Blood Hunt (40 page)

“I’m not going to let you drink yourself to death in our living room. I know you miss Theroen. I understand. I miss him, too, and I miss Lisette, but you have to be strong.”

“Fuck being strong. Fuck … fuck
everything!
” Two began to weep again. She leaned forward, resting her forehead just above Naomi’s breasts. Naomi sighed and put her arms around Two.

“I think you should be in bed,” she said.

“Don’ wanna.”

“I know you don’t want to, but it will be good for you.”

“No it won’t. It’ll just be cold and dark and f—fucking empty.”

“Stay in my room, then.”

“Can’t. Naomi, I’m not ready for … for that.”

Naomi laughed a little. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t planning on trying to seduce you while you’re drunk and vulnerable. Two, I want to help you. If you’re afraid to sleep alone, you can stay with me, and I assure you nothing will happen except sleeping.”

“P—promise? No kisses or anything?”

“Have I pushed you at all, since that night in New York? I won’t kiss you again unless you ask me to.”

Two considered this, still leaning her head against Naomi, but slowly gaining control over her tears. Finally, she looked up.

“Are you OK?” Naomi asked her.

“I miss him so much,” Two croaked. Her throat hurt, and her face felt hot, the skin raw from wiping at the tears.

“I know you do. I know it’s hard. I want to help you, however I can.” Naomi stood up, still holding Two’s hand, pulling on it gently to encourage Two to follow.

“Walk slow,” Two said, standing, unsteady. Naomi gave another small laugh.

“Do you need me to carry you?” she asked.

“Let’s …” Two yawned. “Let’s not be ridiculous.”

“OK. Come on, Two.”

With Naomi in the lead, the pair made their way up to her room. Two had not been in it since their initial tour, and she was glad for the light from the street coming in through the windows that Naomi had not yet shuttered. She followed Naomi over to the bed. The vampire girl turned on a small light that sat on the bedside table.

“Take off your clothes,” Naomi said, turning toward her dresser.

“Wait, you said …”

Naomi glanced over her shoulder, shaking her head. “For God’s sake, Two, I’m not going to rape you. If you want to sleep in your jeans, that’s fine. I was going to offer something more comfortable.”

“Oh, OK. Right.” Two pulled off her T-shirt, unlatched her bra, slid down her pants. Naomi had not turned around, but was holding a man’s flannel shirt out in one hand. Two took it, pulled it on, buttoned it up.

“I’m good,” she said, and Naomi turned, smiling.

“I don’t know whether to be offended or not by what you apparently think of me,” she said.

“Don’t. I’m retarded.” Two sat down on the bed, tired and sad, dizzy, drunk. She took a deep breath and said, “Dunno why you don’t hate me.”

Naomi only looked at her, eyebrows raised, waiting for an explanation. Finally, Two continued.

“I know you … you’re interested in me. Can’t be fun to listen to me bitch and whine about Theroen all the time.”

Naomi shrugged. She reached down into her dresser, grabbed another flannel shirt, and moved to the side of the bed, stopping along the way to close the heavy curtains over the windows.

“You lost a true love,” she said. “You bonded with Theroen in ways that most people can’t even understand, and you lost him in a very traumatic manner. There’s no time limit to grief and mourning, Two. Everyone is different. You can’t help it, no more than I can help … my feelings for you.”

 Two was lying on her side now, looking up at Naomi. The vampire girl did not bother to turn as she stripped down to her panties, and Two chose not to look away. Naomi was a nearly perfect physical specimen, lithe and shapely, taller than Two, with full breasts and small, pink nipples. Her skin was like porcelain, white and smooth and flawless. Two found herself feeling inadequate.

Naomi seemed to sense this, and she grinned as she pulled on the flannel and began buttoning it up.

“What you’re seeing is the effect of the blood. It works on our bodies … you know that. It makes us something more than we once were.”

“I bet you were pretty hot to begin with,” Two said, and Naomi laughed. She sat down on the bed next to Two, drew up her legs, and pulled the covers over them.

“Perhaps. That doesn’t mean you should feel bad. You’re a lovely woman, Two.”

“Short, no boobs, no hips …” Two began, and Naomi made a sound of perturbed amusement.

“Gorgeous eyes, pretty face, shapely legs, fantastic rear end …” the vampire girl continued, and Two laughed.

