by Melody Raven
She packed light: a bit of money, cell phone, identification, and her gun. The most important item was stored in her closet.
She opened up the storage closet and pulled out the slim folder. Inside was the most important sketch she’d ever drawn. It contained the face of the monster she was looking for.
Not long after that terrible night fifteen years ago, she’d been afraid that time would erase her memories of the monster’s face. To make sure she always would recognize the creature, she’d drawn countless sketches of it. Some of the faces were covered with blood, while she tried to make some appear like a normal human face.
She grabbed one of the normal-looking drawings from the folder. She folded it into a square and put it into the back pocket of her jeans. She also grabbed one of the few pictures she had left of Evie and the obituary photo of Charles. She kept no other pictures of him. The only reason she kept the obituary was to prove to herself he was actually dead.
Her nerves kicked up as she prepared to leave. She took a deep breath and ran out the door before she could change her mind.
She got to the bus stop at the same time she had the night before, but she didn’t have to wait as long. At quarter to eleven, the lights went out on the fourth-story apartment. Anna stayed back in the shadows and stared intently at the door.
It wasn’t long before his massive frame filled the doorway. As he walked onto the street, he turned north, and she discreetly followed, staying a safe distance back.
He crossed the street after a couple of blocks, so they were now both on the same side. Tonight he wore a rather ratty long coat that hung to his knees. She made sure she kept her eyes on that coat.
A wind kicked up behind her and blew her hair into her face. Some tendrils whipped out of the ponytail. She impatiently pushed them out of her eyes as she tried to keep her gaze locked on her target.
Nicolas almost stopped as the now familiar scent wafted from behind him. The woman was following him. She was watching him even now. He wanted to turn around and face his enemy, but he knew better.
He’d lain awake all day, surrounded by her scent. Memorizing it for the time he would smell it again. He didn’t realize that again would come so soon. He smiled at the thought of confronting her.
But he knew she probably wasn’t alone. If he led her into a deserted street, her partners would rush in. He would have to cut her off from all help and get her alone.
There was a place nearby Nicolas had fed at a few times. Young people went there and pretended to be vampires. There was nothing better than a willing food source, even if they wouldn’t remember it the next day.
The club was always crowded and busy. Her friends couldn’t attack him in plain sight. He, however, had no such qualms.
Anna’s legs were getting tired. She’d followed him for almost forty minutes so far, and she felt overheated in her sweatshirt.
He turned a corner and was out of her sight for a few seconds. She walked faster to get him in her line of vision again but when she turned the corner, all she saw was a swarm of people standing outside a doorway. Pounding rock music blared even through the closed door, and Anna grimaced at the noise.
She scanned the crowd of smokers outside, but he wasn’t there. She looked around, trying to see whether he’d crossed a street, and sighed in frustration.
When she looked back at the doorway, she realized it was some sort of Goth club. All of the people out front were in their late teens or early twenties, with lots of black clothes and white powder on their faces.
With one more look at the otherwise empty street, she decided he must be inside the club. A vampire going to a Goth club? How stereotypical...
Anna walked into the black doors of the club. The bouncer gave her a strange look, seeing how she obviously didn’t fit in with the regulars.
She gave him his money and walked into the crowd of densely packed young bodies and loud, raging music. The heat immediately overwhelmed her, and she unzipped her sweatshirt and took it off. She held it like a shield in front of her to protect her from the hard dancing bodies surrounding her.
She tilted her head as she looked for Nicolas. She started to look for his coat but reminded herself he would probably take off his outer layers in the heat of all of the people. To make matters worse, she was continually knocked around as she tried to make her way around the club. She wasn’t short, but it seemed that even the tiniest of the club patrons wore platform heels. She could hardly see over any of their shoulders.
She’d almost reached the back of the club when hopelessness sank in. She couldn’t see anyone who looked remotely human, let alone like the man she’d followed here. Though she looked different than everyone in the club, no one seemed to pay any attention to her.
At first, when someone brushed against her back, she didn’t pay much attention, so used to all of the bodies around her. But there was no mistaking the menace in the arm that snaked around her waist.
She jerked away, but the arm tightened and captured her arms in the process. She screamed, but a thick forearm cut her off. Any sound she did make didn’t carry over the music.
The body behind her pushed her forward. She glanced up and saw he was pushing her toward an exit. She renewed her struggles with extra effort, and in response, he tightened his arms even more and lifted her so her feet dangled in the air.
They got closer to the door. Anna’s wide eyes frantically scanned the crowd, willing someone to see her plight, but no one spared them a glance. She wanted to cry in frustration. Instead, she channeled her fear into more useless struggles.
When her captor got to the exit, he kicked it open with a booted foot, and splinters from the broken wood tumbled to the ground. The cool air rushed over her as he carried her forward and pressed her body into the wall outside of the club.
The rough brick pressed into her face, and the large body was as hard as steel. She felt so stupid and angry with herself. She wasn’t the victim she once was. Who was this beast to change that? She felt tears well up, but she forced herself to hold them back.
