Chronicles of an Extraordinary Ordinary Life

by Aurélie Venem

  Now my boss was suggesting he take me for a spin on the dance floor around a bunch of other, more sure-footed people. The idea made its way through my anesthetized mind, and I could at last answer the man who was patiently waiting for my neurons to reconnect.

  “You’re crazy. I’ll make us both look ridiculous,” I said, horrified.

  Without waiting any longer, he leaned down and grabbed my hand. The little momentum he had put into his movement was enough to pull me out of my seat and propel me to his torso. Embarrassed, I raised my eyes to his.

  “Do not be afraid. I will lead. Just let it happen,” he said.

  He led me to the dance floor.

  The music had a good rhythm, and the people around us were dancing with abandon. Watching them, I felt my anxiety go up a notch. Phoenix lifted my chin and turned my face toward him.

  “Look at me, only me. Listen to the music and forget everything else.”

  Easier said than done, but I had to try.

  I cleared my head as if preparing for an attack and started to move along with Phoenix. He guided me with each step, and his smile was encouraging. It wasn’t long before I was enjoying the dancing, and I surprised myself by laughing out loud. I’d completely forgotten to keep an eye out for our Chinese gang members.

  But just as I was starting to gain confidence in my movements, the pop music was replaced with something more throbbing, more sensual.

  I looked at Phoenix, expecting him to lead us back to our table, but instead he held me by my waist and pulled me closer. Gently, he placed one of his legs between mine and held me even tighter against his body. Trembling a little, I pressed my hands against his back and lifted my head. I was level with his neck, and despite the smoky smell of the nightclub, I could still make out his scent, so particular and reassuring. It was a mix of the cologne he wore and the smell of a pine forest at twilight. In the space of a single second, I closed my eyes to breathe it in and immerse myself in it. In the space of a single second, I found myself in a glade surrounded by pine trees, bathing in the light of a magnificent sunset. My boss must have sensed that I’d completely relaxed, for he moved slowly, his body leading mine in that sensual dance.

  Suddenly, it was as though nothing else existed.

  My senses were in overdrive, and I felt his right hand between my shoulder blades and his left hand on my hip with an intensity a thousand times stronger than usual. Since he had taken off his suit jacket, I felt the fabric of his shirt under my fingers and, even more so, the back muscles that his shirt covered. Drunk on his smell, I couldn’t stop myself from moving my hands to his chest, and the sensation of that skin—so hard, but which I knew was also incredibly soft—fully intoxicated me.

  I finally took the initiative, turning my back to him and following the slow rhythm by rolling my hips as sensually as possible, as I’d seen it done in movies. I felt his hands slide over my stomach, felt his whole body against mine. He molded his movements completely to mine, and I closed my eyes, the nape of my neck exposed to his mouth, which I couldn’t feel but I knew was there. The pressure of his fingers through my dress made me feel something strange, and that feeling intensified when Phoenix turned me around, pulling me against him again, his fingers making their way slowly down from my neck to my waist.

  I saw his face, and I realized that he’d also completely forgotten about the Chinese . . .

  In the bluish light of the club, his eyes seemed more luminous, but without being frightening, as if they were two deep wells leading to an ocean of calm and wisdom. I’d never seen them like that before, and they were incredible, so overwhelming that I slid my hands around his neck and buried my face in his shoulder.

  Then I was swept away by the return of that strange sensation that I’d felt at the touch of his fingers on my back. The song was ending, and the tempo was reaching its peak, forcing us to move even more sensually than before.

  The song was reaching its final note, and I leaned backward into a dip like in the movies. I raised my right leg, and Phoenix seized my thigh, holding me steady. My dress had slipped even higher, and his hand on my bare skin should have shocked me back to reality. But in that position, I again experienced the strange feeling that had invaded and overwhelmed me. It was like an electric current was running through me, toes to head, and burning me in the places where his fingers touched my skin . . .

