by Raven Steele
“I have been having the time of my life with you, and I don’t want it to ever end. I want to be with you forever. I’m ready.”
Boaz slammed on the brakes and steered the car to the shoulder of the road. A spray of water shot out from beneath the tires. He turned to me. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“I am but only if you want it, too.”
It hadn’t been a hard decision to make once I really considered it. If Boaz made me a vampire, not only would I be immortal, but I’d also have the abilities of a vampire. The thought of gaining more power turned me on as much as Boaz did.
“I have waited so long to hear you say those words,” he said and cupped my face in his palms. “I want you by my side forever.”
He kissed my eyelids and then my cheek. His lips caressed my face until they found my mouth. He kissed me deeply, his tongue sweeping inside my mouth, and his arms wrapped around me. In a quick and fluid movement I barely felt, he lifted me on top of him so my legs straddled his waist between him and the steering wheel. His lips continued to stroke my face and finally trailed down to my neck. Fangs elongated in his mouth, and I felt them graze my skin lightly.
This is it! Boaz had never drank from me before, even though I had offered many times. He’d always claimed it would make him long for more. My chest swelled with pride. This was the best gift I could give him.
I closed my eyes and waited to enjoy Boaz quench his thirst for the blood he craved while also satisfying my own desire for ultimate power.
But my pleasure was short lived.
He pushed me away gently. “I want to give you a surprise first.”
“I don’t want a surprise. I just want you.” I took my turn of kissing his face, but he stopped me again.
“I have to leave town for a while. In the next few hours, in fact.”
“Now? What for?”
“To work on the surprise.”
“I don’t want a surprise.”
“But I want to give it,” he said with more force.
“How long will you be gone?”
“Maybe a week.”
I leaned back into the steering wheel and pouted. “A week? No good. I’ll go crazy.”
“You’ll survive. I promise it will be worth it.” He moved to lift me off his lap, but I clung to him.
“Not yet,” I said and slipped my hand under his shirt and kissed his neck. “I’m not done with you yet.”
He raised an eyebrow, a smile threatening to break. “By all means, love. I am yours to command.”
Boaz left as promised. It was strange to have him gone. It was the first time we’d been separated in a long time, and I was bored out of my mind. Television, reading, nothing could keep my attention. The most entertainment I found was using my magic to play tricks on the servants, but even that dulled with no one around to laugh with me.
I needed to go somewhere. Do something. The power within me was swelling and needed to be released. A solution came when the phone rang at two in the morning. It was Liane inviting me on a spur of the moment trip to Coast City.
“William will meet us there, and we’ll cause all sorts of trouble for New Yorkers. It will be great. We’ll be just like our great grandmothers.”
I couldn’t accept fast enough.
The next day at noon, Liane picked me up. I enjoyed her company almost as much as Boaz’s. She was spontaneous and fun and wasn’t afraid of anything. Her lack of fear had gotten us into trouble more times than I could count, but the adventure was always worth it.
“Don’t you think it’s time you cut your hair?” Liane asked, eyeing me sideways as she maneuvered her car onto the road.
I flipped down the passenger vanity mirror. I had curled my long hair into big waves. It looked okay. “Is it really that bad?”
“It’s just so goodie-goodie. You need a punk style or something that makes a statement. Something that says ‘watch out, here I come!’” Liane snapped her head to the driver’s side window. “Did you see that?”
I glanced around. “What?”
“Up ahead. A man just passed me.”
“Oh no,” I moaned. Liane hated to be passed.
She stepped on the accelerator until she was even with the car that had passed her. “Watch this.” She rolled down her window and said something under her breath.
The tire on the man’s vehicle popped, sending his car out of control. I looked back just in time to see the vehicle hit a truck, spin around a few times, and finally crash into a guard rail.
I laughed. “That was horrible!”
That one potentially deadly prank set the tone for the remainder of the trip. Together with William, we constantly tried to one-up each other in our viciousness toward others. At one point, we had the police chasing us through the streets, but a five-car pileup blocked the pursuit thanks to William.
I no longer saw the faces of the victims we hurt. I reveled in the power I had over others and used it merely for my own entertainment. This is what embracing the darkness had done for me, and I loved it.
When I returned home, I found Boaz in the bedroom. I threw my arms around him. “You’re home early!”
“I can’t stay. I only returned to get a few more supplies.”
My eyes narrowed. “For my surprise?”
“For your surprise. Where have you been?”
“I went with Liane and William to the city. We had a killer time.”
“I’m glad, but I would feel better if I was with you. It’s still dangerous.” He sat on a sofa across from the bed.
“No one would dare hurt me.” I removed my coat, walked over to him, and fell into his lap. “When are you leaving again?”
“Soon. I’m very close to fulfilling your dream. Soon, love. We will be together and unstoppable.”
He tilted my chin and kissed me deeply. Gripping me tightly, he lifted my body and carried me to the bed. The air thickened and the electric current between us grew as it often did when we were so close.
