Don't Forget Me (3 page)

“Vuk, what is your problem? Why all the concern and why do you need to know so badly?”

“Because I can’t bear the thought of you being hurt by him, Stella. Please don’t see him again, do it for me, please, that’s all I ask,” he begged, stroking her back, his fists possessively clutching at the fabric of her dress.

“Vuk, you can’t ask me that without qualifying it.” Stella laughed warily.

“Stella, he’s an outrageous womanizer, he changes his women like he changes his shirt. He is a vampire, Stella. I know him, he knows me, you saw that. But what’s more, I know all about him, what he does, and he knows all about me. But that’s not all. He’s not just an ordinary vampire, he’s one of the oldest and most powerful vampires around, though even I’m not sure exactly how old he is.”

Stella raised her eyebrows, her narrowed eyes dumbfounded. Her mouth fell open, but no sound emerged. Then she regained control of her sense and took a deep breath.

“Vuk, you’ve never mentioned
vampires
before! I thought it was all a storyteller’s invention, I had no idea they really existed!” Her wonder complete threw Vuk off track.

“Excuse me, Stella, have I got this right? I just dropped the proverbial atomic bomb on you by telling you that Donn is a powerful vampire, thousands of years old… A terrifying vampire, thirsty for your blood, untrustworthy, and company of the worst kind… with the power to find you anywhere, anytime… and all you’re hung up on is the fact that vampires actually exist?” he said, wrinkling his brow in confusion.

“Yeah, I guess…” she replied hesitantly, uneasily.

“Wait a minute, Stella, are you saying you believe in werewolves and not vampires?” he asked incredulously.

“I thought vampires were just the stuff of legend… charming, blood-thirsty cannibals. You’d never think he was a vampire to look at.”

“Well, you’d never say I was a werewolf to look at either, Stella. I can’t stress how much you need to stay clear of him. He’s evil, not to mention dangerous! You’ve no idea what depths he’ll go to, what he’s capable of. You must believe me! And besides being a vampire, he’s hardly got the reputation of being a fluffy lamb!” he cried, beside himself.

“Well, for that matter, Vuk, neither have you. And, as far as I know, wolves and lambs have never been the best of friends.” She smiled nervously, trying to break the tension.

His words rang in Stella’s head the whole day through. She had lunch with Jamie, but could barely eat a bite. In the afternoon, they went to the public library on Boylston Street, staying with their heads between the books until late evening.

Boston Public Library

D
usk dissolved into
the dark of night and the last students began to drift out of the library, straggling to the door to make their way home. Jamie had decided to call it a day, leaving Stella in the library to finish writing up her notes before she, too, could grab her stuff and go home.

Finally, Stella closed her books, packed up, and made her way to the door only to find herself facing a violent rainstorm. She lowered her head to go down the steps, and when she looked up again, she found herself once again the target of Mr. Brooks’ gloomy stare. Standing on the sidewalk in what seemed like a model’s pose, he was watching her, his desire palpable.

“Miss Whitely, how wonderful to see you again.”

“Mr. Brooks, why are you here so late? The place is deserted, almost everything’s closed,” Stella said, remembering Vuk’s warning and realizing that this was no coincidence. She tried to hide her apprehension.

“Yes, indeed. But I’m overjoyed to find myself alone with you, Stella.”

He glanced at her with those deep, penetrating eyes she still found impossible to read. He walked toward her slowly, doing his best to shelter her from the rain.

“Right.” She looked away and blushed. She felt her heart leap out of her ribcage, her face turning an even deeper shade of scarlet.

“Why do you refuse to look at me, Miss Whitely? I like to look into your eyes. ”

Tempted, he touched her delicate pink lips sweetly, then tried again to capture her gaze with his eyes, which had turned the color of midnight.

“Are you afraid you might not be able to resist me any longer?”

“Possibly. It’s your eyes, the effect they have on me, a kind of delicious confusion,” sighed Stella, her voice trembling.

“I see.” Donn’s jaws tensed, but his face remained impassive.

Her resistance crumbling, she lost herself once more in the dark shadows of his eyes, drawn helplessly into the narrow pathways of a thickly hedged maze silhouetted against the glimmer of twilight she thought she saw there.

One of his cold hands reached out to cup her face, putting his other one icily around her neck. Overwhelmed with desire, he lost control and kissed her lips with passion.

Stella hadn’t even realized how close he’d got until she suddenly felt his breath become as one with hers.

Reeling with ecstasy, his desire engulfing all rational thought, every muscle in his body was taut with excitement, his self-control shattered. His lips were demanding, they totally engulfed hers. He ran his fingers through her hair then clutched the sides of her head. He kissed her with greater fervor, pushing his tongue deep into her mouth. Adrenalin charged through his veins, his yearning constricting his stomach, a tingling sensation running down his thighs.

