Crave (11 page)

I jumped at the sound of a loud, urgent knock at the front door. I quickly wiped my cheeks and opened the bedroom door, scanning for Elijah. He was nowhere in sight and neither was the bloodied body. Another knock rang out and I used my fingers to straighten my hair and took a deep breath before cracking the door open.

“Hello?” I called through the crack. Grayson stepped in front of my view.

“Eva, Jesus Christ, where did you go?” He asked, pushing through the doorway and walking past me. His eyes scanned the apartment before he turned back to me and grabbing my face with his hands. “I was so worried. Are you okay? Have you been crying?” He bombarded me with questions I couldn’t begin to answer. I pulled his hands from my face.

“I'm alright. I didn’t want to put you in any more danger,” I explained.

“Where have you been?” he asked, his voice laced with irritation now that he knew I wasn’t chained in a dungeon somewhere. “And why didn’t you call me? It’s not safe for you here.” He grabbed me, hugging me tightly.

“She is safe with me,” Elijah called from the bathroom doorway as he stepped into the hall, closing the door tightly behind him. Grayson looked over his shoulder and relaxed his grip on my waist. He shot me a look of confusion that soon twisted into a rage. I eyed them both anxiously.

“I can explain,” I began, racking my brain for an explanation that made sense.

“Don’t bother,” Grayson cut me off with a sneer. “I’ve been worried sick about you and I find you here with the very animal that wants you dead,” he continued angrily, his eyes filled with disgust.

“He saved me from them,” I shot back, trying to defend myself, but there was nothing I could say. He was right.

“
I
could have saved you, Eva! I would have protected you,” he yelled, making me jump. Elijah took a step toward us and I shook my head, silently letting him know not to intervene.

Grayson noticed the exchange and shot Elijah an angry glare. “Screw this and screw you,” he yelled, inches from my face and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door so hard I thought it would fall off of the hinges. I sighed heavily and glanced toward Elijah. I thought of running after him for a moment, but Elijah interrupted my thoughts.

“Let him go. If you care about him, it is the only way he will be safe.” He sounded genuinely concerned but I knew the one he was worried about was me. I rolled the idea around in my head for a moment and nodded in agreement. It was better Grayson was angry with me. It was the only way I could keep him safe.

“Come up with a plan?” I asked, wondering what Elijah had been up to. He nodded.

“We will dispose of the body on our way out of town,” he answered shortly and disappeared into my bedroom. I followed him into my room and watched him grab a duffle bag from my closet and begin packing it full of my belongings.

“I thought you said there was nowhere for us to hide?” I grabbed my sweater from his hands and placing it back in my drawer. The weather was too warm for it.

“There isn’t, but this is the first place they will look tonight. We need to buy ourselves some time,” he explained, grabbing some tank tops from my drawer and holding them up. I nodded at his choice and he slid them into the bag. “You should sleep,” he said as he stopped packing and eyed my tired face.

“How can I sleep-“I began to protest, but Elijah quickly interrupted me.

“You will need to be alert tonight.” He dropped the duffle bag on the floor at the end of the bed. “If you need me to make you tired,” he said in a husky tone as he stepped closer to me, his hands sliding around my waist. I smiled and leaned into him, kissing him softly.

His hands roamed over my body as his tongue parted my lips. His hand tangled in the hair on the back of my head and his mouth drifted to my ear, nibbling my ear lobe. I felt the sharpness of one of his fangs drag over the delicate skin, never puncturing my flesh but leaving goosebumps in their wake.

I was panting as he pressed his body against mine, licking and nipping at my throat. I should have been terrified but what I felt from him wasn’t hunger for my blood, it was a hunger for my body.

My hands slid up to his neck and I ran one of my hands through his hair and pressed his mouth harder against my throat. He growled as his fangs scraped my skin and I couldn’t help but think about the dream I’d had after tasting his blood.

“Eva,” he groaned as he reluctantly took a step back from me, his face twisted in pain. “I would hurt you.”

“I trust you,” I reassured him, but he shook his head.

“I don’t trust myself. I’ve already hurt you once.”

I sighed, my shoulders dropping in defeat.

“Rest,” he pressed his lips against my forehead before leaving me alone.

