by M. D. Bowden
When she finally felt clean she exited the cubical and tossed her hair into a turban. The towel was not really big enough and drips still ran down her back. She walked into their bedroom, dripping on the wooden floorboards and found another towel on the bed. It was still damp, she guessed Daniel had used it not long before. She wrapped it around her and made sure her hands were dry, then she pulled her photo album from the cupboard and climbed under the covers of their bed. She propped the pillows behind her and pulled the duvet up high, so she felt snuggly and safe, and opened up the album. It was filled with pictures of Megan and Bea. It began with their baby pictures then progressed as they got a little bigger. Well, Bea was still only two, but she looked a helava lot different now than when she was first born. Megan was completely transformed now she was five, she was still her baby but she was growing so fast. Sarah turned the pages and she stared at their chubby cheeks and wavy hair and felt happy and sad and lonely, all at the same time. Her heart was full of love for them, but they were so horribly far away.
She put the album down and rested back in the bed, and she let her tears fall. She would not allow herself to mope all day - she was just going to have these five minutes. After that she would pull herself together.
She heard movement downstairs, and for a moment her heart sped in fear. Then she realized it was just Daniel waking up, and she smiled softly and wiped her eyes. In an instant he was in the room with her and climbing under the covers, and he was holding her, not saying anything.
He was firm and cool, and shivers that had nothing to do with his temperature, ran over her entire body. His silky, dark hair pressed against her cheek, and his presence made her feel good. The aching feeling in her chest started to subside a little, and she hugged Daniel back. He raised his head and looked her directly in the eye, his gaze piercing, yet gentle and soothing at the same time. She just stared deeper into his eyes, losing herself in their depth and magic. They were getting closer and she was mesmerized and his lips were on hers and he kissed her. Her body started to awaken as he kissed her jaw and neck and his kisses moved lower over her chest. She closed her eyes then and allowed herself to get lost in the sensations of belonging and desire.
Daniel’s fingers slid under her towel and caressed her stomach, then moved higher to her breasts. She sighed and pulled his body closer. She opened her eyes and pulled his t-shirt over his head, revealing his well-defined, yet not overdeveloped, smooth physique. She trailed her fingertips tantalizingly over his body as he continued to kiss hers, her fingers moving down to his jeans and with one sharp tug, pulling them open.
She wrapped her legs firmly around his body, pulling him up against her. He did not resist, and pushed inside her, slowly, with irresistible control. Sarah tightened her legs around him and forced him to move faster. Her hands moved over his back, clawing at his skin, up to his jaw – which she brought to her mouth and kissed. Then his lips were on hers again and his tongue was pushing against hers. She pushed him back and locked eyes with him as he thrust into her, then she reached for his neck and pierced it with her nail. A thin tendril of blood emerged.
She grabbed him and bit hard, feeling the instant connection of their bodies and minds and she drank his blood which was sweet and magical whilst heavy and seductive.
He ripped her off roughly, then returned the bite, sinking his fangs into her wrist, and watching her reaction. As a human Sarah would have felt self-conscious, and a little of that remained, but mainly it was hot, fuelling heat in her body and sexual organs as he slowed his pace and released his teeth – which he then trailed up her arms and his mouth was back on hers. He was kissing her hard and she could taste her blood in his mouth; it tasted more delicate than his, and even sweeter.
She grabbed at his body and forced Daniel’s pace to increase, she was so goddam turned on, she kissed him roughly and cut his lip with her teeth. She attached her lips to the cut lip and sucked, making Daniel moan. He pumped faster into her, ahh, she was so close; she exploded as he came into her, releasing his lip and shouting out, then clutching him tight and laying together as sunlight continued to filter in.
Chapter 10
Sarah met Daniel’s eyes and he gave her a wicked smile.
‘Sorry if I distracted you from your moping,’ he said, with no hint of regret in his voice.
‘Huh,’ she said, and threw a pillow at him.
She rolled over and lay in his arms, feeling sweet and satisfied.
‘I tapped into your dreams earlier,’ Daniel said.
‘What! When?’ she exclaimed. She rolled away from him so she could see his face, ‘I don’t remember having any.’
‘Just after we got back, I came in after putting up a magical alert system and I found you fast asleep on the sofa,’ he teased.
‘Did that go ok?’ she asked, ‘The warning barrier,’ she added, to make it clear what she meant.
‘Yes, it was easier than I’d thought, seeing as I’ve never made one before. It hasn’t been tested yet though,’ he said.
‘Well done,’ she said, then smiled ruefully to show Daniel she had not meant to be patronizing. ‘So, what did I dream?’ she asked, really not sure she wanted to know.
Daniel’s face became serious, so naturally Sarah’s anxiety increased.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘Well, you rehashed some of details from last night – the dead body grabbing your foot…’
‘Urgh, that was too horrible,’ she interrupted.
‘Then there was a scene with Jo – you were arguing,’ he said.
Sarah felt her face drain of color. She wondered if she had been rehashing a particularly unpleasant argument that she still thought about sometimes – it had happened after she had discovered that Jo had cheated on her.
‘Then there was something else…’ Daniel said.