His deep whisper shook her to the core. “Where are your friends now, little one?”
Her mind swam as he stroked her cheek and neck with one solitary finger. She shivered and bucked back against him. “Friends? What friends?”
Was he asking about the Stakes? She didn’t want to think about how he’d found out about them. She bucked again in a fruitless struggle. In response, he slowly used his own hips to push her back into the cold brick.
“No!” she screamed at the sexual threat. “There is no one else,” she said in a scared, breathless voice. “Only me.”
He bent his head and ran his nose along the soft skin of her neck that his hand had just traced. He took a deep breath. “Why would you come alone, and so defenseless, little one?”
She opened her mouth to answer but he gently bit down on a sensitive spot on her neck. She felt two distinct points threaten to break the skin. She went still for fear of those teeth. Tears did start to fall.
She realized he was about to kill her. She would die the same death that had haunted her nightmares for all these years. All because of her own stupid ideas to find a vampire. She recalled the joy Charles would get whenever she would fight back. His growing smile as her fear would increase.
Anna willed herself to calm down. She might be facing her death, but she would go out the way she wanted to go. She wouldn’t give this son of a bitch the satisfaction of her fear.
She let her body go limp and forced her neck to relax. Her head lolled against his shoulder.
He stopped as he had to readjust his grip to keep her body from sliding to the ground. He flipped her around to face him, not loosening his hold on her. “What are you doing?” he asked in an annoyed voice.
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t like theatrics. Just do it,” she said in the calmest voice she could muster.
“What is this ‘it’ you speak of?” he asked.
She fin
ally gained the courage to open her eyes. Nicolas’s face stared down at her. His eyes weren’t black. She swallowed her nerves. “You’re going to kill me.”
His eyes left hers and stared at her neck. “As tempting as that is, I need to know what the hell you were doing in my home.”
It wasn’t a question, but an order. She debated lying to him, but she couldn’t see the point. Besides, it would be hard to think of a convincing story on the spot. So she truthfully replied, “I was looking for proof of what you were.”
He stared at her face as he judged the truth of her words. His eyes were mesmerizing. The deep dark brown contrasted with the pale of his skin. The random thought popped into her head that it wouldn’t be a terrible last sight to see.
His voice surrounded her again. “And tonight? What did you intend to see?”
“I have questions. Questions for a vampire.” Right after the word left her mouth, she wished she could take it back. That they could pretend he was just an eccentric human.
“Well, you have a vampire. What questions would you like to ask?”
At that, Anna straightened and hope flared in her eyes. “Really? You’ll answer my questions?”
He smirked at her sudden brightness in the face of the still very mortal danger she was in. He leaned closer to her. “Yes, but quickly. We don’t have all night.”
Anna assumed that was a joke, because she couldn’t imagine he had plans, and she might be dead by morning. She started to reach for the sketch in her back pocket, but his arms tightened around her again and he physically lifted her feet about six inches off the ground.
“There is a picture in my pocket. It’s a drawing of a man I’m looking for. I was hoping you could tell me where he is.” Anna tried to move her hand again, but his grip still prevented her.
“You’re searching for a man? I assure you anything you need him for, I could provide just as easily.” He pulled her lower body toward his to emphasize his point.
She took a deep breath and realized that feelings other than fear were beginning to swim in the pit of her stomach. “I highly doubt you could provide the same things.” Her eyes narrowed. “Besides, it’s nothing like—” She couldn’t think of a good word to finish that sentence with that wouldn’t mortify her. Instead, she looked down to where their bodies were pressed together and back at his face. “Like that,” she concluded.
He actually had the nerve to chuckle. His chest vibrated with the small noise, and the lovely sound reverberated in the air around her. She quickly forgot about that when one of his large hands firmly cupped her bottom.
Anna squeaked and jerked in surprise. His hand slid into her pocket and pulled out the folded letter-sized piece of paper. His face held amusement at her reaction. He unfolded the paper and stared at the face drawn on it. Amusement quickly faded from his face.
Anna exclaimed, “You do recognize him?”
His eyes looked back to her face. “I recognize him.”
“Is his name Aleksander?”
“You had a drawing and name?” he asked without answering her question.
“That’s his name then?” Anna’s head spun. After all these years, she finally confirmed her suspicions about who the monster was. “Is he a vampire?”
Abruptly, Nicolas let go of her. She crumpled to the ground in an ungraceful heap. “You tracked me down just so you could talk to Aleksander?”
She started to push herself up when he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to her feet. “Yes.” She looked back to the ground where she’d dropped her sweatshirt.
Without the heat of the club or his body, the cold was getting to her. She found it in a rather disgusting-looking puddle. She made a face and bent down to pick it up. His hand on her upper arm stopped her, and he pulled her toward the street. Anna was surprised she’d forgotten his grip on her.
He glanced over to the now ruined shirt. “I think you can leave that there.”
Anna opened her mouth to argue but decided against it. As the vampire pulled her farther away from people, the ruined shirt didn’t seem so important.
