Bitter Sweet
Page 19
"Yes, she’s in the rock garden with Ayara. Ayara shares June’s skill with a blade and they are sparring or meditating, I don’t know which. It sounds dangerous however, you should be able to hear them if you listen."
"Do many vampires use weapons to fight?" I asked as I heard the low clank of metal on metal.
"No, very few vampire even know how to really fight. The young usually run on instincts and are easily dispatched. June’s, and especially Alik's, ability to fight is rare. Even for vampire, it takes time
to train skills like that," she stated, laying back down. "Most of our kind prefer to wow women with piano, or men with sex appeal. Both easy to fake being good at."
"Can I ask another question?"
"Sure."
"Who is Alisa? She is always trying to... touch Alik."
"Do I hear jealousy in this question?" asked Lilith while looking over at me.
"It’s just that all the female vampires I’ve met like you, June, and Alisa are all beautiful to the point of perfection. You and June have both told me that I make Alik happy. I’m curious as to why it is me out of all the years that he has been alive; why is it that he loves me so much?"
"Well, to answer your first question, little Alisa is a bit of a mystery. No one knows who her creator was. We keep her around because she is a brilliant tactician. She was created so young that no matter how well she is in a military capacity or how much she matures mentally, she will always be stuck as childish and playful. She will never become a woman, but I think how she sees Alik gives her hope: that maybe he can do something for her, at least mentally, to make her feel like a woman. Especially considering her age and power. As to your other question, I have to ask you one in return. What do you consider to be love?”
“When you would do anything for someone, even cross paths with death so that their happiness and well being are completely absolute. Because when you are with them, there isn’t anyone else you could imagine being with.” When I said that I wasn't sure why it came out that way, but I meant it.
“Poetic.” She smiled. “I couldn’t have described it better myself. Still, when I see you and Alik, I see chance and luck as well. Chance, because were you to have said no to your friend, you would have never been at Masteria, and luck for Alik as he was lucky enough to have taken a position at Masteria's door that night to greet you and your friend. Your poetic analogy finds its life in chance and luck just as
much as the connection you share.”
“I know what you mean, and I thank my luck every time he looks at me. Because I know I don’t deserve him.”
“It’s the other way around, considering what he is. To have found such a connection with a human and not one of his own is his gift. It allows you to build an even deeper connection with the sharing of the very blood that would keep you with him forever if you choose that path."
“He told you about the truth thing?”
“No, I was talking of a deeper connection. Alik’s explanation of that phenomenon was probably misleading; don’t let it cloud your idea of love. Whatever you feel for my son is completely your own,” she said, watching Alik swim laps under water. “A word of warning though, Alisa isn’t the only vampire to openly show interest in Alik,” she whispered. “When the rest of our guests arrive, some will feel very sorry that he has a date this year." She then laughed.
Over the rest of the day, the hotel gained only two more guests: a pair of African vampire who stayed in their room. I had a hard time falling asleep that night as usual, but with Alik here to comfort me, I eventually managed it and awoke to an amazing breakfast waiting for me. I ate and got dressed, but over the hour I was awake, Alik hadn’t returned to the room. I decided that I’d venture out and try to find him. I opened the door into the bright hallway with the sun shining brightly even through the tinted glass of the walls. The halls were empty and I walked for at least five minutes without finding anyone. I found myself outside in what must be the rock garden Lilith mentioned yesterday. Rocks were set in an ebony sand that sparkled silver and gold. There were five small trees, which reminded me of little banzai trees, scattered around the edges of the sand just big enough for a child to climb. A vampire I had never met sat silently on a rock in the middle of freshly smoothed sand with his eyes closed and legs crossed. I turned to leave, not wanting to disturb him, but bumped into him instead.
"Ah, I’m so sorry," I said shocked.
"You must be Vanessa," he said quickly, lifting a pair of circle
rimmed glasses and squinting at me.
"Yes, that’s me."
"I thought so; I can smell him on you," he dragged out the words ‘smell’ and ‘him’ like it was disgusting.
"Who?"
"Alik."
"Can I ask your name?" I was clutching at straws trying to keep the conversation pleasant.
"I’m Ario. You must have heard of me by now."
"I have." He looked pleased when I said that.
"Well, you must be looking for him, aren’t you?"
"Yes."
"Well, aren’t you going to ask if I’ve seen him today?"
"Have you seen Alik by any chance?"
"He’s with June now. They are practicing hand to hand combat over there."
"Thank you..." I started to say and he was back to where he was when I first walked into the garden, still and silent again. I slowly walked past to where he pointed and as I got closer, I began to hear movement. It sounded like quick footsteps, but there was no rhyme or rhythm to them. It was just swish, swish, silence, swish, and then more silence. When I made it through the hall that led to the back, it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever witnessed. I’d see small puffs of dust appear in the dirt, and then they would disappear, like micro dust storms. I focused on the puffs and then saw faint shadows appear around them, all timed to the strange swishing sound.