He set me on the bed and nudged my legs apart so he could stand between them. I stared into Boaz’s eyes; a dark mist swirled in great swells as our combined power gave him a natural high. He smiled but not at me, and I knew it. He was smiling at the power.
I did the same, but my smile grew when his hands slid up my bare thighs, leaving a pleasurable heat in their wake. I moaned. “I’ve missed your touch.”
“And I’ve missed touching you.” He jerked me to the edge of the bed where my butt nearly hung off it. He dropped to his knees and placed my feet on his shoulders. My thighs dropped open.
“Mmmm,” he moaned and trailed kisses up my thigh.
I fisted the sheets into my hands and arched my back, anxious to feel his sweet kiss. Instead, my whole body clenched tight when I felt a sharp sting just inside my upper thigh. I lifted my head. Boaz had bit me and was drinking my blood, an action he’d never done before. I didn’t even get a chance to try and enjoy it before he pulled back, held up a finger signaling just a minute, then lifted a small vial he must’ve pulled out of his pocket. He spat my blood into it and snapped the lid back on.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, the mood ruined.
“One of the supplies I needed,” he said matter of factly. He snuck the vial back into his pocket.
“Why do you need my blood?”
He came to his feet and straightened his jacket. “You’ll see. You’re going to love it.”
I sat up, disappointment weighing me down. “Are you leaving?”
“Yes, but I promise we’ll finish what we started. We’re going to have an eternity to pleasure each other.” He turned and left the room.
Frowning, I shifted my weight on the bed and rubbed at my arms. His words sounded all nice, but then why was a feeling of dread spreading inside my gut? Maybe it had something to do with him taking my blood. Blood could be used to cast powerful spells. But Boaz wasn’t a witch and couldn’t use magic, not beyond a Novice level anyway, if that. So what use would
he have of it?
I crawled up the bed and pulled the covers over me. I’m sure it was nothing. Boaz would explain soon enough. If anything, it gave me something to look forward it.
But even though I tried to comfort myself, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.
The next morning I decided to go into the city again for a few days. It would give me something else to think about other than Boaz taking my blood. And if by chance Boaz came home and I wasn’t there, then too bad. I wasn’t going to wait around. Besides, the dark power inside me had begun to fester again. I was afraid if I didn’t leave, I might hurt the mansion or those working inside it. Like Boaz, dark energy was incapable of holding still.
It was raining in Coast City. It dripped from the gray sky like a faucet that wouldn’t shut off, making the city smell like a wet dog. I left the Cardigan Hotel, my umbrella tight in my hand, and headed toward sixth Avenue. That was where I would find the most people. Complete strangers that meant absolutely nothing to me. I would use my magic against them, giving me the release I desperately needed.
Already my insides were beginning to hurt. The dark power within me could only be satisfied by pain and suffering, whether mine or another’s, it didn’t matter. I preferred it be another’s.
A cold wind swept up an abandoned newspaper. It swirled at my feet before it was carried away into the night. I pulled my coat tighter around me and mouthed the word, “Caldor.” Invisible warmth blanketed my entire body.
I toured the city alone, walking from sixth Avenue to Park West. I’d never been alone like this, but I wasn’t worried. It was everyone else that should be worried. Too bad no one warned them of my arrival.
I destroyed and hurt whatever and whoever I could without causing too much attention. People tripped, glass shattered, dogs bit. All freak “accidents.” With every curse or incantation I uttered, dark magic left me and I no longer felt like I was being stretched from the inside out.
As the hour grew late, I sat on a lone bench at the park to watch the full moon rise over the city. A few minutes later, a couple, huddled together in quiet conversation, walked by me. I was about to mentally shove the man into the woman, but something stopped me.
I rose from my seat and followed after them, frustrated by their obvious affection for each other. I was in love too, but they looked different. They looked happy.
Why was I not happy?
The more I watched them, the angrier I became. They stopped just before turning the block to stare into each other’s eyes. The tall man placed his hands on the woman’s face, paused and kissed her tenderly. I could almost taste the revulsion in my mouth.
With one word and a flick of my wrist, I exploded the tire of an approaching delivery van. It swerved and veered off the road and onto the sidewalk. The driver’s eyes widened as he gripped the steering wheel tightly, seemingly to try and gain control of the direction of his vehicle. But I wouldn’t let him.
The van hit the kissing couple head on. The woman flew up and over the van while the man went under it. They didn’t scream. I didn’t give them time.
For a few minutes, I watched as others attended to the man and woman. Everyone was so concerned. Even a teenage girl, surely a complete stranger to the couple, cried.
Ridiculous.
The injured woman’s leg moved, and she moaned. She would live. Her lover wasn't far away, bloody and broken, but by the way people attended to him, he might also have a second chance at life.
Because I felt nothing, I returned to my park bench to continue watching the moon.
I had barely sat down when a dark and menacing voice growled, “What the hell do you think you are doing?”
Chapter 19
Startled, I turned around. In a clump of trees behind me, the dark silhouette of a man stood tall.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” he said, his voice deep and smooth, yet it also held a threatening note.
