Allison felt real fear at this point. Worse yet, she could feel fear from Xander. It was a sensation she wasn’t used to because she had always considered him to be fearless.
They both rushed out the door, letting it shut behind them. Before they were even off the porch, Xander had grabbed her arm and was sweeping her around his body and onto his back. Allison latched on instinctively, and Xander took off with a powerful leap from the top porch step.
Allison looked over her shoulder to the southeast and saw the glow of the sun starting to kiss the horizon. They would be back at her place in only a few minutes, and likely back to safety, at least for the daylight hours.
But the night that would follow... who knew?
† † †
Xander and Allison made it back to her apartment with plenty of time, but that didn’t put Allison’s mind at ease. She knew the threat was still out there. Even with a giant yellow ball of light shining on the outside of her apartment all day as the best form of vampire repellant, it would be little help about twelve hours from now when that God-given weapon disappears again.
They landed inside the apartment, and immediately Allison went into the bedroom.
“Don’t go anywhere!” she yelled at Xander as she started to dig through her closet.
“I wouldn’t think of it,” he said, standing back in the shadows, watching the glow increase on the horizon out the window.
A moment later, Allison emerged from the closet holding a massive arm-load of black cloth.
“What’s that?” Xander asked.
“Duvetyne,” Allison said, tossing the pile on the bed.
“Huh?” Xander asked.
“Duvetyne,” she repeated. “It’s a brand name of light-blocking cloth. Film and television productions use it to block out ambient light on set. It’s specially-designed to block even the brightest sunlight.”
Xander sat down and smiled. “You think of everything,” he said. “When did you get that?”
“I ordered it online a couple weeks ago,” Allison said, draping the cloth over the window, and then using a roll of duct tape to secure all the loose corners. “I’ve got a buddy who works down at Channel 3 who told me about it. Just haven’t had a good reason to put it up until now.”
Xander nodded in approval. “Sure beats me having to sleep in the bathroom all day.”
Allison looked up at him and winked. Then she tossed a swatch of cloth in his face. “Don’t just sit there. Make yourself useful. The quicker we can get these windows covered, the quicker we can relax.”
Xander smiled and picked up the cloth. As he stood, Allison tossed another roll of duct tape at him. She smiled back. Even amid the horrible events of the past day, it was nice to smile again, even if it was just a fleeting, minor break.
Allison knew the Duvetyne wouldn’t keep anyone from coming into the apartment after the sun went down, but it would keep Xander safe from it. They seriously needed a few hours to regroup and figure out their next steps. In this tiny, stolen moment from the day, this was something they could definitively do to make things better. For the few minutes it took to hang the Duvetyne over the windows, they had only one purpose, and it was simple to accomplish.
And a few too-short moments later, it was indeed accomplished, allowing all the other concerns of the day to well up again.
Xander sat on the edge of the bed. Exhausted from the day’s events, Allison sat down next to him. She reached down and removed her boots, then pulled her socks off. Xander did the same, also removing his long black duster and tossing it on the chair. Almost routinely, Allison continued to undress, until she was just in her panties. Xander followed suit.
Soon, they slid under the covers, which were cool and crisp to the touch. Both of them needed showers, but they were too tired do that right now. Between the emotional stress of the situation and the physical exertion with Allison defending herself against the newborn and Xander flying them back and forth through the city, the night caught up with them.
Arms and legs intertwined, skin pressing against skin, Allison and Xander held each other and fell asleep in the safety of the day’s cocoon of sunlight.
CHAPTER 25
It was still daytime when Allison stirred. She didn’t know this by seeing any sunlight penetrating the heavy makeshift Duvetyne curtains that she and Xander put over the windows. Instead, she knew this by the clock across the room. It read 02:57 in bright red numbers.
To the normal person, she knew this would be the middle of the night. But for them, living a backwards lifestyle, it was the middle of the day, the busiest time of the day for most of the living. However, for a vampire, Xander was stuck here for at least three more hours.
Allison laid back and sighed. She didn’t even bother to close her eyes again. She had learned a long time ago that when she woke up on her own, it was time to be awake, regardless of what the world told her. And with all that was on her mind, she knew she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep without worrying about everything that lay ahead.
Next to her, Xander had thrown the cover off of his chest, exposing his pale flesh to the dim light of the room. Allison reached over with her left hand and ran it just above his skin, tickling the thin web of hair covering his sternum. She saw the skin tighten and pores stiffen up to present gooseflesh.
Had she not seen him die, she would have sworn natural life was still inside him.
Then, Allison let her hand slowly descend. Flesh met flesh, and she gently ran her fingers across his chest, brushing past his nipple. Like his gooseflesh, it reacted and became stiff as her fingers lightly caressed it.
Still asleep, Xander let out a soft moan, and Allison snuggled into the crook of his arm. She laid her head on his chest, now accustomed to not hearing the rhythmic beating of his heart. Instead, she could hear him softly breathing – a habit that was useless for vampires but muscle memory still retained the reflex for many of them.