"Can you see them?" Lilith called from the roof.
"See who?" I shouted back.
"Alik and June. Or are they moving too fast?" I looked back over to where the puffs of dust were forming and the more I focused, the more defined those shadows would become. Then Lilith was next to me.
"Come join us on the roof; it is much easier to see from there." She took my hand and the next thing I knew, I was on the roof. "So can you see them?" she asked again.
"Flashes of it, but only their footsteps. I can hear it though."
"Even that is impressive; so attuned and still human. You would make a great vampire," said a calculating female voice I hadn’t heard before.
"Vanessa, this is my sister Ayara," Introduced Lilith.
"Nice to meet you," I greeted.
"You say you can see their footsteps; were you able to see them as soon as you stepped out here, or did you have to focus to see?" she asked analysing my every action.
"I had to focus for a bit."
"Well, try to focus a bit more. I would be surprised if you couldn’t follow their full movements. How those two fight is really something special." I looked back over at the puffs of dust and again, I saw the faint flashes of footsteps in the dust. " Close your eyes and try to listen before you see." I did as she instructed. Then I heard faint pats in the dust and then pats from the contact of skin on skin. When I opened my eyes again and followed the sounds this time, my eyes kept up with their movements on their own. Ayara was right; this was something special to see. Every attack and maneuver was countered and immediately followed by another attack or maneuver; there was no wasted energy and the next strike was never the same as the last. "I take it by your stunned silence that you can follow them now."
"Wow… but won’t this go on forever? They look so even."
"Do they really?" As Ayara said that, June reached out to grab Alik by the neck and he shifted his weight to his left foot and sidestepped the grab; it allowed him to grab her arm and swing her around. She flew through the air and managed to recover in a spin and placed her feet on the ground in a skid to stop herself, but Alik was
already behind her. He tripped her and as she tumbled across the ground, he pinned her down. Ayara sighed, "I wish she would beat him someday; I’d feel better as her teacher that way."
"Ah well, Alik's special. The fact that she can even keep up with him for three hours is amazing,” Lilith commented.
"Three hours? You mean to tell me that they have been moving like that for three straight hours?" I gasped.
"Yes, you should really not limit us to human expectations of strengths and weaknesses."
"I’m slowly learning not to, but it’s hard when I’m caught off guard like that."
Lilith laughed at that. I was then back on the ground with Alik and June next to me.
"Sorry about your clothes," Alik said to June.
"It’s my fault; I thought I had you there and got sloppy. I’m sorry Ayara, I lost again,” June said.
"It’s against Alik. You lasting this long is a testament to how much you have grown," sighed Ayara. "A few more centuries and you can wipe that smile off his face."
"Good luck with that," Alik patronized with a smile firmly planted on his face.
"Come on June, we will go drill for a little." And then Ayara and June were gone
"I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up; I didn’t expect that to take so long."
"You baby me enough as it is; you don’t have to follow me everywhere."
I spent another relaxing day by the pool and in the spa, which was like the pool, but less plant life than the rest of the place. Lilith told me to go as often as I liked; the staff needed the practice for when she opened this place to other humans. While watching a movie in Alik’s arms that night, a strange question occurred to me.
“Why haven’t you ever asked to have my blood?" I asked Alik, and I think I caught him off guard with that one.
"You want me to bite you?" he asked very slowly and obviously puzzled.
"It’s not that; it’s just that I’ve seen you with glasses of it, and you’ve talked about biting others once or twice, but you’ve never asked if you could have my blood, that’s all. I mean, I’ve had yours before. Isn’t it only fair?"
"It has crossed my mind, I will admit that. You just seemed so against my drinking of blood the one time you actually knew what I was drinking. Your reaction to the Night Children wasn’t favoring either, so I assumed..."
"But you’ve never asked."
“I sort of have.”
“When.”
“When I left your house that first morning, when I kissed you on the cheek.”
“Well, after that.”
"Well, it was complicated enough for you to have me around when you were with Phil and then that blood kiss made it worse, I didn’t think you needed anything else on your plate."
"Are you hungry now? Would hungry be the right word? I'm sorry if that sounded stupid."
He chuckled. "It’s not exactly the same hunger that I remember while I was living, but it’s as close as you could get."
“Well, are you hungry?”
“A little.”
"Try it then."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I want to know how it feels."