Sarah snapped her eyes to his. From his tone of voice she guessed that if any of her dreams had been prophetic this one was going to be the one.
‘There was a dream set at the stone circle. It may have been a vision, but I can’t tell whether it was from the past or the future,’ he said.
‘What happened in the dream?’ Sarah asked.
She was relieved she had not dreamt anything too embarrassing, or sexy, so she felt free to ask away.
‘It was very brief.’ Daniel said, ‘There were four people tied up in the center of the stone circle and a dark shape was approaching – I think it was a man with his hood raised. He was dressed all in black, and it was night time – the details were hazy. There was a full moon. Then the dream shifted and we were kissing…’
Sarah felt her cheeks heat and hid her face in a pillow. Daniel ran kisses over her arm until she finally gave in and looked back at him.
‘I really don’t remember anything about them,’ Sarah said apologetically. ‘Was there anything else? About the stone circle,’ she added pointedly.
‘Well, it did feel different to the other dreams; you weren’t in it for a start. Other than that that’s all the details there were,’ he said.
‘So it was the full moon,’ Sarah said, and saw Daniel nod, ‘and there were four bodies, which is how many we found under the stone.’
Again Daniel nodded.
‘So either I was making stuff up based on what we discovered, what I thought might have happened, or I caught a glimpse of what already happened, or…’
‘You saw something that is yet to happen,’ Daniel finished.
This time it was Sarah who nodded.
‘How can we tell?’ she asked.
‘I don’t think we can. I would like to try tapping into your dreams again, another night, to see if we can discover any more,’ Daniel said.
‘That’s fine,’ Sarah said.
It was not really fine, it was embarrassing having him in her head, but what else was she to do? She could not remember them herself, and if the dreams might help Daniel discover something useful she would just have to lump the indignity of having h
er mind read.
‘I wonder if the dark man you saw was the crow that was watching us,’ she muttered.
‘It wouldn’t surprise me,’ Daniel said.
‘In case it was a prophetic dream we should probably watch the stone circle at the next full moon – do you know how long away it is?’ she asked.
‘I’m not sure, but I will have a look at the moon again tonight and try to figure it out,’ Daniel said. ‘I had an idea about what might be going on. There might be something, or someone, buried under the stone circle, and whoever killed those people might be trying to release it. I thought maybe we could go back down there and I could try to see if I could sense anything,’ Daniel said.
‘But what if the crow is watching again? What if he sends another army of dead after us - or something worse?’ Sarah asked.
‘We should strengthen ourselves first, tonight – fancy going out?’ he asked, and gave her that wicked smile.
Sarah nodded again, this time with enthusiasm.
She looked into Daniel’s dark eyes as he extended his hand and brushed his finger-tips along her jaw, igniting those now familiar tingles she got whenever he touched her, then her pulse quickened as his face moved closer and his kissed her gently on the lips. She moved her body closer to his and she felt his arms tighten around her. She laid her head on his chest and basked in his embrace, feeling comforted and loved.
Sarah lay there for a full five minutes before she started to feel restless and hungry. She raised her head and met those beautiful eyes.
‘So… blood,’ she said. ‘How do you propose I go about feeding without, err, killing anyone?’
‘Learning control is going to be a long process, so I suggest we start slowly. If you are willing to wait, I think it would be best if I feed first, then I will be strong and can use my mind to control yours – I will make you stop in time. The more often we do this, the more you will get used to it, the easier it should get. Are you hungry now?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘I think it would be easiest for you if you were not too hungry when you feed on a human, then your need for blood won’t be so great, and you should feel more in control.’
‘I like that plan,’ Sarah said.
She leant in and kissed Daniel one more time before leaping up from the bed, and grinning as he laughed in surprise.
‘I’m going to get ready,’ she said.
She practically bounded into the bathroom and started to work her hairbrush through her now very tangled hair. She was excited to be going out, and she was going to get to drink blood. Lots of it. Her dry throat longed for the pleasure of it, and her body desired the power it would bring and how it would make her feel; vibrant and energized.
She also wanted to see people. Alive people. Real people. Not just because she wanted to feed off them, but because she had been alone with Daniel non-stop for quite some time now, and going out would create another dynamic. It would be romantic to be alone, but to be in company. She could drink wine and try some different foods – if she still felt like that after indulging in what she really wanted – the divine, intoxicating substance that all vampires longed for: Blood.
Her hair untangled; she set to work on her face. She applied a little moisturizer, which she reflected she did not really need now she was a vampire; her skin was perfect and blemish free, it was smooth and supple; the cream did nothing. She went to town on her makeup, just because she could, and she felt like being a little wild. No-one knew her here, she did not have to prove anything to anyone; she could be whoever she wanted.
Sarah pulled her liquid eyeliner out of her makeup bag and swept thick lines across her eyelids, which made her eyes look slanted and foreign. She did not need to add any eye-shadow for the dark lines brought out the colors in her naturally bright eyes, which now glowed. Sarah inspected them more closely – surely they had never looked so blue and filled with depth before? Even though her eyes were a different color to Daniel’s they had a certain element of similarity – her eyes had a mystique that you could get lost in. It must be a vampire thing, she decided.
