Night Rider

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons--living or dead--is entirely coincidental.

Night Rider copyright @ 2014 by Tamara Knowles. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews

NIGHT RIDER

“Sure you don't need a drive home? It's pretty windy outside.”

Eve sighed as she put on her leather jacket, tightening it in the middle. “Thanks
, Barry; but, it's only a few blocks.” She looked at her fellow librarian with a brief smile, her bright eyes hidden under her black frame glasses and the glare of the overhead lights. “Besides, my legs need the workout. You got everything squared away here?”

Barry nodded. “Yeah, I'll be done in a half. Still got that one asshole with his students in the philosophy section.” He looked up the wooden stairs to the library's second level. “I think they're baked again.”

Eve chuckled. “Oh...them. You know, a lot of them look too old to be doing that.”
Though the teacher is kind of cute, with his grayed temples and always looking so dapper.

“All philosophy students look like that.”

“Ah well, good luck with that.” She pushed against the door, and the outside winds twirled with her long amber hair. “I'll see you tomorrow!”

Barry looked over from his monitor as she left. “Yep.”

***

Eve kept her face down, her cheeks already pink from the winds. Barry's offer seemed more than tempting now, but she pushed on. She was more than half-way to her apartment. Though it was not as if she had the will to turn around, much less look behind her shoulder.

Even through the wailing winds, she thought she heard footsteps from behind. Yet, every time she looked behind, only the chilling breeze was there to kick up red autumnal leaves. Amber streetlights seemed to quaver and dim, the moonless night swallowing up their scant illumination.
Definitely can't go back now, too creepy
.

She increased her pace, hoping to drown out her fear to the clop of her shoes. Edges of dimly lit trees waved from the corners of her vision. Cold air licked along the nape of her neck, though it felt too focused to be the wind. The warm glow of her apartment's front doors called to her.
Almost there...

Her fingers wrapped around the cold metal handles and slammed the door shut, her chilled flesh thawing in the ground floor's warmth. She steadied herself against a wall and sighed with relief.
Why was I so weird? It's not a crime area and there wasn't anyone out. Just nerves maybe.

“Someone's in a hurry,” said a man. Eve's eyes drifted along the marbled floor, onto black shoes and black slacks.
Where did he come from?
Further up, her eyes fell upon a face that looked like it could have been sculpted from pure ivory. It was framed by swept-back, ear-length hair that gleamed with golden streaks of blond intermixed with a dozen darker shades.
He must be...new.

“I-uh...I was almost late for my show.” Her heart still pounded from her jaunt outside, though it did not calm one bit when she fell into his mesmerizing gaze. His eyes gleamed like pure blue crystals. They did not waver or change direction when they met her stare, but were laser focused and intent.

“You look like you've just seen a ghost,” he said and stepped forward, accentuating his towering height over her. He pushed an errant strand of auburn hair away from her face. “I'm Nicholas.”
Kind of intimate for a stranger...but good.

She sighed, as the tips of his fingers lingered along the soft skin of her face. “You...you're not from around here, are you?” She felt intoxicatingly helpless under his gaze and longed for a more physical kind of pinning.

He smiled. “No, I'm usually a few floors higher.” He ran his hands down her back and her blood quickened. “But...sometimes a man needs to breathe, enjoy the night air!” he said, as he chuckled, revealing an electric smile. His face drew close to hers. His voice was resonant and measured, as he asked, “What's your name?”

Tingles ran down her limbs, and her words were stuttered. “E-eve.”

“Eve, the librarian.”

Her heart raced. “How...how did you know?”

He raised a languid finger to her side. “Books can say a lot about a person.”

She glanced down to the set of three books she had tucked underneath her arm.
Oh.
She had almost forgotten she had taken them with.
Barry was being such a busybody, I had to get out of there.
“What do my books say about me?”

Nicholas glanced at the titles on the spines and smirked.

“That you read a lot.”
Smart ass.
He took a step closer to her and looked at her lips, before gazing back into her eyes. His large and solid hands eased her shaking shoulders. “You're still shivering. A little ride in the winds would do wonders for your stress and anxiety.”

“Really? What kind of ride?”

His eyes sized her up from head-to-toe, uncaring of how obvious he was. He finished his scan with a smirk. “A bike ride. Among other things.”

“I don't know...it's a little cold out. And I'm tired.”

“Come to my room them. For tea.” He took a deep breath near her neck, while she wished he would do so much more. “I promise you won't be disappointed.”

She so desperately wanted to say yes; but, the night had done much to rattle her desires. “Maybe tomorrow? I just...just need to rest.”

He drew her closer to his groin, both his hands around her waist. “Maybe tonight.”

This guy's persistent!
“I'm really tired.”

He broke away from her with a smirk, and already Eve felt yearning for his touch. “Say no more...and sleep well. I'll see you soon.”

“I look forward to it.” Eve loosed a nervous giggle, as he walked away. She gave him one last look before he stepped out of the entrance and back into the blustery, black night.
Kind of thought he would put up a little more fight. Maybe he's biding his time? Or maybe he's just messing with me?
She trudged up the stairs, thinking about his touch in silence. Lights on the wall flickered behind her step, just like they did on the street. The pattern did not escape her.

