| Patrick yawned and stretched. He
was going to meet Eliza, again tonight. She was really cute and
he wished he could get to know her better, but although she seemed
friendly and willing to talk, he just couldn't figure out how to get
more involved in her life. That guy on the motorcycle had been
something else! And Eliza seemed to know him and they treated
each other as friendly equals. "That is one guy I never want meet
in a dark alley," he mused. "Or anywhere else for that
matter." He'd tried to bring up the subject with her, but she always managed to avoid any discussion of it. Patrick prided himself on his ability to get almost anything out of anybody, but Eliza was inscrutable. She seemed to give exactly as much as she wanted him to have and not one iota more. Surprisingly enough, she'd managed to get him talking about his pet project. As a man of science, he felt silly talking about supernatural creatures, but he really thought there was some basis to centuries of legends and he wanted to be wanted to be the one to tie it all together and make sense out of it. All he had to do was find some werewolves and vampires and interview them - without getting eaten. Ok, he was not going to be eaten by a vampire or werewolf, but he could be injured or killed by some psychotic. Eliza was right there, and the meeting with the biker and made him aware of his mortality. One minute, he felt safe, talking to a pretty girl. The next moment he was in mortal fear for his life. It have been a totally unnerving experience. He shook his head and stood. Forty five minutes till seven. Eliza was very punctual and he didn't want miss any time with her or irritate her by being late. He started shaving and smiled as he remembered their first meeting and her transparent blouse. She may be petite, but what she had was well worth seeing. Eliza nervously sucked air through her front teeth, a nervous habit she'd developed years ago and still lapsed into when she was intently concentrating. It was the internet, and she guessed almost everything was there. It was called the "Rolf Document." That sounded a little pretentious, but Dr. Rolf had been sort of pretentious. It wasn't all bad, but she had a lot of forgetting to do there. It still came in twisted dreams and she still didn't know how to avoid the pain. She chewed on her bottom lip and debated on wether to give the link to Patrick. He was supposedly a responsible adult who was well into his terminal education. "Hi, Beautiful!" "Hi, Guy!" Eliza replied. "What's good tonight?" The question was purely rhetorical. He would have the "Burger on the Big Bun," and she'd have tomato juice with habanero and Worcestershire sauce. They'd been meeting for almost a month and neither deviated from their initial routine. Eliza liked that. It offered her a feeling of stability, although she was still debating telling Patrick about the "Rolf Document." "You'll never guess," he said, "I ordered a burger on a big bun and I ordered you a tomato juice with some really weird spices in it." "Did you now? You are one wild and crazy guy!" Patrick lost his smile. "You know, I wish I was a wild and crazy guy," he said. "If I was, maybe I'd know what to say now, but what I really want to say is that I want to be more than an evening meeting and I want to be more than an interlude. What I want to say is I want to be more." Eliza felt her heart jump. This was not as she'd seen the evening. "Patrick, I.. I... " "I know," he said. "No chance. I'm sorry, but I didn't mean to say that, and I shouldn't have said that. " "Patrick," Eliza hissed. "Shut up." His face was indescribable. "Shut up and meet me at midnight, ok?" He tried to speak, but was unsuccessful, but then he croaked, "Ok." "Ok, then," Eliza said and literally ran out of the Burger Den. Eliza shifted from foot to foot. "This is stupid," she thought. "He's a baby!" It was 11:45 and the library had been empty and she'd wrapped up early. Now, she was waiting for Patrick. Her stomach was feeling like it was loaded with butterflies and she felt like she was going to be sick. She took a deep breath. "I can't to this. I'm getting out of here!" There he was! He saw her. "Hi, Eliza." He made his way up the steps. "You know, I didn't think you'd be here." "I shouldn't be." she replied. He put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm glad you are," he said. His room was almost as austere as she thought it would be. They'd walked the 10 minutes to his apartment in total silence. Now, there was awkward silence. "Would you like something to drink," he said nervously. "Palinca," she said automatically. "I'd like some Palinca." "I'm sorry, but I've never heard of that. I have some rum, vodka, and CC." "Rum would be good," "It's 151. What would you want as a mixer?" "I'll take it straight with an ice water chaser, ok?" "Sound's good," he said. "I'll have the same. I like it that way." He made the drinks and the sat on the couch sipping uncomfortably. Eliza giggled. "Are you as uncomfortable as I am?" she asked. He nodded. "At least," he said. "Probably more." Eliza sighed and stood up. She looked at him and unbuttoned her blouse. His eyes got big and he noisily swallowed. She took it off. Her brassiere fastened in the front and she unfastened it and removed it. Arching her back, she rubbed her freshly freed breasts. She kicked off her shoes and slipped out of