by Atha, DL
I wondered to myself if it tasted different, as he lifted his head from mine. I could see my blood as it stood out against his bright lips. The color was good, I noticed.
Rolling over onto my back, I welcomed him to me, pulling his mouth to me. Sucking in my breath as I felt his fangs glide through the skin of my neck, I marveled at the fact there was no pain whatsoever. Instead, it felt as if the pain receptors in my skin had been replaced by those for pleasure, or perhaps simply my pain tolerance was increasing.
Feeling him drink deeply, I responded by arching my hips up and grinding them into him. Within seconds, my clothes were off along with his before he stretched himself out beside me again and kissed me one more time before reaching down to pull my legs up to where they were bent. With him stroking my thigh, I couldn’t help but let them fall apart.
One strong hand began tracing small patterns around my inner thighs. Nearly dying from anticipation, I gasped when he inserted two fingers into me while continuing to stroke me with his thumb. My changing skin was so much more sensitive and I came quickly with his touch, but he didn’t stop. He continued until I had come several more times. I was like jello in his hands and I didn’t resist when he lowered his head between my thighs.
Biting through my femoral vein while he continued to stroke me, I could feel my mind beginning to grow hazy as his chemicals moved through my bloodstream, slower than before because of my lower heartbeat, but still effective.
Moving his head lower, I caught my breath as his fangs grazed my most sensitive area. I had to remind myself to breathe as his tongue replaced the stroking his fingers had begun. Coming again and again, I remained awake through it all. Giddy and hazy, but awake.
I lost track of how many times I had come, but he finally stopped and came to lie beside me again. I’m not sure why he was so eager to satisfy me, but whatever the reason, I wasn’t going to complain. If I did die, I would die sexually satisfied at last. But the question remained, why was he doing this to me?
His voice broke into my reverie. “I wonder about you, Annalice, if you and I…” Stopping in mid-sentence, his expression became softer and somewhat conflicted but soon hardened. Smiling provocatively at me, he whispered, “Please me, Annalice.”
With him still lying on his side next to me, I reached down and took him in my hands. Cool to the touch but swollen with desire, I was hesitant. It had been quite a while since I had done anything like this, but I knew exactly what I had to do and why, so I didn’t hesitate for long. Stroking him until he was firmer, I leaned down and took him in my mouth, causing him to take a deep breath of air whether he needed it or not.
Lying back, I continued to orally assault him until, without warning, he flung me down and shoved inside me with great force. It was incredible and I wrapped my legs around him to get as much fluid as possible. Luckily, he still didn’t realize what I was doing and so didn’t try to stop me.
Finally relaxing my legs from around him, he rolled away and I lay in the afterglow of good sex, thinking about the future. He lay there as well, but I’m not sure if he had an afterglow or not. After a few minutes of rest, I turned towards him. He appeared to be absentmindedly twisting the ring he wore on his right hand. Now I could clearly see the faint remnants of an old vine design as it twined its way around the band. With my human eyes, I probably wouldn’t have seen it, as it was so deeply worn. I was curious where he had gotten it. Had it belonged to one of his victims? I’m sure he plundered whatever they had.
The question quietly burned its way through my mind as I realized for the first time that Asa would probably take whatever he wanted from my house as well, including my mother’s wedding ring, which I had always intended to give to Ellie. Mom had given it to me after Dad had died.
“Who’s ring?” I asked trying to keep the tone in my voice nonchalant. “Who did you take it from?”
Watching him for his response, his right hand paused in its twisting motion and slowly he turned his head in my direction. A single solitary muscle flexed in his jaw, his deep green eyes became slits as he stared at me with well controlled rage again. My track record for not provoking him was suffering tonight.
“Foolish girl, I could snap your neck in the span of one of your heartbeats and yet you still provoke me.” His voice was calm and as he spoke, he reached out placing his left hand behind my neck and applying enough pressure that I couldn’t help but cringe.
I should have been terrified as he held my cervical spine in his hand and I was, but my heart rate never budged and I knew immediately that he realized it when his eyes moved momentarily down to my chest. His hand relaxed its hold as his eyebrows raised in a look of perplexity.
“What is wrong with you? Your heartbeat is abnormally low for a frightened human female.” His tone was questioning but still angry.
The fact that he had noticed did finally get a slight rise out of my pulse, but only minimally. Was he finally realizing what was happening to me? That would prove fatal, I was certain.
“I’m dying. What did you think was going to happen to me, Asa? Humans aren’t built for this kind of stress. I probably won’t last the week.” I wasn’t lying. If I didn’t complete the conversion, I would die either from cardiovascular collapse or at his hands.
“I am not done with you yet.” The words were clipped and, unexpectedly, I realized they were slightly tinged with what I thought was regret.
Laughing out loud at the absurdity of his response, I answered back, “I would have thought a man who was murdered and turned into a vampire would understand that fate is fickle. She doesn’t care if you’re done with me or not. You may not have a choice.”
Laughing some more, I rolled away from him to hide the slightly smug look on my face. Managing so far to keep my secret from him, I didn’t need to give it away by gloating.
