The Violet Line
By Bilinda Ní Siodacaín
Copyright 2011 by Bilinda Ní Siodacaín
Kindle Edition
Chapter One.
The cursor on my keyboard flickered at me miserably. I hadn’t typed one word in the past twenty minutes. I was too busy watching the hands on the clock as they crawled towards six. The only good thing about today was that it was nearly done and I couldn’t wait to leave.
For the fourth time in the last quarter of an hour I jumped up from my seat to trek to the bin. The pieces of paper I had just finished tearing into what looked like little pieces of confetti were clasped in my hand.
Paper confetti. Confetti, I wanted to have one day, I thought idly as I watched the little white shreds cascade towards the black pit that was the office bin.
My boss watched me, irritation plain on his creased face as I pretended to riffle through some papers on my desk. I was very good at pretending to look busy. I just wasn’t so good at the actual work part but it paid the rent and I was happy enough to continue on with it, for now at least. Perhaps one day when I was a famous writer, I could leave all this behind me, become my own boss.
I was so wrapped up in my fantasy of telling my boss where to stick his delightful minimum wage job that a snort of derision escaped me. Naturally in my fantasy he couldn’t live without my typing. Realisation dawned on me that my fantasy conversation wasn’t such a fantasy if the entire office could hear it. Feebly, I tried to cover it with a fit of coughing but the look on Mr. O’Donoghue’s face said it all.
I did that sometimes; I wasn’t crazy or anything but my imagination sometimes took over and like now, it tended to get me into trouble.
I watched as he weaved down through the aisles towards me, with ‘a face on him like a slapped arse’ as my dad would always say. Glancing around him nervously I caught sight of the clock only to discover it was just gone six. Hopping up, I waved at my boss and plastered my best apologetic smile across my face. I was and always would be the best typist he had. His voice lashed through me as he tried to call me back, but with my coat in hand I got out of there as fast as my legs would carry me.
* * *
Walking home that evening through the lonely Cork streets, I let my mind wander, my feet carried me forward knowing their destination without needing any real input from me. Pictures, thoughts and conversations from the day flitted through my mind. Papers, colleagues and the dreaded filing I hadn’t finished, all boring stuff really and not what I wanted to be thinking about.
The air held the promise of night. That hushed soft feeling it gets just before real darkness closes in. Evening time in October always reminds me of a giant blanket wrapping you within its dark embrace.
I watched as some small birds finished their days work before flying back to their nests for the night. The dark blue clouds spread out and flowed quickly across the darkening sky. They always amazed me; their beauty was breathtaking and I wished at that moment that I had my sketch book and pencils with me so I could try and capture it. Even if I had my camera it would allow me to catch the image and then later I could draw it but I didn’t have that either.
Sam would find it beautiful, I thought as I continued to pick my way home, crunching over the autumn leaves that already lay scattered across the pavement. My pace had quickened at the thought of seeing Sam again, and I smiled. Even though my job got me down, my life was pretty perfect.
Something stirred the trees beside me and snapped me out of my reverie. Pausing, I stared hard at the wooded area running along the path beside me. I couldn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean there was nothing there. Shivering, I noticed for the first time it had suddenly become a lot colder since I left work. Pulling my coat tightly around my body I quickened my pace to a trot. I wished I had brought my car with me after all but it had been such a surprisingly beautiful morning for the end of September, and I had wanted to feel the sun on my skin.
Hurrying along the footpath, my heart beat faster as the trees just ahead of me began to rustle and shiver. The air was dead and no breeze stirred, they shouldn’t have been moving. A cold sweat broke out across my back. Fumbling in my pocket I searched for the phone he had given me and dialled the number of the only person I knew who could help me. My heart froze as a black figure melted out of the tree line just up ahead of me.
I smiled in spite of myself. I’d recognise him anywhere even in the dark. Anger welled up within me, how dare he frighten me like this, but I was happy to see him and I knew my anger at him wasn’t real, just a human reaction. Mom was always telling me I was too quick to my emotions, but they never lasted. There was only one emotion that never left me no matter what happened. And that was the love I felt for the man standing silently on the path in front of me. Sam, my Sam.
When we spent time apart it felt as though part of my soul was missing. I was only truly happy when we were together. He was my raison d’être. Life before I met him seemed grey. Of course I didn’t realise that at the time but being with him now was like living life in glorious technicolour. I felt as though I had known him forever and he now owned little pieces of me in the same way that I owned pieces of him.
Love is the most beautiful emotion to feel. It cannot be described as simply one thing. It holds an array of other colourful emotions within it and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.
I watched as he studied me, my heart rate returning to its usually quickened pace reserved only for him. He had an effect on me like no other on earth, we were soulmates in every sense of the word.
“Jade... What have I told you about walking home at night, on your own?”
I could hear the teasing lilt in his voice. He knew he had frightened me and it always gave him a thrill to know that he could still creep up on me, even after all this time.
“What have I said about sneaking up on me?” I let my annoyance at being caught out in a foolish mistake lace my voice.
