The Purity of Blood: Volume I

by Jennifer Geoghan

  I promised myself that I would at least mention Daniel to my parents when I was home. I’d say he was a new friend, one that I was getting to know better. It seemed prudent to start laying the ground work slowly, so that if they ever did meet him one day, it wouldn’t seem so out of the blue.

  I couldn’t help but wonder what they might think of him as a potential son in law. – I couldn’t help but wonder that myself. After all, where was our relationship ultimately headed? My love for him felt more like a compulsion, an overwhelming need and it scared me sometimes. I’d also wondered, what would it be like to be married to a creature that didn’t really age? I’d be ancient on our fiftieth wedding anniversary and he would look more or less the same.

  Shoving some socks into my duffle, I pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind not wanting to deal with them any time soon. I was jumping way ahead of things and I knew it. But how could I not? I couldn’t imagine a life without him now. Shaking it off, I zipped up my bag. I had enough on my plate just dealing with my emotions on a daily basis, I couldn’t think about how I’d feel fifty years from now.

  As I picked up a bag filled with dirty laundry, I heard a knock on the door.

  “Come in.”

  I didn’t have to turn around, I knew Daniel’s knock. Coming up behind me, he put his arms around my waist and pulled me close. I leaned back, taking a deep breath as he pulled back my hair and kissed the side of my neck. When I turned around in his embrace, I could hear him sigh.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I followed his gaze to my duffle bag on the floor.

  “You’re leaving tomorrow.”

  “Only for the night. I think you’ll survive.”

  I freed myself from his arms to finish packing. Taking a seat at my desk, he watched me while we talked about how our days had gone.

  When I finished, he took me to dinner at the restaurant at the top of the faculty tower where we’d gone on our first date. As he had before, he watched with fascination as I ate my dinner while pretending to nibble on my food when the waitress or anyone else happened by. She was the same waitress we’d had last time. And just like last time, I could tell she was wondering how an amazingly well-built guy like Daniel got that way when he never seemed to eat anything.

  While he watched me eat and talked about what his job with the Professor entailed, it dawned on me that pretending to be human must take a lot more effort than I’d first thought. As I watched him watching me, I couldn’t help but wonder what other little human eccentricities he was faking on a regular basis.

  I’d learned that the good thing about going to dinner with someone who doesn’t eat is that the burden of conversation is lifted from you. I listened to Daniel for well over an hour as he told me stories of trips he’d taken to places we were studying in class. Unlike in his lectures, where he had to edit much of it out for human consumption, I was fortunate enough to hear the whole story. In class he could say he’d seen a painting in person and describe it in great detail, but couldn’t reveal that he’d known the artist personally and had spent time with him in his studio over seventy five years ago. It was a shame that he had to live so much of his life in secret, his perspective on history was fascinating. As I lost myself in his voice, I remembered Tabitha once telling me how Professor Walker had made history come alive for her, and I smiled when I thought how she’d react if she only knew the real reason why.

  After dinner, we strolled around campus for a few hours, reluctant to part company knowing we wouldn’t see each other again until Sunday evening. When he finally walked me back up to my room, I found a note Darcy had left while I was gone saying she’d left for the weekend and wouldn’t be back until Sunday night. Daniel frowned as I read the note aloud. I could see in his expression he was considering secretly spending the night in my room again. My vampire bodyguard.

  I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Comforted to a certain extent, but conflicted as well. I should be able to take care of myself. If I wasn’t, than what was the point of it all?

  I asked him what he knew of this blood hunter but he quickly changed the subject. From the look on his face and the uncomfortable way in which he shifted his weight around I think he knew a lot more about what was going on than he was telling me. I only hoped it was because he didn’t want to scare me. I had to laugh internally. If only he knew the truth about me. I was sure I’d seen far worse than this hunter even in my short human life.

  I left my duffle bags by the door and pulled out a few text books. I needed to do a quick review since I knew I would never get around to it over the weekend. Daniel helped by quizzing me for a few hours. I was finding it was very helpful to be dating someone who held advanced degrees in a variety of subjects. He’d be the perfect tutor if he wasn’t so distracting. The way he raised his eyebrow when he waited for my answers was hot and made me feel a lot less pure than my blood was. He was a bit of a task master though and didn’t let me get away with anything, making me review anything he didn’t think I fully understood until he was satisfied that I did. If my parents did know about our relationship, they certainly would have no reason to object based solely on my grades. So far I was making straight A’s.

  After a couple of hours, I was sitting on the floor with my back against my bed while Daniel stretched out on top of it, quizzing me chapter by chapter with my text book open in front of him. I tried to hide a yawn in-between questions, but it was getting late. Finally I stood up, stretched and sat down on the bed, leaning up against him.

  “No fair cheating” he smiled as I looked over to see where he was in the book.

  Feeling the pull of sleep, I took a deep breath inhaling as much oxygen as possible. My eye lids were starting to get heavy and with every ounce of strength I could muster, I was fighting sleep. I wanted to savor these last few hours before I had to drive away from him.

  He opened his arm, inviting me to snuggle up beside him. As I did, he continued to read my text book aloud to me, adding his own commentary from time to time on how ineptly the book had been written and explaining things in a way that made more sense. My eyes were the first to betray me and finally closed, but I was still listening to him.