At least he wasn't boring...better than Barry...and silence.
The silence in the hallway hung like a deathly pall. No sounds of sex, of arguments, or of blaring TVs came from the other doors. When she got to her door, her hands jittered, and her key skid over the lock. Just the sound of unlocking it made an unnerving amount of noise in the quiet hall.

When she got into her apartment, she dropped everything and headed straight to her bedroom. She locked the door and clutched one of her pillows, as she got into bed. The howling winds slammed against her building, as the shaking tree branches scraped against her window like gnarled hands.
It's just a little wind and a little tree...it's happened a hundred times before. Stop acting like a child. There's nothing wrong. It’s just nature.

Outside her window, more than
just nature
came to disturb her sleep...

***

Nicholas used the night as his cloak, impossibly perched on Eve's narrow window sill. Through the glass he heard her nervous heartbeat. Her scent was ripe and feminine with a hint of the familiar. How he had longed for a woman just like her...innocent and pure, unknowing of the darkness in the world.

Something familiar about her, too,
he thought.
Why did I only notice it now?

He slid her window open with a silence only he could create. His sheer unnaturalness quieted the winds just enough for him to stalk into her room. She had exhausted herself with her fear, and now she had fallen into blissful sleep. The vampire's keen night vision penetrated the darkness.

He saw her smooth, milky skin glistening in the dim light.
Still stressed. Let's fix that.
He padded onto her bed with the grace of a panther. His hands and feet made no impression upon her mattress. Eve's auburn tresses spilled out above her and over her pillow like a pool of ruddy silk.

Nicholas ran his fingers through her soft locks, relishing her scent. The beat of her heart sung to him. Its rhythm was like a sweet melody, unappreciated and unheard by mortal ears. His eyes roved over her graceful neck. So exposed, so vulnerable, and so rich with the nectar of life.

He fought back the urge to elongate his fangs. Tonight was only for a taste. She was to be savored. He ran his fingers down her neck. Further down his nails popped the buttons off her shirt and her soft breasts swelled to occupy the free space.

He straddled her and kissed up from her cleavage to her dewy lips. A sigh of pleasure passed between the two, his dark aura sending thrills through her flesh. The vampire smiled, as he felt her kiss back. Her twitching hands instinctively swept up his back, pulling him deeper into their mutual embrace...

***

Eve writhed in her dreams. She felt trapped, only instead of fear, ecstasy pulsed through her being. A shadow had come this night. It felt so real that she did all she could not to wake up. The shadow's hardness brushed up against her groin, thick and powerful. She moaned out loud, as his fangs skimmed along her supple neck, so soft and vulnerable, pumping with her life blood.

While she did not consciously recognize what had come for her that night, her subconscious, steeped in the myths of the Old World, knew all too well. Her heart fluttered in anticipation for what was to come next.

She arched her neck for him to bite, offering her blood and body to slake his infernal appetite. But he did not take it. He teased her, inflaming her lusts all the more with his ghostly caresses down her lush thighs and tingling belly.

“Not tonight, Eve. Not tonight
,”
whispered the shadow. His voice was familiar, yet not enough for her to place.

“Please...take me...now,” she moaned aloud, her body writhing with more intensity to the well of carnal longing that had focused in her core. “I'm yours...” Just vocalizing her submission to this being of absolute power was enough to push her quivering womanhood over the edge.

Her hands pulled against the shadow and her hips went rigid. Gasps of pleasure erupted from her lips, as moisture flooded her slit. Her clenching vaginal muscles were desperate for the hardness that lay just out of her reach.

The shadow trapped her mouth with his, smothering her with his own smoldering desires.
I will come back for you, Eve.
Their tongues tangled in carnal hunger. She flicked her tongue along his teeth, cutting herself on one of his canines. Some of the hot fluid rolled back down her throat, most was sucked up by the shadow.

She groaned, as he suckled on her tongue. She gave the creature a taste of what desire burned through her blood. As he sucked, she felt her very heartbeat thunder through her being. Her body still tingled in the afterglow of her release.

At once, the shadow pulled away. She felt his glistening masculinity swipe against her inner thigh when he moved over her.

“Sweet dreams,”
he said, though this time it seemed to resonate through her ear rather than her head. His hand slipped away from her throat like a ring from a finger. Then, he was off into the night.

Eve bolted up and realized her eyes had been open the entire time. “Oh my god,” she whispered. She rubbed her tongue against her teeth and shuddered.

For once, fantasy was reality.

***

Eve hustled out the door early in the morning. The routine was the same, but after last night's encounter, everything felt different. The warmth from her sweater was nothing compared to the hard heat that wavered above her loins hours before. The cold, nipping air was distant and impersonal to the shadow's cool and sensuous touch.

A voice greeted her as she stepped outside her apartment building. “Ah, a fellow early bird.”
Nicholas?
His voice sounded familiar and reassuring, as the man who flirted with her after her night walk. Her body, however, knew the voice on a far more intimate level. Her blood stirred, and she took deeper breaths into her lungs.