Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) (30 page)

Maria was amazed that she was still alive and stood up. “You are very contradicting you know. Crying for something you never actually did. Especially since I shot you last night.” Maria placed her hands on her hips and sighed. “I acted rashly, you only thought it.” Maria sat back down next to Del. “Do you know why I know what you are? Do you want to know why I instantly knew a vampire had come to my door?”

Del subtly shook his head. His hands still covered his weeping face.

“When I was ten, there was a vampire that lived in our village. He was beautiful. I do not know how tall he was, just far taller than I was at the time.” Maria's voice loosened as she spoke. “His long black hair was straight and refined. His chiseled jaw wooed every woman that came across him.” Maria smiled shyly, turning away from Del. “He dismissed them all, every one. I think he must have broke half the girl's hearts in the country with all the proposals he got daily. His eyes were like yours, only purple. An amazing pure purple, the color of paintings in the cities. He taught me English, how to read, to write, and left me pages of music after he vanished.”

Del raised his head and wiped his face.

Maria used the edge of her dress to clean his eyes.

Maria's smooth, Latin legs piqued Del's vision. Distracting him from his internal anguish.

“I was a little girl, but I was in love with him none-the-less. I know he knew it too.” Maria lowered the edge of her dress and leaned against Del's shoulder. “He was cold like you are.” Maria locked her right arm in with Del's left. “One day on my fifteenth birthday, I offered myself to him. Everything I had I offered to him. I told him that it was for my birthday present.” Maria blushed and held Del's hand, with their fingers interlaced. “He took my hand and brought me to his house.” Maria nuzzled Del's shoulder. “We walked up to his bedroom. He laid me down in his own bed. I remember thinking the sheets were so soft. He slowly and gently slipped my clothing off one by one. I let him strip me down to my panties before I told him to stop.” Maria gripped Del's arm. “He knew I didn’t have the courage to go through with it. He had done only so much to placate me. In order to let me know what I had the guts to do and what I didn’t. I thanked him and we talked in the bed all night long. Before the morning came he covered me in a white sheet and he carried me back to my house in his arms. It was very romantic. I enjoyed everything from that night.” Maria sighed.

“What's wrong?” Del felt Maria's hand loosen. Del placed his hands in hers. He welcomed the attention now.

Maria continued. “The next day he was gone. There was no note, no message to mark his abandonment of all of us. Nothing to say that he ever even cared for me in the way I loved him.” Maria swallowed the lump that had welled up in her throat. “That was it until a year later he appeared to me on my sixteenth birthday. He told me that if he stayed the villagers would have hunted him and he would have had to kill too many people that were close to me. He left to spare me their deaths.” Maria’s tears flowed from her eyes with the pain of that memory.

“He never drank from you?” Del was touched by her story. Maria's skin was warm to his cold touch.

Maria buried her head in Del’s shoulder again as he held her tight.

“Not once. He wanted to keep me pure, and then he went away.” Maria squeezed Del’s arm. “You look so much like him.” Maria raised her head again, she had come to a decision.

“Have I done something wrong?” Del was used to offending people through his lifetime. He thought Maria was pulling away from him.

“I know what to do.” Maria ignored Del's question and began to search for various items around the hut. She gathered a water bucket, a sponge, sheep sheers, a straight razor, a brush, and a cup. “Come, sit here.” Maria sat Del on the single chair in the room.

“What are you doing?” Del was placed in the chair, facing away from Maria. His hair was matted and his chin had thick stubble.

Maria started by arranging Del's unkempt hair.

“Are you grooming me?” Del asked Maria.

Maria brushed Del’s long tangled hair. “Sit still, I have a lot of work to do.”

“There’s no need.” Del was being proud, he was filthy and knew it.

Maria dipped the brush in the water, she used it to wet Del’s head. “I told you to behave, now stay still.” Maria pushed down on Del’s shoulders to square him in the chair.

Del was now fidgeting on purpose. “What if I don’t want to?” He chose to be playful with her. Something he had not done with anyone in a long time.

