“Are you enjoying this?” she prodded. She clearly was.
He didn’t seem to hear the question. He was too set on her throat to care about anything else. She really was, “not human.”
She pressed into him, tightening his grip. “More than you know,” she leaned into him again and bore her fangs quickly into his neck. She sipped a fast sampling of blood and relaxed.
He was amazed at how fast she was. It was over in a less than a second. He did wonder though, “Why isn’t there any pain now?”
“Autonomic localized anesthetic with accelerated tissue regeneration,” she said with a smile as she wiped his neck clean with her lips. “It’s one of the first things a vampeal learns physiologically.”
He was impressed. She held an ever increasing level of fascination. It went beyond attraction. He was hooked on her now. He studied her neck. Her scent wafted off of her skin. The fresh blood was still in her fabric, it smelled wonderful mixed with the cherry and lavender. He swam in his senses as he made his way closer to her automatically. He kissed her neck. It was light at first, then it became heavy. He pressed his teeth into her throat and she moaned under the sensation.
“If I knew this would prompt you to pay this much attention to my neckline, I would have shown you this earlier,” she mentioned as he unknowingly began caressing her back. He treated her gently, sliding his fingertips back and forth over the area. It gave her pleasant chills that danced along her body. She was beginning to shiver from what he was doing to her. It was light, sensual, and intimate. It everything she liked in a private moment, in a personal moment. She closed her eyes and let him work. “Either way, I like what you’re doing.”
He stopped and she sighed. She had been thrust back into the conversation again, unwillingly. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing, he only instantly realized it as he opened his eyes to her. It was like someone else was controlling his arms.
“What’s wrong? Why’d you stop?” she breathed heavy. She truly enjoyed his touch. She didn’t want him to stop, not yet.
He caught his own breath, “I’m not really sure.” He could feel something was different. Something had changed within him. He raised his hand to his head. A warmth ran down his face. A red shower of color shaded his view of her. He stared as he slowly let the vision become clear. Blood ran down her neck again, from two puncture holes. He slid his hand down and instantly felt something sharp. He exhaled, “I have fangs.”
Chapter Twenty Nine
Come Inside
“Of course you do. You’ve been feeding off me for the last two hours,” Kyli said as she caught her breath. She was exhausted but happy.
Zack thought about the time that had passed. It shouldn’t have been two hours. It was impossible. Maybe twenty minutes, but never that long. “Are you sure?” he wiped the blood off of his face.
She smiled, “look at the time.”
It had been two hours. Even a little past. He could still taste her on his lips. He had enjoyed it without even realizing it. “Don’t we have to get ready for something?” his head was swimming in a pleasant haze.
She panted, still easing her breath into a controllable rhythm. “For the concert,” she slowly got up.
The phone rang.
She answered it in a daze, “yes? Of course I’ll be there honey. Yes, yes, I know. Love you too.” She laughed to herself quickly, “of course I know. But it’s just so easy.” She hung up the phone.
He stared at her from across the couch. Love who? The words were unable to come off his lips.
She could feel the question this time. “Sorry about that. He’s my mentor. He hates it when I talk to him like that. It really gets him deep down.”
“You mean your sire?” he ventured a guess.
“No, but kudos for reading up on the matter,” she laid back and grinned a half smile. “That would be if he made me. But being a vampeal, my father made me what I am. Which is why I have a mentor instead of an actual sire to teach me what I need to know in life.”
“What does he teach you?” he pondered as he calmed down. His heart was still racing and his mind was everywhere at once. He thought about the concert, sitting next to her, the date. Spending more time with her. He loved every thought.
She thought about her answer and decided to withhold what she could, “Only what I wish to know. The details are private. It’s not like a tutor. There are things that we need to learn that no one in their right mind would teach another person.”
“You mean how to kill?” he picked up on it immediately.
She thought about her response. He had guessed it far too quickly. She wondered how long it would be until he knew her secret entirely.
“To feed and hide the body?” he filled in his theory.
She took her chance to spin it away from anything that might land too close to home for her. “Of course. But we don’t always have to kill someone. If we’re careful and silent, we can get away from a quickie and leave the subject passed out somewhere until morning. Then they think that they were just mugged or maybe had a bad hang over. The drunk ones are the easiest really,” she recalled a few of her past encounters and smiled wider.
“Then he’ll be at the concert too? I’ll get to meet him?” he wanted affirmation that she was telling the truth. He wanted that security.
She thought about how obvious the answer was to her and nodded, “yes, he’ll be there. You’ll get to meet him.”
Chapter Thirty
Behind The Scenes
“As I see it the results are pretty conclusive,” man in a white lab coat spoke from one side of a small room.
“Then he has it? It’s inside of him?” David asked intently from the far end of the room. He held a small goblet of blood in his left hand and swirled it.
