called Richard?
All the while, Rhona was looking at Harry with adoration, her arm hooked into his, still chewing gum to death in her mouth.
Would it still be the same piece of gum?
“Anyway,” Harry said, “we thought we’d gotten away with it and that you were safe, but then this guy stormed in and told Duncan two suckers had escaped in a car. Before Duncan could put two and two together, Rhona and I ran for the hearse and drove off.” He looked at Rhona and put his hand over hers. “I was so happy Rhona actually wanted to come with me. I can’t imagine what Duncan would have done to her if she hadn’t.” He smiled such a sweet smile.
“I’d go anywhere with you, honey,” Rhona beamed back at him, and they kissed.
Embarrassed, I looked up at Charlie. He kissed my head.
“So would I, Kate,” he said.
I couldn’t help the huge grin appearing on my face.
Number three.
Dearie me, I’m counting his kisses now.
Charlie smiled back at me, but with a suspicious frown. I kept my thoughts to myself and turned my attention back to Harry.
“Did you have any problem getting out? Did you stop in the little village?” I asked, dreading how the story would go on.
“Nope. No problems whatsoever. We told the guys at the perimeter that you escaped and that Duncan had ordered us to get you back. They let us go without a hiccup. Charlie told us about your crisis in the village. Good thinking, Kate.”
“We should thank you,” I said. “It was you who saved our lives there, again.”
“That may be true,” Charlie said, “but it was you who thought of saying Harry’s name.” This time he was beaming at me with adoring eyes instead of kissing me.
Bummer.
I looked at Harry again. “So how did you know where to find us? I can’t remember telling you where we were going.”
“That was just pure luck. We drove back to Bullsbrook since it was the place Caleb was last seen with his pack, and I assumed you would start your search here. We were looking for that pancake house of yours. Seeing you in the street was pure coincidence.”
You have no idea.
I looked at Rhona.
“When did he tell you… you know, that he…that we…all… weren’t suckers?”
Rhona smiled a wicked smile and put her gum to the side.
“As you entered the hearse it was clear you were bitten, with the blood dripping from your neck and all. I didn’t
understand why anyone would want to bite another sucker, you know. I thought ‘what the fuck?’ Then when I looked at Charlie for an explanation, he told me you were unbitten. He then told me he was still unbitten too.”
I turned my head to Charlie in alarm. “Weren’t you afraid she was going to bite you?”
“Don’t worry,” Rhona said before Charlie could answer. “There was too much urgency to get you to safety and tend to your marks.”
Charlie chuckled.
“You did offer to bite me.”
Harry looked at Rhona in surprise.
“You did?”
“Well, you know…” she said slightly embarrassed, “if Kate was one of us now, maybe Charlie wanted to be too…and I was hungry.”
Charlie rescued her from Harry’s accusing stare.
“I did consider it, and I thought it was very kind of you to offer.”
I kissed Charlie’s hand as I thought it was kind of him to make the awkward situation pass. Apart from the fact that I wanted to keep the kisses going.
“But what about Harry?” I asked Rhona. “At the time you thought Harry was bitten too. When did you find out about him being unbitten?”
“After we cared for your marks and lay down to sleep, I realized this ‘rare blood disorder’ had been a cover-up,” she said. “I asked Harry if he was still unbitten as well, and I only had to look into his eyes to know the truth.” She looked into Harry’s eyes again, reliving the moment.
“Weren’t you afraid she would turn you?” I asked Harry.
“I was,” he said, only having eyes for Rhona, “but she didn’t. She just kissed me.”
Rhona was drowning in Harry’s eyes.
“I love you just the way you are, honey,” and she kissed him to make her point.
Love is a strange thing.
Yeah, why does he get kissed on the mouth?
I wished I could have given them some alone time. I would have liked some alone time with Charlie as well.
Conclusions
Charlie broke the moment.
“We still have the mystery of Kate not being affected by sunlight.”
Living Like A Vampire Page 17
