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Chapter Twelve
Anna fought the urge to run as she made her way toward the exit. Don’t draw attention, she coached, forcing even steps until she was back on the sidewalk. She stopped by the curb and fumbled around in her purse for her cigarettes, her hands shaking so bad it took her several seconds to fish one out.
As she lit up she began to understand why people used them as a way to relax. It forced your mind to focus on something else, the whole process from lighting it, to inhaling, to exhaling. And it made you look like you had a purpose for just standing on a sidewalk. And she desperately needed to just stand there for a minute.
The club her friends were in was nearly as crowded as the one at her back, and while it would normally be comforting to be with them, right now she was feeling claustrophobic. She took a long drag of her smoke and blew it out slowly, trying to decide what to do next.
Someone came up and stood beside her and she jerked back a step when she saw it was the woman Jake had been devouring.
The brunette lit a cigarette of her own and glanced at her. "Do I know you?" She asked, narrowing her heavily shadowed eyes.
Anna realized she was gaping, and stammered, "Um, no, sorry, it's just...how do you know Jake?"
The woman snorted. "Everyone knows Jake, at least everyone who lives 'round here. You're an American whom I've never seen before, so how do you know Jake?"
Anna noted that she sounded exactly like the actress Elizabeth Hurley, even looked a little like her. "I met him earlier," she said weakly.
"Ahhh." “Elizabeth” took a long drag and rolled the smoke off her tongue. "I'm sure he laid it on nice and thick. He likes American girls, especially the young and naive."
Anna knew she'd just been insulted, but she was way too freaked out to care. "Are you dating him?"
The woman snorted louder this time. "Nobody dates Jake. They get seduced by him and then either live with a one night stand or continue shagging him if they don't mind sharing. I am the latter."
Anna weighed her options. She wasn't sure if she'd have another opportunity to ask questions, or if she even wanted another one. She decided to take a chance. "So it doesn't hurt when he bites you?"
"Excuse me?" The woman looked genuinely surprised and confused.
"Well, I saw you guys and it looked like he was biting you...."
"Biting me?" She laughed out loud, "If you mean sucking on my neck, of course that doesn't hurt. You really are naive, I think you are out past curfew infant." She dropped her smoke and put it out with her black heel. “You should leave Jake to the big girls, you aren't ready for him."
She went back inside the club leaving Anna to question her sanity for even broaching the subject. Especially since there hadn’t been any marks on her neck. If it weren’t for the Mistress confirming the existence of vampires she would not be certain of what she was seeing.
She wrinkled her forehead. The Elizabeth look alike didn't know he’d been drinking her blood-that much was clear. Whether or not he had actually been drinking it, well....how couldn't the woman know? Especially since she'd implied she was intimate with him often. She chewed on her lip trying to work through it.
In most legends a vampire bite turned its recipient into a vampire, which was apparently false. If she were sane of course and this was actually real. So if the bite didn't change a person, or even harm them in any way- the woman certainly hadn't appeared to be harmed- then that begged another question. Was Jake evil? Or was he one of the supposed good guys?
She had also noticed there weren't many shadow men in the Frat House. Across the road there'd been a great deal more of them, though no blood sucking going on that she’d seen. Was there something to that? God she had so many questions and no answers, it was frustrating. The gold and silver candle...She should’ve listened to her intuition. She recalled the words of the mistress during the ceremony—This is for perceiving other supernatural forces that dwell with us…
She mulled this over. Yes, seeing someone sink their teeth into a person and drink their blood was alien, but people always feared things that were foreign to them, things they didn’t understand. So was it necessarily evil? That put a new slant on the situation. The shadow men were only scary because of the dark feelings emanating from them, if not for that they were almost just a part of the scenery. Except for the ones that were inside of humans, those disturbed her on a level she chose not to explore. But vampires, they were mostly scary because of the way they’d been portrayed in books and movies.
She pictured Jake, she had known something was different about him. But evil? She wondered if she should just go inside and ask him. “Hey, I know what you are, can you tell me about your kind? I'm not judging, I'm just curious.” Okay that sounds stupid, you are definitely not going to say that, she scolded. But...she could take him aside and talk to him about it. He could answer so many questions for her, maybe he knew about the shadow men, maybe there was a whole realm of things the average person knew nothing about and he could.....
WHOA ANNA, you haven't even decided if what you saw was real, remember? Despite their confirmed existence. And yeah it's fun to romanticize, but HELLO, he could still be a very, very bad man vampire thing. Better safe than sorry, ever heard that phrase dumbass? Go back to the girls!
Sound internal advice she decided. She didn't make it two steps before a hand gripped her arm nearly giving her a heart attack.
"Anna."
The timbre of his voice saying her name sent chills straight through her and she stammered. "Jake, hey, I was hoping to find you."
"From what I heard you did find me, or at least you saw.....me."
The pause was subtle. The orbs of light that appeared in the depths of his eyes and grew? Not so subtle. All of Anna's doubts about what he was slid away.
"Cat got your tongue," he purred.
"Guess your girlfriend told you that we met," she said brightly as she tried to calm the churning in her stomach.
He cocked his head to the side a little and smirked. "Lena was rather amused by your question. I myself was…intrigued."