At this stage I really should have known better than to go wandering home on my own after dark but sometimes it’s easy to forget. Smiling at my reply, he watched me carefully. I was acting petty, but I never said I was perfect and he knew that. Chuckling softly to himself, he moved towards me faster than my eyes could follow. One second he was standing a few metres away from me and the next second I felt his cool arms fit around me. His cold breath tickled my ear as he whispered,
“Sneaking up on you wasn’t really my intention but it was the only way for me to guarantee that I would be here with you this quickly. I don’t want you to face the dark alone, not when I can be here with you. I’ll always protect you.”
His words caused my heart to raise its tempo; it beat against my chest like a small caged bird. I knew he could hear it, he knew the effect he had on me and he did things like this on purpose.
My anger melted away as I pressed my hand against his face, tracing the lines of his jaw with my fingers. My Sam. Leaning his forehead against mine he gazed into my eyes and suddenly I was lost within their green depths. I felt him catch me as I fell against him, it helped knock me out of the trance which his eyes had pulled me into.
He laughed softly as he hugged me to him. His laughter felt like an extra blanket of security wrapping around me, his voice possessed a touchable quality. Finally I managed to find my own voice; it had disappeared as soon as I became lost in his gaze. Weakly, I muttered against his chest.
“Unfair advantage.”
My words gently reminding him of the power he already had.
“It’s not my fault if you find me so irresistible that you get lost within my eyes,” he teased me.
Lifting my face up to look at him, I attempted to swipe at his arm with my hand but he had me locked tight in
his embrace. I couldn’t move an inch. His green eyes darkened and his expression became intense as he reeled me in with his gaze. I rose up onto my toes as our lips met. His mouth pressed against mine and the kiss was soft and chaste, just a moulding of his lips against mine. Wanting more I pressed myself against him, curling my now free arms around his neck. I slid my hands into his rich heavy hair, tangling my fingers there and dragging him closer to my body.
He deepened the kiss then, crushing his mouth against mine, running his tongue across my lips until I parted them for him and he plundered my mouth. Our tongues danced together, mine matching his perfectly. I wanted to breathe him in if I could.
Slowly he unwound my arms from his neck and hair, breaking the kiss. His breath came in ragged gasps; it felt hard and cold as it brushed along my cheek. It seemed that I had just as profound an effect on him as he had on me.
His smile as he looked at me was all predator, all male, it brought a flood of hot colour racing up to suffuse my cheeks. Tentatively I smiled back at him as he threw his arm around my shoulders; it always felt so safe to be in his arms, as though this was the place I belonged and nowhere else mattered.
We began the walk back to my apartment. I leaned into his strength with my left arm under his leather jacket and wound it around his waist. Smiling to myself, I drank in his scent, nestling in against him. I was nearly always smiling when I was with him; sometimes I felt a bit like an idiot with my ‘so in love’ grin constantly plastered over my face.
Stumbling, his strong grip kept me upright, “Careful love,” he muttered pressing his lips against my hair in a quick kiss.
“So what did you do today?” I asked, already knowing what the answer would be but asking anyway. I felt him stiffen slightly as he answered.
“Hunted.”
His reply was short but it still sent a chill up my spine.
“How’d you stay out of the sun?”
My question was valid; the sun had been out in all its glory today and I knew how badly he’d burn. He, like the other vampires in the city, couldn’t stand direct sunlight touching their skin. They could go out during the day as long as they stayed in the shaded areas and didn’t stand in direct sunlight. Apparently it was like being overly sensitive to the sun, only they got sunburn far worse than the rest of us. The minute they came into contact with a direct ray, it caused a deep agony within them.
Sunlight was pure and they were not, or at least that was how Sam explained it to me.
“Pure things burn us if we come into direct contact with them, like silver, or holy water,” he explained patiently one night, going into great detail.
Honestly it confused me, still did. In my opinion Sam was the purest thing I knew. I could never think of him as a predator, or even dangerous, but he was a vampire. It was a contradiction that I couldn’t seem to fathom even after our one and only incident.
As well as causing them extreme agony, the sunlight stripped them of their humanity. It showed them for what they really were, predators. Beautiful predators but then they all were beautiful; Sam said this made it easier for them to attract their prey. Personally, I hadn’t ever seen any of these things happen and Sam seemed to manage in the daytime just fine. I didn’t really understand the science behind how or why they existed, nor did I really want to; I was just glad they did, because if they didn’t I wouldn’t have Sam.
The other aspect I was always grateful for was that we lived in Ireland. It rains a lot here and very rarely do we see lots of, if any sun. Even the summer time was normally cloudy and overcast. The Irish weather suited me just fine. Firstly, because I was so fair skinned that in a sunnier climate I could burn even though I was inside and it was night time. I was forced to constantly wear sunscreen even though we lived with a near constant layer of cloud. Sam called me his human vampire; it had sort of become our own personal little joke.
Secondly, and most importantly to me, was that without the near constant cover of cloud and dull weather I couldn’t possibly have Sam in the way we were able to be together. So I loved the rain. It gave me what I wanted and I didn’t question it.
