by Andrea Wölk
How could he not want her? Over the last centuries there had been enough men, but she’d been waiting for her soulmate, and now that she’d finally found him, she realized that he was much different than what she’d always dreamt of. She’d dreamt of a strong warrior, someone who would support her and fulfill every wish. Someone who’d fall in love with her before knowing that they were destined to be together.
And what did she get? A vampire who didn’t believe in either the twists of fate or intuition. Naturally, she was able to arouse him, but that was all. And Channing was strong, yet he wasn’t aware of how strong and how to use his strength properly. She liked his looks too, maybe even a little too much. He stirred up emotion inside of her, although differently than expected. She constantly wanted to rip his head off for being so unreasonable. When she looked over at his graceful figure, she could feel his warm hands on her back again. How he’d caressed her skin gently with his fingers. The thought gave her goose bumps and sent a chill through her entire body.
She looked over at him and noticed that he’d already been watching her for a while. A little embarrassed, she stared into his dark gray eyes. Their eyes locked as if they seeing each other for the first time.
»Excuse me, aren’t you Sara Keane?«
A young girl was blocking her view.
»Oh yes, it is you!« she shrieked excitedly, »Can I have your autograph? I’ve seen you in the theater. You’re so wonderful!«
In no time at all, Sara was surrounded by young people holding pens and paper under her nose trying to get an autograph. »Sara!« Channing fought his way through the crowd and she waved at him calmly.
»It’s okay. All they want is an autograph.«
He looked over at Aragón, who was standing next to him nodding.
»It’s always like this when we go somewhere with Sara. She was a well-known musical star in the theater here. Everyone knows her. That’s why she stopped singing. It was all getting to be too much for her,« explained Aragón. »Maybe you should bring Sara home. I can’t imagine that she’s enjoying this,« he whispered to Channing and then made his way through the crowd, but before they could get to Sara, someone put a hand on her shoulder.
»Nice to see you again so soon!«
Philippe Orlandie’s deep voice managed to penetrate through the crowd trying to get to Sara. She looked up at him and returned a pen to one of the girls.
He had a beautiful dark haired woman on his arm and Sara noticed, not only her flawless looks, but also that she was a vampire. Her scent gave her away.
Startled, she murmured: »Philippe!«
»Yes, didn’t expect me, did you? Quite a lot of attention you’ve got here.« »Philippe, you have to get away from here as quickly as possible.«
»But America is the land of opportunity. I have the same right be here as you.« He pulled his date closer to him and kissed her demonstratively. He was trying to provoke her, but Sara just looked at him with pity.
»You don’t have the slightest idea who you’re getting involved with, do you?«
Philippe laughed out loud. »Now you’re jealous. I can see it in your eyes.«
»Listen to me, please,« she pleaded, but he just shook his head laughing.
The black haired woman looked over Philippe’s shoulder at Sara and flashed her fangs for an instant. Resigned, Sara shook her head. »I only wanted to help you, but now there’s nothing I can do for you.« She turned around towards Channing, who’d been standing behind her, took his hand and followed him towards the exit.
Outside they ran into a couple of other warriors. Aragón had informed them what had happened in the club.
»You should take Sara home. She’s attracting too much attention! We’ll take a closer look at the rooms,« said Maroush turning towards Channing.
»But we can’t leave Philippe in there alone,« said Sara reflectively.
»Since he’s already gotten himself involved with a vampire, it’s all over for him anyway.
There’s not much we can do for him now. He can only hope to survive.« Ruben saw the situation pretty realistically. Channing nodded at him and pushed Sara towards the car.
»You tried to help him!« Channing broke the silence on the way to Blue Ridge.
Sara had been starring out the window in silence. She shook her head gently.
»Yeah, you’re probably right.«
»What do all those people want from you?«
Sara waved it off. »That’s how it always is. I had the leading role in a musical here in the theater. But all the attention got to be too much for me. You saw what happens when someone recognizes me. That was one of the reasons I went to Paris. But it hasn’t changed anything.«
»I have a famous wife then, don’t I?«
Surprised by his choice of words, Sara looked over in the dark at Channing, who was confidently navigating the car through the Seattle night. He didn’t look at her, but kept on looking straight ahead out the window with slight smirk on his face. A fitting response was on the tip of Sara’s tongue, but she didn’t say a word.
She was so tired. She was tired of fighting and rebelling against her emotions. She was all too aware of Channing’s closeness and the urgency in her body pushing her closer to him. Like a moth being pulled inescapably towards the flame. Her soul seemed to have such a fierce desire for this man that it practically caused physical pain. She didn’t know why because he really wasn’t the vampire she’d been waiting so long for and definitely not the man she’d expected.
Sara couldn’t believe the direction her thoughts were taking her. This afternoon she’d wanted to tear off his head and now all she wanted were his strong arms around her. She was not in the position to resist his physical attraction and she didn’t even want to. They’d only danced, but everything he’d done was making her burn with desire.
