by Andrea Wölk
She rested her head on his chest. The black shirt he was wearing was silky smooth on her skin and gave her the feeling of being caressed by him. She could feel his heartbeat, which gave him a somewhat human quality.
»You told me yesterday that I should try to be happy when I hear this song. Why did you want to erase my memory then?« He paused in thought. »It’s too dangerous. Even if I wanted, no one is allowed to know that we exist.« »That means, you erase the entire memory when you drink.« Shia nodded. »Why didn’t it work with me then?« »I don’t know. That has never happened, except...« »What?« »When we meet our soulmate.« Shia looked deeply into her eyes. Could that be?
»What is that? Soulmate?« »According to our legend, every warrior is destined to make a vow of faith with a specific partner. But this is only revealed when both partners have been transformed into vampires.«
»I am definitely not one of you. What could have caused it to happen?« »I don’t know, Eva, but I wish it were the reason.« He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her. The taste was so sweet and he couldn’t resist the urge. »I have to kiss you and taste you, I can’t help it.« »Why me?« »Because you’re wonderful. I saw you, the way you move, the way you brush your hair out of your face and particularly the way you pointed your gun at me. I’ve never seen anything more seductive than your eyes looking past your weapon at me.« Eva laughed softly to herself. »You are totally crazy, you know that, right?« Shia bent over her and kissed her again on the lips. »You’re right Eva, I’m crazy about you. There will never be another man who will touch your lips. You are mine, even though you are only a weak, little human being.« He smiled down at her. Oh God, he wanted Eva so much. His blood was racing through his body and he couldn’t stop it. He could feel his desire and the fangs in his mouth begin to grow. Holy shit! What was he doing? He’d totally lost control of himself and the situation. Shia wasn’t only putting himself and the warriors in danger, but his entire species as well.
»Your fangs are growing.« »They always do that when...« There was a pause. »When what?« asked Eva without taking her lips off his. »When there’s danger or when I’m aroused.« Shia whispered into her ear. He ran his tongue down her cheek and along her chin and then down to her collarbone. He pressed his body closer to hers. She could feel his erection pushing against her body and a deep growl filled his chest. Her body was screaming with desire to be taken by him and she let out a deep moan. She wanted to belong to him completely, but was afraid of what would happen afterwards.
She ran her hands through his black hair and there was no doubt that Shia wanted exactly the same thing. His hands slid under her sweater and pulled it off. Her dark red bra made her pale delicate skin light up.
»Oh my God, you are so beautiful,« Shia moaned. He ran his fingers gently over her shoulders.
»I love your choice in clothes. Especially what you’ve got on underneath.« Eva could feel his grin pressed against her cheek. »You’ve got way too much on in my view, Mr. Keane.« Eva started unbuttoning his shirt. Underneath Eva discovered his smooth brown skin. Meticulously, she ran her little tongue along every muscle making Shia absolutely crazy. He hadn’t ever felt so much sensuality in his one hundred and forty years of life. When Eva opened her eyes, she saw the tattoo covering his chest and back.
»What does this tattoo mean?« she asked curiously, outlining the letters with her fingers »Honoris causa, is Latin and means ›For the sake of honor‹. I’m a warrior and we receive a maxim after our transformation.« Eva turned him around to look at this back, following the twists and turns of his tattoo. She traced each curve with her finger and could feel Shia trembling to her touch.
»Damn it! I can’t take this any longer!« he hissed between his teeth. He turned around, picked Eva up and carried her upstairs into the bedroom. »If you think that I’m going to sleep with a vampire, then you’re horribly mistaken,« Eva whispered as he put her down on the bed. He leaned over her and said, »Well, we’ll see about that, you mortal!«
Sara wandered through the house happy that she’d made the decision to come back. She had missed everything here so much. She knocked on Shia’s bedroom door, but he wasn’t there. She found Maroush downstairs in the gym practicing Kendo.
»Hi, Roush, feel like some combat training?« she called to him in greeting and he nodded silently. »Let me just get dressed.« A few minutes later she appeared on the mat, completely dressed in Bõgu training armor. Unlike Maroush, who was dressed in indigo, Sara was wearing a white Hamaka. She sat down in front of him Seiza-style and began to meditate.
Afterwards, they both bowed at each other and then the fight began. Without warning Sara let out a loud cry and struck her opponent’s Do, or torso armor.
He jumped to avoid her, but he wasn’t fast enough. He stood there motionless and took another blow and then another hit him on his Kote, the padding on his lower arm. He just stood there with his Shinai in his hand glaring at Sara.
»I know that it isn’t important whether one is struck and that only your own strikes count, so don’t you think it would at least be a good idea to try?« His absolute immobility was making Sara furious. She ran towards her opponent shouting a battle cry, but didn’t strike with her Shinai, rather brought him down with the force of her impact. Then sat down on top of him straddling his hips.