“You been checking out my ass?” she asked.

“Every chance I get. Are you all right, Two? Do you need a glass of water?”

“I’ll be fine. Sleepy.” Two laid her head down on the pillow. “Thanks, Naomi.”

Naomi reached over and turned off the bed-side light, enveloping them in darkness. Two lay on her side, listening to Naomi breathing, feeling the warmth of the vampire’s aura. There was a tiny sliver of light coming into the room from a crack in the curtains, and eventually Two’s eyes adjusted well enough to see Naomi’s silhouette. She watched the vampire girl for a time, until Naomi opened her eyes.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Don’t move,” Two said. Naomi said nothing, only looked at her, questioning, unsure of what was happening.

Two reached out her left hand and touched Naomi’s cheek. She moved her fingers up, into Naomi’s hair, smoothing it back and tucking it behind Naomi’s ear. Slowly she leaned her head forward, heart pounding, unsure of herself and of what she was doing but wanting to try.

When her lips touched Naomi’s, the vampire gave a small gasp, opening her mouth instinctively. Two began with small kisses, tentative at first, but with growing confidence the individual kisses becoming longer, more connected. Naomi bit gently at her lower lip, and Two smiled, kissed for a few more moments, and then pulled away.

“Thank you for understanding me,” Two said.

Naomi smiled, nodded, reached out and took Two’s hand. Two let her do it, happy to have the contact. Exhausted, still far from sober, and wanting the day to be over with, she closed her eyes and surrendered to sleep.

* * *

Time passed, as it always does. Autumn gave way to winter and the temperature dropped. Two, Naomi, and Stephen settled into a routine; the vampires socialized with others among their kind, happy to enjoy the long hours of darkness, while Two had taken to waking up in the early afternoon and going out to a local pub for her evening meal. She was getting to be friendly with one or two of the employees, and happily answered their questions about life in New York. She also spent a great deal of time at the Kensington Central Library, just a few blocks away from their townhouse, and had made a point of visiting several of the museums in the neighborhood, rekindling her love of art that had lain dormant since before her time with Theroen.

Two’s relationship with Naomi began to move slowly toward something more than friendship. After the night that Naomi had invited her to bed, there had been a period of several weeks where nothing further happened, but Two had nonetheless felt closer to the vampire girl than before, as if they had shared more than just a simple kiss.

Naomi’s aura, too, seemed to have changed. Where before it had only been a source of warmth and comfort, there was now an intimate, nearly erotic tinge that sometimes left Two in a state of mild arousal. She was concerned by this, but also excited. She didn’t know if she was falling in love with her vampire companion, but she was certainly becoming more physically attracted to Naomi.

Christmas came, and Naomi insisted that they celebrate despite Stephen and Two’s lack of enthusiasm. Two had found a very pretty pair of earrings for Naomi and had managed after some effort to find a gift that she thought Stephen would like. Through careful searching on the Internet, she had been able to locate an autographed game ball from an Ireland Rugby Union match. Stephen, not normally one for sincere emotion, had been nearly speechless, then had apologized repeatedly for the inadequacy he felt for his own gift – an original work from a London street artist whom she had pointed out one evening – despite Two’s obvious happiness with it. Naomi had given Two a book of poems authored by William Wordsworth and printed in 1807. She had also managed to find a more modern printing, sparing Two the agony of choosing between reading the book and causing it any physical harm.

Stephen spent New Year’s Eve, and most of the month of January, in Ireland. Two and Naomi celebrated the transition of years by finishing more than a bottle of champagne apiece, an evening that ended in a lengthy session of kissing on the living room couch, and that might have gone further if Two had not forced herself to grab hold of Naomi’s hands as they began to remove her shirt.

“Not yet,” she had murmured around the vampire’s lips. “I’m sorry … please.”

Naomi, to her credit, had stopped herself immediately, and the pair had spent the night on the couch until the early morning sun pouring through the living room’s bay windows had irritated Naomi, forcing her to move to her bedroom. Two had not followed, still drunk and not trusting herself in the darkness and warmth of the room. When Naomi had awoken later, she had said nothing of the encounter, giving only a small smile when first she came back downstairs.