  When he stood me up straight and we found ourselves face-to-face again, with only an inch or two between our noses, it felt like time had suddenly stopped. His indecipherable expression pierced through me, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his. It was like I’d been hit with lightning. I didn’t know where I was anymore, or what I was doing. I was floating . . .

  That extended, intense moment ended abruptly when a horrible boom, boom assaulted our ears to announce a new song. The bubble that had cut us off from the world disintegrated, and the return to reality embarrassed me.

  Desiring just one thing—to disappear into a deep hole—I used the first excuse I could to escape.

  “Uh . . . I’ll find you after . . . um . . . bathroom.”

  And I left him there in the crowd.

  The restroom was filled to capacity by girls more interested in retouching their makeup than using the toilets, so I went into a stall and sat down to think.

  Let’s recap. I was on a mission to flush out murderous Chinese vampires, and I had drunk too much. I’d forgotten that the champagne would have no effect whatsoever on my boss, which gave him the upper hand.

  And what of the rest! Good grief, what on earth had come over me?

  I’d never danced with a man other than my father, and of course the first had to be my boss. It wasn’t like we were waltzing either. I held my head in my hands, thinking again about our bodies undulating together to the rhythm of the music. There was no risk to him if he found me to his liking, but I feared that he would think I was a tease, or that I’d fallen in love with him and wanted to seduce him.

  No. No! As a novice in all forms of close contact, I’d let myself get carried away by these new and exhilarating sensations and indulged in them, forgetting that I should have behaved better with my boss. That was all. He would understand. There!

  This reasoning made me feel much better. I wasn’t in love with Phoenix, and I hoped he would forget the momentary confusion of a nearly thirty-year-old virgin whose contacts with men had mostly included inadvertent brushing of hands as I was offered pamphlets on the sidewalk.

  Anyway, to love him would only make my entire life miserable: he would never age, and he would never share those kinds of feelings with a human. It was already a miracle and a surprise for him that he considered me a friend.

  No. Loving him would, without doubt, mean losing myself.

  Luckily, I wasn’t at that point. But I was going to have to leave the restroom and explain myself.

  Without much conviction, I returned to our table and sat down next to Phoenix, who had taken up his surveillance of the club’s clients again. A silence settled between us, and all I could do to try and calm myself was to shift in my seat from one side to another, shaking one leg up and down.

  “Samantha, either break the tension and tell me what is making you so nervous, or I shall tie to your chair so you will stop fidgeting like that.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He turned his head slowly toward me, and his stare was hardly warm.

  “What are you apologizing for?”

  “For behaving like a flirt because I’m drunk on the job,” I said without daring to breathe and taking great care to look only at my shoes.

  “We were both on the dance floor, I remind you. We were only following a song that has to be danced to the way we danced to it. This does not make us a couple if that is what is bothering you.” Seeing my look of panic, he took a more amiable tone. “All that you did was let yourself be taken over by rhythm. That is what I asked you to do, is it not? You dance very well. It was an agreeable experience.”
/>   Well! He didn’t seem to think that I’d fallen for him. Reassured by the state of our relationship, I relaxed and smiled at him, determined to change the subject.

  “Anything happen while I was gone?”

  “I saw our friend from Pacific Dreams again. He took off as soon as he saw me.”

  “Let’s hope that this time he’s learned his lesson.”

  “In my opinion, these two nightclubs will not have the pleasure of having him as a client for a while.”

  I yawned. It was very late, and I was exhausted.

  During our return to Scarborough, I fell asleep in the backseat. When I woke up, I was in Phoenix’s arms, and he was carrying me to my room.

  “You can put me down. I’m awake.”

  He set me down gently and made sure I was steady enough to not fall down the stairs. He walked me to my door.

  “Thanks . . . for never letting me sleep in the car.”

  He frowned. “That would not be very gentlemanly.”

  I smiled . . . “Good night.”

