Sweet Seduction Serenade (50 page)

Young pre-college boy didn't know what he was offering, but he was offering it willingly. There was no theft about to be performed.

I led him down a dark alley away from the late night, or early morning bustle, of Karangahape Road, or K Road as we called it. He followed without a care, he was so besotted he didn't even realise the danger he was willingly walking into. I stopped at the darkened stoop of the back door to a business, long since closed for the day. Turning to him, I laced my arms about his neck and pulled his body against mine.

“
You're cute,” I purred against his ear, his hands started roaming hungrily. I wished for the thousandth time, that they would fight. That this one would be the one to deny me what my body craves. This one would hold the key to my salvation. But he didn't. He wanted me as much as I wanted him. But, for a very different reason.

His hand had made it under my tank top, one smooth move and he had released my bra strap at the back. I was impressed, but also hungry. My eyes when I opened them cast an eerie red glow about the alley we are in. I let him cop a feel then pulled back and whispered, “Look at me.”

He did, they all do. It was so damn easy I wanted to cry. In a second he'd think he was between silk sheets, wrapped up in an unknown woman's embrace. She'd be hot, he'd think he was in heaven. I made him believe he performed magic with his hands and mouth. That she told him he was the best she had ever had. She cried out in ecstasy again and again and he knew it was because of him. I made him believe he was a god tonight.

Then I bit. I bit before I lost my courage. I bit before the Light inside rebelled. I had come too far to not feed this night. If the Dark Shadow was denied now, people would die.

The first mouthful of his life giving blood exploded in my mouth. I cried out in bliss, giving the guy in my arms real material for his glazed induced dream. One swallow led to another and another. The world dimmed to just me and my prey. So sweet, so thick, so beautiful. In that moment I worshipped the body before me. I honoured it with each pull of blood from its veins. I relished it. I devoured it. I consumed it.

I was alive again and the world was a brighter place.

And then I heard the faint beat of his heart; staggering, failing, slowing. The Dark Shadow growled when I tried to withdraw my fangs. This was the hardest part. The battle of wills. She was strong, but then so was I. I would not harm this boy, this giver of life. I would not kill despite my body's desire to do so. We raged a war for a few more seconds, seconds that felt too long for the boy and not long enough for the vampire within.

Finally, I won. I licked the puncture wounds closed. And breathed freely for the first time in days. My eyes would be cerulean blue again. My skin clear and soft and supple. To a Norm I would look full of life, glowing, ethereal almost. To a vampire I would be considered dangerous. There is nothing more powerful than a well fed Nosferatu.

The guy pulled back in a daze, his face one big lazy smile.

“
You were fantastic,” I whispered into the space between us. “Go catch a taxi and go home to sleep it off.”

He nodded, brushed a kiss against my lips. I let him. And then he was gone. And I was alone, in the murky shadows with my guilt and my rage and my hurt and anger and anxiety.

I was one of them tonight. I was the predator humans should fear. I was not the vampire hunter, I was the vampire.

The tears began and I slouched down into the darkness of the stoop.

I felt so damn alone.