As I thought, he must have been too tired to continue, so I suppose he must have gone to have some rest. It was already late afternoon, so I might as well use some sleep too…
The sky was clouded, announcing a big storm, so a day outside was out of discussion.
While lying in bed, whether I wanted it or not, I kept thinking about Michael. Was he alright? Was he getting his rest? I was really worried about his health… maybe he really was overworking himself… I fell asleep having these thoughts.
A creak made me wake up. Opening my eyes, I saw that it was already dark outside. I turned around to see the door to my room slightly opened, so I went to check. Nothing. Not even a soul in sight. I closed the door and turned around to go back to bed. A huge flash from a lightning revealed the shape of a person in a dark corner next to the wardrobe. My heartbeat accelerated as I could feel that whoever was standing there wasn’t up to anything good. In the dark, I could only see a pair of red eyes, the color of blood.
A second lightning flash revealed the person completely. A man with black hair and blood red eyes was staring right at me. He was the last person in the world I’d suspect being there.
“…Michael?”
I was confused. Something was definitely wrong here. The Michael in front of me wasn’t the one I knew. The Michael I knew would always make me feel safe around him, yet this one made me feel really frightened. He took a step towards me and his eyes were like boiling in the dark.
“Michael, what’s going on?” I said, with my voice trembling.
He didn’t answer my question. He was silently approaching me. I could feel the dark aura surrounding him as he got closer and closer and closer, until he got in front of me.
“Michael, this isn’t funny!” I said, already in a panic. Something definitely wasn’t right.
It was like he was being controlled. His sorrowful flaming eyes were watching me as if he was in the dept of despair.
I kept stepping back until I hit the border of the bed. The shaking confused me for a moment, but when I looked in front again, nobody was there.
“He’s… gone…”
A pair of hands caught my shoulders from behind. When I turned around, I saw that Michael was holding me. In the little light that came into my room, two little things were shining in his mouth. Those were fangs.
This time panic overwhelmed me. I tried to escape his grasp, but he was too strong. I couldn’t get away.
The feeling of a hand brushing the hair of my shoulder sent chills to my spine.
“Let go!” I cried.
Instead of letting go, he reached his mouth to my neck.
“I’m sorry…” I heard him say before finally burying his teeth into my neck.
“Nooo!” I screamed, my voice being covered by a huge thunder sound.
Looking around, I saw that I was on my bed, with my body shaking really hard.
Nobody was around. I took my trembling hand to my neck.
Everything was fine… it was only a bad dream…
Another lightning stroke, followed by a thunder. Nature was going all out there…
I got off from the bed and left my room in a hurry. I had to find Michael. For some reason, I had a really bad feeling and I couldn’t calm down until I talked with him.
‘I’m sorry…’
Those words remained stuck in my head. Maybe that was why I wanted to see Michael, to make sure everything was alright.
The long hallways seemed endless. Even after searching all the rooms, I couldn’t find anyone in them.
Then it hit me. Beea! She had to know where Michael is! In fact, she is the only one who could actually know! I had to find her. The longer I kept searching, the more I started to worry.
“Beea! Beea, where are you?”
I yelled as hard as I could, but no one answered. Only my voice was echoing in the huge mansion. I went towards the kitchen. I knew that since it was already night I probably wouldn’t find her there anymore, but it was the only place in the house where I haven’t searched yet.
I ‘crashed’ into the kitchen, hoping to find at least someone in there.
But the place was empty. It was as if the whole house was deserted, and I was the only one left. Where on earth could they be?
Just then, I saw a door on the other side of the room that was slightly open. I went there to check it.
My first thought was that it was a store-room, but as I opened it, it revealed a passage. It was pitch dark inside, so I searched in the drawers for a flashlight. Other options being out, I decided to go and see where the passage led.
It was a chilly place, probably leading to an underground room or a dungeon. Still hearing thunders from outside made the place seem even creepier. It made me think about what was I actually doing here in the first place?
What normal person would come to such a place this late at night?
Then again, I left that thought really soon, since I was also walking through there, at this hour…
As I reached the end of the passage, I heard voices coming from the room to which it led. My first impulse was to hide behind the all to see, or more like hear who was there.
I heard a person who seemed to be breathing heavily and was in pain because of something. I almost got out from my hiding and went to help, but the voice of one of the persons there stopped me.
“Master, get a hold of yourself!”
That was Beea’s voice. She seemed to be really worried about the other person she was with. And since she called him “master”, that person seemed to be none other than Michael.
“I’m sorry… It looks like I can’t hold on any longer…” he said to Beea.
“It’s alright, even if it isn’t the one you want, it can still help you! You don’t need to hold back and push yourself any longer!”
After a short pause, Michael finally gave his answer.
“I’m sorry…” he said. Then, the next moment I heard Beea gasp.