 Two wondered sometimes whether Naomi had any real doubt about how this was all going to play out. Did the vampire already know what was going to happen? Was she just waiting for Two to figure it out? Or was Naomi just as confused and uncertain about her feelings as Two was, and simply better at hiding it? Sometimes Two wanted to ask, but whenever she began to do so, she grew flustered and uncomfortable, and would change the subject. Naomi seemed to understand this, as she seemed to understand everything.

It was a bitterly cold night in late January when it happened. Two was sitting on the couch, channel surfing, nearly ready to go to sleep. Naomi had been out all night with three other vampire friends, though Two had no idea where. The sun would be coming up soon, so it was no particular surprise when Two heard keys jingling, the front door open and close, and Naomi’s footsteps on the stairs.

“Hey, Naomi,” Two said as the vampire came wandering into the living room. Naomi’s face lit up when she saw Two.

“I thought you’d be in bed!” Naomi exclaimed. “I’m so happy to see you.”

“Uh … well, OK,” Two said, laughing a little. “Glad to see you, too.”

Naomi came over to the couch and flopped down next to Two, sighing in contentment.

“You’ve been out a long time. Good night?” Two asked.

“Oh, it was wonderful. First, we went to the theatre, and then we went dancing. Angeline met this lovely, beautiful boy and he invited us all back to his place …”

“Cue the porn music,” Two said, and Naomi laughed.

“It wasn’t like that. We’d already fed, and he wasn’t trying to get into our pants. At least, not all of them.”

“Just Angeline’s?”

“Yes. She was still there when I left. If she’s not naked by now, she’s a fool.”

“Sounds like a good night,” Two said, smiling a little. Naomi’s lips were dark purple, stained from an excess of wine, and she was slurring her words.

“It was. I wish you would come out with us once in a while. Angeline and Penelope and Emma would love to meet you.”

They had discussed this before, after Two had several times demurred when Naomi had asked her if she wanted to come out. Two had explained that she felt uncomfortable with the idea of spending time with other vampires. “It’ll just make me jealous,” she’d said, and Naomi had said she understood.

“I’d like to meet them, too,” Two told her now. “Once we’ve been to see the council and I’m a vampire, I’ll come out with you, I promise.”

Naomi smiled, and rested her head on Two’s shoulder. Two could feel the girl’s aura now, stronger than usual, pushing on her like a physical force. Its warmth was spreading through her entire body.

“Once you’re a vampire …” Naomi said wistfully. “Oh, I can’t wait.”

“Me neither,” Two said.

They were quiet for a time, and if not for the aura, Two would have thought Naomi had fallen asleep. The warm feeling still pulsed and throbbed within her, though, and it was becoming tinged again with desire, as it so often did these days. Two could feel her nipples hardening, and funny little bursts of adrenaline were running through her.

Finally, Naomi spoke, her voice a low, husky murmur. “I’ve been thinking about you all night. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“Good thoughts?” Two asked, trying to keep her own voice neutral.

The vampire girl put her lips to Two’s ear. As she spoke, they brushed against the sensitive skin of Two’s earlobe, sending shivers through her entire body.

“Warm thoughts,” Naomi whispered. “Wet thoughts.”

Two’s heart was racing now, in a combination of fear and desperate excitement. She could feel Naomi’s aura, more overtly sexual than at any time in the past, working on her, turning her on, making her hot. Part of her wanted to step away, to regain some sense of control. The rest of her wanted only to remain where she was and let this delicious warmth continue to run tingling through her body.

“Really?” she asked. “That sounds … very interesting.”

“I can tell you all about it, if you want,” Naomi murmured into her ear. She reached a hand out, ran it lightly along Two’s thigh, lifted it to cup Two’s breast. “Or I could show you …”

“Jesus Christ, Naomi,” Two gasped, twisting, turning her head, searching for the vampire’s lips. Naomi brought her head up and forward, kissing, biting. Her hand left Two’s breast and went to Two’s hair, fingers tangling there and pulling. As she did this, the last of Two’s defenses seemed to give way, and the aura flooded through her, setting her on fire. She could feel, for the first time since Theroen’s death, the lust for skin against skin, the desire to give pleasure, and the simple but overwhelming need for orgasm.

“I want you to be naked,” Naomi was saying in between kisses. “Don’t make me wait any longer. Let me make love to you. Please, Two!”