Blood Gifts (2 page)

Either way, he couldn't proceed if he
couldn't make her not remember it. He would have to find another
solution. He quickly glanced around himself, seeing no one else on
the street. Then he sped, with superhuman speed, down the street
and into the woods at the edge of town.

Chapter 3

Karina woke to the morning light streaming in
through her window, feeling well rested. In the light of day, it
seemed even less likely that the blue-eyed man could have been in
her room last night. What a crazy thought. She got up and wandered
to the kitchen for food. She saw the light flashing on her
answering machine as she walked by it. Already her friends were
calling her to talk. At this hour? She glanced at the clock. Holy
shit. It was almost four in the afternoon! What on Earth had
happened to her last night? It's like she really was under a spell
that made her relaxed and uninhibited or whatever else she had
been. Wow. She wasn't even one of the ones who'd been drinking. Her
friends probably thought she was avoiding them.

She listened to the messages, and sure
enough, it was Nina and Leanne calling repeatedly. Sounding more
and more annoyed, alternating with worried. She would call them
back. And afterwards eat a ginormous breakfast/dinner. She sighed
and picked up the phone.

***

Karina had convinced her friends that the man
was just a player, a really smooth operator, and she'd fallen prey
to that. She played up the fact that she had just broken up with
Brad a month ago. They bought it. She told them she must be coming
down with something. She didn't know why she'd slept all day. This
seemed to appease them. Even though she believed none of it. She
knew she couldn't explain what really happened. That she was pulled
along by feelings she couldn't make sense of. Drawn to the man like
a magnet.

She'd agreed to go with them to the street
festival downtown. She would meet them in the park. It was three
blocks away from her apartment, so she walked. She wore jeans and
sandals and a pink T-shirt. She tried not to wear pink too often,
she was so obsessed with it. She didn't want to be teased. But it
had been long enough since she'd last worn it. It amused her that
she was so self-conscious that she actually rationed out the
wearing of pink.

She ambled over to a bench, and sat to wait
for them. She had a big tan canvas purse with her today, strap
slung over her shoulder. She checked inside to make sure she had
her bottled water and sunscreen. Check. She leaned back and
stretched her feet, wiggling them around as she waited. Then she
saw him.

Her breath caught in her throat as she
watched him walk right over to her from across the park. She
reminded herself to breathe.
Breathe, breathe, breathe
...
she thought. His eyes were just as blue in the daylight. This time
he wore jeans and a light gray T-shirt. Which, of course, made his
eyes look more blue, and his black hair more... richly dark
somehow. He walked right up to her and stopped a few feet from
her.

She caught her breath again.

He looked uncomfortable, but spoke anyway,
"Mind if I sit?" he asked.

She shook her head 'no', unable to speak.

He sat at practically the other end of the
bench. They sat awkwardly for a moment, and finally he said, "I
never do that," and turned to look at her sheepishly.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Me neither,"
she said, then blushed.

"I'm so sorry, I'm usually... more polite,"
he said, barely able to look at her. "Forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive," she said,
waving her hand. "Don't worry about it."

He shook his head and chuckled at himself. He
said, "I think I meant to introduce myself. It just somehow turned
into a kiss. Sorry."

"It's okay." She smiled.

"Maybe a handshake would be a better idea,"
he said, holding his hand out to her. "My name is Luke."

"Karina," she said, shaking his hand. It made
her pulse speed up. His hand was warm and inviting again, just like
it had been on her arm at the club. Enveloping. He held her hand
for a moment after the handshake should have ended, then released
it. She could feel herself blushing.

She glanced up then and noticed her friends
standing thirty feet away or so, chatting excitedly and glancing at
her. Nina smiled and gave her a little wave. Then she laughed as
she and Leanne took off to head for the festival. They were leaving
her alone with her mystery man.

"Were you headed to the festival?" he asked,
looking down the street at the tables that were set up for the
vendors, piled high with homemade clothing, jewelry, and
crafts.