“I stayed in the forest. There was enough tree cover and shade to make sure I was safe, but I have to go out tonight and feed properly. I can’t put it off any longer.
“I don’t want to make a mistake around you, and well you know the effect you have on me. I don’t want to hurt you... I couldn’t bear losing control around you. You know how dangerous it is…”
His voice became quieter and quieter until it trailed off. I knew what he was thinking about, but I had forgiven him for that a long time ago. I never blamed him for it anyway; it had been an accident, my fault really. I knew the risks only too well and luckily for us, I could look after myself. Stopping on the path, I pulled him around to face me.
“Don’t you dare go there,” I warned him, watching the guilt and the pain flow through his eyes.
“You didn’t hurt me and I trust you, you know I do. I trust you with my life, Sam. And anyway I can look after myself, remember?”
I said the last with a knowing smirk and he laughed. He still had the haunted look in his eyes but it had started to lessen. I wondered if he would ever forgive himself for that night. The night he had nearly attacked me, could have killed me, but he didn’t.
It was two years ago now but still he blamed himself for it. I should have seen the signs, with him being a vampire and all, but it wasn’t long after we met. He didn’t want to leave my side and I wasn’t going to insist so we did everything together except hunt. The only place I ever hunted was in a supermarket for a packet of sausages so hunting with Sam never really occurred to me. I did know he was getting hungry but I didn’t have enough experience to understand just how hungry he was and how much he was depriving himself just so he could spend time with me.
His eyes had darkened and he was finding it harder and harder to keep his fangs from coming down. In the end it was such a simple thing that set it off.
My lips were chapped from the cold, they always dried out and became chapped in the winter time and this one was no exception. However when your boyfriend is a vampire you should have enough sense to remember to buy Vaseline for them but I was so wrapped up in everything Sam related that I forgot. Sitting on the couch together that evening, we were watching some stupid film that neither of us was that interested in when my lip split. I have a nervous habit and I chew my lips near constantly so the combination of cold weather and my bad habit meant I put both of us in a very bad position.
Sam could smell the coppery tang of blood that beaded on my lips. He hadn’t fed in so long and I never realised how much time actually passed since he fed. Turning my face to his, he looked at the small drop of blood as it welled up. I tried to get up to get a tissue to stop it. I knew enough about vampires to not want to tease him, but he held me in place as his eyes darkened completely. They were so black his pupil disappeared into the circle of the iris where his green colouring should have been. Fear gnawed at me and I could tell from the way he looked at me that something was very wrong. He leaned in over me and kissed me. It wasn’t anything like the type of kiss Sam normally gave me; there was no love, just pure hunger.
He sucked at the cut on my lip drawing the blood and it was then I felt the sharp tips of his fangs as he nipped me. The cut deepened and he pulled away. For the first and only time, I saw the predator that Sam truly was. Like some sort of beautiful avenging angel, all alabaster skin and black eyes, his lips which normally have a slight reddish tint to them were now painted a ruby red from the blood on my mouth. I tried to tell him but he wasn’t listening anymore; he needed blood and I was it.
Closing in on me, I tried to get away from him but he was faster. I felt his breath as it fanned across my neck above the spot where my frightened pulse jumped against my skin. It practically begged to be released. His fangs grazed my neck and I did the only thing then that I knew I could. I had to stop him from biting me. I knew he’d never forg
ive himself if he did it. I felt my power flow through my body, up through my arms and into Sam’s body where my hands were pressed against his chest.
I watched helplessly as he flung himself away from me, writhing on the floor. He looked as though he was dying but I knew it only felt that way.
I can make people feel death; slow, painful, agonizing death. It flows from my hands into their bodies but it’s not real and it only lasts for a few seconds usually, although it does depend on how long I touch the person.
After that night, Sam never went more than a day without feeding on something small at least. Small animals can sustain him but he needs human blood to be truly satisfied and every so often he raids the blood banks and takes some packets to keep himself under control. He gave up attacking humans a long time ago.
I kissed him again to remind him and also to insure that he did realise how much I loved and trusted him. He sighed against my mouth.
“Jade, we’ll never get home if we keep stopping like this,” he said, feigning impatience.
“Fine, fine!” I answered, overly dramatising the exasperation in my voice as I smiled at him.
“Let’s get going!”
Slipping my hand back around his waist we walked home. Neither of us needed to say anything, we were just happy in the silence of each other.
Chapter Two
Later that evening I watched Sam getting ready to go on the hunt. Well, breaking into a blood bank wasn’t exactly a hunt but it was as close as he was willing to get to one.
I prepared dinner to keep myself busy. I had a bad feeling about tonight for some reason. I always worried about him going out like this. I didn’t want him to get caught, people tended to not take so kindly to that type of behaviour, as though attacking and drinking blood directly from humans was any better.
There was always some kind of report on the news about some new victim or other. Everyone seemed to accept the idea that vampires needed to feed but it was always the same story ‘not in my backyard’. They never said on the news what happened to vampires that went on killing sprees.
The Violet Line Page 1
