Longest Days (The Firsts) (8 page)

He had a lot to sort through.   This woman, she couldn’t be the one he buried a year ago.  Just…how could two women look so exactly alike?  Her face was burned into his memory, every detail.  It was possible, but it still knocked him off balance to see this woman alive and speaking to him.  He wondered at how the world worked sometime, to bring him to this extremely isolated place to try to heal from his culpability in so many deaths, particularly hers…and then bring her doppleganger to him.  Was the universe laughing at him?  Was it a lesson?  Torture?  He couldn’t know.  He just had to deal with her existence.

This woman was as beautiful and graceful as he knew his dead angel would have been.  He’d had an immediate physical response to her, but that was because of the dreams he’d had of her for the past year, and many of them had been very sensual.   His dates with Joey D’s mother had been less than satisfying on an emotional level.  They had just been sex.  That was the way it should have been. He didn’t deserve passion.  Or love.

But his reaction to his rescuer was something very different.

He needed to leave.  Soon.  Before he was tempted to touch her.  Even to just feel her skin beneath his fingertips would be heaven. No.  It wasn’t going to happen.

Daniel rolled up tightly in the comforter and tried to get some rest.  It smelled like her.  A light scent of vanilla and woman.

He did not sleep.

Alvin looked around the all-natural house built into the landscape on an ocean cliff on the island of Tasmania.  The loony vampiress had retired to her chambers for a bath.  She’d told him he may be welcome to join her in the future.  But not now.  Not yet.  He was fine with that.  It gave him a chance to nose around a little and try to find out more about this strange woman who was much too powerful.  If there was a way, he wanted to see if she could give
him
similar powers.

But there was nothing useable.  The woman was apparently as vacuous as she seemed.  He had just finished glancing through some papers on a desk when she walked out onto the second floor landing naked except for black stiletto heels.  And dripping wet.    The hardwood floors would appreciate that, Alvin thought.

“Well, you’ve made yourself at home.  Now.  Tell me how long you’ve been here.  I told you I’ve never seen another vampire here and I’ve been here a lot of years.  So, tell me your story.  Don’t lie.  I can tell if you do.”

He believed her.  She was something different.  He just didn’t know how much to tell her.  His hesitation caused her to laugh.

“In spite of my warning, you’re trying to decide your spin.  Little vampire Alvin.  Would you like me to show you how I get the truth out of people?  You don’t even have to speak.  It can hurt like a mother, though.”  She sighed and looked at the ceiling, coming down the stairs.  “Your choice.”

He stared at her for a moment.  Her excellent body was small with absolutely perfect breasts that had no sag at all. They were probably as pert as they were when she first changed god knows how many centuries ago.  Vampire privilege.  Perfect physical specimens.  Well, mostly.

He
did
have a thing for female breasts.  She lounged casually on a rattan chair, and he wondered briefly if it was comfortable against her bare skin.  He thought it might not have been since she moved her legs back and forth.  The movement revealed her shaved privates, and the vertical slit captured his attention and distracted him too much to answer her.  Yes, he liked that, too.

“Hey!”  she yelled, and Alvin lifted his head to look at her face.  “Those lips don’t talk.  Well, not like that, anyway.  So, you better start doing so.  You might have already noticed…I’m not very patient.”

He sat down on a chair a few feet away that looked like it might have been made by locals.  He leaned in.

“You have to promise not to kill me.  Is your word good?”

He saw her brows come together.  She began to speak, but then didn’t.  Her legs crossed and uncrossed again.  He looked.  He had to.  She enjoyed her power to make him do that.

“So, you’re asking if I can be trusted.  Am I honorable?”

“Exactly.  If you tell me you will not hurt me, can I depend that you won’t?”

Tamesine twisted around in the gliding chair.  “Well, okay.  I promise I will not hurt you.  Unless you lie.   I
hate
lies.”

Alvin nodded and leaned back, then sat forward.  “I told you how the love of my life died because the vampire that made me wouldn’t change her.  I
hate
being vampire without her.  I’m afraid I’ve done some things you would not approve.  I have….”  He hesitated and watched her face for any signs that she was going to eat his face.  No reaction.  Just a casual lean back into the chair that showed perfectly defined rattan patterns scored into her skin.

