Page 35 of Tall, Dark & Lonely

Page 35

“Okay, so all we have to figure out what’s making my blood unique then I’ll stay away from it. ” She felt relieved. This should be simple enough. She would change her diet and cleanse her system. It might take a little while but she could do it.

Ephraim stood up. “Madison, it’s not that simple. There is nothing that you’re eating or doing that is causing this. ”

“How do you know? I might somehow be doing the correct assortment of things that makes me irresistible. ”

Ephraim kept his back to her. She didn’t need to see how aroused he still was. It was beyond painful. “Madison, it’s nothing you’re doing. I can guarantee that by the fact that you are still alive. If it was solely based on your blood you would have been killed long ago. Just going out at night put you in danger if that was the case. ”

“Maybe I’ve never come across a vampire before. ”

“Madison, do you remember two months ago when I was at the bar and some of your friends dragged you in there?”

“Yes. ” She wasn’t likely to forget that night. Every woman there seemed to have eyes for him. And every drunk seemed to have loose hands for her.

“There were five vampires in there that night. If your blood had held one tenth the power it holds for me I would never have been able to keep them away from you. They would have ripped me and everyone that got in their way apart. ”

“Wait, you protected me?”

“Yes, of course. ”

“If my blood doesn’t hold the same value to them as it does to you then why were they after me?”

He sighed. “You’re a virgin, Madison. Your blood is pure. It’s a treat. Plus you are a very beautiful woman. They’d be fools not to want you. ”

“So, I’m still a-“

“Yes, I didn’t take you. ” He moved towards the door. “I’m sorry about this, baby. Goodnight. ”

******

He was near tears. Twenty minutes after leaving her room and he still couldn’t find relief. No matter how much he thought about her, the way she felt, the way she tasted and moved on his mouth, relief wouldn’t come. For the last ten minutes he’d been stuck on the verge of release.

“So this is hell. ” He dropped his hand away and took a deep breath. He needed to think about something else, something to distract him. Fishing. There was nothing sexual about fishing. Hooks, worms, dirt, rocking boat…. . rocking…motion…Madison. God damn it!

Madison’s bathroom door opened. He waited to hear the click of his door come. He listened as she turned on the shower. He looked at the clock to see that it was two in the morning. She never took showers this late.

A sinking feeling tore at his gut. He hurt her. Somehow he hurt her and she needed hot water to soothe any aches and pains that he caused. Shit. Thinking back he may have been a little forceful with his hands and mouth. He knew he hadn't cut her with his fangs, he definitely would have noticed that.

He heard movement against his door. “What the…” Why was she stuffing a towel beneath his door? He sat up on the bed and threw his legs over the side, watching the door intently. She was up to something.

She was breathing hard and muttering something even he couldn’t hear. He walked over to the door and listened closely. Water was splashing off her skin, okay she was in the shower, nothing nefarious about that. She started mumbling louder.

“Just do it…don’t be such a wimp…. okay, no I can do this I can…. okay…. . ” He waited with anticipation. What was she doing that required a pep talk? He found himself holding his breath. After a long moment she sighed and muttered, “I’m such a chicken. ” He wanted to smile, but he was becoming a little concerned.

“Madison?”

She squeaked. Yeah, she was definitely up to something and she didn’t want him to know about it.

“Be out in a minute. ” Her voice was strained.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Er, could I bother you for something?” She sounded more cheerful.

“Of course. ”

“Could you run downstairs to the kitchen? I’m really hungry. ”

She wanted him to leave. “Sure, what do you want?”

“Um, could you make some toast with butter? And a Coke?” She wanted him gone for a while. She knew he didn’t know how to use the damn toaster.

“Sure. I’ll go right now. ”

******

Madison listened as he opened his dresser drawer, probably to get some clothes. She held her breath as his door opened and closed and she heard his footsteps fading.

“Oh thank god,” she mumbled.

It was hard enough doing this. She didn’t need Mr. Supersonic hearing outside the door. She looked at the vibrator in her hands. It was Candy’s idea of an appropriate Christmas gift for her virginal daughter. Not that Candy knew she was a virgin. If she did Madison would never hear the end of it.

Candy would push men in her direction. She would have to dive into the street to avoid them. She laughed at the image. No, she had to focus. She held the thin long white vibrator in her hand. It was hard and looked like it was going to hurt.

Maybe she should select a different one. She only picked this one because it was the thinnest and didn’t really resemble a penis. She wanted this to be thought of as a purely medical procedure. Her hymen needed to be broken. With that gone she could lose her virginity to Ephraim.

Breaking her hymen with a plastic vibrator that reminded her of a long finger was not losing her virginity, she told herself. She was just making it possible for them to make love without him worrying. She looked at the hard tip again.

“Oh, this is going to hurt so much,” she nearly whimpered. The other ones didn’t look like they would do the job. Her mother bought her an assortment of sex toys for Christmas because of the David situation. Candy didn’t want Madison to rush off to some “loser” because she was horny, her words. Her exact words. It was a little flattering that Candy thought she was too good for men like that.

“Just do it,” she said to herself.

She’d never used any of the toys Candy bought her. She just threw them into a shoe box and hid it, too embarrassed to risk throwing them out. What if her Grandmother saw them, or Joshua found them and took them thinking they were toys? She would die of humiliation if she found him playing swords with them.

So she kept them and now she was using one of them to break her hymen so she could sleep with her boyfriend, well he wasn’t exactly her boyfriend, but she wanted to sleep with him, desperately. He talked about his desperate attraction to her blood, but he didn't understand hers with him.

He was like a drug for her. She craved him night and day. So of course she avoided him as long as she could, but now that she finally had a taste of him she couldn’t hold back. She needed him. If this was the way to do it then she would suck it up and get it over with.

She took another deep breath, wondering if she was going to suck all the air out of the room while preparing to do this. She squatted down and placed the tip of the vibrator between her legs. “Just a small pinch,” that’s what she read on the internet. She jumped on her computer as soon as he left her room, trying to find ways to avoid bleeding. The only thing she found was breaking the hymen on her own or going to see a doctor to do it. She would only bleed when it broke and that only happened the first time so here she was crouching down na**d in the tub with a scary looking vibrator. Ah, a Hallmark moment.