I awoke to the muffled sound of my cell phone ringing from inside of my purse. I yawned and wiped my eyes before moving Elijah’s arm that was strewn across me so I could get the phone. He must have waited for me to fall asleep before coming back to my room. I climbed out of bed and picked up Elijah’s t-shirt and slid it on, making my way to the kitchen.

I dug through my purse and found my phone just as it quit ringing. The caller I.D. read
Daddy
.

My finger hovered over the return call button as I wondered whether or not Grayson had contacted him. Either way, I would have to let him know I would be going out of town for a few days so he didn’t worry or send a search party looking for me. I rolled my eyes at the thought of his overreactions. I sighed aloud and pressed the call button.

The phone rang in my ear as Elijah traipsed lazily out of my bedroom in his boxer briefs. He ran his fingers through his hair and winked at me. I felt my heart flutter in my chest.

“Hello,” My father’s voice called through the receiver, catching me off guard.

“Dad… hey, it’s me, Eva.” I stuttered as I watched Elijah bend over looking in the fridge.

“I know who you are, Eva. My phone tells me,” he said with a chuckle and I rolled my eyes. He paused for a moment for me to laugh but when I didn’t, he continued. “So, anyway, Grayson called me. He seems to think you’re getting yourself into some kind of trouble. He said something about a guy?” My father was doing his best to get me to be forthcoming with information.

“I-I started seeing someone new,” I explained as Elijah rested against my kitchen counter and smiled as he bit into a pickled red beet egg, making a disgusted face at the taste. “Grayson is just jealous,” I continued, turning away from Elijah, who was incredibly distracting in his boxer briefs. I immediately felt guilty for blaming Grayson, but the guilt was short lived when I reminded myself that he was the reason I had to explain myself to my father.

“Tell me about this guy.”

Elijah smiled, obviously able to hear what my dad was saying on the phone.

“He’s tall, handsome and… he has a killer smile,” I said, unable to keep the grin from spreading across my face. Elijah raised an eyebrow. I shot him a wink and did my best to reassure my father that everything was okay. With a little more convincing and assurance that a few days away with Elijah would be a fun vacation, I was finally able to end the phone call. I glanced at the clock on my phone. We had about an hour before sunset.

“What’s the plan?” I asked as I headed to my bedroom to grab my bag Elijah had packed for me.

“The plan is to dispose of the dead body and leave town,” Elijah said with a wry smile, his voice dripping with sarcasm. I rolled my eyes at him but couldn’t help but let a small smirk creep across my face.

“Where and where?” I asked, probing him for more details. He shrugged his shoulders. It was evident that if he had a plan, he wasn’t going to share it with me. I zipped up my duffle bag and tried to walk around him to leave my room. He placed his hand on my stomach to stop me from getting by.

He leaned in and inhaled the scent of my hair as his fingers traced my abdomen. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to get lost in his touch for a moment. He pressed his forehead against mine as his hand ran over my hip.

“We have to go,” I whispered as I opened my eyes, searching his. He nodded and took the duffle bag from my hand before standing straight and allowing me to pass. He followed me into the hallway and went toward the bathroom.

He came out of the bathroom a moment later with my bag across his chest and the body wrapped in an old blanket over his shoulder. I peeked out of the window. The sun made its last glimmer of light as it set. I nodded to Elijah that it was time. I grabbed my purse and we headed casually outside. I stepped onto the sidewalk and looked around as I opened the trunk to my brother’s car and motioned for Elijah to come.  He placed the body in the trunk and slid my bag into the back seat before snatching the keys from my hand with vampire speed. I shot him a frustrated look and he winked as he kissed me quickly on the cheek and made his way to the driver side of the car. One thing I have learned about vampires, they thrive on control.

I slid into the passenger seat and fumbled with the radio as we made our way through the hollow. We headed a few towns over to Spring Grove where Elijah pulled into a quarry set back in off the main roads and quickly disposed of our attacker. He disappeared into the waters as if he’d never existed. We got back on the road as quickly as possible and headed toward Chambersburg to get on the main highway to head south.

That was all the information Elijah had given me. I stared out the window trying to take mental photographs of everything we saw. I felt Elijah’s eyes on me, his hair blowing in the hot air.

“I’ve never been more than a few hours from Pennsylvania,” I said, smiling. He grinned back and rubbed my thigh. I stuck my arm out of the window and played with the breeze as the radio blared
The Doors
. We rode for hours in comfortable silence. The miles flew by like seconds.