“Fate dealt me a very cruel hand once but she has no control over me now. I am a vampire and now I AM fate. You will die or will not die when I decide,” he answered behind me; his voice resolute.
Laying there beside him, thinking about his words, it took a few moments for them to sink in. What was he trying to say? Was he having second thoughts about killing me? Was there any chance that he would let me go?
Turning over to look at his face, I searched for a clue or sign of the true intent of his words, but could find none on his stony face. He wasn’t looking at me, instead he was twisting his ring again, staring at it as if it held some deep secret.
Searching it again with my eyes, I could find nothing in its vague pattern that gave it such great interest to him. Lifting my eyes from the ring when he suddenly stopped, I found his eyes on me.
“It was my mother’s.” His voice held the remnant of some great emotion.
Tempted to ask more about her, I was brought up short by the sound of a car slowly pulling up into the most distant part of my drive. Listening intently, but trying to conceal the fact, I searched Asa’s face to see if he had paid attention to the sounds of the car and the implications. But he had gone back to twisting his ring and seemed to be lost in his thoughts again so I returned to listening.
Realizing then that it was a truck and not a car, I heard it pull off the drive and through the gap of cleared land that ran between my fence and the edge of the national forest.
Cutting its wheels hard, I could hear the whine of the axles as the truck backed into the forest, pushing over a few small fledgling trees and underbrush, before the engine was cut off. They were clearly trying to remain concealed and although I didn’t recognize the sound of the truck, I was pretty certain who would be sitting in it.
The sounds of the vehicle had finally caught Asa’s attention as well and he was on alert. Stock still at my side, his ring forgotten, he now sprung lightly to a crouched position, balanced on the balls of his feet and looking like a statue.
Trying to cover up my knowledge of what he was listening to, I raised my voice loudly and asked, “What is it?”
“Sssssh,�
�� was his only reply as he shot me an irritated look. Now that I looked like a stupid human, I let myself go still as well and listened intently, trying to catch any sound the occupant of the truck was making.
Struggling for the first couple of minutes, I was finally able to suppress the hundreds of other sounds that were emanating from the space between myself and the vehicle and listen for the uneasy breathing of a human.
I was certain he was sitting on leather seats that I could hear rub beneath him as he adjusted his position, probably trying to get a better look at the house. No sounds of a phone or the radio made their way back to me; he just seemed to be sitting. And watching, I was sure he was watching.
Feeling Asa’s eyes on me, I turned to look at him. “A human male, likely the same one that was here today, is hiding in the woods in a vehicle.” He gestured with his head to the north of the house as he spoke. “If you have betrayed me, you and he will die and so will the lovely Ellie, especially Ellie, and I will take my time with her.” His voice was low and held nothing but hate and mistrust.
“I told you that he would be back. He didn’t believe my story. You should never have killed that old lady.” Anger laced my voice. Waiting in the dark for his equally angry answer, there was only silence.
“You are right, of course. I almost never kill when I am going to court a human for a few days. It is too dangerous to stay in the area. But I couldn’t have her coming down here to check on you during the day when I was away, so I had to dispose of her. I did the logical thing,” he responded; his words clipped and short.
“Well you could have at least made it look more natural.” The words were out of my mouth without thinking about them and they startled me and ashamed me at the same time. Was I becoming more like him than I realized? Physically changing, of course, but mentally morphing as well into the creature beside me. No, that couldn’t be it. Common sense simply said that the way he had killed Ms. McElhaney was illogical.
“I got irate with her, which tends to make me more violent than normal. I do not make a habit of wasting blood, but when I drank, she tasted putrid and I tore her apart without thinking. She was dying anyhow.” He didn’t sound the least bit contrite.
Unable to get the picture out of my mind, I could see poor Ms. McElhaney’s death playing out. Seeing her awakened in the home where she had spent sixty safe and happy years and opening her old eyes to the monster beside me as he ripped her to shreds.
“She’s with her family now, so she’s at peace. You didn’t take that from her. You can’t take that from anyone no matter how you kill them,” I noted, shoving my finger towards him while I spoke.
His laugh, sarcastic and cold, filled the room before he retorted, “You are so naïve and unlearned in my ways. I can take anyone’s peace and I have been considering doing exactly that to you. You should not tempt me to teach you a lesson just for spite.”
“We had an agreement! You promised to leave her alone,” I hissed at him, my voice shaking with fear for my daughter.
“Do you never cease to quit thinking about your daughter?” he sounded exasperated. “She will be safe. I have given my word so long as you do not betray me. I am talking about you, solely about you. I can destroy your peace in ways you have never even considered.”
“What are you talking about?” The words were barely out of my mouth when we both heard a door squeak open and then very quietly was pushed shut, the way you do when you’re late for a funeral.
I pretended not to notice and after what I had been through in the last few days, I was becoming a much better actor. But the noise had definitely brought Asa up short.
Still crouched in the defensive stance he had adopted earlier, I marveled at his ability to keep that pose for so long as he pivoted in one quick motion in the direction of the car. My reflexes were certainly not that precise yet.