“Yes, it’s pretty clear and dry. It matches the samples that Yugo gave us from the previous host,” the man in the coat stepped away from his station. He took off his white lab coat and hung it up on a nearby wall hook. “To think that he was smart enough back then to save a vile of blood for later testing. He’s really too damned cunning that one. You should be careful.”
“You know I always am,” David slammed back the glass of blood. “Besides, I have you to keep tabs on him for me.”
The other man reached into a locker and pulled out a long gray coat. “Of course you do,” he put it on and reached into the locker for a long brimmed gray hat. “You always will,” he reached for another item deep within the locker. He flipped a small lever in the back and pulled out two metal flasks. He put one in his left breast pocket and the other in a hidden pocket facing his back on the same side. “You always will, David.”
Chapter Thirty One
Cursory Explanations
“Now it’s time for some blood. I’m feeling a little dizzy after all that. Giddy, but too dizzy to enjoy a full concert while staring at the performance.” She stood up and went to the kitchen.
“We just had each other’s blood. Why do we need more?” he didn’t see the point of drinking more when he had enjoyed her blood so very much that he had completely lost track of time.
“Our blood doesn’t really count. It will sustain us a little, but in the long run a vampeal needs to drink human blood from time to time,” she opened two bottles and set them on the counter. She gestured for him to join her.
He followed and sat at the breakfast bar. Something weighed on his mind. He wasn’t hungry. Clearly not the same way she was. “You keep calling me a vampeal. Does that mean you think one of my parents was a vampire?”
“It doesn’t mean I think it, I know it,” she pointed to his still protruding fangs. “Besides the fact that your mother left you when you were young. It’s a telltale sign that she was the vampire half of what made you.”
He thought about it for a moment and then thought about something else, “when did I tell you about my mother?”
She froze for a seco
nd. It wasn’t something they’d discussed. It was something she had read about him. She panicked and forced an answer, “it’s part of my gift. I could feel it when you mentioned her.”
Did he mention her earlier? He wasn’t sure anymore.
“Regardless, you have two options before we leave,” she pointed to the bottle in front of him. “Drink the blood and be safe about it.”
“What’s option two?” he took hold of the bottle and opened it. The blood inside was still and watery.
“Not being safe,” she drank from her bottle.
He smelled the blood. It was cold and odd. “What’s in this exactly? Shouldn’t it be congealed?”
“Take a sip and you tell me,” she smirked.
He lifted the bottle and leaned it back against his lips. The liquid slid back and graced his tongue. It was far colder than he had imagined. It tasted like milk mixed with a bitter after taste. “What is this?” he shook his head and downed the gulp.
“Blood with a little medical thinner added to prevent clotting.” She took another sip.
“And why does it taste like milk?” he asked.
She smirked, “why indeed?”
Chapter Thirty Two
Preparation
David drove back to his apartment. He smiled all the way back. He had confirmed it. The demon gift was going to manifest in Zack Giver. He was now in the perfect position to obtain what no other vampire in history had ever claimed.
He pulled up to the hotel and handed the valet his keys. He rode the elevator all the way up to the seventh floor without breaking that pristine smile.
Within a few weeks Zack would be dead, the contract holder would be dead, and Kyli would gain possession of the greatest power of all.
He turned the key to his room and walked in with a feeling of satisfaction that he hadn’t had in decades. He was about to gain the best asset of all. Soon she would have the demon gift to use as he saw fit.
Chapter Thirty Three
Option Two
“So there’s a reason why it tastes like milk to me?” Zack asked.
“Of course there is,” Kyli chuckled. “But you’re not going to like it.”
“What is it?” he wanted to know why it tasted so good to him. There was a purity to it that he had never known before. It made him feel amazing.
“It has to do with your favorite flavor or memory associated with it. It can be anything really but everyone is different. All vampires are vampeals, all blood drinkers taste blood differently.” She put the bottle down, “think about it. Did you ever taste your own blood? A drop from a paper cut or a small scrape? It’s dull, wet, and slightly unpleasant,” she gestured to the bottle in his hand. “Now to a vampire that same blood is delicious because its body craves it.”
“Then what does a vampeal like you crave? What do you taste when you drink blood? How does my blood taste to you?” he stared at her again. His eyes pierced her soul as he waited for an answer.
She inhaled, “cranberries. Nothing but sweet cranberries.”
“Then that’s what my blood tastes like to you?” he pressed as he reached for her hand. The warmth enveloped his arm quicker than he could realize. He could feel her heart race again.
She had trouble speaking for a moment as she stared back into his eyes. Then she forced an answer, “purely exquisite cranberries. That’s what I taste when I drink your blood, Zack. It’s unreal.”
“So why do I taste milk when I drink yours?” he wondered.
She let go of his hand.