"Intrigued? I may be naïve but I know how silly I sounded." She smiled widely and found herself babbling. "I've had a bit too much to drink tonight and I’m afraid alcohol brings out the blonde in me. I better round up the girls and get myself to bed. But I'm glad we met even if you are a player, and I might still see you on Friday." She closed her mouth to stop the flood of words and tried to step away, but he caught her wrists and forced her to look up at him. It took everything she had to appear innocent and unassuming because inside she was coming apart.
He narrowed his eyes a little.
He’s not sure, she thought. Not sure is good. Very good. Then her phone started buzzing and he reluctantly let go. She pulled it from her purse-Jenna.
"Hi, I'm on the sidewalk across the street talking to Jake."
"Okay, we're coming out."
She flipped it closed and smiled at Jake who was watching her intently.
"They met a few guys and hit it off," she said airily. "That's kind of why I came to find you, this creepy guy with a goatee kept trying to rub himself all over me, and well I wanted to dance with someone I actually found appealing. But then you were busy." She lifted one shoulder in a "that's the brakes" kind of way, continuing to smile at him.
He didn't get a chance to reply. The girls and their new friends were already calling to her and crossing the street.
They were all smiling and joking around and Anna suddenly felt like an outsider. She should be enjoying herself like that without a care in the world, instead of standing on the sidewalk with a vampire, knowing he's a vampire, knowing that strange things existed. It was like a chasm had formed between herself and her friends over the past few hours. Well maybe not Jenna, she had a bridge. But...something inside of her was changing, she was losing another piece of her blissful childhood ignorance and it made her feel off center.
"The guys want us to go back to their hotel, whaddaya think?" Jenna stumbled a little then let off a burst of wind chime giggles. "Oops, I think I'm a wee bit buzzed."
"Yeah, sure, why not?"
"Am I invited?" Jake asked the group.
Anna winced as the girls nodded with enthusiasm.
"Of course!" Jenna exclaimed, "The more the merrier!"
There were cabs sitting alongside the curb up and down the street and Anna grabbed Macey pulling her towards one. She hoped Macey's guy would follow and Jake would be left to fend for himself.
No such luck, Jake followed them in.
"Oh, I better go ride with Brent or he'll be stuck by himself," Macey announced.
Anna watched her climb out, resisting the urge to grab her again. Shit, shit, shit. He's staring at me, and I am not going to be able to keep this up. And now they were practically alone, what good was one measly cab driver against a vampire?
"Do I make you nervous?" He was doing that purring thing again.
She forced another bright smile as she answered. "Of course you do, you're a charming smooth talker who apparently doesn't date, just has lots of casual sex. Which I don't hold against you, I mean you're a guy and that's what most guys wish their lives were like. But I'm not a casual sex type of girl, so we're not well suited. And I have a boyfriend,” she added.
He was giving her that insect under a microscope look again. She could almost see him weighing the odds that she was just a bit of a ditz who happened to use the word bite in reference to him as a mere coincidence.
"Why did you think I was biting Lena?"
And there it was. "I meant nibbling,” she said too quickly.
"Hmm. Anyone would wonder if hurt to be...nibbled." He had one eyebrow raised slightly and Anna looked at the driver.
He followed her gaze and his lip curved. "He's a cabdriver in London, you can't imagine the strange things he's seen and heard."
She drew in a breath and let it out slowly, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do. Answer my question Anna."
She studied her hands. "I don't know why I thought that."
"Anna."
"Are you going to hurt me?" she asked in a small voice, still concentrating on her lap.
"Why would I do that?"
She glanced at him and saw his expression had changed back to the disarming guy she'd met.
She thought it over and decided to direct the conversation. She lost the “airhead” look and took a deep breath. "Tell me what the shadow men are."
His brows flew up in surprise and he stared at her for a moment before responding. "You see them?"
"Yes."
He grew very quiet before shaking his head slowly, carefully. "They're demons. My kind destroys them, it’s what we were created to do."
It was Anna's turn to be surprised. "Vampires were made to kill demons? How? I mean how do you kill them?"
"Kill isn't the right word. We end their existence, it’s difficult to explain.”
"Are you old?"
He smiled in amusement. "That's a relative thing, age. Your idea of old and mine are not the same."
"Are you immortal?"
"In a sense."
Her brows drew together at the vagueness of his answers. "I've never seen your kind before tonight."
His gaze sharpened. "Never? And yet you don't question your sanity?"
"Actually I did think I might be hallucinating, except I've seen the shadow men, err demons, since I was sixteen so I'm somewhat accustomed to the supernatural."
He smiled again and it both chilled and warmed her at the same time. A loud sound came tearing out of his jacket and she leapt back.
"My phone," he chuckled, before answering. He spoke in a foreign language, so all she got out of the conversation was that he was bothered by something.
"Anna. I'm afraid I have to go, but I really want to see you again and continue this conversation. I'm sure you have more questions for me which I'll be glad to answer. Could I have your number?" He held out his phone to her and she paused briefly before taking it and punching her digits in his contact list.
He told the driver to pull over and handed him some money. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I'll call you."
She nodded and watched him leave feeling...feeling what? Disappointed and relieved at the same time. He was a potential source of answers, and that was exciting, but he was also a vampire.
She leaned back against the seat and realized she was exhausted. She decided to make a quick call to the girls, and changed her driver's route so she could go back to the hotel and get some sleep. Maybe she would wake up and find Jenna was right and she'd never left the hotel.
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