»What’s wrong with you?« she angrily tore off his Men face protection. »Channing?« Surprised, she took off her own mask and threw it onto the floor. Damn it. She should have noticed earlier. Channing was much bigger than Maroush. They both looked into each other’s eyes infuriated. Maroush entered the gym clapping loudly. »An absolutely horrible performance you’ve given us, Channing!« Soft laughter broke the tension between the two fighters. Sara then became aware of who she was sitting on and quickly got up. Maroush held out his hand to Channing to help him get back up onto his feet.
»Hey, what happened to you? Didn’t you learn anything today?« »I don’t hit women.« Channing answered and left the room quickly.
»See you in an hour in the meeting room,« Maroush called out to him smiling. »What a jerk. I hope he remembers that when a female creature starts kicking his ass, I definitely won’t help him.« Upset, Sara picked up her armor and left, but not before she looked Maroush in the eyes, so angry she could have hit him over the head with her Shinai.
Eva was lying in Shia’s arms, her cheek resting on his chest. The air was stuffy from hot perspiration. Shia slowly stroked her naked shoulders and felt slight tension.
»What’s wrong?« Eva lifted up her head and looked at him. »This has never happened to me before. I’ve never slept with anyone without protection.« »Don’t worry. Vampires don’t carry any diseases and can’t get infected from someone else. And we can’t father children either, if that’s what you’re worried about.« She gazed silently into his eyes.
»So, an all-around, worry-free package?«
Shia nodded smiling. »If that’s what you want to call it.« »I never want to move from this spot again,« Eva whispered.
Shia leaned over her and kissed her hair. »I have to go soon.« His deep voice cut through her thoughts and she nodded. »Yes, I thought so.« She was playfully tracing the curves of his tattoo. »You said you were a warrior of faith. What does that mean?«
Shia pulled her up on top of him.
»We are a handful of warriors who exist to preserve our vampire heritage so that we can continue to exist. No human being can ever find out about our existence. That would be the end of us. We were chosen to protect the Diarium and are the bravest and strongest of our race.« Shia expressed himself with so much conviction that Eva didn’t doubt a single word he said.
»What’s the Diarium?« »It’s a book, which contains our legends. It also contains the maxim for every warrior of faith, which is also our destiny. But primarily, it holds the mystery of how a vampire can tolerate daylight.« Eva rested her chin on her folded arms.
»Whom do you have to protect it from?«
»Yes, my brothers and I can bear it when we protect our eyes and skin a little. Of course it wouldn’t be a good idea for us to sunbathe.« »Have you ever had a partner? A soulmate?«
Eva was afraid of the answer to this question. Shia lifted up his torso and pulled Eva closer to him. »No, there is only one and it’s absolutely binding. You can’t fight it. It’s your destiny and you have to accept it.«
»And how do you feed if you haven’t found your soulmate yet?«
»All vampires feed on Homo sapiens. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman. The important thing is that enough human blood remains for it to stay alive; that we don’t kill them by sucking all of their blood. It’s existentially necessary for us to feed on human blood now and then.«
Eva was curious and was asking more and more questions.
»Do you have to feed often?« Shia shrugged his shoulders. »It depends, usually every one or two weeks or so. If I injure myself in battle, then I need a little more.«
»And have you drunk a lot of women’s blood?« A smile spread across his face. »I knew you were going to ask that question. No, when I drink, I don’t even look at the person. So I can’t tell you if there were a lot of women or not. But I have to say that not a single one ever meant anything to me. When I took your blood yesterday, something I can’t describe happened to my body. My throat was burning as if it were on fire.«
»And who is Sara?« »Sara? How do you know her name?« and when Eva didn’t say anything, he said, »of course, you ran a check on me.« »I was curious.« »And now you’re jealous. Sara is my twin sister. She had to be transformed too. We are very close, but she’s still only my sister.«
Eva placed her hands softly on his cheeks. »I don’t want you to ever drink from another human being again. Even if it isn’t in that damn book of yours, from now on, I’ll be your companion, and you will only feed on me until ... until you find your real soulmate.«
She said it like an oath and then sealed it with a tender kiss.
»You know that I’ve already found her,« he whispered close to her lips. Eva looked at him crestfallen. »I’m only human so it can’t be me, even if I wish it were. Somewhere out there is someone waiting for you.« She stared out the window longingly as Shia tenderly stroked her back. »I don’t want it to be anyone else.« »You said yourself that it’s a destiny that you can’t escape.« Eva tried to smile, but her eyes said something very different. »Why aren’t you afraid of me?«
She looked up in surprise and thought for a second before she answered.
»What is so different about you? You drink blood, but I need blood too, to survive. Only that I don’t drink it like you do. I suppose your wounds heal quickly. Injuries to my body get better as well, maybe not as fast as yours, but I recover. So, you aren’t that different from me. Plus, I’m convinced that there are different life forms out there. Why do human beings have to be the only ones? It’s all because of my grandmother. I was always close to her. She’s also the reason I studied mythology. She’d already begun telling me about vampires as a small child. That she was attacked and impregnated by one. Everyone thought she was crazy, but I believed her somehow.«
»What happened to her?« »She was put in a mental hospital because she believed her own stories. Now after everything I’ve learned, her story doesn’t seem to be so crazy. She died in the hospital twelve years ago.« »I’m sorry.« Shia looked at his watch. »Eva, I have to go. The other warriors are waiting for me. Tonight we want to check out the area around the club where the murders took place.« Eva looked at him in shock. »I don’t want you to go out there. Please, let us do that work.« »Eva, I promise I’ll be back here with you before sunrise. I’ll come straight back here. Try to sleep a little and when you wake up, I’ll be there.« He leaned over and kissed her hungrily.