Those words were like a trigger to me. They were the same as in the dream I had not too long ago. The bad feeling caught up to me again and I got out of hiding without even thinking about it first.
But what I saw there was something I couldn’t even imagine I would ever see. I froze the moment I saw the persons in front of me.
Beea was with her back against the wall, and holding her was Michael. This wasn’t any lover‘s quarrel… On Beea’s neck, blood was spilling down, and Michael… coming out of his mouth and buried is her neck were a pair of long fangs…
His red eyes seemed like they were burning as they were becoming bloodier by the second.
I gasped as I regained control over my body, which gave my presence away. The next moment, Michael’s shocked bloody red eyes met mine.
“Lydia!” yelled Beea when she saw me and then burst into tears. She clearly didn’t want me to see this scene, because she knew it would horrify me.
“What… is this…?” I finally forced my voice out.
I already knew the answer for that. Standing in front of me was a being that I believed it only existed in books… yet he was real, proving it all wrong…
But still, I wanted to hear his answer. I wanted him to deny it and say it was just a misunderstanding. I would believe him even if it was a lie. Even if he was actually a vampire…
But Michael didn’t answer. He watched me, silently, while his eyes were slowly going back to their original color. Then, instead of answering, he showed me. He confirmed to me all the things I was trying to deny by only showing me his vampire fangs. It seemed like he didn’t want to keep this a secret anymore.
It all overwhelmed me. I ran away from that place as fast as I could. It was as if my body was moving by itself, my feet running up the staircase, into my room, shutting and locking the door. I leaned myself against the door and crashed in front of it, taking my head into my hands.
I still couldn’t believe this was actually happening. That Michael was really… a vampire…
‘Lydia.’
I was startled when I heard that sudden voice in my head. Where did it come from?
I opened the door and there was no one. Not even a soul in sight. Closing it, I looked around the room. Nobody was there…
“… Michael?”
After a short pause, I heard the voice in my head again.
‘… yes.’
“But h..how? What’s going on?”
I was practically begging for answers. My mind was a total mess. And now Michael was in it as well…
Again silence came for a moment, until his answer came.
‘By now, you already know now what I am, right?’
It took me a bit to answer it.
“A… vampire…” my voice seemed like it was broken when I said that.
‘… and you also know what we eat…’
That sent chills right to my spine.
“… Blood…” I said with the same broken voice. That made it clear to me that I was also a… possible meal…
‘Yes…’
I still wanted to make some things certain. I already knew the answer, but some things were still uncertain to me.
“Why did you bring me here?”
It was a short moment of silence again.
‘Your blood… I wanted it… so I brought you here, where I could have it whenever I wanted…’
“Then why didn’t you take it until now? After all this time, why did you keep hiding it?!” I yelled, with tears flowing down my face. His silence made me feel like I could break at any moment into madness.
‘I wanted to… right from the start, I wanted to taste it…’ I sensed a slight laugh combined with a sigh in his voice. ‘But then, your easygoing and easy-to-tease character of yours also seemed fun to enjoy. I wanted to see more of that, and then take what I wanted. But once I started to know you, things changed… and I didn’t want to destroy everything…’
“Destroy? What exactly??”
‘… You. The time spent with you. I didn’t want you to fear me or to… hate me…’ his voice seemed broken at the last two words.
After that, I heard footsteps. And then, I knew it was Michael. Images of a tall man, with black hair and dark blue eyes coming towards my room and stopping in front of the door came into my head. I could see it as if I was dreaming it. I could see both the inside and the outside of my room, through the closed door.
“What is…” i said, confused.
‘Lydia… I know you must be frightened… I would understand if you would want to leave here… I would also understand if you want me to disappear from your life…’
I felt like the sky had just fallen on me. I could see Michael’s pained expression as he said that.
‘… disappear…’
Why did I run here in the first place? Why did I come to this room instead of running directly out of the house?
Deep inside, I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want it to end.
“NO!” I yelled as I opened the door and crashed into Michael’s arms. “I don’t want you to leave me! No matter what you are, you are still Michael! Kind, dependable, complete teaser! You’re the Michael I love!” I said, crying my eyes out.
He smiled as he let out a sigh. His dreamy blue eyes were as clear as ever.
“You could have let the ‘teaser’ part out… even though it was true…” he said as he embraced me. “Even so, are you going to stay by my side? Forever?”
“Only if you let me.” I said, burying my face into his chest.
“How could I not let you after hearing that confession?” he said with a smirk.
My eyes widened as I looked up at him. I went into a blush when I remembered that in my burst of feelings, I just confessed my love to Michael.
“… You really are-!!!” but he didn’t let me finish what I wanted to say, because he covered my mouth with his. It was such a soft kiss… he was holding onto me strongly, yet his kiss was really gentle. I felt like I could melt at any moment. He took his lips off mine as he embraced me.