“Mr. Brooks,” she managed to splutter between kisses, almost to cool Donn’s ardor. He stopped kissing her, pulling his face back an inch, his breath mingling with hers. The sound of their heavy breathing masked the drone of the pelting rain in the background. “
Damn me and my untamed tongue
!” exclaimed Stella to herself, but Donn seemed to read her thoughts and a weak smile crossed his lips. He sucked the raindrops that had fallen onto her lips, then plunged his tongue into her mouth once again. Stella quivered inside, she was tortured by the delicious stabs of pleasure that electrified her and which, along with the needles of cold rain that relentlessly poured down from the heavens above, brought out goose bumps all over her skin.

She made a huge effort to slow her breathing and lock down the longing that made her burn deep inside. But it was no good, her resistance dissolved and she found herself on the verge of yielding as Donn bent his head, his mouth again seeking hers.

Stella flinched as she saw him look at her strangely, then she immediately regained her composure. She gasped as he abruptly lifted her up and propped her against the wall of the library, throwing her his piercing look. He pressed his body against hers, forcing her mouth open again with his tongue. He nibbled her chin, feeling faint shivers run through her whole body.

“Let’s go back in the library. You’re freezing cold,” he whispered, out of breath, leaning his hands on the wall behind her head. He gently kissed her forehead, then led her by the hand into a warm corner of the library.

“Donn, what were you doing outside the library, were you waiting for me?”

“It’s obvious, I wanted to see you. Now I want to spend the rest of the evening with you.”

She felt her soul burn as his eyes penetrated hers, like a candle lit up by his flame, she thought. She did not answer.

“Tell me, Miss Whitely, am I to take your silence as a good sign?” he asked, watching her closely to see the reaction on her face. Mindful of what Vuk had told her, Stella jolted back to reality and tried to slowly edge away, only to find herself rooted to the spot.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Brooks, but I can’t. It’s late. I really have to go.”

Donn’s face clouded, the shadows in his eyes deepening as he realized Stella wanted to get away from him.

“Ah, then a prior engagement obliges you to decline my invitation?” His eyes darkened.

“No, nothing like that, Mr. Brooks, at least not for the next few hours, but as neither of us seems able to cool off tonight, it’s probably better this way,” Stella replied, biting the edge of her lip. Donn raised a puzzled eyebrow.

“So, let me see if I have this right… You are frightened of not being able to resist me, of going too far?”

She felt she was walking a tightrope, not sure whether to heed Vuk’s warning or abandon herself to the sense of exhilaration and anticipation that drove her into Donn’s irresistible lips.

“You have nothing to fear from me, Miss Whitely, at least, nothing that you don’t want yourself.” There was no hiding the erotic longing in his eyes, which Stella returned brazenly. Donn watched her, oozing self-assurance, and he ran his fingers through her hair, placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

“No, Donn, it’s just that…”

Stella’s mind was spinning like a top, she was torn between coming clean, telling him the real reason she was keeping her distance, or whether to just get rid of him with any old excuse.

“Then what, Stella? For God’s sake, tell me! This is just too frustrating,” he sighed, gently stroking her face as he sensed her slip further and further away, like sand trickling through his fingers.

“I think it’s better we don’t go any further tonight.”

But Donn refused to give up and turned his cold, dark eyes on her again.

“Is something else bothering you?”

“Possibly…” She felt as if she were suspended in a dense bubble, completely at his mercy. Her breath was short and she couldn’t tear her eyes from his magnetic face. She tried to slip out of his grasp, but Donn pulled her to him one-handedly.

“Stella, what is it you are afraid to tell me?”

“Mr Brooks, tell me who you are,” Stella burst out impulsively.

“I told you, Stella…”

“No, Donn, who you
really
are!” she exclaimed.

His eyes widened, he was taken aback by what she appeared to be asking.

“So Vuk told you…” Donn knitted his brow, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips. Then he looked deep into her eyes. “I’m only interested in knowing what he said about me, Stella. And it’s no good lying, your eyes will give you away. They cannot lie, not to me anyway.”

“He… he told me that you’re a vampire, one of the oldest and most powerful… but also that you have a very bad reputation.” She feared that this was all Vuk’s fantasy, and he would burst out laughing.

“I don’t think anyone has ever managed to sum me up so well or so neatly,” Donn replied casually. But he seemed to hide a deeper, darker secret behind that impenetrable gaze.

“So it’s true?” she asked, taking a step back.

“Yes, Stella, it is.”

He stretched his hand out but did not touch her.