her skirt, her bikini panties the only clothing remaining. "Shall I take these off," she whispered. He swallowed hard. "Please," he croaked. She did. She held out her hand and forced him to stand. "Your turn," she said. They lie, side by side, still joined. She felt good. Really good. She'd not bitten him, her fangs had not even descended. She'd had multiple orgasms and she was still tingling. He lightly snored and she found that slightly amusing. So much had happened, so many lovers, but this just seemed so simple. They met, got to know each other and then they had sex. "That was nice," she thought. "That was really nice. I wonder how often that happens." She took a deep breath. "Is this what normal people do?" Eliza would never know what normal people did. She was not and could never be normal again. She knew this, but this moment, this brief hiccough in time, almost made her feel normal. Her eyes seemed so heavy, she just couldn't hold them open any longer. She slept. Eliza awoke in Patrick's bed. He was gone, as usual. He had early classes, then he worked on is research. Sometime, in the afternoon, he'd return and nap. They'd meet at seven, he'd have the burger on a big bun, she'd have tomato juice and the cycle would repeat. She stretched, a long cat like stretch, and smiled. Life had been good, lately. "If I was reading about this, I'd be bored silly, but the routine is nice." She smiled. "Regular sex is nice. Regular company in nice. Regular employment is nice. Just being a regular person is nice." But Eliza was not a regular person, the full moon was approaching and her blood needs were rising. She could work this two ways. A couple of random feedings would satisfy her physical needs or an emotionally charged sexual feeding off of her lover, not enough to harm him, of course, would not only satisfy her physical needs, but offer her an emotional bonding that would have her floating through life for some time. She knew what she wanted, but she had no idea how to accomplish it. "Maybe I should just go up to him and tell him that I'm one of these vampire thingies that he's been researching and doesn't believe in and I want to suck his blood and have sex while I'm doing it, on the next full moon." She smiled at the thought. "Sure, that would work. I wonder if I'd ever see him again." Patrick leaned back and took a sip of cooling coffee. The University had subscriptions to some nice services for faculty and grad students. He'd graduated with a Psych major and was doing graduate research in abnormal psychology, concentrating on abuse and trauma. He'd developed the theory that certain forms of abuse could cause forms of disassociation and mental abnormalities that could induce delusions that could be interpreted as transformation into supernatural creatures such as were-creatures or other supernatural entities. He wasn't sure if this was a full blown disassociation where alternate personalities were formed or if it was a psychosis of the primary personality. He'd hoped to interview some people who thought they were such and try to determine the nature of the affliction. So far, he'd not found anyone sane enough to be credible in any form or fashion. He'd only encountered full psychosis, but what could you expect when you were interviewing the involuntary inhabitants of mental institutions. Unless he could find an "on the hoof" werewolf or vampire, this line of investigation would lead nowhere. He'd recently discovered vampire chat rooms, on the internet, but they were extremely reticent to discuss anything personal with someone claiming to be doing research. He'd made more progress in understanding the psyche of some of these from just lurking. He'd gotten a couple of PMs that were rather interesting. Since his run in with the biker, he'd gotten a lot more cautious, though, and was not rushing into any meetings. He figured most of them were young teen wanabees, but some of them talked a really dangerous sounding game. While he may doubt their ability to transform into magic creatures, he did not doubt that some of them could and would cause serious physical harm just for the fun of it. His research notes were growing. All he had to do was figure out how to make sense of it all. They shared the easy camaraderie of lovers, now, and there evening meetings were relaxed and comfortable. "How's your research going," Eliza had finally asked. "I told you about the IRC vampire room, right?" He really didn't give her time to answer. "Well, tonight I found one that's local, well almost local," he grinned. "I guess the full moon is approaching and all of them are all a-twitter." Eliza squirmed uncomfortably. She understood all to well. She was well aware of the chat rooms, and he was right. Most of them were teen wanabees, but there were a couple she wasn't so sure about. She knew she had to give him enough information to protect himself and keep himself out of trouble. More than one well intentioned researcher had gone to a meeting and ended up a statistic. She got a picture of the two of them intertwined. She did NOT want him to be one of them. "Have you ever heard of the "Rolf Document?" "No, I can't say that I have. Should I?" "Umm, I'm sort of surprised you haven't run across it. It was some time ago, though, and nothing much ever came of it." She took a sip of her tomato juice and grimaced. He'd gotten a heavy hand with