***

“What?” Elijah asked as I grinned at him.

“Nothing,” I replied, biting my lip and stifling a laugh. He actually looked nervous. It was adorable. 

“Well, if you’re going to be that way,” he said with a mischievous grin as he turned off the radio.

“Hey!” I pouted and reached for the dial, but he batted my hand away playfully.

“Tell me what’s on your mind first.”

“Fine,” I sighed in mock surrender. “I was just wondering where you came from, how you became…you know…” I answered, not knowing how to ask all of the things running through my mind.

“Oh…” he replied, sucking in a deep breath. “Where should I start?” he asked himself.

We sat in silence for a moment while Elijah thought over his life.  I began to regret asking such personal questions when melancholy washed over me.

“You don’t have to tell me,” I blurted out, letting my voice trail off.

“I’m just trying to remember two hundred years ago,” He reassured me with a smile. I rolled that information around in my head. Two hundred years. “I was born in Dublin in 1809.” He began, lost in his memories as he stared at the road. “My parents Emma and Collin Malakai moved to Louisiana when I was two, the year of the slave rebellion,” he continued, flashing me a lingering smile, but never swerving on the road.

“My father taught me to live off of the land. We would hunt for everything we ate. Any clothes we needed my mother would sew for us. Back then, there wasn’t anywhere for us to buy those things. We would hunt for alligators by day and shrimp at night. We sold whatever we couldn’t eat ourselves in town. We made a decent living. He taught me everything he knew.” He glanced between me and the road.

I slid off my sandals and propped my bare feet on the dashboard as I listened to him reminisce.

“When I was fourteen, my father fell ill and I had to provide for my family alone. It was hard work and I couldn’t manage the alligators that he and I would catch together. I tipped the pirogue several times trying to haul them on board,” He said with a deep laugh as if the memory was still sharp in his mind. “It’s difficult to remember what it was like to be so… weak. I wouldn’t come home until I was bone dry. My mother would never have let me on the bayou again if she knew how close I had come to being the alligator’s dinner,” he continued, his smile slowly fading.

“We never wanted for anything. Whatever money we made in town my father stashed away until we had enough saved to buy a plot of land to farm on. He leased the land to cotton growers so we always had a steady income. I still lived on the bayou until I turned twenty-two.”

“What happened at twenty-two?” I asked curiously.

“Viviana happened,” he whispered. “I met her in town. I was selling off mudbugs and some dresses my mother had sewn. Viviana was shopping with her father. He had stopped at my stand to haggle prices for the seafood as Viviana sifted through the pile of garments. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.”

***

January 1833

Viviana held up a gown against her body and swayed causing the skirt to catch the breeze. Elijah was lost in her beauty. Her dark hair hung in ringlets around her porcelain face. “What do you think, father?” She asked.

“Viviana Morcant, you have more dresses than we can fit in the carriage to take home,” he scolded her mockingly.

“Morcant? Is that Welsh?” Elijah asked, trying to strike up a conversation with her father.

He eyed him suspiciously before replying, unable to resist boasting about his family. “It is indeed a Welsh name. We’re from the Severn Valley.”

“How about you pay full price and I’ll throw in the dress for free. It would be a crime to be worn by less a beauty,” Elijah said boldly to the banker, never taking his gaze off Viviana. Her eyes lit up and she bit her lip and blushed at the brazen compliment.

“Do you know who you’re talking to, Boy?” the banker asked through clenched teeth.

“You must be God in the flesh to create such a magnificent creature as her,” Elijah replied with a smile. Viviana could not stop herself from giggling.

“Do you find it humorous to spout such blasphemy in front of a proper lady?” the banker asked in shock.

“Father, it was but a compliment. Do you not find me to be so attractive?” Viviana asked him, feigning insult.

“Of course I do, Viviana. You are the spitting image of your angelic mother,” the banker explained, trying not to upset his daughter. Elijah watched the exchange silently, winking at Viviana as she glanced in his direction.

“Then I see no arguments amongst you gentlemen,” She said wryly. The banker nodded and handed Elijah several coins and grabbed his seafood. Viviana gathered the dress and walked off arm and arm with her father. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Elijah. It was the moment he had fallen in love.

