Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (39 page)

    Annie did notice that he was in fact looking at her as if she was once again young and beautiful. She had missed that look, and after all the years that had passed she had
almost
forgotten what the look had looked like.
It was the beauty of and the beast of testosterone.
There was such desire in those blue eyes.
His pupils were expanding and she definitely liked that. “I don’t know you from the man in the moon. Alastair, yo
u know I don’t really look young and beautiful
.”

    The vampire smiled. “And
I don’t resemble Brad Pitt,
so what. Both sides of you look pretty darn good to me.
I don’t understand why you’re so critical of yourself but I’d like to.
Besides, I’m just asking you out for coffee, not to get hitched.
We can talk and discover a little more about one another.
Perhaps we could
be friends or
more.
”

   
Alastair was being a bit too bold for her liking.
“You know bad guys almost always pretend to be good guys, and then when they get you alone they rip your arm off
and beat you with it.
I don’t k
now you
.
”

    “You could mind me and see what you think?”

    “I don’t know how to do that.”
Annie
looked Alastair up and down,
she approved of his style, looks and demeanor.
Dracula had warned her
that some old vampires liked to prey on new vampires, but he did appear to be okay.
She could certainly use a friend.
“
Would we call it a date
?”

   “
If we went for coffee?
If you want to call it a date we’ll call it a date; if you want to call it something else, we’ll call it something else.”

    “I’ll have to think about it. After all you’re a stranger and a vampire.
That makes you a strange vampire.
For all I know you could be into eating old women.
Did you know that you can pick up the phone and call for blood just as you’d call for a pizza?
”

    “
Yes the world is changing.
Look at that cloud up there. What does it look like to you?”

    “Looks like a cloud. Why, what do you see?”

    “
Annie, doesn’t that cloud up there look like a cup of coffee?”

   
She studied the cloud but it looked nothing like coffee.
“I don’t see it.”

    “That man over there with the old Fedora, the shape of his head, don’t you find it looks like a cup of coffee.”

    Annie looked at him and sighed. “What’s wrong with sitting here and talking?
Are you trying to get me into your lair?
We can talk here as well as anywhere else.
”

    “
Sitting here c
an’t officially be called a date.
I’d like to say that I can assure you that I am a fine gentleman, but I ca
n’t. Friendship takes time
. Some believe in love at first sight but I believe that it’s more lust at first sight. But a cup of coffee only takes about a half hour.
We’d be in public for all to see.
”

   
It was much too soon to determine whether he was a good vampire or not, but she did feel comfortable around him.
“Do you work for Juan Valdez?”

    “Juan Valdez is a fictional character.”

   
Annie had to smile.
“Well,
then
I won’t tell you that I’
ve met him
.
You must be
lonely to be so desperate to get at me.” She laughed at her statement.

    “I have a few friends but none of the opposite sex
.
The life o
f a vampire can be lonely and some
times dangero
us. The nights are long
I suppose. Lately, for whatever reason, my thoughts have gone back to a long lost love. Elizabeth White
was quite fetching and had a wonderful personality. She was a vampire as well and we spent almost fifty years together. She became attracted to another
vampire
, and I didn’t fight for her because I figured that she either wanted me or she didn’t.
That was one of my biggest mistakes.
I think she wanted me to fight for her.
Years later I found out that he had killed her.
I know that there is absolutely no point in dw
elling on it but still
it haunts me.
Elizabeth always wore
t
his particular perfume
,
I don’t know what it was but
even now when I smell something similar it brings me right back there.
Scent memories can be so powerful.
”

   
Annie felt sorry for him.
“Most of my friends have passed away
so
I know what it’s like to be lonely
. I am never
lonelier
than when
I wake up from a dream with old friends
only to be hit in the face by reality.
My dreams have always been so vivid.
” Annie thought about it and then changed the subject.
“Don’t you find it funny how young people look at old
people?
They don’t just see people, they see old
, as if old is part of one’s personality
.”

    “Annie, that is true. They judge with a single glance, as if they are never going to grow old.
I guess the one’s that get turned into vam
pires at least won’t have to deal with that
.
”

     She looked into his green eyes. “All right then, let’s go have that coffee.”

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

The forest surrounded her

With trees and wildflowers

On the path to perfection

On the road to heaven

Her body lay silent amongst the trees

She would not age

She would not see

The beauty that surrounded her

In the forest of nature’s
trees

   
   
T
HE FOREST WAS RELATIVELY QUIET.
Nature had a way of calming one’s soul
, its personality enchanting
.
An orange and brown Tawny Emperor butterfly lit on a tree over her body, while a bluebird was singing in the distance. The corpse had already commenced to decompose in the heat of the summer.
She was wearing black shorts with a matching top, and she had been tossed around li
ke a ragdoll before being thrown
on the forest path.
Her spine had been severed amongst other things.

  
Vincent stared down at the young woman’s body. “Y
ou poor thing.”

   
The
police had called the red sheriff to the crime scene
, and remained at a
distance with the area cordoned off
. Vincent had read the note that had been placed in the hand of the 19-year-old college student. It was obviously a supernatural death but now he wasn’t so sure that it was a vampire. Her neck was torn out and some of her blood taken. What an absolute waste of such a young life. The note was telling. Whoever
did
this was not going to stop, but
on some level may have wanted to be caught.
Sick minds could be disharmonious to themselves.
The sheriff
slowly and deliberately scanned the area but saw no one.

   
He glanced at the police down the forest path as he
went through his investigation. At al
most six and a half feet tall Vincent
was impressive
.
He was as tall as he was handsome.
He was an independent red sheriff; he wandered wherever and whenever he wanted.
Vampires would often flee an area that he was even rumored to be in.
They
police
watched as he stared up into the trees, but actually he was scenting the area. There was something on the air, so slight that it was almost imperceptible. But the scent was definitely there
. Vincent walked the immediate
area for
discernible tracks but found none. It was almost as if he had scent amnesia
. The memory of it was there but in pieces.
Vincent would almo
st get it but then it would slip
away from him.

   
She had been killed just after sunrise, out jogging on the forest trail, with her white water bottle nearby speckled with her blood.
Some folks wouldn’t dare travel alone but obviously she had been one of the brave ones
, although strength in numbers didn’t apply when it came to humans facing nasty blood suckers
anyway
. She perished doing what she liked to do. No sign that she had carried a weapon, unless the perpetrator had absconded with it but he didn’t think so. He stood up from examining the body and instinctively placed his hand on his colt, realizing that it had been one of the officers that had aimed his gun at him as
his back had been turned
. Not a serious threat, simply an act of stupidity.