A Taste Of A Vampire

Claire awoke in the morning with only shadows of her dreams drifting through her mind. She had been wandering alone and lost in some strange dark place, when a figure had come to her and wrapped itself around her. She couldn’t see it and she didn’t know what it was, but she remembered deep green eyes and nothing more.

Sitting up in her bed, she reached for Elizabeth’s diary and read her entry again. She bit at her lower lip and wondered in amazement at the uncanny resemblance between Nathaniel and Nicholas. Giving her head a shake, she set the diary back on her nightstand and rose from her bed.

After a long hot shower and a light breakfast, she went out to the garden to work among the flowers and plants, and to try to focus her mind on anything other than the neighbor she had met the night before. He had been at the center of her thoughts since she’d opened her eyes and emerged from her dreams.

Claire began by concentrating on the plants, and then she let her thoughts drift to her job in New York, to her boss, to her clients, to her apartment, and to anything else she could think of thousands of miles away.

It worked, and she was digging away thinking that she should call her boss to check in and get an update on what was going on at the office when she heard a deep and quiet voice behind her.

“Good day, Claire.”

She turned with a start and drew her breath in sharply. Standing directly behind her was a tall, well-built figure dressed in black pants and a white button up shirt. His dark hair was combed neatly into place and his green eyes were set on her. He was smiling with a mixture of pleasure and mirth.

She hadn’t heard him at all. Claire nearly fell backward where she was kneeling, but he reached out a hand to her and she grabbed onto him, steadying herself. He pulled her gently to her feet, drawing her near to him, and after a lingering moment, he let go of her.

“Nicholas!” she stammered in surprise, blinking at him.

The corner of his mouth turned up in a smile and his eyes flashed a little. “I hope I haven’t caught you when you’re too busy.”

She shook her head and her heart began to beat faster. “No, I was just… I was doing a little gardening.” She felt the same irresistible pull to him that she had felt when she met him. Her mind kicked into gear then and she gave him a welcoming smile.  “How nice to see you!”

“Thank you. I’m pleased to see you as well. I was thinking about you this morning,” he told her, inclining his head slightly.

Claire felt a wave of electricity wash through her and she struggled to maintain her outer composure. “Were you?” she asked in surprise, trying not to sound as breathless as she felt. She had only barely stopped thinking about him, and it made her pulse race to know that he had been thinking about her too.

“Yes, I was,” he answered. “I thought you might like to come to see my home. You won’t be in this country for very long, and you might find it interesting to explore some of the historic architecture. Would you like to come and visit today?”

Making a conscious effort not to stare at his face – his sparkling green eyes, his full red lips, his pale skin, and his chiseled features – she drew in a long and slow breath and prayed that it would calm her some, slow her heart down, and relinquish some of the pink in her cheeks.

“Yes, I’d love to. Thank you for coming to ask me.”

She reached her hand up and slid her slender fingers through her dark hair, pushing it from the side of her cheek to just behind her ear. She gave him a friendly and confident smile, and wished with everything in her that the underlying current of magnetism that was drawing her to him would ease up. It was imperative to her that she didn’t act like a foolish school girl with a massive crush in front of the elegant and mysterious man before her.

He gave her a nod and the hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth gave way a little more. “I’m so pleased to hear that. I’ve brought my car so we can leave anytime you’re ready.”

Dropping her eyes from him finally, she looked down at her hands and the gloves she was wearing. “I should change and wash up quickly,” she answered, looking back up at him.

He continued to watch her. “Your gardens are as lovely as ever. I’ll remain here if you don’t mind, and wait for you. Please don’t feel rushed. Take your leisure; I have all the time in the world.”

She felt her heart quicken more and blood rushed in her ears. She wanted to reach out and touch him, and she wanted to run, and both impulses were so strong in her that she could barely control either of them.

“I won’t be long at all. Feel free to enjoy the gardens and I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she said kindly, and turned away from him, walking toward the manor. She wished that she could turn to look over her shoulder and see if he was watching her leave, but something deep in her told her that she didn’t have to look to know that he was. He seemed to never let his eyes leave her, and it felt to her as if that kept her focused solely on him.

Claire felt as if she had never readied herself for a date so fast in her life, nor taken as much care with her preening as she did in cleaning and dressing to spend some time with Nicholas Ryder. It both astounded her and frightened her that she cared so much what she looked like for him, and that she was so profoundly affected by not only his mere presence, but also by her desire to be near him and see him. Nothing similar to it had ever happened to her before with any man, and it was fascinating and simultaneously worrying to her.

In almost no time at all, she walked back into the gardens in a pale blue sundress that made her skin look like fine porcelain, and her dark hair a perfect complement. She didn’t see him right away, but she almost felt him as she heard him speak behind her.

“You look like a dream. What a pleasure to wait for such a gift as the vision of you this way.” His voice was quiet but strong, and she felt as if she could lean into it and stay there forever.