Twenty-Eight

She melted in my arms, giving herself into my care, and that made me a lucky bastard. I kissed her nonsense. She had too many clothes on, since I hadn’t given her time to make herself comfortable at home, jumping on her like a wild animal. I got rid of her jacket and blouse, kissing that long, sinful neck of hers, delivering slow naughty licks on the wound I caused, and along her shoulder line, making her moan in my ears.
She had such delicate satin skin against my rough palms; it had more color than her first version, tanned, tasty. I needed to have time to explore those drawings all over her body, since she was so fond of them. My hands roamed over her soft breasts, still hidden behind a piece of scrap, and down to her belly. A low growl escaped my lips and I couldn’t get a hold of myself. Her hands tugged on my hair, pulling me closer, driving me crazy.
“I love the golden in your eyes!” she whispered to me, and I had to put the moment on hold. My demon was taking over myself, and hurting her again wasn’t an option, so I gathered my strength and pulled away.
“Liz…” I called her. She looked at me with glazed eyes, all flushed and gorgeous. I saw the lust in them and could smell the arousal all over her, but after today, I had to be careful. “Liz, I’d love to bury myself in you and stay there forever, but my demon…”
“I know,” she answered me, trying to catch some air. She caressed my face. “I had a lot of things planned for us before you acted out on me. Come, let’s cool down a bit, and I’m gonna show you around. I have a clue why you can’t control yourself. It’s hunger, Vlad. I can feel it.”
“I’ll always hunger for you.” My voice was coated in mischief, and I playfully bit at her shoulders.
“Wipe that smug smile from your face. I’m talking about another kind of hunger, Grizzly.” She got off my lap, put her blouse back on, and offered me her hand, leading me to the small kitchen.
“How do you know?” She sat me on a stool and pecked on my lips, winking at me. “If you keep this up… dragă.” She smirked, making me painfully harder than I already was. She was a little devil, and I’ve tried my hardest to resist the temptation.
“I just know, it’s like a wave hitting me.” She shrugged. “Why do you call me dragă?”
“It means ‘beautiful’ in Romanian, my language.” The smile that followed took my breath away.
“I like it! How come you speak English?”
“I speak many languages, but I had learned English when I lived in London for about a century.” She made small conversation to take our heads out of each other, but it wasn’t working so far.
“Look, this is a fridge. It keeps everything stocked here cool, so we can keep them for longer before going to waste.”
She opened the door. There was lots of food inside, and a nice and cool air came out of it. I believed she saw the wonder in my face as she grinned at me. I nodded, and she kept going on.
“This part here at the bottom is the freezer. Like the name says, it freezes whatever you put in there, so everything has a longer life.” She pulled out another door, and the smell of blood hit my nostrils like a blow. Gosh, I craved that! My depleted body craved that nasty liquid. “Yeah, Vlad, by the look on our face, I’m right. See, all those bags? They are blood, and I hope they will be enough the way they are, or do you need to take it straight from the source?”
“I don’t care which package it comes in, it’s fine. How did you get them? Did the world change so much, you can buy blood in bags from a merchant?” She astonished me. How was it possible?
“No Vlad, you can’t. I have some ways that made it possible. We’ll talk about it later. I’m gonna show you how to warm them up, and every time you feel the need, just come to this place and help yourself. Now, tell me what happened to you back then. Why did Alizandra curse you this way?”
“You didn’t mean to… she didn’t mean to. It just happened.”
“Ok, tell me about it, Grizzly, because I saw her in a gruesome place, and you were there. A soldier gave you something to drink. Funny thing, in all my dreams, this soldier was by your side the entire time, and he feels so familiar to me. He seemed like a good man.”
I sighed at her request, and I kept paying attention to what she was doing as she moved around, because I didn’t have the guts to face her. She filled a large glass bowl with water and put inside a device, punching some numbers in it. I had no clue what that was, but it lit up and I could see the bowl turning inside.
“It was Anton, my commander, and the closest person I had as a friend. I was losing control of my land. My enemies didn’t fear me the way they used to, and out of nowhere others showed up trying to overpower me, so I had to change tactics. Anton and I came up with an idea. How frightening it would be if I was crazy enough to drink from my foes… I know now, it was a stupid plan, but I had to be feared, I didn’t care if people loved me or not.” I couldn’t face her, and what I said came out more bitter than I wanted.
“Vlad,”
“She pleaded to me not to do it, but I did, and out of desperation and anger, she cursed me.” I didn’t lie to her. What for? She asked. I answered. “Her words were harsh and came from her heart.” The lavenders staring at me glinted. “No, don’t take me wrong. She was trying to stop me, that’s all. If there is someone to blame, it is only me, dragă.” I made her upset. I knew by the tears threatening to fall. The stinging on my chest was so painful, I went to her, gathering her in my arms. “I loved her deeply. I just couldn’t put her first in my life. Now I understand everything.”
“Don’t lie to yourself, Vlad. You wanted the acceptance and love of your people, you cared if they loved you, but you were afraid to let people in and get hurt all over again. I didn’t care, I loved you even in your flaws, and I’m sorry I cursed you. I ended up condemning you to a long life of suffering.” Her voice choked, trying to comfort me, then I froze and looked at her face. Her eyes were shut and for a scant moment my Liz was in my arms. “I made you believe I would never forgive you, but I did, because I loved you so much not to…”
“What did you just say?” She didn’t move, still clung to me. “Dragă?” I placed my finger on her chin, raising her head to face me. She blinked the tears away, her eyes lost somewhere in the past. “Are you there, Liz?”
“What do you mean? What happened?” She stared at me, all puzzled. “I’m sorry she did this to you.” It sounded so foreign to my ears when she talked about herself in third person. Then she vanished like magic, and Alexandra was back.
“No, you didn’t. She didn’t. The craving for blood, yes, but not eternal life, I told you, remember the monk? Well, I can die, but it’s hard to happen.” I chuckled. “But the whole point is, my stubbornness and my own choices brought me here, not her.”
“Maybe we can fix it?” The hope sparkling in her eyes crushed my heart.
“I don’t think there is a way to fix it, Liz.” I told her, and she looked at me in a challenge, but I changed the subject. “It’s amazing how things have changed! No more stoves?” I inspected her kitchen, looking for one.
“Yes, there is, all kinds. This is electric, not that I use it much.” She turned a knob and a few minutes later, she grabbed my hand, holding it above a device that didn’t resemble a stove at all, and I could feel the heat emanating from it, becoming incandescent. “And that is a microwave, you can heat everything with it.”
“So electricity, huh? As I see, they have improved their findings back then, quite impressive.”
“Almost everything runs on it, today, thanks to some enlightened people,” she said with a grin. A ping sound made her turn away from me. “Done! Try it, dip your finger in the water.” I did, and it had warmed. She dumped two bags inside. “Let it sit for a few minutes.” A few minutes later, she poured the contents from one in a glass, putting it in front of me. “Go on. I know you need it.” She pushed to me, waiting.