by Anna Santos
“What game are you playing?” he asked, narrowing his eyes and making me recoil in my skin, concerned by what he meant by that and the unfriendly expression.
I tilted my head, pursing my lips before I risked a comeback. “What kind of game are you playing?”
“I’m not,” he promptly replied.
I folded my arms over my chest and looked at him sideways. “But you are.”
“Are you doing it on purpose?”
Again with the intriguing questions that were making my brain swirl with questions. "What did you come here for? You are being enigmatic and you said you wanted to talk, not to interrogate me. Actually, you are scaring me.”
“We had a date and you canceled it to go out with someone else. Why?”
“Something more interesting came up. You also canceled on me a few times,” I reminded him, staring at the flowers next to me and brushing the petals with my fingertips.
“You are acting strange the past weeks. I thought that things were going fine between us until you started to play this game…”
“It’s not a game,” I cut him off, offended. “And the only person acting strange and secretive is you and always was you. My world doesn’t revolve around you, Vincent.”
“Well, then it should,” he said, folding his arms with a straight face.
“What?” I asked, unsure if I heard him properly. “Are you drunk?”
“No. I’m just tired of these games. I want to clarify things. First, I don’t like to be stood up,” he said, talking in a calm voice, but his eyes were cold as ice and his pose indicated that he was done playing nice. Shivers ran down my spine as I stepped back, carefully. “Second, I don’t want you to go out with any other men.”
“Sure.” I smirked, trying to dissipate the tension. “You are just a friend, not even that, an acquaintance. I don’t think you are in a position to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do with my life.” I pointed at the door. “Just leave.”
His gaze softened as he unfolded his arms. “Don’t be afraid, Sarah. I might be mad, but I have no intention of hurting you. I’m here to talk and clarify things between us.”
I gestured in frustration. “Vincent, what do you want from me? You flirt and then retreat. You ask me out and then cancel. Now, you come to my place to tell me that I can’t see other guys? Are you crazy? We aren’t dating!”
“Are you dating someone else?” His expression was unreadable.
“No…”
“Do I please you?”
I bit my lip instead of answering. I had no idea of what to tell him. ‘No’ was a clear lie and ‘yes’ was a clear hint that I was under his spell. Biting my lower lip wasn’t a better answer. I breathed out, turned my back on him, and went to the kitchen, which was part of the living room.
“You are acting stranger than usual,” I muttered under my breath. “You gave me all the hints that you just wanted to be my friend. Now you are acting all possessive and jealous about who I go out with.” My voice was steady as I began to prepare a tea. “Do you want something to drink, a tea, perhaps?” I asked, pretending to be a good host, but I knew he was going to decline as he always did. Vampires didn’t drink tea, maybe alcohol, but tea tasted like dirt.
“Hmm,” he grumbled as if he had all figured out. “I know I please you, Sarah. You don’t need to deny it. As for us being friends, we began as such because I wanted to get to know you before we became something else.”
I turned around to face him. He hadn’t moved from the door but seemed less tense, though. We stared each other in the eye for some moments. “Do I please you, because I gave you all the possible signs… and nothing? I had assumed that you were gay or just not that into me.”
I smirked when he raised an eyebrow and frowned at the word gay. “You are extremely attractive, and I can assure you I’m not interested in other men. What we have is a lot more special than sexual attraction. That is why I was taking my time to court you.”
“To court me,” my voice echoed his words as I blinked several times with my mouth agape. I tapped my fingers against the counter behind me, using my palms to sustain my weight. I couldn’t conceal the sarcasm, though. “Should I feel special about that?”
“You should,” he declared, crossing his arms.
I frowned, unsure what the hell was going on with him. Looking at the ground, I said, “You confuse me, the way you look at me… I can’t understand your intentions. So, what if I find you attractive? I don’t know you. You are mysterious about everything that surrounds your life,” I added. “You come and go as you please. I don’t know where you live if you have someone else…and tonight you come here like…”
“There’s nobody else in my life,” he replied quickly, lying through his teeth. Anastasia is what, his innocent sister? “Only you,” he added.
“Well, it doesn’t look like it. You act as if you are married or something! And you said that you were a widow, right? And that she was exactly like me! I’m sorry but…I think this is messed up!”
“You resemble her a lot, but, at the same time, you don’t. I was conflicted about my feelings.”
“Well, I don’t need complicated right now in my life. It was weird enough the night when you took your supposed sister to meet me. What was that all about anyway? Some kind of test?”
“I wanted Anastasia to meet you, but she…”
“She hates me,” I helped him finishing his sentence.
“She doesn’t hate you. She just thinks it’s weird how much you look like my deceased wife.”
“Well, it’s not my fault. There are a lot of people that resemble others. She could have been family, for all I know. However, that’s not a reason to be rude to me. I didn’t ask her to meet me and be impolite in front of my friends.”
“I’m sorry about that. But you won’t need to worry about Anastasia anymore. She is going to join her fiancé abroad, and she will get married and move on with her life.”