Maria stopped. “Let me do this. Please, let me do this for you, for me.”

Del didn’t argue. Maria was up to something that was weighing heavy on her heart. “Okay, for you.”

Del was calm and still as Maria trimmed his hair, shaved his slight beard, and scrubbed clean his dirt laden skin with a sponge. The brown water spilled on the ground, mixing with the dirt. Once done, Maria unbuttoned his tattered shirt. She tossed the fabric towards the bed as her fingers glided over Del’s firm chest and abdomen. Being a vampire for a few decades kept Del in excellent shape. He was fit and attractive. Del's lure extended beyond his physique, there was a scent to him that Maria was entrenched in. Del was fulfilling her desires and dreams with his simple presence. Del only needed to let her act on her intentions.

Maria walked in front of the chair and faced Del. Her desires were obvious, she straddled Del's lap. Maria stared into his eyes. “Don’t say anything, please. Let me let you come to me.”Maria placed her hands on Del's bare chest, sliding her fingertips over his toned flesh. “Follow me. Let yourself over take me tonight. Be my dream Del, be my vampire of the night for me.” Maria ran her hands across the back of Del’s neck. She leaned in and held him tight. Maria gently kissed his neck.

Del sat motionless, mechanically indecisive, Del didn’t say anything.

Maria eased up and unhooked Del’s belt. She stared into Del's eyes. “My name is Maria Del Cid. Tonight I’m making you make me happy. Just lay back and let me think of you as my own personal vampire, please. For now, be refined, be classy, be seductive to a fault, be him.”

Del obliged Maria, picked her up and placed her on the small bed. Maria sighed as she knew Del took her fantasy seriously. Del slid her dress up past the hips, over her arms and head. He took the time to recreate her vision of that lost night. Del caressed Maria's stomach with the back of his hand and traced his fingers up and down Maria's left side. Precisely he enticed her skin, letting her excitement build as Del teased her body. Maria gasped. Del’s fingertips lightly scratched the inside of her left leg. Maria sighed as small beads of blood swelled to the surface. Del's face bore down beside Maria’s left hip. He placed his lips to her skin and sipped from where the droplets lifted. Maria exhaled with force as Del slid his face upwards and sank his sharp teeth into the soft space between the left crest bone and naval of her lower body. Del only drank insignificant sips as to not drain the full volume of blood he needed right away. He wanted this to last, to prolong the pleasure for Maria, to fulfill her needs. Maria breathed deeply as Del glided into a proper position. She nodded her head, and Del gratified her.

The morning did not come for hours, and when it did the two were satisfied, they had their fun. Maria had only been drained enough to make her partially weak. Though her body was sore for other reasons. Maria was awake when the dawn broke and covered Del with her thick blankets.

Maria whispered to Del's sleeping ears. Her black hair created a canopy to his face. “I know you will not be here tomorrow. You will leave the moment the sun disappears from the horizon.” Maria placed her hand on the right side of Del’s face. “You were everything he was and more Del. You were my vampire of the night, for that I thank you.” Maria laid back down next to Del and closed her eyes. They both rested under the thick blankets, while the sun licked through the small cracks in the shutters of the hut. Maria knew she would not wake in time to see Del part. He would be miles away before her body had recovered from the blood loss. Maria grinned as her eyes became heavy, she was happy in her last minute of seeing this beautiful man. At mid-day, Maria had fallen asleep, with sweat still drying on her forehead.

The Ululation of the Nightmare

Zack stood, shocked at the instant turn of Marin's actions. Unable to move from the events that had just transpired, he was stunned.

“Are you going to be long Zack? We have a party to get back to.” Marin was being directly pompous. He wasn't mentioning the fact that he had nearly strangled Zack.

“I’m sorry, I must be taking too long, making it appear that I wasn’t nearly choked to death five minutes ago.” Zack wasn’t restraining himself, he knew that Marin had the power to kill him in an instant. He knew that at any moment Marin could rip his head off, but not without enough provocation at least. Zack was too smart to let that happen.