He continued.  “So, I started killing them one by one.  The vampires.  The abominations against nature.  I include myself.”

Tamesine was leaning in now, her eyes sparkling.  “You’d have to, wouldn’t you?”

He nodded.  Interesting.  She seemed intrigued and amused.  This was going too well.

“Well, I sort of started a war.  Beginning with the vampire who betrayed me, I launched an assault last year  on his home and killed two old vampires.  But not all of them.  Not Bas, the one who I wanted most.  Suffice it to say, I am a hunted man.  That is why I am here below civilization.  I’m hiding out.”

Tamesine clapped her hands and shot out of the chair.  “What a wonderful story!  Are you still at war?  Or are you too afraid of them now?  I would
love
to join you.”

Alvin couldn’t have been more shocked.   What?  She wanted to join him in annihilation of her own race?  Well, he already knew she was nuts.

He stared at her dancing around completely nude, tried not to let it turn him on, but that wasn’t the case.  His cock shot up about as quickly as she had out of her chair.

“Are you serious?  You would be willing to hunt and kill vampires?”

“I spent the last thirty years torturing one.  It was fun, but then he disrespected me when I tried to make up for it.   Cunt!  He was a real shit!  I just wanted to be welcomed back home.  Killing some of those arrogant ass-holes sounds fun.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

He fell asleep finally and went into the dream that haunted him most in the past six months.  The one where she was alive and came to him in the snow, wearing only white furred boots and a long furred scarf that reached her knees.  In this dream, she circled him, like an animal might before it attacked.  It was clear she wanted something other than a fight.  Her long satin hair flowed behind her as she moved around him, and although he kept pace with her movements, she was the dominant one in the dream.  But he never touched her.

He watched as she moved her hands on her own body, sliding the scarf aside to reveal perfect full breasts with dark nipples erect in the cold air.  Her breath curled away from her as she began to breathe harder and harder while her fingers curved down her body and into the heat between her legs.  A large charcoal gray boulder was the only vibrant color in the mostly black and white dream, and she leaned against it, drew a leg up to reveal the core of her sex to him as he watched, frozen, while she massaged the area.  As she reached climax, he dropped on his knees several feet from her, wanting nothing more in his life than to put his mouth where her hands were.  But he couldn’t move.  Even in the dream he knew he was unworthy.

He always woke from the dream erect and wet.  Tonight was no different. He rolled unevenly off the saggy couch and looked for the bathroom, but he didn’t see one.  Most of these cabins had outhouses, so he pulled on his gear and boots, and forced the door open past snow that blocked it closed.  

The snow had stopped, and the early night sky was pitch black, and crystal clear.  One thing about living in northern Alaska that put the rest of the world to shame was the night time sky.  When the clouds parted, it was a window to heaven.   Stars were unbelievably bright and close here at the top of the world. 

Daniel trudged through the high snow that tried to rip off his boots, and finally made it to the small shed-like room that held only a deep hole and a couple of rolls of seriously cold toilet paper.  He cleaned up quickly, and hurried back to the cabin.

With the door secured, keeping the cold out, he rebuilt the dying fire, and when it was crackling away with nice hot flames, he headed into the kitchen to get something to eat.  He found a coffee pot filled with cold coffee, heated up the contents, and downed the sludge.  It was what he was used to these days.  As he carried a coffee mug and some double-stuf oreo cookies back into the living room, he twisted his neck back and forth.  Stiff.  Shoulders too.  He looked at the small broken down couch that was in as good of shape as the one in his own little house.  God, he hoped he could get back to his place soon.  It wasn’t even as nice as this cabin, but he
did
have a big mattress that accommodated his large body.   Although the snow had stopped, the accumulation was daunting.  Still, he needed to get out of there.

Daniel didn’t think he could spend much time around this woman.  Not in his current state.  Not without some serious booze.  Not with that huge hard-on that would insist on making an appearance every time she did.  Yeah, he’d need to get out of there as soon as she came out from behind that closed door.