“Really?” I was surprised by his words. I was right, he was planning to get rid of her, and she wasn’t happy about it.
“Yes. There’s nothing more…” He stopped what he was about to say and ruffled his hair. “I was hoping we could talk seriously about us. About our feelings for each other.”
“We are friends, there are no feelings to talk about. You made it clear every time we went out.”
“Don’t play with me, Sarah. I’m not in the mood, and I’m infuriated by your behavior these days. Don’t you think that I know what you are doing?”
“What am I doing?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips. He was being rather cocky for someone that was there to win my heart.
“You are trying to make me feel jealous.”
“I don’t give a damn about what you feel or don’t feel. I’m tired of wasting my time with you. I don’t like complicated guys, and I sure don’t waste my time with guys that can’t make up their mind.”
“Sarah,” he whispered my name, contradicting the harshness in my voice. “I’m here for you, now. Give me a chance.”
I took my time, staring at him, puzzled by why he was keeping his distance and the loneliness in his eyes. The sent a vibe of mixed signals of possessiveness and inhibition.
“You can ask me whatever you want,” he said. “If that’s what it takes to trust me.”
“You are acting strange, you are talking nonsense, and you are creeping me out because you are serious and motionless over there. I don’t know if I should feel scared or…confused.”
“Before I take you out of that dress, we need to talk. I can’t talk if we are too close,” he explained. I had closed my legs together with his words and it didn’t go unnoticed because he moved his eyes down my body while smirking. “You are truly gorgeous.” His voice was husky as he softened his eyes on mine.
I gulped. The sexual tension was real, upsetting my stomach. “Stop…” I could barely talk. My mouth was as dry as my throat.
“Stop what?”
; “Looking at me like that. It’s…unsettling.”
“Not at all. You like it. I know you want me, too. Your body betrays you, and you smell…delicious.”
I furrowed my brows, “What do you mean by that?” His eyes flashed between blue and black. His tongue moved inside his mouth, parting his lips, and I could only guess that he had his fangs extended. My heart leaped inside my chest. My hands started to sweat. “Vincent…”
“You don’t need to be afraid.”
“Repeating that doesn’t make me calm down. Quite the contrary.”
He grinned mischievously. “Sarah, ask me anything you want to know. I’m here to answer all your questions. It’s a one-time offer before I…”
“You what?”
“Lose all my self-control.”
I gulped, unsure if it was a threat or not.
“Ask me anything,” he ordered, snapping me out of my blurry mind.
Unsure about how truthful he would be with his answers, I decided to play his game and I placed my first question, “Where do you live?”
“In a hotel suite with my sister.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“I used to own a nightclub. I sold it a while ago. I’m between jobs, you can say.”
“What are you?” I asked, catching him off-guard.
He blinked and pondered for a while. Then, he answered smoothly. “I think you know what I am. Don’t you?” He grinned, amused by his answer.
I widened my eyes in disbelief. Is he going to tell me he was a vampire? I was just testing him. Revealing himself was a big step, a dangerous step. Stepping back, I pretended to be scared.
He sped to me and grabbed my chin in his hand. “Calm down!” I stared into his eyes with narrowed breathing and racing heart. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
I fell back against the counter, and he surrounded my waist with his other arm. I was trapped, debating if I should pull him back or wait until I understood his intentions. He hadn’t tilted my head to bite my neck, but he had used his supernatural speed to get next to me. Hence, he was set on letting me know what he was. The cat was out of the bag, and there was no way he could catch it now.
“How did you do that?” I stuttered, putting my hands on his chest so I could pull him back if he tried to bite me or hurt me. But his hands weren’t gripping hard.
“You know how. I know you won’t reject me for it.”
“Oh my God!” I gasped, widening my eyes and trying to escape from his grasp. I thought it was the natural thing a human girl would do when faced with a vampire. I acted how the part demanded. “Are you going to hurt me? Is that why you are telling me all this?”
“I would never hurt you,” he assured, touching my hands with his and stepping back to prove his point.
I relaxed but mistrusted his intentions. “Why not?”
“I love you,” he replied, making my heart stop beating.
I opened my mouth with incredulity, but no words came out. Of all he could say, that was the last thing I expected to hear.
Closing my mouth, I moved away from him. The water was boiling in the metal teapot. I turned off the fire, took a cup, and put the bag of tea in it while ignoring him to rearrange my ideas. He stood there, immobile and silenced.
“No, you don’t,” I said after a while. My voice was neutral and perfect, no signs of trembling or nerves. “You barely know me. You barely tried to touch me since we’ve met. And don’t tell me that if you touch me you won’t be able to control yourself and kill me. You seem everything but uncontrolled, and the sun doesn’t seem to hurt you. Only because you don’t eat food and you don’t act like someone your age, I suspected that you weren’t—you know—mortal.” I ended my speech, turning around to face him.