“I was minding my own business, which you should do too.”
“You’re going to stop hurting people, starting now. Do you understand?” His figure shifted a fraction of an inch.
“Why don’t you come over here so I can see you?” I had to know who or what would talk to me with such authority.
“You will stop,” he insisted.
If he wouldn’t come to me, then I would go to him. I stood and rounded the bench. “Says who?”
“You will leave this city tonight.”
I was almost to him, but his face remained hidden in the shadows. He stood erect, his legs spaced evenly apart and aligned beneath a thick trunk. From where I first saw him, he appeared massive, but after moving closer, I realized his size was a trick of the light. He looked to be only slightly taller than Boaz.
I continued toward him. The hairs on my arms rose as if I'd crossed an electrical field, and the air grew warm. I sucked in a breath. Whoever this was, they were full of power, stronger than I had ever experienced even with my grandfather. Maybe he was some kind of warlock.
He stepped from the shadows to meet me, and the light from the full moon shimmered in his incandescent blue eyes. I gasped in recognition. Not a warlock, but a vampire, but how could a vampire be capable of containing so much magic?
He looked me up and down and I did the same to him. He had a square jaw line, a sharp, crooked nose that looked like it had been broken a few times, full lips, and hooded, wolf-like eyes. It was his eyes that captivated me the most. They were filled with sorrow. What trauma could’ve filled him with so much pain that his eyes could do nothing else but bleed the strong emotion?
My legs grew weak. I knew him!
“I meant what I said. You will leave this city tonight,” he reiterated.
“We’ve met before.”
“I remember. It looks like you didn’t heed my advice.”
“Advice?” I thought back to that short encounter with him at my parents’ party where I’d also first met Boaz. I hadn’t recognized this man as a vampire, probably because I hadn’t developed my magical abilities yet. But I had sensed his power and something else. What was it?
“I told you that you’d become a monster if you didn’t leave those people.”
Anger surged within me. “How dare you! I’m not a monster.”
“You’re hurting innocent people.”
“They were hardly innocent. Did you see what they were doing?”
The vampire’s eyes shifted their direction. “They looked happy.”
His voice was no louder than the quiet breeze ruffling my hair. I didn’t want to admit it, but the sound of his voice soothed me the way a mother’s lullaby calmed a child. It made me angrier, and I fought against the foreign sensation.
“It was disgusting,” I spat.
His gaze snapped back to me. “I want you gone.”
I sauntered toward him. “I have a better idea. What do you say you and I go have some fun tonight? You look like you could use some loosening up.”
I reached for his hand, but when my fingers brushed his, a jolt of what felt like pure light surged through my body and settled deep inside my mind and heart. For a brief moment, I had a perfect vision of the girl I used to be. My hopes, my dreams. I remembered Madelyn’s teachings, her words of encouragement, her desire for my future that didn’t include my parents or their friends. A future where I strived to help the less fortunate and used my abilities to combat those who would do humans harm.
Crushing grief washed over me at the thought of my old nanny. Guilt trailed the emotion, equally as powerful. I touched my stomach and inhaled a hitched breath.
The vampire stepped back. “I want nothing to do with your dark magic, witch.”
I swallowed and shoved the strange, electrical moment and the emotions that had come with them into the dark recesses of my mind. Whatever light had passed between us would eventually be snuffed out. “You know nothing about me. I’m the most powerful witch in the country, probably in the world.
”
“Don’t forget most humble.”
“Don’t insult me. You have no idea who I am.”
In a calm, yet frightening voice, he said, “And if you knew who I was, you’d run away screaming.”
I looked him up and down. “I can see who you are. You’re a weak, confused, newbie vampire who—”
Before I could utter another word, his strong hand gripped my neck, and after moving himself and me at lightning speed, he crashed my back into a tree far away from the spot where we’d just been. More light, if that was even the right word, flooded my mind, making me nauseous.
I pried at his fingers, trying desperately to get him to release his hold, but he was incredibly strong. I glanced at the limb above me and imagined it smashing down on his head. The limb snapped and fell, but he caught it with his free hand before it even came close to making contact. He was simply too fast.
With fangs bared, he growled, “This is your final warning. Leave now.”
I quickly nodded, awash in an emotion I hadn’t felt in a very long time. Fear, and something else, something that represented everything I used to believe in, but I couldn't quite grasp it. He released his grip and I tumbled to the ground, sucking in air, but more from the shock of him withdrawing his gentle light from me.
Once recovered, I straightened and smoothed my clothes. “I was about to leave anyway. This city is boring. No one knows how to have fun anymore.”
He looked back toward the city where lights could be seen above the tops of the trees.
“But before I go, could you answer one question?” I asked. He said nothing so I continued. “Why do you care about them?” I nodded my head toward the people in the city.
“They’re innocent.”
“But you have incredible power."
“What’s your point?”
“You’re greater than they are.”
“Power is a dangerous thing,” he stated and walked away.
Something stirred in my memory, as if I’d once thought the same thing.
“How is it dangerous?” I called after him.