Pretending to follow his lead, I turned my gaze in the direction he had indicated. Standing as still as I could, I listened to the sound of Michael climbing the fence surrounding the horse pasture. He was fairly nimble and was soon walking through the knee-high grass in an apparent move to come up on the back of the house.
Hearing each step he took, I followed his progress and expected he would make it to the back yard in about ten minutes, since he would have to walk all the way around the pond in order to approach the house from the back.
Wondering if he even knew that the large pond was there, I got my answer when I heard one of his boots get sucked down in the muck of the pond bank. Swearing lightly under his breath, he struggled for a moment before continuing on. I knew the feeling having lost a boot there myself once.
Casting a glance at Asa, I was caught off-guard as he swung me up in his arms and dashed up the stairs in the span of a second. Setting me down quietly, he gently opened a window without making a sound. Probably the same one he used to break into my house, I thought irritably to myself.
Grabbing me up again, he lightly stepped out onto the roof of the house and then climbed up to the highest peak of the house, holding me in his arms during the ascent.
Settling against the scratchy tiles of the roof, he settled me down into his lap and pointed to where Michael was making his way slowly into my new view across the pasture. Now skirting the back edge of the pond, he was turning north and heading back towards the house.
Wondering briefly if he would see us perched up on the roof, I glanced up to make sure no shaft of moonlight would bring attention to our position, but the night sky was black with the clouds of a February night. It probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway, Asa could move faster than the human eye could track.
Twisting around slightly to see Asa, I noted he was watching Michael’s progress closely, eyes dilated with perverse pleasure at the sight of the unsuspecting human.
“Don’t hurt him, Asa. He’s just doing his job. Besides, it’ll just bring unwanted visitors if you do.” My voice was pleading and that was probably not a good thing when dealing with a deadly vampire.
“I am not planning on killing him. I am only up here to observe him. Maybe play a game or two with him.” He smiled down at me, fangs wet and exposed with anticipation. Hearing Michael swear quietly again, I turned my head back in his direction as he began to scrape his boot on the grass. So much for those polished boots. Horse pastures are so unforgiving.
Finally giving up on getting his boots any cleaner, he continued on, making it to the more recently mowed grass. From there, his progress sped up as the walking became easier. Stopping as he stepped out into the back yard, it was there I finally caught his scent.
Inhaling quietly so as not to bring attention to myself, I realized I liked the way he smelled of horses and leather. And blood. Yes I could smell that too, and I liked the aroma.
Feeling Asa inhaling behind me, I didn’t have to wonder if Michael smelled as good to him. It was obvious in the slight sigh he let out between his red lips. And I realized then that I might be a threat to Michael too as I matured in my conversion.
Climbing the steps to my back deck cautiously, I watched Michael look around, clearly expecting the unexpected. But his idea and my idea of what constituted unexpected were probably as different as night and day at this point.
Watching warily from my position high above him, I saw him approach the windows. Cupping his hands around his eyes, he peered into a couple of different windows before walking over to the door and rapping sharply on the glass. Waiting a couple of minutes for me to answer, relief washed across his face when no one answered. Then with a look over his shoulder, he pulled what looked like a brush out of his pocket and then started sticking pieces of tape around the doorknob.
Realizing what he was doing, I laughed inwardly to myself at the thought of him being able to trace Asa with fingerprints. But you had to give him credit where credit was due, he was really giving this case extra effort. Although I did wonder absentmindedly if what he was doing was legal. Shouldn’t he have done that today when he had the se
arch warrant?
Making his way around the house, he took a few more samples before starting back to his truck, keeping close to the tree line after he made it out of the backyard. It was then I felt Asa suddenly move beneath me and at the same time clamp a hand over my mouth.
Despite landing without as much as a quiver of unbalance, the force of his landing caught Michael’s attention and he jerked his head back in our direction only to find nothing there. By this time, Asa had moved ahead into the shadows of the trees that lined my driveway, keeping us well hidden.
Turning his head slowly from side to side to scan the area, Michael pulled his gun from his holster, holding it up in front of him. One hand on the grip of the gun, and the other hand holding the butt, I could see the weapon was shaking slightly. From where we stood, I could smell a scent that was fairly new to me. Testing it a little more with my new sense of smell, it didn’t take me long to name it. Fear. Michael was afraid and his respirations had picked up, along with his racing heart .
As the detective continued to grow more and more nervous, I finally recognized it as the overwhelming sense of fear that I had experienced the first time I had felt Asa’s presence. It would get stronger and, eventually, I knew, it would overwhelm him and he would lose control of himself if Asa didn’t end it.
Continuing to back up with the gun held close to his body in front of him, he side-stepped his left foot first and then his right foot, making slow progress back to his truck. I could sense the confusion in him; the knowledge a predator was close by was apparent to his subconscious, but not to the logical part of his mind.
Seeing nothing on which his unease could be blamed, he finally turned and started to run wildly back to his truck, gun still in hand. Setting me down behind him, Asa sprinted away so quickly that I had no time to implore him to stop.