  Without thinking, I kissed him on the cheek. I didn’t know why I did it, but I wasn’t embarrassed.

  With one last look at his indecipherable face, I closed my bedroom door. It was tempting to go to sleep fully clothed, but I took the time to wash off my makeup and slip on the first camisole I could find before climbing into bed. It was five thirty in the morning, and I needed to catch up on my rest.

  When I woke up, it seemed as if I’d only slept for five minutes. My eyes were still closed, and my bed was incredibly comfortable. I slowly stretched and yawned.

  Then everything happened lightning quick.

  With my eyes barely open and still adjusting to the dark, I realized that I wasn’t alone in my room. Someone was sitting on my bed.

  My heart skipped a beat, and though I couldn’t clearly see who was in my room, I screamed as loud as I could, throwing my pillow—the only weapon at my disposal—at my attacker. I’d hidden a gun under my bed, but I couldn’t get to it with the intruder sitting right there. What an idiot I was.

  Before I could even blink, my bedroom door literally exploded in a million pieces when someone kicked it in. Immediately I knew it was Phoenix, and he grabbed the man on my bed and sent him flying against the opposite wall, where he landed on the dressing table, my things scattering all over the floor.

  When the other man got up, I was trying to catch my breath and Phoenix was standing between us, ready to jump on his opponent. Except when the intruder turned to face us, we looked at him stupidly.

  “What the . . . Karl? What are you doing in here?” Phoenix asked with complete surprise.

  My heart was pounding as I watched my attacker stand up painfully.

  “Karl . . . ,” I whispered. I wanted to tear him to pieces.

  “Yes, it’s Karl! What has gotten into you two? Both get up on the wrong side of the bed? And you, Phoenix, didn’t anyone ever teach you to think before attacking someone?”

  “I heard Sam scream, so I came immediately. I never would have thought the man on her bed was you,” Phoenix said.

  “Of course I screamed! I almost died of fear when I woke up and someone was at the foot of my bed. I thought someone had come to kill me! Who told you that you could come into my room?” I asked Karl.

  “François and I thought it was time to wake you up, seeing as you thought it was fine to go into a sleep coma during this critical time for Phoenix.”

  “You dirty—”

  “Stop!” my boss interrupted, thus preventing a horrible fight between his two closest friends. “This is all a misunderstanding. The sun has set. He wanted to do you a favor, Samantha. As for you, Karl, I ask you to remember your manners when you are with my assistant. Now make peace, both of you.”

  I gave Karl a harsh look, but I wanted to avoid any more fighting. However . . . when I remembered that I was barely dressed in front of two centuries-old vampires, one of whom was even more debauched than Casanova, I saw red.

  “Fine, we’re fine, but get out of here, both of you, now!”

  I didn’t want to make a scene, certainly, but I still had my pride, and I couldn’t stand one more minute with them and their peering eyes in my personal space.

  Seeing my stance—on my knees, on my bed, pointing a vengeful finger at the door—my intruders understood it would be best to leave, and soon.

  They both left, and before they disappeared down the hallway, I heard, “But really, why on earth would you go in her room?”

  “I wanted to pull on a prank on her, that’s all.”

  “Will you ever grow up?”

  I had a hard time calming down. My usually very tidy room had become a dumping ground for the mixed-up remains of my door, dressing table, and everything found on it. Good-bye, Chanel No. 5. The bottle was broken, and its contents had spilled over the floor, filling the room with an expensive odor.

  A glance at my alarm clock told me that it was already ten o’clock in the evening. What? How had I slept for so long? Well, it didn’t matter. At least I would be ready to resume our tour of bars and clubs, and despite the fanfare of my waking up.

  I took a shower and got dressed, opting for less flashy—and above all, more comfortable—clothes and shoes. The night before, my heels had killed my feet, and I had no desire to relive an attention-grabbing evening by wearing another dress barely long enough to cover my butt.