  “Are you still awake?” I heard him whisper as his hand gently brushed the hair around my face.

  I mumbled that I was and heard his voice continue until I finally, and unwillingly drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Thirteen

  DANIEL

  With her head resting on my chest, I watched as she drifted off to sleep and wondered what difference there could possibly be between heaven and hell. Here, with her in my arms, I was in an agony of hell. Oh, her scent – it was the most alluring thing I’d ever experienced.

  Just a drop, it would whisper in my weakest moments. Just a little taste and you’ll be satisfied, it lied with insincere conviction.

  With her in my arms, so helpless, I had to concentrate every second to beat those desires back into their cage. From the farthest recesses of my soul, I had to ignore their screams as they struggled to break free of the chains I did my best to shackle them with.

  And here she was, peacefully asleep, exposed, trusting. Without even trying, I could see the blood as it pulsated through the veins in the graceful line of her neck. That neck, that center of the constant tug of war battling inside me. I felt cursed. What God or universe would condemn someone to be hopelessly in love with someone they wanted to kill with almost an equal passion? To force them to dream of caressing that soft skin, and also to dream of the pure blood just beneath its surface.

  She thought she understood the danger I posed, but really she had no idea. She’d been taken in by the facade I purposefully projected for the world and ignored her better instincts. I should leave her. If I really loved her, wouldn’t I?

  I could hear her heart steadily beating inside my arms, see the blood as it coursed through the veins of her pale skin and the beautiful waves of her curly red hair as they fell across my chest. Una
ble to resist, I leaned down and gently kissed the top of her head. She didn’t wake, but instead snuggled a little closer to me. This wasn’t the first time I’d watched her sleep, but somehow this was different. I guess it was because she was willingly in my arms, trusting me with the most precious life on earth.

  I don’t think I’d ever forget how I’d felt the first time I’d seen her. How her brown eyes glared back at mine. There was fear there, yes, but not as much as I’d have expected. There was more of an assuredness behind them, a fierceness that took me completely by surprise.

  She’d turned out to be nothing like what I’d expected. At first I’d resented her, resented that Randall would order me to keep watch over one he knew could so easily be my undoing. In over a hundred years, I’d never been so tempted to kill a human as I’d been that first day I’d encountered her. Randall must have known I would be tested beyond anything I’d ever experienced, and yet he left me alone, abandoned me in my greatest hour of need. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around that.

  And where had he gone?

  What exactly was it he was expecting to happen with the two of us? Certainly not this I thought as I gently ran my fingers through her silky red hair.

  No, never this.

  I sighed.

  I knew there’d be hell to pay when he finally returned.

  That day she shoved me in the bushes, the day I’d almost allowed her to be killed only a few feet from me, that was the day everything had changed. Inside I felt shackled by an overwhelming guilt about it. It should never have happened and I blamed myself entirely. If I wasn’t a vampire, none of this would have happened. She’d never have been put in jeopardy by that crane and never would have found herself here, asleep in the arms of a monster.

  As it was impossible for me to forget even the most minute details of any day I’d ever experienced as a vampire, I remembered it all too clearly. It was those idiotic girls playing Frisbee. I’d like to blame them, but I know it wasn’t really their fault. The one had tripped. She’d fallen on a rock and cutting her knee wide open, she was bleeding badly. So much fresh spilt blood. Not that it had smelled half as appealing as Sara behind me, but even from that distance I could see it so clearly. The scent came to me instantly, forcibly dragging all focus from Sara in order to control the urge to kill the weakened prey I’d caught in my sights. Her fresh blood was screaming my name with such a deafening sound, it was no wonder I hadn’t seen the beam coming straight for us. In that one instant of distraction, my Sara could have been killed.

  But she wasn’t, thank God. And indeed, I had thanked God every day since. In return for his noblesse oblige, I felt as if he’d given me a sacred trust to watch over her, a responsibility so much deeper than the one Randall had forced upon me.

  I’d seen it out of the corner of my eye. She moved with a speed and agility I’d never seen in a human, yet lying here in my arms, I knew she was undeniably human. When she’d pushed me, tackled me really, it had been with such unexpected force. I hadn’t time to recover my footing before I went over, carried by her slight weight into the bushes. Had I, we might both have died. Her for real, and I for pretend.

  I remembered lying there deep inside those bushes in shock, feeling the heat of her body on top of mine as it radiated through her clothes. I should have killed her in that unguarded moment, but I hadn’t and I wasn’t entirely sure why. I’d laid there completely motionless under her soft body knowing that if I moved even one muscle, the first thing I would do would be to roll over on top of her and sink my teeth deep into her pale white flesh and taste her. No, not taste her, devour her whole. Even now, I had to close my eyes at just the remembrance of how much I’d wanted her in that moment.

  She should have been injured. I was positive she had been. But somehow when she got up out of the bushes she was miraculously unharmed. I still didn’t understand. I’d heard the bone snap, I know I had. I was positive of it. The cracking of bone is a distinctive sound. I know I’d heard it, heard her softly cry out in pain the moment it snapped, only to have her walk away moments later, visibly shaken and confused, yet seemingly unharmed on his arm.