She had a palette of lip colors with a tiny brush for applying them. Usually she stuck to the subtle shades but as she was feeling bold she decided on bright red. Hmmm… She wondered - was her desire for blood influencing her color preference? She smiled as she brushed it on, then she pulled her hair back tightly into a pony tail.
Sarah looked at her appearance with scrutiny, then she laughed; she would barely be recognized back home. All she needed now was a cat suit and she would look like some kind of warrior princess. It was just as well she did not have one, she mused, who knows what weird ideas this vampirism business might instill in her mind without her consent?
She returned to her room, feeling a little nervous as to Daniel’s response to her new look, but he was not in there. She listened out and heard him moving around in the kitchen. She went to her wardrobe and looked inside. What was she going to wear that would go with the not so subtle makeup? She selected a short denim skirt, which she would normally have worn with leggings or tights, but she decided to wear it bare legged. Now she was a vampire the weather did not matter anymore; she would not be cold. She found some pretty blue knickers with tiny silver stars and shimmied them up her legs and into place, and accompanied them with some calf length socks that would keep her comfy under her boots. With this ensemble she chose to wear a plain black bra and long sleeved tight fitting sweater. From the bottom of the pile she found a cute little sequined bag which she slung over her shoulder, then from the bathroom she placed in it her lipstick and a compact mirror; she was going to be drinking blood and hopefully entering bars, not just loitering outside waiting to attack people, so she would need to look relatively presentable. Hopefully Daniel would inform her if she had lipstick, or blood, smeared across her face, but she thought it was better to be safe and have a mirror to make sure she didn’t.
Once she had her selection on she sat down on the bed and smiled in satisfaction; it was fun dressing up, it made her feel like she was eighteen and going out to party. Not that she was so much older than that, she reflected – she was only in her twenties, but since having kids her life had changed so much, she barely saw the friends she had used to be so close to - they were not interested in someone who had had children so young, and she just had not had the energy to bother with it all. Looking after kids was time consuming to the extreme.
She walked down the stairs, the soft soles of her leather boots thudding on the wood, and went into the kitchen. Daniel’s eyes widened when he saw her and he choked on the glass of water he was drinking. Sarah reacted with a coy smile – her heart pounding just a little.
‘Shall we go?’ she asked him – raising her eyebrows for he was not ready – he hadn’t even got his boots on.
‘Yeah,’ he said, and laughed, ‘I hadn’t realized you were in such a hurry.’
He smiled at her, this time freely slowing appreciation, his eyes twinkling. Her cheeks heated, but she refused to acknowledge that and just smiled innocently. She watched as he went into the living room and found his black leather jacket and boots and put them on, freely admiring him in revenge.
‘Ok then,’ he smirked, approaching her and taking her hand, ‘Shall we?’
They left the cottage and went out onto the moors. Sarah squinted as the sun was low on the horizon, and looked around wondering which way to go. The plan was for her to feed on animal blood first, but they had already fed in the nearby woods, and it was not like the woodlands on Dartmoor were any-where near as expansive as the forests in Canada; she did not want to decimate the local mammal population with her current inability to stop herself.
‘Daniel?’ she waited until he met her eye. ‘Do you think it would be possible to use your influence on me so I don’t kill an animal this time? I hate it when I do that,’ she added, trying not to sound too sulky.
‘I can this time if that’s what you want, but when it comes to learning co
ntrol I think we should start on animals,’ he said.
Sarah was about to interrupt with a quip about animal testing, but Daniel did not give her a chance…
‘Not because animals don’t matter, or any such thing, but because to a vampire, such as yourself, animal blood is less intoxicating - so it will be easier to stop. It will take less control.’
‘That makes sense,’ she acquiesced. ‘Somehow though – I don’t think I’m quite there yet – so please can you help me spare the life of the animal I feed off?’
‘Yes,’ he said.
With that in mind Sarah felt it was ok to return to the woods they had fed in before. She loosed Daniel’s hand and gave him a mischievous glance, before shooting off onto the moor ahead of him, the wind once again whipping at her skin, her clothes and hair; making her feel alive.
As she jumped over clumps of dry yellowish grass and avoided stones and gorse, she took a sneak-peak behind her to check that Daniel was following. She turned just in time to watch as his shape shifted and in one smooth motion he transformed into a buzzard and soared into the air above her.
Sarah realized she had stopped, open mouthed in awe, and firmly shut her brightly painted lips. She put on a burst of speed and raced as fast as she could towards the woods, seeing Daniel soar above her – he was so easily going to win.
He looked as sleek and powerful as a bird as he did as a human, his feathers were rich shades of brown, his wings were broad and muscular, his beak looked sharp and his eyes piercing. Sarah would have liked to get a closer look, and an amusing thought crossed her mind – what would it be like to walk about with Daniel, as a buzzard, perched on her shoulder?
She was just reaching the woods when Daniel swooped down and landed before her, blocking her path. She skidded to a halt as she got an intense look from his two bird eyes. She kept her eyes locked with his as they changed from a bird’s small beady round eye, growing larger, and became framed with white and dark lashes, still retaining the same blackness and depth. She thought she saw stars deep in his soul.