Eillia pulled her plush robe tighter around her body.  She needed to go out and deal with him.  But he spooked her.  All the more reason to get him back to his own home sooner rather than later.  Look at you, vampire
.  You’re
one of the strongest beings on this world and you sit here cowering about a human male.  Pitiful!

She smiled to herself.  She
was
extraordinarily powerful.  Mentally and physically.  Emotionally, she felt everything too deeply.  She wasn’t an empath, but she was very intuitive and had a really soft heart.  Hamid used to make fun of her some times for that very thing.  He always told her it was her Achilles heel.  He’d been right.

Her clothes were thrown carelessly on a bench at the foot of the bed, so she crawled forward and pulled them on in vampire speed.  Okay, time to move the rescued man back to town.  She opened the door and looked around the small space.  She found him looking out the window.  He heard her bedroom door click and turned to her, letting the window coverings drop.

“Hi.  Just wondering if it would be safe to go home tonight.  Obviously, I wasn’t injured in the accident.  Still not sure how.  But I think I’ve impinged on your generosity too long.”

“No.  No.  It’s fine.  But, if you really want, I can get you home tonight.”

“I don’t think so.  It’s too dangerous.   The snow is really packed on.  I wouldn’t let you risk it.   Not after all you’ve done for me.  I might try it tomorrow on my own.  Do you have a radio or phone I can use?”

“I don’t.  I’ve just never needed one.”

He thought that was a little crazy, a woman alone in such an isolated place with raw weather.  Surely it was a bad idea for her to have no access to town if there was an emergency.  Or attack.  She was a gorgeous woman living in a land populated mostly by men.  Most of them here in this inhospitable area for a good reason.  He shook his head.

“So you have no way to contact someone in case you need help?”

“I don’t ever need help.  Um, I mean I never have.  It’s fine.”  She hesitated.  “Are you hungry?  I could make you something.”

“I don’t want to put you out.  I did eat some of your junk food while you slept.”

She smiled softly.  Daniel couldn’t help himself…he kept staring at her lips.   They were so compelling, full, a deep natural blush.  He had to stop himself from asking her if he could touch them.  With his.

“Well, I’m cooking for myself, and I would be happy to make enough for both of us, so, please, join me if you want.  I know my kitchen is small, but you can help chop if you’d like.”

With him there, she wouldn’t use vampire speed for prep, so it would go quicker with two sets of hands.  He nodded.

She made a combination of foods she routinely cooked at the Blue Star.  After he sampled some, he stared at her.

“This is exceptional.  Flavors I’ve never tasted before.  Where did you learn?”

“From a lot of people over a lot of years.  Recently, just experimenting with spices.  I cook at the Blue Star in town.  Night shift.  I’ve never seen you in there.”

Daniel took a bite because he couldn’t wait to taste the smooth sauce again.  “I, uh…I don’t get out at night much.  Well, the Wooly Bully, but then straight home.  You ever go in there?”

Eillia stared into the pot she was stirring.  “Um, no.”

“You should come some night.”

“I don’t think so.  I work nights and I’m exhausted in the morning anyway, but thanks.  Besides, a girl’s gotta make a living.”  
Not this girl, not really
.  “I like my job.  It’s nothing I would ever have expected to do in my life, but I do like it.”  Eillia realized how true that was.  She’d lived a life of privilege for all of her thousand years.  This was the first time she had actually lived like normal humans.  Tiny, cramped quarters, poor access to necessities, being responsible for a job, no servants.  She felt a freedom and sense of accomplishment she’d never really felt before.  She did not use any of her vampire abilities in her cooking. It was well and truly her own creation.  And she was quite proud of herself.

She tilted her head.  “I never really thought about it before this moment.  I like working for a living.  How very human of me.”  Daniel didn’t notice the term.

“Sometimes it’s the only thing that helps a person forget other things in their life that needs forgotten.”

“You’re right.  And I’ve needed that these past few months.”  She watched him as he ate.  Damn, he was handsome.  His well-muscled body was not hidden by the tight jeans and long sleeved tee shirt.  He obviously worked hard for a living…very hard.  Eillia swallowed and turned away. 
Don’t even think about it, vampire.  It’s not the time and he’s not the man.