  As I’d helped her out of the bushes … that was the moment it had all changed for me. Over the following hours and days I’d felt my resentment change to curiosity. My curiosity slowly gave way to interest, and eventually to … Somehow it had all ended with this, her fast asleep in my arms.

  I’d warned her it wouldn’t end well. I’d tried to tell her, but it had done no good. In all honesty, I hadn’t tried as hard as I should have to dissuade her of her growing feelings. It was wrong of me, very wrong and I felt as if I’d done her a great disservice in my inaction. But I’d been fighting my own burgeoning feelings at the time. I suppose I’d been more concerned with fighting what was happening inside of myself. I’d tried not to love her, but having never been in love before; I wasn’t sure what was happening before it was too late. And it was most definitely too late now.

  What had she done to me? I felt as if I was under her spell now, caught in her web. Had she intentionally ensnared me? Probably not. She was an innocent, or so I thought, as innocent in the ways of human relationships as I was. And yet, I felt a crushing responsibility for the frail life curled up, softly breathing on my chest.

  I knew when Randall returned, everything would change. Would she still want me? I sighed. Perhaps it was best for both of us if she didn’t.

  I was in agony that she was leaving me in the morning, that I would not know exactly where she was every minute for over a day. Merely the prospect of it felt like excruciating torture, but maybe this would be a good thing. I had become too emotionally attached to her. Perhaps a little distance would give us both the perspective we needed. I loved her, of this there was no doubt, but what did it all amount to if I continuously allowed her to endanger herself by merely being around me? Maybe if I gave her some time, she’d fall out of love with me. I shuddered as I felt a stab of pain in my heart. It was more likely, given the weekend, she’d realize she never really loved me at all. After all, how could she? I was unlovable, a monster.

  She’d been asleep for over an hour now, stirring occasionally to reposition herself closer to me. Reaching around, I pulled a blanket out from under me and gently draped it over her. When she stirred she would sometimes, ever so slowly, run her hand over my chest. The sensation of it was more than amazing. I couldn’t verbalize it even if I tried. This was the effect Sara had on me. She made me feel things inside my body I simply couldn’t understand, but I wanted to understand. I desperately wanted something; I just wasn’t sure what that something was. If she was doing anything, it was waking some long forgotten part of my psyche. What she was doing was forcing me to remember I was not only a vampire, but a man.

  I imagined how her soft fingertips would feel against my bare skin instead of through the barrier of fabric that dulled the intensity of their sensation.

  This was heaven, watching the moonlight play in the waves of her hair, listening to her soft rhythmic breathing. This angel I didn’t deserve, asleep in my arms.

  Morning came all too soon. When the first hint of dawn found its way through the blinds, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I’d have to wake her. The sooner she left, the sooner she would return, but it was poor consolation. As concerned as I was for her safety, I knew the safest place for her was away from the blood hunter that was stalking NPU … and away from me.

  The time finally came. I reluctantly leaned down and, pulling her hair back, whispered her name in her ear. She gently stirred; breathing deeply and smiled as if having a dream she was hesitant to wake from. When she didn’t rouse further, I said her name again, this time a little louder and softly nudged her arm. Her eyes fluttered and then finally opened under her thick red lashes.

  “Daniel?” she moaned softly.

  I was completely taken off guard. If I was capable of dreaming I was sure that was a sound I would have heard echoing in my dreams a thousand times before
.

  Her eyes now open, she lifted her head and looked up at me through sleepy eyes.

  “You’re still here,” she mumbled, trying to wake up.

  “You fell asleep on me.”

  “Sorry about that. You should have woken me. What time is it?”

  “You have just enough time to finish getting ready and get on the road,” I answered, trying to sound more cheerful than I felt.

  She leaned up, sitting on the edge of the bed and stretched out her arms, rolling her shoulders. I studied the shape of her back as she arched it. It was so gracefully delicate. Reaching out, I traced its shape with my fingertips causing her to turn around and smile at me sleepily.

  If only I were human, was all I could think. She could be mine.

  She finished packing, ate a bowl of cereal, then disappeared for a few minutes to change and brush her teeth. When she returned, she was ready to go and grabbed her purse while I picked up her duffle bags. Neither of us spoke as we headed down to her car. I had nothing to say except that I wished she wasn’t going, but I didn’t want to make her feel guilty about seeing her parents. She should want to see them, it was only natural. Our relationship was the one that was unnatural.

  I put her bags in the back of the car as she tossed her purse on the front seat. She lingered at the open door and stared at me with those big brown eyes as I walked over to her side. Standing there, she looked hesitant to leave.

  “You’ll drive safely?” I murmured as I caressed the side of her face with my knuckles.

  “Of course,” she whispered back, her eyes closed as she concentrated on the feeling of my hand on her face.

  “Will you miss me?” she asked, as if unsure of my answer. What a ridiculous question.

  “Yes.”

  The real question was, would she miss me. So I asked.

  She smiled.

  “I wish you were coming with me, but my parents – well, I’m not sure how they’d feel about you … about us.”