the hot sauce, tonight! "Check it out. In fact, I'd suggest you check it out tonight." "Tonight?" he asked quizzically. "You mean I should go back to the university and check it out tonight?" Eliza nodded. "Yes. I think that would be a real good idea. Now, do me a favor, ok? Eliza waited. "A favor? Sure. Anything for you," he smiled. "Read the entire report. Read it and then we'll talk tonight. Ok?" Eliza did not like the way this was going. She didn't want to be rushed into revealing too much, but he was getting into dangerous territory and she didn't want him hurt. Patrick looked as puzzled as she was uncomfortable. It was almost eight o'clock and he knew there wasn't time to pursue it. "Oh," Eliza said. "One more thing for me. No chat rooms tonight, ok?" He looked at her, puzzled. "Are you ok, Eliza? You look a little strange." "Damn waxing moon," she thought. "I'm ok. I just feel a little feverish." "You look pale," he said and put his hand on her forehead. "Damn, you're cold! Are you sure you're ok?" "I'm fine," she insisted. "It's just a girl thing. Do me those two favors and we will talk tonight." She looked at her watch. "I do gotta go.... " She kissed him and vanished, almost like smoke. "That Rolf Document is disturbing," Patrick said. "Rolf's theory opens up whole new areas of possibility and totally compliments what I've been doing! Thank you for showing it to me! When you said you'd do some searches, I had no idea you find a gem like that. That is totally amazing." "So you don't reject it, out of hand?" "Of course not! I find the theory a little difficult to accept, but if you couple the possibility of viral infection along with mental aberrations, You get a rather compelling package." The night was relatively bright, the waxing moon nearing full. Eliza was quivering with blood lust and had let her body transform a little. It was just too much to control too tightly all of the time, especially when the moon was this close to full. She shivered, her defensive senses sprang to full alert. She grabbed Patrick's arm and pulled him into the alley they'd been passing. She held her finger to her lips, signaling silence and carefully looked out of the alley to see what had caused her alert. Then she heard them laugh. Maybe three, young, male, around the corner. What had her instincts so up in arms? Then she heard their conversation. They were bragging about the bum they'd killed and laughing about how he'd twitched after he was dead. "Damn!" She signaled Patrick to be quiet again, and from the look on his face, he was not inclined to go along much longer. Then he heard them and understood, but he was not inclined to hide in an alley when he should be protecting Eliza. He was 25 years old and in reasonably good condition. He was no jock, but he was a well muscled young man. But there were three of them and they were probably armed. There was one of him. Eliza did not like those odds. She knew the alley was a dead end, but there was a good chance, if they were quiet, the three would just walk on by and not know they were there. "Pulling him to her level, she whispered, "Be quiet. We may get lucky." He wasn't happy about it, but he realized that was the sensible thing to do. They weren't lucky. "Well, what's this hiding in the alley," the tallest one asked. Patrick started to step forward, but Eliza clamped onto his harm with a vice like grip and pulled him back. She stepped forward. "Well, the little lady is coming out to play," he laughed. "This is my lucky night." "I'm no lady," Eliza whispered as she kicked him in the crotch. A leg sweep took another one down. She stood, facing the third one. He seemed unsure of what to do. The second on started to stand up and Eliza kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious. The third one had finally reached a decision on what to do. He ran. She pulled a very confused Patrick from the alley and was half dragging him down the street. "Come on," she hissed. "We've got to get out of here before the cops come." "But, but, we were assaulted. We should make a report." "No, Patrick. What we should do is get the hell out of here. Right now, no one can do anything for us, only to us." Patrick's hand was slightly shaking as he downed the 151 rum. Eliza shuddered and downed a second shot. The violence, the smell of blood, and now, the high proof rum, Eliza was a quivering mass of blood lust. "How the hell did you beat the crap out of two guys and scare a third into running away?" Eliza just stared at him and licked her lips. "Are you some sort of black belt?" She reached up and put her hands on his cheeks. "I'll owe you a shirt, ok?" "Huh?" She slid her hands down his face and ripped the shirt from his body. She put her arms around him, drawing him close and sucked his nipple. She felt her fangs descend and could not resist a nip. The blood taste so good!. He gasped at the prick of pain and pulled her close to him. She felt his hand on her hips and buttocks. He slid his hands inside of her panties and kneaded the firm flesh. If he'd just reach a little further, she knew she'd have an orgasm. He did. As his finger slid into her, she gasped and threw her head back, not caring that her fangs were fully descended. She leaned forward and licked his stomach, feeling an orgasm wash through her, at the same time, sliding from her skirt. She had removed his clothing, as he had