“I won’t let you go. I want you by my side.” He said, looking at me with his dreamy eyes. Right now, I was the happiest woman. I didn’t want to let go of him.
But then, my eyes wrinkled when I remembered something. He looked at me, confused of my expression.
“You… you were the one who kept showing me weird images with the two of us, weren’t you?”
He smirked. “Want me to show you some more?” he said with a grin. I glared at him a bit.
“And those dreams…” I continued “… those nightmares… did you also show them to me?”
He looked somewhat troubled by that.
“Well… most of them…” he said, trying to look away.
“What do you mean ‘most of them’? What is that power anyway?”
He seemed like he was trying to pick the right words. It looks like it wasn’t a really simple matter.
“With this power, you can say that I have control over your thoughts… the things you imagine… the things you ‘hear’… I can show you whatever I want, whenever I want. But even if I can use this on a conscious mind, I can only draw out its full power only when the other person is asleep. That’s when this power has full control over the senses. You can call this ‘dream control’.
I glared at him again.
“So what was with all those nightmares? Couldn’t you give me a break at least once in a while?”
His face looked funny when he became all troubled again. It looks like I just hit a sensitive spot.
“Well, at first I did give you those nightmares myself… to see your reaction…” He sighed and then continued. “But after some time, I started to crave for your blood. The more I learned about you, the more I wanted you. And this power showed what I desired to the person I was most concentrated on. This is the drawback of my power…” he said with a sigh.
His gaze melted my heart like ice-cream on a hot day.
“So… do you want it now?” I said, holding onto him.
His eyes seemed to change color again, though it got back to the way they where as he averted his eyes.
“Fine then! Go to Beea, maybe she’ll be able to satisfy you!” I said, pouting.
He took me by surprise with another soft yet passionate kiss.
“You know it’s not like that. I just… don’t want to spoil you… I wanted you to remain pure…” he said as he put his hand on my neck. “I also don’t want to hurt you in any way.”
“I don’t care… so don’t go to other women for that… especially Beea, she’s my precious friend.” I said with a smile.
“You’re really jealous, aren’t you?” he said with a grin.
“Who, me? Not a chance!” I said, giving him a quick kiss. He looked surprised, but then he embraced me.
“Ok, I promise it won’t be any other woman than you.”
“Good boy.” I said as I cuddled at his chest. I could have stayed like that forever.
But unfortunately, at a certain moment, morning came. And even though he said he didn’t need as much sleep as humans do, he still needed short times of rest.
So as a result, when noon came, I was wandering around in the library trying to find a way to kill some time.
The desk was cleaned up. No documents, registers, maps or any other papers we’d need for the instruction. Not that it would have any meaning to it… now I finally understood why he was much better than me at this. He didn’t need to learn, because he already knew. This was only an excuse to bring me in…
The phone on the desk started to ring. This was the first time I actually noticed that phone since I didn’t hear it ring until now, and most of the time it was buried under the mountain of papers. I answered it since nobody was around. It might have been something important…
“Hello? This is… Devan residence!” I said, remembering that I was in his house.
‘Mrs. Miget? Is that you?’
“BOSS?!?”
It seemed like ages since I last heard Mr. Robertson’s voice.
‘Yeah, it’s me. How’s everything going?’
“Perfect! I mean… my job’s going well.”
‘Great! In that case, can you drop by at the company? I have something I need to talk with you.’
“Alright…”
I was surprised by the sudden summoning. I went to Brigs to see what boss wanted.
Everything seemed so lively there. People carrying all sorts of papers here and there, telephones ringing, other lawyers doing their work or discussing with their clients in their offices. It seemed like ages since I last came here and I was already feeling nostalgic.
“Lydia! Boss is waiting for you in his office!” said a person that I easily recognized as being my friend, Georgia Pets.
“Thanks!” I said as I entered Mr. Robertson’s office. I was welcomed by a fresh looking old man’s smile as he was drinking a coffee.
“Long time no see Mrs. Miget! It’s good to have you again!”
“Uhm… yeah… it’s good to see you too, bo… Mr. Robertson!
“How did your assignment go? Did it give you any trouble?”
“Not at all! Micha… I mean Mr. Devan is a great learner. In fact, he may be a little too good….” I mumbled.
“It’s great! Then you can finally come back to work here without any other worries!” he said, enthusiastically. I, on the other hand, wasn’t that enthusiastic. Instead, it was as if I was just hit by a truck.
“What?”
“Your assignment is complete, you can return to brigs now! Everybody missed you a lot here! I also talked with Mr. Devan and he also agreed with me. So… welcome back!" He said with a cheerful smile.
Too bad I couldn’t be as happy as he was. It came with a really bad timing. What was Michael thinking about when he accepted anyway? Couldn’t he just play stupid a bit and say he still needed instructing?
I knew that this day would come, but this was too soon…
...to be continued...
Author: Lacramioara Cobzaru
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