Instead, she said, “Do you know where I can find him? Aleksander?”
He didn’t look at her as he continued walking her to the street. “I have a good idea of where he might be.”
He still seemed angry. Anna feared there was no way to talk herself out of this mess. Talking was never one of her strong points anyway.
She followed him silently. He walked in the direction of his apartment. She didn’t want to be trapped in there with him. She wouldn’t let herself be trapped.
Her left arm was still free. She discreetly reached into her bag. He didn’t seem to pay any attention to her. If not for the death grip he had on her arm, she would have thought he’d forgotten she was there.
Her hand touched the metal of the gun. Her left hand wasn’t her gun hand, but it would have to do.
Before she pulled it out, she wanted to try to reason with the creature. She didn’t know whether bullets would have any effect on him, but she was certain he was planning to kill her. She was also certain that if he took her up to his apartment, her death would be much slower.
If the gun didn’t affect him, he would probably kill her immediately. That would be better than slow, but dead is dead. So reason it was.
“Listen, I’m sorry for following you.” He didn’t respond. She continued, “I never intended to hurt you.” Silence. “I couldn’t just walk up to you and ask if you were a vampire.”
He still chose to ignore her. “Please let me go. I had no ill intentions toward you. I can’t hurt you.”
He stopped walking then. He gave her a smile full of menace. “I’m not nearly done with you yet.”
He abruptly started to walk again. The sudden movement caught Anna by surprise, and she stumbled under his tight grip on her.
He held her upright so she didn’t fall, but he didn’t slow his long stride.
Anna now knew the gun was her last hope. She took a deep breath as she flicked the safety into the off position.
She studied him. She should aim for the head. A stomach shot definitely wouldn’t kill a vampire. According to the legends, a head shot wouldn’t kill one either, but it might give her a chance of running to safety.
Before she could change her mind, she lifted the weapon and aimed at his head. He must have seen the motion, because he moved his head just as she pulled the trigger.
Her finger never got a chance to squeeze the trigger a second time. He wrenched the gun from her hand and pushed her away from him with superhuman force.
Her body flew into a nearby building, and she crumpled to the ground. Pain echoed through every bone in her body. Her head spun, but she forced herself up and on her feet and took off running without even checking to see whether she’d hit him.
Her legs hit the pavement as hard as they could. All she could hear was the sound of her feet pounding and her breaths panting out of her lungs. She didn’t hear anyone following and didn’t dare look behind her.
She rounded the corner and screamed at the sight of Nicolas waiting for her. Her forward momentum carried her right into him.
One of his arms wrapped around her back and pressed her front to his. His other hand grabbed her hair and pulled her face so she looked right at his.
Her breaths wouldn’t calm down. His eyes were furious. “You never intended on hurting me?” He sounded calm, but the punishing band of flesh around her wrist proved otherwise.
She tried to speak over her raging breaths. Don’t cry. Do. Not. Let. Him. See. You. Cry. “I-I-I asked you to-to let me go.” She tried to look away, but the hand in her hair wouldn’t let her. She never imagined she would die begging for her life.
“I—” She had to stop for some more gasping breaths. “I’m not-not going anywhere with you.” Wetness spread down her cheeks. Damn it. “If you’re going to ki-ki-kill me, do it here.”
He looked at her with an expression she couldn’t identify. “Is that a
n order?”
“Mo-mo-more like a final request.” His hand finally loosened in her hair, and her head angled away from his. She looked at the dark sidewalk at her feet, while her body trembled in fear and exhaustion.
She waited for the killing blow. He bent his head until his nose touched the top of her hair. She could hear him take a deep sniff and felt his chest push against hers.
“You smell better than any other human I’ve ever met,” he whispered above her.
She didn’t know what to make of the words. He abruptly resumed his grip on her upper arm and pulled her in the direction of his apartment.
“But I—” she sputtered. Then she realized her foolishness. Just because she begged for a quick death didn’t mean she would actually get one. Now that she’d lost her gun, her chances of getting out of this alive had drastically decreased.
“You said if I was going to kill you, then I should do it here.” He kept walking. He looked over at her face, which she was sure by now looked rather pathetic with all of the drying tears. “I’m not intending to kill you.”
“You’re not? Really?” She felt the faintest glimmer of hope.
“As of right now, I have no plans to kill you.” He gave her what she assumed was supposed to be a reassuring smile. It didn’t reassure.
“What if you change your mind?”
“What if you decide you need to shoot me again?”
Anna shook her head at that. “I only tried to shoot you because I feared for my life. It was self-defense.”
“Well then, I guess we will have to trust each other.”
Anna raised a skeptical eyebrow at that. “Trust?”
He smiled that infuriating smile of his. “Yes. Trust.”
Her arm was beginning to ache from his continuous tugging. “You can let me go. Now that we have this new trust-filled relationship, I have no reason to run.”
His smile widened at her obvious lie, but he did let her go.
They walked side by side for a few seconds. Anna wasn’t sure how to feel or act. She was still filled with fear, but she was also excited beyond belief.