Allison let her hand slide down across Xander’s muscular stomach, which rose and fell with his breathing. There was a slight change in his rhythm, and she knew he was waking up. A moment later, she felt his arm come around her and stroke her long, dark hair.
She sighed softly, then nuzzled her face into his chest and kissed his cool flesh.
Allison’s hand crept lower until it reached the waistband of his underwear. Even through the cotton fabric, she could feel the heat of Xander growing. With a fluid motion, Allison let her fingers slide gently under the elastic of the waistband and touch him there, in the warmest, most human part of his body. As her fingers stroked down his shaft and nestled at the base, she heard Xander take in a long breath, and his fingers that had been stroking her hair tightened. A moment later, he released his fingers and rolled over on top of her.
Xander reached down and with a quick flick of his fingers, he seemed to slice away the fabric of his own underwear, which fell beneath them into their bed sheets. Unfurled and free, Xander rested atop Allison, and she could feel the intense heat of him against her own panties.
Xander kissed her, deep and strong. He cupped her face in his left hand and reached down between her legs with his right. Another flick of the fingers, and she felt the panties fall away from her waist as if he had cut them off with sharp scissors. But when his fingers reached deeper and slid inside her warm moistness, they were as gentle and smooth as silk.
Xander curled his finger inside her, rubbing gently against the lining at the top, making smooth circles. Immediately, Allison felt spirals of excitement grow deep in her belly. Her breaths came in short gasps. She nuzzled her face into his neck and kissed his cool flesh.
A moment later, Xander removed his finger and slid himself inside her. He filled her up, caressing every surface of her inside with himself, moving in and out with enough wetness for easy movement but enough friction for mounting pleasure.
Allison reached up with her hands and cupped the sides of his face. She kissed him deeply on the lips and looked him in the e
yes. When they locked gazes, she felt a wave of pleasure from inside her, as if their eyes completed the circle from the midsections to their minds.
“I love you,” she gasped.
Xander smiled with his crooked smile. “I love you too,” he said, almost so softly she didn’t hear him.
But Allison didn’t look away. She kept his attention.
“Let me feed,” she said softly.
Xander’s rhythm stumbled, and he froze for a minute. She immediately felt him cooling off.
“No, no, no, shhhh...” Allison said, gently caressing his check. “Listen to me.” Allison continued to rock her hips against his, keeping him inside her and keeping him excited.
“I don’t want...” Xander began, but Allison interrupted him.
“I know. You don’t want to turn me on a rash decision. I’m not asking for you to do that.” She saw in Xander’s eyes that he was listening, considering what she would say next.
“I just want to feed. I want a little bit of your blood in my system. Just in case.”
“In case of what?”
“Xander, we are facing the most dangerous thing we’ve ever faced before. And while you have certain, say, seemingly unnatural protections against getting killed, I have none.”
Xander did not reply, but looked at her, as if to say, “Go on.”
“I don’t have any protections. I’m only human. If something were to happen to me tonight, I’d be dead. Gone forever. And you’d be left without me for eternity. But, if you let me feed, and something happens to me, I’d still die. But you wouldn’t lose me forever.”
Xander simply stared at her. She had seen this look before. Like many men, Xander did not like to acknowledge that he was wrong. In fact, like most men, he never would. But given the proper argument, he could be silently convinced.
Before Allison waited for his response, she added one more thing: “I don’t want to be a vampire. But I also don’t want to die without you. If I had a choice between dying without you and living as a vampire, I’d choose the latter. And I know you would too.”
Xander continued to look deep in her eyes. Several seconds passed, and Allison wasn’t sure if he would accept it. Their love-making had been interrupted, but they were still together, and he was still firm inside her. Then, as if to acknowledge her case, Xander gave a slight smile and started to move inside her again.
Allison felt him grow stronger and warmer inside her, and she thrust her own hips up to his, as if to devour him from below.
Without another word, Xander pulled his right arm up to her neck. She saw his finger stiffen for a moment, and the flesh of the tip seemed to retract a bit, pulling the ends of his cuticle downward. This caused his fingernail to bent to a sharp point, which Allison immediately recognized as the way he had dispatched their underwear so effortlessly earlier.
Xander pressed his pointed fingernail into the base of his neck. A small bubble of blood trickled out from under his flesh and dribbled down his neck. Xander then grabbed behind Allison’s neck and pulled her up to him. She pressed her lips against the fresh wound and tasted the salty, cool blood. It was slightly sticky and thick, but when mixed with her saliva, it seemed to fill her mouth. Her tongue and gums tingled slightly, as if they had quickly gone numb and then instantly got their feeling back.
Allison’s heart was beating extremely fast, and she suddenly realized how warm she had become between her legs. She felt Xander grow ever larger inside her, and sensitivity down there seemed to explode. She then swallowed Xander’s sticky saltiness, immediately wanting more. She could not help herself, suckling and licking at the pin prick wound on his neck.
“Shhhh...” Xander said softly, stroking her hair. “Not too much. Just enough to keep you safe.”
As gentle as he was, holding her neck, the ferocity in which his hips moved increased. Xander was rapidly moving in and out, leaning into her and rubbing the tip of himself across her insides, igniting a fire of pleasure with every thrust. Allison could not help but groan with each stroke. She bit down on his neck, and the blood flow increased slightly.