»I don’t want to miss my breakfast.»
Dark Night
Chapter 8
The drone of the bass to the Gossip’s ›For Keeps‹ hit Jôrek, Aragón and Ruben as they walked into the Empire. It had opened up about six months before and had quickly become one of the most popular clubs in the scene. Florescent light flickered to the beat in wild vibration through the room. With their eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses, the warriors walked up onto the gallery to have a view of the dance floor below. Standing next to each other with their arms crossed in front of them, dressed in black turtlenecks and cargo pants, they looked like the last knights of the apocalypse.
Most of the people in the club were steering clear of them, watching them from a safe distance.
All the warriors were able to communicate with each other through the built in headsets in their sunglasses. They had carefully parked the black Audi Q7 two blocks away to not attract too much attention. After Shia and Maroush had radioed in that they were inside the club, they spread out to reconnoiter. Although the club was barely lit, the vampires had excellent visibility. With their eyes hidden behind the sunglasses, they could freely check out the area without being noticed. Ruben skirted along the dance floor and spotted a few other vampires engrossed in the rhythm of the music. He could identify them by smell, but they weren’t creatures, as far as he could tell. Just regular vampires enjoying themselves, like mortals, on a Saturday night.
»How are you doing?« Shia looked over insistently at his sister, who was sitting next to him in the car. »Thanks, I’m fine. I’m happy to be back home. How about you? I can smell sex on you.«
A little smile wandered across Shia’s face. »What are you? Our mother?« »Sometimes.« Shia laughed and shook his head. »The question here is, who’s looking after whom.«
Maroush was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel of the second Q7. He turned off the microphone on his headset and looked over at his passenger. »What?« asked Channing annoyed when he noticed Maroush’s inquisitive glance.
»I want to know what’s going on between you and Sara?« His steady dark voice filled the confined space inside the car. Channing tore off his headset angrily and threw it onto the dashboard. »Nothing, as you can see. There’s nothing. We don’t even like each other. So much for your legends. You must have gotten that one wrong.« Maroush smiled wide showing two rows of straight, gleaming white teeth, sparkling in the darkness.
»You can’t run away from your fate, my friend, no matter what you think about it.« »It’s a total coincidence that I’m even here.« »Don’t underestimate chance either. It’s a powerful ally!« Channing shrugged his shoulders dismayed. »It’s not that I don’t find her attractive. Sara is a beautiful woman and any man would be happy to have her at his side. But you saw for yourself how she reacted to me. I just don’t seem to be the man of her dreams.«
Maroush patted him on the shoulder. »How could you be? She doesn’t even know.« Channing looked at him astonished. »You mean no one has told her anything?« Maroush shook his head. »No, that’s something she has to find out for herself.« Channing didn’t even want to imagine the storm that would break out when she discovered it.
Sara glanced over at Shia, who was looking out the window onto the street.
»What was all that supposed to mean?« She was still contemplating Maroush’s last words, which she’d just heard over the headset. Although Channing had taken off his headset in the commotion, he’d forgotten to turn it off so that the entire team had just heard the whole conversation between him and Maroush.
The women stepped outside the club into the fresh air laughing loudly and were stopped
by the bouncers. »Hey, you aren’t leaving already, are you?« one of them asked the tall brunette. He put his arm around her smiling. She was so tall that they could look directly into each other’s eyes. »The night is still young, ladies!« yelled the second one, who a little smaller and stockier than his partner. The tall brunette ran her finger down the bouncer’s chest. »We’re so sorry, boys, but we have other plans. Why don’t you come along?« she whispered shooting him a smug look.
The three men looked at each other and nodded silently. »Our cars are just down the street,« said the third, pulling one of the women along with him.
Sara was watching the scene play out and was surprised to see the women leave with the men. »Hey, these guys aren’t bouncers!« she called out faintly.
»Jôrek, did you get past security?« Everyone was waiting for an answer from inside the club. First there was static and then just the drone of the speakers.
»No, when we went in, there weren’t any bouncers at the door,« answered Jôrek sharply. »Then you better come back outside because it looks like something big is about to happen out here!« said Shia, carefully opening his car door so that the six wouldn’t notice him. He’d parked the car right on the same street as the Empire.
In the opposite direction about five cars down past the club, Channing and Maroush got out of the car too. »Channing better wait in the car!« said Sara, taking the safety off her weapon. »Sara,« Shia’s voice warned, »Stop it!« She shrugged her shoulders. »I was just saying. I mean, you didn’t see him fight today.«