her's. She pushed him back onto the bed and straddled him. Sliding herself down, onto him, she leaned forward, teasing him with her breasts. When she penetrated his neck, if he noticed, he didn't complain. She could hear him in the shower. She sat up and smiled. "I feel good!" She stood up. "Damn, I feel good." He was standing in the doorway looking at her at her, approvingly. "You look better naked than any human being I've ever known!" He shook his head. "Edible is the first thing that comes to mind." At that one, Eliza had to grin. She struck a reasonably obscene pose and said, "Anytime, big boy." He reached down and touched himself. "Well, not at the moment, but I could take a rain check on that." Then he sobered. "You know, I saw some things that I think you need to explain." Eliza felt her stomach flip and her knees got weak. She sat down on the bed, heavily. "You want to know what I did to those guys," she asked hopefully. He nodded. "And there is that detail about you biting me on the neck." Eliza smiled innocently. "I'm a biter, I can't help it. When I get more comfortable, I might even be a screamer. Take me out where I don't have to worry about the neighbors and I'll show you." She grinned wickedly. He got a far away look in his eyes and sighed. "I'll take you up on that, but you're being evasive and you know it." "Patrick, tell me what you think you say or ask me a question, but let's not play games, ok? Just talk to me." She felt a sense of desperation. She didn't want to lose him, have to hurt him, or leave the town where she'd become comfortable. She felt like crying. "Are you crying," he asked. "Are you crying? What's wrong?" She wiped her eyes. "Yes, I was crying. But we've got to get through this. Ask me your questions, ok?" He looked extremely uncomfortable and unsure of himself. "Ah, how did you beat those guys? Are you some sort of black belt?" "I hold no belt in anything you've ever heard of, but I am trained, and I can handle myself better than anyone would ever expect." Patrick smiled. "I got the idea you didn't even break a sweat on those guys." Eliza grinned and stuck out her tongue. "Not a drop!" He sat down beside her and the stared at each other. Finally he reached forward and felt her teeth. She knew what he was doing. "Patrick.... " "Yea?" "They are only down when I need them." He dropped his hand and stared at her. "Oh." He took a deep breath. "I feel sort of stupid asking this, but are you a danger to me?" He shook his head. "No!" He put his hands on her cheeks. "No, don't answer that. I don't care. You are what you are and you do whatever it is that you do and I love you." Eliza felt dizzy. She could not remember anyone but Sofye telling her that they loved her. Noone. Ever. She grasped his wrists and pulled his hands down and kissed his palms. "I love you, too, and I've never been and never will be a danger to you." Eliza was giddy. She felt like dancing or giggling, but the library was not a place for that. They'd sort of danced around what she was and how she got that way, but he did know and he was not rejecting her. She'd given him some very vague warnings and cautions, but most of what she'd told him was common sense. But the talking had come after. She realized that she was doing something that everyone, everywhere had told her to not do; she was becoming emotionally involve, no, not emotionally involve, in love, with a normal - or mortal as Codrin had called them. Still, this was not something she felt she could, or even wanted to, control. She'd never been in love and loved and she was not going to miss it! At least once in her life, she was going to experience it, even if it couldn't last. She was going to go for it. She'd closed the library a half an hour early. Noone was in and she had nothing to do. She wanted the time to think, to plan what she was going to say. They'd not had much time to talk since the "revelation," as she was calling it. They'd decided to cancel their normal break meeting at seven. They agreed that they simply could not get "into" it in that short period of time, and rather than frustrate themselves, they'd wait until she got off of work. Now, she sat on the top library step, waiting for him, sucking air between her teeth and chewing on her lower lip. They kissed, more intensely than usual, and walked in silence back to Patrick's apartment. It was closer than her's. Now, they were facing each other, sitting on his couch, a cold rum and coke for each of them on the low, glass table in front of them. Patrick took a deep breath. "You know, my major is abnormal psychology and I'm especially interested in the delusions of supernatural capability that some have. Last night was really, really strange; and I'm not sure what was going on. It was intense." Eliza nodded but didn't say anything. "Are you a martial arts expert," he asked. "No, but I'm pretty good." "Do you think you are a vampire?" Eliza chewed on her lower lip, as if she was unsure of what to say. "It's not that hard, Eliza. It's yes or no!" He whipped out a silver cross and held it up. "Does this bother you?" Eliza grinned and took it from him. "No, the sight of it doesn't bother me. I do have a metal allergy and I couldn't wear it, but I'm certainly not scared of it." Patrick look relieved. "Ok, you had me scared there for a minute. I was afraid that you thought you were a real vampire." |