“I can touch you without hurting you or lusting for your blood,” he replied. I could detect the emotion in his tone. His eyes melted over mine as he resumed his speech. “But the thing is that after that, I may never want to let you go.” His body moved next to mine, almost touching, while his face was floating over mine, making me lose my breath.
“Why?” I asked.
“Being next to you makes me feel alive again. I can’t bear the thought of being away from you any longer. These days apart were excruciating.”
“If what you are saying is true, and if I do look like your deceased wife, then you don’t miss me, you are missing her. And, all this, all the things you are saying aren’t meant for me.” I used rationality to argue about his love confession.
“Stop right there,” he requested, taking the cup from my hands.
“What else do you want me to think? I look like her.”
“You do,” he agreed, brushing his forehead with his fingers. He looked conflicted. “I loved her very much,” he breathed, closing his eyes for a moment and making my heartbeat increase. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to love anyone else until I met you.”
I felt my throat closing because of the anger that possessed me. It was getting hard to breathe. I shouldn’t react like that. He was claiming to love me. Isn’t that what I wanted to hear?
“Please say something,” he begged, staring at my conflicted eyes.
“I really don’t know what to say. I barely know you. And you are…a vampire. A real vampire. Show me your fangs,” I dared him, trying to think of something else to distract my mind. My wish was his command. He showed me them, and I recoiled, pretending to be scared by them.
“Do you want to touch them?”
“Maybe next time,” I mumbled, gulping for air. I turned around and grabbed the cup. It trembled in my hands, but I needed to feel something warm.
“Are you scared of me?” He put his hands on my shoulders, almost making the cup fall on the ground. I shivered as he turned me to face him. “I won’t hurt you, I swear.”
“Because you love me?”
He nodded. “I was hoping that you could…give me a chance. You can’t deny the fact that you fancy me.”
“I fancy you.” I frowned and then laughed, amused by the choice of words, trying to dissipate the tension. “Now you really sounded old!”
“Okay, so you like me a lot.”
“Maybe,” I said, pushing him back to establish some distance between us.
“So if I kissed you right now, would you get mad at me?”
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. He watched me for a while, studying my reactions. “But it’s just a kiss, what harm could it do?”
My hands were holding on to the counter to sustain my weight, in an attempt to prevent the contact between us.
He touched my hair and smelled it. “It’s not just a kiss. Or am I just another guy in your life? I see how you treat men.”
“Are you jealous?” I asked, smiling cheekily. It was rather amusing since he was the master of fooling women.
“I could kill each one of them to have all your attention.”
“Really?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. His serious eyes answered for him. “I don’t think that it will be necessary. They are only friends. I don’t have any kind of romantic interest in them.”
“So why didn’t you go out with me tonight? Answer me truthfully.”
“I thought I was wasting my time and…you were becoming a bit obsessive with all those calls and text messages.”
“Hmm,” he murmured, trailing a finger on my arm, probably curious about how I would react to his touch. I felt goose bumps running down my spine and exploding inside my stomach. “I’m not used to—being ignored.”
“Well, news flash, I don’t like to waste my time!”
“Well, I have a lot of time so…” He shrugged, and I arched an eyebrow. Is he trying to be funny? Ewan being witty was something new.
“You are so annoying sometimes,” I complained, rolling my eyes and pushing him back so I was free from his grasp.
“Where are you going?” he asked, holding on to my waist and pulling me until my back ground against his chest.
; “I don’t know,” I answered. “Why do you care?”
“We were going to kiss,” he explained.
I glanced back at him. Is he serious? He was. I could see on his face that he was trying to find the best way to kiss me. Is he nervous or it’s my imagination? “Do you realize that this is exactly like the cliché romantic vampire stories you accuse me of liking to read?”
Smirking, he turned me on my heels to face him. “Maybe you like them so much because you were meant to date one.”
“Maybe pigs will fly in the near future,” I retorted.
He rolled his eyes and I almost laughed at his attempt of mimicking me. “For someone that reads so many romantic books, you sure know how to ruin a perfectly romantic situation.”
“Well, for someone that is a vampire, you sure are brooding and insecure.”
“I don’t want you to feel scared, and I sure don’t want to harm you. I want you to understand something vital, Sarah.” He caressed the hair away from my face and brought my body closer to his.
My body temperature rose with the intimacy. I felt my cheeks turning red. My breathing became erratic and my legs were feeling weak. It didn’t help that he smelled good, almost edible.
“What?” My mind was blurry, but I was still able to form words.
“I care about your feelings. I care about you. You intrigue me and make me feel alive again. I can’t explain it.”
“You have a strange way to show it.”
“It would be better for you if I would stay away. Actually, I gave myself millions of reasons to stop looking for you.”
“But, Vincent, I don’t want you to go away if you feel something for me,” I said, touching his chest with the tips of my fingers while biting my lower lip. His eyes followed my hand. My eyes were shining with emotion, at least, I tried to show that I wanted him to be near me.
“Call me Ewan.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s my real name.”
“Ewan,” I whispered, looking at his chest. My voice came out sad with my next line. “You even lied about your name.”