He leaned down toward me and kissed me, laying my body out on the bed with his hands around my wrist. My heartbeat began to increase as he drew closer to my neck as if it wanted to give him my blood more with each kiss or caress. I felt his teeth rest against my skin before they sunk in and I gasped as I felt the flow of blood cross my skin. The sensation wasn’t one of pain or pleasure; I couldn’t explain it in words. It’s an experience that has to be felt. When he finished, I was breathing fast and my heart was beating like I just ran a marathon. I felt his tongue roll over the place where his teeth sunk into my skin and the bleeding stopped. He then looked into my eyes and his seemed to be a brighter shade of gold.
"How was it?" I asked him as I panted.
"I couldn’t describe it if I tried,” he said softly.
"Same here."
"Now your turn." he said, biting his lip and kissing me for much longer than he had by the lake, and the rush of flavor his blood sent shock waves across my tongue as the indescribable flavor hit me for the third time, this time being more wonderful than the last. When he broke off the kiss, I was stuck in a state of euphoria "That was only fair," he said with a smirk.
"I agree," I said, my breathing finally slowing.
"You should get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day.
"You think I could sleep after that?"
"Well, what do you want to do now?"
"Well..." I said rolling him over so I was on top with my hands on his chest. " Let’s see where this goes." I leaned down to kiss him, my hands making it down to his belt buckle the same time he got to the last button on my shirt.
Vanessa Stanton
Chapter 31.0
A ray of orange sunlight made its way across the room slowly as the sun rose until it found its way to my eyes. I awoke with the memories of last night fresh on my mind. I couldn’t help thinking I was living in a book world. Finally, I made it to the chapter where my mysterious lover takes me away in the night. His soft smooth hands caress my body in ways I couldn’t have imagined if I never experienced it. However, there was a frown on my face. Those hands that so tenderly touched me the night before were not here now. I sighed and fell back into the soft sheets trying to fight off thoughts that this was all a dream. When I managed to finally roll over still drowning in my bliss, I caught sight of a small note that blocked the clock.
-Thought I’d leave a note this time. I had to help set up, will be back soon. Alik-
I sat up and blew my hair out of my face and decided to walk to the bathroom and take a shower. The hot water felt nice on my skin; I could vividly feel every drop of water on my back relaxing me. I would have spent more time under the water, but I felt that I’d better get out before my skin wrinkled. I left the bathroom wrapped in a towel trying
to fill my head with the memories of last night to combat my nerves about the night ahead of me when I heard footsteps in the hall. I expected them to keep going, but they stopped outside the door and someone knocked.
“Hello? It’s Alisa. Are you awake?” I heard the young-old vampire call out.
“Oh, yes. One second,” I called back, walking over and unlocking the door. Alisa stood framed in the doorway, her child’s smile in place on her face surrounded by her red curls.
“May I come in?” she asked very politely.
“Sure,” I said a little confused. She was carrying a box over half her height. “How can I help you?” I asked, sitting on the bed still drying my hair.
“It’s more that I came to help you,” she smiled. “Alik, in all his fighting prowess, is seriously lacking in the social aspects of our... unique condition. So I am assuming that he hasn’t told you anything about the gathering tonight.”
“He told me a little.” The more I explained, the more I felt as if I was missing so much just by the expressions on her face.
“No mention of colors, blood, or... the ‘leap’?” she asked, placing a emphasis on the last word.
“No, nothing.”
Her smile shifted into a smirk. “I knew Alik wouldn’t have told you about any of this. Well, lucky I came by for a little girl time.” She set the box she was carrying on the bed and pulled out a long flowing cloak of pure white; it was more than beautiful in the light of the sun. “100% pure Egyptian cotton of the highest thread count possible: there is nothing finer on the planet,” she boasted, handing me the cloak. I ran my fingers across the surface.
“What’s this for.”
“Well... Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s for humans. White signifies the realm of God, the one who created you in his image. All those in black are vampire, black signifies the realm of Lucifer, the one who gave his life blood to Aaliyah, creating the vampire. Lastly, red signifies the blood of the old, only Aaliyah and her three direct descendants, the three Elders, are allowed to wear the
color red because Aaliyah made them in her image. Aaliyah has never been found and her cloak is always laid out as a sign of respect and inclusion, even after all this time. All cloaks are of the same design, but the color defines you, concealing anything else you may or may not be wearing underneath, completely breaking the social ladder down to only the three categories united under the same veil.”
“Why didn’t Alik give me this?” I was still taking in the sensation of touching the smooth cotton.
“Lilith asked me to bring it as she would need him up until right before the others arrive. So, girl time.” Alisa put the box down and moved behind me up onto the bed. She swept my hair back, brushing my face with her hand. I had to fight not to shiver at her touch. “This is the leap, which is a more unofficial name adopted over the years by the vampire in attendance.” Around my neck was a small and thin glass vial. She fastened the clasp on the silver chain and as the vial settled between my breasts, I could almost feel a buzz of power.