***

“So what happened? Did you see her again?” I asked, completely enthralled with his story.

“Yes, we would meet in secret. I can still picture her sitting on the bank of Lake Pontchartrain,” Elijah replied with a smile. “ But it only lasted a few weeks… until Mardi Gras, which was slowly becoming like the festivities you know today. There were parades with maskers riding horses and carriages. The streets were lit by flambeaux. It was incredible.”

***

February 19, 1833

“Mother, I’m heading into town for the festivities. Are you sure you do not care to join me?” Elijah called from his room.

“You know I must stay with your father, Elijah. His fever has not broken in three days,” Emma Malakai replied to her son from the doorway. She was thin but with womanly curves hidden under her modest, handmade gown. Her long brown hair fastened into a bun at the nape of her neck. Her beautiful face etched with lines of worry.

“How do I look?” Elijah asked, turning to his mother. He wore a suit his mother had made for him out of the finest material they sold at the market. Emma smiled and walked toward her son, straightening his shirt collar.

“You look like a very fine husband in the making, dear Elijah,” Emma replied with a thick Irish accent.

“I’m afraid all of the women are out of my reach,” Elijah sulked, buttoning his jacket.

“What about Amelie from down the road? She is exquisite and has taken a shine to you,” Emma asked with a smile.

“Amelie is like a sister to me. Her father wants her to marry French,” Elijah replied like he has a thousand times before.

“Her father can be easily persuaded, dear boy. Your father makes good money doing honest work. You would make an excellent suitor for Ms. Amelie,” Emma reassured him as she brushed off the shoulders of his jacket.

“Thank you, Mother. I must get to town before the parade,” Elijah said with a smile and kissed his mother on the cheek.

***

“Your mother didn’t want you dating Viviana?” I asked.

“She didn’t know about her,” he explained, the corner of his mouth turned up into a smirk. “Even with my father’s building wealth, most still viewed us as commoners. But she didn’t care about any of that,” he continued as his smile faded, lost in the past.

***

February 19, 1833

Elijah walked the cobblestone roads lit by gas lanterns, making his way through the sea of people. Vendors had set up stands along the way selling food and novelty items. He wandered into a tavern and ordered himself a drink, just as he noticed some of his friends at a table near the corner.

“Elijah! Join us for a drink,” Jacob Breaux called over the rowdy crowd. Elijah raised his glass and took a large swig before making his way to the other side of the bar. “Play a hand with us,” Jacob said, looking at Elijah as he shuffled the deck. Elijah scanned the room and took a seat at the wooden table.

A few hands and a few more drinks, Elijah stumbled away with a couple of extra dollars.

He staggered back onto the streets filled with bachelors and woman of ill repute.  Swiping a mask from a vendors table, he placed it on his face, blending with the crowd.

Tonight was a night of debauchery. He flipped a coin on the next table and grabbed a beer as he stumbled his way down the main roads, ending on Rue Bourbon. Locals danced and performed magic tricks for the crowds. Elijah worked his way into a circle of people and watched as a man played music in the middle of the street.

“Amazing isn’t he?” A young woman in a masquerade mask donned with feathers whispered in a heavy French accent into Elijah’s ear. Elijah nodded and drank his beer until the cup was empty, throwing it onto the street in front of them.

“You look like you could use a break,” the brunette woman said as she looped her arms through his and pulled him back to a doorway, out of the way of party goers. Elijah leaned his weight against the bricks, trying to gain control.

“That is kind, but I can handle myself,” Elijah replied, as his knees buckled under his weight. The woman leaned in and kissed him quickly. He pulled back suddenly with a look of disgust. “A true gentleman does not need to pay for companionship.”

“You think of me as a harlot?” The woman asked in disgust.

“No, Ma’am. I did not mean to insinuate…” He backtracked, letting his voice trail off. The young lady removed her mask and smiled, waiting for Elijah’s reaction.

“Viviana?” he asked in astonishment.

“How do you do, Sir?” She asked continuing her fake French accent. She dipped down to curtsy, giggling as she rose.  She slowly reached for his mask and pulled it from his face. He had been dreaming of this moment for weeks. She leaned in, giving him a quick peck on the lips and slipped her mask back on before running off into the crowd playfully.

“Viviana,” Elijah called off into the distance frantically.

***