"I was," Karina said, sighing. "I think my
friends just ditched me. How embarrassing. Were you headed to the
festival?"

"I was," he said. "Shall we?" He got up, and
offered her a hand to help her get up. Then looked embarrassed
about it, but she took it briefly anyway, then let it go.

***

Luke had decided he needed to get to know
her. If nothing else, to find out why she was immune to him. It was
disturbing. But he also felt drawn to her. He
wanted
to get
to know her. It was like she was his soulmate or something. A
concept he hadn't really thought much about, or believed in, until
now. It was a human idea. His kind didn't think that way. And the
implications of soulmates were much more intense for his kind.
Where "till death do us part" did not apply. For his kind forever
really meant forever. Eternity.

Still, as he got to know her at the festival,
he really couldn't rule out the idea of soulmates. Everything she
said and was appealed to him. He was waiting for himself to snap
out of it, to be done with her, but that moment never happened.

Chapter 4

Karina became more relaxed as the day went
on, walking with him, looking at tables full of unique crafts,
learning about him. He was a construction worker. He traveled a
lot. Drifting. From town to town, taking jobs for a few weeks or
months, then moving on. Strange.

She told him about her life as well. She was
a painter. She sold her paintings online. But mostly she sold used
clothing online. From thrift stores and garage sales. Sometimes she
did a little substitute teaching. He looked fascinated by all of
this, which was absurd. Or very polite, she mused. But it seemed
like the words they spoke weren't the point anyway. It was just the
fact that they were saying them to each other. It was like they
began to share an aura or something. Like they were in their own
little world. Forming a bond that got stronger and stronger the
more they said. He was like a strange land that was being mapped
out in front of her. His likes and dislikes. His goals. His
thoughts. His heart.

He liked to ride horses, and rebuild old
cars, and he carried with him everywhere he went, an empty tiny
ornate perfume bottle that had belonged to his mother, who had died
years ago. Everything she learned about him wove together to form a
detailed picture of who he was, which only strengthened the pull
she felt to him.

They spent the entire day together. Bought
lunch from street vendors and ate in the park. Then went to a cafe
on the walking mall for dinner. A quiet place with candles on the
tables. As they spoke he reached across the table and entwined his
fingers with hers. It was like they belonged entwined together.

Afterwards, they walked hand in hand down the
street. It was an old brick sidewalk with old fashioned street
lamps that were only ten feet tall. Then they reached normal
sidewalk again, and tall modern streetlights. They crossed the
street and were in front of her apartment building. He stopped
outside. She realized he wasn't coming in.

"I guess this is your stop," he said, rubbing
her fingers absentmindedly as they held hands.

"Yes... stop... right..." she said nervously.
The idea of leaving him now seemed... awful. Like unplugging her
energy source. This was probably unhealthy. But she didn't
care.

"I, um..." he said as he took a step towards
her. He dropped her hand so he could put his hands on her
shoulders. He trailed his hands from her shoulders, down her upper
arms, and back up again, over and over, as he stared into her eyes.
He looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't say it.
Then suddenly he cupped her face in his hands and bent down and
kissed her.

It was not a sweet kiss this time. It was a
hungry kiss. She felt his lips pressing against hers warmly, and
tingles spread throughout her body. She actually got weak in the
knees. He put his arms around her and held her to him as they
kissed passionately. Then she felt her knees buckle under her, but
he caught her quickly before she fell, and held her to him tighter.
They were no longer kissing and she could catch her breath.
Suddenly the street light above them burned out with a loud pop.
She laughed.

"Are you okay?" he asked her breathlessly,
still holding her in case she started to fall again.

"Yeah," she said, looking up at him happily.
"Sorry." She realized she should be embarrassed, but the feeling
wouldn't come. "I should..." she said, pointing up to her
apartment.

"Let me help you," he said. He kept an arm
around her as she walked.