  I was truly in a foul mood. I made no particular effort to play the part of a bimbo and slipped on dress pants, a red satin blouse, a blazer, and my ballerina flats. When I got downstairs, I found Phoenix and François playing chess and Karl watching a soccer match. They knew, of course, without seeing me, that I was there.

  Karl deigned to look away from the television to look at me and roared with laughter.

  “Well, someone is in less of a good mood than yesterday by the looks of her outfit. I guess that must not have been pretty to see on the dance floor.”

  I wished I had fangs too, so that the grimace I made would have been more impressive.

  “There we go. Go ahead and make fun. In the meantime, you owe me a bottle of Chanel No. 5,” I growled.

  He laughed even more.

  “No, you owe that bottle to Ysis,” Phoenix corrected, still concentrated on his chess game.

  “Ha-haaaa! And what is that bottle doing here in your house? Is Talanus aware of this?” Karl said ironically, his tone full of innuendos that exasperated me profoundly.

  But my boss remained calm.

  “Of course he is aware, it was he who ordered me to invite her here for a day. He had business to take care of alone, and he did not want to leave Ysis without protection. They showed up after one of their soirees. Ysis left some of her things and her perfume behind. They were very useful to me when I brought Sam here.”

  So the evening gown that he’d had me wear when we first met belonged to Ysis, that powerful woman who could afford to forget her expensive things behind at her employee’s house. I recalled our conversation from my first night here. Phoenix had told me the truth then, and I hadn’t believed him, preferring to think that he was a psychopath about to skin me alive. I couldn’t stop from smiling at the memory. Everything had changed since then.

  “You are smiling, my dear. Is my charm finally working on you?” asked Karl as I took a seat on one of the armchairs near him.

  “You’re not my type,” I snapped back.

  He moved closer to me, seeming more seductive than ever. More than one girl must have been ensnared by that smoldering look.

  “Are you sure of that?”

  His languorous voice should have charmed me, but instead I raised my eyes to him and gave him a serious look.

  “Very sure. Come on, aren’t you going to drop this little game of yours? You’re handsome, sure, I can admit that.” His smile brightened up the room. “But without meaning to insult you, I have to say that you don’t tempt me, that’s all.”

  His toothy grin deflated with li
ghtning speed, and his face looked like someone had just poured a bucket of ice water over his head.

  “That is crazy. I just don’t get it.”

  François spoke up then, mocking Karl and adding even more comedy to the scene. “What do you not understand? That for the first time in your life, a woman rejects you? You do not fit her criteria for seduction. You just have to accept this.”

  Ah, so that was why Karl seemed so irritated. In all his five hundred years, he’d never been snubbed before. Pretty good record. There had to be a first, and that was me. My look of satisfaction must have bothered him, for his counterattack was immediate.

  “Her criteria must match our friend Phoenix, if you want my opinion,” Karl said.

  Now that was not smart. A heavy silence filled the room for a few seconds. It was up to me to break it by putting the indelicate Karl back in his place, so I took on the attitude of a school teacher to reprimand him.

  “Jealousy makes people say stupid things. You may be five hundred years old, but you act like a spoiled-rotten teenager who can’t stand it when someone tells him no. You could do with some growing up.”

  The minute I mentioned jealousy, I thought I could see a flash of cruelty in Karl’s eyes. I hoped I had dreamed it.

  “You almost sound like Finn,” he growled.

  “Maybe you should have listened more to your adoptive father’s lessons.”

  Another silence, this one even more stifling. Suddenly, I knew that I’d made a mistake because his nostrils were flaring before he stared at Phoenix with barely contained rage. François seemed disconcerted, but he said nothing.

  “You told her about Finn?” Karl asked Phoenix.

  A storm was coming, a storm that my tactlessness—or rather my pride—had started.

  “Yes. So what? Should I have asked him for permission?” Phoenix said, his voice devoid of emotion.