Marin checked the hallway. No one was around.

Zack straightened his tie and joined Marin in the hall. As they approached the party, Marin stopped.

Marin caught sight of Kyli in the main party. “Look at her Zack. Really look at her.”

Zack viewed Kyli dancing in the middle of the room. Her mid-heels made her taller than most of the men around her and almost all the other women. She had put her hair up into a single long black pony tail. It was dangling down the center of her back and tossing across her shoulders as she swayed to the music. The lights were lower now, so dim that the ceiling appeared as small stars in the distance above everyone. The atmosphere of the party had changed. The astute behavior had been replaced by enjoyable frivolity. Glowing body paint was on nearly everyone's bare skin. A series of black lights lit the party from above. Swirls of emanating color were artistically placed on the arms, chests, legs, and faces of the masses there. As visually numbing as the barrage of glowing bodies were, Kyli stood apart. She had arm bands of blue paint on her wrists and the tips of her fingers were dipped in blue as well. A thick glowing painted choker was on her neck, it was radiating solid pink. Kyli’s earrings twinkled while short strands of her hair fell down from the tall pony tail. A thin, solitary smear of glowing paint trailed down the front of her chest, far below the reach of anyone’s eyes. Its pink hue appeared very attractive to Zack. Ample amounts of paint covered Kyli’s thighs. Hints of blue, red, and yellow were all over them. The strong glow was enough to light the lower halves of all the people dancing close to her. Kyli was entrancing. She was confident, bold and sexy. Kyli was in the center of the room and the life of the party.

Kyli turned away from Zack's direct view. The sight of the single large white angel wing on her back was spectacular to Zack. The white ink in the tattoo glowed by itself under the black lights. Kyli's hair was whipping back and forth to the beat of the music.

“Yes, I’m looking. The whole room is following her neck and the sway of her hair. Her erotic hair.” Zack's voice trailed off, under his breath.

“What was that?” Marin appeared suddenly in front of Zack, slightly to his right. Just enough to partially block his way.

“The red on white, the black on red, the pale-tempting-skin beneath.” Zack licked his lips, staring at Kyli’s body in the distance.

Kyli noticed Zack and met his eyes.

The seductive glance kindled a fire inside Zack. He wanted to spirit Kyli away to the nearest secluded room to not be bothered for hours. Zack was craving her.

“What did you say?” Marin didn’t take Zack for a poet, or a lady’s man. Zack was exuding a side of himself that Marin hadn’t accounted for. It was a part of him that Marin was starting to respect. “Regardless, You need to change that tie.” Marin tugged on Zack's red tie.

Zack snapped out of his daze. He turned to Marin disoriented. “Huh?”

“The tie, I know David made you where it. But did he at least tell you what was on it?” Marin slipped Zack's tie off his neck and rolled it up. He handed it to Zack and reached for his right pocket. Marin unraveled a new Christmas red tie and began looping it around Zack's neck. Before Zack had realized it, Marin had tightened it properly.

“What's this for?” Zack didn't understand the reasoning behind exchanging one red tie for another.

“When you get to the dance floor, sneak a peek at the old one in the black light. At least this way you won't look like an idiot to the humans in the crowd.” Marin told Zack.

“And what about the vampires?” Zack wanted to know where he stood.

“They already know you don't belong here. The tie just made it more obvious.” Marin straightened his own suit and checked out Zack.

“Good to know I can be sure about a few things.” Zack made a slight joke.

Marin couldn't help but smile a little at Zack's comment. He looked Zack up and down one last time, making sure his new shirt was tucked. “That’s better. Now let’s empress your date.” Marin smiled a very large, sinister grin. He had something in mind.

Marin led Zack back towards Kyli as a pulsing song was coming to an end.

Kyli let her arms drop with the beat. She immediately pawed on Zack’s chest. “What are you doing back?” Kyli looked towards Marin. “You didn’t hurt him did you?”

“I didn’t kill him.” Marin said plainly and honestly.

Zack adjusted his collar. His neck was raw, but almost numb.