Allison’s legs felt rubbery, as if she had run ten miles. She couldn’t even gain the energy to wrap them around his back. Instead, they just kicked and spasmed against the bed sheets with each one of Xander’s powerful thrusts.
This lovemaking was different than anything she had experienced before in her life, with or without Xander. They were sharing something more than their physical beings. They were sharing the very essence of themselves. Xander didn’t just physically fill her up. He seemed to become a part of her. As he moved inside her, it was as if the surface of his skin intertwined with the inner surface of her own body. In her mind’s eye, Allison pictured Xander melting into her and them fusing together now as a single being entwined forever in ecstasy.
Soon, the pleasure was too much. Allison finally broke the seal of her lips on Xander’s neck, gasping for breath and feeling light headed. At that moment, Xander released inside of her, letting out a tight cry as he pulled her face to his, kissing her deeply as he climaxed. When she felt the release, Allison shuddered with pleasure, and Xander’s face went blurry. She closed her eyes and cried out, louder than she was usually comfortable with. Again, she tried to lift her legs to wrap them around Xander’s muscular waist, but fatigue kept them weak and almost motionless.
The climax may have only lasted seconds, but time had no meaning for the two of them. It could have been hours, days, years.
After it had passed, Xander collapsed atop her and then fell to her side.
It took a moment for the lightheadedness to leave Allison, and her vision soon returned to normal. She could move her legs, though they were still shaky. She could feel the warmth of Xander still inside her, as if she were absorbing him. She licked her lips and could still taste his blood, and she realized the same thing was happening there.
Allison leaned to her side and looked deep into Xander’s eyes. On his lips, she could see the crimson shadow of his own blood from kissing her. She smiled.
“Thank you,” she said with more sincerity that she ever thought was possible.
† † †
Allison never did fall back asleep, but she felt content. She knew that she shouldn’t, considering what she and Xander would be facing in the next couple hours. But looking back at the events of the past few weeks, she knew that she had gotten what she wanted. Not to be a vampire, but to be in a safe position as the two of them head into a dangerous confrontation.
After laying in bed together for another hour, silently enjoying each other. Xander was cool to the touch, providing Allison relief from the head of the stressful situation. She knew she was warm to his touch, acting like a pleasant heater for him. They lay together, arms and legs entwined for as long as Allison dared. She knew they had to get up and prepare for the upcoming evening.
She rose first, taking a quick shower. As she was lathering shampoo into her hair, Allison looked at her reflection in the shower mirror. It unnerved her slightly to see dried blood crusting around her mouth and lips. However, it washed off easily enough. Still, when she got out of the shower and was brushing her teeth, she noticed that the unique vampire blood has stained her lips ever-so-slightly, almost as if she had applied a light shade of lipstick.
Allison was not one to admire her appearance in a mirror. Unlike the selfie generation who defined their worth through iPhones and Instagram, she preferred not to see herself. Even if someone insisted that she looked fine – or beautiful as Xander would routinely tell her – she found too many flaws in herself.
But looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, she liked what she saw. There was still color to her face, but the light staining of her lips made her features pop more than normal, even under the unflattering fluorescent lighting of her bathroom.
And her eyes. There was something different about her eyes, she realized. There was a just-barely-noticeable brightness to them that she did not normally have. They had
not shifted in tone to the bright orange hue that Xander now had, and Allison supposed she could be imagining it. However, she still felt there was something different there.
Was Xander’s blood changing her already? Or was this a temporary effect? Allison knew the only way to find out is to see what happened in a couple days as the vampire blood left her system.
Moments later, Allison emerged from the bathroom in her bathrobe with her hair wrapped up in a towel.
Xander was laying naked in bed, his arms casually behind his head and a grin on his face. He looked like the high school kid who just bedded the homecoming queen.
Allison smiled at him. “All yours, Casanova” she said.
Xander smiled more. “Thanks,” he said, standing up from the bed and heading towards the bathroom. As he passed her, he stopped to kiss her deeply. She returned the gesture and squeezed his arm.
When Allison broke the kiss, she still held onto his arm. “What’s your plan?” she asked.
Xander took a step back and let her hand slide down his arm and into his. “I’m going to come straight for him.”
“You mean attack him?”
“Whoever is doing this knows who we are. That gives him advantage. He also knows that we know he’s after us. You surviving was enough to tell him this. That means he’s holding all the cards.”
“Shouldn’t that mean a more cautious approach?”
“Perhaps,” Xander said. “But there’s no way to take advantage of that. We have no surprise left. The only surprise attack I can think of is if we come straight at him. He will be expecting us to be cautious. I say we throw caution to the wind and do something he won’t expect.”
This approach made Allison nervous. She knew that Xander was completely right. There was no way to gain any real advantage. They were a known quantity, but they had no idea who they were up against. They were likely outnumbered, and they were attacking a stronghold. The only way to be safe would be to not go. But that would never be an option. Aside from running and hiding, there was nothing they could do to stay safe.
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