"Thanks," she said. Now she was a little
embarrassed, now that she had to make her legs work and they barely
were.

He got her inside and pulled her into the
ancient elevator. The kind that was small and you had to pull the
sliding gate closed yourself. He reached over and pressed the "3"
button without asking where she lived. She noticed it, but shook it
off. Sometime during the day she must have mentioned that she lived
on the third floor.

The elevator stopped on "3" and he opened it.
"What apartment?" he asked politely.

"3C," she said.

He walked her to her door and watched her
unlock it. Then he kissed her on the top of the head.

"Well, I should let you be now," he said. He
took a step back as she stepped inside her apartment.

"Oh," she said, disappointed. "Did you want
to come in?" She set her purse down on the floor inside the door,
and looked expectantly at him.

"I... sure," he said, shrugging and
smiling.

She smiled and grabbed his hand and pulled
him inside. She closed the door behind him, and then, dropping all
pretense, she leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss him. He leaned down
into the kiss and wrapped his arms around her. Then he leaned down
and swept her up in his arms as he continued to kiss her. He
carried her over to the couch and set her down. He sat down too and
kept kissing her.

Her mind was swirling with many thoughts. Was
she really sleeping with him on the first date? She realized she
didn't care. The haze she'd been in all day with him only got
thicker now. She was being pulled deeper into him, and she didn't
care. He kissed her roughly now and his hands traveled all over her
body over her clothes, as he laid her back on the couch and pressed
his body on top of hers. Her heart was pounding. She could feel his
heart pounding. She almost felt like she was going to pass out, but
she hoped she didn't. This beautiful haze of him had to
continue.

Suddenly she heard him groan. He had been
kissing her neck. He stopped kissing her abruptly. He sounded out
of breath as he said, "I can't do this, I'm so sorry."

He got up quickly and practically bolted out
of her apartment. She sat up dazedly. She was still out of breath.
She looked down and noticed her V-neck T-shirt was practically torn
off. There was a tear down the front almost to the hem. Wow. When
had that happened? She lay back down on the couch and tried to
catch her breath, wondering what had gone wrong.

Chapter 5

Luke ran down the stairs in Karina's
apartment building at super speed, because they were empty. Then he
got out on the street and wandered, walking quickly, trying to
catch his breath. What was going on with him? Clearly he and Karina
had some sort of bond. He had never felt anything like that before.
He had been in love, but not like this. But that wasn't what had
made him run out of her apartment.

In the heat of the moment, his fangs had come
out. He had wanted to drink her blood. His lust for her was not
just for love and sex, but blood too. But it was too soon for her
to know he was a vampire.

Actually he never wanted her to know he was a
vampire. The entire day he had pretended to be human. He had told
her the truth about himself, but not the whole truth. He did travel
from town to town, taking construction jobs, etc. He had eaten food
in front of her. Even though he didn't need food to live, he could
eat it. He knew vampire myths would keep her from guessing he was a
vampire. People believed vampires couldn't go out in the day, that
they were cold, that they had no heartbeat, that they had to be
invited in. Not true. He also had a reflection in a mirror and was
not bothered by crosses or holy water. Humans had the wooden stake
through the heart thing right, though, unfortunately. And that fire
or beheading would kill them as well.

But he had pretended none of it mattered.
That he was human too. And he had begun to believe it. Right up
until his vampire teeth descended as he kissed her neck.

What was he doing? Why was he pretending? He
had wanted her for her blood to begin with. To be his verae while
he was in town. Someone he drank blood from occasionally. Someone
he did not kill. Someone who would have no memory of him. At least
that's the way it was supposed to work. But his mesmerizing powers
didn't work on her.

He could live on animal blood for a while,
possibly forever, which he had been doing. But occasionally he
needed human blood, or wanted it anyway. Once every few weeks. He
had long ago decided he would be ethical, humane, not kill anyone
for blood. So, this was how he lived. And now there was her.