She felt so safe in his arms and for the first time in her life, she hadn’t had to be strong. She could let herself go and she had never felt anything like that before. Okay, he was her destiny. Maybe she just had to convince him that neither of them had a choice, but to love each other. He was so desirable and so attractive and the worst of it was that he was totally oblivious of his effect on her, which made him even more attractive to her. She watched his profile and had to hold herself back from tracing the contours with her fingers. It would be too dangerous to distract him now.
Only after Channing had parked the car in the garage, did he turn to Sara. »Have you finished your observations?« he asked softly. Nothing could hold her back now as she let her finger run along the line of his chin.
»Maybe.« He took her hand and pulled her finger to his lips.
»Let’s go inside.«
When they reached Sara’s room, they stopped. »Do you need anything?« Channing was standing very close to her, but wasn’t touching her. Too close to say anything. So she just shook her head, entered her room and closed the door.
When Sara got to the bathroom she looked in the mirror and what she saw left her in shock. She was starring into her own eyes glowing silver with desire for Channing.
She wondered how he’d looked before his transformation. He probably hadn’t changed that much and had been just as masculine before. She took off her heels and drifted slowly through the bathroom. She stopped abruptly in front of the door that joined her bathroom to Channing’s. The door was set into the wall and was hardly noticeable. She was sure that he had no idea that it was there.
She stretched out her hand slowly and carefully opened the door. Channing was standing in front of the sink brushing his teeth. He was lost in thought when he saw Sara standing there at the door.
A slight smile appeared on his face. »Now I know why I got the room next to yours.«
Sara walked up to him slowly. He was simply impossible, but she couldn’t help but be attracted to him. Just as he was, standing there with his bare chest, crooked smile and a little toothpaste in the corner of his mouth, overwhelmed Sara and all her warning signals bl
ew. Her fangs emerged as her desire grew and began to throb painfully in her mouth.
»Can you help me with my dress?« Sara said with difficulty, pulling up her hair with her back turned to him. Her top had four small hooks, which seemed to be sneering at Channing, but his hands went up automatically and he unfastened the eyelets. The only sound made was the cloth falling to the floor.
He stared at Sara’s back, which, in a matter of seconds, was completely bare. He puffed his cheeks up with air and slowly exhaled.
»You’re not wearing any underwear?« It was more like a statement of astonishment than a question.
»Underwear is totally overrated.«
»You could be right and in your case, most definitely.«
Channing’s voice came from deep within as he ran his fingers along both sides of her arms, leaving her skin tingling. She turned around and looked into his hungry eyes. The smeared toothpaste was the only imperfection on the otherwise flawless man.
Sara wiped away the spot in a single movement and then stroked the black hair on his chest. She only wanted to touch him, to feel his skin beneath her fingers. He felt feverish, as if he were glowing from inside. Channing looked down at her and remained motionless. His glance went back to her eyes and he saw her tiny laugh lines twinkle.
»This is proof that we belong together.« Sara wasn’t sure how Channing would react to it. With his eyes, he scanned Sara’s tattoo, which twisted around her waist and then turned downwards in a thin arc until it stopped on the inside of her left thigh.
Here too, the words first appeared to be small floral vines, but looking more closely revealed the same words as Channing’s tattoo:
›Prima inter pares – First among equals‹ and ›Memento te hominem esse – Remember that you are but a man!‹
He touched the tattoo as if testing whether it really existed or not. Channing could feel Sara’s uncertainty, pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard. He wanted to taste her lips and take possession of her body like nothing else ever in his life.
»You kiss pretty well for a boring historian,« escaped from her to his lips.
»Whose the boring one here?« In one quick movement, he picked Sara up and carried her over to his bed. He let her fall and stood there provocatively in front of her. She laughed at him brazenly.
»You are wearing way too much.«
She leaned forward and unbuckled his belt first, then undid the top button and unzipped his pants. He removed the rest of his clothes hurriedly. His naked body caused her to shudder with pleasure although he hadn’t even touched her, which was something she wanted to change as quickly as possible. He tasted like pure sex. His warm smooth skin made her blood rush through her veins, as if she’d just run a marathon. When her lips made it down to his thighs, she saw his huge erection and she began to suck with pleasure.
This happened so unexpectedly that Channing roared with pleasure. He could only bear the tender sucking for a few moments before pushing her away and returning the favor.
»You are so incredibly beautiful,« whispered Channing into her belly button sliding down deeper with his tongue. The scent of her blood was unmistakable to him. It smelled so rich, dark and seductive.
He wanted to drink from her while inside her, as if they were one and the same person. Channing was obsessed by this thought and his fangs seemed to grow even more. He let Sara feel his teeth briefly on her skin and she snaked herself like a vine under his body.
»I want your blood, Sara. « He propped her up slightly to look into her eyes.
»And I want you to drink from me.«
»Yes,« she gasped, »like a true vow of faith!« He gazed at her deeply. He could see her desire for him, but could he be sure that she really wanted him, Channing McArthur? Or did she only desire the man destined for her in the Diarium? He didn’t know. He would have liked to have shown her more of his love making, but anger boiled up inside of him.
He wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life, which seemed to be no less than an eternity, with a woman who only loved him because it was her destiny. He would not accept less than he was prepared to give himself, which was his true and sincere love!
Sara could feel his anger and sat up, pulling Channing with her so that he could lean against the headrest. Then she sat down on top of him.
»Do you want to talk about it?«
Full of desire, Channing fixed his silvery eyes on her.
»Who do you desire? Your destiny or me?«
»That is one in the same for me. I want you. Right now, here!« Her plead was only a whisper, but Channing also sensed longing in her words. She began to move her body on top of him and he was no longer in the position to think. His desire overpowered him and he entered her, thrusting deeply, forgetting everything in their loud cries of pleasure.
Kilian Castaway was starring at Sara’s face on a large surveillance screen. He was taking a closer look at the crowd and his eyes stopped on Sara. He watched her talk to Philippe and observed the woman on his arm with interest.
»Whose Sunny got with her?« Not waiting for an answer from his boss, security gestured with a nod to bring Sunny and Philippe to him. Gibson passed the order on to the security team inside the club via headset and shortly after, the two of them entered through the soundproof door into the back room.
The entire right wall was made up of one-way mirrors, so that you could watch the club without being seen. With his hands clasped behind his back, Castaway was standing at the wall and starring out at the activity in the club. In a slightly impatient way, he rocked back and forth on his toes giving him the appearance of a strict school principal.
»Hello, Sunny, who have you got for us?« he hissed and stretched his words as he spoke without even turning around.
Sunny slumped down into an armchair and put her feet up on the glass table in front of her.
»Hi Kilian, how’s business?«
»What’s your name?« Without answering Sunny’s question, he turned directly to Philippe.
»Orlandie, Philippe Orlandie.«
»You’re not from here!«
»No, I’m from France. And who are you?«
»The beautiful red head you were just talking to … Who is she?« asked Castaway without answering Philippe’s question.
»You mean Sara? You’re wasting your time … she’s already taken. Some doctor asshole so you can forget about her. Simple people like us aren’t good enough for her.« He was still standing in the doorway looking undecided.
»Sit down, Philippe … make yourself comfortable. I think you’ve got some information I can use.« Castaway turned around flashing his winning smile.
Philippe sat down on a large black leather couch, moving back and forth restlessly. He didn’t like this Kilian guy. He was huge, had piercing blue eyes and wore his long blond wavy hair in a ponytail. He had unbelievably large hands, like paws, thought Philippe to himself.
Instead of a suit, he was wearing dark pants and a loose fitting linen shirt with wide sleeves like a pirate. Around his neck he wore a heavy silver chain with a pendent, which Philippe couldn’t really recognize in the dark. All in all, he didn’t like Kilian Castaway. »Information?« Philippe asked and then stretched out on the chair. »Well, that isn’t usually free. That will cost you something. At least where I come from it does.«
»How do you know that bitch?« Sunny interrupted, but Castaway shut her up by raising a single finger.
»What kind of payment were you thinking?«
Philippe pursed his lips while pondering the question.
»Well, I need some cash and a place to stay for a couple of nights.«
Kilian Castaway spread out his arms.
»Those are very modest demands. How would you feel about eternal life as payment?«
»Eternal life?« repeated Philippe like a parrot.
»Yes, or immortality. No matter what you call it, it will change you forever and bring you wealth and power.«
With a mocking smile on
his face, Philippe shook his head skeptically.
»Stuff like that doesn’t exist. How is that supposed to work? Have you found the fountain of youth or do I have to eat some exotic root? Ha, you can fuck with someone else. I want to see cash, if you want the information I have.«
Sunny jumped up so fast that Philippe didn’t even see her until she was standing next to Kilian.
»Ha, what kind of loser are you? Who would turn down an offer like that? We’re offering you immortality and you say: No, thank you? Can that be?«
Kilian shut her up with one glare.
»No, leave him alone. We won’t force him if he doesn’t want to. We don’t even know if his information can be of use to us.«
Castaway turned around and walked slowly towards his guest and stopped right in front of him. Only then did Philippe actually notice Kilian’s imposing stature. He had to be well over 6 feet tall. He meticulously pulled up his pant legs and sat down in the same chair Sunny had lounged in earlier.
»Let’s see what you’ve got for us. So, how do you know this Sara anyway?«
Philippe shrugged his shoulders reluctantly. »I met her in Paris. She was on vacation. She was living in the apartment she’d swapped with that Dr. McArthur. At least that’s what she told me. I followed her over here and then found out that she and this guy are a couple.« He was waving his hands furiously in the air.
»She totally fucked me over!« he screamed enraged.
»You know where this Sara lives?«
»Yes,« confirmed Philippe, »out in Blue Ridge, in one of the big houses on the cliff.«
»Does she live alone?«
»I don’t know exactly. That guy definitely lives there with her. When I asked her if she had a boyfriend, she said that she had four. The house is certainly big enough.«
Kilian Castaway nodded. »What do you do in Paris?«