“What’s wrong?” he didn’t see it coming. But then it happened out of the blue.
She laughed out loud. So loud that it shook the room with a small burst of sound. She blushed and tried to keep eye contact with him. “It’s kind of embarrassing. Are you sure you want to know?”
“Of course,” he was serious. He wanted to understand what it meant. Somewhere in the back of his mind he could remember a part of a dream. Some deep demonic voice booming a fated phrase that he couldn’t quite remember. He needed to know the connection.
She calmed herself and spoke with a straight face, “let’s just say it has to do with a time when you were younger.” She could see he wasn’t getting the reference yet. She added another clue, “it’s a mommy issue.”
He didn’t see the link.
“You weren’t breast fed for long as a child, were you?” she was on the edge of laughing again.
He understood the inclination. “I guess not if what you’re telling me is true,” his somber nature wouldn’t let him feel any embarrassment for the situation. It was a matter of fact to him and that was all. The odd thing was that he didn’t even think he was ever breast fed as a child.
“Well I’m glad you were able to figure that out,” she finally calmed down and regained composure. She was ready to change the subject.
He didn’t miss a beat, “so what do you mean by not being safe?” he asked as he downed another gulp of the bottled blood with disdain.
“You have two options in this world. You can drink the thinned out blood or you can do it the hard way,” she grinned sadly. There was something that came to mind. Something unpleasant to her that she didn’t want to recall.
He didn’t care for option one. He began to ask, “what’s-”
“-The hard way is waiting until your body needs the blood to function and you end up attacking anyone that’s near you,” she walked over to the trash can and dropped the empty bottle inside with a thud.
“That sounds bad but manageable.” He thought about the recent headaches, the thirst in the back of his throat. He took a deep breath and realized what she meant, “you mean bite?”
She responded with a cold tone that was unlike her normal self. She slumped her shoulders and was silent for a moment. She was disturbed about the subject. “No, I mean viciously ravage them until you severe their mortal coil. You will take everything from them, every drop. And when you’re done, when the hours have passed and their body lies dead and limp at your feet, you will be different. You won’t feel regret. You won’t feel pain. You won’t feel any of the things you might think you would feel after killing someone that you had loved. When it happens, and I can assure you it will. You will feel full. You will feel giddy from the experience. A happiness will wash over you from the fact that you have your mind back after the constant biological starvation you had put yourself through during the past week of scratching your eyes out from the sick dreams!” she said with intensity. “And after it’s over. After it’s all over with. They’ll be dead. And you’ll feel better for it. Even if you don’t like it. Even if it makes you want to scream out loud in agony and curse your soul for what you’ve let yourself do to them. They’ll still all be dead! And there won’t be a damn thing you can do about it but feel fucking happy for it inside of your sick tinted and twisted head!”
She turned away and headed to the bathroom with a speed that was inhuman. A few tears shimmered as she passed out of his view. She flipped the light on and slammed the door. This was something personal. She spoke not as a bystander, but as a former aggressor. In her past, there had been a person close to her, a human that died by her inability to recognize what she was and what she was becoming. He could see that she didn’t want the same thing to occur with him.
He wasn’t sure what he should do. He knew that consoling her might not go well. Though not drinking the thinned out blood would be ignoring the very moral of her story. So he sat, picked up the bottle and drank. The taste of thin milk flowed into his mouth and down his throat. The illusion was powerful. But the thought unsettled him. He did this because of how she had reacted to his initial aversion to the blood. He told himself that this was against his own free will and out of an obligation, he continued to drink. But there was something else at work in the back of his mind. Somewhere deep within him, he did enjoy the taste. It was wholesome and filling. It felt right to him. Regardless of what he told himsel
f, he found an unmistakable pleasure in even this cold thinned out blood.
Eventually he became very tired. He was swelled from his meal. After the first, he had gone into the refrigerator and drank three more bottles. He did it slowly. He savored them drop by drop. Several hours passed. He sat down on the couch and blacked out with an ample smile.
Chapter Thirty Four
The Eventuality
The sounds of Kyli in the bathroom crying gave way to delusions in Zack’s dreams. Visions of clouds and blood swirled in his mind. The words and actions of the day mixed into an ocean of memory. The scenes diluted his worries and cares. The blood had worked into his body. Soon the events didn’t matter. He didn’t care how she had managed to get into his room, his apartment. None of it mattered to him anymore. The world became silent. He was alone in the void of the moment.
There was a desolate beach with no one around. It was solitude. A red sea splashed at the sand. Black clouds traveled across a streaked sky. Lightning ripped sections of turbulence out of the air for him to see.
“Did the aroma of her blood entice you? You gave so much effort intricately examining her throat,” he knew this dark voice. It called out from the shadows of his mind. “Do you think she doesn’t know what you really are, that you an ephemeral demon set to destroy anything you touch?”