“Well, thanks for being honest,” she said. The fact that he’d admitted the truth surely meant that she had nothing to fear. She did, however, wonder if he thirsted for her blood.

“Thank you for not running away from me, Stella,” he said, taking her nimbly into his arms and holding her tightly to him.

“Should I have run hysterically into the street, screaming at the top of my lungs?” she asked with a smile.

“If you had, no one would have believed you anyway,” he answered, his face somber.

“But I’d never do that!” she exclaimed, feeling almost wounded by his words.

“And you have no idea how much I appreciate it, Stella.”

“Why, has something like that happened to you before?” she enquired, a sympathetic look on her face, but her eyes twinkling with curiosity.

“Yes,” mouthed Donn, evading the question. His fingers ran down her cheek and her heart seemed to leap right into her throat.

“You’re freezing cold,” she shivered.

“One of the vampire’s more negative aspects, I’m afraid.”

“It’s hard for me to believe in such things.”

“Why? “ Donn asked.

“Maybe you think I am so charming…” Stella explained.

“But I’d be exactly the same even if I weren’t a vampire, my angel.”

He drew out the letters of the final word with such sweet tenderness that the blood rushed to her face again.

The voice of the library security guard broke their spell.

“Excuse me, the library’s closing. Please make your way to the exit. Follow me.”

Donn turned to her, his smile bringing another unwelcome blush to her cheeks. “You ready, Stella?” He had a cheeky twinkle in his eye. He grabbed her and pulled her toward him so hard, she slammed into his chest just as the security guard was approaching.

“Donn, you’re not thinking of… running away, are you?” Adrenalin coursed through her veins.

“This way, come on now, folks,” the guard said firmly, walking toward them. “The library is now closed to the public, so let me do my job and escort you both from the building.” Just a few more yards and he would reach them.

“Come with me, Stella. Don’t worry, even if we end up locked in, I’ll always find us an escape route. Ok, ready? Now, run!”

Stella let herself be persuaded, and Donn offered her his hand.

“Oh God, what if he catches us?”

She reached out hesitantly for his hand, not quite touching it. Another charge raced through her.

“He won’t, little girl. Trust me. I won’t let him.” And he took her hand reassuringly.

And so off she flew, her strides lengthening to match his as they ran through the library’s echoing corridors, her breath forming little clouds in the chilly air, glancing back to see if the guard was gaining ground, getting a kick from Donn’s fast, effortless pace.

“Stella, in here, quickly!”

Diving around a corner, Donn’s whisper bounced off the walls, and her adrenalin spiked as she felt herself being pulled into a small, chilly yet cozy room and, with tender brusqueness, into his arms.

Aroused by the chase, he impetuously lowered his head and closed his mouth fiercely over hers passionately, as the guard raced blindly past them.

“I haven’t had so much fun in ages, literally, Stella, thank you,” he whispered between kisses. The sheer thrill of the chase making his face glow, giving him the air of a teenager.

“Oh, me too, that was great fun, Donn! So there’s no need for you to thank me so effusively.”Stiff with cold, she felt her fingers perform a sensual dance up the front of his white linen shirt, but he took her hands away from his chest.

“I believe it’s important to thank people properly.” Donn held Stella tightly, beaming at her.

“I’m almost blinded by the brightness of your smile… I can’t help thinking that your face doesn’t usually radiate such amusement.”

Stella gently grazed his lips with the tips of her fingers, and then let her hand flutter sensuously down his neck to his chest. Donn was irritated and moved her hand away.

And, as if to steal one last kiss, he tilted his head, hungry for her lips, only to be thwarted as the guard burst into the room.

“Hey, caught you at last! Really, you kids’ll be the death of me… Now you’d better come with me to the exit, or else…” the guard threatened, before exclaiming, “Oh, it’s you Mr. Brooks! I didn’t recognize you, there’s not much light in here!”

“Not to worry, James, you weren’t to know. I suddenly felt the urge to run.” He raised an eyebrow, a cocky half-smile on his lips.

“Well, anyhow, it’s good to see you in such a sunny mood today, Mr. Brooks.”

“Possibly the effect of this young lady I have my arms around, James. Stella, this is James Fitzfield. James, a favor if you will: please make sure Miss Whitely is treated with due care and respect when she visits the library.”

“Certainly, Mr. Brooks. You bet. Can I be of help now at all?” he asked fawningly.

“Actually, I would like to stay here a little while longer… with Miss Whitely.” He threw him a knowing look, his eyes sparkling with that strange light, his pupils dilating almost imperceptibly.

“Of course, Mr. Brooks, stay as long as you like,” the guard replied with a nod of his head before discreetly backing out of the room.