Carin
One thing that stands out about me is how slow I am to let people get under my skin. Everybody says that I am cool. I might be a bit edgy, but I'm cool. To get a reaction out of me is as impossible as getting water out of a rock. Yet, somehow, that little wolf girl had managed to make me lose my cool.
Two days ago when I saved her from the claws of her fellow wolves, I didn't know what I was thinking. Hell! I wasn't even thinking at all, to be honest. Getting her to safety had been my first instinct. Now, I was at a loss of what to do with her. I knew she couldn't stand me, and me? I couldn't stand her any less.
A huge part of me wanted her gone -her kind was dangerous to my kind. The other part of me… well, the other part of me was totally captivated by how delicate she had felt in my arms. It was a dangerous risk, allowing her to stay in my sanctuary because wolves were generally unpredictable; they were known to act before they thought.
I knew that I was treading uncharted waters. Every vampire within a mile radius could smell the must of a wolf, but that didn't bother me anyways. I basically lived in a castle, away from the rest of the world.
I was pacing around, trying to gather my thoughts when I heard her voice behind me, clear as a revelation.
"That pacing doesn't suit the dark, edgy vibe you have going on. Is something bothering you?", her voice was as still as water.
I turned to face her, totally caught unawares. "I'm not pacing. Just gathering my thoughts". I lied, echoing my inner thoughts. "Why are you here?"
There was a rough texture to my voice but I couldn't care less. Her presence triggered something primal in me. Something I had long locked away.
"I came to say thank you. I realize I didn't even thank you for saving my life", she crooned.
I shrugged and said. "You're alive. That's all that matters",
"Still, thank you. You had no reason to risk your life for me, but you did.", she replied. Her eyes were soft and as blue as an ocean, pulling me into their depths.
I pulled my eyes away from hers, fixing them on the huge fountain that was in the middle of my vast estate.
"I didn't know vampires could be so selfless", she said by way of a light joke.
I wanted to say, 'there are a lot of things you don't know about vampires', but I bit back my response. What was she trying to do? Make conversation after she'd outrightly said we had no reason to talk?
The silence that followed hung over us like a dark cloud, and I wanted her gone. I wanted her anywhere but next to me. This proximity was screwing with my mind. I recalled the feel of her skin when I'd carried her and that made my own skin crawl with desire.
"I'm Ember, by the way", she said and stretched her hand out for a shake. A soft smile lined the corner of her mouth, urging me to take her hand.
After some seconds of hesitation, I took the handshake she had offered. Her skin was soft and warm to the touch, a stark contrast to mine. "You don't look like an Ember", I told her.
A light chuckle escaped her red lips. "I get that a lot, thank you", she said sarcastically. In my mind, I added her sense of humor to one of the many other things I'd started to find fascinating about her.
Her laughter had a nice ring to it and all of a sudden, I found myself being curious about her. I had totally forgotten all about our pact not to make conversation with each other.
"So, Ember, tell me. What's your story?", I asked her. She gazed at me, a bit perplexed. "What do you mean?", she asked.
I folded my arms around my chest, giving her an intense look. "I mean, you were being hunted by a pack of wolves on a full moon. Judging from that, you're either a fugitive or someone important. Any of those options have to be backed up by an interesting story, so what is it?"
There was a shadow of a smile on her face which disappeared after she'd heard what I had said. Replaced by it, was a faraway look. Fear? Regret, perhaps?
"Um…", she cleared her throat, gingerly. "I, I don't really want to talk about that"
This perked up my curiousity even more. "So, you're a fugitive, yeah? I'll bet my last coin that is the case". I know that I probably was meddling but I was way past caring at this point. I wanted to know. I needed to know.
She turned away from me. "Come on, can we not talk about this?", she said. Her voice sounded like a faint plea.
I turned to Ember so that she was facing me. "What? You're the one that wanted conversation. This is a conversation", I prodded her on.
A mischievous grin flashed over her face and she put her arms akimbo. "We can talk about something else", she declared. "Like, why you live in this big castle all by yourself, for example?"
I watched her quietly. I recognized that she was trying to redirect the conversation to me. Although this made me even the more curious to know her story, I shrugged it off. The reason why I lived alone was not a big deal. I could tell that lore to any stranger with two working ears.
"I have lived for over two centuries. Overtime, I acquired different properties in different parts of the world. This happens to be my most favorite of them all", I told her. It was the truth.
I watched her eyes light up and then, she asked me an unexpected question. "Do you never get lonely?"
I had never thought about that. My loneliness or lack of it, had never been in a factor in my life. All that occupied me was hunting for food, exploring the world and all its wonders and having hot, steamy sex with beautiful women.
"I suppose I've never really thought about that. I get too occupied with other things to dwell on whether I get lonely or not" I replied.
She nodded, fascinated. "That's odd.", she observed. "I would get lonely if I ever lived alone in a castle as big as this"
I stayed silent, taking in everything about her. The blue in her eyes shone brighter. Her lips were as red as an apple. I wondered what they would taste like. I wondered what she would taste like.
I noticed her looking at me with similar intensity, something pulled me close to her like a magnetic force. Soon, I was leaning towards her, the lust stronger than anything I've felt in a long while.
And just then, I heard the familiar click clack of his footsteps. What was he doing here? What did he want? A wave of panic shot through me. I couldn't let him find Ember with me.
Finding a werewolf with me would be a great trouble that I wasn't really up for now.
In a split second, I breezed her out of there and back into the room where she had been. "Stay here", I ordered. "and do not make a sound"